Geotechnical baseline reports: a guide to good practice

This guide outlines the background, purpose and process of developing a geotechnical baseline report (GBR). A GBR forms the basis of dealing with uncertainty in below-ground conditions for infrastructure projects. The guide should assist in the development of equitable contract terms between client and consultant/contractor across a range of procurement scenarios and infrastructure types, with a view that the GBR provides a common understanding of what is known and indeed not known at various stages of the contract lifecycle. The guide has been developed with a cross-section of industry expertise and has drawn extensively on experience from outside the UK. The guide outlines why a GBR might be needed, who should write and use a GBR, when and how a GBR should be used, what a GBR should and should not contain, and how to apply GBRs to a range of typical scenarios. The intention is that this guide is to facilitate the production of appropriate and proportionate GBRs that can be agreed between all parties at each stage of the construction process.