Site Acquisition and Pre planning Services

We have extensive experience in providing pre-acquisition due diligence and site appraisals. This Director led service uses the following expertise to assess the civil and structural risks and opportunities.

• Site Optimisation – We work with the architect to maximise land use and reduce costs such as remediation and retaining wall extents.
• Earthworks – Our 3D earthworks models are designed to reduce the environmental impact and provide lowest cost solutions. Not only do we look at balancing overall volumes, but we can also incorporate borehole and trial pit data to optimise and phase the works based on the engineering properties of each soil type.
• Phase 1 Desk Study / PRA and Geo-environmental Investigation – Many sites are won or lost in the ground. We regularly advise clients before site acquisition on the development risks and abnormals associated with their development sites and have extensive experience of difficult and contaminated ‘brownfield’ sites, where in many cases our advice has been crucial in establishing the viability of the project.
• Schematic Designs – We produce economic preliminary civil and structural designs to assist with early stage costing and architectural spatial planning. In combination with our Highways colleagues, we can also provide an overview of what infrastructure will be required, and where this will need to be located within the site.
• Flood Risk, Drainage and Attenuation – Our holistic approach to development means that our drainage strategies can minimise the financial impact of SuDS and flood prevention. We recognise that early engagement with all stakeholders is essential and have established a network of contacts within local authorities and statutory bodies in order to streamline the design process. We routinely use SuDS techniques in our drainage design to minimise the need for offsite infrastructure, to help replenish groundwater levels and, where site layouts permit, generate direct ecological improvements with ponds and swales.

Planning reports and services

We can produce a range of reports and documents to support either planning applications or the discharge of conditions. These include, but are not limited to:

• Proposed Level Schemes
• Flood Risk Assessments
• Drainage Strategies
• Basement Impact Assessments
• Foundation Works Risk Assessments

Details of our highways and transport planning services can be found here

Tender Bid Assistance

Our business was built on assisting main contractors to produce highly competitive bids within a design and build format.

Our holistic approach to engineering means that we are able to pick up projects quickly, identify risks and produce a list of potential value engineering proposals and cost effective solutions

Geotechnical and Environmental Engineering

We design and oversee Phase I and Phase II geo-environmental investigation works. We always attend site during the works and take a proactive role in reducing costs in the ground. We have extensive experience of difficult and contaminated ‘brownfield’ sites, where in many cases our advice has been crucial in establishing the viability of projects. We treat existing brownfield sites and demolition materials as a resource and not a problem.

The key to our approach is that we do not passively accept advice given by specialists. Instead we take a holistic approach, leading and monitoring the process of investigation and testing to ensure that the site preparation, remediation and sub-structure solutions are fully integrated into the civil and structural engineering solutions that we propose for the project. This ensures that the most technically appropriate and cost effective solutions overall are adopted.

Site Enabling Works

On many projects, a separate enabling works contract can reduce costs and programme. Given that the majority of risk is in the ground, this approach is ideal to provide cost certainty and the flexibility to complete earthworks during the best weather conditions.

We can provide detailed enabling works designs including demolition, remediation, earthworks, proposed levels and both temporary and permanent drainage.

We consider the earthworks to be as important to the structure as the foundations, so we have developed a detailed testing regime that can easily be coordinated and followed on site to deliver a fully validated site formation.

Civil and Structural Design and Detailing

Our fully qualified hands on engineers provide a full suite of civil and structural design services using state of the art technology and design software.

Tender Design – We recognise that comprehensive tender information can be the key to the financial success of the project. Our approach is to work collaboratively with other members of the design team through BIM to produce civil and structural designs and specifications that fully reflect the project requirements.

Construction – During the construction stage, we have a hands on approach to site inspections and carry out targeted quality checks throughout critical elements such as earthworks and slab pours. We ‘snag as we go’, producing comprehensive photographic reports for each visit and then checking any comments have been actioned on our return.

Post Construction – Our services do not stop once construction is complete. We always allow for 12 months defects visits and reports and can tailor additional site visits and reviews of the finished project to suit our client’s needs.

Our client’s requirements are constantly evolving and we are often called on to look at building modifications such as additional floor loadings or structural openings.

SER Certification

We are proud to be able to offer SER certification for Scottish projects.

Structural Reports and Surveys

We are able to produce structural survey reports for existing commercial properties. Each survey is tailored to the specific requirements of the client, but can include detailed description of the structural form of the building, remedial works where recommended and loading capacity assessments.

Flood Risk and Drainage Strategy

We can produce high quality Flood Risk Assessments and Drainage Strategies. Our holistic approach to development means that our drainage strategies can minimise the financial impact of SuDS and flood prevention.

We routinely use SuDS techniques in our drainage design to minimise the need for offsite infrastructure and to help replenish groundwater levels, and where site layouts permit, generate direct ecological improvements with ponds and swales.

FM Facilitation

We can produce Revit models based on existing 2D drawings and surveys to future proof the facility management of your assets. Combining quality management through the works with state of the art FM models and target lower whole life costs.