Bill Branston 1942 – 2024

July 17, 2024

Bill Branston, aged 81, one of the BDA’s earliest; committed; longest serving and stalwart Committee members passed away on 28 June 2024, in Ackworth, Yorkshire, his home for over 40 years. Affectionately described as “one of the good guys” by those he worked with, his BDA contribution was huge, not least in the production of the original Contaminated Land document; the formation of NVQ Land Drilling, and the BDA Audit. Highly personable, hardworking, and a father figure and mentor to many, Bill had a very principled, passioned and detailed approach to everything he did, and allied with his unassuming nature, dry sense of humour, wit, love of sport, family attention and his faith he was respected and held in high regard by all, whether professionally or privately.

Born William Arthur Branston on 23 November 1942 in Market Harborough, Leicestershire, his father was head teacher at a local primary school. After graduating with a Civil Engineering degree he worked with a consultant/contractor before joining Structural Soils, then a very small SI contracting company, for 18 months as a geotechnical engineer. Sometime in early 1970s he began working for Soil Mechanics, a leading SI contractor and part of John Mowlem, at their Cheltenham office. This began his long career with that company and its successors. On closure of that office in 1976 he relocated to the Doncaster office and became Contracts Manager and worked alongside John Scarrow, Operations Manager. Their partnership proved a major part of Soil Mechanics success with John’s entrepreneurial flair and Bill’s contract acumen balancing each other out. It is said that they were a pair of foils – look that up!

During the mid-1980s, NIREX, the government’s Radioactive Waste Executive, let major contracts for investigation into 5 possible sites for low-level nuclear waste repositories. The programme was extremely controversial. Bill was tasked with running Soil Mechanics, Fulbeck, Lincolnshire, contract and site because of its high profile nature. He was always a safe pair of hands. During the 1990s he increasingly looked after the commercial side of contracts. One of Bill’s greatest talents was preparation and attention to detail. If it was worth doing then he did it well. A former colleague, Steve Tomlinson, has said that Bill would “bore consultants/clients into submission” such was Bill’s total knowledge and extensive documentation skills. Bill would stand his ground, inevitably, and with mischievous persuasion convince you that you were not in possession of all the facts. He never threw anything away. Before Microsoft computerised data storage and retrieval, Bill was the master of it. As witnessed, after he retired in 2007 at age 65, it took a year for him to clear his office!

Perhaps Bill’s greatest human skill was his ability and caring to drop everything if anybody went to him for advice. He took time to talk with that person and has been described as that sounding board which people can rarely find in confidence. He was, as ever, approachable.

In 1992 Bill was heavily involved in the production of the BDA landmark publication Guidance Notes for the Safe Drilling of Landfills & Contaminated Land which became widely adopted for its green, yellow and red site categorisation. Bill became Chairman of BDA’s Training and Education Committee in 1999 at the time that BDA embarked on some of its greatest goals. He’d been appointed a BDA Director in March that same year. First item on the agenda was BDA with CITB (Construction Industry Training Board) creating NVQ Land Drilling, the first national award for drilling operatives. In 2001 it was in place. Next objective was getting CSCS (Construction Skills Certification Scheme) card for operatives, also achieved in that year. But then how to retain industry competence assessment post NVQ? The BDA Driller Accreditation Scheme existed but was not aligned with NVQ/CSCS. Elsewhere, chiefly with myself, Bill Robertson, British Standards and European Committees, was the idea that post qualification assessment of current competence had to be audited. Bill was fully on board and committed. In 2003 he drew up the first workable draft of what became BDA Audit in 2005. Bill would chair meetings, absorb the comments and present the next draft, all totally unpaid. It’s one of the BDA’s greatest achievements that our industry was united through national recognition and retains its ability to monitor its own through a thorough, recognisable and approved ongoing audit of competence. Bill was at the helm, and working below stairs, when it happened. He handed over the reins to Keith Peacock in 2005 but still was BDA through and through and continued to serve. In 2014 Bill was awarded BDA’s Lifetime Achievement Award having resigned as BDA Director in 2013.

Bill married Biddy (Bridget) in 1967 and theirs was a happy relationship with two children, Clare and Michael, and several grandchildren. He was a committed Christian and a church warden at St. Cuthbert’s Church, Ackworth. He was an avid cricket fan, with the radio on in his office, and played tennis up until the end. The funeral is 1pm at that church on Monday 22 July and all are welcome.

My personal comments on Bill. He preceded me on the BDA Committee and I only got to know his true qualities when becoming Secretary in 1999. Without Bill, and just a very few others, my job would have been impossible. He was one of the BDA’s greatest supporters and certainly the most active in consistent work input. He was a real example of a generation driven by loyalty and work ethic.

Funeral date – 22^nd July 2024.

Funeral notice – Funeral Notice for Mr William Arthur Branston (dignityfunerals.co.uk)

Author: Brian Stringer | Ex BDA Secretary