Geo-Environmental Services
OK, this is unashamedly just a pretty picture of a multi-coloured rock core we recovered from a site recently.
We could tell you about the technical difficulties of recovering intact rock cores from interbedded soft and hard rock strata like these. But we’d rather you just enjoy the photo for what it is. Cor, what a beauty as a well known daily newspaper might have said.
For more information regarding our drilling capabilities please contact Angus Gale.
We just loved this photograph. At first glance it looks like the worms from Dune. But actually its the business end of one of our core barrels full of different kinds of rock: chert, flint, river terrace deposits. A nightmare to drill through, but as you can see it’s all in a day’s work for our drill crew.
If you have a drilling requirement at your site and would like to discuss it with us, then please contact Angus Gale.
We’re pleased to announce that 2021 was another hugely successful year for us. Turnover was up 50% and profits were up 600% from the previous year. This is a reflection of the hard work and dedication shown by all our staff. We are grateful to all our clients, suppliers and staff for their respective contributions to our success over the last year.
To meet the needs of the increasing demand for offsite construction for modular structures, highlighted by the government’s awarding of £3bn modular schools framework, we have invested in another set of fully accredited plate bearing testing equipment for assessing the suitability of temporary foundations or siting crane outriggers.
Of course, for those larger projects, we can offer full geo-environmental investigations, topographic surveys, utility surveys, laboratory testing, infiltration testing and CBR testing, all using our own equipment.
For more information, please contact Steven Partridge – 01296 739413
We do a lot of plate bearing and CBR tests every year. We can generally complete up to ten in a day, depending on ground conditions; softer ground takes longer to test. Our test kit is fully calibrated and we can provide you with results on the day of testing. If you’d like to know more then please contact Steven Partridge – 01296 739413.
Anyone who has served in the armed forces is probably familiar with the saying “time spent on reconnaissance is rarely wasted”. The civilian equivalent might be “prior planning prevents poor performance”. We think this is good advice and so we always do a comprehensive underground utility survey, including reviewing records held by the relevant utility companies, before breaking ground at any site. If you think this might seem overkill then we recommend that you click on this link.
If you’d like to know more about our underground utility surveys please contact Steven Partridge – 01296 739413
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It certainly feels like autumn today. Both temperatures and leaves are falling; winter is coming!
So it seemed like the perfect time to take our latest set of surveying equipment out on site for a test drive. It may not look much but the TopCon DS103 Robotic Total Station is the very latest in precision survey kit, whether for carrying out topographic surveys prior to scheme design or for setting out on a construction site.
We’d be delighted to discuss any survey requirements you have. Please contact Steven Partridge – 01296 739413
We were recently appointed to complete Geo-Environmental Investigations at two new school sites, to be constructed using the latest modular construction methods.
Our investigation involved 100m of linear drilling, environmental and geotechnical laboratory testing, over 50m of dynamic probing, soakaway testing, trial pits, CBR tests, Plate Bearing Tests, Topographic surveys, CCTV surveys and utility surveys. All the site works were completed within 3 days and reports issued within 2 weeks.
Surely that gets an A*!
We live in an age dominated by IT and its ability to crunch data. Without doubt this can yield significant benefits, but do we sometimes lose sight of reality as a result?
We were recently asked by a regulator to supply CBR results to two decimal places. Now, we can calculate data to any number of decimal places using the IT tools available to us, but just because we can doesn’t mean we should. Anyone familaiar with CBR testing will know that the test just isn’t that accurate. Quoting a CBR result to the nearest 0.1% might (just) be realistic for soft/loose materials. But quoting a result to the nearest 0.01% implies an accuracy that just isn’t warranted. The precision of the answer isn’t justified by the accuracy of the test.
So this is a plea for regulators (and anyone else for that matter) to apply a little common sense, and to remember the difference between accuracy and precision.
It’s the holiday season and, if you’re about to head off for a week or two of bliss in the sunshine with the family, spare a thought for our field services teams. When we asked them if they fancied a midweek stay in a caravan park, they jumped at the chance. We might have omitted to tell them that they’d be busy all day completing soakaway testing for an extension to the caravan park.
Being the good sports that they are they completed four tests, all in accordance with BRE365, and our detailed report was issued to the client the following day.