News and Press Releases

Alan Auld Commercial Limited will be holding the second in a series of free breakfast seminars on Friday 26^th March 2010.

The guest speaker will be Dr Michael O’Reilly BEng, LLB, PhD, CEng, FICE, FCIArb, Chartered Arbitrator.

Michael has considerable experience as solicitor, barrister and arbitrator in construction disputes. A partner in Adie O’Reilly LLP of Lincoln, he is currently a practicing solicitor and arbitrator.

The two topics for the seminar are:
"Should I just walk off site"
Programming and the Engineering & Construction Contract - some key points

Further information can be obtained from Chris Thompson, email cthompson@alanauld.co.uk

Alan Auld Engineering have been engaged by Cementation Canada Inc as their specialist shaft designers for their feasibility study work on the Chuquicamata copper mine project in Chile. This mine is one of the largest open pit copper mines in the world and, as part of the long term development plans for the mine, Cementation are carrying out a feasibility study as part of a project team led by Hatch for client Codelco. This study is intended to plan for the development of a major underground mine to further extract from this substatial ore body. The Alan Auld scope is limited to the design of two 1000m deep 11m diameter shafts and collar structures. The shafts are intended to be for exhaust ventilation only and the shaft collar structure design will include the ventilation plenum for the exhaust fans. The design will also have to account for the high seismic activity of this part of the world.

Alan Auld Engineering are working with mining contractor Amco and scientists at Sheffield University to develop working concepts for a proposed large underground excavation at the Boulby Potash Mine to house a new European particle physics experiment. The Laguna project (an acronym standing for Large Apparatus studying Grand Unification and Neutrino Astrophysics) requires the excavation of domed chambers typically 80m in diameter and 50m high at 1500m depth to house liquid argon at -190°C. Long term underground structures of this size are rare and Alan Auld Engineering are pleased to be involved in this ground beaking work. The commision will include concept designs for the excavations and rock support together with construction sequencing, programming and costings.

Alan Auld Engineering have been successful in bidding for the design of a major ground freezing scheme to enable the sinking of two new deep mine shafts for the Jansen potash mine project in Saskatchewan, Canada. These shafts when completed will be over 1000m deep and ground freezing will be used to sink safely down to around 530m. This process will enable the notoriously unstable sands and gravels of the Blairmore water bearing strata to be sunk through and sealed off. The commission will be carried out for the specialist freezing contractor British Drilling and Freezing and will involve thermal modelling of the ice wall growth using state of the art software.

Following previous site investigation and survey work by Alan Auld Engineering at an old cast iron lined service tunnel in northern England we have been awarded a further contract to procure and install remote real time monitoring equipment to enable the asset owner to develop a plan for the long term maintenance of the tunnel.

After completing the new winder tower and commissioning the temporary sinking equipment Cementation Canada Inc have commenced shaft sinking of the new 800m deep service shaft of the Picadilly potash mine project. Alan Auld Engineering is currently providing design support on this project and currently we are designing the main shaft loading stations required for the proposed main potash mining horizon, some 800m below ground.

Following the successful completion of repair and stabilization works to the historic furnace ventilation shaft at the National Mining Museum the Alan Auld Company has been engaged to design a structural glass and steel cover to this shaft to allow visitors to walk across the top and look down into the recently restored shaft. This new feature once completed will add to the visitor experience at this historic site.

The Alan Auld Company has been engaged by Joseph Gallagher Ltd to provide a full temporary works and materials handling design service on this major upgrade project at Farringdon station in London for main contractor Costain. The project includes the construction of a tunnel heading beneath platform one to provide space for a new enlarged cable management system (CMS). This tunnel will be constructed by excavating immediately beneath the foundations of the existing platform. The excavation, as well as the platform structure, will be supported using steel frames and support beams. The tunnel will run almost the entire length of the platform and due to very restricted access we have also designed a bespoke mucking gantry that will be erected behind the platform to lift spoil up to street level above for disposal.

The Alan Auld Group Ltd is pleased to announce that the services of all its subsidiary companies are available to clients in East Africa, Madagascar, the Seychelles, and Mauritius through our partner KDS Consulting. More information (pdf).

Alan Auld Engineering has been engaged by the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan to independently review the contractor’s proposals for sinking a new third shaft at the Scissor's Creek (Rocanville West) potash mine in Saskatchewan, Canada. This review will cover the design of the lining and the contractor’s proposals for sinking and lining through the difficult Blairmore water bearing strata. This latter consists of weak un-cemented material under extreme water pressure and requires the use of ground freezing and the installation of cast iron tubbing to seal off the water.

Alan Auld Engineering has been engaged by Specialist tunnelling contractor Joseph Gallagher Ltd to carry out detailed design of a 100m long, 3m diameter service tunnel approximately 20m deep in the London clay to connect a major London Hotel with a new extension building situated nearby. This tunnel when complete will provide a conduit to carry M&E services between the two buildings and will be accessed at each end by means of a shaft sunk through each of the building basement slabs. Primary support for the tunnel excavation will be by means of shotcrete with a permanent lining of reinforced concrete cast within the temporary shotcrete shell.

Coldwell Reservoir New Spillway - Temporary Works

July 2009 - ongoing

Alan Auld has been engaged by major water industry contractor JN Bentley Ltd of Skipton, Yorkshire to provide temporary works support during this contract. Due to the location of the new spillway along the length of the toe of the dam and the deep nature of the excavations major piled excavation support is required with heavy steel framing. We have provided temporary works designs as well as sequencing drawings for this project and assisted the contractor with his tender submission and during the tender negotiation process.

Nuclear Waste Repository Access Study

May 2009

Alan Auld Engineering has been engaged by Parsons Brinckerhoff to carry out a study of shaft sinking and lining design options as part of an overall review of suitable sites for waste storage in the UK. As specialist shaft designers and with close links to the international contractors active in this field Alan Auld were tasked with providing generic shaft lining designs for different geological models and input into the overall reports, including programme and risk considerations.

National Grid North London Gas Alliance - Specialist Underground Crossings

2009 - ongoing

The NLGA are currently replacing old cast iron and steel gas mains around London. Some of the larger diameter mains (typically 30”) require specialist crossings of roads railways, rivers and canals. Alan Auld Engineering are providing specialist design input in the way of the design of shafts, pipejacks and timber headings for these crossings as well as embedding a specialist engineer into the NLGA team to manage the works.

Green Park Underground Station - Step Free Access and Station Upgrade Project

2008 - ongoing

Alan Auld were engaged by contractor Joseph Gallagher Ltd to provide temporary works support to their tender submission and on successfully winning the contract were retained to provide temporary works support. The work on this project has been varied and has included extensive deep level underpinning and excavation support to the station slab; king pile excavation support to the site boundary; an acoustic enclosure design over the shaft sinking site, and the design of temporary shaft ladder bays.

National Mining Museum for England - Caphouse Colliery, Furnace Shaft Stabilization Project

2008

Following an inspection of both shafts at Caphouse by Alan Auld a contract was let to specialist mining contractor Amco to repair and stabilize the old furnace shaft and rebuild the shaft bottom, together with construction of a new connecting roadway to the shaft. As a result of our expertise in this field Alan Auld were engaged by Amco as their designer for these works. The furnace shaft is a brick lined 140m deep shaft approx 3m in diameter and was sunk around 1830. It was originally used to ventilate the mine by means of a furnace at the shaft bottom the acidic fumes from this furnace had caused severe deterioration of the lining resulting in rotting to the curb rings and bulging of the shaft walls.

The shaft bottom area was also completely unstable as a result of this process.

Alan Auld Engineering designed replacement curbs and designed a new shaft bottom including the developing of a safe method of carrying out the repairs to prevent collapse of the unstable structure. The work package also included the design of a new roadway and junction supported on traditional steel supports.

Deep Mine Shaft Engineering - Canada

2008 - Ongoing

Alan Auld Engineering has been engaged by Canadian shaft sinking contractor Cementation Canada Inc to provide complete detailed design of the new 800m deep shafts to be sunk at the Picadilly mine in New Brunswick, Canada and owned by the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan. This work has included the design of the shaft collar interfaces with the surface civils works (carried out by others), design of the permanent lining to the shafts from collar to sump, and collaboration with the contractor to design temporary lining and, sinking methods and grouting strategies including specialist studies for safely passing through the time dependant creep zones, including beds of halite, Sylvinite, and hygroscopic Carnallite zones. In addition the commission also includes the design of the large openings for the shaft loading stations.