Richard Puchner

Director

Richard holds an Honours and Master’s of Science in Geology and has over 20 years of experience as an engineering geologist and geotechnical consultant. He has executed and managed a wide range of site investigations across Africa and the United Kingdom. During his career he also served as a council member, treasurer and president of the South African Institute for Engineering and Environmental Geologists (SAIEG). After completing his studies, Richard joined McKnight Geotechnical Consulting in 2000, where he progressed to Technical Director. In 2006 Richard joined Jones & Wagener at their Head Office in Johannesburg as an Associate. Due to family reasons he re-located to the UK in 2015 and gained 5 years of experience carrying out geotechnical and geo-environmental site investigations across the UK for Opus International and WSP while also working closely with the Highways Design and Maintenance team in the Hertfordshire County Council and the Mining Team of Safety, Technical & Engineering (STE) within Network Rail. In 2019 he pursed an opportunity to start a new in-house geotechnical division at a large civils and building contractor, Buckingham Group Contracting. In 2021 Richard was invited to re-join Jones & Wagener as the UK Regional Manager for Jones & Wagener International. Richard’s areas of expertise include the planning, management and delivery of geotechnical site investigations, understanding complex ground conditions and developing ground models. He is adept at writing reports including desk studies and interpretive ground investigation reports. Richard authored and published 6 publications ranging from conference papers, presentations and lectures in his areas of expertise. He was honoured to have won best presentation at a Young Geotechnical Engineers Conference in 2008. Richard is a Professionally Registered Engineering Geologist as a Fellow of the Geological Society and is a member of the IAEG (International Association for Engineering Geology and the Environment).

Dr. Stephan van Eeden

Chartered Civil Engineer

Stephan is a chartered civil engineer specialising in geotechnics. He holds a Doctorate degree and has 10 years’ design and research experience. He has been involved in a wide range of projects, including tailings and water dam design across six countries in Africa, geotechnical investigations, retaining wall design, numerical modelling and engineering in soft ground. After completing his undergraduate studies, Stephan joined Rust Geotechnical Consultants in 2011 working as a civil engineer, whilst pursuing his Honours and Masters degrees part-time. In 2013 the company was acquired by Jones & Wagener and he joined the Head Office in Johannesburg as a geotechnical engineer. In 2015 he relocated to the UK to work as a research student at the University of Cambridge, culminating in his PhD in 2019. Subsequently, he has gained invaluable consultancy experience in the UK, whilst working for Mott MacDonald from 2019 to 2021. During this time, he carried out and led geotechnical projects on Environment Agency, Thames Water and Severn Trent frameworks, designing flood storage embankments and retaining walls to form part of the Boston Barrier Scheme. In 2022 Stephan was invited to re-join Jones & Wagener as part of the UK team as a senior geotechnical engineer. He is a Chartered member of the Institution of Civil Engineers in the UK and a former committee member of the University of Cambridge Geotechnical Society. Stephan’s area of expertise is geotechnical engineering with particular emphasis on the design of water dams and tailings storage facilities, retaining walls, geotechnical investigations, numerical modelling and laboratory data interpretation, as well as engineering in soft soils. He is adept at writing reports including ground investigation and geotechnical design reports.

Dr Martin Rust

Consultant

Dr Martin Rust is a consultant for Jones and Wagener International.  Martin’s field of expertise is within geotechnical engineering with an emphasis on design, surveillance (EoR) and construction management of tailings storage facilities, water dams and appurtenant infrastructure. His expertise includes application of international best practice including GISTM, ICOLD, CDA and MAC standards and guidelines. Martin holds a bachelors degree in civil engineering from the University of Pretoria and a PhD from the University of Southampton. He has gained more than 20 years’ experience which includes being the Head of Department of the Tailings Engineering Department at Jones & Wagener. Additionally, Martin was elected to hold the position of Executive Director for Jones and Wagener.  He retired from those positions prior to joining Jones & Wagener International. Martin is a professionally registered engineer with the Engineering Council of South Africa and he is a current member of SAICE, SANCOLD and GIGSA/IGS.