Wee Notes & Breaking News
These are William’s notes and comments as the year progresses.
Focus on Edwina Dominic
At Terrenus we are always happy to deliver Good News and today I want to tell you about Edwina Dominic. Edwina joined us in 2022 after graduating from Glasgow University in Environmental Science & Sustainability. As with all our staff, we favour developing a wide range of capabilities in your early career so much so that Edwina now has professional experience and capability in engineering geology including major earthworks and settlement analysis in Bishopton, water engineering including detailed hydraulic modelling using QGIS and HEC-RAS and contaminated land risk assessment involving a wide range of site investigation work, soil and water laboratory assessment and report writing.
Edwina is a capable and motivated person and we were very pleased to see her promoted to our consultant band within the company earlier this month. At this level she will be responsible for many more elements of the assessment, design and reporting elements of our projects and will refine her specialisms as she develops her career.
Currently Edwina is visiting her family in Malaysia although she has continued to put in a solid day’s work by taking her computer with her. Her now Scots accent has be marked upon by her folks.
Social Bite - food for thought
Many of you will know of the good work carried out by Social Bite throughout Scotland and beyond and Terrenus has over the past years made a contribution to their work prior to Christmas. Today I got a message from the Social Bite team explaining some of their numbers - here are a few during last year:
- Over 310,000 meals and gifts.
- Over 254,000 free meals provided
- 960 hot Christmas dinners.
All very good but one comment by a recipient manager from a group in Dundee caught by eye, “it was especially lovely to see families enjoy a meal together and enjoy the day”
Our compliments to all the workers and volunteers who put in the hard shifts over the festive season and who continue to do so even in the cold grey days of January.
Terrenus Land & Water throughout Scotland
On the Terrenus Server we have a folder called ‘Project Titus’ which plots all our projects in Scotland since we set up back in the year 2000. These projects are broken down into categories including flood risk, geo-technics, contaminated land and drainage and suffice it to say the map is now very cluttered with digital pins in all parts of the land. Looking at the map as a whole shows the extensive footprint of our work throughout Scotland from the Lewis to Eyemouth and from Portpatrick to Shandwick. I find this resource very useful as I look at our past work when assessing new sites and proposals.
Of course, much of our work has been across the central belt of Scotland and, in order to serve our clients effectively, we have decided to open a dedicated presence in the east ranging from Aberdeenshire to, Edinburgh and to the Borders. Our Douglas Aitken is leading this expansion and can be contacted on 0131 385 9069. Please feel free to get in touch with Douglas if you would like him to pay a visit or view a site.
For all our clients, rest assured however that our main line number remains effective for all your enquiries. Our promise is to maintain our standard for excellence, commitment and client service as we grow and expand.
Welcome to 2026
Another year bites the dust and we emerge blinking into the sunlight of a new dawn. This may be pushing it in these current times however, there is much to look forward to in 2026. Here are some thoughts for the New Year.
I have my criticisms of the NPF4 Planning policy but on the positive side it does recognise the need to seriously address the matter of flood risk to our communities. Coupled with the updated SEPA Flood Maps I think that Councils are now moving forward and I am seeing some sites where multiple gains are being considered by Councils in their interpretation of Planning policy - a good thing which should be applauded.
A linked ray of sunshine is the development of ever more sophisticated and robust hydraulic models for development purposes which allows consultants and regulators the chance to properly assess risk to prospective communities.
Likewise I can identify a number of important instances where consideration to building communities is forming part of larger scale housing developments and where older Brownfield sites are being rejuvenated.
I see increased collaboration between housebuilders to address complex sites at the Masterplan stage, particularly with respect to passed mine workings and how to best accommodate these legacy features.
And finally, I am seeing some flexibility in some Councils in their capacity to address historic groundwater contamination which may well result in pragmatic and suitable measures to deal with this problem.
All of these areas for a core part in the work by Terrenus where our skilled staff find solutions to complex development problems. We look forward to serving our clients and expanding into 2026.
Hard Hats and Interns
After talking to one of our staff members, Gillian contacted us in the middle of last year from her Environmental Science course in the University of the Highlands and Islands. An opportunity had arisen to take a formal break from her studies for a placement in industry. Various discussions were then had with the university and with Gillian herself and we are now pleased to welcome Gillian to our staff for the next year or so.
As a result of Gillian’s arrival, a round of PPE (personal protective equipment) began and, since the timing worked, we chose to replace all our hard hats at the same time. My complements to Andrew in our office who has picked up the cudgels concerning the disposal of these specialist bits of plastic hard hats via the National Hard Hat Recycling Scheme, (be honest, did you know that this existed?). Through the scheme, used hard hats are fully recycled in the UK, and the raw materials go into the production of new hats – part of the circular economy. Have a look at the following link to learn more if you are able to do the same: https://www.jspsafety.com/contentpage/hard-hat-recycling
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