Abstract: A simplified approach for predicting settlement of the adjacent buildings due to excavation is proposed. The settlement of building foundation can be obtained merely according to the basic information of the excavation. Compared with the previous approaches, this approach considers the foundation stiffness and avoids complex numerical modelling. Based on distribution pattern of ground surface settlement, the reduction rules of deep soil settlement is analyzed, and the settlement distribution curve of deep soils is obtained. According to the partition characteristics of excavation environmental impact, the settlement distribution curve above the excavation face is suggested. Since the stiffness of building foundation and ground stabilization is far greater than that of the surrounding soils, and the settlement of buildings mainly results from soil deformation under the building foundation. Therefore, the settlement of soils under the building foundation can be taken as that of the buildings, which can be represented by the settlement curve of deep soils. The comparison between the monitoring data and the calculated results obtained by the simplified approach is in good agreement, which indicates the simplified approach can be employed to predict the settlement of buildings induced by excavation.