New Civil Engineer
5 April 2012
View all stories from this issue.
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Aecom reveals outcome of senior level recruitment splurge
US giant Aecom has announced a string of key appointments in its European built environment and infrastructure business following a recruitment push. -
Armitt in line to become ICE President in 2015
The ICE has elected Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) chairman Sir John Armitt to its Presidential team, with a view to him becoming President by 2015. -
At the cutting edge
Slope stability problems are challenging, but gaining access to carry out remedial work is also complex, as recent work on a railway cutting in Surrey proves. -
Black & Veatch named programme manager for £94M earthquake retrofit of northern California dam
The Santa Clara Valley Water District has selected Black & Veatch to lead an urgent seismic retrofit programme for Anderson Dam in northern California. -
Bouygues buys Thomas Vale in UK expansion plan
Bouygues Construction subsidiary Bouygues Bâtiment International has signed an agreement to acquire Midlands construction firm the Thomas Vale Group. -
Coackley praises Ground Zero reconstruction
ICE president Richard Coackley praised those involved in the reconstruction of New York’s World Trade Center at a conference in Manhattan last week. -
Confirmed: Arup, Atkins, Motts and Capita win High Speed 2 civils contracts
Scheme promoter High Speed 2 Ltd has just confirmed that consultants Arup, Atkins, Mott MacDonald and Capita Symonds have won the remaining four civil and structural design contracts worth £49M in total. -
Construction skills crisis forces Canada to relax immigration rules
Canada’s citizenship and immigration minister Jason Kenney has announced plans to make it easier for skilled tradesmen to immigrate to Canada in a bid to tackle escalating labour shortages. -
Consultants File: Halcrow staff cuts hit over 1,000
Embattled consultant Halcrow cut staff numbers by over 1,000 and saw its fee earnings fall 16% in the last year, according to exclusive figures revealed by NCE’s Consultants File published this week. -
Consultants File: Overseas work is now more valuable than domestic jobs
Income from overseas work is becoming increasingly important to the UK consultancy sector, according to exclusive research by NCE. -
Councils told how to fix potholes
Local authorities across England have been given advice on how to tackle the problem of potholes on their roads. -
Cracks found in key Olympic Road Network bridge
Urgent inspections were taking place this week to work out how to repair cracks on a crucial M4 motorway structure in London in time for the Olympic Games. -
Crossrail team signs up to CARE Construction Challenge
A team from London’s £14.5bn Crossrail mega project are the latest to sign up for the CARE Construction Challenge supported by NCE and Ground Engineering. -
Crown Estate takes on new head of offshore wind
The Crown Estate has appointed Huub den Rooijen as head of offshore wind in a new role created as the organisation moves into the delivery phase of its £75bn Round 3 programme. -
Drilling rig moves in to start work on Gwynt y Môr wind farm
LDD has announced that its most powerful pile top reverse circulation drilling rig has been delivered to Birkenhead ready to start work on installing foundations for the Gwynt y Môr wind farm. -
Emirates Air Line project hits key engineering milestone
Construction of the Emirates Air Line has reached a major milestone with the completion of all three towers and the installation of a 1.1km long stretch of steel cable across the River Thames in East London. -
Environment Agency warns drought could continue into 2013
The Environment Agency yesterday warned that the drought affecting parts of England could last beyond Christmas, as it revealed that 17 counties in the South West and Midlands had joined the South East, East Anglia and parts of Yorkshire as suffering from drought. -
Environment Agency warns of risk of flooding despite continued drought
Drought conditions being experienced across large parts of England and Wales could increase the risk of flash flooding, the Environment Agency has warned. -
European Commission considers ban on non-EU contractors
Foreign contractors will be excluded from tendering for European projects where European suppliers get no reciprocal access to the contractors’ home market under bold plans unveiled by the European Commission. -
Flying the flag for EC7
After a year of evolution studies for Eurocode 7, the group studying the use of numerical methods has made good progress. Andrew Lees reports. -
Geotechnical: Recovery vehicle
For geotechnical engineers the energy sector is offering up particularly exciting new challenges. Mark Hansford talks to Atkins managing director of ground engineering David French. -
Geotechnical: Streatham Hub
With leisure facilities, supermarket, apartments and transport interchange, the Streatham Hub is certainly cramming a lot into one area and is calling on some complex geotechnics. Claire Symes reports. -
Government proposes more stringent shale gas fracking procedures
The Department for Energy and Climate Change (Decc) has released for consultation today an independent report that recommends stricter controls and procedures for developers extracting shale gas in the UK. -
Government resurrects £1bn carbon capture and storage competition
The government yesterday revealed it intends to resurrect its £1bn carbon capture and storage (CCS) competition, just a few months after £1bn from a first failed attempt at promoting the technology was reallocated to other infrastructure schemes by the Treasury. -
Government says UK firms could assist Fukushima clean up
The UK and Japan today agreed a Framework on Civil Nuclear Cooperation, providing the basis for UK companies to engage in multi-billion pound decommissioning opportunities in Japan. -
Happy campus
University of York’s new campus may appear to be a normal development, but the roads have a hidden secret that will help prevent flooding. Claire Symes reports. -
High Speed 2: Johnson details objection to link with High Speed 1
London mayor Boris Johnson’s objection to the proposed connection between High Speed 1 and 2 has been confirmed in a question time answer. -
Hosepipe ban comes into force in much of south and south east England
Hosepipe bans were formally introduced late last week in an attempt to preserve water supplies in parts of south and south east England. -
Hyder boasts increased order book of £350M
Hyder Consulting has revealed that it expects to announce an order book of £350M in results for the year ending 31 March. -
Hyder reveals ‘aggressive’ Saudi expansion plans
Hyder Consulting has unveiled plans to “aggressively” expand into Saudi Arabia by opening a new Saudi-registered engineering design business. -
ICE gives cautious welcome to new planning proposals
ICE director general Nick Baveystock last week welcomed the government’s drastically scaled down national planning framework but warned that its localism agenda must not obstruct efficient infrastructure delivery. -
In the final analysis
Finite element analysis is helping geotechnical design to move away from empirical approaches, but experts warn that geotechnical knowledge is still essential no matter how powerful software becomes. Claire Symes reports. -
Installation of Hammersmith flyover's new cables set to begin
Amey is to begin installing the new tensioning cables inside Hammersmith flyover next week, as part of its ongoing work to fully reopen the structure to all traffic. -
Kidnapped Skanska workers freed in Peru
The Peruvian government has rescued 36 construction workers kidnapped by rebels last Monday in Kepashiato, a town near the city of Cusco. -
Last chance to enter British Construction Industry Awards
While the Project Categories for the BCI Awards 2012 have now closed for entries, six new categories are still accepting entries. -
Letters: Heathrow’s issues join the queue
Heathrow Airport, aircraft queuing for take off.Mike King is quite right when he says Manchester airport has the same runway capacity as Heathrow (NCE 22 March). However, an airport becomes a hub not because of its facilities but because it meets the requirement of a global airline, in -
Midlands could supply water to drought hit East Anglia
A plan to flow water from the Midlands into the drought-hit East of England is being considered by water company bosses at Severn Trent and Anglian Water. -
NCE 05.04.12 Water Challenge
How do you provide a week’s water storage in a nation with little rainfall and no rivers? Qatar has the answer -
Network Rail fined £4M for Grayrigg train derailment
Network Rail has been fined £4M and ordered to pay costs of £118,052 for health and safety failings that led to a train derailment near Grayrigg, Cumbria in 2007, that caused the death of one passenger and injured 86 people. -
Network Rail infrastructure projects business launches
Changes to the way Network Rail delivers infrastructure projects worth £2bn a year come into force yesterday – part of a wider programme of reforms at the company that aim to encourage competition and drive down costs. -
No.10 Hillsborough disaster
If ever an argument for the value of an engineer’s advice was needed, the tragic events of April 15 1989 provided it. -
Our future prosperity is in need of a clear, bold vision
The 2012 NCE Consultants File is included with this week’s issue. It shows that, while the UK civil engineering market remains tough, we are at last seeing an optimistic view of the future. -
Parsons Brinckerhoff/Arup win detailed design job for Australia's Pacific Highway
A Parsons Brinckerhoff/Arup joint venture has been selected to complete the detailed design work on the upgrade and duplication of the Pacific Highway between Woolgoolga and Glenugie, the firms announced today. -
Plans for unconventional Buro Happold-designed tower unveiled in Vancouver
A collection of American and European architects and design houses have unveiled plans for a 150m tall signature tower for the Canadian city of Vancouver. -
Plans to tackle Sellafield plutonium stockpile move step closer
Engineering giant GE Hitachi’s plans to re-use the UK’s legacy plutonium stockpile for a new nuclear power station in Sellafield in West Cumbria moved a step closer this week as the firm signed an agreement with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). -
Poole's Twin Sails Bridge opens at last
Poole’s iconic Twin Sails lift bridge is now open to traffic after contractors fixed problems with the road surfacing. -
Procurement for multimillion pound A77 and A75 schemes begins
Contractors are being offered the opportunity to bid for two major roads projects in south Scotland. -
Qatar: Back up water programme
Consultant Hyder has won the enviable right to design and manage construction of 46 of the biggest service reservoirs ever built in the world. Mark Hansford went to Doha to find out more. -
Scrapping Tube Lines will save £1.6bn says Johnson
Transport for London (TfL) will save £1.6bn from the decision to buy-out Tube Lines’ PPP contract, London mayor Boris Johnson has revealed. -
Six of the best
Competition to take the title of Young Geotechnical Engineer at this year’s GE Awards is tough. Claire Symes spoke to the six finalists to find out what makes them the cream of the crop. -
Soil Engineering transfers to Bachy Soletanche
Vinci Construction UK is to this month transfer its site investigation and grouting firm Soil Engineering to Bachy Soletanche, the UK geotechnical arm of parent firm Vinci’s Soletanche Freyssinet. -
Surrey County Council transport boss calls for more trains
Surrey County Council transport boss John Furey has written to transport secretary Justine Greening urging her to improve rail services in the county. -
Sustainable solution for Yorkshire wind farm
Balfour Beatty Ground Engineering’s piling work on the new Ridge Wind Farm in Yorkshire will help deliver sustainable power but the foundation design is also helping to boost the sustainability of the scheme. -
UK’s energy future in chaos after Horizon fails
German energy giants Eon and RWE ditch plans for new nuclear build joint venture. -
Vinci's operating profit drops 22%
Contractor Vinci saw its operating profit fall from £28.4M to £22.3M (before exceptional items) in 2011, a drop of almost 22%, it said last week. -
Volvo in list of best companies to work for
Machinery supplier Volvo Construction Equipment’s UK operationhas been ranked 46th in this year’s Sunday Times 100 Best Companies To Work For. -
Wales rolls out civil engineering campaign
Civils projects in Wales are to carry banners and signboards with the words “This is civil engineering” as part of a campaign to raise awareness of the work of engineers. -
Work begins on Crossrail's Heathrow link
Work has begun on the Stockley Interchange in west London, a crucial part of the Crossrail network that will allow Crossrail services to operate to and from Heathrow.
