Weekly round-up - 6 February 2015

Highways Agency has fresh issues with ASC awards, western cities combine to form their own powerhouse, Swansea tidal lagoon gets another £100M of private investment and HS2 kicks off procurement.

Jackie Whitelaw
05 February 2015

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1. The Highways Agency has cancelled the bidding for asset support contracts in Areas 1, 13 and 14 “because we believe the bids received would not support the delivery of the contracts” it said. The move follows a decision by the Agency in December to rebid Areas 4 and 12 for a similar reason.

2. Cardiff, Newport and Bristol are uniting under the title Great Western cities to rival the northern cities in their bid to attract economic investment including on infrastructure. In a 2014 report called Unleashing Metro Growth, the City Growth Commission identified the Severn region as one of six ‘power-house city regions’ on which the British economy will rely in the future.

3. InfraRed Capital Partners is to invest £100M in the £1bn Swansea Bay tidal lagoon matching the £100M investment already committed by Prudential. The project will generate 500GW of electricity every year for 120years and is scheduled to reach financial close in the summer with construction scheduled to begin immediately after, creating almost 2,000 jobs.  

4. CBI Deputy Director-General Katja Hall called on all the political parties to support the Davies Commission’s final recommendation wherever it suggests a new runway for the south east should be sited when it reports in the summer. “Growing airport capacity in the South East is critical to the UK's economic future, so we simply cannot afford to kick the can yet further down the road on aviation. A single hub airport with spare capacity to grow is the best way to open doors to new trade, and create new routes to emerging markets that will boost our economy,” she said.

5. Construction Products Association is forecasting an increase in construction output of 5.3% in 2015, and 17.8% by 2018. However it has warned that mid-term growth between now and 2018 is likely to slow due to uncertainty and capacity constraints following the General Election. The forecast suggests that private house building is expected to rise by 10% in 2015 and 20.2% by 2018. Infrastructure. infrastructure activity is expected to increase by 7.9% in 2015 and a staggering 51.5% by 2018.

6. Network Rail is working to stabilise a large landslip which will keep the line closed between Banbury and Leamington Spa for several weeks. Specialist engineers are currently assessing the landslide – which is still slowly moving – to determine the scale of the problem. Remote sensing techniques are being used to monitor the landslide and remedial works will begin as soon as it is safe to do so. The cutting forms the approaches to Harbury Tunnel, and is excavated to depths of up to 30 metres through inter layered mudstones and limestone. Network Rail had been carrying out stabilisation work at the site after a much smaller landslide elsewhere at the site on 14 February 2014. These works were underway when the slope failed at 14:30 on Saturday 31 January. No one was injured when the landslide happened.

7. Glasgow Subway is opting for driverless trains in its biggest upgrade for 35 years. Strathcylde Partnership for Transport is assessing bids for a new fleet as part of a £300M overhaul.

8. Transport Minister John Hayes has said he plans to set up a Roads Design Panel to make highways schemes more beautiful and end the perception of new routes as an “ugly necessity”. 

9. Plans to expand London City Airport in the capital’s Docklands have been given the go-ahead by Newham Council. Flights will increase to 110,000 a year from 70,000. According to senior London partner at EY Carline Artis the decision shows “ that local and central government are prepared to accept some local opposition in order to continue to fuel London’s rising economy”.

10. HS2 has kicked its procurement process with the announcement of the nine firms that are competing for a share of £50M of site investigation works. They are: BAM Ritchies, Environmental Scientific Group, Fugro Seacore (trading as Fugro Engineering Services), Soil Engineering Geoservices, Structured Soil, Allied Exploration & Geotechnics,  Ian Farmer Associates (1998), RPS and WYG Environmental Planning Transport.