Breaking Ground

In this episode of Breaking Ground, Steve Hadley (Chair of the Federation of Piling Specialists and Managing Director of Central Piling) is joined by Roni Savage (Managing Director of Jomas Associates) to talk about starting her business twelve years ago, the growth it has seen since then and the schemes that she benefitted from as a business leader. Roni also talks to Steve about her many other r...

In this episode of Breaking Ground, Steve Hadley (Chair of the Federation of Piling Specialists and Managing Director of Central Piling) is joined by Ian Webber (Coffey Geotechnics).  Ian shares the story of his career so far with us, chatting about how he established himself in the industry all the way through to his experiences of being an expert witness for legal cases more recently. We would l...

In this episode of Breaking Ground, Steve Hadley (Chair of the Federation of Piling Specialists and Managing Director of Central Piling) is joined by Dave Petley (Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation) at the University of Sheffield). Dave is a geographer, scientist and global expert in slopes and landslides.  Dave talks to us about slope stability and what effect climate change is having o...

In this episode of Breaking Ground, Steve Hadley (Chair of the Federation of Piling Specialists and Managing Director of Central Piling) is joined by Dr. Dimitrios Selemetas  (Technical Director at AKT II), Alice Berry (Associate at Arup) and Dr. Graham Webb (Associate at WSP) to discuss the Basements and Underground Structures and Instrumentation & Monitoring Conferences which were recently h...

In this episode of Breaking Ground, Steve Hadley (Chair of the Federation of Piling Specialists and Managing Director of Central Piling) is joined by Richard Fielden (Managing Director of WJ Groundwater and Chair of the British Drilling Association) to talk about the world of ground water and dewatering.  Richard started his career in the piling industry, working on a big basement project in Centr...

In this episode of Breaking Ground, Steve Hadley (Chair of the Federation of Piling Specialists and Managing Director of Central Piling) is joined by Derek Pennington (Geotechnical Services Specialist for TfNSW), Breaking Ground’s first international guest who joins Steve over Zoom from his home in Australia. Derek got in touch after listening to the podcast, which shows just how far and widely ou...

In this episode of Breaking Ground, Steve Hadley (Chair of the Federation of Piling Specialists and Managing Director of Central Piling) is joined by Julia Hill (Geotechnical Engineer at Roger Bullivant and Chair of the FPS Early Careers Group), Emily Riley (Senior Chartered Engineer at CGL and Chair of the Early Careers Group for the BGA in London and the South West), and Nick Koor (Associate Hea...

In this episode of Breaking Ground, Steve Hadley (Chair of the Federation of Piling Specialists and Managing Director of Central Piling) is joined by Jane Towse-Laval (Business Director at BBGE) and Philip Hines (UK Group Managing Director at Soletanche Bachy) to discuss joint ventures, a business model which has become more popular in the last few years - what are they, how do they work in practi...

In the second episode of Breaking Ground, Steve Hadley (Chair of the Federation of Piling Specialists and Managing Director of Central Piling) is joined by Michael Chendorain (Associate Director at Arup and Global Lead for Geothermal and Ground Water Engineering) and Bean Beanland (Principal Consultant at BBH Energy and Director of the Heat Pump Federation).   The discussion in this episode focuse...

In the first episode of Breaking Ground, Steve Hadley (Chair of the Federation of Piling Specialists and Managing Director of Central Piling) is joined by Yvonne Ainsworth (Director of GDG) and Martin Pedley (Managing Director of GSS Piling) to discuss the Piling 2020 Conference.    The virtual event featured a large number of topics, papers and conversations, which are tackled in this roundtable...

In this episode of the Federation of Piling Specialists Podcast, Chair of the FPS Steve Hadley is joined by Jyoti Sehdev (Chartered Engineer and Group Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Lead at Costain), Richard Totty (Senior Design Engineer at Bachy Soletanche and Ambassador for Stonewall) and Fiona Connor (Lead Project Geologist at Applied Geology and InterEngineering’s representative at the Gr...

In this episode of the Federation of Piling Specialists Podcast, Chair of the FPS Steve Hadley is joined by Jim De Waele, President Europe at Keller. Jim has been one of the most prominent players in the UK foundation market for nearly thirty years and now as Group Strategy Director and President Europe for Keller, Jim talks to Steve about some of the biggest global issues that are affecting the c...

In this episode of the Federation of Piling Specialists Podcast, Chair of the FPS Steve Hadley is joined by Anusha Shah, Director of Resilient Cities at Arcadis and future President of the Institution of Civil Engineers.  The current focus of ICE under President Rachel Skinner is on net zero carbon emissions. Anusha has always had a passion for the environment and she will continue this work by fo...

In this episode of the Federation of Piling Specialists Podcast, Chair of the FPS Steve Hadley is joined by Alasdair Henderson from BAM Nuttall. Alasdair started with BAM Ritchies in 1996 and rose to the role of Divisional Director before being invited to join the Executive Board of BAM Nuttall. Alasdair is also a former Chair of the Federation of Piling Specialists, and Steve describes this conve...

In this episode of the Federation of Piling Specialists Podcast, Steve Hadley is joined by Dr Jim Branch and Robin Styles from Hanson Concrete to learn more about one of our industry's most important materials - concrete. Steve talks to Jim and Robin about what goes in to it, how it's made and how it can play its part in a low carbon industry in the future - and importantly, how about working toge...

In this month's Federation of Piling Specialists Podcast, Steve is joined by writer, actor, comedian and mental health campaigner Ruby Wax, and James Rudoni, the Managing Director of mental health charity Mates In Mind. Mental health issues have always been a problem within the construction industry, and in this podcast, Steve, Ruby and James discuss the potential reasons behind this - but also, i...

In this month's Federation of Piling Specialists Podcast, Steve is joined by David Major from the FPS Early Careers Group to talk about a busy summer period and what's coming up.  He is also delighted to be joined by experienced ground engineer Nirmal Tiwari - Nirmal discusses some of the world famous projects he's worked on during his many years in the industry and some of the intricacies of them...

Steve is joined by Andreas Körbler, Keller's Business Unit Manager for South East Europe & the Nordics. Andreas talks about what it takes to get to the top in Ground Engineering and also about his role as President of the EFFC, discussing some of the initiatives that they've got planned over the next few years.

Steve is joined by the President of the LABC, Anthony Oloyede, to discuss building control procedures, LDSA pile design guidance and the Construction Youth Trust. Ebenezer Adenmosun, the owner of Geofirma, tells us about his career journey and the role of mentoring in developing young people.

Chief Executive of Build UK, Suzannah Nichol, joins FPS Chair Steve Hadley to discuss the building industry’s response to the Covid pandemic.  They look forward to the recovery of the industry including development plans and efforts to modernise. Steve then summarises current and future FPS activity.

In episode two of our podcast FPS Chair Steve Hadley talks to A Squared Studio Director Tony Suckling about advanced geotechnical design techniques.  He welcomes leader of the FPS early careers group David Major to discuss professional development.  Then he spends time with Dave Trotter of Fatigue Science looking at how technology can help us manage tiredness in the workplace and beyond.

The FPS is an active Federation of geotechnical contractors dedicated to improving standards, safety, working conditions and commercial practices within the industry. We also actively engage with our supply chain through our associate membership scheme to develop strong partnerships. In this episode of the FPS podcast, Chair of the FPS Steve Hadley talks to Tim Chapman, leader of Arup's London-bas...