Changing relationships: Accessing Subsurface Knowledge (ASK) project UK

The need for cities to make more effective use of the subsurface on which they stand, is increasingly being recognised in the UK and further afield to be essential for future cities to be sustainable and more resilient. However, city planning worldwide remains largely 2D, with very few cities having any substantial subsurface planning – the cities of Helsinki, Montreal, Singapore being rare exceptions. The consequences of inadequate consideration and planning of the subsurface, and limited re‐use of available data, are much more far‐reaching, in economic, environmental and social terms. There are clear spatial correspondences between proximity to vacant and derelict land and areas poorest health and greatest deprivation in UK cities; and, poor understanding of ground conditions is widely recognised as the largest single cause of construction project delay and overspends across Europe.