Category Archives: Foundations

BURIED RIVERS – INTERESTING SNIPPET!

We came across the following snippet on LinkedIn recently and thought it a useful reminder that when assessing ground risk you need to do more than just commission an Envirocheck Report or similar….

“Did you know that many of London’s rivers have been ‘lost’? This can be rather important if you are building a basement. The rivers Fleet, Tyburn, and Westbourne, to name but a few, historically ran through London to the Thames. Many were replaced by combined sewers in the late 19th Century and are no longer seen at surface.”

The river flowing through a basement is quite amusing, especially the fish that seem to be visible!  For more details follow this link  to the original article.

 

EXCELLENCE DEMONSTRATED!

Surepath Consulting is part of Surepath Training, and as part of our quality processes we have recently audited our training course feedback. The headline finding was a 94% excellent / very good rating of all the quantitative feedback received for our courses, with a 2:1 bias to excellent. This superb feedback is something we are very proud of, and it reflects too the emphasis we put on quality in all our consultancy work too! Please contact our Andy Goodwin using the Contacts page if you wish to discuss how we can ensure quality of delivery for all your consultancy, training or mentoring needs.

 

EUROPEAN CONFERENCE PAPER

In September 2015 we had a technical paper published at the XVI European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering in Edinburgh. The paper is based on work undertaken in support of URS (now AECOM) in the design of a coastal protection scheme. Titled “The design of an anchored pile retaining structure to control landslide regression at Lyme Regis, UK”, the authors are Corrado Candian (formerly URS, now COWI), our Andy Goodwin, and Dimitri Daskalopoulos (URS).  We are very pleased to have worked with our partners on this paper and look forward to working with them further.

VISION DESIGN ALLIANCE UPDATE

As one of the founder members of the Vision Design Alliance, a group of small to medium sized companies in the East Midlands region that have come together to offer a one-stop shop of civil engineering, building and construction related consultancy services, Surepath Consulting are pleased to re-cap some of the VDA news also available through the VDA web site.

  • Ecotech recently successfully completed a project on a site development in a floodplain in Bottesford, near Grantham.
  • Groundsmiths (UK) Ltd were recently appointed by GK Group Ltd, Chesterfield, to carry out a Phase I/II geo-environmental appraisal and intrusive ground investigation of land located at their workshop site in Chesterfield.
  • Ecotech were appointed to design and specify earthworks to widen an existing highway embankment under a Section 278 agreement for a site in Papplewick, near Nottingham.
  • Groundsmiths (UK) Ltd recently carried out an appraisal of land located within the Pearson Industrial Estate, Old Whittington, Chesterfield.

The collective goal of the VDA is to provide Clients with access to a network of specialists who are used to working together collaboratively to provide an integrated service based on expertise, innovation and enthusiasm. Further news on the launch of the VDA and its web site will follow soon.

NEW STANDARDS FOR GEOTECHNICAL AND STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS

Important updates to British Standards commonly used by geotechnical and structural engineers have been published:

  • BS 8002: 2015 Code of practice for earth retaining structures. This revised and updated standard conforms to the latest EN and EN ISO standards and provides recommendations for the design, construction, monitoring, and maintenance of earth retaining structures. It provides additional information to the recommendations in EC7 for surcharges, unplanned excavations and prop loads, and provides detailed recommendations for the content of Geotechnical Feedback Reports in accordance with EC7.
  • BS 8004: Code of practice for foundations. Providing recommendations for the design of both shallow and deep foundations to meet the latest EN and EN ISO standards, the new standard provides additional information to EC7 recommendations for spread foundations, provides recommendations for the design of piles that reflect modern practice, and and provides detailed recommendations for the content of Geotechnical Feedback Reports.

All related courses offered in 2016 by our sister company Surepath Training will make reference to the new standards and provide guidance on their use in practice. Please contact us for the details of the revised course details.