Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog

Just had a meeting with the estate and facilities manager at the local university regarding their fire system and emergency lighting coverage. They require a survey followed by a design proposal for a possible upgrade if funds allow.

They have 4 buildings that require an upgrade but they do not know to what extent. As a cost saving measure they seem very keen to use any existing cabling (their suggestion, not mine). I explained that in theory this is fine as long as the existing cables meet the current standards but there is a risk as I, as the designer and individual who will conduct the survey, cannot comment on the integrity of the existing cables within the installation.

I have advised against this but they wont drop it, anyone else have any similar experiences?

I’ve just designed a temporary timber hoarding using limit state and BS EN 1995 expecting a lolly pop at the end because I “did it thoroughly and correctly” only for the checker to be annoyed they now have to learn 1995 and they can’t use the TWf guides and our internal “cheat sheets”.

I naively thought the choice between design methods was between the stuck in the past engineer vs the modern engineer but I was very wrong. It seems that a lot of the stuff in temporary works is designed using permissible but not all of it.

Anyone have experience with having to chose between the two for temporary works?

I could have designed the hoarding in half the time and probably would have got the same design (maybe my ply would have been 2mm thicker). It’s a balance between design risk and efficiency which temporary works walks a fine line across.