With their bids coming in below original estimates, European and Irish contractors grabbed the lion’s share of nearly $2 billion in tunneling contracts to be let so far on London’s $23-billion Crossrail project. The four contracts are the first of nearly 30 that Crossrail officials expect to award in the next 11 months. + Image Map: Courtesy Crossrail Ltd. Crossrail Ltd. plans to award 30 contracts in the next year to construct the $23-billion London rail project. Related Links: At Canary Wharf, Key Rail Station Takes Shape Bids below the original estimates were a positive development for project managers, who
India’s prime minister, Manmohan Singh, has reshuffled his Cabinet, and among the changes announced on Jan. 19 was the appointment of C.P. Joshi to be Minister for Road Transport and Highways. Joshi, who led the Rural Development Ministry, replaces Kamal Nath, who shifts to become head of the Urban Development Ministry. As Joshi begins his new job, he aims to make ministry operations transparent and push for new technology to monitor road projects in real time. The industry continues to expect that highway projects will be accelerated, although Joshi has declined to provide specific goals. In May 2009, then-minister Nath
Transport Scotland expects to have bids for the estimated $2-billion cable-stayed bridge over the Firth of Forth waterway in hand by the end of January. The agency aims to award by April the 66-month, lump-sum design-build contract for the Forth Replacement Waterway Project. Photo: Transport Scotland The new Forth Replacement Waterway Project, when complete in 2016, will be the third major crossing over the Firth of Forth, near Edinburgh. Shown: The Forth Road Bridge, completed in the mid-1960s. Two teams of contractors were invited to bid for the fixed-price contract on Dec. 17, say Transport Scotland officials. Nearly 40 companies
A consortium led by Beijing-based China Communications Construction Co. has won the contract to design and build the world’s longest sunken-tube tunnel for road traffic between Hong Kong, Zhuhai and Macao. The project has a tight time frame, with design expected to be completed by June 2012 and construction slated to be finished by the end of 2016. Photo: Courtesy Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Authority At 4.2 miles, a sunken-tube tunnel in Hong Kong will be the world’s longest. The winning project team includes the local offices of AECOM Asia Co. Ltd., Shanghai Urban Construction (Group) Co., China Highway Planning and
Photo: Nick Merrick/Hedrich Blessing The latest addition to the Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU) opened on Jan. 24 sporting a unique look that uses laminated Douglas-fir trusses. The project’s designer, Denver-based Fentress Architects, claims RDU is the first major airport in the world to use a “lenticular wood-truss structure” to support a roof. In all, 80 trusses span the entire length of the terminal and concourse at 30 ft intervals. The trusses are 90 ft long and weigh 34 tons each. The latest phase of the terminal’s construction adds 920,000 sq ft to the 550,000 sq ft that opened in 2008,
Devices to harvest kinetic energy from the briny waste stream of seawater desalinization plants are to be used for the first time at an industrial scale in two plants now being built in Spain. Image: Courtesy Of Energy Recovery Inc. A kinetic energy exchanger (lower right) recaptures water-pressure energy in the outflow stream and transfers it back into the raw-water stream. Pressure-exchange devices supplied by Energy Recovery Inc., San Leandro, Calif., are to be installed in reverse-osmosis plants being built by Spain’s Ministry of the Environment, Rural and Marine Affairs at the Mediterranean coastal cities of Moncofa and Oropesa. Together,
As global interest in nuclear power grows, two major European design firms have joined forces to capture a share of the business. London-based W.S. Atkins plc. and Paris-based Assystem S.A. now are targeting international projects jointly while continuing to operate independently in their home markets. Based in France, the joint venture Nuclear Atkins Assystem Alliance (NAAA) claims that, drawing from the two companies, it will have access to 3,000 employees with market-relevant skills. NAAA executives believe that 30 countries are considering entry into the nuclear power market and that a similar number already have operational plants. Martin Grant, managing director
Turkey has revived its nuclear energy program after four decades of canceled projects. A deal has been brokered with Russia to build Turkey’s first nuclear powerplant on the Mediterranean coast, and talks have started with Japan and France regarding a second nuclear facility on the Black Sea. In December, Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom signed an agreement to construct four 1,200 MW VVER reactors totalling 4,800 MW in Akkuyu in the province of Mersin on Turkey’s southern coast. The water-cooled, water-moderated energy reactors will be designed to withstand earthquakes of up to 6.5 on the Richter scale. The licensing process
Large pneumatic bags designed to contain blasts from improvised explosive devices are finding a peaceful application in Egypt, propping the crumbling interior of the nation’s oldest pyramid. When inflated, an array of the 1.5-meter-tall bags will allow workers safely to stabilize the fractured interior roof of the subterranean burial chamber, itself buried under the ancient stone heap that forms the Pyramid of Djoser, south of Cairo. Built nearly 4,900 years ago in the reign of Djoser, the first king of the Third dynasty, the structure is the world’s oldest major stone monument, according to Zahi Hawass, secretary general of Egypt’s
Keith Howells, newly installed chairman of London-based global design firm Mott MacDonald Group, is optimistic that Dubai’s gradual emergence from its real estate slump will boost the firm’s fortunes this year. Mott’s recent award of a design contract on the $6-billion Dubai Pearl mixed-use project supports his view that the emirate’s construction market is climbing “off the floor.” Photo: Courtesy of Mott MacDonald Group Keith Howells takes over as chairman of Mott MacDonald Group just as the firm wins a design award on a $6-billion Dubai development. Mott’s work involves design of mechanical, electrical, public health, fire, communications and security
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