Nothing will last without a good foundation, and to have a good foundation you need to know what you are building on. For more than forty years Taratest have specialised in geotechnics and foundation engineering, helping to understand the soil and rock below some of the Nordic region’s largest infrastructure projects.
“We are big enough to handle major undertakings, but we are small enough to remain fast and flexible,” says Managing Director Tero Mäkinen. “This is really important in our line of work.”
Based in Finland, Taratest have 65 staff members and generated 6.7 million euros in turnover in 2018. Recently they have provided geodesign, soil exploration and versatile building measurement and surveying services to railroad projects, road expansions, underground tunnels and nuclear power plants.
Stand on solid ground
Taratest’s fifteen drilling rigs are used for rock surveys and soil exploration for the sensitive environments of infrastructure and construction projects. They also have a new underground drilling rig for the mining industry.
Rock core sampling is used in large infrastructure projects such as nuclear power plants, spent nuclear material repositories, traffic and railway tunnels, underground construction and ore prospecting. Taratest provide rock core geological research and reporting, and measurements for hole deviation and stress. Taratest specialists also use optical and acoustic hole imaging.
In soil exploration, Taratest produces high-quality content for infrastructure and building construction sites. Their solutions include Swedish weight sounding test, CPTU sounding, static-dynamic penetration test, vane test, bedrock survey drilling, sampling and ground penetrating radar survey.
Best in the business
“We also have a soil and rock laboratory in accordance with EN standards, PANK approved,” Mäkinen continues. “Additionally, we have an environment division which can provide soil contamination surveys, noise surveys, vibration and dust measurements.”
This versatility has made Taratest much in demand throughout Scandinavia, including for special projects in urban environments, at sea or other challenging locations.
“We are able to do multipurpose projects alone, such as surveying and drilling, so our partners only have one company to deal with,” Mäkinen explains. “Taratest is in a good position because we have professional and experienced employees who are equipped with the latest technology and techniques. We have the best toys in the business!”
Text: DAVID J. CORD
