To protect Ipswich from events such as the tidal surge flooding of 2013 and
devastating effects of the extensive flooding of 1953, the £72m Ipswich Tidal
Barrier is now close to completion. The current flood management systems were
built in the 1970s and have long been in need of a major upgrade.
Directly, they will protect over 1,500 private homes and more than 400
businesses from flooding and indirectly give confidence to the increasing
development of Ipswich and the investment that goes with it – much of which JMS
has also been involved with.
JMS remains heavily involved in many of Suffolk’s major Civil and Structural
Engineering projects. They were chosen and instructed to carry out the design
and detailing of the Control Centre which is set alongside the main barrier.
This new barrier has been likened to the Thames Barrier working along
similar principles with the gates, hydraulic rams and control systems managed from the control centre. This
vital management centre is constructed from a complex arrangement of steel,
concrete and glass to give a dramatic architectural effect.
The stylish overhanging ‘twist’ to the upper level observation and control
room required carefully engineered solutions, in particular to create the
cantilevered beams needed to deliver this unique feature of the development,
fully employing JMS’ 3D modeling systems and skill.
The £72m project has been funded by a partnership between the Environment
Agency, Ipswich Borough Council, Department for Communities and Local
Government, the Haven Gateway Partnership, and the New Anglia Local Enterprise
Partnership.
We add
value to every project we have been, are, and will be equally proud to support.
It’s easy to
criticise the education system and rare to praise it. When it meets the right
student and the two click, it is well worth taking your hat off to the joint
success. And when that student finds a work placement that grows into an
apprenticeship four years later in a business as progressive as JMS Engineers,
the story becomes a blueprint for mutual achievement.
Megan has just
started a Higher Level Apprenticeship with JMS Engineers at their Midlands
office and this is her story.
Megan found JMS when she was just 14
The first tick
in the box came when Megan attended the Midlands Studio College in Hinckley.
The school’s ‘work ready’ educational policy certainly didn’t work for every
pupil but it opened vocational doors for Megan. The studio ran a 9 to 5 study
programme with one day a week in work experience.
Megan found JMS
when she was 14 and started working with the Structural Engineering team every
Friday. In two years she gained an impressive collection of GCSEs and went on
to King Henry VI Sixth Form College to study Biology, Chemistry and Geography –
a scientist in her head and heart.
Megan runs through project notes with Bhavin Parmar
Although it wasn’t
formal in the true sense of the word, she and JMS arranged it so that Megan
continued to work part time as a Structural Engineering CAD Technician.
Give and take
Like many STEM students (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), Megan's CAD experience from school enabled a swift progression to Auto CAD during her productive hours at JMS.
The
team structured time to introduce Megan to all areas of Structural Design and
the technical build concepts that furnish JMS with the experience and skills to
engineer the solutions that make a construction project deliverable safely,
within cost and on time.
Two years and 3
A levels later and the next lifestyle model suggests that University is the
next step – or is it. Science had been her passion and academic strength so
such a degree would surely be the natural progression. But when JMS offered a
formal apprenticeship scheme, another vocational door opened.
Structural and Civil
Engineering is a science that
literally shapes the world. Civil Engineering is responsible for planning,
designing and building society’s essential infrastructure, taking a leading
role in maintaining the quality of our personal and professional lives.
The combination of college tutorial and vocational application is inspiring
Not
surprisingly, Megan accepted the position, now an apprentice within the Civil
Engineering team and about to start a Level 5 HND in ‘Construction and the
Built Environment’ at Leicester College.
Her
apprenticeship will take her through all departments, all specialities and all
of the regional JMS offices and prepare her for a Bachelor’s in Civil
Engineering in two years.
Megan Nicholson
is not the first and most certainly will not be the last apprentice to benefit
from JMS’s progressive approach to developing skills within the engineering
community and within JMS itself.
Great story
Megan – thank you.
We add
value to every project we have been, are, and will be equally proud to support.
Increasing
urbanisation and climate change have a massive impact of drainage and sewage
systems that will worsen rather than go away. That’s why David, Bhav, Deanna
and Ben particularly enjoyed and benefited from a recent presentation by Polypipe,
eponymous drainage systems specialists.
The subject was
green and blue roofs and their crucial part in urban planning and design. “We
felt this is very much the direction planners will be pushing future surface
water drainage designs” commented Ben.
Engineers must
improve strategies to mitigate flood events as part of a wider SuDS strategy if
cities are to survive and perhaps even benefit from water run-off. ‘Source
control’ is becoming the most important factor of SuDS strategy – managing rain
water at the point it fall.
Instead of channelling it away quickly into our
busy underground drainage infrastructure, rainwater is stored where it falls
and released or used with control.
85mm Permavoid being fitted in a Blue Roof project
As there is more
roof surface area in congested cities that road space, source control needs to
be managed at roof level. Two basic types of SuDS engineering solutions are
referred to as Blue and Blue / Green.
Blue Roof
Ben noted that: “We
(JMS) recently designed a Blue Roof scheme in Whetstone with a basement car
park which took up almost the entire site. How can we provide the required storage? Answer - on the roof”.
Shallow attenuation systems were used to attenuate on the roof where low
diameter outlets hold the flows back and releases it at a reduced flow rate
back into the underground system.
Blue / Green Roof
Blue / Green
Roof source management captures and stores the water for re-use to irrigate
lawns and plants grown at roof level. Polypipe have a patented ‘passive
irrigation’ system that creates a more natural environment for sustainable
growth.
The benefits are
greater than SuDS management. Extended developments of green roofs affect urban
temperature regulations; improve air quality; provide carbon storage; and offer
habitat, amenity and recreational facilities.
Ben said: “Already
in one situation I have actually been asked to consider roof attenuation during
the planning process, indicating that roof/podium storage is becoming a necessity rather than an option wherever possible”.
The system is
now commonly known as a blue roof and is used most effectively in conjunction
with a green roof because it slows flows and attenuation feeds the green. Ben
again: “ In one case Polypipe told us of a fruit and veg shop that was looking
to grow its own produce on the roof!”
Inspiring –
Thank you Ben
We add
value to every project we have been, are, and will be equally proud to support.
JMS Engineers has long been an advocate of
investing in and supporting excellence in its field of Structural and Civil
Engineering.
Our local offices in Chelmsford, Ipswich, Norwich and Leicester
have developed relationships with their respective universities to encourage
the next generations of talent.
By demonstrating and mentoring real
opportunities, students see achievable goals to develop their professional
aspirations in this ever changing world of engineering.
Desks, guidance and opportunities have been
made available to undergraduates for work experience and apprenticeship
practice with great and mutual success.
Being a STEM Ambassador
Now David Brunning, part of the Civil
Engineering team at JMS’ Head Office, is being actively supported by Daniel
Staines in his own ambitions to guide the future of engineering distinction as
a STEM Ambassador.
STEM Ambassadors are volunteers from a wide
range of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) related jobs
and disciplines across the UK. They offer their time and enthusiasm to help
bring STEM subjects to life and demonstrate their valuein life and careers.
As a STEM Ambassador, David has the
opportunity to engage and inspire young people learning about science,
technology, engineering and mathematics. He’ll help encourage students to
consider further study of STEM subjects, particularly engineering, and guide
their progression into related careers.
“It’s
about inspiring the next generation of STEM professionals” said David. “We can show them just how practical and
vocational their studies are now by relating what they’re learning to practical
applications in the field. It sounds
like a chore, but really the interaction with such enthusiastic young people is
a lot of fun.”
It is David’s professional skills and
personal objectivity that facilitated his move to JMS earlier this year. An Eng
Tech MICE, David’s heart and soul already drive the professional qualities
embedded in JMS, centrally at Brightwell Barns and nationally (internationally)
across its regional offices.
STEM Ambassadors have been referred to as “...a UK national treasure” helping to
bring STEM subjects to life by adding context and cutting edge applications to
theory.
To help introduce learning in the context
of Civil Engineering, the ICE have produced this video:
The interaction between David, school
teachers and school students helps the teachers understand how, for example,
mathematics is applied in Civil Engineering projects so they can put a
practical slant into their teaching plans.
It's a win win opportunity
And the advantages of shared
experiences work both ways. evidence shows that being a STEM Ambassador provides
volunteers with a better understanding of education, increases their professionalism, confidence, enthusiasm and motivation while
improving their organisational, communication, team-working and leadership
skills.
The impact on young people, prospective
employers, teachers, STEM Ambassadors and their
employers has been enormous across the board. It has been recorded that young
people are greatly influenced by Ambassadors like David, increasingly pursuing
STEM study post-16 and progressing into STEM-related careers.
A survey across a wide range of educational
participants in the STEM process showed a 90% increase in young people’s
engagement in STEM. Their awareness of the scheme’s importance increased by
89%. Their general learning and understanding of the values of subjects within
the genres of science, technology, engineering and mathematics is already
bearing fruit – as the diagram below illustrates:
"Giving back to build tomorrow’s
professional engineers is as good as it gets" – good luck David and well done
JMS for encouraging learning and professionalism.
We add
value to every project we have been, are, and will be equally proud to support.
