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Eyesore No More

Tank Removal

We’ve recently been working on the prestigious Moor Park Estate, decommissioning a disused filling station in readiness for the site’s redevelopment with housing. The filling station closed over twenty years ago and all that was left were a few dilapidated lock up garages and rat infested undergrowth. In the past few weeks we have safely decommissioned and removed eight underground fuel storage tanks together with associated fuel pipework. Our in house laboratory has also tested soil samples from around the excavations and across the site, allowing us to confirm that we have successfully removed any contaminated soil associated with the site’s former use. In the next week we will be handing the site back to the client for the next stage in its development.

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‘The Sheds’ Passes Airtightness Test

Airtightness Testing being Filmed by Grand Designs

‘The Sheds‘, a Passivhaus residential project in the Cotswolds, took another important step forward recently when it passed its airtightness test, achieving 0.37 air exchanges per hour. This easily satisfies the Passivhaus requirement of 0.6 air exchanges per hour or lower. The Sheds, for which Subadra are both Project Manager and Passivhaus Designer remains on track to be the UK’s first residential Passivhaus Premium building.

The test was carried out by As Built Testing, and was filmed (as is the whole build) by Channel Four for their Grand Designs series. Keep your eyes open for it appearing on your TV screens later this year.

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Subadra’s 2021 Results

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.

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When Being Passive Just Isn’t Enough

The last decade has seen the Passivhaus standard become established as the gold standard for ‘eco’ housing in the UK. The original Passivhaus standard has recently been upgraded, with two new, more demanding levels added. The most stringent of these – Passivhaus Premium – has yet to be achieved in the UK.

So we are particularly excited to have been appointed as Project Manager, overseeing the design and construction of The Sheds which aims to be the UK’s first Passivhaus Premium house. Our in-house Certified Passivhaus Designer is currently leading the design effort, including PHPP midelling, and will then be overseeing the construction on site, ensuring that the rigorous building standards are met. We’ll be posting regular updates here as the project progresses.

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Corana Virus – 3D Printing Face Masks

The BBC yesterday published an article asking for people with 3D printers to volunteer to print facemasks for NHS staff and other health professionals. We’re proud to say that we’ve joined the effort and our 3D printer, which we normally use for prototyping equipment designs and for printing disposable parts, has been pressed into action and is now working 24/7 printing face mask components.

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Fame and Fortune

The APEA recently featured an interview with our very own James Edley. If you’d like to read James’ view on recent developments in the world of geo-environmental consultancy then please click on this link.

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Pot of Gold

They say there is a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow.

We aren’t sure our Geoprobe drillrig qualifies as that, but we liked the photo and thought we’d share it.

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All Work and No Play…..

We like to believe that we work pretty hard, but it’s always nice to get a chance to get some time off. We’re lucky enough to work very close to some of the most beautiful countryside in England, within sight of the challenging Wendover Woods mountain biking trails. So when someone suggested a ‘team building’ day on the trials, we weren’t short of volunteers. I think you’ll agree they’re a fine looking bunch…and that was before the ride.

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Corporate Memory….

Sites Mapped using Prism

We’ve been in business for over 25 years, and in that time we have worked at literally thousands of sites around the UK. So many, in fact, that we can’t always recall the details of each one. So, to aid our ‘corporate memory’, we’ve added a geo-location tool to our Prism software.

This quickly tells as all the sites where we’ve worked in any given area, which can be useful in determing the local geology or hydrogeology. It’s also useful in reminding us of where we’ve been!

Prism is our bespoke business and data management software. It runs our phones and email, our accounts, our laboratory, HSE and project management in one neat, intergrated package.

For more information about Prism please contact Duncan Eastland – 01296 739431.

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Tooting our Horn

It’s a great feeling when we get a good result for our client, particularly when it has involved delicate negotiations with a somewhat obdurate bureaucracy. But it’s an even better one when our efforts are recognised, so you can imagine how we felt receiving the following email:

“Finally, may I say a personal thank you for all your help in getting my site through the planning process; it has always been a struggle and, at times, a bit of a nightmare but we got there in the end and I have no doubt that your involvement and professionalism helped enormously in achieving this result.”

And yes, we know this is tooting our own horn, but if we can’t do that once in a while, who can?