January 2010: Severn Partnership wins Great Western Structures Survey The Severn Partnership and consulting engineers Parsons Brickerhoff were selected to undertake a detailed survey of over 280 bridge and tunnels structures on the great Western main line (October 2009 to December 2009). This included the Severn Tunnel along with Box, Sodbury, Newport and Patchway Tunnels. All surveyed as 3D point clouds combined with high accuracy track geometry using our new GRP5000 system.
October 2009: Railway survey in Poland - Trako conference Managing director Mark Combes paid a flying visit to Gdansk, Poland to publicise Severn Partnership survey capabilities on large scale mapping, high accuracy Pway survey and railway surveying in general. Linking up with UKTI midlands who promote the Midlands Rail cluster of rail specialist companies. Mark met up with key contacts at the PKP, along with some of our key clients such as Mott MacDonald, Atkins, Halcrow, and Jacobs
October 2009: Flood avoidance - The role of Geomatics Severn Partnership played host to two local MPs, the TSA, EA and ESI to discuss the role of Geomatics in Flooding. From left to right: Mark Fermor (MD at ESI - Groundwater & Environmenntal specialists), Owen Patterson (MP, North Shropshire), Philip Dunne (MP, Ludlow), Rory Stanbridge (Secretary General of TSA), Richard Bentley (Operations team leader at the EA). Discussions ranges from Threshold levels to GNSS RTK survey, LIDAR, Photogrammetry, Shropshire groundwater scheme, modelling for flood risk management and EA asset survey.
October 2009: Richard Otto retires from Severn Partnership Pictured from left to right: Nick Blenkarn, Richard Otto and Mark Combes. Handing over a picture of Marguerite Bay on the Antarctic Peninsula by Ben Osbourne to mark Richard retiring from the Partnership. Richard will be off to Antarctica this year and after that, he will be representing University College London to promote their Railgrid (Snake Maker) geodetic software.
September 2009: Karting Grand Prix University Renal race Karting was the venue for our 2009 grand prix. Burning rubber, screeching tyres and white knuckles all round - and that was just the drive from Shrewsbury. Honours of the day go to: 1st place: Jamie Price 2nd place: Richard Morgan 3rd place Darren Read.
September 2009: Bala Weekend - 40 years of Surveying Partnership surveyors, family and friends got together for a Summer BBQ / Mountain biking (or carrying) / Kayaking at lake Bala this year to celebrate 40 years in Surveying for Director Richard Otto. The sun came out (for once this Summer) and even allowed a spot of creative engineering design using the world recognised technique of spaghetti and Jelly babies (see above !).
September 2009: Rock Face Laser Scanning Robotic survey techniques have been used to speed up topographical surveying at Aberystwyth University. Sureyors were working 'one man' (or woman) with Trimble S6 and S8 total stations to produce accurate Topo survey plans.
September 2009: SUTX Monitoring movement on railway lines Our monitoring teams were called up to install a series of targets the monitor movement or live railway lines during the drilling of an undertrack crossing (UTX) near Kidderminster. Our cost efficient monitoring solution can be used to give real time movement reports, calculate displacement in x,y,z, rail twist, track CANT and absolute level. Survey teams will monitor movement while the drilling takes place from a place of safety and without being affected by the zone of influence.
September 09 Topographical Survey - Aberystwyth University Robotic survey techniques have been used to speed up topographical surveying at Aberystwyth University. Sureyors were working 'one man' (or woman) with Trimble S6 and S8 total stations to produce accurate Topo survey plans.
September 2009: E-Business Conference 2009 Severn partnership Director Nick Blenkarn was invited to speak at the 2009 E-Business conference arranged by the National Business to Business Centre (nb2bc). The talk entitled managing customer relationships in the real world covered innovative use of IT systems such as collaborative documents, opensource CRM and online customer feedback. Other speakers covered the themes of online marketing, use of social media, e-mail marketing and managing your sales pipeline.
June 2009: Online sponsorship for Severn Hospice Sponsor us online for the 2009 Dragonboat race in aid of Severn Hospice. In 2007 we came third out of 39 teams and raised around £1,200 (£30k between all the teams), so we are looking to better that this year. Pull out your credit card and make a secure donation online. Thanks, Severn Partnership Team
June 09: Dragonboat champions - The Severn Deadly Sinners The 'Severn Deadly Sinners' team from Severn Partnership entered the 2009 Dragonboat race on the River Severn in Shrewsbury - and WON !!!. 33 teams entered, racing over three heats with the six fastest times getting through to the major final, which we won with the fastest time of the day. Dress for the day was rather informal (Punks). Thanks to all the surveyors and friends of Severn Partnership who punked up and took part - aiming to raise over £1,200 for the Severn Hospice. To add to our sponsorship, go to www.justgiving.com/severnpartnership
May 09: E-business support network : Prague In May, Nick Blenkarn gave a presentation to the European Union E-Business support network (ebsn) in Prague. The conference was aimed at improving adoption of innovative IT systems, cloud based collaborative software and business planning tools. The talk gave examples of how Severn Partnership have utilised these developments to improve efficiency, manage staff scheduling and remote working.
March 09: High accuracy geodetic control and track survey Our survey teams are just completing a project totalling 91 miles of high accuracy pway track survey and geodetic control; covering areas around Worcester, Bristol, Birmingham and down to Exeter. All data processed using a Snakegrid to ensure a near unity scale factor to aid future engineering survey and design.
Forthcomming: Justgiving sponsorship for Severn Hospice Sponsor us online for the 2009 Dragonboat race in aid of Severn Hospice. In 2007 we came third out of 39 teams and raised around £1,200 (£30k between all the teams), so we are looking to better that this year. Pull out your credit card and make a secure donation online. Many thanks, Severn Partnership Team

October 08: New CATS for Severn Partnership

The Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors (ICES) has awarded company approved training schemes to (CATS) to Severn Partnership after review with Managing Director and ICES member Mark Combes. The CATS scheme recognises companies which have training schemes offering experience in a range of core subjects in order to acquire the necessary skills appropriate to a qualified civil engineering surveyor

This initiative will compliment others at the Partnership such as Investors in People (IIP), RICS APC and Young Enterprise..

July 08: County Air Ambulance fund Raising Cycle Ride

Severn Partnership surveyor Mike Penn, along with two friends
(Matt Craig and Ian Hodgson) completed a sponsored cycle tour from Shrewsbury to Chamonix to raise funds for the County Air Ambulance.

They completed this tour of 782 miles in just 7 days, taking a total of 46 hours on the road.

Shrewsbury - London - Brighton - Paris - Chamonix

Congratulations from all in the office.

June 08: Shropshire Business Awards

Severn Partnership attended the Shropshire Business Awards gala dinner at the Telford International centre as finalists for the technology award. This was for the best use of new technology to improve competitiveness, efficiency and overall business performance. Entries were assessed on:

• Evidence of investment in new technology to improve performance.
• An appreciation of how applied technology can maintain a competitive advantage.
• Staff training and development to get the best from your investment in technology.
• Collaboration with others to harness the latest technology led improvements
• Demonstrating the impact the application of technology has had on the business
• Achieving continuous improvement through the use of technology

This year we were pipped at the post, but will come back next year to showcase business improvements through 2008-9.

May 08: Environmentally Friendly Commute Scheme.

In the last 12 months, employees of the Severn Partnership have travelled a combined 4,137 miles to and from work by cycling or public transport. This effort by staff is financially rewarded and has raised £370.40 in aid of the County Air Ambulance charity which was handed over this week at the CAA Base in Cosford, Wolverhampton.

Severn Partnership senior surveyor Anett Dude (initiator of the "environmentally friendly commute scheme") and Director Richard Otto handed over a cheque to the two paramedics on duty and had a look around around the helicopter.

The "environmentally friendly commute" scheme is now in its third year and has proven an effective means of reducing the business environmental impact through staff commuting.

We would like to thank all employees who have contributed to this scheme this year and have donated their allowances to the County Air Ambulance.

May 08: Senior Surveyor Anett Dude (central in grey jacket) attended a training session in Munich for Cyclone II Topo.

This new software from Leica Geosystems allows us to rapidly extract topographical survey detail from scan clouds. This allows us to increase the efficiency of field data collection, cutting down costly site time and adding an additional level of quality assurance to our work. For more information, please call Nick Blenkarn or Anett Dude (0844 880 8247), or e-mail webenquiry@severnpartnership.co.uk


April 08: Severn Partnership Director Richard Otto was awarded the Survey Association's Presidents Award for 2008.
This was to mark his work on developing and refining survey related technical specifications. Please refer to our survey consultancy page if we can help advise your company on technical survey specifications & project requirements (webenquiry@severnpartnership.co.uk).




March 2008: SPAR Houston Texas

Mark Combes and Rollo Rigby have just returned from SPAR and FSM Conferences 2008 in Houston Texas.

The conference over 5 days drew 718 attendees from 21 countries looking at 3D data derived from laser scanning, LIDAR, high-dynamic-range and gigapixel photography, sonar, GPS and inertial navigation technologies.

A great deal was learnt with many new ideas bought back for our laser scanning department who are always looking to increase efficiency from laser scanning technology and learn the latest techniques both from hardware and software.

The Forensic and Security Metrology Conference gave a good insight into the use of laser scanning in Police departments both in the states and the UK; it was realised this is one of the emerging areas to which Severn Partnership could provide best practice in laser scanning and 3D modelling.
 

Spar Point Research LLC is a research firm founded 2003 by Tom Greaves and Bruce Jenkins. Bruce is seen above with Mark Combes and Rollo Rigby just to prove we did turn up !	Also managed to visit the site of “This is Houston “ & NASA space centre. We were there 5 days before the launch of Columbia Shuttle on a record breaking attempt of shuttle time in space whilst docking at the International Space Centre.	Mark & Rolo - We couldn’t go to Houston without visiting the Rodeo & managed to show the Texans we were also up for it ! Preferred eating the steak to riding it though !

March 2008: Infrarail 2008 at the NEC Birmingham was visited by Nick Blenkarn, Matthew Levine and Mark Combes on Tuesday 11th the opening day.



The exhibition was opened by the Rail Minister Tom Harris MP and Network Rail’s Peter Henderson and was supported by approximately 165 Companies all linked with the UK rail infrastructure. The diversity of products on display was backed up with conference sessions and practical on track displays.

Innovative survey solutions for the rail industry in place at Severn Partnership were further enhanced with new ideas directly inline with the Dft Rail Strategy. Severn Partnership articles in the Rail Technology Magazine (RTM) January issue and Rail Engineer March Issue further detail Severn Partnership’s innovative survey solutions for the 24 hour, 365 day railway.


February 2008: Severn Partnership Celebrates its 25th Anniversary on Thursday 28th February and Re-launch Day !

The new identity was officially launched spearheaded by our new website. Everyone enjoyed a day of continued business development, survey training and team building to mark this special occasion.

Surveyors were issued with new PPE labelled up with the new identity as well as polo shirts and fleeces. Surveyors also received their new business cards and a new stock of the Severn Partnership genuine “Welsh slate coasters” – so if you are in possession of an old coaster and want the latest please give us a call, renewal is automatic ! If you haven’t got a coaster yet please call anyway only asking for your business details in return.

For the first time in 25 years a Severn Partnership “Mug” was also designed to mark the occasion and go with the coasters. We are giving these out to clients when we meet them so arrange a meeting with any of us before stocks run out !

Before enjoying a lunch time buffet with a glass of wine some in house training was first completed to work up an appetite.

Rollo Rigby and Richard Otto held a seminar on GPS processing for Senior Surveyors while Nick Blenkarn took a group explaining the intricacies of the “Client Relationship Management System” introduced last year and Mark Combes expanded on “Site Quality Assurance “ to another group of Surveyors.

In the afternoon a “quick” walk up Raglith a hill in the beautiful countryside of Church Stretton was Organised by Richard Otto who wanted to check out one of the main “Second Order” benchmarks for spirit levelling and also used as a key link to the OS GPS active network – it also made a good seat !
 

January 2008: Severn Partnership adopts new corporate Identity

Having transferred to a limited company, upgraded our IT systems, invested in top of the range total stations while continuing to prove a top quality service, it is time to reflect this in our new identity. Feel free to revisit our web site & news page to follow our latest improvements & innovations.

They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself. (Andy Warhol)

January 2008: Severn Partnership Celebrates 25 years of excellence in surveying
With 25 years since the Severn Partnership, everything has changed and everything remains the same! Survey and communication technology has leapt on a pace allowing an ever faster turnaround in high quality data and remote surveying solutions such as laser scanning.

However, the Partnership has built a reputation upon high quality data, qualified & highly trained staff, ethical advice, and continual improvement – which means no change and remains the reason why 90% of our contracts are repeat business each year.

January 2008: New S8 Magdrive total stations To add to our fleet of top of the range total stations, we acquired the first S8’s from Trimble. This equipment offers faster tracking when working in robotic mode which increases productivity, efficiency and reduces costs & site time.

September 2007:  Annual Conference of the Remote Sensing & Photogrammetry Society (RSPSoc 2007) Severn Partnership Director Nick Blenkarn attended the first day of the conference after speaking at the Leica Geosystems ‘teaching of laser scanning’. The Leica event was based at St James Park was aimed at promoting the scan data with graduates who may end up creating, commissioning or utilizing scan data.    August 2007: Heritage 3D - On our links page we have a new listing for heritage3D. A PDF available to download on Advice and guidance to users on laser scanning in archaeology and architecture (1.5MB). Heritage 3D was set up to address the four sections of the 1998 English Heritage ‘Exploring our Past’ Implementation plan.   August 2007:  Severn Partnership surveyor Rollo Rigby - has just completed one of Newcastle University's academic CPD courses in GPS theory. In a highly technical field such as land surveying it is vital that we keep abreast of modern advancements in technology and theory, to stay at the head of the field.  Rollo commented "Thinking back to my student days, many of the principles were learnt from an academic/theoretical view such as using the GPS almanac data for field planning and preparation. Going back with a knowledge of practical & commercial applications and re-enforcing it with up to date theory has proved invaluable in improving the quality & efficiency of both the office and fieldwork."    June 2007:  Severn Partnership entered a team in the 2007 Shrewsbury Dragon Boat Races - organised to raise funding for the Severn Hospice (an estimated £30k in total between all the teams): a great family day out with a worthy cause. Spread over three heats, we posted one of the fastest times of the day to get through to the six boat final - ending up in an amazing third place overall out of 39 teams. Our Rowers were aided by extra muscle from John Strodachs & Phil from Applications in Cadd (AiC), so many thanks to all who came along for the day & all who sponsored the team.    May 2007: TSP attend TSA Survey event at House of Commons: 40 MPs and Peers gathered to discuss flood prevention with TSA members and review a full range of the latest survey equipment available, Download the press release: http://www.tsa-uk.org.uk/Press release.pdf Photos below provided by RIXPhotos.com Richard Otto (TSP), Philip Dunne MP (Ludlow), Daniel Kawczynski MP (Shrewsbury) Jonathan Walton (TSP) Jonathan Walton (TSP) Richard Otto (TSP), Philip Dunne MP (Ludlow), May 2007: Welcome to....  Joining the team is Bob Hutchings, our new Survey manager with over 30 years experience. Bob was Regional Manager of a multi disciplinary survey company where he founded the Land Survey Division in 1993 and now joins us as a primary contact for clients on quotations, large survey tenders, framework agreements and day to day project management. We can also welcome Neil Roberts (Senior Surveyor).   May 2007: Retiring from the team....  From June 2007, Jonathan Walton will be retiring from the Partnership as part of a phased succession plan after 24 years. Jonathan will still be an active member of the survey community and maintain links with the Partnership, along with continuing an active role in the ICES. Having cleared his work schedule at the Partnership, Jonathan already looks likely to start a surveying project in Antarctica by December this year. We wish Jonathan all the best for the future. Any clients wishing to contact the Partnership should speak to Richard Otto, Mark Combes, Nick Blenkarn (the three Directors) or Bob Hutchings on Survey Tenders & Quotations.   May 2007: TSP invest in latest survey equipment - We have just acquired two more Trimble S6 robotic total stations to increase productivity, accuracy and allow one man robotic working (increasing benefits to clients & surveyors). For increased quality checking, we have set out our own fixed pillar control base line on which we can test & calibrate our equipment. The latest addition to our comprehensive range of equipment is the Severn Gauge Bar (SBG). This gauge can be used one man in conjunction with our new trimble S6, and is aimed at increasing the speed and accuracy of any plain line track survey

April 2007: TSP Cycle store - Shrewsbury & Atcham MP Daniel Kawczynski came to open our new 'cycle pod'
	- part of a cycle to work initiative where employees are paid to be green and cycle to work. Payments were mostly donated to a chosen charity - this year the 'Severn Hospice'. The project was run by our Surveyor - Anett Dude & partly funded through the local council; it has been a great success all round.
	Left - Survey Assistant Mike Penn using the Cycle Pod,
Anett Dude - Senior Surveyor & scheme organiser, (MP) Daniel Kawczynski & Val Walters (Severn Hospice

November 2006: TSP attend global HDS Laser scanning conference – Nick Blenkarn and Matt Levine have just come back from the Leica HDS user conference in San Francisco, looking at uses for laser scanning, 3D modelling for visualisation, future developments in the industry and standardising project specifications / deliverables for clients.

Also getting down to serious business of biking over the Golden Gate bridge, Quality assuring 14oz steaks and taking a boat trip around Alcatraz thrown in by Leica (cheers).
 
October 2006: New Leica System 1200 GPS with Smartnet – One man RTK surveys with data corrected to OSGB36 (Ordnance survey grid) coordinates ‘real time’ in the field. Saving project field time and money for clients.

Links: Leica Smartnet Commersial RTK Network Dish - Pdf
Links: Leica GPS1200 Surveying Systems

October 2006: New Smartnet Base station – The TSP offices in Shrewsbury are now part of the new Leica ‘Spidernet’ network coverage of GPS base stations (Used to compute the ‘Smartnet’ coordinates on OS grid or WGS84 grid).

Links: Leica SpiderNET Network RTK module for GPS Spider




September 2006: New Trimble S6 Magdrive Total stations TSP have recently acquired two for increased accuracy & productivity.

Links: Trimble S6 Total Station - Pdf