For those interested in geosynthetics and geotextiles we thought you may wish to know (if you weren’t aware already) that a suite of updates to the current British Standards have been published:

– BS EN 13249:2014+A1:2015
– BS EN 13250:2014+A1:2015
– BS EN 13251:2014+A1:2015
– BS EN 13252:2014+A1:2015
– BS EN 13253:2014+A1:2015
– BS EN 13254:2014+A1:2015
– BS EN 13255:2014+A1:2015
– BS EN 13256:2014+A1:2015
– BS EN 13257:2014+A1:2015
– BS EN 13265:2014+A1:2015

The following standards are also under review:

– BS EN ISO 11058:2010
– BS EN ISO 12236:2006
– BS EN ISO 13431:1999
– BS EN ISO 13433:2006

Readers are referred to the BSI for further details about the standards.

For those interested in slope instability issues and embankment failures, an expert report has recently been published on the Mount Polley Tailings storage facility breach in British Columbia on September 4^th 2014. Compiled by N. Morgenstern amongst others, it makes for interesting reading. The report may be found here. We consider study of the report an excellent free CPD opportunity as it affords learning on the importance of the integration of ground investigation, geological appraisal, analysis and construction.

For those wishing to deepen their understanding of slope stability issues please feel free to contact us for details on public or bespoke courses we run, or contact us for technical support on your projects.

Following on from our latest news on papers to be published in 2015, we thought some may wish to learn of a new BSI publication, PD CEN/TS 13286-54:2014 , that deals with the frost susceptibility of unbound mixtures. Details of the document may be obtained direct from BSI.

In passing, others may wish to know that a revision to ISO 14001 is underway within BSI. An updated version is due to be published in early 2015.

We are pleased to announce that our Dr Andy Goodwin has had two technical papers accepted for publication in 2015.

The first is to be published at the XVI European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering in Edinburgh in September 2015, and is the result of our support to 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 (URS), our Andy Goodwin, and Dimitri Daskalopoulos (URS).

The second paper is in preparation and has been accepted for publication within the Proceedings of the ICE – Construction Materials. A themed issue on recycled construction is to be published in 2015, and our paper is the result of our support to Mott MacDonald on a recent project in collaboration with Sheffield Hallam University. It will deal with the innovative use of crushed bricks as engineered fill within railway embankments. Its main authors will be Simon Ellis of Mott MacDonald,our Andy Goodwin, and Dr Liz Laycock of SHU.

We are very pleased to have worked with our partners on these papers, and look forward to working with them further. Moreover we look forward to working elements of these projects into our courses going forward, as part of our drive to maintain the currency of our courses based on contemporary consultancy and research.