Welcome to the November 2021 issue of Civil Engineering. I recently joined this journal’s volunteer editorial panel to keep me engaged with the vast, multi-faceted world of civil engineering outside of my specialism of temporary works. I also hope it gives me the opportunity to promote the importance of well-managed and -designed temporary works to the wider profession.
In this issue we have four very different and interesting papers. They present a mix of innovative engineering solutions, lessons learnt, project history and the value of effective communication. All the papers also have elements of temporary works and conditions, even though they might not normally be considered as such.
For example, construction of the Esplanade Line 2 metro station in Kolkata (Dewanjee et al., 2021) involved extensive use of temporary plunge columns and struts to support top–down construction, plus large temporary slab openings for removing excavated earth and tunnel boring machines.
Less obvious perhaps is the paper considering the undesirable condition of leaves on rail tracks (Krier et al., 2021). However, this is a temporary condition requiring an engineering solution, in this case the development and testing of an innovative cryogenic cleaning technique.
The use of green timber in buildings (Bowers et al., 2021) requires designers to consider the temporary condition during which the timbers shrink as they cure, and the community-built earth dams in India (Bingham and Hetherington, 2021) act only temporarily to capture monsoon run-off and recharge local groundwater aquifers.
Elsewhere in this issue we also have an informative briefing article from David Thomas (2021) on the invaluable best-practice guidance provided by the UK Temporary Works Forum.
Because of contracting Covid-19, I submitted this editorial a little later than the deadline. But this gives me the opportunity to comment on the fantastic achievement of Emma Raducanu in winning the US Open tennis tournament on 11 September. Emma trained at the same south London sports club that my family played at, and by going from rank outsider to champion she has clearly demonstrated that skill and determination can achieve success both for herself and for her support team.
Civil engineering is very much a team effort but without the immediate recognition of a straightforward win. It is the outcome of a project that defines its success even though this may not be apparent at time of completion. The team relies on its various skills, training, experience, professionalism and interdependence to succeed in delivering a successful outcome for clients, users and society.
Publication of articles and papers, such as those in this issue, is also part of the process of delivering success through teamwork. It makes project experiences and lessons learned available to the wider profession, helping us all to broaden our personal horizons as to what is possible. In this regard I also enjoy the increasing number of engineering television series, such as Abandoned Engineering, Impossible Engineering and The Architecture the Railways Built.
By reviewing this issue for the purpose of writing this editorial I have certainly broadened my own knowledge. As such I have already achieved one of my reasons for joining the editorial panel. I hope you will also find these articles and papers of interest and benefit. My thanks go to all the authors for sharing their experiences with us and to the volunteer experts who peer-reviewed them. I am already looking forward to the next issue.
