Forensic Engineering

The Ground Always Leaves Evidence.

Every site carries a record of itself: how the soil settled, where the water moved, whether the slope held. Almost none of it shows from the surface.
When something fails, that record is the evidence — and reading it correctly is the difference between theory and a finding that holds up under cross-examination.

GES is retained to investigate slope failures, foundation distress, and ground-related damage, and to explain what happened in terms a court, an adjuster, or an owner can act on.
The same skill that lets us prevent failures lets us reconstruct them.

Forensic Services

  • Forensic investigation of slope and landslide failures; foundation and structural distress; root-cause and back-analysis; identification of pre-existing shear surfaces.

  • Qualitative and probabilistic (deterministic) risk assessment, including EGBC legislated-landslide methodology; peer review and second opinions.

  • Expert reports and testimony; arbitration; litigation and insurance-claim support.

An expert is only as useful as their credibility.

GES's principal holds a PhD in geotechnical engineering from Imperial College London, has more than 40 years of practice, has published case histories on detecting pre-existing shear surfaces, and has been retained as both expert witness and arbitrator. He has also been the presenter of in-person professional-ethics seminars for Engineers and Geoscientists BC.

The independence and rigour an expert engagement demands aren't an afterthought here; they are our promise.

Four-Step Forensic Process

Establish the Question

We begin with what failed and what's in dispute: the timeline, the parties, and the precise question the investigation has to answer.

Investigate the Failure

We examine the site and the evidence directly — what the ground, the structure, and the records reveal about what actually happened.

Determine the Cause

Analysis and back-analysis reconstruct the sequence of events and isolate the cause to separate what failed from why it failed.

Report & Testify

We set out our findings in clear, defensible terms — and, when a matter goes further, present them as expert testimony that holds up under cross-examination.

Let’s Work Together

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