Archive
Aberdeen Update
Is it really 4 weeks since the last blog???
Well, for those readers who haven’t had the good fortune of seeing my AER, here’s an update on the goings on of your favourite BP Project Engineer.
Magnus B Crane Changeout.
Apologies to Ish who may have had burnt ears after my last blog, but he may be right about the HLV after all, it’s just that I couldn’t find his evidence for it! So, complete with dodgy ‘tache, I took a trip to Holland to meet up with Heerema Marine Contractors (HMC) to see how they would do it. Turns out, it really is that easy, but they won’t formalise anything until we contract them to do so and therein lies the problem. It’s a chicken and egg situation: I now need to convince BP to commit to using a Heavy Lift Vessel (HLV), to then get the guys from Procurement and Supply Chain Management (PSCM) to get all the vendors to bid so we can select an HLV that they can prove it is the best option and we can contract it. More meetings with BP management/ PSCM to follow but I’m particularly keen to go with an HLV as it seems such a better option (and it fits in with my UK Spec Competencies too). Unlike the HLV Sparrows showed us (see last blog), HMC’s Thialf can stabilise itself and has removed similar size cranes from other platfoms (Fig 1) and installed new platform cranes onto platforms in single lifts. Easy!!!
Fig 1. HLV removing platfomr crane on NW Hutton
ETAP ALQ
My brief to the Area Operations Manager (think high level bloke that is responsible for a number of oil fields) went well and I left with a whole load more questions to answer. Like any meeting though, there were the usual suspects asking pointless, irrelevant (for this stage) questions but on the whole the comments were very useful. Lots more work before I get to the end of Appraise and write a good DSP, but it will be a good project for Imran to follow on with in Select and Define (and the guy after him to take into Execute). We’re looking at a 2015 installation so it should keep RSME engineers busy for some time yet. As a rough order of cost, £20m (P50) will get you something like this (Fig 2)
Fig 2. Schematic of ETAP ALQ for 40 POB
Magnus TAR jobs
These are what are keeping people on the Magnus team “excited” at the moment as deadlines for Work Packs and long lead items approach and everyone wants things done yesterday. I have six jobs going on in the TAR and they are at various states. Since they are all “priority”, it gets interesting when I then have to prioritise between them. On the whole, we are getting there but I fear that some won’t be ready on time unless there is some serious “pulling out” of fingers.
What am I doing about this? My four Runcorn jobs are actually going OK (although a little behind schedule, as everyone’s are), it’s the ones done here which I’m struggling with, and I think the problem is a combination of the inherent complexity and the turnover of contracted engineers. So, in true officer fashion, I’m keeping our heads up, and trying my best to facilitate all the required conversation between the process engineers working on the jobs and the Technical Authorities in BP. We’re getting there, but it’s my biggest risk.
In Other News
- Dougal is getting big, and I will do soon if I don’t start running properly again: 2-3 hours of walking a day is not what I call training! Still, I’ve got two ultras lined up for next year, either one of the Mont Blanc races (100km along, 5.5km up) or the Bob Graham Round. And for something short, Combat Stress have given me a place in the Edinburgh marathon – I’m planning on breaking 3 hours.
- I’ve been selected as a reserve for the REMEC 8000 expedition in Aug/Sept 13. I’ll have to plan what training I can go on around my work, thesis and wife, and if it looks like I’m going to get on the team, consider my postings carefully.
- Just had the folks up for a week; it rained pretty much non-stop and their aged, three-legged border collie just about coped with the boy Dougal.
- And sadly Movember comes to an end. I didn’t plan on raising any money but a few folk from work insisted and I raised £60. It’s good to see the rise of facial hair; in one meeting recently there were 11 of us present and just 4 clean-faces (two of whom were lassies).
TensarTastic
C4ISR:
Now that I am gearing up for the shift to District I am actively trying to remove myself from this project. The vast quantities of information need to be in the Office Engineer’s head and not mine otherwise it will be lost. I have continued to sift the info and formulate the facts relating to this claim which is now pushing over $4M. The OE really needs some more manpower to be able to get through this in tact.
EDC Solarwall:
Coming along really nicely. I urged the contractor to switch his schedule and we’re all really glad he did now. Access to a high wall section is required and the ground is soft and has a heavy cross fall. His rigs trip out if he exceeds the safe working envelope which has now proven that he can’t do the job with the tools at hand (Glad this came to light now and not a the end of the project – he still has options to tackle other sections before his time runs out). We’re now looking at building a temporary road using our old friend Tensar. Unfortunately the contractor doesn’t really know what he’s doing with it and the bottom fell out of his world when I systematically picked the plan to pieces. His re-show was not much better so this could be an interesting stand off as I won’t let him continue unless he can either prove his engineering or establish the world’s most robust mitigation plans.
The working relationship with the Huntsville Contract Specialist has broken down all together. I feel they are good at the contract side of things but they are so far removed from the coal face they have no idea about what the impact of their decisions are. USACE has developed training courses (PROSPECT) based on ensuring that procedures match the Federal Acquisition Regulation. All of the office procedures are built up on this basis. Huntsville produced a very ‘lean’ contract and are sticking to their interpretation of the words so rigidly that it means several of my team can no longer fulfill their duties as required …meaning that the measures put in place to enforce compliance to the FAR are now defunct by someone else’s interpretation of other sections of the FAR. I’ve raised it though the correct channels and we came close to pulling the plug all together as a result….but for now I carry on regardless but have to be careful to caveat everything and reference all decisions back to the final decision of the Huntsville office…..I’d love for the department of labor to pay a surprise visit.
I also signed off on my first electrical submittal this week….very proud…so if the whole place burns down…you haven’t seen me….right?
EDC Roofing Project:
The pre-construction meeting has been held and already there are some clashes with the Solarwall project. I need to ensure verification and testing occurs but none of the air handling units on the roof work. The units are to be replaced under the new roof contract so there is no appetite to spend money on the repairs. The maintenance guys are saying they can fix, but only in 2 month’s time, leaving a very small window for my guys to remain on their schedule….but I’ll be gone by then! I’m eventually handing this over to Mike Notto (an ex Westpointer) and I suppose any legacy of this will filter down to Nick when he arrives.
Time for less typing on a Friday night and more wine with the wife….that makes much more sense. Stay safe folks.
Diaphragm continued
Hi all,
I’ve been on leave for a while – hence the silence from Adelaide…
I’ve just uploaded some photos to my blog at www.roselliott.wordpress.com regarding my reinforcing work here. I’ve tried to avoid lengthy passages lest you turn into steel geeks like me – so photos galore as always.
Please give me a shout if you get stuck on reinforcing issues!
The site will be chaos on monday becasue the PM just got sacked – whoops! We haven’t been told why yet but cost overruns and delays are a likely reason I think! Plus the commercial manager was up to something dodgy and has also been removed…. crazy!
Keep safe,
Ros
Moodle issues
All,
Is anyone else having issues logging on the moodle? My login seems to have expired somehow. Trying to jump on to see if our TMR3 feedback has been uploaded.
A brief update – post Sandy
All clear. We stocked up on everything the man on the telly recommended and while other areas of Maryland were without power for days and others got 3 feet of snow – it seemed to just forget about us. My weekend plans to go to New York are utterly cancelled though – seeing as most of it is without power and the subway systems are completely flooded. They closed down the subways days before the storm hit and essentially crippled the city – I later found out this was due to the thousands of homeless people living down there that needed to be evacuated……they could have used one disaster to solve another….but perhaps that’s the squaddie humor kicking in.
USACE deployed the mobile command and control unit – headed up by our own Mr Brian Walton. He’s still deployed and assisting with the coordination efforts. I applied to do the Emergency Response course a while back but the boss reckoned it wasn’t in line with my DOs (she’s right – I just wanted the jolly) but with hindsight as I was tucked up safe and warm with the Mrs, I decided it was for the best.
I have been doing some coordination work with the Hancock to facilitate the jobs for Nick’s arrival – I’m sure he’ll have a much smoother integration than I did. The HQ project is starting to gear up so there’s some good scope for PE work. The Roofing project should be in full swing ot get some technical aspects under his belt and then there’s a bunch of levee projects that will also make benefit of his skills. I also think they’ve let out all their jokes about englishisms out on me so he’s less likely to be bullied.
The C4ISR is ongoing and tediously complicated. The Office Engineer has embraced the tools that I have updated recently and is making full use of them. We need more staff to get through this!
The Solarwall project was on hold throughout the storm which gave me a chance to catch up on submittals. The biggest problem is actually still with our sister office in Alabama. The biggest cause of wasted time appears to be from the person that wrote the contract (which has been found to hold many holes and mistakes by the Harrisburg Office). It’s as if they are defending poor decisions out of pride or spite and have generated needless work for our office. I have formally requested that the issues currently under dispute (see previous blog) are now to be raised at Contracting Officer level. My boss is supporting all of my observations and conclusions to the point that they are prepared to sever ties with the Huntsville Office if they continue like this….it’s like a soap opera.
My final gripe of late was that having agreed that a temporary solution is required for the Albright flood gate (which managed to not float away in the storm) it appears that nobody is willing to be held accountable. Apparently if nobody is responsible, nobody can be sued if it goes wrong. I find this utterly irresponsible As things stand it’s easy enough to blame the previous contractors that built the gate. I have since been assured by my boss that the correct channels have been made aware and that the relevant plans are in place….even if they don’t know who’s meant to be executing the fixes or where the materials will come from. It’s just wonderful that nobody died.
I have volunteered to go and do another schools presentation. This time it is for Highschool students who have done introductory calculus and are making decision on which avenue to take in their prospective engineering careers. As long as they don’t ask me any calculus questions we’ll all get along just fine. This is another STEM project and I will be able to re-use a lot of the previous stuff I’ve done.
Other News: Right – enough of this – I’m on leave until the end of the week when it’s back to reality. In the meantime I am happy to report that Ulli has now been offered a full time job with the networking agency. We look forward to thanksgiving where we are required to eat lots and watch football….some biblical thing I think.
Also – it appears that Obama remains as Commander in Chief – hopefully the locals will calm down a bit now it’s all over. But if anything goes wrong – at least we know who to blame.
Weeks 26-30 – 01 Sep – 07 Oct 12 – Holiday, training and that horrible “return to work” feeling
The dates of this blog seem to cover a long stretch but when you consider that the first 2 weeks I was on holiday and the third week I was on various training courses, it only leaves the last couple to write about!
For those interested, we had a nice break. We drove North through tropical North Queensland and saw many nice things. I will not bore anyone with the happy snaps.
Week 28 was when I finally completed some safety training with JHG; it should happen within the first few weeks but I guess that’s the way the GLNG MOF rolls! It was surprisingly good and because it was in Brisbane I was well looked after with flights, taxis and a particularly nice hotel in the city centre with a service called “charge-back”. I didn’t abuse it but it certainly puts JPA expenses to shame!
My holiday and courses resulted me being off the Island for 20 days straight and didn’t I know it when I returned. Having to get up again at 0400 was painful. What I was not surprised to see was that nothing had changed, apart from the wall leaning over.
The works programme had been extended by some 4 months and my immediate issues were to find some work for the civil crew to actually undertake. Unfortunately we failed to deliver and said a sad farewell to some of the workforce although they were only temps provided by a sub-contractor. Even so, it’s not a great feeling and rests heavily on you.
That said, things will pick up eventually and new work fronts are scheduled to come live soon…I just have to wait a bit longer…
Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog 