INVITATION from CIOB & NMMU: To interested parties, CIOB EC and CM Department Guest Presentation John Smithies, a former resident of Port Elizabeth, will be sharing his insights on the devastating earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand and the subsequent changes in construction methodology brought about by learning from the effects of the quakes. In light of the recent earthquakes in Gauteng, this may be an interesting presentation for professionals from various disciplines to attend. ABOUT JOHN SMITHIES In 2001 John left South Africa and immigrated to New Zealand and initially worked as a professional Quantity Surveyor, gaining an appreciation for construction in New Zealand, which he believes is in many ways quite different to South Africa. Due to limited labour resources great use is made of prefabrication and mechanisation and specialist subcontractors which enables buildings to be constructed quickly and efficiently. Frequently the planning and consents take longer than the construction of a building. Since then he has also worked as Commercial Manager for a start-up commercial construction company which focused on projects such as the new warm store building at Scott Base in Antarctica, which was prefabricated in Christchurch and shipped to Antarctica in 170 containers and then erected by the company over 3 months in the summer. However the lure of a life in the winelands of Marlborough pulled him away and in 2006 he moved and became chief executive of a commercial construction and property company. The company undertook a wide range of projects such as schools, commercial, industrial, winery, alterations and seismic strengthening. Among his responsibilities were the management of a number of commercial premises, including a 6 storey office building that came under scrutiny after the Christchurch earthquakes as it was designed by the same architect (but not the same engineer) as the CTV building that collapse causing the death of over 100 people. Included in his remit was liaison with engineers to evaluate the earthquake risk level of the building and then subsequently the design of the necessary strengthening. During this period Blenheim, where the company are based, was hit by a number of earthquakes with two in excess of 6.0 that caused some cosmetic damage to the building prior to the commencement of the strengthening works. He has recently joined a larger construction operation as Senior QS and is involved in a similar area of work. DATE Thursday, 23rd October 2014 @ 16.30 VENUE Room N1, North Campus (see map), Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Summerstrand, Port Elizabeth RSVP Kindly email your proposed attendance to [email protected] Map showing venue N1 North Campus
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 07:58:37 +0000