Groundworks

Bulk Excavation Movax Sheet Piling Scaffolding

Welcome to Our Groundworks

Fred Champion Groundworks Ltd has been established since 1983, Groundworks is the core of our business, particularly in the speculative and social housing sectors.

In more recent years we have expanded our business into the commercial and industrial sectors, in particular factories, hospitals, student accommodation and main drainage works.

We have a number of long established client relationships, these include:-

  • Linden Homes
  • Galliford Try Group plc
  • Wainhomes South West
  • ROK Group
  • Leadbitter construction Ltd
  • Midas Construction Ltd
  • South West Water

Our aim is to offer a "one stop shop" Groundworks service, this can include the services of our subsidiary companies:-

  • Fred Champion Scaffolding Ltd
  • Trojan Paving
  • Fred Champion Hire

We operate on a labour, plant and materials supply and fix basis only, this does also include some of the following trades:-

  • Sub-structure blockwork and brickwork.
  • Tarmac surfacing.
  • Insitu concrete construction.
  • Sheet piling. (including sub-contract design)
  • Block paving.
  • Pond lining / attenuation tank construction.
  • Block and beam flooring (including sub-contract design).

Our main catchment area within the South West covering areas from Taunton, Honiton, and Bideford in the East to Penzance in the West. We have our office based centrally adjacent to the A38 at Doublebois Near Liskeard from which we operate all of our divisions.

Within our Groundworks division we have our own full time engineers who operate "total station" setting out instruments, using the CAD information supplied by our clients to engineer the site within the specified tolerances.

We operate a lump sum all risk pricing strategy if required, many of our clients ask for this service, this enables our clients site team to focus on other areas of their project which require a high level of design input, without concern for the management of the groundworks costs, material deliveries etc,

In some cases our client requests Fred Champion Groundworks Ltd to be Principal Contractor, this means we have possession of the site and are responsible for Health and Safety on the site. This helps reduce prelim costs for our clients and enables us to ensure all of the requirements under the CDM regulations 2007 and the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 are complied with.

We have our "in house" Health and Safety advisor Steve Westlake, we also have our external consultants JNC Safety Services who advise us in all aspects of our business from site inspections to Health and Safety training. We have our own training facilities within our new office complex to enable training of our staff when required.

Our Groundworks business employs over one hundred people including sub-contractors mostly from our local area, many of our employees have been employed on a full time basis for long periods of time. The first three individuals who started with the company are still employed some 26 years later.

We have the capability to undertake bulk earthworks and currently we have a 350,000m3 earth movement project being undertaken at Holmans Yard, Camborne. Or we can facilitate a five or six plot house build scheme. Our Groundworks business turnover is between £13 - 15 million per annum, this has steadily increased over the past 8 - 10 years and is still increasing, even in a this difficult economic period.

We have had to diversify slightly in recent times, this diversification has taken us into remediation works, generally involved on Brown Field site developments in line with recent Government initiatives to develop the more problematic sites rather than Green Field developments. Due to this diversification we have purchased bulk earthworks equipment and invested heavily in new machinery.

Fred Champion Groundworks – Insitu Concrete Division.

Due to our expansion and diversification over the last five years we have been steadily increasing our capacity for insitu concrete works. We have found many of our clients asking for insitu concrete works. The combination of our insitu concrete division, Scaffolding and our Movax Sheet piling unit provides a very flexible solution to some of the most onerous reinforced concrete works.

We have a manager in charge of these works, Paul Chapman, who has more than 20 years experience in the business. Along with Paul we have developed long and lasting relationships with various steel fixers and shuttering carpenters, some of which are now directly employed by FCG.

We are always looking for new and innovative ways to construct, solutions including “Bamtec” pre-fixed reinforcement cuts fixing time on site, and bespoke shuttering systems to increase pour volumes and/or surface areas.

We have undertaken subterranean insitu concrete frames, including underground car parks, underground basements for various commercial sector buildings.

We are currently undertaking a large insitu concrete project in Millbay – Plymouth which constitutes Movax Sheet piling, insitu concrete retaining walls, transfer decks and concrete frames buildings to provide office and living accommodation.

(Please feel free to contact office@fcg-uk.com for a guided tour at any time)

Our Partners