WilkinsonEyre has seen off strong competition to win the job to design Leicester’s new £18 million Great Central Railway Museum. The Stirling Prize-shortlisted practice’s winning ‘iconic design’ beat proposals by six rival practices including HawkinsBrown, Carmody Groarke, Grimshaw, Farrells and BDP. WilkinsonEyre’s design includes three two-storey exhibition halls with a glass wall allowing visitors arriving by train to see into the museum from the track. The scheme allows the Great Central Railway to retain the existing railway station building and its platform – a feature which local campaigners had fought to keep. The new museum, which is being funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, will house a collection of locomotives and provide a new headquarters for the Great Central Railway. Supported by the National Railway Museum in York and Leicester City Council, the new 5,105m² facility will be constructed next to the heritage railway’s existing Leicester North terminus. Chief executive of the Great Central Railway Andy Munro said: ‘This will be a museum for the whole of the city and the county and it was vital we consulted as widely as possible before choosing the winning design. ‘There were several key factors to consider; would the new building be the right environment for the intended displays, was it iconic enough considering where it will sit on the city skyline and of course, does it fit with the projects budget? The museum team were set a hard task by such a high standard of shortlisted schemes, but we’re confident we have chosen the right one.’ Paul Kirkman, director of the National Railway Museum, added: ‘We have a number of irreplaceable locomotives which will go on display within the museum. Famous names like ‘Green Arrow’ and ‘Butler Henderson’ deserve to be shown off in a building that is just as iconic, but crucially has to be able to protect the exhibits too.

Plans have been revealed for a Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system which would take travellers from a new station in Paisley to Glasgow Airport if a project by Junction 29 (Scotland) Ltd is selected as the preferred option for a new airport rail link. The PRT system, which would run from a relocated Paisley St James station, is one of the two options being considered by the Glasgow and Clyde Valley Cabinet for the proposed Glasgow Airport Rail Link. The rival tram-train option, which would see carriages running from Glasgow Central to the airport via Paisley, is estimated to cost £144 million and would offer a 16.5 minute direct journey from Glasgow city centre to the airport, with an estimated completion date of 2025. Using the existing main rail line which goes through Paisley Gilmour Street station, PRT’s backers said their alternative option offers a reduced cost, faster journey times, a quicker completion speed and would cause less disruption. Junction 29 (Scotland) Ltd said its plan would cost £70-£80 million to deliver over 12 months and would be built alongside the existing network. It also claims that a 1.1 mile journey from the airport would take just four minutes. Junction 29 (Scotland) Ltd owns a 40-acre site next to Glasgow Airport at Junction 29 of the M8.  The site is large enough to provide a park and ride at this new station plus additional land for a mixed-use development.  The PRT option uses proven technology and features small automated vehicles, which can be different sizes, operating on a network of specially built lightweight guideways. Managing Director of Junction 29 Ltd, Paul Kelly, commented: “The PRT option offers reduced costs, a faster journey time, can be delivered within 12 months and would significantly ease congestion on the M8 corridor between the airport and the city centre.

Greater Manchester’s Metrolink network is due to expand even further after plans for a new £350 million tram line through Trafford Park were given the go ahead. Transport Secretary Chris Grayling has granted Transport for Greater Manchester legal powers to construct the new 3.4 mile line which will allow work to start this winter. TfGM, which owns the Metrolink network, has developed plans for the Trafford Park line and will soon appoint a contractor. Once in operation in 2020/2021, the line will offer a major public transport boost for the region, and will offer fast, frequent transport links for thousands of workers. The new Trafford Park line will branch off from the existing Pomona stop and call at six new tram stops. Among these new stops is Wharfside, situated close to Old Trafford football stadium, the Imperial War Museum, key business areas through the industrial park and visitor destinations such as Eventcity and the intu Trafford Centre. The £350 million funding package to construct the line has already been secured by Greater Manchester Combined Authority through the ‘earn back’ funding agreement as part of the Greater Manchester devolution deal. Mayor of Greater Manchester, Tony Lloyd, welcomed the news, commenting: “Today’s announcement is another big step forward for Greater Manchester. I’m delighted that our long held ambition to build a new Metrolink line through Trafford Park is now about to become a reality. “This new line will boost our economy and bring us closer to our goal of a world class transport system for Greater Manchester. I look forward to seeing the first shovel in the ground this winter.” Meanwhile, bosses at RATP Dev UK, which has operated the trams for Transport for Greater Manchester for the last five years, have their sights set on running the city’s buses. RATP, one of the five largest transport companies in the world, already runs 12% of London’s 8,600 buses for TFL, along with 4,500 buses in Paris.

BP has shut one of its platforms near the Shetland Islands after an oil spill that is sure to attract further unwelcome attention to the UK firm’s environmental record. The 95 tonne, 665 barrel spill was blamed on a “technical issue” at BP’s Clair platform on Sunday. Although the leak was limited in scale, it was halted within an hour of the problem arising. The timing could hardly have been worse for the group. The release last week of Deepwater Horizon, a big budget Hollywood dramatisation of BP’s 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, has thrust the risks of offshore production and exploration back into the public eye. The latest spill was nowhere near the 3m barrels released after the deadly blast on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, however the environmental group said it highlighted “the dangers posed on a daily basis by oil and gas operations off the coast of Scotland”. BP said the oil “was released to the sea from the Clair platform as a result of a technical issue with the system designed to separate the mixed production fluids of water, oil and gas”. The group added: “We are investigating the cause of the technical issue and the field will remain offline for the time being.” “At present, we believe the most appropriate response is to allow the oil to disperse naturally at sea, but contingencies for other action are being prepared. “Oil has been observed on the sea surface and we are monitoring its movement. Both direct observation and oil spill modelling indicate the oil to be moving in a northerly direction away from land.” The Clair platform, located 75km west of the Shetlands, is on the frontier between the North Sea and the Atlantic. The area has some of the biggest remaining reserves of oil and gas in the UK, though deeper water and hostile weather means that it is more difficult and expensive to extract in comparison with shallower parts of the North Sea.

First Utility has reported an 84% fall in pre-tax profits, despite growing its customer base by a quarter. The supplier’s annual financial report showed that profits fell to £1.7 million last year, from £10.8 million the previous year, though the number of customer accounts increased to 883,000. The accounts show that the additional energy customers drove a 51% annual revenue growth, however administrative expenses went up during the year by 62% as a result of “continued investment in acquiring and serving the significant growth in customer numbers”. First Utility blamed some of the profit loss on “abnormally warm weather in November and December 2015”. First Utility Chief Executive Ian McCaig commented: “We continued to make strong progress against our strategy in 2015, growing our customer base by 25 per cent to 883,000 and increasing our revenues by 51 per cent to £847 million. “A key focus of 2015 was investing for the next stage in our development. We increased the pace of investment in line with our ambitions to ensure we are well-positioned to capitalise on future growth opportunities and that customers remain at the heart of our proposition.” McCaig said that the acquisition of the firm’s billing platform assets from its third party provider marked an “acceleration of our plans to build our next generation billing platforms”. First Utility also grew overseas, launching in Germany last September in a partnership with Shell Energy Europe. McCaig added: “Having made these major strategic investments and navigated the volatility in markets generated by the warmest winter since records began, First Utility still continued to be the only of the new generation of independents to grow its track record of profitability and showed that low prices can be delivered to UK householders sustainably.”

Quality Plumber Week, now in its third year, is once again celebrating the dedicated and hard-working plumbing and heating engineers of the UK. Taking place from October 3-9, the week will build on the success of previous years to unite the whole industry in shining a spotlight on the key roles played by plumbers in our communities. The UK’s plumbers are a dedicated and highly skilled workforce that delivers safe water and heating to homes and workspaces throughout the country, though most of us take these services for granted. Plumbers do the jobs that most people would rather leave and often come to the rescue with burst pipes and broken boilers, while also providing consumers with up to date advice on heating technologies, energy saving tips and water safety. The week is organised by Association of Plumbing & Heating Contractors (APHC) and stresses the importance of using properly qualified, trained and accredited plumbers in an attempt to cut the numbers of rogue traders who operate within the industry. Homeowners are being encouraged to check if their tradesperson has professional qualifications and accreditation to a professional trade body in order to make sure they do not become victims of sub-standard work. By increasing the profile of plumbing as a respected profession, it is hoped that more young people will be encouraged to consider an apprenticeship in the industry. The latest research carried out by APHC has shown that attitudes towards apprenticeships seem to have shifted in the last few years, with 86% of those surveyed agreeing that school leavers should be encouraged to consider an apprenticeship instead of being pushed into the Higher Education route, with just 2% disagreeing. As apprenticeships once again become an accepted option post-16 education, the trade must promote the benefits and positives of becoming a plumber or heating engineer to create a new generation of professional tradespeople.

The full smart meter rollout has been hit with a further delay, as the smart meter network operator missed its deadline for go-live. The Data and Communications Company (DCC) was due to go live on September 30, after a number of delays since its initial date in December 2015. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) have not yet confirmed a new date but the infrastructure is crucial to connect smart meters to business systems of energy suppliers, network operators and other authorised service users of the network. A spokesperson for the DCC commented: “The national data and communications infrastructure is in the final stages of testing and is making good progress. We are working hard to deliver the network at the earliest possible opportunity to the energy industry.” The government has set out deadlines for the use of the DCC and meter installation as part of its plans to ensure a “timely” rollout, and ensure both energy suppliers and distribution network operators are ready to commence the rollout from the DCC go-live date. All domestic suppliers are required to be using the DCC by August 1, 2017, while major suppliers will also have to install 1,500 SMETS2 meters by February 1, 2017. A BEIS spokesperson said: “Smart meters will enable suppliers to deliver innovative products and services and help consumers to bring down their energy bills. This new infrastructure will make it easier for consumers to switch and is in the final stages of testing.” The industry is already concerned about meeting the target of offering a smart meter to all UK householders by 2020. Consultancy business KPMG has warned that the current installation rate would have to rise five-fold in order to meet the target. KPMG power and utilities director Amy Marshall added: “The number of smart and advanced meters operating in UK homes and small businesses now stands at 4.2 million, as the race towards hitting the 2020 government target intensifies.