Construction 2025 - what does the future hold?

We attended an interesting event hosted by the Mike Rhodes of the MK50 Club on 13th October 2014.   The event covered aspirations for the construction industry as set out by the government by 2025.

Working together, industry and Government have developed a clear and defined set of aspirations for UK construction.

Some key targets included:

33% lower costs
50% lower emissions
50% Faster delivery
50% improved exports

Can we deliver this??  I think we the majority agreed that with collaboration and clear leadership its possible but attitudes need to change.

Mike Rhodes also highlighted some interesting videos with which gave an insight to where the industry is going.

One of them was Google glasses integration for construction and can be viewed at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jwk2TiJG8OE

The other was 3D concrete printing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfbhdZKPHro

In all cases - there will still be a need for accurate geospatial information that in my opinion will be provided by Geomatics Professionals.

Happy 35th Birthday, TSA - we are proud to be members!

Both Loy Surveys and Longdin and Browning Surveys were some of the first members of the The Survey Association (TSA). Stan Longdin was actually at the first meeting of the organisation on the 3rd January 1974.

More details can be read about this meeting and how the the TSA was formaed in a post by Rory Stanbridge on the TSA website:

www.tsa-uk.org.uk/happy-35th-birthday-tsa/

The TSA has done great work over the years in bringing the industry together and providing guides for surveyors and clients alike.   Keep up the good work up!

Measured Surveys - 3rd Edition: Survey Detail Accuracy Banding Table

The latest edition of Measured surveys of land, buildings and utilities - RICS guidance note contains a useful table outlining accuracies bands, requirements and features depending on the Survey type/use and legacy output scale.  

In our opinion this table simplifies the often over-complicated subject of accuracy and scale and should be used by clients and survey professionals alike.

See below:

Ogilvie Geomatics attend launch of PAS 128 - Specification for underground utility detection

Mark McGarragh and Gordon Crichton attended the recent launch of the PAS 128 specification for underground utility detection, verification and location at the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE).

To view the seminar online visit: 

www.ice.org.uk/Events-conferences/Recorded-lectures/Lectures

We were particularly interested in Andy Rhoades presentation with regards to Heathrow airport.  They had a near miss whereby a lightning rod was literally inches from piercing a main fuel line due to a lack of briefing, and understanding of the the utility plans.

The result was potentially catastrophic!  Such pollution from an incident would cost £100k to £1m's to clean up and could take a least 2 months - shutting down Heathrow airport.  

Further info on PAS 128:

As the demand on the nation’s infrastructure continues to grow due to new developments, the need to replace and/or maintain existing utilities increases. It is therefore essential that accurate information about where underground utilities are actually located is available.

Historically this has been hard to achieve as the detection, verification and location of utility assets have been subject to interpretation and inaccuracies. This has led to the safety of workers and the public being put at risk, unnecessary work that has often needed to be aborted, damage to third party assets and inefficient design solutions.

PAS 128 aims to provide a clear and unambiguous provision for those engaged in the detection, verification and location of active, abandoned, redundant or unknown utilities. It is applicable to surveyors, geophysicists or subsurface utility engineers as well as engineers, constructors, project managers and utility owners who are responsible for recording information about underground utilities.

To download the PAS 128 specification visit:

shop.bsigroup.com/en/ProductDetail/?pid=000000000030267400

Punctured rail tunnel renews calls for better utility/infrastructure information

Source: Geomatics World






It was only train driver vigilance and a measure of good luck that prevented a serious rail accident on Network Rail’s Northern City Line tunnel between Old Street and Essex Road stations in London on March 8th 2013. A driver reported seeing water pouring through the roof of the tunnel as he passed through. Then a second driver, who was sent with an out-ofservice train to investigate, found a pile boring bit and debris on the tracks. The incident was caused by piling from a building site 13m above the tunnel puncturing the tunnel lining.

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) published its report on 14th February 2014 – eleven months after the incident. The investigation found that no one knew about the tunnel beneath the site. The tunnel route is not shown on OSMasterMap or historical OS mapping. The presence of a tunnel is hinted-at, somewhat cryptically in the registered title for the site, which states: “So much of the sub-soil as was vested in the Great Northern and City Railway is excluded from the registration”.

The tunnel is owned by Network Rail, but because the developer was not aware of its presence, a search had not been requested. The local authority also failed to pick up the presence of the underground railway during the planning application process for the same reasons. Concerning mapping, some, but not all railway tunnels are shown on OS mapping. The report does not make a recommendation concerning this apparent inconsistency but instead recommends that railway infrastructure owners should publish information concerning railways that are not shown on OS maps.

You can read more at

http://www.raib.gov.uk/publications/investigation_reports/reports_2014/report032014.cfm