Coventry's Geotechnics laying groundwork for success with equipment investment

Coventry-headquartered Geotechnics Ltd, which specialises in providing ground investigation data, has invested in state-of-the-art survey equipment, aided by a grant via Business Growth West Midlands.

The firm employs 95 staff throughout the UK and has offices in Chester, Exeter and Leeds.

Its many clients include utility and energy businesses, construction firms and international consultancies.

Managing director Paul Hayes said: "We have relied on our survey equipment for many years, ensuring we know exactly where we are at any given point and, with the 3G network being slowly shut down, we had to look at alternative equipment so that we could continue to provide this service and confidence to our clients.

"We were finding that we were experiencing issues with some sites in the UK as 3G was not supported and we knew we needed to invest in upgrading and buying three new pieces of equipment that would support 4G and 5G technologies."

With the Government phasing out the 3G wireless mobile telecommunication network in the UK by 2025, the business needed to invest in upgrading its Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) survey equipment.

Hayes contacted Coventry and Warwickshire Growth Hub to find out if there were any grants available, which ultimately led to Geotechnics receiving a grant of £18,150 to help fund half the cost of the equipment.

The business funding the rest, totalling £36,300.

The grant came via Business Growth West Midlands - Coventry’s SME Capital Grant Programme, which is funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

"The GNSS equipment provides highly accurate positioning data to ensure that specific ground information and data has a fixed starting point for all interested parties to refer to," said Hayes.

Justine Chadwick, account manager at Coventry and Warwickshire Growth Hub, said Geotechnics was set-up in 1983 and continued to evolve as one of the largest independent ground contractors in the UK.

"This investment in the GNSS equipment is already improving its productivity and has created one new Graduate Engineer position," she noted.

"Paul and his team are also committed to bringing the next generation through and educating them around the types of careers which could be open to them, which is a great way of providing the next generation of staff with the skills they need."

Geotechnics, based in Torrington avenue in Coventry, won the Laboratory of the Year title at Lab Innovations’ Awards last year for its UKAS accredited geotechnical laboratory