It’s been 20 years since graduation and last Saturday, I received two certificates from the Institute of Engineers Australia.
One confirming my election as Fellow of the Institute.
And the other confirming I have achieved the status of Engineering Executive.
It’s both incredibly humbling and satisfying to be recognised by your governing professional body in front of your peers, and I thank the Institute of Engineers for these wonderful honours.
The phone call went exactly like this…
Hello, George speaking…
“George… I just left Council and we are adding two extra levels on top”
But you’re forming up Level 1?
“I know… Architect will send you plans tomorrow”
Yes, but you’re in the process of forming the deck for Level 1?
“Ok cool… Architect will send you plans tomorrow… I’ll call you later”
The line went silent…
So imagine this:
• Foundations were built
• All the Basement 2 and Basement 1 structures were completed
• The Ground Floor main transfer deck was well and truly done
• And the boys on site were in the process of forming up the Level 1 slab
Suddenly we found ourselves needing to support an additional two levels of a structure that was not designed to carry an additional two levels.
This was going to be interesting, to say the least.
Using Finite Element Modelling (FEM), we were able to highlight weak areas of the existing structure that needed reinforcement as well as confirm areas that had sufficient strength to resist the new loads.
From the foundations to the supporting columns and walls to the suspended slabs, ACSES Engineers developed a total solution that enabled the extra levels to be added, while still maintaining the overall safety of the structure.
Below are some images of the carbon fibre reinforcement that were retrofitted to the soffit of the transfer slab. A terrific technology that gave us the extra strength we needed. Other strengthening works included widening and underpinning specific foundations as well as ‘beefing up’ specific columns and walls.
Shane and his team at First Class Building did an amazing job pulling it all together and the end result is a building that is safe, two storeys taller, and just about to be handed over to the various new owners.
Well done to all involved…
ACSES Engineers are honoured to have been appointed as the Project Structural Engineer for the project located at 43-45 Beane Street Gosford. We are incredibly excited to be part of the design team that will help deliver this exceptional development on the Central Coast.
Project Specifics
Scope of Works includes the structural design of the following by our in-house Structural, Civil and Geotechnical Engineers:
For more information please contact us anytime.
Let me start by saying that being an engineer is an incredibly rewarding yet demanding career choice.
As ‘corny’ as it sounds, you will make a real difference in people’s lives, and as cliché as this sounds, ‘engineers really do make ‘it’ happen’.
Unfortunately when you’re first starting out, it can be an incredibly daunting and frustrating time for a young engineer, so here are five tips for my ‘brethren’ beginning their engineering journey.
Graduating with a degree in engineering is an accomplishment in and of itself. Unfortunately the reality is that your degree is essentially a piece of paper that verifies you know how to use a calculator and chew gum at the same time.
Of course I am being facetious, but the end of your degree is actually the first step on a very long road ahead. You need to accept that for the first three to five years you will be confused and shrouded in self-doubt, constantly second guessing yourself as you struggle to make sense of the monumental amount of information you will be asked to absorb and comprehend.
Fight through that self-doubt. You’re going to be fine.
Grit your teeth, keep your eyes and ears open, commit to your growth, focus on your development and absorb as much as you can as quickly as you can, and before you know it you will have set the foundations of your career.
In case it wasn’t emphasised enough, you’ve got to get site experience. It is unbelievable how important working in the field can be. Get on site and get dirty. For the first six months to a year, work as a labourer if you must, it doesn’t matter, just get out there. Site work will give you incredible insight that an office environment simply can’t, plus it will enable you to think beyond the numbers and formulas and expose you to factors and parameters you won’t learn from a text book.
As an engineer, you will encounter countless variations of never ending problems from demanding clients that set ‘yesterday’ deadlines in an industry where competition grows exponentially, thanks to the wonders of ever changing technology.
There is simply too much information to process, and of course there never is enough time, so believe me when I tell you that 9-5 won’t cut it. Success requires early starts and late finishes, so forget about looking at your watch and repeat this mantra over and over:
One of the great things about modern engineering is the vast number of advanced tools we have at our disposal. Computers and modern technology have allowed us to tackle complex problems, communicate big ideas and share results faster and more efficiently than ever before.
In fact this piece was typed on a laptop connected to the internet via my Australian mobile phone connected to the Chinese network whilst sitting in a bullet train travelling at 305km/hr heading to Shenzhen to meet with Chinese engineering colleagues to discuss new concrete and steel technology.
Unfortunately, surrounded by all the modern tools, an engineer can become lazy and too trusting of the solution on the screen. Whether it’s a complex FEM program or a simple spreadsheet, you must develop a full and comprehensive understanding of the input ‘language’ to properly interpret the output results.
Do not rush to the keyboard before first developing your understanding of engineering philosophy and a ‘feel’ for the numbers.
My advice is simple, respect technology, don’t be afraid to use it, but apply a healthy dose of scepticism when reviewing the output file, and if it doesn’t ‘feel’ right, then check it with a hand calculation. Then check it again.
Do not let money be the main factor which determines the course of your career, because when you’re starting out, you will not be impressed by your pay cheque.
Don’t worry about money during the early stages.
First choose the branch/sector of your engineering discipline which most interests you, then focus on developing your skills and technical abilities.
It’s no secret or special advice, love your job and it won’t feel like work, and before you know it your knowledge base and ‘abilities’ will start expanding exponentially and you will become more ‘valuable’ to an organisation.
That’s when you start seeing the bigger numbers and that’s when other options start to appear.