Category Archives: Structural Engineering

UPCOMING COURSES OCTOBER TO DECEMBER 2016

With the summer holiday season behind us, we are pleased to update you on changes / additions to our course calendar between now and December 2016.  Upcoming courses, which are all running in Chesterfield, include geotechnical, structural and CDM topics as listed below:
  • Retaining Walls – Principles and Practice, on 11 October 2016 (£220 + VAT)
  • Mentoring for Engineering Geologists on Geotechnical Engineering, a 1.5 day equivalent course on 18 October 2016 (£295 + VAT)
  • Slope Stability – Principles and Practice, on 25 October 2016 (£220 + VAT)
  • Ground Investigation Design to EC7, a half day course on 27 October 2016 (£125 + VAT)
  • Geotechnical Design to Eurocode 7, a 2 day course on 1 & 8 November 2016 (£395 + VAT)
  • Foundations and Building Settlement – Principles & Practice, on 15 November 2016 (£220 + VAT)
  • CDM 2015 for Employers and Designers, on 23 November 2016 (£220 + VAT)
  • Structural Steelwork Design to Eurocode 3, a 2 day course provisionally running on 22 & 29 November 2016 (£395 + VAT)
  • Earthworks – Principles and Practice, on 6 December 2016 (£220 + VAT)
  • Mentoring for Civil Engineers on Engineering Geology, 1.5 day equivalent course on 13 December 2016 (£295 + VAT)
  • Report Writing for Engineers, 2 late afternoon workshops on 7 & 14 December 2016 (£220 + VAT)
  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. Please note too that all courses can be made available bespoke for your organisation alone and delivered at your offices.  If this is of interest then please contact us to discuss how we can work with you to meet your requirements and add value.  

UPDATES ON STANDARDS

British Standards are always being reviewed and updated by the BSI.  Keeping up to date with the developments is important for us all, so to assist our Clients we are pleased to advise that some of the British Standards commonly used by geotechnical engineers that are new or have been updated by the BSI are listed below:
  • BS 1377-1: 2016  Methods of test for soils for civil engineering purposes.  General requirements and sample preparation.
  • BS 8006-1:2010+A1:2016  Code of practice for strengthened/reinforced soils and other fills.
  • BS 8006-2:2011 Code of practice for strengthened/reinforced soils and other fills.  Soil nail design.
  • NA+A1:2016 to BS EN 1993-1-5:2006  UK National Annex to Eurocode 3.  Design of steel structures.  Plated structural elements.
  • PD CEN/TR 16970:2016  Sustainability of construction works.  Guidance for the implementation of EN 15804.
  • BS 8500-1:2015+A1:2016  Concrete.  Complimentary British Standard to BS EN 206.  Method of specifying and guidance for the specifier.
  • BS EN 13055:2016  Lightweight aggregates.
  • BS 8006-2:2011  Code
In addition the following standards under review by the BSI are listed below:
  • BS EN 1744-5:2006  3719: 2016  Tests for chemical properties of aggregates.  Determination of acid soluble chloride salts.
  • BS EN ISO 10321:2008  Geosynthetics.  Tensile test for joints/seams by wide-width strip method
This listing is not comprehensive and readers are referred to the BSI both for further details of changes to standards and for purchase information.

NEW BESPOKE MOCK INTERVIEW COURSES COMMISSIONED

Surepath Training have been commissioned by a large multi-national consultancy to run three mock interview courses for graduates pursuing professional qualification in the Autumn review sessions with the ICE.  The courses will run over three days days in 3 centres across the UK. 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.

NEW EC2 COURSE DELIVERED

We are pleased to announce that we recently completed a new course on structural concrete design to EC2.  Delivered in Chesterfield over 2 days in May and June, the course received excellent reviews.  It is planned to follow this success up with a new course on EC3 in the Autumn of 2016. 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.

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.

NEWS ON NEW STANDARDS

The following changes to British Standards commonly used by geotechnical and structural engineers have been published:
  • Amendment to BS EN 1991-1-1: 2003 + A1: 2015. Eurocode 1. Actions on structures. General actions. Snow loads.
  • Amendment to BS EN 1993-1-4: 2006 + A1: 2015. Eurocode 3. Design of steel structures. General rules. Supplementary rules for stainless steels.
  • PD 6688-1-4: 2015. Background information to the National Annex to BS EN 1991-1-4 and additional guidance (supersedes PD 6688-1-4: 2009)
In addition the following standards have been confirmed as being of continued currency:
  • BS EN ISO 12236:2006. Geosynthetics. Static puncture test (CBR test).
  • BS EN ISO 13431:1999. Geotextiles and geotextiles related products. Determination of tensile creep and creep rupture behaviour.
  • BS EN ISO 13433:2006. Geosynthetics. Dynamic perforation test (cone drop test).
Finally, you may be interested to know that the following BS implementation of ISO text has been made without any change to the international standard:
  • BS ISO 18325:2015. Geosynthetics. Test method for the determination of water discharge capacity for prefabricated vertical drains.