Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog

Hi everyone, not a technical blog, just passing on contact details of my Phase 3 in case anybody wants to go there next year.

I have been working for Wentworth House Partnership (WHP), who are part of the Keltbray Group. Keltbray are a specialist contractor, traditionally in demolition, but have expanded into piling, asbestos removal and rail amongst other things. They have recently set up a structures business (concrete framing) in its own right, and have just won the contract to build Battersea Phase 3A.

WHP are the design consultancy for Keltbray, but do about 25% of their work for external companies. Most of the work is for temporary works, which means fast paced designs and a very varied experience. I cannot say if this is better or worse than a permanent works design office as I’ve not worked in one, but it has suited me. More hand calcs, less importance put on things being used to 100% of their capacity, as long as it works and is 80%+ efficient it is usually good enough.

I have designed in steel, timber, concrete and lots of design work using scaffolding and other off-the-shelf solutions. Some geo too; there is a geo ‘department’ (4 guys) but I have only really dipped my toes into the water there and done the simple analysis. All in there about 45 engineers and technicians in the office.

The three directors are all Fellows of the ICE and IStructE, and two are active ICE reviewers. They know what you need to pass CPR, and are a really good source of advice. They arrange weekly CPD in house over a free lunch and at any one time probably have about 5 or 6 of their own staff going through the Chartership process.

Stuart Marchand (the managing director of WHP) was a founding member of the temporary works forum and a previous chairman. Tim Lohmann (another director at WHP) is the current chairman, and the final director (Stuart Vaughan) probably will be chairman in the future. My point is that WHP is a very good place to learn about temporary works, which I think share many characteristics to a lot of military engineering solutions.

The office is in Esher, so really handy if you live in The Keep. If not it is a 24 minute train ride from Vauxhall. The full address is: Wentworth House Partnership St Andrew’s House Portsmouth Road Esher KT10 9TA.

If you’re interested, email the directors and mention the PET Course, they have hosted myself and Fred Kiddie before me so they know what the course is about.

director@wentworth-house.co.uk