Quad Consult warmly welcomes its Gloucester office’s newest staff member, Tara Urding, in the role of Senior Civil Engineer.  Tara has been in the construction industry since he was 21.  Even at school he thought that engineering would be a good occupation.  He could see the legacy of engineering is amazing, and he felt he could contribute.  So one day in the summer of 1988 he looked in the job vacancy pages of the Bournemouth Evening Echo and read a small advert for a trainee civil engineer.  He bought his first suit and got the job working for an engineering company whose client, British Gas, was redeveloping a swathe of gasworks sites.

In 1990 he moved to the Highways Department of Bedford Borough Council, and then in 1999 to a company in London where he worked on the initial engineering for the reconstruction of London Bridge Station with the challenge of accommodating four ‘through’ tracks instead of two. 

Whilst in London he met his wife and they left the city a year or so later to spend a year in Cambridge where he gained skills with open channel drainage before moving to Herefordshire.  Ten years as an Area Engineer with a large housebuilding company were followed by a time at a permeable paving manufacturer and, most recently, six years at an engineering consultancy in Cardiff working on a range of projects including high rise city centre schemes.

Tara and his wife have two teenage children.  Although busy they find time to enjoy exploring rural Herefordshire on their bicycles.

It’s great to have you on board, Tara!

QuadConsult has long believed in supporting local causes, so when the chance arose for our thriving base in Llandybie, West Wales to sponsor Nantgaredig RFC, a local rugby club, we were very happy to take it.  Nantgaredig is a well-established club with a fine record of support from the local community and playing achievements to be proud of.

Chris Usher and Andrew Villis (QuadConsult Directors) and Will Harrow (Associate)  and guests were in the crowd cheering the team as they won an exciting match against Tŷ Croes on 18 November.  As club sponsors we’re mentioned in the match programmes and on the sponsors board, and were pleased to be acknowledged and receive a round of applause in the club house after the match.  We look forward to many such occasions over the coming season.

QuadConsult is very pleased that sponsored left-arm spinner Prem Sisodiya has signed a new two-year deal with Glamorgan Cricket Club.

Former England Under 19 International Sisodiya has established himself as a mainstay in the Glamorgan white-ball team with his versatility and unflappability. He’s taken 40 wickets in Vitality Blast with a healthy economy of 8 runs an over.

He says: “I’m really happy to have signed an extension with the club. I just want to keep developing my skill set in all three formats over the winter. My main goal for next season is to secure my spot in the first team in all three formats and keep contributing to as many wins as we can get here at Glamorgan!”

QuadConsult is very proud of Prem’s achievements and we send him our warmest congratulations and best wishes for this next stage of his career.

Once again QuadConsult Director Andrew Villis has been informing long-term clients about the various changes happening with SAB.  Homebuilders Taylor Wimpey South Wales gave great attention to his presentation to them recently, finding out more about the detailed process and the implementation of Schedule 3 potentially coming into force in early January 2024.

Audience members were pleased to hear about QuadConsult's wide SAB experience and showed great appreciation of the overview Andrew provided of our expertise. 

The Home Builders’ Federation (HBF) held their national annual technical conference in Birmingham earlier this week, and one of the invited technical speakers was QuadConsult Director Andrew Villis.

Andrew is becoming much in demand to give presentations to industry professionals on the Quad designed compliant SAB designs which cover conceptual stages through to construction across a variety of sectors. The unprecedented challenges of the past few years for the housebuilding industry’s Technical teams, and the raft of new regulations now coming into force, meant Andrew had an attentive audience as he demonstrated once again Quad’s wide understanding and expertise in this area.

Well done Andrew!

QuadConsult is delighted to announce the sponsorship of Gloucester Hartpury  (part of Gloucester Rugby) rugby player Kerin Lake.  Kerin started playing rugby aged 11 in the girls’ team of her local club, Neath Athletic, where she played all age grades from u13s to senior rugby before playing for Skewen RFC and Swansea Women’s RFC.  She moved to Gloucester Hartpury in 2020 where she plays centre.  Making her debut for Wales in 2011 she's played for the national team 29 times, scoring four tries.

Kerin says about her sponsorship “Excited to say I'll be working with QuadConsult as they support me in my upcoming season at Gloucester Hartpury. After our success winning the Premier 15s, I am looking forward to the season ahead and what we will achieve. Thanks to QuadConsult's personal support I am grateful to compete and play again this year.”  All the very best for the season from all of us, Kerin!

We’re really pleased to let you know that Lewis Froud, Technician in the Cardiff office, has achieved a merit in the HNC Civil Engineering course he’s been taking part-time over the past two years at University of South Wales in Treforest.  His favourite module was Sustainable Design, which he says was due to the encouragement of working on large and varied windfarms with QuadConsult, and taught him to keep an eye on the finer detail that could improve the environment and make a difference in today’s climate.  Lewis’ experience in our team also helped him when learning about surveying as he’s been able to accompany the surveyor in our sister company, Corner Point, on site visits.

QuadConsult will continue supporting Lewis in his studies as he now intends following a BSc Civil Engineering course at USW part-time, and due to his recent success he’ll be able to go straight into the second year of the course.  Within the BSc there are many environmental focused modules that he’s very interested in, and he can’t wait to make a start on Environmental Management and more in-depth Sustainable Design.

Well done, Lewis, we’re all proud of you and wish you all the very best with your future studies!  

QuadConsult is pleased to welcome Joseph Turner, Structural CAD Revit Technician, as our newest recruit in our Gloucester office.

Previously working as a Civil/Structural Technician in Cheltenham for four years, his engineering career so far has seen him being involved in detailing for: substation layouts (base slabs for generators and ancillary structures, ducting arrangements, transformer bunds, drainage, acoustic and blast walls, boundary interactions etc, co-ordination setting out); typical drainage strategies in accordance with SUDS (soakaway, attenuation, concrete baffle, swales and ponds); road layouts; barn conversions, and house and loft extensions; ground beam and pile cap reinforcement; architectural layouts.

Now further expanding QuadConsult’s implementation of Revit he intends to continue increasing his knowledge and skills with the software.

Outside work he’s enjoying spending time with his partner and four-month old daughter, plus listening to music and playing video games with his friends.

Good to have you on board, Joseph!

QuadConsult Associate Will Harrow has recently become registered with the Association for Project Safety (APS) as an Associate (AaPS). He intends to continue his training with the aim of becoming an Incorporated Member (IMaPS) shortly, and then continuing to become a fully recognised Member (CMaPS).  Will actively markets structural work from our developing West Wales office in Llandybie and his ongoing commitment to our CDM work will strengthen our team servicing this market, maintaining high standards and safe working environments. Well done Will!  

QuadConsult is pleased to welcome Simon Hancock as Structural Technician in our Cardiff office.  With over eight years' experience working in Wales and the Middle East, he's worked on large BIM projects such as Llandough Hospital and Tyndall Street Student Accommodation, both in Cardiff.  As a certified Revit and AutoCAD professional he is proficient at producing 3D models and detailed drawings for a wide variety of schemes.  He's now looking forward to building on this experience, and expanding his knowledge and skills.

In his spare time, Simon enjoys music, travelling and reading.  Welcome aboard, Simon!

QuadConsult is pleased to report the success of a planning application by our long-standing clients Caerphilly Homes.  The submission, consisting of a proposed residential development in Rhymney, means twenty-three homes will be built on the former Aldi site with over half of them to be classed as affordable housing.  The Aldi store was demolished by Caerphilly County Borough Council in 2014 and the land has been vacant since apart from occasional temporary usage.

The plans ensure strong accessibility between the development, the centre of Rhymney and public transport links, and proposals incorporate planting throughout to enhance aesthetics, promoting biodiversity and protection of existing trees. 

We’re looking forward to helping with this exciting opportunity to bring new high-quality housing to an area where there's been a lack of development in recent years.

QuadConsult is proud to announce that Keele University’s Smart Energy Network Demonstrator (SEND) was the winner of The Clean Energy Award at The Green Energy Awards 2023, awards that commend projects spearheading the clean energy industry and delivering significant carbon savings.

Managing Director Chris Usher attended the award ceremony in Bristol, representing all the QuadConsult colleagues who contributed to this success in partnership with Knights Brown.

Chosen from a wide range of high-standard nominations from across the UK, the project incorporates 12,300 solar panels (4.4 MW), two wind turbines (1.7 MW), and an industrial-sized battery linked to an advanced smart energy system.  It includes two of the few onshore wind turbines approved in England in recent years and is the first site in the UK to combine solar, wind and battery assets.

Many congratulations to all involved!