GroundSignal Surveys
Get Your SurveyBefore excavation, drilling or construction begins, it is important to have a clear understanding of what may be hidden beneath the site.
Ground Signal Surveys provides professional underground utility detection and mapping services for construction sites, developments, highways, commercial premises and infrastructure projects throughout the UK.
Using techniques including Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and electromagnetic locating (EML), surveys can help identify and map buried services before work progresses.
Know What’s Below Before You Break Ground
Underground sites can contain a complicated network of electricity cables, gas pipes, water mains, telecommunications, drainage and other buried infrastructure.
Existing plans alone may not provide the level of information required on site. PAS 128 provides a recognised framework for the detection, verification and location of underground utilities, including active, abandoned, redundant and previously unknown services.
A utility survey provides additional site information that can support planning, design and safer ground works.
Our Underground Survey Services
Ground Signal Surveys can support projects requiring a clearer understanding of buried infrastructure.
Ground Penetrating Radar Surveys
GPR sends radar signals into the ground and analyses their reflections to help detect subsurface features.
It can be particularly useful when searching for non-conductive services that may not be detectable using electromagnetic locating alone. Using multiple detection techniques and cross-referencing results is considered good practice when mapping underground utilities.
Utility Mapping
Detected services can be mapped to provide a clearer picture of the underground infrastructure across a site.
Depending on the project requirements, this information can support architects, engineers, contractors and developers during design and construction planning.
Electromagnetic Location
EML equipment can be used to trace conductive buried services and cables.
Combining EML with GPR provides different sources of survey information rather than relying on a single detection method.
PAS 128 Utility Surveys
PAS 128:2022 establishes a consistent approach for detecting, verifying and locating underground utilities and defines requirements around survey quality and confidence in the resulting data.
Ground Signal Surveys can provide utility survey solutions suited to projects where PAS 128 standards are required.
Discuss Your Survey Requirements
Surveys for Construction and Development
Utility detection can be valuable at several stages of a project.
A survey may be required before:
Excavation and trenching
Borehole drilling
Piling
New foundations
Drainage installation
Utility connections
Road and highway works
Landscaping and groundworks
Site redevelopment
Infrastructure projects
The information gathered can help project teams make better-informed decisions before intrusive work begins. PAS 128 is intended to support safer and more effective planning of construction, street works, groundworks and utility-related activities.
More Than Simply Finding a Cable
A good underground survey isn't just about marking a few lines on the ground.
The objective is to build a more useful understanding of the site.
Surveyors may combine available utility records, visible site features and data gathered using detection equipment. Depending on the survey scope, detected services can then be plotted and incorporated into project drawings.
This can provide designers and contractors with better information when deciding where new infrastructure, excavations or other works should be positioned.
Why Carry Out a Utility Survey?
Striking an underground service can have serious consequences.
Beyond disruption to the project, damage can lead to service outages, additional costs and significant safety risks. ICE highlights comprehensive utility mapping and appropriate service-location practices as important elements of project safety.
Carrying out a suitable survey before intrusive works can help teams identify potential conflicts earlier and plan accordingly.
Suitable for Sites of Different Sizes
Not every project involves a huge development site.
Ground Signal Surveys can support surveys across a range of environments, from individual commercial properties and development plots through to larger construction and infrastructure schemes.
Survey requirements can be adapted according to the site, proposed works and level of information required.
Clear Survey Information for Your Project
Once fieldwork is complete, the findings can be presented in a suitable survey format for use by the wider project team.
Survey information may be used by:
Architects during site and building design.
Civil engineers when planning drainage, utilities and infrastructure.
Groundworkers before excavation.
Developers during feasibility and construction planning.
Contractors when preparing for intrusive works.
Project managers when coordinating activity across a site.
The purpose is to turn subsurface survey data into information that can actually be used during the next stage of the project.
Ground Signal Surveys Across the UK
Whether you're preparing a small development site or planning a larger construction project, understanding existing underground infrastructure can reduce uncertainty before work begins.
Ground Signal Surveys provides professional utility detection, GPR and underground mapping services for projects throughout the UK.
Tell us about the site, the work you're planning and the survey information you require, and we can help determine the appropriate approach.