2017. 3. 24

Japan Society of Civil Engineers
International Activities Center

IAC News ： Special Issue No.11
Messages from JSCE UK Section

JSCE has eight regional chapters and one international chapter. The international chapter wasestablished to support JSCE’s international activity and to take a leadership of international
sections under its leadership in 2000. The chair of international chapter holds the position ofJSCE International Strategy Committee chair as well. Under the chair’s leadership, theinternational sections build communication and cooperation with local civil engineering societies.
The first international section was opened in Taiwan in April 2000, and after that, eight sections
were opened in Europe and Asian countries one after another. Now that JSCE nine sections
overseas.
Among those sections, UK Section was opened as the third section in October 2001. The UK
Section stemmed from "the Society of Japanese Professional Civil Engineers in UK." That society
was formed by the efforts of 16 JSCE members to create the opportunity to exchange ideas andopinions among civil engineering professionals in January 2000.※The UK Section organizes activities to support the members to network with each other and withlocal civil engineering organizations, to develop professional skills and knowledge, and tostrengthen technical exchanges and cooperation between Japan and UK. The section holds
annual meeting, and the members reunite, enjoy discussions and deepen their friendship there.

This special issue introduces three unique essays contributed by the UK members.
※Ref. Kunihiro Kondo. “英国に土木技術者会（学会英国支部？）発足”, 土木学会誌 (JSCE magazine CivilEngineering) 85 (2000) : 50-51.

JSCE UK section is one of JSCE’s overseas local branches, consisting ofapproximately 10 Japanese civil engineers who are based in the UK. I amcurrently acting as a chairperson of the JSCE UK section; I have been
informed that the UK section was launched in order to assist Japanese firms
with providing information and intelligence for their international businessdevelopment.
I worked for a Japanese engineering consultancy firm for three and half years.
Following my studies at a UK university, I have been working for a global
engineering consultancy firm based in the UK as a bridge and infrastructure
designer for the last 9 years. Even now, the difference in business practice
between the UK and Japan always surprises me. I feel that the UK isDr. Daisuke Saito
Mott MacDonald(Senior Bridge Engineer)

generally more advanced compared to Japan in the following areas: Information and data sharing using IT
platforms, diversity, variety of the contractual forms, the maintenance of infrastructure assets, andinternational market share in the engineering consultancy industry. In my opinion Japan is superior to other1

countries in the following areas: technical capability, work ethic, collaboration, and engineering and design
coordination, which often makes me proud to be a Japanese engineer. For example, there was an internal
bridge design competition organised within the firm I work for, and the team I belonged to won thecompetition. The proposed design was based on a number of Japanese bridge engineering technologies; I feelthat the potential for the application of Japanese bridge engineering technologies has successfully been
demonstrated in the competitive international market.
This may come as a surprise, but thecompetitiveness of UK engineeringfirms does not stem from their technicalcapabilities,

theircompetitivenessinstead results from the international
network they have established in themultidisciplinary area resulting fromtheirinternational

acquisitions(M&A)

Mergers

andactivities;

inaddition to this the contractual process

Bridge design proposed for the design competitionof many countries is based on the UKsystem. Since UK firms, including
contractors and public organisations, donot spend a large budget on research anddevelopment, their technical capabilities
tends to be based on conventional
technologies, which may be viewed as
obsolete by those familiar with Japanese
civil engineering technologies.

This iswhere, I believe, Japanese firms areeasily able to find a gap in theinternational

infrastructurebusinessmarket. If I may say so, Japan is 20
years ahead of the UK in various
engineering

technologies

associatedSome technologies adopted for the Awa Shirasagi Ohashi Bridge has
been transferred to the design proposed for the competition.

with heavy civil infrastructure such as
tunnels and bridges. I also feel that in order to achieve the technology transfer from Japan, it is important forJapanese firms to get their technologies known by UK engineering firms that already have an establishedinternational network.
The current issue of the newsletter includes articles on Mr Nakada’s secondment experience at a major UK
engineering consultancy firm and the track record of Giken Europe which have been successfully operating in
the UK and western European countries for a number of years. I trust these articles are informative for those
who are involved in international infrastructure business in Japan. We as the JSCE UK section would like tokeep providing intelligence and information for Japanese firms in order to support their international
infrastructure business.

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“Make use of good assets as long as they are in good condition”－Touch the idea of the United Kingdom－I heard an interesting statement at an evening lecture organised by theInstitution of Civil Engineers (ICE): “The infrastructure development forLondon had already been completed in the 19th century and we have beenusing these assets for a long time”. The talk was given by Prof. Brian Collinsof UCL. The infrastructure in London was widely developed during theVictorianerafrom

1837

and150-year-old structures are still in
use such as bridges over the River
Thames and the London sewage
system. In residential areas, many
people live in houses built 100 to150 years ago. I am currently living

Mr. Takafumi Nakada
Obayashi CorporationBridge department(Secondee to ATKINS)

in a house which was built 50 years ago. These houses are,
House in London

surprisingly, considered relatively new by the locals.

I attended a site visit tour organised by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET). We visited theconstruction site of the London Bridge Redevelopment Project. London Bridge Station, one of the terminal
stations in London, is currently being upgraded to accommodate more passengers and train networks.
According to the plan, the existing 15 platforms on the ground level will be relocated to an upper level and theground level will be redeveloped to build a concourse and retail shops. The relocated platforms will besupported by newly constructed pier structures, whereas the existing brick arches which were built in theVictorian era will be used for support in a certain area. Prior to the construction of the new platforms, these
Victorian arches were tested to ensure that they have sufficient capacity to resist the increased load. Only one
arch failed the tests out of more than the 200 arches, which was a pleasant surprise to the project members. Iwas surprised by the condition of the existing structures. I also earned the important concept for planning anddevelopment: “Make use of good assets as long as they are in good condition.”
A significant number of assessment works forexisting structures are undertaken by theengineering consultancy firm ATKINS, where I
am currently being seconded to. Half of thetotal work is related to the structural assessment
work, which is undertaken using computational
analysis and strain gauge monitoring techniques.
In addition to the assessment, the company isalso committed to developing new structuralmonitoring techniques such as a new stress andstrain monitoring system based on DigitalLondon Bridge Redevelopment Project3

Image Correlation (DIC). Japanese engineers will need to tackle the infrastructure asset management more
and more, and are therefore required to develop the new technology to facilitate the management. I would liketo gain knowledge and skills in this area through the seminars and events in addition to my day-to-day work atATKINS.
Events organized by local institutions are a very good opportunity for overseas engineers to learn the country.
I hope that the JSCE will disseminate information on Japanese Civil engineering technology and the trend of
the Japanese construction industry to both Japan and overseas countries.

An introduction to Japanese piling technology currently in use in the UK
My name is Masumi Yamaguchi of GIKEN Europe B.V. GIKEN Europe is one
local subsidiary of GIKEN Ltd. in Japan and has been operating in the UK since
our London office was established in 1990.
GIKEN Ltd in Japan developed the GIKEN Press-in method in 1975 with theworld’s first ‘reaction based’ hydraulic sheet pile jacking machine ‘the SilentPiler’ which can achieve noise and vibration-free piling work. This year, 2017,marks our company’s 50 year anniversary.
Since our establishment we have been undergoing a “Construction Revolution”
and have been following “The five construction principals” as our guide. InMr. Masafumi Yamaguchi
GIKEN Europe B.V.

addition, we have suggested Press-in piling methods based on our unique technique, and high modulus wall
‘Implant structures’ built by utilising Press-in piling technology. As a result of these suggestions, we havesuccessfully achieved many construction works. Currently, our technology is being widely utilised all over theworld. I would, therefore, like to introduce a couple of case studies conducted in the UK in this report.
Firstly, I would like to introduce one past
project in which the tubular pile cofferdam
was built (see Photo 1). The cofferdam wasformed with interlocked steel tubular piles toenable water retention at a depth of 10 metresand facilitated the construction of the station
box in the canal in London. The working
space on water was close to office-buildings
and the piles had to be installed into a very
stiff layer of “London clay.” The challengingworking conditions of this site were thereasons our technology was adopted as apiling method.

Photo 1: Tubular pile cofferdam was built to enable water retention
at a depth of 10 meters.

Due to the fact that our method is vibration and noise-free, there were no negative impacts on theneighbouring office buildings during the construction duration. Furthermore, no temporary platform was4

necessary and the system equipment was light weight and compact due to ‘Press-in principals’ which function
by gripping previously installed piles in the ground to install a following pile. Photo 2 shows the inside of thecofferdam after discharging water from it. Under difficult conditions, we were able to build the high modulus
and watertight wall shown in the photograph within the required construction period, which was highlyregarded.
Subsequently, the twin Double Z sheet pile
cofferdam project at the Thames is shownin Photo 3. It is important to note that U
and Hat shapes are mainstream in Japanwhilst Z shapes are utilised alongside themin Europe. Additionally, there is an
installation method called “Double piles”
in Europe, which is the method tosimultaneously install two piles aftercrimping

them.

This

“Doublepile”

technique reduces the construction period.
GIKEN piling rigs can also be applicable

Photo 2: Inside of the cofferdam after discharging water

for the method. The famous Tower Bridgeand several buildings in the City ofLondon can be seen in the image. In fact,regulations regarding noise and vibrationlevels are very strict in the central London
area and our methods are often utilised forconstruction works there.
I would like to thank you most sincerely
for your attention to this introduction. Itgives me great pleasure to inform you
about the Japanese piling technology
developed by GIKEN which is currently in

Photo 3: The twin Double Z sheet pile cofferdam project at theThames

operation in the UK as well as around theworld. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

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