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Issue 15 - Spring 2008

Girl Power at Pennine

Pennine is spicing up its business figures with girl power. No less than seven members of our 11-strong estimating and business development team are female.

And the news on the ground is clients are loving the feminine touch, which helped secure £5.4m in orders in 2007.

The dynamic team includes the most successful estimator, business development engineer Claire Garrett, who at just 24 made it through to the shortlist for the ‘future star’ category of the Atkins Inspire Awards 2007.

Working with Claire at our Bacup HQ, are senior geotechnical estimators Sally Dowgill and Deborah Evans, graduate geotechnical estimator Nicola Dakin and trainee estimator Stephanie Pegg.

Claire’s opposite in Scotland is also a woman - business development engineer Olwen Goss - while Nicola Newman is geotechnical estimator based in Gloucester.

Claire said: “Pennine is very forward thinking in employing more women in estimating and business development roles than any other ground improvement company”.

Claire Garrett,
Business Development Engineer

Production Up at Unstoppable Pennine

For evidence of the unfaltering rise and rise of Pennine look no further than our Lancashire manufacturing division where production is at an all time high.

Our 34-man team is set to break its own production records in 2008 as demand for the bespoke rigs soars within the UK and abroad. The team will build seven new rigs - an increase of 100 per cent on last year - reflecting a very healthy UK order book of £3.2m for the same period.

Director of manufacturing Chris Gillibrand, who joined us at the end of 2007, said: “As well as needing more rigs to deploy to the increasing number of UK contracts, we are also replacing some of our older rigs in order to bring the average age down to less than seven years.

“The third dimension is that demand for our equipment is increasing overseas. In late March, for example, we will be shipping another Stratacaster rig out to American company Subsurface Constructors Inc of St Louis, Missouri, who have bought four rigs fitted with our Data Logger monitoring systems over the last two years.

“We’ve worked hard to increase efficiency and reduce production times, which means we can now construct a Stratacaster in 14 weeks instead of 18.”

First of the new rigs to roll off the production line this year will be the compact, mobile Stratacaster ll which although designed to carry out top feed concrete column work, is adaptable enough for bottom feed vibro and can also use water or air flush. It’s ideally suited to smaller sites and can be fitted with our instrumentation system to give a ground engineering solution that’s both economic and quality assured.

Chris Gillibrand,
Director of Manufacturing

Pennine first to the finish in Formula 1

Pennine has reached the finishing line in a project to create a new Formula One racing track.

In August 2009 the world’s glitterati will descend on Valencia, Spain when the city plays host for the first time to the Grand Prix of Europe.

In a race to get the 5.47km Formula One track finished in time, the project’s main contractors called in the Pennine team and Spanish contractor Geocisa to improve the ground’s bearing capacity.

Working in partnership 24-hours day, seven days a week - including Christmas day - the two companies crammed a four-month job into just two-months to keep the Grand Prix scheme on track.

Overseas contracts manager Jon Chevin said: “This was a complicated contract. Not only were we trying to complete the job in double-quick time, we were also trying to do it in a small area where there were 15 other activities going on all at once. All the site traffic made it very difficult to manoeuvre.”

The £700,000 contract involved installing 10,000 vibro stone columns to depths of between 6m and 12m using a wet top-feed method.

“Getting all the kit together was logistically complicated in itself,” said Chevin. “We had to pull in two rigs from North Africa, one from the UK and one from the north of Spain.”

Following the Grand Prix of Europe on 22-24 August 2009, the new road will be open to the public as part of the regeneration of Valencia’s marina.

Pennine on Site in Valencia

Pennine breaks new ground in Ireland

Pennine is continuing its UK expansion with the opening of a new office in Belfast this week. The new operation is being headed up by Scotland Area Manager Gavin Savage, who is originally from Northern Ireland.

"The new Belfast office will allow us to expand our operations and presence in Ireland. The Irish market for ground improvement presents an exciting opportunity for Pennine, as the vibro-techniques that we offer are ideally suited to the soft alluvial soils that are abundant in the region."

A qualified geotechnical engineer, Gavin will bring his experience of increasing Pennine’s growth in Scotland to the Irish market, ensuring that the new Belfast venture gets off to a ground-breaking start!

For more information contact Gavin Savage at the Northern Ireland Office, 5 Cromac Avenue, The Gasworks, Belfast, BT7 2JA, Northern Ireland or call 02890 447608.

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