Dry February Creates Perfect Surveying for Storm

Storm surveyors welcomed February’s unseasonal weather being the driest in England for 30 years. This meant ideal conditions to survey with lack of foliage and sunny weather. [nbsp]When procuring your survey project do take advantage of our downloadable Yearly Survey Planner this way you will ensure you get the best value for money on your budget and expectations. What ever the British weather throws at us!

In February Storm were tasked with undertaking a topographical survey on behalf of Jacobs in Clifton Ings, York. This was a revisit to a site previously surveyed by Storm in 2022, where a full multibeam bathymetric and cross section survey over the riverbank and flood embankment had been undertaken to examine where erosion had occurred.

This recent project involved collecting embankment crest level data along the River Ouse specifically in areas of erosion. Jacobs and the Environment Agency then have the intention of repeating the survey in the same areas to track how the embankment is coping year on year, which will ultimately help them decide whether action needs to be taken to prevent further bank slippage. The surveyors were sure that the large amount of dog walkers we encountered would be happy if everything was done to keep that embankment where it is!

Two surveyors from the Southwest office, Tom and Sam took part in the Hydrographic Surveying Course delivered by The Survey Association at their survey school in Worcester. This was a great opportunity to gain a wider understanding of the surveying profession and a lot of theory behind it. Especially getting to grips with multi-beam echosounders. Hopefully, they will get the opportunity to apply their newfound knowledge soon on Storm’s own Geoswath survey vessel.

The course was taught by Edwin Danson FRICS FCInstCES, who was just a wealth of knowledge and more than happy to answer questions from our two surveyors.

Tom said “Overall, an extremely worthwhile two days up in Worcester. I’d be more than keen to travel up again to do some more learning.”

Meanwhile four trainee surveyors Kyle, Caitlin, Michael and Sam undertook their RYA First Aid course delivered by trusted suppliers Bristol Maritime, all operational staff at Storm undertake this course to ensure safety whilst on projects.

Another team of surveyors deployed to Benllech, Anglesey to carry out a survey, the data collected will be used to create a hydraulic model which will inform the client on the best ways of mitigating the flood risk to the area. This survey involved a pre site visit to inform landowners that Storm surveyors would be in the area. It gave Storm the opportunity to gain local knowledge on flooding that may not have been caught by the client during their desktop-based specification. During this site visit Storm came across a resident whose back garden was under water as the river had burst its banks, and it had been like this for several months.

As a result of the back garden issue Storm than had an opportunity to meet a representative of Waterco (Storm’s client) a hydraulic engineer, onsite. This proved to be very informative as the collaboration between engineer and surveyor directed the survey team to capture the most relevant data. – it was a shame that they visited on the rainiest day of the entire project!

Our social media channels are always buzzing with the wet n wild adventures of Storm surveying teams. You can follow us on @stormgeomatics @stormGeomatics @Storm Geomatics