Technics Group, a geospatial consultancy company, have been an approved supplier for a well-known blue chip retailer since 2017.

As part of the retailer's extensive growth plan, Technics were commissioned to carry out several surveys including utility and topographical, CCTV survey and utility verification for a new store to open in Stoke-on-Trent. An initial utility survey (PAS 128 QL-B) carried out by Technics identified a number of utilities including telecoms, fibre optic ducts and electrical ducts running across the area of the store's proposed entrance. Further investigation was required to provide evidence to the client that these utilities were buried deep enough to allow for the safe construction of the new store's bell mouth entrance.

Failure to get this information at the beginning of a project can be extremely costly – diverting or lowering existing utilities once construction has started can cause big delays and increased costs to projects and in some cases isn’t possible at all.

Using the information already collated from Technics’ Desktop Utility Report and Utility Survey, Technics were able to investigate further using their Vacuum Excavation service to give the client and asset owners complete peace of mind that the utilities were buried at or could be lowered to a sufficient depth to safely allow for the new store entrance to be constructed. The use of suction excavation offers a safe method to expose utilities and will in a lot of cases prevent unnecessary diversions which are expensive and disruptive to the project timeline and surrounding environment.

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The experts at Technics knew, from years of experience, that standard trial hole excavation may not provide enough information to assess the potential impact to the existing utilities. Instead, the team carried out a much larger excavation than normal to give the utility companies the exact location and depth of the utilities as well as the clear space around them for the utilities that needed to be lowered.

As a result of the information provided by Technics, the client was able to identify and safely lower the required utilities to construct the entrance to the new store without the need for any unnecessary diversions. In total the work carried out by Technics saved the client over £80,000 and meant they could open their new store without costly delays to the project.

Lee McNichol, Senior Projects and Suction Excavation Manager at Technics commented: "Using our complete utility mapping solution is invaluable for this type of project. Not only does it make the process easier for clients, by having one point of contact throughout, but we were also able to use the information and knowledge we had gathered from the initial surveys to advise on what further information was required for our client to construct the store opening without costly and time consuming utility diversions."

The client was delighted with the results achieved and had this to say "Technics were instrumental in assisting me when a network of services were identified underneath the proposed entrance bell mouth at our new store. Technics provided the GPR survey to meet our requirements and went above and beyond by removing a large section of the public footpath so that we could inspect the services ahead of the delivery of the proposed highways scheme. Technics carefully removed the spoil from the affected area, and a small works builder manually lowered the utilities below formation level with a watching brief from each of the statutory undertakers present.

The project was a success, five of the utilities were lowered, in advance of £80,000 was saved, and an estimated 6-8 weeks removed from the highways construction programme. I cannot thank Technics enough and would not hesitate in recommending them."

Technics Group have more than 30 years’ experience providing high quality consulting and surveying services delivering more than 800 projects a year across a wide range of industries. To find out more about the services Technics offer please visit www.technicsgroup.com.