Update to March 2011

2011 has been extremely busy so far. I have started work on a new project enhancing the village centre of Hirwaun. I have been given more resposibility than I ever imagined having in my first year of working life. I am responsible for ensuring all materials are on site, clearing waste paving and tarmac away, setting out, inductions, toolbox talks, programming works on a short term basis, routine health and safety tests, service avoidance - the list goes on. Hirwaun now looks something a little like this:

Elsewhere, I have carried on with the Ambassadors activities and attended the State of the Nation Launch at One Great George Street. This was where the ICE submitted its report to the government recommendinga strategy needed to meet Waste Framework Directive targets between now and 2050.

The most exciting part of the year so far was the visit to Uganda with EFOD. Sally Sudworth, Lianne Shepherd and myself joined Ian Flower and his gang on a mission to complete Soroti medical centre and visit some projects previously completed by EFOD, including an Orphanage now home to 40 young children and a working mill specially intended for use for widows. A sustainable community has developed there whereby the widows can grow crops to sustain themselves and surplus for selling on to the market. The profits made can then go into maintaining the special machinery. The site includes a groundwater pump and composting toilets.

My main role there however, was to assist the drainage of stormwater. Rainwater harvesting tanks were built in, but there was no means of water flowing away from the medical centre. Ponding water can become stagnant and attract mosquitoes. Mosquitoes lead to malaria which is the last thing needed at a medical centre. So in the course of 2 weeks, I built in a soakaway and an overflow system for the tanks consisting of outlet pipes leading into swales. This was done with the aid of 4 labourers who I paid at the end of each shift - 6000 shillings per day (About £2 - this sounds exploitative but it is above the going rate in Soroti and it is dangerous to exceed this too much as an imbalance is created)

The soakaway was dug by hand in temperatures exceeding 30 degrees. The downpipe from the roof fed into a manhole we constructed by digging a hole and building a chamber from pressed mudbricks and skimming over with mortar. We laid pipes from the manholes at a steady fall away from the medical centre and backfilled. The pipes fed into a siltation trap which we built in the same manner as the manhole. Next to the silt trap, we dug a hole 1.5m deep and filled with crushed stone. This was the soakaway. We fed a pipe from the silt trap into the soakaway and provided rodding access by situating a pipe upwards into the soakaway.

For the overflow system, I set about core drilling 4 inch holes into the tanks. I then got a labourer to set a 90 degree bend into the tank (because he was far more skilled with motar than I was!) to which I connect a length of pipe followed by another 90 degree bend. Effectively this was a downpipe. I had to divert this water away from the centre and so the labourers and myself dug a trench away from the tanks and laid pipes at a steady fall and backfilled. After a few pipe lengths, we backfilled the remainder of the trench with crushed stone, so as to create a swale.

One Great George Street - Friday 17th December 2010

On Friday, I somehow managed to get 20 students and graduates to London and back to see our Institution Headquarters and receive a lecture from Roland Grzybek on the Preston Lock project. This is something I am quite proud of considering I was only asked to look into this 3 weeks ago! Furthermore, I wake up on Friday morning at 5:30am and see a few inches of snow had fallen overnight.

However, a fantastic bunch of students do not give into the snow, and despite the elements we set off for London, albeit 40 minutes late - but I wasn't too bothered by that.

We finally get to London, far later than I had hoped and our guest speaker has been waiting around for hours. I can't help but feel guilty, however I remind myself that the weather is out of my control! The lecture on Preston Lock brought out many Civil Engineering issues which gave many of the students a real insite into the sort of challenges they may face after graduating and entering the industry. After the lecture and a buffet lunch, Sally Sudworth takes us around One Great George Street and the students take real interest in the building and what it has been used for. I am amazed by what is on offer at the building and the many elegant rooms inside. Being honest, I'm embarrassed to say I hadn't even heard of One Great George Street until a few months back, but I don't think I'm the only one. I'm staggered as to why this is, because such a building shouldn't be a secret. Every Civil Engineer, up and coming or experienced, should know about this building.

The trip participants enjoyed a few hours free time in London in the afternoon and we eventually made our way back to Cardiff. I return with a feeling of relief and satisfaction of what I have achieved in the day and the enjoyment that everyone else got out of the visit.

December - First Entry from New Apprentice

My name is David Reynolds and I have recently been granted the priviledge of being Sally Sudworth's (ICE Cymru Chair 2010 / 2011) new apprentice. I graduated in July 2010 from Cardiff University, and was fortunate to land an engineering job with Raymond Brown Construction, who are supporting me well in my goal to become a chartered Civil Engineer. The idea of this blog was first implemented by Matthew Jones, last year's apprentice, and I feel it would be fitting to carry this on, With this blog, I aim to document my experiences in industry with Raymond Brown Construction, my experiences as the Chair's Apprentice and my experiences with the ICE Ambassadors.

Since starting work with Raymond Brown Construction, I have become an ICE ambassador, helping out in the Bridge to Schools event in Queen Street Cardiff and the Lovell House project at Y Pant High School. I have taken part in a charity cycle ride with Constructing Exellence, raising funds for the St David's Foundation. And finally, Sally has given me the amazing opportunity to participate in an EFOD (Engineers For Overseas Development) Project in Uganda in January. All this on top of carrying out a busy day job with Raymond Brown Construction!

My first project with Raymond Brown Construction has been on a windfarm in the Welsh valleys. My roles have been to set out the positioning of the turbine foundations, substation and track positionings and gradients. I have had to be careful with the gradients of the tracks due to the mountainous terrain we are constructing on. Soil and ground conditions have been challenging. I also carry out rigorous quality control checks, ensuring the reinforcing steel is perfectly level, before, during and after the concrete pour. There are a significant amount of earthworks carried out on this project and I am present with the excavators with the levelling equipment to ensure the correct depths are excavated and level throughout. Elsewhere, I provide site inductions and toolbox talks to the workforce and undertake checks to ensure our health, safety and welfare facilities are to the highest standard.

So that is a summary of the start of my career since August. Future posts will be more brief, but updates will be made when appropriate.