Water Damage In Basements Part II: Drainage
It is widely reported that climate change will result in an increased flood risk in the UK, with wetter winters and more intense summer thunderstorms.
It is widely reported that climate change will result in an increased flood risk in the UK, with wetter winters and more intense summer thunderstorms.
Everyone knows what an explosion is, but what about its opposite, an implosion? An explosion occurs when a large amount of energy is released into a small volume in a very short time, but what happens in an implosion? Put simply, an implosion is the opposite of an explosion, matter and energy collapse inward and all implosions are caused by some form of pressure acting from the outside on an object. If that pressure is greater than the pressure within the object, without adequate support, the object will collapse. This is a real risk in process industries (and submarines!).
Sometimes building owners, asset managers or maintenance teams have to face a harsh reality when it comes to managing, maintaining and monitoring their assets. For example, what if a Housing Association has discovered cracking in the render of the external wall insulation system on some of their 1000+ properties? If the cracking is caught at an early stage, it could be easy and inexpensive to repair, but if left exposed to the elements unchecked, the repair bills could be costly. A different example could be a portfolio manager who has just acquired hundreds of properties across a low-medium seismicity zone (i.e. risk of earthquake). Could it still be considered negligent to not assess the risk of these buildings collapsing during a foreseeable earthquake? In some situations, it would not be acceptable to simply survey a sample of the buildings, as it is possible that these surveys could miss the buildings with the most significant damage. With these types of investigations only a review of every building will suffice; however, sometimes resources, availability and costs are limited so a full investigation cannot be carried out on every single building or asset.
Even a small fire can cause smoke contamination throughout a much larger area, including as the result of spread through sealed doors in some circumstances. Water damage related to fire-fighting activities can also cause mould to contaminate and damage stock as well as the building structure. Hawkins has investigated many fires from small to large scale incidents, which have started in one building and spread to affect neighbouring businesses.
Fires involving thatched roofs are normally devastating, resulting in significant emotional distress for homeowners and substantial financial losses for insurers.
Following the Grenfell Tower fire disaster in 2017, the government commissioned an independent review of Building Regulations and fire safety.
Civil engineering and building failures are often caused by geotechnical issues and these can be grouped by the different stages of the project: ground investigation, design, and construction, often with a combination of interacting issues.
Acoustics – When Buildings Fail. Acoustics engineering is often referred to as “the dark art” by those in the design and build industry.
Hawkins has investigated numerous fires where the most probable cause has been the self-heating of rags, cloths or other similar materials that were impregnated with drying oils, such as linseed oil.
