RecruitR: Engineering Blog

Small change for change

Tue, 04 May 2010 23:15:46 GMT

What are the two things that rule the western world? Money and power. What are the two things that most of us let slip through our power sockets every month? You guessed it! Your money's not going down the toilet, it's leaking from your electricity outlets, one appliance at a time!

With energy costs in Queensland anticipated to spike by as much as $200 a year, it's time to look at what solutions are out there to save your hip pocket and the environment.

Aside from switching everything off and living in the dark there are a few simple options available to the average Australian home owner.

As we know, Brisbane City Council already offer great rebates for solar hot water and rainwater tanks for some time. Now you can also take advantage of their Climate-smart Home Service to save more energy in your home and really do your bit for a clean, green city by 2026.

The in-home energy monitor makes it easy to keep track of and reduce your home's electricity usage by working out your energy usage, costs and your greenhouse gas emissions. Canadians are using devices like this and seeing a decrease in their electricity bills by as much as 20%.

Parents can use this device to educate their children on how much it costs for them to watch a DVD - or how much money is wasted when you leave your appliances on stand-by instead of turning them off at the wall. You could even charge them for it out of their pocket money. Now that would really give them a jolt!

Make a little climate change around your home - from a money-wasting one to a money-saving one!

Jobs slump doesn?t mean the skills crisis is over

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 22:20:46 GMT

The recent turnaround in the mining engineering sector, has brought about daily news of projects being put on hold; failed take-overs; recruitment freezes and in the worst cases large scale redundancies.

But how has all this effected recruitment for the coming year? Does this mean the skills shortage is over?

Articles such as this one suggest not with The Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) predicting a 20% jump in mining jobs by 2010.

Whilst most engineering firms have slowed their recruitment; they are also using this opportunity to assess their current skills in house against what has become available in the market place; using this opportunity to employ higher skilled people to join their team. The shift in the market means that companies are now able to choose from a few applicants for 1 job rather than 1 applicant for several jobs.

Most engineering firms are expecting that for the first part of next year, this market shift will also mean that they are able to do much of their own recruitment in partnership with only a handful of key external recruitment providers who understand and promote their business; and not settle for anything less than great service.

Susan Anderson is a Principal Consultant and specialist in the field of Mining & Heavy Industrial Design.

?Super? Hospital = ?Super? Project

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 04:49:33 GMT

The recent news around South East Queensland about hospital waiting times and the crooked calculations of available beds has seen outcry on many of the talkback radio shows around the region, though there has been very little mention of the planned "Super Hospital" for Mackay that is currently at the design stage.

On the flip-side, all the gossip in the building services industry is regarding the "Super Hospital" project and who has won the tender (or who hasn't). Goodness knows the industry likes to gossip, though at the rate one of my clients is hiring at the moment you might assume they have a "Super" pipeline of work coming up.

Andreia Goncalves, Consultant - Building Services

07 3231 0211

Making sense of sustainability

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 22:32:26 GMT

While recycling and organic foods, sustainable housing, and more recently hybrid cars are nothing new to us, there is a lot of talk about sustainability, climate change, environmental impact and reducing our carbon footprint. What is being done to build a sustainable future for us all?

Al Gore sure brought the issues associated with climate to the forefront with the release of An Inconvenient Truth.

London is making changes, South Africa and Queensland has announced plans to curb omission levels is also stepping up to the plate when it comes to the environment and project planning.

It seems like the government is taking care of the big picture for Australia, but is there anything we can do to help? The Queensland Government has developed some suggestions to assist us all in making simple lifestyle changes to reduce our own personal carbon footprint.

I personally am taking the Low Carbon Diet, which involves my commitment to;

wash my clothes in cold water, saving 1.5kg of additional green house gases normally produced from each warm water wash
replacing all incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent lights
using green reusable grocery bags for my shopping
encouraging others to also live climate smart

What changes are you prepared to make?

'Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.' Margaret Mead

By Nikki Bailey, Consultant

Build a bridge?

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 22:30:46 GMT

With tunnels at the fore of many a media headline in and around Brisbane it seems that these technically challenging, election-winning and resource sapping projects are the "project du jour". To many they may be a just a hole in the ground, however you can't go past the sheer size, complexity and ROI gained from such mega-projects as the Big Dig in Boston, Massachusetts which will carry nearly 250,000 vehicles per day in just the tunnel component. Closer to home, the former North-South Bypass Tunnel, now named the Clem Jones Tunnel after the former Lord Mayor of Brisbane promises much faster, safer and reliable transport across Brisbane by avoiding some 18 sets of traffic lights.

So with bridges no longer having a monopoly of getting people from A to B across a waterway, more innovative and aesthetically appealing bridges are being developed as a focal point and architectural landmark; obviously this has moved on some since the days of decorative bridges with no real function,with structures like the Millau Viaductshowcasing outstanding structural design as well as architectural marvel (even eclipsing our own "Coathanger" ), Norman Foster has set a very high bench mark. In South East Queensland we have the Gateway Upgrade Project, which will drastically improve traffic flow around Brisbane without being too displeasing to the eye. Let's not forget the many thousands of essential bridge projects that happen away from the public eye, often with little pomp and ceremony, within much larger projects such as Trackstar, Horizon Alliance, numerous mining projects and even the much-heralded Clem Jones Tunnel with its 18 bridges, providing a cost effective and arguably, more elegant solution to yet more tunnels.

So whilst tunnels are making the headlines, the multitude of bridge projects underway is the silent, yet crucial key to our long term infrastructure problems - and they look a whole lot prettier than a hole in the ground.

By Simone Moore, Director