Two recent major contract wins are a mark of how far East Anglian firm Geopshere Environmental has come in establishing itself as a leading environmental and geotechnical consultancy in the region.

The EADT/EDP Future50 company, which was formed by Tom Powling and Paul Davies less than a decade ago, now employs over 30 people and has been assigned to carry out ground investigations and borehole samples at the disused sugar beet factory site on Sproughton Road – a highly visible landmark on the outskirts of Ipswich, which has been redundant for over 20 years – for site owners Suffolk County Council who are preparing the land for sale to developers with a view to building a business park on the location.

'Here we are looking at a number of areas, such as if there is any contamination in the ground and also the bearing capacity of the ground. Earth samples from our test bore holes will be sent off for analysis and from those findings engineers can calculate how deep they need to build the pilings for the units whose floors have to be absolutely flat,' explained Davies.

Geosphere Environmental has also recently been instructed to carry out borehole samples for another high-profile project, the long-awaited third river crossing in Lowestoft - a scheme that has been designated as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project.

'We have drilled down 50 metres on some of these bore holes and will be drilling test holes under the water as the part of the project,' said Powling.

The pair agree that one key reason the company has been successful has been its approach of educating its client base about the intricacies of their profession by holding CPD workshops for developers, architects and local authorities.

Powling added: 'What we do can be quite technical and the perception in the industry has been that what we do is a necessary evil. But we wanted to change that, so that people realise we are here as a friendly face to give valuable information about a site that may help avoid costly over-runs of time in the future.'

We are on the lookout for inspiring, and ambitious individuals and businesses to form our Future50 Class of 2018.

Does that sound like you? Visit www.eadt.co.uk/business/future50 to find out more.