Offshore wind to revolutionise Britain’s energy
National Grid has published a report Pathway to 2030 Holistic Network Design on offshore wind power. The report states that a single coordinated approach to offshore wind production could save £5.5bn by 2030. The report outlines a plan to revolutionise the UK’s energy production.
The UK’s target for offshore wind is 50GW and Scotlands is 11GW. The report outlines a plan to produce 23GW.
The report also states that the integrated plan would reduce seabed cable footprint by 30% and CO2 emissions by 2 mega tonnes equivalent to grounding all UK flights for a year.
The report states that 4 new high voltage subsea cables are required to achieve the holistic plan to connect the projects.
£300m former Red Arrows base redevelopment bids invited
West Lindsey Council is inviting bidders to help with a £300m redevelopment of RAF Scampton, the former Red Arrows airbase. The Red Arrows were relocated to RAF Waddington in 2022. They are the Royal Airforce’s display team, one of the premier aerobatic display teams globally since 1965.
The council is looking for a lead contractor to manage planning & regeneration. Outline ideas for the site include arts and entertainment buildings, a hotel, accommodation, retail & restaurants and a museum.
Interested bidders should apply here by 8 August
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National Highways £1bn A66 upgrade
Keltbray, Costain, Kier and Balfour Beatty joint venture have won the £1bn National Highways 115-mile A66 route upgrade between the M6 at Penrith & A1 at Scotch Corner. The Northern Trans-Pennine route will become dual carriageway the whole way as part of the upgrades. It is the most dangerous road in the country with 50% more fatalities than any other road. This route links central Scotland with Eastern England and goes through the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales.
The Trans-Pennine upgrade was originally scheduled to take 10 years, but this time has been halved by operating a holistic approach, not having to wait for approval by making assumptions, selecting new modern construction methods and fast-track contractors.
Wates £40m Coventry school rebuild
Wates has won a contract to rebuild a Coventry secondary school which replaces 6 old buildings with 3 new ones including a sports hall with four buildings retained.
The new buildings will be net zero exceeding planning & regulatory standards.
The school will remain full open during construction with the project completing in Summer 2025.
Stonehenge euro tunnelling JV
National Highways has appointed a joint venture of 3 European contractors to the £1.25bn Stonehenge tunnel contract at a massive value of £416.7m each as the Main Works Contractor. Spanish FCC, Italy’s WeBuild and Austria’s BeMo Tunnelling each awarded an equal third for the controversial A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down build.
The JV has appointed a design consortium and is responsible for civil, structural, mechanical, electrical and technology components.
The project will deliver
- 8 miles of free-flowing, high-quality dual carriageway
- a tunnel at least 3.3km long underneath the World Heritage Site, closely following the existing A303 route, but a further 50m away from the Stonehenge monument, avoiding important archaeological sites, and avoiding intrusion on the view of the setting sun from the stones during the winter solstice
- a new bypass to the north of the village of Winterbourne Stoke
- junctions with the A345 and A360 either side of the World Heritage Site.
HS2 diversity program
HS2 is working in collaboration with the Skanska Costain STRABAG Joint Venture (SCS) to support victims of domestic violence working with Hestia, Hillingdon’s Women Centre, the Employers Initiative on Domestic Abuse, and the Employers Domestic Abuse Covenant.