Weekly round-up 2 July 2014

HS2 Bill committee in action, Swansea tidal lagoon appoints a construction director and fracking is OK in National Parks says Environment Agency chief.

Jackie Whitelaw
02 July 2014

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1. Timothy Mould QC kicked off the meat of proceedings at the High Speed Rail (London – West Midlands) Bill Select Committee on Tuesday with the opening statement on behalf of Department for Transport. He indicated that DfT would be arguing strongly against petitions for new, long tunnels through, for instance, Buckinghamshire which would not be of general benefit and would compromise performance of the railway. “We are keen to demonstrate that there is no case for spending more to achieve less,” he said. HS2 technical director Andrew McNaughton is due in committee today to describe the route

2. Steve Hollingshead, former chief executive of Laing O'Rourke in Australia, has been appointed construction director of Tidal Lagoon Power in charge of constructing Swansea Bay tidal lagoon. Mark Shorrock, chief executive of Tidal Lagoon Power said: "With the public examination process now underway in Swansea, our focus is on developing the team that will lead the construction.” Read our feature on the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon - part of Power Players of the West, here.

3. Toshiba has completed plans to take over Iberdrola’s 50% stake in the Nu Gen Moorside proposals for 3.4GW of new nuclear generation at Sellafield in Cumbria. The company has also taken 10% of the GDF Suez stake. Toshiba is the majority owner of reactor manufacturer Westinghouse and plans to build three AP1000 pressurised water reactors at Moorside starting in 2018, with the first unit intended to be operational by 2024.

4. Fracking in National Parks should be permitted because the visual impact can be limited when the process is "done properly", the outgoing chairman of the Environment Agency Lord Chris Smith is reported to have said. "Provided it is done carefully and properly regulated, those fears are definitely exaggerated," Smith said in an interview with the Times.

5. Urban land economist and chartered town planner Louise Brooke-Smith has become the first woman president of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. 

6. Around 400 jobs are to go at the Tata steelmaking plant in Port Talbot, the company has announced. Chief executive Karl Koehler said the changes were vital if the company was to remain competitive. He pointed to the UK's high business rates and "uncompetitive" energy costs as factors in the decision.

7. Former Capita executive director Dave Spence has joined Amey as managing director of its consultancy business. Spence reports to Andy Milner, managing director of Amey’s Consulting, Rail and Strategic Highways division.

8. Fracking should and will proceed in Scotland despite the existence of only relatively "modest" amounts of shale gas and oil, ministers have said. A British Geological Survey study of shale resources in Scotland's "Midland Valley", spanning Glasgow and Edinburgh, estimated there could be 6 billion barrels of oil and 80 trillion cubic feet of gas beneath the ground. For comparison there is believed to be 1,300 trillion cubic feet of shale gas in Northern England.

9. Subcontractors are being promised payment within 21 days to encourage them to work on a housing job in Plymouth with national housing charity Chapter 1 ,Construction Enquirer reports. “The project team is offering 21 day payment terms …in the hope that this encourages local SMEs to participate.” 

10. Britain's recession was not as deep as feared and the economy has already returned to its pre-crisis strength, official growth estimates suggest. The Office for National Statistics said the drop in output in 2009 was not as deep as previously thought. Instead of shrinking 5.2%, GDP contracted by 4.1%. The figures suggest that the economy had already returned to its previous peak during the early months of 2014, economists said, slightly earlier than expectations that the milestone would be reached during the current April to June quarter.