Curriculum Vitae In Detail

Positions Held:-

From 16^th September 2002: Independent Consulting Engineer

Specialising in all aspects of movable structures. Commissions so far obtained include:-

· Supervision of annual maintenance for St Mary’s Island Lift Bridge, Chatham.

· Included in a team for the design competition for Stack A bridge Dublin.

· Included in a team for the design competition for new opening bridge Poole.

· Troubleshooting on two movable bridges for Network Rail (formerly Railtrack)

April 1996- 14^th September 2002: M G Bennett & Associates Ltd

Associate Director

Specialised in the structural, mechanical, power hydraulic, electrical power and control aspects of movable bridges. including:-

· Inspection, assessment investigation and fault finding

· Feasibility studies, conceptual design and preparation of tender submissions

· Detailed design and preparation of contract documentation

· Supervision of manufacture, construction and commissioning

· Writing of maintenance manuals and training

· Letting and supervision of maintenance contracts

· Expert witness services

Movable Structures:-

· Baltic Millennium Bridge Gateshead, preparation of performance specification for the mechanical, hydraulic and electrical equipment, supervision of design including hydraulic and structural dynamic computer modelling, supervision of commissioning.

· Lowry Centre Lift Bridge, Salford, 90 metre long lifting footbridge that raises 18 metres vertically, detailed design and supervision of machinery and control system.

· Falkirk Wheel, design of hydraulic circuit for main rotation drive.

· Great Wharf Road Bridge, Canary Wharf, innovative highway lift bridge. Exemplar design and preparation of performance and workmanship specification.

· Bellmouth Passage Swing Bridges, Canary Wharf, pedestrian swing bridges connecting multi-storey buildings. Conceptual design

· Forton Lake Lift Bridge, Gosport, devised the concept based on the Belidor Principle and carried out fully detailed design of the machinery and control system; this bridge won the Institution of Civil Engineers Southern Counties Award.

· Inre Hamnen Swing Bridge, Malmo Sweden, long span asymmetric highway swing bridge with hydraulic pintle, preparation of exemplar design and specification.

· Chamberlain Bridge, Bridgetown Barbados, plastic composite single leaf highway bascule bridge, fully detailed design of machinery and control system.

· River Yeo Swing Bridge, fully detailed design of machinery and control system for this bridge, which has a hydraulic pintle and is remotely operated using the telephone and CCTV systems.

· Glasgow Science Centre Lifting Footbridge, double leaf pedestrian bascule bridge with innovative radio controlled control system. Complete service from feasibility to commissioning.

· Bridge of Scottish Invention, Irvine Scotland, sliding footbridge, full service from feasibility to commissioning.

· Sammy’s Point Swing Bridge, Kingston Upon Hull, foot and cycle bridge for The Deep Millennium Project. Exemplar design and preparation of contract documentation to JCT forms.

· Pembroke Ferry Terminal, design and commissioning of hydraulic and electrical control equipment for new roll-on roll-off ramp.

· Red Road Bridge, St Katharine Docks, investigation of bearing failure and design of new lifting mechanism.

· St Katharine Docks, design and commissioning of new centralised control system and hydraulic equipment for four movable bridges, two lock gates and penstocks.

· Feasibility studies for four movable bridges of various types in Eire.

· Selby By-pass Swing Bridge, design and construction phase advice for Highways Agency.

· King George Dock Hull Riverside Berth, investigation of pedestrian ramp machinery and control systems.

· Leamington Lift Bridge, Edinburgh, originally constructed in 1906, this vertical lift bridge fell out of use in the late 1950’s and has been fully re-furbished with a new hydraulically operated lifting mechanism. Preparation of exemplar design and contract documents. Writing of PLC logic software. Supervision of commissioning.

· Millennium Link Bridges, Forth & Clyde Canal, fully detailed design of all aspects:-

o Erskine Ferry Road Swing Bridge, restored after 40 years of disuse.

o Hillhead Swing Bridge, restored after 40 years of disuse.

o Sylvania Way Vertical Lift Foot Bridges, Clydebank Shopping Centre, two innovative hydraulically operated lift bridges.

o Twechar Tilting Lift Bridge, highway bridge of steel battle deck construction.

o Bonny Bridge Lift Bridge, highway bridge in reinforced concrete with innovative hydraulic lifting system.

· Writing of a standard specification for the design and construction of movable bridges for internal use.

· Particular interest in the design of heavily loaded bearings and other components which are subject to marginal lubrication due to high contact pressures.

Other Projects:-

· Phai Lai 2 power station in Vietnam for Mitsui Babcock Energy, structural design audit of boiler house and coal bunkers.

· Drax Power Station, investigation & feasibility study for the removal of coal tramp including specification of magnetic separators, screens and associated conveyors for proposed new screening plant.

· BSC Stocksbridge, investigation of stanchion mounted jib crane and structural assessment of mill building steelwork.

· Design of power and control system for molten metal ladle transfer bogie used in production of ductile iron cast pipes.

· Independent technical assessment of hydraulic system for reactor load follower for Devonport Dockyard.

· Expert witness work related to industrial robots, accident with a reclining chair, pipe joint failure.

· Investigation of specification of plant for thermal power stations for Mitsui Babcock.

· Specification of pumps, design of pipelines and electrical control equipment for storm water pumping station at Thorne with 3 X 135 kW + 2 X 15kW pumps.

January 1989- March 1996:

Waterman BBT, Consulting Engineers - Associate, Power Engineering Department.

Movable Structures:-

· Bramwith & Godnow Swing Bridges, Wrenbury Lift Bridge, detailed design of all mechanical, hydraulic and electrical equipment, category 3 structural check

· Sheffield & South Yorkshire Bridges- Conversion to user operation of six bridges, including Wykewell Bascule Bridge, Thorne.

· Moores Bridge, Thorne, conversion of manually operated 100-year-old swing bridge to power operated user operation. Design and supervision including re-painting works.

· Connaught Crossing Swing Footbridge, double leaf asymmetric swing footbridge. Design of mechanical and control equipment, detailing of structural steelwork. Commissioning.

· Herons Quay Bascule Bridge, Canary Wharf. Supervision of design, manufacture and erection of machinery.

· St Mary’s Island Lift Bridge, Chatham, design of mechanical, hydraulic and electrical equipment, planning of manufacture and detailing of structural steelwork. Supervision of erection and commissioning.

· St Katharine Docks, inspection and assessment of machinery and electrical equipment for the Red Road Bridge and Lock Gates.

Other Projects:-

· Supporting steelwork for the Drax FGD plant for Babcock Energy - responsible for managing all resources, programming, design change control, quality assurance and contractual matters, including contract negotiation. This was a retrofit contract for the design of 23,000 tonnes of steelwork involving complex temporary and erection conditions and extensive co-ordination with other disciplines.

· The design of thermal power station projects (of various sizes) principally on behalf of Babcock Energy and GEC Alsthom. This encompassed the design of conveyor structures, junction towers, coal bunkers, boiler support steelwork, flues, conveyors, hot steelwork and steel chimneys.

· Application of modern computer methods and codes of practice to the design of process plant structures. This work was used in the design of the boiler support steelwork for eight Combined Cycle Gas Turbine power plants.

· Expert witness work on two cases both related to mechanical handling plant; these both involved detailed investigative work including the interviewing of witnesses and literature reviews.

September 1979- December 1988:

British Waterways, Technical Services Department, Leeds - Movable Bridge Engineer.

Expertise in movable bridges encompassed all aspects of inspection, feasibility, design, construction, commissioning and long-term maintenance. Also responsible for writing the control logic to allow the operation of movable bridges by the general public.

April 1978- August 1979:

Dow Mac Concrete Ltd, Tallington, Lincolnshire - Design Office Team Leader.

August 1977-March 1978:

Wakefield & Imberg, Stamford, Lincolnshire - Design Engineer.

September 1974-August 1977:

University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. PhD Civil Engineering.

Thesis title: "Optimum Design of Multi-Storey Steel Structures".

August 1972 - August1974:

Alan Wood & Partners, Kingston-upon-Hull - Graduate Engineer.

Technical Authorship

“Moving With The Times” - Bridge Design & Engineering Issue No 21 (Jan 2001). This was an article about the co-ordination of disciplines in the design, procurement and construction of movable bridges.

“Cross Country Running” - Bridge Design & Engineering Issue No 25 (Oct 2001). This was an article about the design of remote operating systems for movable bridges, both locally and from afar.

“Movable Structures The Mechanical Engineering” –Paper read to the Institution Of Civil Engineers & Institution Of Structural Engineers, delivered at Leeds (March 2001) & Middlesbrough (Nov 2001), also to be delivered in Newcastle on 4^th December 2002. This paper was co-authored with Mr. J. N. Cooper it examined various movable structures and the innovations incorporated in them.

“Delivering The Dream”– Paper read to the 21^st Century Bridgeworks Conference at University of Aston on 29^th November 2000. This paper was co-authored with Mr. G. Thornton of C. Spencer Ltd. It examined the presentation of alternative designs and the use of design and construct contracts for movable bridges.