Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog

Careers Day – Dumbarton Middle School

USACE has a huge outreach programme which covers targetted media, public information and also encompasses the promotion of science and engineering through career days at local schools. I went along and convinced them all to come and join the British Army. Having listened to other speakers at the bureau, I have decided that I want to be a museum curator or a fireman when I grow up. The good thing about all of this is that it help hit some of the development objectives for ICE and also opens up a bunch of extra curricular activities.

EDC SolarWall®

The recent requirement for changes to the design has resulted in a request for an extension from the contractor (time only) which will be honored. This will result in a delay in the submittal of the 65% design solution and potentially a delay on the expected completion date.

We are also negotiating on means of providing the monitoring process. Everyone knew we would need sensors and monitors, but the installation of wi-fi or cabling and power for the sensors appears to have been previously overlooked. Not to worry – it’s all at the contractor’s risk, but any proposal needs to be incorporated to the infrastructure of the building accordingly.

As a result of recent design changes the contractor is seeking to use an epoxy coat for steel columns, but the customer is not keen and keeps sending sketches of what they think it should look like to the contractor. This opens up a world of pain, because if this is interpreted as authority to provide  a final solution, then we may be promising mods and changes that aren’t approved or financially appropriated……and folk have gone to proison over here for stuff like that. The contractor needs to take the idea, make it his own and then propose it back to us so we can say ‘hey what a good idea – let’s make the mod…’

DDSP Buildings 732 / 760

My comments on the PMPs have clearly ruffled feathers. Every job by USACE ‘must’ have a PMP and people just look at this as a hoop to jump through. Therefore the PMPs tend to be very generic and lack any kind of insightful risk analysis or mitigation thereof. I have been asked to educate the folk that prepared them and they are not being overly receptive.

Ashley Reservist Center

The awarding District has decided that they do not want the approved testing lab (hired by the contractor) to do the petrographic testing of the defective concrete previously identified. The fear is that the lab is ‘on side’ with the contractor. I don’t know if this creates any contractual issues (can we actually tell them what lab to use – or is it their business?) I pointed out that the lab is on the approved list because USACE has inspected them and authorised them. To not use them is to question the ability of our own departments. Also – it is more than it is worth for the lab to get itself struck off the list as we provide a hige amount of work for them. I also feel that by forcing them to change the lab, we are openly saying to them that we do not trust any of their previous results which will not do much for the ‘partnership’.

The office manager here is contemplating paying for the tests from our own office budget to try and avoid some of these issues – in which case I recommended that they also test some cores that were taken from the foundations to pass services through. If these are found to be lacking then it confirms that the testing regieme has been flawed from the beginning……but would also prove that the whole building is sitting on sub-standard foundations….and that will get juicy.

Other News

Not simply content with just shooting and stabbing each other – the US is now having issues with ‘face eating’. Sorry…I correct myself ‘naked face eating’ whereby a naked man in miami eats his victim’s faces. Far from just being abhored, it’s almost becoming a tourist attraction. The Miami tourist board has updated it’s advertising accrodingly.

For Sale

Pallet of smoke and mirrors (unused). Surplus to requiremnet following CI visit.