The recent Excavation Innovations which have been developed and refined in response to the challenges presented in the installation, maintenance and repair of underground utilities, along with the need to minimise environmental impact and surface disruption of drainage infrastructure and all types of underground apparatus work has been the key driver and a barometer of the changing nature of sub surface engineering in recent years. These considerations have led us, DCS , a long established industrial and environmental services solutions company, to enhance our excavation capabilities with a new range of Vacuum and Hydro-Excavation services headed up by our H2Oxx division.
Following the Spring 2008 launch of the new services, we have progressed and accelerated our expansion programme by commissioning the purchase of a substantial fleet of these vehicles. We have, by invitation, continued to demonstrate this effective and innovative product to both operational utilities personnel and procurement specialists throughout the UK and Ireland. The applications for these units are almost endless. They are especially effective for keyholing, pot-holing, connecting or re-connecting laterals, removing contaminated soils, highways work such as lighting columns, barriers, road signs, gantries and piling. They can also be used for clearing up spillages of wet and dry materials. Having now previewed this equipment to a wide range of clients in the course of carrying out existing contracts, H20xx now report that Hydro-Excavation has undoubtedly become the preferred method of working in situations which had often previously called for more conventional digging methods. At DCS the calculation is that investment in excavation technology will complement our existing range of drainage, cctv, environmental and civil engineering activities by delivering time and efficiency savings to our clients.
The H2Oxx machines are designed with powerful vacuum and specialised wands to enable safe, fast and precise digging in any soil conditions with minimal operator effort. The trucks come fully equipped with pneumatic hydraulic breakers to open the initial road surface. Contracts Director, Bill Sneddon, who has headed up our Civil Engineering Operations at DCS for the past 15 years, and has extensive expertise in construction, groundworks and utilities management says “You only need to take one look at the ‘before’ and ‘after’ shots of this simple operation. This particular excavation was completed in just 1 hour using hydro-excavation equipment and demonstrates clearly the advantages of utilising this type of technology. It avoids the messy and polluted environments we often see when conventional digging is used for sub-base excavation in order to locate drain, sewer, water, utility and cable lines. Fast and precise access to cable and utility lines is imperative in locations sensitive to surface disruption such as in busy or congested traffic areas or areas of limited access, such as railway trackside maintenance and motorways. Getting to the underground services quickly, safely and cleanly is invariably crucial and this technique presents minimum risk of causing further damage or disruption. Precision Hydro-excavation has a varied range of applications and H20xx are regularly being commissioned to map and locate telephone and fibre optic cables installations and other especially vulnerable utilities.
The principle advantages of using the Hydro-excavation method are that it is exceptionally cost effective and it does not damage those utilities that you don’t expect to uncover enroute to the water main or sewer pipe you are trying to repair”. DCS remain a full service industry specialist and remain committed to developing and extending our core activities, operating throughout the U.K. on national contracts providing high pressure high volume jet-vac units, CCTV inspection, environmental and civil engineering activities including drain and sewer repairs and renewals and a comprehensive range of associated services which include state of the art mobile demountable pressurised water and vacuum trucks ideal for mounting on uni-mogs or situations where the equipment requires to be left inside. In concert with contracting activities, DCS are a one stop shop and also offer at extremely attractive prices an impressive range of new and pre-owned fully warranted equipment for sale; long/short term contract hire and owner driver packages with the smaller operator in mind. Full consultancy and training services are available for all types of high pressure jet-vacuum equipment and hydro-excavations machines.
We can be contacted on dcsgroup@dcsuk.com for further information or alternatively, view our website at www.dcsuk.com. You can also see a real time demonstration of Hydro-Excavation, for further advice please contact Bill Fitzsimmons or Bill Sneddon on 0141 810 2000/2001.
