Black Geotechnical Pty Ltd

ABOUT THE COMPANY

Black Geotechnical Pty Ltd has been providing geotechnical investigation, design, reporting & testing for infrastructure, commercial, industrial and recreational projects since 1985.

We specialise in helping clients with challenging projects. Our team of engineers have an excellent understanding of engineering geology and soil and rock mechanics together with extensive practical experience in the field. We also continually conduct research and development into specialist testing techniques and their interpretation for use in the latest design methods.   

While we tackle a broad range of geotechnical issues, we have recently been focused on the following types of projects:

Climate change engineering problems

Slope stability

Soft compressible soils

Preloading design and monitoring

Ground improvement of deep filled sites

Specialist geotechnical testing

Pile design allowing for setup

We are based in Melbourne but conduct work everywhere in Australia and internationally. To date projects have been conducted in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, Northern Territory, Tasmania, New Zealand, Malaysia, China, Antarctica and Fiji.

CLIMATE CHANGE ENGINEERING PROBLEMS

The rise of sea levels and the increase in extreme weather events associated with climate change is resulting in many challenging engineering problems. Coastal erosion is an obvious problem and we have been involved in many seawall assessments providing advice for remediation to either repair or extend the life of the structure. We are also experienced in slope stability and erosion assessments of soil and rock coastal slopes. We have been able to provide useful recommendations to several councils to help them manage coastal erosion issues.

In low areas of Melbourne, such as Port Melbourne, local government now requires new developments to be constructed at a higher level as a flood protection measure. Higher levels often require the placement of extra fill, which can cause significant settlement of the compressible Yarra Delta sediments. We have extensive experience in predicting settlements, which often enables the use of high level footings instead of expensive deep footings.

After the Creswick Creek floods in 2010 and 2011, we were involved in various flood recovery projects in the area. We are able to help with emergency works and long term remediation for any flood affected areas.

 SLOPE STABILITY

We specialise in soil and rock slope stability and can also access slopes via abseil for close inspection and descaling.

SOFT COMPRESSIBLE SOILS

We use the latest techniques in geotechnical testing together with our extensive experience in the prediction of settlements to allow the use of high level footings, instead of expensive deep footings.

PRELOADING DESIGN AND MONITORING

We can design and monitor preloading programs. Our monitoring and data interpretation aims to satisfy all of the geotechnical design requirements, while ensuring that the minimum time for preloading is recognised to keep development timelines on track.

 GROUND IMPROVEMENT OF DEEP FILLED SITES

We design and supervise ground improvement of deep filled sites. Ground improvement techniques include dynamic compaction, high energy impact compaction, rapid impact compaction, lime/cement stabilisation, and removal and replacement.