The AGS Annual Conference took place at One Great George Street, London on 25^th April with over 235 delegates in attendance.

Chaired by AGS Chair, Vivien Dent, the conference had eight guest speakers covering a range of geotechnical and geoenvironmental topics with a focus on sustainability. The AGS Working Group Leaders also provided updates about their Working Groups from the past 12 months.

To continue the theme of sustainability, the conference showcased all 21 entries from the AGS’ Early Careers Professional Sustainability Poster Competition, and invited winner, Molly Kirven, (Balfour Beatty) to attend the event. The AGS have also agreed to donate a percentage of profits generated from the conference to Projects for Nature, which is an initiative formed by the Council for Sustainable Business, Accenture, Defra, Natural England, Environment Agency and Crowdfunder, that aims to restore nature recovery in the UK.

Jim Webster (Director at Earthworks and Materials Solutions) opened the conference by discussing what sustainability means in terms of earthworks. This was followed by Tim Rolfe (Director at YES Environmental) who presented on The Role of Quantitative Risk Assessment in Reducing Soil Disposal and Importation at Contaminated Sites. Roseanna Bloxham (Principal Geo-Environmental Engineer at RSK Environment) explored the recent NHBC Foundation research and guidance for the housing sector, focusing on the NF93 report, which looks at the climate change risks impacting building foundations in new housing.

Following lunch and networking opportunities, Mark Hill (Climate and Sustainability Lead at The Pensions Regulator) presented on how the Taskforce for Climate-related Financial Disclosures and Sustainable Disclosures Requirement could impact brownfield and infrastructure sectors from a pensions perspective. Ebenezer Adenmosun (Managing Director at Geofirma and Co-Founder of the Ground Forum Undergraduate Mentoring Scheme) then provided an update on GFUMP and the impact the scheme has made on the industry.

This was followed by a presentation by Marla Gillow (Senior Geotechnical Engineer at Ramboll) and Kalisha Sejpar (Associate at Ramboll) on Case Study: Measuring Carbon from Design to Construction at 2 Finsbury Avenue. Finally, Alan Thomas (Technical Partner at ERM) presented on Insights from the Sustainable Remediation of an Agrochemical Manufacturing Facility.

The Annual Conference concluded with a networking drinks reception in the Great Hall, which was a first for the AGS Annual Conference.

It was a great event and a brilliant opportunity for the industry to gather, network and exchange ideas.

The AGS would like to take this opportunity to thank our speakers and sponsors including Geosense, Igne, Soil Engineering, Groundsure, Equipe, Brimstone, ACS Testing, Maccaferri, Eijkelkamp Fraste UK, Envirolab, Landmark Information Group, i2 Analytical, AFITEXINOV UK, BAM Ritchies, Lankelma, Insitu Site Investigation and Geotechnical Engineering.