IET EngX

Welcome to the Community Insights blog!

This blog features posts from and about the EngX community. Want to contribute? Read our blogging guide to help you get started.

Grid

List

Apartment Tower in Melbourne completed in just 5 days - Prefab

The One9 building, a 9-floor apartment building was recently built in Melbourne, Australia in just five days. This was possible because the parts needed to construct the One9 building were manufactured off site, though the builders aren’t really calling it modular, since none of the modules are standard or fixed. The One9 apartment is comprised of a total of 34 one-bedroom and two-bedroom units. The construction process was based on Hickory Group’s UB (Unitized Building) system, which was created by architect Nonda Katsalidis. This is the highest building the group has constructed until now, though they are sure much taller buildings could also easily be built using this method. Their building method is currently being specified on buildings up to 70 storeys. The One9 apartment is comprised…

Former Community Member
Extended Enterprise 2014: Managing risk in the world of 'VUCA' - volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity

The days of ‘self- contained’ business are over. Virtually all organisations, from start-ups to multi-nationals now rely on a complex and interconnected web of suppliers, services, consultants, energy providers, distributors and many more simply to do business. This ‘extended enterprise’ gives you efficiencies of scale and expertise but it also poses growing multiples of risk. If any part of your network faces unmanaged risk, this has consequences for your own business. Extended Enterprise 2014, run by the world’s leading professional body for risk management, will show you the exact extent of your extended enterprise, the risks and opportunities it presents to your business and how best to manage them. Using IRM’s “Extended EnterpriseResources for Practitioners”, this conference is about practical…

Former Community Member
UCSI University 18th June 2014

Exec member, Lim Yew Kee, was invited by Ir. Associate Prof Dr. Jimmy Mok (Dean, Faculty of Engineering, Technology, Built Environment) and Engr. Nur Amira (Acting Head of Programmes, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering Dept.) to deliver Technical Talks to its engineering students on 18th June 2014. This event was sponsored by the IET Manufacturing Technical and Professional Network. UCSI University is a private university and since its inception in 1986 it has now over 10,000 students from 80 different countries with three campuses located in Kuala Lumpur, Terengganu and Sarawak (East Malaysia). The Technical Talks were entitled," Machine Automation and Manufacturing Engineering", and " Electrical and Electronic Product Development Principles and Technology". His talks relate to Product…

Joanne Longton
Made in Britain

Watch an exclusive interview with Dr Ralf Speth as he examined Jaguar-Landrover's role as a centre for leading design and engineering. Dr Ralf Speth examined Jaguar-Landrover's role as a centre for leading design and engineering; a major investor in R&D; a pioneer of new links between business and academia and as a user of next-generation IT systems. He also looked at how manufacturing companies have to prepare for a globalised, ultra-competitive and crisis-hit industrial world and how Britain is setting new standards as a hub for automotive excellence. "Made in Britain" - Premium Automotive Manufacturing for a Global Market Dr Ralf Speth, CEO, Jaguar Land Rover From: Viscount Nuffield / Mensforth Lecture, 15 March 2012, Coventry 2012-03-12 00:00:00.0 Manufacturing Channel >> go to webcast…

Joanne Longton
Timber fire door - installation, repair & maintenance

Correctly installing fire doors and doorsets and their on-going repair and maintenance is critical to the safety of building occupants. Fire doors play a vital role in containing fire and the spread of smoke in the event of a fire. The importance of good installation cannot be overemphasised. Poor installation can mean that an otherwise well-manufactured door fails to provide the required performance in the event of a fire. The installation of a doorset is as much a part of the fire resistance test as the doorset itself. Therefore, any alterations to the method of installation must be covered by a test report, an assessment report or an extended field of application report. Repair and maintenance of a life-safety device such as a fire door is imperative. Generally, after handover, this responsibility…

Former Community Member
How can a Professional Registration Advisor help?

I recently spoke with David Parr, one of our PRAs, who told me his one piece of advice to all candidates applying for professional registration is: “Always have your application looked over by a PRA.” Professional registration advisors (PRAs) are volunteers with detailed knowledge of the professional registration requirements who give their time to instruct registrants and potential registrants to advise on the presentation aspect of making a formal application for CEng, IEng, EngTech and ICTTech. With some simple preparation you can ensure that you can not only get their advice on your application but can also make the most of the assistance they can give. When to contact a PRA? Whilst you can contact a PRA at anytime, it is best to seek advice when you think you might be ready to apply. You…

Kathryn Bain in CEng
Opportunities in Power Electronics

Keynote by Bill Drury from the EPSRC Power Electronics Centre 2014 Conference looking at the impact, opportunities and some issues facing Power Electronics. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xREkgv9qkqA&list=PLVBsQFhtOizQRV8iZUqkbhJSjCztRHd92&index=3

Bill Drury
Interview with Lord Browne

Carbon chief: Lord Browne | In-depth | The Engineer http://t.co/fdT7mAghsW — Joanne Longton (@IETJoanneLongt) July 22, 2014

Joanne Longton
PEMD 2014 Captured On IET TV

Follow the link to the PEMD Presentations on IET TV: http://tv.theiet.org/search.cfm?syear=&schan=&stext=pemd&page=1&utm_source=Adestra&utm_campaign=Energy%20Sector%20Newsletter%20June%202014&utm_medium=Newsletters%20-%20Sector%20News&utm_content=Energy%20Sector%20News&utm_term=http%3A%2F%2Ftv.theiet.org%2Fsearch.cfm%3Fsyear%3D%26schan%3D%26stext%3Dpemd%26page%3D1&utm_contact=15533095 A list of papers is attached to help find the paper you are looking for.

Bill Drury
Withington Girls' School compete in Faraday Challenge Final

A school from Manchester was one of the three top teams to compete in the 2013-14 Faraday Challenge Day season . Withington Girls’ School took part in the trip to the National Final on 20 June 2014 at the STFC’s Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire. At the Final, along with two other teams they competed to win up to £1,000 for their school. Students from the top teams also received a special treat day as part of their prize on 19 June 2014 where they were given exclusive tours around the STFC facilities including the Mars Yard where they were able to control some of the robots; ISIS - Seeing the Invisible; and the RAL Space Centre where they were tasked with building a rocket out of spaghetti and marshmallows!

Deborah-Claire McKenzie
E-VECTOORC Consortium's Final Dissemination Event - Gaydon

Phil Barber, a member of the ARTS TPN Executive Team would like to invite all community members to a free event that the E-VECTOORC consortium are organising in Gaydon next month. The Consortium are holding their final Project Dissemination event at the Heritage Centre, Gaydon on Thursday, 28 August 2014. There will be a detailed technical discussion of the successes and learning from developing a four wheel electric drive test vehicle, using individual inboard switched reluctance motors. The EU funded co-operative project has demonstrated the advances in vehicle capability due to this configuration, and lessons learnt from the difficulties in implementing this technology. Further details on the event can be found here . Please register for the event by Monday, 18 August via Aldo Sorniotti

Deborah-Claire McKenzie
Who will Build HS2? - Learning from Best Practice Around the World

Transport Times have organised a one-day conference on HS2 on Thursday, 11 September 2014 and will examine best practice in planning, financing, civil engineering, signalling and rolling stock. The keynote address will be provided by Transport Minister Robert Goodwin MP and Simon Kirby, Chief Executive, Construction at HS2 will provide an update on how the project will progress. Further details of the event can be found here . The IET is a member of the Railway Engineers Forum (REF) and members of the REF qualify for a 10% discount on teh conference. To access this please click here.

Deborah-Claire McKenzie
2013-14 Committee

The IET Birmingham Network organises a varied programme of activities in and around the Birmingham area. All of these events and activities are made possible by the efforts of a dedicated group of volunteers. If you would like to know more about the committee, or would like to volunteer, please get in touch with any of the committee members listed below: Rob Diprose Vice Chairman Ivan Ellis Chairman Tim Boyle Webmaster John Holland School Liaison Officer Brian Reynolds Business Liaison Officer John Barnett Programme Coordinator, SEA Nirajan Sangroula Birmingham University Contact, Young Professionals Secretary Mohammed Sarki Secretary Mak Sharma Birmingham City University Contact Joanne Longton Community Relationship Manager Tafadzwa Mackenzie Kadare YP representative

Joanne Longton
Machine Automation and Manufacturing Engineering

Exec Member, Lim Yew Kee, was invited by Ir. Siva Priya, Chair, Industrial Linkage Committee, Faculty of Engineering, Multimedia University (MMU) Malaysia, to deliver a technical talk to its engineering students on 16th June 2014. This event was sponsored by The IET Manufacturing Technical and Professional Network. Multimedia University (MMU) is the first private university in Malaysia, a wholly owned subsidiary of Telekom Malaysia (TM), the largest telecommunications company in Malaysia, and growing to over 20,000 students in 15 years. This Technical Talk was entitled, "Machine Automation and Manufacturing Engineering". He highlighted that current global market demand not only for reliable and quality product, but also ones managing its cost effectiveness in manufacturing processes coupled…

Joanne Longton
PEMD TPN Management Group

The PEMD TPN Management Group is drawn from senior industrial and academic engineers in the field of Power Electronics, Machines and systems comprising either or both of these technologies – Drives is a convenient description. The team comprises: · Bill Drury (PEMD Consultant) - Chairman · Mike Barnes (Manchester University)%u200B · Jeff Carter (Borg Warner) - Colin Davidson (Alstom Grid) · Paul Huggett (KTN) · Barrie Mecrow (Newcastle University) · David Moule (TRW) · Volker Pickert (Newcastle University) · Pat Wheeler (Nottingham University) · Zi-Qiang Zhu (Sheffield University)

Bill Drury
The IET PEMD Technical Network

The PEMD Technical Network provides a hub or focal point for the Power Electronics community. It aims to organise occasional seminars & webinars covering topics which are relevant to PEMD. It will also inform of other events being organised in the world-wide PEMD community. Whilst the network base is UK-centric, international members are most welcome. Increasingly, provision of events via webinars will enable all to participate regardless of location. The provision will be managed by a small organising committee. This team has members in businesses and research organisations operating in the PEMD space thereby maintaining direction and relevance. The Technology base of the community is well defined by the following themes: Power Semiconductors Power Electronics Machines and Drives…

Bill Drury
Technology's Rainbow Connection

SAN FRANCISCO — If it weren’t for the one naked guy, the furries with their articulated ears and the small gaggle of leather-clad members of the Society of Janus, this city’s 44th annual Pride parade in June could have been easily be mistaken for a technology conference. Every big company in the city and Silicon Valley — Netflix, Facebook, Google, Apple — each offering its own take on gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual pride, lined up along Spear Street before joining the one-mile parade route on Market Street... Read the full article in the New York Times

Lisa Miles
'Prefab' construction moves into mainstream

With advances in computer-aided design, big contractors have embraced the use of prefabricated building components. Prefabrication — a decades-old concept for saving money and time in construction once dismissed as synonymous with low quality — is making a huge comeback in an era when advances in computer-aided design have reinvented the idea into an indispensable tool for some of the biggest commercial building projects. The “prefab” concept blossomed in the 1950s, when it became shorthand for slapped-together housing erected as quickly as possible to meet the needs of the baby boom generation. For the first time, builders used components that were assembled in off-site workshops and shipped in on trucks in order to mass-produce millions of starter homes across the country. The results were…

Former Community Member
High hopes for a sustainable future for Newcastle

New innovation hub boasts one of the UK’s tallest living walls A 27m-high living wall offering wild strawberries, seagrass and sanctuary for small birds has been installed as part of the build programme for a new sustainable innovation hub in Newcastle. The vertical garden forms a key focal point at Science Central, a 24-acre development currently being constructed by Newcastle Science City, a partnership between Newcastle City Council and Newcastle University. Designed and engineered by Faulkner Brown Architects in conjunction with Land Use Consultants, ANS Group Europe, Mott MacDonald and Sir Robert McAlpine, the wall measures around 366 sq m in area and contains more than 35,000 plants. The aim was to create an example of urban sustainability in order to encourage sustainable innovation…

Former Community Member
Meet Kerrine Bryan, Principal Electrical Engineer at CB&I - IET Woman's Network

Article in full: https://communities.theiet.org/communities/files/77/6202

Former Community Member
Refurbished House Tests Four-in-a-block Retrofit

A project is demonstrating retrofit solutions for some of the most energy inefficient homes across Scotland and the UK. The newly-built Refurbished House, which has been constructed at the BRE Innovation Park @Ravenscraig , in Scotland, is a recreation of a ‘four in a block’ building, with two apartments on the ground floor and two on the first. Developed specifically for retrofit, the project has been delivered by BRE Scotland, Edinburgh Napier University and Historic Scotland. It is designed by Kraft Architecture and Hannah Read Consulting Engineers and constructed by contractor Cruden. The house enables robust assessments to be made of cost effective upgrading solutions for walls, windows, roofs and services for this building type. There are estimated to be 265,000 of the ‘four in a block…

Former Community Member
Capita Symonds to lead flagship project in urban regeneration scheme

Image of the week: BBC Wales headquarters, Cardiff Article in full: http://www.building4change.com/article.jsp?id=2441#.U8edmZRdXkY

Former Community Member
LGBT survey: E&T hears from the engineering industry

Does your sexual orientation affect your progression in the workplace? Are your colleagues accepting of your sexuality? Is it irrelevant to your role or should you be out and proud in the office? We asked E&T ’s LGBT engineering community to share their experiences of working within the industry. Read more...

Former Community Member
Impacts of Summer Weather on the Railway infrastructure

With the weather forecast for this weekend showing some storm systems heading the way of the UK, I thought this article on the Network Rail website was interesting.

Deborah-Claire McKenzie

Welcome to the Community Insights blog!

Join us to get the best from IET EngX.

Community Rules & Guidelines