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Tight Access for Investigation

TerrierWe have recently completed an incident response investigation of a domestic heating oil installation located at the centre of a residential accommodation block complex in southern England. The site overlies chalk and is located just 100m from a public drinking water supply borehole.

Following complaints of possible oil contamination issues from the residents we took samples of the underlying soils and audited the fuel installation. With only footpaths leading to the tank installation we used our Terrier drilling system – which can fit through a standard doorway – to install boreholes either side of the oil tank and take soil samples for rapid analysis in our UKAS laboratory. Fortunately no significant soil contamination had occurred and our recommended improvements to the installation are now underway. The entire project, from initial enquiry instruction to report issue, was completed in under 4 days.

Project value ~£2k. Client value £££

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Subadra top HSE Audit

Earlier this week our Health and Safety systems were audited by a major oil company. We scored 88%, one of the highest score the auditors have ever recorded and a 4% improvement from the last time we were audited.

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Groundwater Treatment at Major Airport

Airport Remediation
Groundwater Treatment in Place

We have recently been appointed to carry out long-term treatment to remove a range of contaminants, including Jet-A1, glycol and iron, from dewatering effluent at a major airport in southern England. Key to our success in winning the work was:

a) Our ability to deliver a modular treatment system that could be dismantled, moved and reassembled quickly and easily to suit construction activities;

b) Our in-house laboratory’s fast analysis turnaround ensuring early confirmation that discharge consent limits are not being exceeded.

For more information please contact James Skinner.

Contract Duration: 12-18 months      Contract value: £100-£250k

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Pile Probing Challenge

We do like a challenge, so when a client asked if we could probe 65 pile locations in a single day we said yes. Just to make it more of a challenge our client also wanted soil samples taken from each location and analysed for a range of potential contaminants.

The site was an office car park crammed with cars during the week, so the probing had to take place at the weekend. With noise restrictions preventing Sunday working and project deadlines meaning the work had to be completed in a single day, we knew we would have our work cut out. Each location required us to core the surface pavement, take a soil sample from the upper metre of soil profile and probe to 3.6m depth – a total of 234m of probing. But happily, using our Geoprobe Direct Push drill rig we were able to get everything completed in time to see the kick-off of the FA Cup.

The soil samples were dropped off at our own laboratory later the same day for ‘fast track’ analysis and the results provided to the client 3 days later.

 

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Could this be summer?

Sunny Day on Site

Sometimes it really just isn’t that bad to be on site! Could this be the start of a long, hot summer? We hope so.

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Opportunities at Subadra

We are busier than ever and are now looking to recruit to help deal with our busy workload.

We are interested in hearing from graduates seeking their first position and from those with 2-3 years experience looking to take the next step in their career.

Both roles will suit candidates who want to stand out from the grey masses, who will enjoy working in a very ‘hands-on’, practical role for a company that prides itself on solving problems and providing solutions rather than writing endless, dull reports that say nothing and lead nowhere.

If you are bright, innovative, have a ‘can-do’ attitude and want to join the UK’s most successful geo-environmental consultancy then we are interested in hearing from you. Please send your CV together with a covering letter to Duncan Eastland.

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Faster WAC Analysis

Soil Tumbler

We’ve recently upgraded our laboratory’s facilities for waste classification (WAC) analysis. We already offer the fastest turnaround analysis in the UK, but we can now analyse a greater number of samples after installing our new soil tumbler. Designed and fabricated in-house, this allows us to simultaneously complete the leachate stage of the analysis on an additional 12 samples per day. These can either be samples supplied by our clients or samples taken by our technicians at clients’ sites.

If you’d like to know more about our WAC analysis or if you are a laboratory and would like to purchase a similar soil tumbler, then please contact Duncan Eastland – 01296 739431.

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When Things Get Tricky

Removing USTs with truss in foreground

Subadra have recently completed what has been, perhaps, our trickiest ever underground tank removal. The tanks at the former filling station were located close to the site boundary. Removing them might destabilise a Victorian house on the adjacent property. To prevent this a contiguous bored pile wall was installed together with a supporting steel truss. Our job was to safely ease the tanks out from under the truss without compromising its structural integrity, before cutting them up and disposing of them as scrap metal. All this on a crowded site with construction of the new structures well underway.

Contract Value £20-£50k

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Probing the Depths – Part Two

The headline “ground swallows car” sounds as if it comes straight out of a Hollywood horror film. But it is actually surprisingly common in areas with either chalk or limestone geology or with a history of mining (which could be for clay or salt as well as for coal).

If you are considering constructing foundations you may wish to consider commissioning us to ‘pile probe’ the area first. Not only will this identify shallow obstructions but it will identify swallow holes, solution features and abandoned underground workings such as the ones that caused this:

Ground Swallows Car

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Subadra Celebrates 21st Birthday

Subadra celebrated its 21st birthday this week with its best annual results for 8 years. Our turnover increased by 35% and profits by 250%. With lots of exciting developments planned for 2014, the prospects for the year ahead looks even brighter.: we promise to keep you posted. Meantime we’d just like to say thank you to all our clients, suppliers and staff who have supported us over the last year.