Reliability

When even one day’s delay can cost a great deal of money, clients need to know that their archaeology is carried out reliably on time. We provide an assurance that deadlines will be met.

We make it our priority to draw up a detailed timetable for all work that we carry out, with regular reviews of progress. Our project managers are responsible for ensuring that all of our projects are completed by the agreed timetable.

Expertise

Our staff are professionals, trained to do their work – some are the country’s leading specialists in their field. Their expertise allows us to work efficiently and cost-effectively on site, focussing on what is important, and avoiding wasting time on what is not.

Our managers are experienced both in archaeology and in the needs of clients. It is they who ensure that work is carried out to budget and deadline, no matter what finds we discover on site.

Track record

Wessex Archaeology has been working with business and heritage organisations for 23 years. We have run thousands of projects ranging from a simple assessment of existing historical records of a site to several years’ work excavating in advance of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link.

Most of our income is from repeat business, because our clients know they can rely on us. Our clients include property developers, construction companies, local councils, universities, utilities services, ports, national institutions including the National Trust and English Heritage and even the Government of Gibraltar.

Range of services

Wessex Archaeology offers a highly professional service. Our work can range from surveying an historical building in a day, to months or years excavation ahead of large road or rail projects.

Our clients come to us because they know we are professional and efficient, and that we offer a wide range of services. These include:

• Desk-based assessments which involve a detailed search through existing records, photographs and plans of the site. They arise as part of the planning process and are commissioned by local or national planning authorities, archaeological curators, consultants or developers.

• Field evaluations are a means of assessing the presence and extent of archaeological remains on a site by a limited amount of fieldwork, usually on a specific proportion of the proposed site. The planning authority can then assess the importance of the remains, and propose measures to record, preserve or manage them.

• When the archaeological potential of a site is known to be high, a Site Excavation may be required. This is the process that most people associate with archaeology – the careful digging of remains on a site. After excavation, our specialist finds and environmental staff assess finds and records to add to the archaeological story of the site. The final results are presented in a client report, and if they are of specific importance, they can be published in local or national journals.

• Many management plans and environmental assessments require an evaluation of the historic landscape – a Landscape Survey. Wessex Archaeology has a wide variety of analytical survey systems at its disposal. Techniques such as aerial photographic interpretation, detailed topographic survey and field walking provide information which can be used by Wessex Archaeology’s trained landscape archaeologists and historians to explore a landscape’s origins and assess its future conservation needs.

• Wessex Archaeology can deliver professional maritime archaeological services both in the UK and abroad. Our expert team has a unique capacity to undertake investigations in Inland, Coastal and Marine environments, with a proven ability to place the results within their proper archaeological context. Wessex Archaeology has expanded its work in these areas in direct response to demand from developers, who are under increasing pressure to match the well-developed procedures for assessing archaeological impacts on land. Our expertise is also sought by public authorities in response to threats such as sea-level change, development and recreation on their fragile coastal heritage.

• Not all archaeology is to be found buried in the ground: some developments involve sites where historic buildings survive intact. The emphasis of Historic Building Surveys will be on the recording, conservation, repair or management of a structure in its setting. Wessex Archaeology can organise a programme to establish and record the character, history, form and development over time of a standing building or complex of structures in their setting. We also have well-established links with specialists in the field of historic research and conservation.

Communication

Communication is vital. Without it we cannot understand and meet our clients’ needs. We pride ourselves on our personal contact with clients. For this reason, we appoint a project manager to over see each piece of work we do, large or small, from start to finish. It is our project managers’ responsibility to listen to and communicate with clients.

Our specialist services allow us to communicate with the outside world: we organise regular talks on our work, design our own publications, publish our findings in specialist journals and deal regularly with the media. We can handle press inquiries for clients, and we can create special reports for clients on the archaeology of their site.

Understanding

We are not just archaeologists – we are business people too. And like all successful businesses, we make every effort to understand our clients. It is this understanding that allows us to offer the quality and range of service that we do, and will continue to do.

For more information about Wessex Archaeology, please call John Dillon, Operations Director, or Sue Davies, Chief Executive on 01722 326867. Or e-mail j.dillon@wessexarch.co.uk or s.davies@wessexarch.co.uk