Balfour Beatty plc, the U.K.-based global construction giant, announced on Sept. 17 it would acquire U.S. engineering stalwart Parsons Brinckerhoff for $626 million.
Balfour Beatty plc, the U.K.-based global construction giant, announced on Sept. 17 it would acquire U.S. engineering stalwart Parsons Brinckerhoff, New York City, for $626 million. The deal, which officials say would keep 13,000-employee PB intact as a wholly owned subsidiary, is still subject to approval by shareholders of both firms. Photo: Balfour Beatty Ian Tyler of Balfour Beatty Related Links: Balfour Beatty's News Release The Numbers Behind Balfour Beatty's Centex Deal The acquisition, to be financed mainly by Balfour Beatty selling its own shares to existing investors, is due for completion late next month. About 5,000 PB shareholders will
Unfolding impacts of worldwide infrastructure are putting acute pressure on the engineering profession to steer future development onto a more sustainable path, said global practitioners meeting Sept. 14-16 in London. The warnings came at the annual conference of the International Federation of Consulting Engineers, at which the group, which represents close to one million global engineers, released its first “state of the world” report. Hundreds of delegates from all continents were urged to take a leadership role to find ways to curtail future negative effects. Photo: FIDIC In a new report, global engineers group is sounding the alarm for needed
Four big consortiums are due next month to begin calculating bids for the estimated $1.9 billion of tunneling work on the next 15.5-kilometer underground extension of Denmark’s Copenhagen metro, the Cityringen line. As arbitrators continue grappling with $385 million in claims for extra payment over the system’s seven-year-old first phase, Copenhagen officials plan to start work on Cityringen by next summer. By bidding construction of Cityringen’s 17 stations separately from the tunneling work, project owner Metroselskabet hopes to avoid the sort of dispute that reportedly impeded progress on early phases, says procurement project manager Jens Gravgaard. Photo: Metroselskabet More test
Balfour Beatty plc, the U.K.-based global construction giant, announced Sept. 17 that it would acquire US engineering stalwart Parsons Brinckerhoff, New York City, for $626 million. The deal, which officials say would keep 13,000-employee PB in tact as a wholly-owned subsidiary, is still subject to approval by shareholders of both firms. Ian Tyler, CEO of Balfour Beatty The acquisition, to be financed mainly by Balfour Beatty selling its owns shares to existing investors, is due for completion late next month. PB's 75 shareholders are set to vote on it Oct. 21. The deal fills business gaps for both firms. It
Contractors are preparing to hand over Italy’s newest section of high-speed railroad to the state’s operator, Ferrovie Italiane, for testing. The 5.6-km Novara–Milan section of the Turin-Venice line is due to start service this December. The new Bologna-Florence line, handed over on June 30, also will become operational in December. Nine tunnels, the longest extending 18.5 km, carry 93% of this 78-km line along the Apennine Mountains. Photo: Impregilo Bologna-Florence line featured New Austrian Tunnelling Method. Impregilo S.p.A, Milan, leads consortiums handling turnkey construction of both sections, part of the high-speed network being developed by Rete Ferroviaria Italiana S.p.A. (RFI),
For a company that began this decade losing most of its stock-market value and its chief executive, the U.K.’s W.S. Atkins plc seems to have learned the trick of keeping afloat in hard times. From being the lame duck of institutional investors, Europe’s largest design firm has become their darling, following recent news of better-than-expected financial performance in the face of global gloom. David Brockton, equities analyst with Arbuthnot Securities, London, says, “Atkins remains the best-placed (U.K.) consultant to withstand pressure in its markets and benefit when any demand improvement occurs.” Slide Show Photo: W.S. Atkins Burj al Arab hotel
Engineers and up to 2,000 workers in London have been stitching together and modernizing sections of three 19th-century urban railroads—two defunct and one live—to close a gap of under 3 km in the northeast corner of the city’s emerging orbital route. Slide Show Photo: Peter Reina / ENR A refurbished arch viaduct. Related Links: New Urban Rail Link: Threading an Historic Cityscape Over $1 billion is the expected end cost for the three-year project extending and improving this short stretch of Victorian-era infrastructure in the crowded metropolis. “It is a very complex project because here you are dealing with old
British steel-bridge manufacturer Mabey & Johnson Ltd. pleaded guilty on July 10 to corrupt practices in Jamaica and Ghana between 1993 and 2001 and violating United Nations’ sanctions against trade with Iraq in 2001 and 2002. The company is the first to be prosecuted in the U.K. for corruption overseas and faces court sentencing later this summer, says the Serious Fraud Office, the independent government agency that investigated and prosecuted the case. Mabey & Johnson, based in Reading, England, supplies small to medium size prefabricated modular bridges. The firm volunteered evidence of corruption to authorities last year following its own
