Cornwall Mining Consultants were approached by Newquay Town Council in the summer of 2019 to undertake a slope stability assessment report of the seacliffs around the popular recreational area of Killacourt Fields which overlook the busy Newquay Towan Beach and act as a focal recreation point for the town.
We sent out a team of our geologists to undertake the work, headed up by an experienced Chartered Engineering Geologist. The project involved a series of inspections followed by scanline surveys of the slope face, undertaken over a period of several days during the busy summer period. We then used a sophisticated modelling technique with stereographic projection to model the faults and fractures in the cliff face in 3D. A kinematic analysis was then undertaken on the stereonet models to assess the likelihood of different types of failure from the slope face, such as toppling, wedge or sliding type failure.
The slope stability assessment identified several areas where the risk of rockfall and collapse was deemed to be moderate to high, and these areas were subsequently subject to remedial works including the installation of rock bolts and steel mesh to the slope face.