Alan Watson
Arboriculturist, Gloucestershire County Council
"KaarbonTech have a real handle on the needs of an arborist which shows in the Tree SMART system."
Alan is responsible for managing the councils trees. He is frequently required to perform tree surveys and produce reports.The council manage approximately 20,000-30,000 trees.
Mark Ellerington
Business Development Director, Flowline
"Using your Gully Smart system has seen a clear improvement in productivity from our field teams – they know we know where they are so the days of the short shifts are a thing of the past! The system has also enabled us to streamline the operational management dramatically. Thanks for all your help and ideas along the way."
David Sheard
Programme Manager, Cumbria County Council
"We have welcomed the forward thinking approach to asset management and the experience that KaarbonTech provide to support this system. KaarbonTech has helped us make the Cumbria drainage network a much more resilient one, and the information you provide allows us to focus resources more accurately."
David Smith
Head of Information Services, Balfour Beatty Living Places
"I would like to thank you for your help with mobilisation of the new contract. The rollout of you software was fast and problem free and enabled us to improve communications with our clients."
Richard Pohribnyj
Highway Asset Manager, Walsall Metropolitan District Council
"I can tell this software has been designed with a team with first-hand drainage maintenance experience. It makes managing operational data simple. I am really impressed with the level of spatial accuracy with which the system maps out the gully locations.”
Richard is a fellow of the Institute of Highway Engineers with over 30 years experience in the construction industry. He manages Walsall Council’s planned and reactive highway maintenance service with an annual contract value in the region of £10M. Richard is also responsible for the development of asset management practices for Walsall’s highway infrastructure which includes carriageways, footways, street furniture, structures, traffic control equipment and such like.
His multidisciplinary team of around 10 staff plan, programme, and deliver carriageway and footway resurfacing schemes. They also undertake routine highway safety inspections and carry out reactive maintenance across the highway network, including cyclic activities such as water course maintenance and gully cleansing.
Ed Bradford
Senior Engineer, Highways Services, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council
“It is as easy to use whether in the field or in the office and is a great platform to manage service requests.”
Ed joined Solihull Council in 2009 from consultants WSP and since April 2014 has been responsible for managing the Drainage, Flood Risk Management and Tanker Services section within Highway Services with an overall budget per annum of £560,000.
Day to day, Ed manages 8 members of staff who make up the Tanker Services team and who are responsible for the cleansing of approximately 36,000 gullies and associated pipework across the highway network. The team is made up of 2 admin and supervisory staff and 6 operatives, who have access to 2 jet-vac combination units and a pick up vehicle. The team also operate a cesspool and septic tank service and are also responsible for cleansing numerous trash screens around the Borough.
A strong believer in continuous improvement, Ed quickly realised that the deployment of in-cab technology would allow the Tanker Services team to work more effectively and efficiently. Ed also realised that asset knowledge and understanding could be easily shared between back office staff and operatives working in the field and that ultimately the end customer would be provided with an enhanced service. The deployment of Gully Smart has also led to capacity release within the back office, with seven pieces of paperwork and associated inputting and processing being replaced by automatic reporting tools within the system. Where cleansing information was merely collected in the past and not looked at, the use of the automatic reporting tools within Gully Smart allows Ed to quickly and easily analyse performance of operatives at the click of a button, helping the service in its aim of getting from good to great, in an era where more for less has become standard practice.
Steve Andrews
Operations Manager, Glanville Environmental
“The team have had one days training on the new software before it went live. I have been impressed with the system and the capability of the information we can send to our client, we are now informing them of the location of their assets and silt levels which they have not received in previous years. The system has also reduced the amount of time we now spend collecting information as it is transparent between us and the client.
Improving our transparency to the client while streamlining the operational management of gully cleaning is something we continually aim to improve on."
Steve has worked at Glanville Environmental for seven years as Operations Manager and responsible for all contracts. Overseeing 2 depots and a large staff base and numerous contracts. Steve’s job is varied, from managing asset inspections, civil engineering projects, tankering services and special projects including high pressure water jetting cctv and underwater ROV surveys.
Richard O'Keeffe
Contracts Manager, EM Highways
“The software uses the best of modern technology to deliver an excellent tool for managing gully cleaning.”
Since joining in 2008, Richard has worked his way through operations manager to his current position. This involves managing the Croydon highways contract which started in 2011 on a 4 year basis, with possible extensions for 3 year on year periods. Good service in this sector has already secured 2 years of extension so far. EM Highways are Croydon Council’s principle contractor and carry out all reactive maintenance, schemes works, surfacing, parks & playground inspections, cyclical drainage works, winter maintenance and a 24/7 emergency call out services.
For EM this contract employs is valued at circa £9 million per year and is supported by 13 direct staff, 16 operatives and a large supply chain partner base.
Phil Dye
Arboricultural Officer, South Gloucestershire Council Principal Tree Consultant (Wooton Tree Consultancy)
“I was impressed how automated the process could be. Traditionally devices to collect this information have been clumsy and slow but this was not the case.”
Phil has been at the council since 2007 and manages tree stocks for the Planning Department and Environment and Community Services including assessing and commenting on planning applications where trees may be affected, advising on Tree Preservation Orders and Conservation Areas, overseeing tree issues on major sites and TPO reviews.
Phil will also get involved with surveying and managing the Council’s tree stock including highways trees, working with voluntary groups to raise the profile of trees in the community and Investigating tree related subsidence
Russell Gibbons
Principal Tree Risk Officer, Elmbridge Borough Council
“The presentation was informative and to the point. Seeing the software in action it was clear that KaarbonTech really understands the kind of product that customers need.”
Russell helps to manage in excess of 700 Hectares of countryside & public amenity open spaces. His role is to deliver the Council’s Corporate Tree Risk Strategy and assist in the provision of a professional arboricultural service to Council Members, Officers, and the Public in respect of all arboricultural matters to the land holding teams within the Council and Planning Services.
Russell has been with the Council for 16 months but working in the arboricultural industry for over 9 years.
John Roseblade
Group Manager, Highways and Environment, Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council
“As soon as I learned that KaarbonTech is an Ordnance Survey partner I knew that digital mapping content would be precise and robust. My whole team has full confidence in the software.”
John manages all aspects of reactive and cyclical gully cleaning including jetting of connections and reporting defects. Also responsible for pollution control, highway development, engineers and flood risk management and highway maintenance.
John manages in excess of 30 direct staff with a total network length of approximately 530 miles and a value of over £1b. Originally from an Environmental Health/Pollution Control background John has been managing Highway Maintenance for around 4 years and chairs the West Midlands Highway Infrastructure Managers Group (HIMG)