February 11, 2025

Aarsleff Ground Engineering – Built on experience and expertise

As a subsidiary of Per Aarsleff A/S, one of Denmark’s leading civil engineering contractors, Aarsleff Ground Engineering has built a strong reputation since entering the UK market in the 1980s. Over the past four decades, the Newark-based company has developed a wealth of experience and expertise. Stephen Wilkinson, UK Group Plant Manager, recently shared insights into the operations of the plant and fabrication department, highlighting the critical role it plays in the company’s success.

“We pride ourselves on our knowledge and the quick turnaround we can offer to our customers,” explains Mr Wilkinson. “Over the years we have helped design and deliver some of the UK’s largest ground engineering projects, building an excellent client base in the process. Speed and efficiency are crucial in today’s construction market, and we excel in both without compromising on safety and good working practice.

“We can turn around projects in days rather than weeks and the offer we provide is completely bespoke, so can be adapted to meet the needs of every project. We’re particularly strong within piling, offering 18 different options for the customer, ensuring we can meet every need.”

Due to its emphasis on service and quality, Aarsleff has unsurprisingly built up a leading reputation in the marketplace, ensuring that it has worked with the majority of the UK’s leading piling companies. This has been helped further by the lengthy list of accreditations that the company holds, such as ISO 45001, and in March 2024 it achieved BS EN ISO 3834-2:2021 for its welding facilities.

“A significant amount of our business has come about from word of mouth and we’re constantly looking to add to our customer base,” adds Mr Wilkinson. “We’re also continually striving to innovate, so we’re always open to changing the conventional way of doing things if we can make the construction process quicker and safer. We fully understand the problems that our clients face onsite because of the experience we can draw on from the wider group. We also supply markets in Europe, and with our parent company having offices in Denmark, Poland, Germany, Sweden and Norway; collectively we’re all able to share best practice and learn from each other.”

Closer to home, after a challenging 2024, Mr Wilkinson is looking forward to the next 12 months with more optimism due to the high volume of inquiries that Aarsleff is currently seeing.

“There have been some tricky aspects to the past year with the likes of HS2 slowing down, which had taken a lot of resource and energy. On top of that, due to rising interest rates and the General Election, the amount of work available did decrease, as confidence dropped slightly. The situation is recovering, however, and inquiries are increasing. It’s just a case of getting them over the line. That’s the key.

“Another challenge that construction is facing relates to the labour shortage and the difficulties in attracting the younger generation into the industry. With an ageing workforce across the country, it’s vital that we start to encourage the youth of today to think about construction as a career option rather than just going down the university route.”

For its part, Aarsleff is concentrating on ensuring its own standards remain high and building further on its customer relationships.

“We’re always open to feedback, both positive and negative, so that we can learn lessons and improve our offer further,” says Mr Wilkinson. “We never rest on our laurels and are keen to keep progressing in all areas of our operation. Having good communication links with our customers is integral to this, as it’s crucial to know how we can best help them to meet their needs. By engaging with our clients early to understand their requirements, we can tailor our offering to suit them in order to provide the best possible solution.

“We’re looking to have a strong push into 2025, helped by key customers that keep coming back to us. Repeat business is very important and is only possible due to the high levels of consistency we provide, either in repairing existing tools and equipment or manufacturing new tools and equipment.

“As well as continually delivering for our existing clients, we’re also looking to add customers to our list by getting even more out of our products and further utilising our knowledge. Rather than having all our eggs in one or two baskets, we prefer to have as wide a range of customers as possible. We’re therefore very fluid in our approach and are not set in our ways. We’re also aiming to make our operation even slicker and more sustainable. This is hugely important at the moment.

“We strive for operational excellence within everything we do from the ground up. That’s not just a gimmick, it’s something that is fully ingrained into how we operate.”

It is clear that this ethos has served Aarsleff well over the years, as it has built a leading reputation in the UK marketplace, supported by the wider group. It therefore remains well placed to make the most of the opportunities that will come its way in 2025 and beyond.