Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD)

We deliver engineering-led Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) solutions that provide a proven, flexible and low-impact method for installing pipelines and cables across the utilities, energy and infrastructure sectors. Our HDD capability is suited to complex underground installations where surface disruption must be minimised and where precise control of alignment, geometry and interfaces is critical.

Our fleet of HDD rigs ranges from 12-tonne to 500-tonne pullback capacity, enabling us to select the most appropriate plant to suit installation diameter, length, ground conditions and access constraints. We routinely deliver HDD installations for pipelines and cables up to 1.0 m outer diameter, with individual drill lengths extending to 1,000 m, maintaining tight grade and alignment tolerances throughout the bore.
We have extensive experience operating in complex and variable geotechnical conditions, including mixed strata, hard rock, granular soils and groundwater-affected environments. Our approach places particular emphasis on the definition, design and active management of drilling fluids (mud systems), recognising their critical role in bore stability, cuttings transport, lubrication, hydrofracture control and environmental protection. Mud design is tailored to ground conditions and continuously monitored and adjusted throughout drilling operations to manage risk and maintain performance.

Horizontal Directional Drilling

Alignment control is central to our HDD delivery. We utilise advanced steering, tracking and surveying techniques to ensure the bore path is achieved accurately, particularly in congested environments where tolerances are tight and interaction with existing utilities, structures and transport corridors must be carefully managed. We work closely with third-party asset owners to define exclusion zones, monitoring regimes and interface controls, ensuring protection of live infrastructure and regulatory compliance throughout the works. Our specialist capability includes the planning and execution of intersect HDD operations, where multiple bores are required to meet at depth, as well as the management of golden welds, product pipe laydown, welding quality and logistics. We coordinate pipe string fabrication, non-destructive testing, coating integrity, handling and storage to ensure that installation readiness, quality assurance and programme sequencing are fully aligned with drilling operations.

Through integrated planning, experienced crews and robust technical assurance, we deliver safe, accurate and high-quality HDD installations that manage geotechnical risk, protect third-party assets and provide durable underground infrastructure with minimal environmental and community impact.