UKSTT Lifetime Achievement Award 2025 winner Russell Fairhurst answers important questions
The UKSTT is proud to announce that the Lifetime Achievement Award for 2025 is being awarded to Russell Fairhurst, Managing Director of MTS Suction Systems UK Ltd and Mammoth Equipment Ltd.
With a remarkable 15-year tenure on the UKSTT, Russell has significantly impacted the industry, having served as Chair for two terms from 2005 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2013. His leadership and dedication have been instrumental in advancing trenchless technology, making him a deserving recipient of this prestigious recognition
Russell answered some questions to share the story of his trenchless journey:
First of all, congratulations on being presented with the UKSTT Lifetime Achievement Award.
Q. What was your background/experience and what first brought you into the trenchless industry?
A. Started career with British Gas (Lincoln) as a Distribution Craftsman Apprentice in 1977 qualifying as a Craftsman in 1980. I continued in that role till 1985. It was during this period that I had my first involvement with Moling and Pipe Bursting Equipment.
In 1985 I was appointed Trainee Technician Engineer and in 1986 Assistant Engineer (Doncaster) This introduced further trenchless and limited dig techniques to me with day-to-day control of pipe insertion, narrow trenching amongst others. Also, first experience of HDD with Flowmole providing works for us. (Not the best introduction I have to say with pipes laid deeper that contracted to avoid the hard ground)
In 1989 I was appointed Assistant District Engineer (North Thames Forest District Responsible for congested urban mains renewal and given my first introduction to Phoenix lining systems. Unfortunately, the system had suffered poor installation prior to my arrival and as such monitoring gas loss and managing removal and refit were my earlier priorities. The works were successful in the end mainly due to the contractor and not myself I must say
Late 1989 saw a move to the contracting world working for a new start-up venture Servicelines Europe Ltd. In the role of Contracts Manager. Servicelines specialised in Directional drilling with several teams operating early Ditchwitch rod pushers. I admit the change of gamekeeper to poacher didn’t sit well with me. Maybe time with a more established contactor would have worked?
Late 1990 saw a move to Pipe Equipment Ltd, then a subsidiary of Steve Vick International. Appointed Hire Manager (Director Designate). My first truly trenchless focussed role. Hire and sales of pipe pushers, live and dead gas pipeline insertion equipment, rerounding equipment, pipe handling etc. This time also saw my first involvement with vacuum excavation for use in stop cock replacement and metering system installation in the water industry. Paper filters and poor suction on this trailer mounted system from Peart didn’t grab me at the time. If only I had known!
1991 -1992 Product/Hire Manger Pipe Equipment Ltd. Following the company being given the rights to the product from British Gas I was requested to run the Rotamole development project (previous experience in HDD being the reasoning) The product was at that time really a self-assembly kit, crude, non-user friendly. By 1992 we had a versatile lightweight HDD rig that performed well against its competition.
Late 1992 saw a move to Operation Manager at Pipe equipment Ltd in Stockton on Tees, to drive cost cutting, increase production etc. Unfortunately, this was too little to late but gave me a great insight to manufacturing and led me to my move to U Mole Ltd.
1993 -2014 Managing Director U Mole. Running a specialist trenchless hire and sales business certainly allows you to push the limits and expand the boundaries. Dealing with technical enquiries on all forms of trenchless techniques. Initially a company offering pneumatic moles, pipebursters and winches. We introduced pipe pushing, handling, mains cleaning, static rod bursting, service extraction, sewer rehab robotics and cameras and micro tunnelling with a partnership with Robbins (Nothing sold but a great insight into other techniques whilst trying). The greatest success being the introduction of Vactron and MTS Vacuum/Suction Excavation and Coring equipment to our range. The growth of minimal and safe dig equipment from this point as seen us where we are today.
2014-todate Managing Director, Mammoth Equipment Ltd and MTS Suction Systems UK Ltd .
This change saw a move away from hire to sales of equipment. Mammoth has continued the partnership with Hammerhead and taken on further products such as the Kobus system. MTS has continued to drive limited and safe dig as a market leader in vacuum excavation.
Q. What does the Award mean to you personally (and/or to your family)?
A. I am all up for awarding excellence in design, innovation, good practice etc. and we have had some great winner of the lifetime achievement award in the past.
That said and with the greatest of respect to the well deserving previous winners I have had to question lifetime achievement awards or Industry person of the year etc. There are so many great people in our industry so what makes a person more deserving than any other?
I then spoke with my wife, Carolyn, and she said that I should accept the recognition of my peers and accept it on behalf of all the good people I have worked with in the past and alongside with still today. I would personally rather it was for some great development, innovative design but I guess I will have to accept it for still being here! Gassed it to passed it some might say!
Q. What advice do you have for people considering a career in the Trenchless Industry?
A. A good question, how many people truly work purely in trenchless, lining company, HDD company employees etc. maybe, but there are hundreds of people laying pipe everyday working in trenchless without a thought. For instance, I’m a Gas Engineer, not a Trenchless Engineer. Advice … get involved, consider all options and challenge everything!
By get involved, I mean look at the societies in the industry, I have been active in the Pipeline Industries Guild, a member of the Institute of Gas Engineers and obviously involved the UKSTT. These groups offer people the chance to meet and learn from the many experts across our industry, helping broaden knowledge and potentially enhance career opportunities.
Q. Who has mentored you over the course of your career?
A. I have been fortunate to work alongside many, specialists in their field such as Norman Howell, Steve Vick, Harry Gilbert at BG to name a few. However, the greatest mentor for me will always be Alan Holley my former business partner and FD at U Mole. Working in the same office I learnt how to run a business. Without that knowledge there would not be a Mammoth Equipment or MTS UK Ltd today and we certainly would never have done a MBO at U Mole. We may all be in the trenchless industry, but if you are going it alone you also need to know how to run a business.
Q. What do you consider to be your biggest accomplishments?
A. Workwise, achieving my position of Asst. District Engineer at only 28 years of age. Especially from an apprenticeship background and without a degree.
MBO at UMole, buying our own company with at that time with only little knowledge of the legal and financial requirements it would need
Formation of Mammoth and MTS in 2014.
Highlights have included contract works and training as follows:
Pipe-bursting in Italy, Pipe insertion in Switzerland, Large diameter pipe insertion in Portugal, HDD in France
Development of the vacuum excavation industry in the UK
Q. What has been your most challenging trenchless experience over the years?
A. Education, contracts and overcoming excuses.
Even today we still hear all he reasons why not rather than we can. Only this week I stopped at a site and asked why they were open cutting (trenching) a beautiful driveway. I asked if they had considered Moling. The team advised that there was a ban on Moling in their company because someone had hit a utility with it causing considerable damage and costs.
So, I ask myself was the ban the right way to deal with this. Moling is more cost effective, environmentally friendly and certainly customer friendly. Surely it would be more beneficial to look at the reasons for the damage and provide training and management to prevent reoccurrence. For sure if one of their drivers had a vehicle accident, they wouldn’t ban driving for everyone! This is what I mean about education, its sometimes simpler or easier for managers to ban something without considering the longer-term implications.
Q. What do you currently see as the UK’s and the industry’s most urgent challenges and where do you hope to see the trenchless industry in the next 10 to 20 years?
A. Training and education. Standardisation of qualifications across the industry. In vacuum excavation alone we have three qualifications, EURS, NPORS and CSCS. Utilities want one, some civils one and other civils a different one. Companies then need to get staff doing three courses, a waste of time and money.
A move away from the, have seen it in the past and it didn’t work, thinking.
Demos go good and bad. We need to change attitudes to allow a second look etc. People dig the streets and damage third party plant on occasions. If you saw that on the first demo of a new excavator you wouldn’t stop open cut, however if that was HDD or thrust bore being used for the first time there would be no second chance.
There are numerous areas where we need to open people’s minds and change company policies. Getting contracts to allow for the introduction of new techniques and development. Encouraging the use of all techniques rather than a flavour of the month policy. I have worked with companies where everything is HDD one minute then its pipebursting or insertion etc. The challenge is to get people to use the full range of techniques to most economically and environmentally tackle the challenge.
Finally, I would like to add that any recognition in this award is not really of me but the teams I have worked with. As stated earlier I have had the fortune to work alongside, manage and partner with some greats and I would like to formally put Frank Gowdy among them.
