Welcome to the August edition of Civil Engineering. We start with briefing articles on using systems thinking to improve the delivery of infrastructure projects, a new global working group of young engineers focused on climate change, the competencies required by the new UK Building Safety Act 2022 and an assessment of environmental research priorities.
As well as details of new civil engineering books and journals, we then have refereed papers that showcase innovative solutions to infrastructure challenges in China, Italy and the UK, plus a final paper on the importance of community engagement within civil engineering.
The first paper (Zhou et al., 2022) describes the design and construction of Xiong’an railway station near Beijing, currently the largest in the world. Taking just 2 years to build, the £1 billion project demonstrates the use of innovative materials and smart construction techniques, including an expanding roof and fair-faced concrete pillars and beams. How this major transport hub has been successfully integrated into the surrounding city is fascinating to see. Its circular, multi-level design minimises the distances between rail platforms and onward road and pedestrian transport, and its cleverly integrated rooftop photovoltaic panels generate 30% of the station’s energy demand.
The next paper reports the design and construction of one of the world’s longest stress-ribbon bridges, in this case between the villages of Barbiano and Saubach in the southern Tyrol region of Italy (Lorenzi and Moser, 2022). The authors show how complex non-linear design was used for the 118 m structure, which elegantly straddles a 60 m deep river valley to allow hikers to avoid mixing with traffic on a busy mountain road and to support active travel for the local residents. Key to the design was that the bridge should be visually unintrusive. The paper summaries the research and economics that were used to settle on the stress-ribbon solution, which satisfied the balance of environmental, landscape, rigidity and user comfort requirements. The bridge design uses a system of load-bearing cables and a post-tensioned concrete deck.
We then move on to a renewable energy scheme in Coventry, UK (Shinh et al., 2022). Technology and the UK government’s Renewable Heat Incentive (HMG, 2020) have made plants that upgrade biomethane from sewage treatment works for injection into the gas grid more commercially viable. The client, Severn Trent, commissioned the design and build of a gas-to-grid plant at Finham wastewater treatment works in August 2019 and was up against a tight funding deadline to ensure connection and supply to the grid by March 2021. This was achieved despite the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. The paper shows how options were weighed up, summarises the tender process and outcome, and explains how the design evolved using three-dimensional modelling – in particular the integration between new and existing assets on site. Another unusual challenge was the need to source static-free personal protective equipment.
The final paper (Bell et al., 2022) explains how the Institution of Civil Engineers established a statement of principles for community engagement within civil engineering. The paper shares key features of best practice for stakeholder participation which then led to the ten key principles for community engagement. It concludes that better stakeholder engagement is key to civil engineers’ understanding of the growing emphasis on the need for collaborative engagement to solve problems rather than falling back on the traditional historic solutions to build our way out of a problem. The paper will challenge your thinking and I hope will lead to a thirst for seeking further ongoing continuing professional development as we all learn to improve the way we do things.
Enjoy your reading.
