Horizon's engineers have been key players in the design and construction process for many projects. This results in an approach to design that is practical and cost effective. The flatness of the Horizon hierarchy results in our engineers having ownership of the projects on which they consult; this, in turn, enables them to be decisive.
Horizon emphasizes service that is tailored to a particular project. Our approach is collaborative and flexible with regard to working with clients, other consultants, and contractors in order to develop the optimal solution for a particular design challenge. We hold quality to be paramount. Horizon prides itself on providing personalized service to meet both the stated and implied needs of new and our many repeat clients.
These clients or client contacts include:
- Aboriginal Nations,
- architects,
- civil engineers,
- design-build teams and joint ventures,
- developers,
- environmental engineers,
- excavation contractors,
- general contractors,
- health authorities,
- heavy industry,
- home owners,
- hydraulic engineers,
- institutions,
- insurance companies,
- landscape architects,
- legal firms,
- lighting suppliers,
- mechanical engineers,
- municipalities and districts,
- P3 partnerships and concessionaires,
- parks departments,
- pile driving contractors,
- plumbing contractors,
- restoration companies
- social housing organizations, and
- strata corporations
- provide personalized service,
- be responsive, decisive, practical, flexible and collaborative,
- promote corporate systems which promote efficiency through quality and cost control,
- undertake responsible development of ourselves, our company, our profession, and our community, where our community includes our customers' projects,
- maintain technical review, including strategic alliances with other specialist consultants, and
- have pride in ourselves, our company and our services.
Our typical subsurface investigation methodologies include test pitting by hand, backhoe or excavator, or drilling programs utilizing:
- Horizon's own electronic Cone Penetration (CPT) sounding equipment, operated by Horizon's engineers,
- solid and hollow stem augers,
- Dynamic Cone Penetration Tests,
- mud rotary, air track and sonic drill rigs,
- Standard Penetration (SPT), Shelby tube and grab sampling,
- Becker Open Casing drill holes and Denseness Tests, and
- for sites with limited accessibility, hand augers or drilling from a Bombadier-mounted drill rig.
With Horizon's CPT equipment, digital data is collected, correlated to Soil Behaviour Type and input into software developed in-house to assess undrained shear strength, liquefaction potential, compressibility and to estimate settlement. This data is also used when carrying out Site Specific Seismic Ground Response Assessments for properties designated at Site Class F. A utility locate contractor is routinely mobilized to site prior to any subsurface investigation utilizing equipment in order to reduce the risk of damage to existing buried infrastructure.
Other Horizon equipment mobilized during our investigations includes:
- beam sensors and tilt meters (with real-time data collection, viewable and down-loadable on-line),
- builder's level,
- field vane shear testing equipment (FVST),
- global positioning systems,
- hydraulic jack for anchor and plate load testing (ie for use in estimating modulus of subgrade reaction),
- inclinometers,
- nuclear densometer for field density (aka compaction or "Proctor") testing,
- penetration testing equipment,
- turbidity meter, and
- water meter.
Our in-house laboratory testing done in-house includes Index Testing, gradation analyses and measurement of turbidity. Other testing, as appropriate, is sub-contracted.
Horizon has experience and licensed software for carrying out analysis of soil dynamics (Shake2000), slope stability (xStabl, Slope/W* & ReSlope), reinforced earth / retaining walls (Ressa), groundwater modeling (Modflow & Seep/W*), Pile analysis (LPile Plus 5*), as well as finite difference (FLAC) and finite element analysis (Sigma/W*). [The *’d programs are part of GeoStudio 2007.] Software developed in-house is used for interpretation of digital Cone Penetration Test data, including processing, analysis and presentation.
