Author Archives: Andy Goodwin

MENTORING ACROSS THE UK

July and August are set prove interesting as we continue to provide our mentoring support to engineers from across the UK who are pursuing chartership with the ICE. In addition to running an open course on preparing for your professional review  (and running a bespoke version of it in London for a major consultancy) we will be travelling across the UK seeing our mentees. Our travels will take us to places such as Aberdeen, Loughborough and Slough. We are pleased to announce too that we have recently taken on support to a Derbyshire based senior engineer. We are really looking forward to challenging and guiding them all to achieve success as soon as possible. To find out more about the mentoring services we can provide to you or your staff please contact Andy Goodwin on 01246 807808. Alternatively contact us via the contact page on the web site.

LEEDS LEP TRAINING FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

We are pleased to confirm that Surepath Training is now registered to deliver training for the LEP skills service. Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has launched a service that provides skills support to small and medium sized businesses. The LEP skills service helps businesses to identify their skills needs based on their business growth objectives and then find the right training solution. Small and medium sized business based in the Leeds City Region that have a budget to put towards training could be eligible for funding of between £500 and £50,000. To find out more about the LEP skills service and apply, visit: www.the-lep.com/skillsservice The LEP skills service will provide funding to those businesses that are poised for growth and will support collaborative proposals too. A grant will only be granted if an employer cash contribution is provided. The contribution must be a least equal to the level of grant. The minimum amount of grant that a business can apply for is £1,000, unless the business is a micro SME (less than 10 employers and has a turnover of less than 2 million EUR). The maximum grant amount that any one business can apply for is £50,000, cumulatively (multiple applications are allowed as long as the maximum grant amount is not exceeded). Please note that all skills service applications are subject to approval panels and are assessed on a case by case basis. To find out more about the above funding for training courses, please contact Andy Goodwin at Surepath Training, on 01246 807808. Alternatively contact us via the contact page on the web site.

COURSES FROM JULY TO SEPTEMBER 2015

Though the summer break is almost upon us we have a selection of courses coming up from July to September that we hope you will find useful and interesting:
  • LAST CALL…Retaining wall design to EC7 on 20 July 2015, costing £220 + VAT per person
  • The ICE Professional Review – Preparing for the Interview on 7 August 2015: this is an intensive course for a maximum of 4 candidates looking to sit their ICE professional review in Autumn 2015; delegates receive feedback on their draft reports and will undertake a mock interview, all for £295 + VAT per person
  • CDM 2015 for Designers on 7 September 2015, costing £220 + VAT per person
  • Slope Stability – Principles & Practice on 21 September 2015, costing £220 + VAT per person
Please contact us to book onto any of these course or for more information. All are running in Chesterfield. Discounts are available for group bookings or delegates attending more than one course.

‘CRUSHED BRICKS’ PAPER SUCCESS….

We are pleased to confirm that the final version of a paper by our Dr Andy Goodwin and colleagues has just been accepted for publication later this year in the Proceedings of the ICE – Construction Materials. Titled “Use of crushed brick in reinforced earth railway structures”, it draws together expertise of Mott MacDonald (Simon Ellis & Dr Chris Hurst), Sheffield Hallam University (Prof Liz Laycock) and Surepath to look at the innovative use of crushed bricks as engineered fill within railway embankments. This paper follows up Andy’s success in having another paper accepted for publication in the proceedings of the XVI European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering in Edinburgh in September 2015. That paper was the result of our support to URS (now AECOM) in the design of a coastal protection scheme. Titled “The design of an anchored pile retaining structure to control landslide regression at Lyme Regis, UK”, the authors are Corrado Candian (URS), our Andy Goodwin, and Dimitri Daskalopoulos (URS). We are very pleased to have worked with our partners on these papers, and look forward to further successes in the future.

GEOTECHNICS & HEALTH AND SAFETY COURSES, MAY TO JULY 2015

We have a selection of geotechnical and health & safety related courses coming up from May to July 2015 that are designed to provide practical guidance for delegates:
  • LAST CALL…Earthworks – Principles and Practice on 18 May 2015
  • Introduction to Health & Safety Law on 8 June 2015
  • Mentoring for Civil Engineers on Engineering Geology (1.5 days equivalent) on 22 June 2015
  • Introduction to Contaminated Land Assessment on 13 July 2015
  • Retaining wall design to EC7 on 20 July 2015
All these courses are running in Chesterfield unless stated and cost just £220 + VAT per delegate for full day courses, or £295 + VAT for the 1.5 day equivalent course. Discounts are available for group bookings or delegates attending more than one course.

RETAINING WALLS – PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE, NEW DATE: 13 MAY 2015

Course Date Change….. from 27 April to 13 May 2015 Most developments require some degree of ground profile modification, and where space is at a premium the ground will be retained rather than sloped. The aim of this course is to develop the abilities of delegates to understand the principles and practice behind retaining structures. Starting from a review of how walls fail, it will examine the principles behind earth and water pressures, and look at the form of movements behind and around walls. The main focus though will be on the analysis and design of both gravity and embedded walls, with delegates having to practice their skills with the aid of worked solutions. The course will close with a brief review of the contrasting design code requirements of BS8002 and EC7. The course is next running in Chesterfield on 13 May (rather than the original 27 April) at a cost of just £220 plus VAT. If you require any additional information before making a booking on this or any other course, please contact us at enquiries@surepathtraining.co.uk. Note too that all courses can be run bespoke for your company if there are sufficient numbers – just contact us by phone (01246 807808) or using the enquiries email address above for more details.

NEWS ON NEW STANDARDS & STANDARDS UNDER REVIEW

For those interested in geosynthetics and geotextiles we thought you may wish to know (if you weren’t aware already) that a suite of updates to the current British Standards have been published: – BS EN 13249:2014+A1:2015 – BS EN 13250:2014+A1:2015 – BS EN 13251:2014+A1:2015 – BS EN 13252:2014+A1:2015 – BS EN 13253:2014+A1:2015 – BS EN 13254:2014+A1:2015 – BS EN 13255:2014+A1:2015 – BS EN 13256:2014+A1:2015 – BS EN 13257:2014+A1:2015 – BS EN 13265:2014+A1:2015 The following standards are also under review: – BS EN ISO 11058:2010 – BS EN ISO 12236:2006 – BS EN ISO 13431:1999 – BS EN ISO 13433:2006 Readers are referred to the BSI for further details about the standards.

EARTHWORKS – PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE, 18 MAY 2015

Earthworks form part of most development projects, for example development platforms and highways. Design and construction must be considered holistically if a successful earthworks scheme is to be delivered that cost-effectively delivers the required performance. This course will provide delegates with a good grounding in the theory and practice of earthworks. Starting with the typical forms of earthworks and design philosophy, the course will progress to cover key elements including the range and nature of specifications, defining appropriate acceptability criteria to achieve the required performance, monitoring and control in the field, and reporting and certification requirements. With easy access from the M1 or public transport, the course is running in Chesterfield on 18 May at a cost of just £220 plus VAT. If you require any additional information before making a booking on this or any other course then contact us at enquiries@surepathtraining.co.uk. Note too that all courses can be run bespoke for your company if there are sufficient numbers – just contact us by phone (01246 807808) or using the enquiries email address above for more details.

ESSENTIALS OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT, 11 MAY 2015

The ability to manage projects for commercial success is a key attribute of all successful engineers. Aimed primarily at young consultants, junior project managers, and graduates pursuing professional qualification with institutions such as the ICE and IStructE, the course will examine what project management is and why it is needed, before introducing delegates to the importance of understanding project financing, contract requirements, and commercial risk. Thereafter the course will be taught by following a mock project from Client inception and definition of the brief, through the estimation and bid process, to project set-up and delivery. Each stage will be covered using mini-lectures to convey core material before delegates apply that learning through practical exercises. The course will conclude with a look at change control, and the importance of post-project reviews and the sharing of lessons learned. The course is next running in Chesterfield on 11 May at a cost of just £220 plus VAT. If you require any additional information before making a booking on this or any other course, please contact us at enquiries@surepathtraining.co.uk. Note too that all courses can be run bespoke for your company if there are sufficient numbers – just contact us by phone (01246 807808) or using the enquiries email address above for more details.

RETAINING WALLS – PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE, 27 APRIL 2015

Most developments require some degree of ground profile modification, and where space is at a premium the ground will be retained rather than sloped. The aim of this course is to develop the abilities of delegates to understand the principles and practice behind retaining structures. Starting from a review of how walls fail, it will examine the principles behind earth and water pressures, and look at the form of movements behind and around walls. The main focus though will be on the analysis and design of both gravity and embedded walls, with delegates having to practice their skills with the aid of worked solutions. The course will close with a brief review of the contrasting design code requirements of BS8002 and EC7. The course is next running in Chesterfield on 27 April at a cost of just £220 plus VAT. If you require any additional information before making a booking on this or any other course, please contact us at enquiries@surepathtraining.co.uk. Note too that all courses can be run bespoke for your company if there are sufficient numbers – just contact us by phone (01246 807808) or using the enquiries email address above for more details.