Land contamination can give rise to volatile contaminants which can pose a risk of harm to human health by asphyxiation or illness if inhaled. Vapours and gases such as methane may also pose a risk of fire or explosion.

ASTM

• Standard Guide for Evaluating Potential Hazard as a result of Methane in the Vadose Zone. ASTM E2993-16. 2016 
• Standard Guide for Risk-Based Corrective Action. ASTM, E2081-00. 2016.

Basement Information Centre

• Basements: Ground gases and structural waterproofing. The basement Information Centre, 2021.

BRE

• Construction of New Buildings on Gas-contaminated Land, BR212.  BRE, 1991. (INFO-RA-4a)
• Protective measures for housing on gas-contaminated land. BRE Report 414. 2001.
• Radon: Guidance on protective measures for new buildings, BR211. 2015. BRE. WITHDRAWN
• Radon: Guidance on protective measures for new buildings, 2023, BRE.

BSI

• Guidance on investigations for ground gas – permanent gases and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). BS 8576. BSI, 2013.
• Code of Practice for the design of protective measures for methane and carbon dioxide ground gases in new buildings. BS8485. BSI. 2015. SUPERSEDED
• Code of Practice for the design of protective measures for methane and carbon dioxide ground gases in new buildings, BS8485. BSI. 2019.

Chartered Institute of Environmental Health

• The Local Authority Guide to Ground Gas. Wilson, S., Card, G. and Haines, S.: Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, London, 2008. - Out of Print

CIRIA

• Methane: Its Occurrence and Hazards in Construction, R130. CIRIA,1993. (INFO-RA2-4b).
• Protecting Development from Methane, R149. CIRIA,1995. (INFO-RA2-4c).
• Interpreting Measurements of Gas in the Ground, R151. CIRIA, 1995. (INFO-RA2-4d).
• Risk Assessment for Methane and Other Gases from the Ground, R152. CIRIA, 1995. (INFO-RA2-4e).
• Assessing Risks Posed by Hazardous Ground Gases to Buildings. C665. CIRIA, 2007.
• The VOC Handbook. Investigation, Assessing and Managing Risks from Inhalation of VOCs at Land Affected by Contamination. Baker et al. CIRIA C682, 2009.
• Good practice on the testing and verification of protection systems for buildings against hazardous ground gases. Mallett, H. , Cox L, Wilson s, Corban M. CIRIA C735, 2014.
• Guidance on the use of plastic membranes as VOC vapour barriers. Wilson, S., Abbot, A. and Mallett, H. CIRIA C748, 2014.
• Retrofitting hazardous ground gas protection measures in existing or refurbished buildings. Wilson S, Sopp G, Mallett H and Card G. CIRIA C795, 2020.
• A site guide for managing ground gases. Mortimer S, Wilson S and Corban M. CIRIA C801, 2021.

CL:AIRE

• The utility of continuous monitoring in the detection and prediction of worst case ground gas concentration. RB13. CL:AIRE, 2011.
• A pragmatic approach to Ground Gas Risk Assessment. RB17. CL:AIRE, 2012.
• Complete continuous monitoring in underfloor voids. TB16. CL:AIRE 2018
• Ground gas monitoring and "worst case" conditions. TB17. CL:AIRE, 2018
• Continuous ground-gas monitoring and the lines of evidence approach to risk assessment. TB18. CL:AIRE, 2019
• Video: Verification of Gas Protection Measures

Environment Agency

• Vapour Transfer of Soil Contaminants, R&D Technical Report P5-018/TR. EA, 2002. (INFO-RA2-4h) (PDF, 1.6MB)
  
• Landfill Gas Technical Guidance Note 7. Guidance on Monitoring Landfill Gas Surface Emissions. V2 2010.
• ACUMEN-Assessing, Capturing and Utilising Methane from Expired and Non-operational Landfills. ACUMEN Project Report - Managing Landfill Gas at Closed and Historic Sites. EC Project ref. LIFE11 ENV/UK/402
• GasSim (simulation tool for gas emissions and migration from landfill), 2012.

Ground Engineering

• Reliability and Risk in Gas Protection Design. Wilson S. & Card G. Ground Engineering, January 1999.
• Reliability and Risk in Gas Protection Design: 20 years on, Part 1. Wilson S., Card G. and Lucas J. Ground Engineering, August 2019.
• Reliability and Risk in Gas Protection Design: 20 years on, Part 2. Wilson S., Card G. and Lucas J. Ground Engineering, September/October 2019.

Info4education

• Passive Venting of Soil Gases Beneath Buildings. DETR/PIT, 1997. (INFO-RA2-4f) Volume 1 (Guide for Design)
• Volume 2 (Computational Fluid Dynamics Modelling: Example Output) 

Land Contamination & Reclamation

• Modular approach to analysing vapour migration into buildings in the UK. Wilson S. July 2008, Land Contamination & Reclamation 16(3).
• Quantifying risks due to ground gas on brownfield sites. J.A Sladen, A. Parker and G.L.Dorrell. Land Contamination & Reclamation 9(2).

NHBC

• Guidance on Evaluation of Development Proposals on Sites Where Methane and Carbon Dioxide are Present. 10627-R01(04). NHBC and RSK Group. NHBC , 2007.
• Hazardous Ground Gas - An essential guide for housebuilders (NF94). NHBC, April 2023.

United States Environmental Protection Agency

• Petroleum Hydrocarbons and Chlorinated Solvents Differ in their Potential Vapor Intrusion. USEPA, 2012
• Technical Guide Addressing Petroleum Vapor Intrusion at Leaking Underground Storage Tank Sites. EPA510-R-15-001, USEPA, June 2015
• Technical Guide for Assessing and Mitigating Vapor Intrusion Pathway from Subsurface Vapor Sources to Indoor Air. OSWER Publication 9200.2-154, USEPA, 2015

Others

• Vertical screening distances for total petroleum hydrocarbon for vapour intrusion risk assessment at petroleum underground storage tank sites. Lahvis, M A. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, 51, 3-12, 2017. 
• Corrosion and puncture resistance of aluminium foil gas membranes beneath concrete slabs. Lucas J and Wilson S. Geosynthetics International, ISSN 1751-7613, Volume 27 Issue 4, August 2020. pp.451-459.
• The Monitoring of Landfill Gas, Landfill Gas Monitoring Working Group report. IWM, 1998. (INFO-RA2-4g). This report is out of print but may be available from subscription libraries.
• Gas protection measures for buildings. Methodology for the quantitative design of gas dispersal layers. Owen, R. and Paul, V. Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference – Polluted and Marginal Land. 1998
• Ground Gas Handbook. Wilson S, Card G, Haines S. Whittles Publishing. 2009.

Ongoing Update of Ground Gas Handbook - Ground Gas Information Sheets:

• Ground Gas information Sheet No 1. Using ternary plots for interpretation of gas monitoring results.
• Ground Gas information Sheet No 2. Dissolved methane monitoring for ground gas risk assessment.
• Ground Gas information Sheet No 3. Screening approach for landfill gas migration around landfill sites.
• Ground Gas information Sheet No 4. Basement waterproofing and ground gas.
• Ground Gas information Sheet No 5. Gas membranes and “compliance” with BS8485.
• Ground Gas information Sheet No 6. Using purge and recovery tests in ground gas risk assessment.
• Ground Gas information Sheet No. 9.  Multiple lines of evidence approach using continuous monitoring data.