contracting of this nature, a unique experience to find oneself advising on how to carry out the project and then being asked to carry out the physical side of the operation.102. It was also, I believe, unusual to be able to complete such a thorough cost breakdown of the operations and I cannot stress too greatly the usefulness, on a contract of approximately E750 000, of knowing the costs (and hence profitability) weekly. Again the success of using men for multi-purpose operations on this Contract should point out to both management and labour in other walks of life that it is now time to rethink. I was told not to use men for varying trades, but we put the men fully in the picture, paid generous incentive payments dependent solely on their performance, and they rose to the occasion magnificently, although obviously attempts were made to allow them to work solely on one function.103. I believe this success story was brought about by good initial thinking, good planning and extremely good co-operation at all levels, including Howard Humphreys, Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Co. Ltd, my own Company and also all site personnel. Following the success of this system, I am surprised it has not been adopted for the A40 at Aylesbury and also, for instance, for tunnelling in lieu of open cut on the M62 in the Pennines. I think also, that consideration should be given by the Ministry of Transport to the design of a constant profile for road tunnels. This, in turn, would reduce capital expenditure and perhaps allow applications which, at present, are not considered economic. M r J. R. Mottram. Howard Hurnphreys & Sons
The Chairman, Mr W. A. Fitzherbert I should like to invite discussion on the Longannet site. Having been in Cornwall and other places recently examining possible sites for power stations, it is indeed a pleasant change to hear about the Longannet site which appears to have all the attributes for a perfect power station location. As far as I can see, it is a level area, with direct cooling from the Firth of Forth, with a conveyor connexion to a coal mine conveniently at hand, and a railway behind the station for transport of loads. Finally, of course, Longannet has excellent foundations on rock. I am sure it would be difficult to find a better site anywhere. 102. While I have had rather a strong connexion with the former station, I found it particularly interesting to read of the formations of the sea walls, both the permanent site sea wall at Cockenzie and the walls protecting the ash lagoons, with reference to the hearting in each case. Cockenzie used the burnt red blae while Longannet used the unburnt black shale. The red is more pervious than the black and the walls of the earlier station took longer to seal.103. That fact, oddly enough, was evident in some of the Contractors' storage yards at Cockenzie which were levelled from a black shale bing. During inclement weather such surfaces held the water and had to be covered with a good 8 in. of broken rock which was rolled into the surface. Yet other areas which had been finished in a carpet of red blaes drained well and were most satisfactory for storage areas. I feel that this is a lesson which has been learned on the uses of this waste product. Perhaps the Cockenzie walls would have sealed quicker had black blaes been used.104. On the wagon discharge house at the coal yard, I think the Authors will agree that construction was slow due to the complexity of the concrete structure demanded by the use of the first 1000 ton payload trains with bottom opening hopper wagons. I am glad to see from 0 38 that recognition has been given to the problems of the Contractor, because he certainly had problems.105. The very heavy reinforcing bars necessary in the narrow but deep rail support beams precluded the use 6f vibrators in some areas. In placing concrete in the junction between the cross-beams and the walls the operator was literally spooning the concrete between the bars and hand-ramming with a wooden stave to consolidate. The process was slow and the building was late, but fortunately (if fortune can be attributed to a misfortune which occurred later) coal supplies were not required in the station for a further ten months after the programme date.106. I have referred to a misfortune, and I suppose that no one can mention Cockenzie without bringing to mind that grim and almost unique occurrence of the
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.