STH Construction & EngineeringBusiness development · Rail · Civils · Kent, UK

STH-CE · Business development & engineering consultancy

Growth and work-winning support for rail and civils contractors.

Business and growth advisory for contractor owners. Tender and commercial support. Railway engineering, interface management and design assurance for programmes and clients. From someone who has priced the work, won it and run the company that delivered it.

Talk to Steve What I do
25+
years in UK rail and civils
10 yrs
running a rail contractor as MD
2000
on the railway since CTRL Phase 1
MD
Former MD of a Network Rail Principal Contractor
Rail replacement, tunnel possession
Road-rail excavator placing ballast bags during a night possession
Night possession, road-rail plant
Ballasted track with lateral end resistance plates fitted, Network Rail
Lateral end resistance plates, Network Rail
Lorry-mounted crane working over a viaduct during a night possession
Night possession: crane access and logistics

01 · Services

Three ways to work with STH

Owners who want a better-run, better-paid business. Bid teams who want to win more of the right work. Programmes and designers who need engineering and assurance from someone who has delivered on site. Three services, one way of working.

1 · Owners & directors

Business growth & leadership advisory

For owner-run rail and civils contractors: business plan, management structure, KPIs, pipeline, work-winning strategy and commercial oversight.

Engagement · retained or project-based

2 · Bid teams & commercial

Tendering & commercial support

Bid / no-bid, tender strategy, delivery methodology, programme and risk, pricing logic, independent challenge before submission.

Engagement · fixed scope or day rate

3 · Programmes, designers & clients

Rail engineering & technical assurance

Interface management, requirements, design reviews and independent checking, P-Way and civils buildability, site engineering and handback.

Engagement · defined deliverables or project support

In detail · What each one covers

1 · Growth & leadership advisory

Business development & growth advisory

Hands-on support for owner-run rail and civils contractors who have built a solid business and want to run it with more structure, win more of the right work and grow without the owners becoming the bottleneck.

  • A clear business plan, priorities and roadmap, with measurable targets
  • Management structure, roles and responsibilities, regular management meetings with actions and accountability
  • Practical KPIs and reporting: turnover and margin by client and division, workload, pipeline, tender hit rate
  • Work-winning strategy: target clients and frameworks, positioning, warm introductions through an established rail network
  • Commercial oversight: pricing strategy, margin control, a second pair of eyes on deals and proposals
  • Operations: labour models (PAYE vs CIS), team structure and resourcing
  • Management systems and accreditation: H&S policies, SOPs and RAMS; submissions for RISQS, CHAS, SMAS, Constructionline and ISO 9001 / 14001 / 45001; the route from subcontractor to Network Rail Principal Contractor, having done it
  • Owner support: advice from someone who has run the same kind of business

How it works: retained support with a regular working session and email / phone access in between, or a defined piece of work. Terms agreed up front. No guarantees on wins, just experience applied properly.

2 · Tendering & commercial

Bid & tender support

  • Bid / no-bid decisions before you commit the hours
  • Tender reviews: pricing logic, margin, risk and where the liability sits in the contract
  • Delivery methodology and sequencing, particularly for possession-based works, so the price has a buildable method behind it
  • Independent review of the submission before it goes out
  • Full tender support on a day-rate basis where needed

For: contractors who want a better hit rate and better margins on the tenders they do chase

3 · Programmes & designers

Systems engineering & design assurance

  • Interface management: Interface Management Plan, Interface Control Forms (ICFs) and interface register across INFRA, ENE, CCS and FAC
  • Requirements written as give / get: who provides, who receives, what, when, in what format. Traceability and baseline control in DOORS
  • Technical and buildability review of track and civils design packages: alignment, geometry, S&C, clearances, interfaces, constructability. Scope of review agreed per appointment; not a formal CRE / checker role unless appointed
  • Track alignment and model data: AutoCAD / Civil 3D, LandXML exchange, alignment checking and setting-out data
  • Verification evidence prepared and structured for submission to NoBo / AsBo and TSI interoperability review (the assurance bodies make the assessment)
  • Scope boundary definition, RE / SE responsibility split, interface risk and gap analysis at design stage

For: alliances, designers, main contractors and clients on multi-discipline rail programmes, in the UK and Europe

3 · Contractors & site teams

P-Way & civils delivery

  • Tender support: delivery methodology, possession strategy, staging and sequencing, plant and logistics, resource and programme
  • Buildability review of track and civils designs: plain line and S&C renewals, slab track, platforms, drainage, structures interfaces
  • Site engineering: survey and setting-out queries, track geometry checks, as-built records and track handback
  • Possession-based works: access, isolations, RRV and crane operations; engineering input to temporary works and lift plans
  • Completion documentation, handback packs and close-out, done properly first time
  • NEC3 / NEC4 and programme awareness (P6, MS Project), so engineering advice lands in the commercial reality of the job

For: contractors and consultancies delivering Network Rail, TfL / DLR and light-rail works

Get in touchEmail is quickest. A paragraph on what, where and when is enough to start.

Worked with / for

Network Rail · Docklands Light Railway / TfL · Rail Baltica (NGE TSO, Alliance 1) · Carillion Rail · Mowlem · Serco Docklands · Pod-Trak · C Spencer · IntelRail · CTS Group

02 · How I work

Correct on paper is not the same as right on site.

Most interface and delivery problems come from unclear ownership and sequencing that only works if everyone is perfect. I write things down so a site team can follow them.

Ownership first

Every requirement has a provider and a receiver. If it can't be assigned, it's wrong, duplicated, or missing context.

Buildability before sign-off

I check access, possessions, plant and sequencing before a design goes for approval. If it relies on perfect coordination, I say so.

Only what construction needs

Generic rules where the railway is the same, specific ones only where location, risk or scope differs. If a document wouldn't matter to construction, it probably shouldn't exist.

03 · Projects

Three projects that show how I work

One built the habit. One made slab track a specialism. One is live. Each delivered in the role stated.

CTRL (HS1) Section 2 · St Pancras International · 2000s

High-speed slab track and S&C inside the St Pancras station box

Challenge
A new 1435 mm high-speed terminus throat built inside the St Pancras station box during construction, with structures, station fit-out, OLE and signalling contractors all working in the same space. Slab track and switches and crossings to tight tolerances, on a programme that could not move.
Role
Head of Engineering for the track works (Carillion, Contract 104H). Earlier, Project Engineer at Ashford (Mowlem, Contract C434).
What I did
Led the site engineering team: survey control and setting-out for slab track and S&C, top-down and bottom-up construction methods, design coordination with the structures and station teams, engineering assurance and handover records.
Outcome
Track delivered to tolerance and handed into commissioning. This is where the habit of checking buildability and interfaces before signing anything comes from.

Delivered as an employee of Carillion Rail and Mowlem on CTRL Phase 1. STH Construction & Engineering was not the contracting party.

Docklands Light Railway · 2010 – 2023

Slab track renewals on a driverless, third-rail railway

Challenge
DLR runs on slab track with short engineering hours and no margin for a late handback. S&C and baseplate renewals have to be designed, sequenced and built in small windows, with the right baseplate system for each location.
Role
Engineering Manager at Serco Docklands (systems engineering on the Crossrail–DLR interface); tender and engineering management on DLR renewals with Carillion and Pod-Trak; then Managing Director of ASH on the DLR Track Renewals framework.
What I did
New turnouts and crossovers; Delkor, Vanguard and Vipa baseplate systems; slab built top-down and bottom-up; maintenance renewals including bolt and baseplate replacement; interface requirements between Crossrail construction and DLR operations.
Outcome
Thirteen years of DLR slab-track work in one role or another, from writing the method to running the company delivering it. Slab track is a specialism, not a line in a CV.

Delivered as an employee of Serco Docklands and Pod-Trak, and as Managing Director of ASH Construction Group Ltd. STH Construction & Engineering was not the contracting party.

INFRA · ENE
CCS · FAC
one register · every requirement owned

Rail Baltica · Alliance 1, Estonia · 2025 – present

Building the interface framework for a new high-speed railway

Challenge
A new-build 1435 mm line delivered by an alliance for infrastructure, separate client-procured contractors for electrification and signalling, station designers, and adjacent alliances. Design is verified by independent bodies, so every interface had to be defined, owned and evidenced before the design could be accepted.
Role
A1 Interface Manager in the Systems Engineering team; also Infrastructure Integration & Installation Manager.
What I did
Built the interface framework from first principles: Interface Management Plan, a suite of generic and location-specific Interface Control Forms, and an interface requirements register in which every requirement has a provider, a receiver, an ICF and a verification method. Scope definition work mapping what the alliance owns against what others do. Verification evidence tracked by design stage and baselined in DOORS. Technical query process with the electrification, signalling and station designers.
Outcome
A register the verifiers can audit, and interface problems surfaced at design stage, where they cost a meeting, rather than on site, where they cost a possession.

Live programme; appointment through NGE TSO SAS UK Branch. Details limited to the published scope.

04 · Track record

Career in brief

Current

Business development & growth advisory

Retained advisor to rail and civils contractors: business planning, KPIs and management reporting, pipeline and work-winning strategy, commercial oversight, and the move toward Principal Contractor status.

Current

Rail Baltica, Alliance 1 (Estonia)

Interface Manager and Infrastructure Integration & Installation Manager on a 37 km section of new high-speed railway, Tootsi to Pärnu. Interface strategy, ICF register and coordination across infrastructure, energy, control-command and facilities design.

Current

UK Network Rail works

Engineering advisory on live renewals and enhancement projects: tender methodologies, site engineering, possession works and handback.

2013 – 2023

ASH Construction Group, Founder & Managing Director

Founded and grew a rail and civils contractor from start-up to a Network Rail Principal Contractor delivering P-Way, civils and labour supply.

2012 – 2016

C Spencer Ltd

Project and engineering manager roles on rail schemes at Gravesend and Rochester, Kent.

2010 – 2012

Serco Docklands (DLR), Engineering Manager

Systems engineering on the Crossrail / Docklands Light Railway interfaces.

2000 – 2010

Channel Tunnel Rail Link, Phase 1

Section 2: Head of Engineering, Carillion Contract 104H (St Pancras). Section 1: Project Engineer, Mowlem Contract C434 (Ashford).

Director Steve Horrigan

05 · About

Steve Horrigan

Director, STH Construction & Engineering Ltd

Civil engineer by training, contractor by trade. Steve started on CTRL in Kent in 2000 and has spent the years since on the delivery side of railways: setting out, possessions, handback, and later running a Network Rail Principal Contractor.

That background is the point. He now spends most of his time helping owner-run contractors grow: putting structure and numbers around the business, deciding what to bid and how to price it, and opening doors. The engineering is why the business advice works: he knows how the job actually gets delivered, who ends up liable when it doesn't, and what a site team will and won't follow at three in the morning.

STH is Steve. You deal with him directly, start to finish. Based in Faversham, Kent; works across the UK and on European rail programmes.

06 · Contact

Get in touch

Email is quickest. Say what the job is, where, and when you need an answer by. I reply within one working day.

Email Steve info@sth-ce.com
Company
STH Construction & Engineering Ltd
Location
Faversham, Kent, United Kingdom
Email
info@sth-ce.com
LinkedIn
Steve Horrigan
Sectors
Rail and civils, UK and Europe
Engagement
Retained, day rate or fixed fee