The door opened wider to India’s infrastructure market on April 7 when government minister Kamal Nath called on international firms at a New York City conference to participate in his country’s mushrooming road and transport construction program. But firms looking to break into new markets and grow through cross-border acquisitions will find challenges along with the rewards, other panelists said. Photo: Lou Rocco / McGraw-Hill Construction Execs Tyler of Balfour Beatty (l) and Jaski of ARCADIS note acquisitions. var so = new FlashObject("http://natalie.feedroom.com/construction/natoneclip/Player.swf","Player", "300", "169", "8", "#FFFFFF");so.addVariable("skin", "natoneclip");so.addVariable("site", "construction");so.addVariable("fr_story", "fce96dc46d9068e6304b698ff0feb62546eb6db5&rf");so.addVariable("hostURL", document.location.href);so.addParam("quality", "high");so.addParam("allowFullScreen", "true");so.addParam("menu", "false");so.write("flashcontent"); Megachallenges: Megaprojects Around the World var
With the fourth and last 10,000-tonne concrete element sunk, the U.K.’s new, 1.5-km-long River Tyne Tunnel crossed a major milestone late last month, but a missed dredging window, imposed to protect salmon migration, will cost a delay of two months. Photo: New Tyne Tunnel. Four sunken tube elements were built in dry dock by the contractor. Photo: New Tyne Tunnel. All four sunken tube segments have been floated into place on the Tyne River. Related Links: Tyne Tunnel Sunk Work now focuses on the final connections between the four 400-m-long concrete elements of the sunken tube tunnel (STT) near Newcastle.
Municipalities and ports in northern Germany and across Denmark have started competing to host construction sites for the planned 19-km fixed crossing across the strait, Fehmarn Belt, between the two countries. Construction lasting six years is forecast to cost up to $7.3 billion. About three years before sitework is scheduled to start, the Copenhagen-based state company managing the project, Femern A/S, has published requirements for production and construction sites. Final site choices will be made by the companies that will handle three large contracts for the project. Though a bridge is the expected form of crossing, Femern A/S is still
Three, 9-meter-dia wind turbines are due to be installed this month atop London’s new, 148-m-tall Strata SE1 building in the Elephant & Castle district. As well as providing visual interest for the city’s tallest residential building, the turbines are forecast to provide 8% of the electricity consumed by its 408 apartments. The Strata project is the “first time any building in the world has integrated wind turbines into the envelope … of the building,” says Justin Black, development director of the project’s main contractor and owner, Brookfield Europe Ltd., London. Topped out late last month in China, the 310-m-tall Pearl
Plans for $45 billion investment in a 540 km core network of high-speed railroads were launched by the U.K. government on March 11. Work on an initial 206 km line between London and the Birmingham area, estimated to cost up $26 billion, could start around 2017, forecasts the Department for Transport. “Building this network would not only revolutionize Britain’s transport, but would also present significant new opportunities for the U.K.’s design, engineering, construction and manufacturing sectors,” says transportation secretary Andrew Adonis. At this stage, the government expects the project to be publicly funded. The core Y-shaped network, for 400 km
Within weeks of Ethiopia’s inauguration of the 420-megawatt Gilgel Gibe II hydro plant by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi in January, a 15-meter section of its head-race tunnel collapsed. Italian engineers have begun reinstalling lights and ventilation to prepare for months of work to get water flowing again. Photo: Salini Costruttori S.p.A. One 15-meter section of the concrete-lined tunnel collapsed. The remainder of 26-km-long head-race channel is in “perfect” condition, the contractor says. According to the project’s main contractor, Rome-based Salini Costruttori S.p.A., the rest of the 26-km head-race tunnel is in “perfect” condition. The collapse site, about 10 km upstream
Thanks to bipartisan support, London’s $24-billion government-sponsored Crossrail project seems to have a secure future even as public spending cuts loom. Having already signed up all the design teams, Transport for London’s project company, Crossrail Ltd., is now procuring the last tunneling contract. Photo: Crossrail Ltd. Wide-scale demolition at Tottenham Court Road for one of Crossrail’s largest underground hubs. Related Links: Brazil Plans High-Speed Rail for Olympics China-Hong Kong Rail Line Costs Deepen The project includes 21 kilometers of twin tunnels under central London. Crossrail Ltd. set a March 24 deadline for firms to lodge prequalification bids for a contract
Two construction companies, a designer and a contractor with major footholds in South Africa, take somewhat different views of the country’s market prospects in these tougher economic times. Photo: Mott MacDonald Mott MacDonald, which designed the innovative roof of South Africa’s Mbombela soccer stadium, site of the World Cup in June, is bullish about regional growth. U.K.-based Mott MacDonald Group, London, accelerated its upward trajectory in South Africa last month by announcing its acquisition of the Johannesburg-based power-sector designer Merz and McLellan Pty. Ltd. The 45-person firm, with offices in South Africa and Botswana, has been a player in the
Six years after design began and one year after it was completed, Egypt’s Ministry of Culture is almost ready to start construction of the $550-million main building of the Grand Egyptian Museum, near Cairo. Video Image: Heneghan Peng Architects Monumental ancient artifacts will have plenty of headroom with 24-m ceilings. Image: Heneghan Peng Architects The 100,000-sq-m main building of the Egyptian museum will have a low profile to avoid competing with the great pyramids of Giza, two kilometer away. Having secured a $390-million soft loan from Japan, the ministry last month appointed a team of Hill International Inc., Marlton, N.J.,
German investigations into faulty underground construction suspected to be linked with last year�s collapse of a building in Cologne were extended today to a section of elevated rail over 400 km away, completed nearly four years ago by the same contractor. Related Links: Prosecutors Search for Fraud in Rail Project �We want to make sure that works have been carried out correctly at all projects where similar technologies were used,� says Herbert Bodner, Chairman of Bilfinger Berger A.G., Mannheim. Suspicions by the investigators of the Cologne collapse prompted the new probe of work on the high-speed line. In parallel, diaphragm