Week 1 at GHD – 7-11 Jan 13
My first week has been very calm and I am being eased in gently to the Transportation Business Group. Within the roads section, where I am initially placed, life is relatively quiet whilst awaiting the tender proposals submitted prior to Christmas to come back with responses whilst at the same time waiting for the business community to fully get back to work after the festive break in order to offer up the potential of some new work.
This week I have been undertaking a series of e-learning modules as part of the induction process but also a series of educational modules that teach new employees how to effectively use the GHD systems in place and my part in them. I have been very impressed by the quality of the training and wish that John Holland had a similar system for when I started with them. (Note that JHG may well have this but it was not something that I was shown/directed to complete).
My first “real” work has been the involvement in a proposal to secure an option study for the “Staged Upgrade of Port Drive including Intersection with Kite Street”. Basically this is a 3.4km section of road that needs to be upgraded in order to provide sufficient capacity for the forecast 400% increase in port traffic over the next 15 years. How it works is that GHD do a risk analysis and authorize a set amount of money to be invested into the proposal at their own risk; in this instance approximately $12,000. Then they put together a proposal as to why they should win the work, how much it will cost and how they will go about it, backed up by recent project experience and CV’s of the staff. I volunteered to take the lead on commercial and legal matters to gain more exposure for the benefit of my DO’s and the team were happy for this. I’ve also picked up responsibility for generating the program of works and fee estimating. It’s an insight and enjoyable thus far.
Other items from this week has been the preparation of AER 5, finalization of my TMR 4 first draft and joining a gym. The benefit of working off of Curtis Island is that I can now leave where I work and do some phys in preparation for my return to green skin and there are actually gyms open outside of my working hours, a novelty compared to Gladstone!!!
Family is all doing well, Austyn has 3 more weeks before starting school, Elliot is enrolled into a nursery and Harrison is almost ready to walk. Lisa is just happy to see me for more than an hour a day and have a conversation with an adult, although this can sometimes prove to be debatable as she’s not overly keen on either project management theory or concrete quality assurance.
The weekend sees us going to a dinosaur petting zoo for Elliot’s belated birthday trip (the downside to a birthday on Christmas Day), I’m catching up with an old friend who was a BGE when I was his Sqn 2IC who’s successfully moved over to Oz last year and I’ll be finishing up my Course work in readiness for the thesis onslaught.
Until next time, stay safe and have fun!
The end, a particularly painful move and a new beginning
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!!!
Cofferdams, Concrete and Coming to the End…
Cofferdams, Concrete and Coming to an End….
The last few weeks on site saw the start of the cofferdam preparations, which from a Monitoring Manager perspective I had a key negotiating and decision making role between third parties, the Client and Vinci. The main issue was the level and type of monitoring that would have to be installed prior, during and after the cofferdam works (sheet piling, dewatering, construction of cofferdam, de-construction and construction of tunnel) in order to satisfy all parties.
The Contractor’s consultant, convinced of the adequacy of his design did not deem any necessary, the Client was hinting at costly underwater scanning technology, Thames Water wanted the moon on a stick and London City Airport (originating from BA demands) wanted to charge 10 passenger seats for the additional risk of construction works in case of a plane crash! Cut a long story short, the Thames Water issue was one of vibration, resolved by rearranging the sequencing and location of sheet piling works and proving that the service tunnel was actually steel and not iron! A metallurgical test was carried out after we showed Thames Water a photograph of a drawing taking during a trip to the London Docklands Museum which showed the pipe as steel! This doubled the allowable vibration limits solving at least one the the problems.
A monitoring proposal was eventually agreed which included prop , sheet pile, tie and dock wall monitoring. The designer was most concerned about deflection of the southern dock wall (which is sheet piled and tied following expansion works in the 50s) during dewatering. The siting and operation of the increased monitoring formed an integral part of the cofferdam planning process, since Crossrail will not allow any works to proceed without monitoring in place. This clause also lost a week of production days after a £25k Total Station was stolen from the West Tunnel Portal! Ironically this, and the Client EWN regarding monitoring requirements for the cofferdam, went a long way in getting the QS’s to acknowledge EWNs and CEs from the monitoring subcontractor (who were already owed over £150k)!
Monitoring issues increased exponential as works progressed elsewhere on the site, of note was movement of the DLR Prince Regent Street Station as a result of major excavation works adjacent to the retaining wall. Fortunately because the excavation was only 400m lower that the final structural slab level (in order to carry out pile remedial works before laying the Load Transfer Platform (LTP)), the designer was probably more worried that the Contractor! Hence, we had a number of very collaborative Engineer Review Meetings to conclude that the station was a piled box section, movement was conversant (albeit not entirely predicted) with the works and ground conditions and stabilisation was eventually established!
In addition to normal works, the Limo site a few kms west of the site (where a TBM shaft had been constructed) turned off their dewatering in November which had provided us with 3m of draw down. There was then a 2 week period before we were had planned to turn on our Thannet Wells in preparation for the Central Sump shaft deepening. It was interesting to monitor the effects, heave in the central section and increased water flow rates from our existing Chalk wells. When we started to get our feet wet in the tunnel however, I managed to negotiate the Thannet dewatering date forward (at a cost of £800) – there had to be some perks to the Monitoring Manager job!
After severe delays with piling, and a curious bout of concrete chicken pocks (eventually put down to admixture quantities, resulting in an entire bay strip out), the reinforced concrete slab programme started to progress well on both the east and west surface rail.
Drilling and Grouting works in the tunnel eventually finished at the revised extent (70m less that the planned invert replacement length (although the same as the OCI agreed length). The delay, largely due to ground conditions initiated a design review of the invert replacement extents. Vinci claimed it would cost £10m extra to do the extra 70m predominantly in the River Terrace Deposits (of which £4m were preliminary costs). Crossrail has their Designers go back to the railtrack designers and make every tweak possible to achieve the requisite rail alignment within the OCI extent. The Client won and as I left, were considering (albeit impossible to contractually implement) a pro-rata deduction based on the fact that Vinci were now not doing ‘£10m’ of work! An illustration on the ‘spirit of mutual cooperation’ by a Client on Cost Plus contract, and a Contractor experiencing the Pain aspect of the Pain/Gain share. After their 12 week (turned 6 month stint at Connaught), Bachy will be returning after Christmas to grout the base of the Dock Walls to form a seal with the Lambeth Group as the 3rd and 4th side of the cofferdam.
In the Tunnel, the negotiation of Invert Replacement Bay and Prop size continues, but Target Cost, progress bonus driven Gallagers are continuing at pace with the Central Box Section replacing the Twin Tunnels. The main issues have been timely issue of levels and reinforcement detailing. However, as Crossrail approach their Dock Passage Closure window (ironically not a Contractual date for Vinci), approvals and acceptances have been much more forthcoming! A major logistical problem was concrete pumping over long distances which was solved by driving the concrete into the tunnel to a concrete pump adjacent to the works. Production time was increased by bringing in additional formwork, mounting it on wheels and moving it from Bay to Bay without the requirement to re-errect it. A commercial issue has been questioning Gallagers on their ‘bonus’ scheme. They believe it drives production and ultimately saves the job money (which having seen the rate of work I would tend to agree), however our QSs do not believe it is conversant with the terms of the contract… the saga continues….
Aside from that, my last job outside the tunnel was planning the Parapet Wall removal which has Traffic Management (liaison with the local council), scaffold, crash desk, temporary propping and achieving requisite levels around existing arches aspects. However, surprisingly the works have been delayed and will not start until after Christmas… Easter… next Christmas… have I become cynical at the end of my Contractor placement??!!
And finally, meet the Team….. my trusty Assistant Site Engineer Alex, the Tunnel Team (with left to right 2 new Assistant Site Engineers, fellow Section Engineer and ‘senior’ Assistant Site Engineer (vying for promotion) Alex…!) the Tunnel Construction Manager (left), mad Irish Foreman (centre) and my line manager the Tunnel and Central Section Production Manager (right), and the Works Manager recently turned Surface Construction Manager.
Happy Nicolaus!
Mon 3 Dec – Fri 7 Dec 12
The Transition
I have successfully arranged a time split for phase 3 meaning I get some access to Civil Works projects and also Engineering Division stuff – which is great. Both teams are very good to work with so far and all seem well motivated and understanding of the Development Objective requirements. There’s just the usual IT type stuff to tie up and I’m under way.
Civil Works:
Poplar Island
The poplar Island project is a ‘win – win’ flagship project for USACE. One of the key roles of USACE is to maintain all the navigation channels which involves a lot of dredging. They have been working for many years now with the Ports Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency and other local stakeholders and have been using the dredge material to re-build Poplar Island which was almost completely eroded away through natural means. This means that nature habitats are created instead of generating pollution by dumping at sea. They claim that savings are made as less fuel is required to ship the material to deep sea, but when you look at how expensive the project is in general – I don’t see this argument holding water (pardon the pun).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poplar_Island_(Chesapeake_Bay)
For this project I am looking at the hydraulic structures that make up the spillways and inlets to see how they could be improved. I made a visit to the island this week to do an initial survey of the structures. I have laid out the structure of what I aim to achieve here and have met with all of the stakeholders respectively. I will shortly be entering a detailed research phase.
Engineering:
Damaged Bunker
I have been responding to a call for assistance from Afghanistan. Our American cousins decided they needed to build bunkers to house MLRS (yes…British MLRS). The required clear spans are too wide for any of the ‘off the shelf’ designs and so they got a contractor to design and build a bespoke system.
They used HESCO Mil7s stacked up to build a wall, onto which a concrete ring beam was placed before adopting a 3ft deep lightweight truss with blast protection (HESCO Mil5s) on the roof. A 3-bay option was approved and the design has been stamped by a professional engineer (yet to be determined who this was). As they were finishing the roof of the final bay, a catastrophic collapse occurred, injuring several people, three of which had to be med-evac’d.
The US Sapper Captain has to develop a report and an investigation and has requested our help. We have had the world’s supply of photographic evidence returned to us to pour over along with the designs. It’s clearly the lightweight trusses that have given way and many construction errors are visible (mixed use of screws, endemic over-tightening of screws, strap locations at the same place on every truss – potentially inducing a block failure etc).
My first area of research turned up some interesting data. It turns out they are mis-using the HESCO cells entirely. The Mil7s are not even meant to be double stacked – let alone have the additional roof weight on there. Many of the ground level cells are showing signs of extreme distress – irrespective of the fact that the truss collapsed. Along with all of the observations about construction, choice of materials in the truss – I am recommending that they tear down the remaining structure as opposed to trying to fix it with a recommendation that they adopt a more traditional design that incorporates an internal frame of some sort.
The initial report will go next week and I have recommended that we produce a sanitized lessons learned for wider distribution. I’m also trying to get some of the pictures released for HESCO to use in their education packages. I’ll post some pics once I get the all clear.
Other News
So all in all a very exciting, busy and productive first 4 days. I have managed to wangle a slot on a USACE event in Philadelphia tomorrow so I will have some new turf to explore.
I got to my new cubicle and started chopsing off about all the crap in there. I was throwing out masses of stuff – it’s as if someone just left and didn’t come back. Then I opened a draw and found stacks of food and coffee creamer and bowls that were growing mould before I really had a good whinge about whichever dirty minger was responsible for this. At this point the new boss came and apologized and tried to put it delicately that the guy I was talking about had recently committed suicide…..and nobody had been able to bring themselves to clear out the cube properly yet…… “So he won’t be needing the creamer then?” I replied brightly – happy in the knowledge that all this stuff is up for grabs…..not sure how well he took it. I am refraining from drawing a chalk outline on the floor….that’s a little dark even for me.
Ulli’s birthday this weekend – time to go out disco dancing Borat style!
Also – today is Nicolaus….like a mini Christmas that the Germans celebrate….not sure why or what the significance is. Traditionally you give very small gifts and everyone is happy…..so I look forward to a new pair of socks when I get home.
HAPPY NICOLAUS!
Now arrived in the Design Office in Baltimore
New Office – 10 South Howard Street, Baltimore
I have now wrapped up and handed over most of the work which I was involved with at USAMRIID and SSP sites over in Frederick, and am now daily commuting up the road to Baltimore to the District HQ, based out of the Mechanical Section.
Apart from the fact that the HVAC is broken (ironic, I thought) which makes the office about 30C everything else seems to be falling into place. I am about to go to their weekly meeting which details the existing and expected projects, hopefully will be able to position myself on a interesting yet modular project.
SSP
Back in Frederick, the SSP project is still treading water, though a new Bio-Challenge test has been conducted, which we are currently waiting…… It is expected that a test pass will alleviate many of the commissioning issues, though it is becoming increasingly evident that the “customer” does not want to be responsible for the plant, and so is “stalling” as much as they can, this is clearly making the commissioning, closeout and handover of the plant difficult. As a point in case, last week I had to reassure some of the USAMRIID customers that it was perfectly normal for clouds of steam to be coming out of the steam vent on the steam plant, and did not indicate that the steam condensate traps were broken, and so we did not need to launch an investigation and fix it.
USAMRIID
Construction is still continuing at pace. Several issues have come up, but are being resolved as quickly as possible. (1. Slightly flammable pipe insulation in plenum areas, 2. duct cleaning – cutting holes in ducts that are already tested, in order to clean them…, 3. continuing issue of accuracy of duct testing paperwork, thus throwing doubt about the results, 4. In ability to pull some of the coils out of AHU’s etc)
The main concern as far as I can see is that there STILL really does not seem to be a schedule. Despite this being the case for the entire time that I have been there, and various of us voicing our concerns about this situation, the Resident Engineer does not want to delay the project by calling for a stop work order, (realistically the only stick that would have effect) due to lack of adherence to the specification, so the situation rumbles on. Clearly this will become a more pressing issue when commissioning comes, also, from our inspection of what schedule there is, no time has been allowed for reviewing the submitted system tests etc, feasibly this may cause real embarrassment in about a years’ time, luckily (for him) the resident Engineer has said he will probably retire in 10 months time…
I am intending to continue to pop back to the USAMRIID on a frequent basis, to keep an ear to the ground to hear the outcome of these issues, and contribute to the lessons learnt.
Home Front
Sarah is doing well in her job, and getting used to the fact that she is firing about a person a day, but this is apparently expected when largely working with Ex-Cons.
My Beer is going well, I now have particularly smooth pumpkin ale, (the Americans have figured out a way to make almost anything from pumpkin – ale, pie, soup, stew )
We have now got a Christmas tree wedged into our little place, it is about 9 ft tall and 5 ft diameter, which actually may be a little too big, it does make it feel very forested in our front room, in a nice way. Needless to say, it looked smaller in the field.
Aberdeen Update
Is it really 4 weeks since the last blog???
Well, for those readers who haven’t had the good fortune of seeing my AER, here’s an update on the goings on of your favourite BP Project Engineer.
Magnus B Crane Changeout.
Apologies to Ish who may have had burnt ears after my last blog, but he may be right about the HLV after all, it’s just that I couldn’t find his evidence for it! So, complete with dodgy ‘tache, I took a trip to Holland to meet up with Heerema Marine Contractors (HMC) to see how they would do it. Turns out, it really is that easy, but they won’t formalise anything until we contract them to do so and therein lies the problem. It’s a chicken and egg situation: I now need to convince BP to commit to using a Heavy Lift Vessel (HLV), to then get the guys from Procurement and Supply Chain Management (PSCM) to get all the vendors to bid so we can select an HLV that they can prove it is the best option and we can contract it. More meetings with BP management/ PSCM to follow but I’m particularly keen to go with an HLV as it seems such a better option (and it fits in with my UK Spec Competencies too). Unlike the HLV Sparrows showed us (see last blog), HMC’s Thialf can stabilise itself and has removed similar size cranes from other platfoms (Fig 1) and installed new platform cranes onto platforms in single lifts. Easy!!!
Fig 1. HLV removing platfomr crane on NW Hutton
ETAP ALQ
My brief to the Area Operations Manager (think high level bloke that is responsible for a number of oil fields) went well and I left with a whole load more questions to answer. Like any meeting though, there were the usual suspects asking pointless, irrelevant (for this stage) questions but on the whole the comments were very useful. Lots more work before I get to the end of Appraise and write a good DSP, but it will be a good project for Imran to follow on with in Select and Define (and the guy after him to take into Execute). We’re looking at a 2015 installation so it should keep RSME engineers busy for some time yet. As a rough order of cost, £20m (P50) will get you something like this (Fig 2)
Fig 2. Schematic of ETAP ALQ for 40 POB
Magnus TAR jobs
These are what are keeping people on the Magnus team “excited” at the moment as deadlines for Work Packs and long lead items approach and everyone wants things done yesterday. I have six jobs going on in the TAR and they are at various states. Since they are all “priority”, it gets interesting when I then have to prioritise between them. On the whole, we are getting there but I fear that some won’t be ready on time unless there is some serious “pulling out” of fingers.
What am I doing about this? My four Runcorn jobs are actually going OK (although a little behind schedule, as everyone’s are), it’s the ones done here which I’m struggling with, and I think the problem is a combination of the inherent complexity and the turnover of contracted engineers. So, in true officer fashion, I’m keeping our heads up, and trying my best to facilitate all the required conversation between the process engineers working on the jobs and the Technical Authorities in BP. We’re getting there, but it’s my biggest risk.
In Other News
- Dougal is getting big, and I will do soon if I don’t start running properly again: 2-3 hours of walking a day is not what I call training! Still, I’ve got two ultras lined up for next year, either one of the Mont Blanc races (100km along, 5.5km up) or the Bob Graham Round. And for something short, Combat Stress have given me a place in the Edinburgh marathon – I’m planning on breaking 3 hours.
- I’ve been selected as a reserve for the REMEC 8000 expedition in Aug/Sept 13. I’ll have to plan what training I can go on around my work, thesis and wife, and if it looks like I’m going to get on the team, consider my postings carefully.
- Just had the folks up for a week; it rained pretty much non-stop and their aged, three-legged border collie just about coped with the boy Dougal.
- And sadly Movember comes to an end. I didn’t plan on raising any money but a few folk from work insisted and I raised £60. It’s good to see the rise of facial hair; in one meeting recently there were 11 of us present and just 4 clean-faces (two of whom were lassies).
TensarTastic
C4ISR:
Now that I am gearing up for the shift to District I am actively trying to remove myself from this project. The vast quantities of information need to be in the Office Engineer’s head and not mine otherwise it will be lost. I have continued to sift the info and formulate the facts relating to this claim which is now pushing over $4M. The OE really needs some more manpower to be able to get through this in tact.
EDC Solarwall:
Coming along really nicely. I urged the contractor to switch his schedule and we’re all really glad he did now. Access to a high wall section is required and the ground is soft and has a heavy cross fall. His rigs trip out if he exceeds the safe working envelope which has now proven that he can’t do the job with the tools at hand (Glad this came to light now and not a the end of the project – he still has options to tackle other sections before his time runs out). We’re now looking at building a temporary road using our old friend Tensar. Unfortunately the contractor doesn’t really know what he’s doing with it and the bottom fell out of his world when I systematically picked the plan to pieces. His re-show was not much better so this could be an interesting stand off as I won’t let him continue unless he can either prove his engineering or establish the world’s most robust mitigation plans.
The working relationship with the Huntsville Contract Specialist has broken down all together. I feel they are good at the contract side of things but they are so far removed from the coal face they have no idea about what the impact of their decisions are. USACE has developed training courses (PROSPECT) based on ensuring that procedures match the Federal Acquisition Regulation. All of the office procedures are built up on this basis. Huntsville produced a very ‘lean’ contract and are sticking to their interpretation of the words so rigidly that it means several of my team can no longer fulfill their duties as required …meaning that the measures put in place to enforce compliance to the FAR are now defunct by someone else’s interpretation of other sections of the FAR. I’ve raised it though the correct channels and we came close to pulling the plug all together as a result….but for now I carry on regardless but have to be careful to caveat everything and reference all decisions back to the final decision of the Huntsville office…..I’d love for the department of labor to pay a surprise visit.
I also signed off on my first electrical submittal this week….very proud…so if the whole place burns down…you haven’t seen me….right?
EDC Roofing Project:
The pre-construction meeting has been held and already there are some clashes with the Solarwall project. I need to ensure verification and testing occurs but none of the air handling units on the roof work. The units are to be replaced under the new roof contract so there is no appetite to spend money on the repairs. The maintenance guys are saying they can fix, but only in 2 month’s time, leaving a very small window for my guys to remain on their schedule….but I’ll be gone by then! I’m eventually handing this over to Mike Notto (an ex Westpointer) and I suppose any legacy of this will filter down to Nick when he arrives.
Time for less typing on a Friday night and more wine with the wife….that makes much more sense. Stay safe folks.
Diaphragm continued
Hi all,
I’ve been on leave for a while – hence the silence from Adelaide…
I’ve just uploaded some photos to my blog at www.roselliott.wordpress.com regarding my reinforcing work here. I’ve tried to avoid lengthy passages lest you turn into steel geeks like me – so photos galore as always.
Please give me a shout if you get stuck on reinforcing issues!
The site will be chaos on monday becasue the PM just got sacked – whoops! We haven’t been told why yet but cost overruns and delays are a likely reason I think! Plus the commercial manager was up to something dodgy and has also been removed…. crazy!
Keep safe,
Ros
Moodle issues
All,
Is anyone else having issues logging on the moodle? My login seems to have expired somehow. Trying to jump on to see if our TMR3 feedback has been uploaded.
A brief update – post Sandy
All clear. We stocked up on everything the man on the telly recommended and while other areas of Maryland were without power for days and others got 3 feet of snow – it seemed to just forget about us. My weekend plans to go to New York are utterly cancelled though – seeing as most of it is without power and the subway systems are completely flooded. They closed down the subways days before the storm hit and essentially crippled the city – I later found out this was due to the thousands of homeless people living down there that needed to be evacuated……they could have used one disaster to solve another….but perhaps that’s the squaddie humor kicking in.
USACE deployed the mobile command and control unit – headed up by our own Mr Brian Walton. He’s still deployed and assisting with the coordination efforts. I applied to do the Emergency Response course a while back but the boss reckoned it wasn’t in line with my DOs (she’s right – I just wanted the jolly) but with hindsight as I was tucked up safe and warm with the Mrs, I decided it was for the best.
I have been doing some coordination work with the Hancock to facilitate the jobs for Nick’s arrival – I’m sure he’ll have a much smoother integration than I did. The HQ project is starting to gear up so there’s some good scope for PE work. The Roofing project should be in full swing ot get some technical aspects under his belt and then there’s a bunch of levee projects that will also make benefit of his skills. I also think they’ve let out all their jokes about englishisms out on me so he’s less likely to be bullied.
The C4ISR is ongoing and tediously complicated. The Office Engineer has embraced the tools that I have updated recently and is making full use of them. We need more staff to get through this!
The Solarwall project was on hold throughout the storm which gave me a chance to catch up on submittals. The biggest problem is actually still with our sister office in Alabama. The biggest cause of wasted time appears to be from the person that wrote the contract (which has been found to hold many holes and mistakes by the Harrisburg Office). It’s as if they are defending poor decisions out of pride or spite and have generated needless work for our office. I have formally requested that the issues currently under dispute (see previous blog) are now to be raised at Contracting Officer level. My boss is supporting all of my observations and conclusions to the point that they are prepared to sever ties with the Huntsville Office if they continue like this….it’s like a soap opera.
My final gripe of late was that having agreed that a temporary solution is required for the Albright flood gate (which managed to not float away in the storm) it appears that nobody is willing to be held accountable. Apparently if nobody is responsible, nobody can be sued if it goes wrong. I find this utterly irresponsible As things stand it’s easy enough to blame the previous contractors that built the gate. I have since been assured by my boss that the correct channels have been made aware and that the relevant plans are in place….even if they don’t know who’s meant to be executing the fixes or where the materials will come from. It’s just wonderful that nobody died.
I have volunteered to go and do another schools presentation. This time it is for Highschool students who have done introductory calculus and are making decision on which avenue to take in their prospective engineering careers. As long as they don’t ask me any calculus questions we’ll all get along just fine. This is another STEM project and I will be able to re-use a lot of the previous stuff I’ve done.
Other News: Right – enough of this – I’m on leave until the end of the week when it’s back to reality. In the meantime I am happy to report that Ulli has now been offered a full time job with the networking agency. We look forward to thanksgiving where we are required to eat lots and watch football….some biblical thing I think.
Also – it appears that Obama remains as Commander in Chief – hopefully the locals will calm down a bit now it’s all over. But if anything goes wrong – at least we know who to blame.
Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog 