Nicola Beech digs the dirt on RSK Group's site investigation company, Structural Soils.
I'm driving across the Pennines, battling gale-force winds and torrential downpours trying to make it to Structural Soil's Castleford office.
My mission is to find out more about the company and squeeze in a site visit to one of its larger road-based projects: eight weeks, 200 boreholes and a road widening scheme on the M62, one of the UK's busiest motorways.
Founded in 1964, Structural Soils has always been one of the most respected site investigation and drilling contractors in the business.
However, in February 2007 the 150-strong company decided to step things up a notch by becoming a part of the RSK Group, one of the UK's most pre-eminent multi-disciplinary environmental consultancies, and one of the fastest growing companies of its kind in Europe.
Then it happens. I hit a giant traffic queue. No matter, it seems likely that the weather today has washed out any plans I had of investigating this roadside drilling spectacular anyway.
Arriving fashionably late, I dodge the rain and dart into the building. To my relief, Adam Foss, geotechnical engineer and my guide for the day, greets me with a firm handshake and a hot cup of tea.
After an introductory whip round the building, we head to his office. I immediately spot several gargantuan stacks of paperwork, all apparently associated with the M62 project.
"We always do our best to please the client, so we ensure that the contract is crystal clear from the beginning," says Foss, who is currently in the process of ironing out the finer points of the job.
The M62 contract forms a part of a £150million motorway management programme, announced by transport secretary Ruth Kelly last year, to open up certain portions of the hard shoulder to traffic during peak congestion hours.
"Our job is to explore the ground at all the locations where the expansion is planned," he continues.
"The geology of the ground often determines how we test the samples. Cohesive soils and granular soils behave in different ways. We can test soil characteristics both down the hole and in the laboratory."
The company has three laboratories, all of which are capable of undertaking soil, rock, aggregate and concrete testing and accredited by the UK Accreditation Service (UKAS) to ISO 17025 certification.
Foss introduces me to laboratory manager Mark Athorne to find out more.
On the way I pass four drillers waiting around in the foyer. "Bin rain'd off", they remark. "Be like it all day if this wind keeps up - what a joke."
The laboratory is a real hive of activity.
"We've recently doubled the size of the lab," says Athorne, smiling.
He explains that the laboratory not only tests samples brought in by their employees but also, increasingly, has secured work from external clients (last year, this accounted for almost 40% of all lab work).
The whole operation - from sample collection and recording to testing and reporting -is highly organised, and the logistics and workloads are staggering.
"We run a tight ship here," Athorne boasts."With so many tests being run simultaneously, we have to!"
Structural Soils is one of the few companies of its kind to offer an in-house laboratory service, which has clearly been central to its ongoing success.
It's a business model that has paid off and led to major project awards from clients such as Thames Water (a five-year framework agreement, for which Structural Soils is one of only four site investigation contractors), Arup, Bovis Lend Lease and Network Rail.
When I get back to Foss's office, a geotechnical engineer delivers the bad news to us - the Highways Agency has called to say that conditions are too dangerous to go out on site today.
Suddenly faced with more spare time than he expected, Foss takes the opportunity to tell me more about the project. It appears that every drilling technique under the sun is being used in order to deliver approximately 200 boreholes over an eight-week period.
The techniques range from hand digging (which does as it says on the tin) to rotary drilling, which cores into the bedrock.
"With so much going on, safety is our top priority. We have a health and safety representative with us at all times to confirm we are all compliant. Rigorous method statements are completed and briefed to all staff to ensure a safe system."
"We work hard to ensure we do not drill through any service cables by using service drawings and cable avoidance tools effectively - you can never be too sure! Our engineer also acts as a banksman so he can monitor the movements of the excavator's bucket as it removes soil."
According to John Lawrence, Structural Soils' director and Castleford head honcho, such rigorous attention to industry regulations and standards and to individual job specification is a major selling point.
"We can add value over our rivals through our extensive in-house capabilities and strong client focus.
"As we have grown, clients and potential clients see the value we can add and so are staying with us or are coming over to us."
Joining the RSK Group has opened many doors for Structural Soils, not least by giving it access to a huge service arsenal.
This additional muscle was recently demonstrated when it secured a £600,000, multi-disciplinary site investigation to support Transport Scotland with traffic alleviation options on the A82 near Loch Lomond.
Among the support services Structural Soils could bring to the table were ecology, geophysics and helicopters (to lift drilling rigs - courtesy of aerial surveillance company RSK Orbital).
Managing director Alec Handcock is sanguine about the future."Structural Soils has experienced unprecedented growth lately," he declares.
"For example, in the past three years alone, our turnover has increased by around 55%. Things can only get better!"
Know the drill
Hand-dug pits: The most basic site investigation method, used for areas inaccessible to machine excavators. On a job like the M62 project, about 5% of all work is carried out by hand.
Machine excavators: Excavators are used to cut away at an embankment or when trial pits are being dug into a slope. For the M62 project, two 6-8 tonne track excavators, equipped with a rubber track for motorway work, are in use.
Window sampler: Window sampling requires a small rig that drives a steel tube lined with plastic (with a diameter of up to 100mm) into the ground.
It is then retracted to create a metre-long sample representing a geological cross-section. The lab split the sample into individual geological layers, and a descriptive report is compiled.
Cable percussion rig: This is the most commonly used ground investigation rig. Around 7m high, the rig travels to site as a trailer.
When winched up, the legs swing round creating an A-frame. Using a winch and pulley system, the drilling tool is lifted. The borehole is created with a relentless percussive action. The cable percussion rig can be customised to suit any environmental condition.
Rotary drilling: Once you've drilled through superficial material such as clay, sand and gravel, and made contact with the bedrock, it's time to bring out the rotary drill. The bedrock samples taken are sent to the lab for inspection and testing.
