MD Andy Hoffman talks frankly to Ron Eyley. Two years ago, in response to growing demand from big-name customers, Andy exchanged his role with parent company Aspin Foundations (now led by group co-founder Barry McMahon) to head up Aspin Consulting. “Our team’s aim is quite simply to make this business stand out from the crowd by providing the best possible solutions to even the most exacting client briefs,” he says. “We have a professional and dynamic team here who can boast more than 150 years experience in many specialist engineering disciplines and we are very proud of the reputation we continue to gain for the work we do and the way in which we do it. “It may sound like a cliché but we do work hard to take away headaches and to help clients sleep soundly at night. What’s more, we have been told on more than one occasion that we are pretty good at it.” Significantly, Andy never talks about ‘me’. It’s always ‘us’ or ‘the team’. A chartered member of both the Institution of Structural Engineers and the Institution of Engineering Designers, Andy goes on: “We offer a cost-effective, innovative and flexible service - whether it embraces traditional or technically more pioneering techniques. “No matter what the size of the project or whatever discipline we are working in, our one-stop shop can provide everything from an initial consultation on conceptual ideas, computerised technical design and draughting to a top quality solution that is not only co-ordinated and delivered on time but also in a friendly manner.” Andy’s pride in the company and its achievements is difficult to ignore. Recent Aspin Consulting contracts include railway trackside sub and super structures, value engineering for Network Rail Station assets, structural integrity surveys, site investigations and topographical surveys, tele-communication platforms and mast structures, building refurbishment projects, REB and location platforms, footbridge and signal gantries, level crossings, OLE structures, UTXs and URXs. Aspin has been engaged on West Coast Route Modernisation, Portsmouth resignalling, Trent-Derby renewals, CTRL, Glen Parva resignalling, Peterborough Bi Directional resignalling and Medway Valley resignalling. Nothing, says Andy, is beyond the Aspin team. He admits that he thrives on challenges (there’s a second notice beside his desk which reads ‘goals give meaning to life’) and promises “If anyone has an engineering problem, we’ll sort it . . . for free. Try us.” Originality and the provision of value-engineered solutions to ensure that all parties benefit have, says Andy, become a recognised hallmark of Aspin operations. He adds: “We really do care about the work we undertake. We hold quality standard ISO 9001 and several specialist Link Up accreditations and we won’t settle for second best. Ask our customers.” Andy says that Aspin expertise has often resolved design problems for well-known contractors stemming from poor ground conditions, steeply-sloping sites and high risk wind-influenced structures to tight and limited access - and even ‘the inappropriate use of young graduate engineers who do not always have the relevant experience to tackle demanding technical, environmental or geotechnically-challenging issues’. He adds: “Our people know the world of railways, the best practices and the safety critical issues involved in working on complex projects. They have detailed knowledge of Network Rail’s procedural requirements and that is why contractors trust us. We have our finger on the pulse of this forever-changing industry.” But, Andy admits, finding the right team members to cope with increasing client demand and company expansion plans is not easy. “We’re always keen to hear from go-getting individuals who thrive on challenge and are hungry for success,” he says. Something like 40 per cent of Aspin Consulting’s current workload comes from projects involving parent company Aspin Foundations based in Hemel Hempstead and Chesterfield. Andy and Barry launched the business back in 2000 after both had gained extensive experience with various UK specialist foundation and structural engineering companies. Initially, Andy worked from a ‘hot desk’ on a North Derbyshire business estate and Barry operated from the back bedroom of his home in London. The two first met at university in Nottingham and it was not long before their patented steel pin foundation technology was attracting attention from contractors throughout the UK and winning them business awards for innovation and enterprise. Shortly after lifting accolades from Derbyshire Chamber of Commerce (outright winner of the Employer of the Year section and runner-up in the Business of the Year category), they won top honours in the Dacorum Business Awards competition. Barry was named Entrepreneur of the Year, there was a runner-up award in the ‘Most innovative use of technology’ section and two highly-commended honours in the Team and Community Business sections. The Dacorum honours followed outstanding success during the Medway Valley rail contract in Kent. Using their steel-pin foundations, Aspin engineers installed 29 pins for a resignalling project along a 12-mile stretch of the line in just 42 hours - more than eight hours less than the time allocated. Some sceptics had dismissed the attempt as a pipedream. “Teamwork proved them wrong,” said Andy at the time. Aspin Consulting is now based at the Coney Green Business Park on the outskirts of Chesterfield, though it confidently expects to be looking for larger accommodation before very much longer. Expansion plans also extend to in-house development of new technology to further increase efficiency and ensure the very best in design consultancy. Aspin engineers have already written their own cutting edge software programmes to benefit both the engineers (for whom it makes life easier) and the clients (who consequently get a faster and more economic service). Technology is one of the key elements in the company’s ‘mind map’ which encourages all team members to address, among other things, issues of excellence, status, sustainability, safety, image, growth, and wealth-creation. Andy explains: “They are all aspects of company activity that help us to improve life for members of our team and to deliver a constantly-improving high quality service to our clients. At the end of the day, they are the most important considerations we have.” His own track record to-date leaves little to be desired. Since gaining his honours degree in civil and structural engineering (and picking up two prestigious academic prizes while doing so) at Nottingham Trent University in the early 1990s, Andy has worked in various capacities and on a wide range of projects for Ove Arup and Partners, Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick, Rodgers Leask Ltd and Collis Engineering Ltd. He has been engaged on multi-million pound hospital projects in Derby and Sheffield, the comprehensive refurbishment of the Great Western Royal Hotel at Paddington, the Manchester Victoria area infrastructure renewals rail project, redevelopments at Manchester’s Wythenshawe Civic Centre and the Eurohub Freight Park at Corby, major warehousing provision in Dubai and contracts for the Ministry of Defence. Helping to lead the team are senior design engineer David Cantrill, senior technical engineers John Palmer and David Frost, and top geotechnical engineer John Whitworth.