Member Article

Land consultancy The LK Group appoints Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park remediation expert to lead new London office

• As part of its ambitious growth plans The LK Group opens a new London office • Ian Deans brings 35 years’ experience of international geotechnical engineering including the creation of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, M25 expansion and King Abdulaziz International Airport.

Nationwide geoenvironmental and engineering consultancy and specialist contractor The LK Group has appointed chartered technical expert Ian Deans to open its new London office near Heathrow Airport.

Ian Deans brings a wealth of experience from 35 years’ working on contaminated land and Geotechnical engineering projects across the world, including major infrastructure schemes in Hong Kong, the Middle East and India such as the new King Abdulaziz International Airport in Saudi Arabia.

Closer to home, Ian oversaw the first phase of primary earth works at the Millennium Dome site in Greenwich, as well as the remediation of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park site in Stratford. The creation of the Olympic Park saw 500 acres of former industrial land – previously used for purposes including chemical and fertiliser works – brought back into use to create the largest new urban space in Europe for 150 years.

The LK Group has expanded into the region to meet increasing local demand for its consultancy services; including contaminated land, geotechnical flood risk, drainage, asbestos surveying and project management. As a specialist contractor The LK Group delivers cutting-edge land remediation techniques and the treatment and eradication of invasive species. The Greater Manchester-headquartered firm has ambitious expansion plans to expand in London and capitalise on an expected housebuilding boom in the capital as the London Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment sets a new 10-year target to build 649,350 new homes in the capital by 2028/29.

The new office opening comes after the most successful financial results in the company’s history in 2016, having recorded an 11% increase in turnover year-on-year. The London office officially opened on 2nd January 2018, with the aim of growing to independent profitability within just 12 months.

Conor Leyden, Managing Director of The LK Group, said: “We’re extremely fortunate to have identified Ian as our new Director for the London office. His experience of managing complex land investigations both in this country and around the world will be invaluable, as we increase our pipeline of projects from housebuilders and local authority clients in the region.

“As a business, we are passionate about kick-starting new developments and we aim to reduce the costs that developers face when remediating land by between 50% and 90%, to help increase the viability of construction. Over the past two decades, we have tackled brownfield land of all descriptions; designing, project managing and successfully completing remediation schemes on sites previously deemed economically undevelopable.

“Having completed more than 300 hundred projects in London and the surrounding area, and continuing to secure work in the region, it made sense to open a permanent operational base in this part of the country, in close proximity to the M25 and M40 for access to the wider region.”

Throughout his career, Ian has pioneered sustainable techniques such as the responsible re-use of excavated materials from contaminated sites, to minimise disposal of waste materials.

Ian’s new role will see him targeting significant new business wins in the buoyant South East development market, as well as recruiting and developing a dedicated London team. Ian Deans, Director – London at The LK Group, said: “It’s a great privilege to join The LK Group and launch the London office, significantly enhancing the services we provide to existing and new clients across the region”.

“Throughout my career, I’ve taken great pleasure in finding and nurturing new talent. The chance to develop my own team of skilled practitioners to provide our London and South-East clients with a range of top quality environmental services, was a truly unmissable opportunity”.

ENDS

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tim Niblock .