David’s training as an Engineering Technologist began at the Cork Institute of Technology, in Cork, Ireland, where he completed a Diploma in Civil Engineering from 1974 to 1978. Moving to Canada in 1978, he spent his first six professional years in Consulting Engineering.
In January of 1986, David joined P Baratta Construction in Surrey, B.C. He quickly learned both the business and the technologies, and became manager of the company by 1989.
David guided P. Baratta into a number of HDD, Horizontal Directional Drilling, projects including the first HDD crossings of False Creek and the Fraser River. He was also instrumental in guiding P. Baratta Construction to install a new sanitary main in Vancouver, along Clark Drive to the waterfront in 1996, using Microtunneling.
David has been a key player in Trenchless Technology since its infancy. In January of 2000 David decided to open P.W. Trenchless Construction Ltd. to specialize more in Pipe Bursting in the Lower Mainland. Since then, David has been working tirelessly to expand his expertise across multiple methodologies.
To help grow the use of Trenchless Technologies of all types, David was one of the founding members of the North West chapter of North American Society of Trenchless Technologies in 1997. Encompassing Alberta, Washington & British Columbia, he served as President and now is a lifetime member. He is still active in what is now the BC Chapter and in Trenchless Technology trade shows and informational sessions at various engineering firms and government offices. A sampling of David’s presentations to conferences and published papers can be found here.
When you join PWT, you become part of a community of people who are engaged in the most innovative practices in the Trenchless Industry. We have been instrumental in setting up a scientific method for cities to gain carbon offsets/credits from their use of trenchless construction. This system has been reviewed by the BC Government and has been approved as of December 2018. We expect to see it in common use shortly.
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