Issue 5

I was surprised and a little awestruck when the Scottish Branch requested me to write on the above theme. However, the Branch conjures up so many happy and fulfilling memories that the request could not be gainsaid. W.G.N. Geddes

For those unfamiliar with building in Scotland, important factors to be considered are - basic wind speed - rain - freezing conditions and the combined effect of these on buildings and materials. J.R. Scott

It is said that the legal systems of Scotland and England arrive broadly at the same answer, but by different routes. There is always truth in a generalisation, but there are particular areas of concern to the consulting engineer, i.e. prescription and duty of care. J.A. Welsh In most construction contracts when claims arise, the engineer (or architect) is required to judge fairly between the rights of the Quality employer and those of the contractor. There are several obstacles to this process. Firstly, assurance the Resident Engineer may have a different version of events from those put forward by the contractor, and the engineer, not unnaturally, may favour his employee’s account. Secondly, the claim may be based on deficiencies in the engineer’s site investigation, specification, or drawings, or on their late delivery, and an engineer would need to be superhuman to be completely impartial in making his decision. Thirdly, the cost or programme consequences of a decision in favour of the contractor may be unpalatable to the employer, and knowledge of this could be difficult for the engineer to put from his mind. Fourthly, the employer may feel, and express the view, that he is paying the engineer to defend him against the contractor. R.P.M. Gardner In January 1988, I wrote an article for Structural news, which was a personal view of the role that quality assurance could play in the day-to-day regulation of the work of consulting engineers. A.N. Tait

It has long been convenient to assume ‘pinned’ or ‘fixed’ connections to simplify analysis for steel frame design. Until recently, there has been little interest in research on real behaviour of joints because of mathematical complexity of solutions. However, there is a revitalised interest in this topic because of cheap computing power and new Codes highlighting a number of grey areas of design. This paper discusses the effect of joints on a number of structures and attempts to show, by use of fixity factors and a modified moment distribution method, that analysis need not be difficult and that, even when full connection data are not known, the techniques may provide qualitative data of great practical value in many cases. R. Cunningham

Crossing the Firth of Forth Over the centuries, the river has been crisscrossed by ferries. With the prevailing winds and high seas experienced on the Firth, these were often rather hazardous crossings. However, in the 18th and 19th centuries the alternative was a long, circuitous coach trip via Linlithgow and Stirling and back again along the north shore of the river. D.G. McBeth