HISTORIC EVIDENCE MODERN SOLUTIONS
Understand the potential risk before breaking ground
A Preliminary UXO Risk Assessment or Desktop Study helps identify whether unexploded ordnance may present a credible risk to your proposed works before excavation begins. UXOS reviews available historical bombing records, military activity, mapping, aerial photography and site-specific information to provide an evidence-led assessment of the potential UXO risk and clear recommendations for the next stage of your project.
A Preliminary UXO Risk Assessment or UXO Desktop Study may be beneficial during the early planning, design or pre-construction stages of a project—particularly where intrusive works are proposed in an area affected by wartime bombing or historic military activity.
It can support projects involving:
Early assessment can help determine whether standard site procedures are appropriate or whether further UXO support should be considered.
Available records relating to Luftwaffe bombing, recorded bomb strikes, unexploded bombs and significant wartime incidents in the surrounding area.
Historic Ordnance Survey mapping and other available plans are reviewed to identify previous development, strategic infrastructure and changes in land use.
Assessment of nearby military establishments, training areas, airfields, anti-aircraft positions, defensive structures and Home Guard activity.
Available wartime and post-war aerial photography may be examined for evidence of bomb damage, craters, disturbed ground or former military features.
Relevant local records, historic documents, incident accounts and published sources may be consulted where they provide useful additional evidence.
Consideration of former industrial, military and strategic uses that may have introduced an additional UXO or munitions-related risk.
Our reports present findings in a clear and practical format, helping you make informed decisions and integrate UXO risk into your project planning.
The findings of a UXO risk assessment help determine what, if any, further mitigation is appropriate for the proposed works. On some sites, no additional UXO measures may be required. On others, further mitigation may be recommended depending on the assessed risk, excavation depth, ground conditions and proposed construction activities.
This may include a UXO Watching Brief, specialist detection or survey work, downhole magnetometry for deeper intrusive works, or other project-specific mitigation.
Where a conventional UXO survey and subsequent target investigation would affect the construction programme, a Watching Brief may, where appropriate, provide a practical alternative for open excavation works. A qualified EOD engineer remains on site during excavation to monitor the works and assess any suspect items encountered. The appropriate solution should always be based on the site-specific UXO risk and the nature of the proposed works.
Where the risk is assessed as low, no additional UXO measures may be needed
A specialist EOD engineer remains on site during excavation, to monitor the works and assess any suspect items encountered.
Where required and appropriate, geophysical detection and survey work may be recommended.
For deeper intrusive works such as piling or boreholes, downhole magnetometry may be recommended.
Tailored to suit your site and risks.
A UXO survey can require mobilisation, data collection, processing and, where anomalies are identified, subsequent target investigation before excavation can proceed. Where the assessed risk and proposed works allow, a UXO Watching Brief can enable excavation to commence with specialist EOD supervision in place — helping get spades in the ground sooner while maintaining appropriate UXO risk controls
Send us your existing UXO report and proposed scope of works and we can discuss the practical mitigation options available
