News

Ongoing Works

Steel Propping:- Large steel props are largely installed to the north and south of the site. These brace at ground level along the capping beam in order to restrain the ground pressure from the surrounding sides of the building while digging continues.

The Big Dig:- Excavation of the soil within the footprint of the building started ahead of programme and is expected to continue until Christmas 2011. There will be over 47,000m3 of soil to be removed. The gravel will be recycled and the clay used locally as fill material. As the excavation proceeds the props and capping beam will be closely monitored to ensure there is no movement.

Cleaning of Piles:- As piles continue to be exposed piles (concrete “wall” below ground level) they are being cleaned and inspected.

Future works for December

The Big Dig:- The excavation overall is now just over two thirds complete. The north is down to the correct level, the south will have another week for main dig excavation, and the central section will continue into the new year. The removal of soil will change from loading the lorries at the base of the ramps to loading from ground level as the excavation diminishes.

GSHP:- The pipes that were sunk at the start of the project will now be cropped and joined to header connection pipes that will terminate in access ducts in the plant rooms. The 1st section of the north is complete and the 2nd section of the north is due on Tuesday 6/12/2011. The south will then be progressed from Wednesday 7/12/2011.

Drainage & Slab:- By mid December the drainage will be ongoing and the 1st basement slab will be formed in the north of the site.

Hoarding:- Hoarding works adjacent to the main access road is continuing towards Gate 7 and is expected to be complete by 5/12/2011.

Tower Cranes:- Crane bases are concreted. The 1st tower crane is planned to be erected by use of a mobile crane on the weekend of 7th and 8th January 2012.

Recent Site Photos

Professor Martin Bridson will give the 2011 Erwin Schroedinger Lecture in Vienna on 13 December.

His title is Finitely presented groups: geometry, decision problems, finite quotients, and monsters

Further details are available.

Ongoing Works

Pile Capping:- The tops of the concrete piles are exposed and are then cut to a more accurate height using a mechanical cropper and breakers. This operation is now complete.

Capping Beam:- A concrete capping beam is being constructed along the top of the piles to connect them and form a solid continuous ring beam. This operation is now complete.

Steel Propping:- Large steel props are largely installed to the north and south of the site. These will brace at ground level along the capping beam in order to restrain the ground pressure from the surrounding sides of the building while digging continues.

GSHP:- The project has incorporated Ground Source Heat Pumps which when complete will supply heat in winter and cooling in the summer. This is achieved by submerging pipes deep into the ground that can transfer the heat / cool temperatures to the building by use of pumps.

Maths Dept Visit:- The Maths Department visited the site on 11/11/2011 to view the latest progress.

Future works for November / December

The Big Dig:- Excavation of the soil within the footprint of the building has started ahead of programme and is expected to continue until Christmas 2011. There will be over 47,000m3 of soil to be removed. The gravel will be recycled and the clay used locally as fill material. As the excavation proceeds the props and capping beam will be closely monitored to ensure there is no movement.

Cleaning of Piles:- Once the excavation of the soil is sufficiently advanced in early November the exposed piles (concrete “wall” below ground level) will be cleaned and inspected.

GSHP:- The pipes that were sunk at the start of the project will now be cropped and joined to header connection pipes that will terminate in access ducts in the plant rooms. This will be done as base of the dig is exposed and will continue into the new year.

Hoarding:- Hoarding works will start w.c. 21/11/2011 adjacent to the access road fed by Gate 7.

Tower Cranes:- Crane bases will be formed in November in readiness for crane installation in January.

Recent Site Photos

Ongoing Works

Secant Piles:- In total there have been 532 holes that were drilled, reinforced with steel and concreted to a depth generally in excess of 20m. These piles are now being cleaned down as the excavation progresses.

Pile Capping:- The tops of the concrete piles are exposed and are then cut to a more accurate height using a mechanical cropper and breakers. This operation is almost complete with less than 1 week remaining.

Capping Beam:- A concrete capping beam is being constructed along the top of the piles to connect them and form a solid continuous ring beam. This operation is continuing and will be complete by mid November.

Steel Propping:- Large steel props are largely installed to the north end of the site. These will brace at ground level along the capping beam in order to restrain the ground pressure from the surrounding sides of the building while digging continues. Props are now being installed on the south of the site adjacent to Somerville College.

Gates & Hoarding:- Gate 5 adjacent to the St Lukes Chapel is operational. Hoarding is being installed adjacent to the Somerville College.

Future works for November

The Big Dig:- Excavation of the soil within the footprint of the building has started ahead of programme and is expected to continue until Christmas 2011. There will be over 47,000m3 of soil to be removed. The gravel will be recycled and the clay used locally as fill material. As the excavation proceeds the props and capping beam will be closely monitored to ensure there is no movement.

Cleaning of Piles:- Once the excavation of the soil is sufficiently advanced in early November the exposed piles (concrete “wall” below ground level) will be cleaned and inspected.

Hoarding:- Hoarding works will start w.c. 7/11/2011 adjacent to Gate 7 along the access road.

Tower Cranes:- Crane bases will be formed in November in readiness for crane installation in December / January.

Recent Site Photos

Ongoing Works

Piling Rigs:-The piling activities are now complete and the rigs have been dismantled and transported off site.

Secant Piles:- In total there will have been 532 holes that were drilled, reinforced with steel and concreted to a depth generally in excess of 20m. Secant is a term in mathematics and comes from the Latin secare (to cut). Initially every other hole is drilled and concreted (female piles). These are followed shortly afterwards by drilling into the gaps and the relatively soft female concrete piles, before concreting the male piles. This will form a continuous concrete “wall” underground.

Pile Capping:- The tops of the concrete piles are exposed and are then cut to a more accurate height using a mechanical cropper and breakers. This operation is over half way around the building and will continue for the remainder of October.

Capping Beam:- A concrete capping beam is being constructed along the top of the piles to connect them and form a solid continuous ring beam. This operation has commenced near the Woodstock Road and will continue to the beginning of November.

Steel Propping:- Large steel props are largely installed to one end of the site. These will brace at ground level along the capping beam in order to restrain the ground pressure from the surrounding sides of the building while digging continues.

Gates:- Gate 5 adjacent to the St Lukes Chapel is now operational. Gate 7 remains the main access with Elliot Thomas guard in attendance.

Oxford Site Review:- The monthly department site review for October was carried out last week, showing the progress made to date.

Future works for October / November

The Big Dig:- Excavation of the soil within the footprint of the building has started ahead of programme and is expected to continue until Christmas 2011. There will be over 47,000m3 of soil to be removed. The gravel will be recycled and the clay used locally as fill material. As the excavation proceeds the props and capping beam will be closely monitored to ensure there is no movement.

Cleaning of Piles:- Once the excavation of the soil is sufficiently advanced in early November the exposed piles (concrete “wall” below ground level) will be cleaned and inspected.

The Tissue and Cell Engineering Society has awarded its Early Stage Investigator prize to Rebecca Shipley, of OCIAM; Becky is also a JRF at Christ Church. Her research involves the use of mathematical modelling techniques in medical systems. Her talk was entitled 'Fluid and mass transport modelling to drive the design of cell-packed hollow fibre bioreactors'.

See http://www.tces.org/pastconferenceleeds2011_css.html for further details.

Ongoing Works

Piling Rigs:-The piling activities are now largely installed with drilling operations continuing for only one more week.

Secant Piles:- There is a total of 532 secant piles bored to a depth in excess of 20m to form a continuous concrete pile wall around the perimeter of the double storey basement. There are two types of secant pile: a female pile formed from a weaker concrete mix and a male pile that is reinforced with steel and provides the strength in the wall. Secant is a mathematical term and comes from the Latin secare (to cut). The male pile cuts into the female pile providing a continuous sealed basement wall.

Pile Cropping:- It is necessary to cut down the top of the piles to expose the reinforcement cage to tie into the capping beam and also remove any debris that sometimes contaminates the top of the pile when extracting the auger. This activity is carried out using a specialist cropping attachment for the excavator and trimmed using breakers. We are currently 50% through this activity and expect to complete towards the end of October.

Capping Beam:- A concrete capping beam is being constructed along the top of the piles to connect them and form a solid continuous ring beam. This operation has commenced near the Woodstock Road and will continue to the beginning of November.

Future works for October

Steel Propping:- Large steel props are expected to be secured into position on w/c 10-10-11 using a crane. These will brace at ground level along the capping beam in order to restrain the ground pressure from the surrounding sides of the building once digging commences.

The Big Dig:- Excavation of the soil within the footprint of the building is expected to start in mid October. There will be over 47,000m3 of soil to be removed. The gravel will be recycled and the clay used locally as fill material. As the excavation proceeds the props and capping beam will be closely monitored to ensure there is no movement.

Images from Site Tour on 14/10/2011

John Ball was elected to the Executive Board of the International Council for Science (ICSU) at its 30th General Assembly held in Rome 24 September - October 1, 2011.

As described on the IMU website,

"ICSU is the International Council of Science. Its members are scientific international unions and nations. Together with other partners including the United Nations and UNESCO, it plays a fundamental role in the research areas which require both massive collaboration and sharing of data, such as the global climate studies that supported the last report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and which received the Nobel Prize in 2007. Such studies cannot take place without long term massive support allowing large scale collaboration of scientists across disciplines and countries, and archiving of data of previous studies, a support that cannot be provided locally at research institutions. The International Council of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (ICIAM) is now an associate member of ICSU."

Xunyu Zhou, Nomura Professor of Mathematical Finance and Director of Nomura Centre for Mathematical Finance will give a plenary lecture during the 2012 Bachelier Congress in Sydney; http://www.bfs2012.com/

Mike Giles, Professor of Scientific Computing and a member of the Oxford-Man Institute of Quantitative Finance will give a plenary lecture during MCQMC 2012, Tenth International Conference on Monte Carlo and Quasi-Monte Carlo Methods in Scientific Computing, Sydney; http://www.mcqmc2012.unsw.edu.au/