Vacuum excavation
Vacuum excavation with our own T-VAC 2
Our T-VAC 2 and trained operators expose live gas, electric, water and comms without mechanical breaking. On our own transport, on site when the programme needs it, not when a hire desk can fit us in.
The brief
Suction digging that keeps services live
Every service strike is a stopped job, an HSE conversation and a programme you have to rebuild. On a congested site the utility records rarely tell the whole story. Putting a bucket or a breaker anywhere near live electric, gas, water or comms is a risk no main contractor should carry when there is a better way to dig.
We run our own vacuum excavation: a T-VAC 2 unit, trained operators, delivered on our own transport. Suction digging lifts the ground out without mechanical breaking, so live services come up intact. That covers trial holes, verification digs, service location ahead of drainage runs and foundations, and careful excavation in places a machine cannot reach or should not touch.
Because the unit is ours, it turns up when the programme needs it, not when a hire desk has a slot. On our own contracts it is sequenced straight into the drainage, groundworks and utilities packages we already self-deliver. One supervisor, one method statement, no interface between a groundworks gang and a hired-in crew they have never met.
Where suction digging earns its keep
- Exposing live electric, gas, water and comms without mechanical breaking
- Trial holes and verification digs to confirm buried services before design or excavation
- Confined and restricted-access working where an excavator will not fit
- Secure-estate sites with DBS and EL1 cleared operators
- Spoil removal in sensitive areas, with less to reinstate afterwards
It has proved itself on live urban work, deployed through city-centre schemes and S278 packages thick with existing services and live traffic. Breaking ground blind was never an option.
We take standalone vac-ex bookings and we build it into wider groundworks and drainage packages for main contractors including Kier, BAM Nuttall and Galliford Try, along with councils and public bodies. Based in Weston-super-Mare, we cover the South West of England and South Wales. Family-run and self-delivering since 2007, CDM compliant and QA led on every dig.
Certified to deliver
SSIP accredited
Safety Schemes in Procurement, health and safety pre-qualified.
Constructionline Gold
Verified accreditation and supply-chain assurance.
SMAS Worksafe
Recognised health and safety competency.
Cyber Essentials
Certified against common cyber threats.
Why EJ McGrath
Built for complex, self-delivered work
No mechanical breaking
Suction digging exposes live electric, gas, water and comms intact, taking the service strike off your risk register.
On site when needed
Our own unit on our own transport, so availability follows your programme rather than a hire desk's lead times.
Cleared for secure estates
DBS and EL1 cleared operators, so the unit can work on sites where general hire crews cannot.
On site
How we run a vac-ex dig
Nothing comes out of the ground until the desk work is done. Permits to dig, utility records, a scan of the working area and clear marking out come first. Our operators hold the authority to stop the moment what they find does not match the drawings.
On our own drainage and groundworks packages the T-VAC 2 sits inside the same sequence, under the same supervisor, so there is no interface to manage between the dig and the follow-on work. On other contractors’ sites the crew arrives self-contained, works to the agreed method statement and leaves a tidy, well-supported excavation behind.
Holes stay as small as the task allows, which keeps reinstatement down. Findings from trial and verification digs go back to your team promptly, so design decisions are not left waiting. CDM compliant and QA led throughout.
What we self-deliver
Capabilities
Proof
Projects with this work in them
Where else we work
Related services and sectors
Next step