The New Timber Design Code: EC5

Serving and protecting the profession A connection between several recently covered themes, such as ‘competitive tendering’, 'professional status’ and ‘BS 5750 accreditation,’ may be seen in the concern of many correspondents for the well-being of the profession and their desire to see that proper care is taken of the integrity and working conditions of its members. In a letter in our column for 17 August, on the subject ‘BS 5750 accreditation and other headaches,’ Ken Burr advocated the need for ‘a trading organisation representing the chartered structural engineer.’ Hugh Woodrow, Chief Executive and Secretary of the Association of Consulting Engineers, points out the already existing availability of the ACE precisely for this purpose: I was interested to read the plea from Ken Burr regarding the need for a trading organisation to represent the chartered structural engineer in private practice. Such an organisation has existed since 1908. It is the Association of Consulting Engineers which includes many structural engineers in its membership of more than 700 firms. Verulam

Hinge formation in the presence of local crushing is studied in the context of limit state masonry arch mechanisms. Empirical constitutive modelling is developed to produce a range of corresponding axial force/bending moment interaction diagrams appertaining to rectangular masonry sections subject to singly-eccentric compressive normal loading, and these archetypal design charts are assessed against experimental data. It is considered that masonry hinges are of distinctly brittle form, rotation becoming significant only as hinge resistance decays. Preliminary arch bridge case-studies serve to encourage confidence in the brittle hinge model, and serviceability factors are also considered. N. Taylor and P, Mallinder

In February 1988 the City of Barcelona held an invited competition for the design of a new telecommunications tower. They asked for the tower to be a ‘monumental technological element.. . to enhance the image of Barcelona in the context of the 1992 Olympics’. The magnificent site overlooks the city from a height of 440 m above sea level. The new tower is called the Torre de Collserola, after the mountain on which it stands. C.M. Wise