Photo by Peter Reina for ENR A collapsed tower crane atop London's Cabinet Office is dismantled after a heavy storm on the Christian feast day of St. Jude struck Europe on Oct. 28. A second crane also was damaged in the storm. Related Links: Hurricane-force Gusts Batter U.K., Topple London Crane Crane Collapse in Northeastern China Kills Four A crane manufacturer is looking for clues to explain what caused two of its tower cranes to sustain major damage during a deadly storm that blew through London in late October and caused travel delays, flooding and damage throughout western Europe.A tower
Courtesy of EDF Planned new nuclear complex would be built at site of reactors built in previous decades (below). China’s state-owned nuclear industry has secured a major European foothold with deals announced on Oct. 21 for the first new plants in the U.K. in more than two decades.Construction of the two 1,660-MW European pressurized-reactor (EPR) water units, valued at more than $22 billion, is set to start next summer on the Hinkley Point C project, in Somerset, England, subject to final financing decisions next year by the French project developer EDF Group.The project would be adjacent to the site's existing
Related Links: Blacklist Support Group website U.K. Information Commissioner's Office-About The Consulting Association Labour Bans U.K. Contractor Carillion from Conference Over Blacklisting Eight of the U.K.’s largest construction companies said Oct. 10 that they would compensate construction industry workers who were damaged by an unlawful “blacklist” that allegedly operated since the mid-1990s and included more than 3,200 names.Workers were added to the list for reasons that included health and safety issues, employment history, trade union activity and personal relationships, says Justin Bowden, national officer of GMB, a leading U.K. construction trade union, and media reports.Bowden, who adds that some workers
Marking its centennial, the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) is now "more relevant than ever," said outgoing President Geoff French at the global group's annual conference, held on Sept. 15-16 in Barcelona.
Related Links: Vegas Hotel Is Like a Giant Sun Reflector, Says Pool Visitor Sandblasters Tone Down Glare-Prone Disney Concert Hall With the current fashion of curvaceous buildings, the need to shed light on solar glare is becoming an increasingly important design consideration. London's "Walkie Talkie" skyscraper is the latest to reflect "death rays" that partially melted a car and almost set fire to a barbershop's entrance.As Londoners basked in an uncharacteristically sunny summer day, the concave elevation of the incomplete 37-floor building at 20 Fenchurch St. focused solar rays onto the opposite sidewalk, melting part of a Jaguar's roof and
Related Links: Saudi Arabia Upgrading Rail Passenger and Freight Service Demand In Middle East And Asia Drive Market For Building Projects Saudi Arabia is launching one of the world's biggest mass-transit construction programs. On July 29, the Riyadh Development Authority selected three international design-build teams for contracts totaling more than $20 billion for six lines on the new subway system in Riyadh. The development authority plans to compete negotiations regarding the contracts in the next few months.Extending more than 170 kilometers and including 87 stations, the government-funded program will entail some 600,000 tonnes of steel and over four million cubic
Global Construction 2025 report Work in emerging economies will grow to two-thirds of the global market by 2025 Global Construction 2025 report Growth rates will vary markedly among nations. Related Links: Global Construction 2025 Report Website ENR Global Summit 2013: Successful Global Firms Learn to Nurture their Supply Chains In the industrialized world, the U.S. leads the pack with a predicted construction-market growth rate that will average 4% a year through 2025, says a new U.K.-based global forecast. While the U.S. will remain the world's second-largest market, its share will drop in the next 12 years as China builds up
Rendering courtesy Mersey Gateway Mersey River span, shown here in a rendering, is scheduled for completion in 2017 at an estimated cost of more than $900 million. It will carry traffic across the river between Runcorn and Widnes, about 20 kilometers east of Liverpool. Related Links: Mersey Gateway home page A bridge too far (Campaign for Better Transport web site) A consortium of Australian, German and Spanish firms on 20 June was named preferred bidder for a privately financed, 30-year contract to design, build and operate a roughly one-kilometer-long bridge with three cable-stayed spans over the Mersey River between Runcorn
London's 224-meter-tall "Cheesegrater" building has climbed into the city's skyline over the past months, quickly becoming a new landmark in a city with quirky building names.
Elevator and design consultants are lauding a new elevator system from KONE Corp. that drastically reduces the weight of the hoisting cables—the bane of tall-building experts.