While Japan struggles to stabilise its wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant, engineers in Ukraine are only now starting construction of a new enclosure for Chernobyl’s fourth reactor, almost exactly 25 years after it exploded causing immense human and environmental damage in the region and globally. (ENR November 24, 2008, page. 80)It's too early to say whether the Japanese will need their version of Chernobyl’s $1.4 billion, 29,000-tonne steelwork safe confinement in which to clear away their nuclear ruins. But the hard lessons learnt in Ukraine’s $2.2-billionthe shelter implementation plan following the 26 April 1986 disaster could give Japan’s clean-up a
SIR FRANK Sir Frank Lampl, Ex-Bovis CEO, Dies Sir Frank Lampl, an engineer who turned a modest U.K. building firm into the global giant Bovis Construction Group and was its chairman and CEO for 16 years, died on March 24 in London of complications related to his World War II and post-war imprisonment. He was 84. Born in Czechoslovakia, Sir Frank survived two Nazi death camps and escaped Soviet oppression and forced labor in a Czech uranium mine after returning to his native land. He became managing director of a state-owned construction firm but immigrated to the United Kingdom in
A Scotland-based utility has secured government approval to build a 10-MW demonstration marine power farm that will use a novel turbine to harness the kinetic energy of tidal streams. Installation of the 10 units off Scotland’s west coast is scheduled to start in 2013, following prototype testing at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney starting at the end of this year. Photo: Courtesy of ScottishPower Renewables A 300-MM prototype of the 1,000-MW Scottish machine was installed off Norway some eight years ago. Photo: Courtesy of ScottishPower Renewables Innovative HS300 turbine capitalizes on the kinetic energy of tidal streams. The
Even without the spire that will make London’s Shard the tallest building in Western Europe, its recently topped-out core, reaching 72 floors above ground, already dominates the city. With the structural steelwork frame ending at level 40, concrete columns and post-tension floors will complete the rest of the 310-meter-tall building’s frame next to the River Thames. Now looming 244 m over the London Bridge railroad hub, the Shard’s stump has become a temporarily unattractive city landmark. But from ground level, the rising curtain wall gives a foretaste of the final building, designed by architect Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Genoa, Italy.
With a winning bid more than 10% below the lowest official estimate, a consortium including American Bridge Co., Coraopolis, Pa., has been named preferred bidder for a $1.3-billion contract to design and build Scotland’s new Forth highway bridge.
The U.K. government in late February announced a plan for an estimated $52-billion project to extend the country's only high-speed railroad northward to Birmingham and beyond. It aims to start construction of the line, dubbed HS2, later this decade, and hopes to see trains start running by 2026. “Countries across Europe and Asia are already pressing ahead with ambitious plans for high-speed rail,” said Transport Secretary Philip Hammond, launching the five-month public information process. “We cannot afford to be left behind.” In a first phase of the proposed Y-shaped system, the line would be extended from London by 225 km
China overtook the U.S. last year to become the world’s largest construction market, according to a March 3 report that forecasts market trends to 2020. However, the report suggests that, in the coming decade, the U.S. will be almost alone among developed nations in achieving significant expansion, with an expected annual construction growth exceeding 6%, which will still lag behind the predicted construction growth of emerging economies. China grew its global share to 15%, which was 1% ahead of the U.S., as a result of an increased volume of work, rising prices and currency exchange fluctuations, says Graham Robinson, director
Numerous structures are on course for completion in time for the London 2012 Summer Olympics, including a few that are uniquely shaped. Perhaps the strangest is a steelwork monument that will rise 114.5 meters, serving as an icon for the Olympic Park. Image: Arup The ArcelorMittal Orbit will be ready to greet crowds at London’s 2012 Summer Olympics. Image: Arup Related Links: Olympic Orbit Takes Off The red steelwork being built just outside the main stadium’s entrance, so far around 40 m tall, is the diagrid stem of the fantastic 15,000-tonne sculpture known as the Orbit. The structure is the
Kuwait’s public-works ministry in February signed an $870-million design-bid-build contract with a European-led consortium to upgrade more than 15 kilometers of Jamal Abdul Nasser Street. Photo: Courtesy of Louis Berger and PACE Upgraded Kuwaiti road will bypass local streets with viaducts. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" Nasser Street links to a $950-million Jahra Road project that started last September. The two highways will relieve a congested corridor linking Kuwait City with its western suburbs and provide access to major government facilities and other centers, says an official with Louis Berger Group Inc., Morristown, N.J., which is handling design and
A 1.24-mile-long aerial cable-car system could be operational in time for the 2012 London Olympic Games if Mayor Boris Johnson signs off on the plan. The $65-million project would be the U.K.’s first urban cable car and would cross the River Thames. Last month, councils for the two boroughs affected—Greenwich and Newham—approved the plan that links Greenwich Peninsula and the Royal Docks. + Image Image: TFL A map shows the cable-car system that has been approved by London’s Greenwich and Newham boroughs. The system would cross the River Thames. Photo: TFL Cables Will Run Between 295-ft-tall Towers. The system, designed