ABOUT US
PROFESSIONAL SURVEYING SERVICES FOR ALL PROJECTS
ABA was formed in 1990 when the civil engineering work on the Channel Tunnel was nearing completion and the fitting out with track and overhead lines was about to start.
ABA’s reputation was founded during this period when the OLE installation was being done in the Channel Tunnel in advance of the track being laid. ABA surveyed the tunnel segments and wrote the software to combine their as-built survey data with the OLE design data that had to be converted to coordinates. Remember, the OLE design data had been provided relative to a track that was yet to be installed. The ABA software then produced all setting out schedules for the Halfen OLE brackets, the distance to be set for the sliding bracket from the fixed bracket end and even for the location of the OLE fixing on the registration arm itself.
To have provided such an innovative and successful solution at a time when the ABA “State of the Art” surveyor had only a basic total station (an electronic theodolite with distance measuring EDM built in) and an IBM computer for the processing (the 1mb hard drive alone was a £1000 extra), established our reputation and set the philosophy for the future of ABA.
Our ability to innovate and think outside the box has benefitted many major projects such as HS1, Thameslink, Crossrail, Great Eastern, Great Western, Midland Main Line, Blackfriars and London Bridge station remodelling among them.
With our heavy investment in 3d scan technology since 2000 (currently five HDS scanners) ABA have constantly been promoting scanning to our clients as the least risk method of surveying.
We scan everything we survey and extract the data our clients need in the form that they need it. If our clients later decide they need more detail extracted, then it becomes just an office exercise.
We are truly a least risk surveying company for all concerned because our scanners capture everything, even the details that have not been specified. Our methods are the least risk for ourselves because, even surveying frequently in the dark, our surveyors will miss nothing.
On land, we work with scan data from tripods, on rail from track measuring trolleys, on highways from vehicles and from the air using UAVs. We have even used scanners on cherry pickers and towers, on the end of a moving boom, suspended under bridges, down sewers and culverts and even inverted to record voids.
Our philosophy extends into the future too with the roll-out and take-up of BIM. All our work is BIM Level 2 compliant.
We are active on both the committees of Survey4BIM and BIM4rail and helping to shape the future of surveying and promoting best practice throughout the industry through published articles.
