New Civil Engineer
6 September 2012
View all stories from this issue.
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Armitt to address young designers conference
Olympic Delivery Authority chairman Sir John Armitt is to give the keynote address at this year’s annual IStructE/IABSE organised young designers conference to be held this Thursday at UCL in London. -
Balfour Beatty and Costain win £288M nuclear contract
Site operator Magnox has today awarded a £288M framework contract to contractors Balfour Beatty and Costain. -
Business: Taking a leaf out of the Canadians’ order book
Driving up the combined turnover of the newly-merged WSP Genivar from £1.1bn to £1.3bn is the immediate goal of the new firm’s first chairman and former WSP chief executive Chris Cole. He talks exclusively to Mark Hansford. -
Cameron must back up George Osborne’s initiative
Having been banging on in this column for the best part of the last two years about the infrastructure investment being key to economic growth, it is, of course, great to hear chancellor George Osborne talking straight and hard this week about the need to kick start investment in the nation’s vital infrastructure. -
Compensation Culture
In the centre of London, Crossrail project teams are engaged in a major compensation grouting programme. Paul Thompson reports. -
Councils could be stripped of planning powers
The government could strip councils of its planning powers and transfer them to the Planning Inspectorate, under plans revealed yesterday. -
Crossrail officially hands over £1M community project
Crossrail-funded redevelopments of Stepney City Farm were officially opened by local dignitaries on Saturday, marking the completion of Crossrail’s first major community project. -
Decisions over UK’s airport capacity cannot be ducked
There is a certain sense of gloom and dismay that reverberates across the nation whenever David Cameron announces a new independent commission to examine options surrounding any particular controversial policy area. -
Driving Force
Delivering the £14.8bn challenge that is Crossrail will be no mean feat over the next few years but, according to the man charged with overseeing the engineering aspects, having the right team is the key. Claire Symes reports. -
Five year plan to rebuild Christchurch roads and sewers unveiled
New Zealand earthquake minister Gerry Brownlee yesterday revealed a five year plan to rebuild Christchurch’s earthquake-damaged roads and underground services. -
Forth replacement banks its savings
Site testing was needed to prove the alternative design for a Forth Replacement Crossing would work. GE reports. -
Forth Road Bridge is a great place to meet
Civil engineers from the Edinburgh area scaled the Forth Road Bridge to hold a recent committee meeting.The very different venue came about as a result of a rare opportunity for the engineers to visit the top of one of the bridge’s famous towers. -
Gatwick Airport: Ready for take-off
Gatwick Airport is investing heavily to become the airport of choice for airlines and passengers across the world. Mark Hansford meets the driving forces behind its £1.2bn investment programme. -
Graduate Awards: A Prize for life
Compete alongside the best of your peers, says David Hayward, for the chance of winning gold, silver or bronze in NCE’s Graduate Awards. -
Graduate Awards: one week to enter
Graduate civil engineers who fancy a share in £4000 prize money, and a valuable boost to their CVs, have only a week left to enter NCE’s Graduate Awards. -
Green Investment Bank could be delayed
The Green Investment Bank faces lengthy and “disappointing” delays in gaining crucial borrowing powers, according to an Association of Consultancy and Engineering (ACE) report out today. -
ICE: Apply now for R&D assistance
Individuals and organisations looking to apply for a slice of the next £25,000 tranche of ICE funds to help with research and development projects must submit their entries by 1 October. -
Industry concerned about proposed cuts to biomass and solar subsidies
The Renewable Energy Assocation (REA) said today the government’s latest proposals to cut solar and biomass subsidies willl make renewable energy projects “unworkable”. -
Infrastructure investment scheme for pension funds to start in January
Chief secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander said yesterday a “platform” to allow UK pensions funds to invest in infrastructure projects should be set up by January. -
Letters: Why Gem Bridge is worth the expense
Nigel Hopwood’s musings on a low cost alternative solution to engineer a crossing of the steep and heavily vegetated Walkham valley (Letters 23-30 August), is in fact similar to a temporary arrangement constructed by Devon County Council some years ago.Understandably, without a detailed kno -
New campaign to kick start construction industry
Over 900 construction industry leaders have united to spearhead a new campaign to kick start the construction industry amid reports that 160,000 construction workers are claiming Job Seekers’ Allowance. -
New orders for infrastructure work falls
The volume of infrastructure orders in the second quarter of 2012 fell by a hefty 20.4% with the previous quarter, official figures from the Office of National Statistics have revaled. -
New Portsmouth bridge given green light
Major improvements to a major traffic bottleneck in Portsmouth will go ahead thanks to a new £11M grant approved by transport minister Norman Baker today. -
No.23 Newbury bypass
Construction of the Newbury bypass will forever be recalled as the scheme that changed the way engineers think about the environment.What ignited the treetop and tunnel protests was a road scheme with the goal of improving traffic flow on the A34, the main route between the Midlands and the south coast ports of Portsmouth and Southampton. -
Proven design for extra strength
Copying the design of structures that have survived Christchurch’s earthquakes is helping to speed up reconstruction work. GE reports. -
Rail embankment collapse under investigation
An investigation has been launched to find out now only why a rail embankment in Northern Ireland failed but also why the involvement of a train in the incident went unreported for two months. -
Ramboll UK to make 50 redundancies
Consultant Ramboll UK is to make 50 of its 900 strong work force redundant following a downturn in the UK market, NCE has learnt. -
Repairs on London's North Circular after burst water main
Engineers have been working through the night to repair one of London busiest roads following a burst water main yesterday. -
South east airport needs to be reviewed by independent commission
Prime minister David Cameron has announced that an independent commission is to evaluate the options for expanding aviation capacity in the south east. -
Spending watchdog slams Regional Growth Fund
Public Accounts Committee chair Margaret Hodge said it was “scandalous” so few projects have benefitted from the £1.4bn Regional Growth Fund. -
Stornoway onshore wind farm given green light
Scottish energy minister Fergus Ewing has today given the go-ahead for a 130MW onshore wind farm on the Scottish island of Lewis. -
Sustainable Demands
Ground source heating systems help reduce costs while meeting sustainability targets, but adding thermal capacity has implications for pile design, according to Arup geotechnical engineer Paul Bailie. -
Winds of Change
Belfast’s newest port development will be the UK’s first bespoke harbour development for the offshore wind farm market. GE takes a look.
