The members’ newsletter of ICE Yorkshire and Humber May 2012
ice | yorkshireandhumber
ICE Local
ice.org.uk/yorkshireandhumber
In this issue Your Committee It’s your ICE – will you support it?
President’s visit
White Rose Way during construction
Bringing you news and views on civil engineering in your Region. We welcome your comments, letters and articles. Please contact us at: iceyandh@ice.org.uk Follow us on twitter:
Your ICE Committee The Regional ICE elections will be held on 4 July 2012, and we are looking to recruit a new Honorary Treasurer, Honorary Secretary and General Committee members. We are also looking for members to join our three sub-groups: Public Voice, Knowledge Transfer and Membership. Being a member of the Regional ICE Committee can bring many rewards – both personally and for the profession and Institution.
The Roles
The Treasurer is assisted by the Regional Support Team (RST) and Chair in their role. Sandie, our current Treasurer will be working alongside the new Treasurer for the whole of the 2012-13 session to ensure a smooth handover.
Regional Education Team Catherine Topliss and Matthew Brayfield provide the latest.
@ICEYorksHumber
CDM 3 years on ICE procedures. Contrary to common perception, the role does not involve taking or producing minutes. Members of our sub-groups actively contribute to the achievement of the sub-group business plan aims and objectives, and attend sub-group meetings either in person or via video or phone conference. Each sub-group consists of elected Committee members and sub-group members, who are non-elected volunteers. A volunteer group is only as good as its members, and I do hope you will consider standing for election for your local ICE Committee. Please contact iceyandh@ice.org.uk by 8 June 2012 for details on standing for election.
Damian Kilburn reports on the recent ICE release.
Retired Members’ Group Andrew McLusky on the activities of RICE.
ICE Member Benefits Civil engineering question? Ask Brunel!
Project Focus John Bowes highlights the work on White Rose Way, Doncaster.
Communications Competition Rhianna Rose
The role of the Honorary Secretary is to ensure that the Committee adheres to its Constitution and follows
John Bowes on Richard Coackley’s recent trip to the Region.
MEng CEng MICE ICE Y&H Chair 2011-12
Chris Tsiaousis provides details of the exciting Semi-Final.
President’s Visit ICE President Richard Coackley visited the Yorkshire and Humber Region on 16 March, and joined us for a number of activities during the day followed by the Gala Dinner Dance, where he delivered his inspiring after-dinner speech and presented the Awards.
Students actively asked questions about the schemes and the graduates’ experiences at work, and seemed to thoroughly enjoy the event.
The first activity was one of three held at Leeds Metropolitan University (LMU) where the President chaired a debate with invited members from Yorkshire’s universities and regional industry representatives. The attendees raised current issues and provided details of current initiatives which were discussed and debated. The event provided the ICE with an understanding of the region and the areas upon which to focus.
This was followed by an informal meeting with the LMU senior staff where we discussed the impact of tuition fees upon civil engineering course entry numbers, where it was concluded that to date the fees have had little impact. Previous issues of ICE Local have discussed the role of the Regional Advisory Board (RAB), and the skills available and activities undertaken to promote civil engineering within the region.
The second event was organised by the ICE Graduates’ and Students’ committee. The hour-long session included three presentations from graduates to inform the attending students about what they may be doing in a few years’ time when they graduate.
Last year the RAB held a meeting with the Sheffield City Region business community and, due to the success of this, a similar event was held this year with the Leeds City Region.
The three presentations were delivered exceptionally well and included:
The purpose of the meeting was twofold; for the RAB to communicate their broad range of skills available and the services that can be offered without charge and for the President and Regional ICE to understand the current issues within the Y&H Region.
Detail design to Eurocodes “ and BIM in bridges” – Matthew Ringrose (Arup) “Flood Risk Management” – Jimi Davill (Environment Agency) “Olympics Velodrome and voluntary work in Indonesia” – Angela Crowther (Expedition)
The ICE was represented by the RAB, the Regional Support Team and
Regional Education Team
Clockwise from top left: Angela Crowther, Matthew Ringrose, and Jimi Davill.
the President, business community representatives included members from the Chamber of Commerce and Leeds City Region LEP, Leeds Bradford Airport, KPMG, EC Harris, LloydsTSB, Irwin Mitchell and Metro. The meeting highlighted some interesting points and led to a debate on a number of areas including Localism, flood protection and transport accessibility. The meeting was summed up by the President who stated that a number of issues raised would be taken forward by the ICE. It was also agreed that the RAB would update the State of the Nation report on Infrastructure produced in 2010 to account for the items raised and also other changes that have occurred during the past two years.
The Regional Education Team is looking forward to a busy end to this academic year and start of the next one. One of the many activities run was a disaster relief-themed day at the National Coal Mining Museum for England on 11 May. This included building bridges, shelters and wind turbines for several schools. Thank you to the following Ambassadors for their efforts at careers conventions at a number of schools recently: Chris Bevington (Amey), Robert Ricketts (Student, University of Sheffield), Matthew Stott (Student, University of Leeds) and Matthew Brayfield (WYG Engineering). If you would like to take part in any activities please contact the Regional Education Team on e: iceyandh@ice.org.uk
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CDM – 3 years on As part of the review by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) of the CDM 2007 Regulations, the ICE has published a report ‘CDM- 3 years on.’ It is generally acknowledged that the CDM Regulations are still not operating as intended, with too much emphasis on producing unnecessary paperwork and too little effective risk reduction at the pre-construction stage. The full report can be found at: ice.org.uk/Information-resources/Document-Library/ICE-CDM-3-Years-On-Report For more information, contact Robert Curd e: rob.curd@ice.org.uk The report looks in detail at three key issues:
The report identifies four ‘impediments’:
Competence of the CDM coordinator Pre-construction information The Health and Safety File
Lack of management and leadership Conflict between contract and statute Level of enforcement Lack of understanding
One of the most encouraging aspects of the ICE CDM study and report has been the cooperation of key industry bodies in identifying and debating matters of mutual concern and interest. It is intended to consolidate this communication, cooperation and coordination by establishing a series of small Contact Groups to allow further discussion. A number of bodies have indicated a willingness to join e.g. APS, IOSH, IStructE, RIBA, HSE, and ConstructionSkills.
Retired Members’ Group (RICE)
ICE Member Benefits
It was 10 years ago that the group met for the first time in Wetherby. Since that inaugural meeting, membership has grown from 27 to 110. We meet 4 or 5 times a year for a morning talk followed by lunch (usually at Rogerthorpe Manor Hotel, Badsworth).
Derek Walker, Current Chair of RICE
Two or three visits are made each year to a local engineering site or for a social event. This summer a visit to Leeds Grand Theatre has been organised. An annual Golf Competition is held and recently we have met for a Christmas lunch with members and friends. The Group meets with the Retired Engineers Group from IET and IMechE when we invite each other to relevant meetings.
ICE member? Want to know more about any civil engineering topic? Need an answer fast? Want reliable, expert information? Ask Brunel!
Ask Brunel! will respond to your questions on any civil engineering topic within 24 hours*. Just complete the simple online form, sit back and wait for the answer to be delivered to your desktop. Alternatively, if your question has already been asked and is in the Knowledge Base you may have something to add, or find something to disagree with. Submit your comment and we’ll add it to the Knowledge Base for the benefit of other members.
Our speakers are a mixture of guest speakers and fellow retired members. The programme for 2012-13 session is now being finalised and will be available shortly on the ICE Y&H website (it will be mailed to those RICE members who do not have Internet access). The subjects for talks in the next session include: “Forensic Science”, and “Kings Cross Station rebuild”.
You can find Ask Brunel! by logging in to your MyICE account on the ICE website:
All members of the Institution are welcome at the meetings, though members who have recently retired (or are partially retired) are particularly welcome. If you wish to be placed on the mailing list, please contact Honorary Secretary Andrew McLusky: e: ammclusky@talktalk.net t: +44 (0)1302 784848
ice.org.uk/My-Ice/Ask-Brunel *If Ask Brunel! needs longer to respond to your question in full, you will be informed within 24 hours.
ICE Local - May 2012 3
Regional Project Focus: White Rose Way Phase 2
The £10.5 million first phase of the Southern Gateway Improvement Scheme along the A6182 White Rose Way in Doncaster has completed a major milestone by successfully installing the new bridge over the railway. The scheme was designed in a partnership between Doncaster MBC and Mouchel and is being constructed by Balfour Beatty’s regional civil engineering team. A major element of the project is a new 180m long 3-span bridge over the railway with approach embankments and new junction arrangements either side of the bridge. The approach embankments themselves have incorporated recycled aggregates and a reinforced soil slope to the NE corner to avoid the need for additional land and an expensive culvert diversion. The bridge itself has an 85m span with no intermediate pier over the 17 railway lines, thus minimising the impact upon the operational railway and avoiding the need to amend the railway signalling in the area. The steel beams incorporate weathering steel; this approach negates the need for and cost of future maintenance as well as removing safety risk as access over the railway will not be required to repaint the bridge. Permanent
formwork has been used to provide a safe working platform above the railway, thus enabling steelfixing and deck concreting to be undertaken without the need for a possession of the railway below. The team worked extremely hard to achieve a Christmas possession of the railway, when it was planned to lift in the steel beams, edge protection and permanent formwork. Unfortunately, extreme weather conditions led to the works being suspended on Christmas Day and the need for the team to implement a contingency plan.
Client: Doncaster MBC Designer: Doncaster MBC Mouchel Contractor: Balfour Beatty
Balfour Beatty and the Council worked with Network Rail to agree a series of evening closures to erect the remaining elements. A time-lapse movie showing how the nine bridge lifts were completed has been released. The short film shows how this major feat of engineering took place using one of the biggest mobile cranes in Europe – the 1200 tonne SarensGottwald AK680-3. To view the film visit: http://youtu.be/vlCS44w8f1U
Communications Competition Semi-Final The Semi-Final between Tata Steel Projects from York and Loughborough University was hosted by the ICE Yorkshire and Humber Region at The University of Sheffield. Both teams’ promising strategies and written submissions gave a good taste of the battle to come - a team of graduates with professional experience against a team of students with a modern academic background, both aiming to convince the audience that they deserved the single ticket to the Final in London.
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The competition was tough and the difference between the two teams was only marginal. However, it was unanimously admitted that the East-Midlanders performed better in the majority of the fields, showing more passion during presentation, excellent communication skills and exceptional use of visual aids, but possibly lacking experience in handling questions. It was certainly a great experience, not only for the competing teams but also for everyone who attended. Loughborough University will head down to London to face the other finalists.