POLCEVERA COLLAPSE - GENOA DISASTER EXPOSES MAJOR ENGINEERING VULNERABILITIES

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POLCEVERA COLLAPSE - GENOA DISASTER EXPOSES MAJOR ENGINEERING VULNERABILITIES
Inside: Facing Down The Floods p29   Interview: Sir James Bevan p20

New Civil Engineer
S E P T E M B E R 201 8

    POLCEVERA COLLAPSE
     GENOA DISASTER EXPOSES MAJOR ENGINEERING VULNERABILITIES
POLCEVERA COLLAPSE - GENOA DISASTER EXPOSES MAJOR ENGINEERING VULNERABILITIES
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POLCEVERA COLLAPSE - GENOA DISASTER EXPOSES MAJOR ENGINEERING VULNERABILITIES
New Civil Engineer

      MAINTENANCE IS KEY TO
    PREVENT ANOTHER POLCEVERA
                                                             MARK HANSFORD
                                                                     EDITOR

                 structure such as the Polcevera viaduct in Genoa              In the UK, every structure, from culverts under roads to multi-span

   A             should never, ever collapse. Anywhere in the world. It
                 certainly should never happen in a western European
                 country such as Italy.
                                                                            viaducts, must be visually inspected every two years. Every six years
                                                                            they must be investigated by people within hand touching distance of
                                                                            the components, with reports made on their condition, followed up by
                    Investigations into the cause of the collapse will be   programmed and budgeted corrective maintenance works.
thorough and will be pored over by bridge engineers worldwide. Al-             The owner and operator of Morandi’s bridge, Autostrade, has in-
ready a number of theories are circulating – but until the investigation    sisted it was aware of this need, and that it, too, had its bridge under
is completed, it is only possible to speculate.                             routine maintenance and constant surveillance. Clearly a large part of

                                                                            “
   What should be said is that the Polcevera viaduct was amazing in         the investigation needs to focus on just what that maintenance and
its time, and its designer, Riccardo Morandi, was a genuine innovator.      surveillance was, and how it was deemed sufficient.
   New Civil Engineer’s founding editor, Sydney Lenssen, visited the
Genoa viaduct in 1965 and insists it was a miracle in its day. And he re-
calls that despite reservations about the “unusual design”, Morandi’s
                                                                                     Many bridges of that era are in
ambition was infectious and he was heralded as a genius at the time.
   Morandi was determined to explore the concept that evolved into
                                                                                     the same situation because no
cable-stayed technology and was equally determined to push the use
of prestressed concrete.
                                                                            bridge designers of that era foresaw the
   Clearly it would never be built in the same way today. Cable stay        long-term durability issues and excessive
technology has massively advanced. But that does not mean Morandi
designed a bad bridge.                                                      traffic loads. No one did.
   It is now emerging that Morandi’s bridge has required considerable
maintenance over the years – we have pictures that clearly show strap-
ping around many critical beams, and have confirmed that plans were            But back here in the UK there is no room for complacency. Despite
in place to strap the section that failed.                                  the warnings from the Humber, Severn and others, and despite the
   There is no shame in that: many bridges of that era are in the same      lauded inspection regime, the Hammersmith flyover nearly became an
situation, principally because no bridge designers of that era foresaw      international incident of our own when major defects were detected
the long-term durability issues and excessive traffic loads that would      just before the start of the 2012 Olympics – prompting immediate clo-
affect their structures. No one did.                                        sure and urgent remedial works.
   In the aftermath of Polcevera, Highways England has reassured road          Some clever, award-winning engineering has now restored that
users that its bridges of that are age under control. But that is only      structure to full use, but it was a very near-thing at the time.
because here in the UK we have had our warnings and acted on them:             So that has to be the lesson. There are thousands of 1960s and 1970s
severe cable corrosion first detected in the Humber Bridge warned           bridges worldwide, many of them as unique as Morandi’s in their de-
that the Severn and Forth Road bridges may need intensive remedial          sign, and all of them in various states of (dis)repair. Keeping them go-
works and constant, 24-7, monitoring. In all three cases dehumification     ing is clearly going to become an ever more invaluable skill.
of tendons and acoustic monitoring keep the structures serviceable.         l Mark Hansford is New Civil Engineer’s editor

                                                                                                       A U G U S T 2 01 8   |   NEW CIVIL ENGINEER     3
POLCEVERA COLLAPSE - GENOA DISASTER EXPOSES MAJOR ENGINEERING VULNERABILITIES
Contents
                                            NEW CIVIL ENGINEER SEPTEMBER 2018
                                       MAGAZINE OF THE INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS

    03 Comment,                                   29 World View:
       Analysis & News                               Facing Down The Floods
    06 Lighthouse: How engineers can help
       cities to change

    16 Experts dismissed Florida bridge
       cracks hours before collapse

    22 Your View: ICE governance
       procedures divide membership

    08 Special Report:
       Polcevera
       Viaduct Collapse

                                                    The latest thinking on flood management is to accept the
                                                  inevitability of nature. That means coastal villages in the UK
                                                   accepting they cannot hold back the sea, while London and
    08 Structure’s vulnerabilities revealed            New York are tackling the problem through design.
    09 Plans reveal viaduct was to be scrapped

    10 Blue skies, police, debris and twisted     30 Overview: accepting that flooding      38 New Civil Engineer’s Flood
       remains: Report from the scene                is inevitable is the first step in        Management Forum line-up
                                                     preparing areas for a quick recovery      revealed
    12 Construction images reveal
       structure’s complexity                     34 New York is designing a defence        40 Debate: The future for Sustainable
                                                     system that works for all, London is      Drainage Systems appears rosier in
    14 Highways England reassures UK                 planning for the next century             the wake of new government policy
       road users

4      NEW CIVIL ENGINEER    |   SEPTEMBER 2018
POLCEVERA COLLAPSE - GENOA DISASTER EXPOSES MAJOR ENGINEERING VULNERABILITIES
eer
                       Engin
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             ivil
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20 Interview:                              24 Business                                                             EDITORIAL TEAM
   Sir James Bevan                            Culture
                                                                                                                    EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES
                                                                                                                    Email: nceedit@emap.com

                                                                                                                             Editor
                                                                                                                         Mark Hansford
                                                                                                                  (020) 3953 2821 mark.hansford

                                                                                                                       Deputy Editor
                                                                                                                     Alexandra Wynne
                                                                                                              (020) 3953 2822 alexandra.wynne

                                                                                                                         Contributing Editor
                                                                                                                          Jackie Whitelaw
                                                                                                                  jackie.whitelaw@btinternet.com

                                                                                                                         Associate Editor
                                                                                                                          Emily Ashwell
                                                                                                                  (020) 3953 2094 emily.ashwell

20 The chief executive of the              24 How Bryden Wood is saving clients                                           News Editor
                                                                                                                          Rob Horgan
   Environment Agency discusses the           time and money by breaking down                                      (020) 3953 2087 rob.horgan
   challenges he faces as climate change      projects and building them off-site
                                                                                                                      Technical Reporter
   continues its impact                                                                                       Katherine Smale (020) 3953 2044
                                                                                                                        katherine.smale

44 Tech                                    49 Market                                                                    Chief Sub Editor

   Excellence                                 Report                                                                      Andy Bolton
                                                                                                                  (020) 3953 2823 | andy.bolton

                                                                                                                           Designer
                                                                                                                        James McCarthy
                                                                                                                   james.mccarthy@emap.com

                                                                                                                          Graphic Artist
                                                                                                                          Anthea Carter
                                                                                                                    ben.anth@lunestudio.co.uk

                                                                                                                    Technical Editor Emeritus
                                                                                                                          Dave Parker
                                                                                                                           dave.parker

                                                                                                                    CUSTOMER SERVICES
                                                                                                                   customerservices@nce.co.uk

44 How two inflatable weirs are            49 Infrastructure Insight report
   protecting Leeds city centre from          in association with McGinley
   future flooding                            Support Services

                                                                                    S E P T E M B E R 2 018   |    NEW CIVIL ENGINEER              5
POLCEVERA COLLAPSE - GENOA DISASTER EXPOSES MAJOR ENGINEERING VULNERABILITIES
Lighthouse
                                                                                    ICE VIEWPOINT

                                                    Engineers can
                                                   help cities adapt
                                                      to change

                                                                                                                              “
                     t is not unusual for                                               Resilience is a much wider                    Civil engineers
          I
                     the British to talk                                             issue than dealing with extreme
                     about the weather. In                                           weather events. We know that                     play a valuable
                     fact, many consider it                                          the global population is growing
                     a national pastime.                                             – putting greater demands on our         role in safeguarding
                                                                                                                              the future of the
       However, the recent                                                           infrastructure – as much as we know
    unprecedented temperatures –                                                     that some networks are beginning to
    across not only the country but
    much of the northern hemisphere                               BY ART WE
                                                                                     creak under the pressures of age.
                                                                                        Work is being done to mitigate
                                                                                                                              global population
    – have made these meteorological                                MASTER           this from various quarters.
    musings a bit more urgent.                                   W H AT W O U L D       The ICE’s inclusive cities
       Commuters sweltering on the                                MASTER US          strand of thought leadership             Engineering Conference – is helping
    London Underground may seem                                                      work is investigating how cities         urban leaders develop resilience
    like an inconvenience but in Tokyo,                                              can handle changes in usage,             strategies, with Sydney unveiling
    nearly 6,000 people have been                                                    resulting from factors such as the       one earlier this year, following the
    rushed to hospital with suspected                                                night time economy, or changes           examples of Bristol and Glasgow.
    heatstroke or heat exhaustion since                                              in users resulting from the ageing       These strategies unite people,
    April as the mercury hit more than                                               population. This will help to develop    projects and priorities to seek
    41˚C. The pressures on our cities                                                future resilience and inform the         out new solutions for collective
    can and will directly impact the                                                 decisions made by civil engineers on     resilience challenges.
    health and wellbeing of individual                                               the ground.                                 This way of thinking illustrates
    inhabitants.                                                                        Meanwhile, the National               how civil engineers play a valuable
       This summer has put our urban                                                 Infrastructure Commission has            role in safeguarding the future of the
    infrastructure under a particular                                                published the National Infrastructure    global population. By offering up
    pressure and potentially questioned                                              Assessment (NIA) which takes a           their expertise and providing their
    its resilience. But much as one                                                  long-term approach to planning and       technical know-how, they are often
    swallow doesn’t make a summer, one                                               recognises the population and climate    at the front end of these resilience

    “
    hot summer doesn’t make a crisis.                                                challenges we face.                      strategies.
                                                                                        The NIA includes a clear desire          With these separate initiatives
                                                                                     for investment in the transport          setting the agenda and the work
             This summer                                                             networks of city regions, while          of civil engineers playing such an

             has put our                                                             preparing for 100% electric vehicle
                                                                                     sales by 2030. Empowering city
                                                                                                                              important part in their success, we
                                                                                                                              can see yet again the profession’s
    urban infrastructure                                                             regions to take charge of their own
                                                                                     infrastructure networks is an integral
                                                                                                                              potential to transform lives and
                                                                                                                              safeguard the future for all of us.
    under a particular                                                               part of the ICE’s devolution agenda
                                                                                     and will help to build the resilience
                                                                                                                              Translating these initiatives and
                                                                                                                              activities into civil engineering
    pressure and                                                                     that the UK’s cities require.            solutions will be one of the primary
                                                                                        The Rockefeller Foundation’s 100      bulwarks against the growing
    potentially questioned                                                           resilient cities initiative – which      challenges we face.

    its resilience                                                                   is involved with and which will be
                                                                                     speaking at the upcoming Global
                                                                                                                              l Send comments on the
                                                                                                                              Lighthouse to policy@ice.org.uk

6   N E W C I V I L E N G I N E E R | S E P T E M B E R 2 01 8
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POLCEVERA COLLAPSE - GENOA DISASTER EXPOSES MAJOR ENGINEERING VULNERABILITIES
POLCEVERA
       Polcevera Viaduct Collapse                                                                       VIADUCT COLLAPSE

               Engineers reveal                                                                                Milan

                                                                                                            GENOA
                                                                                                                            Venice

                                                                                                                                                                             A

                  structure’s
                                                                                                        Corsica                      Adriatic                                S
                                                                                                                                      Sea                                   Po

                                                                                                                                ITALY

                vulnerabilities
                                                                                                                            Tyrrhenian
                                                                                                                               Sea
                                                                                                        Sardinia

                                                                                                                                                                  N
                                                                                                                            Sicily              150km                 1km
                                                                                                                                                        N

    Katherine Smale                                           1.1km long viaduct, including one of
                                                              three 90m high towers collapsed on
    in Genoa                                     IN THIS      14 August during a thunder storm.
                                                 REPORT          Engineers have suggested a
                                                              potential cause for its collapse
                     nvestigators examin-                     could be that the heavy rain washed

         I
                     ing the scene of the           p09       ground from underneath the tower,                                                   Polcevera
                     collapsed Polcevera         Bridge was   undermining its foundations. The                                                      River
                     viaduct, more familiar-     mooted for   bridge’s foundations were undergoing
                     ly known as Morandi                      strengthening works at the time of
    bridge, have found damage and
                                                replacement   collapse, according to Italian high-
    corrosion to the main stay cables on                      ways operator Autostrade.                                        250m collapsed section
    the collapsed section of the bridge,            p10          However, while one source close
    New Civil Engineer can reveal.              Report from   to the investigation said that nothing       Cables encased                                   90m
       Sources close to the investigation                     was being ruled out at this stage, he           in concrete
                                                 the scene
    told New Civil Engineer that failure of                   said that the foundations for the col-
    the cables – which were encased in                        lapsed tower “appeared to be stable”.                                                     45m
    concrete to protect them from the el-           p 12         New Civil Engineer’s founding edi-                    Polcevera
                                                                                                                         River
    ements – may be behind the collapse.        The unusual   tor Sydney Lenssen – who visited the
       “I have heard that video footage          structure    site during its construction in 1965
    from the CCTV cameras on the bridge          explained    – believes that other factors are more
    just before the collapse showed                           likely to have caused the collapse.
    concrete being exploded off the main                         Lenssen said: “It looks like the
                                                    p 14                                                Immediate concerns centre
    stay because of the violence of some                      structure has collapsed around the
                                                                                                        on the stability of the remaining
    of the cables snapping underneath,”         Lessons for   foundations, rather than the founda-
                                                                                                        viaduct
    one investigation source said.                the UK      tions causing the collapse.
       It comes after Italian fire chiefs                        “I suspect that one of the supports
    expressed concern for the safety of                       from underneath has given away.
    workers sifting through the rubble                        That or the cables above have suf-
    beneath the remaining structure.                          fered from corrosion.”
       Luca Ponticelli, a structural engi-                       Past president of the Institution of
    neer for Italy’s national fire brigade                    Structural Engineers Ian Firth agreed
    Corpo Nazionale dei Vigili del Fuoco,                     that corrosion of the cables was a
    told New Civil Engineer that the                          likely cause of collapse.
    bridge is now unbalanced.                                    “As this reinforced and prestressed
       “I’m sure that the elastic deforma-                    concrete bridge has been there for
    tions on the pillar were immediately                      50 years, it is possible that corrosion
    absorbed at the collapse but now                          of tendons or reinforcement may be
    new viscous or plastic deformations                       a contributory factor,” he said. “In
    are progressing on the loaded side.                       addition, ongoing work on the bridge
       “So it begs the question, is the                       may or may not be partly responsible
    bridge able to bear this new load                         for the collapse.”
    condition?”                                                  Autostrade has until the end of
       Thirty-eight people were killed                        August to produce a report on its
    when a 250m long deck section of the                      inspection and maintenance regime.

8      NEW CIVIL ENGINEER       |   SEPTEMBER 2018
POLCEVERA COLLAPSE - GENOA DISASTER EXPOSES MAJOR ENGINEERING VULNERABILITIES
E
                  1967 1.1km 90m
                  Opened                    Total length        Height of pylons           ADDITIONAL EXTERNAL            Viaduct operator
                                                                                               STEEL CABLES

               A10
                                Polcevera River                                                                           tendered for
                                                                                                                          steelwork retrofit
                              Cornigliano
               Sestri
              Ponente
                                 GENOA
                                                                     Oregina
                        POLCEVERA VIADUCT COLLAPSE
                                                               A10
                                               Sampierdarena                                                              ALEXANDRA WYNNE
                                                                                                                          EXCLUSIVE
                     Genoa airport
                                              SS1
                                                                                                                          The owner and operator of the Polce-
    N                                                                                                                     vera viaduct was actively tendering
        1km       Ligurian Sea                                                                                            for €20M (£17.9M) of structural ret-
                                                                                                                          rofitting at the time of its collapse, as
                                                                                                                          a stop gap while a complete upgrade
                                                                                                                          of the major road network around
                                                                                                                          Genoa was worked up.
                                                                                                                             Tender documents seen by New
                                               PONTE POLCEVERA                                                            Civil Engineer reveal that the section
                                                                                                                          of the viaduct that collapsed on 14
                                                                                                                          August, killing at least 38, was set
ra                                                                                                                        for significant repairs along with the
                                                                                                                          adjacent tower and stay cables.
                                                                                                                             This would have kept the bridge
                                                                                                                          serviceable while a major upgrade
                                                                                                                          to the area’s strategic network was
                     COLLAPSED SECTION                                                                                    delivered.
                                                                                           A10                               The main stay cables on both
m                                                                                                                         sections were scheduled to be beefed
                                                                                                                          up with new steel cables strapped to
                                                                                                                          the surface of the existing concrete
                                                                                                                          beams and attached to the deck and
                                                                                                                          apex of the pylon with new steel an-
                                                                                                                          chor blocks. In total 55t of steel was
                                                                                                                          predicted to be required.
                                                                                                                             Additionally, 35,000m2 of reinforced
                                                                                                                          concrete on the deck, two towers,
                                                                                                                          and their cables were to be shot-
                                                        The foundations of the collapsed
                                                                                                                          blasted and repaired, amounting to
                                                        tower appear intact
                                                                                                                          1,200m3 of concrete.
                                                                                                                             The works echo similar repairs
                                                                                                                          carried out on the third tower, closest
                                                                                                                          to the land, in the 1990s. This work is
                                                                                                                          clearly visible on photographs of the
                                                                                                                          bridge following its collapse.
                                                                                                                             The contract notice was issued on
                                                                                                                          the Official Journal of the European
                                                                                                                          Union on 28 April and was for “struc-
                                                                                                                          tural retrofitting of the Polcevera
                                                                                                                          viaduct at km 000 + 551 of the A10
                                                                                                                          Genoa-Savona motorway”. Deadline
                                                                                                                          for tenders was 11 June 2018.
                                                                                                                             There is no evidence of the con-
                                                                                                                          tract having been awarded by owner
                                                                                                                          and operator Autostrade per L’Italia.
                                                                                                                             Documents also reveal the opera-
                                                                                                                          tor describes the Polcevera viaduct
                                                                                                                          as a “strategic” asset and the only
                                                                                                                          cable stayed structure on its road
                                                                                                                          network.

                                                                                                                 S E P T E M B E R 2 01 8   |   NEW CIVIL ENGINEER    9
POLCEVERA COLLAPSE - GENOA DISASTER EXPOSES MAJOR ENGINEERING VULNERABILITIES
Polcevera Viaduct Collapse

                                     Blue skies, police,
                                     cranes, debris and
                                      twisted remains
                                                 Looking down
     From the Scene                                 Via Giorgio
     Katherine Smale                              Perlasca road
                                                  the wreckage
                                                 of the tower is
                                                    just visible.
                       rriving at the edge of

        A
                       the cordoned off zone,
                       the police guard all
                       access points to what
                       remains of the motor-
     way bridge leading out of Genoa.
         The surrounding streets are eerily
     quiet. All roads surrounding the
     bridge have been closed, all residents
     living below and around the Polceve-
     ra Viaduct, more familiarly known as                           of the 250m-long section lie below,          The two still-standing piers look sta-
     Morandi bridge, have been evacuated                            with what appears to be a 15m sec-           ble and no deflection of the remaining
     and told they may never be able to                             tion of the four-lane road deck lodged       deck tip can be seen. Anchor blocks
     return to their homes.                                         in the river valley.                         for the cable stays at deck level are
         With bright blue skies above,                                 The deck must have mostly fallen          still attached to the remaining towers
     and mountains rising magnificently                             out of view or broken up into smaller        with no signs of distress, although the
     in the background the air is still and                         sections on impact, as the debris that       twisted remains of the parapet can be
     it is hard to believe that thunder-                            can be seen from this vantage point          seen hanging off the end.
     storms battered this area just two                             does not seem to be enough to fill the          Maintenance inspection platforms
     days before.                                                   vast gap which has been left above.          can be seen underneath the bridge
         In contrast to the picturesque late                           Looking down Via Giorgio Perlasca         deck at the point of the haunch on
     Italian summer setting is the harsh                            road the wreckage of the tower is just       the underside of the deck.
     marine environment with concrete                               visible. Around 15m sections                    At the top of what was the
     industrial looking buildings, brown                            of the tower legs are heaped in a            middle pier, steel housing for the
     corrosion stains on their surface.                             vast pile of rubble. What look like          concrete-encased main stays are
         Rescue workers with hard hats,                             post-tensioning cables can be seen           brown and rusted.
     climbing gear and cutting equipment                            draping from one of the exposed                 Looking further east at the end
     come and go in fortified 4x4s. Helicop-                        faces of the concrete.                       pier, it is clear that work has taken
     ters and drones fly over the wreckage                              Two mobile cranes are helping with        place to strengthen the main stays.
     and sirens punctuate the silence.                              the rescue effort and hydraulic break-       Black cables run alongside the origi-
         The world’s media has descended                            ers can be heard hammering away,             nal stays and over new grey saddles
     on the area and only journalists are                           trying to break up the larger lumps of       at the top of the tower.
     allowed to pass onto the Via Renata                            concrete.                                       Looking north west, the other side
     Bianchi bridge, which affords a clear                             Looking up to the remaining               of the collapsed bridge can be seen.
     view of the foreboding wreckage                                towers, the deck of what should have         Telecommunication wires hang down
     above and below in the distance.                               been the middle pier now stands              from the collapsed face.
         The remaining two towers of                                isolated on one side.                           Trucks and cars that narrowly
     the Polcevera Viaduct can be seen                                 It is clear that the bridge deck has      escaped the fall still remain on top
     around 300m away on the east side of                           failed along its joint lines as the end of   of the deck in a haunting reminder of
     a dry river bed. The twisted remains                           the still-in-place deck section is neat.     the tragedy that occurred.

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Polcevera Viaduct Collapse

     Construction images                                                                                      1

     reveal true extent
     of Morandi’s vision
     From the archive                                             The report details how each of
                                                               the main towers is founded on a
     Rob Horgan                                 KEY FACT       reinforced concrete pile cap, in turn
                                                               supported on large diameter bored
                                                               piles, in many cases about 40m deep.
                       ew Civil Engineer           19 67          One theory mooted by engineers is

        N              exclusively reveals a       Bridge      that the heavy rainfall from the storm
                       1960s report detail-     inaugurated    may have washed ground away from
                       ing the construction      after four    underneath the tower, undermining
                       methods and designs                     its foundation and causing the base of
                                                  years of
     behind the collapsed Polcevera via-                       the tower to rotate and collapse.
     duct bridge in Genoa.                      construction      New Civil Engineer’s founding
        As New Civil Engineer went to press                    editor Sydney Lenssen obtained the
     search and rescue effort was still                        report during a visit to the Morandi
     ongoing in Genoa after an around                          bridge mid-construction in April 1965,     3
     250m long section of the 11 span,                         in an organised tour promoting the
     pre-stressed concrete, cable stayed                       use of concrete in long-span bridge
     motorway bridge collapsed, killing at                     construction. Lenssen said that there
     least 38 people.                                          were several “unusual” structural
        The 1965 report, obtained by New                       design elements which may have con-
     Civil Engineer, details the unusual                       tributed to the bridge’s collapse.
     structure’s key elements and the con-                        “At first look it doesn’t look like a
     struction techniques used to build it.                    fault in the foundations,” Lenssen told
     It also provides real insight into the                    New Civil Engineer. “I suspect that
     construction itself through a series of                   one of the supports from underneath
     photographs charting construction                         has given away. That or the cables
     progress and will likely be used in fu-                   above have suffered from corrosion.”
     ture investigations into the collapse.                       Construction of the towers was
        It explains how designer Riccardo                      fairly conventional, using steel form-
     Morandi viewed the single stay cable                      work, the Viadotto sul Polcevera per
     design more as a reinforced concrete                      l’Autostrada Genova-Savona report
     tie beam, with the cable’s steel                          outlines. But the method of encasing
     tendons encased in concrete.                              the steel tendons was more unusual.
        The deck was constructed as a                             Lenssen added: “Morandi was con-

                                                               “
     balanced cantilever with temporary                        vinced that covering the steel cables
     tie beams running 1m above the
     deck providing temporary support
     until the permanent tie beams were
     constructed.
                                                                       At the time
        It also details the construction of
     the bridge’s foundations, which high-
                                                                       it was a
     ways operator Autostrade per L’Italia                     terrifically ambitious
     was carrying out works on at the time
     of collapse.                                              structure
12      NEW CIVIL ENGINEER      |   SEPTEMBER 2018
2               1. MAIN TOWER
                CONSTRUCTION
                Each tower is 100m tall and
                founded on a reinforced concrete
                pile cap, in turn supported on large
                diameter bored piles

                2. DECK ERECTION
                Cantilever construction of the
                deck with temporary steel tie beans
                running 1m above the deck; stay
                cables hang from the tower before
                encasing in concrete

                3. WORK OF GENIUS?
                At the time it was a terrifically
                ambitious structure, however
                strange the design

                More images at
                newcivilengineer.com

            would protect them but it looked
            very strange. The concrete casing
            was also built in two or three sections
            and I was straight away concerned
            how this would protect the cables
            from corrosion.
               “All suspension bridge cables
            suffer from corrosion, regardless of
            whether or not they are covered in
            concrete.”
               Despite his reservations about the
            “unusual design”, Lenssen said that
            Morandi’s ambition was infectious
            and he was heralded as a genius at
            the time.
               “Morandi was a bit of a genius and
            a very good businessman. At the
            time it was a terrifically ambitious
            structure, however strange the design
            was,” Lenssen said.
               “There’s no doubt that it was an
            unusual design. It was a highly unusu-
            al structure, almost a mish mash of
            bridge types.
               “It wasn’t a cable stay bridge even
            though it had cables, it wasn’t a
            typical cantilever bridge either and
            it had a lot of supports between the

            “
            structures.”

                    Morandi was
                    a bit of a
             genius and a very
             good businessman
    S E P T E M B E R 2 018   |   NEW CIVIL ENGINEER   13
Polcevera Viaduct Collapse

     No UK complacency af
     Highways England moves                                                                                FIVE UK NEAR MISSIES

     to reassure UK post-Genoa
                                                                                                           1. HAMMERSMITH FLYOVER
                                                                                                           Emergency closure in 2011 (pictured)

                                                                                                           2. BOSTON MANOR
                                                                                                           Urgently closed and faced
                                                                                                           replacement in summer 2012
     UK Reaction                                                 and regular regime for inspecting all
                                                                 structures, including bridges, on En-     3. HUMBER BRIDGE
     Alexandra Wynne                            KEY FACTS        gland’s motorways and major A roads       Corrosion threatended lifespan
                                                                 and taking any necessary action to
                                                                 help ensure they stay safe.”              4. FORTH ROAD BRIDGE
                                                    3 , 2 03
                      o bridges on the                              General inspections are undertaken     Fears so acute a replacement was built

        N
                      UK’s strategic road        UK highways     every two years with more detailed        at a cost of £1.35bn
                      network bear simi-          structures     principal inspections typically every
                      larities to that of the      deemed        six years, involving close inspection     5. SEVERN BRIDGE
                      collapsed structure in     substandard     of all parts of a structure.              Unacceptable levels of corrosion
     Genoa, Highways England has said.                              Questions are now being raised
        Moved to respond to the catastro-                        as to how such a devastating bridge
     phe in Italy, the roads operator said        £ 1. 3 5 b n   collapse could happen in a European
     that while “a very small proportion”          Cost of       country, whose proximity to the UK
     of its structures are suspension or          replacing      appears to have triggered concerns
     cable stayed bridges, none were of a        Forth Road      around asset knowledge and safety
     “similar construction” to that of the                       here, which in turn has triggered
                                                   Bridge
     Polcevera viaduct.                                          Highways Engand’s assurances.
        The unusual statement comes as                              These assurances emphasise the
     concerns mount as to what the pos-                          UK’s confidence in the safety of its
     sible contributing factors were that                        own key bridge assets, which opera-
     led to the fatal collapse. Italian road                     tors in recent years have had cause
     operator Autostrade has confirmed                           for concern about and experience in
     that the bridge was undergoing                              resolving structural safety issues.
     maintenance work, when a 250m long                             The Humber, Severn and Forth
     platform of deck and a pier collapsed.                      bridges have all been subject to
        The operator said it had been                            serious maintenance interventions to
     strengthening the structure’s                               stem cable corrosion. Dehumidifica-
     foundations as part of scheduled                            tion of tendons and extensive acous-
     maintenance works, although it is not                       tic monitoring keep them in service.
     yet clear where this work was taking                           In addition, Transport for London
     place in relation to the collapsed                          was forced to close the vital 1960s
     section.                                                    Hammersmith flyover in late 2011        electroslag welds.
        Sources close to the investigation                       as a result of the discovery of a          Fears were so acute that transport
     have also indicated that serious                            “serious structural defect” during      minister at the time Mike Penning
     corrosion is visible in the failed                          a two-year monitoring exercise.         said that work had already begun to
     structure.                                                  Scheduled repairs were made more        look at replacing the structure.
        The statement by UK counterpart                          urgent as the problem was revealed         On the local roads network, con-
     Highways England said of its road                           to be worse than earlier inspections    cerns remain as to the vulnerability of
     network: “We have detailed design                           indicated.                              key structures. Research released by
     standards and quality control pro-                             Around six months later, a nearby    the RAC Foundation last year found
     cesses to ensure bridges are designed                       section of the M4 – known as Boston     that more than 3,000 council-main-
     and constructed to provide safe and                         Manor Viaduct – was also urgently       tained road bridges were considered
     comfortable journeys for road users.                        closed following the discovery of       “substandard”.
        “This is supported by a thorough                         cracks in the 1960s steel structure’s      Analysis of data received from 199

14      NEW CIVIL ENGINEER       |   SEPTEMBER 2018
after Italian experience
                                                             Billions needed to bring
                                                             Italy’s bridges up to date
                                                             MARK HANSFORD                                a useful life of 100 years.
                                                                                                             “Today part of the Morandi viaduct
                                                             A “Marshall Plan” costing “tens of bil-      has collapsed, which will probably
                                                             lions of euros” is needed to bring the       lead to complete demolition and
                                                             tens of thousands of bridges across          replacement of the work,” added
                                                             Italy that have exceeded their design        Occhiuzzi. “The element in common
                                                             life up to standard, a leading Italian       is the age of the structures: most of
                                                             research body has demanded.                  the Italian road infrastructures (road
                                                                The call has been made in the             bridges) have exceeded 50 years of
                                                             wake of the collapse of the Polcevera        age, which correspond to the useful
                                                             viaduct by the largest public research       life associated with the reinforced
                                                             institution in Italy, the National Re-       concrete works made with the tech-
                       FIVE ITALIAN COLLAPSES                search Council (NRC).                        nologies available after World War II.”
                                                                It cites a sequence of collapsing            Occhiuzzi stressed that the Polce-
                       1. PETRULLA VIADUCT                   Italian road infrastructure that has         vera viaduct, more commonly known
                       Collapsed in 2014 after post-         become “a worrying regularity” for           as the Morandi bridge, owes its name
                       tensioning failed                     some years and highlights that age           to the “brilliant designer/executor
                                                             is the common factor, with most              of the work, one of the names that,
                       2. ANNONE FLYOVER                     of the infrastructure in Italy built         together with Freyssinet (France),
                       Heavy load caused collapse in 2016    of reinforced concrete in the 1950s          Leonhardt (Germany) and Maillart
                                                             and 1960s. It adds that severe cost          (Switzerland), changed the concept of
                       3. ADRIATIC MOTORWAY                  pressures following the Second World         bridges in Europe and in the world”.
                       Overpass collapsed during             War meant that compromises were                 Built between 1963 and 1967,
                       maintenance work in March 2017        often made between capital cost and          Occhiuzzi described it as an exam-
                                                             longevity of the structures.                 ple of “absolute rationalism” and
                       4. TANGENZIALE DI FOSSANO                “In practice, tens of thousands           rejected suggestions that it was badly
                       Collapsed in April 2017 (pictured)    of bridges in Italy have exceeded,           designed.
                                                             today, the lifespan for which they              He also said there was no immedi-
                       5. POLCEVERA VIADUCT                  were designed and built,” said NRC           ate reason to doubt Autostade’s main-
                       Collapsed in August 2018 killing 38   director of the Institute of Construc-       tenance regime, instead suggesting
                                                             tion Technology, Antonio Occhiuzzi.          that more development was required

                                                                                                          “
                                                             “In many cases, the foreseeable costs        in monitoring systems.
  of the 207 local highway authorities                       for the extraordinary maintenance
  in the UK shows that 3,203 struc-                          that would be necessary for these
  tures over 1.5m in span were unfit to
  carry the heaviest vehicles, including
                                                             bridges exceed those associated with
                                                             demolition and reconstruction.                       Tens of
  lorries of up to 44t. This represents
  around one in 23 of the roughly
                                                                “The figures necessary for the
                                                             modernisation of road bridges in Italy               thousands of
  72,000 bridges on the local network.
     Highways England said that it
                                                             would be expressed in tens of billions
                                                             of euros,” he added. “To avoid trage-
                                                                                                           bridges in Italy have
  would seek to assess potential for les-
  sons to be learned once the ensuing
                                                             dy such as Genoa, a sort of ‘Marshall
                                                             Plan’ for Italian road infrastructures
                                                                                                           exceeded the lifespan
  investigations into the causes of the                      would be indispensable, based on the          for which they were
  Italy bridge collapse are complete,                        replacement of most Italian bridges
  and a report issued.                                       with new structures characterised by          designed and built
                                                                                                  S E P T E M B E R 2 018   |   NEW CIVIL ENGINEER   15
MORE

           The Edit
                                                                                        NEWS          TRANSPORT
                                                                                                      D L R-S T Y L E S C H E M E
                                                                                         More         JOINS PROPOSALS
                                                                                       coverage       F O R H E AT H R O W L I N K
                     E S S E N T I A L N E W S & I N F O R M AT I O N                  online at
                                                                                                      A £375M light rail scheme to
                      F R O M N E W C I V I L E N G I N E E R .C O M                   newcivil       Heathrow has been submitted to the
                                                                                     engineer.com     Department for Transport (DfT) as
                                                                                                      part of its call for ideas on third-party
                                                                                                      funded projects. Submitted by
                                                                                                      Spelthorne Council, the DLR-style
                                                                                                      scheme is in direct competition to
                                                                                                      bids by the Windsor Link Railway and
                                                                                                      Heathrow Southern Rail. The scheme
                                                                                                      proposes a light rail link from
                                                                                                      Staines-upon-Thames to the airport,
                                                                                                      with a new Staines station part of the
                                                                                                      proposal. The council claims the light
                                                                                                      rail line would put Staines on the map
                                                                                                      as a “centre for business growth and
                                                                                                      investment” and release “huge
                                                                                                      untapped potential” to Heathrow, by
                                                                                                      reducing journey times to seven
                                                                                                      minutes. Spelthorne Council group
                                                                                                      head for regeneration and growth
                                                                                                      Heather Morgan claims that other
                                                                                                      proposals for traditional “heavy” rail
                                                                                                      access were “unacceptable” and
                                                                                                      would take up too much space.

     Experts dismissed cracks in                                                      KEY STATS
                                                                                                      TRANSPORT
                                                                                                      MARK CARNE URGES
     Florida bridge hours before                                                                      NETWORK RAIL TO
                                                                                                      ‘ R A D I C A L LY R E F O R M’
                                                                                          862t
     collapse killed six people                                                        Weight of      ALLIANCING MODEL
                                                                                        trussed       Outgoing Network Rail chief executive
                                                                                     Florida bridge   Mark Carne has urged his successor
     INFRASTRUCTURE                               In the report, it said the team                     to implement “radical reform” to
     Shocking photos of cracks on a            had met for two hours on the          that collapsed   improve the track operator’s
     Florida bridge, taken days before it      morning of 15 March before                             alliancing process. On his last official
     collapsed killing six people, have        concluding that the cracks did not                     day at the helm, Carne urged
     been released by US authorities. The      compromise the structural integrity                    incoming chief executive Andrew
     Florida International University (FIU)    of the bridge. The bridge collapsed                    Haines to “aggressively embrace”
     bridge, a 53m long, 862t concrete         three hours later.                                     new technologies to improve the
     trussed structure, was under                                                                     network’s reliability.
     construction when it collapsed onto                                                                 “The performance of the railway
     a live eight lane road below on 15                                                               for passengers is not good enough

                                               “
     March, killing five people in vehicles                                                           and has been getting worse,” Carne
     and one bridge worker.                                                                           told New Civil Engineer. “This
        The cracks were dismissed as                                                                  highlights the fact that the
     being structurally insignificant on 13
     and 14 March, according to an
                                                       The cracks                                     interactions with train operating
                                                                                                      companies must improve.
     update on the incident released by
     the National Transportation Safety
                                                       were dismissed                                 I think we have taken alliancing
                                                                                                      about as far as you can within the
     Board (NTSB).
        The NTSB also said it had
                                               as being structurally                                  current industry structure.
                                                                                                         “Therefore more radical reform
     obtained photos of cracks from 10         insignificant on 13                                    is needed to create aligned teams
     March, but did not include these in                                                              working seamlessly across the
     the report.                               and 14 March                                           industry in the interest of passengers.”

16      NEW CIVIL ENGINEER      |   SEPTEMBER 2018
38_PERI_AD_PRINT_NCE_FP_DIGI-CONSTRUCTION_265x210_10-AUG-18_AWO.indd 1   06/08/2018 09:48
The Edit

     TRANSPORT                                   TRANSPORT                                                      BUSINESS
     H I G H S P E E D 2 FA C E S                BRIDGE LIFT COULD                             KEY STAT         PETER B R ET T B O S S
     L E G A L B AT T L E                        HOLD KEY TO                                                    VOW S N O JO B S
     OVER ‘BOTCHED                               E L E C T R I F I C AT I O N O F                £60M           WI L L B E LO S T AF T E R
     PROCUREMENT’                                G R E AT W E S T E R N L I N E                Turnover         STA N TEC TAK E OVE R
                                                                                              of Stantec,
     High Speed 2 (HS2) is facing a fresh        A specialist engineer in bridge lifts has                      The boss of Peter Brett Associates
     legal battle over plans to buy £2.8bn       backed calls to raise a Grade II listed        which is        (PBA), which is to be taken over by
     of trains. Spanish manufacturer             masonry arch bridge that is causing          taking over       Canadian consultancy Stantec, has
     Talgo has begun legal action after          problems for the electrification of the      Peter Brett       vowed there will be no job losses due
     what it claims was a “botched               Great Western Main Line. ElevArch                              to the move. Stantec and PBA have
     procurement” process. Talgo was             rail business development manager                              signed a letter of intent for the
     named as one of five shortlisted            John Kennils said it would be possible                         takeover, which is set to be finalised
     rolling stock suppliers to build trains     to avoid demolishing the bridge by                             in September. The amount Stantec
     for the high speed line. It decided to      jacking it up to create the required                           paid for PBA, which in 2017 had a
     launch legal action after Spanish           clearance and then reprofiling the                             £60M turnover and £10M profit before
     rival CAF was added to the shortlist        road on either side. It comes after                            tax, has not been revealed. PBA
     following its own legal challenge.          Network Rail lost its application to                           chairman Keith Mitchell told New
     CAF was reinstated in June following        demolish the Steventon bridge and                              Civil Engineer there will be no job
     the announcement that Bombardier            replace it with one with a higher                              losses as a result of the sale. He said:
     and Hitachi were joining forces in          clearance. ElevArch carried out a                              “What we are saying to both staff and
     their bid to win the contract. Talgo        successful trial in 2016 to lift a                             clients is that we are very much
     has now lodged a complaint with the         160-year-old single span, 220t                                 focused on business as usual. That’s
     High Court, claiming that project           masonry arch bridge 900mm using 10,                            very important from our point of
     promoter HS2 Ltd “failed to exercise        50t jacks. Kennils believes similiar                           view as we have projects ongoing,
     rational judgment” when allowing            works could be carried out at the                              we need to make sure we are very
     CAF back into the competition.              Steventon bridge site.                                         focused on that.”

                                                                        STRUCTURES

                                                                        ARCHITECTS TO RULE OVER TOWER ROW
                                                                        The UK’s top architectural bodies       tower in St Petersburg. Gorproject
                                                                        have been asked to rule on a design     has reported the Edinburgh-based
                                                                        dispute over Europe’s tallest           firm to the Royal Institute of British
                                                                        skyscraper. The design team at          Architects and Royal Incorporation of
                                                                        Russian studio Gorproject has           Architects in Scotland. However,
                                                                        accused Scottish firm Kettle            Kettle denies any wrongdoing and
                                                                        Collective of stealing the authorship   said they “do not have a dispute”,
                                                                        for the design of the Lakhta Centre     when contacted by New Civil Engineer.

      BUILD ON US

      Infrastructure projects thrive from a collaborative approach, accurate
      programme planning and exceptional operational output. We have the
      experience, expertise and resources to ensure a successful delivery.

      www.bacsol.co.uk           enquiries@bacsol.co.uk          01276 674940

18      NEW CIVIL ENGINEER       |   SEPTEMBER 2018
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                              development, ready to use and multipurpose spray mortar. The fibre –
                              reinforced cementitious mortar can be applied using either dry or wet
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                              structures.

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Sir James Bevan
The Interview                                                      BY EMILY ASHWELL

                                    Walking the
                                   walk with the
                                Environment Agency

                                    utside the office of                                                “What you should not do is force
                                    Environment Agency                                               people to choose between protect-

                      O             chief executive Sir
                                    James Bevan, London
                                    is sweltering in a full
                                                                                                     ing the environment on the one
                                                                                                     hand and growth on the other, be-
                                                                                                     cause if you force people to choose,
                                    blown 31˚C heatwave.                                             particularly in India but also in the
                   It is a stark reminder of the chal-                                               UK, they will choose growth over
                   lenges the Agency is facing in terms                                              the environment. The answer is to
                   dealing with climate change.                                                      say you don’t have to choose, you
                      For the former diplomat, who has                                               can do both,” he says.
                   seen “up close and personal” what                                                    And that’s where engineers come
                   happens when the environment                                                      in. Yes, Bevan says the Agency
                   is not looked after, the role of the                                              needs technically skilled engineers,
                   Agency in managing and regulating                                                 but it also needs engineers who can
                   the environment is immeasurable.                                                  build relationships with communi-
                      Before Bevan took up his post                                                  ties and work in partnership with
                   in November 2015, he was British           ment of contaminated land, flood       stakeholders. This will enable its
                   High Commissioner in India. He             risk management, water quality and     schemes to protect and manage
                   describes living in a country that         water resources.                       the environment, as well as having
                   is home to a sixth of the world’s             Bevan says the biggest insight he   wider benefits.
                   population as “life enhancing”. But        gained from his time in India is the      “We’re here to create a better
                   he also saw the consequences of            philosophy of sustainable growth,      place. That’s what good engineers
                   environmental damage, such as the          which is embedded in the Environ-      do and that’s what we try to do,”
                   Bhopal disaster, where in 1984 toxic       ment Agency’s founding law.            he says. “And the better place is

                                                              “
                   gases leaked from a chemical plant                                                not just about the concrete and
                   resulting in thousands of deaths and                                              the steel, it’s about the feel and the
                   causing disabilities among the third                                              economy and the community and all

                                                                     What you
                   generation of children descend-                                                   those other things that maybe don’t
                   ed from the victims. Elsewhere                                                    get talked about at engineering
                   pollution has left some of the River
                   Ganges biologically dead.                         should not do is                school, and that’s our philosophy:
                                                                                                     we want to be a placemaking organi-
                      “They always say if you think
                   education’s expensive, try igno-
                                                              force people to choose                 sation in the broadest sense.”
                                                                                                        These future schemes might look
                   rance. Well, if you think regulation’s
                   expensive, try not doing it. That’s
                                                              between protecting                     like typical large infrastructure
                                                                                                     projects, for example a new Thames
                   what happens, that’s a lesson to
                   regulate well,” he says.
                                                              the environment on                     Barrier will be needed by 2070, but
                                                                                                     there will also be schemes which
                      Regulating industry and waste is        the one hand and                       use natural measures to control
                   one of the Agency’s responsibilities.                                             flooding such as leaky dams. But
                   Others include overseeing treat-           growth on the other                    more schemes will combine both,

20   NEW CIVIL ENGINEER   |   SEPTEMBER 2018
Medmerry, in West Sussex, was
  England’s first managed realignment
  of the open coast. It involved the
  construction of a 7km long, 3m to 4m
  high earth bund, but it also created
  wetlands which are now a bird sanctuary.

                                                              “
such as in Pickering, Yorkshire, where
natural flood management such as                                      What gets                            ment Agency staff out of bed is the
                                                                                                           life-changing effects we can have
leaky dams and the planting of 40,000
trees, combined with installation of a
                                             KEY FACTS                me and                               when we can give people a much bet-
                                                                                                           ter sense of security by knowing they
flood storage reservoir upstream has
slowed peak river flow by 15-20%.               £2.6bn
                                                              Environment Agency                           can go to sleep and not worry about
                                                                                                           flooding, and knowing we don’t just
   “The future is more upstream man-            Value of      staff out of bed is the                      protect them against floods but help

                                                              life-changing effects
agement, some concrete and steel,                                                                          growth, placemaking and the wider
and then also being prepared to ac-          Environment                                                   benefits that come from being better
                                                Agency’s
cept we will never be able to prevent
all flooding,” says Bevan.                                    we can have                                  protected.”
                                                                                                              These wider benefits include
                                             six-year flood
   “Climate change is likely to drive                                                                      enabling communities to get decent
more flooding, and therefore the rest          protection                                                  insurance and ensuring that flood risk
of the answer is about making sure            programme       What we want from ourselves and our          does not deter investors.
our cities and communities are more                           suppliers is that we bear down as far           Bevan says climate change is the
resilient when it happens.”                                   as possible, as close to zero use of         biggest threat to the UK in the long
   The Environment Agency is current-            £300M        single use plastic,” he says.                term and the Agency works with
ly procuring a £1.5bn flood defence                              The framework will help deliver the       government at all levels to shape the
                                                 Value of
framework, which includes one lot                             Agency’s £2.6bn six-year programme           response, from the 25 Year Environ-
worth £300M for professional services         professional    to better protect 300,000 homes and          ment Plan launched by prime minister
including design and consultancy, and        services work    businesses from flooding. It is the im-      Theresa May in January, to staff
one lot worth up to £1.2bn for pro-                           pact this work can have on people’s          embedded in major projects such as
gramme delivery. The new commer-                being let     lives that Bevan says gets him, and          High Speed 2.
cial arrangements should be in place            under the     his staff, out of bed in the morning.           Bevan says he took the helm of an
by July next year.                                            He sees the Agency as becoming               innovative, collaborative, delivery
                                                Agency’s
   As the organisation tries to “walk                         the “fourth blue light” in the way it        focused Environment Agency where
the walk” in terms of sustainability,        flood defence    responds to incidents.                       engineering is part of its DNA. He
it will also ask contractors to do the         framework         The Cumbria floods in December            wants to see more of this, with the
same, through more efficient use of                           2015 hit when Bevan was just six days        body becoming “pacier”.
sustainable materials, but also includ-                       into the job. According to the Met Of-          Bevan wants the Agency and its
ing ditching single use plastic cups in                       fice, a new record for two consecutive       engineering to be known and loved,
staff kitchens – something which Bev-                         rain days was set when 405mm fell at         because its impact on our future is
an has had a hands-on role in doing                           Thirlmere.                                   crucial.
since the Environment Agency moved                               “I went up there and stood in the            “Unless we both manage down
into its Westminster office.                                  homes of people whose lives had              demand and manage up supply,
   “When we got into this building…                           been wrecked by flooding. It’s not just      including in major new infrastructure
we had a nice little kitchen, but it also                     a physical thing that happens, it’s an       investment, in 20 or 30 years’ time
had a container full of plastic cups,                         emotional thing and it can have quite        the lines between supply and demand
so we ripped it off the wall. That’s an                       severe long-term consequences,” says         will cross and there won’t be enough
example of us trying to walk the walk.                        Bevan. “What gets me and Environ-            water for the country,” he concludes.

                                                                                                  S E P T E M B E R 2 018   |   NEW CIVIL ENGINEER   21
system that ensures complex
                                                                                                            buildings are built and maintained

             Your View
                                                                                                            so that they are safe for people
                                                                                                            to live in for many years after the
                                                                                                            original construction”. Indeed Dame
                                                                                                            Hackitt uses the word “system”
                                                                                                            301 times and refers to the need
                                                                                                            for “a holistic or ‘whole system’
                                                                                                            approach to new construction and
                                       LET TERS TO THE EDITOR                                               refurbishments”.
                                       AND COMMENTS ONLINE                                                  David Blockley, Emeritus Professor
                                                                                                            University of Bristol, d.blockley@
                                                                                                            bristol.ac.uk

     ICE                                                         support of new build. It’s the kind of     STRUCTURES
     OUT OF TOUCH                                                sexy stuff that guys in black ties can     MISSED ASPIRATIONS
     INSTITUTION?
                                                     @           talk about. Again, I can’t relate to it.
                                                                 It seems nonsensical to me to build
                                                                 new things when you can’t even             Although they read as unnecessary
     The recent controversy about the                            look after what you already have.          and mean-spirited, John Roberts’
     ICE not consulting adequately with                          It simply increases the nation’s           comments about the beautiful
     members about governance changes                            volume of decaying stock.                  competition-winning design of the
     left me somewhat underwhelmed.                                 If all this sounds like the whinging    Tintagel Bridge do raise a very
        If, like me, you work in the north    Read more          of someone unhappy in his job, it          important point (Your View, last
     of England as a municipal engineer       letters at         isn’t. I love my job, I’ve thoroughly
     primarily involved in maintenance        www.newcivil       enjoyed my career and I have plenty
     schemes, the Institution possibly        engineer.com       of positive things to be getting on
     never felt much like your Institution                       with. I simply make the point that
     anyway.                                                     perhaps I love my work despite the
        I view the ICE as a networking                           ICE, rather than because of it and
     club, seemingly run from afar by                            that it’ll take rather more than a
     a collection of consultants and                             bit of consultation to sort out the
     contractors who meet at a very                              disconnect with me and any other
     plush office at Great George Street                         members like me.
     that I’ve only had occasion to visit                        Jon Tuson (M) jon.tuson@bolton.
     about three times in 30 years. I see a                      gov.uk
     lot of pictures of engineers at black
     tie events in London that seem                              PROFESSION
     completely at odds with the day to
     day of my work. I don’t begrudge                            SYSTEM OF THOUGHT
     people these events but, on a                                                                          Tintagel: Architect’s dream?
     personal level, I simply can’t relate                       Mark Hansford rightly asks what our
     to them.                                                    biggest infrastructure challenges          month). There are far too many
        Moreover, the argument that the                          are (Comment, last month).                 infrastructure projects in the UK
     ICE is a learned organisation that                             May I suggest one that he misses        – including many major projects
     benefits all its members loses a                            – but which is highlighted on page         – which are granted planning
     certain amount of credibility when                          34 of the same issue in an article         permission with insufficient detail
     its training arm, Thomas Telford Ltd,                       by Jackie Whitelaw – joined-up             to be sure of the quality of the
     rarely organises courses north of                           thinking.                                  built product, or where the quality
     Birmingham. It certainly offers more                           She quotes Transport for the West       promised at planning stage is
     benefits to engineers who live in the                       Midlands’ Mike Waters as saying “we        subsequently hugely eroded, and
     South East rather than those who                            have to change behaviours, hearts          the public is left short-changed or
     live in the North.                                          and minds”. But this applies not           misled by clients and designers.
        I look at the figures quoted for                         only to the travelling public but             The quality of infrastructure
     schemes like High Speed 2 (HS2)                             also ourselves as infrastructure           built in the UK would be hugely
     and cringe. The £58bn for HS2                               professionals and the way we think         improved if the planning system
     compares with under £600,000              The Editor,       about what we do.                          required projects to be as well
     that the government provided              New Civil            The swanky word for joined-             designed as the Tintagel Bridge. In
     this year to maintain the 360-plus        Engineer,         up thinking is systems-thinking.           turn, this would reward bold clients
     highway structures in Bolton. The                           This kind of mind-set is being             and inspired designers, like English
                                               Telephone
     government is not awash with cash                           advocated by the Royal Academy             Heritage, Ney & Partners and
                                               House,
     and cannot fund infrastructure                              of Engineering as well as being an         William Matthews Associates, with
     maintenance and major capital             69-77 Paul        important part of our reaction to          the integrity and determination to
     projects like HS2, so choices have        Street, London,   Grenfell as stated by Dame Hackitt.        build high-quality infrastructure
     to be made. The ICE, verbalised           EC2A 4NQ          In her report she writes “A cultural       with lasting value.
     through New Civil Engineer, seems         Email: nceedit@   and behavioural change... is now           Martin Knight, Knight Architects
     to have come down firmly in               emap.com          required... to deliver an effective        m.knight@knightarchitects.co.uk

22      NEW CIVIL ENGINEER      |   SEPTEMBER 2018
MAIN POINT

                ICE GOVERNANCE IN THE SPOTLIGHT
                                                           YOUR VIEWS AND OPINIONS

      The ICE held a Special General meeting on 31 July in response to concerns about the ballot on the Institution’s corporate governance structure held
        earlier that month. The majority of the more than 200 people at the meeting voted for a new ballot and voted to censure the ICE for its lack of
                                          consultation with the membership about the proposed governance reforms.

  I attended the Special General Meeting at the ICE on 31 July                    the time of the membership ballot. Even after two hours of
  as a supporter of the resolutions and was not persuaded                         discussion I felt that we had barely begun to cover the impact
  by the arguments made against them. Several of those who                        of the changes.
  spoke against the resolutions said that to try to overturn the                    At the moment, the plans seem to me to amount to a
  results of the governance ballot would make the ICE appear                      bonfire of the ICE’s current rules and traditions, without clear
  to the outside world to be divided and may damage our                           justification.
  reputation, as if those could ever be reasons for not doing                         Personally, I believe that some trustees need
  what is right.                                                                           to be directly elected by the members (the current
     All the resolutions were passed and the Council                                           plan allows for three to be selected by some
  now has a lot of work to do. This situation could                                              unknown process from the elected Council,
  have been avoided if the Council had been                                                        and a further nine to be appointed, so elected
  bold enough to postpone the governance                                                            representatives can always be outvoted).
  ballot when the SGM was requisitioned in                                                             Stephen King, Posted online on article
  early June instead of trying                                                                       headed “ICE members vote for new ballot on
  to push their proposals through using a                                                            governance”
  somewhat disingenuous two-page spread
  of “FAQs” in July’s New Civil Engineer                                                            I voted against the SGM resolutions as I agree
  and on the ICE’s website.                                                                        with the governance changes – they embody
  Gordon Heath (M retd), Pinner, Middlesex                                                        good practice recommended by government.
                                                                                                  The requisitioners want more consultation.
  I was one of those who voted for (most) of the                                            Why? Don’t we trust our elected Council? Do we
  Council’s suggestions during the ballot, but I became                                  want to be governed by referenda after Brexit?
  more and more concerned as additional details emerged about                       It’s good to have checks and balances – particularly from
  the plans.                                                                      those of mature years.
     In the end I attended the SGM, and as a result of listening                    But whatever the merits of more consultation, this egregious
  to the arguments I decided to vote in favour of the resolutions                 challenge to Council is surely an unnecessary distraction
  being discussed (ie against the Council’s position).                            from the ICE’s proper business of assuring the nation’s
     There were very wide-ranging changes discussed or hinted                     infrastructure.
  at in the SGM that I had been completely unaware of at                          Mike Napier FICE

STRUCTURES                                    stop them trying.                                                         problems of access to the site have
TINTAGEL TROUBLES                                It seems that one of the reasons                                       been well-promulgated. So, how
                                              English Heritage selected this as the                                     about this? The deck is separated at
Well, what a kerfuffle over a little          winning design is that it contains                                        the centre – giving English Heritage
footbridge! I refer, of course, to            this unique and desirable feature of                                      the opportunity for a “gap” – but
the controversy surrounding the               a “gap” between the mainland side                                         structurally, each side leans against
proposed Tintagel Castle footbridge           and the island side, representing                                         the other (pinned joint), with a slight
(The Edit, last month), to be                 a transition from one space to                                            arch at the centre for the lowest
constructed under the auspices of             another. However, if the real concern                                     design temperature. This amounts
English Heritage, to whom I have              is that of visual intrusion, the most                                     to a continuous structure, affording
already written with concerns about           slender design possible is surely                                         slenderness. The pedestrian deck
questions it might ask its designers.         the right solution – afforded by a                                        could show a “gap”, but the main
   I agree with the majority of John          continuous structure, but disguised                                       structure would be effectively
Roberts’s letter “Flawed Design               as “two 30m cantilevers reaching out                                      continuous.
Competitions” in the same issue, and          and almost touching in the middle”                                           Or is this engineering idea just too
in particular with his observation that       (English Heritage blurb).                                                 crazy for the architects?
architects should never pretend to               I’m no bridge designer, but I am                                       Mike Franklin (F, retired)
be engineers. Of course, that will not        a construction engineer, and the                                          mike_franklin@usa.net

                                                                                                             S E P T E M B E R 2 018   |   NEW CIVIL ENGINEER     23
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