Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog

On my arrival back to London on Sun night, I realised the city smells.  A weekend of fresh sea air and sunshine is soon forgotten when you appear into the smog of Clapham Junction!  Again Monday started well with a visit from the Carillion Surveyor for a bit of QA on the drainage.  He was able to find that some of the surface water drains are up to 500mm out of place in plan, just what you need when you still have water, HV and Comms to get in there!  The next visit was from the Scottish and Southern Electricity (SSE) Engineer who is coming to fit the HV equipment.  I was pleasantly surprised to hear him say the last week’s banana shaped HV slab was actually alright, but not so happy when he told us the other temporary sub station was meant to have cables coming out of the back.  Typically this was the one that was right up against the Network Rail fence that took me about 2 weeks to get the fence moved and construction approved.  Cue some quick thinking, a re-arrangement of the layout, a quick design change and another call to the Network Rail guy to get him to accept the change asap.  Today the slab was poured and so far is looking much better than the first one!

This week’s most time consuming job has been checking RAMS: Risk Assessments and Method Statements.  Each person that comes to work on site must submit the RAMS to be checked by Carillion.  Today I must have spent about 2 hours sat with the SSE Engineer trying to explain what our M&E manager meant by making his RAMS site specific rather than 71 pages of his ‘how to install earthing’ instruction manual.  We now have some workable paperwork that complies with Carillion’s standards.

I have also established that sub-contractors are a cross breed of car salesmen and lawyers.  They try to convince you that what they are offering is great and just what you wanted, despite being totally turd that a 10 year Sapper could do blindfolded.  They are also there to totally undercut other car salesmen and they promise to give you the best offer.  They are like lawyers because everything that is said is taken as gospel and words can be twisted to suit them.  Today’s 4Cs meeting turned into a great debate about how they were going to put a footpath along where the drainage has got to go.  There isn’t enough room for the barriers to be 2m from the edge of the excavation and any temporary works will require a design from our Carillion Temp Wks Designer who will probably have a 2 week turnaround.  If I am not too busy reading RAMS as I spend my Saturday working I might see if I can design a barrier myself and send it to him to see what he thinks.

The highlight of my week was definitely being put in charge of the ‘Holes Register’.  Initially I was convinced that it was a wind up but I then found on the system the ‘Daily Hole Inspection Sheet’.  I had already warned off the subcontractor that each manhole cover needed a ‘Hole Below’ warning painted on and I was impressed to hear that it had been done.  On my wander around to check progress on the drains I spotted one of the painted covers to find a knackered piece of ply wood saying ‘Blow Hole’.  After laughing my head off in the middle of the site I sent the sub-contractor this great picture and Carillion’s guidance on how to cover a manhole.  I can now understand the need for such strict H&S rules!

Thankfully I only have until Wed morning on this task until my next foot butchering session in the afternoon.  Roll on 2 weeks on my couch at home by the seaside (not that I can get to the sea on my crutches).  I will mostly be watching back to back Sherlock episodes and Pulp Fiction so I can understand John’s joke!

Here’s the time lapse for the project so far.  It’s John’s dream job: sheet pile cofferdam, props, wailings, dewatering, excavating, piling mats and piling!  My drainage are the ones digging a straight line by the railway arches!

http://vimeopro.com/user25873713/battersea-power-station-progress-videos

I’m now on site and all moved into the site office after a brief stay in the temporary office (a bit of a glorified cardboard box). Its been a pretty busy 2 weeks, but the access track is finally going in(see below).

The AMS for piling is now 95% complete and I will be sending it out for the team to review later today. This seems a very good practice to me, as it allows the experience and opinions of others in specialist areas to improve and inform the risk register for each activity. I’m not sure whether conflicting opinions will hinder the document being issued, but as it is a live document I’m hoping not. With a bit of luck it also means the more experienced people can fix my mistakes…. The checklists and other quality assurance documents are finished now and its just the environmental side of things I’m waiting for. The environmental manager still has to get back to me about the Site Environmental Plan (SEP) and how Acid Sulphate Soils will be dealt with. From the GDR its clear the piling will encounter them during the prebore prior to driving the piles, but a plan still isn’t in place for where we will be adding the lime (the treatment requires the soil is on a prepared surface with a low permeability and bunding, the soil be in layers 300mm thick and turned regularly when adding lime).

Budget is being brought to the heart of all issues now, and the PM is making that abundantly clear to all from the start. The access track is updated in cost per day vs output in metres and I will have similar reports to do when my piling and concreting starts. To balance this I’ll hopefully be completing a steady stream of work lots to balance the books and bring some money in.

The first of the custom formwork that has been ordered from China for the pilecaps, columns and headstocks should have been loaded by now, however there was a slight hiccup…. Someone made a bit of a mistake and they only realised when shutting the container door and it wouldn’t close. The forms were 200mm too long for the ISO. Now they’ve had to be cut about 2m back and altered so that they can be butt welded together when they reach site without a loss in strength. The forms themselves are modular to take into account the changes in pilecap size over the bridge length and also the change in angle of the headstocks. I’ve added some of the designs below. The headstock forms sit on what I and a few others think is an overly complicated support system. It relies on 8 tension bars going through each column stressed to 600KN. To me this adds a lot of time that we don’t have spare. A simple stand system that rests on the pilecap would be far faster to install, remove the need for remedial works on the columns and save the time in installing, tensioning and certifying the tension supports. Whats even more mental is a stand system has been designed as a backup! No-one seems to be able to tell me why the tension system is not the backup. I’m also going to have to look at the crane time needed for installation. I want to move the forms in as few pieces as possible (making assembly quicker too), but the weight may be too much for the smaller franna cranes on site. At the moment this is a problem for later next week.

The thermal monitoring of the first concrete block (see pic below) was completed – max temp from all thermocouples was 69^oC, a whole 5^oC under the maximum allowable. This bodes well, as the placement temp was right on the limit (anything over 25^oC will be rejected). However Hanson made such a hash of getting the mix right on the day, with the first slump being 200mm instead of 100mm – prompting a change in the mix design (which had already been submitted to the client) After their lack of interest at this and poor attitude from some of the management I’ve now got a thermal trial going with Holcim. It looks like Hanson might have just lost out on a few million dollars worth of work!

The crocodile that is the sub contract for the concrete pumps is now nearing my canoe, and so I’ll be detailing the scope of works early next week. It looks like this will be left to me which should bode well for ticking off some development objectives.

Words I’ve learnt this week:       Bogums – The Aussie equivalent of a chav or a ned

Dunga – A portacabin or temporary building eg. The site office

Tomorrow is the deadline for our 90% design submission for the Marine Terminal to end all Marine Terminals.  In the past 3 weeks there has been a major design change every few days each of which invariably affects the team progress.  Firstly the electrician needed another 6 inches per floor for his cable trays.  Then the architect and structural guys decided that the maintenance area and warehouse needed to be storm proof which meant upping the walls from steel skin with 6 inches of insulation to steel skin with 32 inches of concrete up to 11.5 feet high then steel and insulation. Forgot flood proof this is now a bunker ready for the zombie apocalypse, apparently essential for a small boat workshop with a bit of welding and a battery store!  Finally we had to request an extra 2 feet per floor when we finally calculated the loads and realised we only had 3 feet of ceiling space to put in the HVAC system when the standard over here is 5 feet. Hence this week the section has been working under conditions I have not experienced since Phase 1 design exercises. 

It has not been all bad.  I have managed to crack Revit, design software, with only minimal instruction proving it is user friendly and intuitive.  No problems drawing pipe connections between floors with this one and it is also a BIM program so I can avoid all the other services and structural components.  However we are only actually going to provide a 50% solution.  We will complete the duct work design but there are still the gas connections, condensate drains, electrical connections, technical specifications, controls details etc which need to go in the full design.  Fortunately we are not the only ones in this position as the intention to design a building form 35% to 90% was a tad unrealistic in 10 weeks with all the changes.  My Section chief bought us another 2 months to get this done.

My next project is also about to kick off.  We have had the preliminary meeting and met all the stakeholders to discuss some early concept ideas.  The building is a simple guard house with a standard design that needs to be updated for the delightful Maryland weather.  The biggest challenge is actually for the civil guys who have to squeeze a car park in to what is currently a flower bed who are already considering a drive thru option so as not to cause traffic build up on the 3 lane highway beside it.  The building is looking to cost around $4 million but that will be based on what design we come up with.  The building owner would love to have Geothermal heating, solar heated water and PV cells galore however this is a little excessive for a guard hut with one sink and a cctv screen stuck in a flower bed.  Sadly.  The requirement has come about because of the number of retirement parties on site to which the public get invited and we have been warned up to 100 people can be in this guard hut!  The customer is the Defense Logistic Agency, whose security on this site is second only to the NSA.  This was a “No Photos or you will get shot” zone but hopefully this google earth image helps put some flesh on the bones.

The VCC flower bed guard house (40ft by 60ft)

Having read about the experience of all my colleagues it occured to me that I have not fully explained how life as a US Government engineer actually is.  Starting at the bottom, all interns start a two year program where they get between 2 weeks and 6 months in all the departments in the District.  The longest time is spent in the design section of their college major and in a field office, both 6 month attachments.  In this time they are assessed on where there skills best lie so that after the 2 years they will go to the department that they will work best in.  They are given plenty of opportunity to get involved at an early stage and are considered ready to go after the 2 years.  Typically on a site they are project engineers where the responsibility is to ensure that the contractor does as he is meant to, that the budget is not exceeded (too much) and sort out the inevitable contractual “disagreements”.  They have the authority to write changes and approve RFIs and sumittals which can require technical analysis.  They will also have a few Contractor Representatives (Conreps) under them (depending on the size and complexity of the project) who are responsible responsible for QA and report the on site issues and who the engineer manages.  The project engineers are also the USACE representatives at all meetings with the client and contractor and on the smaller projects are responsible for all engineering issues regardless of degree.  This load is shared on the bigger projects with several engineers types to cover all eventualities but with a good level of communication across the office.  Promotions are slow taking 10 years for the good ones to become the senior engineer / Contracting Officer’s Representative (think sqn 2 i/c) and another 10 to become the resident engineer (OC) heading up an area office.  Careers can span 40 years easily.  The pressure to ensure that budgets are met are not as great as the Contractor’s need to make profit, on time, to an acceptable quality, because money can always be found from Congress, but the professional pride in not letting the Contractor rob you blind whilst still being diplomatic and ensuring that the quality is met and the time frame not exceeded has its own pressures.  The Resident Engineer and Contracting Officer’s Representative are kept in the frame at all times and do the career reviews, budget management and higher level planning.  Most become Professional Engineers (CEng) and there is at least one CPD course a year paid for.

The Design Section seems very similar to other design teams.  Lots of very technical people doing number crunching to produce the designs and the only person with a managerial role is the section chief for each discipline.   They are actively encouraged to explore new design concepts particularly if this will lead to savings in energy and efficiency in which case the love is shared and everyone learns about the new kit.  Yes it is a bit quieter than the cut and thrust of the area office but these are not social inadequates, but professional, motivated individuals who don’t much of an excuse for an after work shandy or two. Career progression is in line with the guys on site with the section chief taking 15 years or so.  The Section Chief does the managerial side of the business but is also  involved in the technical side. Although not directly producing the designs they will be familiar with the intricacies of all the projects on the books.  They also manage the design budgets, plan the project schedule and attend the pre project meetings. 

With USACE the clients are always other Government agencies.  This can be anybody from the NSA (who account for about two thirds of the District’s Portfolio) the medical services, DLA and federally managed civilian infrastructure, mainly levies and dams.  USACE are normally the ginger step children in the construction process, being the subject of frustration rants from the client, designer and the contractor when things are not going according to (the often optimistic) plan.  As the clients representative they have built their reputation on producing high quality government projects, but they expect to get sued after every project for liquidated damages (and lose) even if the contractor is solely to blame.  However after all that the guys and gals are all very happy particularly as retirement seems to be the only way people leave the organisation.  There Navy also have their own civilian construction engineers (NavFac – Naval Facilities) as do the Air Force (no funky acronym weirdly).  All civilians are able to volunteer for operational tours as well, with the average tour lasting six months and worth 2.5x their regular pay check.

With impending cuts due the future is uncertain.  The Army is to reduce from 550,000 to 450,000 and the process is only just starting.  A number of planning exercises are likely to be run where less needed jobs are removed and the person involved is notionally  demoted to a lower grade but still employed, some times in another district, and given a warning that their job is not likely to be around so that they can look at the options.  With 33,000 in USACE it is certain that cuts will be made but being a busy organisation who supports overseas operations it is hoped they will not be severe.

And in other news

We had spring for a whole weekend then after 50 mph winds winter is back for a bit longer with more snow due Monday.  The baseball season has started again and the Orioles are currently second in the Grapefruit League.  Not sure what that means but it sounds impressive.  Warrick is signed up for the local team which starts softball in April with 2 games a week.  My engineering skills are being tested to the full with his home work, having had to devise a Leprechaun trap as well as producing a set of experiments for his STEM fair.  Sadly my thesis proved too technical so I have had to come up with a whole new idea.  Ahhhh the pressure!  I have finally got the invitation to Quantico.  Although not the FOB demonstration exercise which is California in May, i should still prove to be an interesting experience.

I have been working on a design for the replacement of the existing traffic barrier to one that complies with current standards. The bridge in question is a rail overbridge in the heart of Sydney, it is approximately 100 years old and of ‘jack arch’ contrsuction. Jack arch bridges are somewhat more prevalent in the UK rather than Australia and the tendency here is to Heritage List a structure of that age in an attempt to broaden or find some cultural significance. Fortunately the bridge itself is not Heritage Listed but some of the surrounding rail buildings are which may impact the design aesthetic of the upgrade. A Statement of Heritage Impact (SoHI) has been commissioned which will form part of the Review of Environmental Factors (REF) which at present is unlikely to cause any major dramas due to a previous upgrade in 1994 which replaced parts of the brick barrier/parapet wall to a metal railing. So in effect the current heritage aesthetic is not really in keeping of early 20th century and a full replacement is more likely to improve uniformity.

At present I have designed an L shaped pre-cast section to be retrofitted on top of the current I beam-jack arch arrangement but due to the close proximity of a gas main I am unable to get the base to span across two of the steel sections and current arrangements have  the pre casts ection chemically anchored into either the existing fill or more likely new concrete fill which means the jack arch will have to be removed. This is a design I inherited from the concept design stage and I have taken it forward and designed the concrete section to current traffic impact loads which conform to a ‘regular’ level of performance (250kN horizontal load acting across 1.1m at a height of 1.1m above the deck surface). I have built up a model within Microstran of the deck to see how the forces are transmitted through the various members and right at teh start it seemed obvious that the torsional capcity of the outside RSJ would govern. This is because there is very little lateral restaint. I modelled the deck using RSJ’s and plate girder longitudinally as per the originally drawings and then inserted masonry blocks between the girders to simulate the brick/concrete infill of the arches. There are steel tie rods between most of the girders but for the sake of conservatism I assumed there contribution to be negligible. There is some guidance in the HA’s DMRB, BA 16/97 and BD 61/10 which if you take the conservative approach as we don’t know what the fill between the arches is made up of requires the bridge to be analysed non-compositely. I thought I would try to ascertain the torsional capacity of the outside girder and found out that it is more complicated than I or anyone else in the office cares to pursue. Ultimately an I section will be affected by pure torsion (think G’s and J’s from phase 1) but warping torsion will govern. It seems design codes around the world tend to either ignore it or advise you to change your design so that torsion is insignificant and nothing to worry about.

I think the design needs to enable the precast section to span over at least the inside two girders so that shear studs on the top flanges can enable the end section to act compositely and engage more of the deck due to the impact load. This will also mean that we will not have to remove any of the jack arches which will mean we won’t need any temporary works underneath the bridge to protect the tracks and ultimately mean less construction time and distruption due to weekend possessions because we could do all the work from the top. Alternatively I think some for of tie plates will need to be welded onto the bottom flanges to provide the required resistance which means further work to be carrier out from underneath. Providing this additional room for a wider pre cast section to span will result in haing to relocate a number of services (at least the water and gas mains and probably fibre optics to within conduits placed within the precast sections. I think this would still be an easier, safer and quicker way to carry out the works ratehr tahn being afraid to go near the gas main and designing around it which seems to have been the method previously employed.

Someone happened to drive past the site the other week and noticed that all the services within the walkways had been marked out. This would be useful information and I would have had to have employed someone to do this very shortly but it has taken me two days so far without success to try and track down who initiated it so I could get the survey data. The council as well as the asset owner no nothing about it, I have concluded there must a rogue contractor out there armed with a GPR unit locating services around Sydney at will for free!