Archives: News

Latest news from the Harrison Group

CL:AIRE – Latest Asbestos Guidance

July 25, 2016

CL:AIRE – Latest Asbestos Guidance

CL:AIRE has recently published the Joint Industry Working Group Asbestos in Soil and Construction & Demolition (C&D) Materials guidance titled “Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012: Interpretation for Managing and Working with Asbestos in Soil and Construction & Demolition materials: Industry Guidance (shortened name CAR-SOILTM)”.

 

The document is available to download free of charge at www.claire.co.uk/asbestos

 

Asbestos clearance

Prior to demolition

BRE Soakaway Guidance Updated

May 16, 2016

BRE Soakaway Guidance Updated

Designers of soakaways should take a more holistic approach to site investigation, including consideration of contamination and ground risk, according to the 2016 update of BRE Digest DG365 Soakaway design.

 

Jon Archer, Principal Geoenvironmental Engineer at Harrison Group Environmental, said: “While pollution was mentioned in the 2007 edition of the guidance, it was not part of the site investigation recommendations. In contrast, the new publication states: ‘Prior to designing the soakaway, the potential for contamination on the site needs to be established’. It also recommends that remedial measures need to be included in design.”

 

John added that the new guidance emphasises the importance of desk studies, stating they are preferred even for smallest developments. “It recommends ‘local’ advice is sought on ground and slope stability risk, including flooding- and wash-out-induced settlement, and that these need to be considered in the design,” he said.

 

“It is clear that developers and their design teams must ensure they commission comprehensive site investigations when designing soakaways,” John continued. “This should include a desk study, a well-planned and targeted ground investigation, plus insitu and laboratory testing. Data gathered can be used to develop a ground model that will help mitigate design risk.”

 

According to the introduction to the new edition, Digest 365 is one of the most widely used BRE publications. It describes design and construction procedures for soakaways and explains how to calculate rainfall design values and soil infiltration rates, along with design examples.

 

The new edition replaces BRE Digest 365 (2007) and includes recommendations from the Environment Agency on climate change and consideration of 1 in 100 year flood events.

 

BRE Digest 365 (2016) can be purchased from the BRE Bookshop (www.brebookshop.com). Harrison Group Environmental has extensive experience in delivering site investigations for developments across the UK; for geotechnical and contaminated land advice, please contact us on 01603 613111 or email info@harrisongroupuk.com

 

Harrison Group Sponsor Risk & Reward Event

May 10, 2016

Harrison Group Sponsor Risk & Reward Event

Harrison Group were very pleased to have sponsored this event entitled Risk & Reward held on 17 May by the Norfolk Constructing Excellence Club.

 

The session looked at how to identify unfolding difficulties and prevent them developing into crises, whilst at the same time considering them as opportunities.

 

It was run by Dr Elmar Kutsch, a Senior Lecturer in Risk Management at Cranfield School of Management. This is a particularly pertinent topic for us as of course our business is predicated on analysing geotechnical and environmental risks in construction.

 

Close to 100 members and guests attended the event and the inspiring presentation was followed by a wide-ranging and informative discussion.

 

Norfolk Constructing Excellence Club is committed to improving the business performance of its members by focusing on innovation and best practice through collaborative working and supply chain integration.

 

Membership of the Norfolk Construction Excellence Club is multi discipline with professionals from across the entire built environment sector and all levels are welcomed from Apprentice to Managing Director.

 

Members are attracted from Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridge; and events are designed to be thought provoking and to provide valuable CPD to promote better ways of working within a challenging industry.

 

For more information visit: http://www.norfolkconstructingexcellence.org.uk/

 

Harrison Group Co-hosts Maltese Construction Visit to CITB

April 13, 2016

Harrison Group Co-hosts Maltese Construction Visit to CITB

Harrison Group Environmental co-hosted a visit of representatives from Malta’s construction industry to the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) in Norfolk last month, as part of its work to help improve construction industry practice in the country.

 

David Harrison, Chairman of Harrison Group Environmental and Managing Director of the company’s Maltese operation, explained Malta’s Building Industry Consultative Council (BICC) had recently introduced a skills card system based on the CITB’s Construction Skills Certification Scheme, as part of a drive to raise quality and health and safety standards of the country’s construction sector.

 

“We have been working in Malta since 1989,” David said. “As well as providing geotechnical and geoenvironmental support to construction projects, we have been working with the Maltese government to improve the way public works and construction projects in general are carried out.

 

“We arranged the tour of the CITB facility at Bircham Newton to show the delegates from the BICC and the Malta Business Network the training resources available to the UK construction industry. It was also a great opportunity to introduce CITB to a potential market for its world-leading training support services.”

 

Harrison Group ‘Perfect Delivery’ for Morgan Sindall

February 22, 2016

Harrison Group ‘Perfect Delivery’ for Morgan Sindall

Harrison Group are pleased to announce that our recent work for Morgan Sindall at RAF Mildenhall – Building 582 contributed to them receiving ‘Perfect Delivery’ for the overall project.

 

It is our ethos at the Harrison Group to work very closely with clients on all of our projects. Such positive feedback is welcomed by us and we look forward to our continued working relationship with them again in the future.

 

Harrison moves into Cambridge from 4th January, 2016

December 21, 2015

Harrison moves into Cambridge from 4th January, 2016

Harrison Group Environmental is building on its reputation for providing quality geotechnical and geoenvironmental services for clients in the Cambridge area by opening a new office in the city.

 

The new office will be open for business from 1st January 2016 and will be headed up by Principal Engineer Jon Archer. He commented:

 

“We have been working for developers, housebuilders, contractors and consultants in Cambridgeshire for many years. Having an office here will mean our experienced staff are closer to our clients, enabling us to respond quickly and efficiently to their requests. It should also help us to build our business in Cambridgeshire and the surrounding areas.”

 

Harrison Group’s services include

  • Site and ground investigation
  • Geotechnical assessment
  • Soil testing in our UKAS accredited laboratory
  • Contaminated land advice
  • Environmental monitoring
  • Environmental permitting
  • Health impact assessment for residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural projects

Location of the new office is:
Harrison Group Environmental

Future Business Centre

Kings Hedges Road

Cambridge

CB4 2HY

 

Tel: 01223 781585

email: cambridge@harrisongroupuk.com

 
We will continue to provide the same high level of service to all of our clients throughout these changes. We also look forward to working with clients both existing and new, from this local base in Cambridge.

UKAS Reaccredits Harrison Soil Testing Laboratory

November 2, 2015

UKAS Reaccredits Harrison Soil Testing Laboratory

We are very pleased to announce that the independent Harrison Group soil testing laboratory has once again been re-accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) to ISO/IEC 17025:2005.

 

The laboratory carries out a comprehensive range of physical testing methods of soil and rock.

 

Our continued commitment to providing the testing services that our clients require has lead to the company recently investing in new equipment for the laboratory. As a result of this, we have expanded the range of testing services that we have to offer.

 

This has also resulted in an increase in the number of samples that can be dealt with at any one time. This is pivotal in delivering a successful service to our clients where results are dispatched in the minimum of time.

 

The new accreditation will be in place until 2019 and we look forward to working with clients requiring the services of our laboratory – both old and new – in the future.

 

BS 5930: 2015 – Code of Practice for Ground Investigations

September 21, 2015

BS 5930: 2015 – Code of Practice for Ground Investigations

A Revised version of BS 5930 (BS 5930: 2015, “Code of Practice for Ground Investigations”) has been published in August 2015 which replaces the previous 1999 version.

 

BS 5930 has underpinned ground investigation practice in the UK and abroad since its original publication in 1981. The subsequent 1999 revision was an update to reflect the ongoing evolution of investigation methods.

 

Since then there have been two major amendments 2007 and 2010) to incorporate the requirements of EN standards related to Eurocodes, specifically the standards associated with EN1997-2, in sampling, testing and soil and rock description.

 

BS 5930:2015 presents an update on the requirements for the investigation of sites in order to assess their suitability for construction and to identify the characteristics of a site that affect the design and construction of the project.

 

Apart from changing the title from ‘site’ to ‘ground’ investigations, readers might not see much change in the content.

 

However, the revised standard does update best and current practice, accommodate EN ISO standards and has been reorganised to reduce repetition.

 

Environmental Permitting – food processing industry

May 25, 2015

Environmental Permitting – food processing industry

This is important information for the slaughterhouse and meat processing industries.

 

You may well be affected by the following information

 

Environmental permitting

 

What is environmental permitting?

  • The Environment Agency (EA) have adopted an approach to controlling pollution from specified activities
  • It is designed to produce a high level of environmental protection by reducing emissions to air, water & land
  • It is designed to optimise the efficiency of use of resources – water, energy & raw materials
  • This is implemented & enforced by the EA through Environmental Permitting

The EA’s work plan – commencing April 2015 & possibly earlier in some geographical areas – will initially involve slaughterhouses only, but, in time, the scrutiny will extend to cutting plants also – the threshold being any deboning, meat preparation or meat product production. The following details outline the production and capacity limits of plants that will be targeted by the EA and will require Environmentl Permitting to continue to operate.

 

For more information regarding this directive, please click on the link below.
Environmental Permitting 2015 – the facts

 

For more information regarding how Harrison Group Environmental can help, please click on the link below.
Harrison Group – Environmental Permitting services

 

Relocation of London office – Harrison Group

March 17, 2015

Relocation of London office – Harrison Group

We are pleased to announce that on 26th February 2015, the London office of Harrison Group Environmental Limited will be relocating to larger premises. Our new contact details from this date will be:

 

Unit 12

Waterways Business Centre

Navigation Drive

South Ordnance Road

Enfield

London

EN3 6JJ

 

Tel: 020 7537 9233

Email: info@harrisongroupuk.com

 

Could you please distribute this information as required, and update your records accordingly.

 

Please note that contact details for the company’s head office in Norwich remain unchanged, as do the points of contact for all staff – including accounts – within the company.

 

We will continue to provide the same high level of service to all of our clients throughout these changes and look forward to continuing our work with you in the future.