Transport infrastructure safety and risk managementprimary
4 projects
Coordinated DESTinationRAIL, GoSAFE RAIL, SAFE-10-T, and DETER — all focused on decision support and safety management for road and rail networks.
Organization
GAVIN AND DOHERTY GEOSOLUTIONS LTD
Irish geotechnical SME building decision support tools for transport infrastructure safety and offshore foundation engineering across Europe.
Engineering firmtransportIESMENo active H2020 projects
H2020 projects
6
As coordinator
4
Total EC funding
€1.5M
Unique partners
67
What they do
Their core work
Gavin and Doherty Geosolutions (GDG) is an Irish geotechnical and geoscience engineering consultancy specializing in ground risk assessment and infrastructure safety for transport and energy sectors. They develop decision support tools for managing geotechnical hazards along road, rail, and offshore energy infrastructure. Their core capability lies in translating complex ground condition data into practical engineering risk management frameworks, particularly for large-scale linear infrastructure networks across Europe.
Core expertise
What they specialise in
Geotechnical decision support toolsprimary
3 projects
DESTinationRAIL, DETER, and SAFE-10-T all center on building decision support tools for infrastructure managers dealing with ground-related risks.
Offshore wind foundation engineeringsecondary
1 project
Participated in DEMOGRAVI3, demonstrating gravity-based foundation technology for offshore wind with focus on cost reduction and LCOE improvement.
Earthworks and geohazard assessmentsecondary
2 projects
DETER specifically targets earthworks management along transport networks; GoSAFE RAIL addresses global safety frameworks including ground stability.
Training and capacity building in transport infrastructureemerging
1 project
Participated in SMARTI ETN, a Marie Curie training network for sustainable, resilient transport infrastructure research.
Evolution & trajectory
How they've shifted over time
Early focus
Rail safety and offshore wind
Recent focus
Transport infrastructure risk tools
GDG's H2020 portfolio spans 2015–2018 (start dates), making it a concentrated burst of activity rather than a long evolution. Their earliest projects (DESTinationRAIL, DEMOGRAVI3) show a dual interest in rail infrastructure and offshore energy foundations. By 2017–2018, they narrowed sharply toward transport safety tools (SAFE-10-T, DETER), suggesting they found their commercial sweet spot in geotechnical risk management for linear infrastructure rather than offshore energy.
GDG has consolidated around geotechnical decision support for transport networks, moving away from energy applications — future partners should expect deep transport-sector focus with strong tool-development capability.
Collaboration profile
How they like to work
Role: consortium_leaderReach: European19 countries collaborated
GDG strongly prefers to lead: they coordinated 4 out of 6 projects, indicating confidence in project management and a desire to shape research direction. With 67 unique partners across 19 countries, they build broad European consortia rather than relying on a small circle of repeat collaborators. This makes them an accessible partner — they are experienced at onboarding new consortium members and managing diverse international teams.
GDG has built a wide network of 67 partners across 19 countries, impressive for a small Irish SME with only 6 projects. Their reach spans most of the EU, with no obvious geographic concentration beyond a natural Western European base.
Why partner with them
What sets them apart
GDG occupies a rare niche: a geotechnical SME that leads EU research consortia rather than just contributing specialist analysis. Their combination of ground engineering expertise with software tool development (decision support systems) makes them unusually practical — they don't just study problems, they build tools infrastructure managers can use. For consortium builders, they offer both technical depth in geoscience and proven coordination capacity for mid-sized EU projects.
Notable projects
Highlights from their portfolio
- DESTinationRAILTheir largest project (EUR 505K), coordinated by GDG, building a decision support tool specifically for rail infrastructure managers — their flagship capability.
- DEMOGRAVI3Their only energy-sector project, demonstrating an innovative gravity-based offshore wind foundation — shows versatility beyond transport into marine engineering.
- SAFE-10-TDirectly targets the TEN-T network (Europe's core transport corridors), giving GDG visibility at the highest level of EU infrastructure policy.
Cross-sector capabilities
Energy — offshore wind foundation geotechnicsEnvironment — geohazard assessment and natural risk managementInfrastructure — decision support systems for asset managersConstruction — earthworks and ground engineering
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