Examiners' Reports. Part 3 and Associate Membership Examinations, April 1998

The Institution’s Logo Various readers have responded to the suggestions in Verulam 15 September 1998 (Vol 76 No 18). Ronald Deen from Glasgow writes: We have talk of bending moment diagrams with a lion scratching on a post or sliderules or workers in hard hats to meet with the spirit of the new millennium. Even civil engineers have their beaver and stork. How strange that engineers, supposedly the most practical and pragmatic of professions have for so long ignored the greatest builders that have ever lived. I refer to the family of Arachne - the spiders.

Following the fire on the night of 4-5 February 1994, it took two years to make the necessary decisions and organize the initial funding. Finally in August 1996, reconstruction work began on the building, which was listed as a historical monument in 1883. Much use was made of up-to-the-minute technology. The sections described in this article mark a break with the philosophy that has long prevailed for this type of project. All in all, it was an impressive operation, managed by Alain Charles Perrot, chief architect of the historical monument department.

This paper reviews the changing use of Information Technology (IT) in the construction process and the benefits that are attainable to clients and practitioners. The introduction of integrated 3-dimensional project modelling is a key enabling technology and its potential and challenges to designers and contractors are described from their contrasting viewpoints. The factors restricting its uptake in the construction sector are examined. The conclusions are that the inhibitions to its use are founded in our construction culture. Sturat Cowperthwaite, Graham Raven and Mervyn Richards