The East Midlands Institute of Civil Engineering, or ICE were involved in the Civil Engineering Merit Awards this year. The event took place at the Belfry, Nottingham on the 9th of June. The awards at the black tie event were presented by the ICE President for 2016-17, Tim Broyd. The
RWE and Engie are considering an alliance which would see RWE swap a stake in its renewables and grids spin-off Innogy for a minority interest in Engie, Reuters has reported. The utilities have discussed possible deals with advisors and bankers although there are no active talks between senior executives, according
Targeted support for vulnerable customers is right, says trade body – “The energy industry stands ready to work with the next government to help deliver an energy system that works for everyone,” Energy UK’s chef executive has claimed. Responding to the publication of the Conservative manifesto last week, Lawrence Slade
Worcester City Council has announced a £10.5 million pool extension. This work at the Perdiswell Leisure Centre will form part of a nationwide strategy to give support to facilities in the right areas that will encourage more people to take part in sport. This new project will create a state
The dynamic maintenance, refurbishment and new build contractor, Novus Property Solutions has been helping to connect two parts of a site at the Royal Stoke University Hospital. The work included repairs to the elevated walkway. The repair project was over a busy road on the site and is important to
Civils contractors today warned that the infrastructure sector – a key driver of growth in the UK economy – is at risk of stagnation on the eve of the General Election. A report published today by the Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) found that order books in firstquarter of 2017
Keltbray has added LED lights to road rail vehicles (RRV) to mark out exclusion zones during night working. Keltbray Rail Plant has borrowed the idea from the highways industry, where lights have been used for some time to create exclusion zone areas around equipment. But it is believed to be
The recently awarded Infrastructure Architect of the year 2017 has revealed that they are a part of the AECOM-led team that will offer design services for the third and newest crossing of the Menai Strait. The contract has been given by the Welsh Government and Richards, Moorehead & Laing the
Specialist ground engineering and soil stabilisation company Deep Soil Mixing Ltd has successfully completed a soil stabilisation project in Runcorn, Cheshire, for client Wildgoose Construction Ltd using the innovative Cutter Soil Mixer. Deep Soil Mixing Ltd introduced the Cutter Soil Mixer to the UK when the company worked on the
It has been suggested that costs can be reduced for infrastructure projects by reducing the use of carbon. For best results the decision to reduce carbon needs to be made at the start of the projects. The President and CEO of Skanska UK, Mike Putman has said that in order
The East Midlands Institute of Civil Engineering, or ICE were involved in the Civil Engineering Merit Awards this year. The event took place at the Belfry, Nottingham on the 9th of June. The awards at the black tie event were presented by the ICE President for 2016-17, Tim Broyd. The event was attended by more than 300 guests. The Civil Engineering Merit Awards looks to recognise and celebrate both excellence and innovation shown within the civil engineering sector in the East Midlands region and beyond. The awards ceremony is thought to be the main occasion for ICE to to draw attention to the benefits offered by the civil engineering society as well as showcasing the award winners and other innovations in the industry. Thirty-Two projects that were dotted across counties in the East Midlands and several projects that were located in the South West and South East of the country competed for the prestigious accolades. The entries this year were judged by a panel that consisted of experienced civil engineers and members of ICE’s East Midlands Graduates & Students Committee. The panel of judges was chaired by the ICE East Midlands Chair, Ray Dickinson. Each of the projects that entered the awards could be entered for up to three categories. The categories that are available as a part of the awards program were: Large Projects that have a value greater than £10 million; Medium sized projects valuing from £750,000 to £10 Million; Small Projects that were less than £750,000; Team Achievement and Studies & Research. The awards for each of the listed categories were either a Commended or Highly Commended. Another Award on the night was the William Kemp Award which is awarded to someone who has managed to consistently give a significant contribution to the civil engineering sector in the East Midlands throughout their career. Although the Awards take place annually, the William Kemp Award is not given every year, rather it is given in order to truly highlight the contribution that is given by the individual.
RWE and Engie are considering an alliance which would see RWE swap a stake in its renewables and grids spin-off Innogy for a minority interest in Engie, Reuters has reported. The utilities have discussed possible deals with advisors and bankers although there are no active talks between senior executives, according to four unnamed banking sources quoted by the news agency. The sources said a marriage between the European energy giants would not take place before the German elections in September. However, one went on to say that because no plants would be closed as part of a deal, it could otherwise proceed very swiftly. “There are indeed talks ongoing, but that does not mean they will succeed,” said another source from the French government. Innogy debuted on the Frankfurt stock exchange in October 2016, after the grids and renewables business was spun-off from of the rest of RWE. At the time of publication, the new company had a market capitalisation of €19.8 billion. RWE owns a 76.8 per cent stake in Innogy worth €15.2 billion. However, RWE is itself valued at just €10.7 billion, suggesting that the conventional generation operations which it retained following the separation are viewed as a liability by stock market investors, Reuters surmised. One deal being considered would involve RWE trading either some or all its interest in Innogy for a minority stake in Engie. A banker told the news outlet that a share swap could see RWE take ownership of up to one third in the new Franco-German group. The French government owns a 28.65 per cent share in Engie and the company is currently valued at €32.9 billion. Any agreement would need to ensure a balance between of power between the French government and RWE, the sources said. RWE and Engie and Innogy all declined to comment on the story, although a spokesman for Engie reiterated comments made by the company’s chief executive Isabelle Kocher, who in March denied reports from Bloomberg that her company had plans to take shares in Innogy.
Targeted support for vulnerable customers is right, says trade body – “The energy industry stands ready to work with the next government to help deliver an energy system that works for everyone,” Energy UK’s chef executive has claimed. Responding to the publication of the Conservative manifesto last week, Lawrence Slade welcomed wording which suggests the party’s threatened energy price cap will be limited to specific customer groups. “Targeting support for vulnerable customers and making sure the market works fairly for everyone are the right priorities, and the industry is absolutely committed to working with government and the regulator to achieve this,” he said. Prior to the publication of its manifesto, senior Conservative had suggested that price regulation in the domestic energy market would extend to 17 million consumers and result in a £100 annual saving per household. The manifesto commitment was considerably softer however, pledging to “introduce a safeguard tariff cap that will extend the price protection currently in place for some vulnerable customers to more customers on the poorest value”. For other consumers, the Conservatives will “maintain the competitive element of the retail energy market by supporting initiatives to make the switching process easier and more reliable”. Energy UK’s relief at the toning down of threatened market interventions was reflected at many energy supply firms, though one big six executive told Utility Week they were concerned by the implications of plans to extend a price cap to microbusiness customers. With regards to other energy commitments in the manifesto Energy UK urged a Conservative government to be swift in carrying out a promised review of energy costs in order to “provide policy clarity to the investment community”. It also pleaded for “an honest debate around the costs of decarbonisation, tackling fuel poverty, how to target support for the vulnerable and deliver security of supply – and how these are to be paid for.” The trade body acknowledged a willingness in the manifesto to countenance onshore wind development in the Scottish isles, but said it would like to see a Conservative government look “wider and further” to open up onshore wind opportunities. Energy UK has previously lobbied for a change to Tory opposition of onshore wind development, pointing to its strong cost competitveness in comparison to other renewable technolgies.
Worcester City Council has announced a £10.5 million pool extension. This work at the Perdiswell Leisure Centre will form part of a nationwide strategy to give support to facilities in the right areas that will encourage more people to take part in sport. This new project will create a state of the art swimming pool that will be up to competition standards and will also become a strategically placed venue that will help with the development of the sport for a number of years. The swimming pool will be extended and open at some point this year, and the project has been paid for in part by Sport England and their Strategic Facilities Fund. When the pool is open it will offer an eight lane swimming pool that measures 25m x 18m. Also constructed as part of the project is a 18m x 10m learner pool that is equipped with a moveable floor. Overlooking the pool area there will also be seating for a capacity of 250 spectators. The construction is being completed using innovative building techniques in order to ensure that the pool is at the highest standard possible and to make sure it is an asset to the swimming community for years to come. Carrying out the work on the new pool facilities is Speller Metcalfe, and the roofing on the project is being created by Britannia Site Solutions. The roof will be constructed with a 2,300m² Protan EX-A 1.5mm single ply polymer membrane that will be adhered to the roof decks that will be made out of concrete and aluminum. The roof element of this project is complex in comparison to the other features of the project because there are a number of different aspects to take in to consideration. There are a number of different penetrations in the roof and also other detailing to allow for the ducting systems to be installed. There are also a number of construction substrates to be considered and impact the chemically treated water of the pools could have on the roofing.
The dynamic maintenance, refurbishment and new build contractor, Novus Property Solutions has been helping to connect two parts of a site at the Royal Stoke University Hospital. The work included repairs to the elevated walkway. The repair project was over a busy road on the site and is important to connect the Clinical Education Centre and the Lyme Building. The area of the University Hospitals of North Midlands hospital was busy and well used but rusting and in need of repair. Novus started work on the project to repair the bridge in October 2016. Because of its location, the bridge needed a fully encapsulated scaffold unit that offered a safe plane for the Novus team to work as well as protecting the general public while the work was being carried out. The team also had to take in to consideration the busy road and impact on the traffic while the work to repair the bridge was ongoing. A comprehensive road and traffic plan had to be implemented on the site with a pedestrian diversion throughout the project. The three months of work started with the removal of the lighting on the bridge. The light fittings were sent away in order to be refurbished and installed with new LED lighting. The structure was not originally built to be painted, but since the rust was so extensive it was decided that the structure was to be repainted in order to protect it and prevent any further decay. This repainting happened after the repair works were carried out and a high performance anti-corrosion paint was selected with a blue satin finish. The paint came from RUST-OLEUM and is designed to offer long-lasting protection against C4 classed corrosion. The walkway surface also needed some repairing and it was blasted to clean it before it was treated with a highly durable anti-slip product to finish. The work to the bridge was finished in January 2017 and will allow staff and visitors to keep using the bridge for a long time.
Civils contractors today warned that the infrastructure sector – a key driver of growth in the UK economy – is at risk of stagnation on the eve of the General Election. A report published today by the Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) found that order books in firstquarter of 2017 fell for the first time in four years. CECA’s Workload Trends Survey found that 9 per cent of firms, on balance, reported decreasing order books. Just 5per cent of firms expect workloads to increase in the next twelve months, the lowest percentage expecting higherworkloads since 2013 Q1. In the same quarter growth in actual work on the ground fell from 11% to 8%, on balance. Commenting, CECA Director of External Affairs Marie-Claude Hemming said: “These results are extremely concerning. “They show that not only is the rate of growth in infrastructure workloads currently sluggish, but that order books have moved into the red, indicating that the sector is at real risk of stagnation. “Unless action is taken, our sector runs the risk of falling into a recession at exactly the time that we need it to be driving growth in the economy. “As the country prepares to go to the polls next month, we call on all parties to commit to the projects outlined in the National Infrastructure Delivery Plan, and ensure steps are taken to boost investment in all regions of England, Scotland and Wales. Key driver of economic growth. “Failure to act could undermine the sector’s ability to deliver. This will imperil the British economy at the very time we need this key driver of economic growth to secure the future of the UK.”
Keltbray has added LED lights to road rail vehicles (RRV) to mark out exclusion zones during night working. Keltbray Rail Plant has borrowed the idea from the highways industry, where lights have been used for some time to create exclusion zone areas around equipment. But it is believed to be a first for the rail sector. Keltbray Rail Plant undertakes much of its work at night; exclusions zones can be difficult to maintain and installing physical barriers is not always possible. The light system solves this. Its fleet of 14 Colmar RRVs is being fitted with high-intensity blue lights. Shining onto the ground, they are directed to mark out illuminated exclusion zones required around the machinery for safe operations. The solution was devised by Keltbray Rail Plant’s piling delivery manager, Grant Fieldhouse, in partnership with Network Rail’s construction manager, Justin Owens, for working on the Great Western line in Wales. Paul Murphy, Keltbray Rail’s operations director rail for Wales and Western, explained: “Where we operate heavy duty machinery, it is important to use clear safety signage to make people aware of dangerous equipment and the risk moving plant can pose to even the most experienced operatives. As we often work at night, signage is not always visible, and so we have adopted lighting to help operatives visualise the exclusion zone and reduce the risk of accidents. “Grant and Justin had to find lights that have high vibration resistance to minimise downtime and the risk of lighting failure, and eventually found these in the USA, where they have been developed to protect factory staff working near moving forklifts. As a UK first, we have now fitted them to a Colmar T10000 heavy lifter RRV, which is working for Network Rail on piling works associated with electrification of the Great Western railway in Wales. ‘RRV are proving very effective’. “These lights create exclusion zones of 10 metres to the side, back and front of the RRV are proving very effective. We are communicating this initiative through the on-site task and POS briefings and will be introducing this into all training plans for operators and staff.” These high-intensity blue LED lights will now be extended to all the other RRV in Keltbray Rail Plant’s Colmar fleet over the next six months.
The recently awarded Infrastructure Architect of the year 2017 has revealed that they are a part of the AECOM-led team that will offer design services for the third and newest crossing of the Menai Strait. The contract has been given by the Welsh Government and Richards, Moorehead & Laing the environmental consultancy will also be involved in the development. The team working on the project will be carrying out the Key Stage 2 Appraisal of the options for the development that will allow the best possible designs for the new bridge will be identified and constructed. This third crossing of the Menai Strait will see connect Anglesey to the mainland of the Wales. It is thought that this project will identify a new preferred route for a number of the passengers. This new connection will help to reduce the traffic in the two existing crossings for the Menai Strait. The original Menai Bridge was built in the 1820s by Thomas Telford. The second crossing, Robert Stephenson’s Britannia Bridge that was built in 1850 struggle with heavy congestion. The congestion is caused on Britannia Bridge because it is the only section of the A55 that is not a dual carriageway which creates a bottleneck. The route that connects the M53 with Holyhead Port via Britannia Bridge is a part of the Trans European Road Network. The new bridge has been planned in order to improve the capacity and reliability of the road network in this area. This new project will also offer better network resilience and improved opportunities and safety for non-motorised users and safety. It is thought that Knight Architects will contribute to the project with their significant expertise in delivering infrastructure designs that are of high quality in both high profile and sensitive locations. Recently the Architects firm has completed a 50m highway that extends across the River Avon in Bath, which was the first new bridge to be constructed in a World Heritage Site for more than 100 years. Knight are also working on the £600 million Mersey Gateway.
Specialist ground engineering and soil stabilisation company Deep Soil Mixing Ltd has successfully completed a soil stabilisation project in Runcorn, Cheshire, for client Wildgoose Construction Ltd using the innovative Cutter Soil Mixer. Deep Soil Mixing Ltd introduced the Cutter Soil Mixer to the UK when the company worked on the Mersey Gateway project in 2016 so using it at this Runcorn development meant it is only the second time this bi-rotational mixing head has been used for soil mixing in the UK Using their controlled soil mixing technique, Deep Soil Mixing transformed the challenging site, ensuring the extensive project could be finished to a high standard – the soil had to be stabilised and any chemicals contained in the ground locked in, before Contractors Wildgoose Construction could start work on the construction of the site which would contain a public house, restaurant, coffee house, car park and access roads. Prior to commencement on site as with all projects Deep Soil Mixing Ltd undertake rigorous testing and assessment of the ground and its suitability for soil mixing. Laboratory tests are also undertaken using samples of the soil to be treated mixed with different proportions of a wide selection of binders to select the most appropriate mix. From these results, Deep Soil Mixing Ltd then prepare a detailed specification. On the Runcorn project, Deep Soil Mixing Ltd installed soil mixing panels across the site as well as a soil mixed mattress and soil mixed wall next to a Major Accident Hazard Pipeline (MAHP), to lock in chemicals and prevent leachate to ensure the ground was stabilised for the building works to commence. “The site was heavily contaminated and situated in close proximity to a MAHP and an adjacent canal embankment which was unstable, so we had quite a challenge on our hands,” says Colin Critchlow, Director at Deep Soil Mixing Ltd. “On this project, we used a cutter soil mixing head as well as a soil mixing bucket.” A cutter soil mixing head is a machine used to mix the ground, particularly when needed at greater depths and in densely consolidated soils. It achieves a greater level of density compared to other soil mixing methods and is highly effective. In addition to installing the soil mixed panels, mattress and wall, the company also soil mixed the building foundations. “We needed to lock in chemicals within the original site as well as reduce the levels of vibrations to a nearby gas pipeline and an adjacent canal embankment which was unstable,” adds Colin Critchlow. “Thanks to our wide range of experience, we’re used to working on challenging sites like this one. “The high-pressure gas mains pipe was charged at 30 Bar and was located within two metres of the site – we used vibration monitors throughout the project to measure the frequency transfer to confirm all met National Grid safety requirements. “We’re proud of everything we achieved on this project, especially given how heavily contaminated with an assortment of chemicals the site was – not to mention unstable. Thanks to the different soil mixing techniques, we secured the site and enabled the complex of restaurant, pub and coffee shop to be built alongside a car park and access roads.”
It has been suggested that costs can be reduced for infrastructure projects by reducing the use of carbon. For best results the decision to reduce carbon needs to be made at the start of the projects. The President and CEO of Skanska UK, Mike Putman has said that in order to reduce carbon used in infrastructure projects it needs to be looked at before work is started as opposed to part way through a project. The Chair of the Green Construction Board has set out a series of actions in order to reduce carbon usage by 24 million metric tons per year in the construction and maintenance of the infrastructure assets in the UK by 2050. It is thought that cutting the use of carbon in this way could lead to the net benefit of around £1.46 billion each year. In the attempt to get companies to reduce carbon, the implication that is could also save them money means more people will be looking at different practices. It is vital for the sustainability of UK infrastructure that carbon usage is reduced. Therefore, it is important to create an ethos within the construction industry that understands and supports a green agenda. The only way to make significant and long term changes to the amount of carbon used in construction is to have businesses collaborating across the industry. This discussion on the reduction of carbon in the construction and maintenance of infrastructure projects follows Mike Putman’s contribution to the latest Construction Climate Talks episode. The Construction Climate Talks series has been produced by Construction Climate challenge, which is an initiative that is hosted by Volvo Construction Equipment. The Construction Climate Challenge has a presence on YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter and covers some of the more important challenges currently faced when tackling climate sustainability.
