The cutting edge of trench technology

TRENCHLINK:AROUND 10 years ago David Bryne noticed a common complaint among customers he supplied with diamond blades to cut road trenches for water and gas pipes.

“They were using solid plates [sheets of steel] to cover the trenches or they were filling them in at the end of the day and opening them up the next and they weren’t at all happy with it,” he says.

The main issue with the single plates was their size and weight, meaning machinery was required to position them. Many also had a relatively smooth surface that became slippery in wet weather.

Byrne devised a system of interlocking, lightweight plates that can be joined to cover any length of trench. It has a grooved surface for the safe transit of cars, trucks and, in particular, cyclists and motorbikes, and can also carry heavy vehicles such as buses and lorries.

“You can lock it in place over the trench and it won’t shift under traffic. It cuts down on the time and cost required filling it in or by using machines to handle the larger solid plates,” Byrne says.

He patented the concept in 1998 but received something of shock when he started selling it in 2002. “I found that innovation is the easy bit, just look for problems. It’s commercialisation that is the key,” he says, referring to the initially underwhelming market response.

“In the early days no one really saw it as necessary. It worked perfectly but it didn’t achieve that breakthrough.”

Byrne got a break when the UK government started enforcing traffic law governing road works. Research by Transport for London, which estimated the cost to the economy caused by traffic disruption from road works in the city at £25,000 per day, added to this impetus.

“We came into our own around two years ago and have been working with Transport for London to ensure that all road works are covered by plates. There are no alternatives to us for heavy-duty road traffic, so we have no competitors. Our product is the only one that has been patented and it took around 10 years to develop.”

Byrne used BES funding to complete the research and Trenchlink is a high-potential start-up with the semi-State body, although it holds no equity stake.

He is optimistic about the future noting that utility firm National Grid, which operates the gas network in the UK, plans to dig almost 80,000 miles of trenches over the next 20 years to upgrade its network.

Trenchlink is also planning to release a number of new products for temporarily covering excavations of different sizes and shapes.

Byrne is not an engineer and uses Dolmen Associates for his design and graphic work.

The components are made by construction materials giant Saint Gobain at its plant in England, assembled at Trenchlink’s base in Finglas, Dublin, before being shipped back to its main market in the UK.

While Byrne is optimistic about the UK and other markets in Europe he says sales in Ireland are slow. He attributes this to “benign neglect” of regulations for traffic safety and management.

“The regulations are there, they are just not enforced here. You saw what happened with Irish banks: regulation enforcement here is weak. We don’t see an application in this country until standards are enforced.”

trenchlink.com