Breaking Ground

In this episode of the Breaking Ground podcast, Steve Hadley and Ciaran Jennings are with Natalie Bews ( Managing Director at Skelair International Ltd ), discussing her journey in the geotechnical engineering sector. Natalie shares her early passion for geology, her career progression from an assistant geotechnical engineer to a business development role, and the importance of proactive marketing...

In this episode, Steve Hadley and Ciaran Jennings are discussing the journey into a Geotechnics career with some recent graduates from the Ground Forum undergraduate mentoring program discussing their journeys into the field of ground engineering. They share their educational backgrounds, experiences in the industry, and insights into the challenges and opportunities they face. Hadley hosts the ep...

In this episode, Steve Hadley and Ciaran Jennings are discussing CFA piling, the potential of machine learning in the industry and the impact of regulations on pile design. They explore insights from a survey on AI's role in the piling industry and the future of automation in construction jobs. Our guests on this podcast are John Hopkins ( Project Manager, Expanded Piling Ltd ) and John Chick ( Fo...

In this episode, Steve Hadley and Ciaran Jennings are discussing one of our Ground Forum members, the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining, also known as IOM3 . Specifically, they focus on the Ground Engineering Subgroup (GES) of IOM3.   Our guests on this podcast are David Waring Senior Geotechnical Engineer at BP, Emily Wood who is Engineering Manager at BAM and Paul Skerry, the Directo...

In this episode, Steve Hadley and Ciaran Jennings chat with Dr Paul Beetham of Nottingham Trent University, a Chartered Civil Engineer specialising in geotechnical design and ground improvement. Hadley hosts the episode together with Federation of Piling Specialists (UK) and European Federation of Foundation Contractors secretary Ciaran Jennings.

In this episode, Steve Hadley and Ciaran Jennings chat with Luisa Hendry, who you might know from the world of social media as the Scottish Geologist . Hadley hosts the episode together with Federation of Piling Specialists (UK) and European Federation of Foundation Contractors secretary Ciaran Jennings.

In this episode, Steve Hadley and his guests discuss social mobility and pathways into the ground engineering industry. Hadley hosts the episode together with Federation of Piling Specialists (UK) and European Federation of Foundation Contractors secretary Ciaran Jennings. They are joined by Ramboll design engineer Palak Shukla, Atkins Réalis senior geotechnical engineer Tony Bowerman, and Mott Ma...

In this episode Steve Hadley meets Skevi Perdikou from Geofem. The company is a leader in the application of remote sensing and visualisation technology for monitoring infrastructure and geotechnical assets. This is becoming an increasingly important tool to use along with traditional and complex geotechnical models when assessing events such as dam, slope and cliff failures. Listen to hear more a...

Hock Liew and Javier Marti join Steve Hadley to explore the history and current implementation of the observational method in basement construction. They explain how better instrumentation and monitoring can help inform decision making that can save time and money, as well as managing risks to workers, the public and surrounding assets.

Dinesh Patel is a world renowned expert in geotechnical engineering. He has produced innovative solutions for landmark building projects and written papers that continue to be referenced decades after their release. Tune in and enjoy the second of two episodes exploring his career journey.

Dinesh Patel is a world renowned expert in geotechnical engineering. He has produced innovative solutions for landmark building projects and written papers that continue to be referenced decades after their release. Tune in and enjoy the first of two episodes exploring his career journey.

In this episode Steve Hadley is joined by Keller’s newly installed group sustainability manager Luke Deamer; sustainability expert and Russell and Dawson senior consultant Erica Russell; and Arup geotechnical and sustainability engineer Alice Berry, who is returning to the podcast.  We explain some of the terminology being used in discussions around carbon and look into how the ground engineering...

LQM’s Paul Nathanail, Atkins' Carrie Rose, and Ian Evans from Arcadis join host Steve Hadley to discuss the topic of contaminated land.  The guests review some common sources of it, as well as methods of investigation and containment. The panel also provides insights into contamination within popular culture by referencing films such as Deepwater Horizon and Erin Brockovich. If you would like to b...

In this episode of the podcast host Steve Hadley meets Carla Martín Clavé.  Carla, who moved to an engineering geologist role at Jacobs after completion of her PhD, won the prestigious Glossop Award in 2022 and gave a presentation on the role of engineering geology in the energy transition at the Engineering Group of the Geological Society’s Glossop evening.  The conversation covers the use of sal...

Host Steve Hadley is joined in this episode by Rebecca Penn of Balfour Beatty, Martin Griffin of Knight Piésold and Gary Evans from Plowman Craven to discuss neurodiversity.  The group explains some of the conditions, their experience of being neurodiverse and working in the construction industry, and how having a neurodiverse team can make your organisation more effective. If you would like to be...

In this episode Steve speaks to Alex Petty, a geotechnical engineer from the UK, now leading teams in Western Australia.  Alex talks about some of the exciting projects and unique geology in that part of the world. He explains how good geological knowledge can help provide clients with cost-effective solutions. If you would like to be featured on the podcast - this call is especially to our overse...

Tarmac geotechnical manager Katherine Evans has set up Bold as Brass, a new network for women in construction, quarrying and mining on LinkedIn.  It was created so that women could have a place to network and support each other. In addition, there is a group for allies, as all genders are responsible for culture change within the industry. “I wanted to give women a place they felt safe to discuss...

In this episode of Breaking Ground, host Steve Hadley chats to Jim Williams who works for Historic England, which advises the government on the historic environment.  Williams helps to carry out Historic England’s mission to “champion heritage to improve people’s lives” by managing a team of science advisors across the country. It is their job to help local authority archaeologists with the scient...

Steve Hadley meets Yuli (Chaido) Doulala-Rigby, Chief Engineer at Tensar. They talk about Yuli’s journey into geosynthetics, product types and applications. Yuli promotes geogrids as playing a key role in sustainable temporary and permanent works geotechnical solutions.  She also goes on to bust some myths about women in engineering and offers an inspirational tale for others to follow. Tensar wis...

On this episode of Breaking Ground Steve Hadley chats to George Tuckwell, Director of Geosciences & Engineering at RSK, and Richard Pidcock, Joint Managing Director at Central Alliance, to talk about geophysics and the range of techniques available to ground engineers.  Steve admits that he has been more used to more conventional ground investigation techniques during his career, and of course...

On this episode Steve Hadley meets Prof. Neil Dixon from Loughborough University and explores how acoustics are being used to help identify potential landslides and reduce harm around the world.  He learns more about the research work going on in the laboratory, centrifugal models, and finite element analysis techniques.  Steve and Neil conclude the episode by discussing how we can attract more pe...

In this episode of the Breaking Ground podcast, Steve Hadley talks to Dr. Andi Pfaffhuber and Chris Pressdee from EMerald Geomodelling. He learns more about the use of airborne geoscanning survey technology and its use around the world. The guests explain how the data can be combined with conventional boreholes and enable machine learning to develop sophisticated 3D models of the ground.  This off...

This special edition of the Breaking Ground podcast reviews the difficult topic of suicide and mental health. Joining Steve Hadley is Vicky Gutteridge of the OLLIE Foundation and Jim Gelder, Technical Director at Mott MacDonald. The OLLIE Foundation provides wellbeing, prevention and intervention events, training, talks and panel events for professionals, parents and students. Their mission is to...

From asking whether we should be openly sharing more information as a way of contributing to the greater good, to whether Minecraft is the key to engaging younger people with geology, this is a fascinating conversation hosted by Steve Hadley (Chair of the Federation of Piling Specialists and Managing Director of Central Piling) and featuring Steve Thorpe from the British Geological Survey and Conr...

hyperTunnel promise "next generation tunnelling" as they aim to revolutionise the world of underground construction through AI, machine learning and swarm robotics - and in this conversation Steve Hadley (Chair of the Federation of Piling Specialists and Managing Director of Central Piling) talks to Patrick Lane-Nott (hyperTunnel's Director of Engineering) about how exactly they're doing it. Essen...