18th June 2013, at The Royal Institution, 21 Albemarle Street, London W1S 4BS.

The event will cover such topics as:

• What are the drivers towards improving Health and Safety?
• What is new?
• How can compliance be achieved?

With speakers from Health and Safety Executive, PAS 128 Drafting Team,
DETS, London Thames Tideway Tunnels, VINCI Construction UK Limited and BDA the seminar will be of interest to all those involved with the geotechnical drilling industry.

Soil Engineering Geoservices celebrated winning three awards and being highly commended at last week’s Ground Engineering Awards.

The awards are for:
UK Project with a Geotechnical Value up to £1m – Crusader Avenue, Glasgow
Product & Equipment Innovation – Digital Data Collection from Ground Investigations – Key Logbook
Ground Investigation Specialist of the Year
Soil Engineering were also Highly Commended in the category of Technical Excellence for the work carried out at London Bridge Station. The entry for this award concentrated on the multi-point sampling undertaken within deep shafts.

Soil Engineering Geoservices Limited are now a fully registered supplier on Achilles UVDB for the following products / services:

2.9.7 Concrete Services
4.1.6 Reservoir/Dam/Weir/Lock
4.1.23 Land Reinstatement Services
4.1.25 Foundation Services
4.1.53 Ground Work/Levelling Works
4.3.11 Borehole & Well Drilling
4.6.1 Technical Consultancy
4.6017 Scientific Consultancy
4.6.19 Archaeological Consultancy & Surveys
4.6.27 Geotechnical Site Investigation Services
4.99.5 Testing & analysis Services (Utilities)
4.99.11 Diving Services

Soil Engineering Geoservices received scores of between 79.5 % and 96.4% when assessed for Safety, Health, Environmental and Quality practices and procedures as a registered supplier on Verify.

Geotechnical specialists Soil Engineering Geoservices are delighted to announce the appointment of Sam Finch as a Principal Engineering Geologist working out of the Camberley office.

With a first degree in Earth Sciences (Applied Geology) and a Master’s Degree in Geotechnical Engineering, Sam has over twenty years’ experience in the field of geotechnical site investigation. Sam’s experience is predominantly gained working in the south of the UK with particular knowledge and expertise of the London and South East region.

Sam’s Key Role Responsibilities will include management of the whole life of contracts within the Southern Operations business and ensuring works are carried out in accordance with the Clients specification and deliverables are issued on time and in line with budget.

Helping to develop relationships with new and established Clients and to foster relationships with the constituent Bachy companies at Camberley.

The subcommittees or evolution groups are made up of countries from across Europe and Matthew is representing the United Kingdom with regard to producing clarification on the derivation of characteristic values for use in geotechnical design. The standards are due for publication in there revised format in 2018.

Due to ever-increasing demand, Soil Engineering Geoservices Limited [SEGL] have recently increased their investment in equipping rigs within their drilling fleet with Drilling Parameter Recording [DPR] equipment. This capability now extends across the range from compact crawler-mounted multi-function rigs to high capacity rigs capable of drilling to depths in excess of 150m

On a current major SEGL project in West Africa which commenced in December 2012 and is scheduled to be completed in April 2013, three DPR equipped rotary drilling rigs are drilling both openhole and wireline cored boreholes to depths of up to 60m whilst in the UK DPR has been specified for boreholes up to 150m deep to assist in defining the thickness and geotechnical characteristics of a site known to be underlain by superficial Quaternary deposits of variable and often considerable thickness overlying what is initially weak bedrock.

DPR, also known as Measurement while Drilling or MWD, comprises the recording of the drilling rig parameters during rotary and/or rotary percussive drilling using computerised systems to monitor a series of sensors installed on the rig which provide data both in real-time and recorded, without interfering with the drilling process. Normally used with open-hole drilling techniques with rock-roller, drag bit or button bit, DPR can also be used with core drilling, both conventional and wireline, to augment information obtained from recovery of core samples.

Work is currently in progress to produce a European Standard for DPR. This is being developed as part of the ISO EN 22476 series on Geotechnical investigation and testing and is titled ‘Field Testing – Measuring while drilling’ Under consideration is the concept of ‘categories’ of DPR dependant upon the number of measured parameters.

First introduced to the UK by SEGL in 2009 and utilised on numerous investigations since, a typical recent project carried out using DPR was one to investigate a subsidence collapse at a site at Cramlington, Northumberland. The work was carried out for Client The Coal Authority and took place along an existing access road to a pharmaceutical works where a subsidence depression had been observed at the surface. The subsidence was thought likely to be due to the existence of unrecorded coal workings in the area.

he investigation comprised the drilling of 10 boreholes using a combination of rotary open-hole and rotary coring methods to depths of approximately 35m with all drilling being carried out using DPR to provide a continuous record of drilling rate, torque, rotation speed, thrust and retaining pressure and flush pressure. Two of the boreholes were located in areas away from the surface depression to act as control holes.

Following completion of drilling, all boreholes were geophysically logged and subjected to televiewer scanning. Where open voids were identified by the drilling, temporary casing was installed to allow laser scanning to be carried out.

In a number of the boreholes the DPR records showed that the initial parameters for drilling rate, retaining pressure and torque closely matched those obtained during a ‘void search’ drilling, thus confirming the existence of an open void, whilst in other holes the records indicated broken ground characteristic of a partially collapsed void.

The cored boreholes used conventional DPR techniques and served both to identify the stratigraphy and to provide correlation with the open-holes.

The investigation successfully confirmed the location, nature and extent of sub-surface voids beneath the site and provided information to assist in the design of remedial measures.

A key advantage of using DPR and a combination of rotary open-hole and rotary coring methods was that it resulted in a cost saving of approximately 22.5% compared to using only rotary coring, and in addition had the further benefit of reducing the duration of the works.

Soil Engineering submitted entries for four GE Awards 2013 categories:

• UK Project with a Geotechnical Value up to £1m – Crusader Avenue, Glasgow
• Product & Equipment Innovation – Digital Data Collection from Ground Investigations
• Technical Excellence – Multipoint Sampling Within Deep Shafts
• Ground Investigation Specialist of the Year

And are pleased to announce that they have been successfully shortlisted as finalist in all four categories.

The winners will be announced at the award ceremony to be held at the Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane, London, 25th April 2013.

Soil Engineering Geoservices, Bachy Soletanche and Simplex Westpile have amalgamated their southern operations for geotechnical ground investigation and ground improvement into a combined office at Camberley, Surrey.

The new address is:
Foundation Court
Watchmoor Park
Camberley
Surrey
GU15 3RG
Tel: 01276 674980

Soil Engineering Geoservices have moved from their Leighton Buzzard offices into newly appointed facilities to be shared with Bachy Soletanche and Simplex Westpile.

The move will strengthen the Soil Engineering team and promote collaborative working within the Group. Customers will benefit from a holistic and cohesive geotechnical ground investigation and ground improvement service.

Soil Engineering will continue its tradition of excellence in the geotechnical market sector, delivering a quality driven service via four principal business strands:

• Ground investigation
• Ground engineering and grouting
• Geotechnical and geo-environmental advice
• Geotechnical laboratory and in situ testing

Each of these services will remain available independently on a ‘stand alone’ basis or as part of a fully integrated and seamless offer.

Soil Engineering offer services for the full geotechnical cycle of development from initial conception to completion encompassing:

• Desk study reporting and conceptual site model
• Intrusive site investigation design and implementation
• Geotechnical and environmental appraisal
• Remediation options appraisal and strategy
• Ground stabilisation and mine grouting
• Validation / Verification reporting

Dave Hammond will continue to lead the southern operations team from the new offices at Camberley.

For more information or to discuss your future ground investigation and ground improvement requirements please contact the Camberley Team direct or Business Development Manager: Natalie Fennell on 0113 3859 180 and at natalie.fennell@soil-engineering.co.uk

Celebrating 50 Years of Industry

2013 marks a golden anniversary for Soil Engineering Geoservices Limited services. For 50 years we have been at the forefront of UK geotechnics, we have introduced innovative processes and applications that have helped to shape the site investigation and grouting industries.

Our Heritage

Soil Engineering began life based in Leeds as an internal specialist department of Holst, carrying out investigations and designing foundations for their concrete structures. Holst was taken over by Norwest Construction in the 1970’s and in 1973 Soil Engineering emerged as a limited company trading as Norwest Holst Soil Engineering Limited.

In 1993, Norwest Holst was taken over by what is now the VINCI Group and for some years Soil Engineering operated as part of Vinci Construction UK Limited until in 2012 when, Soil Engineering was transferred within the Group to the geotechnical specialist, Bachy Soletanche UK.

Service Excellence is our Reputation

With offices strategically located throughout the British Isles, Soil Engineering’s technical staff are always available to provide direct assistance and expert advice for any geotechnical problem. We have one of the largest company owned fleets of field investigation and drilling plant in the UK. Backed by a resource of over 150 geotechnical specialists ranging from expert chartered engineers and engineering geologists, to lead drillers, drillers and field technicians, every member of our team is appropriately trained and qualified to industry standards.
We continue to evolve our commitment to provide appropriate and adequate geotechnical solutions that are safe, cost effective and quality assured.

Experience Isn’t Expensive – It’s Priceless

For over half a century Soil Engineering has been involved in the UK geotechnical industry, pushing standards in safety and innovating and refining the techniques that today for the backbone of our industry. This pro-active, partnering approach remains central to our success as a preferred contractor, industry partner and sub-contractor for expert site investigation drilling and sampling, laboratory and in situ testing services and specialist consolidation and TAM grouting works.

An On-side Partner You Can Trust

One of the most important things we have learnt along the way is that building solid relationships in business comes from constantly offering best-in-class products and services – “value for money”. We have also learnt to value the fundamental trust you place in us to deliver the best the industry has to offer and to continue to improve and grow our service offering to suit your needs.

So whether it’s enhancing drilling and field techniques or innovating new technology or supplying alternative methods, our engineers, technicians, project managers and field crews will continue to develop and deliver the products, technology and services you need to succeed.

1963 – 2013
Experience, Service, Trust

On 1^st October 2012 Soil Engineering Geoservices Limited were visited by British Standards Institution (BSI). The visit was to verify that the accreditations for ISO9001:2008 and ISO14001:2004 previously held as part of Vinci UK certificates, FS95506 and EMS61133 could be transferred to Bachy Soletanche certificates FS27233 EMS 66593.

Following a thorough review of SEGL’s operating systems, the BSI auditor confirmed that he will recommend that Soil Engineering can transfer its accreditations.

BSI will return to Soil Engineering Geoservices Limited in Spring 2013 to confirm the Company is running all of their projects via the revised management systems.

The scope of works for Soil Engineering Geoservices Limited covered by the ISO9001 and ISO 14001 certificates is described as:

“The provision of multi-disciplinary geotechnical services, including site investigation, drilling, grouting and anchoring, in-situ and laboratory testing and monitoring and geotechnical and environmental advice.”