1.1.1                            RECLAIMED LAND WITH CONSOLIDATION SUBSTANTIALLY COMPLETED

Substantial consolidation will have occurred in land that had been reclaimed a long time ago and the design rules specified in clause 2.4.1 therefore need not be followed unless the building superstructure is particularly sensitive to movement or there is evidence showing noticeable on-going ground settlement. For practical design purpose, the effect of consolidation may be ignored when the ground has undergone a minimum of 95% of primary consolidation settlement. In the absence of a detailed consolidation assessment, the number of years after reclamation required to achieve the 95% degree of consolidation for marine clay of an aggregate thickness  H  could be taken as follows:

Thickness of clayey deposits without interbedding sand/silt layers, H	Number of years
H ≤ 5m	10
5m < H ≤ 10m	20
10m < H ≤ 15m	30

The above table does not apply to situation where site formation works (except for minor filling up of ground e.g. for the construction of on-grade floor slabs) will be carried out and/or extensive shallow foundation with high soil bearing pressure will be placed to further consolidate the reclaimed lands.