Weekly round-up - 17 April 2015

Drew Ritchie takes on top Capita infrastructure role, Paris plans new Underground line, row brewing over Stonehenge tunnel, Election hangover will hit construction growth.

  1. Capita’s property and infrastructure business has appointed Drew Ritchie as its new head of infrastructure. He joins Capita from running his own consultancy business, providing strategic and corporate development advice to a number of major civil engineering contractors. Ritchie has held positions for some of the UK’s most prominent engineering and infrastructure companies, including chief operating officer for Currie & Brown, major projects and programmes director (EuMENA) at Balfour Beatty, and head of rail for Amey. He has been responsible for a range of infrastructure and construction projects in the UK, including the construction of the Aquatics Centre for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and the redevelopment of King’s Cross Station for London Underground Limited.

  2. Paris is getting ready to build a new underground railway. Société du Grand Paris is preparing to publish a preliminary information notice about the first eight civils contracts the railway. The notice in the Official Journal of the European Union covers the first civil engineering works contracts for Line 15 South of the Grand Paris Express. Work covers 33km of underground lines, 16 stations between Pont-de-Sèvres and Noisy-Champs, and 38 related engineering structures. Eight main works contracts are planned, with bidding phases spread over the second quarter of 2015 up to the second quarter of 2016. The contracts will include station construction, bored tunnels, specific structures and additional works including ventilation systems.

  3. The UK government was at the supreme court on Thursday over air pollution plans. Judges heard environmental group Client Earth’s case against the UK Government over failures to reduce Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) levels and responses from the secretary of state. Current plans are not expected to bring toxic NO2 emissions, which are often produced by surface transport, to within legal limits in 16 cities and regions including London, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham and Glasgow until 2030. This would be 20 years after the original deadline. The UK is facing fines of up to £300M from the EU for the breach, with these costs likely to be passed to councils by the Government

  4. An open letter co-ordinated by campaign group 20 Miles More is pushing all three main party leaders to commit to ensuring Liverpool is part of the HS2 route. The letter is  signed by leading firms in freight, tourism, retail, life science and creative industries. Current HS2 proposals do not include a high speed line to the city and nor do proposals in the Transport for the North vision for an east to west HS3. 

  5. The Greater London Authority has given the go-ahead to Chinese developer ABP to proceed with its 4.7M sq ft development in the Royal Albert Dock in London. Work on the 14ha site is expected to start later this year, with the first phase completed in 2018. The project includes upgrading the local transport infrastructure including Docklands Light Railway and Crossrail stations.

  6. Laing O’Rourke-Interserve has dropped out of bidding for the Midland Metropolitan Hospital which is to be the first hospital to be built using the PF2 model. Carillion is now the sole bidder, with final bids due in six months time. Sandwell & West Birmingham NHS Trust has said that the procurement process would continue to the same timetable even though one firm was left to price the £350m, 670-bed hospital. Construction of the new hospital is expected to start in 2016 and be completed by 2018-19.

  7. Opposition to the Stonehenge Tunnel is building. On World Heritage Day this Saturday (18 April), the Stonehenge Alliance is calling on political leaders to pledge their support for safeguarding the Stonehenge World Heritage Site (WHS). Current proposals to widen the A303 with a short tunnel threaten the future of this landscape, the alliance says. With only a few weeks before the General Election, the Alliance is asking politicians for a commitment to protecting the whole of the WHS, in line with the UK’s obligation under the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. There are growing petitions internationally and in the UK against the project. 

  8. Waterman Group has extended its framework agreement with London Borough of Bexley to provide engineering and consultancy services. The deal is worth £1.5M to Waterman in its first year. The contract is part of the long-term regeneration framework of the borough’s growth strategy for its economic, environmental and social regeneration and aims to strengthening Bexley's reputation as a desirable location to live and do business, with plans to expand its transport infrastructure and education programmes while encouraging high aspirations and entrepreneurship.

  9. Tanzania is planning develop its rail network spending  $14.2bn over the next five years on the central corridor line and others.  The Central Corridor line will be a 2,561km link between the port of Dar es Salaam to Rwanda and Burundi at a cost of $7.6bn. Two additional lines, to cost a total of $6.6bn, will connect Dar es Salaam to the coal, iron ore and soda ash mining areas in the south and northern parts of the country.

  10. Construction output is forecast to increase 5.5% this year before slowing to 4.0% in 2016 and 3.4% in 2017 because of an Election hangover Construction Products Association has said. Its economics director Noble Francis said:  “Construction output is forecast to increase 5.5% in 2015, which is more than double the rate of growth for the UK economy, due to growth in the three key sectors of construction; private housing, commercial and infrastructure. Over the following two years, however, construction output is forecast to be adversely affected by the UK’s most uncertain election in more than 40 years. “The lag between construction contracts and work on the ground means that construction activity in 2015 probably won’t be impacted, since the majority of work for the year has already been planned. Instead, we expect a break in private and public investment this year for future projects, which in turn will lead to slower construction growth of 4.0% in 2016 and 3.4% in 2017.”

If you would like to contact Jackie Whitelaw about this, or any other story, please email jackie.whitelaw@infrastructure-intelligence.com.