Our professional role for over thirty years has been to supervise civil engineering and construction projects. This has given us an extensive knowledge and understanding of site works, covering the entire cycle of such contracts from interpretation of site investigations through to the maintenance period and final account.
Our experience has covered all types of structures, earthworks, highways, drainage, water (foul/clean), sewage works, remediation, geotechnical engineering, river/canal/marine works, piling, landscaping, building and conservation of historic structures.
Many of the contracts we have worked on have pioneered new techniques especially in the fields of geotechnical engineering and ground remediation. This has allowed us to be at the forefront of techniques that eventually have come into common use. We have also often been asked to provide feedback to the design offices to help make more cost effective designs with more easily applied and less ambiguous specifications. We have always endeavoured to try and bring the design team closer to those constructing the contract. Our input has been to try to make the designers aspirations more “buildable”
Safety is a key issue on all sites. Apart from the normal examination of the contractor’s documentation and the obligations under the CDM regulations, my most effective role in terms of site safety has been achieved by continual inspection of site activities. Only continual monitoring of site safety provisions and stopping bad practices immediately have, as we have found created a culture of safe working on site.
In terms of quality, some of my contracts have won awards both nationally and internationally. These have included Cerbid Flood prevention scheme, Pontygwaith Bridge, Parliament St Superstores Lancaster, and Taf Merthyr Mine water Treatment Scheme. The Risca Canal scheme was nominated for awards but due to the Foot and Mouth emergency could not be completed in time.
Contractually we have worked with all the major contract forms ICE, JCT, GC, FIDIC and the New Engineering contracts. An important part of our role has been ensuring adherence to the programme and careful cost control. Often we have been able to mitigate additional costs to the client, yet ensured that the contractor received adequate remuneration for their work.
Over the years we have developed considerable public relations skills dealing with other organizations and third parties, which is an important asset in today’s atmosphere of political, public and environmental scrutiny of all public works.