Willmott Dixon

Purpose As part of the UK Government’s strategy to address the current shortage of primary school places is the construction of standardised designed schools. The UK Government has been facing an uphill battle to meet the demand for the ever-increasing number of school places it requires. This paper aims to explore the use of standardised school design in addressing the problem of primary school places in the UK. Design/methodology/approach Due to the exploratory nature of this investigation, a pragmatic research philosophy is utilised and mixed-method data collection techniques are used. Quantitative data collection is in the form of a survey involving 306 construction professionals and stakeholders; this has been consolidated using qualitative data collection in the form of nine purposefully selected semi-structured interviews. Findings The research highlighted the influence that people and their perceptions have on the successful implementation of standardisation. The results show that a high level of misunderstanding exists around the concept of standardisation and its definition. Standardised design has shown to have a remarkable influence in reducing the cost and time required for delivering the construction of new schools. Research limitations/implications Due to the exploratory nature of this research, the results obtained have not been wholly conclusive but have instead provided a contribution to the area of standardisation in construction. Originality/value The research has uncovered that, to truly promote and drive standardisation in the delivery of schools, a joint approach is required with designers, contractors, clients and manufacturers, working in partnership to develop successful solutions. The paper will, therefore, help the key stakeholders delivering standardised schools in UK to fully understand the concept and turn the challenges into opportunities.

Oilfield waste is a concern addressed by legislation in both Alberta and Saskatchewan. This article examines the legal meaning of waste in contrast with practical examples of oilfield techniques that unnecessary waste. The author notes that oil is renewable resource; thus, conservation measures the regulation of wasteful operations are appropriate measures from an economic perspective. While some conservation waste is inevitable, statute and case law demand that cost-effective measures be taken to avoid unnecessary waste. The policy mandate to prevent waste may be reduced to a simple point: the supply of oil is finite, and avoiding waste allows the maximum amount of profit from a limited resource.

Amazing, isn't it, what molecular archaeologists are getting up to these days? Hot on the heels of their diagnosis of the exact cause of dysentery among 12th and 13th century crusaders (Lancet Infect Dis 2008, 8: 530), they have now confirmed that bubonic plague killed several Benedictine nuns and priests in 17th century France (J Archaeol Sci 2009, 36: 616–21).

In many situations,the application of only one non-destructive testing(NDT) technique is generally thought to be inadequate.This drives NDT operators to carry out the inspection using more than one technique to ensure the detection of defects that are potentially harmful to the life or function of the test object.One disadvantage will be the extended and expensive inspection time if the techniques are applied separately.In this article,the introduction of a new NDT system that utilises two different non-contact techniques in a complementary mode,namely Electromagnetic Acoustic Transducers(EMATs) generating surface ultrasonic waves,and Pulsed Eddy Current(PEC) sensors,is reported.Being non-contact,they lend themselves to automatic on-line inspection that can benefit inspection of materials during the manufacturing process and whilst in service.This paper also highlights other potential benefits and presents some preliminary experimental results.