Designing a waste water tertiary treatment plant remotely
Infrastructure design is not easy at the best of times let alone during a pandemic and working remotely but this is what I was presented with at the start of a new project. So, what happens first?
7th August 2020, Simon Jones
Life as contractor during lockdown
‘Coronavirus, what’s that?’ I was responding to a colleague back in January when it was being discussed. By all accounts it sounded bad but hopefully it would not be that serious, besides there were more important matters to address at the time – IR35.
28th July 2020, Simon Jones
Designing a waste water tertiary treatment plant remotely
7th August 2020, Simon Jones
Infrastructure design is not easy at the best of times let alone during a pandemic and working remotely but this is what I was presented with at the start of a new project. So, what happens first?
As we are no longer in an office environment it had to be the work location and ideally I needed to be away from noise. IT equipment, well we are used to being in an office with an extra screen or two but now I only had the laptop so I arranged for another screen and then prayed the broadband would not fail! Broadband is one of things that is taken for granted, a bit like the supply of food to supermarkets we just expect it to be there. It is times like these that suddenly and unknowingly domestic broadband becomes one of the most important parts of the work process. Oh yes plus a decent kettle.
I was selected as a mechanical engineer for three schemes which largely involved new tertiary treatment equipment to reduce phosphorus levels in rivers and streams. In essence the team was asked to design two cloth filters and one pressurised media system. This would be supported by new chemical dosing equipment, ferric to act as a coagulant and several points of application. Anyone who has recently been involved in phosphorus reduction schemes will know most of the main sub-contractors who I can only talk highly of for their supply and services especially during these current times.
In engineering as in other industries there are large files which need to be downloaded and viewed, these can include; As Built Drawings & CAD files so remote working could not have been more challenging. For the design I used BIM360 Glue which is a package offered by Autodesk and is essentially a viewing platform for single and federated 3D models usually requiring a pre-site scan. The scan is uploaded and then updates made to the current asset base to ensure the site is recognisable by all stakeholders. New assets are added as progress is made. It is a great tool and I have thoroughly enjoyed using all aspects of the software. I have personally used it for work with several water authorities and hope that others follow suit. It makes design that much easier and efficient and enables good communication between the client, contractor and sub-contractors.
There is a need for stakeholders to have similar or compatible software and this is crucial in the supply chain if the project is engaging with sub-contractors. With package plant you tend to get a standard layout design from the sub-contractor which will be based on influent parameters for the scheme, this can be included in your model and then the rest of the design can be generated by the team. We are all used to sitting in and around our team but now it was different and any conversations with the team including the Civil, Electrical, Process Engineers & CAD technicians would be conducted via video conference.
MS Teams has been brilliant! I used this together with my colleagues to screen share, view the models, communication and for ideas and suggestions and it seemed to work very well. Where should we locate the package plant, feed pumping station, below and above ground pipework and storage tanks? All relevant discussions normally held in an office environment but suddenly being considered remotely over video calls. During initial layout design I try and work on these principles; health and safety for the future operations and maintenance of the plant and access including ergonomics and aesthetics and space all with reference to company & national standards including best practice documentation like WIMES. Once the 3d models were finalised we took 2d cuts so that specific instructions to support the drawings can be confirmed and then it’s all included in sub-contractor specifications. The specifications are so important as this is the main communication between the idea, the company you represent and the sub-contractor. It is these documents which will form part of the contract to deliver the work depending on the type of procurement strategy.
It is so amazing how resilient we are as humans and how we adapt to change so quickly and I wonder if remote working will be more popular going forward?
Life as contractor during lockdown
28th July 2020, Simon Jones
‘Coronavirus, what’s that?’ I was responding to a colleague back in January when it was being discussed. By all accounts it sounded bad but hopefully it would not be that serious, besides there were more important matters to address at the time – IR35.
The early part of this year was taken up with lots of discussion on IR35 (the UK governments off-pay working rules) including the government issued CESS tool which is a way to check employment status. In addition, further information was being issued by recruitment agencies and specialist contractor accountants but actually pretty much zilch from companies themselves. At the time I was concerned because I had only been contracting for a few years and ideally I did not want it to finish but the government was seeing increasing numbers of staff transferring from permanent employment and working on a PAYE basis to working as self-employed contractors and in their eyes this needed to stop or the numbers reduced. I guess people decide to work on a contract basis for various reasons but for me it was quite simple, having recently got a new addition to the family I wanted to spend more time with them. This main point still applies now and I consider myself fortunate to be able to work this way. There are other benefits to working on a contract basis depending on the type of role but one question I always get asked by old colleagues “is the money great”, well its better than working on a permanent basis if you work 5 days a week for a whole year but is that achievable?
In January I was asked to complete the UK government CESS tool to establish how my business considered my current working practices and specific contracts. So along with myself and my contractor colleagues we all completed the assessment and generally most of us seemed to fall outside of the off-pay working rules, including myself. Little did we know at the time that the companies we were working for were going to complete the tool themselves and deem most of us to fall inside of IR35, meaning we could not continue working on a self-employed basis. Permanent roles were on offer but as I have said before, due to my circumstances I was not ready for this to happen.
Towards mid march coronavirus or COVID-19 had spread to most parts of the world including the UK despite those early interventions and it continued to get worse. Remember the story about the salesman who had flown direct from Singapore to the Alps for a skiing holiday well that seems like a long time ago. My client decided to send all main office workers home with the intention that they continue working but on a remote basis. I really did not think that much about it but thought it would be a couple of months maybe, I did notice however a couple of people taking chairs with them and stuffing them into the back of their cars, could they know something I didn't.
We got word after a day or so that we could continue to work from home for the time being and to continue with assigned project work. Excellent I thought as I had just been given a new project to participate on. I was looking forward to it because it was a fairly large scheme; new inlet screens for a waste water works complete with new storm pumping station and it was going to be delivered on a design and build basis. Two days later and work was then prioritised for permanent staff as other projects were being cut. Oh dear having kept myself busy all through AMP6, the notorious downturn in year 4/5 and into AMP7 I was now out of work. I was about to see the downside of contracting. On the plus side the government announced that they were delaying the introduction of the revised IR35 legislation. Some good news.
I was let go on the Friday afternoon late march but surprisingly managed to secure new work starting the following Wednesday – result. Now at this point I want to highlight that certain people in this world should get more recognition, they are unsung hero’s and my management contact was certainly that. A big thank you to him for finding me other work within the same organisation. So a new project and on a different framework.
In my next blog I will discuss how I delivered a design and build project whilst working remotely.
