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Owen Pugh invests in Morpeth Northern Bypass scheme

North East civil engineering firm The Owen Pugh Group has invested in a specialist satellite navigation system and new plant machinery, on the back of a major contract win.

Owen Pugh has purchased four Komatsu D65 and D61 bulldozers, two PC 360, 360° excavators plus six compatible Trimble® GCS900 Grade Control Systems worth over £1.2m in total, in line with work starting on the Morpeth Northern Bypass scheme.

The full service civil engineering contractor, which employs 422 people across five regional sites including at its head office in Dudley in North Tyneside, purchased the new plant machinery from Birtley based Komatsu to improve on-site efficiencies after being impressed by the quality product, after sales service and driver operated training available from the local manufacturer.

The next generation 3D Trimble kit is a cutting-edge earthmoving grade control system that transmits design surfaces, grades and alignments directly inside of the vehicle cab, enabling faster job cycles through increased productivity.

The addition of the six control kits means that Owen Pugh now boasts the largest fleet of GPS control kits in the North East having invested in ten in total.

The investment will initially support the earthworks contract that Owen Pugh has secured as part of the £30m Morpeth Northern Bypass scheme.

The Morpeth Northern Bypass will run from Whorral Bank roundabout to the A1 trunk road between Fairmoor and Lancaster Park, easing traffic congestion in and around Morpeth.

The Owen Pugh Group comprises five trading companies operating in the civil engineering industry, undertaking earthmoving and demolition, drainage and groundworks, plant-hire and haulage, quarrying, inert waste and drain cleaning, and CCTV surveys.

The group is headquartered in Dudley near Cramlington, with other bases in Blaydon, Stockton-on-Tees and Bassington Lane in Cramlington, as well as Marsden Quarry.

Paul Cockburn, general manager of Owen Pugh & Co Ltd, says that the Komatsu plant purchase, which follows a recent investment in 34 new trucks and tippers, is the latest in a raft of efficiency measures for the business.

Paul said: “The whole package with these machines has fitted our requirements from the start; fuel efficiency, excellent reliability and the aftersales support from our local dealer Marubeni Komatsu being key factors in our choice, not to mention the fact that the excavators are made on our doorstep in the Birtley Komatsu plant in County Durham.”

Commenting on the investment in Trimble GPS equipment, Martin Forster, general manager for Owen Pugh Contracts, added: “The Trimble system, expertly installed by Sitech to ensure compatibility with the new plant, uses GPS or construction total station technology to accurately position the blade or bucket in real time, significantly reducing material wastage and dramatically improving productivity and profitability.

“Its significance in terms of the Morpeth Northern Bypass scheme is a reduction in the number of engineers on site and an increased ability to deliver on the designs in the most accurate and efficient way possible.”

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