Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog

The ‘wall’ is now complete…inspected, handed over, warranties issued and snag list complete.  The only outstanding issues I still have to deal with are working through the red-line drawings, chasing up failed submittals and rebutting some anticipated REAs.  A good sense of accomplishment, particularly having finished a month ahead of schedule so smiles all round.  Looking at it now, one could never imagine how much toil went into a relatively simple and small structure…but one that is key to saving life, and sustaining a major transport route through Pennsylvania.  I compare this (on a far smaller scale) to a similar feeling probably felt by engineers involved in the Dawlish SW train track repair – a mammoth task which at the end looked pretty undramatic, but was neverthless paramount to both safety and sustaining transportation routes, tourism, economy etc etc.

Excavation and shoring system – 2 months prior to completion

Inspection and hand-over

I have now switched the majority of my focus to the on-base warehouse project; I’ve been really impressed by the management, work ethos and professionalism of the contractor on this site – one of the advantages of the USACE posting is being able to observe and contrast management styles across different projects, but also to gain knowledge from a large pool of contractors.  My focus comes at a time of large internal slab-on-grade pours incorporating underfloor heating systems; the base has suffered in previous projects from concrete curling issues so I’ve spent a lot of time digging through codes, specs, technical reports, and working closely with the QC manager to ensure that the mix design, conditions, and handling eliminates this problem…so far so good on floor flatness tests.  Temps are due to drop down to 0degC next week; consequently we have been working through a cold weather plan to ensure everything continues on track – some of the research behind TMR1 has proven its worth!

The highlight of this week was the testing of rescue procedures of a man-down on the roof!  Clearly the on-barracks fire brigade were warned off, because the whole wild-west turned up on-site within 2 minutes.  Despite my muffled laughter of handle bar moustaches (this wasn’t Mo-vember!)and denim jackets, the serial proved valuable in testing the procedures…or lack of! Following a debrief, I essentially rewrote the entire actions-on procedure for the contractor who, to be fair, didn’t really have a starting block – for once, some practical non-engineering military knowledge brought to the fore.