Academia. Structural Engineering Education at the University of Paisley

The management of urban pollution in the UK has a long and successful history dating back to the 1840s when Sir Edwin Chadwick pioneered the separate collection of sewage and stormwater with the slogan ‘the rain to the river and the sewage to the soil’. At no time since then, however, has the pace of change and development been so great as it is today. Increased awareness of the importance of the environment and changes in public attitudes to pollution have been mirrored in the updating and strengthening of environmental legislation, which in turn has influenced the technical solutions required to solve pollution problems. Despite having a generally good-quality aquatic and marine environment, the UK is not without its pollution problems. Particular areas of concern are sewage treatment works (STW) effluents, combined sewer overflow (CSO) discharges and malfunctioning sea outfalls. David Butler

Following consideration by the Professional Practice Committee of an allegation of professional misconduct made against a member who had been commissioned to report on part of a building occupied by a client, the Committee in conjunction with other committees of the Institution, has prepared the note below for the guidance of members who may carry our inspections of buildings in multiple occupation.

Since about 1990 the law reports have been filled with cases involving professionals in the property field, especially valuers and building surveyors. This is not surprising. The fall in property values and the consequential rise in the number of repossessions has caused disappointed purchasers and funders to examine all possible avenues for recovering, or at least limiting, their losses. Although many of these cases have been concerned with valuation points, a significant number involve allegedly negligent structural surveys by surveyors or structural engineers (the legal principles as between these two sets of professionals tend to be similar). Ian R. Yule