Kiwa’s Raba Kistner Expands Drilling Services in the US Gulf Coast region
Raba Kistner Inc. (a member of the Kiwa group), recently expanded in the U.S. Gulf Coast region, adding six offices and nearly 60 employees. As part of their growth strategy for the region and the energy sector, they have reintroduced drilling services to meet the needs of their clients in the planning, design, and construction phases of their projects.
Drilling Services Help Guide Site Selection in the Project Planning Phase
One of the first steps in project planning is site selection. The site selection process often requires completion of environmental due diligence and site hydrogeologic assessments. To complete these tasks, Environmental Drilling and Cone Penetrometer Testing (CPT) are typically employed.
Raba Kistner’s experienced employees and specialized drilling and CPT rigs collect highly specific soil samples and perform in situ testing at project sites to evaluate soil composition and groundwater parameters for potential environmental impacts to aid in site evaluation.
Drilling Services Provide Important Subsurface Data in the Project Design Phase
Often, the greatest risks associated with a new project are unknowns below the ground surface. Exploration of the subgrade through geotechnical drilling, in situ testing, and sample collection play a pivotal role in acquiring subsurface data for site assessment and engineering design. This data enables our client to collaborate with the design team to make informed decisions and effectively solve problems when it comes to evaluating and constructing their facility.
Contract drilling services are often the earliest site work performed for many large-scale construction projects. Drilling provides subsurface data used in the geotechnical design of the foundations for structures like bridges, skyscrapers, and industrial facilities. Our experienced employees and specialized drilling rigs collect highly specific soil samples and perform in situ testing at project sites to evaluate soil composition and engineering parameters for construction.
Drilling Services Can Help Streamline the Project Construction Phase
During construction, time is of the essence, and idle materials, equipment and staff can lead to increased costs and schedule delays. Construction phase drilling and CPT can be utilized to validate material strengths, define limits of construction efforts, and document compliance with project specifications such that the construction process may proceed. Additionally, drilling equipment can be utilized to install instrumentation to evaluate soil, groundwater, and structure movements.
In addition to the new drilling/CPT service offerings in the region, Raba Kistner’s Gulf Coast offices provide geotechnical engineering consulting, construction materials engineering and testing services, and environmental consulting for design and construction clients in Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana.