SUMMER 2025 DIGITAL - Flipbook - Page 38
GPSJ
CONSTRUCTION & ENGINEERING
Sewer specialist accelerates survey
innovation to give customers faster
and better asset insights
Drainage and wastewater specialist Lanes Group has introduced what is being hailed as one of Europe’s most
advanced survey vans.
The vehicle makes full use of new
digital technologies to support
more 昀氀exible con昀椀guration of
service teams, fast track survey
data reporting, and shrink
operational carbon footprints.
No improvement has been
considered too small to add value
to a vehicle that is expected to
set the benchmark for drainage
surveying excellence for years to
come.
With solar panels that allow
silent and zero-emissions
operation without the engine
running, 5G antennae that
connect the vans to Lanes
Group’s national survey centre,
and extensively remodeled
workstations, the vans are the
most sustainable, safe and
productive drainage survey
vehicles ever to hit the road.
The vehicles are aligned
with the company’s strategy to
deliver highly-昀氀exible, data-driven
services that can be seamlessly
con昀椀gured to meet the needs
of any customer, in any sector,
anywhere in the country.
More e昀케cient use of space is
supporting the delivery of new
services, with the vans able to
carry GPS survey equipment
and digital manhole scanning
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systems.
Chris Wilde, Head of Group
CCTV at Lanes Group, said:
“Conventionally, specialist
vehicles are improved
incrementally. However, Lanes
Group’s business model and
growth plan required a more
intensive approach.
“We’ve concentrated 昀椀ve or
more years of development into
a few months. Learning from this
fast-track process allows us to
introduce even more advances as
we go along.”
Lanes Group is the UK’s
largest drainage and wastewater
specialist. It delivers maintenance
services for most of the largest
water companies, and thousands
of businesses and public bodies.
Chris Wilde and his team
have been working with supplier
Minicam to develop the new
vans.
Minicam Managing Director
Stephen Harris said: “I’d say
it has to be one of the leading
survey vans in Europe. It’ll set the
standard for others to follow for
years to come.
“Most customers want one or
two changes at a time. But Lanes
Group’s vision for improving
customer service, and its desire
GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC SECTOR JOURNAL SUMMER 2025
to reinvent what’s possible, are
taking things to a new level.”
Asset investigation is the
starting point for any drainage
and wastewater project, which
is why these vehicles are
contributing to big advantages for
Lanes Group customers, Chris
Wilde explained.
He added: “The better our
vans are at helping us deliver high
quality survey reports, as quickly
and cost-e昀昀ectively as possible,
the easier it is for customers to
plan next steps in maintaining or
developing their drainage assets.
“Better sight lines and
lighting systems improves
communication, safety and
productivity. Better working
conditions improve morale. All
this is contributing to an uplift in
performance we’ve seen since
these vehicles started to be
introduced.”
Colleagues across the
company have contributed
ideas for more than 100 speci昀椀c
improvements incorporated into
the new van, or helped test them
in the 昀椀eld.
The data processing suite
is DSE-compliant, with the
operative sitting on an o昀케ce
chair, rather than a bench.
Bespoke barriers protect
the space, and contribute to
improved hand holds for entering
and leaving the vehicle.
The vehicle carries upgraded
equipment – its push-rod camera
now has a 100m rod and the
robotic camera has 0.5km of
cable as standard – plus the
latest WinCan survey processing
hardware and software.
The company now operates
Europe’s largest national CCTV
survey centre of excellence in
Manchester. Its OS19X-quali昀椀ed
technicians process thousands
of survey reports every month,
with data transferred directly from
survey sites via the cloud.
Bespoke technology built into
the vans is enabling the use of
digital systems to monitor and
maintain equipment and the vans
themselves. CCTV operators
can now use augmented reality
tools to trouble-shoot and receive
advice on equipment use.
Both these initiatives are
resulting in a major reduction in
vehicle and equipment downtime.
This is slashing maintenance
costs, shrinking Lanes Group’s
carbon footprint further, and
improving productivity.
