LATEST NEWS

 

January 2012: NEW ARRIVALS

MWA are pleased to announce that Mike Jones and Robert Evans will join the company. Mike has been appointed Director of the company and will join the company from 1st February 2009. Mike joins MWA from Gifford where he is currently a Technical Director having over 22 years experience of highway projects including design and project management. Mike is joining MWA as Managing Director designate and will be working with Martin to develop new markets expanding the business into adjacent sectors which will include potable water distribution and infrastructure based work.

Rob will be joining MWA as a Principal Project Engineer from 9th January 2012. He is a Chartered Civil Engineer with over 15 years experience and has a proven track record of successfully leading diverse, multidisciplinary project teams and will be involved in the design and project management of  projects in MWA design section.

 

January 2012: STAFF RESTRUCTURING

As a result of Dave Collyer’s relocation to Australia, the management structure of the company has been restructured. From the 1st January 2012 Mike Wellington will be promoted to Director; Gareth Jones will be promoted to Assistant Director and Nigel Jones to Associate.

December 2011: MWA OPENS YORKSHIRE OFFICE

MWA are pleased to announce that they have now opened an office in Scarborough. The office will be staffed by John Riby who will take on the role of Business Development Engineer. John has nearly 40 years experience in Civil & Municipal Engineering. He has worked in both the public and private sectors (contracting and consultant) and at various levels of seniority culminating as a Chief Officer at Scarborough Borough Council. John has a specific wealth of experience in a wide range of coastal and flood risk/engineering projects from conception through to implementation. His extensive knowledge has been acknowledged and utilised at a Local, Regional and National Level when he was  Chairman of the North East Coastal Group (NECG) and lead officer for the Local Government Association’s (LGA) Coastal Special Interest Group for many years. He has written and co-authored several published Technical Papers including the LGA’s Coastal Strategy, ‘On the Edge’.  John is a fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers.

December 2011: NEW WORKING PARTNERS

MWA are pleased to announce that they have signed an agreement with CTL who are coastal planners; this will allow MWA to work world-wide providing engineering services to CTL.

November 2011: PROFESSIONAL SUCCESS

Congratulations to MWA Associate, Gareth Jones who has successfully passed his professional review with the Institution of Civil Engineers and has now achieved Chartered Engineer Status.

November 2011: ICE BUSINESS BREAKFAST

MWA continue to support the Institution of Civil Engineers sponsoring the Business Breakfast held on the 18 th November 2011 at Abergele. Associate Mike Wellington delivered a presentation on Flood Risk Management and Community Resilience using the recently completed scheme at Denbigh as a case study concluding with an assessment of the many different techniques used to engage the public.

October 2011: G’DAY DAVE

Director Dave Collyer has emigrated to Perth, Western Australia for personal reasons. Dave will continue as a Director for MWA and develop the business in Australia and the Asian markets.

August  2011: FOR HE’S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW

Congratulations to MWA Associate, Mike Wellington who has become a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers.

August 2011: SEMINAR ON THE FLOOD AND WATER MANAGEMENT ACT

ICE Wales are to put on 2 half-day seminars sponsored by MWA, one in Cardiff on 12 September and the other in Chester at a date still to be agreed. Further details will be announced in the near future by the Institution on their website.

August 2011: NEW MARKETS

MWA are looking to expand their client base and have of late been successful in extending their UK markets from almost solely Wales-based into many areas of England and fairly recently Scotland. We have been successful in obtaining contracts in the north-east and hope to soon open an office in Yorkshire. We have also been looking at markets abroad and are currently considering opening a small office in Hong Kong to serve the Asian markets.

July 2011: AMP5 FRAMEWORK

MWA have had their existing contract with Costain Ltd extended for a further year.  This work enables Martin Wright Associates to act as civil design consultants alongside AECOM Ltd to deliver the AMP5 flooding programme for Dwr Cymru Welsh Water.  We now have an employee based permanently in DCWW's office in North Wales who leads a team of four AECOM engineers to undertake the investigations, feasibility and design and delivery of the year 2 flooding programme for DCWW.  The design of seven flood alleviation schemes identified from the feasibility work undertaken in Year one of AMP5 is being undertaken from MWA’s design office in Aldford.

 

DCWW has made a commitment to invest £1.23 billion over a five-year period, between 2010 and 2015, to improve, maintain and operate its assets. MWA are working with Welsh Water to improve the sewerage wastewater network system across North Wales and some parts of North West England.

July 2011: MWA'S SPONSORSHIP OF THE WALES FLOODING CONFERENCE EXTENDED

We have reached an agreement with ICE Wales to sponsor the 2012 Flooding conference. Further details will be available shortly from the ICE website. We have also agreed to continue with the two business breakfasts - one in Cardiff, one in Abergele for 2012.

July 2011: MWA CHARITY GOLF DAY

The whole day was again a great success - we even had good weather this year plus some 20 people playing on the excellently maintained, if not difficult Nickless Course at Carden Park. Vic Mohun won the first prize, but the big winner this year was the Wales Air Ambulance, which thanks to all who contributed, received a cheque for £168.07. Many thanks to all our guests who took the trouble to join us for our annual event.

July 2011: STAFF CHANGES

Andreas Ospina has left the company after a 12-month training period to return to his native Spain to continue his studies. Andreas became an intregal part of our CAD team and will be greatly missed. We wish him well in his studies and hope he will come back to join us in the future.

June 2011: MWA CHARITY GOLF DAY 2011

MWA's annual Charity Golf Day will be held on Thursday 30 June 2011 on the Nicklaus Course at Carden Park. The North Wales Air Ambulance service will be the beneficiaries of funds raised on the day, with raffles, nearest the pin, longest drives and a host of other prizes waiting to be won. The golf starts at 12.30pm with a light lunch available beforehand. Anyone who is interested in taking part please contact Paul Reeves at paul.reeves@martinwrightassociates.com.

May 2011: AMP5 WORK

MWA’s working arrangement with Costains continues to strengthen as work on Dwr Cymru Welsh Water’s AMP5 programme gathers pace. Initial investigations to identify and assess existing or new problem areas has been extended, whilst earlier, completed investigative works are being progressed to implementation stage.

May 2011: ICE BUSINESS BREAKFAST SPONSORED BY MWA

The ICE Wales Cymru Business Briefing at the Novotel Hotel in Cardiff on Tuesday 14th June 2011 will be sponsored by MWA. Director, Dave Collyer will give a short presentation entitled “Reducing flood risk in the Coldbrook Catchment of Barry”. The event starts at 8.00am with a cooked breakfast and will finish at 9.45 at the latest. Places are limited, if you are interested please contact Keith Jones directly at keith.jones@ice.org.uk.

April 2011: NEW ARRIVALS

MWA are pleased to announce that Paul Reeves will be joining the company in May 2011. Paul has worked for the Environment Agency in Wales for many years and is extremely well known for his expertise and experience of flood risk management issues. Paul takes on the role of Business Development Engineer.

 

Not quite a newcomer to the company, however, we are very pleased that Dr Richard Swift is taking on an increased role as Coastal Project Engineer. Richard’s academic and technical expertise on all things coastal across the UK is invaluable as our coastal portfolio of work continues to grow.

April 2011: 2010/11 PERFORMANCE

MWA confirm a year of consolidation as turnover rises to £2 million pa - a 6% rise in times of difficult trading. This combined with a reasonably full order book for the next 12 months will certainly maintain if not improve our place in the flooding sector of the UK Civil Engineering industry.

April 2011: ICE CONSULTANT’S FILE RANKING

MWA climb 10 ranking places to 19th in ICE's consultants file "Top Firms in Flooding".

March 2011: WALES FLOODING CONFERENCE

MWA sponsor Wales' Flooding conference for a second year. This year's event is to be held at at County Hall Cardiff on 17 March. MWA are hoping to sponsor this event again in 2012 and will continue to support the ICE Wales in sponsoring two business breakfasts - one in the south and one in the north.

March 2011: DESIGN & SUPERVISION CONTRACT AT BARRY, VALE OF GLAMORGAN

MWA are pleased to announce their success in being awarded the work to progress the Coldbrook scheme in the Vale of Glamorgan through the detailed modelling stage to detailed design and construction. The scheme, currently estimated as costing some £2 million, is part of WAG's EU-supported "competitiveness" funding programme.

February 2011: WYESHAM, MONMOUTH

Monmouthshire CC have awarded MWA a small contract to design a flood alleviation scheme at Wyesham, Monmouth. The council hope that the scheme will eventually be part of the competitiveness funding stream promoted by WAG & supported by the EU.

January 2011: WEST LANCASHIRE JOBS

West Lancashire BC have awarded MWA two contracts worth in total some £100k, to design and possibly supervise works at Appley Bridge and Parbold.

December 2010: MORE WORK ON THE TWEED

Northumberland CC have extended MWA's original Tweed Estuary contract to further report on 3 areas of concern highlighted in the original report. The work is scheduled to be completed by the end of March 2011.

September 2010: DCWW WORK

MWA are pleased to announce their appointment to supply expertise to Costain for their work in supporting Dwr Cymru welsh Water’s AMP5 programme.

August 2010: ENVIRONMENT AGENCY FRAMEWORK

We are pleased to announce that MWA have been selected to be part of the Environment Agency (North West) Consultancy Framework for FCRM. This is particularly pleasing, and a testament to the recent decision to develop our own in-house hydraulic modelling capabilities.

August 2010: MWA GOLF DAY

The MWA Annual Golf Day will take place at Carden Park Golf Club on Tuesday 14 September 2010. Martin has once again assured us all that it will not rain - to be fair, law of averages has to be on his side ! Irrespective of the weather it is sure to be another highly popular and enjoyable day for the staff and invited guests.

July 2010: MWA INFORMATION NOTE - PRELIMINARY FLOOD RISK ASSESSMENTS

The Environment Agency (EA) has recently issued the document, “Preliminary Flood Risk Assessments - Living Draft Guidance for Lead Local Flood Authorities”. The aim of the guidance is to support and assist Lead Local Flood Authorities to meet their duties to manage flood risk as required by the Flood Risk Regulations 2009. These assessments are a vital and critical step in our understanding of flood risk and will ultimately be the foundation for future investment and action plans for flood risk management. To assist LLFAs, Martin Wright Associates have produced an Information Note summarising the Guidance.

July 2010: SCHEME FACTSHEETS

We have now produced scheme factsheets for some of the projects that we are involved in. For further information please go to our Useful Information page.

June 2010: FACEBOOK, TWITTER AND WEBSITE FOR DENBIGH

The Denbigh Flood Risk Management Scheme now has its own website (www.denbighflood.co.uk), Facebook page and Twitter account. All are designed to raise awareness of flood risk and to inform the community of what is happening, and what they can do, to reduce that risk.

June 2010: NEW ARRIVALS AT MWA

A slightly belated welcome to the latest additions to the MWA Team:

Gareth Jones (Associate and Coastal Team Leader) who joins us from AECOM.

Alex Williams (Project Engineer)

Peter Gale (Project Engineer)

Tristran Inman (Graduate Engineer)

Jack Port (CAD Technician)

Andres Ospina (CAD Technician)

Dominic Kearney (Senior Hydraulic Modeller)

June 2010: DEFRA FCRM>10

MWA attended and exhibited at the DEFRA/EA Flood and Coastal Risk Management Conference in Telford. The event was held in the International Centre and attracted over 400 delegates from across the industry.

May 2010: MWA SPONSORS ICE WALES BUSINESS BREAKFASTS

MWA have successfully sponsored recent ICE Business Breakfasts in North and South Wales. Both events were extremely well attended with representatives from Local Authorities, Contractors and other Consultants. The theme of the meetings was Flood Risk Management in Wales and in addition to a not so healthy full English, the appreciative audience were treated to presentations from MWA Managing Director, Martin Wright, and WAG’s Head of Flood and Coastal Defence, Peter Jones. The overwhelming success of the events has encouraged MWA to commit to future support of similar events.

February 2010: TWEED ESTUARY STUDY

MWA have recently been commisioned by Northumberland Country Council to undertake a detailed study of the Tweed Estuary. For further details and a copy of our Scheme Factsheet click here.

February 2010: MWA SPONSORS 8th WALES NATIONAL FLOODING CONFERENCE

The 8th Wales National Flooding Conference entitled “Learning to Live with Flooding in Wales” was proudly sponsored by Martin Wright Associates. The event was organised by the Institution of Civil Engineers (Wales), the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management & Cardiff University and was supported by Constructing Excellence Wales, Environment Agency Wales and Welsh Assembly Government. Speakers included Jane Davidson AM (Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing, Welsh Assembly Government), Dr Peter Jones (WAG), David Rooke (Head of Strategy & Engagement, Environment Agency), Sally Sudworth (Senior Vice Chair, ICE Wales) and our very own Dave Collyer.

Dave’s presentation ‘Policy into Practise’ focused on the work that MWA are doing to increase resilience and awareness of flooding in Denbigh to hopefully reduce the consequences of any future flood event.  The Conference was a huge success and MWA have already committed to sponsoring the event in 2011.

March 2010: OHSAS 18001 ACCREDITATION

Following an assessment by an independent body, MWA has been awarded OHSAS 18001 certification. This certification has only been achieved by less than 1% of UK businesses and this prestigious award is supported by the Government and recognised world-wide.

 

The assessors (QMS Quality Management Systems), paid particular tribute to "the investment in people and training that enables MWA to provide an efficient and Occupational Health & Safety aware service to their customers."

 

Said a delighted Martin Wright "We have always been proud of the service we offer our clients and the way that we conduct our business including the importance we give to Occupational Health & Safety matters. Now with the award of OHSAS 18001 certification, this has been confirmed by outside experts who are used to judging standards on a daily basis in a wide variety of trades and industries".

January 2010: CONWY FRAMEWORK

MWA are one of the successful Consultants who have won a place on the Conwy County Borough Council Consultancy Framework. We are very pleased to be chosen to provide services for the design of future flood and coastal defence schemes.

January 2010: LLANSANNAN AND LLANWRST FLOOD RISK MANAGEMENT SCHEMES

Conwy County Borough Council have appointed MWA to undertake the detailed design and contract preparation work for flood risk management schemes in Llansannan and Llanrwst.

December 2009: CONSTRUCTIONLINE

For the benefit of our Clients and ourselves, MWA have now registered on Constructionline the UK's largest register for pre-qualified contractors and consultants. Our registration number is 81113.

July 2009: SUCCESS IN DENBIGHSHIRE !

We are very proud to announce that Denbighshire County Council have recently awarded MWA two large commissions to design and supervise flood risk management projects at Denbigh and Corwen and to design and supervise the construction of new coastal defences at West Rhyl.

 

The recent expansion programme was a key factor in the award of the contracts, allowing us to present high quality, low cost proposals for both schemes. MWA Managing Director, Martin Wright was extremely pleased at the news... “We’ve come a long way over the past few years and to win both of these jobs is great news for the company. We are justifiably proud of the service that we provide and I have no doubt that, through these two commissions, we will continue to demonstrate that we are one of the UK’s leading flood risk management consultants”.

 

The West Rhyl project is an estimated £10 million scheme and MWA have put together an impressive team of partners to ensure that the scheme is completed on time and within budget. Key partners include Aecom, Cascade Consulting and ABPmer. The Denbigh and Corwen projects total a further £6 million. Both projects will be managed from our new offices in Chester.

June 2009: ISO14001 ACCREDITATION

We are extremely pleased to announce that MWA have successfully achieved ISO 14001 accreditation. When we set out on our recent company expansion plan, one of our core objectives was to ensure that everything the company did was environmentally friendly. This principle is actively promoted by both management and staff and is central to all of our key decisions. As a consequence we now work from BREEAM compliant offices that utilise ground source heating, rainwater harvesting and energy efficient lighting and insulation. All of our internal processes and operations are designed to minimise our carbon footprint and our procedures for delivering outcomes for external clients are all extremely environmentally aware.

May 2009: NEW STAFF

Changes continue to happen at some pace and in the past few months quite a few new faces have arrived at MWA. Full details of the latest MWA structure and staff details are here, but for now it’s a brief welcome to Nigel Jones, Bill Fishwick, Vic Mohun, Hamisi Mwisongo, Natalie Morris and Roger Dunn.

April 2009: NEW HEAD OFFICE

After less than one year at our previous 'new’ office, we’ve had to move again to meet the demands of our latest expansion. MWA’s new home is at Lea Hall Farm in Aldford. It’s a beautiful converted barn deep in the heart of the Cheshire countryside. We’re close to the English/Welsh border, just a few miles south of Chester and within easy reach of the the A55 and the M56. The purpose built, environmentally friendly offices are ideal for our needs, and one things for certain - there can’t be many better places to come to work !