Coventry sits on a mix of Mercia Mudstone and river terrace deposits, with superficial soils often exceeding 10 m in depth and groundwater levels varying seasonally by up to 2 m. These conditions make shear wave velocity profiling essential for seismic site classification under Eurocode 7. We deploy MASW (Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves) to measure Vs30 directly, avoiding the cost and disruption of borehole-based crosshole surveys. The method works well across Coventry's urban fabric, where traffic and construction noise can challenge other geophysical techniques. Before field acquisition we review existing BGS records to optimise the spread geometry, and we routinely combine MASW with georradar-gpr to map shallow utilities and void hazards that affect wave propagation. The output is a continuous 1-D shear wave velocity profile down to 30 m, classified into ASCE 7 Site Classes A through F.
Direct Vs30 measurement via MASW eliminates the uncertainty of N-SPT correlations in stiff clays and weak mudstones typical of the Coventry area.