Weekly round-up 18 June 2014

HS2 committee timetable published, lending holds back housing and honours for infrastructure. Your weekly news roundup.

Antony Oliver
18 June 2014

Twitter FacebookLinkedIn

Print

1. Infrastructure professionals named in the 2014 Queen's Birthday Honours list included former Arup chairman Philip Dilley who received a knighthood for services to the profession, former ICE president and URS energy director Richard Coackley who was awarded CBE and Valerie Todd, Director of Talent and Resources at Crossrail who was also awarded CBE.

2. The High Speed Rail Bill select committee has published timetable for hearing petitions from parties affected by HS2 during July. The first hearing will be on 1st July and is an open address from the Promoter. Petitioners will be heard by geographic area starting in Birmingham and moving south. Timetable is here: 

3. Twelve MPs have lodged petitions against HS2 including four Conservative Ministers as the number of petitions against the project reaches almost 2000.

4. Fracking planning application and environmental permit documents open to scrutiny as regulators invite comment on  four test wells planned by energy firm Cuadrilla. Views are invited by Lancashire County Council and the Environment Agency. The EIA was prepared by Arup and the wells are planned at Little Plumpton near Preston. Comment and view here

5. Tighter lending market is reducing home buying says the latest residential market survey from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). Demand in London fell during May, the first decline since June 2012.

6. The Road Surface Treatments Association (RSTA) is calling for larger budgets for road maintenance from central government after Surrey County Council successfully lobbied Roads Minister Robert Goodwill to review funding rules to make them more "fair". The council, which has 4800km of roads wants the system to enable most frequently used roads to receive more investment.

7. BRE Global has announced the launch of a new BIM Level 2 training and certification pathway for business that goes live on 1st July. Delivered on site, it is designed to help companies provide evidence that they have the policies and procedures required. More here:

8. Consultant Arup has been appointed to lead a new DfT study that will put a value on time spent travelling. The will provide up-to-date valuations of travel time savings and reliability in order to better appraise transport infrastructure schemes.

9. Six of the 10 Crossrail tunnels are now complete  with TBM Ellie breaking through into the Stepney Green cavern this week after a 2.7km bore. The rail tunnels are now 80% complete.

10. Transport Scotland has awarded Amey a six-year contract to maintain and improve the motorways and trunk roads in South East Scotland. The commission, which is valued at over £90M, is subject to up to two one-year extensions and will see Amey deliver engineering design and operational delivery services for around 1000km of road.