HS2 compound designs released
A 30-acre brownfield site near Birmingham Washwood Heath will become home to a control centre, staff building & maintenance centre. The three buildings will have solar panels, use rainwater runoff and use low carbon materials and will be used to service, clean, maintain and store trains for the HS2 network.
Around 550 staff are expected to be based at the compound.
The winning bidder will be selected next Autumn out of a Turkish company Gulermak Agir Sanayi Insaat, Vinci/Keltbray & Volker Fitzpatrick.
Long-awaited A47 dualling at Norwich
The Government has approved plans to dual the 1.6m section of A47 between Blofield and North Burlingham with work to begin in October.
The £100m project will address a black spot where 33 people died and 190 people have crashed over 10 years. It will remove side roads and build 2 new junctions with bridges. This section carries 30,000 cars per year and has one of the highest accident rates.
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HS2 cuts concrete by 80%
A stretch of HS2 wall has been reduced from 1.6m to 420 metres reducing the amount of concrete by 80% which is 70,000 cubic metres or 6,700 lorry loads. The design changes see HS2 cut underneath the A38 through Streethay and will mean local residents experience less noise and disruption. This means the A38 southbound slip road at Streethay from Monday 1 August for 15 months.
Massive £1.75bn aqueduct project call for bids
Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Programme is 109km of pipeline built between 1933 & 1955 in north west England that needs to replace all 6 tunnel sections.
United Utilities is managing the tender programme to choose 3 suppliers to build, finance and maintain over 25 years the tunnels.
Up to three bidders will be shortlisted, interested applicants can apply here.
Tarmac goes low carbon
Tarmac and Aggregate Industries are moving to warm mix asphalt (WMA) as standard which is 15% lower carbon than the currently used hot mix asphalt. Warm mix asphalt can enhance road life expectancy, reduce costs as it is faster to lay and increase safety for road laying teams.
Wates Retrofit delivers net zero housing
Wates has launched a new brand ‘Retrofit’ which will deliver social housing upgrades to achieve the Government target for all social housing to achieve EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) rating of C.
Wates itself has committed to achieve net zero waste & carbon across all its operations by 2025.
The service includes all aspects of upgrades such as compliance, asset management & supply chain advice, PAS 2035 and reporting and evaluation.
Winners of top 50 women in engineering #we50
The Women’s Engineering Society has announced winners of the Top 50 Engineering Awards. Awards are judged based on their contribution to engineering. Full list of winners can be found here among them Georgia Thompson: Assistant Design Programme Manager, BAM Nuttall. With many women being forced out of the industry and profession due to harassment, it’s great to see these awards celebrating achievement.