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SPOSH? POSH? What’s in an Acronym?

Drilling with Terrier

SPOSH? POSH? (insert baffling acronym of your choice here). Sometimes our industry really makes a meal of what should be a simple process. How do you determine if a site is contaminated or not? We think the answer is simple: do a decent site investigation!

We have recently been working at site that proved to be a classic example of a ‘cheap’ site investigation saving nothing. The original investigation was carried out by others four years ago. After many other consultants were hired but failed to provide any clear answers (or any answers at all) we were commissioned to break the impasse.

We constructed 180 boreholes on a 5m grid using one of our dynamic sampling rigs. Boreholes and sampling locations were surveyed using GPS allowing us to develop a 3D contaminant profile of the site. Finally
sufficient information is now available to allow our client to make sensible decisions regarding future use and/or remedial strategy for the site. All this without resorting to any obscure and baffling acronyms.

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Mother’s Ruin – Piling Probing at Bombay Sapphire’s New Gin Distillery

The Bombay Spirits Company are building a new gin distillery and visitors’ centre on the site of an old paper mill in Laverstoke, Hampshire.
The mill is registered by English Heritage and is considered of significant historical importance; during the first half of the century the site held the license to print money for the Bank of England. Wherever possible existing buildings are being retained and restored to their former glory. However, the mill was first established on the site in the early 1700s so many of the buildings need some serious TLC before they can again become usable. This includes improvements to foundations in some cases.
Subadra were called in to assist in the redevelopment, Project Manta, as a specialist in ground conditions and foundations to carry out pile probing around the perimeter and inside of one of the old mill buildings located on the banks of the River Test, which flows through the centre of the site.
We probed 25 locations in a single day using one of our highly manoeuvrable tracked drilling rigs, which proved perfect for the job. We identified shallow obstructions at several locations, allowing the project engineers to revise their piling plan and ultimately reduce costs and delays to the foundation improvement works.

Gin Distillery

We then carried out plate bearing tests, prior to piling, to confirm the surface soils could provide a suitable platform for the piling rig.

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UKAS Accreditation Extended

We have recently received confirmation from UKAS that our accreditation has been extended to include analysis for MTBE (an additive in unleaded petrol), COD (a measure of gross contamination in water) and Ammonia. For more information, to obtain a quote or to submit samples for analysis please contact Kate Clark on 01296 739423.

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Plate Bearing Tests for Wind Turbines

Concrete Base for Turbine Tower

SSE Renewables, in partnership with the Port of Tilbury, is installing four wind turbines at Tilbury Port in Essex.  The project is currently under construction. Once complete, their wind power will provide 50% of the Port’s energy needs. But late on Wednesday the project ran into problems. No plate bearing tests had been carried out to assess the stability of the outriggers of the giant crane that would lift the turbine nacelle and blades into place. We were contacted at 1pm the following day and were on site within 2 hours. We completed plate bearing tests at each crane location and by the time we left site at 8.30pm the first crane was moving into position, the project back on track.

For more information or to arrange plate bearing testing, please contact Duncan Eastland Tel. 01296 739431

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Subadra Awarded Multi-Site Portfolio

We have been awarded the contract to carry out pre-redevelopment site investigations at a portfolio of approximately 30 filling stations across the UK for a major fuel retailer. The contract requires both environmental and geotechnical assessment of each site. Key to our successful bid was the fact that we will be carrying out all the work using our own drilling rigs and our own UKAS/MCerts laboratory, allowing us to be confident of meeting the very demanding project deadlines. This contract confirms our position as the UK’s #1 environmental consultancy in the retail fuel sector.

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Subadra Celebrates 20th Anniversary

It seems a long time ago that I filled in some forms and posted them off to Companies House to register Subadra. Since then we’ve come a long way: we bought our current offices 12 years ago; were accredited by UKAS 7 years ago; and have worked on projects as far away as Siberia, as remote as St Helena Island and as high profile as Terminal 5 Heathrow.

I am proud of our record of innovation: the first consultancy to use quantitative risk assessment, the first to design and build modular soil/groundwater treatment equipment, the first to use hydrofracturing as a remediation technique, still the only consultancy able to offer a fully integrated service – from initial investigation, through laboratory testing and computer modelling to final remediation – using only our own resources. But much more than that I am proud  that clients we worked with 20 years ago are still our clients today.

So on our 20th anniversary I’d like to say thank you to everyone who has worked with us over the years, whether as client, supplier or as a colleague. To quote Vinni Jones: “It’s been emotional”.

Duncan Eastland

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Out on the Wiley, Windy Moors

Drilling in the Rain

December saw us out in the middle of Dartmoor drilling water wells. Frail insfrastucture and maintenance issues  had driven one Devonian farmer to drinking water distraction. The water well supplying their property was a shared supply and each year they were expected to contribute to the maintenance of the lengthy, unreliable water pipe. We were commissioned to design and install a new well to serve just their property, together with all associated pipework, electrics, buffer tank etc as a ‘turnkey’ package.

We used modern installation techniques and our Comacchio drill rig, capable of drilling in excess of 100m, to construct a 46m deep borehole lined with a modern PVC screen, a graded filter pack, cattleproof/watertight inspection chamber, ducting into the property, cabling, pipe work, pressure vessel, on demand water flow controls, piped into the existing supply and insultated against the hardest frost. All  works were completed in only four days.

If you’d like to know more about our water well installation service or would like a quote for your own water supply, please call Duncan Eastland (Tel. 01296 739431).

 

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Water, Water Everywhere

Treatment System in Operation

We are currently assisting in the treatment of construction wastewater from a filling station redevelopment in Dorset. Working with the primary works contractor, we provided a system that is capable of pumping and treating high volumes of hydrocarbon-contaminated water from deep excavations.

Our in house designed, modular treatment plant was efficiently dealt with two both suspended solids and hydrocarbon contamination, ensuring all the effluent met the site’s discharge licence conditions.

We installed and tested the system at an early stage of the works allowing us to collect and analyse samples in our UKAS accredited laboratory and use this information to assist in obtaining a temporary discharge license from the local sewerage undertaker. This meant the
contractor was able to discharge effluent direct to the foul sewer.

With the high costs and project delays associated with tankering hydrocarbon-contaminated wastewater from site our fully mobile and modular dewatering systems are a simple and cost effective way of dealing with dewatering effluent.

Project value: less than £10k

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What Do You Do on a Cold, Wet Saturday?

When one of our clients rang late in the week to ask if we could carry out some CBR testing on a motorway hard shoulder the next Saturday we should have checked the weather forecast before saying yes. Saturday saw high winds and torrential rain – but more importantly for our client, it also saw us complete the required CBR testing despite the weather conditions. Just for good measure we also carried out some Mackintosh probing at no additional cost.

Contract value <£1k

If you need CBR testing, Plate Bearing testing, dynamic probing or pile probing then please contact Duncan Eastland (Tel: 01296 739431).

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Motorway Service Area Investigation

Earlier this month we were awarded a contract to investigate the forecourt area at a motorway service area in southern England, for a major oil company, as part of a leasehold transition.
With data from over thirty boreholes and monitoring wells this was a relatively detailed investigation for forecourt investigation. However, our client understood that carrying our a comprehensive combined environmental and geotechnical ground investigation at an early stage invariable pays saves money in the long run.
We used our GeoProbe direct-push drilling system to construct boreholes, targeting key areas such as the below-ground fuel tanks, fuel lines and forecourt interceptor. We then analysed the soil and groundwater samples for our hydrocarbon suite at our own UKAS
accredited laboratory.
Our investigation report has provided our client with a detailed baseline study confirming ground quality and highlighting any areas of contamination at the time they took over mangement of the site.
Contract value £25k