ICE - Institution of Civil Engineers - Virtual Library

The Eurocodes become Britain's new standards for structural design on 1 April 2010. Haig Gulvanessian, chairman of ICE's Eurocodes expert panel, encourages all civil and structural engineering designers to embrace them fully.

A group of leading UK infrastructure organisations and Forum for the Future have just published a fresh new approach to managing and reducing carbon on major infrastructure projects. Sue Leckie of Atkins reports.

All civil engineers need to have competence in safety – and are increasingly required to prove it. ICE has thus re-launched its health and safety register to provide a much broader base. David Lambert of Kier explains.

Cable cars are increasingly being seen as sustainable mass-transit solutions due to minimal emissions, short waits, low costs and rapid construction. One of the most recent examples is the 5·7 km long Ngong Ping 360 ropeway on Lantau Island in Hong Kong, the largest bi-cable circulating detachable cable car system in the world. Completed with the help of mules and helicopters in September 2006, it links Tung Chung new town next to Hong Kong International airport with the popular Ngong Ping tourist village, home of the Tian Tan Buddha. The system has the second highest transport capacity in the world, with 3500 passengers per hour each way.

Next month BSI is withdrawing a total of 57 structural design codes as they are deemed to have been superseded by the 58 parts of the ten new Eurocodes. However, as this paper sets out, despite the lengthy gestation of the Eurocodes there are still several issues that need to be resolved before the codes can be successfully implemented in Britain. Liability issues, difficulties of language and presentation, and problems associated with the complex partial factor system are investigated. The resources required for the necessary retraining of design engineers and building control officers are also considered.

The rural community of Tenganan in eastern Bali, Indonesia has been suffering crippling water shortages for years. However, the 4000 locals developed a conceptual water supply solution and then asked an engineering charity for technical assistance to develop this to construction stage along with their own capability to build and manage it. This paper discusses the innovative aspects of the project since its inception in December 2006, including the use of external and in-country design teams to provide access to an extensive international network of engineering resources and experienced volunteers. The project aims to produce a successful ‘bottom-up’ development action that will deliver a sustainable solution.

Ten years have passed since the Highways Agency launched the UK's first construction management framework pilot in 1999. Today's framework, which has delivered over £300 million of schemes without any contractual disputes, is generally seen as a success by those involved, creating a more enjoyable work environment and making it a preferred form of procurement. This paper reviews the initiatives that have been identified and practised during the life of the framework. The benefits and successes of these are discussed along with the lessons learned and recommendations for the future.