HMS Ganges Suffolk

Delivering Engineering Certainty at Scale – HMS Ganges Redevelopment

Survey Solutions successfully delivered a fully integrated survey for HMS Ganges across the expansive 60-acre redevelopment site on the Shotley Peninsula, Suffolk. Supporting early-stage planning and risk mitigation, this project required a multi-disciplinary surveying approach for a uniquely complex regeneration of a historic naval site.

Once a Royal Navy training base and later a police training centre, HMS Ganges has been derelict since the 1990s. The site is now earmarked for a transformative mixed-use development, bringing unique challenges due to heritage assets, protected habitats, and uncharted legacy infrastructure.

Working in direct partnership with the developer, our Ipswich-based team led the full end-to-end scope. We combined detailed building, topographical and utility surveys to provide critical data informing restoration plans, ecological compliance, and long-term infrastructure design.

Building Surveys for Historic Assets

We conducted high-resolution 3D laser scans on three prominent structures: the abandoned swimming pool and two Grade II listed buildings – Vincent House and Nelson House. The latter, a former drill hall, will be revitalised into a public library and café. Survey outputs included precise floor plans and elevations, modelled into Revit to support a collaborative BIM design environment.

The full site was mapped using total station instruments, despite the challenges of overgrown vegetation and inaccessible boundaries. Key attention was given to WWII-era bunkers, many filled in and deemed unstable. These areas were carefully surveyed without physical entry, ensuring health and safety remained paramount.

Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and Electromagnetic Location (EML) techniques were deployed to trace underground utilities. Outputs were delivered in both CAD and PDF to support the design process. Concurrently, we worked alongside the project’s ecological consultant to protect local bat habitats and meet environmental compliance requirements.

By delivering a consolidated HMS Ganges Suffolk survey, we provided a single point of contact and a harmonised data set that underpinned safe, informed decision-making. Our work formed the backbone for sustainable redevelopment of this historically significant site, ensuring risk-aware, environmentally sensitive progress.