About David Banks

Dave Banks is a geoenvironmental consultant. His main spheres of activity are in the fields of:

• ground source heating and cooling (thermogeology)
• groundwater assessment and supply
• geochemistry and hydrochemistry
• mine water hydrology and mine water chemistry
• emergency water supply and provision

Dave is trained as a hydrogeologist and has qualified as a Chartered Geologist.

He now has around 30 years professional experience from all sectors: consultancy, research, public service and academia.

His hydrogeological experience is backed up by a solid grounding in physics, mathematics and chemistry.

Key Skills

• Extensive hydrogeological experience from a wide variety of climates and terrains
• Rapid and timely report writing
• Excellent grounding in mathematics, physics and chemistry
• Conceptual and analytical modelling skills
• Good public speaker and communicator
• Able to adapt to international cultures
• Early proponent of ground source heat pump systems in the UK (since c. 1998), coining the term "thermogeology"
• Analysis of thermal response tests
• Feasibility studies, ground loop design and hydrogeological design of ground source heating and cooling systems
• Awareness of broader cultural, social, sanitation and hygiene aspects of water engineering

Professional Societies

Dave is a member of the following professional societies:

• Fellow of the Geological Society and Chartered Geologist (member of Hydrogeological Group committee 1995/96)
• Member of the International Association of Hydrogeologists (member of UK national committee 1994/96)
• Holymoor Consultancy Ltd. is a founder member of the UK Ground Source Heat Pump Association
• Member of the International Association of GeoChemistry
• Member of Emergency Response Group for Water and Sanitation, Norwegian Church Aid

International Experience and Languages

Dave has a client base in the United Kingdom, but has also worked extensively throughout the globe. He has working experience from:

• Europe: Albania, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Spain, Svalbard
• Asia: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Kuwait, Kyrgyz Republic, Lebanon, Nepal, Pakistan, Siberia (Russia), Tajikistan, Turkey
• Africa: Burundi, Chad, Congo (Democratic Republic), Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Mozambique, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan (Darfur), Tunisia, Zambia
• South America: Bolivia, Chile


• Fluent in: English and Norwegian
• Moderate working knowledge: Russian
• Understands: Swedish, Danish. Offers translation services from Norwegian, Swedish and Danish to English.
• Basic knowledge: French, German and Spanish.

An irrigation well in an orange grove, near Tolo, Greece (photo: D Banks)

Education

Dave was educated as Collyer's School (subsequently Collyer's Sixth Form College) in Horsham, Sussex, where he gained an A-level in Physics and S-levels in Mathematics and Chemistry.

He was subsequently admitted to Robinson College at the University of Cambridge to study for a BA in Natural Sciences. Within the Natural Sciences tripos, Dave specialised in geological sciences, but maintained a solid grounding in maths, physics and chemistry as subsidiary subjects. He attended various geology field trips in Britain and a geophysics field-course in Greece (in conjunction with students from Thessaloniki University). In his final year, he carried out a structural geological mapping project along the north Cornish Coast near Padstow.

Subsequently, Dave studied for an MSc in Hydrogeology on Professor John Lloyd's course at the University of Birmingham, which covered various aspects of groundwater flow and engineering, geophysics, hydrometry, computing (FORTRAN 77), investigation techniques and economics. Dave's dissertation work, which was eventually awarded the University's Cecil Barber Prize, comprised a hydrogeological investigation of a waste disposal site operated by Pioneer Aggregates at Ware, Herts. This involved sample collection, shaker and column tests to establish cation exchange capacity of various potential landfill liner materials and application of a self-written Fortran program to simulate landfill leachate migration through a liner.

Experience

1985 to 1989: Assistant hydrogeologist (9/85 to 6/88) and hydrogeologist (6/88 to 11/89) with the Water Resources Group at Thames Water Authority in Reading (which later became the National Rivers Authority). Abundant practical experience of pumping tests, geophysical and CCTV logging, Chalk karst, customer liaison and the London "soggy cellar syndrome". Department representative on the Thames Water "WaterAid" committee

1989 to 1993: Researcher (Forsker) in hydrogeology, Geological Survey of Norway (NGU), Trondheim, Norway. Experience of drilling and test pumping in hard rock terrain and superficial drift deposits, georadar, conducted the hydrogeological portion of the feasibility study for Norway's (now operational) repository for low- and medium-active radioactive waste.

1994: Hydrogeologist, Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick & Partners, Chesterfield, UK. Design of monitoring systems for airports. Contaminated land investigations.

1994-1995: Lecturer in Hydrogeology, University of Sheffield, also retained consultant: Scott Wilson CDM, Chesterfield.

1995-1996: Independent consultant in Hydrogeology and Hydrochemistry, Chesterfield, UK

1996-1998: Section Leader for Geochemistry and Hydrogeology, Geological Survey of Norway, Trondheim, Norway. Conducted national mapping of inorganic quality of groundwater. Investigation of former Soviet military bases in Latvia.

1998 - April 2018: Independent provider (sole trader), David Banks Geoenvironmental Services, based in Chesterfield, Derbyshire. Trading as "Holymoor Consultancy", from 1/8/1998 to 30/11/2008.

2006 - 2008: Senior Research Associate in Thermogeology, HERO Group, Sir Joseph Swan Institute, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne

2009 - April 2011: Senior Research Associate in Ground Source Heating and Cooling, HERO Group, School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Trainer on the European GEOTRAINET training and accreditation programme in the field of ground source heating and cooling

2012 - ongoing:Senior Research Fellow, School of Engineering, Systems Power & Energy, University of Glasgow. Largely employed on the European LoCAL project, developing pilot sites for extraction of heat from coal mine water. Also involved in the EU , SHEER and DESTRESS projects.

2008 - ongoing: Director of Holymoor Consultancy Ltd., Chesterfield, Derbyshire, UK

Humanitarian Aid

From 1997 to the present day, Dave has made his services available to the emergency roster of Kirken's Nødhjelp (Norwegian Church Aid, NCA). This roster, with associated packages of water supply and sanitation equipment, was funded by the Norwegian Government. Dave has carried out the following WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) missions in this context:

• 1999: To supervise water supply and sanitation provision at two refugee camps in Albania during the Kosova war, at Ndroq and Hammalaj
• 2000: To run a water and sanitation relief program in Mozambique during the floods of 2000. The NCA team established temporary water supply and treatment facilities in the towns of Moamba and Sabie, and drilling programs at the temporary camps around Chokwe and at the resettlement area of Congolote, near Maputo.
• 2000: To carry out water-supply reconstruction feasibility studies in 15 villages in Kosova, around the city of Mitrovice and the towns of Vushtrri and Skenderaj.
• 2004-2005: To commence implementation of sanitation and emergency water supply activities in northern Sumatra (Banda Aceh, Meulaboh and Nias), following the tsunami of Christmas 2004.
• To carry out assessments and develop water supply/sanitation program options in the wake of conflicts in Aghanistan (2001 and 2002), Iraq (2003), Congo (DR), Burundi and Rwanda (2003-2004), Somalia (2006) and Darfur, Sudan (2007).
• 2004: Secondment to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to carry out groundwater supply assessments for proposed refugee camps in the Sahel, at Touloum and Milé, near the town of Iriba, Chad.
• Advice on water supply / sanitation to country development programs in Ethiopia, Zambia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan.
• 2011: Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Coordinator in Remada refugee camp for Libyan refugees, near Tataouine, Tunisia.
• 2012: To provide training to partner organisations in water quality and treatment (Wondo Genet, Ethiopia).
• 2014: To provide training to Syrian partner organisations on water quality and analysis (Beirut, Lebanon).
• 2014: To advise om water supply, sanitation and hygiene in camps for refugees from the Syrian conflict, principally in the Bekaa Valley and Tripoli area of Lebanon.
• 2014: To provide advice to Norwegian Church Aid on a possible future humanitarian response in northern Syria (Turkey)
• 2015: To design and facilitate rehabilitation of water supply and sanitation systems in the peri-urban areas of Kathmandu, and in Gorkha District, Nepal, following a devastasting earthquake.
• 2016: To design and facilitate water supply, hygiene and sanitation solutions at migrant camps in Malakasa, Oinofyta, Lavrio and Agios Andreas, near Athens, Greece.

Other

Dave enjoys theatre and has formerly been an active member and Administrative Director of Progress Theatre, Reading. He was involved in numerous productions as a stage manager, sound operator and actor, including Vanbrugh's "The Provoked Wife", Brecht's "Mother Courage", "Macbeth", David Hare's "Knuckle", Alan Bennett's "Kafka's Dick", Witold Gombrowicz's "Princess Ivona" and Shaw's "Arms and The Man".

He is currently a member of Hasland Theatre in Chesterfield. He has appeared as Gerald in "An Inspector Calls", Perry in "Waiting in the Wings", an airman in "'Allo, Allo", Freddy in "Noises Off", Theseus in "A Midsummer Night's Dream", Dale Harding in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", Mr Lowther in "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie", M. Paillardin in "Hotel Paradiso", Minimus the Pig Poet in "Animal Farm", Anthony Kirby (Snr.) in "You Can't Take It With You", Luke Parsons in "Jerusalem", assorted pierrot roles in "Oh, What a Lovely War!", Harry Dangle in "One Man, Two Guv'nors" and Alistair in "Way Upstream". He has also directed "The Government Inspector" by Nikaloi Gogol, "Uncle Vanya" by Anton Chekhov and "A Life of Galileo" by Bertolt Brecht at Hasland Theatre.

Dave is a prolific songwriter, having taken part in writing retreats with Chris Difford and Kathryn Williams at Arvon's Totleigh Barton centre and in the recent Glasgow Songwriting Festival. He has represented slightly less than one half of the notorious lo-fi, shock-folk duo, The Sedatives, who have released two albums - Seduction (2015) and Sedition (2016).

He now sings and plays guitar in the five-member tweed-pop duo, Me and Mr Jones, who have recently released their debut album Skyscraper Eyes (2016), and in the duo Poke O'Swedgers.

Holymoor Consultancy Ltd.
Registered as a limited company from 12/11/2008
Company registration number 06747725
Registered office: 360 Ashgate Road, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, S40 4BW, UK.

David Banks was also registered until 5th April 2018 with the Inland Revenue/MHRC as a self-employed sole trader, to provide geoenvironmental teaching, research and humanitarian aid services only.