Sanctus Training

Sanctus Ltd were appointed by Kier Moss to manufacture topsoil on the Plot 2600 development, Oxford Business Park, Oxford.

Careful management of all soils intended for reuse within the soft landscaping areas of the development was required due to stringent topsoil specifications detailed by the project landscape architect. Site investigation determined that all site won topsoil/subsoil would require nutrient, organic matter and microbial enrichment before it could be reused in soft landscape areas.

Sanctus provided a watching brief to ensure the segregation and stockpiling of suitable topsoil and subsoil for use in the manufacturing process. Extensive liaison with the client and appointed soil scientist enabled the maximum amount of soil suitable for enrichment to be reused, thus saving overall topsoil importation and offsite soil disposal costs for the client.

The topsoil manufacturing process involved:

• Sourcing of green compost compliant with the landscape specification.
• Delivery of compost to blending area using articulated lorries with walking floor trailers.
• Careful blending using site won topsoil and compost at a 3:2 ratio as specified by the project soil scientist using specialist plant.
• Screening of manufactured topsoil to reduce stone content to specification requirements and to perform a final blend of the soil.
• In total 1500m3 of suitable topsoil was manufactured to meet a stringent landscape specification.