Ref : ETWB(W) 224/32/15

Group : 11

11 July 2002

Environment, Transport and Works Bureau

Technical Circular (Works) No. 29/2002

Geotechnical Control for Slopes and Retaining Walls

Scope

This Circular outlines the policy and procedures on geotechnical control for
man-made slopes and retaining walls in Government projects undertaken by Works
Departments or their consultants. The Director of Agriculture, Fisheries and
Conservation, Director of Environmental Protection, Director of Home Affairs,
Director of Housing and Director of Lands have agreed to the content of this Circular.

Effective Date

2. This Circular shall take immediate effect.

Effect on Existing Circulars

3. This Circular supersedes LWBTC No. 3/88 which is hereby cancelled, and
should be read in conjunction with WBTC Nos. 9/96, 9/2000, 11/2000 and 16/2001.

Background

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4. LWBTC No. 3/88 laid down the procedures to be followed by the Lands
and Works Departments and their consultants for submission of the geotechnical
aspects of their designs for public works projects for checking by the Geotechnical
Engineering Office (GEO) of the Civil Engineering Department (CED). Major
improvements and changes since 1988 in the slope safety system in respect of
geotechnical control of Government projects, such as the integrated approach for
public works projects, slope upgrading works and the comprehensive Slope
Information System, have necessitated a general updating of the LWBTC. In
particular, an increasing emphasis is now placed on site inspections during
construction.

Policy

5. The Project Department shall ensure that the details of all permanent
geotechnical works for man-made slopes and retaining walls are submitted to GEO
for checking. A submission which usually includes the investigations and studies of
existing man-made slopes and retaining walls within or in the vicinity of the site will
also be required, if such slopes or retaining walls could affect or be affected by the
development or re-development under the project, or if their failure could affect lives
and property within or outside the site under the project.

6. The Project Department shall make the necessary arrangements to ensure

that the finished project will not be subject to or pose an unacceptable landslide risk
to the public throughout its design life. The Project Department shall ensure that all
geotechnical investigations and designs and the supervision of the works are carried
out by a qualified professional engineer with suitable and adequate geotechnical
experience. An adequate quality system shall be put in place to ensure that the
investigations, designs and supervision of the works are carried out in accordance
with all relevant geotechnical standards and requirements. The Project Department
or their consultant preparing the submissions shall ensure that a proper and thorough
internal check is undertaken under the quality system so that submissions comply
with all required standards and provisions.

7. All geotechnical investigations, designs and works shall be carried out in

accordance with the standards and provisions set down in the latest editions of the
“Geotechnical Manual for Slopes”, “Guide to Retaining Wall Design”, “Highway
Slope Manual” and other GEO guidance documents as may become available from
time to time. The Project Department can visit the CED website
http://www.info.gov.hk/ced/eng/ for the current list of the geotechnical guidance
documents published by the GEO. Annex TGN 1A1 of Technical Guidance Note
(TGN) No. 1 lists the guidance documents being used by the GEO as de facto
geotechnical standards. The TGN can be found at the CED website.

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Project planning stage

8. The Project Department shall approach the GEO for advice at an early
stage in preparing the Technical Feasibility Statement (TFS) of all proposed projects
that contain any geotechnical content. The TFS shall include a preliminary
geotechnical appraisal, which should identify geotechnical constraints and risks
affecting cost and programme, man-made slopes and retaining walls affecting or be
affected by the projects and state whether geotechnical studies are required. The
Project Department should agree with the GEO the scope and extent of all necessary
geotechnical investigation and studies to be carried out as part of the project. Only a
desk study of available information is expected for the preliminary geotechnical
appraisal.

Detailed design stage

9. The Project Department shall submit to GEO for checking the geotechnical
design of all new slopes and retaining walls, together with the findings of
geotechnical investigations and studies on existing man-made slopes and retaining
walls which may affect or be affected by the proposed project. The geotechnical
issues identified in the TFS and comments provided by the GEO shall also be
addressed in the submission.

10. The submission shall include all relevant reports, drawings, calculations,
records and other information as may be required by the GEO. The geotechnical
areas covered by the GEO’s District Divisions, designated as Island, Mainland East
and Mainland West Divisions, are shown on the attached Figure 1. The submission
shall be forwarded to the Chief Geotechnical Engineer of the District Division in
which the bulk of the works lie.

11. Where an Independent Design Checker (IDC) is appointed (e.g. in a Design

and Build (D&B) contract), the GEO may consider waiving the checking requirement
provided that the criteria set out in Appendix A can be satisfied. For D&B contracts
where there is no requirement for an IDC, the Project Department should agree with
GEO at an early stage the necessary arrangement for checking the geotechnical
design of slopes and retaining walls. GEO checking on the design of the
prescriptive measures will also be waived for slope upgrading works under certain
conditions as given in the WBTC No. 11/2000.

12. The GEO shall reply to a submission as quickly as possible and always
within 28 calender days of its receipt, either agreeing to the proposals or stating why

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they are not agreed to. However, the GEO may also call attention to possible design
improvements in the interest of safety or economy, and the Project Department shall
take account of these in finalizing their design, bidding for funding and drawing up
the programme for the project, and before inviting tenders or proceeding further with
the geotechnical works.

Any major issues resolved before tendering

13. Tenders shall not be invited for any part of geotechnical works for slopes
and retaining walls until the geotechnical design has been agreed by the GEO, except
for D&B contracts or when the GEO gives its written consent based on conditions to
be mutually agreed. For D&B or similar contracts, the Project Department should
agree with GEO at an early stage Client’s specifications for the geotechnical works
prior to tendering. If an agreement cannot be reached, the unresolved issue shall be
promptly brought to the attention of the directorate officers, or if the situation
warrants, the Directors of the concerned departments for an early resolution.

Construction stage

14. The Project Department responsible for the works shall arrange for
geotechnical supervision personnel to supervise the geotechnical works in accordance
with the requirements of the Project Administration Handbook (PAH). Details of
the three categories of qualified supervision are given in Appendix 7.47 of the PAH.
The requirements for qualified supervision are generally imposed in accordance with
the type and complexity of the works, the site geology, the surrounding structures,
robustness of the design, consequence of failure, etc.

15. The geotechnical supervision personnel shall ensure that the works carried
out on site comply with the design specifications and working procedures. The design
engineer shall check against the site conditions jointly with the geotechnical
supervision personnel to validate the design assumptions during construction and
conduct any necessary design review. A submission to GEO is required should there
be any significant changes in the design after the design review.

16. GEO staff may carry out on-site spot-checks during construction to assess
compliance with the geotechnical supervision requirements and agreed design of the
geotechnical works. The spot-checks carried out by GEO is not intended to
augment or replace the construction design review and supervisory or audit duties of
the Project Department and their consultants. The GEO will report any
non-compliance and irregularities to the Project Department for necessary follow-up
actions. To facilitate the spot-checks by the GEO, the Project Department shall

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provide the GEO with a copy of the master programme for their works contract and
the Curriculum Vitae of the nominated supervision personnel on commencement of
the contract. They shall notify the GEO the commencement date and target
completion date of the geotechnical works under their contract and keep a full set of
the regular reports prepared by Category I qualified site supervision personnel on
site.

Project completion

17. The Project Department shall prepare a Maintenance Manual in accordance

with Geoguide 5 for all slopes and retaining walls formed or modified under the
project. It should ensure that the completed works are handed-over to the
department responsible for their maintenance together with the Maintenance Manual,
which shall include plans showing the boundaries of the slopes and retaining walls
determined by survey. The requirements set out in the Manual shall be treated as a
minimum standard. The policy and requirements on slope maintenance are set out
in WBTC No. 9/96.

18. The Project Department shall obtain a GEO Checking Certificate from the
GEO for all slopes and retaining walls formed or modified under the project, before
handing over of the completed works to the maintenance party. The Checking
Certificate also applies to existing man-made slopes and retaining walls for which
investigation and studies have been carried out and checked to the satisfaction of the
GEO. WBTC No. 16/2001 sets out the procedures to be followed by the Project
Departments in applying for the Checking Certificate.

19. The GEO maintains a Catalogue of Slopes which contains pertinent

information on all registered man-made slope features in Hong Kong. In order to
maintain and update the Catalogue, the Project Department shall provide the GEO
with updated information on the slopes and retaining walls studied, formed, modified
or removed, including plans showing the boundaries of the slope features by survey.
WBTC No. 9/2000 sets out the procedures for the registration and updating of the
Catalogue of Slopes to be followed by the Project Departments.

Internal auditing

20. The requirement to submit the geotechnical design of slopes and retaining
walls to GEO for checking and the requirement for qualified site supervision of the
works shall be stated explicitly as a key operational procedure in the Project
Department’s Quality Management System. The requirements for design
submissions to GEO and qualified site supervision should also be included as

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standard items for internal audits.

( W S Chan )
Deputy Secretary for the Environment,
Transport and Works (Transport and Works) W2

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Appendix A – Criteria to be met for Consideration of Waiving of Normal GEO
Checking Requirements

Consideration will be given to waiving normal GEO checking where an

Independent Design Checker (IDC) is appointed, if the following conditions are
met : -

(i) the IDC is directly appointed and directly employed by the

Employer;

(ii) the IDC to be appointed is suitably qualified and experienced for

the particular project;

(iii) IDC has acceptable quality assurance certification;

(iv) the contract contains provisions requiring the design and

construction of the works to comply with GEO standards or better,
as well as qualified site supervision to standards acceptable to
GEO;

(v) the IDC’s duties should cover checking of the design and
construction of geotechnical works, verification of design
assumptions during the construction stage and to conduct the
necessary design review.

ETWB TCW No. 29/2002 Annex A Page A1 of 1