Institution Of Civil Engineers Research Articles

ICE review

A review of recent developments at the Institution of Civil Engineers by ICE president John Armitt. For further information please contact the communications office on +44 20 7665 2107, email communications@ice.org.uk or visit www.ice.org.uk//news-public-affairs .

New UK code of practice provides guidance on alliancing and supply chain integration

Alliancing is a form of collaborative working being adopted in the UK and other countries for more cost-effective delivery of infrastructure. Dale Evans of the Infrastructure Client Group introduces a new UK alliancing code recently launched at the Institution of Civil Engineers.

Briefing: Reflections on the role of the expert witness

This paper tries to record some of the experiences of a civil and structural engineer and building surveyor over a period of some 50 years and how he became involved, by chance, in advising protagonists who had resorted to legal disputations to resolve their differences. The author is not a great supporter of disputations that rely too heavily on legal management of the arguments – and certainly not of going to court (if it can be avoided). He believes that going to court is, in principle, a failure, unless the matter is extremely complex or an issue upon which crucial legal clarification is required. Most other instances are, in his view, exercises in ‘bullying’, inefficiency, dishonesty, arrogance or stupidity. It is important to appreciate that most well-conducted dispute ‘cases’ (the vast majority) are resolved without ever getting to court, so the ‘expert’ aspect is required far more often than the ‘witness’ part. Most expert witness roles in building and engineering disputes are in civil law cases, but some do occasionally arise in criminal cases, particularly where injury or fatality is involved. For the sake of gathering all blame to the author himself, he confirms that the opinions that he expresses below are his and his alone and not those of the Institution of Civil Engineers.

Landslide Risk Assessment2nd edition. Mark Lee and David Jones . ICE Publishing, London, 2014, £82, hardback, 524pp, ISBN: 9870-7277-5801-9

2nd edition. Mark Lee and David Jones . ICE Publishing, London, 2014, £82, hardback, 524pp, ISBN: 9870-7277-5801-9 In 1997, almost midway through the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction, a group of landslide specialists met in Honolulu to exchange ideas on quantitative risk analysis. This meeting was a reflection of a growing field of landslide risk assessment and the book that followed, a collection of papers from that meeting, became a staple of the field (Cruden & Fell 1997). Almost two decades later, landslide risk assessment is fundamental training for geotechnical engineers, engineering geomorphologists and geologists asked to help communities, industry and the public understand the extent to which they are threatened by slope hazards. Papers on landslide risk assessment proliferate in the scientific literature and in national, provincial and municipal guidelines. Despite the overwhelming interest and an obvious demand, there remain few comprehensive treatments of this topic in a single textbook. Arguably the best known was published by Lee & Jones (2004). In 2014, under the Institution of Civil Engineers publishing house, Lee & Jones provided a second edition (Lee & Jones 2014). The second edition expands on the first by adding five chapters (now 12 rather than seven) and reorganizing some of the data. It updates references and provides new case studies to help illustrate the critical concepts. This edition remains a single voice, comprehensive review of risk assessment concepts. It is well illustrated using …

Issues of teaching metrology in higher education institutions of civil engineering in Russia

The work analyses the training process condition in teaching the discipline "Metrology, Standardization, Certification and Quality Control". It proves that the current educational standard regarding the instruction of the discipline «Metrology, Standardization, Certification and Quality Control» does not meet the needs of the present-day Russian education and construction practice. The paper substantiates the timeliness of the issue regarding the reconsideration of the approach to metrological training. It proposes a concept of metrology instruction to specialists and bachelors of different majors at a higher education institution of civil engineering. The issue of providing the learning process with up-to-date tools is considered. It is emphasized that bachelors and specialists of the construction industry today have to put their knowledge to use in concrete situations which are as nearly as possible to the working conditions.

ICE Review

A review of recent developments at the Institution of Civil Engineers by ICE president David Balmforth. For further information please contact the communications office on +44 20 7665 2107, email communications@ice.org.uk or visit www.ice.org.uk/news-public-affairs .

Briefing: A change for Construction Law Quarterly

In 2016, ICE Construction Law Quarterly begins publishing as part of the journal Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers – Management, Procurement and Law. This change is designed to increase the amount of practice content carried annually by Management, Procurement and Law and to take ICE Construction Law Quarterly content to a wider international audience.

Civil engineers: shaping ourselves and our world

This is the inaugural address of John Armitt, who became the 151st president of the Institution of Civil Engineers on 3 November 2015.

Winter issue 2015

Welcome to Issue 4 – the winter issue. In this issue we report on the Supreme Court decision in Cavendish Square Holdings v. Makdessi and ParkingEye Limited – Beavis (handed down on 4 November 2015) dealing with liquidated damage clauses and penalties. Readers may already to be aware that the rule against penalties has not been abolished but better clarified. The ‘new’ test will be much discussed and publicised, and so readers ought to note that the test is stated as ‘a contractual clause was penal if it was a secondary obligation which imposed a detriment on the contractbreaker out of all proportion to any legitimate interest of the innocent party in the enforcement of the primary obligation’. I have also focused some attention on a reader’s question submitted in the context of a contract that was meant to have been executed as a deed but was not. What does this mean, especially when the 6-year limitation period for a simple common law contract has expired? Readers may not like my answer! On equally substantive grounds we also report cases dealing with so-called ‘PFI contracts’ and the public sector treatment of tenders. We have also chosen to continue to look at some practical industry issues: The UK’s National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) became operational on 30 October 2015, enjoying cross-party support from the UK’s main political parties. We look at the following questions: What is the NIC? What is the NIC’s remit and specific tasks? What do commentators say about the NIC? I think readers ought also to be aware of certain important changes in the nuclear decommissioning sector and, in particular, the UK government’s decision in early 2015 to terminate the contract to decommission Sellafield – what does this mean for readers and the wider membership of the Institution of Civil Engineers? These are important topics for all of us involved in the construction law sector, and I hope readers will find this issue informative and a useful reference point.

ICE Review

A review of recent developments at the Institution of Civil Engineers by ICE president David Balmforth. For further information please contact the communications office on +44 20 7665 2107, email communications@ice.org.uk or visit www.ice.org.uk/news-public-affairs .

Soil geohazard mapping for improved asset management of UK local roads

Abstract. Unclassified roads comprise 60 % of the road network in the United Kingdom (UK). The resilience of this locally important network is declining. It is considered by the Institution of Civil Engineers to be "at risk" and is ranked 26th in the world. Many factors contribute to the degradation and ultimate failure of particular road sections. However, several UK local authorities have identified that in drought conditions, road sections founded upon shrink–swell susceptible clay soils undergo significant deterioration compared with sections on non-susceptible soils. This arises from the local road network having little, if any, structural foundations. Consequently, droughts in East Anglia have resulted in millions of pounds of damage, leading authorities to seek emergency governmental funding. This paper assesses the use of soil-related geohazard assessments in providing soil-informed maintenance strategies for the asset management of the locally important road network of the UK. A case study draws upon the UK administrative county of Lincolnshire, where road assessment data have been analysed against mapped clay-subsidence risk. This reveals a statistically significant relationship between road condition and susceptible clay soils. Furthermore, incorporation of UKCP09 future climate projections within the geohazard models has highlighted roads likely to be at future risk of clay-related subsidence.

ICE review

A review of recent developments at the Institution of Civil Engineers by ICE president David Balmforth. For further information please contact the communications office on +44 20 7665 2107, email communications@ice.org.uk or visit www.ice.org.uk/news-public-affairs.

ICE review

A review of recent and forthcoming developments at the Institution of Civil Engineers by ICE president David Balmforth. For further information please contact the communications office on +44 20 7665 2107, email communications@ice.org.uk or visit www.ice.org.uk//news-public-affairs.

Briefing: The Institution of Civil Engineers' intelligent client capability framework

Recent aspirations to transform the delivery of major capital programmes and projects in the public sector are focusing on the achievement of value for money, whole-life asset management and sustainable procurement, embodied in the principles of the intelligent client. However, there is little support offered to those working in client functions to promote the development of the skills and behaviours that underpin effective client decision-making. In line with the relaunch of Infrastructure UK's Project Initiation Routemap, the capacity building panel at the Institution of Civil Engineers has taken the first step in providing individuals with client capability development guidance. The intelligent client capability framework translates the principles of the intelligent client into a self-assessment with big potential, not just for building the capacity of civil engineers as intelligent clients, but for UK clients in general.

ICE review

A review of recent and forthcoming developments at the Institution of Civil Engineers by ICE president David Balmforth. For further information please contact the communications office on +44 20 7665 2107, email communications@ice.org.uk or visit www.ice.org.uk//news-public-affairs.

Civil engineering: fit for the future

This is the inaugural address of David Balmforth, who became the 150th president of the Institution of Civil Engineers on 5 November 2014.

The Civil Engineering Institute as a Leader in Training of Specialists in the Field of Civil Engineering

The Civil Engineering Institute is a leader in training of students in civil engineering programs. Strong leadership of the Polytechnical University among other universities which implement the training of students in civil engineering programs in the eyes of students and their parents evolved gradually. Of course, on this worked and the overall image of the educational institution which has the status of National Research University. There are only four institutions of higher learning in the field of Civil Engineering with such a status in our country. The only one is in St. Petersburg. It is the St. Petersburg State Polytechnical University. This article describes the achievements of students and teachers of the Civil Engineering Institute, analyzed the results of the admission campaign of this year.

The Role of Civil Engineering Institute in Increasing the International Competitiveness of the St. Petersburg State Polytechnical University

The St. Petersburg State Polytechnical University is one of the 15 universities who won in the competition for the right to obtain a grant of Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation in order to enhance their competitiveness among the world's leading research and education centers. The purpose of the Program “5-100-2020” is ensure the entry of at least five Russian universities in the top one hundred world's leading universities by 2020 (according to the QS World University Rankings). The article discusses the role of the Civil Engineering Institute in increasing the international competitiveness of the St. Petersburg State Polytechnical University.

An Update Procedure of Basic Education Programmes in St. Petersburg Polytechnic University

Updating of basic education programmes – is the one of the quality areas assurance of higher education in Russia. Described testing methodology update the basic education programmes based on the experience of Civil Engineering Institute in St. Petersburg state Polytechnic University.

Results of the Admission Campaign: Which is the Future Specialist in the Field of Civil Engineering?

In recent years, increases the pace of industrial and civil construction, as well as the scale of buildings under construction. Appear new building materials and technologies. Increased the need for skilled personnel in the field of civil engineering. Construction professions are in stable demand with school leavers. Following the results of the admission campaign in major universities of St. Petersburg, which train specialists for the construction industry, the competition and the passing score were high. The article analyzes the results of the admission campaign of this year, in particular, admission to the Civil Engineering Institute of St. Petersburg State Polytechnical University which is one of the most respected construction faculties of Russia.