Category Archives: standards

HOWARD MEDAL WINNER

We are very pleased and honoured to announce that a paper jointly published in 2016 by our Dr Andy Goodwin with Simon Ellis (Mott Macdonald), Liz Laycock (Sheffield Hallam University) and Chris Hurst (Mott MacDonald) has just been awarded the Howard Medal by ICE Publishing.  The paper, entitled “Use of crushed brick in reinforced earth railway structures”, was published in ICE’s Construction Materials Journal.  Targeted at improving the sustainability of the development, the work reported is based on a short practically-focused research project undertaken in association with Sheffield Hallam University with a clear focus on assessing the suitability of crushed bricks to be sourced from a viaduct for re-use as engineered fill.  It shows the benefits that can be gained from integrating focused research into a large project.  

More details of the project can be seen in the paper, which can be downloaded for free from http://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/doi/10.1680/coma.15.00014.  All of the authors are looking forward to attending the Awards Ceremony in October 2017 and to receiving their medals! 

SLOPE STABILITY ASSESSMENT FOR HOUSING DEVELOPMENT

We have recently been appointed on a sub-consultancy basis to support a housing developer resolve a slope stability issue on a confidential site in Nottinghamshire.  The problem revolves around limited space, the assessment of fill properties, and the integration of soakaways into the earthworks to produce a cost-effective overall design that works within the constraints of the development.

Though a small commission, the project is a good illustration of the benefits of taking a multi-disciplinary approach to solving a problem.  If you need any support on your earthworks projects then feel free to call our Dr Andy Goodwin to discuss how we could assist and add value.

 

NEW LOGO UNITES TRAINING AND CONSULTANCY!

We have just developed a new logo which incorporates both our training and consultancy arms in a consolidated form.  We hope you like it!

Rest assured that the websites for each part of the business will continue as they are so you can still follow whichever part you are interested in, or both.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you want further information on either.

DELAY AND DISRUPTION PROTOCOL

Though we all hope to avoid delays and disruptions on our construction projects, when they do occur it is best to have a clear approach set out to help resolve matters.  That is why we thought it would be useful to bring to our visitors attention that a second edition of the delay and disruption protocol has been issued by the Society of Construction Law in February 2017.  It is intended to be used to determine extensions of time and compensation for delay and disruption, and recognises that transparency of information and methodology is central to both dispute prevention and dispute resolution.

If you wish to download a copy of the protocol (for free) follow this link to the Society’s web pages.  Graduates pursuing qualification with the ICE may find this useful to peruse too as part of their general preparation for their professional review.

UNDERSTANDING A COAL MINING INVESTIGATION

In case you missed it, Tim King of The Coal Authority posted on LinkedIn a really useful article on understanding a coal mining investigation.  It includes information on workings, collapsing ground and effects on rock structure, and shows how important it is to interpret your GI data with care.   It is useful reading for anyone working in coal mining areas.  For more information, follow this link.