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Bombs Away UXO risk assessors
Bombs Away was formed in 2017 by Marc Owen, who remains our managing director. Marc was a commissioned officer in the Royal Engineers for the first decade of his career and then worked for major construction companies for 20 years. Much of his time was spent working on competitive tenders and in pre-construction roles covering south east England and London.
Following the publication of CIRIA C681, Unexploded ordnance: a guide for the construction industry in 2009, he started to commission detailed UXO risk assessments for his sites, but realised that risk assessors working for UXO clearance companies would usually recommend expensive and time consuming mitigation measures. As a consequence, he commenced his own research to establish the actual probability of discovering UXO on construction sites, based on science, not sales. This research has been peer reviewed, published by the Institution of Civil Engineers and is available on our Downloads page.
This type of objective research had never previously been completed and provided a new perspective for UXO risk assessments. Bombs Away was created to provide genuine and independent advice for all sectors of the construction industry, putting the risk in context - our first advantage over typical UXO clearance companies.
As a result of his research, he was asked to be a member of CIRIA's project steering group for their latest publication Unexploded ordnance (UXO) risk management guide for land-based projects (C785) and was a key member of the committee that chose the independent researcher.
Marc Owen BSc, MBA, FCIOB, MInstRE, TIExpE
Marc's experience as a Royal Engineer officer in the British Army and the years spent in the construction industry, provides Bombs Away with the second advantage over every other UXO risk assessment company, that usually employ non-specialist graduate researchers, overseen by an ex-military supervisor. Marc personally reviews every risk assessment that is produced to ensure that our rigorous processes have been followed and the recommendations are appropriate.
He is an acknowledged subject matter expert, has been interviewed by ITV news when reporting on UXO and he has been a guest lecturer at CIRIA several times.
He is a Chartered Construction Manager, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Building, Member of the Institution of Royal Engineers, and a Technical Member of Institute of Explosive Engineers. Marc also holds the NEBOSH H&S Management for Construction qualification.