Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog

This week has seen me focus my efforts on finalising a tender proposal to win an option study for the Upgrade of Port Drive at Brisbane Port.  It was like being a 2IC all over again with the red pen (actually I used a pencil as it’s less aggressive) and really started to add some value, particularly on the commercial side of things.  The most interesting element for me was starting to realise the urgent need to win work.  Initially I costed up the job to just under $500k.  I then had to make reductions to the works programme to reduce man hours and subsequently reduce rates to 70%.  This reduced overall cost to $300k but it still wasn’t enough. After further slashing by the Project Director and devaluing me to nil cost (billed to work experience instead of my grade) the cost was brought down to $250k.

There is a clear shortage of work and the transportation group are very desperate to win this one!!!  That said, it’s not solely based on price and there is a technical element to the proposal evaluation.  GHD put together a reasonable offer with some strengths which will put them in a good position, not least the current works being undertaken for the Port of Brisbane (the client) and previous involvement with the Department for Transport & Main Roads who will be a large influence on works.

There is sadly not much else to report on less for social activity.  I am part of the Transportation Group touch footy (rugby) group and once a week we run round Roma Street Parklands of a lunchtime for an hour in the ridiculous heat and humidity. I’ve lost a yard of pace since I was younger but still have a good side-step.  I have signed up for a new training regime at the gym “kosama” which claims to “see the benefits in 4-5 weeks”.  We’ll see, but going to the gym again after a 10 month absence is doing me a world of good.

BRISBANE FLOODS

Fortuitously I had not published the above as I was going to try to add more to it but since last week we have been battered by horrific storms and subsequent flooding!  The state of Queensland is in tatters along the coastline following the storm damage caused by a downgraded cyclone moving South from the Cape York Peninsular.  Our previous home of Gladstone was hit pretty hard and I know that there was considerable damage to the port and some elements of the GLNG site; the site was closed for 4 days and people were left stranded on Curtis Island.  A few kilometres away in Boyne-Tannum my old supervisor had flood waters rise to the front of his house but fortunately not enter the property.  The town of Bundaberg has been declared a disaster zone with the worst ever recorded floods and even the beloved rum factory (my favourite tipple since turning native) has been affected but fortunately the stock and molasses has been saved.  The rest of the town however is in bad shape and will take months if not years to recover.

More locally, Brisbane has not suffered as badly as first anticipated with flood levels significantly lower than 2011.  That said we live in the Oxley Creek flood plain and it was a little bit tense for a while. In 2011 our house was 2m under water so the neighbours were rightly excited and emotional about the potential of a flood again.  We were advised (by the overly emotional neighbours) to empty the house and sand bag it as they had done but followed the Brisbane Council guidance instead, coupled with my own calculations based on Richard Farmers lectures on drainage and catchment areas! There was a risk of flooding but a low(ish) risk, but to appease Lisa who was slightly concerned, I drew the short straw on Monday night when the peak was meant to be reached and undertook flood watch for the house. As predicted we weren’t hit but the water got to within 5 metres away and about 0.5-1m below the house. Close enough for pushing our comfort zone but not close enough for panic stations.

Brisbane is now in recovery mode reconnecting power to the 200,000+ homes who lost it, cleaning up the debris, cutting up the fallen trees and trying to get life back to normal.  All being well it’ll pretty much be there by next Monday but there is still a risk of more flooding in some lowland areas.  Overall, not a particularly great Australia Day weekend on the East coast but a life experience all the same!

This week has again been fairly quiet with the office still missing about a third of the staff who have taken extended holiday post Christmas (bearing in mind that it is the main school break here as well). Despite the horsepower shortage there is still not enough real work available in the office to keep everyone busy so there is a fair amount of tension as people are (slightly) fearing for their jobs. This places me in an interesting predicament of not wanting to take someones work away from them yet also get amongst something to gain the full benefit of the attachment. I’ve got the balance right thus far but a couple more weeks of this may prove interesting…

What I have been doing is preparing (as part of a team of 4) a proposal to bid for an option study. This sounds a bit dry but luckily I have been digging into the depths of the commercial world and cost benefit analysis which is broadening my perspective of the engineers role. There is plenty to learn and with a bit of legal thrown in for good measure I have learnt that there are certain words/phrases banned from use in all GHD documents including “best practice”, “expert”, and “fit for purpose”.

I managed to get out of the office to a client meeting for the bid proposal and added some value which was appreciated by the team leader and am starting to find my level in the office hierarchy. The option study is for the upgrade of a road to a dual carriageway / motorway for the port and the main element is how to deal with a junction that gets blocked up during peak periods (apparently queuing in traffic for more than 5 minutes is unacceptable in Australia). I am currently of the opinion that the best solution is a burger bun roundabout but convincing the team is challenging and even if successful there, the greater challenge is convincing the department for transport and main roads that it’s not a wind-up, it increases traffic flow/volumes and would prove to be successful in the cost-benefit analysis. We’ll see how it goes but I don’t expect it to get approved in my lifetime…. if all else fails I could suggest a replica of the magic roundabout in Swindon!!! As one of the team keeps reminding us, you always need a “crap option” to make your preferred one look better!!!

Away from the trials and tribulations of the office I am pleased to report that a more favourable work-life balance (for now) has harmonized the Serevena household and I have joined a gym. Having undertaken a cost-benefit analysis of gym membership it was proven to be the way ahead and it is nice to get back running again. The weekend sees us doing not a lot (TMR 4 needs a bit of a nip/tuck) and thus nothing overly exciting to report on that front. Next weekend however will be slightly more exciting with Australia Day celebrations.

So after a long absence from the blog I have made it back online just in time to start Phase 3 tomorrow.  The absence has largely been due to the volume of work prior to my departure from Gladstone coupled with administration associated with our house move but after finally getting the house semi-sorted in time for Christmas we have a consistent internet connection and a few moments to jump on here.

The MOF project eventually got going again following the collapse of the main king pile wall for the LoLo section.  For the final few weeks we started to make some progress with the capping beam by using internal scaffold and mirroring the external temporary work platform internally where possible.  The majority of my effort was focussed on the Dolphin reinforcement and concreting methodology; this was a particularly pertinent issue following a spill of concrete (approx 0.8 cu.m) by our sister project on QCLNG into the great barrier reef marine park.  As the project started to pick up some steam the inevitable “challenges” continued to pop up ranging from poor logistical planning through to not having the required man power or tradesmen on site as well as some extra-large spring tides flooding the lower portions of the site as it lapped over the top of the king pile wall where the capping beam had not been completed.

My involvement was gradually reduced as the project engineers were reorganised to allow for a strategy change yet my work load increased significantly in order to effectively hand over.  My main effort was closing out my commercial responsibilities and work lots for the civil crew works.  Fortuitously I had been working on my subcontracts for a few months so managed to clear the commercial side relatively smooth over and handed over a portfolio with sufficient budget for the remainder of the project and all materials scheduled, ordered and a delivery schedule publicised.  The work lots however were not so easy.  I was responsible for 26 in total that I had opened and preparing these for closure was relatively simple.  The real challenge came with the 40+ lots I inherited from my predecessor that had not been touched since being opened.

My final week saw me hand over to a mechanical engineer (which meant a bit of tutoring in the world of reinforced concrete and how to understand what the lines meant on the reinforcement drawings), closing out my final few work lots and ensuring that there were no hidden treasures left on my departure.  This must have been successful as have only received one phone call from site since!

Leaving the site was slightly disappointing for a couple of reasons.  First was that I didn’t get to see the project finished and moving to Brisbane will not allow a quick site visit upon completion.  I did hit several personal targets though which was good.  Secondly was the absence of the PM from site in my last week.  Unfortunately for me he took a last-minute holiday which meant that I was unable to have a departure discussion with him and receive any feedback.  Despite numerous attempts I have still been unsuccessful in contacting him and will keep persevering in order to achieve closure (for me) on the MOF project.

After finishing work on the Thursday, early on Friday the removals company arrived and lifted our possessions for the Brisbane move.  This made us homeless for the next few days whilst in transit (what takes a day in the UK takes 5 in Queensland) which was not ideal but manageable.  We finally moved into our house and had everything up and running just in time for Christmas.  We have had several significant challenges that have caused us heartache but we have hopefully managed to work through them all.

Over new year we managed a short trip to Sydney and had a good time, managing to catch up with the Dollimore’s for a few hours at the harbour.  That was pretty much the only downtime we had with the move and the admin nightmare it created.

Today I have started with GHD and despite initially them having no knowledge of my arrival, I’ve subsequently been given a desk, computer and told that I will no longer be working in the rail part of the transport division but  roads instead.  Unfortunately the main players for transport and roads are both on extended leave until the end of the month meaning that the plan for my employment is also away from the office!! Tomorrow may prove to be better once people have cleared their desks following the Christmas break and I’m hoping for some more direction on what I’ll be doing.  For now though I have managed to complete this blog entry and sort out some general admin, as well as enjoy a lunch break – something I had never had sight of on the MOF!!!

With any luck by the end of the week I’ll have enough detail to cobble together the content of AER 5 and from next Monday should be hitting the ground running, if not earlier.  Until next time, happy new year to all!!!

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…

So the honeymoon period is well and truly over on the MOF project. I’ve managed to pick up every bit of “unallocated” work going ranging from non conformance reports for link span pivots through to the co-ordination of electrical works. (note that the term “easy meat” can be applied to electrical works; this is simple primary school engineering unlike the technical challenges of hardcore civil works such as concreting!) Hours are longer (16 hour days, 6 days a week), breaks non-existent and the days/weeks fly by in what seems like no time at all!  I am not complaining about this (although Lisa is) as it’s a good challenge, great for experience and a cracking eye opener.

The last 3 weeks have rolled into one solid mass of work from my perspective and it often feels like groundhog day to an extent, hence why this may not be as structured as normal and more of me downloading my thoughts in no particular order.

The first thing I must tell all about is welding.  Now i didn’t know much about welding until approximately 3 weeks ago but i am now a ninja in comparison producing weld maps and traces in my sleep. Why the sudden knowledge gain, because all welding on-site was stopped by the client Bechtel when they realised that the site had been operating without a single weld procedure in place for 15 months! Ha ha you are chuckling to yourself, unlike the QA manager who has just received over 100 non conformance report for the weld splicing and other structural welds across the whole project.  i feel some commercial bun-fights coming on…

What this actually shows us though is the poor state of affairs that the MOF project is in. The history (what i can gather from those there at the start) is that there were never design reviews, pre project procedures were never followed and that the vast majority of decisions were made in isolation by the PM at the time.  This is no surprise as the PM has continued in the same vein throughout the project resulting in a 44 day delay to the project due to his whimsical decision to drop the designed dewatering plan and simply pump out to save time.  Oops we all merrily chuckled to ourselves in a told you so kind of way only to realise that the heat is well and truly on us to make up some of that lost time over the next couple of months.  Luckily for us the PM has now moved on to pastures new (not entirely his choice is the word on the street via jungle drums from the client) but he will not be overly missed; mainly because he never spoke (including morning pleasantries) to any one less important than the construction manager, made decisions that affected everyone without consideration for that effect and his good ideas were no more than that – ideas with no direction on how to implement or resources to deliver.

Enough about that – as Steve Dollimore might say “he clearly failed the Leadership 101 module in life”

Next on the agenda has to be the strained relationship between the principal contractor (Bechtel) and the sub-contractor (John Holland).  Over the last 2 months it has deteriorated to the point where fisty-cuffs have almost appeared which is not good at all.  Why this has come to this is simple; a lack of trust between the 2 parties combined with the fact that until now JHG have failed to deliver as per the ITP’s, often sub-standard as well as making last-minute design changes and failing to inform Bechtel until moments before ITP inspections.  I have seen the effect that this has had on the morale of the workforce first hand and have taken a positive approach / stand against the Bechtel engineers in order to deliver something.  The result is that instead of pouring 5-6 pile plugs at a time I set us up to pour 2 which is more achievable and manageable. This is giving a series of small “wins” across the project and keeping the workforce moving. It seems that little and often does really work!!!

Over the next few weeks I am going to endeavour to improve this working relationship by getting my head into some of the areas in which we are failing.  A lot is to do with the passage of information and improving the timely communication of design changes/issue of revised design drawings. I plan to audit the endless list of approved RFI’s that the designers have sent back to us and forward the critical detail to Bechtel including getting the design drawings amended.

The final thing that is really causing friction is working in isolation and proactivity. Each of the crews seem to have little to no concept of the works programme and even less of an idea of their part within it.  The programme has changed so much recently that almost all work fronts have lost their float and are on the critical path.  This has happened to most of my areas of responsibility and the pressure is mounting. Fortuitously I have broad shoulders and can manage the added heat but others are cracking.  this means that they are becoming solely focussed on their responsibility and failing to think of the areas that they impact in undertaking their works.  It is an issue and needs resolving.  So much so that the construction manager has moved his office to the coal face in order to sort out the issues and get the project moving once again as a cohesive organisation instead of the disjointed until it has become.

Whilst the above may sound largely negative I have actually got very little to complain about as I am taking the opportunities available to deliver effect  and add value to the project.  I have managed to gain the trust of the work force, my supervisor and the construction manager and just by sending out a weekly forecast of works I have manages to change people’s thought processes.  Where the JHG employees lack training is in project management at the lowest level and using what I have learnt from both RD and the APMP/management training I am able to show the team the benefits of breaking tasks down into the constituent parts, identifying risk(s) and planning accordingly.  My eyes have also been fully opened to the wonderful world of procurement and resources, something I have previously left for a QM to sort out.  Whilst not as simple as ordering by NSN it holds many of the same principles and an engineer is judged here by his planning skills. Plan well and all is good, fail to plan and the whole project stops whilst awaiting for the delivery of a critical nut, washer or other constituent component!

Overall, life remains good for Team Serevena.  Austyn has been on school holidays driving Lisa insane but starts back this Monday. Elliot is improving in his speech and is obsessed by dinosaurs.  Harrison is doing well at 10 weeks, feeding well and getting big so fast! Lisa is keeping herslf busy with friends and arts & crafts as well as keeping the house together in my extended absences of ridiculously unsociably long shifts. We are off on our holidays again next week (Heron Island at a special “locals” rate)as the project goes onto a close-down from Thursday-Monday although the pressure is on for people to work through it to gain some momentum on the programme. As for me, nothing new to report, looking forward to the break and a bit of diving!

Stay safe,

Roy