For those interested in slope instability issues and embankment failures, an expert report has recently been published on the Mount Polley Tailings storage facility breach in British Columbia on September 4^th 2014. Compiled by N. Morgenstern amongst others, it makes for interesting reading. The report may be found here. We consider study of the report an excellent free CPD opportunity as it affords learning on the importance of the integration of ground investigation, geological appraisal, analysis and construction. For those wishing to deepen their understanding of slope stability issues please feel free to contact us for details on public or bespoke courses we run, or contact us for technical support on your projects.

Following on from our latest news on papers to be published in 2015, we thought some may wish to learn of a new BSI publication, PD CEN/TS 13286-54:2014 , that deals with the frost susceptibility of unbound mixtures. Details of the document may be obtained direct from BSI. In passing, others may wish to know that a revision to ISO 14001 is underway within BSI. An updated version is due to be published in early 2015.

We are pleased to announce that our Dr Andy Goodwin has had two technical papers accepted for publication in 2015. The first is to be published at the XVI European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering in Edinburgh in September 2015, and is 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). The second paper is in preparation and has been accepted for publication within the Proceedings of the ICE – Construction Materials. A themed issue on recycled construction is to be published in 2015, and our paper is the result of our support to Mott MacDonald on a recent project in collaboration with Sheffield Hallam University. It will deal with the innovative use of crushed bricks as engineered fill within railway embankments. Its main authors will be Simon Ellis of Mott MacDonald,our Andy Goodwin, and Dr Liz Laycock of SHU. We are very pleased to have worked with our partners on these papers, and look forward to working with them further. Moreover we look forward to working elements of these projects into our courses going forward, as part of our drive to maintain the currency of our courses based on contemporary consultancy and research.

For those looking to plan some training over the next few months, brief information on our public courses in March and April 2015 may be found below:

• Designing Out Waste on 9 March 2015
• Shallow Foundation Design to EC7 on 23 March 2015
• The ICE Professional Review – Overview & Preparation on 13 April 2015
• Retaining Walls – Principles and Practice on 27 April 2015

All courses are running in Chesterfield. If none of these courses meet your requirements then please look at our full course list for other titles and here for dates of our other public courses. Should you have any specific requirements or have 6 or more people needing to attend a particular course then do contact us to discuss running a course on a bespoke basis for your company at a very competitive price. If you require any additional information on any of the foregoing then please contact us at enquiries@surepathtraining.co.uk.

Brief information on our  public courses in February and March 2015 may be found below: The ICE Professional Review – Preparing for the Mock Interview: Running in Chesterfield on 9 February this is an intensive mock interview course for those intending to sit their professional review in the Spring 2015 session; inclusive of pre-course work and individual feedback to the maximum of 4 delegates, the course costs £295 + VAT Mentoring for Engineering Geologists on Geotechnical Engineering: Chesterfield, 24 February – this ever-popular course provides engineering geologists and those that do not specialise in geotechnics with an introduction to the design of foundations, retaining walls and slopes based on a core understanding of how soils behave in principle; the course delivers the equivalent of 1.5 days training in a single ‘long day’ format to make it both cost and time effective, and costs just £295 + VAT Introduction to Reinforced Earth: Chesterfield, 27 February at a cost of £220 + VAT, this course aims to provide delegates with an introduction to the design of reinforced earth slopes and walls; the principle content comprises types of reinforced earth, fundamental mechanics of reinforcement action & analytical principles, and basic design principles for reinforced slopes and walls If you require any additional information before making a booking on any course, please contact us at enquiries@surepathtraining.co.uk.