Institution of Civil Engineers Record
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Crossrail delays exposed p12 Future of tunnels p27 Las Vegas' roads revamp p42 New Civil Engineer FEBRUARY 2019 ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES THE INNOVATIONS DESIGNED TO KEEP HINKLEY POINT C ON TRACK BIM. ACCURATE PIPE DESIGN at your fingertips FREE! CONNECT TO BETTER FEATURING REVIT CONTENT • Quickest way to a complete ‘as built’ pipe system PACKAGE • Precise designs with intelligent assistance Download yours today! • Fully integrated Bill of Materials Download now at wavin.com/bim CONNECT TO BETTER New Civil Engineer INDUSTRY MUST RISE AGAIN AFTER CROSSRAIL DEBACLE MARK HANSFORD EDITOR his month’s New Civil Engineer was intended to be fu- It is also extraordinary because it is blatantly not fact. Because ture looking as we explore innovations in our Future of Europe’s two most recent and fast-paced high speed rail projects: Bor- Tunnelling special. We are still doing that. But we also deaux-Tours and Montpelier-Nîmes opened on time and on budget. We T find ourselves dedicating many column inches to tun- have written about both repeatedly in New Civil Engineer, so Meggs did nelling past, as we learned this month the full scale of not have to look far for his research. the delays still afflicting Crossrail and the “many, many thousands of He could also have looked closer to home where projects such as hours” of work still needed to complete the civil engineering. the London 2012 Olympics, London’s Lee Tunnel, the M25 upgrade and The revelations emerged from the project’s latest boss Mark Wild Heathrow’s Terminal 5 all immediately jump out as complex major pro- – the third man in a year to take charge of the former “Fifteen billion jects that were delivered on time and on budget. pound railway”, as it was called the BBC documentary of the same name. Wild pulled no punches in his evidence to London Assembly’s We learned this month the full transport committee as he revealed the scale of work still to be done – up to three years’ worth in fact – and the issues he is having with the scale of the delays still afflicting supply chain. Subsequent investigations by New Civil Engineer, revealed in this Crossrail month’s magazine, show how severe these are, with client Crossrail Limited forced into negotiating new lump sum contracts with key contractors to incentivise them to get the work done. Crucially, just down the M4/M5 corridor, we report this month that Something has clearly gone very badly wrong on the project. Wild’s project leaders on Britain’s current mega-project, Hinkley Point C, are view, that the “enormity and complexity of Crossrail in all manners… “straining every sinew to explore and exploit every innovation they can was not fully understood” by senior project executives and represent- to ensure that this hugely sensitive project is delivered well. atives, is hugely perturbing. So such a sweeping statement from Meggs is not only not fact, it Yet in a day of extraordinary statements, the most extraordinary does our industry a massive disservice. came not from Wild but the man sat next to him, fellow project newbie Last month we reported how Meggs’ former IPA colleague, IPA direc- and incoming chairman Tony Meggs. tor of infrastructure delivery Stephen Dance, felt that problems with Meggs’ take on the Crossrail débâcle was this: “Projects of this scale Crossrail were dangerously close to undermining government confi- rarely go to time or budget. It is not an excuse, merely fact.” dence about future major projects. He was, of course, referring to High So that’s alright then. Despite hearing from Wild that the project is Speed 2 (HS2) whose acute cost pressures are well known. now running up to three years’ late and £2.5bn over budget, many coun- Wild’s latest revelations will have done nothing but further under- tries worldwide would be satisfied with that, he told the committee. mine that confidence. It would be a brave chancellor and transport Meggs has said this before, but it remains an extraordinary state- secretary to sign off on HS2 main civils contractors right now; here, ment, made all the more so by the fact the he was previously chief in February 2019, on the eve of Brexit and a major Spending Review. executive of the Infrastructure & Projects Authority (IPA). This is the Clearly it is now a big ask of our industry but a crucial one to help Treasury’s quango set up to help government departments in bring restore some of that confidence. major projects in on time and on budget. It clearly has work to do. l Mark Hansford is New Civil Engineer’s editor FEBRUARY 2019 | NEW CIVIL ENGINEER 3 Contents NEW CIVIL ENGINEER FEBRUARY 2019 MAGAZINE OF THE INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS 03 Comment, 27 World View Report: Analysis & News Future of Tunnelling 06 Lighthouse: Keeping infrastructure in the spotlight amid 2019 uncertainty 08 The Edit: Crossrail 2 cash for Elizabeth Line 09 The Edit: Polcevera designs unveiled 12 Special Report: Crossrail chaos 20 Your View: Bridge maintenance; new behaviours; new tech skills; PFI; governance review 22 Business Culture: Construction companies are missing out on tax relief for research and development 12 Exclusive Report: Crossrail Improvements in technology, practice, productivity and safety are all in the pipeline for the tunnelling industry as a series of major tunnelling projects get underway in the UK 28 Overview: British tunnelling 34 Splicing a spur onto an electricity projects are to be the test bed for cable tunnel in south London new techniques 35 Align: Importing overseas 12 It now looks as though Crossrail will 33 Norway is developing plans to build techniques for High Speed 2’s open as much as three years late. a fl oating tunnel across a deep ord Chiltern Tunnels contract This report explores the reasons and the consequences 4 NEW CIVIL ENGINEER FEBRUARY 2019 New Civil Engineer Get news delivered daily Weekly Wrap and analysis delivered weekly with our newsletters. Sign-up at newcivilengineer.com 18 Big 22 Business EDITORIAL TEAM Interview Culture EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES Email: [email protected] Editor Mark Hansford (020) 3953 2821 mark.hansford Deputy Editor Alexandra Wynne (020) 3953 2822 alexandra.wynne Associate Editor Emily Ashwell (020) 3953 2094 emily.ashwell News Editor Rob Horgan (020) 3953 2087 rob.horgan 22 SME Interview: Roni Savage of 18 Hinkley Point C delivery director Technical Reporter Nigel Cann explains how the project Jomas Associates – from kitchen Katherine Smale (020) 3953 2044 is benefi ting from lessons learned table to Goldman Sachs business katherine.smale from other infrastructure schemes programme Reporter Connor James Ibbetson (020) 3953 2088 | connor.ibbetson 38 Tech 42 Tech Reporter Sam Sholli Excellence Excellence (020) 3953 2086 | sam.sholli Chief Sub Editor Andy Bolton (020) 3953 2823 | andy.bolton Designer James McCarthy [email protected] Graphic Artist Anthea Carter [email protected] Technical Editor Emeritus Dave Parker dave.parker 38 Delivering high quality construction 42 A £780M congestion relief for Hinkley Point C’s demanding programme is nearing completion in CUSTOMER SERVICES nuclear programme Las Vegas [email protected] FEBRUARY 2019 NEW CIVIL ENGINEER 5 Lighthouse ICE VIEWPOINT Engineers must bring clarity to uncertainties surrounding public spending s we start the year, UK level. The UK’s exit from the it is important European Union (EU), a spending As the second to reaffirm that review, a Queen’s Speech, a Budget half of 2018 A infrastructure and maybe even a General Election. transforms lives The renewal of the Democratic showed, no one can by connecting people, unlocking Unionist Party’s support for the human potential and raising living minority Conservative government say with any certainty standards. Too often in debates on will also need to take place and infrastructure investment, we forget BY ART WE the Scottish Government will need how the year will play these fundamental tenets. MASTER to find allies to pass its Budget in “out However, despite the payback WHAT WOULD February. from infrastructure investment, MASTER US As the second half of 2018 agreeing such investment is still a showed, no one can say with any elements of the Road Investment bet on the future which carries risk. certainty how the year will play out. Strategy in the absence of PFI, High These bets can also preclude others But some things will have to take Speed 2 Phase 2 and Northern being made, either on other projects place. Top of the list will be the UK Powerhouse Rail. These questions or elsewhere in the economy. Government’s spending review, could rub up against capital This gives rise to a persistent expected after the UK formally investment for say, a major publicly challenge: despite infrastructure leaves the EU, which is currently funded housebuilding programme. being the bedrock of our social scheduled for the end of March. This continued uncertainty once and economic fabric, investment The government has already again underscores the focus of the comes with substantial risks that declared the “end of austerity” ICE’s 2018 State of the Nation, which politicians need to be able to and announced funding in major looked at alternative financing stomach. At the best of times, this is areas, such as health spending in arrangements (such as a pay-as- a difficult pitch to sell. 2019 will be England. From a revenue spending you-go system for strategic roads in even more difficult than usual. point of view, this means decisions England and Scotland) to get around The year will be full of major on the major shifts in budgets have these medium-term political cycles political decision points at the effectively already been made.