N E W S Thinking like a simulation engineer 6 November 2016 Kiwi Dan Sims holds the prestigious award. Kiwi construction success in Canada At the annual Vancouver Regional Construction Association’s Awards of Excellence, a Kiwi and his construction team took out a Gold Award. This is a very prestigious award, only given to the very best of construction projects in British Columbia, Canada. Not only was New Zealander Dan Sims project managing the winning project but there are two other Kiwis working at Southwest Contracting Ltd too, and this Canadian summer, they had a Kiwi student too. The 2016 Awards of Excellence Gold winner in the Founder’s Trade Award $3 Million to $8 Million Category was won by Southwest Contracting Ltd for their contribution to Vancouver House Buildings 1 & 2. Project Manager for the winning project from Southwest Contracting, Mr Sims, accepted the award on behalf of SWC. Judge’s comments included how Southwest Contracting Ltd provided the shoring for the 52 storey above (seven storey below) for the Vancouver House. Southwest Contracting engineered an alternate braced shoring system, due to non-encroachment conditions with the southern property which substantially reduced construction costs during excavation and to-grade construction. It was a design-assist style project where SWC proposed an alternative concept to the design and worked with the engineer to develop the final design. Mr Sim’s role as project manager meant that before the bid he designed the ‘alternative’ shoring system and once they were awarded the job he worked with the engineer and the client to develop their design into something that they were happy with and could support. During construction Mr Sims was heavily involved in the field to ensure things went as planned. Overall the job performed remarkably well considering its complexity. Mr Sims says there were challenges on the project, including, “vertical tolerance of the soldier piles was tough right from the beginning. We had a very a narrow space we could fit the soldier pile, in order to minimise parts of the shoring system being within the building footprint. In Vancouver architects design tight to property line, and in this case we managed to install the soldier piles in an 18-inch space which is very tight considering the total depth was in excess of 25 metres. “Dealing with sub-contractors was tough, as the winter was wet and welders don’t typically have to work in the mud. This was the first real project where we used multi-strand anchors to pin the shotcrete shoring on all other faces of the excavation. Testing was timely and it took a while for our guys in the field to get their heads around it. We ended up designing some special testing equipment to make things faster and less likely to cause issues.” Mr Sims also highlights the great aspects of the project. “When we installed the first rows of braces I was thinking ‘we are actually building this thing’ and couldn’t imagine we had 6 levels of braces to go. Before that point the whole concept was all on paper, and then it was actually coming to life. Getting to the level seven, I was pretty impressed that we did it so smoothly and the thing was performing so well. Obviously, lifting the last excavator out of the hole was a pretty awesome moment and then just recently, removing the last brace on the way up. I look back and really attribute this whole thing to the ‘can-do’ attitude that most Kiwis seem to have. It’s so much more evident when you live overseas just how awesome it is that we have it embedded in our culture.” Are you having trouble beating design challenges? Perhaps it’s time to start thinking like a simulation engineer. If you’re ready for a new train of thought, Michael Kalin, FEA applications engineer at SolidWorks reseller CADD Edge, is there to get you in the right frame of mind. During the in-depth, 90-minute presentation, Mr Kalin walks you through common simulation errors, how to correct them, and-perhaps most importantlyways to prevent them. After this session, you‘ll be ready to hurdle design challenges by thinking like a simulation engineer. And be in a simulation state of mind. The video provides the best practices in simulation and troubleshooting techniques to make your analyses fast, easy, and, best of all, http://tinyurl.com/hw8y4bz NEW WEBSITE MANAGEMENT SERVICE A new service to assist advertisers and subscribers manage their websites has been launched by Auckland-based Hayleymedia, publishers of NZ Engineering News. The new unit, Hayley Web Management, will work with magazine advertisers and subscribers to update websites on a daily, weekly or monthly schedule, and will use its in-house web, design and editorial resources to co-ordinate content…taking the pressure off busy business owners. “Many businesses create a website and then don’t have the time or resources to keep the site upto date,” Hayleymedia managing director Andy Hobbs says. “Our team will be responsible for checking each site on a daily or weekly basis, noting out-of-date or redundant information, researching and updating it. “We believe this will assist greatly companies who lack the resources or expertise to keep their websites well written and current.” A monthly fee will be charged dependant on the volume of content needed. Contact Andy Hobbs on 021 992 127 for further information.
EN-Nov16
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