Construction BUSINESS

Over the past 5 years, Irish owned engineering consultancy, Gavin and Doherty Geosolutions (GDG), have worked on a range of interesting projects across the globe. GDG is a specialist firm focused on the delivery of infrastructure projects involving complex and challenging ground conditions. From their head office in Dublin and supported by regional offices throughout the UK (Belfast, London, and Edinburgh), GDG service a diverse international client base. Since company inception, GDG have delivered projects addressing a wide range of geohazards, however over the past couple of months this workload has increased dramatically resulting in the formation of a dedicated Geohazard team.

Geohazards comprise geological conditions and environmental processes that create a risk or threat to infrastructure, the built environment and human life. These processes can occur over long timescales taking centuries to cause a noticeable impact or in other circumstances the processes can be rapid causing devastation overnight. Examples of geohazards include landslides, mudflows, karst sinkhole development and collapse features, the presence of shallow gas in the ground, coastal erosion, etc. The GDG team have experience of a wide range of geohazards and are experts at identifying the underlying mechanisms, quantifying the impact and developing remedial solutions to minimize the negative consequences on the built environment and reducing the risk to human life.

Global Reach

GDG are applying their expertise worldwide to reduce the risk faced. Climate change is obviously having a negative effect on these geological processes, accelerating the timescales and increasing the severity of the impacts. For example, extreme weather events around the world are occurring on an unprecedented basis and high rainfall intensity are triggering landslides that have the potential to bury entire towns. Recently, GDG were commissioned by the World Bank to undertake a landslide hazard and risk study for Guatemala which has a history of ground instability in densely populated regions. The GDG team were selected for this mission due to their award-winning expertise in the mechanics of landslides and risk mapping. Closer to home, GDG have also undertaken projects for the Geological Survey of Ireland to develop landslide inventories and compile historical evidence to facilitate future predictions of landslide susceptibility.

Paul Doherty, Managing Director of GDG, notes: “Geohazards are having an increasing impact on the world around us and can cause mass devastation if not treated with respect. We have built a team of experts in this area with a view to providing advice and consultancy to public bodies and private clients across the world. Our level of technical knowledge has been tailored to this field with a team of PhD qualified engineers, geologists, risk analysts, geomorphologists, and various scientists providing a very high-level of expertise.”