Revolutionary excavation grabs first Merseyside Innovation Award 27 January 2014

Osiris Subsurface Detection Systems has been named January's winner of the 2014 Merseyside Innovation Awards for its revolutionary new vehicle, which slashes the cost of digging up roads to repair cables and pipework.

The Woolton firm's process could save local authorities and utilities tens of thousands of pounds on costly road surface repairs, because it reduces the time and cost of making repairs, as well as the likelihood of potholes.

According to Stephen Dunmore – the man behind the innovation – the idea came from National Grid.

"In 2008, OSDS was invited to a tender by the National Grid: they were looking to adopt a technique from the USA where gas leaks were repaired by carving a keyhole in the surface of the road," explains Dunmore.

"The process was an improvement on traditional methods of getting under the road surface but it required two vehicles – a diamond coring vehicle, to cut into the surface, and a vacuum excavator, to remove loose debris underneath the tarmac," he continues.

"I began thinking about the possibility of putting the two together and creating one vehicle to do the whole job, extracting the hard top surface and the softer material underneath."

Dunmore's idea would use just one vehicle, need less space to work for traffic to pass by the work area and hence cut the cost of making sub-surface repairs.

And just one year later, Dumnore's vehicles are now being trialled, with seven prototypes in service with Scotia Gas Networks and local authorities.

He is now working with Northern Gas Networks until the end of March, testing the combination of his vehicle with an acoustic camera, which can also visually detect pipe damage and hear leaks – so reducing the time from detection to repair from four days to a few hours.

"I hope to improve health and safety by reducing the need for an operator to enter a potentially dangerous excavation, minimise the presence of traffic cones and road works and enable any utility company or local authority to repair and reinstate a road within a day," states Dunmore.

"The judges agreed that this was a unique vehicle that could deliver major benefits," states Lesley Prichard, of WP Thompson Intellectual Property, for the judging panel.

Brian Tinham

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Osiris Subsurface Detection Systems Ltd

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