Geotechnica 2025
We are a trusted multidisciplinary civil engineering and ground investigations contractor. For over 50 years we have collaborated with public and private sector clients to keep the country connected, tackle climate change, and create safe and solid foundations for future developments. We get the job done, we do it once and we do it right.
We’re excited to see you at Geotechnica 2025!
You'll find us at Stand M across both days.
Mineworkings Treatment
Like all construction projects, a new build home relies on a solid foundation. The land beneath the foundation must also be stable to provide enough support.
Weaknesses in the ground (like the voids and fractures left behind after mine workings) put the project at risk. Collapse of mine workings can cause settlement at the level of foundations, damaging the building and significantly disrupting the lives of the people who use it.
Watch our video to show our safe, sustainable, and innovative mine workings treatment process that ensures stability for future new builds.
Meet the Team
Pop over to our stand and talk to us about our latest civil and ground engineering projects, how we support the communities in which we work and why we won Business of the Year at the 2024 Black Country Chamber of Commerce Awards. Meet our friendly team and take a look at our impressive sponsored Porsche racing car.
What's on our stand
We'll have our sponsored Porsche racing car on display. Don't miss out on discovering what it's like to be behind the wheel of this Porsche Cayman GT4 RS. Our very own racing driver and civil engineer Reece Somerfield will be on hand to answer your questions.
Reece spent 10 years in the Ginetta GT4 Supercup, where he honed his racecraft and built a name for his competitive spirit and consistency. He now competes in the Porsche Sprint Challenge.
Our Work
Project: Mine Stabilisation & Site Investigation Works
Location: Wednesbury to Brierley Hill Metro Extension
Client: Transport for West Midlands
The 11km Midland Metro extension adds 16 new stops, connecting Wednesbury to Brierley Hill via Tipton and Dudley. Built along a disused rail corridor, the scheme is led by Transport for West Midlands (WMCA). We were appointed to deliver site investigation and critical mine stabilisation to mitigate legacy coal mining risks beneath the new route.
Ahead of stabilisation, we carried out a 12-month programme of investigations to inform design and locate hidden mining risks. This included 17 rotary and cored boreholes, 200 mineshaft probes and treatment of three previously located shafts.
During stabilisation, we used inclined drilling in tight spaces and built custom safety platforms at the 14 shaft locations. To reduce the risk of collapse, we used a conveyor-fed gravel system to fill voids with 580 tonnes of gravel. We used water flush drilling, injected 651 tonnes of grout and drilled 1,646 boreholes for grout capping.
At the peak of our operations we had 12 drilling rigs, seven grout stations and 30 skilled workers on site. All works were completed safely and on schedule with no impact to customer journeys or neighbouring works.
Project: Treatment of dissolution features
Location: Ripon Leisure Centre Phase 1
Client: Willmott Dixon & Stantec
Ripon in North Yorkshire is known for the presence of unstable ground, as gypsum occurs at a relatively shallow depth in the rocks beneath the area and can dissolve very quickly. A ground collapse occurred beneath the proposed swimming pool area at the new Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre.
We were contracted to treat the dissolution features in gypsum strata. The scope included compaction grouting of the ground collapse and full site proof drilling and grouting beneath the new facility footprint.
As part of the compaction grouting and treatment, we drilled 466 boreholes and injected 3,133 tonnes of grout. We also installed extensometers to detect any future ground movement. Using a 3-stage grid, we treated to depths of 25m.
We used five Casagrande C6 rigs to carry out the works. We used air flush rotary drilling with steel casing, injected grout using end-of-casing method in ascending stages, conducted 15% inclined drilling beneath existing structure and used real-time laser monitoring to detect building movement.
We successfully stabilised the ground across the entire footprint with no impact to existing structures.
Project: Mine Workings Consolidation beneath new school campus
Location: Winchburgh, West Lothian, Scotland
Client: Winchburgh Developments Ltd
The exciting Winchburgh development in West Lothian, Scotland will deliver at least 3,800 new homes, improved transport links, employment opportunities, state-of-the-art schools and stunning new outdoor spaces to this historic village.
In anticipation of the construction of the three schools and sports pitches, we were appointed to carry out consolidation works to treat historic shallow oil shale mine workings.
Using a 3.5m grid, we drilled over 2,000 bore holes with a 101mm OD rotary percussive steel casing to rockhead. We then open hole drilled 75mm diameter boreholes to insert a tremie tube and inject 13,501 tonnes of grout. As this site was close to watercourses and work was conducted during winter, we adopted an air flush method.
Up to 10 of our own drilling rigs were used on this project, one of which was the versatile Casagrande C6 rigs, capable of up to 55° drilling angles, used for inclined drilling beneath active haul roads
Despite Covid restrictions, we were able to complete our work safely and effectively during concurrent earthworks delivered by another contractor.
Project: Stabilisation of failed embankment
Location: Atherstone, North Wawrickshire
Client: Private
We recently carried out a programme of soil nailing to a failed embankment adjacent to an industrial park in North Warwickshire. The reinforced concrete yard slab above the embankment had shown signs of distress and was at risk of being undermined by the slip failure of the embankment.
The remediation strategy involved the installation of soil nails to the failed sections of the embankment with a regime of mesh netting fastened in place with anchor plates.
Site access was challenging, so we adopted a two-phased approach, completing the works safely, collaboratively and effectively.
Construction Overview (3-week programme):
• Installation of 93 galvanised soil nails varying between 6 and 15m in length
• Over 1100m of nailing in total
• Soil nails installed at an angle of 23 degrees from the horizontal to optimise performance
• 18t neat cement grout utilised during the installation process
• 3 test nails installed and successfully tested
The lower rows of nails were installed using our 24t excavator with specialist TEI drill mast set up with an R32 drill shank. For the installation of the upper rows, the excavator was exchanged for a CAT340 long reach excavator with the same drill mast configuration.
The long reach excavator was then utilised for the reinforced mesh installation, allowing installation in one pass with the torquing of the galvanised anchor plates completing the stabilisation works.
To complete the stabilisation programme of works, a specialist contractor was engaged to inject resin grout into the sub-surface voids below the reinforced concrete slab in the service yard.
Works were completed ahead of programme and successful testing of the installed nails enabled the client to bring the site back into full use at the earliest opportunity.
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