Decoding the Eurocodes

Past, present, and future of Eurocode 7

Today, I will be delivering the 3rd ISSMGE webinar entitled 'Eurocode 7 - past, present, and future'. The webinar commences at 3pm GMT and already has around 140 delegates booked to attend.

Notes of the webinar are now available to download from here.

Information about the book 'Decoding Eurocode 7' by Bond and Harris (2008), which provides a lot more detail about the 'present' of Eurocode 7, can be obtained from the book's dedicated website.

The Thomas Telford 'Designers' Guide to Eurocode 7' by Frank et al. (2002) can be purchased from Amazon.

And if you are looking for training courses on the subject - now available for online or classroom delivery - please visit the training pages on the Geocentrix website (the next online 'Decoding Eurocode 7' course starts 26th January - here is a link to the booking form).

If you attended the webinar and would like to comment on it, please click the 'Comments' link below and tell me what you think. Feedback will be gratefully received!

Less than three weeks to go to BGA Symposium

The BGA Symposium 'Eurocode 7 - Today and Tomorrow' is now less than three weeks away. Confirmed speakers from the UK include:

• Prof. Malcolm Bolton (Cambridge University)
• Prof. Chris Clayton (Southampton University)
• Dr Brian Simpson (Arup Geotechnics)
• Tony O'Brien (Mott MacDonald)
• David Norbury (independent consultant)
• Andrew Smith (Coffey Geotechnics)
• David Beadman (Byrne Looby)
• and myself (Dr Andrew Bond, Geocentrix)

We now have 100 delegates confirmed as attending - so why not join them? Cost is just £80 + VAT. Full details and a booking form are available at the Today and Tomorrow webpage.

70 attend webinars on 'Standards for geotechnical design’

Over the past two days, I have been giving Geocentrix's first webinars on 'Standards for geotechnical design' - four separate events, involving 70 attendees.

I have to say it was exhausting - there is something very challenging about speaking to an audience over the Internet. It is difficult to get feedback during the talk: delegates are more reluctant to ask questions than they are in a face-to-face setting. Nevertheless, it enabled a lot of people (I suspect there were several in the background, meaning we had more than 70 watching/listening) to avoid the inevitable travelling and accommodation costs involved in attending a public meeting.

One delegate even listened to the webinar on his (hand-free) phone, while driving home from site in his car! The wonders of technology.

Geocentrix is following up the success of these webinars with a full online training course on 'Basis of geotechnical design'. Click here for further details.

Today and tomorrow open for bookings

The final speaker for the BGA's Symposium 'Eurocode 7 - Today and Tomorrow' has been announced as Professor Chris Clayton of Southampton University. The full line up for this event can be viewed here.

Also on that webpage is the  booking form for the Symposium. Price for attendance has been set at £80 + VAT, which is incredibly good value! Book now to reserve your place.

Further webinars scheduled

All three of Geocentrix's free webinars on 'Decoding Eurocode 7 - standards for geotechncial design' are now fully booked, and a fourth has been scheduled. See the Geocentrix website for further details.

Free Eurocode 7 webinars 'sell out'

• Thursday 3^rd February at 4 pm - fully booked
• Thursday 3^rd February at 12 noon - fully booked
• Wednesday 2^nd February at 4 pm - a few places remain
• For further details, click here

Free one hour webinar on Eurocode 7

Geocentrix is  offering a free one hour pilot webinar on Eurocode 7 on Thursday 3^rd February at 4 pm.

The webinar will cover ‘Standards for geotechnical design’. Places are limited and those  interested need to register to secure a place.

Depending upon the success of this pilot further paid webinars will be offered to make up a full ‘Decoding Eurocode 7: Basis of  Geotechnical Design’ course. See here for details. Details of pricing and dates of this course will be made available during the webinar.

To register a place please e-mail training@geocentrix.co.uk quoting ‘Free Webinar’ to receive instructions for logging on.

Programme announced for 'Eurocode 7 - Today and Tomorrow'

The provisional programme for the BGA Symposium entitled 'Eurocode 7 - Today and Tomorrow' has been posted on the Eurocode 7 website. It features talks by several eminent speakers including:

• Professor Malcolm Bolton (Cambridge University/host)
• David Beadman (Byrne Looby)
• Dr Andrew Bond (Geocentrix, Chairman CEN TC250/SC7)
• Dr Andrew Lees (Frederick University, Cyprus; delegate on CEN TC250/SC7)
• David Norbury (independant consultant, member BSI committee B/526/3)
• Tony O'Brien (Mott MacDonald)
• Adriaan van Seters (Fugro, Dutch delegate on CEN TC250/SC7)
• Dr Brian Simpson (Arup Geotechnics, Chairman BSI committee B/526)
• Dr Andrew Smith (Coffey)

The price to attend has been set at £50 + VAT per head. Great value for money.

Visit the Symposium's webpage for further details.

 

Eurocode 7 – Today and Tomorrow

Here is the full text of the press release by BGA regarding a Eurocode 7 event next year. An abridged version of this press release appeard in Ground Engineering's December 2010 issue.

Under the aegis of the BGA, in its role as the Ground Expert Panel of the Institution of Civil Engineers, a Symposium is to be held at Cambridge University on 23rd March 2011 entitled ‘Eurocode 7 – Today and Tomorrow’'. Press and flyer details will follow soon.

The venue and date of the Symposium has been chosen to coincide with the next meeting of TC250/SC7, the committee responsible for Eurocode 7, which the UK will be hosting (in Cambridge) on 24th-25th March 2011 under its new Chairman, Dr Andrew Bond of Geocentrix.

The programme for the BGA Symposium will cover current challenges identified in EC7 in the UK and the rest of Europe and will discuss what Industry would like to see in the next version of the Eurocode. To aid the latter issue, everyone is invited and encouraged to complete Andrew Bond's 'UK questionnaire on the future work of TC250/SC7 on geotechnical design', which is provided as an insert in this issue of Ground Engineering. An online version of the questionnaire is also available at www.eurocode7.com/future.

The BGA Symposium will be low cost, non profit making, and subsidised by the ICE; it represents a real opportunity to air opinions, requirements, and concerns in terms of design theory and practice for both now and in the future.

Impact of Eurocode on site investigation, sampling, insitu testing, and reporting

Equipe Training are running another Eurocode Discussion Forum on 'The impact of Eurocode on Site Investigation, Sampling, Insitu Testing and Reporting'. Presented by David Norbury (David Norbury Consultant), Dr John Powell (Geolabs), Julian Lovell (Equipe Training), and Peter Reading (Equipe Training), the forum will  be held on Thursday 2nd December 2010, 10.00 – 16:30, at The Paddocks, nr. Banbury.

Bookings can be made on-line at www.equipetraining.co.uk.