Projects

Land Remediation – Story Homes

Cowens Ltd have successfully remediated a residential housing development site using dual phase high vacuum extraction.

Completed on schedule, on budget and to the regulator’s and client’s total satisfaction, Cowens have demonstrated best value and best practice.

The scope consisted of a site investigation followed by the removal of free phase, dissolved phase and vapour phase components of residual contaminants by high vacuum extraction. The site conditions included both free product and a high water table that would have made in-situ bioremediation ineffective. By optimising the zone of influence of each well, using in-line FID VOC analysis, full telemetry for system condition notification, and using the asymptotic mass recovery principal, we completed the remediation on budget, to the client and regulators’ satisfaction and the client was able to commence the civils programme while we were still on site, enabling the schedule to be reduced further.

Site Investigation – Milk Processing Company

Project to drill boreholes and dig trial pits for soil and water sampling.

Cowens offer site investigations for quantifying ground status, preparing reference data or for contaminated land remediation preparation.

Ground Water Infiltration – Sellafield

Cowens have designed and built a simple ground water filtration unit for removing silts enabling water to be returned to drain.

Cowens manufacture a very strong geotextile Siltscreen, and sewn into a purpose made bag filter and installed in a customised steel tank, it acts as a very effective course filter. A unique way of hanging the filter bag from the lid avoids any manual handling problems as well as making emptying the solids easy. The outlet of the tank is then pumped through a two stage filter to reduce all water to sub 10 micron particle size. The simplicity and visibility of all stages makes this a cost effective solution for meeting discharge consents, minimising land fill costs or enabling recycling of process streams.

Engineering Works – National Food Company

Tilting IBC Stillage

Cowens are delighted to provide engineering solutions for a multitude of applications. Here afood company was losing 10% (100 litres) per IBC due to air entrainment. By designing a spring loaded tilting stillage, losses reduced to 5 litres, saving product and disposal costs.

Cowens Geofleece – Frost Protection for Sports Pitches

A unique frost protecting pitch cover keeping professional sports fixtures playable even in severe frost conditions.

Cowens Geofleece is a removable frost barrier that protects the grass and prevents the ground from freezing.

Recommended for football, rugby, and all sports pitches as well as horse racing and even horticultural applications.

It ensures fixtures are played despite the weather.
It acts as an insulation layer. The unique honeycomb of soft fibres locks out the frost, traps the ground heat and allows air to flow.

Financial Benefits:

1. The Carbon Trust will give a 2-5 year interest free loan to any club to pay for the pitch cover and Cowens offer an application assistance service as part of the package. Clubs can order now before the frost and not have to pay for years.
2. The FA have introduced a requirement for all clubs to have a provision for frost protection. Geofleece protects against hard frosts, other covers only offer the mildest of frost protection.
3. The product was extensively tested last season and is good for at least -8 degrees C.

Remember how bad a frost there was last season. Games were cancelled and revenues lost. This does not need to be repeated this season!

The Financial Case Study:
The Geofleece justifies itself. Take Carlisle United’s actual figures as an example of the loss of income if a match is postponed from Saturday to a midweek evening because of frost:

1. Average crowd reduction from Saturday to Tuesday is 1,900 which costs an income drop of £19k through the turnstiles.
2. Postponement also means lost hospitality income, sponsorship (many companies cannot do night matches), shop sales, programme sales but still incur payment of limited expenses (stewards, safety, bar staff etc) and potentially expenses for the away team if the postponement is made late (after they have commenced travel). This loss could be between £10k to £15k.

Total loss per game: £29 – 34k.

A typical Geofleece for an entire pitch costs well under that, so the entire cost is recouped from saving just one Saturday fixture. In terms of goodwill and keeping the TV companies, fans and sponsors happy, the benefit is priceless.

It could be your safest investment this year.

Cowens Geofleece – Geofleece Details

More information on Geofleece and how to use it at your club.

Cowens Geofleece will protect your sports pitch from frost and keep matches on schedule, even after extended hard frosts.

We understand that moving the 4.2m wide rolls of geofleece needs to be as easy and as quick as possible, so we have designed and built a trolley specifically for moving geofleece around your grounds.

It has 3 wheels so there is no need to lift the trolley to move it. If you do, to change direction for example, the load is balanced so there is no weight to lift.

The three support cradles are curved to match the roll diameter, and are low enough to make lifting the rolls in easy, with or without the polythene wrapping.

A handle is positioned at a natural hand height so pushing or pulling the trolley is very comfortable.

23cm diameter solid wheels will cope with gravel or rutted ground with ease, and have been fixed to make pushing in a straight line the default mode.

Steelwork is prime and finish painted, and all ends are capped with plastic plugs.

The whole trolley is lightweight and easy to store when not in use.

We also supply steel wire hoops for pegging down the geofleece in windy conditions. With a bright orange polyurethane flag on each one, they are hard to miss when removing, and the flag will never rust or fade, so the pegs will carry on working for a very long time.