On the 12th of October 2023 I was fortunate to be interviewing Kane Ormesher of K.O. Ecological Restoration Services.
Kane is currently carrying out work as a Site Manager for Five Rivers and South East Rivers Trust, and at the time was managing the site at the end of Green Lanes in West Ewell, Epsom, running along the Hogsmill river.
Kane worked for Five Rivers for 2 years , then he left 2 years ago to start his own business K.O. Ecological Restoration Services, and is now working for them again via his own company.
Kane has a degree in Environmental Science, and started at Five Rivers as a Labourer, working his way up through to the position of Foreman, and then Site Manager.
I asked him what challenges kept him up at night, while working on an Environmental Construction site projects.
Biggest challenge, the Programme
The details involved in keeping to the programme are what used to keep him up at night, now, with his own company, he has enough experience for it not to cause sleepless nights. Kane tries not to think about work in his time off.
The biggest challenge in keeping to the programme, is when he has to use external suppliers, external operators and the plant itself. If anyone doesn’t turn up, or any plant isn’t available then the delays have to be mitigated and managed.
On any new project, Kane has to get to know the people who are allocated to his team, and filter through them to find the right people who have the high standards that he needs.
Kane has to find people who keep to the health and safety rules and who have the right attitude towards their work. There are always some people who don’t have a good attitude towards carrying out work that they are being paid to do, and Kane’s role involves moving past these people to the ones who actually appreciate and enjoy their work.
I can see that it pains Kane when construction projects cause damage to the environment. Kane has had work on projects where ancient woodlands have been relocated, the soil is actually what is relocated because that contains all of the seedbank, which is what classifies it as ancient. Although Kane says that the plants and animals, which also form part of an ancient woodland, cannot be transferred properly.
Second biggest challenge, Health and Safety
Kane is actually fine with the need for Health and Safety as he recognises the role that it plays in the well being of his team. It just takes up a lot of time, and sometimes all of the checks of the track mats and fencing, and keeping on top of all the Health and Safety requirements, can take away the focus from the main Environmental project.
Third biggest challenge, Accommodation
Accommodation can be tricky to find, as they need short term accommodation for the duration of the programme, and it needs to be close by. AirBnB is their first port of call, but sometimes that is further away from site than it looks on the map, and there can be delays in getting all of his team to site.
Security
I asked about the PID (Perimeter Intrusion Detection) systems, as they looked very high tech, he said they are pretty common nowadays on his sites, they have an enclosed camera which feeds into surveillance rooms. There are set times when the PID systems start filming, and in non-residential areas there will be a loudspeaker option to scare intruders off.
First priority, Quality
Quality is Kane’s number one priority, and with his degree in Environmental Science, he can, and does give ideas to the customer to improve the environment.
He says there are many things that can be done to improve the environmental plans, which don’t cost a lot, and he sometimes carries out work from his own pocket.
He put in some kingfisher nest boxes into the water banks on a recent project, and he always smoothes out the topography, by adding curves, to make the topography like nature intended.
This is a photo of the wetland cell Kane and his team are working on (its only about 30% full) as an example of changes they’ve made with the clients approval. The reeds visible have been transplanted from the local stream – local flora always has a higher rate of survival as they’re adapted for the localised soil conditions, the gravels have been added to provide a substrate for insects which will in turn provide food for fish, and the topography has been altered to allow deeper areas for fish to take refuge from predators and shallower areas for vegetation to colonise.
The topographical plans that he is given, are often square and block like, and he puts in the extra work to improve the contours and ensure micro-topography is taken into account.
He knows to have a variety of levels, at the edge of the water in order to have different varieties of plants, fish, animals and birds. Kane adds these extra levels in, and he also knows to look out for keystone species of plants and animals so that these can be transplanted where possible.
Improvements in the Industry
The best improvements for Kane are in the Plant.
There is a glint in his eye as he speaks about the modern Engcon diggers, the heads of the buckets have 360 degree rotation ability, as well as the usual up and down movements. This enables them to avoid artificial straight lines and provide a more natural finish.
There have also been improvements in Health and Safety, some of the diggers have 360 degree cameras which alert the driver to a human shaped silhouette stepping into range. These are being brought into the larger companies.
In terms of materials, Kane uses a variety of natural materials, such as hazel faggots which are used for river works. These are bundles of twined sticks, packed together to create the curves of the river. He also likes to use large woody debris, like chest nut stakes which are staked into place.
Hydroseeding has also made a big difference. They can fill a tanker with liquid and seeds and spray it out of a large hose to seed large areas of land. This saves time and it is more effective, because it includes nutrients to start the seeds off well.
The Future
In an ideal world Kane would like to see an increase in environmental projects, particularly the creation of wetlands. He also believes that we should move away from large scale planting of whips (young trees grown in a nursery), in favour of patched planting to let natural succession take place and increase habitat diversity on sites.
The trends which he hopes will pick up are the use of technology on site such as GPS enabled excavators to limit human error on large scale projects.
If you need advice on your Environmental Restoration project or a Site manager for your Environmental Restoration project, Kane can be found at www.ecological-restoration.co.uk and on Linked-in at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kane-ormesher-28925b1ba/
Afterword: Not everyone can find rest and recuperation easily on short term Environmental Restoration construction sites and Spodstore.com is in the business of providing a safe space (Sleep pods) for contractors to recuperate in, at construction sites. What are your experiences of finding rest and recuperation (Sleep pods) for contractors? Contact Nicole at admin@Spodstore.com or 07830786315 to discuss solutions or for further information.
