An Australian company is helping to find unexploded mines in places such as Germany, the UK and Laos using its ground-breaking technology.  Gap Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) is using its unique technology, originally created for the resources sector, to now find unexploded bombs left over from both World Wars and the Vietnam War that are hidden underground and underwater.  Gap EOD Director, Dr Stephen Billings said they have developed and refined the technology over the past seven years and are one of the only companies in the world capable of finding these dangerous remnants of war to the depths required to make the areas completely safe for industrial, commercial and residential use.  “Gap EOD is the only company in the world with the technology capable of deep underwater detection of sophisticated aluminium sea-mines,” said Dr Billings.  “We were called in recently to sweep Portsmouth Harbour in the UK because of concerns an unexploded German sea-mine from World War II might be encountered during dredging work, potentially sinking the dredging vessels and killing the workers”.  “We found a large unexploded German bomb, resulting in the Harbour’s immediate closure and controlled detonation of the weapon,” he said.  “Most people don’t realise it, but unexploded bombs are still there, buried under the ground or the sea.”  “They’re all over the world and pose a high risk of detonation, especially when the land is being re-used for commercial or residential developments.”  “Using our UltraTEM system, which uses sensors to detect buried metal, we can scan up to 3.5 metres in depth”.  “It’s a faster, deeper technique that completely re-defines traditional exploration and tracing methods”.  “Unexploded ordnance are one of the most challenging environmental issues of our time, with more than 83 countries around the world being in possession of contaminated ground.”   Since 2014, Gap EOD has been involved in sweeps in and around Berlin, Germany for WWII aircraft bombs prior to the commencement of residential and industrial works. This was after construction workers had been killed after accidentally detonating unexploded bombs in recent years.  A number of large US bombs with dangerous chemical-delayed fuses have been found.  The team has also been commissioned to sweep for projectiles along the Ho Chi Minh trail in Laos, where a staggering 80 million cluster munitions are believed to remain in Laos alone as a legacy of the Vietnam War. Numerous unexploded US bombs have been uncovered.  “What makes us unique is that we’ve been able to blend our expertise in minerals exploration with a comprehensive understanding of the science behind detecting buried metal in challenging environments,” said Stephen.  “This means when clients come to us with their unique scenarios, we’re able to develop effective solutions that involve equipment customisation.”  “Thanks to our experience working in hot, humid and remote locations in Australia, we’ve developed very robust, reliable equipment that can withstand the rigors of operating under difficult conditions, or that can be packaged and deployed underwater for marine applications.”   “Our future plans are to start making our technologies available in areas that have suffered recent conflicts, such as the Middle East, Africa and the Indian sub-continent.”  About Dr Stephen Billings and Gap EOD  Dr Stephen Billings is Director of Gap Explosive Ordnance Detection (Gap EOD), part of the Gap GEO group. Gap EOD specialises in the detection of explosive ordnance and other near-surface targets that require high accuracy and high fidelity results. Gap EOD was established as a joint venture between Gap Geophysics and Bridgewater Geophysics in 2013.

First ‘real world’ test results for a new toolkit for housebuilders show that it can achieve major improvements in the energy efficiency of new homes. The new Building Energy Performance Improvement Toolkit (BEPIT) is being launched today (1 June 2017). It is the fruit of a major government-funded research project and is now being offered as a service to the housebuilding industry.  Modern housing should waste far less heat than older homes and save its occupants hundreds of pounds a year in energy costs. This is because of successive uplifts of the energy efficiency standards set out in Building Regulations.  But new homes routinely fail to achieve their design levels of energy performance, research has shown. During the construction process, the high levels of insulation and air tightness that underpin this performance become compromised.  The £1.3 million, four-year-long BEPIT research project set out to understand precisely how this happened. Funded by Government innovation agency Innovate UK, it used a major low-carbon housing project in Oxfordshire as its laboratory and test bed.  On-site researchers spent thousands of hours looking and learning about what happened during a real-life build to compromise energy performance, liaising with the developer, the main contractor and sub-contractors.  The study examined the issue from design through procurement of building materials and then through all of the construction stages to completion, building up a large database of photographs and technical details.  The key conclusion was that “the devil is in the detail”; a collection of minor problems scattered through the construction process built up into one big problem of poor energy performance.  The research was used to create a toolkit. It’s a process for working in detail with all of the key players involved in the housing project, to alert them to these problems at the right time and help to overcome them throughout the construction process.  Initial tests have now shown highly encouraging results, with a 40% improvement in average air tightness between the first and second phases of construction. The BEPIT approach was fully applied during construction of the second phase.  Further testing is now needed to demonstrate that using BEPIT also achieves an improvement in insulation-performance, with less heat leaking out through the building fabric. But the air-tightness results demonstrate that the toolkit can deliver significant improvement.  Bioregional, an organisation which partners with businesses to deliver major sustainability improvements, is now offering BEPIT as a service to the house building industry. Bioregional was the lead partner in the research project, with other partners including developer A2Dominion and Loughborough University’s School of Civil and Building Engineering.  The new service is launched at an expert seminar on the energy performance gap in new homes, organised by Bioregional and hosted by international engineering consultancy Cundall at its City of London headquarters on the evening of Thursday, 1 June.  Bioregional Chief Executive Sue Riddlestone said: “After four years of in-depth research, we can now offer the housebuilding industry a service that really works to tackle a serious and long-standing problem – the energy performance gap.”  “This is an issue which harms the industry’s reputation, contributes significantly to carbon emissions and costs occupants billions of pounds in lost energy savings. We want to use BEPIT to make a real difference.”  Julian Sutherland, Building Services Partner at Cundall Global said: “With the UK finally about to start tackling its chronic housing shortage, it’s vital that we address energy performance issues before we start on a project of such huge strategic significance. The fact that many newly built homes exhibit a 50% gap in predicted and measured performance shows how urgently we need the BEPIT toolkit.  “It is great to see a new service emerge that tackles the thorny issue of construction stage knowledge and skills, leading to better and more reliable building performance. The BEPIT recommendations will lead to major improvements in the performance of new builds, leading to lower energy bills for owners, smaller impact on the environment and will also protect the reputation of the construction industry by providing a clear and measurable set of best practices for success.”  BEPIT research project partners alongside Bioregional were PRP Architects, Silver Development and Construction Consultancy, Wilmott Dixon Energy Services and A2Dominion.

Following the recent earthquake in Nepal, the RIBA has the following advice for members who would like to support the aid efforts: In the first instance, money is the most important resource. It needs to be channelled through organisations with wide experience of disaster relief, already present in the country, familiar with the territory and well-connected with local organisations and agencies. In the UK, the main channel for making donations is the Disasters Emergency Committee, representing the 13 major relief agencies. Alternatively, Article 25 has launched its own urgent appeal for donations. RIBA is working with the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) to help identify Nepalese nationals or others with relevant local or regional experience to provide technical expertise. The IFRC has already deployed approximately 100 people to support the Nepal Red Cross in search and rescue efforts, emergency health, water and sanitation, relief, shelter and interagency coordination as well as support services such as telecoms and logistics. Given the operational constraints in the country, most agencies are wary of overloading country teams at this stage. However, the IFRC anticipates there will be a need for additional technical expertise in due course. RIBA members or practices with the necessary expertise and experience to help – particularly those who would be fully funded or self-resourced – are encouraged to register their interest with RIBA Head of International, Marcus Deeley. Ends Notes to editors: 1. For further press information: Melanie Mayfield, RIBA Press Office: melanie.mayfield@riba.org 020 7307 3662 2. RIBA’s International Task Group led by RIBA International Vice President Peter Oborn set out a detailed plan for RIBA’s role in engaging with international communities facing natural disaster, civil conflict and human rights violations. The full report: http://www.architecture.com/RIBA/Aboutus/Whoweare/RIBACouncil/InternationalTaskGroupreport.aspx 3. RIBA is hosting Designing City Resilience 2015, a two-day Summit on disaster prevention and resilience in June 2015. The Summit is supported by the Commonwealth Secretary General, the Government Office for Science and the Rockefeller Foundation. www.designingcityresilience.com 4. The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) champions better buildings, communities and the environment through architecture and our members www.architecture.com 5. Follow us on Twitter for regular RIBA updates www.twitter.com/RIBA   Posted on Tuesday 28th April 2015 Source link

New home lending to owner occupiers in Australia saw solid growth during April, up 4% month on month but still 5.9% lower than a year ago. The figures, published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, also show that loans for building new homes increased by 4.4% and for buying new homes there was a 3.3% rise. The official figures confirm that demand for new home purchase across Australia remains very strong, according to Housing Industry Association, the voice of the residential building industry.  ‘Even though the amount of new home lending for owner occupiers peaked over a year ago, current loan volumes remain elevated by historic standards. This means that activity on the ground over the remainder of 2016 will be healthy,’ said HIA senior economist Shane Garrett. He pointed out that May’s interest rate reduction is likely to provide some impetus to new home lending over the coming months. The HIA believes that 2016 will be another remarkably strong year overall. ‘Further easing on the interest rate front would augur even better for the short term outlook in residential building,’ added Garrett.  Compared with a year earlier, the number of loans to owner occupiers constructing or purchasing new homes increased in four of the eight states during April 2016. A breakdown of the figures show that in the Australian Capital Territory there was a 30% rise, in South Australia and increased of 9.7%, in Victoria a rise of 4.5% and in New South Wales a rise of 1.1%. But there were declines over the same period in Western Australia with a fall of 18.9%, a fall of 15.2% in Tasmania, a fall of 2.2% in Queensland and a fall of 1.8% in the Northern Territory. Source link

©Reuters The crisis in coal mining has claimed its biggest victim yet as Peabody Energy filed for bankruptcy protection after being ground down by low prices and falling demand from China. The world’s largest private-sector coal producer by output filed a petition for Chapter 11 protection in Missouri weeks after warning of its potential inability to continue as a going concern and after delaying two bond interest payments. More On this topic IN Mining The indebted miner blamed “unprecedented” factors affecting the global coal industry, including a sharp drop in the price of metallurgical coal and weakness in the Chinese economy. Peabody also pointed to “overproduction” of shale gas in the US, which has made coal less competitive, as well as regulatory challenges, such as moves to reduce carbon emissions, that have put pressure on the coal industry. “This was a difficult decision, but it is the right path forward for Peabody. We begin today to build a highly successful global leader for tomorrow,” said Glenn Kellow, chief executive. “Through today’s action, we will seek an in-court solution to Peabody’s substantial debt burden amid a historically challenged industry backdrop.” Shares in the miner have been suspended. Its operations will continue. Peabody said its operations in Australia were not included in the filing and would not be affected. The US group also said the planned sale of mines in New Mexico and Colorado had fallen through “after the buyer was unable to complete the transaction”. Peabody had $6.3bn of debt at the end of 2015. The company said it “intends to reduce its overall debt level, lower fixed charges, improve operating cash flow and position the company for long-term success, while continuing to operate under the protection of the court process”. The filing for bankruptcy protection follows a string of similar actions by other US coal producers, including that of Arch Coal earlier this year. Peabody posted a $2bn net loss in 2015, underscoring the pressure on the industry from low prices. However, the company said all of its US operations were cash flow positive last year. Along with the filing Peabody said it had arranged $800m of “debtor-in-possession” financing facilities with Citigroup. You need JavaScript active on your browser in order to see this video. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2016. You may share using our article tools. Please don’t cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web. Source link

A national crane hire company has been sentenced for failings that led to the death of two men as a crane collapsed in London. Southwark Crown Court heard crane operator Jonathan Cloke, 37, died after falling from the crane as it collapsed. It fell onto Michael Alexa, 23, a member of the public, and also killed him. The court heard how sections of the tower crane, which was on a housing development in Thessaly Road, Battersea, separated when 24 bolts failed due to metal fatigue. The 24 bolts were a significant safety feature on the crane’s slew ring, which connected the mast (tower) to the slew turret. This allows the arms of the crane (jib) to rotate through 360 degrees. When the bolts failed the slew turret and jib separated from the mast and fell to the ground. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation into the incident, in September 2006, found Falcon Crane Hire Ltd did not investigate a similar incident which happened nine weeks before, when the bolts failed on the same crane and had to be replaced. HSE found the company had an inadequate system to manage the inspection and maintenance of their fleet of cranes. Their process to investigate the underlying cause of components’ failings was also inadequate. It told the court the particular bolts were a safety critical part of the crane. The court also heard the bolts failing previously was an exceptional and significant occurrence, which should have been recognised by Falcon Crane Hire. Lilliana Alexa, Michael’s mother, said on behalf of her family: “Michael was a lovely son, a wonderful big brother and a devoted father. His son has had to grow up without the love and support of Michael, who adored him. He was denied that opportunity because his life was taken away and with his, ours too. “The memories of that day will never leave our family. We heard the crash and felt the ground shake. I found Michael and it’s an image that haunts my nightmares. If only we had stopped to chat or parked the car somewhere else he would still be alive. We know we are not to blame but it does not stop us all feeling guilt. “We cannot comprehend how our beloved son, brother, father and friend who was so full of live has gone. The whole crane industry must learn from our tragedy and the devastation it has caused. We do not want another family to endure the same pain of losing their child.” Mike Wilcock, HSE Head of Operations, said: “Jonathan and Michael’s deaths were tragic, needless and entirely avoidable. These two men need not have died had Falcon Crane Hire taken the right, decisive action when the bolts failed the first time. The company fell far short of its health and safety obligation.” Falcon Crane Hire Ltd were fined £750,000 and ordered to pay costs of £100,000 for breaching Sections 2 and 3 of the Health and Safety at Work Etc Act. Ends Notes to editors The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice, promoting training; new or revised regulations and codes of practice, and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. www.hse.gov.uk More about the legislation referred to in this case can be found at: www.legislation.gov.uk/   and guidance at HSE news releases are available at http://press.hse.gov.uk Journalists should approach HSE press office with any queries on regional press releases. Source link