Barry Hunt, famous for his roped access surveying with St Albans consultants STATS, has this month branched out on his own as IBIS Ltd.

IBIS stands for Independent Building Investigation Services and through it Hunt will offer the expertise he has developed during the past 14 years with both Sandberg and STATS.

During those years Hunt has been involved in many major new construction projects, testing materials and offering advice on the use of stone.

But he has always been interested in developing the assessment of historic buildings, where he believes there is much work to be done.

Indeed, his last days with STATS were spent in Scotland surveying 17 stone structures using roped access techniques (what most people would regard as abseiling, although Hunt says it is not because it involves going up as well as down).

Rope access surveying will be at the centre of the service offered by IBIS. Having the surveyor on the rope, rather than an abseiler reporting back to the surveyor as is often the case, has the advantages of the surveyor seeing the building first hand and of the client not having to pay for a separate abseiler.

Hunt believes there is a considerable chance to reduce building insurance premiums by using his survey service, especially in the light of increasing reports of falling masonry from older buildings (see \'Shoddy stone fixing blamed for death\' on page 63).

IBIS will also be looking at new philosophies for the cleaning and maintenance of external facades that could save clients many thousands of pounds every year.

Barry Hunt trained as a geologist and obtained a Masters Degree in Geomaterials (or the science of construction materials). He attained Chartered Geologist status and is now also a Corporate Building, Conservation & Specialist Surveyor.

He has published extracts from many of his investigation findings, some in Natural Stone Specialist, and is, he says, willing to provide an informed opinion while retaining an open mind to new information.

IBIS will be offering a consultancy service only, with any testing being carried out by others, but hope to guide clients to the best deals in this area because of Hunt\'s experience.

The service will also help clients save money by determining when certain types of testing are unnecessary.

Barry Hunt can be contacted by telephone on 020 8530 7394.

Barry Hunt is offering to answer readers questions relating to the use of stone in construction in a column that will start in NSS next month. If you have a technical question for The Consultant, please send it to: