The Ground Model forms an essential framework to assessing Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental risks. How will the geology and hydrogeology affect the proposed development design and the conceptual site model? What precautions need to be taken in design and construction? What types of remediation are likely to work (or not work)? What clues do we look for during the investigation process? Geologists are needed to understand the ground in 3 dimensions and how to minimise risks.

Technical Director with Hydrock Consultants. Chartered engineering geologist, with over 40 years professional experience in ground investigation, and assessment of geotechnical and land contamination issues. Has worked across the UK, and in the Arabian Gulf, Malaysia and Morocco. Active in AGS working groups and Geological Society of London.

This presentation explores the use of cone penetration testing (CPTs) and how these tests can form an integral part of quality site investigation. It introduces what a CPT is, the different types of equipment available for testing, interpretation of CPT results as well as advanced uses of the data. It also briefly discusses the use of pressuremeter testing including self-boring pressuremeters (SBP), high pressure dilatometers (HPD), Menard Pressuremeter Testing as well as the Driven Pressuremeter (DPM).

Darren Ward, Managing Director of In Situ Site Investigation, has 20 years’ experience in the geotechnical industry. After graduating from Imperial College, Darren jumped straight into the in situ testing world where he spent 7 years working on all aspects of Cone Penetration Testing (CPTs). In 2008, Darren set up In Situ Site Investigation which has grown steadily based on a strong client focus. Part of Darren’s interest is the development of CPTs where he has worked with many universities and co-authored over 20 technical papers. The company has now expanded into many different areas of in situ testing such as operating a full suite of pressuremeters, environmental, marine and rail both UK based and internationally.

Practitioners of ground investigation should aspire to carry out and deliver good quality investigations. These investigations are to be carried out in accordance with current standards of best practice, which are laid down within national and international Standards. There are, however, variable degrees of adherence to and knowledge of what these standards and Standards are and what these quality aspirations actually are in practice.

Professor Norbury will demonstrate that practitioners need to embrace the whole ethos of Standards and standards to achieve what should be the aspiration for quality. There is continuing argument as to whether the achievement of quality is constrained or enhanced by following the Standards, and whether Standards are necessary to achieve the required quality level. This presentation will try to demonstrate a route to achieving a best practice outcome.

Professor David Norbury has over 45 years’ experience in the investigation, interpretation and assessment of the ground for the construction of geological, geotechnical and groundwater projects, using all available tools including mapping, remote sensing, published literature, previous work and his own observational skills. He works to provide robust practical advice to clients from all professions, placing great importance on geologists formulating an appropriate model of the ground and communicating this to the design and construction teams and into working practices. He provides industry leadership in the description and classification of soils and rocks through publication, committee work, drafting of Standards and lecturing. He has been lead author on BS 5930 and chairman of the 2015 Revision and is also leading on the UK’s implementation of European standards on site investigation and testing and in earthworks. He has also represented engineering geology at national and European levels within the wider professional sphere.

Geophysics offers a means of early phase screening for ground risk and geohazards and the intelligence gained can be used to optimise follow up site investigation strategy. This optimisation is of most value where intrusive investigation can be targeted, based on geophysical results, in areas of subsurface complexity or critical interest to obtain a better understanding and characterisation of ground risk.

An engineering geophysicist with over seven years of experience within near-surface geophysics and a previous two years of hard rock logging and underground mining in Western Australia. Ed has worked on several national and internationally significant infrastructure projects using a range of geophysical techniques including seismic, potential field, electrical and borehole (wireline) methods. Career highlights include the Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Project, the Woodsmith Potash Mine, HS2 and the Le Treport and St. Nazaire Windfarms.

A panel discussion and question/answer session on NEC Contracts.

Coming soon.

It has been a few years since PAS128:2014 ‘Specification for underground utility detection, verification and location’ was published. It is now routinely refenced in ground investigation and construction projects. It is currently being revised with the update due to be published later this year. This talk will set out the benefits of using the specification to support safety when breaking ground, reduce project risk for program and cost overruns, and how to use the specification to protect both the interests of the client and the practitioner. We will also point forwards to changes we might expect to be in the revised standard.

George Tuckwell is director responsible for the Geoscience and Engineering Division of companies within the RSK Group. He holds the position of Honorary Professor in Engineering Geophysics in the Civil Engineering department at University of Birmingham, UK. He was on the steering committee for PAS128:2014 ‘Specification for underground utility detection, verification and location’, and is co-author on the revision planned to be published later this year. He also drafted the geophysical section of BS5930:2015 ‘Code of practice for ground investigations’.

Coming soon.

Coming soon.

Coming soon.

Coming soon.

Coming soon.

John has over forty years of experience in the construction industry starting as a labourer, followed by working as a contractor’s engineer and then as a consulting engineer. He has been one of the founders of two successful engineering consultancies, one of which, Nolan Associates, he still chairs. He has been responsible for the Structural and Civil Engineering design of all types of construction projects up to several hundred million pounds in value.

He is one of the founders and non-exec chairman of a property development company. Until this Summer he was also a Trustee of Bournville Village trust one of the most respected “Garden Village” Housing Associations in the UK and a Visiting Professor of Innovation at the University of Birmingham where he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate.

He is a Fellow of both the Institution of Civil Engineers and the Institution of Structural Engineers where he was also President. They nominated him to join the Board of the Construction Industry Council (CIC) which he chaired until June 2019.

He was also a Non-Executive Director of the Considerate Constructors Scheme, and is Member of the Strategic Forum for Construction, Member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Excellence in the Built Environment and was a member of the Hackitt panel reviewing procurement for the Independent Review of the Building Regulations and Fire Safety. He is also a member of the Construction Leadership Council’s “Procure for Better Value” Steering Group where he chairs a panel reviewing the procurement system.

He has lectured widely around the World on topics such as creating value in construction and modernising the education of Civil and Structural Engineers, an area in which he is considered to have been particularly influential.

Coming soon.

Coming soon.

Illustrated by examples of where failures in ground engineering have occurred, this presentation is intended to demonstrate the critical role of Instrumentation and Monitoring (I&M) in addressing the risks associated with construction-related activity. An outline of I&M technologies will be provided, together with an introduction to the work of the I&M Working Group at the Association of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Specialists (AGS; www.ags.org.uk).

Jonathan Gammon is Non-Executive Director and Advisor at instrumentation and monitoring specialists Geotechnical Observations Limited. He is a Chartered Civil Engineer and Chartered Geologist with almost forty-five years of international construction experience working for consultants and contractors.

Jonathan was Design Manager and Resident Engineer for West Rail in Hong Kong and Sub-Surface Design Manager for the Reference Design of Dublin Metro North in Ireland. In the UK, his experience includes Crossrail, Thameslink (Blackfriars Station Redevelopment), and the Northern Line Extension (for which he was the Expert Witness, Engineering at the Public Inquiry). He was Design Project Manager for the Bond Street Station Upgrade in Central London before working for more than two years on Phase One of the High Speed Two (HS2) railway between London and Birmingham.

He is a UK Representative on the ISSMGE’s Technical Committee TC220 (Field Measurement in Geomechanics). At the end of 2019, he was responsible for establishing AGS’s Instrumentation and Monitoring Working Group (I&MWG), of which he is now Leader.

A safety first approach will discuss the safety data gathered throughout the Lower Thames Crossing project and other AECOM schemes on Ground Investigation activities and how this data was used to establish the AECOM DOSIWiG, working with client, designers, contractors, manufactures and industry specialist to produce a series of safety first standards, endorsed by the BDA And AGS and offered without copywrite to the industry for adoption.

Jon has worked within the ground investigation and remediation sector for 10 years, as a health and safety professional for over 19 years and within the wider construction sector since leaving education, a long, long time ago. Over this time working with a diverse client base consisting of small contractors and client to tier 1 contractors and international, government sector clients. Jon’s focus is now reducing risk within the workplace and continued improvement of industry standards, working with major clients and industry groups such as the AGS and BDA to drive a safety first approach within ground investigation.

This talk will provide a background to the proposed revisions for the Third Edition of the Uk Specification for Ground Investigation. It will summarise the areas of significant changes and the thought process behind these as well as providing an opportunity to discuss and debate the changes. The talk will provide details of the information provided, the format and its use with other contract documentation and procurement practices.

Julian is Managing Director of the Equipe Group who are the UKs leading training and vocational assessment provider. He is Immediate Past Chair of the AGS, Chair of the AGS Procurement of Ground Investigation Steering Group, Chair and Lead Author of the Yellow Book Revision Working Group, Chair of the JIWG Buried Services Group and Member of the BDA Training and Education Sub Committee. Julian has been involved in the geotechnical industry and is an active author and contributor to industry operational and safety guidance. He is also a UK Expert on TC182 WG4 which has revised and written ISO and CEN standards on geotechnical sampling and training and competency requirements for personnel working on geotechnical projects. He has been involved in the development of Level 2 and Level 3 qualification in land drilling and is currently leading an industry working group developing a new qualification for laboratory and field technicians.

Coming soon.

Coming soon.

Coming soon.

An Engineering Geologist with over 30 years’ experience in the Site Investigation industry. Liz’s career started in the brownfield redevelopment of the West Midlands and she has worked as a Main Contractor, Local Authority Officer, Consultant and Ground Investigation Contractor throughout the UK. She is passionate about mentoring the next generation of geologists to develop careers in the Ground Investigation industry. Liz is currently the Secretary of the Western Regional Group of the Geological Society, is a past Chair of the Midlands Geotechnical Society and is a member of the Safety Working Group of the AGS.

Coming soon.

Coming soon.

Coming soon.

Neil is a Director at Geotechnical Engineering Limited, Chair of Ground Forum and past Chair of the Association of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Specialists (AGS). He is a Chartered Civil Engineer with over 30 years of experience, mainly as a geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineer working for both consultants and contractors in the UK and overseas. He is a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers and registered Specialist in Land Condition (SiLC). He has worked on the civil, structural and geotechnical aspects of many engineering projects. His particular expertise is in ground investigation and laboratory testing, contracts, and assessment of contaminated land.

Delivering data from ground investigations to feed into developing ground models, the transition from an office to field dominated role, within major projects is complex and the challenge of field implementation is often not well enough acknowledged. Early Contractor Involvement is often mentioned and can bring value providing important greater surety of delivery time, cost and safety or technical outcomes through collaboratively establishing a more mature and inclusive plan before implementing fieldwork. The design/delivery interface and potential for an ECI role will be explored in this talk, looking at what this actually means and how it works in an NEC or alternative contracting major projects world, including looking at the benefits or disbenefits and other options. Experience in deploying an ECI in a major GI from various perspectives will be used to illustrate the approach.

Professionally qualified in geology and engineering with a background working for clients, contractors and consultants, Patrick has more than 25 years of international experience in ground engineering. He has led the geotechnical delivery of high profile multi-disciplinary major infrastructure land and marine projects from feasibility to construction, including tasks with particular complexity arising from the ground conditions and project requirements. His key interest areas are ground risk management and related procurement strategies meeting the needs of various stages in the project development cycle. He is current Chair of Think Deep UK.

The BDA Audit is the land drilling sector’s only independent assessment scheme for assuring employers, clients and contractors of drill crew technical competence and ensuring that the equipment and personnel meet the legal requirements for health and safety. The Audit has undergone significant changes and improvements in the last year and is now an industry leading scheme. This talk will highlight the improvements, planned future developments and how the BDA will be encouraging increased participation in the scheme.

Paul is a trained geologist and started in the Ground Investigation Industry in 2004, moving to Fugro in 2012. He has worked on geotechnical land and marine projects in the UK and overseas fulfilling serval roles with increasing responsibilities. In his current role as Service Line Manager, Paul is responsible for Fugro’s geotechnical drilling activities across the UK and Europe. In addition, Paul has been active member in multiple British Drilling Association (BDA) committees since 2014. He currently chairs the Training and Education Committee and has been appointed as the vice chairman of the Association. Paul has been active in developing industry qualifications and guidance documents with the aim to improve the standards across the industry.

GeoEnvironmental ground investigations are the basis for safe, resilient and sustainable circular land use. Good conceptual site models integrate a wide range of information of different resolution and reliability to inform risk based decisions. Increasingly raw data will be collected digitally. Historic information need to be georectified for consideration alongside new digital information. Early career practitioners who are digi-skilled will be much better placed to develop, interpret and build on our holistic CSMs - opening the door to a more secure, and better remunerated, career in decades to come.

Coming soon.

Coming soon.

Peter has some 50 years of experience in the Geotechnical Industry predominantly within the Site Investigation sector. This experience is reinforced with academic qualifications and membership of geotechnical bodies. He is a Chartered Geologist and a Chartered Scientist and is a UK Registered Ground Engineering Adviser. He has held various positions from engineer to Director. This has given him a wealth of practical experience, being involved in numerous diverse engineering projects and providing design data both in the field and laboratory as well as designing foundations and ground engineering solutions across the UK.

Peter was a founding director of the Equipe Group, delivering training across the geotechnical industry as well as developing The Geotechnica Trade Show concept. Since 2015 Peter has run his own consultancy PRGC Ltd providing geotechnical advice to various civil engineering companies and bodies including SOCOTEC UK.

More recently Peter has been actively involved in a number of industry initiatives aimed at improving knowledge and practice in the geotechnical industry; he is a co-opted member of the executive committee of the BGA. As an independent specialist, he is a member of the AGS geotechnical engineering working group.

For some 10 years Peter held a part time lecturer role at Brunel University lecturing to civil engineering students from undergraduate to post graduate level as well as acting as a tutor and adviser to PhD students. Recently Peter took up the Role of Senior Lecturing Fellow (Part Time) at the University of Portsmouth where he now lectures soil mechanics and geotechnical engineering at undergraduate and MSc level

Author of a number of technical papers Peter is currently writing a Handbook of Site Investigation for Engineers which is due to be published in early 2022.

A panel discussion and question/answer session on NEC Contracts.

Richard is a chartered civil engineer and procurement and NEC specialist with global development, engineering and management consultant, Mott MacDonald.

Richard was part of the drafting team for NEC4. Richard advised on possibly Mott’s first use of the NEC when he moved to their contracts/procurement team in 1996 and has worked with the NEC ever since. He advises Motts teams and their clients on NEC in all sectors including the Halley VI research station on the Antarctic, Transnet in South Africa and the Jumeriah Golf Estates in Dubai. In Hong Kong, he has supported the Mott MacDonald’s Hong Kong team on its commissions advising various departments of the Government of Hong Kong first on their trial projects using NEC and is happy now to see NEC as ‘business as usual’ in Hong Kong.

Through Mott MacDonald, Richard delivers in-house and client training and training for NEC Training, including the 4 day ECC Project Manager accreditation course. He was also a member of the NEC4 drafting team.

Richard has contributed to two NEC books, had 7 NEC papers published in ICE’s Proceedings and sat on the Editorial Advisory Panel of the ICE’s journal, Management, Procurement and Law.

Using case studies from aviation and rail, Ross analyses the importance of understanding human performance and performance influencing factors in safety critical industries. He explains what Kura Human Factors do as a company and how they have developed an industry leading Human Factors Coaching programme, incorporating Human Factors Investigation skills. The programme is being delivered successfully across Morgan Sindall and is now being offered to organisations across the construction and infrastructure sectors. The course feedback has been impressive:

“The best course I have been on in my construction career”

“The content everyday was so informative and relevant. The way the group came together and supported each other was brilliant and the interaction fantastic”

“We have been given excellent tools which are easy to understand and apply back into the way we operate”

The talk brings to life some of the challenges that safety critical industries face in managing human behaviours and it seeks to explain some of the benefits that can be realised when a human-centric approach is taken to enhance safety. Kura Human Factors believes that everyone comes to work to do the very best job that they can, every day. If we understand our people better; if we consider what they need; if we identify what can influence their performance positively and adversely, then we can set up our complex operations in a way that maximises the likelihood of safe outcomes. People, not procedures, are your organisation’s best defence.

A senior military leader and engineer by background, Ross is now a freelance qualified safety professional, strategic programme manager and inspiring public speaker. Ross draws on his 30 years of experience in the aviation sector to advise clients on how to improve organisational performance whilst enhancing safety across operations.

For the first time HSE has published guidance (HSG248 Asbestos: The Analyst’s Guide) detailing its view on how to approach work to survey for identification of asbestos contamination prior to planned development of a site. Control measures including safe systems of work must be established during the risk assessment to reduce the risk to those working on asbestos contaminated land to as low a level as reasonably practicable. The presentation will explore some of the key issues and share experiences in this area from a regulator’s (HSE’s) perspective.

Sam Lord is a Chartered Occupational Hygienist and Principal Specialist Inspector at the Health and Safety Executive. Sam is the occupational hygiene technical/strategic lead for asbestos providing technical expertise to HSE investigations, proactive inspection and research programmes and civil contingency events. Her career started 24 years ago as an asbestos analyst and surveyor, before moving to the Ministry of Defence which included 2.5 years working in a land quality assessment team.

Coming soon.

Coming soon.

Coming soon.

Tom is a Chartered Safety Practitioner and has been since 2007. Tom has worked within the geotechnical and geoenvironmental industry since 2009 and as lead consultant for RPA Safety Services, provides specialist industry support and guidance to around 20 contractors and consultants within the industry. In his capacity as a trainer, Tom delivers industry recognised training courses for operatives, supervisors and engineers and provides a nationally recognised underground services safety course widely used within the industry and many tier one civil engineering contractors.