Sustainable Choices In Geotechnics: A Case Study of Quarry to Parkland Conversion

Sustainability and sustainable development are broad concepts, and there is a growing imperative to both define sustainability, as per the 17 goals of the United Nations Division of Sustainable Development Goals (DSDG), and to regulate compliance with sustainable practice, such as the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. The geotechnics practice, which is literally at the ground level of design and construction, has many opportunities to consider, develop and drive sustainability within our industry. This paper presents a case study of a quarry to parkland conversion project in suburban Sydney where sustainable practice was considered at every stage, from material reuse of existing fill to alternative means to reducing rock fall risk without installing support structures. The case study demonstrates how elements of sustainable practice in geotechnical engineering and engineering geology were achieved through comparison with select goals as published by the DSDG. Comparisons and contrasts are also made with other projects where perhaps a sustainable outcome could not be achieved due to factors such as existing Standards or time constraints. The paper summarises some of the difficulty of taking sustainable theory into practice and highlights how sustainable construction is often linked to the most economically viable design and maintenance solution. It is hoped that this paper will add to the growing industry knowledge of sustainable geotechnics in practice and provoke discussion of how to incorporate sustainability within the context of our current framework of Standards and standard industry good practice for design.