Case Study

QE2 Bridge – Dartford Crossing

Please click HERE to download a detailed PDF.

As a part of the ongoing maintenance program at the Queen Elizabeth II (QE2) Bridge, our Client instructed us to plan, specify and undertake a precise level and engineering survey of the carriageway adjacent to the 4 main expansion joints on the bridge.

When completed in 1991, the QE2 Bridge was the largest cable-supported bridge in Europe at 137m high and 812m long. It stands beside the Dartford Tunnel and carries the busy London orbital M25 Motorway across the Thames River in the South East of England.

Detailed planning for both safety and traffic management was a key element of the survey program and it was necessary for the site survey work to be completed overnight whilst the Bridge was closed for maintenance. As it is only possible to divert the motorway traffic for short periods, our Surveyors just had a window of 4 hours for 2 nights over a weekend to complete all their measurements.

We deployed 3 survey teams using Leica Geosystems TS15i total station survey instruments combined with mini prisms operating at short range to achieve 3d accuracies of <1mm. At each location we measured spot levels at a grid interval of 0.5m for 2m from the expansion joint and then at 2m grid interval for a further 25m. We also completed a detailed topographical survey of the site area.

Our Surveyors worked overnight in temperatures of -4°c to successfully complete the Engineering Survey in the timescale available and to the Clients specifications.

Case Study

Superstore Surveys

Please click HERE to download a detailed PDF.

A large part of Survey Solutions work is for the retail sector, providing land and measured building surveys ranging from small shop units to major out of town retail park developments. Our Clients include all the major superstores and many high street chains along with independent retailers. We often provide detailed measured building surveys or accurate dimensional floor plans for fit-outs, redevelopment or refurbishment of new and existing stores.

One recent instruction, from a major supermarket chain, was to provide detailed topographical surveys for nearly 30 existing superstores across the UK to enable the access and car parking to be assessed and redesigned. The survey specification required that the topographical surveys needed to be undertaken whilst the stores and car parks were fully operational and must completed within a short and fixed timescale. The surveys were all successfully issued within time and in budget to the satisfaction of the Client and their design team.

Case Study

Tedworth House

Please click HERE to download a detailed PDF.

Help for Heroes are renovating and refurbishing Tedworth House in Wiltshire to be a Personnel Recovery and Assessment Centre (PRAC) and commissioned Survey Solutions to provide a full detailed measured building survey as part of the project.

The building is listed and has been owned by the Army since 1897, being used as an officer’s mess. Help for Heroes has been leased the building and are carrying out a £17m renovation project that saw the first group of personnel using it in July 2011 and by September 2012, it will be operating at full capacity.

As a PRAC, it will provide the facilities to support the two key parts of the recovery process; the holistic life skills course and the activities to get the wounded, sick and injured back out doing what they enjoy the most.

www.helpforheroes.org.uk
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12507958

Case Study

New community in Scotland

A £1 billion development of over 4000 new homes and related facilities is planned as the first stage of a major new community in Scotland. Included in the plans is a new academy, up to four new primary schools and a business development area along with parkland and leisure facilities for the residents.

The vision is to create a people-friendly urban neighbourhood designed to meet the requirement for new homes in the region.

Survey Solutions are appointed to advise on topographical and mapping issues for the project which has included installing and maintain the primary survey control and complete detailed land surveys of the site.

Site area: 857 ha / 2119 acres

Case Study

Essex Hospital Survey

Survey Solutions were instructed to provide a topographical, measured building and underground utilities survey of the major existing Hospital site in Colchester.

The entire project had to be completed whilst the hospital was fully operational and without interrupting the running of the facility. This meant our surveyors had to work around patients and staff, days and nights in the wards, operating theatres and even the morgue.

Case Study

Surveying Luxury in Monaco

Survey Solutions recently completed a full detailed measured floor plan survey for possibly one of the most expensive apartments in the world.

The property, which overlooks Monaco Harbour, was surveyed for one of our many high profile Clients and is part of their worldwide portfolio of properties.

Case Study

Historic Survey

HMS Ganges is a former Naval Base in Suffolk situated on a peninsula where the River Stour and the River Orwell meet. The site has a long history stretching back to the Napoleonic wars when the fortifications were improved to house large guns that could fire at ships approaching nearby Harwich Harbour. Since then the site has had many uses including being a naval base, military hospital, submarine base and an infamous naval training camp for boys. More recently it was used as a Police training school until the late 1990s when it closed.

The now abandoned site consists of many buildings of architectural and historic interest including two Grade I Listed Martello Towers, an underground Fort and the iconic former ships mast which still stands.

Survey Solutions have undertaken a wide variety of mapping tasks and measured surveys over the years while a use for this unusual site has been discussed. Originally we completed a topographical survey of the area followed by several boundary demarcations and setting-out for projects including detailed environmental studied. Also measured building surveys to show floor plans and elevation and used Ground Penetrating Radar GPR to locate the inaccessible underground Fort.

Case Study

Sporting Events

Pictured: Greg Norman

An important swimming competition was hosted at Newmarket Sports and Leisure Centre where it was widely expected a new record time would be achieved in a key qualifying race and it was therefore necessary that the true pool length was correctly checked, verified and approved, to a recognised standard of accuracy, before the event could be held.

Survey Solutions were called upon to precisely measure the true distance of the competition pool and certify that the dimensions of each racing lane agreed to specific tolerances set by the controlling body, the Amateur Swimming Association (ASA).

There are detailed guidelines for the accuracy of the measurements and how they must be measured and recorded, requiring distances to be calculated for the true lane lengths above and below the waterline from each end wall as well as considering the dimensions of the computerised timing touch panels located at the end of the lane.

The projects surveyor, Greg Norman, used a Leica Geosystems TCRP1205 total station to measure to retro-reflective targets as fixed control stations and then took reflectorless detail points above the water line along with accurate observations to a glass prism, on a specially adapted survey detail pole, for measurements below the water. Repeat rounds of measurement observation were taken from two inter-connected instrument setups and averaged for increased reliability and accuracy.

As professional surveyors we have gained a great deal of experience of measuring sporting venues having surveyed, set-out and certified many sporting events including; track and field venues, rowing and watercourses, athletic tracks and several major PGA golf courses.

Case Study

Barclays Cycle Hire Scheme, London

Please click HERE to download a detailed PDF.

The popular Barclays Cycle Hire Scheme in London, also known as ‘Boris Bikes’ after the London Mayor who introduced the project, is planned to expand eastwards in reach of the Olympic park site.

Transport for London (TfL) is responsible for running the scheme which currently has self-service bike docking stations in the centre of London where you can take a cycle and ride it anywhere before returning it for the next person.

As part of the detailed design stage for the planned expansion each proposed new site for the docking stations needed a topographical survey and a detailed underground utility investigation completed and Survey Solutions were instructed to provide this information at nearly 400 separate sites.

They surveyed each location using Leica Geosystems TS15i total stations for the Land Survey and a combination of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and Electromagnetic Detection instruments to map the utilities and features below the surface.

Whilst each site was relatively small in area they could still have a large amount of detail to measure and record as below the pavements of London there is the full range of public utilities, pipes, services, cables and drainage along with possible structures, voids and cellars.

James Cooper, Managing Director at Survey Solutions said “Our surveyors worked in often very busy and challenging locations around London, contending with large volumes of traffic and pedestrians to complete the surveys on time.”

Survey Solutions have also recently provided mapping for other cycling projects such as a Mountain Bike event and the Barclays Cycle Superhighways in London.

For more info on the Barclays Cycle Hire Scheme or Barclays Cycle Superhighways visit the Transport for London (TfL) website at www.tfl.gov.uk