Category Archives: foundations

EUROCODES AND BREXIT

We are often asked when delivering training courses on eurocodes what impact Brexit will have on Eurocodes.  BSI recently issued their update on the matter, which essentially says that “Eurocodes are here to stay and will continue to perform an essential role across Europe and beyond going forward….the intent is for the UK to remain full members of the European Committee for Standardization and European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization post-Brexit”. Further details can be seen in their article, which can be viewed here.

COURSES IN MAY 2018

The following courses are planned to run in Chesterfield in May 2018.  Brief descriptions and costs for each are summarised below for ease of reference: Shallow Foundations and Settlement – Principles and Practice, 3 May 2018 £250 + VAT per delegate The course will consider how shallow foundations are built and could fail before focusing on bearing capacity, settlement prediction, and design requirements. Mentoring for Engineering Geologists on Geotechnical Engineering, 8 May 2018 £335 + VAT per delegate This ‘long day’ course provides the equivalent of 1.5 days training with just one day out of the office.  It covers fundamental soil mechanics concepts before applying the principles to foundations, retaining walls and slopes. ICE Professional Review – Preparing for the Written Exercise, 10 May 2018 £250 + VAT per delegate The role of the Written Exercise in the review process will be discussed before examining typical question styles to help delegates understand what a question is looking for.  Exercises to plan and discuss answers will be included. Essentials of Project Management, 17 May 2018 £250 + VAT per delegate Taught from a practical perspective, the course examines what project management is and why it is needed, before introducing delegates to the importance of understanding project financing, contract requirements, and commercial risk. CDM 2015 – Thre Years On (half day), on 22 May 2018 £150 + VAT per delegate The course will review the essential elements of CDM 2015 before reflecting on the lessons learned since the Regulations were implemented. Managing and Leading Teams, on 24 May 2018 £250 + VAT per delegate This course is aimed primarily at young staff wanting or needing to develop their understanding of the breadth of management and leadership approaches. Please contact us if you wish to receive further details of any course or if you wish to make a booking.  Discounts are available for group bookings or delegates attending more than one course.  

UPDATED COURSE CALENDAR ISSUED

As always, we have undertaken a periodic review of our course calendar and made some changes.  The new calendar can be downloaded from here. Upcoming courses in May include:
  • Shallow Foundations and Settlement, on 3 May
  • Mentoring for Engineering Geologists on Geotechnical Engineering (1.5 days equivalent), on 8 May
  • The ICE Professional Review – Preparing for the Written Exercise, on 10 May
  • Essentials of Project Management, on 17 May
  • CDM 2015 – Three Years On (half day), on 22 May
  • Managing and Leading Teams, on 24 May
In addition to these standard day courses, we have our inaugural Design Programme on Soil Slope Stability and Earthworks .  This programme of 6 evening  courses starts on 30 May.  It allows delegates to explore the subject matter in more depth than possible during a typical day course. 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. Remember too that all courses can be run bespoke for your company if there are sufficient numbers – just call us to see what we could do for you.  

COURSES TO MARCH 2018

The start of 2018 includes a large number of bespoke courses, which continues the trend from 2017.  We are naturally running a range of open courses too, and those coming up in the first quarter of 2018 include recommendations for candidates preparing for their ICE professional review.  Courses currently scheduled include:
  • Contractual Awareness, on 13 February
  • The ICE Professional Review – Preparing for the Interview (maximum of 4 delegates), on 22 February
  • Slope Stability – Principles and Practice, on 27 February
  • Introduction to Geotechnical Design to Eurocode 7, on 13 March
  • Earthworks – Principles and Practice, on 20 March
  • Ground Investigation Design to EC7 – The Essentials (half day course), on 22 March
In addition to these standard day courses, we have our inaugural Design Programme on Shallow Foundations and Settlements.  This programme of 6 evening  courses allows delegates to explore the subject matter in more depth than possible during a typical day course. 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. Remember too that all courses can be run bespoke for your company if there are sufficient numbers – just call us to see what we could do for you.  

PROFESSIONAL REVIEW PREPARATION COURSES

We are often asked what courses we recommend for those preparing for their professional review with the Institution of Civil Engineers.  The answer is it depends on the delegate, as each candidate has a different range of experience and different strengths / weaknesses.  We have a range of courses available that address aspects of the professional review, and other that address common areas of weakness at review such as management and contracts.  A summary of the courses we commonly suggest to candidates may be found here.  If any course is of interest then please contact us for details and / or to make a booking.

EVENING COURSES ADDED FOR 2018

We are pleased to announce that our course calendar for 2018 now includes two new programmes of evening courses in geotechnics.  The courses are:
  • SP130 Design Programme on Shallow Foundations and Settlements
  • SP131 Design Programme on Soil Slope Stability and Earthworks
Both 6 week programmes (each equivalent to a 3 day course) will be run at our offices in Chesterfield from 4pm to 7.30pm each week.  They are designed to be interactive and discussion based, to allow delegates to explore the subject matter in more depth than possible during a typical day course.  To facilitate this, and to promote a positive and constructive atmosphere in the collaborative, tutorial style sessions, numbers are strictly limited to a maximum of 10 people on each course.  In addition, coursework will be set between each session to allow delegates to practice and reinforce their learning. Each programme just costs £695 + VAT per delegate for all 6 sessions.  More details of SP130 can be found here, and details of SP131 can be found here.  If you have any other queries please call the tutor Dr Andy Goodwin on 01246 807808 or email him at andy.goodwin@surepathtraining.co.uk.

COURSE CALENDAR FOR 2018

We are pleased to announce that our course calendar for 2018 is now available on the website – just click on “Download Our Calendar” link on the left sidebar or click on this link to access your own copy in a new window. We hope the expanded list of courses offered as ‘open’ courses rather than just bespoke will be welcomed and will aid the planing of your staff development activities.  Remember 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.    

HOWARD MEDAL AWARDED

As announced previously, we are very pleased and honoured to announce that on 6 October 2017 our Dr Andy Goodwin, Simon Ellis (Mott Macdonald), Prof Liz Laycock (Sheffield Hallam University) and Dr Chris Hurst (Mott MacDonald) were all awarded the Howard Medal by ICE Publishing for a paper jointly published in 2016.  The awards dinner was held in the ICE headquarters near Westminster. The happy recipients are shown below on stage, and both before and after perhaps a little too much champagne! Entitled “Use of crushed brick in reinforced earth railway structures”, the paper was published in ICE’s Construction Materials Journal.  Targeted at improving the sustainability of the development, the work reported on a short practically-focused research project undertaken in association with Sheffield Hallam University with a clear focus on assessing the suitability of crushed bricks to be sourced from a viaduct for re-use as engineered fill.  It shows the benefits that can be gained from integrating focused research into a large project.   More details of the project can be seen in the paper, which can be downloaded for free from http://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/doi/10.1680/coma.15.00014.  

APPROVED MENTOR APPOINTMENT

We are delighted to announce that our Dr Andy Goodwin has been appointed by a large local authority to be the Approved Mentor under the ICE Mentor Supported Training Route for a candidate seeking the IEng professional qualification.  The support involves quarterly review meetings with the candidate to guide his professional development whilst also helping to prepare him for his professional review in due course.

Andy is already the Supervising Civil Engineer for numerous graduates employed by a large oil and gas company.  Additionally, he is using his skills as an SCE and as an ICE Reviewer to support three other graduates as they work towards their professional qualification too.

If you are in need of mentoring or need a mentor for your staff, then please feel free to contact Andy to discuss how he could use his mentoring and professional skills to help you.  He may be contacted on 01246 807808 or email him using the enquiries link on this website.   Andy will happily talk you through what we could do for you to add value to your existing arrangements and processes, without any obligation.

LAST FEW COURSES IN 2017

  The end of 2017 is approaching and we are busy preparing the course calendar for 2018.  There is still time to book onto just a few courses with spaces in 2107:
  • Slope Stability – Principles and Practice (28 November)
  • Mentoring for Engineering Geologists on Geotechnical Engineering (30 November)
  • The ICE Professional Review – Overview and Preparation (7 December)
  • Introduction to Structural Design to the Eurocodes (12 December)
Each course is 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. Remember too that all courses can be run bespoke for your company if there are sufficient numbers – just call us to see what we could do for you.