New Civil Engineer
20 December 2012
View all stories from this issue.
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Aecom awarded £10.3M contract for Minneapolis Light Rail Transit line
The Metropolitan Council of the Twin Cities has awarded consultant Aecom a $16.8M (£10.3M) contract for preliminary engineering work on the Minneapolis Southwest Light Rail Transit line. -
Aerial images reveal Crossrail progress
New aerial images released by Crossrail give an early glimpse of the major new railway being created across London and the southeast. The images were released as Crossrail outlined its key delivery milestones in 2013 as the project moves into the peak of construction between now and 2015. -
Airport maintenance: A global approach to airport infrastructure
Changes are afoot in the way airport owners maintain their critical assets. It means the next 12 months could be a time of opportunity for those able to offer a fully integrated asset management approach. -
Atlas Copco buys tunnel equipment firm
Construction and mining equipment firm Atlas Copco is to buy Switz-based tunnelling mobile equipment firm Meyco Equipment, the firm announced today. -
Aviation strategy: High time to give airport capacity some uplift
The nation’s air transport industry - and many residents of the southeast of England - will be holding their breath for the next 12 months in anticipation of the Davies Commission’s first report into the UK airport capacity. -
Balfour Beatty acquires US energy storage business
Balfour Beatty has acquired Subsurface Group to expand Parsons Brinckerhoff’s energy storage services business in the USA. -
Balfour Beatty and Skanska win £2.8bn National Grid job
Contractors Balfour Beatty and Skanska-Morrison Utility Services have today won two eight year National Grid contracts worth a combined £2.8bn. -
Balfour Beatty awarded £150M contract to maintain Wiltshire Highways
Balfour Beatty has been awarded a five-year highway maintenance contract worth £150M by Wiltshire Council. -
Balfour Beatty lands £270M Hong Kong tunnel contract
Hong Kong metro operator MTR Corporation has this week awarded contractor Balfour Beatty a £270M contract to construct two new tunnels. -
Balfour Beatty-Skanksa wins £320M M25 managed motorways contract
Contractors Balfour Beatty and Skanska have won a £321M design and build contract to upgrade two sections of the M25 around London for client the Highways Agency today. -
BIM: Constructing a virtual world
In 2011 the UK government introduced a Building Information Modelling (BIM) mandate that hammered home the long-known inefficiencies in the UK construction industry. -
Boris Johnson expands options for new London hub airport
London mayor Boris Johnson this week confirmed that Stansted Airport plus a fourth unnamed site would now be included alongside the existing Thames Hub and Testrad “Boris Island” proposals in his £3M study into the feasibility of a new estuary airport. -
Carl Bass: Why BIM's future is written in the cloud
Software company Autodesk has a grand vision for Building Information Modelling. Its chief executive officer Carl Bass tells Mark Hansford how cloud computing and a different approach to marketing its products will change the way contractors do business. -
Concrete: The rock solid case for precast
It has become almost almost a cliché, but is still true, that the construction industry can learn lessons from manufacturing to streamline and improve the way projects are run. -
Construction equipment: Global work props up UK companies
The tough times of the last few years have taken their toll on everyone, not least those in the temporary works business. But for firms with an international spread there have been bright patches and a chance, and a necessity, to move flexibly in the market. -
Councils invited to bid for share of £170M roads pot
Councils are being invited to apply for a share of the £170M Local Pinch Point Fund to remove bottlenecks on the highway network. -
Councils question government's commitment to SuDS
A survey carried out earlier this month has found that many local authority flood and drainage specialists do not believe the current government is fully committed to implementing sustainable drainage solutions (SuDS). -
Crossrail restarts piling and utilities work after explosion
Crossrail restarted most of its piling and utility diversion work on Monday after an explosion last Wednesday. -
Deepwater Horizon oil spill investigation finishes
Remote operated vehicles (ROV) monitoring the wellhead used for in stricken Deepwater Horizon drilling platform in the USA finally ended operations today after no further leaks where found. -
East Kent coast site gains
Since the 1970s there have been a number of proposals for relocating the UK’s hub airport to the Thames estuary, starting with the Maplin Sands proposal on the Essex shore, and then other sites in the estuary, such as the Isle of Sheppey Marinair proposal in the 1990’s. -
Energy: Nuclear gets ready for new build
After years of discussions, deliberations and plenty of engineering cogitation, it seems that 2013 will see the UK begin its transformation to a low carbon economy. -
Engineers call for more investment in flood defences
ICE South East England has called for more investment in flood defences and maintenance to protect infrastructure, homes and businesses. -
Environment Agency engineers out in force over Christmas and New Year
More than 800 Environment Agency staff have worked over the festive period to reduce the risk of flooding across England and Wales. -
Ferrovial awarded £187M contract with nuclear fusion project
Contractor Ferrovial is part of a consortium chosen to design and build a nuclear fusion research centre in Cadarache, southern France. -
Fugro appointed to undertake survey for US offshore wind development
Fugro Atlantic has been appointed to undertake a geological and geophysical survey for the Virginia Wind Energy Area for the Commonwealth of Virginia in the US. -
Futureproofing cities: Taking a holistic look at tomorrow's city
Widespread city growth in the developing world is a challenge for the infrastructure builders, but an opportunity too for integrated development. -
Goodwin Sands lines up as new hub airport
Marine engineering specialist consultant Beckett Rankine this week set out a new multi-billion pound vision for a high capacity hub airport on the Goodwin Sands 3km off the east Kent coast at Deal. -
Greenford flyover latest London structure to be closed for urgent repairs
The A40 Greenford flyover has been closed over the entire Christmas and New Year period to allow Transport for London engineers to carry out urgent repairs to its expansion joints. -
Growth Market
Contractor Colas is expanding into the booming waste recovery and energy from waste markets. Declan Lynch reports -
High Speed 2: Bigger, faster and better for Britain
There is no doubt that 2013 promises to be one of the most significant years yet for the UK’s high speed rail ambitions, says Doug Oakervee -
Highways Agency starts contractor hunt for accelerated A160/180 road widening job
The Highways Agency has issued a contract notice seeking a contractor to carry out the £81M widening of A160/180 in north Lincolnshire. -
Highways Agency: It's time to stand and deliver
For England’s strategic road network 2013 is a year of rapidly increasing capital investment, says Highways Agency boss Graham Dalton -
Hinkley C planning decision made
Energy firm EdF has received its recommendation for planning approval for its proposed new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point C. -
ICE calls for more reservoirs to capture storm rainfall
The ICE’s water expert Michael Norton has called for the government to adopt “a firm strategy” to harvest excess rainfall, as has been experienced across large swathes of the country over the last month. -
Infrastructure in 2013: special report
NCE offers an industry outlook for home and abroad in our special Infrastructure in 2013 report -
International aid: The need to help others
While first world economies continue to agonise how about getting growth into the economy and overcoming the debt crisis, international aid charity Care will be helping the much more vulnerable population struggling to get life’s basic necessities. -
Introduction: UK plc must win the infrastructure race
As he delivered his latest Autumn Statement, chancellor George Osborne once again highlighted investment in decent modern infrastructure across the UK as central to meeting the challenge of “equipping Britain to compete in the modern global economy”. -
Large parts of England braced for flooding
The Environment Agency warned southern, south western England, south east Wales, the Midlands and the north east of England to be prepared for flooding over the weekend. -
Lend Lease secures £170M construction project in London
Lend Lease has secured a £170M construction contract with Land Securities for two new buildings, The Zig Zag Building and Kings Gate on the site of the former Kingsgate House, in central London. -
Letters: Political expediency is at odds with thoughtful engineering
Antony Oliver asks why it is that, despite reports and recommendations calling for action to mitigate flood threats, so little has changed (NCE 29 November). Surely a large part of the answer is because governments are only elected for five years, and councillors for even less. -
Low carbon construction: Nurturing green practices
The green agenda continues to be talked about and written about with urgency but is it really being taken up at the grass roots level? NCE Graduate of the Year 2011 and member of the Green Construction Board Promotional Working Group Claire Gott discusses the challenges ahead. -
Merry Christmas to all our readers
The NCE editorial team would like to wish all our readers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year. -
MOD shortlists 10 firms for £400M of UK construction projects
Ten contractors have been invited to tender for five places on a new £400M framework agreement to deliver construction projects across the UK Defence estate. -
MPs call for rail industry shake up
The 2020 Transport Select Committee has called for an arms-length body to award rail franchise contracts and warns McNulty’s proposed target to cut £3.5bn could compromise safety, in a new report out last week. -
NCE 2013 Consultants File launched
Consultants have until the end of January to complete their questionnaires for entry in this year’s NCE Consultants File. -
NZ changes quake codes
Debate about whether at risk buildings should be retrofitted or demolished. -
Olympic Legacy: Golden opportunity to make a mark
The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games may have been and gone, but activity on the Olympic Park continues apace and offers good work for contractors. -
Piling completed at Heswall treatment works
Construction of a new stormwater storage tank at Heswall waste water treatment works has reached a milestone with completion of piling work. -
Piling: Some grounds for optimism
Brownfield development, rail and metro systems should help a leaner and meaner piling industry to achieve slow growth during 2013. -
Programme management: Delivering a high performance future
After the incredible success of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games just about the most exportable skill Britain offers today is that of programme management. -
Project finance: The year to deliver infrastructure
Halfway through its term of office, the coalition has suffered two and a half years of stagnant growth and double dip recession. So 2013 is the year that downbeat news must be replaced by signs of growth. And after years of government focus on infrastructure to generate growth, this has big implications for our sector, says Nelson Ogunshakin -
Protestor action stops Bexhill to Hastings link
Anti-roads protestors last week halted work on the £94M Bexhill to Hastings link road in East Sussex. -
Rail: Innovation extends the end of the line
With just over a year remaining of Network Rail’s current budgetary period, the eyes of the industry are starting to focus on what will happen in the next control period, CP5, due to start in 2014. -
Rainfall blamed for Ystalyfera landslide
Heavy rainfall has been blamed for the reactivation of a historic landslide at Pantteg in Ystelyfera, South Wales. -
Roads: Green light for expansion
Roads were the big winner in chancellor George Osborne’s Autumn Statement, with schemes worth £1.5bn winning funding and getting the go-ahead to start construction in the next three years. -
Robert Bittner elected as president of the Deep Foundations Institute
The Deep Foundations Institute (DFI) has announced that Bittner-Shen Consulting Engineers president Robert Bittner has been elected as the organisation’s new president. -
Six firms win work on High Speed 2 phase two design
High Speed 2 (HS2) project promoter HS2 Ltd has named six consultants to work on design frameworks for the second phase of the project. -
Skills: Building a brighter future
The construction industry received a boost this month with chancellor George Osborne’s announcement that there would be further investment in infrastructure. -
Small consultants firms wait 90 days for payment
Research by the Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE) has revealed that consultants with fewer than 50 staff have an average wait of 90 days for their invoices to be paid. -
Sustainable Infrastructure: Giving government confidence to invest
With High Speed 2 in judicial review, plans for the Thames Tideway Tunnel about to go before the Planning Inspectorate and the very future ownership of Britain’s highway network up for debate, the challenge of uniting short-term public need for economic growth with long-term sustainable infrastructure development has never been greater. -
TfL boss knighted in Queen's New Year Honours list
London transport commissioner Peter Hendy heads the list of engineers recognised in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours for 2013, earning a knighthood for services to transport and the community. -
TfL: Driving ahead with better roads for London
I think it is fair to say that 2012 was an incredible year for London’s road network, says Dana Skelley -
Thames Water to use alliancing for AMP6
Thames Water has announced that it intends to use an alliance model for its asset management period six (AMP6) investment programme. -
Trading update shows Costain in strong position
Costain has revealed it has already secured £700M of work for the year ahead, a £50M stronger position than it was in at the same time last year. -
Trevi ready to set new slurry wall record
Trevi has claimed that it is ready to set a new world record in terms of ground engineering by constructing a slurry wall to 250m below ground level, exceeding the previous record by 100m. -
Tunnelling: The world goes underground
The design and construction of tunnels and underground infrastructure is now clearly emerging across the globe as the key to sustainable development as nations wrestle with the demand of growing and increasingly urbanised populations. -
UK firms offered insight into global nuclear opportunities
UK nuclear sector companies are being invited to attend a Civil Nuclear Energy Showcase in London from 5-6 February, being organised by UK Trade & Investment in partnership with the Nuclear Industry Association. -
Vinci and St Modwen join up for £2bn New Covent Garden job
The Covent Garden Market Authority has today signed up contractor Vinci and regeneration experts St Modwen as development partners for the new project. -
Wastewater: Water channels its cash into key assets
Although there are still two years to go before the start of the next asset management plan (AMP) period in the water sector, the industry is already looking ahead to 2015, and eyeing up the prospects for AMP6. -
Water: The importance of connections
For many developers, one of the biggest headaches when it comes to programming a major project is the issue of getting the site connected to the local utility networks once the building or development is complete. -
Where is the work in 2013?
After three years of falling staff numbers, major consultants are now recruiting again, as Margo Cole reports.
