Overview
North Berwick Harbour is a historic working harbour on Scotland’s east coast, in operation for more than eight centuries. Today it’s managed by the North Berwick Harbour Trust and serves as a vibrant hub for leisure craft, fishing boats, and wildlife tour operators—playing a key role in the local economy and tourism industry.
Terrain Surveys were commissioned by the Harbour Trust to undertake a comprehensive utility survey of the entire harbour area. The survey was essential to accurately map underground services, ensuring the safety of future maintenance or improvement works and supporting informed decision-making for the long-term management of this important community asset.
Survey
Our team travelled north to the coastal site and spent five days on site conducting a full underground utility survey. The work combined several complementary methods:
- Electro-Magnetic Locating (EML) to trace metallic and conductive services.
- Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) to detect non-metallic utilities and verify locations.
- A Desktop Utility Records Search to cross-check findings and compile existing data.
Liaising closely with the Harbour Trust, we planned the work carefully to minimise disruption to daily operations, moored vessels, and visitors using the quayside. The use of both EML and GPR allowed us to achieve a high level of accuracy even in challenging marine and tidal environments.
Results
Terrain Surveys delivered a complete set of detailed utility drawings, clearly mapping the location and depth of underground services throughout the harbour area. The data provides the Harbour Trust with an accurate, up-to-date record of all utilities on site—critical for safe excavation, planning, and maintenance.
This information will help ensure that future development and improvement works can proceed confidently and safely, supporting the continued upkeep and sustainable management of one of Scotland’s most historic and important coastal harbours.
