Geo-Environmental Services
OK so not exactly Peru, but a very steep, terraced site in the Chilterns.
The extremely tight access didn’t prevent our site team from getting in and completing a comprehensive geotechnical investigation, including soil sampling and dynamic probing to 10m depth. The work was completed on time and on budget, with dynamic probing data issued to the client on a ‘same day’ basis to assist with pile design.
We 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 £££
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.
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
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.
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:
Subadra have been retained by a major food wholesaler/distributor to carry out a comprehensive audit/investigation of the fuel storage and supply infrastructure at a multi-site portfolio across the UK. Key to winning the contract was our ability to complete the project within a tight timescale. This is only possible because of our unique approach whereby every aspect of the project will be carried out using in house resources, from borehole drilling through to laboratory analysis; and, of course, our competitive rates!
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.
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.
We then carried out plate bearing tests, prior to piling, to confirm the surface soils could provide a suitable platform for the piling rig.
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.