Bridgeworks in an Unstable Environment

‘Quality assurance’ - benefits for the consultant? In our column for 18 February, Robert De’Ath raised the question ‘to what extent the formal pursuit of “QA ” is capable of bringing tangible advantages to consulting civil and structural engineers. We have received several letters on the subject. Stephen Doubt, of Chester, reveals himself as being very much a sceptic on advantages arising from formal registration: My practice has examined the procedure for becoming registered, and has found that it could cost about £8000 in the first year (although some grant aid may be available) and about £1500 in ensuing years. The apparent procedure would be for one of the accreditation companies to come into the office probably for the best part of a week, talk to my staff, document the procedures that we carry out (which to some extent we have documented), and ensure that we follow their documentation. It may be that the time wasted by my staff could come to another £2000. For this we get nothing to assist in our engineering skills, expertise or judgment. Our clients gain nothing from our being accredited, apart from the fact that we may take longer to carry out our procedures if we document all that we have to do. Verulam

The history of the Tete Defense project La Defense, to the west of Paris, is situated at the end of the historical axis which begins at the Louvre and continues through the Place de la Concorde, following the Champs Elysees along the Rue de la Grande Armee out of the city. As long ago as 1931 a competition was held by the Departement de la Seine for infrastructure improvements between the Arc de Triomphe and La Defense. However, because of the recession of the 1930s and World War II, the implementation of these schemes was not possible. It was not until 1956 that the plan for La Defense finally took shape. In order to regenerate economic development, the French Government decided to create a large business district on the outskirts of Paris. The extension of the Grand Axe towards La Defense was, for such a prestigious development, the obvious location that would capture the imagination of potential investors from the private sector. P. Terrell and H. Dutton