The site. Land to the rear of Tudor Close, off Aston Street in Shifnal, Shropshire, where the planning application needed soakaway testing.
What we did. Two trial holes tested to BRE 365. Access was tight, so the crew used a series of water bowsers and pumps to fill the pits quickly enough for the three timed fills.
What we found. Soakaways were viable. The ground was sand, with a moderate to slow infiltration rate.
What it meant. The civil engineers could design the soakaways, using the slowest of the recorded rates so the design stays on the safe side.
The lesson. Sand doesn’t always mean fast drainage, which is why BRE 365 takes the slowest run rather than the best one.