ICE - Institution of Civil Engineers - Virtual Library

ICE has produced a definitive best-practice guide for construction clients with an online self-assessment tool. Sue Kershaw of the Olympic Delivery Authority and David Hutchison of Parsons Brinckerhoff report on one of the first fruits of ICE's new learned society structure.

A pilot scheme in Ireland is treating agricultural wastewater using waste alum sludge from water-treatment works. Akin Babatunde and Yaqian Zhao from University College Dublin report on what could become the world's low-cost wastewater-treatment system of choice, particularly in remote areas.

The UK's Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 have been in force for over two years but a recent survey suggests only half of all ‘duty holders’ actually understand them. Steve Dalby of CDM2007.org says this is putting both people and companies at risk.

Civil engineering research at British universities is better than ever, with 20% rated as ‘world leading’ in the government's latest research assessment exercise. Adrian Long of Queen's University Belfast, who chaired the civil engineering review panel, reports.

A review of recent and forthcoming developments at the Institution of Civil Engineers by ICE director of communications and marketing Anne Moir. For further information, please contact the Communications Office on +44 20 7665 2150.

With the increasing focus on delivering sustainable communities, municipal engineering looks set for a renaissance in Britain. Alan Hayes, chairman of the ICE municipal expert panel, says it offers an inspirational environment for a new generation of more socially aware engineers.

ICE director general Tom Foulkes has recently become president of the Commonwealth Engineers' Council. Secretary Neil Bailey and ICE's David Rodriguez-Vega explain how it uniquely connects engineers from across five continents for the benefit of mankind.

In addition to Civil Engineering , ICE Proceedings includes 16 specialist journals. Papers and articles published in some of the most recent issues are listed here. Summaries of all these and other papers and articles published since 1992 can be read free in the ICE Virtual Library at www.icevirtuallibrary.com/content/journals. ICE members can also subscribe to the ICE Virtual Journal, offering access to 15 papers from any volume for £27. Visit www.icevirtualjournal.com for more information.

Victoria Square shopping centre is a new £400 million mixed-use development in the centre of Belfast, Northern Ireland. Unlike most traditional shopping centres, its layout is based on the twists and turns of existing street patterns and it also provides open streetscapes with glazed rain screens rather than enclosed malls. This paper describes the design and construction of this 135 000 m² high-quality urban regeneration scheme, including its extensive three-level basement in water-bearing gravels and the spectacular glazed dome and central ‘lily pad’ viewing and circulation structure.

The earthquake of 26 December 2004 off the west coast of Sumatra and the resulting tsunami killed 300 000 people and destroyed farmland and irrigation systems. A further earthquake on 28 March 2005 killed 1000 people and damaged structural works on Nias island. This paper describes post-tsunami and -earthquake reconstruction of irrigation systems in Aceh province and Nias, where most of the damage occurred. Design engineers followed the Indonesian government's policy of ‘building back better’ by incorporating earthquake-resistant design in the higher-risk areas. The participatory planning, design and construction approaches are described as well as several innovations in earthquake-resistant design for canals, weirs and other irrigation structures.

The US global positioning system (GPS) has transformed many aspects of modern society, from navigation, mapping and monitoring to synchronisation of communications networks. It is already widely used in civil engineering and, with the imminent introduction of other global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), is set to flourish further – especially when combined with other measurement or sensor technology. This paper provides some background to the basic technology, coordinate issues and civil engineering applications of GPS. It then looks to the future of GNSS and its likely impact on civil engineering.

This paper reviews some recent discussion on the role of universities in the education and training of civil engineers and considers the guidelines offered by the UK Joint Board of Moderators on design in civil engineering degree programmes. Some discussion of other issues affecting the education of civil engineers is given. It is argued that emphasis should be given to the education of engineers at university and how this might be achieved in design is considered.