John Ditchburn BEng (Hons) CSci

• Geo-environmental Consultant
• Peer reviewing / quality checking several hundred reports
• Conducting several hundred environmental assessments and site investigations on a range of project scales including residential, telecommunications, MoJ, MoD, commercial and industrial
• Addressing land contamination issues
• Developing and implementing remediation strategies
• Preparing several hundred technical reports (Phase 1: Desk Top Studies, Coal Mining Risk Assessments, Phase 2: Ground Investigation Reports, Phase 3: Remediation Strategies, Verification of Ground Gas Protection Measures and Phase 4: Validation Reports
• Collaborating with clients, colleagues, peers and regulatory bodies
• Staying up to date with standards
• Performing business administrative duties (staff recruitment, performance reviews, processing invoices (creditors and sales), capital expenditure, maintaining in-house databases to constantly check business performance, work in progress, invoicing targets)
• The transition to Director / Owner of Arc Environmental Limited was via a management buyout
• Growing the company and achieving record profits

As Associate Director I had a varied role requiring the design of site investigations, the organisation of staff, health and safety (welfare, signage, and guarding), sub-contractors (including plant hire, underground mapping and drilling contractors) for fieldworks, producing schedules for geotechnical and environmental laboratory testing and screening on soil, concrete and water samples. I attended sites nationwide to supervise intrusive works including windowless sampling, cable percussive boreholes, rotary boreholes, soil and rock core logging and technical report writing.

• Fostered strong client relationships
• Managed larger projects
• Quality checked reports, technical emails, preliminary logs and comments, fee estimates, bill of quantities
• Provided technical advice to clients and colleagues
• Assisted with staff training
• Managed operational processes including nationwide ground gas and groundwater monitoring and sampling

Whilst at the Robinson Group I performed similar duties to Arc Environmental. Other responsibilities included overseeing a major contract for the geotechnical investigation of numerous nationwide telecommunications masts for Orange PCS many of which were positioned within the public highway (circa 20 sites per month). Responsibilities included arranging access with the site providers, site supervision, logging, sampling, scheduling laboratory testing and providing both preliminary and final reports.

Whist at Geocore I worked at several hundred private properties nationwide carrying out site investigations on behalf of loss adjusters for potential subsidence claims. Given the nature of this work specialist hand held drilling and sampling equipment was utilised which allowed boreholes to be successfully in tight spaces such as inside properties, basements and sub-floors. As well as loss adjusters Geocore were employed Nationally by a vast range of consultants, builders, developers, architects and construction companies to obtain both geotechnical and ground contamination data. Office duties included soil classification testing, graphical trial pit and boreholes log production and factual report writing.