CASE STUDY

FUGRO
VICTORIA TOWER, GUERNSEY
Fugro was commissioned by The States of Guernsey to undertake a non-destructive
investigation of the historic Victoria Tower. The tower was built in 1848 to commemorate the
visit of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert to the island.

Background voids within the core wall as well as

The brief given to Fugro was to determine
the extent and location of voids and fissures
within the walls of the tower in order to
inform future phases of repair works to the
tower and to guide grouting or further
investigation options.
The tower has suffered from significant
water ingress over the last 10 years. A
number of condition surveys have been
carried out over this period, with the last
being completed in May 2014. This has
identified that the majority of the water
ingress is occurring through the wall
construction. Consequently the client has
begun to undertake a programme of repairs
to include grouting of routes, fissures and
repointing externally.
Method
The non-destructive testing undertaken by
Fugro comprised a ground penetrating
radar (GPR) and thermography survey of
the whole tower to inform the location and
extent of voids within the core wall. The aim
was to provide more certainty to later
phases of the repair programme.
Thermography relies on a differential heat
flow through the structure caused by having
one side of the structure significantly
warmer than the other, the presence of
internal features lead to a variation in The Victoria Tower was built in 1848 to
temperature at the surfaces, which can commemorate the surprise visit of Queen Victoria to
then be detected by the camera. Guernsey in 1846.

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 CASE STUDY

The thermography survey was conducted

on an evening where the ambient
temperature was 7-8°C and where the
interior of the tower had been heated for
8-9 hours. The thermal camera used was a
FLIR P620 which was set to the minimum
temperature scale of 2°C.

GPR data were collected using a 900 MHz

antenna as trials indicated this gave the
best balance between resolution of features
and penetration through the structure.
Where access allowed, GPR data were
collected along horizontal profiles at 250
mm spacing across each external elevation
between ground level and the top of the
corner turrets which surround the viewing
gallery.

Conclusions
Even though the interior of tower had been
heated, the thermal response was
dominated by the effects of surface relief
and finishes, surface wetness, preferential
cooling by any wind and preferential heating
by any sunshine and not by the presence of
voids within the wall.

The GPR data indicated that there were

varying degrees of voiding both directly
behind the facing and at varying depths
within the core of the wall. In general, there
was a greater amount of voiding within the
walls of the south and west elevations,
while the north-east corner of the tower
appeared to exhibit the least evidence of
voiding.
Temperature
GPR data is shown on the left, with red indicating higher degrees scale: 8.5°C
of voiding. Thermography - 10.5°C
image is shown
Thermography can be an extremely useful on the right
tool to identify voids and moisture ingress
within structures, particularly in the
presence of metal within the structure
which may cause errors in GPR data.
Thermography can be successfully used in
buildings, both within and from the exterior,
and also on structures, such as tunnels and
bridges.
© FUGRO 08 2016/FGSL-CAM/VICTOW

Fugro
E: geoservices.uk@fugro.com
www.fugro.com

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