Leading infrastructure solutions company, Costain, has been awarded three assurance frameworks worth up to £7.15m by Yorkshire Water (YW). The contract is for an initial two-years, with the option to extend for a further two years. Costain, in joint venture with Arup, has successfully supported YW’s health and safety (H&S)
Vinci Construction Grands Projects and Bachy Soletanche JV, the Costain, demanded mining support to install an air treatment unit (ATU) at Tideway’s Deptford Church Street site in Lewisham. The ATU will control and treat air exhausted from London’s 25km long “super sewer” tunnel. The Costain has installed the ATU alongside
Costain is partnering with Heathrow Airport to deliver its new investment programme, which will provide a step-change in the customer experience and transform the airport on its journey to become a net-zero aviation hub. As delivery partner, we will work with Heathrow throughout the project lifecycle to shape, create and
Lancashire County Council’s delivery partner, Costain, and hydrogen industry start-up, Hydrologiq, have successfully trialled the use of a hydrogen-powered fuel cell generator at the Preston Western Distributor Road project’s M55 compound. The trial is the first for Lancashire County Council in line with its carbon reduction ambitions and demonstrated carbon savings
Costain, the smart infrastructure solutions company, has won a £2m consultancy programme management contract to deliver Bradford Council’s Smart Street Lighting project, which will involve the replacement of 59,000 lights and 17,000 lampposts across the city over a period of four years. The new, energy-efficient, LED lights will be controlled
The joint venture between Arup and Costain has secured a £2 million Yorkshire Water contract under a Health & Safety Assurance consultancy framework. Together they will deliver the work across a four-year contract as part of the utility’s AMP7 capital investment programme, which aims to facilitate the delivery of resilient assets
Costain, the smart infrastructure solutions company, has been awarded a technology contract by Highways England, to work in collaboration with them, the Department for Transport, Transport for London (TfL) and Kent County Council to design, install and implement one of the UK’s first pilot connected vehicle corridors on a live
Costain announced that they have taken on their 4,000th trainee. IPS Communications’ Kieran Campbell will be joining the Supply Chain Academy their 4,000th trainee. The massively successful training academy is thought of as the industry leading academy for the Supply Chain sector. As a demonstration of the training academy’s success,
Leading infrastructure solutions company, Costain, has been awarded three assurance frameworks worth up to £7.15m by Yorkshire Water (YW). The contract is for an initial two-years, with the option to extend for a further two years. Costain, in joint venture with Arup, has successfully supported YW’s health and safety (H&S) assurance needs through a consultancy framework since 2019. From July 2023, the new award will see environmental and technical assurance frameworks added to the H&S remit. The frameworks, which run from 2023 to 2025, will see the JV provide project and programme management services, end to end quality and risk services, process safety management and environmental, sustainability and ecology services. The assurance frameworks will be implemented across YW’s catchment area and will cover Technical, Health & Safety and Environmental works, building on the service already delivered in AMP7. Gerard Shore, water sector director at Costain commented, “We successfully delivered vital health and safety assurance work for Yorkshire Water across 23 capital delivery partners last year, and we’re delighted by the vote of confidence shown by Yorkshire Water in extending our remit. We’ll use our in-depth knowledge and expertise to help Yorkshire Water meet its needs and continue to deliver exceptional service to its customers.” Richard Jelfs, contractor HSE manager at Yorkshire Water, said, “We are delighted to continue to work closely with Costain-Arup as we assure against our existing and develop new health, safety and environmental standards and controls within Capital Delivery.” Catherine Wenger, UKIMEA Water Business Leader, Arup added, “We are pleased to be able to continue our longstanding assurance partnership with Costain and Yorkshire Water into Amp8 sharing national and global best practice.” Yorkshire Water manages the collection, treatment, distribution and disposal of water in Yorkshire. It supplies around 1.24 billion litres of drinking water each day as well as disposing of approximately one billion litres of wastewater safely back into the environment.
Vinci Construction Grands Projects and Bachy Soletanche JV, the Costain, demanded mining support to install an air treatment unit (ATU) at Tideway’s Deptford Church Street site in Lewisham. The ATU will control and treat air exhausted from London’s 25km long “super sewer” tunnel. The Costain has installed the ATU alongside a 60m deep, 16m diameter shaft that is said to move effluent from street level to the main sewer tunnel downward. In turn, Groundforce Shorco supplied a sheet piling and structural support solution for the ATU excavation. It is located in a confined area adjacent to the main shaft and includes three separate sections. The section engineer, Freddie Gorman, pointed out: “When the sewer is operating, air will build up inside and needs to be vented,” “We can’t just let it come straight out; it needs to be filtered. When the shaft is completed, it will be capped and any air trapped inside will be fed through the ATU, where it’s treated. It then goes into a ventilation chamber before being vented out into the atmosphere.” For supporting the excavation, Groundforce supplied KD6 sheets and Larssen sheet piles with its Mechshore, Maxi and Mega Bracing frames. Three levels of the frame with the larger capacity Mega Brace frames located at the bottom to support the higher loads were installed. Arpad Nagy, Groundforce area manager, illustrated that the temporary works design was complicated since the three sections of the excavation, each a distinct size and depth, were built back-to-back. Nagy expressed: “The frames work with and against each other and are interdependent. That means we couldn’t make any changes to one frame without affecting all of the others.” In addition, the steel sheets lining the excavation act as the outer skin of the formwork necessitates to pour the reinforced concrete walls of the ATU chamber. He continued: “The original plan was to use formwork to construct the ATU walls, but by pouring the concrete against the sheet piles the project cost has been reduced.” The excavation’s complexity, merged with varying ground levels and the proximity of the main shaft, meant the temporary works design process was tough. Nagy claimed: “The whole evolution of the temporary works design took around seven months and went through eight different versions.” The first design meeting was in April 2021, and the first delivery of equipment to the Tideway site was not until December 2021. Another obstacle for the site team was the ground conditions on the site, which were extremely hard and stony. This made it challenging to install the steel sheet piles just with the excavator-mounted vibrating hammer. Therefore, a pre-augering method had to be acquired. Also, several sheet piles still remain to be installed. However, the proximity of the current shaft resulted in additional problems. Ross Hope, a senior engineer, explained: “We were tasked with designing a system to allow the removal of the sheets which were blocking the connection, as well as providing enough clearance to allow the concrete walls to be fully cast. We came up with using a trapezoidal frame in order to transfer loads to the existing capping beam, followed by a secondary temporary frame propping off the top of the capping beam in order to allow the removal of the frames below.” The task has now advanced onto a second phase which was the excavation to obtain a long culvert that channels the filtered air from the ATU to the ventilation chamber. Nagy clarified: “This excavation will be just as complicated, but we’ve learned a few things in phase one, so I’m sure we can provide a suitable solution.” The ATU is located near the historic St Paul’s Church in Deptford and is an element of the £4.3bn Thames Tideway Tunnel project. It is said to create a combined sewer, running mainly beneath the tidal section of the River Thames across London, to capture, store and convey 95% of the raw sewage and rainwater which presently overflows into the Thames. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Costain is partnering with Heathrow Airport to deliver its new investment programme, which will provide a step-change in the customer experience and transform the airport on its journey to become a net-zero aviation hub. As delivery partner, we will work with Heathrow throughout the project lifecycle to shape, create and deliver asset renewal and construction projects procured through the Terminal Asset Renewal Partner and Major Project Partner lots of the H7 framework. Costain has been awarded its first commission, early contractor involvement in the design phase of the upgrade of baggage handling facilities and systems at Terminal 2, via the Major Project Partner lot. Sue Kershaw, managing director for Transportation at Costain, said: “I am delighted that our construction, consulting and digital experts have been selected to help Heathrow transform its performance. Our integrated team will work closely with Heathrow to address the challenges of rebounding from COVID, transforming to a net-zero airport and attracting new customers and airlines to give passengers a world-class airport experience.” Our Heathrow team will work across the lifecycle of renewal and construction projects, implementing a systems approach to identify efficiencies, streamline the delivery of works and provide a blueprint for sustainable operations. We will play the role of integrator within an enterprise model, ensuring that the delivery and operation of new infrastructure meets the requirements of the customer, supply chain, operator and passenger. Included in the scope of works are: Leading the H7 contract for Costain is Andy Clarke, integrated transport director, who added: “We’ll use digital processes and systems, such as digital rehearsals and building information modelling, to enable cost and carbon savings during the design and delivery stages of both asset renewal and construction projects.” Heathrow’s Chief Solutions Officer Helen Elsby said: “We have bold plans to improve Heathrow over the next four years, making sure journeys are smooth, safe and reliable. We are pleased to appoint a range of excellent partners on the vital infrastructure upgrades that will underpin this, and will continue to work with our regulator on a deal that supports this important work. We’re pleased to welcome Costain back to Heathrow and to be working in partnership with them to improve passenger experience in the airport.” Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Lancashire County Council’s delivery partner, Costain, and hydrogen industry start-up, Hydrologiq, have successfully trialled the use of a hydrogen-powered fuel cell generator at the Preston Western Distributor Road project’s M55 compound. The trial is the first for Lancashire County Council in line with its carbon reduction ambitions and demonstrated carbon savings from onsite operations of between 70% and close to 100%, when powered by grey and green hydrogen respectively. Moving from diesel to green hydrogen on a similar compound could save up to 11 tonnes CO2e per month. Hydrologiq funded the trial through an innovation grant from the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), which aims to support the deployment of hydrogen generators on real-world sites throughout the UK. This innovation established significant benefits for the local community from the use of a EODev GEH2 fuel-cell and battery integrated generator, including extremely quiet operations and the emission of water as sole by-product from its use. The trials also showed that hydrogen could transform performance by reliably and efficiently powering an entire site compound, comprising offices, a canteen, drying room, toilets and two battery electric vehicle (BEV) charging stations. Benjamin Lindley, director at Hydrologiq, said: “On-site power provided via hydrogen fuel-cell technology has the ability to make construction sites quieter, cleaner, and healthier places to work. The generator itself ran so quietly that a diligent security guard raised a false alarm that the power had cut off when he didn’t hear the expected rumble from the diesel unit. And, whatever the source of hydrogen, a fuel-cell generator only produces water at point of use, eliminating NOx and particulates.” “At Hydrologiq, we believe that replacing diesel with hydrogen will happen quicker and safer if businesses are open to collaboration. We are grateful to everyone at Costain who worked with us to make this trailblazing deployment a success. Thanks also to our grant collaborators Blue Lightning Solutions, and our suppliers: generator manufacturers EODev, and fuel providers BOC.” Tara McCracken, Project Environment Manager at Costain, said: “Costain has set an ambitious target to be carbon neutral by 2035 at the very latest. Our aim is to be a clean growth leader, enabling the uptake of low carbon solutions such as hydrogen and supporting our supply chain to achieve net zero carbon. “By 2023, every solution delivered by Costain for our clients will propose low carbon options. The successful trial deployment of hydrogen at Preston Western Distributor Road demonstrates our commitment to improving lives, today and for the future by making infrastructure sustainable and resilient. Our approach to sustainability on the project was recently recognised by the Considerate Constructors Scheme, who awarded us top marks in all categories, including Respect the Community and Care for the Environment. We are looking forward to seeing more hydrogen-powered generators on our projects in the future.”
Costain, the smart infrastructure solutions company, has won a £2m consultancy programme management contract to deliver Bradford Council’s Smart Street Lighting project, which will involve the replacement of 59,000 lights and 17,000 lampposts across the city over a period of four years. The new, energy-efficient, LED lights will be controlled by a CMS (Central Management System) which will allow remote control of illumination levels (switch on/off times only) which will deliver significant environmental and safety benefits. The CMS also provides the backbone for the inclusion of additional Internet of things (IoT) solutions. The project will reduce the Council’s street lighting power consumption by 65% and its carbon emissions by over 6000 tonnes per year, helping the Council to meet its climate change strategy targets and saving taxpayers an estimated £189m over 50 years. The ability to support a wide range of emerging IoT technologies will potentially assist the Council in making further cost savings in other areas in the future. In the spirit of true partnership, Costain will work with the Council to ensure additional IoT capabilities can be easily enabled to measure things like road temperatures, air pollution, road gully condition or river levels to even more effectively target maintenance and capital programmes. This latest consultancy contract win builds on Costain’s three year relationship with Bradford, which has culminated in current status as strategic delivery partner and the development of a high level plan to give an overall picture of £500m worth of capital delivery programmes within the city. The planensures effective integration and governance of the programmes associated with the Transforming Cities Fund, which seeks to improve productivity and prosperity through sustainable transport development, as well as other road, rail and multi-modal programmes. Costain brings significant experience in working with the Department for Transport and Highways England, a broader understanding of the UK infrastructure landscape and decades of delivery heritage, into the partnership. Sue Kershaw, Transportation managing director, Costain, said: “In these unprecedented times, where Covid-19 has brought much of the economy to a standstill, local authorities are under huge pressure to continue delivery of critical programmes of work for their communities. Our relationship with Bradford Council, which focuses on partnership and outcomes, has allowed us to reach back into our organisation to deliver additional capacity, capability, resilience and flexibility in a range of areas to support our client and keep the transport infrastructure services working.” Cllr Alex Ross-Shaw, Executive Member for Regeneration, Planning and Transport, said: “Bradford’s Smart Street Lighting programme represents a major investment in one of the biggest assets of the Council – our 59,000 street lighting columns. The ability to ensure effective delivery of the contract was paramount in Bradford’s approach to seeking a delivery partner with the skills, knowledge and ability to drive both the financial savings and the associated positive contribution to our CO2 emissions which are key outputs over the next five years. The appointment of Costain to the strategic delivery partner role has given Bradford the confidence that we have the right people helping us achieve these outcomes based on our experience of their involvement in our programmes of transport investment in the district.“ This work supporting Bradford Council also demonstrates Costain’s commitment to helping clients accelerate the transition to a net zero carbon economy, made as part of its Climate Change Action plan launched in February 2020, and is another step in fulfilling its ambition to lead UK infrastructure into a zero carbon future by 2035 at the latest, supporting the UK Government in meeting their 2050 target.
The joint venture between Arup and Costain has secured a £2 million Yorkshire Water contract under a Health & Safety Assurance consultancy framework. Together they will deliver the work across a four-year contract as part of the utility’s AMP7 capital investment programme, which aims to facilitate the delivery of resilient assets and drive exceptional service for the company’s customers. “UK water companies are facing significant challenges in AMP7 around affordability, operational resilience and increasing expectations from regulators, stakeholders and customers. The Costain-Arup partnership is committed to supporting Yorkshire Water and its supply chain in providing exceptional service for its customers by assuring the delivery of safe, reliable and resilient assets,” said Mark Fletcher, Arup Global Water Business Leader. Under the contract, the JV will provide expertise in CDM (Construction, Design and Management) regulation compliance, design phase process and construction site safety to help Yorkshire Water address key affordability challenges in the efficient delivery of its AMP7 investment programme. “Following a twelve-month selection process, we are delighted to be working with Costain and Arup on our new Assurance Framework. The framework supports our enhanced assurance approach which is aimed at providing specialist, targeted assurance to meet the challenging needs of AMP7,” said Paul Robins, Continuous Improvement Manager at Yorkshire Water. “Costain and Arup bring a range of specialists to support our Health and Safety assurance needs, promoting collaborative working, innovation and continual improvement within the Yorkshire Water supply chain,” Paul concluded.
Costain, the smart infrastructure solutions company, has been awarded a technology contract by Highways England, to work in collaboration with them, the Department for Transport, Transport for London (TfL) and Kent County Council to design, install and implement one of the UK’s first pilot connected vehicle corridors on a live road. Under the contract, known as the A2M2 connected corridor, Costain will deliver roadside technology using data supplied by TfL, Highways England and Kent County Council and a technology testbed for Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS). This flagship contract will help to promote the UK as market leader in Connected and Autonomous Vehicle (CAV) and C-ITS technology. “This is an important step in making our roads safer and improving journey time reliability by embracing cutting edge technology. It is a further demonstration of Costain’s capability and we look forward to leading the way with the deployment and testing of this exciting technology,” said Andrew Wyllie CBE, chief executive. Within the A2M2 connected corridor contract, Costain will be testing the wireless transmission of data to and from travelling vehicles. Trial vehicles will be fitted with onboard technology that will communicate with roadside units via ITS G5 wireless communication and with the service provider via cellular communication. This will convey information to the vehicle relating to road works, road conditions, temporary speed limits and the time remaining before a traffic light turns to green. This information could then be used by the vehicle to vary speed, for example. Information from the contract will be used to develop connected vehicle standards and facilitate a widescale deployment of connected vehicle technology. Costain will deliver this contract with core partners, Mott MacDonald, 4way Consulting, TRL, Kapsch TrafficCom AG, Altran, Cohda Wireless, Telent Technology Services Ltd and Telefonica. This contract win follows the announcement of the Group’s contract with Highways England to supply Motorway Incident Detection and Automated Signalling (MIDAS) technology systems to help improve road user safety and builds on the recent announcement of Costain’s key role supplying smart autonomous vehicle monitoring technology for the Midlands Future Mobility testbed.
Costain announced that they have taken on their 4,000th trainee. IPS Communications’ Kieran Campbell will be joining the Supply Chain Academy their 4,000th trainee. The massively successful training academy is thought of as the industry leading academy for the Supply Chain sector. As a demonstration of the training academy’s success, it has been used by 127 different Small and Medium sized businesses from the industry. The Supply Chain Academy is a training course that is operated by Costain staff. The training facility also enjoys the support of a number of Costain’s more strategic partners that prove exceedingly beneficial to the Small and Medium sized suppliers that are interested in the training process. The Supply Chain Academy has been structured in order to allow the Small and Medium sized suppliers learn the necessary skills to expand in order to successfully deliver more projects. The Training courses are free and module based and cover a wide range of topics. The subjects looked at as part of the Supply Chain Academy includes BIM, insurance, equality and diversity in the company. In order to deliver projects successfully in is imperative that the supply chain meets the desired standard. Therefore, the academy is vital to develop the supply chain and supply organisations with the skills required. The Supply Chain Academy allows Costain to share their knowledge of best practice within the industry it also means that the industry will have knowledgeably suppliers who are trained to a high standard. The Supply Chain Academy shows how Costain is managing to meet goals from the corporate world as well as making their strategy more efficient. The Academy was first started in 2011 and it is a reflection of how important the training is that the training centre has already taught 4,000 people. The Academy is available to SMEs all around the UK in order to make sure that all different regions have access to the training.
