All the articles published in the January 2017 issue.
Publish Date ‐ 3 January 2017
It is a pleasure to have been invited to contribute this editorial. Can I wish you all a Happy New Year and encourage you to add a further resolution to your list for 2017 with the launch of the ‘Business Practice Notes’ (BPNs) in The Structural Engineer this month?
This new series is being produced by the Business Practice and Regulatory Control Committee with the objectives of encouraging best practice and highlighting areas of unacceptable practice in the structural engineering profession.
2016 President of The Institution of Structural Engineers, Alan Crossman, provides a summary of the many and varied trips and visits he has made during his tenure as president, and the people he has met both in the UK and abroad.
The UK construction industry is facing the challenge of meeting the demand for new and refurbished buildings in a low- or near zero carbon world with dwindling resources. If we are to meet this challenge, and stay within the limits of the UK’s carbon budgets, we believe that significant innovation in construction is critical. However, the industry is often perceived as slow to innovate, and frequently described as both conservative and risk averse. In this light, this article asks the question: how can engineers deliver successful innovation to construction projects?
The first half of the article introduces a framework describing the impacts of innovation in construction. The second half explores how risk and uncertainty from innovation was managed in a case study from our own experiences – the recently completed Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre (SNFCC) in Athens, Greece.
In the first note in this series, Norman Train stresses the importance of making clear from the outset what an engineer will – and will not – do in return for their fee.
In the first of two articles examining temporary works failures, Director of Structural-Safety, Alastair Soane, describes common reasons for their occurrence, illustrating the risks with a number of examples.
Fixing reinforcement is one of the most basic tasks in construction. There are a number of hazards linked to this work phase and, perhaps surprisingly, they do not appear to be well appreciated among the design/construction community. Collapses of rebar arrangements prior to concreting have occurred and, in the worst cases, workers have been killed. Other incidents have been ‘near misses’.
Penny Taylor provides a brief guide to help readers get to grips with fundamental aspects of company finance.
Last month’s article in the series covered the theory and detailed methods recommended for calculating backpropping loads. This article continues by discussing some of the design issues and preconceptions related to backpropping, and gives worked examples.
In response to a challenge set by Hugh Morrison (Verulam, September 2016), David Knight and Owen Mitchell of the Institution’s Young Members’ Panel peer into the future to imagine themselves as a ‘structural engineer’ at work in 2050.
Globetrotting engineer, Joe White, draws on his personal experience to make a case for seismic design education to be given a place in the UK structural engineering undergraduate curriculum.
Sonja Abhyankar finds this to be a solid, concise and well-structured introduction to structural dynamics, which will be of use to both undergraduate students and practising engineers new to this complex subject.
Box-girder bridge collapses, Brexit and the Eurocodes, the future of structural engineering and professional indemnity insurance are a few of the topics inspiring readers to write in this month.
Upcoming events at HQ and around the regional groups.
In this section we shine a spotlight on papers recently published in Structures – the Research Journal of The Institution of Structural Engineers.
Structures is a collaboration between the Institution and Elsevier, publishing internationally-leading research across the full breadth of structural engineering which will benefit from wide readership by academics and practitioners.
Access to Structures is free to Institution members (excluding Student members) as one of their membership benefits, with access provided via the “My account” section of the Institution website. The journal is available online at: www.structuresjournal.org
This month’s question has been provided by Tan Tian Wee MIStructE.