Construction firm, R G Carter has recently completed the construction of two new secure inspection facilities for Hutchinson Ports along the East Anglia coast. R G Carter won the bid to design and construct both secure inspection facilities at two of the UK’s most important ports, Harwich International in Essex,
BBV adopts drone software from Esri UK to digitise survey workflows, reduce costs and enhance safety on its 90km stretch of HS2 Esri UK today announced that Balfour Beatty VINCI (BBV) has rolled out its Site Scan for ArcGIS drone flight management and image processing software, to support its drone
A critical contract that will help to unlock works at the northern end of London’s newest river crossing has been awarded to Barhale. RiverLinx CJV, the joint venture comprising Ferrovial, BAM Nuttall and SK E&C, has appointed the civil engineering and infrastructure specialist to divert water mains which would otherwise
“I’m going into a tunnel, so I might lose you” likely to be thing of the past on Britain’s new high speed rail network Passengers using Britain’s new high speed rail network will enjoy seamless mobile coverage delivering uninterrupted streaming and calls as trains speed through its tunnels, cuttings and open
A business event hosted in partnership with Crewe and Nantwich MP, Dr Kieran Mullan, has attracted interest from more than 40 companies in the local area who are all keen to play their part in HS2’s construction and seize the opportunity for future business growth. The event, held at Crewe
Balfour Beatty announces that it has secured a c. £50 million contract to deliver essential upgrade works to London Underground’s Piccadilly line. The contract is the first of several packages to be let under the new ‘London Underground High Voltage (HV) Power framework’, to which Balfour Beatty was appointed to
Updated HS2 designs at Streethay near Lichfield result in 80% less concrete, cutting carbon on the project They also significantly reduce visual impacts and mean less disruption to local communities More planting will blend with the area’s natural landscape character HS2’s designers have reduced the length of wall structures for
As part of its international growth strategy The Maynard Design Group are pleased to welcome Julian Robinson, former Head of Architecture at The Elizabeth line (Crossrail) as a consultant to the team. He joins with 30 years’ experience in transport design having previously worked on other flagship transport projects such
Civil engineering firm GRAHAM has completed work on a new junction on the M11, delivering one of the biggest highways infrastructure projects in Essex. The £76 million M11 Junction 7A scheme opened to the public ahead of schedule on Friday (10 June) and has created much-needed new access into Harlow
Bullet Express, one of the UK’s fastest-growing logistics, distribution and storage businesses, has opened a new 67,000 sq ft logistics centre at Westway Park, Renfrew, Scotland’s largest fully enclosed industrial distribution and office park. The new logistics centre will see Bullet Express increase its storage and distribution capacity by 14%,
Construction firm, R G Carter has recently completed the construction of two new secure inspection facilities for Hutchinson Ports along the East Anglia coast. R G Carter won the bid to design and construct both secure inspection facilities at two of the UK’s most important ports, Harwich International in Essex, and the Port of Felixstowe, Suffolk, to inspect goods such as fresh produce and plants entering the UK. Completing the new border control posts at Harwich within 42 weeks, the project was slightly larger in scale, and more complex in design and build compared to the second inspection facility delivered at Felixstowe. The new site at Harwich is situated close to a newly constructed port exit and features state-of-the-art, steel-framed buildings housing temperature-controlled conditions to maintain ambient, chilled, or frozen temperatures, dependent on the goods being inspected by DEFRA agencies. With over 100 years of construction expertise, the East Anglian-based construction firm has racked up experience working on the ports and similar projects in the past. One of the key tasks was managing their 200-strong workforce of staff and sub-contractors at Harwich International. James Wilson, General Manager and Director from R G Carter is delighted to be handing over another successful project to Hutchinson Port, he said: “This has been an exciting and truly collaborative project for us to be involved in and we are delighted to have delivered these essential facilities at these busy regional Ports. We are very proud to see them successfully open for operational use and hope they provide the very highest standards of efficiency required at this important checkpoint.” The Felixstowe project includes ten dock levellers and two loading bays, both featuring temperature-controlled rooms with commercial fridges and freezers. Both sites at Harwich and Felixstowe include high specification offices and welfare facilities for the Port and DEFRA staff. The completion of these projects has resulted in significant benefits to each respective Port. The site at Harwich also includes a new exit road which allows freight to access the facility and then exit directly on to the A120, reducing freight congestion and allowing for free-flowing traffic.
BBV adopts drone software from Esri UK to digitise survey workflows, reduce costs and enhance safety on its 90km stretch of HS2 Esri UK today announced that Balfour Beatty VINCI (BBV) has rolled out its Site Scan for ArcGIS drone flight management and image processing software, to support its drone deployment strategy on its Midlands section of HS2. Faster and more efficient drone surveys are already saving around £20,000 a year on monthly construction progress surveys on a single site, instead of using physical surveys and the subsequent updating of CAD models. BBV estimates this could save around £1.6m if the same workflow was applied across 80 sites in the first year. Another benefit has been the removal of 800 ‘working at risk’ days and a cost saving of £30,000 per year from monitoring aggregate stockpiles, using a single drone operator to carry out 3D volumetric measurements in 20 minutes. Previously, contractors would take a full day to physically measure stockpiles and calculate transport requirements, often working in steep and difficult environments. Site Scan for ArcGIS is being used to carry out drone site surveys, manage aggregate stockpiles and monitor progress of construction. Various 2D and 3D outputs are being generated for sharing with multiple stakeholders, including high-definition imagery and 3D terrain models. The new software was rolled out across the BBV business to almost 400 users in autumn 2021, including 13 drone pilots. The major civil infrastructure project spans from Long Itchington Wood tunnel in the south to the West Coast Main Line tie-in near Lichfield in the north, with a major junction into Curzon Street Station in central Birmingham. The main works civil engineering contracts will deliver earthworks, ground engineering and many structures including bridges, viaducts and tunnels along a 90km stretch of the UK’s new high speed rail line. “We needed the right software to manage an increasingly complex and varied use of drones and meet the needs of multiple teams, from logistics to site managers to engineers,” explained Dan Fawcett, Innovation Director at Balfour Beatty VINCI. “New digitised workflows are rapidly replacing traditional, physical working practices and introducing new levels of efficiency, accuracy and safety. On major projects such as HS2, the ROI achieved is significant.” Other applications of the new software include helping to show compliance with design tolerances in built structures against BIM and CAD models, speeding-up design cycles, particularly in earthworks and excavations design and monitoring the installation of utilities. Site Scan supports RTK drones to ensure highly accurate data capture and point cloud creation. Super-user training for Site Scan is being provided by Esri UK partner Heliguy, the drone consultancy, hardware and training specialists. Site Scan for ArcGIS is Esri’s cloud-based drone flight management and image processing software, offering flight planning, hardware management, scalable image processing and unlimited data storage, plus seamless integration with BBV’s Esri enterprise GIS system.
A critical contract that will help to unlock works at the northern end of London’s newest river crossing has been awarded to Barhale. RiverLinx CJV, the joint venture comprising Ferrovial, BAM Nuttall and SK E&C, has appointed the civil engineering and infrastructure specialist to divert water mains which would otherwise clash with the proposed route of the £1 billion, 1.4 km twin-bore Silvertown tunnel under the River Thames. A six-month programme of works, scheduled to run from July 2022 to December 2022, will see Barhale re-route the two twin 1400mm rising mains to allow the cut-and-cover construction of the northern approach to the new tunnel. When completed, the new crossing will run to the east of the 123-year-old Blackwall Tunnel, connecting the A102 at Greenwich Peninsula to the A1020 at west Silvertown, adjacent to the western end of the Royal Victoria Docks. The project forms a major element in London’s future transport strategy. It will ease traffic congestion and help the local infrastructure accommodate anticipated population increases in the catchment area. A key benefit is the improvement in public transport links between the two sides of the river. It is forecast that the numbers of buses making the crossing will increase to 37 buses an hour, all of them able to use dedicated traffic lanes. Michael Faherty, Contracts Manager at Barhale, is proud of the appointment and of the role his team will play in adding a new, vital connection within the capital. “We all understand how frustrating getting around London can be at times,” he said. “So it is great to be contributing to the transformation of travel in this part of town. “It is a very pleasing endorsement of the skills and expertise that we bring to the table that we have been selected and we look forward to working alongside the RiverLinx team, playing out part in delivering this world-class engineering project.”
“I’m going into a tunnel, so I might lose you” likely to be thing of the past on Britain’s new high speed rail network Passengers using Britain’s new high speed rail network will enjoy seamless mobile coverage delivering uninterrupted streaming and calls as trains speed through its tunnels, cuttings and open sections. Journeys on HS2 will make the days of hearing refrains familiar to many who travel by train today, such as, “I’m going into a tunnel, so I might lose you” a thing of the past. To watch movies, get facetime with friends, family or work, or just make calls, passengers can simply link their device with the train’s onboard Wi-Fi. From its earliest days of development, HS2’s infrastructure has been designed to include technology that provides seamless and uninterrupted passenger comms. In a step-change from the line-side railway signalling operated on the conventional network, HS2’s will be radio based. A sequence of masts sited at 2-3km along the route and radio feeder cables running the length of its tunnels. This infrastructure has been developed to also deliver mobile connectivity for passengers. Both will be picked up by each train’s radio antenna as it traverses the new route at speeds of up to 225mph. The train’s onboard equipment will transmit the passenger signal throughout the train to help ensure a seamless connection. People using HS2 stations will also benefit from the same level of coverage. HS2 engineers believe that the train picking up the signal from the railway’s telecoms infrastructure is superior to just leaving it to passengers’ own mobiles and tablets to link with each passing mast, which could be prone to occasional drop outs, and also reduces bandwidth. HS2’s head of project delivery for communication systems Richard Kirkham said: “The massive advantage of taking a clean sheet of paper and developing a new railway network for the 21st century, to operate in the twenty first century, is that we can build in the things people expect, like modern telecoms. “In practice that means HS2 tunnels, open route sections, stations and trains all include telecoms in their design specification, which enables the railway to operate as a single system.” Richard also explained how HS2’s design has been developed to provide flexibility to support the full generational range of mobile technologies. “To accommodate fast moving mobile telecoms technology, we’ve designed HS2 to be flexible so that it can incorporate future generations as well as supporting earlier generations people will continue to use.” A further benefit of HS2’s designers’ far-sighted approach will see the benefits of improved passenger connectivity potentially extend to areas along the route. That is because anyone’s device that can pick up the signal can use it.
A business event hosted in partnership with Crewe and Nantwich MP, Dr Kieran Mullan, has attracted interest from more than 40 companies in the local area who are all keen to play their part in HS2’s construction and seize the opportunity for future business growth. The event, held at Crewe Alexander’s Mornflake Stadium, gave businesses of all sizes the opportunity to understand more about HS2’ current and future pipeline of contract opportunities so they can be among the first to benefit. Dr Kieran Mullan MP said: ‘’It was great to see the enthusiasm displayed at the event and I am keen to see businesses here in Crewe benefit from HS2. “Hearing the success stories from companies delivering work on the first phase of the project is extremely encouraging. I’m grateful to HS2 for working with me to host this event so that our local businesses are in the best possible position to benefit.” With plans already in place to extend the HS2 network to Crewe, and the Bill to extend the railway between Crewe and Manchester currently going through Parliament, Crewe finds itself in an enviable position at the heart of Britain’s new high speed network. The town is already among three in the Midlands and the North set to benefit from contract awards supporting the manufacture and maintenance of HS2’s fleet of 54 high speed trains, which will be the fastest in Europe and among the world’s most energy efficient. Crewe’s Alstom factory secured the contact to make the trains’ bogies, bringing the manufacture of these vital components back to the UK for the first time in over 15 years, supporting jobs and opening opportunities for more local businesses across the supply chain. Matt Hadlington, Senior Business Engagement Manager at HS2 said: “Getting job-ready for the thousands of upcoming HS2 contract opportunities is vital, and this event was designed to help businesses in Crewe understand exactly how to do that. “Over 2,500 UK business are already engaged in our supply chain, but we want to see more companies in Crewe stepping forward to take advantage of the opportunities on their doorstep.” As part of its continued drive to help local businesses win work, HS2 is now working with closely with South Cheshire Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership to host a roundtable session with HS2’s civils construction partners. This will allow greater insight into the tier two and three contract opportunities that they will be creating in the months and years ahead. For more information about joining HS2’s supply chain visit hs2.org.uk/supply-chain/
Balfour Beatty announces that it has secured a c. £50 million contract to deliver essential upgrade works to London Underground’s Piccadilly line. The contract is the first of several packages to be let under the new ‘London Underground High Voltage (HV) Power framework’, to which Balfour Beatty was appointed to earlier this year. The framework will run for a period of six years, with a potential to extend by a further two years. Balfour Beatty will be responsible for the design, supply and installation of new assets along the Piccadilly line to support the increase in ‘Traction Power’ required to run the next generation of trains which will be introduced from 2025. On completion, the scheme will also support a 23 per cent increase in capacity on the Piccadilly line at the busiest times, with new, longer trains scheduled every 135 seconds from 2027. Works will include the renewal and replacement of aging assets such as High Voltage and Low Voltage Switchboards along with new HV Cables at several substations across the Piccadilly line including Cockfosters, Hyde Park Corner, Northfields, Sudbury Hill and Leicester Square. Matthew Steele, Managing Director of Balfour Beatty’s Rail & Utilities business, said: “This latest contract award is a significant achievement, building on our 19-year relationship with London Underground. It is testament to our unrivalled capability and deep domain knowledge in delivering underground rail works.” “Once complete, the programme will transform travel for thousands of passengers each day and ensure that the London Underground can continue to run a reliable and safe service for many more years to come.” Works are due to commence this month, with completion expected in 2025. At construction peak, the company will employ approximately 80 people, with 10% of its workforce made up of apprentices and graduates.
Updated HS2 designs at Streethay near Lichfield result in 80% less concrete, cutting carbon on the project They also significantly reduce visual impacts and mean less disruption to local communities More planting will blend with the area’s natural landscape character HS2’s designers have reduced the length of wall structures for the railway at Streethay from 1.6 kilometres to 420 metres, meaning 80% less concrete will be needed, supporting HS2’s ambition to cut carbon on the project. This will save around 70,000 cubic metres of concrete, the equivalent to 6,700 concrete mixer lorry loads. In total, around 420,000 tonnes of carbon has been saved in this area of the project. The railway will pass through Streethay in a cutting, and the shortening of the retaining structures also means the community will experience less noise and disruption during construction because fewer large machines will be needed on site. Most of the Streethay cutting will now have sloping earth banks, improving the visual appearance of the railway and increasing the opportunity for wildlife habitats and landscape planting to protect against noise from the railway. The updated design also results in a shorter diversion of Fulfen Wood watercourse. The early proposed design was for the railway to cross over the A38 Rykneld Street, A38 southbound slip road, and the South Staffordshire train line. As a result of community feedback received during the public consultation, the design was changed in 2017, with HS2 now passing beneath these roads and the railway in a cutting, which greatly reduces the visual impact of HS2 in this area. Simon Hinsley, Senior Project Manager for HS2 Ltd said: “As we’ve been developing the detailed design for HS2, it’s vital that we try to minimise impacts and get the best solution for the communities near the new railway line. We listened to the community back in 2017 and changed the design from viaduct to cutting, and we’re pleased that these further updates bring more benefits, both for the local community and the environment – better visuals, less carbon from concrete, shorter construction period and more environmental features.” Andy deBell, Head of Stakeholder Engagement for BBV, said: “We’re pleased to confirm these new and improved design changes, which we’ve introduced after working closely with the local community. “This new design will see the HS2 line pass underneath the A38 and neighbouring railway line, bringing significant environmental and community benefits. We’ll need to work on the slip road to the south to deliver these changes, which we understand will cause some localised disruption. However, we’ll do everything we can to minimise any impact as much as possible. Phased traffic management and signposted diversions will be in place during this phase of the work. “We’ll continue to make sure the local community is kept updated, providing more detail on the works before they begin and during construction. There’ll also be opportunities in the near future for local residents and businesses to attend community drop-in sessions, where they can find out more about what’s going on in their area.”
As part of its international growth strategy The Maynard Design Group are pleased to welcome Julian Robinson, former Head of Architecture at The Elizabeth line (Crossrail) as a consultant to the team. He joins with 30 years’ experience in transport design having previously worked on other flagship transport projects such as the Jubilee Line Extension and St Pancras International station. The Maynard Design Group, was a key part of the team responsible for the Line wide design of The Elizabeth line (Crossrail) which launched to a public fanfare on 24 May 2022 with some 500,000 users on the first day, and two million in the first week. Julian’s new role will be to bring his strategic knowledge and delivery experience to the group and future clients. Julian Maynard, Managing Director of Maynard Design Group, said: “I have known Julian for 25+ years since we worked side by side on the Jubilee Line Extension under the renowned architect Roland Paoletti. I led the Line wide team and Julian was the Architect at Canning Town Station. Crossrail gave us the opportunity to work together again, this time with Julian as our client. “I am looking forward to this collaboration which will help us in the next steps of our growth strategy within the transport sector.” Julian Robinson said: “Delivering the Elizabeth line has been an incredibly enjoyable and rewarding experience. Julian and I hold great respect for each other having worked together in various guises since 1995, and I’m pleased to be able to continue working alongside him and supporting the talented Maynard Design Group of businesses.” Maynard Design Group announced in March that it had acquired Transport Design Consultancy (TDC) in a major merger for the global transport design industry. With the Elizabeth line (Crossrail) launching last month, the projects the Group have worked on now serve over 3.5 billion passenger journeys per year globally including major hubs in Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East, India, the Far East and several flagship schemes in the UK.
Civil engineering firm GRAHAM has completed work on a new junction on the M11, delivering one of the biggest highways infrastructure projects in Essex. The £76 million M11 Junction 7A scheme opened to the public ahead of schedule on Friday (10 June) and has created much-needed new access into Harlow and included widening and improvement of Gilden Way, plus a new link road connecting Gilden Way and the junction via new roundabouts on either side of the motorway. As part of the project, GRAHAM, in collaboration with Essex County Council, has built a new bridge over the motorway, constructed slip roads for both northbound and southbound traffic, and improved walking and cycling access on Gilden Way. Funded by the council and National Highways, the new junction completes a project that started in summer 2020. Discussing the project on the day of its opening, Cllr Lesley Wagland, Essex County Council’s Cabinet Member for Economic Renewal, Infrastructure and Planning, said: “Today marks the opening of one of the largest highways infrastructure projects in the county and it is testament to all involved that, despite the challenges of the last two years, the project has been delivered ahead of schedule. “We have created a much-needed new east-west link, significantly improving access to the M11 at Harlow. This, in turn, will help reduce congestion on the A414 and other routes in the town and also support future growth, including the potential creation of up to 3,000 new jobs.” Matt Stafford, National Highways Regional Delivery Director, said: “We understand how important the M11 is to thousands of road users every day. “The road is a vital link for work journeys, visits to friends and family, and the movement of goods and services between London and East Anglia, and we’re pleased to have worked in partnership with Essex County Council to deliver this scheme. “A huge amount of work has gone in to get to this point and I am delighted to see the last piece of the jigsaw put in place with the opening of this new junction.” The junction opened to traffic on Friday evening, following a formal opening event the previous day. The public, whom the council thanked for their patience during construction of the scheme, was also given a unique opportunity to see the final scheme up close before it opened to traffic during a 5km charity fun run, which was supported by Harlow Running and Tri Club and Active Essex. The fun-run, which raised money for a local charity supporting children living with cerebral palsy and St Clare Hospice, saw more than 500 participants run from the London Road Roundabout to the new junction and back. With match-funding from GRAHAM, their efforts raised over £9,000. Dave Brown, Highways Director for GRAHAM Civil Engineering, added: “We’re pleased to have completed construction and delivered this important project in the region. The team has worked tirelessly during the programme, which included a challenging bridge beam installation over two weeks, involving four overnight closures to minimise disruption to road users. The new junction is a testament to our team’s civil engineering expertise and another addition to our growing highways portfolio.” For more information about the scheme and the new junction, visit www.essex.gov.uk/junction7a.
Bullet Express, one of the UK’s fastest-growing logistics, distribution and storage businesses, has opened a new 67,000 sq ft logistics centre at Westway Park, Renfrew, Scotland’s largest fully enclosed industrial distribution and office park. The new logistics centre will see Bullet Express increase its storage and distribution capacity by 14%, creating job opportunities for warehouse and inventory personnel within the local area. The facility at Westway, which provides Bullet Express with easy access to the M8 and the new road link to Glasgow Airport, will have capacity for 12,000 pallets – 10,000 for racked storage and 2,000 for floor storage. The new facility in Renfrew is the latest addition to Bullet Express’ rapidly expanding network which includes: Bothwell, Express Pallet Centre and HQ totalling 200,000 sq/ft. – network distribution. Baillieston, flagship Storage Centre totalling 210,000 sq/ft. – racked and floor storage. London Road, Glasgow Storage Centre, totalling 32,000 sq/ft. – high-bay racked storage. Glespin, Storage Satellite, totalling 50,000 sq/ft. – floor storage. Established more than 30 years ago, Bullet Express is a full service logistics business with 150 employees providing a European road freight service, worldwide air and sea freight support and stacked storage for customers. Westway, owned by Canmoor and Ares Management Corporation (ARES) provides industrial, warehousing, distribution and office space for companies of all sizes across a number of industries. David McCutcheon, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at Bullet Express, said: “With our expanding client base, we simply needed additional storage space to facilitate this demand and business growth. Our new centre at Westway offers quality secure space, along with good eaves height, which enables optimum storage space. “The location also offers excellent connectivity, particularly allowing for easy access to the M8 and the new road link to Glasgow Airport. “We are installing racking throughout the site to accommodate 12,000 pallets of which 10,000 will be racked storage and 2,000 floor storage.” Toby Saul, Asset Manager of Canmoor, added: “The new team was established in March this year and we are delighted to welcome Bullet Express as our first new occupier. “Bullet Express is an excellent addition to the quality occupier mix here at Westway and we wish David and the team every success with their expansion plans. “We will continue to asset manage the park and continue the ongoing investment programme, which includes the refurbishment of Block J and Unit G1, with further infrastructure improvements and projects to be announced shortly.”