Drilling Services

Ecologia’s drilling division offers a comprehensive ground investigation and drilling rig  services, using a broad range of techniques for a wide spectrum of geological strata. Working closely with our clients and assessing each job as an individual case, we are able to implement the system that best meets the client’s needs and produces the safest and most professional outcome. Clients are provided with site specific risk assessments and method statements. Our site staff are fully qualified, and trained to operate in a thorough and methodical way, to produce investigations which are safe and reliable.

We are fully equipped to operate in a safe and professional manner. All of our drilling team members:

• Are NVQ qualified or working towards NVQ qualifications
• Hold CSCS cards
• Are trained in logging to BS5930
• Have a wealth of practical site experience.

Our rigs are configured to meet health and safety guidelines. Ecologia:

• Is accredited to ISO 9001:2000
• Is working towards implementation of an BS-OHSAS 18001 management system
• Holds BDA membership
• Is able to work to BS5930 and BS10175.

Capability

Our range of in-house rigs is able to meet most eventualities. We carefully select and modify our drilling rigs for speed and versatility, enabling us to respond effectively to clients’ needs, however variable their size or scope. Our team of experts from geotechnical and environmental fields provides a broad knowledge base, and the capability to make fast, well-informed decisions in the event that unexpected ground conditions are encountered.

We are also able to offer a wide range of additional services, including pipe installation, aquifer tests and in-situ environmental sampling/testing, e.g. VOCs and landfill gases monitoring and on site chemical analysis of groundwater.

Innovation/Flexibility

Through sustained investment in development and improvement, Ecologia is able to maintain its position at the cutting edge of ground investigation technology.

We constantly strive to improve the speed, quality and cost effectiveness of our service. We are one of the few companies in the UK with Aqualock™ sonic drilling sampler capability, or the hollow stem auger with wireline system. Our rigs with percussive/rotary or rotary/sonic heads gives versatility unrivalled in the industry.

Techniques

Our rigs have the capability to perform a variety of drilling techniques. For instance, by combining sonic drilling technology with a conventional rotary rig, Ecologia has created a highly advanced and flexible system which allows drilling crews to switch techniques in a matter of minutes according to the requirements of the work and unexpected
ground conditions. This innovation makes significant savings on time and efficiency. We also operate rigs specifically designed for geotechnical work.

Our hybrid drilling rigs are equipped to deal with a vast range of geological and site-specific conditions and constraints:

Geo-environmental capabilities

• Solid stem augers for rapid drilling in firm ground
• Wireline hollow stem augers for geo-environmental sampling in specific ground conditions or where more than one technique is required
• Percussive drilling with retrieval of undisturbed lined samples including the option to case in unstable ground
• Sonic drilling tools allowing fast, virtually spoil-free sampling of sand, gravel, soft clays and heavily weathered rock
• Aqualock™ system for continuous or spot sampling with almost 100% recovery, for rapid and accurate plume delineation, sampling and logging
• Rotary coring using single core barrels or dual tube corers for drilling in a variety of grounds.

These machines range from a gross weight in excess of 8 tonnes (normally used for deep drilling) to light easily transportable rigs weighing less than 1 tonne generally employed for shallow (<15 m) geo-environmental work.

Our small drilling rigs are highly manoeuvrable and designed to operate in areas with restricted access or head clearance.

Services

Ecologia’s drilling division is not only a normal drilling contractor. Our staff also includes qualified engineers. As a result we are able to offer geotechnical consultancy in addition to our straightforward drilling services.

We pride ourselves on our customer liaison and are happy to discuss any specific project requirements with clients in order to provide the best drilling service possible for their projects. We work with them both before and after the site investigation to ensure their needs are fully met.

Because of our in-house geotechnical capability, we are able to offer follow-up interpretation of site and laboratory data and make recommendations based on this information. This makes us particularly useful to the client where a separate geotechnical engineer has not been engaged, or where the geology of the site may cause particular problems for the structural engineer.

Installations

We can install our boreholes with all standard and unconventional well materials, using traditional or pre-fabricated filter pack systems.

We offer a variety of installation services including:

• Groundwater/soil vapour monitoring wells
• In-situ remediation wells (including air-sparging, soil vapour extraction, injection, pumping and bioremediation systems)
• Domestic/light industrial water wells
• Multisampling wells
• Geothermal wells.

Ecologia is a corporate member of the British Drilling Association

You can find out more about the British Drilling Association on their website.