Below you can find previous book reviews carried out by the Library staff at One Great George Street.

Title: High-rise and the sustainable city
Author: Han Meyer and Daan Zandbelt (editors)
Year: 2012

Why are high-rise buildings so appealing and what makes cities compete to build the tallest?

This small book (about 200 pages), mainly written for architects and urban planners, covers these questions and looks at the environmental and social factors.

In 10 chapters by different authors explore the arguments about what makes a sustainable city, and how the high-rise building might contribute to it. However, the book doesn’t stop at argument, it considers how sustainability is measured and achieved, and how the more negative consequences of tall buildings on urban life can be mitigated.

The discussion may be wide-ranging but the geographic focus is a little narrow. Several of the chapters involve case studies, most from the Netherlands except for one about London. The diagrams and figures compare countries and structures, and the authors do cite experience and examples from elsewhere than Europe.

Yet only the final chapter addresses the design of the structures themselves, again from the perspective of sustainability and essentially by looking at the development of Yeang’s Eco Skyscraper.

This book might be more philosophical than practical, but it’s a thought-provoking assessment of high-rise buildings in Europe over the last 5-10 years.

Title: The Royal Engineers at Chatham 1750-2012
Author: Peter Kendall
Year: 2012

'The Royal Engineers at Chatham 1750-2012' has been sponsored and published to mark the bicentennial celebrations of the (Royal) School of Military Engineering, established by Charles Pasley in 1812. Although the book does provide a brief description of the history of the school and of the education of the British military engineer, there is more of an emphasis on the development of Chatham as a military centre with a special focus on the role of the Royal Engineers.

History and background

The early chapters describe the history and strategic significance of the Rochester area and the Medway, and the establishment of Chatham as a naval base around 1550.

The development of a naval dockyard required defensive works and a garrison, and the Dutch naval raid of 1667 marked the start of two centuries of continuous improvement and renewal of the fortifications. Kendall narrates these developments, with original drawings often in the hand of engineers responsible – De Gomme, D’Arcy Desmaretz, Debbieg, Durnford.

He provides accounts of aspects of the military development such as the creation of barracks and ordnance depots, as well as the impact of changing ordnance on the design of the defences. The descriptions are not necessarily a triumphant celebration of the work; in fact, he describes the appalling state of the facilities such as the barracks and details the impact of the Crimean War reforms.

Educating the Engineers

With the Royal Engineers Establishment, and the education of the military engineer, Kendall explains Pasley’s motives; Essentially the Army had always lacked sufficient and properly educated engineers in the Napoleonic Wars.

In order to fill in the knowledge gap Pasley took matters into his own hands. Where needed, he wrote textbooks, and in the absence of research, notably on cements, he carried it out himself. All in all, he established a tradition of high quality education extending outside the purely military. However, a major part of the education and training of the engineers was in siege exercises. These provided a major spectacle in the Chatham area through the nineteenth century.

An excellent history of Chatham – but not a biography

Despite its publisher, this book is not an architectural history of Chatham. Many buildings are well illustrated with drawings, contemporary and modern photographs, but their description is generally woven into the text. It also couldn’t be described as a biographical history. Even the once notorious Debbieg, subject of a satirical poem the Rolliad, only gets a brief description in the notes. What are useful are the ‘call outs’ which clarify the complicated relationships between the various departments with responsibility for engineers during the earlier period such as the Ordnance Board and the Royal Staff Corps.

There is no mention of the Tower of London drawing office which, before Pasley’s school, was the major training ground of many of the engineers working on the defences of Chatham (such as Andrew Durnford and William Twiss). All in all, there are details on only a few of the engineers responsible for projects at Chatham.

Many of the later works are anonymous – dockyard developments are described by Coad and others, but generally only summarised. There is some discussion of the developments in ordnance and siege warfare, but not in great technical detail.

The book is therefore not an engineering history, nevertheless is an excellent history of Chatham.

Title: The Politics and Economics of Britain’s Foreign Aid: The Pergau Dam Affair
Author: Tim Lankester
Year: 2013

The Pergau dam in Malaysia, 1991 was one of the most controversial projects in the history of British aid. There were two parliamentary inquiries in 1994 surrounding it and a legal case that resulted in the aid being declared unlawful.

In this book, Tim Lankester offers an insider view and detailed case study of the project and of government decision-making in Britain and Malaysia.

About the author

One of the key players in the drama, Tim Lankester has a background in economics. He first worked at the Treasury and then at the Overseas Development Administration throughout much of the affair.

Controversial Connections

Essentially, the funding for the dam became entangled with a major arms deal and as a result made it a pivotal project for the UK government’s policy in the area.

Poverty reduction, and not commercial interest, became the driving principle.

Lankester examines the roles of all the parties involved: politicians, the ODA, Parliament, the media and NGOs, and analyses their possible motivations. His book is a rare example of a case study in this field, especially because it attempts to review and evaluate the project years after the events.

Added value

The Pergau Dam Affair includes a worthwhile appendix examining the economics of the hydroelectric scheme, and there is also a very valuable chapter outlining the history of British overseas aid.

All in all – definitely a worthwhile read for anyone with an interest in the topic.

Reviewed by Claire Delgal, ICE Librarian

Title: Understanding the NEC3 ECC contract: A Practical Handbook
Author: Kelvin Hughes
Year: 2013

Kelvin Hughes is well qualified to write this handbook, having acted as Secretary to the NEC Users’ Group for 10 years and run many training courses on the contract. ”Handbook" makes it sound a little grand. In fact, it is a relatively compact, paperback book of about 300 pages and concentrates for the most part on the ‘engineering and construction contract’, the main form in the NEC.

Hughes’ background in commercial contract management has clearly influenced his intentions: to use plain English and to produce something like a practical manual, with worked examples and illustrations. He aims to cover the gap between the guidance notes and other textbooks, as well as issues that might not be addressed in official publications – what an activity schedule looks like for example, or how to assess compensation events for omissions of work.

The introduction, which is one of the longest chapters in the book, gives welcome background. It has an extremely potted list of essential differences between the ECC and other forms of contract, and explores the main and secondary options in the NEC and the roles of the various parties that might be involved – the employer, the contractor and so on.

The remaining chapters tackle the kind of subjects you would expect: early warnings (very much about risk and its management), design, time, defects, payment, compensation events, risks and insurance, termination, disputes and tenders. Several also feature discussion of the differences in approach between the NEC and more traditional contractual arrangements on the topic. However, the book is deliberately not a legal textbook and doesn’t summarise case law.

Although primarily aimed at practicing professionals, the author hopes that it will be of use to students as well, and I suspect that this is correct. It seems to me a valuable and interesting addition to the range of books available on the contract.

Reviewed by Claire Delgal, ICE Librarian

Title: Offshore Structures: Design, Construction and Maintenance
Author: Mohamed A. El-Reedy
Year: 2012

Aimed at practitioners and engineers on site, El-Reedy’s book is a useful handbook, covering every stage of the life cycle of offshore structures and taking into account the harsh conditions of the marine environment.

Offshore Structures is well illustrated with charts, case studies and check lists, and covers a wide range of platform types.

Beginning with a short introduction to offshore field development, the book runs through the most common types of offshore platforms and looks at their advantages and disadvantages.

The next four chapters describe the design and construction of new platforms:

• Loads and strength, covering gravity, wind, wave, ice and seismic as well as collision impact loads
• Platform design, including auxiliary structures such as helidecks, bridges, mooring structures and lifts
• Geotechnical requirements, soil tests and foundation design
• Fabrication and installation process, including construction process and transport

The second half of the book is dedicated to maintenance and assessment of existing platforms:

• Corrosion protection
• Assessment and repairs, with introductions to both US and UK standards (American Petroleum Institute’ standard API RP2A and the HSE Offshore Installations guidance)
• Risk-based inspection technique, with an introduction to the SIM (System Integrity Management) method and suggestions for inspection plans, including underwater inspection

Although the blurb on its cover suggests that there is detailed information on the repair methodology for scour, for example, the topic is discussed in no more than a paragraph. The subject is also addressed in a couple of pages in the chapter about geotechnical data and pile design – brief but useful. However, Gerwick’s book on offshore structures probably does as well, if not better, on this topic.

Other comparisons with Gerwick are equally illuminating. Apart from the chapter about pile design, El-Reedy’s book focuses almost entirely on structural elements. This is fine, although it’s unusual that it doesn’t address environmental concerns – ecological or social impacts – in the way that Gerwick does (albeit briefly).

Gerwick has 200 extra pages to play with, though – it’s quite a hefty tome – while the El-Reedy volume feels like a very compact book in comparison, despite being over 600 pages long.

The books complement each other nicely, given that they focus their attention slightly differently and that Gerwick looks at a broader range of marine structures. There is considerable overlap and it would be hard to say that El-Reedy has surpassed Gerwick, or produced a better book. It does concentrate more purely on offshore structures and, if that is your primary interest, then it is a worth a look.

Title: India’s Railway History: A Research Handbook
Author: J Hurd and I J Kerr
Year: 2012

The Indian railway system, which runs on over 54,000 miles of track, has been studied by many economic and technological historians. However, the scale of this engineering feat is also matched by a wealth of records that have to be mastered when undertaking an historical study of India’s railways.

In the age of Google people may question the value of research guides. But having been a reviewer and research this area for over 30 years’, I’m delighted to say that India’s Railway History gives the added value that web searching lacks.

This handbook, by two scholars with nearly 40 years’ experience of research in South Asian records, provides an invaluable guide to what resources are available in the field. The amount of information on this subject, both in Britain and India, could otherwise be a deterrent to historians.

While no guide in such a vast field can be comprehensive, this handbook provides an introductory framework to Indian railway history; a chronological and thematic guide to the secondary literature; and a masterly survey of primary sources.

The thorough analysis of statistical information is of value in itself, and for novices, it also shows just how much data exists, yet it will still save days of research.

On the downside, India’s Railway History could provide more information on Britain’s engagement with India. Some names are familiar – Stephenson and Brunel – but many are not. The historical verdict on the scale of the railway engineering achievement is also inadequate.

However, by making access easier – through guides like this – hopefully a new generation of scholars will be prepared to tackle the huge task of India’s railway history.

Reviewed by Mike Chrimes, ICE Director of Engineering Policy and Innovation

Title: Large-scale solar power system design: an engineering guide for grid-connected solar power generation
Author: Peter Gevorkian
Year: 2011

With the volume of rain and absence of sun we’ve seen in recent months, is a book on solar power really relevant to people in the UK?

Small or large-scale?

Well, projects in the UK have shown that solar power can be used successfully on a small scale just about anywhere in the world. It has the potential to be a major source of clean, renewable energy, especially in countries blessed with more sunshine or those with large desert areas.

Peter Gevorkian’s authoritative guide takes the matter further by looking at the complex technical and management issues associated with implementing a large-scale, grid-connected solar power system.

The book includes:

• An overview of various solar power system technologies, including photovoltaic and thin-film solar cells
• Feasibility studies, costing and construction issues
• Smart grid systems
• Solar thermal power
• Financing and feed-in tariff programmes

Free ebook for members

Although the book is written from an American perspective (reflected in the sample policy statements and supplier listings), the overview of the state-of-the-art technology and focus on solutions to implementation problems will make it a useful source for anyone working in the field.

It is also freely available as an ebook to ICE members. To access it, please log into our library catalogue with your membership number and MyICE pin. Go to e-resources and follow the link to the McGraw Hill collection.

Title: London 2012 – Sustainable Design: Delivering a Games Legacy
Author: Hattie Hartman
Year: 2012

The winning bid

It was the commitment to sustainability which won London the Olympic bid in 2005, and in ‘Delivering a Games Legacy’ Hattie Hartman investigates how this promise was met.

A broad view of sustainability

Hartman not only examines the individual structures, but also how sustainability has been applied in a wider sense, as well as the long-term social and economic implications for east London.

The book is broken down into five manageable sections:

1. Towards a sustainable London 2012 – studies related projects, such as the nearby Greenway path in east London, alongside previous Olympic hosts
2. Master planning – evaluates planning for the bid, feasibility studies on transport and energy, as well as preliminary works, such as clearing and remediation treatment of the brownfield site
3. Architecture – Looks at individual case studies of the sporting venues and infrastructure buildings
4. The overlay – covering the temporary structures outside the Olympic site, such as the equestrian venue at Greenwich and beach volleyball arena at Westminster
5. Lasting benefits – looks at the resulting legacy and long-term plans for the Olympic site

An inspiring read

The book will be a useful resource for students looking for case studies as well as engineers and architects in search of cutting edge sporting and temporary venue design. Cynical Londoners might just find it of interest too!

Hartman remembers a comment from 2004 predicting that the Olympics would ‘transform east London from a wasteland to a wasteland with a half-finished stadium’. Delivering a Games Legacy shows just how much thought and detail has gone into the design and preparations for the Games, and their legacy for years to come.

Title: Engineering Your Future: the professional practice of engineering, 3rd ed.
Author: Stuart G. Walesh
Year: 2012

Developing softer skills with Walesh

Whilst university engineering education focuses on “hard”, technical competency, Walesh’s book aims to develop “soft” skills. These include communication and management, and business skills such as accounting and marketing, all of which are essential for a successful career in engineering.

New to the 3rd edition:

• Stronger emphasis on management and leadership
• Focus on personal growth and developing relationships
• Expanded treatment of project management
• Ideas on how to develop a quality culture
• Suggestions on how to encourage creative and innovative thinking

Hands-on advice

The book is illustrated with good anecdotes and annotated bibliographies. At the end of each chapter, Walesh offers very hands-on advice on specific questions – such as how to deal with awkward team members, giving presentations and general points on basic accounting and project management.

A self-help book?

The book follows the ASCE’s Body of Knowledge, and its passionate and personable style is more akin to a self-help book than an engineering textbook. It will definitely make a useful source for student and graduate engineers.

Title: Some Writers on Concrete: The Literature of Reinforced Concrete 1897-1925
Author: Edwin Trout
Year: 2012

Introducing reinforced concrete

The two decades before the First World War saw the majority of structural engineering projects associated with the introduction of reinforced concrete.

Globally, the development of this technology was assisted by some of the most innovative minds in contemporary civil engineering, roughly a century after the modern reintroduction of concrete.

Pioneering British engineers

This process was led by British engineers, with Telford advocating the use of ‘artificial’ cements and Fowler and Baker pioneering the use of concrete and expanded metal reinforced concrete on the Metropolitan and District Lines. In the North East, Wilkinson pioneered its application in buildings.

Focus on the UK

Limited as it is to English language authors, the joint biographical and bibliographical of this book approach gives a good flavour of developments in reinforced concrete in the UK, and to a lesser degree the USA.

Dividing the period into four sections based on the characteristics of the literature of the time, Trout provides biographical details for the authors of most monographs by date of first publication. The book gives a rounded appreciation of the literature of the time.

A great mix of literature and authors

What comes across immediately is the variety of both the literature – from academic treatises to operative guides – and of the authors themselves – academics, journalists like Whipple, immensely respected engineers like Mőrsch, and famous pioneers of scientific management like Taylor and Gilbreth. Architects, contractors and engineers all contributed.

Value and relevance

By using contemporary reviews Trout is able to provide a good indication of the value of most titles, and their relevance to conservation engineers in practice on both sides of the Atlantic.

Title: Theory of arched structures: strength, stability, vibration
Author: Igor Karnovsky
Year: 2011

Karnovsky’s book must be one of a very few to be published on this topic for 20-30 years, possibly since Jacque Heyman’s The Masonry Arch in 1982 or the TRL state-of-the-art review on Masonry Arch Bridges in 1993. Communicating theoretical developments

In his preface Karnovsky notes that the theory of arches has been developing intensively since the 1940s, which is relatively recent given the widespread use and application of the form. Much of the work has been published in specialised and obscure sources, and so has not really been communicated to practicing engineers.

Modern structural analysis books address these structures, but Karnovsky clearly feels that their presentation is unsatisfactory.

Karnovsky’s new exposition

The book he has written here is a highly technical work on the analysis of arches, rich in formulae and equations, and aims to bring the existing scientific understanding to a wider engineering audience.

Unlike the two publications mentioned earlier, Karnovsky’s book isn’t limited to one material or to a single type of structure. He points to the use of arches in bridges, buildings and dams, and I presume he feels the techniques of analysis in his book will apply equally well to arches in masonry, concrete or steel.

Aside from the formulae, Karnovsky illustrates the use of influence lines and has chapters on issues in statics, stability and dynamics that are peculiar to arched structures, including moving and travelling loads, as well as an appendix of data and diagrams.

It will be interesting to see whether practising civil engineers adopt the book or whether they find the simpler procedures in Heyman, and other structural analysis texts, quite sufficient for their purpose.

Title: Highway under the Hudson: a history of the Holland Tunnel.

Author: Robert W Jackson
Year: 2011

Robert Jackson’s book is a comprehensive academic history of the Hudson Tunnel, the world’s first modern vehicular tunnel involving the largest construction contract of the time in the USA.

A history of urban transportation in the USA

While much of its content is of interest to engineering historians, it is not an engineering history of the project. It is rather a history of urban transportation and details the political background, a complex affair involving two States (New Jersey and New York) and various local authorities, as well as the vested interests of railroad companies and other businesses.

The prototype for tunnel ventilation

Built when the internal combustion engine was becoming generally accepted, the scientific work associated with the ventilation of the tunnel to deal with fumes was ground-breaking.

Dealing with fire

One early concern was the danger of fire – and a vehicle was set alight to show how a fire would be dealt with. The book closes with an incident in 1949 when a truck carrying carbon disulphide – without correct procedures in place – caught fire and caused a disaster, with 66 injured, at least 2 fatally, and damage that took months to repair. It is a warning that tunnel engineers cannot ignore.

Conclusion

Jackson tells the story of a mega project with skill. There will be a resonance for anybody involved in planning a modern transport project. It is a story that illustrates how engineers, through their tremendous self-belief, overcame new challenges using a combination of scientific research and technological solutions.
Title:Towards Sustainable Development of Tidal Areas: Principles and Experiences
Author: International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage
Year: 2011

This handbook sets out principles and guidelines for engineers and decision makers on sustainable development of tidal areas. The publication is arranged over six chapters, each edited by a member of a working group, and featuring contributions from numerous other individuals.

The book pulls together the experiences of experts from a wide range of densely populated countries including Bangladesh, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, the Netherlands and the UK. Each country uses reclamation to develop new urban and industrial areas, but these areas are vulnerable to the threats of climate change and flooding.

Two chapters concentrate on ecological and environmental matters – tidal features and processes and an attempt to define how reclamation in the tidal zone affects those natural processes. The bulk of the remainder outline frameworks for planning and decision support, as well as potential ‘sustainable’ engineering solutions.

Having been in production for a long time, some of the references at the end of the chapters are not quite up-to-date, and only one lists useful websites. The handbook also seems to leave out swathes of the planet: the case studies and contributions are Asian or European in focus, with little from the Americas, the Caribbean or Africa.

That said, given the non-commercial nature of the publisher, Towards Sustainable Development of Tidal Areas is well-produced, uses good colour photographs, and includes a number of illustrations, drawings, tables and cross-sections.

It is therefore a good introduction to the topic and an excellent starting point.

Title: The Great Builders
Editor: Powell, K
Year: 2011

The Great Builders gives concise biographies of the careers of 40 great engineers, inventors and architects whose engineering skills were paramount to their success. Some of the civil engineers featured include Thomas Telford, Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Gustave Eiffel.

Spanning time and space

Sixteen nationalities and seven centuries of architectural innovation make for a survey of spectacular scope and depth. From churches and fortresses to bridges and high-tech skyscrapers, it includes masterpieces from all over the globe and covers 700 years of architectural history.

Structure

Flowing chronologically from earliest (Brunelleschi during the Renaissance) to the most contemporary (Kengo Kuma, born 1954) and grouping its subjects into broad categories (pioneers, iron, concrete and steel, new visions), some of its most interesting inclusions are pioneers from the Islamic world.

The Great Builders is very well produced and is copiously illustrated with photographs and drawings, although it is surprising that more are not in colour. Additionally it features a bibliography of works about each individual and a good index to names and places, albeit in somewhat small type. There are some details too of the authors of the biographies, many of them notable in their own right (ICE’s Mike Chrimes amongst them).

The Great Builders is available for loan from the ICE Library or available to buy from Amazon.

Titles:
An architect’s guide to NEC3 (Frances Forward, 2011)
A practical guide to the NEC3 Engineering and Construction Contract (Michael Rowlinson, 2011)

The NEC has now been in existence for almost 20 years and these two books, both published this year and neither written by a civil engineer, are a sign of how it has moved into the mainstream.

An architect’s guide
Frances Forward is an architect, adjudicator and lecturer who was a member of the NEC Panel during the drafting of the third edition. She was also the editor of ‘The NEC compared and contrasted’, a small but useful book.

Her new guide is similarly relatively short but a good, basic introduction. Intended primarily for architects and therefore perhaps of most relevance to civil engineers working on building projects, its succinct descriptions and diagrams will be helpful to anyone new to the form. The appendix, an NEC3 ‘toolkit’ of communication checklists and proformas, is especially welcome.

A practical guide
Michael Rowlinson’s book concentrates on the ECC alone and has greater detail and depth. Having begun his career as a quantity surveyor, he has previously written about the contract in the magazine Civil Engineering Surveyor and in the NEC user group’s newsletter.

The contract is described on the book jacket as a ‘process based’ form and Rowlinson’s aim is to guide readers through the application of the procedures in it and issues that might arise.

He too provides a couple of useful appendices: one, an index of clause numbers, case law and statutes and the other, a table of the actions of the various ‘characters’.

To complement these, there are the kind of chapters you would expect on:

• subcontracting
• time
• payment
• dispute resolution
• risks and insurance
• compensation events

A growing field
Both books are welcome additions to what is set to be a growing field; Forward for those wanting to learn about the NEC and Rowlinson for those who want a practical focus. The latter is clearly in demand, as Taylor and Francis have a similarly-themed title in the pipeline – one of five books on the NEC due to be published over the next six months.

Title:Green energy: basic concepts and fundamentals
Editor: X Li
Year: 2011

‘Green energy: basic concepts and fundamentals’ brings together five contributions co-written by 17 authors, reinforcing the need for diversity of energy supply. It summarises progress in the field of green energy and highlights state-of-the-art technology and the challenges faced, both technical and non technical.

The book covers:

• Energy analysis
• Security of supply
• A theoretical approach to wind speed distribution
• Co-combustion of coal and biomass
• Fuel cells
• Hydrogen storage for vehicles

The chapters on energy analysis and biomass are probably the most helpful for the general reader. The latter is also a useful summary of research and development in cattle biomass.

However, this volume only tackles some of the issues in what is a priority area for addressing greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.

Green energy is available for loan through the ICE Library

Title: Before Steel: the introduction of structural iron and its consequences
Author(s): Rinke, M & Schwartz, J
Year: 2010

Before Steel is an important collection of essays by some of the leading structural engineering and construction historians of our day. They look at the impact of the introduction of structural iron on the use of engineering science, the relationship between architecture and engineering and the development of structural forms. Much of what is said will be familiar, but there is sufficient that is new to make the work of interest to experts in the field.

Jürg Conzett, Joseph Schwartz and Sarah Wermiel contribute essays that vary from the personal to the theoretical to the highly focused. Similarly, Bill Addis, Antoine Picon, Tom Peters and Karl-Eugen Kurrer revisit familiar themes, but with a mastery that develops interesting new perspectives. Kurrer in particular rediscovers yet another little known contributor to engineering science in Land, R., whose pioneering work in the theories of influence lines and kinematics was overshadowed by that of Mohr and Muller-Breslau. Equally notable are three essays on relatively unknown designers in iron, the work of at least two of whom was to anticipate later developments.

The design of the book is outstanding, with diagrams and photographs equally clearly presented. Throughout there are pull-out features on a somewhat eclectic selection of surviving British examples of structural ironwork, all beautifully photographed. The use of a pale grey typeface for notes embedded in the text is arguably less successful. Most annoying though – and whether this stems from poor translation is not clear – is the use of the term ‘steel’ when clearly some form of iron is meant. The first example of this nuisance appears in the preface on page 13, and there are other incidences throughout the text, as well as a few typing errors. However, these inaccuracies are minor in a work that is a lively reminder of the health of structural engineering history.