Four Decades of Local & International Experience
For more than forty years, we have read the ground that drawings only assume to transform subsurface evidence into foundations, slopes, and structures that withstand scrutiny.
Global Earth Solutions (GES) was established in 2003 by Dr. Mahmoud Mahmoud, a geotechnical engineer whose career spans more than forty years and three continents.
The firm was created to deliver something that larger organizations often dilute:
Direct senior involvement in the engineering decisions that determine whether a project is safe, buildable, and economical.
The principle is rooted in our principal’s own formation.
Mahmoud Mahmoud, PhD, PEng, FEC, FGC (Hon)
Founder & CEO
Dr. Mahmoud holds a doctorate in Geotechnical Engineering and a master’s degree in Soil Mechanics and Engineering Seismology, both from Imperial College London – among the most demanding programs in the discipline. His early research at Imperial, on the measurement of soil strength, established a habit that has defined his practice ever since: a refusal to accept assumed ground behaviour where it can be measured and verified instead.
From London to Western Canada
Before founding GES, Dr. Mahmoud practised across the United Kingdom and internationally, contributing to projects of considerable scale and complexity — among them the airfield pavement and reclamation works for Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok Airport, constructed over more than 1,200 hectares of reclaimed seabed. He went on to hold senior and partner-level positions with leading consultancies in Western Canada, directing high-rise foundations, deep excavations, dams, linear infrastructure, and resource projects, and was repeatedly retained as an arbitrator and expert witness in matters of disputed ground.
This trajectory gave GES an unusual breadth from its first day: the rigour of a research-grade foundation in soil mechanics, combined with hard-won field experience across the soft coastal silts of the Lower Mainland, the weak bedrock of the Prairies, the mountain slopes of British Columbia, and the oil-sands terrain of northern Alberta.
The work for which GES is best known reflects a consistent philosophy: sound recommendations are earned through evidence and analysis, not asserted.
On the Westgate high-rise development in Calgary, conventional laboratory testing suggested disappointing bedrock strength; by recommending in-situ pressuremeter testing instead, the firm demonstrated far higher strength and stiffness, allowing shallow foundations across the entire project and substantial cost savings for the client. At Bear Creek Village in Grande Prairie, Dr. Mahmoud served as arbitrator before developing a probabilistic risk assessment that re-framed how slope stability was judged, and, ultimately avoided the expropriation of completed buildings. Along the bluffs of Calgary, the firm correlated in-situ soil suction with precipitation to give a municipality an early indication of rising slope risk.
These are not isolated achievements; they are an illustration of our methodical approach to ground engineering.
GES has contributed original research to the profession's literature – in the Canadian Geotechnical Journal and at national and international conferences – on subjects ranging from the detection of shear zones in natural slopes to the in-situ remediation of contaminated soils using hydrogen peroxide, and use of geo-polymers in amending oilsands tailings to significantly reduce the consolidation of thickened tailings.
A Commitment to the Standards of the Profession
GES holds itself to the standards it helps to write. Dr. Mahmoud has served as Chair of the Qualifications Board of Engineers Canada, the national body responsible for the standards of engineering qualification and practice, and chaired its Environment and Sustainability Committee for seven years. Within British Columbia, he has chaired the continuing professional development committee of the provincial regulator and presented its professional ethics seminar for nearly a decade. He is a Fellow of Engineers Canada and an Honorary Fellow of Geoscientists Canada.
For clients, this is more than a list of titles. It is assurance that the engineering judgement behind a GES recommendation is grounded in the profession's highest standards of ethics, defensibility, and care: the qualities that matter most when a recommendation must withstand scrutiny from authorities, insurers, or the courts.