News

John Litten of ESG

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Tags: news

ESG regret to inform that John Litten, Principal Engineer in Southam, died unexpectedly in the early hours of Friday 19 August. John had shown no signs of being unwell in the days prior to his death.

John worked with Exploration Associates before it became part of ESG and served a total of 19 years with the firm. Recognised within work for a phenomenal work rate and commitment to detail and outside of work for his keen cycling. John will be missed by his friends and colleagues in ESG and throughout the ground investigation industry.

John’s funeral will be held at on Friday 9th September starting 15:30 at the St Thomas-a-Becket Church, Main St, Skeffington, Leics, LE7 9YD. There will be a service in the Church immediately before the burial.

Refreshments have been arranged at the location below and all are welcome to assemble there after the service.

Fox & Hounds
Hallaton Rd,
Tugby
Leicester LE7 9WB

There will be many people who would like to attend and we welcome friends and associates from outside ESG.

Article News

Take the AGS-BDA Survey on Industry Standards

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Tags: AGS BDA Industry Standards news

The AGS and the BDA have collaborated to create a new taskforce to investigate what the UK Ground Investigation industry thinks of themselves particularly in relation to technical standards.

It is very much hoped that many people within the UK GI industry, from all types of organisation and at all levels, will now choose to participate in the survey linked below and in the subsequent discussions. The survey will close on 31st August 2016.

Take the Survey

Article News Business Practice Contaminated Land Data Management Executive Laboratories Loss Prevention Safety

AGS Members’ Day: 7th April 2016

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Tags: ALcontrol Laboratories ALS Environmental Barbican CH2M Tunnels and Earth Engineering Concept Derwentside Environmental Testing Services Dunelm Geotechnical & Environmental Ltd ELAB Envirolab Equipe Group Fugro Geolabs Limited Geotechnical Engineering Limited In Situ Site Investigation Ltd members day Soil Engineering Geoservices Structural Soils Ltd

The AGS is pleased to announce details of Members’ Day 2016, which is taking place on Thursday 7th April 2016 at the prestigious Barbican Centre in London.

This full day seminar will see a number of industry experts present on topics unique to their experience and expertise. This year we’re pleased to confirm presentations on subjects including the Shape of the Geotechnical Engineering Industry in 2025, Assessment and Management of Unexploded Ordnance Risk in the Marine Environment, The Accelerated Programme for the Moorgate Shaft, Geosynthetics, and Geodata Management on the HS2 Project so Far.

Full details of this year’s speakers can be viewed AGS Members’ Day Programme 2016

This year’s event is open to both Members and non-Members of the AGS. To confirm your attendance, please complete the AGS Members’ Day registration form and return it to ags@ags.org.uk before Friday 25th March. There is no cost for AGS Members to attend Members’ Day, however Non-Members will be required to pay £85 (plus VAT) per delegate.

Lunch and refreshments will be provided. Please note that registration forms received after Friday 25th March will not be accepted.

The AGS are pleased to announce that the following companies have sponsored this years event;

ALcontrol Laboratories is Europe’s largest independent provider of accredited laboratory testing services for the environmental industry, with over thirty years of global experience. They provide a range of tests including the following: TPH, PAHs, VOCs, phenols, PCBs, pesticides, metals and WAC testing.
www.alcontrol.com

ALS Environmental is a world-class analytical testing company supplying a wide range of expert services to the remediation and investigation markets. As an organisation ALS can provide you with UKAS and MCERTS accredited laboratory testing, in-field, real-time analysis and OnSite monitoring including sampling and Environmental Field Chemists.
www.alsenvironmental.co.uk

CH2M Tunnels and Earth Engineering teams work globally, designing and building infrastructure, underground space and natural resource solutions on behalf of our clients. Technology, innovation and delivery are key, as we integrate our strongest capabilities and experts from across the company to solve complex problems, add value and reduce risk.
www.ch2m.com

Concept specialises in the geotechnical, geoenvironmental and structural site investigation sector. We were formed some 18 years ago. Since formation we have grown to occupy a prominent role in our sector. In 2014 Concept were awarded both the prestigious Ground Engineering Award for the Best Ground Investigation Specialist in the UK and also the ICE London Civil Engineering Award for Greatest Contribution in recognition of the quality of the service we provide.
www.conceptconsultants.co.uk

Derwentside Environmental Testing Services offer a wide range of high quality accredited analytical testing services for the environmental, construction, waste, fuel and engineering industries. Our range of testing services cover the analysis of Land, Groundwater, Effluents, Waste & Gases, Fuels & Biomass, and Asbestos.
www.dets.co.uk

Dunelm Geotechnical & Environmental Ltd have 50 years’ experience as leaders in the field of ground investigation. Having complete accreditation for Quality, Environment and Health and Safety, our clients are afforded a first class service. Our highly qualified, experienced staff and in-house drilling services deliver an efficient and flexible service to all our clients.
www.dunelm.co.uk

ELAB specialises in the testing of soil, water and leachate samples as well as providing environmental monitoring equipment hire. Our analytical services cover inorganics and organics analysis, geotechnical chemical testing, metals analysis, as well as asbestos identification/quantification, waste characterisation testing and waste acceptance criteria (WAC). ISO 17025 accredited laboratories.
www.elab-uk.co.uk

Envirolab provides laboratory services spanning a broad organic and inorganic portfolio. Our reputation for excellence is built on continually providing our clients with reliable results delivered on time and within budget. Our UKAS and MCERTS accreditations guarantee our commitment to quality. We are the utterly reliable analytical laboratory.
www.envlab.co.uk

Incorporating Equipe Training and Equipe Geosolutions, the Equipe Group are at the forefront of the sustained development and growth of the geotechnical and drilling sectors. Equipe Training offer NVQs, industry specific Health and Safety training, along with geotechnical and drilling courses, whilst Equipe Geosolutions provide new, ground-breaking technologies such as KeyLogbook and SAFER-G.
www.equipegroup.com

Fugro is a leading international provider of geo-intelligence and asset information. Geotechnical capability includes a full range of terrestrial and marine in situ and laboratory based ground investigation services supported by a comprehensive geospatial and consultancy capability.
www.fugro.com

Geolabs Limited are a wholly independent testing-only company, providing soil, rock and aggregate laboratory testing services since 1995. Geolabs ensure a high quality, UKAS accredited service, for a wide range of tests with staff having a combined total of 400+ years of testing experience.
www.geolabs.co.uk

Geotechnical Engineering Limited was incorporated in 1961 and remains the largest privately owned ground investigation contractor in the UK. We provide an integrated service of utility surveying, drill rigs, insitu testing, laboratory testing and engineering services.
Our large fleet of drill rigs includes our in-house developed slope climbing P45s, P60s and P45K rigs, providing quality site data to the construction industry.
www.geoeng.co.uk

In Situ Site Investigation Ltd is a specialist geotechnical and geo-environmental site investigation company, which specialises in the use of Cone Penetration Testing (CPT) techniques and other related pushing technologies. We also offer a full range of pressuremeter testing services including cone pressuremeter, self-boring pressuremeter and high pressure dilatometer.
www.insitusi.com

Soil Engineering Geoservices is an award winning company and one of the largest providers of geotechnical site investigation, drilling & grouting and geotechnical laboratory services in the UK.
The business operates nationally offering both land and marine services from three offices at Leeds, Cleland in Scotland and Camberley, Surrey.
www.soil-engineering.co.uk

Structural Soils Ltd is a site investigation contractor with offices in Bristol, Castleford , Hemel Hempstead and Glasgow. The company’s has over 50 years of experience provides a sound knowledge of all aspects of geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering. As the company operates various boring and drilling rigs and associated equipment, an investigation can be designed to suit the client’s requirements and to obtain information in the most efficient manner.
www.soils.co.uk

News Business Practice Contaminated Land Data Management Executive Laboratories Loss Prevention Safety

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Tags: Ground Engineering Awards

The Ground Engineering Awards is back and celebrating nine years of showcasing the very best in the industry.

Entries are now open and you have until 29 January 2016 to tell us why you are the best at what you do, so what are you waiting for?

There are 13 enterable categories representing the diverse range of skills and attributes needed to deliver cutting-edge ground engineering to ensure there is an appropriate route to showcase all of your achievements. This may be your work on a project of which you are particularly proud, a fantastic new training initiative or simply a first-class new business idea that sets you apart from your competitors.

Plus, a new category for this year: Geoenvironmental Project of the Year.

View details of all categories here

You don’t have to finish your entry right away, so why not get started now and submit when you’re ready? Add the entry deadline to your calendar here to make sure you complete the process on time!

Good luck!

Article News Contaminated Land Laboratories

Quality Results in Ground Investigation Seminar Presentations

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Tags: AGS Chris Swainston Chris Wallace Graeme Thomas Hugh Mallett John Powell Matthew Baldwin Quality Results in Ground Investigation seminar Roger Brown

The AGS recently held a Quality Results in Ground Investigation seminar which focused on site investigation, what laboratories can provide and the importance of quality sampling.

The event, which took place in Hamilton House, London on 14th October 2015, saw over 80 AGS Members and non-Members listen to seven key industry speakers including; Hugh Mallett (Technical Director, BuroHappold Engineering), Roger Brown (Associate Director, Laboratories, Fugro), Matthew Baldwin (Technical Director, Soil Engineering), Chris Swainston (Principle Engineer, Geotechnics), John Powell (Technical Director, Geolabs) Graeme Thomas (Assessment Manager, United Kingdom Accreditation Service) and Chris Wallace (Technical Manager, Geolabs).

To view speaker presentations from the event, please click on the below links;

 

Hugh Mallett, Technical Director, BuroHappold Engineering: Quality Laboratory Data – are Consultants Bovvered?

Roger Brown, Associate Director, Laboratories, Fugro: The Replacement of BS1377 has Begun

Graeme Thomas, Assessment Manager, United Kingdom Accreditation Service: Double Standards – Accreditation and Transition to New Standards

Matthew Baldwin, Technical Director, Soil Engineering: Sample Extraction

Chris Swainston, Principle Engineer, Geotechnics: Sampling Standards

John Powell, Technical Director, Geolabs: Ensuring Quality of Testing in the Geotechnical Laboratory – Proficiency Testing and What goes Wrong!

Chris Wallace, Technical Manager, Geolabs: Good Result/Bad Result

News

AGS Supports GE Next Generation Awards 2015

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Tags: AGS EMAP Ground Engineering next generation awards

The AGS is pleased to announce they’re supporting the 2015 GE Next Generation Awards which will take place on 19th November at the Bloomsbury Hotel, London.

The awards are an excellent opportunity for Members to put forward their most talented and ambitious young engineers and apprentices to ensure they are recognised for the work they do. The evening event showcases the breadth of talent in the industry – so make sure your best team members enter today to highlight the opportunities your company offers and celebrate their achievements.

Entry forms for the seven categories that recognise the broad range of skills that are essential to the ground engineering industry are now available to download.

Candidates have until 4th  September to submit their completed application forms to GENextGeneration@emap.com . Shortlist candidates will have the opportunity to demonstrate their skills and understanding to the judging panels through interviews, which will take place in London on 14th and 15th October.

Guest speaker for the event, which will take the form of an evening drinks reception on 19th November, has been confirmed as Crossrail Chair Terry Morgan who is a strong advocate of developing opportunities in construction for young people.

The judging panels are in the process of being confirmed but Thames Tideway Geotechnical Manager John Harris, British Tunnelling Society Chair Roger Bridge and Geotechnical Asset Owners Forum Chair Graham Holland are among those that have already agreed to take part in the process.

 

 

News

Tier2 Work Permits reach monthly ceiling

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Tags: EU Home Office Recruitment Shortage Occupation List Tier2 UK

It has been announced, for the first time, the number of Tier 2 work permits (for skilled workers from outside the EU) has reached the monthly ceiling.

Fortunately Ground Engineers (Geotechnical Engineers, Engineering Geologists, Contaminated Land Engineers and Tunnelling Engineers) are on the Home Office Shortage Occupation List and therefore get priority over non shortage occupations. Invoking the Shortage Occupation List also removes the obligation to prove that it has not been possible to recruit a suitable candidate from within the UK or elsewhere in the EU. Anyone recruiting from outside the EU should therefore consider this route. For further information please click here.

News Laboratories

AGS Quality Results in Ground Investigation Seminar

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Tags: AGS Laboratories Seminar

The AGS are pleased to announce their Quality Results in Ground Investigation seminar is taking place on Wednesday 14th October 2015 at Hamilton House, London. This full day conference is aimed at clients and consultants and focuses on what laboratories can provide, as well as the importance of sampling.

Open to both Members and Non-Members of the AGS, the conference will see a series of industry experts present on a number of specialist topics including:

  • Ensuring Quality of Testing in the Geotechnical Laboratory – Proficiency Testing and what goes Wrong – John Powell (Technical Director, Geolabs)
  • Quality laboratory data – are consultants bovvered? – Hugh Mallett (Technical Director, BuroHappold)
  • The replacement of BS1377 has begun – Roger Brown, (Associate Director, Laboratories – Fugro)
  • Sample Extraction – Matthew Baldwin, (Technical Director – Soil Engineering)
  • Sampling Standards – Chris Swainson, (Principle Engineer, Geotechnics)
  • Double Standards: Accreditation and Transition to New Standards – Graeme Thomas, (Assessment Manager UKAS)
  • Good Result/Bad Result – Chris Wallace, (Technical Manager, Geolabs)

Tickets are priced at £50 for AGS Members or £85 to non AGS Members. All Prices excluded VAT.

Quality Results in Site Ground Investigation Seminar is sponsored by;

DETS
DETS offer a wide range of quality accredited analytical testing services for the environmental, construction, waste, fuel and engineering industries. Our range of testing services cover the analysis of Land, Groundwater, Effluents, Waste & Gases, Fuels & Biomass, and Asbestos using a modern, well equipped laboratory, with highly skilled staff.

Envirolab
Multidisciplinary organic and inorganic testing services. Offering the UK’s most comprehensive laboratory testing analytical service for Soil and Water contaminants. Tailored TurnAround. UKAS and MCERTS accreditations guarantee our commitment to quality. In-house courier service and complimentary sample collection equipment. Waste classification expertise.

Geotechnical Engineering
Geotechnical Engineering Limited was incorporated in 1961 to provide ground investigation services. We remain the largest privately owned ground investigation contractor in the UK providing quality data to the construction industry. We employ approximately 160 salaried staff. This includes NVQ qualified drillers, site technicians, surveyors, laboratory technicians, engineers and consultants.

Keynetix
Keynetix KeyLAB software is the leading laboratory management system built specifically for geotechnical and construction laboratories. It will improve your laboratory’s efficiency at every stage of the testing process from sample and storeroom management, through to electronic scheduling, testing and reporting. Clever integration with Microsoft Excel® allows you to easily customise worksheets and reports whilst staying in complete control of your laboratory data.

Geolabs
Geolabs Limited are a wholly independent testing-only company whose staff have a combined total of 350+ years of soils testing experience, from classification testing through to advanced triaxial and direct simple shear. They are accredited by UKAS for a wide range of tests including: effective stress, shearboxes, consolidation, permeability etc.

Equipe Group
Incorporating Equipe Training and Equipe Geosolutions, the Equipe Group are one of the leading lights in the sustained development and growth of the geotechnical and drilling sectors. Equipe Training offer industry specific Health and Safety training, along with geotechnical and drilling courses, whilst Equipe Geosolutions provide new, ground-breaking technologies such as KeyLogbook.

Structural Soils
Structural Soils Ltd, a site investigation contractor, based in Bristol, with branch offices in Castleford near Leeds, Hemel Hempstead and Glasgow and overseas. Soil samples are tested in the company’s own well-equipped UKAS-accredited soil laboratories in Bristol, Castleford and Hemel Hempstead and chemical samples in our lab in Hyde.

Concept Consultants
Concept specialises in geotechnical, geoenvironmental and structural investigations and associated laboratory testing. Formed over 18 years ago we have grown to occupy a leading role in the UK. Concept have been awarded the GE Award for Best Ground Investigation Specialist (2014) as well as the ICE London Civil Engineering Award.

 

For further information or to register your attendance, please email ags@ags.org.uk

News

AGS Sponsors NCE Tunnelling & Underground Space Awards

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Tags: awards NCE Tunnelling & Underground Space Awards NEC tunnelling

The AGS is proud to announce they are supporting NCE’s hugely popular Tunnelling & Underground Space Awards. Taking place in London this December, the awards showcase the very best tunnelling expertise and is regarded as a premier networking event for the global tunnelling community.

The awards attract entries from the tunnelling industry’s elite and our judging panel is packed with world-renowned tunnelling specialists representing clients, designers and contractors – and so to win is to truly excel.

Shortlisted contenders converge on London in December to join key clients including High Speed 2 and Thames Tideway Tunnel in a 400-plus audience with one thing in mind – who are 2015’s outstanding tunnellers? Winners are recognised in NCE, the official magazine of the world-renowned Institution of Civil Engineers, with our global audience of 80,000+ professional engineers.

As ever there is range of categories to suit the entire industry, from the biggest, multi-national contractor to the smallest specialist supplier. Categories include Tunnelling Project of the Year, Product/Equipment Innovation and Specialist Tunnelling Project of the Year.

New categories for this year include Tunnelling Team of the Year – recognising collaborative working in the tunnelling and underground space industry – Tunnel Operator of the Year – recognising the on-going efforts of operators to provide safe and reliable infrastructure – and the Fire Safety Award – recognising innovation in the fast-developing world of fire suppression.

For full details of categories and deadline details, please visit http://bit.ly/TunnelAGS

News

AGS to Exhibit at Geotechnica 2015

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Tags: AGS Geotechnica

The AGS is proud to announce that they’ll be exhibiting and sponsoring the UK largest geotechnical conference and exhibition; Geotechnica.

Taking place at the Warwickshire Exhibition Centre between the 8th and 9th July, Geotechnica celebrates the geotechnical and drilling industry in its entirety, helping to promote the specialist services, products and innovations that the industry has to offer.

This two day event brings together all industry sectors including suppliers and manufacturers, and will feature live demonstrations, technical presentations as well as equipment and services.

As well as exhibiting, the AGS will be sponsoring the afternoon presentations on Thursday 9th July, entitled, how AGS data makes organisations more efficient. This segment will consist of a series of short presentations about advances in the use of capturing and using Geotechnical Data from site, through the laboratories to report and beyond. The talks will also discuss the use of AGS data through the process and will include a number of case studies to show how it works for real projects. Guest speakers will include, Ben Armstrong (Ground Technology Services), Simon Miles (Atkins) and Dr Roger Chandler (Keynetix).

For further information on the event or to register, please visit the Geotechnica website or contact the Equipe Group by calling 01295 670990.

News Loss Prevention

AGS Chemical and Legal Helplines

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Tags: AGS Association of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Specialists Beale & Co free chemical advice free contractual advice Marquis & Lord

All Members of the Association of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Specialists are entitled to free chemical and contractual advice through the use of Loss Prevention Committee Members, Marquis & Lord and Beale & Co.

 

For advice on chemical safety and best practice contact Marquis & Lord where the first 30 minutes of advice will be free of charge to all AGS Members.

 

Additionally, if you’re an AGS Member and are looking for legal advice, please speak to Beale & Co where the first 15 minutes of legal advice will be free of charge.

 

 

CHEMICAL SAFETY HELPLINE

Marquis & Lord

Telephone: +44 (0) 121 288 2386

www.marquisandlord.com

 

 

LEGAL HELPLINE

Beale & Co

Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7469 0400 (Please quote ‘AGS Helpline’)

www.beale-law.com

News Contaminated Land

National Quality Mark Scheme for Land affected by Contamination open for consultation

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Tags: AGS CL:AIRE Contaminated Land Contaminated Land: Applications in Real Environments Land Forum QMLC

The proposed National Quality Mark Scheme for Land affected by Contamination (QMLC) is a scheme that has been developed by the Land Forum to provide visible identification of documents that have been checked for quality by a Suitably Qualified and experienced Person.  It is hoped that this will provide increased confidence and improved quality of submissions made under regulatory regimes, particularly planning applications, related to previously used land.

 

Through endorsement by the Land Forum and through joint ownership by Land Forum members the scheme can be considered to have support and acceptance across the community and to be nationally recognised.

 

The initiative is supported in principle by the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. A positive response has also been received from individual devolved administrations. The scheme is intended to be launched in autumn 2015.

 

The consultation is being led by the Land Forum to gather stakeholders’ feedback on the proposed National Quality Mark Scheme for Land affected by Contamination (QMLC) (www.claire.co.uk/qmlc) will run to May 15th 2015. To participate in the consultation please follow the link:

www.claire.co.uk/qmlc-consultation