On Monday, April 16, 2018,  a 15-member delegation from the Guangdong Province of China, accompanied by three representatives of the South Moravian Region, visited the AdMaS Center.

The visitors were greeted by the Director, JUDr. Ing. Zdenek Dufek, Ph.D., and the Scientific Director of the Center, prof. Ing. Drahomir Novak, DrSc., who acquainted them with the research,essence and goals of the center.

Afterwards, the delegation took a round with Ing. Nekulova and dr. Dvorak through construction  and RP1 laboratories.

Among the significant political and business visitors was also Song Wenqi, Director of the Huawei Business Department of the Czech Republic. However, the delegation was headed by Provincial Governor, Mr. Ma Xingrui, who obtained a Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering at Tianjin University and a Doctor of Mechanics at the Harbin Technological Institute. After studying, he worked as a lecturer and held various senior positions at the Harbin Technological Institute. He then worked in a science and technology company with a focus on aerospace industry. Subsequently, he was the director of the China National Space Agency, where he was responsible, among other things, for the implementation of the Chang’e 3 (chang-e) project. The project consisted of launching a space probe designed to explore the Moon – the probe had descended on its surface in December 2013.

Mr. Ma Xingrui, became the governor of Guangdong province in 2017. This region is the the fourth most populous province of China (but  unofficially the most populous province) and the richest region of China with the largest GDP, known mainly because of its traditional craft products. Among the most important products are keys, knives, flashlights, umbrellas, leather goods, embroidery and carved mahogany furniture.

The Public Procurement Office of the BUT Rectorate and the Institute of Building Economics and the Management of the Faculty of Civil Engineering organized a two-day training course in March, focusing on the innovative method of awarding contracts and managing the project in general – the Best Value Approach. This method has been developed in the US more than 20 years ago, and has been in the recent years of great interest in the Netherlands and Norway. Gradually, this method is also attempted to implement the Brno University of Technology.

The Best Value Approach (BVA) method is based on a completely different concept of procurement and project management in general. It is based on the assumption that the subject of the contract is best understood by the contractor-expert who executes the orders of the given type for a long time, not the contracting authority, who sometimes orders certain contracts once during its existence. “The BVA method leads the contracting authority to focus on defining the expected result, the goal, not the way the goal is to be achieved when choosing a supplier. This will enable high-quality suppliers to compete against competitors, “said Petr Jelinek, head of the Public Procurement Department at BUT.

The method is generally applicable to all types of contracts, but the most advantageous is especially for service contracts and construction contracts, which include design-and-build design. “At the department, we try to gradually apply the method to smaller construction orders, and we are also preparing an over-the-limit clean-up service contract that we would like to use BVA more,” Jelinek added. Thanks to the new method, vendors could get more space to showcase their experience, know-how and quality. It is precisely up to them how they reach the target.

Petr Jelínek graduated from the BVA last year in the Netherlands and organized a similar course for BUT administrators and their colleagues from Masaryk University, the South Moravian Region, the Ministry of Agriculture and other contracting authorities, in co-operation with AdMaS Director of the Faculty of Civil Engineering, dr. Zdenek Dufek. “The participants gained basic theoretical knowledge and practical skills directly from experienced BVA trainers and practitioners from Best Value Europe. The BVE Director, Susan van Hes, as well as her colleague, Albert Mulder, came to Brno. The construction market in the Czech Republic has not been in good shape for several years, it is struggling with the phenomenon of low bid prices and poor quality results. In the Best Value approach, I see one of the ways to return quality to the industry, “said Dufek.

Best Value Reference:

http://www.bestvalueeurope.com/

On March 16, 2018, in cooperation with partners of the AdMaS Center, a full-day excursion of students of Building Materials Engineering (branch M) took place in the production plants of CETRIS, CIDEMAT and Cement Hranice. Students had a unique opportunity to get acquainted with individual technologies of cement, cement-bonded chipboard, terrazzo and concrete paving.

In the days of 9.1.-10.1.2018 and 14.3.-15.3.2018 there were seminars in the AdMaS area, dedicated to theoretical training and practical laboratory training in the basic training course of the nuclear power plants staff of the ČEZ corporation. The theme focused on the properties of the building materials and the possibilities of their testing, including the use of state-of-the-art methods (including computer tomography, electron scanning microscopy and others).

On March 12, 2018, TV station ČT 1 reported on the closure of the footbridge in Kromeriz in the Evening reports and in the Events in Regions program. The AdMaS team, headed by doc. Klusacek, is working to assess whether the footbridge is safe for use.

Both broadcasts can be seen in the following links:

News ČT1 12. 3. 2018 at 19:00

http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/ivysilani/1097181328-udalosti/218411000100312/obsah/606433-zkoumani-uzavrene-lavky-v-kromerizi

Regional broadcasting ČT1 12. 3. 2018 at 18:00 h.

http: //www.ceskatelevize.cz/ivysilani/10122427178-udalosti-v-regionech-brno/318281381990312-udalosti-v-regionech/obsah/606365-kontrola- closed-lavky

 

 

In February 2018, continued one-day training for employees of the Road and Motorways Directorate, organized by the AdMaS Center in cooperation with C.Q.E. The main topic was the Construction Supervision on the construction of roads. General knowledge was presented by AdMaS employee, prof. Ing. Jan Kudrna, CSc. and Ing. Květoslav Urbanec, MBA, employee of C.Q.E. The whole event, as in the past, has met with big success and a desire of the RHD employees to participate in such training on regular bases.

On 15 February 2018, a profesional seminar with a focus on analytical instruments and material testing took place at the AdMaS Center Pavilion P2. The seminar was organized by LABTECH s.r.o. The event was divided into two sections – Analytical section and Material Testing with a total number of 35 listeners . Within the Analytical section were presented devices and systems from company HIDEN Analytical, within Material testing were presented devices and systems from company MTS, Controls, Schleibinger and Dantec. Between the presentations, a short excursion of the AdMaS Center was carried out in pavilions P1, P2 and Hall H.

At the turn of January and February, a workshop for technical supervisors on site called “Checking and testing the properties of concrete and its components during construction” was held at the AdMaS Center . It dealt with concrete technology and testing its properties. Prof. Hela and dr. Hubacek presented their knowledge of the modern technology of ordinary concrete and informed about the concrete components and special types of concrete applied in specific conditions. Also, part of the program was an assessment of concrete parameters according to the requirements of the standards and the regulations. The issue of testing the properties of fresh and hardened concrete was discussed, including detailed practical examples of individual tests in laboratories.

TV program ČT1 called Events in the regions was on 5 February 2018 devoted to truck traffic around the city of Brno and its associated noise in neighboring municipalities. In the report, employees of Center AdMaS, prof. Hela, doc. Zach, Ing. Nekulová and Mr. Klima were asked to express their opinion and to present the Center’s research on the sound insulation properties of walls and road surfaces.

The report can be viewed on this link (3’10 ”):

http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/ivysilani/10122427178-udalosti-v-regionech-brno/318281381990205-udalosti-v-regionech

 

In the 20th year of the conference for young scientists, JUNIORSTAV, held on January 25, 2018 at FAST, the center visited several young researchers. These were acquainted with the Center’s facilities and key equipments and the most important research here.