Civils 2008 is the Major Projects show

12 September, 2008

Celebrating its 10th successful year, Civils 2008 will be the premier event in the UK civil engineering calendar and takes place from 18 to 20 November at Earls Court 2, London. Civil engineering projects with a value exceeding £30bn are being showcased by clients exhibiting at Civils.

New this year at Civils is the show’s emphasis on major projects exhibitors like Crossrail, the Highways Agency, BAA, Sellafield, Magnox and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

All of these are prominent exhibitors on the show floor. Crossrail alone is expected to cost about £16bn at today’s prices, making it Europe’s largest civil engineering project.

“Infrastructure prospects are currently more positive than they have been for some time,” says construction information service Emap Glenigan economics director Allan Wilén. “The sector promises to be a construction bright spot amid concerns over the impact of the credit crunch upon private housing and commercial work.

“Glenigan recorded a 25% jump in the value of projects starting on site during the first half of this year and we expect the flow of work to remain firm over the next twelve months.”

As civil engineering goes from strength to strength in the UK, no other event brings together the whole industry in one place, offering unparalleled opportunities to network and learn among all of the sector’s leading stakeholders.

Every aspect of the civil engineering industry is represented – from major clients through to a range of top quality contractors and consultants.

In addition to the major project exhibitors, consultants like Gifford and Mouchel will also be at the show, as will major contracting companies like Dean & Dyball, Norwest Holst, Morgan Est and Vinci.

Appearing among the wealth of suppliers and service provider exhibitors are names like ACO Technologies, Autodesk, Celsa Steel, Hanson Formpave, Kosran, Helical Systems, Roger Bullivant, Tarmac and Wassara.

Running alongside the exhibition will be the Civils 2008 Forum with a programme of breakfast briefings, panel debates, keynote addresses, presentations by major project clients and interviews with leading establishment and government figures.

Each day the Forum will take a different theme: Cities, Living and Regeneration on day one, Transport and Infrastructure on day two and Energy and Environment on day three. Prominent industry speakers include BAA group construction director Andrew Wolstenholme, Cross London Rail Links managing director – Bill, Keith Berryman and Magnox South chief engineer Steve Hodson.

Forum topics will be thought provoking, challenging and controversial and debates will cover subjects such as short haul flights versus long haul rail or nuclear versus renewable versus carbon capture.

There will be honest appraisals of the civil engineering sector from politicians, bankers and the media in the View From series. Interviews with senior policy makers and strategists will be insightful and entertaining making the Civils Forum the thought leadership event of 2008. Everyone from the industry is invited to come along and join in the debate.

Civils is the perfect place for resources-challenged clients, consultants, contractors and suppliers to connect, engage and then work together to deliver these important projects.

Major project clients at Civils 2008

Crossrail

Due to be the largest engineering project in Europe, costed at about £16bn at today’s prices, Civils major project exhibitor Crossrail will create a brand new network of rail services linking areas to the west and east of London.

Planned to have its first trains operational by 2017, Crossrail will create thousands of construction jobs while also upgrading the cross-London transport infrastructure.

The heart of the project is construction of a new tunnelled route across London with seven new underground stations at Paddington, Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon, Liverpool Street, Whitechapel and the Isle of Dogs (Canary Wharf).

Crossrail also includes an option to serve Heathrow Airport, which will continue to see major redevelopment after this year’s completion of the new Terminal 5.

BAA

BAA will also showcase its latest plans for the Heathrow East Terminal at Civils. Visitors to the BAA stand will be able to speak to staff about the construction project for this new terminal, which is due to be built over the next five years and forms part of Heathrow’s £4bn capital investment programme.

Phil Wilbraham, programme director for the Heathrow Eastern Campus Programme says: “Heathrow Eastern Campus is a great programme of work that will help transform Heathrow for airlines and passengers.

“We're still in the early stages of the development, so we look forward to Civils 2008 as an opportunity to explain to the industry what we're up to.”

Highways Agency

While investment in rail as well as air continues, the Highways Agency has an annual budget of £6bn for maintaining and improving the country’s road network.

Among all its current developments, the placing of an M25 contract, which includes adding capacity to about 100km of motorway, is the largest PFI road contract in the UK. The Agency is also entering a new phase as it uses active traffic management technology to increase capacity on the motorway network.

Sellafield

The nuclear industry is already investing heavily in safe decommissioning of the country’s ageing nuclear power stations. Civils major project exhibitor Sellafield on the West Cumbrian coast has been a key part of the nuclear industry for more than five decades.

Nuclear Decommissioning Authority

Following the Energy Act 2004 and the formation of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), the emphasis of the site changed with activities refocusing on remediation, decommissioning, hazard reduction and cleaning-up the historic legacy.

With a lifetime cost of over £42bn Sellafield’s Nuclear Decommissioning and Major Projects Group portfolio is one of the largest and most diverse in the world today. The Major Projects arm of the group is responsible for new build projects that will enable management of ongoing site remediation and decommissioning.

Magnox

Also at Civils is Magnox Electric, which manages day-to-day operations across two regions of UK nuclear reactor sites – Magnox North and Magnox South – on behalf of the NDA. Magnox North generates electricity at Oldbury in Gloucestershire, Wylfa on the Isle of Anglesey and Maentwrog in North Wales and de-fuelling and decommissioning former generating power stations at Chapelcross in Dumfriesshire, Hunterston A in Ayrshire and Trawsfynydd in North Wales. Magnox South’s operations include the de-fuelling and decommissioning the historic Magnox power stations at Dungeness A in Kent, Sizewell A in Suffolk, Berkeley in Gloucestershire, Bradwell in Essex and Hinkley Point A in Somerset.

For more details on Civils 2008 and to register to attend for free visit www.civils.com, where you can also sign up to receive free e-bulletins featuring regular show updates and the latest exhibitor news.