Blogs

Specialist environmental contractor Ebsford Environmental have been appointed by the Canal & River Trust to a national framework designed to support the maintenance and protection of 2,000 miles of waterways in England and Wales.

After a competitive tender process, Ebsford were selected to provide minor works which will support the Trust’s 10-year National Dredging Contract.

Ebsford will be providing specialist spot dredging across the Trust’s waterways to keep them open for navigation as well as improving wildlife habitats. They will also be assisting the Trust with maintenance to improve the flow between its reservoirs and canals.

Nick Hartley, Managing Director, Ebsford Environmental Ltd, says: “The appointment of Ebsford onto a framework of this nature is testament to the reputation we are gaining for being able to provide an exceptional standard of work which balances the environment, waste management and ecological constraints whilst still offering a competitive solution. It’s an honour to be able to provide long term services to such an historic and integral network and we look forward to commencing works in the very near future.”

Ian Marmont, framework contract manager from the Canal & River Trust comments: “Ebsford Environmental submitted an impressive and innovative tender which will support the Trust to deliver a substantial programme of works going forward.”

Known for their environmentally sensitive dredging solutions Ebsford will pay particular attention to providing a non-invasive, sustainable and affordable solutions using low impact machinery and techniques.

Social media and the industry is “awash” with regurgitation of the news that Network Rail have lost a case relating to Japanese knotweed, with words like “game changer” being used. However, nobody seems to be elaborating further what this could potentially mean and the issues it could have.

Let me start by saying I do on the whole welcome the news, NWR as a land owner should be taking their responsibilities seriously and in an ideal world treating and eradicating Japanese knotweed, but is that realistic? Well let’s look at some numbers.

There are 16,000km of railways in the UK and it’s safe to assume that much of that is infested by Japanese knotweed. As embankments are on both sides then this is 32,000km of potential habitat. Even if we are unrealistically cautious let’s just say that 10% of this has JK or other schedule 9 vegetation present. The embankments are on average at least 5m so simple maths is 32,000km x 1000m x 5m / 10 = 16,000,000 sqm of areas potentially contaminated with JK. In my experience the cheapest economy of scale we have given for a commercial eradication program worked our around £4 per sqm, so the cost of eradication of this would be £64,000,000.00!!!!

However, it doesn’t stop here, back to the news story not only was treatment required but the court awarded the costs of an IBG which added £5,000 to the bill, no admittedly this seems a crazy cost but if it included a monitoring program and there was risk of re-infestation from up rail then certainly a £2,500 cost is realistic. Now calculating this would be nearly impossible but I’ve started with this number game now so let’s make some more assumptions. If we have 32,000km then 90% of this would be rural I expect, but 10% again would be urban and near the tracks. Interestingly it is these areas that are much more likely to have JK present. So let’s say there are properties near 3,200km of track, each property is in the region of 10m wide so that could be 320,000 properties. Insurance backed guarantees for these would cost £800,000,000.

So it’s simple really, NWR have to put a strategy in place to avoid being sued to treat 16,000,000 of knotweed and issue 320,000 insurance backed guarantees. They should do it straight away because the problem is only going to get worse. All they need is £864,000,000 to do it. Oh and 1 guy can probably only treat 100 sqm per day because of closures and such so if they employed 100 people to start tomorrow then it would only take 5 years, oh but then it’s probably a 5-year program so 10 years with an annual cost of £86,000,000.

Now these numbers are all essentially complete guesswork, but what it does do is show the position Network Rail are in and probably why they have to take the stance they do. I may be in the minority who has some sympathy for them, however, perhaps the stance over legalities is because of the impact this would have on the cost of maintaining the network and not just because they don’t care. In fact, in my experience its quite the opposite. A NWR representative has been present at every conference, workshop or symposium relating to Japanese knotweed but the honest answer is that it’s too far gone to be able to do anything than manage what is in front of you the best you can.

I can’t see personally that increasing the exposure and costs of treatment with legal rulings is going to help the situation, however, I also do not in any way support a slackening of the law, all I ever seem to do is promote maybe a middle ground where landowners are expected to do something but that this is supported by mortgage lenders, developers, contractors and homeowners and just doesn’t turn into another mis-selling scandal. The day I get a text message or listen to talk sport and hear an advert for JK lawyers is the day I turn in my knapsack*

*NB I don’t have a knapsack, the reference to a knapsack was purely for effect.

Ebsford Environmental Ltd has been honoured at the National Apprenticeship Awards following our regional success at Octobers North East, Yorkshire and Humber event.

Ebsford were invited to the National Apprentice Awards ceremony held at the London Grosvenor Hotel. We were extremely proud to be announced as the winners against some other great employers. The award was presented to us in recognition of our commitment to developing young people through apprenticeships.

We have also been named in the prestigious Top 100 Apprenticeship Employer list. This is compiled annually by the National Apprenticeship Service and recognises excellence in businesses that employ apprentices.

Having begun our apprentice program in 2011, seven of our 29 staff are or have been apprentices in the business occupying roles within marketing, customer services, administration and environmental conservation.

We are very proud of our achievement, it is great reward for the dedication our apprentices have shown and for the commitment we have made to nurturing all our employees. We look forward to further developing our apprentice and graduate schemes as the business continues to grow.

On accepting the award, Nick Hartley, Managing Director, Ebsford Environmental Ltd, says: “We started offering apprenticeships shortly after we set up the business in 2011 and so far we have a 100% retention rate. Offering apprenticeships has enabled our business to grow rapidly from £50,000 in the first year to £3 million a year turnover.

“It’s not just the business that benefits, as an environmental company we want to show we are committed to the local community and make our workforce sustainable. Through offering structured training we can ensure sustainable growth of the business whilst simultaneously improving youth unemployment in the area.

“We believe apprenticeships are one of the best and most rewarding ways of finding staff; you are changing people’s lives in a way that you don’t get just by giving someone a job. As a business owner you are recruiting young people at a crucial stage in their development, especially in socially deprived areas and using that is a fascinating way to grow the business.”

When the dust had settled in 2015 and we had time to breathe and reflect on what was an extraordinary year of growth and learning, I think all our staff, managers and directors had a similar conclusion. “This year will be impossible to top”.

Well….. we were wrong.

This year has been very much one of technological and quality advancements in Ebsford with a significant amount of works completed behind the scenes to ensure that we continue to offer our clients the best systems of any contractor in the UK.

We have increased our staff throughout the company, in Q1 we selected our 2016 Graduate program employee and have continued the growth of our award winning apprenticeship program steadily through the year, maintaining our commitment to a workforce that consist of >10% graduate or apprentice staff. Some old friends returned to the fold after travelling the world and have been complemented with recruits in Operations, consulting and the finance and back offices.

The addition of core staff has enabled us to continue the improvements to our quality, with dedicated auditors now re-enforcing our commitment to health, safety and the environment. Improvements to our systems saw us achieve Achilles recognition in Q1, something that is crucial to our aquatic and utilities clients. This culminated in Ebsford achieving the standards required for ISO9001, 14000 and 18000 in November. Not only are we all incredibly proud of this but we are delighted to be able to skip some of the questions in the vast amount of tenders we seem to be completing.

Tenders have certainly been a key word of the year within our aquatics department. We have secured over 70% of the tenders we have applied for and completed some inspiring and challenging projects. These have included the largest full weir removal ever undertaken in conjunction with SEPA, RAFTS and Royal Haskoning. A project that was 3 years in the making and had to be completed within 12 weeks of award!!! 2016 was also the year we moved into larger scale open space works on a project to restore elements of Cherry Hinton Park, home of the annual Cambridge Folk Festival. This saw us expand our ecological and aquatic knowledge to include more traditional civil engineering and soft/hard landscaping works.

Our core aquatic works continue to increase also, a number of projects have been completed on the minor works EA framework with our partners and our IDB projects have now been increased to include Public Sector Co-operation Agreement (PSCA) works.

The world of Schedule 9 invasive species appears to be finally accepting some regulation and accepting how serious some of the issues are. We continue to work closely with the PCA and INNSA to make sure contractors are managed appropriately. Much of the year has been spent discussing key issues with our development clients who are facing increased pressure to provide acceptable guarantees. Our positioning on both managing trade associations has enabled us to secure further large schemes and our reputation as pioneers of screening technology continues to be proven with 2016 being another year that saw us process >10,000m³ of Japanese knotweed contaminated material.

As you can imagine from reading this, we are all ready for a break now. The rest may be short-lived though as 2017 already includes a full Q1 workbook with projects for the Watchtower Society and also the largest mobile Enviroscreen 20-20 Japanese knotweed remediation scheme ever undertaken on an iconic site in Alderley Edge.

Despite all of our *exciting* schemes, we are still proud to remain an SME and a family business though. This means that we couldn’t do any of these things without the support of everyone we come into contact with. Our staff have been incredible again and are a real credit to us. They prove to our clients on every project they complete that they have made the right decision. But we still appreciate every opportunity no matter how small or where in the country it is, so a heartfelt thanks to everyone who chose Ebsford this year.

And a final thanks to all the friends we’ve made and built relationships with. The consultants who have helped prove our concept. The suppliers who (mainly) have supplied excellent products and services. The communities, schools, organisations and people that we have engaged with to deliver our schemes in a way that meant something to you and that respected the environment in which we work.

So whatever you are doing over the Christmas break, all at Ebsford give you thanks and hope that you can reflect back, knowing that in 2016 you made a difference, and if you can’t then don’t worry. There’s always 2017!!!!!

Ebsford Environmental Ltd has been announced as a winner at the North East, Yorkshire and the Humber National Apprenticeship Awards 2016 regional ceremony.

Jemma Scott & Gemma Reevell, Level 3&2 Diploma Apprentices in Business Administration

The Awards, now in their thirteenth year, are run by the National Apprenticeship Service and recognise excellence in two areas: businesses that grow their own talent with apprentices and apprentices who have made a significant contribution to their workplaces.

Ebsford won this award in recognition of their contribution made to apprenticeships, something the business is passionate about and would like to develop further into the future.

Small Employer of the Year Award 2016

On winning, Nick Hartley said:

“Since Ebsford was formed in 2011, Apprenticeships have been at the very core of our employment ethos. As an environmental contractor it is important to us not just to improve our landscape but to offer young passionate people the opportunity to learn new skills and develop them both professionally and personally. We are proud of our track record and currently 20% of our workforce is made up of staff who have been through or within an apprenticeship ranging from customer service, business admin, environmental conservation and marketing.

We are committed to continuing this ratio as the company grows and are more than aware of the crucial role our apprentices play in our growth and the way we are perceived in the industry. To be recognised for this commitment by winning this award is something that cannot really be measured. It is testament to their drive, hunger and passion and this award should be something each one of them is proud of for years to come.”

Jemma and Gemma with Gill Hartley, Apprenticeship Manager

Sue Husband, Director of the National Apprenticeship Service, said:

“The National Apprenticeship Awards enable exceptional apprentices and dedicated employers to receive the recognition they richly deserve. Apprenticeships enable people to gain the skills and knowledge they need to succeed – in some cases up to degree level; and for businesses to grow the talent they need.

Ebsford Environmental has won the Small Business award for their region and I would like to congratulate them on their achievement. Winning this award is greatly deserved. There has never been a better time to become an apprentice or employ one.”

To find out more about the National Apprenticeship Awards, please visit https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/national-apprenticeship-awards