A message from the chairman.
It has been a busy year since our last Annual Review. We have several new members of staff and you will find photographs and brief details in this issue.

Also in this issue is a selection of articles about projects on which we have worked in recent months. Our client base continues to expand. Particular areas of growth have been in advising waste producers and advising waste collection authorities.

Our strength continues to be our specialisation in wastes management, minerals extraction and contaminated land. Our philosophy is that it is better to be good in these specialist areas than trying to be all things to all people.

Finally, a big THANK YOU to all our clients. You are our raison d'être.

Robert Long Consultancy Employs a Robot.
Early this year we up-graded our surveying services by investing in a Geodimeter 600 pro total station fitted with both a tracker unit and telemetric link. This allows us to carry out topograpical surveys very quickly with only one person. The "remote surveying" system means our surveyor stands at the measuring point checking, coding and registering the data. The robot's "eye" follows our surveyor round the site.

The new one-person system allows us to work quickly and efficiently with a high density of points in all weathers and in poor light. Data is logged and stored electronically then down loaded directly to a laptop or office computer for ground modelling.

"A brilliant feature of this new equipment" says Company Surveyor, David Evans "is its speed of operation and its ability to store, upload and retrieve the day's data on site. This allows us to carry out additional work such as setting-out, without returning to the office. In this way we save our clients both time and money by reducing travelling time".

We know our clients are convinced; the number of surveying jobs carried out has increased by 60% since the equipment was introduced and an additional member of staff has been taken on in anticipation of further growth.