Category Archives: GI

ISTRUCTE TALK ON EC7

Just in case you haven’t seen the advertising put out by IStructE, you may wish to know that our Dr Andy Goodwin is giving a presentation to the Regional Group on 16 May 2018.  Entitled “EC7 is Just for Geotechnical Engineers – Isn’t It?”, the talk is aimed at de-mystifying EC7 to help structural engineers recognise its implications for them and aid its wider adoption going forward.  It is being held from 6pm in Lecture Theatre 3, The Diamond, 32 Leavygreave Road, Sheffield S3 7RD.  Further details can be found here.

COURSES IN JUNE 2018

The following courses are planned to run in Chesterfield in June 2018.  Brief descriptions and costs for each are summarised below for ease of reference: Retaining Walls – Principles and Practice, on 7 June 2018 £250 + VAT per delegate This course aims to develop the abilities of the delegates to understand the principles and practice behind retaining structures, including the design of gravity and embedded walls. Introduction to Structural Design to the Eurocodes, on 14 June 2018 £250 + VAT per delegate The course will review the essential elements of the Eurocodes, including EC0, EC1, EC2 and EC3.  It will explore how the codes work and use guided examples to illustrate their application.
Essentials of Project Management, 19 June 2018  REVISED DATE £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. Ground Risk Management for Managers, on 21 June 2018 £250 + VAT per delegate Targeted at project managers and those managing / delivering geotechnical works, the course looks at how ground risk can be managed to enhance project success.
The ICE Professional Review – Overview and Preparation, on 28 June 2018 £250 + VAT per delegate Delivered by an ICE Reviewer, the course will give delegates a rounded view of the review process and provide practical tips on how to prepare your report, and prepare for the interview and written exercise. 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.
 

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.  

TWO TRAINING AGREEMENTS SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED

We are delighted to announce that Sam Fish (pictured) and Adam Farrance of DNV GL have recently been signed off their ICE training agreements.  We are very pleased for them both and look forward to supporting them further as they prepare for their Chartered Professional Reviews.

Both Sam and Adam have been supported by our Dr Andy Goodwin for several years in his longstanding SCE role with the company.  Adam had this to say about the mentoring support he had received:

“Surepath have been supportive of my development and made sure that their training was adapted to suit my learning style.  I was made to feel valued, which helped to build the easy working relationship that led to me being signed off with the ICE.”

We much appreciate the feedback, which reflects the ethos and efforts put in by Andy in his support of all mentees.  Andy looks forward to continuing his role with DNV GL, and to signing off other graduates over the next few years.

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.

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.  

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.