Infrastructure and utilities
Archaeology for Infrastructure and Utility Schemes in Cambridgeshire
Roads, water mains, cable routes and drainage schemes are linear works, and linear works cross multiple landscapes and sometimes multiple authorities.
- Defining feature
- Multiple landscapes in one scheme
- Approach
- Zone-based methods
- Programme risk
- High-potential crossings late in the sequence
- Admin risk
- More than one discharge process
Why this scheme type carries the requirement it does
A single route can pass from chalk to clay to gravel to fen. Each requires different prospection, different trench design and different safe working provision, and a uniform specification will be wrong somewhere along the route.
The approach that keeps it proportionate
Break the route into landscape zones with method appropriate to each, and identify the high-potential crossings first so they are resolved before they reach the critical path. Working width, access, and reinstatement all shape the fieldwork method.
Questions
Common questions on this
Do easements and temporary working areas need archaeological cover?
Where they involve ground disturbance, usually yes. Temporary compounds and haul roads are a frequent source of unplanned archaeological work.
Project review
Archaeology on a infrastructure and utilities scheme?
Send the footprint, the depth of disturbance and the planning position. We will set out the requirement and the programme it implies.