Overview of services

A thorough understanding of how structures transmit loads to the ground and how soils and rocks react to these is fundamental to the successful outcome of any construction project. Our office is equipped with qualified staff in the field of geotechnics / civil engineering, and has been commissioned to carry out related works locally in Malta. We strongly feel that continuous interaction and close collaboration between the geotechnical and structural engineering disciplines within the same office ensures the best way of identifying the most economical foundation solutions.

Through this branch of iAS we continuously carry out research on the Maltese rocks and soils with the purpose of obtaining a better understanding of the way that civil and structural engineering works interact with the local geology. The engineering properties of these materials are continuously compared with research carried out abroad on similar materials.

Overview of services

Geotechnical consultancy offered by iAS ranges from the design and interpretation of site investigations to detailed development of engineering solutions for ground-related problems.

Site investigation

Any successful ground investigation is aimed at obtaining a broad understanding of the geological conditions of a site and the implications these may have on any engineering activity. No site investigation should be undertaken without first considering all the available information. iAS specializes in providing such preliminary studies, on the basis of which the design and specification for the site investigation is prepared. Both traditional and state-of-the-art investigative techniques are used to obtain information from the ground and to test samples in the laboratory.

In parallel with these studies, we seek to obtain a clear understanding of the proposed project, in terms of operational requirements, site constraints, and in terms of the requirements created by the planning process. The perceived ground conditions and the project characteristics are carefully studied to ensure that investigative efforts are directed towards maximising the relevant information obtained from the investigation.

Site supervision of the investigation process is followed by careful analysis of retrieved samples in the laboratory, where the final testing programme is developed and consequently supervised by iAS. The site investigative process is concluded with the preparation of factual and interpretative reports that provide the necessary information for the design of foundations or for stability analyses.

Geotechnical analysis and design

At iAS we strive to provide a wide range of geotechnical design services for common ground engineering situations encountered in the Maltese Islands. All design procedures and calculations are carried out to the recommendations of current British Standards and we are gradually adopting the philosophy of Eurocode 7 Geotechnical Design in our current projects.

iAS is equipped with the commercially available software packages or computer programmes developed in-house that allow ground engineering problems to be studied numerically or analytically.

Engineering specifications

We also prepare detailed specifications for a range of civil engineering works, which are always tailor-made to the site and project requirements. Typical applications include the construction of engineered fills and the application of ground improvement methods. The writing of specifications is backed by technical literature which iAS strives to constantly update and increase.