GRM, Bretby Business Park, Burton upon Trent, Staffs. DE15 0YZ
Tel: 01283 551249
Email: info@grm-uk.com
GRM, Anson House, Compass Point Business Park, Northampton Road, Market Harborough, Leics, LE16 9HW
Tel: 01858 414981
Email: info@grm-uk.com
Whether it is small plot of land that is being developed for a few houses, or a huge multi-million pound regeneration scheme, the potential for things to go 'off-plan' is always there.
Unique to the construction sector, GRM has a rapid-response team of five highly trained site inspectors who can:
Hywel Tidley, GRM's Construction Manager and rapid response team leader, is confident that they can tackle pretty much anything that a site manager might come across.
"Whether it is a question about foundations, or just that a site manager has hit some dark material that has a foul odour to it, we are there to sort it out. To begin with, we have a direct link into GRM's team of technical ground investigation and structural planning experts, who can react very quickly and provide robust answers."
"Our team is spread across a wide geographical area, the advantage to clients is that one of our site inspectors will be within a couple of hours travel of virtually any site."
In many cases developers have reported big cost savings after a member of Hwyel's team has helped to manage a project.
"We tighten up cost control," continued Hywel. "We've been called into many situations where additional technical support and advice is needed following a visit from either a Building Control or Environment Agency inspector. We act as a negotiator for the client, taking much of the pressure off the site manager. We can troubleshoot a situation and provide supporting technical advice for a cost effective solution to settle the dispute."
"We can also be extremely useful when an external inspector insists that the foundations need to be to a specific depth, based on "robust detail/worst case scenario" assumptions. In these cases, where we believe the foundations could be technically competant at shallower depth, we can provide evidence to support our advice."
Foundations which are deeper than they need to be have a significant impact on both the developer's budget and the environment. For the developer, it means more chargeable man-hours digging out trenches, more arrangements to landfill the waste, more concrete and ultimately, much more cost. For the environment it means more vehicle trips to landfill, more traffic on the roads and the production of additional, unrequired concrete.
Hywel's team are constantly updated on the latest products available in the industry and regularly receive training from specialist suppliers and ground engineering companies.
Promoting 'best practice', Hywel's team holds training meetings for site managers as a complementary part of the service.
"Due to the skills shortage in the sector, we believe it is crucial to impart some of our knowledge to key staff at the sites, to enable them to feel more confident when a situation arises. We can teach them to look for problems and deal with them until we arrive. There shouldn't be any reason for a development to stop work."
Hywel's fast-response site inspection team can be contacted at GRM's head office in Bretby, near Burton, by calling 01283 551 249 or emailing info@grm-uk.com.