New Civil Engineer
23 February 2012
View all stories from this issue.
-
‘Bad projects not bad project managers’ lead to cost overruns on public projects
Government decisions to go ahead with badly put together projects and not poor project management are to blame for cost escalation on major infrastructure schemes, a senior construction client has warned. -
AD network to generate 100MW of electricity backed by Prince of Wales and Sainsbury's
A new company has been launched to develop a network of more than 40 anaerobic digestion (AD) plants to generate 100MW of electricity during the next five years. -
Atkins/Skanska joint venture claims first £400M Asset Support Contract
The Highways Agency has awarded the first of its new Asset Support Contracts (ASC) to an Atkins Skanska joint venture. -
Bright, portable, cordless and rechargeable lights for all working environments
Schuberth KSE has introduced its latest range of CREE LED cap lamps and torches. -
Civil engineers publish London manifesto
ICE London is today calling on the London Mayoral candidates to put continued investment in the capital’s energy, transport, waste and water systems at the centre of their agendas. -
Civils courses beat the decline
Civil engineering appears to have bucked the trend of declining university courses, according to a report by the University and College Union. -
Crossrail will only be fully operational in late 2019, say bosses
Crossrail bosses yesterday confirmed that full services on the new railway would only beginning running in late 2019. -
Drought summit stops short of recommending dramatic measures to save water
Water metering must be introduced across the UK if the spectre of annual droughts is to be avoided, the ICE has warned. -
Dutch consultants Royal Haskoning and DHV to merge
Dutch consultants DHV and Royal Haskoning are to merge, creating a £590M turnover, 8,000-strong firm with more than 100 offices in over 35 countries. -
EdF and Hinkley council row over planning costs
Sedgemoor District Council and energy giant EdF were this week urgently trying to settle a row that threatens to derail the planning application for the new Hinkley Point C nuclear power station. -
Final four in Crossrail Custom House bid revealed
Crossrail has revealed a shortlist of four bidders for the C520 Custom House station contract in east London worth around £35M. -
Fugro fined following Crossrail cable strike
Geotechnical firm Fugro has been fined £55,000 after one of its employees suffered life-threatening burns in a cable strike during ground investigations for Crossrail. -
Hammersmith flyover: returning to full strength
Since the Hammersmith Flyover was dramatically closed two months ago, engineers have been busy working out how to enable its reopening to full traffic loading before this summer’s Olympics. -
Heathrow Terminal 2 tops out
Construction of Heathrow Airport’s new Terminal 2 passes a major construction milestone today with a topping out ceremony to mark the end of major structural work. -
Hochtief commissions construction of new special-purpose vessel for offshore wind farm installation
German contracting giant Hochtief has commissioned the construction of a further heavy-lift jack-up vessel from the Crist shipyard in Poland for the installation of offshore wind farms. -
Investigation underway into World Trade Center crane malfunction
Investigators were this week trying to establish what caused the failure of a cable crane that led to three steel beams plummeting 40 storeys at the World Trade Center (WTC) construction site in New York -
It is about time our water bills reflected amounts used
Thames Water’s chief executive Martin Baggs made me a very happy man last week with a surprise gift, out of the blue, of my very own water meter. -
JCB launch: Global market grab
Equipment manufacturer JCB has made upgrades to a wide range of its machines to meet the demands of a growing international market, as Margo Cole reports from Spain. -
Keeping on top of the boom
Is growth or productivity the challenge, asks Stuart Smith of Bourton Group. -
Keller merges UK business into wider EMEA group
Geotechnical firm Keller has merged its UK business with its operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) to form a new division in a bid to operate more efficiently, it has emerged. -
Kier expects 'difficult' UK construction market
Contractor Kier said that it expects a “difficult” UK construction market over the next year despite seeing a 9% rise in its pre-tax profits, according its 2011 results to the end of December released today. -
Letters: Can engineers measure up?
In his ICE/Halcrow Sustainability Lecture, Prince Charles queried the modern relevance - and implications - of Thomas Tredgold’s definition of civil engineering in the Institution’s 1828 Charter, and urged us to bring it into the 21st century. (NCE 9-16 February).He is right. Perhaps I could point out that I offered su -
Mersey Gateway bridge drops double-deck to help save £30M
Mersey Gateway scheme promoter Halton Borough Council is dropping plans for a double-deck for its bridge between Runcorn and Widnes in north west England in a cost saving exercise, its project chief told NCE this week. -
MPs call for fairer transport spending in the regions
The government must ensure that transport spending is fairly allocated across the nation, a report by the House of Commons transport select committee has said. -
NDA continues to seek alternatives for Mox fuel
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has announced it continues to seek alternatives for managing the UK’s plutonium stockpile this week. -
Network Rail architectural drawings archive goes live
Network Rail has published a new online archive that shows historic images of the original architectural drawings of the Forth Bridge, Paddington station and other iconic railway structures. -
Network Rail considers wider use of tram-train technology
Network Rail is to look at rolling out the use of tram-train technology as part of its drive to cut costs. -
No.5 Wembley Stadium handover
Wembley Stadium’s iconic arch is now a familiar sight to Londoners and football fans alike. But engineers will not have forgotten the delays, cost overruns and legal battles that made this project truly memorable. -
No.6 Mont Blanc Tunnel fire
Tunnel designers and operators across the globe got a wake-up call in April 1999 when a lorry fire wreaked havoc in the 11.6km, single bore Mont Blanc road tunnel which links France and Italy. -
Osborne’s 2012 Budget must translate infrastructure pledges into action, says CBI
Business lobby group the CBI has called on chancellor George Osborne to use his 21 March Budget to implement plans to get pension funds to invest in infrastructure. -
Sensors trigger closure of A83 ahead of landslide
Tilt meters installed on an unstable section of the A83 Rest and Be Thankful route triggered an alarm and led to closure of the road ahead of a landslide event yesterday. -
TfL work on river services 'half hearted'
London’s river services need attention if London mayor Boris Johnson is to realise his ambition to see passenger journeys on the Thames hit 12M a year. -
Troubled Battersea Power station for sale
Battersea Power station has been put up for sale on the open market in a package that includes an estimated £200M contribution to the Northern Line Extension. -
Tube to reward failed bidders if cost saving ideas taken on
London Underground (LUL) is to pioneer a new version of the popular early contractor involvement contract on its mega £500M Bank station remodelling contract, NCE has learned. -
Turner & Townsend brought in to revive Sydney Metro
Cost consultant Turner & Townsend has been brought in by Australia’s New South Wales government to help it revive plans for a light rail network in Sydney city centre. -
UK is 'open for business' to foreign investors, says infrastructure boss
Treasury body Infrastructure UK (IUK) chief executive yesterday proclaimed the UK to be open for business and said he wanted to attract infrastructure investment from abroad, as well as from UK sources such as pension funds. -
World's tallest tower gets go ahead in Saudi
The Saudi Arabian government has this week given the go-ahead for construction for the Kingdom Tower in Jeddah which will rise to a height of over 1km making it the world’s tallest. -
WSP blames fall in highways work for dip in UK staff numbers
Consultant WSP has confirmed that staff numbers in the UK fell by 275 last year, largely due to enforced redundancies in its highways business.
