The Co-founder of SkyCiv, the structural design software provider, Sam Carigliano has been looking into the ways that Software as a Service, or SaaS, can be used to offer more. At the moment, although some people may not be familiar with the term SaaS, the software is used often. The
R G Carter, the region’s leading construction company has announced that they have opened their brand new engineering facility. The site is located in Attleborough and is the result of £14 million investment from the company. The creation of this new engineering facility will bring together its ground investigation, design,
Manchester City Council has announced that they have secured a grant for £2.87 million from the Government. The funding has been given to the council as a part of the Government’s national Heat Network Project, for work to be carried out on the Manchester Civic Quarter Heat Network. Manchester is
Newtecnic, the British based international building engineering firm has announced that they have been appointed by the main contractor, BACS Consortium in order to oversee the construction stage of the advanced facade envelope planned for the King Abdullah Financial District Metro hub located in Saudi Arabia. It is great news
Freeware is commonly used by a wide range of people in a professional and personal capacity. However, structural engineers are more often found to be distrusting of free structural engineering software. With a range of freeware options available, is it time to start trusting this solution? The computing world has
GRAHAM’s civil engineering division has continued to improve and develop their delivery teams through the appointment of a new team member. Katie Jones has joined GRAHAM’s civil engineering division as they continue to expand and win a number of significant contracts throughout the UK and Ireland. Katie Jones is the
Design2e the structural design and civil engineering consultancy has released a checklist of all of the different environmental consideration that are needed when designing a new building. The checklist has been released in order to support the construction industry and allow them to meet the environmental regulations that are in
GRAHAM has been appointed by Stockport Council through the Highways England CDF Lot 2 Framework in order to carry out the design and construction work for a new Travis Bow Link Road. This new road, when completed will create a vital linking road between the A6 and the M60 in
Cundall engineer has been given a medal in achievement awards, which has been announced by the Institute of Engineering and Technology. Dr. Ozak Esu uses her free time in order to tutor disadvantaged young people. Dr. Ozak managed to beat a global field of competition in order to jointly win
Northern Arc has been announced as the winner of the Hyperloop One Global Challenge. The proposal was led by both Ryder Architecture and Arup has been chosen as one of the ten winners in the global challenge. The teams had to compete against thousands of entries, submitted from around the
The Co-founder of SkyCiv, the structural design software provider, Sam Carigliano has been looking into the ways that Software as a Service, or SaaS, can be used to offer more. At the moment, although some people may not be familiar with the term SaaS, the software is used often. The concept offers a lot of benefits for the users including ongoing technical support. Since the global recession, which took place almost a decade ago now, there has been a significant change in the way that people purchase and consume products. For example, in the housing market the rising cost of houses has led to a significant increase in the amount of properties being rented. According to recent analysis that has come from the Pew Research Center there are currently more houses being rented in the US now than at any point since at least 1965. Renting is not a new concept but there has been a discernable shift to renting, lending and sharing goods instead of buying them. The shift to sharing products and services as opposed to owning them is now reflected in the software that is being used at the moment. The development and viability of cloud computing is a prime example of SaaS, where users pay subscription fees to use a program or a platform. This means that high quality software to individuals that would previously been unable to afford it. SkyCiv has been exploring a range of possible developments of SaaS for structural engineers. As a part of this the company’s entire suite of structural design and analysis software is cloud based. This allows the company’s specialists to view user projects and provide a more extensive troubleshooting and software problems. The cloud based operations also allow for more of a consultative support to be offered as well. With the development of the sharing economy and SaaS, it is vital that all users seek to make the most of their chosen subscriptions. For structural engineers the value of software comes from the professional consultation of specially trained experts available as well.
R G Carter, the region’s leading construction company has announced that they have opened their brand new engineering facility. The site is located in Attleborough and is the result of £14 million investment from the company. The creation of this new engineering facility will bring together its ground investigation, design, piling and civil engineering teams onto one site. R G Carter hope that the creation of this new site, and the combination of a wide range of different offerings under one roof will help to provide an enhanced service for both current and potential new clients. The progress has been seen as an exciting time for the construction company and will help them to bring their engineering companies together, while also having the opportunity to make the most of purpose-built facilities which will help employees to work more closely together in order to improve our services to R G Carter’s clients. The new laboratory is UKAS accredited and is known for being one of the best equipped facilities in East Anglia. The new site will offer the company a great foundation for them to develop their soil and materials testing capabilities. The creation of this new facility will help to provide the local community with extra jobs and will also look to engage with local schools by offering tours of their new site. This newly built site is an exceptional facility and home for the company and it is thought that the move to a much larger site with all the equipment available that they require, will allow R G Carter to deliver their best results and work more efficiently with each other. At the official opening ceremony of the new Attleborough facility there were demonstrations to showcase the equipment installed on site. The demonstrations included the 3D printing capabilities as well as ground investigation drilling, foundation pile auguring, plant maintenance and welding.
Manchester City Council has announced that they have secured a grant for £2.87 million from the Government. The funding has been given to the council as a part of the Government’s national Heat Network Project, for work to be carried out on the Manchester Civic Quarter Heat Network. Manchester is one of only nine local authorities that have managed to secure funding for these projects. The funding success that has recently been announced means that the city council will now be able to progress with the Civic Quarter Heat Project that is working to make changes and see significant carbon reductions over the course of the next three decades. Following the success of the grant application the council is expected to meet the remainder of the cost for the programme of investment. The Manchester Civic Quarter Heat Network project aims to become cost-neutral over the course of the scheme, with the possibility of revenue being created from this project that can be invested into more low-carbon, renewable initiatives. The scheme has been designed in order to offer the potential for expansion. As the network grows and customers involved with this scheme become connected there will be a higher level of capacity installed and the benefits of the programme can increase. Vital Energi is known for being one of the country’s best known providers of sustainable and renewable energy schemes. The company has been appointed as the preferred bidder in order to deliver the scheme, which will include the construction of a low-carbon energy centre and 2km district heating network. This network will include a number of well-known Manchester buildings including Manchester Town Hall and its extension, Manchester Central Convention Centre, the Central Library, Manchester Art Gallery, Bridgewater Hall and Heron House. Manchester City Council has announced that they are fully focused on improving air quality and environmental quality in order to improve the attractiveness of the city.
Newtecnic, the British based international building engineering firm has announced that they have been appointed by the main contractor, BACS Consortium in order to oversee the construction stage of the advanced facade envelope planned for the King Abdullah Financial District Metro hub located in Saudi Arabia. It is great news that a British building engineering firm has been selected to work on a prominent international project such as this one. The Metro hub in the King Abdullah Financial District, or KAFD has been designed by Zaha Hadid and includes an intricate facade that is intended to illustrate the patterns generated by desert winds. The facade of the building was design engineered by Newtecnic, the British company, in order to reduce the solar gain of the building as well as producing air currents that can be utilised to cool the building. Newtecnic’s building research team has had to develop new algorithms in order to achieve the desired performance level from the facade envelope. The KAFD has been planned in order to create the capacity to manage Riyadh’s expected 50% growth over the course of the next few years. The KAFD is a part of the new citywide transport system that has been planned and includes 6 metro lines as well as 85 different stations, and more than 100 miles of track. It is thought that work on this project will be completed in 2018. The facade was complex to design engineer. This complexity was created from the continuity of the KAFD’s self-supporting, 200-meter-long, high performance concrete composite walls and roof used on the building. New adjustable building components have been created in order to build this structure as well as fixing methods that needed to be invented and tested by technic specifically for this project. Newtecnic tested these components in partnership with the Engineering Department of Cambridge University.
Freeware is commonly used by a wide range of people in a professional and personal capacity. However, structural engineers are more often found to be distrusting of free structural engineering software. With a range of freeware options available, is it time to start trusting this solution? The computing world has a wide range of myths associated with it. Since the 1990s one of the most common claims that have been made is that the Mac and Linux systems are considered to be immune to malware and viruses; a complete myth that is very obviously not true, but based on the notion that these systems are more challenging for virus developers in the 1990s. Similar to this, there have been a range of misconceptions circulated about freeware that have historically dissuaded structural engineers from putting complete trust in the software when using it for their projects. This doubt and suspicion has remained even with the increase of free and open-source programs that have been made available by trusted developers and suppliers over the course of the past few years. One example of widely integrated freeware is Dropbox, used by a wide audience in order to place and store important documents in the cloud. Many Structural engineers also use this freeware service and this creates a contradiction for a range of businesses in this industry. Misconceptions around freeware is that the free structural analysis and design software lacks the quality assurance of paid for equivalents and that there will be a slower rate of roll out updates for new design regulations. However, these feelings to the outdated notion that freeware is developed by a single person as opposed to trained specialists, reputable companies and start-ups. With computing misconceptions still lingering from a misunderstanding of a historical situation, it is vital that Structural engineering companies understand and discover that freeware offering the same level of quality assurances and support as purchased software, and with the abundance of freeware available, now is a great time for engineers to trust professionally.
GRAHAM’s civil engineering division has continued to improve and develop their delivery teams through the appointment of a new team member. Katie Jones has joined GRAHAM’s civil engineering division as they continue to expand and win a number of significant contracts throughout the UK and Ireland. Katie Jones is the former Highways England LEAN Manager and will be bringing a wealth of experience from her six year stay at the company. Katie will be an asset to the company as the Civil Engineering division of GRAHAM continues to win Highways England contracts in a range of areas in the UK. LEAN techniques will continue to be a central part of all of GRAHAM’s civil engineering projects, another reason why Katie Jones’ experiences and specialist knowledge gained through her appointment will be valuable to the company. Highways England are ensuring at the moment that all of their partners use LEAN practices within their projects, therefore the appointment of a team member as experienced with specifying and delivering these practices as Katie will provide GRAHAM’s civil engineering division the opportunity to expand and win more contracts going forward. LEAN management is known for being the systematic method put in place to eliminate inefficiency. Highways England has been working to make a rang eof efficiency savings through the use of LEAN principles and encourages the businesses operating as a part of their supply chain to do the same. Katie Jones will help to develop the industry leading approach to LEAN at GRAHAM within construction as she did during her time at Highways England. During her career, Katie has been responsible for the training of more than 100 client supply chain personnel through LEAN Awareness Training Sessions, and was also in charge of deploying eight FLITe practitioners on the £230 million Manchester Smart Motorways project. Katie is delighted to join the Civil Engineering Division and is looking forward to helping them develop their strategy in order to improve their wider business.
Design2e the structural design and civil engineering consultancy has released a checklist of all of the different environmental consideration that are needed when designing a new building. The checklist has been released in order to support the construction industry and allow them to meet the environmental regulations that are in place. Looking to the environmental factors of a project should be the first thing to happen when structural design and civil engineering teams look into planning a structural project. The new building being designed needs to meet the strict regulations that are in place to protect the environment as well as reducing any potential flood risk and making sure that the area surrounding the development is kept clean. All construction projects taking place in the UK must go through an Environmental Impact Assessment, or EIA. This assessment makes sure that the project will only go ahead if it meets the standards laid out to protect the planned building itself as well as the environment. The guide that has been created by Design2e is an information tool for structural and civil engineers, helping them to consider the assessment requirements as a part of their design from the inception of a project. Identifying and overcoming any environmental challenges during the design stage will mean that problems are avoided further down the line, during construction or after. If the problems arise at a later stage there could be a knock on effect on planning permission applications, which will increase the time it takes to complete the project and therefore increase the cost. The works case scenario of an environmental problem being raised later in a development is prosecution. Design2e hopes to encourage all civil and structural engineers to design their projects with sustainability in mind. The checklist that has been created by the consultancy company is available online and can be accessed through any form of smart device as well as being available for printing for use in design meetings in order to make sure that the environmental factors are always a vital consideration throughout the design and construction process. The structural and civil engineering company also offer a range of services that aims to make sure that construction projects being carried out across the UK are cost-efficient and long-lasting. The company offers their clients a range of bespoke environmental services that can be used to protect and improve projects in order to boost the creation of a more sustainable environment.
GRAHAM has been appointed by Stockport Council through the Highways England CDF Lot 2 Framework in order to carry out the design and construction work for a new Travis Bow Link Road. This new road, when completed will create a vital linking road between the A6 and the M60 in Stockport town centre. GRAHAM’s civil engineering team has experience of working on a range of prestigious and high profile jobs in the UK and Ireland. This past portfolio of work includes the Tennison Road Bridge Replacement for Network Rail as well as the A138 Chelmer Viaduct that was completed for Highways England. The plan for the linking road was developed through a partnership between Stockport Council and Transport for Greater Manchester. The funding for this project has been secured by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and as a part of the Growth Deal funding. GRAHAM is a highly regarded civil engineering and construction firm and will be taking part in this challenging civil engineering project that will connect with the iconic railway viaduct through the use of a disused railway tunnel to the A6, a part of Greater Manchester’s Key Route Network. On top of this engineering and construction work, the contract will also see GRAHAM carrying out improvement works on the A6 Wellington Road North, the A5145 Travis Brow and George’s Road, which is adjacent. It is predicted that the work will be completed in August 2018. GRAHAM is experienced in completing a range of high-quality civil engineering projects. This new contract will benefit millions of people who will be able to use the new link road once work is completed. It is vital that these road improvements are carried out in order to continue the work to improve the transport access for thousands of motorists throughout Stockport town centre.
Cundall engineer has been given a medal in achievement awards, which has been announced by the Institute of Engineering and Technology. Dr. Ozak Esu uses her free time in order to tutor disadvantaged young people. Dr. Ozak managed to beat a global field of competition in order to jointly win the Mike Sargeant Career Achievement Award for Young Professionals. The coveted industry accolades have been created to recognise some of the world’s most outstanding engineers and technologists as well as celebrate the skills of exceptional young professionals, students and apprentices. The Mike Sargeant Career Achievement Award for Young Professionals is the latest honour to be given to Dr. Ozak, as she has also recently been named by the Telegraph as one of their ‘Top 50 Women in Engineering Under 35. This award winning and exceptional electrical engineer graduated with a first class honours degree from Loughborough University and has gained experience working for the industry leading Cundall since 2014. Dr. Ozak is based in the Birmingham office of the UK multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy. Dr. Ozak said that she was first inspired to study electronic and electrical engineering Loughborough University because of the challenges that are faced in regards to power in her home country of Nigeria. Her experience has also led to her working with disadvantaged Young people. Ozak has been praised by the Managing Partner at Cundall, Tomas Neeson, who has said that since joining the company, she has been an excellent example as a STEM ambassador through her work mentoring a number of students at the Birmingham Office. Dr. Ozak and the other candidates were nominated for the Institute of Engineering and Technology Awards by their peers and then selected by a judging panel. The winners will collect their awards at a ceremony on the 15th November, which will be hosted by Kate Bellingham, the TV presenter.
Northern Arc has been announced as the winner of the Hyperloop One Global Challenge. The proposal was led by both Ryder Architecture and Arup has been chosen as one of the ten winners in the global challenge. The teams had to compete against thousands of entries, submitted from around the world. The Hyperloop One Global was an ideas competition that looked for a range of innovative opportunities where practical application of the evolving Hyperloop technology could be explored. The Northern Arc’s idea was an economic opportunity to widen the concept of the Northern Powerhouse in order to include the Scottish Central Belt, and in doing so, linking a wide range of major cities located across the North of England. Hyperloop is an innovative technology that will allow passengers to travel between all cities in a little over 45 minutes, according to The Northern Arc’s ideas. This could lead to the creation of a Pan-Northern City region, with a population in excess of 10 million people and the ability to compete on the world economic stage. Hyperloop, when teamed with other improvements to the transport network that are currently underway could keep future generations moving. The Northern Arc team is committed to be at the front of the innovation as other similar technologies to Hyperloop are developed. One of the partners at Ryder, Paul Bell has expressed the team’s excitement to be a part of the proposal and collaborating with Hyperloop. Hyperloop One is at the moment working in Nevada on a proof of concept work. The developments being made with this technology are taking place at a significant rate and the technology could offer a new transport innovation. the north of the UK was pivotal with providing railway technology to for the world, and The Northern Arc are committed to making sure that the north is at the forefront of the next transport innovation.
