What was the name of the safety course we did at Chatham?
Anyone remember the proper name for the safety course we did right at the end of phase 1? Not the red card, the long one. Of course I was paying very serious attention at the time and not dreaming about surfing and scuba diving at all; it’s just slipped my mind.
Dirty Tricks and Business Trips
Because one of the projects we have going on is the building of a new kitchen inside the old hospital, I’ve been looking at refrigeration a lot recently. Whilst we have a consultant for almost everything, commercial refrigeration seems to be viewed as something of a black art in these parts. With a mechanical consultant unwilling to commit to a design, and a fit-out consultant who would only provide a performance specification (‘How do I build it then?’ was my question), I was asked to do some work with a number of WA refrigeration contractors to come up with a suitable design. Immediately, I found that the gene pool was shallow, and, like the shallow reefs off this lovely coast, dominated by a rouge predator (did you know Perth is now the great white shark attack capital of the world?). It was fairly obvious that one of the contractors had managed to cut himself a deal with some of the major WA suppliers and was muscling out the others (some even told me they had been warned off); unfortunately, WA is not unfamiliar with price collaboration and corruption.
So I got the only contractor (he of the shadows) who would even talk about tendering in so we could discuss the design. I had billed it as a bit of a workshop where we could turn the performance spec into an outline design. Two things were obvious within a few minutes: firstly, the refrigeration exercises we did at Chatham were very useful, and have made us easily as competent in refrigeration design as the jokers we have to work with (thank you Mark and Jim); and secondly, that this guy didn’t know his psychrometric chart from a hole in the ground. Eventually, I was told that the price was the price ($1.3M by the way), the design was the design (done by someone else with his margin, rather than the performance spec, in mind evidently) and that I could take it or leave it, ‘but if ya leave it mate, there’s no one in the State that’ll touch ya.’ It was a little like something from Goodfellas. Anyway, it turns out he was right; no one else would talk to us and he wouldn’t budge. He was mightily displeased with me into the bargain, since it turns out he has been bamboozling us, and our client, for some time.
Having discussed this all with my PM, I was tasked with finding an alternative, which I have been doing over the last few weeks. The guys I’ve recommended we sign up (I find out for definite tomorrow, but it’s really a no brainer) are based in Melbourne, will have all of the cold room components and the chiller units assembled in Melbourne, will fly a team of technicians here to do the build, and are still significantly cheaper than the, frankly, criminals we’ve been happy to work with in the past. The result is that we save in the region of $300K and get a system that is much better suited to the client’s requirements than to the contractors profit margin, as was the case before. A bonus for me was that I had to report on the Melbourne contractor’s previous projects, the standards at his factory and of his suppliers, and the technical competency of his team to produce a suitable design. We did a test design exercise together based on the scout hut problem.
Social
Apart from the trip to Melbourne (I took Tasha along too), we’ve managed to fit in some excellent Aussie fun recently. My office took Tasha and I to watch an AFL (aussie rules) match the other day, which was excellent, and we’ve made friends with a player for Port Melbourne in the VFL (Aussie Rules but limited to Victoria, cheaper, and with more fighting) who’s invited us to the grand final in a few weeks’ time. Tasha is studying hard and has her entrance exam in Melbourne on the day before
Weeks 20-25, 23 Jul – 31 Aug 12. The slog continues…..
I wish that I could write an update talking about the excellent progress made on-site but alas, I can’t. My programme of works is hindered by backfilling, which in turn is hampered by tie bar installation, which in turn is delayed due to dewatering which is ultimately down to poor decision-making by the superintendent, who knows nothing about cofferdams, groundwater flow or reading a works programme! The solution, throw money at the project!
In the last few weeks things have been building up nicely towards a catastrophic failure and then boom…it happens…the dewatering failed. The sheet pile wall failed to keep out the pacific ocean and the pumps failed to keep up. Net result, the pump area flooded, the pumps were hoisted out and the sump flooded. Overnight, due to a lack of any active dewatering the cofferdam created by the king pile wall held in the flood water but only just as the wall moved over a 12 pile stretch to the tune of 1.8m towards the sea. It turns out that the design could keep out the pacific but in this instance not the water trapped within the coffer! This is a significant issue and one of which I will focus TMR 3 towards having already had discussion with John and Richard via email. The only disappointing facet is that this happened on Friday 31st and I’ve just gone on holiday. I have put my mole to work on site to keep me posted with updates on progress..I suspect though that little physical construction will have occurred by the time I return.
Prior to this the civil crew has had some reasonable success. Most notably, we installed our first 2 sections of capping beam (20% of total), 1 of the ten mooring bollards and completed 2nd of the 7 light pole footings. Tensions with the client have reduced to more reasonable levels and this is mainly due to a JHG senior management decision to proceed with all works providing we have designer (Arup) approval. This means that all the waiting for Bechtel for inspections, coded drawings to be approved, etc is no longer an obstacle which means work started to proceed with fewer road blocks. The only obstacle now preventing the civil crew is the earthworks and crane crews completing all tie rod installation and backfilling up to formation level to construct the capping beam and MOF furniture. Only problem with this is the minor issue of dewatering!!!
On return from my holidays I have finally been loaded to the safety and leadership course down in Brisbane (6 months late) and a course on how to use Lotus notes. If you look back at some of Steve’s initial blogs you’ll note that he did these in March! Oh to be on an organised site…
During this blog period we had a visit from “Uncle Rob” Porter who is Austyn’s godfather figure and managed a short break to the amazing Fraser Island for a bit of off-road driving and whale watching. We were not disappointed and got “mugged” by the whales as they circled the boat for 1.5 hours, performing their tricks, breaching and the like. A great little break and I thoroughly recommend it to my colleagues if they make a visit here during the whale watching season.
Other news sees us heading North from tomorrow on a road trip to Cairns stopping at various hot spots along the way as our annual August (ish) holiday. this will be the last trip for a while as my savings pot runs dry so it will be a good one! The process has started to find a house and schooling in Brissy and we’re travelling there in mid to late October to undertake some viewings and secure one. It may mean that we end up moving before December and I will do the classic Australian FiFo for 3-4 weeks if needs be. This isn’t all bad as it would mean that I can get some thesis nailed in my spare time with minimal child interference! Wait out to see what happens.
Finally, don’t listen to Matt’s country and western top 5. By the end of a track you want to to punish yourself for being so foolish as to listen in the first place.
Until at least the 17th September, that’s all folks!
A quick update
Tower Crane
The good news is that the tower crane got successfully installed on Saturday and Sunday, the construction went very smoothly and though long days the Red and White livery of the crane in John Holland stands out against all the yellow cranes across Perth.
What this does mask is a drama with the strength of the concrete which led to lot of running around. The pile cap design required a strength of 30 Mpa, however 3 and 6 day test cylinder strengths were 16 Mpa and 23 Mpa accordingly. This result of the 6 day test was delivered at 12pm on the Friday. This resulted in the requirement for some urgent core samples to be taken from the pile cap. Fortunately the lab stayed open for us and the results came in at an average of 30.5Mpa….phew…..at this point half of the site had been shut and a 250tonne crane was on site. If the installation had been delayed it would have been costly!!
Stair Core 3
The reason for the ridiculous number of piles in Stair Core 3 has not been driven by the loads but by an error in design (a problem made worse by construction being so close to completed design). I can’t write too much as this is the subject of an ongoing investigation and litigation but it seems there were number of errors in the design calcs which under designed the initial piles. This resulted in the extra piles which you can see. Stair core 4 carries a similar amount of load but you will see has much fewer piles.
Of note – a frequent cry from sub contractors is the level of overdesign and redundancy being specified in the design, Often I will hear the sub contractors saying they have not seen such a large pile cap or pile with so much reinforcement. A lot of this is driven by the requirement to be the last building standing in the case of a natural disaster and the seismic loading!!
PT/TMJs
The post tender interviews went well – I was assisted by the works package manager in the end which was helpful as both our brains were fried after repeating the same meeting 3 times. The major contentious issue is the supply and install of Temporary Movement Joint shear connectors. All 3 PT sub contractors complained bitterly that they were not the right sub contractor to install these items. (The value of these items is now about 50% of the overall contract value)
The reason why these have been included is that they were never included in the superstructure works package scope and John Holland are trying to do a regain by slipping this $1,000,000 extra into the PT works Package (another ball dropping moment from the procurement team).
Concreting in the heat
Being in a hot climate and seeing as where the Corps is building at the moment I took the opportunity to attend a lecture by the Institute of Concrete yesterday on “Beating the Heat –Concreting in extreme temperatures.”
This may well ensure that I spend the rest of my career in the wilds of Scotland or Norway or some such cold place but I learnt loads. From simple wins like the best way to cool the concrete is to cool the aggregate by spraying with water and shading the aggregate prior to use. To the sci fi method of using liquid nitrogen (maybe beyond the scope of the Corps). I also now have a better understanding of plastic shrinkage (from bleed rates, evaporation nomographs to use of Aliphatic Alcohol) and again the simple to very advanced ways of mitigating this (anyone heard of internal curing before?)
Diapragms..
So I’m not sure that ‘correctly installing and inspecting diaphragms’ should be on my CV..or it may raise a few questions!
However that is what I’ve been doing – it’s such a nightmare it’s hilarious and I have a great time on site bagging and slagging the design with the poor steel fixers…I seem to remember that ‘a good steel fixer is worth his weight in gold – class’ R George 2012…
Still, we get the thing in as best as possible 😉 and I continue my daily arguments with GHD because there are a lot of clowns around the Adelaide office it appears. “You can’t bend the bar – that’s not how it’s been designed…but I’m not able to provide an alternative solution” . Fortunately I’m not alone in my views (Proj Director is anti-GHD) and there is a ginormous claim brewing.
Photos and some technical blurb on http://www.roselliott.wordpress.com
R
Only 7 months late….
Following a week in North Carolina avoiding thunder storms and a week of ground rush upon return, things are now at a manageable level again to take 5, breathe, and blog.
C4ISR (Request for Equitable Adjustment)
The initial response ot the contractor has been completed and the fine tooth-comb approach will probably keep them busy for a while. In the meantime I continue to piece together evidence from the project files as to who did what, sort the facts and then put it in context with the contract, specification and the Federal Acquisition Regulations…….it makes me want to hurt myself. We have a schedule specialist working on historical submittals to add weight to our arguments and we will be gathering a game plan soon. I’m considering the use of a decision matrix type affair to map out potential negotiation options and respective costs.
SolarWall
I have reverse engineered the Quality Assurance procedures to identify why we’re having such problems with administering this contract. The fact that two district offices are involved, one with electronic QA and one with paper-based QA with differing responsibilities might be the culprit. Iam working through amended procedures to get us back up to speed. This is the second project that has fallen foul of this. Once construction begins and the flow of information changes this should be resolved fully.
I organised and held a pre-construction meeting on Tuesday this week as well as pushing out a QA plan for comment. Unfortunately the contractor is lacking in several areas including adequate safety considerations and I havve had to delay their start date on site until all is resolved. I took the ConRep for a drive to confirm their emergency route to the hospital (it just didn’t make sense) and suprisingly we ended up at pizza hut. I’m all for the idea of grabbing a pizza on the way to the hospital but I’m not sure how appropriate that is.
The designs are at final review stage and pending a list of revisions I am confident we will be in a position to start getting the materials on site and issue Notice ot Proceed. It’s amazing how many last minute snippets of information have the potential to bring about changes to the project (which we’re obviously trying to avoid for financial reasons).
Next week promises to be hugely busy as we have initial meetings, preps for the first phases of work, site set up, contract and system training etc etc . I’ll bore you with it another time.
Bldg 760 / 732
The designs for these projects are in review in preparation for tender purposes. I managed to add some benefit of the experience from the EDC solarwall project again but am still astounded by the fact they appear to be rushing this while thing through…and then they will be wondering why the changes are costing so much. The contractor on the EDC Solarwall is obviously bidding on these projects also – judging by the questions they keep asking.
Headquarters Project…
Has finally been awarded! 7 months late. There are a million and one outstanding RFIs and the team is still not yet complete, but I reckon with a good wind we can start pre-drilling the pile locations within a month….. My collegues love my optimism.
Client Relationships (Across the whole installation)
These are an issue at the minute. The clients representatives have little interest in how the projects are being run and rarely bother to attend progress meetings. When the projects aproach completion the interest level rise, and then they see the things they are’n happy with. This results in complaints and a bad rep for USACE. There is a lot of ‘them and us’ when we ought to be one and the same. I am reminded of when a partnership agreement fell to pieces for exactly the same reasons when I was working at a local authority. I have appointed a spy to find out what the score is (One of our guys used to work with them and is trusted).
Ashley Reservist Center – Playing Sherlock Holmes again
I visited the site to observe concrete samples being taken for petrographic analysis and have openend yet another bag of worms….I can’t bring myself to give the whole story here as you will pole pencils in your eyes. Basically I noticed some irregularities with an independent test company’s figures. These were corroborated by some additional testing and now we are having to seriously ask ourselves if we want to push this further. The company would lose its licence and the whole Quality Control regime on the project would be in tatters….as well as every other USACE project conducted in Pennsylvania over the last decade! The plot has been thickened further by potential falsification of batch tickets by the concrete supplier. In any case the alegations have huge implications and can not be made without……ait for it……concrete evidence (boom boom). We are waiting on further lab test results before figuring out a course of action. I’m recommending an audit of the test lab and supplier – but who pays? Currently we can keep taking samples at our own expense and then pass the costs on to the contractor every time they are found to be lacking but this is not a full fix. I’ll report more if it gets exciting.
Conclusions
The way to avoid costly modifications and changes is to ensure that what you put out to tender is as accurate and complete as possible….which the Government consistently fails to do.
We produce PMPs and then give them a really good stiff ignoring. In my view they are not written at the right level. When it all goes wrong nobody refers to the plan to see who’s meant to be doing what.
The contractor can never win. Even if his submittals are government approved, we can still stop him in his tracks when we find additional mistakes. I just hope his profit margin is up there.
What people saythey will do and what they actually do are different things. I don’t want to become a grumpy synical old man….but I think I see my future.
Other news:
Weeks few before the boys go back to school.
Ulli seeks additional hours at work and is preparing to do a realtor course.
3D photography skills improving.
Can now identify smell of skunk (The animal – not the weed)
Still haven’t won the lottery (hence blogging instead of seeking new identity in Caribian).
Top 5 Country Songs:
I Went Back to My Fourth Wife for the Third Time and Gave Her a Second Chance to Make a First Class Fool Out of Me
I Want a Beer as Cold as My Ex-Wife’s Heart
It’s Hard to Kiss the Lips at Night that Chew Your Ass Out All Day Long
I Wanna Check You for Ticks
My Give-A-Damn’s Busted
(Nothing like The Apprentice but) You’re Fired
Period Covered 16 Jul – 20 Aug
Summary: Commercial Realities
A period where my roles have been juggled (was “promoted” to the site manager for 10 days as he and Senior Site supervisor were on leave in an amzing bit of civy man management) which has been a real challenge to balance my engineer responsibilities and the hour to hour site management. This combined with the harsh commercial realties of one of the site team being fired (he wasn’t great but the speed of his dismal was frightening) and one of the key Engineers on site being given a formal warning (made the scapegoat for his subcontractors safety issue) both these things plus a middle and senior management team which in recent weeks has been very unsupportive to the team has highlighted the responsibility bestowed onto Engineers.
Progress on Site:
Progress on site has been slower than programmed, with core piling taking significantly longer. Due to the geometry of the site this created a bottle neck and typically made access and progress difficult. However with this complete the site is opening up and production is increasing all the time.
Bulk earthworks are due to be completed this week and you can now see all four walls of the retention system, it’s great to be able to now appreciate the size of the hospital. The sites first (of five) tower cranes is due to be erected on Saturday which be another significant milestone.
Fingers crossed these items will maintain the momentum and morale will improve across the team!
Some Technical Stuff
During this period I have been championing a Value Engineering exercise to reduce the amount of dewatering required later on in the project. This has involved trying to reduce the underside of the pile caps (Currently the last 50 pile caps have a depth of 2.2m which if raised to 2.5m the dewatering will not be required). This will reduce the cost ( dewatering costs approx $30,000 per week) and make the construction easier and quicker…delinking construction from dewatering capacity issues (Capped at 50L/s because of the treatment Unit). The two methods I’m investigating are:
1. Review of services due to be in the ground –can they be pulled up onto the underside of the basement.
2. Can the depth of the pile cap be reduced.
This is turning into a key issue and has the potential to make or break the sub structure package – more to follow but if succesful this has the potenital to save the project at least $500,000.
Logistics
If it will get in the way it has. With my outlandish claim that all the boundary conditions had more or less been resolved in my last blog this seems to have been a little premature. Issues with Multiplex (separate contractor fitting out the service tunnel), the Chimney (the one that was slowly moving towars the excavation), Bus Stop (painful process to remove bus stop from site boundary and replace 50m around the corner and allow completion of capping beam). These have all rumbled on over this period. And though none were too serious 3 x small delays results in a much bigger delay to project. On the positive side the chimney has not moved during this period and Multiplex have commissioned the service tunnel and will be of the site in the next 2 days. (This involved 100,000L being pumped through the system from water tanks in the middle of our site…your service geels would love it down there it full of pipes/valves and other stuff)
Also key to successful planning has been the design catching up and outstripping the progress on site. This now means (after 7 months of piling) the project has now received all the pile designs and planned the order for the remaining piling (approx. 600 piles) to completion. This has now allowed myself and the bulk earthworks engineer to plan the order of pile caps till the end as well, which informs steel schedule waterproofing and subsequent tasks. A significant jigsaw to piece together to allow access and prepare areas ready for columns and subsequent deck pours.
NCH MRP Pile Cap Sequence 2012
Procurement
The post tensioning tenders have now come back from the Subcontractors and I am leading the initial review and organising the Tender interview with the subcontractors. These are due in the next few days and I’m trying to put some order to these interview and review the quotes. I’ve been amazed at the varying standards of bids (and the costs vary by about 30%). Also even though the tender pack was specific about what to include in the pricing no company has done the same things or included all items in the scope. Though not impossible this will take some thought to be able to compare like for like.
Also all 3 companies are taking exception to the JHG contract with each company coming back with pages of amendments to the subcontract clauses claiming they are illegal or unfair. The construction has also stipulated the PT sub contractor will be responsible for supply and installation of all Temporary Movement Joint (TMJ). Apparently this is always done by the concrete subcontractor so the PT subcontractors are not interested at all. I am trying to get to the reason for why the construction director is so keen for the PT subcontractor to do but at the moment it is baffling every one (It has allowed me to investigate TMJ/shear connector technology though which has been very interesting)
All in all, It looks like my best negotiation skills will be required.
Safety
The site has been rocked by a number of safety incidents in the last few weeks. This has mainly been a result of working at to height incidents…working on the edge of excavations and servicing on the back of excavators. A lot of this can be attributed to the legislation change which used to stipulate that working at height was 2m or above but has recently been changed to any change in height. This is unfortunate as I highlighted this issue a few months ago (see previous blog about when is a fall from height a fall from height) but the site (the safety advisors) are only now reacting to this. The result was the bulk earthworks contractor being stopped for a day and the whole site shutdown for 4 hours to review all risk assessments and reiterate the safety message to all on site, (Admittedly I was writing TMR 2 so I missed this day).
So all in all, things are OK, the engineers are still feeling a little vulnerable and still feel undervalued, under resourced and not supported but this has improved with the return of the site manager, we are now working togehter ot try and pull the team togehter again and improve morale, but the ways things are at the moment I will eb suprsied if any of the current site engineers are working for John Holland come Christmas.
In other news I had my first game of indoor cricket last week – great fun and managed to not embarrsss myself. Cricket season starts in September so am now training a couple times a week with the local club…can’t wait!!
Trials & Tribulations
Tunnel Invert Replacement Trial
Background
The removal and replacement of the invert slab will be the first complete removal of part of the existing tunnel structure, and can only take place following the successful soil stabilization by dewatering and groundwater depressurisation (surface wells, in-tunnel wells and drilling and grouting). Based on an analytical structural model, the Client specified that excavation bays must not exceed 1.8m, and the adjacent structure must be supported by a temporary works scheme. In order to determine the actual loads which will be exerted on temporary works, real time data is required. This is provided by monitoring the load exerted in the props during a trial construction of 2 bays. The trial aims to establish the actual propping requirements, as well as determining the most effective methodology.
Trial Temporary Works
Installation of Walers and Hydraulic Props
Trial Monitoring
Groundforce MP250 props provide 24/7 load monitoring of prop loads using an electronic load pin with integrated pre-calibrated strain gauges and a separate wireless transmitter housed within the prop. Data is continuously transferred via cable to mobile reception, then wirelessly transferred to the Soldata Geoscope system. Data reviewed as part of Daily Shift Review Monitoring Meetings. Initially loaded to 10%, up to a final 250T proof load.
Real-time monitoring of the props against time and temperature.
Trial Methodology
The construction of the invert consists of break out / excavation of existing brick/concrete invert, in 1.8m bays to a new lower formation, level ground with blinding then the installation of reinforcement with couplers (to connect the reinforcement to the adjacent bay without splice bars), concrete slab with wall kickers, shuttering and concreting the new lower section of walls then grouting/dry packing the connection between the new wall with the existing brick work.
Excavation of Trial Bays by use of 2 x 1.5t excavators and a central 13t excavator
Excavation of Trial Bay 1
Trial Bay 1: Shear reinforcement will be provided by shear links, and the section between the new concrete wall and the existing brickwork will be grouted by dry packing.
Trial Bay 2: Shear reinforcement will be provided by shear rails, and the section between the new concrete wall and the existing brickwork will be pressure grouted.
NB: Hydrophilic water bars will be used between adjacent bays and along the wall horizontal construction joints, but will not be required during the trial.
Tribulations
In reality, the trial was not originally planned, however, Client authorization for temporary works designs and methodology have been withheld until scientific and physical proof is provided that the proposed scheme is entirely appropriate. For example, the prop size has had to increase 3 times before the Contractor and Sub-contractor (JG Gallagers) ‘trial’ temporary works scheme was approved, and cannot be downsized until the prop monitoring loads have been fully reviewed during and upon completion of the trial. The Contractor proposed use of shear rails and pressure grouting, as opposed to manually intensive and impractical shear links and dry packing, again was not given authorization without a trial to prove the efficacy of the methodology.
The trail was scheduled to take a total of 3 weeks, but has already been delayed 2 weeks by temporary design approval issues, and a further week by the extremely hard brick work and even harder mortar! There are currently ongoing discussions regarding which concrete and concrete logistics plan will now be accepted, since the Contractors preference S5 was not stipulated in the original specification, and anything less would require vehicle delivery (logistically very complicated) or double pumping….. discussions continue as the window of opportunity for the installation (and removal) of the cofferdam fast approaches!
Whilst I am in the mood….
Whilst I am in the mood and having inflicted this blog on you guys at the beginning of the year as a part of my PGCHE studies, it is probably only fair to give you the opportunity to have a look at my final report and give you the opportunity to comment on some of my course work for a change. All comments welcomed, but alas they will have no bearing on the submitted product as I dropped it into Kent University this morning. My wife has gone formally into mourning, as I am about to lose my 10% student discount at Coast (the girls will know what I am on about).
The All Nighter
I saw this in the Times Higher Education and it reminded me of my attachment with a deadline looming……..All_Nighter
Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog 