Temporary works: principles of design and construction (2nd ed.)
The second edition of this temporary works guide captures further best practice, changes to standards, and information and lessons learnt gathered over the 6 years since the first edition. As the authors identify, some progress on control of temporary works has improved but we still, as an industry, have a long way to go.
The guide is aimed at those designing temporary works or permanent works, where a good knowledge of buildability will influence the level of temporary works required. It is broken into short, digestible chapters, each covering a specific area of temporary works, allowing the reader to dip in and out of the text as needed.
A wealth of experience has been put into the guide, which covers everything from basic hoardings, falsework, reinforcement support and pontoons to artificial ground freezing. The authors bring temporary works to life through a mixture of pictures, diagrams, flow charts and basic calculations.
There is a useful overview of the legal aspects at the start, including regulations, roles and responsibilities, and a reminder that although we have improved safety relating to temporary works we must not become complacent.
All chapters are laid out in the same format, covering how and why it works, alternatives to consider, base design principles and construction methodology. Each chapter concludes with references and websites for further reading and guidance.
The chapter on digital project delivery captures where the industry is heading in terms of visual representation and understanding, and how tools such as building information modelling can enhance the design journey. I believe this is a must-have refence book for anyone involved in temporary works or wishing to know more about the buildability risks of their designs.
Fidic Yellow Book: a companion to the 2017 Plant and Design Build Contract
The forms of contract published by the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (Fidic) are commonly used on major international projects. The Institution of Civil Engineers has recently published a new companion guide to using the 2017 second edition of the popular design-and-build contract (Yellow Book), along with separate guides on the turnkey contract (Silver Book) and construction-only contract (Red Book).
The background and history of the Fidic suite are described, together with a summary of how to select the appropriate form of contract. This leads well into a more detailed description of how the Yellow Book should be practically applied, covering the full range of general conditions from employer, engineer and contractor obligations, to testing, defects and termination. Exceptional events, insurance, claims and disputes are all covered in what is a very detailed but practical guide.
An appendix is provided of special provisions that may be considered by those drafting Fidic Yellow Book forms of contract. This is a particularly useful addition to the guide, which otherwise focuses on the standard general conditions.
The author highlights that this is not a legal text, which actually is a major strength insofar as it is easy to read and accessible for both newcomers to Fidic and those with past experience. Overall, I found this to be a well-written and structured guide to a key standard form of contract used by the industry. It will no doubt be an invaluable read for those responsible for administering such contracts.
Soil mechanics through project-based learning
This book is primarily aimed at soil mechanics students, but its project-based learning approach would be equally beneficial to any practising structural or civil engineer who is only occasionally confronted with soil mechanics problems.
The book contains many geotechnical examples resolved with real-life data. It covers basic concepts regarding soil formation, constituents and classification followed by stress, deformation, consolidation and shear-stress applications, including interpretation of triaxial tests and slope-stability analysis. A more advanced chapter on water flow is included.
The authors deliberately present only abstract versions of the corresponding theories or models. Each chapter contains problem solving with clear and detailed resolution, and concludes with a short, useful quiz.
However, the list of references is rather limited, focusing mostly on the authors’ own contributions. In a future edition it would be useful to extend the references to major textbooks for further detailed learning.
NEW BOOKS
The ICE Library maintains one of the most comprehensive collections of civil engineering books in the world, including all titles from ICE Publishing (shown in bold below). New books received in the past 3 months include the following.
All books can be borrowed from the ICE Members’ Resource Hub on the second floor of 1 Great George Street, London, SW1P 3AA from 9.15 a.m. to 5.30 p.m., Monday to Friday. ICE Publishing titles can also be purchased from the ICE Members’ Resource Hub or ordered by calling +44 1892 832299, emailing orders@icepublishing.com or by visiting www.icevirtuallibrary.com/content/books.
