The researcher's interests include the structural performance of flexible pipes buried underground, trenchless pipeline technologies, and chemical stabilization of clay soils. Their research also focuses on collapsible soils like loess, sustainability in underground infrastructure and urban spaces, and creating resilient cities for the future. They lead numerous projects exploring topics like buried utility detection, urban redevelopment case studies, and transforming cities' engineering.

1. Research Interests
The structural performance of flexible pipes when buried in trenches, under
The influence of trenching on the surrounding buriedembankments and in landfills.
infrastructures and overlying road structures forms a parallel area of interest.
Trenchless pipeline technologies, notably ground displacements and ground
stability around both horizontal directional drilling (HDD) and microtunnelling for
new pipeline construction and HV cable laying, and pipe bursting and pipe splitting
He led an EPSRC Engineering Programme Network infor on-line replacement.
Trenchless Technology (NETTWORK, 2000-2004), which spawned a number of initiatives
including research into long-distance, shallow-buried HV cable installation and Mapping
the Underworld (MTU). He leads the EPSRC-funded MTU programme, which initially
(2004-2008) consisted of four inter-linked projects on buried utility location, mapping, data
integration and asset tagging, and developed into to develop a multi-sensor geophysical
device to detect all buried utility services (www.mappingtheunderworld.ac.uk). This
research took on a new focus via a £5.8 million EPSRC Responsive Mode Grant (2013-
2017) to research the use of shallow-surface geophysics to assess the condition of road
structures, buried pipelines and cables, and the ground that supports them both –
Assessing the Underworld. He is CI of a complementary research programme exploring
the application of cold atom interferometry to the creation of a very sensitive gravity
gradiometer for both shallow and deep subsurface sensing (£2.4 million, GG-TOP) and
has a parallel interest in soft ground tunnelling.
Chemical stabilisation of clay soils, encompassing lime modification and
stabilisation of clays and contaminated clays, and the use of other additives such
His research has covered both surface andas cement, PFA and blast furnace slag.
deep stabilisation techniques, the latter including lime piles and chemical piles, deep mix-
in-place techniques and lime slurry pressure injection. More recent research has
concentrated on the use of electro-kinetics for soil stabilisation, dewatering liquid wastes
and accelerating cast iron pipe corrosion in clay soils.
Road and railway foundations, notably the assessment in situ of stiffness and
resistance to permanent deformation, and the chemical treatment of road
In particular he has studied lime- and lime-cementsubgrades and railway trackbeds.
stabilized subgrade soils cured under realistic environmental conditions.
Loess from different countries, including China, LibyaCollapsible soils, notably loess.
and the UK (where it is more commonly known as brickearth), has been studied to
determine both the degree of collapse and the mechanisms of collapse when it is loaded
and wetted. The constituents of the loess and the bonding mechanisms form the primary
focus of the research.
The move towards greater sustainability in utility service provision, underground
He led one of fifteenspace usage, geotechnical processes and urban regeneration.
consortia funded under the first round of grants awarded under the EPSRC Sustainable
Urban Environments (SUE) Programme to use the major Birmingham Eastside
(www.esr.bham.ac.uk) redevelopment initiative as a series of case study sites to explore
the challenges of introducing more sustainable solutions to the social, environmental and
economic problems faced by such developments. He subsequently led the Urban Futures
(www.designingresilientcities.co.uk) SUE 2 consortium, which characterised four

2. alternative extreme-yet-plausible future scenarios and developed a methodology for
testing the resilience of engineering interventions put in place today. Since many of these
interventions are both advanced in the name of sustainability and have very long design
lives, the methodology crucially highlights potentially vulnerability to contextual change.
Much of the geotechnical input to these projects has concerned the exploitation of
underground space beneath our cities.
Creation of cities and infrastructure systems for the far future. Building on Urban
Futures, Chris currently leads the £6.3 million EPSRC Programme Grant entitled Liveable
Cities – Transforming the Engineering of Cities to Deliver Societal and Planetary
Wellbeing. This multi-university grant is exploring urban metabolisms and how to assess
the performance of cities, both now and with radical engineering interventions in place.
He is also a Deputy Director of the £3.5 million iBUILD centre researching infrastructure
interdependencies and novel business models at the local and regional scales.
He leads the Birmingham Centre for Resilience Research and Education, a research
centre in the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences at Birmingham. A member of
the UK Government Foresight Future of Cities project (2013-2015), he led the University
of Birmingham Policy Commission on Future Urban Living and chairs the Institution of
Civil Engineers’ Innovation & Research Panel and Futures Group. He has been awarded
grants worth more than £25 million, supervised more than 50 Research Students and
Assistants and has published more 200 refereed journal and conference papers.
Current and Recent Research Projects
 Chemical Improvement of Clay Soils in situ Using Electrokinetic Processes
 Electro-Kinetic Acceleration of Cast Iron Corrosion in Clay Soils
 Installation of High Voltage Cables Over Long Distances Using Trenchless
Techniques
 Mapping the Underworld – Multi-Sensor Device for Buried Utility Services Location
 Assessing the Underworld
 A Geotechnical Model for the Prediction of Buried Cast Iron Pipe Performance and
Failure
 Sustainable Urban Redevelopment – Birmingham Eastside
 Sustainable Urban Redevelopment – Urban Futures
 Transforming the Engineering of Cities to Deliver Societal and Planetary Wellbeing –
Liveable Cities
 Mapping Artificial Lightscapes – Solutions to Artificial Light Pollution in Cities
 i-BUILD – Infrastructure BUsiness models, valuation and Innovation for Local
Delivery
 GG-TOP – Gravity Gradient - Technologies and Opportunities Programme