Weekly news round-up - 5 March 2014

Your rapid update on the week's infrastructure stories.

Thomas Paterson
05 March 2014
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  1. Standing Committee on Structural Safety this week published a new Structural Safety Alert following the recent collapse of tension structures in buildings and tunnels resulting in fatalities and serious injuries. SCOSS chief executive Alastair Soane explains more  click here

  2. Network Rail has confirmed it is to open the rail route at Dawlish on 4 April, two weeks earlier than originally estimated and in time for the busy tourist season around the school Easter holidays The main 100m section, breach during  recent storms, has been repaired with nearly 5000t of concrete and 150t of steel and a new 200m track is ready built for installation.

  3. Meanwhile the rail operator’s plans to reopen the full length of the Hastings to Tonbridge line on the South Eastern network on Monday were delayed for several more days after a landslip under repair started moving again. At Stonegate and Battle full repairs were completed on landslips last week following a month of round-the-clock working. The slip at Whatlington was due for completion over the weekend but it was found to have started moving again on Friday night, before the repairs were complete, putting back reopening by several days.

  4. HS2 chairman Sir David Higgins is addressing a meeting at the Institute of Directors on 21 March in a bid to convert the 73% of the IOD membership who said back in August that the project was a waste of money. Higgins’ report on how to reduce the cost of the £42.6bn scheme is due at the end of the month.

  5. The Secretary of State for the Communities and Local Government has thrown out an appeal by developers which had had planning permission turned down for a wind turbine near Cockermouth in the Lake District National Park on the grounds that the scheme would affect the character and quality of the local landscape.

  6. The Japanese Agency for Natural Resources and Energy is reported to be considering building what would be one of the world’s largest offshore wind farms close to the site of the Fukushima nuclear energy plant. The wind farm would feature 143 floating turbines that would generate up to 1GW of power.

  7. Queen’s University, Belfast and Arup are celebrating the life of pioneering engineer Peter Rice in a special exhibition running at the University’s Naughton gallery until 28 March.

  8. The University of Southern California is testing a giant 3D printer that could be used to build a whole house in under 24 hours.Professor Behrokh Khoshnevis has designed the giant robot that replaces construction workers with a nozzle on a gantry, the report said. This squirts out concrete and can quickly build a home according to a computer pattern. It is “basically scaling up 3D printing to the scale of building,” says Khoshnevis. The technology, known as Contour Crafting, could revolutionise the construction industry, it is claimed. Click here.

  9. Costain is planning to raise £75M through a share placing to help fund an increase in bid activity in its core infrastructure, energy and water. Costain last week reported a rise in adjusted pretax profit for year to December 2013 of £31M compared to £28.1M last time. Turnover was up to £960M from £934.5M.

  10. HS2 unveiled the masterplan to transform Birmingham at the new railway’s Curzon Street Station. Included will be a metro extension and a park on top of a viaduct. It will be one of the biggest regeneration schemes in Britain and will transform 141 hectares of the city.