Leading offshore geotechnical engineering and drilling company Geoquip Marine has unveiled a new purpose-built onshore testing laboratory. The new facility is comprehensively fitted with world-class technology, which enables it to provide clients with fast and accurate analysis of all types of geotechnical data.
The new laboratory is sited in Bristol, UK and is the latest in a line of major capital investments made by Geoquip Marine, which has experienced very rapid growth in the last three years. The facility includes eight separate laboratory areas and has created a number of new jobs.
The analyses undertaken include sample logging, classification/index testing, consolidation, shear, triaxial and effective stress testing.
“This is a highly significant development for our company following a sustained period of remarkable growth,” comments Chief Executive Stewart Higginson. “Up to now we have been working with external partners for our onshore laboratory testing and there is no secret in the market that the shortage of suitable providers was becoming ever more of a problem as demand has increased.
“We haven’t taken this decision lightly, it is a major capital investment that is only possible because of the excellent commercial performance the company has sustained over the last few years. In making the decision to launch our own laboratory we have cut no corners. It is fitted out with the very latest technology and we have secured the services of the most highly qualified professionals available to staff it. Our objective was to be able to provide our clients with accurate and reliable data, delivered to meet their project timelines, and I’m delighted that we have succeeded in that.”
By providing this world-class onshore testing laboratory Geoquip Marine ensures that it presents customers with a comprehensive end-to-end service, worldwide. Geoquip Marine provides the offshore renewables, nearshore civil infrastructure, scientific research, gas hydrates, offshore mineral exploration, and offshore oil & gas markets with accurate profiles and conditions of the sub-seabed, from the shoreline to depths of 3,500m.
The company has one of the world’s largest fleets of purpose-built geotechnical site investigation vessels, which are all fitted with heave-compensated geotechnical drilling rigs, a suite of state-of-the-art tools for soil sampling and in-situ testing, and an offshore laboratory, which enables it to provide customers with almost real-time data analysis.
