Category Archives: courses

BESPOKE RETAINING WALL COURSE

We are pleased to announce that we recently completed a bespoke course on retaining walls for Foundation Piling Limited in their Bristol office.  The day course was focused on core principles and practical aspects of design, including EC7. If you have a group of people needing training in this or any other skill area then contact us to discuss how we may be able to design a course to suit your needs and add value to your service provision.

BESPOKE TECHNICAL REPORT WRITING COURSE

We are pleased to announce the addition of a technical report writing course to our rapidly expanding list of bespoke courses.  Commissioned by a large international consultancy, the course will be delivered in July 2016 via two workshops over several weeks. It include both pre-course and in-course work for the delegates to practice their learning and receive formative feedback. The course will cover a breadth of topics including report styles, writing for impact, planning and sorting content, and structuring reports. In addition several practical sessions on the good use of English to improve clarity and readability will be included and lead by an experienced English Language teacher. If you have a group of people needing training in this or any other skill area then contact us to discuss how we may be able to design a course to suit your needs and add value to your service provision.

SUMMER IS ALMOST HERE… TIME TO PLAN YOUR TRAINING…

  The summer holiday season is almost upon us, so now seems a good time to remind you what courses are running over the next 3 months so you can fit those of interest in either before your well-earned leave or after you return refreshed.  Upcoming courses include:
  • Managing and Leading Teams, on 11 July 2016
  • Retaining Walls – Principles and Practice, on 25 July 2016
  • Report Writing for Engineers, on 1 August 2016
  • The ICE Professional Review – Preparing for the Interview, on 15 June 2106
  • Essentials of Project Management, on 12 September 2016
  • Mentoring for Engineering Geologists on Geotechnical Engineering, on 19 September 2016
  • Ground Investigation Design to EC7, half day course on 22 September 2016
  • Slope Stability – Principles and Practice, on 26 September 2016
If you require further details please enquire and we will respond as quickly as possible.  All courses are running in Chesterfield. Discounts are available for group bookings or delegates attending more than one course. Please call or email us to reserve your place on a course. More courses are available – see here for our 2016 calendar of public courses or here for our full list of courses including those available on a bespoke basis too.

UPCOMING GEOTECHNICAL COURSES IN JUNE 2016

We are pleased to announce the following geotechnical courses are coming up in June 2016:
  • Earthworks – Principles and Practice is running on 13 June 2016 and costs £220 + VAT per delegate
  • Geotechnical Design to Eurocode 7 is a 2 day course running on 20 & 21 June 2016 at a cost of £395 + VAT per delegate
  • Ground Investigation – Principles and Practice is running on 30 June 2016 and costs £220 + VAT per delegate
All are running in Chesterfield. Discounts are available for group bookings or delegates attending more than one course. Please call or email us to reserve your place on a course. More courses are available – see here for our 2016 calendar of public courses or here for our full list of courses including those available on a bespoke basis too.

LAST CALL FOR COURSES IN MAY 2016

This is the last call for the following courses in May: Structural Concrete Design to EC2 (£395 + VAT per delegate) Due to demand dates for this 2 day course have been amended and it is now running non-consecutively in Chesterfield on 20 May & 9 June 2016. This practically biased course will provide delegates with the opportunity to learn how to apply EC2 in design, using numerous worked examples. The course will begin with an overview of the Eurocodes and EC2 in particular, before looking at the basis of structural design to EC2. The main focus of the course will be on the Eurocodes and their use in design practice, using beams, slabs, columns, shear walls and foundations as design topics to explore and illustrate the application of EC2. Ground Risk Management for Managers & Architects (£220 + VAT per delegate) By its nature the ground is variable and project issues commonly arise from not fully appreciating the hazards it presents. This one day course is running in Chesterfield on 24 May 2016 and is aimed more at those leading, managing or coordinating projects than geotechnical engineers. Its fundamental aim is to develop a core understanding of how ground risk can be managed to enhance project delivery. It will cover the major types and impacts of ground hazard, before looking at how ground risk can be assessed and managed. The importance of desk studies and phased ground investigations in hazard mapping and the risk management process will be addressed. Please contact us asap if you are interested in either course. Discounts are available for group bookings or delegates attending more than one course. Please call or email us to reserve your place on a course.

BESPOKE SLOPE STABILITY COURSE

We are pleased to announce another addition to our expanding list of bespoke course delivery. This time it had a twist, in that we ran our standard slope stability course as an in-house provision for a consultancy in North Wales rather than bespoking the content. Despite the small number of delegates needing training we were able to offer a cost-effective service based on our substantial experience at delivering our courses to meet the diverse needs of our Clients. Feedback from the course was excellent too, and we are looking forward to working again with the Client in due course. If you have a group of people needing training in whatever skill area then contact us to discuss how we may be able to design a course to suit your needs and add value to your service provision.

NEWS ON NEW STANDARDS

The following changes to British Standards commonly used by geotechnical and structural engineers have been published:
  • Corrigendum 1 to NA+A1:2015 to BS EN 1993-1-4:2006+A1:20105. Design of steel structures. General rules. Supplementary rules for stainless steels.
  • BS EN 14196:2016. Geosynthetics. Test methods for measuring mass per unit area of clay geosynthetic barriers.
Readers are referred to the BSI for further details about the standards.

COURSE FEEDBACK REVIEW – EXCELLENCE DEMONSTRATED!

As part of our quality processes we have recently audited our course feedback over the last few years. The headline finding was a 94% excellent / very good rating of all the quantitative feedback received for our courses, with a 2:1 bias to excellent. This superb feedback is something we are very proud of, and we aim to keep driving this percentage higher still. Digging deeper into the feedback we found numerous equally positive qualitative feedback comments too, such as:
  • “Excellent course! You are a great teacher” (EC7 course, February 2016)
  • “I liked the link between geotechnical and structural design” (Bespoke foundation engineering course, November 2015)
  • “Very good course – difficult topics made clear and interesting” (Bespoke geotechnical engineering course, October 2015)
  • “Great knowledge of subject matter and strong delivery” (Slope stability course, September 2015)
  • “Great day – look forward to the next course” (Bespoke mentoring course on geotechnics to engineering geologists, June 2015)
  • “Great course given the detailed subject matter” (EC7 course on foundations, March 2015)
Many thanks to all the people we have worked with and helped over the years, for all your feedback. Without it we would not be able to strive to continuously improve our performance and achieve our goal of helping you make the most of yourselves.

NEW COURSES ADDED TO 2016 CALENDAR

The following two courses have just been added to our 2016 course calendar due to demand:
  • Ground Risk Management for Managers & Architects, on 24 May 2016
  • Introduction to Ground Treatment & Improvement, on 7 July 2016
Each course costs just £220 + VAT per delegate, with discounts available for group bookings or delegates attending more than one course. Please call or email us to reserve your place on a course.

NEWS ON NEW STANDARDS

The following British Standard implementations of European Standard EN’s commonly used by geotechnical engineers have been published:
  • BS EN 14227-15:2015.  Hydraulically bound mixtures.  Specifications.  Hydraulically stabilized soils.
  • BS EN ISO 17892-3:2015.  Geotechnical investigation and testing.  Laboratory testing of soil. Determination of particle density.
You may also be interested to know that work has just started on reviewing  BS 1377-1.