Winter Networking Event (Winter 2014)

Flyer - Click to enlarge

On Friday 5th December at the Blue Mango Indian Restaurant, Broad Street, the social highlight of the young members’ winter calendar took place! 

This informal meal and drinks was a great way to network with other young members in the region. It was the perfect chance for those who had not been to one of our events before to meet others and see what we do.

The Young Members’ Panel is coordinated by grads and students who organise both technical development and social networking events throughout the year. These contribute to the professional needs of young structural engineers, as well as provide ideal opportunities to share knowledge and experience.

For further information, please contact us at istructeymp@gmail.com or find us on:

TWITTER    FACEBOOK  LinkedIN     

Post author: Tasha 

Project Talk (Autumn 2014)

Flyer - Click to enlarge

On Thursday 20th November over sixty people turned up at the University to hear from:

Martyn Noak

Principal Tunnel Engineer

at C2HM Hill

Martyn Noak is an engineer with a vast range of project experience. He has been involved in the management of multi-disciplinary tunnel and rail projects in London, including the Northern Line Extension, Tottenham Court Road Station Upgrade and the DLR extension to Woolwich. Martyn is ‘home-grown’ talent, having graduated from the University of Birmingham in 1995.

For further information, please contact us at istructeymp@gmail.com or find us on:

TWITTER    

FACEBOOK  

LinkedIN     

Post author: Tasha 

Annual Awards Dinner (Autumn 2014)

Flyer - Click to enlarge

On Thursday 6th November, the highlight of the IStructE Midland Counties Regional Group’s social calendar took place - the Annual Awards Dinner!

This formal dinner took place at the botanical gardens, and was a great way to socialise with friends, colleagues and others in the industry. Prizes and awards for the best regional structural engineering projects were be presented, and many local companies attended, providing a great networking opportunity. 

The guest speaker was Gareth Chilcott, born in 1956 in Bristol and  a former rugby union player, who played at prop for both Bath and England. He made his England debut against Australia in 1984, and toured with the British Lions in Australia in 1989. Since then he’s acted in the revived stage play “Up ‘n’ Under”, and appeared in a rugby special of “Come Dine with Me”. 

Post author: Tasha 

Presentation Showcase (Autumn 2014)

On Thursday 23rd October 2014, three aspiring young members in the region presented their take on "Overcoming structural engineering challenges", competing for the inaugural Presentation Award. 

Within this theme, we heard about the following thee topics for 15 minutes each, after which we had the opportunity to reflect and ask questions of the speakers:

1. The challenge of uncertainty - Thilo Willems
2. Reciprocally supported pultruded GFRP modules - Harpreet Singh Sidhu
3. The behaviour of GFRP sections in compression - Oluwatosin Naiyeju

Harpreet finishing his presentation

Each presentation was of an excellent standard. Thilo brought his experiences from working at PM Group to the fore, highlighting the challenges arising from uncertainty in projects from an early stage, and how to manage change. Harpreet took us through his project on testing adhesive and mechanical connections between pultruded GFRP modules, whilst Oluwatosin demonstrated how these same modules behave in compression.

In terms of the award, it was a close one, but the judge awarded the results as follows:

1st place - Thilo Willems
2nd place - Harpreet Singh Sidhu
3rd place - Oluwatosin Naiyeju

Thilo receiving his award.

Many thanks to all three of the presenters for making the effort to enter this competition - by making the final all three had already gone through a short-listing stage, so well done!

Craig Mcfadyen (regional chair) rounding up

For further information or to register your interest in attending this event, please contact the Young Members’ Panel at: istructeymp@gmail.com

Post author: Tasha 

IStructE for students - Warwick (Autumn 2014)

We delivered a talk about the IStructE to Warwick Students.

Warwick student lecture

Post author: Charlotte H

Presentation Award (Autumn 2014)

Flyer - Click to enlarge

The aim of the presentation award is to encourage young members in the region to prepare and present on a topic related to structural engineering. The theme is open to wide interpretation, and this year is:

Overcoming structural engineering challenges

The competition provides an exciting professional development and networking opportunity, the prospect of enhancing your presentation skills and confidence, as well as the chance to promote yourself and your employer or university.

Finalists have been selected to give a presentation of up to 15 minutes There will be a further 10 minutes allowed after each presentation for questions from the floor.

From these finalists, the winner will receive the award and £250 whilst the runner up will receive £50.

To enter, synopses of less than 300 words were submitted by Monday 22nd September 2014 to istructeymp@gmail.com.

Entrants must be 28 years of age or below by 15/09/14. Please include your name, date of birth, address, email, and phone number. Synopses may not contain figures or tables. Entries are to be by a single presenter only. Presenters are permitted to enter in consecutive years, but must use different content.

For further information, please contact the Young Members’ Panel at: istructeymp@gmail.com

Post author: Tasha Scott  

Seminar (Summer 2014) - Oliver Broadbent

"Transforming Engineering Education - A brief history of ThinkUp"

Oli is a bright young guy, with degrees in Chemistry from Oxford and Civil Engineering from Imperial College. Having been an engineer at Expedition, he now runs Think Up, heading up their educational program development. Oli has a keen interest in media and communications and is both an enthusiastic blogger and amateur filmmaker.

The three themes of ThinkUp are: 

• innovation in engineering education; 
• inspiring career choices; 
• and skills for sustainable development.

Post author: Charlotte Homer

Career (Summer 2014) - Technical Assistant @ IStructE

Seminars (Summer 2014) - Routes to Membership

This week an event was held which claimed to tell you "Everything you need to know about becoming a Technician, Associate & Member of the Institution of Structural Engineers!"

In two words: It did.

We heard from Cynthia Hearing, from headquarters, John Nolan, fellow and past president as well as our local membership secretary, Steve Poutney.

If you've ever wanted to know the answers to questions such as...

• Does a PhD count as an MEng equivalent?
• How long after graduation do people normally apply for membership?
• What is mutual recognition?
• Does mutual recognition apply for the IMechE?
• Do you have to do TM (technician membership) and AM (associate membership) before CM (chartered membership)?
• Is the professional review different for AM?
• What are the requirements for the research route?
• How will the exams change from 2015?
• How many questions will there be?
• What should I put in my portfolio?
• Can applicants from September go for the next exam?
• Where can you get a CD of past papers from?
• Is the CDC (Complimentary Design Course) suitable for bridge engineers?
• What is a fellow?
• Can I take my laptop into the exam?
• Which codes should I use?
• Are there any specific site requirements?
• Where are exams held?
• Should I submit computer calculations?
• Do sketches have to be on headed calculation paper?

...then you definitely need to attend this event next time it happens!

The meeting covered everything about membership including academic qualifications, the application process, the interview and the exam. It was excellent opportunity to ask specific questions such as the ones above, as well as speak to committee members, HQ representatives and professionally qualified members. All levels of membership i.e. Technician, Associate and Chartered Membership we discussed too.

For further information, please contact the Young Members’ Panel at: istructeymp@gmail.com

Post author: Tasha Scott  

Networking (Summer 2014) - Quiz & Networking

At the start of June we held our exclusive networking and quiz event - in association with the ICE and CIBSE. The event will involved the opportunity to network with professionals in the region from a variety of construction and engineering related courses and careers, and was very well attended.

There was a short and light-hearted quiz which everyone participated in. The first couple of rounds tested general and current affairs knowledge, whilst the picture round had a somewhat structural theme.

After the buffet, a further two rounds on sport and science sorted out the winners from the rest, and the final scores were thus:

  1st    --> Dizzy (Rascals) - 40 points
  2nd   --> Lofty    - 36 points
=3rd   --> Roley   - 35 points
=3rd   --> Bob     - 35 points
  5th   --> Scoop   - 33 points
  6th   --> Packer  - 31 points
  7th   --> Muck    - 28 points

Well done team Dizzy (Rascals) on a great performance, particularly boosted by their full marks in the picture around (see below)!

Overall a great night was had by all, and we look forward to similar events in the future.

For further information, please contact the Young Members’ Panel at: istructeymp@gmail.com

Post author: Tasha Scott  

Site Visit (Spring 2014) - Resorts World

On the evening of Monday 28^th April 2014, graduates and students from the Midlands Counties regional group attended a site visit at the Resorts World complex in Birmingham.

This new integrated leisure centre is being constructed on a green field site, next to a lake. It will include a hotel, cinema, conference centre and many restaurants, bars and shops.

Before going onto the site, the young members heard from Phil Gilday, the Design Manager, and Craig Benham, who is in charge of internals. Between them they demonstrated the major challenges so far on the project. The young members learned about the procurement route, employer’s requirements, BIM benefits and limitations, as well as the many changes and variations that had been instructed on the project since its inception many years ago.

Once on the site, our young members could clearly see the construction methods used, which included steel frames, pre-cambered steel cell beams, post-tensioned flat slabs, contiguous piled basement walls, insitu concrete and metal decking. Seeing the live site first hand helped the young members put their own design roles and learning into context, and the anecdotes given around the site improved our awareness of client management and commercial issues.

A big thank you must go to the staff from Galliford Try for hosting the event , and accompanying the group on this tour, answering our many questions.

If you have any ideas for us or you’d like to get involved with the Young Members’ Panel please let us know at istructeymp@gmail.com

Post author: Tasha Scott  

Lectures (Spring 2014) - The Shard

On Tuesday 4th March 2014, the IStructE, IMechE and ICE jointly hosted a technical lecture event at Coventry University. The topic was The Shard.

The lecture was well attended and Richard Mawer gave a very interesting talk on the structural engineering challenges to do with Shard, and its construction methodology.

Post author: Tasha Scott  

Competition (Winter 2014) - Make & Break

The evening of Tuesday 18^th February 2014 brought together groups of graduates and students in our very popular Midlands Counties Make and Break Competition. Kindly hosted by the University of Birmingham, the lecture room was filled to capacity with thirteen teams of up to four members.

The delivered brief required teams to build a crane-type structure. This crane had to support the greatest possible load, with extra points available for efficient construction and long horizontal reach.

A total of an hour was given for design and construction, and teams quickly began thinking and discussing the best methods of building, using the provided materials of straws and tape. The crane mounting frames were well visited during construction time, as was the additional materials supply (at a cost, of course).

When the time was up, thirteen very different structures were presented for testing. First, a minimum 70g load was used to check the crane met reach requirements. Unfortunately four teams failed at this first hurdle, but hopefully they gained valuable experience from this. The remaining nine teams battled it out to carry the most load, with one team carrying over 800g!

The results were then totted up, accounting for the amount of materials used and the performance of the cranes. The final results were as follows:

1^st           Tony Gee - Tony Gee  

2^nd          OveDaBridge - ARUP   

3^rd           Bracing Squad - WSP CEL 

4^th           Two bricks Short - WSP CEL  

5^th           WhatSuP!! - WSP 

6^th           The Unbreakables - University of Birmingham

7^th           Class of 2010 - RNP Associates 

8^th           Triangles - University of Birmingham 

9^th           JNRC Engineering - Coventry University 

=10^th      Millenium - University of Birmingham  

=10^th      Pharmageddon - WSP CEL 

=10^th      Team Phoenix - Coventry University  

=10^th      CivSoc - University of Birmingham 

Well done to the Bracing Squad, OveDaBridge and Tony Gee for their top three places! The winners and runners up secured themselves complimentary invites to the Midlands IStructE Annual Dinner which will take place on 6^th November 2014. The winning team were also awarded Amazon vouchers in recognition of their efforts.

Special thanks must go to the Young Members’ Panel for organising the event, with coordination from the ICE G&S committee. A big thank you must also go to Jenny Illingsworth from the University of Birmingham for hosting us, and the IStructE Regional Group Committee members who attended the event, offering advice and support.

If you have any ideas for us or you’d like to get involved with the Young Members’ Panel please let us know at istructeymp@gmail.com.

Post author: Tasha Scott  

Site Visit (Winter 2014) - Metsec

On the afternoon of Wednesday 29^th January, graduates from the Midlands Counties regional group attended a site factory tour at Metsec, Oldbury.

The visit began with a presentation about the history of Metsec, and how it’s developed to become part of Voestalpine. Safety matters were also covered to ensure our members could get the most out of the tour.

Ear defenders in, our young engineers entered the factory to witness the rolling of sections. It was intriguing to see how the flat steel sections were cold-rolled into a range of shapes and sizes, ready for storage and very soon after, delivery.

The young members also got to see the making of accessories, which involved seeing a number of skilled operators punching and riveting, amongst other things. Finally, a sneak-peak into the training room demonstrated the quality of service and standards delivered by Metsec.

A presentation after the tour showed our graduates the products that the sections they had seen would end up in, and how these have been used in construction to date. A number of project case studies demonstrated the wide capability of cold-rolled steel, including buildings with both curved and sloped faces.

A big thank you must go to Ben Gallimore from Metsec, for coordinating with the Young members Panel to organise this event and to Dave Briers for accompanying the group on this tour and answering our questions.

Events like this are invaluable for our graduates who don’t visit sites as frequently as they might like in their early careers. These trips allow them to see how their work might is realised, and encourage them to think about scheme design, and the potential products available to them.

If you have any ideas for us or you’d like to get involved with the Young Members’ Panel please let us know at istructeymp@gmail.com.

Post author: Tasha Scott