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Everybody Breathe In

Terrier - Restricted Access
Terrier – Restricted Access

The combination of restricted head room and a ‘confined space’ presents major obstacles to any site investigation. However, our Terrier rig was able to gain access and complete a  geo-environmental investigation in such a space. Its quite amazing where this little rig can get.
Access was through a standard doorway working with an overhead ceiling clearance of
less than 30mm with the machine set up. Precision operation was required to ensure we completed five boreholes, each to 6 metres in depth, with SPTs every metre, all in a safe and efficient manner.
The nature of the confined space meant that exhaust gases from the Terrier’s engine had to be vented to an outside area. We used an extendable sectional exhaust pipe to ensure a safe working environment. But just in case we also carried out carbon monoxide monitoring to ensure our crew’s safety.
Even better, our work was completed without the need to close the car repair workshop we were working in. allowing our client to continue panel bashing, filling and spraying to his hearts content.

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White Cliffs of Dover

White Cliffs of Dover
White Cliffs of Dover

We were commissioned to carry out a geotechnical investigation, including rock coring, at a site located just a stone’s throw from  the busy harbour of Dover.

Our Commachio 205 and drilling crew were able to produce high quality cores and gain SPT/CPT data from 4 boreholes, each drilled to a depth of 20m below ground level. All completed on time and on budget.

Voids were encountered at various depths fueling rumours of secret smuggling tunnels similar to those we found in Margate last year. Unfortunately the only treasure recovered were metres and metres of chalk. Better luck next time lads!

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Machu Pichu

alma roadOK 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.

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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

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Subadra Go Bananas

Replacement Pipework

We certainly get to work at a wide variety of different sites, but a call from a major banana distributor was a first even for us. The underground pipework carrying fuel to supply their trucks had failed and required urgent replacement. At short notice we were on site replacing the corroded steel pipework with modern plastic equivalents. We sampled the soil around the failed pipework and our in-house laboratory was able to confirm within 24 hours that no significant ground contamination had occurred. Within 36 hours the fuel supply system was back in commission and the banana trucks had started rolling again.

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Pile Probing Record Smashed

Tom joins the 100ft club

Tom Petzing, one of our Geoprobe operators, last week smashed our long-held drilling record completing 218m (yes, that really is two hundred and eighteen metres) of pile probing in a single day. The deepest location was probed to a depth of 32.4m, or 106ft in old money, which means that Tom joins our Managing Director as a member of the elite Geoprobe 100ft club. Well done Tom, the t-shirt is in the post!

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Subadra Complete New Fuel Storage Facility For Millenium Seedbank

This month saw us complete construction of a new fuel storage facility for Royal Botanic Gardens’ Millenium Seed Bank. A key aspect of the project was to ensure that the Seed bank was continuously supplied with fuel (used for heating greenhouses) as any protracted outage would have had dire consequences for the seeds. In the event the switchover was completed without a hitch.

Subadra were responsible for all the civils works (constructing the tank base and retaining walls, installing a dedicated drainage and spill capture system, electrical installation etc. Our partner, Vectec, were responsible for supplying and installing the tanks and associated pipework.

Contract Value: £50-100k

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Foundations for Key City Data Centre

Whilst much of our work in carried out in the provinces we sometimes dabble with high finance in the City.

Subadra played a key role in the development of an £80 million multi-storey data centre facility in London’s docklands area. We were brought in at the inception of the project to carry out a geotechnical and environmental investigation to determine ground conditions.

Our investigation comprised a network of boreholes across the development area that were used to collect soil samples for analysis and groundwater and hazardous gas monitoring points.

The site was especially tricky geotechnically, comprising areas of in-filled docks, some highly contaminated and others containing very soft silts and clays.

We used the data to assist with foundation design and the classification of waste soil.

Contract value: £20-50k