On Saturday 25th August 2007, Jim Melville and Liam Hill successfully climbed to the summit of Beinn Dearg (North of Torridon) together with 13 mountaineers to take GPS observations to obtain the definitive height answer for this mountain.
Beinn Dearg is the second of two mountains where doubt existed as to their classification as Corbett’s or Munro’s, Foinaven has already been confirmed as a Corbett, we will have to wait a little longer to allow computation of the results and ratification by the Ordnance Survey.
07.09.07: Media Announcement
CMCR is pleased to release the following co-ordinate for the highest point of Beinn Dearg (North of Torridon) which has been checked and ratified by the Ordnance Survey as: 189529.601 Easting, 860820.553 Northing and a height of 913.675 metres.
This means that Beinn Dearg remains a Corbett having failed to reach the required height of 914.4 metres or greater to become a Munro
Before anyone gets too excited it’s not a reference to Marilyn or Ronnie but the classification of Munro’s and Corbett’s - a favoured pastime for many a hill walker in Scotland.
In January of 2007 Dr Iain Robertson, President of the Munro Society contacted several Surveying Companies within Scotland to see if there was a possibility of either obtaining survey equipment for use by members of the society or supply a service to measure the heights of two Corbett’s that were allegedly within a foot or so of being classified as Munro’s. As there was dubiety regarding the accuracy of the original measurement of Foinaven (Sutherland) and Beinn Dearg (North of Torridon), The Munro Society wanted a definitive answer as to their correct height measurement.
For those of you who are non–hill walkers or imperial measurement dinosaurs, there now follows a brief clarification of the requirements for a Corbett to become a Munro – to be classified as a Munro a mountain must achieve a height to its peak (not the cairn on the top) of 3,000 feet or more, 3,000 feet equates to 914.4 metres (feet x 0.3048) so with a rounding down of the number to 914 (2,998.65 ft) on a metric map – doubt soon exists as to its ability to comply with the Munro requirement.
CMCR is fairly new to the marketplace so we felt that here was a possibility for us to get involved in what could be a very interesting project. First thing we had to ascertain was did CMCR have any surveyors interested enough in hill walking to undertake the task in their own time and secondly did we have the equipment necessary to provide the accuracy of results required. Both criteria, fortunately, received an almost immediate positive response. We therefore offered our services to The Munro Society on a no cost basis.
The measurement of the highest point on Foinaven and Beinn Dearg (pronounced Ben Gerig for anyone south of the border), was to be undertaken using GPS (Global Positioning System), systems that we use on a daily basis for our normal works. Due to the northern remote location of these mountains additional questions had to be answered regarding coverage of the Ordnance Survey Continually Operating Reference Stations, these being the Active Stations of the GPS Network to enable the measurement to be undertaken by our GPS Systems. Our Instrument suppliers Leica Geosystems were consulted regarding the accuracy of the instrumentation and the Ordnance Survey was consulted regarding methodology, computations and the Active Network coverage. All queries were answered positively with the Ordnance Survey kindly offering to check our computations and ratify the results, Leica also agreed to perform an independent check computation.
We anticipated that there would be a certain amount of media interest in this project so a brief was sent to all TV, Radio and Press offices, this immediately resulted in a couple of radio interviews on BBC Radio Scotland plus articles in Daily and Sunday newspapers. David Corfield, Sales and Business Development Director, was interviewed by Mhairi Stuart for BBC Radio Scotland's "Morning Live" programme, and iTunes users can listen to a PodCast of the interview by clicking here.
All arrangements were made and an attempt to conquer Beinn Dearg commenced on Sunday 22nd April 2007, a party consisting of two CMCR Surveyors (Jim Melville and Evangelos Pentzas), a Scottish/Greek alliance together with 10 volunteer mountaineers from The Munro Society who also offered to assist in carrying the equipment. Unfortunately at about 700 metres the walk was abandoned due to adverse weather conditions.
The focus then switched to Foinaven as accommodation etc could not be arranged for another attempt at Beinn Dearg until 25th August 2007. By the way Foinaven was not named after the horse that won the Grand National in 1967 as some seem to think, but vice versa.
At 06:15 on 12th May 2007 another intrepid party of eleven set off, same surveyors from CMCR and at approximately 12:00 Noon they reached the summit, the Leica Series 530 GPS started capturing data almost immediately at the side of the summit cairn capturing data for 2.5 hours – a longer period than stipulated by the OS. A small Topographical Survey was undertaken using the Leica SmartRover GPS System to ascertain the highest point on the summit – this way no one could say later “are you sure you observed the highest point?” The kit was packed up and the descent started at 15:30, wonderful panoramic views were available during the time at the top, and they reached the hotel by 20:00hrs. The GPS data was downloaded and computed by CMCR, Leica and Ordnance Survey with OS having the honour of coming up with the final co-ordinate based on their prestige as the Government Mapping Agency.
On Friday 8th June 2007 a media presentation was held at the Falkirk Golf Club at 10:30 hrs, in attendance were: David Corfield - Business Development Director CMCR; Dr Iain Robertson – President of The Munro Society; Graham Little – Head of Field Production for GB – Ordnance Survey; Mike Skicko – Leica Geosystems and Jim Melville – Project Surveyor – CMCR. A BBC Scotland Television crew together with representatives of all the major British Press and Independent Radio turned up for the announcement.
The ratified co-ordinates were presented as 231519.451 Easting 950698.611 Northing and the all important height remember had to be 914.4m or above for the mountain to become a Munro, well the height was announced as 911.046m or 2,988.96 feet some 3.354 metres short of the mark.
Foinaven therefore remains a Corbett rather than a Munro.
Dr. Iain Robertson then thanked CMCR Limited for the excellent co-operation and work undertaken, he was not downhearted regarding the result stating that the uncertainty had now been lifted regarding Foinaven and all concerned now knew the correct result and it was a beautiful mountain worth climbing whether a Corbett or a Munro. Graham Little explained to the gathering why such a difference in height may have occurred, different methods of data capture were previously used as heights had previously been captured by aerial survey methods, advanced computation methods with a sophisticated Geoid model now being used.
All indications seem to point towards Beinn Dearg being higher than Foinaven so optimism abounds for the result of the August 25th climb resulting in a possible new Munro.
An interesting fact to leave the article with is that there are 12 Munro’s listed with heights between 914 and 918 metres and 12 Corbett’s between 914 and 907 metres all falling within the area of differences found in the Foinaven result. So watch this space for further updates on the Munro saga!
08.06.07: Media Announcement
Following the announcement this morning, Friday 8th June 2007, at the media presentation held at Falkirk Golf Club, CMCR is pleased to release the following co-ordinate for the highest point of Foinaven which has been checked and ratified by the Ordnance Survey as:
231519.451 Easting; 950698.611 Northing
and a height of 911.046 metres.
This means that Foinaven is a Corbett, failing to reach the required height in excess of 914.4 metres to become a Munro.
BKS Surveys - one of CMCR’s main partner organisations - visited our offices in Larbert on Tuesday 26th June 2007. Trevor Burton (BKS Business Development Manager, GB) accompanied by Chris Boreland (Business Development Manager, Ireland), met with David Corfield, Business Development Director of CMCR to demonstrate the FLI-MAP system (Fast Laser Imaging – Mapping Airborne Platform) to enable CMCR to promote this application to clients in Scotland.
FLI-MAP is an airborne LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) system incorporating LiDAR, high resolution photography and video imagery technology mounted underneath a helicopter. FLI-MAP provides an innovative and cost efficient solution for corridor coverage (75m - 400m). The use of two GPS antennas ensures continuous satellite data collection with the data being logged 10 times per second by both the airborne system and multiple base station units.
The advantage of aerial surveys such as can be undertaken by FLI-MAP are numerous, the safety aspect is very important as surveyors are not required to physically occupy the survey area also for the transportation industries it is essential that the survey will not interrupt the schedule of train or road transport.
For long corridors like roads, embankments, railway and electricity lines, laser altimetry provides a new survey method to collect geographic data in a rapid manner. By integrating state-of-the-art surveying techniques, such as LiDAR and high-resolution photo and video imagery, FLI-MAP offers a fast, accurate and cost-effective solution to obtain highly accurate topographic data regarding infrastructural corridors. The fact that the system is mounted underneath a helicopter eliminates possible access restrictions and potential safety hazards.
CMCR looks forward to continuing and developing its close relationship with BKS for FLI-MAP and also welcomes the opportunity of developing a new relationship with Fugro-Inpark B.V. operators of the system.
David Motion and Jim Melville visited the Scottish Geomatics Conference organised by the Institute of Civil Engineering Surveyors (ICES) in February 2007.
This years main topic was GNSS Global Navigation Satellite Systems, the Conference was well attended and all of the presentations were most interesting. Richard Otto and Jonathan Walton of The Severn partnership gave us all a lesson in scale factors, local grid v national grid, and although teaching to the converted it was nevertheless interesting and amusing – they should really take this show on the road and keep our clients better informed! The ICES also did a short presentation on the new MSc Course they are promoting through the University of Glasgow. Although directed at Post Graduates the idea is to have a modular system enabling Companies to have staff study specific modules without being required to do a full MSc. A distance learning scheme is currently under consideration. An ideal opportunity for Continual Professional Development.
The ICES are also considering linking the gaining of modules with the different classes of membership available within the ICES. The ICES wishes to encourage more Surveyors into the Institute to lift the profile of the Surveying profession in general, leading eventually to accredited and registered surveyors who can provide the client base with a level of confidence that the service they are buying is from a competent source.
It was another out of bed at 04:00hrs in the morning to catch the early morning flight to Heathrow on Wednesday 16th May 2007 for David Corfield, then a Piccadilly Line Tube to South Kensington changing to the District Line for a quick sprint to Lord Fosters Westminster Underground Station.
What did “the old man” perform this valiant effort for? – A Survey Association Lobbying Event held at the Terrace Pavilion at the Houses of Parliament. The purpose of the event was to raise awareness of M P’s and Peers to the plight of surveyors due to cut backs in the DEFRA budget to The Environment Agency for flood prevention data. It was also part of the overall TSA scheme to promote surveying as a Profession in the UK. Leica, Trimble and Topcon did their bit by providing the learned gathering with a display of their latest equipment. Many of the MPs from constituencies highly involved in the flood prevention areas of the UK attended together with others invited by Survey Companies.
Unfortunately the Rt. Hon. Major Eric Joyce MP for the constituency in which CMCR is based was called back to his constituency that day and was unable to attend having earlier indicated that he would be pleased to attend.
The day was interesting and as usual gave plenty of time for discussions between like minded professionals within the survey business who also shared in the canapés and numerous glasses of wine (water for me!).
Has anything been achieved by this event I hear you say – one TSA member has been invited onto their local Flood Prevention Planning Forum/Committee and several MPs have volunteered to ask questions in Parliament on behalf of the TSA. Visits have also been arranged by MPs to companies’ offices. In case you’re wondering I got home at 23:00hrs, another short day for a Director!
The eleventh WoG Exhibition and Conference was held again this year at Stoneleigh Park, Coventry, the home of the Royal Agricultural Show, are they trying to tell us something?
Following last year’s visit to the Conference, Exhibition and Gala Dinner covering a four day trip I decided to attend for just one day on the Wednesday 28th March flying down to Birmingham International and hiring a car for the few miles to the event. Plane was delayed for 2 hours due to fog at Birmingham on the way down, which surprisingly no one knew about in Birmingham and then a 20 minute car journey that took 90 minutes due to road works – that’s life!
The event was well attended that day although the exhibition does seem to be lacking many exhibitors other than the usual equipment manufacturers who appear at all events.
It was a useful event though as it provided an opportunity to speak to representatives of many of our competitor Companies (all good old friends – honestly!) and a few of our “blue chip” clients were also there. It was also a good location to meet some Leica representatives other than our local rep (no offense meant Mike) to discuss some technical issues over a “Grolsch” regarding our forthcoming GPS heighting of the mountains hoping to claim Munro Status in the near future.
Robert Finnie of IDC contacted CMCR to let us know that he had just signed a major commission for the Structural Engineering works for a new Clubhouse and Accommodation blocks at the new Renaissance Club golf course due to open in 2008, and would we be interested in pricing the topographic survey.
A visit to site by David Motion and Jim Melville to meet Robert and the client Representative David Miller resulted in CMCR being awarded the survey for the entire land area owned by the club, including an area of dunes to the north west.
The Renaissance Club Course is bounded to the west by Muirfield and to the east by Archerfield, both well known championship courses and the Renaissance designers knew this had to be special. Tom Doak of Renaissance Golf Design Limited was the course designer and has designed the course as a links course in keeping with the area. Originally heavily forested with coniferous trees, the design team had to bring in heavy machinery to clear large areas for the fairways whilst still maintaining a large number of mature trees giving the impression of a mature course.
During the ground clearing operations the remains of a medieval village were uncovered and the East Lothian Council Archaeologists were called in to ensure that the site was meticulously recorded before the course was finally built on top. The historical significance of the medieval village will be highlighted by interpretative presentation materials in both the club house and on-site.
By the end of October 9 months into construction all but two of the fairways had been seeded and the grass was growing well, boosted by the unseasonally high autumn temperatures and high rainfall – just what we needed to start the survey! Due to the large number of mature trees on site the use of GPS was limited to only providing control, (on previous course surveys the SmartRover and RTK units had been widely used on the open fairways) with the detail survey being undertaken with a combination of one-man robotic kits and two-man teams with total stations. The work was undertaken in sections over a 6 week period allowing the most recently sown fairways time to green-up before the surveyors could walk on them.
On completion of the survey the data was delivered to the client in AutoCAD 3D files and additional work followed with the provision of the course yardages.
The Autodesk UK Conference 2006 was held in London on Wednesday 25th October and was the largest ever gathering of Autodesk users in the UK. Colin Clark (Project Surveyor) was there to represent CMCR and enhance their relationship with Autodesk and its technologies.
Among the speakers were Autodesk CEO, Carol Bartz, who discussed the future strategy of Autodesk including its continuing emphasis on 3D and data management technologies designed to help users create, manage and share designdata. Break-out sessions throughout the day addressed issues and looked at integrating Autodesk solutions across complete projects and discussed how to maximise productivity and profitability. The day also featured customer case studies, a status review of the latest manufacturing, infrastructure, building and media and entertainment solutions and looked at the most recent updates to the Autodesk subscription software, support and training programmes.
It was a long day but a very interesting and worthwhile one. Colin said “It was a great networking opportunity and it was good to meet fellow Autodesk users from around the country and learn from each other. Events like this can only lead to increased skill levels and productivity through better understanding of the products”.
On Monday 27th November 2006 David Corfield and David Motion once more set off in a Van full of Exhibition stands and boxes full of Company literature for the long haul “Down South”. We arrived at Olympia around 18:00hrs after a long but uneventful journey, the Scotland/England Border post was unmanned that day so no long delays there checking passports and temporary immigration papers!
David Corfield commented “being newcomers to the Congestion Charges we did finish up (mistakenly) paying for 5 days just because we took a wrong turning in the City and had to cross one junction that required the charge to be paid. Who said a surveyor can read a map? – Guess who got a Tomtom navigation aid for Christmas? After our long journey we really looked forward to the unpacking of the van, carting the exhibition stands etc up to the Gallery Level and then erecting the stand, however, this we did and at about 20:00hrs we arrived at our luxury London Hotel only a few hundred metres from the Exhibition Hall. When I say luxury I mean a single room where occupation of a double wardrobe would feel spacious!, I kid you not! The radiator in the room was “stuck” in the on position with a room temperature of over 100 degrees. Who said I am always complaining, at least it wasn’t cold!
Three days on our feet manning the stand did however, result in some extremely good contacts and we were well received by all. We were ably assisted on the second day by our Managing Director, Graham Callander who flew down for the day, thus missing out on the luxury hotel and the expensive lavish evening meals (pub grub). Graham had the opportunity of fraternising with the assembled throng and found it a worthwhile day.
In 2006 we exhibited at the Interbuild Exhibition in Birmingham, a Chamber of Commerce Exhibition in Perth (no unfortunately not in Australia) and the Civils 2006 in London, quite a commitment for a fairly new Company but one that has seen the name of CMCR spread across the country. 2007 will most probably be one where visiting rather than exhibiting will be the main thrust for CMCR but we will return to exhibiting again in 2008 or sooner if something special comes along.
As CMCR has grown and evolved since its inception in April 2005 and staff numbers have grown steadily during that period, it became increasingly obvious that we were going to outgrow our office accommodation sooner rather than later.
In June of this year an opportunity arose to move upstairs within our current premises at Glenbervie Business Centre in Larbert and take possession on an office suite double the size of our previous one — an opportunity too good to miss and we duly took possession of the new office on the 1st July 2006.
The new office affords us considerably more space to provide the additional workstations etc necessary to cope with the growing demands of the business and provides employees with a positive working environment making working life more productive, rewarding, enjoyable and healthy. Furthermore it allows us to carry on planning for the future in line with our business plans, safe in the knowledge that we have a good and safe working environment which can meet the additional demands that will be placed upon it as we continue to grow.
At the end of September 2006 CMCR broke through “the barrier” - no not the sound barrier but through the £1 million pounds worth of awarded jobs.
This has been achieved in 18 months of trading just about bang on our original forecast. It has taken the award of 260 jobs to pass through this significant milestone and CMCR is now well on the way to reducing the timescale for the second £ million.
Sales & Business Development Director David Corfield stated “that it had been very much a joint effort between the Directors and Senior staff in achieving this level of awards but of course there is no value in obtaining the awards if you cannot turn them into successful contracts. All CMCR staff have played their part in producing a quality product for our clients that they have now come to expect from CMCR”.
The culmination of 12 months hard work paid off in spectacular style at the end of March with CMCR being audited for both Investors in People and ISO 9001:2000 in the same week. A nervous wait then ensued before the good news was received that we had been successful in achieving both awards. As this was one of our stated aims in our original business plan for year 1, there was a great feeling of pride and achievement in securing these awards.
The ISO 9001:2000 award is the internationally recognised standard for quality and we believe that certification to it will assure existing and potential clients alike that CMCR are fully committed to quality by continuously undergoing the scrutiny of an accredited third party quality auditor.
Operations Director David Motion received the award on behalf of the Company and stated, “The effort undertaken by our staff in helping us to achieve our quality standard is very much appreciated. The certification provides customers with the comfort that CMCR have a documented set of procedures approved by an accreditation body highlighting a commitment to quality throughout the business.”
Continuous Improvement is the essence of any quality system and CMCR will always strive to improve its procedures and services, the quality manual provides the backbone of the system and CMCR prepares additional processes and procedures tailored to suit specific projects. Being a live system there will always be change and the Quality System provides the ideal environment for managing that change. Jim Hughes of SQMC responded by commenting “It has been a truly fantastic first year for CMCR culminating in the presentation of your certificate. We, at SQMC, can only praise the dedication and effort you applied. It was a pleasure to assist you in achieving your goal. Keep up the good work and provide a real Quality Assured Service to your clients”.
With regard to the Investors in People award, MD Graham Callander said “We’re fully committed to developing workforce skills in order to achieve our wider business aims. We have used the Investors in People planning process to organise our training and development programme so that it delivers focused, up to date skills to our people. This will be a major factor in driving our future success.
Helen Lewis of Scottish Enterprise Forth Valley (left) presents
Managing Director Graham Callander with the Investors in People
plaque supported by Janice Laurie who acted as IIP adviser.
I would like to thank everyone for the part you have played in this — and will continue to play in the future. Investors in People is about moving the whole organisation forward, and ensuring we strive for continuous improvement.”
Janice Laurie, our IIP adviser also quoted “This company has proven that with determination and focus they have been able to achieve accreditation within a year. The achievement demonstrates a belief the management team has in their people and acknowledges their efforts to create a workforce which is competent, capable and prepared to take on the challenges they face as the company develops.”
We are pleased to announce that CMCR has been accepted into The Survey Association (TSA) as an Associate member. CMCR applied for membership in February 2006 and following submission of Company information, an assessment visit to our office from Rory Stanbridge on 3rd May 2006 and a Council meeting we received notification of our membership on 24th May 2006. Full membership is not possible until an organisation has been established for 3 years.
The TSA was formed in 1979 and is recognised as the representative organisation of UK private surveying Companies. Its aims are:
We believe that by joining the TSA we offer clients the security of knowing that by acceptance into membership, CMCR has undergone a rigorous and ongoing vetting procedure that has satisfied the TSA Council as to its suitability of membership.
The Edinburgh site has now been completed and a start has now been made on the beautiful site at Dawyck, just outside Peebles (pictured left).
The survey team who were working on this job commented that this must be “survey heaven” such was the weather and the stunning visual appearance of the gardens.
The A90 to the north of Balmedie is due for realignment and Transport Scotland commissioned Carl Bro to carry out the design works. The initial survey work was tendered and CMCR were successful. Overall the ten week program included the survey of over 250ha and approx 5km of roads including traffic management on several sections of the A90.
Bernhard Becker of Becker Geomatics was appointed as the Survey Advisor to Carl Bro, advising on our methodologies and reviewing the results and data.
The works were priced on the basis of utilising the Leica SmartRover for the majority of the open areas and this has proved to be a highly successful means of capturing survey data. One advantage of the SmartRover is the ability to load data into the system and view your position in realtime against the backdrop. The surveyors were able to load the survey area into the SmartRover prior to going to site. This was especially useful for large open fields where there are no distinguishing features and the on-screen display enables the surveyors to position themselves accurately to the survey boundary.
Colin Clark was appointed as the Project Manager and Liam Hill the Project Surveyor. Three survey teams were committed to the project for the duration utilising Two Leica 1200 Total Stations, 4 x Leica 1200 GPS Units and 1 x SmartRover.
Fortunately the weather has been exceptionally dry enabling the survey teams to work quickly in the field, especially over the ploughed fields where wet conditions would have slowed progress considerably. Traffic Management was provided by Central Traffic Management and they worked closely with our Survey staff to provide a safe working environment with minimum disruption to traffic over the period of the works. Final deliverables will include a full survey report with PGM Descriptions, GPS, Traverse and Level observations and calculations, AutoCAD files, MX GENIO data and paper plots.
CMCR thought it was time to undertake some missionary work across the border to spread the word of its existence to people in the south. The decision was made to exhibit at one of the largest exhibitions held annually by Interbuild at the NEC Birmingham.
The two Davids, Corfield and Motion set off in a van full of brand new exhibition stands; brochures and newsletters etc on the saturday morning, arriving together with hundreds of other exhibitors. With one hour to unload a van so as not to incur a penalty payment of £50 it was full speed ahead to deposit the load into the shell stand after the long drive. With more than 1,500 exhibitors all erecting stands, chasing up electricians who had not installed the power to all the stands (ours included) the word “hectic” springs to mind.
After all was set up and our stand looked quite impressive, (even if we say so ourselves), there followed a leisurely drive to the centre of Birmingham during a saturday afternoon shopping rush hour to our hotel where a pint (or two) of the amber nectar soon helped us recover. Five foot weary days of promotional excellence resulted in some good leads and a few people realising that there is life north of the border and a substantial resource of high quality surveyors.
Was Interbuild a success for CMCR? Only time will tell, and who knows maybe some interesting projects will appear in future newsletters that have emanated from this exhibition.
We obviously recovered from the exhausting week in Birmingham as CMCR was next spotted in all its glory, Exhibiting at the 8th Perthshire Business Fair held on 10th May 2006 at the Dewars Centre in Perth. This time CMCR was represented by David Corfield and Managing Director, Graham Callander.
The event was organised by the Perthshire Chamber of Commerce and proved to be an excellent networking opportunity for members of the Chamber as only invited guests of the exhibitors and not the general public were admitted. Approximately 96 stands exhibited everything from coffins to BMWs and balloons to hotels.
CMCR were commissioned by the location team of “Hallam Foe” to provide accurate drawings of a particular roof for replication in the film studio.
Hallam Foe is a magical story of redemptive love, loss and life on the rooftops of Edinburgh and is based on the novel by Peter Jinks. It is currently being filmed on location in Edinburgh and Peebleshire and in the studios in Glasgow.
