About Us
Our two directors have a combined experience of over 43 years in the drilling and ground investigation industry.
Drift Ground Investigation Ltd - Staff
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Richard Pidcock - (Director / Lead Driller / Engineer) - Established company in 2006. Qualified geotechnical engineer with over 12 years experience in the industry including geotechnical design experience. Lead driller on dynamic sampling, cable percussion and diamond coring rigs. BSc Geology, MSc Engineering Geology, NVQ Land Drilling, Fellow of Geological Society, PTS, CSCS.
Lee 'Charlie' Allardyce - (Director / Drilling Supervisor / Lead Driller) - Over 32 years experience in the drilling industry including lead driller, cable percussion, dynamic sampling, rotary and diamond coring. NVQ Land Drilling Assessor, Site Supervisor Assessor, BDA Auditor, CSCS.
David Evans - (Lead Driller / Fitter) - Experienced lead driller on our dynamic sampling and diamond coring rigs. NVQ Land Drilling, CITB Passport to Safety, PTS, CSCS. Dave has a reputation for tackling challenging jobs with an enthusiastic approach and being a talented fitter/fabricator/welder has been known to fabricate specialist equipment in order to complete projects successfully.
David Dixon - (Lead Driller) Recently joined Drift and has brought a wealth of experience particularly in rotary drilling having operated most type of drilling rigs and a range of plant and equipment. NVQ, CSCS, CPCS, PTS.
Zach Baker - (Driller - Dynamic Sampling) - Working towards his land drilling NVQ Zach is experienced in all types of dynamic sampling, diamond coring and assistant driller on the cable percussive rigs. Currently working on our London North Eastern Zone voided structures contracts, and mineworkings remedial works with Amco Rail. CSCS, PTS, Appointed person first aider..
Ashley Lowthian - (Driller - Cable Percussion & Dynamic Sampling) - Working towards his land drilling NVQ in Cable Percussion and Dynamic Sampling, Ashley has over 5 years experience in land drilling is currently training to become a lead driller on the cable percussion rigs. CSCS.
Lee Pickersgill - (Trainee Driller) - Lee has recently joined Drift and is currentlt traing on the dynamic sampling rigs. Since joining Drift he has worked on a ariety of projects across the UK including contaminated sites, motorways, waterways, schools and railways. CSCS.
Drift Ground Investigation - Recent Projects
Details are provided below of some of our recent projects around the UK.
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Housing & Schools
Kirklees Excellent Homes – Ground investigations of over 20 sites around the Kirklees District for the proposed redevelopment of the sites for housing. Windowless sampling with SPT’s and undisturbed sampling was undertaken at various locations at each site. Sub-samples were taken for further geotechnical and contamination testing. Holes were taken to varying depths depending upon ground conditions, but most were generally taken to rockhead with an SPT refusal. At one location weathered sandstone strata was penetrated into a large open void, identifying the presence of abandoned shallow, open mine workings at the site. This allowed the client to design a further extensive mine workings investigation using rotary drilling techniques, in order to mitigate any risk of collapse during and after the proposed redevelopment of the site.
Leeds Independent Living - Ground investigations of over 20 sites around the Leeds area for proposed new housing developments. Windowless sampling with SPT’s and undisturbed sampling was undertaken at each site for a leading Leeds based consultancy.
Schools - Investigations for proposed redevelopment at a number of schools and colleges throughout the UK including Hull, Solihull, Knaresborough, Mytholmroyd and Westminster.
Waterways
Droitwich Canal and Lancaster Canal, Kendal - Ground Investigations along the line of abandoned canals for proposed reinstatement and renewal.
Sampling through Alluvium and Mercia Mudstone along the line of the proposed reinstated
section of the Droitwich Canal.
Audlem Embankment - Ground investigation in difficult ground conditions for a failing canal embankment in Audlem. Holes were drilled through the soft embankment fill material and into soft underlying alluvial deposits including peat and soft silts. Holes were cased and SPT’s and U100’s were taken throughout the windowless sampled holes. Inclinometer tubing was installed into one of the boreholes to allow subsequent monitoring of movement of the embankment. A temporary bridge was constructed across a large ditch to allow access for the drilling rig to the embankment.
Sowerby Bridge - Another investigation for a failing embankment located between the canal and the River Calder. U100 sampling and SPT’s were carried out.
Railway Work
London North Eastern Zone - Voided Structures Investigations
Structural investigations of various viaducts in the LNE Zone for Amco Rail during night time possessions. The investigations comprise windowless sampling and simultaneous casing down through trackbed layers and underlying fill material to the structure backing. Rotary coring follow on is then undertaken through the masonry backing to identify structural voids within the viaduct spandrels, piers and releaving arches. Plastic tubing is then left in the hole to allow CCTV surveys of the voids in order to examine the internal condition of the viaducts, which were largely constructed in the mid to late 1800’s. This work has been successfully completed at various sites across the LNE Zone including sites in Slaithwaite, Knaresborough, Bedford, Halifax, Baildon, Denby Dale, Stanningley, Huddersfield, Sheffield, Morpeth, Wakefield, Coquet Valley, Plawsworth, Croxdale and Relly Mill during night time possessions of the railway.
Knaresborough Viaduct over the River Nidd depicted by John Cooke Bourne. The original viaduct collapsed in 1848. The new viaduct was constructed in 1851, opening the East and West Yorkshire Junction Railway. Holes were drilled and cased down through trackbed layers to the viaduct deck adjacent to each pier. The masonry deck was then cored to investigate the internal condition of the construction voids within the spandrels.
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Rotary coring through the viaduct deck/backing at Stanningley Viaduct.
Hull Docks Branch Line
Investigation along the Hull Docks Branch Line for the proposed four tracking and remodelling of the existing embankment in order to increase the existing line speed. The investigation comprised windowless sampling with SPT’s through soft alluvial deposits into underlying glacial strata.
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Alne Culvert Renewal
Drift Ground Investigation were employed by Amco Rail to assist in a culvert renewal project on the East Coast Main Line north of York in Alne. The track layout comprised four lines with overhead electrification. The outer two lines (Up and Down Slow lines) had been added at some point in the past and the existing culvert had been extended beneath. The main and oldest part of the culvert was a 650mm diameter brick culvert under the central fast lines, whilst the newer extensions were 450mm diameter. Insituform had previously installed a new hot cured liner which had to be installed at 450mm diameter throughout by using a hydrostatic inversion process and thermosetting resin liner. This left a void in the annulus between the new liner and the old 650mm culvert under the central Up and Down fast lines.
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Alne Culvert. Checking the CCTV following coring through the brick culvert (above left). Grouting the void betwen the old brick culvert and the new hot cured liner (above right).
The line of the culvert was marked out at the surface using a sonde and an advanced locator. A hole was then drilled by Drift in the optimum location (four foot of the Up Fast line) during a night time possession and isolation. The hole was windowless sampled and simultaneously cased down to 1.7mbgl where the brick culvert was encountered. The rotary head was then used to core through the brickwork. Great care and sensitivity was required in order to not puncture the new liner just inches below the brickwork. During the drilling the inside of the new liner was closely monitored by insituform using cctv in case the drill string were to damage the liner. The cctv also confirmed that the borehole had reached the void as light shone down the borehole was visible on the cctv inside the culvert which shone through the reinforced resin liner. Insituform were also ready to patch any hole if required. The hole was drilled successfully first time without causing any damage to the liner and the void was then grouted by insituform and Amco Rail using 1 and 1/2 tonnes of grout pumped down a tremmie pipe inside the plastic tube that had been inserted into the borehole. Previous calculations of estimated grout take, close monitoring at the ends of the culvert and use of the cctv confirmed that the void had been successfully grouted within the single night time possession.
Potentially Contaminated Sites
Various sites around the country including Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, London, Wakefield, Huddersfield, Bamber Bridge, Southport, Runcorn, Stockton, Grimsby, Shepley, Eakring and Hull. Windowless sampling with simultaneous casing undertaken at some sites minimises any possibility of cross contamination. Investigations have been undertaken by Drift GI at many contaminated sites including landfill sites and those categorised both Yellow and Red under SISG Guidelines.
Tracking between borehole positions on a potentially contaminated site in the
north of England.
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