ICE London G&S Committee: Evening Seminars — A brief overview to date
Two Evening Seminars have been successfully presented this year, organised by the ICE London G&S Committee. There was great turnout for both of them and they took place on the 13th of March and on the 24th of April, respectively, at ICE HQ One Great George Street.
1st Evening Seminar — London Bridge Station Redevelopment: A sustainable and safe project
The 1st Evening Seminar had a great turnout with over 100 attendees. The speakers based their presentations on the lessons learnt during their involvement with the London Bridge Station Redevelopment Project, one of the biggest projects at the moment in London with a total cost of more than £1bn.
The London Bridge Station Redevelopment Project forms a pivotal role in the completion of a 15-year programme of rail infrastructure investment work in central London. The London Bridge Station is due to open fully in 2018.
Speakers and topics
Sharon Fink, Health, Safety, Quality and Environmental Manager — @Network_Rail — Lessons learnt from Health & Safety issues at the London Bridge Station Redevelopment Project
Lewis Atherton, Programme Manager — @Network_Rail — Lessons learnt from Health & Safety issues at the London Bridge Station Redevelopment Project
Sharon and Lewis have great working experience at the rail industry for more than 20 years. Currently they are both involved at the Thameslink Programme. Sharon joined the London Bridge Station Redevelopment Project since its beginning in 2012 and Lewis joined the project in 2015 as its programme manager.
Their presentation was a brief overview of the importance of health & safety on site. They focused on the issues that have been raised at the London Bridge Station Redevelopment Project. The issues were mentioned, the reasons for such situations were discussed and possible solutions were developed. A vital parameter, that both Sharon and Lewis mentioned, was the site behaviour of the operatives and the importance of ‘clear’ and explanatory health & safety documents.
Rupert Shingleton, Project Director — @COSTAIN — Quality assurance at the London Bridge Station Redevelopment Project
Rupert is a Chartered Engineer with the ICE, working for more than 25 years at the construction industry with COSTAIN Ltd. Rupert used to work at the Crossrail Programme before joining the Thameslink Programme in 2013. Currently, Rupert is Project Director at the London Bridge Station Redevelopment Project focusing on quality, assurance deliverables and handback to operational end user stakeholders.
Rupert is an expert on quality assurance with great experience on site and his presentation was based on statistics which were gathered from the beginning of the project back in 2012. It was mentioned that one of the most vital issues, regarding the proper quality of the final project delivery, is the completion of the quality documents on time. Of course, the compliance with the specifications is important as well, and possible amendments must be discussed with the designers beforehand.
2nd Evening Seminar — Multi-Span Suspension Bridges: State of the Art
More than 90 people attended the 2nd Evening Seminar. The speaker’s presentation was based on the state of the art of one of the most impressive structures; the multi-span suspension bridges.
Speaker and topic
David Collings, Technical Director — @Arcadis — State 0f the art of multi-span suspension bridges
David is a Chartered Engineer with more than 37 years of working experience in the industry. David has been responsible for very important projects, including the UK-Bangladesh friendship bridge and the Second Penang Crossing in Kuala Lumpur. David has been awarded with the Telford Price for one of his scientific papers. Currently, apart for being the Technical Director of Arcadis, he lectures and conducts research at the University of Surrey.
David’s presentation was an illustrative overview regarding the multi-span suspension bridges. He started with a historical flashback since 1800 up to nowadays, mentioning some of the most outstanding multi-span suspension bridges. The most common issues, during the design stage, were discussed, being mainly their stiffness and increased flexibility. Some common issues of the multi-span suspension bridges with remarkable bridges, such as the Queensferry and Mersey, were presented. David closed his presentation proposing solutions for these problems. At the end of his presentation, very interesting questions were couched.
Final thoughts
The two first Evening Seminars, focusing on health & safety, quality assurance and technical aspects of engineering, were very successful and useful ones. The attendance at both events was great with positive feedback from the attendees. The help of our volunteers, Juan Reyes & Diego De Armas at the 1st event, as well as Christos Kokkinos at the 2nd event, was invaluable. We look forward to seeing excited graduates and students at our future Evening Seminars, which are organised by the ICE London G&S Committee, at ICE HQ One Great George Street.
An article by Kostas Kalfas, the ‘Evening Seminars Organiser for ICE London G&S’.
