North West Geoinvestigate based at Windermere has been recommended to join the team of specialists investigating Appleby Castle for client English Heritage. Ross Nicolson site investigation manager at Geoinvestigates North West office said. “The castle keep known as Caeser’s Tower is a truly magnificent defensive structure dating back to the 1170s. The earliest castle was probably begun shortly after the capture of most of Westmoreland by William II from the Scots in 1092. The castle was ferociously fought over by the Scots and fell at least twice to them, though today it is a peaceful and stunning retreat and a well known and much loved landmark in the Cumbrian and Upper Eden Valley landscapes. The view from the battlements of the Keep is outstanding. It’s a privilege to be recommended to provide site investigation and geotechnical consultancy services on a job of such high profile as this – what a Phase 1 Desk Study this will make!”.
Geoinvestigate has also seen a significant improvement in site investigation activity linked to the recent revival in house building and construction in the North West. Ross Nicolson said “site investigation activity in Cumbria and around its margins including the main towns and cities of Carlisle, Penrith, Workington, Whitehaven, Maryport, Barrow- in-Furness, Kendal, Lancaster, Morecambe, Blackpool and Southport. While traditionally quieter than elsewhere and slower to recover from the recession there are now positive signs that site investigation activity is definitely stirring.
We saw a significant increase in our site investigation order book from April last year. There seems to have been an upward trend month on month and we’ve had a great start to 2014. We noticed that a lot more Phase 1 Desk Studies were being commissioned in 2013 than in previous years and we are expecting a similar follow through increase in Phase 2 intrusive borehole and drilling site investigations in 2014 as projects move forward from feasibility to implementation.
The growth in the Affordable Housing sector will continue to be a major driver in 2014 with some 5500 new homes planned for the region in the next few years”.
Ross also said “Geoinvestigate continues to experience much stronger site investigation activity in the other parts of the North West in which we are also very active including Preston, Blackburn, Burnley, Bury, Bolton, Wigan, St Helens, Widnes, Liverpool, Manchester, Warrington, Salford, Oldham , Macclesfield, Stockport, Crewe and Chester . As a company we did a record number of Phase 1 desk studies in these areas last year with many turning into full blown Phase 2 site investigations.
We expect our order book for ground investigations and drilling and borehole investigations to grow in 2014. As you can imagine given the long industrial history of these areas most site investigations include contaminated land investigation and landfill gas monitoring components with a lesser number of mining subsidence, mining or mineshaft related investigations.
Particular hot spots for us last year for site investigation have been in the Cheshire Basin especially the towns of Wilmslow, Cheadle, Sandbach, Northwich, Nantwich, Knutsford and Congleton where recent boundary changes have led to a wave of new planning applications for house building.
From our offices across England, Geoinvestigate provides a good, reliable, cost effective, nationwide site investigation service. We provide expertise in the fields of site investigation, ground investigation, soil investigation, foundation investigation, engineering geology, geotechnical engineering, Phase 1 desk study and Phase 2 site investigation reports, geotechnical consultancy, environmental consultancy, geo-environmental consultancy, landfill gas and mine gas surveys and monitoring, contaminated land assessment and contaminated land remediation, building subsidence, slope stability, mineworkings, contaminated land validation surveys as well as data acquisition and soil surveys using trial pits, boreholes and borehole drilling”