Dear Colleague,

Welcome to our 5th Newsletter.

As before please find Quick Links for our major recurrent activities. News (where a review of what’s elsewhere can be found), Courses (as before together with their Booking Form), the Geotechnical Industries Post Graduate Specialised Award – a new development which started this year, details of which are outlined below; the first Module M1 (Basic Field Skills) is scheduled for the 4th, 5th and 6th June; please note this module also can be used by those wishing to take Module E5 (Field Work in Practical Field Geology).  Also in this Newsletter is the update on  The London Basin Forum, which has developed from the first Glossop Workshop and is open to all.

You will find on our website in the table for courses  http://www.firststeps.eu.com/course-details.php  now also includes dates for field trips which are being organised by The Geologists’ Association (GA). We have made this arrangement to work more closely with the GA so as to provide our readers with greater opportunities for obtaining field work under guidance, as “the best geologist is the one who has seen the most rocks and soils.”
 

With best wishes
Christine

Training & Procurement of Services

Suppliers of services are being increasingly required to provide evidence of their Programme for Training they have in place for their workforce. This was aimed at Apprenticeships with Artisans, but now spills out into all areas.

First Steps can assist any company that finds itself having to provide a programme of training. Our courses can be given in-house if necessary (Click on courses http://www.firststeps.eu.com/course-details.php) and are part of a larger qualification (see the Geotechnical Industries Post Graduate Specialised Award http://www.firststeps.eu.com/award.shtml)

 

News
 

We would like to draw your attention to the following items this month:

1. The standard courses that are coming up (click on courses).
2. Help for anyone who is in the unfortunate position of losing their job in geotechnics. There is quite a lot that can be done to keep your “hand-in”, protect your CPD record and keep you moving towards Chartership, as well as trying to become re-employed, however all this does depend on you approaching us. If you have any views on this we would like to hear them. Meanwhile if you are already in the unhappy position of now being unemployed, and are at a bit of a loss for what to do next, please feel free to contact us. Please feel free to contact us too if you have any questions on how to fill in your application form for CPD status or any other related queries.
3. Our website has been updated. It now also includes a Trade directory. Please let us know if there is anything you or your company  would like us to consider.

Specialist Award: latest news

• The basic arrangements for the Award are now on the web http://www.firststeps.eu.com/award.shtml and the “Learning Outcomes” – academic speak for “what you will learn” are now available also for each Module and each Elective. This will enable those who may now find themselves with time on their hands to consider whether their experience enables them to Fast Track through the system by compiling a file of the work that demonstrates they have the skills listed.
• Module M1 (Basic Field Skills) is scheduled for the 4th, 5th and 6th June 2009; please note thihs module can also be used by those wishing to take Module E5 (Field Work Practical Field Geology)

Courses

Puddingstone Foray in Herts and Bucks
Date: 25/04/2009
Location:  Please contact The Geologists' Association
Provider: The Geologists’ Association
Cost:  Please contact The Geologists' Association
Booking Form

The Gower Peninsula - a Joint Meeting with the Linnean Society
Date:  08/05/2009 - 11/05/2009
Location:  Please contact The Geologists' Association
Provider: The Geologists’ Association
Cost:  Please contact The Geologists' Association
Booking Form

Understanding Ground Water Levels and their Meaning for Recharge, Groundwater Flow and Contamination
Date:  11/05/2009
Location:  Ognisko, London, SW7 2PN
Provider: First  Steps Ltd., M. H. de Freitas
Cost: £265 + VAT
Booking Form

Some Somerset Quarries
Date:  23/05/2009
Location:  Please contact The Geologists' Association
Provider: The Geologists’ Association
Cost:  Please contact The Geologists' Association
Booking Form

Northants Churches
Date:  30/05/2009
Location:  Please contact The Geologists' Association
Provider: The Geologists’ Association
Cost:  Please contact The Geologists' Association
Booking Form

Sampling and Analysis of Soils and Waters
Date:  02/06/2009
Location:  Chemtest Ltd., Depot Road, Newmarket, CB8 0AL
Provider:  First Steps with Phil Hellier
Cost: £265 + VAT
Booking Form

Geotechnical Industries Postgraduate Specialised Award
Date: 04/06/2009 – 06/06/2009
Location: Mendips
Provider: First Steps Ltd.  with Emerson and Moore
Cost: £ 265 + VAT per day
Booking Form

The Workshops are now over and a summary of their outcomes was in Newsletter 4 which can be found on our website. The ongoing activity from these is the London Basin Forum, see below.

London Basin Forum

The last meeting of the Forum was held on the afternoon of  Wednesday 25th March in the Civil Engineering Dept  (Skempton Building) at Imperial College, starting 14.00 and ending at 17.00. The notes below record the outcomes of that meeting.

LONDON BASIN FORUM
RECORD OF MEETING 25TH MARCH  2009

1. What we are about

The following general statement of intent was agreed as being a fair reflection of the reason the Forum convened.
The London Basin Forum

That we bring together and develop an holistic approach to the Basin, that ranges from the Palaeozoic basement to the Present, synthesising the geology therein and placing it for the first time in a more representative setting, so that its structure and sedimentary evolution can be studied in time and place, and the value of these for engineering and the environment can be realised.

That the Forum is instrumental in providing publications which record the unique model being revealed above an ancient plate boundary and its implications for present day life.

2. What we want to produce       
    
A model based on the re-evaluation of existing data and an assimilation of data now being obtained, to produce something that belongs to no one in particular but is the output of the geological community.
Joint London Basin Model.

Recognising that the task of assembling known facts is beyond the means of any one organisation, whether academic, commercial or the Survey, it is agreed that those wishing to contribute to the model do so by providing data that can be freely used.

The model would be larger than any model in private or institutional hands and will benefitted from the scientific input freely given from many. It will belong to no-one but would be the base against which commercial and other models could be calibrated.

The model needs to be housed somewhere and at present the most obvious place for this is with the BGS.

3. How we do it

The use of information for achieving this was discussed at some length and all would like free access to data.
This led to a discussion of whether the data given to the BGS would be freely available in due course. Although aired at length and well know problems considered again, the matter could not be settled by those present, but BGS would seek a means of resolving this difficulty so that it does not become an impediment to the efforts being voluntarily given by others for the benefit of science and engineering in the UK.

It was agreed that this project should not be stopped by problems over the sale of data.

4. Geographical limits

The geographical limits to this study were considered and it was thought best to concentrate on the centre of London from where the good quality data was coming in large amounts, but to go as far away from the centre as needed to corroborate, explain or just put into context that which could not be done from within the centre itself.

5. A web site

Dr Kate Royse presented a mock-up of the web site the BGS are happy to host on their site and this was thought to be a “good thing” provided it was kept simple.

Various buttons were suggested as follows “About us”, “Participants”, “Getting Involved”, “Joint London Basin Model”, “Portal” (London Basin Blog, Data, Maps), “Newsletter” and “Meetings”. These seemed to more than cover the immediate needs envisaged.

MHdeF would work on this with the BGS to get this up and running.

6. Data

It was originally thought that data of all sorts would be deposited for the purposes of this project and so some Portal was required for that. However it was appreciated that the really good data should not be diluted with low quality data so perhaps the need to download masses of data might not arise.

Nevertheless there were areas where data could be very useful, such as the location of scours, pingos and other anomalies, which aid the interpretation of events. So data will be accepted once the issues raised in 3 above are resolved.

7. Publications; version 1

Three publications had been proposed as follows      
                                                                        
1. Engineering geology as a Special Publication of the Engng Gp of the Geol. Soc.
2. Classical geology as a thematic issue of the Phil Trans Royal Soc
3. Geotechnical implications as a Symposium in Print or Thematic issue for Geotechnique.

Engineering Geology Special Pub:
Basic Structure and structural history (summary)
Chalk
Lambeth Gp,
Thames Gp with London Clay Fm
Terraces
Clay with Flints and Peat
Pingos
Neotectonics
Groundwater
Implications for GI, interpretation of data, modelling and predictions.
Geotechnique
Putting all this into context followed by examples as follows
Heathrow
Cross rail
Thames Tideway
Metro Net
National Grid
Thames Water – supply and model of Chalk + Lambeth Gp
The EA model
Thames 21
Despite the obvious merits of this approach there were equally obvious problems with this proposal, e.g. getting all three arriving at about the same time, avoiding overlap, same authors involved in different publications etc.

8. Publications; version 2

An alternative was discussed that was map based and basically founded around an Atlas; one publication that contained as good as we had in about 3 years time. The maps could be associated with text and case histories that would bring that particular bit of the geology into immediate relevance. Such an approach would;

1. require only one person at the helm instead of three, which was much more manageable,
2. be something requiring funds to produce, but
3. be something that would attract sponsorship from those who sponsor these things, as well as industry and clients within London.
4. There seemed to be a general feeling that such a publication would be rather better than three separate ones and could feed on any relevant publications others may already have in the pipeline.

9. Next move

The following agreed to be lead players for the published work:

Prof. John Cosgrove for the “basement”Prof. Rory Mortimore for the Chalk
Drs. Chris King and Jackie Skipper for the Lambeth and Thames Gps
Prof. Philip Gibbard (who has agreed to join us) for the Quaternary
Dr. Ursula Lawrence for the Head and Clay with Flints
Dr. Katherine Royse for the BGS
Dr. Michael de Freitas would co-ordinate and contribute as appropriate.
(This still leaves the “engineering” without a champion but Rory, Ursula, Jackie and Chris will be able to steer us here, however we may need AN Other to help cope with this.)
MHdeF would arrange a meeting of this group to hack out an approach and strategy for getting the publications going.

10. Next Meeting

Everyone agreed that we need to discipline ourselves otherwise nothing will happen and a good way of doing that would be to convene a half-day technical meeting at the Geol. Soc. in September to report on progress.  Representatives from the Research Councils and other likely sponsors would be invited.
MHdeF will organise this.

11. All are invited to be involved

Everyone can be involved. If you want to be kept informed send your contact details to info@firststeps.eu.com subject The London Basin Forum.

THE GEOTECHNICAL INDUSTRIES POSTGRADUATE SPECIALISED AWARD

Economic recessions are traditionally times when younger members of the industry consider the benefits of further education. The number of applications to post graduate courses often increases as staff, facing either redundancy or part time employment, consider the opportunity this circumstance provides for their future. Some cannot afford either the time or the cost of such education and it was to help these that the Specialised Award was established. It is flexible, user friendly, and provides a Fast Track means for those having experience to obtain a nationally accredited award. http://www.firststeps.eu.com/award.shtml

Please note the 1st modules are being run in June 2009. Module M1 (Basic Field Skills) is scheduled for the 4th, 5th and 6th June 2009; please note thihs module can also be used by those wishing to take Module E5 (Field Work Practical Field Geology)