Category Archives: Structures

COURSES IN 2018

We are pleased to announce that the Surepath Training course calendar for 2018 is now available on their website – just click on this link to access your own copy in a new window.

We hope the expanded list of courses offered as ‘open’ courses rather than just bespoke will be welcomed and will aid the planing of your staff development activities.  Remember discounts are available for group bookings or delegates attending more than one course.  Please call or email us to reserve your place on a course.

 

HOWARD MEDAL AWARDED

As announced previously, we are very pleased and honoured to announce that on 6 October 2017 our Dr Andy Goodwin, Simon Ellis (Mott Macdonald), Prof Liz Laycock (Sheffield Hallam University) and Dr Chris Hurst (Mott MacDonald) were all awarded the Howard Medal by ICE Publishing for a paper jointly published in 2016.  The awards dinner was held at the ICE headquarters near Westminster. The happy recipients are shown below on stage, and both before and after perhaps a little too much champagne!

Entitled “Use of crushed brick in reinforced earth railway structures”, the paper was published in ICE’s Construction Materials Journal.  Targeted at improving the sustainability of the development, the work reported 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.  

LAST FEW COURSES IN 2017

The end of 2017 is approaching and we are busy preparing the course calendar for 2018.  There is still time to book onto just a few courses with spaces in 2107:

  • Slope Stability – Principles and Practice (28 November)
  • Mentoring for Engineering Geologists on Geotechnical Engineering (30 November)
  • The ICE Professional Review – Overview and Preparation (7 December)
  • Introduction to Structural Design to the Eurocodes (12 December)

Each course is running in Chesterfield.  Discounts are available for group bookings or delegates attending more than one course. Please call or email us to reserve your place on a course.

Remember too that all courses can be run bespoke for your company if there are sufficient numbers – just call us to see what we could do for you.

 

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.

BASEMENT PLANNING RULES CHANGE

With increasing numbers of basements being constructed, readers may find a recent legal ruling of interest.  In it, a High Court judge has ruled that basement extensions must have planning permission if they require excavation and engineering works.  They may no longer be carried out under permitted development rights.

For more information, see the following links:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/12/02/blow-basement-builders-judge-rules-specific-planning-permission/

https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/court-decision-means-tougher-rules-for-basement-extensions/10015552.article

The full effect of the ruling is yet to be seen, but it seems that it would be prudent for architects and engineers to advise their clients to seek planning permission early in the process.  It is likely that permission will be needed for most projects, especially if engineering works are required as well as excavations.  This may increase the need for ground assessments and geotechnical designs to be undertaken, for example for retaining walls and foundations.