Engineers save Whaley Bridge p11 Polcevera one year on p14 Future of roads p27 New Civil Engineer SEPTEMBER 2019

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6206_01_Hepworth Clay 265x210 Press_.indd Pg1 05/08/2019 11:49 New Civil Engineer IS BORIS GOING TO BE OUR INFRASTRUCTURE CHAMPION?

MARK HANSFORD EDITOR

o we were one year out. is now the prime Alongside these reviews, fervent work to re-engage with the industry in minister, just as this column predicted back in May the quest to reduce costs is underway – to the extent that it seems certain 2015. Back then, a General Election had just returned that a very public announcement to proceed will come in the Autumn. S David Cameron to power on the back of a Brexit referen- And will Johnson stop at HS2? Unlikely. He has already visited the North dum promise that was always going to tear the country to talk up the proposed Leeds to Manchester rail link, regularly dubbed – and the Conservative Party – apart. HS3 and that forms a central plank of the pro- That Johnson was going to expertly manipulate it all to his own end so gramme. The government has already said that this project is progressing that he became prime minster before Brexit was settled was entirely predict- in “lockstep” with 2 in the south east and Johnson, as the man able (even we predicted it). It leaves the obvious question – what now? And, who when mayor hit the starting button Crossrail 1, has always more importantly for civil engineers – what next for infrastructure? been a fan. The signs are good. Johnson has already promised to invest in “vital infrastructure” to trigger the “beginning of a new ‘golden age’” and has It is worth remembering that as wasted no time in persuading his old pal and ICE past President Doug Oakervee to review (HS2) for him. Johnson and Oakervee London mayor it was Johnson go way back to when the pair united to work up proposals for a Thames Estuary airport, the latter using his world-renowned experience of leading who kept Crossrail alive when it was construction of Hong Kong’s International airport in the 1990s. It is clearly significant that Oakervee also had a spell as chair of HS2 promoter HS2 threatened by then chancellor George Ltd and indeed told the annual George Bradshaw lecture back in 2013 that it is not the project that is wrong, but the government’s models for cost/ Osborne with the axe benefit analyses of schemes of that scale. “ What exactly Oakervee will do for Johnson, or indeed how his review It is worth remembering that as London mayor it was he who kept will dovetail with current chair Allan Cook’s own review, has not been Crossrail alive when it was threatened by then chancellor George Osborne made clear. But it would surely be a volte-face of extraordinary front for with the axe. And it was he who took the Northern Line Extension from Oakervee to come out against the project he has previously supported unfunded pipe dream to reality; and it was he who was fervently behind with such vigour. plans for more Thames river crossings and . This, for the sake of the record, is what Oakervee said, back in 2013: “It Now some of those crossings may have been of questionable worth - is clear that we have not yet developed an economic model that captures the Emirates Air Line cable car and the Thames Garden Bridge to name the benefits of a scheme of the size of HS2. The government’s models two - and were, rightly, criticised. But Johnson was and is no fool, and if he really need to be re-examined,” he said, adding that, without care, any can bring some of his natural pizzazz and can-do attitude to the national major infrastructure project would struggle to get built. infrastructure debate then that can only be a good thing. “We’ve got to be really careful how we judge these things,” he said, not- We may never see the to Dieppe or the Dover- ing that many other road and rail projects – including High Speed 1 – have Calais cross-channel bridge (two of his more recent and outlandish sug- failed the economic test but still been built. “A lot of the railways built in gestions), but HS2, HS3 and Crossrail 2 – don’t bet against them. the 1800s wouldn’t have passed the test either,” he said. l Mark Hansford is New Civil Engineer’s editor

SEPTEMBER 2019 | NEW CIVIL ENGINEER 3 Contents NEW CIVIL ENGINEER SEPTEMBER 2019 MAGAZINE OF THE INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS

08 News, Comment 27 Future of & Analysis Roads

08 The Edit: Losing Silvertown Tunnel bidder launches legal challenge

08 The Edit: Consultant warns of further Crossrail delays

11 Inside Track: How engineers saved Whaley Bridge

12 Inside Track: High Speed 2 faces new review

14 Special report: Polcevera Viaduct reconstruction gathers pace

20 ICE consults on governance changes

22 Big Interview: Nick Walkley

24 Your View: Carbon neutrality; Thameslink celebrated

69 ICE Ring-fenced funding and an ambitious project pipeline Record mean there has never been a more exciting time to work in the UK’s highways sector. But the opportunity comes with responsibility to ensure engineers see the bigger picture.

28 Does ring fenced road spending 34 New digital design method to mean a rosy future for the sector? underpin road and bridge design

30 Using social impact to make the 40 New materials and technology will case for roads make roads safer and more durable

69 Johnson urged to prioritise 32 Semi-autonomous vehicles are 42 Debate: How will the roads sector UK infrastructure; new Council creating demand for supporting adapt the changing travelling members infrastructure patterns?

4 NEW CIVIL ENGINEER SEPTEMBER 2019 For instant updates follow us: Twitter: @ncedigital LinkedIn: new civil engineer Facebook: ncedigital

Instagram Email: newcivilengineer.com/newsletters

49 Innovative Also this month EDITORIAL TEAM Thinking 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 LISTEN: THE ENGINEERS COLLECTIVE 50 A challenging construction project A special episode of New Civil Engineer’s podcast News Editor Rob Horgan will give Kosovo a new trade link explores the digital twin with Bentley Systems’ (020) 3953 2087 rob.horgan Bhupinder Singh 54 Luton Airport’s light rail link newcivilengineer.com/podcast Technical Reporter combines seven di erent types Katherine Smale (020) 3953 2044 katherine.smale of structure ATTEND: TECHFEST 2019 Reporter 58 Extensive redevelopment of Plan your visit to New Civil Engineer’s Sam Sholli (020) 3953 2086 | sam.sholli London’s Olympia events centre festival of Innovation and Technology. Go to has to fi t around live events techfest.newcivilengineer.com Chief Sub Editor Andy Bolton (020) 3953 2823 | andy.bolton

62 SME Designer James McCarthy Interview [email protected]

Graphic Artist Anthea Carter [email protected]

Technical Editor Emeritus Dave Parker dave.parker

CUSTOMER SERVICES ENTER (020) 3953 2152 Showcase your talent by entering [email protected] the New Civil Engineer 62 SME Interview: How Clarkebond Graduate & Apprentice Awards has rebuilt itself into a consultant graduates.newcivilengineer.com which sticks to its core skills

SEPTEMBER 2019 NEW CIVIL ENGINEER 5 Lighthouse ICE VIEWPOINT Securing long term funding for roads

he UK’s roads capacity, improving reliability and remain key arteries modernising the network with Nearly half of for the movement additional miles of smart motorway, British adults T of the nation’s and the shared aim of raising the goods, services and overall performance of the SRN. would support the people. Long-term investment in Encouragingly the new prime their maintenance and upgrade are minister Boris Johnson has already introduction of a pay- therefore critical to the health of said as part of his maiden speech our economy and to our quality BY ART WE that new roads (alongside other as-you-go model if it of life. MASTER infrastructure investment) are “replaced both vehicle Sectors dependent on the WHAT WOULD critical to improving business Strategic Road Network (SRN) MASTER US confidence and productivity. excise duty and fuel employ in the region of 7.4M people This would suggest that there is a and contribute £314bn in gross plan either in place or being worked duty value added annually. up for new roads investment. Through back-to-back Highways At the core of any funding plan the ballot box. funding programmes, for roads should be a solution for Contrary to this are the results we are seeing billions of pounds the pending challenges that exist of public opinion polls conducted invested in the SRN to ensure in relation to revenues from the by YouGov on behalf of the ICE. that it can continue to deliver for traditional suite of motoring taxes. These highlight the fact that nearly businesses and people right across The long-term sustainability of half of British adults would support the network. Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) and fuel the introduction of a pay-as-you-go This is funding that is targeted duty is uncertain as a consequence model if it replaced both VED and at reducing congestion, boosting of policy drivers for increasing fuel duty. electric vehicle ownership which, Our new prime minister is without future government considered by some as a maverick intervention, will likely lead to a fall public figure – someone willing to in contributions to these taxes. take risks and challenge boundaries Road user charging has long been to deliver on his policy aspirations. Sectors a contentious subject, but it feels as Delivering a pay-as-you-go model for though the time is now arriving to the SRN would certainly require a dependent on acknowledge that it could well be bold approach. the Strategic Road the future. Only time will tell if Johnson is This is particularly so on the up to the task on roads funding, Network employ in SRN given that there will be a but what is certain is that our road shift in the next funding period to networks will remain critical well the region of 7.4M the hypothecation of VED. How into the future and without a long- “people and contribute sustainable is this in the long-term? term funding plan, we put at risk Conventional wisdom would the fortunes of our businesses and suggest that road user charging is communities. £314bn in gross value politically untenable as the public is l Comments about the Lighthouse added annually unlikely to support such a policy at Column to [email protected]

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Find out more at www.aquaspira.com or call today on 01282 608 510 Used and approved for adoption in all UK water company regions Composite Steel Reinforced Pipes *comparison with concrete pipe for a typical 1200mmØ pipe MORE NEWS URBAN CLOSED TENDERS More FOR LONDON The Edit coverage VICTORIA ESSENTIAL NEWS & INFORMATION online at MASTERPLAN FROM NEWCIVILENGINEER.COM newcivil engineer.com A consortium of local businesses behind a new masterplan for London’s Victoria Station and the surrounding area have begun sounding out consultants about further development in the area. The Victoria Business Improvement District is inviting consultants to develop a new masterplan for the area. The £400,000 tender for the “Victoria Station Environs Strategy” – previously the Victoria Place Plan – is understood to be invitation only to architects which will then form partnerships with consulting engineers. The area around Victoria is identified in the mayor’s London Plan as an “opportunity area” with high levels of public transport accessibility. Key objectives for the plan include supporting the delivery of Crossrail 2 and enabling the redevelopment of the station.

Losing Silvertown tunnel bidder CROSSRAIL KEY STATS CONSULTANT WARNS launches legal challenge against THERE IS A HIGH £16bn RISK OF FURTHER Transport for London Value of CROSSRAIL DELAYS contract to There is a “high risk” that the Paddington to ROADS have yet to be released by the High design and section of Crossrail will be delayed Transport for London (TfL) has been Court, but a source close to STC told build the further, according to a new report by slapped with an automatic suspension New Civil Engineer that the “STC bid Jacobs, Crossrail’s project order, preventing it from awarding the was the cheapest and the bids were Silvertown representative. Jacobs’ report £1bn contract to design and build the evaluated on price”. TfL said: “We are Tunnel concludes that there is “high risk” that 1.4km Silvertown Tunnel in East disappointed that our reserve bidder, contractors will miss the new target London. TfL named the Riverlinx STC, has decided to challenge the opening date of March 2021 for the consortium of Ferrovial subsidiary outcome of our procurement Paddington to Heathrow Airport Cintra, Bam PPP PGGM, Macquarie process.”The Silvertown Tunnel section. Jacobs identified the principal Capital and SK E+C as preferred design includes a 1.4km twin-bore risks to opening on time were delays bidder in May, with the contract due road tunnel under the in train software development, which to be signed later this month. But as well as 600m of access ramps. It it said had slipped further. Safety losing bidder Silver Thames Connect will connect south of the River authorisation is another risk factor. (STC), comprising Hochtief, Dragados Thames with the access to the The report also concludes that there and Iridium Concesiones de existing Blackwall Tunnel ,and north are issues with the European train Infraestructuras, has submitted a Part of the Thames with the Tidal Basin control system of signalling that 7 Claim to the Technology & Roundabout, in Silvertown, easing must resolve to avoid Construction Court, preventing TfL traffic congestion in this key London impacting driver training. In reply, from awarding the contract. A Part 7 location. The tunnel will also be Crossrail chief executive Mark Wild Claim automatically results in a legal located within the extended Ultra Low said it had now developed a plan to suspension of the defendant’s right to Emission Zone which comes into gain the buy-in of the contractors and award a contract. Details of the claim operation in October 2021. ensure the opening date is hit.

8 CIVIL ENGINEER | SEPTEMBER 2019 STRUCTURES TINTAGEL BRIDGE OPENS

The Tintagel footbridge in Cornwall has opened after a 10 month construction programme. The £5M bridge, built for English Heritage, has attracted controversy with former Institution of Structural Engineers president John Roberts accusing its designers of presenting a “false” description of its structure. Roberts claimed that the bridge is actually a single span with pinned movement joint, not two separate cantilevered structures as claimed in the design phase.

ENERGY TUNNELS TRANSPORT NATIONAL GRID REVISED KEY STATS PLANS FOR WINDSOR COULD FACE SECOND CONSTRUCTION PLAN RAIL LINK TO INVESTIGATION BY FOR COLLAPSED 1M HEATHROW AIRPORT REGULATOR GERMAN RAIL LINE Number REVIVED Energy regulator Ofgem is considering A revised timescale and remediation of people Plans to build a rail link to Heathrow calls to launch a second formal strategy for the new 182km without Airport via Windsor are to be revived investigation into National Grid long high speed line between after the scheme was turned down by following disruption to the network Karlsruhe in Germany and Basel power the Department for Transport (DfT) which left 1M people without power in Switzerland has been published following 9 last year. The Windsor Link Railway on 9 August. The energy watchdog is after a major collapse of an under scheme, which would provide a considering its options after demanding construction tunnel in 2017 delayed August power southern rail link to the airport, was National Grid submit an urgent interim the project. German track operator outage rejected by the DfT when submitted report into the incident. Ofgem is Deutsche Bahn released the as part of the government’s call for already investigating claims that information five days before the ideas for private investment in rail National Grid breached rules relating to second anniversary of the tunnel schemes known as market led its duty to operate the electricity collapse. The reason for the collapse proposals (MLPs). Now the Windsor system in an economic and efficient has yet to be published and the scheme is to be revived as part of manner. A final, detailed technical investigation continues. Under Network Rail’s enhancements pipeline report into the 9 August incident must the new plan the line will not open process. “We’ve now had clarification also be submitted to the regulator by until 2025, three years later than from the DfT that we simply weren’t 6 September. National Grid stated that originally planned. Construction eligible for the MLP process,” it must “learn lessons” following the started in 2013. The work is being said WLR chief executive George outage which was caused by the carried out by the Tunnel Rastatt Bathurst. “So our options are to shutdown of a gas-fired power plant consortium comprising Hochtief and wait for a potential new call for in Bedfordshire followed shortly Züblin. Work on the remaining parts ideas which might be eligible for, after by the disconnection of the of the line has been continuing with or enter it into the rail network Hornsea offshore windfarm off the work to build the north and south enhancement process, which is what Yorkshire coast. portals now complete. we’re going to do.”

SEPTEMBER 2019 | NEW CIVIL ENGINEER 9 CIVILS UTILITIES POWER & FIBRE HIRE 01685 374771 0344 2511 999 0344 2511 666 0344 8244 482 Inside Track THE BIGGEST ISSUES OF THE MONTH EXPLORED

coming days, the rescue effort became a race against time and nature. Speaking to New Civil Engineer from the scene during those crucial hours on 1 August, Canal & River Trust principal reservoir engineer David Brown admit- ted that “there [is] a very real chance that the dam could fail”. But despite the frantic scenes around him he remained confident that it could be saved. That same optimism was shared by Mott MacDonald head of environment and water Richard Robinson who was in his car en route to the scene when he told New Civil Engineer that “everything would be done to save the dam”. Back at the scene Kier regional civils director Eddie Quinn had begun mobilis- ing the draw down plan. Contracted by the Canal & River Trust, Kier was in charge of getting the water STRUCTURES level down as quickly as possible as well as assisting with repairs to the concrete How engineers saved Toddbrook reservoir dam spillway. Quinn received first notice of the inci- Engineers, emergency services and the Royal Air Force came together dent at 12.30pm. Just two hours later, 55 to save the Toddbrook reservoir dam from a catastrophic collapse Kier engineers were on site and hard at work.“At first there was a lot of panic,” Quinn said. “There were so many people BY ROB HORGAN arriving on site, the fire brigade was there, police, the Canal & River Trust, t is the biggest incident that a UK dam reached capacity and water began All Reservoir Panel engineers and so on. has been involved in for more than a tumbling down the concrete apron wall It had stopped raining but the sky was decade. It was very nearly the biggest of the clay core embankment dam’s black and we all feared the worst.” Iincident in a century. auxiliary spillway. Kier maintains the Canal & River When water began overtopping the At 12.30pm the dam’s owner, the Canal Trust’s 72 reservoirs and for each one Toddbrook reservoir dam and cascad- & River Trust had alerted its dam main- regularly practices its draw down plan. ing down its concrete spillway, the tenance contractor Kier. Just 25 minutes But despite having a plan in place, Quinn worst was not only feared but appeared later, the reservoir’s draw down plan admitted that it is almost impossible to likely. The Environment Agency issued a had been activated after water overtop- prepare for such a dramatic incident. warning to Whaley Bridge residents that ping the dam triggered the collapse of a “Practices are very different from an there was an “immediate threat to life”, section of the concrete spillway. emergency situation. We don’t usually Derbyshire Constabulary police service By 2.15pm dozens of engineers were practice evacuating the town. began evacuating thousands of people on site, and more than 100 emergency “We would normally have weeks or from their homes and engineers arrived services personnel and a full scale months to get the water level down, not on scene desperate to prevent the dam rescue mission to save the 188-year-old hours and days.” from catastrophically collapsing. dam got into full swing. He added: “The situation at Whaley The incident is the first major threat And with more rainfall forecast in the Bridge was tense and at some times to a dam’s stability in the UK since the dangerous, however everyone pulled Ulley dam suffered severe scour amid together and I think we, as an industry, the floods of 2007. The last time anyone can be very proud of the final outcome.” died due to a dam failure in the UK was Overall, Kier installed 11 submersible in 1925, when two dams burst, killing pumps and over 1km of associated pip- 16 people in the north Wales village of 188 years old ing. The fire service also installed nine Dolgarrog. high pressure pumps. Concerns for the Toddbrook reser- Age of the Toddbrook On Thursday evening, Kier engineers voir dam were raised on the morning reservoir dam broke three weirs, as well as installing of Thursday 1 August as the reservoir numerous temporary roads and access

SEPTEMBER 2019 | NEW CIVIL ENGINEER 11 Inside Track Xxxxx xxxx xxxxx

points, allowing water pumps to be The UK already has one of the most installed and maintained. stringent sets of dam inspection proto- By the morning of 2 August, thou- cols in the world. sands of residents were waking up Reservoirs over 25,000m³ in England having spent the night in a local school and Wales are today subject to stringent in neighbouring Chapel-en-le-Frith. checks and reservoir panel engineers Engineers had worked around the clock, are some of the most skilled and revered pumping out 105,000m3 of water in 12 civil engineers in the industry. Such res- hours. However, the target level of re- ervoirs are inspected at least every 10 ducing the reservoir to 25% of capacity years by skilled panel experts who set was still a way off and while the deluge out safety measures to be implemented of rain had subsided, the Met Office had within set time limits. They then certify issued a yellow warning of more floods that those works have been satisfactori- in the days ahead. ly carried out. With a capacity of 1.28M. As New Civil Engineer arrived on the m³, the Toddbrook reservoir is subject scene, an RAF Chinook helicopter had to these inspections and was given a begun dropping hundreds of 1t bags of clean bill of health during the last one in aggregate into the void in the spillway’s November 2018. concrete apron wall. In total the RAF team Less stringent annual inspections are dropped more than 1,000 sandbags and also carried out by a supervising engi- 600 bags of aggregate to plug the hole. neer assigned to the dam, while daily Public transport into and out of the visual inspections are also common. town had also been completely suspend- Changes to dam maintenance regimes ed or rerouted with all trains passing included in the Flood & Water Manage- through the town cancelled, including ment Act in 2010 but yet to come into trains running between Sheffield and force, would make the system even Manchester Piccadilly. Derbyshire police more stringent. These include rolling was also out in force, with roadblocks set out inspections of smaller capacity up across major roads in the valley to pre- dams and assessing dams on the level of vent anyone re-entering the deserted town. risk posed from a collapse rather than Transport was further disrupted as capacity. the A6 was shut down to become a holding point for 600t of aggregate that The review will no doubt tie into that was being flown to the reservoir by the HIGH SPEED 2 being carried out by HS2 Ltd’s own chair RAF Chinook helicopter. The closure Allan Cook. Cook, who has been in the pushed heavy goods vehicles into the HS2 faces new review position since January, is preparing to local roads, bound for the troubled publish his own appraisal of the project Toddbrook reservoir carrying every- before potentially giving the green light thing from engineers to heavy plant, PM review comes as HS2 Ltd on the notice to proceed to the main material and water pumps. changes procurement strategy works contractors in December. After six nights camped in a school Alongside the reviews, the project hall – and following visits from prime BY KATHERINE SMALE is also going through a soul-searching minister Boris Johnson and Labour lead- exercise, after low contractor turn out er Jeremy Corbyn – residents were final- forced it to terminate and rethink its ly given some good news. At 11.30am on S2 promoter HS2 Ltd is finding approach to three of its remaining major Wednesday 7 August the Canal & River itself under the spotlight again this contracts. Trust announced that the reservoir had month after new prime minister Relaunching one procurement been drained to the target level, elimi- HBoris Johnson asked friend and ex-HS2 process could be considered a one off, nating the risk to life. chair Doug Oakervee to carry out a but rethinking an approach to three con- Two hours later, the decision was tak- “make or break” review of the controver- tracts is pretty good evidence that HS2 en to allow residents to return home. sial project. Ltd has revised its strategy. In the following days, most of the After flip flopping on where he stands The first of the tenders to be pulled pumps were dismantled with a skeleton on the £56bn mega project in the final was for the contract to design and build crew remaining on site to assess the throes of campaigning to lead the coun- the £435M Birmingham Curzon Street damage to the spillway, applying more try, Johnson promised a review after un- Station after the supply chain became grout between the bags of aggregate to confirmed reports that it could go £30bn concerned about risk allocation. ensure it remained watertight. over budget. In a bid to provide a “better balance” Investigations will now be launched Although it has yet to be confirmed and create “a more competitive pro- to determine exactly what triggered the whether the review has started or indeed cess”, client HS2 Ltd held an industry partial collapse and questions will be whether Oakervee has actually agreed to day to “re-engage with the market” and asked of the robustness of the country’s head it, Johnson has said it will take six re-launch the procurement process dam inspections. weeks to determine its outcome. based on industry feedback.

12 NEW CIVIL ENGINEER | SEPTEMBER 2019 MORE NEWS NEWCIVILENGINEER.COM

STRUCTURES The proposed alignment change would Curzon Street station: have reduced the length of the overall Procurement rethink Bridge costs route by 66m. The entire length of the originally proposed structure was 380m with a 180m lifting span. Value engineering attempted to But the report flags risks in moving the cut costs by hundreds of millions alignment including the need for a longer span over the navigable channel as well as possible hazards due to the increased BY ROB HORGAN proximity to the . The second biggest saving Atkins sug- A value engineering exercise carried gested was an increase use of concrete out by Atkins suggested design changes for the construction of the bridge’s two to shave as much as £135M off the final 90m tall towers. cost of Transport for London’s (TfL’s) The baseline design for the bridge sug- scrapped Rotherhithe Crossing, New gested steel sections for the 80m tall tow- Civil Engineer can reveal. ers needed to support the vertical lift of the Obtained via a Freedom of Information bridge deck. Atkins proposed that £21.2M request, the value engineering report could be saved by reducing the amount of from October 2018 suggests massive steel and using concrete instead. cost savings could have been achieved The report proposes a “concrete tower by changing the bridge’s alignment, for the 75m height and the top 5m – an using concrete instead of steel for the aesthetic requirement – will comprise of bridge’s towers and reducing the width steel frames with cladding arrangement”. of the bridge deck. Lower material costs and reduction in TfL canned its plans for the River operation risks were highlighted as the Thames crossing between Rotherhithe main benefits of using concrete. and in June after the cost But Atkins also flagged potential estimate rose to as much as £600M. If it disadvantages including an increase in had been taken forward it would have construction time, the need for larger been the world’s longest and tallest foundations to account for an increase vertical lift bridge. in weight and aesthetic disadvantages as “HS2 Ltd has recognised the current An electric ferry service tabled by the towers would have had to be larger if market conditions are challenging and in conjunction with made from concrete. the increasing concern regarding risk marine civil engineers Beckett Rankine The report also suggests that £19.9M transfer and we wanted to revise our is now being explored as a potential could have been saved by eliminating position to provide a better balance and alternative. bespoke sections of the bridge which overall outcome,” it said at the time. The Atkins report outlines a change had been designed purely for aesthetic Documents seen by New Civil Engineer in the bridge’s alignment as the way to purposes. This included standardising from the industry day reveal that the make the biggest cost saving. steel deck sections and “steel arches new procurement strategy will be to split It suggests a “different route across which form the chord of the truss”. it into a two-stage contract, giving more the river that provides a more direct Meanwhile Atkins estimated that reduc- time to validate station designer WSP’s route to Westferry Circus” would have ing the total deck width from 9.2m to the design during the detailed design stage. saved as much as £34.9M. minimum possible width of 7.3m had the There will also be more protection of potential to save £16.2M. contractors’ defined costs and capped New Civil Engineer understands several liabilities. A target cost will also not be of Atkins cost-saving measures were fixed until the end of stage one rather £600M implemented into final designs, including than as part of the tender submission. reducing the deck width and using con- HS2 Ltd is also was re-launching its Estimated cost of crete for the towers. However, the cost £1.5bn track and overhead line contract. Rotherhithe Crossing estimate was still coming in above £420M As part of the new approach the con- that led TfL to scrap it and so the decision was taken to explore tract will be split into smaller packages alternative plans. to reduce risks taken on by individual TfL managing director of surface contractors. £135M transport Gareth Powell said: “We are Completing the hat-trick HS2 Ltd improving infrastructure across London has re-launched the procurement of its Savings available to help more people walk and cycle and £300M tunnel and lineside M&E contract. through value make the city a safer, cleaner place. While “Taking these decisions now will help engineering, but still not a workable bridge scheme was identified, us deliver contracts which, in the long the associated costs were expected to term, deliver best value for HS2 and the enough to save project be substantially higher than originally taxpayer,” it said. forecast.

SEPTEMBER 2019 | NEW CIVIL ENGINEER 13 Eastern Report: Polcevera Viaduct most tower TOWER 11

2 5

One year on from 1 Europe’s biggest 4 bridge disaster POLCEVERA VIADUCT DEMOLITION

Water troughs create curtain Renzo Piano, himself from Genoa, is 1 Katherine Smale of water to stop dust providing the concept design of the KEY STATS new structure, while two heavy- 2 Demolition designed for weights of the Italian construction towers to fall inwards he devastating industry, Salini and Impregilo, have £185M 12m high dust barrier collapse of Genoa’s formed the Pergenova joint venture 3 Polcevera Viaduct will Rebuild cost to design and build it. Explosives (in orange) on T forever be in Genoese Verona-based fabricator Fincan- 4 tower hearts and engraved 80,000t tieri Infrastructure is providing the in the city’s history, but over the last steel and Genoese contractor Rina is Weight of 5 Sandbags placed to absorb year the region’s local authorities providing construction supervision, demolished vibration of explosion have made a dramatic push to rebuild health and safety and quality assur- the structure and restore the vital cable stayed ance for the demolition and rebuild connection. section phases. It was during a heavy rainstorm at Work to demolish the remaining Explosives in water troughs lining the 11.36am on 14 August 2018, when one structure which ran east to west 91m structure were set up to damp down of three 91m high towers and a 260m across the Polcevera River and rail- Height of dust as the structure was demolished long section of the deck of the cable way line, started on 9 February with stayed section of the 1.1km long via- original towers the cutting and lowering of the deck duct collapsed, plummeting the E80 on the western side. motorway through Genoa 45m to the Although this section of the ground. Forty-three people died and viaduct was a simple-looking 13 more were injured. structure, with a more traditional Investigations to determine the bridge deck supported by multiple cause of the collapse are still under- piers, it was still complicated to way (see box overleaf), but alongside demolish. this, efforts to replace the bridge To ensure the safety of the have take place at a rapid rate. workforce, load tests were carried Genoa mayor Marco Bucci is also out by driving remote-controlled heading the commission in charge of cars onto the deck. These vehicles the reconstruction work. He has been credited with cutting through red tape with an aim of completing the €200M (£186M) bridge by next spring, The world just 20 months on from the tragedy. Carrying out the demolition and was watching rebuild is a truly Italian affair. A group of five Italian companies, Fagioli, the explosion. Omini, Vernazza, Ipe Progetti and There was a lot of Ireos, are carrying out the demolition of the existing structure. Architect “pressure to get it right 14 NEW CIVIL ENGINEER | SEPTEMBER 2019 It’s not like normal TOWER 10 Via del Campasso engineering. There’s 2 always something that Via Walter Fillak “can go wrong 1 were equipped with remote-oper- ated testing equipment which took 1 material samples to establish the residual capacity of the bridge and 3 its possible reaction to demolition work. This allowed the team to devise a strategy to cut the deck between 4 the piers into 36m long, 960t sections using diamond wire. These were then lowered to ground with strand jacks placed on the top of the bridge. “The mechanical lowering might seem easy but it was very complicat- ed,” says Rina business development senior manager Andrea Tomarchio. “The first lowering procedure took eight hours, but the last one lasted less than four hours so they learned how to do it faster.” As much of the area on the western side was industrial land, the majority of the buildings close to the bridge were demolished to create space to land the deck sections. “The only building which was kept The new structure’s was a red brick industrial histori- alignment had to cal building, which is listed,” says avoid a listed building Tomarchio. Even then, the team had to demolish a small section of the building to allow a deck section to be lowered. “Because the bridge went over the top of it, they had to cut a small chunk of the building to lower the existing deck down. The deck came a mobile phone width away from the building. “It was very complicated,” says Tomarchio. The existing 45m high piers were demolished with concrete crunchers over a series of days. The most spectacular part of the demolition sequence was that of the two remaining 91m high towers known as towers 10 and 11, with their post tensioned cables and remaining sections of deck. These structures of 80,000t of reinforced concrete and stressed steel were blown up in less than 10 seconds.

SEPTEMBER 2019 | NEW CIVIL ENGINEER 15 Special Report: Polcevera Viaduct

11 – with high strength cables had For speed of been carried out in the 1990s. This construction, added a further step to the demoli- INVESTIGATION UPDATE tion process, as similar high strength the piers are steel strands had to be tested to give the team confidence that the special The final report into the Despite the lack of reinforced concrete explosives to be used would cut cause of the Polcevera official information, what through the cables cleanly. viaduct collapse has yet is known is that corrosion and are being jump The approach road just 10m to be published. of the main stay cables away on the far eastern side is being was found at the time “ retained and to protect it, sandbags The interim report by the of the collapse and new formed piled 3m high were put at the base of Italian transport ministry footage released last week Demolition of the towers and the cables on the eastern most side in September last year, appears to show the top cables was never going to be easy, to dampen the shock waves when the blamed bridge operator of the main stay cable on but Tomarchio says the alternative cables were cut. Autostrade’s lack of the south eastern side to using explosives was using a me- “The sand bags were still on after analytical expertise to of tower nine, suddenly chanical dismantling technique which the explosion, they were designed by inspect the bridge, and giving way triggering the would have involved creating a steel the military,” says Tomarchio. it had missed warning full scale collapse of the truss to encase the steel cables so they “We were pretty sure from the signs about the bridge’s tower and deck. could be removed piece by piece. analysis that nothing could damage condition (New Civil Investigators have also This, he says would have taken too the existing structure but it’s not like Engineer, October 2018). said they found voids long and from a safety point of view, normal engineering. There’s always In November 2018, in what should be fully would have exposed workers to the something that can go wrong.” samples of the bridge grout filled ducts which dangers of working 90m up in the air Explosives were then attached to were sent to a specialist surrounded the cables for a prolonged period. So the team the legs of the tower. laboratory in Switzerland before they were encased decided to use explosives and bring In what Tomarchio believes is a for testing. in concrete. the structure down in one go. first, 2m wide, 1m deep, 400m long “The world was watching the trenches filled with water and explo- explosion. There was a lot of pressure sives were built along both sides of to make it go the right way and a lot the bridge, with further trenches on of things could have possibly gone the top of the deck. This was part wrong, so a lot of controls were put in of a plan to control dust from the place,” says Tomarchio. demolition. “ We had a strict procedure and a When the main bridge explosives checklist starting from 5am to the were set off, the charges in the end to be sure that every step was trenches were detonated in quick done at the right time and in the succession, sending a curtain of correct way. water high up into the air to catch “It was very emotional to watch.” fine particulates. A 250m exclusion zone was Although many would consider this suggested by the contractor but this a fun day out of the office, the tech- was increased to 400m by the local nique had to be tested at a remote authority meaning that 3,000 people location – first using steel barrels and had to be evacuated from the area then moving full size trenches. from 7am to 10pm on the day of the Additional water cannons and 12m explosion. high dust barriers were also built “Our goal was to bring people back around the perimeter to catch what- the same day,” he says. ever was left. An impressive monitor- To ensure a controlled collapse, ing system was used to measure this. explosives were placed on the towers Vibration from the explosion was and cables to make them fall towards also an issue, and the nearby railway each other. Firstly the outermost line was suspended while the opera- cables on both towers had to be cut tion was taking place. instantaneously, then the deck, then At just after 9.30am on 28 June, the the tower. two towers were demolished. The Work to replace the original 1960s controls and careful planning paid off cables on the eastern tower – tower with Tomarchio saying it could not

16 NEW CIVIL ENGINEER | SEPTEMBER 2019 have gone more smoothly. Authorities decessor, except on the western side Artists impression of the from the railway inspected the line, but where it has been moved by a matter new viaduct from the air declared it debris free and opened it to of metres to the south to clear the trains the following day. heritage brick building. Now one year on, with the main Although on the eastern side, part of the bridge demolished, there foundations for the new viaduct will are no recognisable parts of the overlay the footprint of the existing structure left. bridge, Tomarchio says the new piles, Up until three weeks ago, a single which will be between 40m to 45m pier on the western side and the long to the bedrock, will not interact curved approach road still stood, but with the existing ones. now these too have gone. Plans to Under the piers which support the reuse the vast piles of demolition 50m spans, there are 10, 1.5m diam- rubble are being discussed but are eter piles and under the four piers not yet finalised. Tomarchio says that supporting the 100m spans there are most of it would make good construc- 15. Piling for three of the new piers tion fill material and will not be taken has already been completed. to landfill. For speed of construction, the Although the teams working on the piers are reinforced concrete and are bridge have not been involved with being jump formed. Two formers are the investigation, throughout the already building piers on the western demolition it has had to work closely side and when more of the debris with the forensic teams to carefully from the demolition of the towers is preserve those sections of the bridge removed, another two will start on which could give clues as to why it the eastern side. collapsed. The sleek looking deck is a 5m Meanwhile work to re-open the deep, 30m wide, hollow hybrid steel north to south running roads severed concrete structure, with a steel shell by the collapse is also coming along. and a with a reinforced concrete slab And as the demolition entered its forming the road surface. The steel last phase, foundations for the new shell has been divided into sections structure were being laid. which have been prefabricated off- With only a short timescale to build site. These are in the process of being the new bridge, the design has been welded together on site ready to be carried out with speed and ease of lifted into place. construction at its core. To install the deck, 6m long sec- The new viaduct is simpler in its tions will be lifted into place on top design than its predecessor. Unlike of the piers. Strand jacks will be the previous bridge, the structure of installed to lift the central sections the new viaduct will remain constant into place before the joints are throughout. Eighteen, 9.5m by 4m welded together. elliptical shaped piers supporting the The whole new bridge is due for deck will be spaced at 50m centres. completion around April next year. There will also be three 100m spans “The bridge will open next spring, over the river, railway and neighbour- and a dramatic effort is being put ing built up area. in place to make it happen,” says Where these longer spans had Tomarchio. “This kind of project previously required a cable stayed can last two and a half years, more if design, advances in technology and you take into account that you have materials have made it possible to to demolish and reconstruct, so it build them without. To be visually will be quite a challenge, but we are Advances in materials cleaner, the external shape and size working on it. technology mean that of the piers and deck will not change “This will be a new high-perfor- the new structure does between the spans despite the differ- mance bridge built with modern not have to be a cable ing loading. techniques. It will be a robust bridge stayed bridge The alignment for the new 1.1km designed by some of the most import- bridge largely follows that of its pre- ant companies in Italy.”

SEPTEMBER 2019 | NEW CIVIL ENGINEER 17 Special Report: Polcevera Viaduct

Peckers and A city transformed construction plant hammer away at by demolition and the debris “area did not even know the collapse had occurred. But looking more closely, the scars are still visible. The concrete edge of reconstruction work river bank wall directly underneath where the bridge sailed over the top, is still severely damaged with huge quantities of tangled reinforcing bars Genoa is slowly recovering from last year’s collapse protruding from the shattered edge. Fresh bouquets of flowers have been attached to the railings of the pedestrian bridge, and the apartment From the Scene blocks in the immediate area are Katherine Smale eerily quiet. At the time of writing, only one pier around 30m to 40m tall on the ne year on from the western side of the viaduct and a unthinkable disaster short section of the approach road which hit the port is recognisable as being part of the O city of Genoa on existing structure. Italy’s north western The pace of the demolition, how- coast, the landscape is very differ- ever, is rapid and within the next few ent. days the existing pier will be taken This time last year, standing on down. By mid-August, a year on from the Via Renata Bianchi around 300m the collapse, all of the existing struc- from the scene, the sounds of sirens ture will have been demolished. and helicopters overhead could From the edge of the construction be heard. Now these have been re- site, the formwork for one of the placed by the sound of busy traffic new piers is being erected and is just and car horns. visible from the road. The two remaining towers have Last remaining at the entrances. Now that the old bridge has mostly been demolished and rubble is all pier and rubble When the bridge, which ran east gone, there is also a sense of relief in that remains of the major 40m high from demolished to west, collapsed it severed one of the area. motorway bridge which collapsed, towers in the the north-south roads running next “When it was demolished a month killing 43 people. distance to the river below. As a consequence ago, the first feeling I had was I really Because it is a built up area, the traffic has been rerouted along think finally it’s finished, the past is much of the debris is hidden from a parallel bridge 300m from the Pol- behind us now and finally we have to view. But from a café window high cevera viaduct. It is now perilously rebuild,” says Valerie Zerollo, owner up on the western side looking busy and almost too dangerous for of the Old Port hotel near the bridge. directly east it is possible to see the pedestrians to get to with no cross- “It was like a nightmare and now it’s twisted wreckage of the base of one ing points and very few paths. finally finished and we start again of the towers on the eastern side Getting from north to south with a new life.” of the railway tracks. It is only now alongside the river is generally only Retiree Mauro says that although around five stories tall. possible by car unless a large detour he saw the bridge being built and Peckers and construction plant is taken. Some people walk along the he is sad for those who died, he is hammer away at the debris, with road with lorries and cars thunder- pleased to see the new structure tak- water cannons supressing the dust. ing past, but it does not look safe. ing shape and he is pleased it is being The pile of rubble is only a matter Looking from north to south, in built by an Italian contractor. of metres away and in places ap- an area which at the time of the col- Photographer Michela Napoli pears to be up against a set of now lapse was inaccessible, the charac- believes that rebuilding confidence in uninhabited apartment buildings. teristic towers of the two remaining the structure will be difficult at first, The area directly around the sites cable stay part of the bridge have but hopes that the new bridge will be is cordoned off with security guards gone. Some American tourists in the worthy of this beautiful city.

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Bringing structures to life Report: ICE Governance

Push for greater democracy within ICE Trustee Board

Mark Hansford “appears to be a strong case” to Previously, the ICE was governed re-balance the ICE Trustee Board by the 44-member Council which met KEY STATS to address any perception that the four times annually to oversee the man- influence of the three members agement of the Institution. A 13-strong he Presidential Com- elected by the Council is “heavily Executive Board produced policy 12 mission set up outweighed” by the eight members proposals for approval by Council. to review recent Number of of the President. The President and The changes were made after a T changes to the ICE’s Trustee Board seven vice presidents are each in ballot of ICE voting members and governance has members charge of a portfolio with defined were in line with guidance from the recommended that the Institution responsibilities. Charities Commission. The ICE says restructures its Trustee Board so The report says the commission the new structure allows its “more ag- 3 that the majority of the members are “recognises the concerns expressed” ile” Trustee Board to be responsible elected by the membership. Current about the balance of the current for the Institution’s strategic decision Currently, just three of the 12 board Number of Trustee Board configuration and making. It says the new Trustee members are elected, and by Council Trustee Board recommends the key principles that Board has the power to enact policy rather than the membership. Eight members a majority of Trustee Board members and plans on behalf of the Institution represent the Presidential team with should be elected by the ICE voting which in turn reflect the will and elected by ICE one further board member elected by members, and that all trustees should ambitions of the Council. a Nomination Committee (NomCo). Council have equal standing and levels of But questions were raised about The commission, headed by ICE responsibility. the level of consultation held ahead past President David Orr has recom- 7 The commission was set up in of the ballot and this led to a Special mended that seven members of the Recommended response to concerns voiced by some General Meeting (SGM) in December board be elected by the Institution’s ICE members about how the gover- 2018. At the meeting resolutions were number of voting membership, with representa- nance changes were enacted. These passed expressing disappointment tion of the Presidential team reduced Trustee Board changes, which came into force in at the ballot process and calling for a to just the President and the three members to November 2018, resulted in the shift full review of ICE governance. succeeding vice presidents. be elected to a 12-strong Trustee Board, with the The result was the establishment of The commission also recommends by the ICE Council acting in an advisory role. a Presidential Commission headed by that one or two further members Orr to review the changes. membership or with specific skills or expertise may The interim report follows several be nominated by the NomCo for Council months of extensive consultation endorsement from Council. The report through open evidence sessions, The commission’s recommenda- workshops with ICE Boards and Com- tions are set out in an interim report recognises the mittees and submissions from general that was presented to Council and the ICE members. Trustee Board in August. Feedback is concerns expressed While it concludes that the gover- now being invited from all members. nance structure is broadly correct, it The commission will assess the feed- about the balance of sets out 19 interim findings for back before producing a final report the current Trustee further consultation. These cover in December. issues such as strengthening the The report makes clear that there “ role of Council, the composition and Board

20 NEW CIVIL ENGINEER | SEPTEMBER 2019 PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION VIEW FEEDBACK SOUGHT ON GOVERNANCE REVIEW

processes of the Nomco, the Presi- The Presidential A majority of Trustee dent’s Terms of Reference; improving Commission into transparency and engagement in ICE ICE governance has Board members governance and ensuring that ICE published its Interim members can vote electronically at Report for consultation should be elected by the ICE Special General Meetings. within the ICE family. Key findings relate to the Trustee voting members Board. In particular the commission David It explains our detailed is asking for views on how the seven Orr analysis on the key elected members should be chosen. issues and sets out 19 “Findings 2 and 3 we recommend the key It has ruled out an election in Interim Findings for principles that a majority of Trustee Board which any member can stand on the further consultation. members should be elected by the ICE voting grounds that candidates may not The Commission considered from first members, and that all trustees should have equal have the skills required. Instead the principles the pros and cons of various top-level standing and levels of responsibility. commission recommends that three governance structures. The evidence and weight The Commission is particularly keen to hear or four of the members be elected of opinion in our initial consultation led us to the your views on these issues and also: by the membership from a focused proposition of a compact Trustee Board with a l the options for the method of electing candidate list with the other three larger, mainly advisory, Council. Trustees to the Board; or four be chosen by Council from The key reasons are: l the options for chairing the Trustee Board and Council members. l to make decisions effectively, providing clear the ICE Council; and ICE past President Paul Jowitt and consistent direction l whether the title ‘Vice President’ should only welcomed the report, but said several l to allow every trustee to make a meaningful refer to those who will become President in due issues still had to be resolved. contribution to those decisions course, or should apply to all trustees. “The Commission acknowledges l to strengthen board effectiveness, legal The Commission warmly welcomes ICE the democratic deficit in the 2018 compliance and accountability members’ input on any or all of these issues. To changes but its proposals exclude an l to focus on risks and opportunities in a rapidly have your say, please review the Interim Report open election for the ordinary Mem- changing environment and then simply send your views in an email to bers of the Trustee Board, and in- l to benefit from the advice of the larger, [email protected] no later stead offers the option of an election representative Council than Friday 11 October. All submissions will be from a closed list vetted internally. We then tested this proposition and found published in the Commission’s Final Report, later This needs re-examination,” he said. it aligns well with regulatory guidance and the this year. Jowitt also said that the report arrangements for nine comparator Institutions in Many thanks in advance for your help. The vindicated his efforts to force the engineering and the built environment. Commission is consulting widely so we can SGM. “We were right to object and Our first Interim Finding is to recommend advise the Trustee Board and Council on the some of the voices within the ICE that the ICE’s top-level governance structures best governance arrangements to fulfil the were wrong to argue that we were should comprise a compact Trustee Board of 12 or great purpose of our Institution - to foster and wasting everyone’s time and resourc- 13 members with a larger, mainly advisory, Council. promote the art and science of Civil Engineering. es in calling for an SGM,” he said. But the Commission recognises the concerns l David Orr is the chair of the Presidential l Read the interim report at https:// expressed about the balance of the current Commission into ICE Governance and was ice.org.uk/about-ice/who-runs-ice/ Trustee Board configuration, and in Interim President of the Institution in 2007-08. presidential-commission

SEPTEMBER 2019 | NEW CIVIL ENGINEER 21 Nick Walkley BY EMILY ASHWELL Disrupting to change the housing market

lunky, difficult to delivering a piece of infrastruc- work with and inef- ture. An example of this is when ficient are just some developer Urban & Civic needed C of the criticisms infrastructure to facilitate a new often levelled at site at RadioStation Rugby. Homes government bodies. So how easy is England lent it the money to build it for Homes England to rip up the an 8km link road connecting the site rule book on how these institutions to the town.

The Interview The operate? Chief executive Nick Walkley On very big pieces of land, such says the body has to do things differ- as former army bases, Homes ently, even if it is still “trying to figure England acts as developer, creating it out”. a masterplan and investing in large “Crikey, the sector must be scale infrastructure. The body also challenged if it takes a public sector acquires private sector land and, for body to be a disruptor,” he admits. example, where conflicting interests But a disruptor is what Homes So, what exactly is Homes are preventing its development, will England, the body set up to acceler- England trying to achieve? In its solve the problem so construction ate the delivery of new housing and work which impacts engineers, can get going. This worked at the help the government hit its 300,000 it unlocks pieces of land, either Northern Arc at Burgess Hill in West new homes a year target by the mid- through funding or by using its Sussex, where Homes England has 2020s, is determined to be. It is the expertise, or doing whatever needs recently facilitated a £63M injection reincarnation of the Homes & Com- to be done to get the land to a stage of government cash to enable infra- munities Agency and was officially where it is ready for development. structure such as roads and SuDS launched in January 2018. That might be undertaking to be built, ahead of the delivery of “In its 2017 White Paper the remediation work, getting planning 1,250 homes. government described the housing permission to a certain stage or “This is a huge site that had plan- market as broken so that implies ning permission for nearly a decade, that significant change is required,” but which was caught between Walkley observes. competing land ownership inter- “The sector has got a lot of There is a lot ests. So we just purchased them all. catching up to do, which tells you We spent over £100M, brought all that there are significant opportuni- of opportunity the land together, sorted out any ties to ride the tide of technical inno- to challenge the way remaining ownerships and we’ve vation, new modes of communication got the permission renewed,” says and new transport infrastructure. we think about homes Walkley. “There is a lot of opportunity to But perhaps nowhere more can challenge the way we think about and house building in the disruptive nature of Homes En- homes and house building in the “the UK gland be seen than in its £50M-plus UK,” says Walkley. partnership with Japanese modular

22 NEW CIVIL ENGINEER | SEPTEMBER 2019 Urban Splash is pioneering housing which can be built offsite

homes firm Sekisui. tration of the Housing Infrastructure Sekisui has bought a 35% equity Disruption Fund, where it invests in infrastruc- stake in housebuilder House, Urban KEY FACTS ture and later recoups the money Splash’s modular homes business, for comes from from developers. £22M. Alongside this a further £30M Homes England works with of equity and debt funding has come 300,000 us in supporting new rail and highways authorities to from the government’s Home Building Target for entrants, supporting identify opportunities for land use Fund, administered through Homes and piece together the missing new homes to England. different ways of parts of infrastructure, or even Homes England saw the chance to be built each use infrastructure to drive housing bring in a large, well-established mod- “ supply. This in turn, says Walkley, year building houses ular housing provider to spearhead brings in further investment. the development of the House factory, “When we do discussions with which is in its infancy. The aim was international investors around to bring about the development of a requirements to encourage the use investing in UK real estate, being highly-efficient, automated product. of modern construction methods and able to point to significant, large It could, says Walkley, not just drive community engagement. scale infrastructure investment is a a step-change in the housing produc- And while Walkley says tradition- huge confidence builder in guiding tion rates of one company but drive al housebuilders are crucial in the where that investment should go,” he up production rates throughout the delivery of this target, so too are explains. industry. newer entrants to the market, and “It gives confidence that the homes “It’s blending historic expertise Homes England has an agreement are going to be necessary and that with insight into the UK market with with Barclays to release funding to the homes are better connected. the intention of quickly scaling that SMEs wanting to expand to deliver International investors understand up,” explains Walkley. this target. those infrastructure projects on the “We are not yet in a position where “Disruption comes from us in level of what they can bring alongside there are supply pipelines that are supporting new entrants, supporting them. Look at the impact of Crossrail. turning out thousands of homes different ways of building houses, That’s a very straightforward narra- whether it be in fully modular or and it comes from partnering with tive,” he says, referencing the rise in varying forms of pre-manufacture. If different sets of organisations,” he says. property rises along the route. we’re actually going to get to 300,000, With infrastructure being a key It is a story Walkley is hoping to we’ve got to have that high level of enabler for new homes and the see replicated across the country, precision manufacturing in our homes projects it supports, the body is for example in the Bristol Temple that happens in factories away from building close working relationships Quarter, where Mott MacDonald is the site, if we’re really going to get to with Highways England, Network Rail leading a team to develop a mixed-use the quality and production standards and local authorities. masterplan providing a rail gateway we need.” Much of the infrastructure develop- into the west of England, with Walkley says Homes England is also ment around new housing is paid for housing, offices and public realm “gradually ratcheting up” contractual through Homes England’s adminis- improvements.

SEPTEMBER 2019 | NEW CIVIL ENGINEER 23 interface difficulties affecting their programme. He is however absolutely correct in stating that experience, competence and honest collaboration are essential to the successful outcome of any project. Your View On two major projects in South Africa, several years ago, where the LETTERS TO THE EDITOR conditions were based on the ICE AND COMMENTS ONLINE contract, we were able to deal with major design changes, programme changes and major changes to the

TRANSPORT TRANSPORT DON’T FORGET HYPERLOOP’S THAMESLINK’S LONG @ DOWNSIDE HISTORY At the end of his utterly terrifying article on hyperloop schemes Rob I read your Horgan asks: “What’s not to like?” major project report with much (New Civil Engineer last month). No interest, as I worked on the project doubt you will already have been some time ago. inundated with suggestions, to However, you are missing a great which I would add claustrophobia deal of the story and history of how and even more commuting. the Thameslink Programme began. Andrew Fraser, Stirling, andmarg@ British Rail was totally reorganised hotmail.co.uk and the infrastructure part of it became Railtrack on 1 April 1994. CROSSRAIL As one item in that new Crossrail: Excellent tunnelling arrangement, it was agreed that MAJOR PROJECTS NEED Railtrack would implement the ROBUST CONTRACTS ground conditions within the terms infrastructure upgrade called AND PROJECT of the contract. “Thameslink 2000” for the sum of We have excellent tunnelling £565M. The project as described MANAGERS expertise in the UK, but we need then was very much as has recently to appoint competent project been built, but there was no detail It seems Paul Glass did not managers. The question as to the as to how it was to be achieved. understand part of what was appropriate form of contract needs Incidentally, the “2000” signified being said in my letter regarding to be carefully considered for future that the whole scheme had to be Crossrail’s cost increases in June’s major projects. completed by the year 2000! issue (Your View, last month). When Derek Godfrey (F retd), Holt, Brown & Root was appointed I referred to TBM costs, advance Norfolk in December 1996 to develop the rates, ground conditions, precast scheme and prepare a Transport tunnel segments and spoil removal, PROFESSION and Works Act application to gain it was for the purpose of explaining approval to construct the required that there was no reason as to why ARE WE GETTING works. The Transport and Works costs should have increased on DISTRACTED BY Act application resulted in a public any of these items. The increase ‘SOFT’ ISSUES? inquiry in 2000, but the scheme in costs was recognised by Glass was refused, primarily because of as being the result of poor project It was with some incredulity that two competing schemes at London management in being unable I read the ICE vice president’s call Bridge Station – the Thameslink to control the programme, the for a register of engineers “deemed modifications and the overall interfaces, the risks and the costs. competent enough to sign off masterplan. The facts speak for themselves: the drawings for construction” (New After over four years work on the The Editor, project is three years late and 25% Civil Engineer, June). He indicated project, we stopped. I note New Civil over budget. that drawings are “incomplete, that the project was not completed While Glass may consider the incoherent, uncoordinated and have Engineer, in 2000, but 18 years later, and the NEC form of contract to be correct to be redrawn and reengineered on Telephone price increased from £565M to in an ideal world, I am afraid that site”. Is it really being suggested £7bn. However, I am very pleased House, the construction industry does not that civil engineers, members of this that finally it is seen as a very 69-77 Paul operate along these lines. In a very Institution, as such being suitably successful programme and is Street, London, competitive industry with narrow qualified and experienced are bringing significant benefits to the EC2A 4NQ margins, contractors will justifiably incapable of carrying out this task? travelling public. Email: nceedit@ seek to recover additional costs The drawing is one of the final Nigel Brueton (M), Fetcham, Surrey emap.com resulting from design changes and outcomes of the design process,

24 NEW CIVIL ENGINEER | SEPTEMBER 2019 MAIN POINT AIMING FORYOUR CARBON VIEWS AND OPINIONS NEUTRALITY

Former prime minister Theresa May has committed With this crisis comes opportunity. Opportunity to do things the UK to be a net zero carbon country by 2050 better, fortunately human ingenuity has handed us (Inside Track, last month); Norway has plans to many tools, including universal and cheap access to be there by 2030; and Finland has declared it formidable computer power and mass data sets. For will achieve the target by 2035 saying that as so long we have looked at biggest, tallest, longest. a wealthy country it has a responsibility to Now it is the age of the smartest. A lot of these show leadership. actions have been portrayed as some sort of hair Civil engineers should show leadership shirt austerity, but this isn’t less it’s more. More too. What happens in civil engineering over clean air, more attractive cities, more trees, less the next 30 years will make or break these stuck in traffic time, more quality time. targets. This being so the profession needs Chris Edwards, [email protected] to engage with this issue as a matter of the Editor’s note: The ICE is supporting the utmost urgency. I suggest there needs to be a Civil Engineers Declare initiative, recognising road map of how we get to 2050 plotted out with that engineers are ideally placed to deliver annual targets as red lines. sustainable development. This includes engineers I would like to see the ICE publish such a road map taking a pivotal role in driving the net-zero carbon and New Civil Engineer discuss and critique the sustainability emissions target set by the UK Government. Find out more at aspects of all the featured projects. civilengineersdeclare.com so what does this say about the Do the railways quality of the design? And bearing in really need mind that much design and indeed another major drawings are computer generated reorganisation? these days I fail to see how such shortcomings could be allowed to happen. It appears to me that this problem is absolutely fundamental to the profession and should be given serious attention by the Institution at the highest level. Having spent my career in contracting, involved in many design and build projects, including prestressed concrete nuclear pressure vessels, prestressed concrete subsea oil storage and production support platforms and the Storebaelt western bridge, designed in house or by consultants TRANSPORT with a safety and reliability that I have never come across this as many countries would envy. While problem. As a profession today ILLUSION CREATED BY we certainly need to address the we seem to be obsessed with RAIL REORGANISATION problems, let us celebrate what we diversity, sustainability, and carbon have. footprints. Are we not in danger of I write in response to the Lighthouse My fear is that Williams will take losing the plot of the actual purpose on rail reform in your August edition. us into a massive reorganisation of civil engineering? We have a disastrous national which, in the words of the Roman Derek Limbert (F), Knotty Green, predilection for talking ourselves administrator Caius Petronius, is: Beaconsfield, Bucks HP9 2BB down, epitomised by the allegation “A wonderful method for creating Editor’s note: Ed’s comments were from Keith Williams that: “Railways the illusion of progress . . . while made in our Podcast The Engineers are failing . . .Britain’s railways are producing confusion, inefficiency Collective, where he puts the issue in failing to deliver clear benefits.” and demoralisation.” context alongside other pressing skills This is manifestly untrue, since Mike Keatinge (M Retd), Highbank, challenges facing the profession. I’d the railways move many thousands Marston Road, Sherborne, encourage everyone to have a listen of people and tonnes of freight DT9 4BL

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With ring-fenced funding and an ambitious project pipeline there has never been a more exciting time to work in the UK’s highways sector. But the opportunity to shape the transportation networks of tomorrow brings with it a responsibility to ensure engineers see the bigger picture and understand fully how these networks will be used.

BIG BUDGETS BUT PROJECT DOUBTS REMAIN / PAGE 28 MAKING THE SOCIAL CASE FOR ROADS / PAGE 30 IMPACT OF SEMI-AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES / PAGE 32 DIGITAL DESIGNS TO UNDERPIN NEW ROADS AND BRIDGES / PAGE 34 MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION / PAGE 40 CHANGING DEMANDS CHALLENGE THINKING/ PAGE 42

SEPTEMBER 2019 NEW CIVIL ENGINEER 27 WHERE’S THE MONEY? Booming budgets thanks to a ring-fenced road fund for Highways England mean the future of roads is rosy. Or is it? Connor Ibettson reports.

Future £25bn, the future looks rosy indeed. resting on the next Spending Review But despite the £10bn increase on to solve the issue and get the projects of Roads KEY FACTS RIS1, several major Highways England on track. projects hang in the balance with Highways England chief £25bn the Department for Transport (DfT) executive Jim O’Sullivan, told New uture spending on the yet to decide the future of several Civil Engineer’s Future of Roads strategic road network Value of major road projects that were to be Conference, said that the DfT has run (SRN) seems secure with RIS2 roads privately funded. out of time for fi nding a new funding the 2020-2025 road sector Chancellor Phillip Hammond scheme for the £1.7bn Stonehenge spending period RIS2 fast spending scrapped the PF2/PFI private fi nance tunnel scheme, with public funding approaching. But worrying programme models in the last Autumn Budget, the only viable option for delivering undercurrents threaten big ticket major without setting out alternatives, the tunnel on time. Fprojects which were to be privately leaving projects like the Lower “Is there an alternative funding funded, and the other 98% of the UK’s Thames Crossing and the A303 model in the pipeline? Yes – the roads that lie outside the SRN. Stonehenge Tunnel in fi nancial limbo. government has to fund it,” O’Sullivan At the same time Highways England These projects were been left out said. “It has to be government funded continues to evolve and attempt of RIS2 on the expectation that they because in truth there is not enough to futureproof the SRN to cater for would use private fi nance. time left for the A303 to be funded any entirely new forms of traffi c such as The DfT has missed multiple other way than with public money.” connected autonomous vehicles and deadlines for announcing a new O’Sullivan says that if no decision hydrogen-powered HGVs. funding model, with hopes now is made soon, the chances of the The current, and fi rst, fi ve year project being shelved are still low, investment programme set out in with options to re-plan under a new RIS1, is the biggest shake up the timetable being considered while UK road sector has seen since the Worrying the wait for a new funding model construction of the motorways. continues. In RIS1 £15.2bn is being spent undercurrents “The government has to make across 70 major schemes - adding a decision,” he said. “If the government over 2,000km of new lanes across threaten big ticket doesn’t fund it, we will have to re- the strategic network. At the same plan the scheme. The idea of it being time the Highways Agency has been major projects which cancelled is still slim.” morphed into the Highways England were to be privately It is not just major projects of today. waiting for a new funding model. With funding in RIS2 growing to “ The 24,000km local road network is funded

28 NEW CIVIL ENGINEER SEPTEMBER 2019 We need at least Key Stats a 50% increase RIS1 environmental spending in funding. But where period covering 2015 to 2021 designated funds include: is this money going to (£900M total) come from? Environment £300M “ Cycling, safety and and be incentivised on proven integration (CSI) £250M outcomes or assessments.” Air quality £100M Highways England will also be challenged to meet its outcomes for Innovation £150M RIS2, with the DfT setting “deliberately Growth and housing £100M ambitious visions” for the SRN as the UK heads towards its not-too distant net-zero carbon future of 2050. The strategic roads operator will have to continue its progress in delivering work more safely and effi ciently, but it will also have to begin the evolution of the SRN to accommodate future technology – namely electric and autonomous vehicles. And all three mean challenges for the industry. On safety, O’Sullivan is largely targeting contractors: “Safety is and continues to be on the top of our to-do list and is our number one imperative,” O’Sullivan said, committing more progress towards in dire need of repair with a decade- Funding for them to replace reactive maintenance Highways England’s “Vision Zero” – its long £9.8bn maintenance backlog the Stonehenge with more effective predictive aim of bringing the number of people according to the Asphalt Industry tunnel remains maintenance routines. killed or seriously injured on the SRN to Alliance (AIA). uncertain Charted Institute of Highways & a level approaching zero by 2040. The government is also facing Transportation (CIHT) past president “Safety depends on two things,” increased calls to overhaul the way and WSP head of profession for local he said. “It’s not the latest thinking local road maintenance is funded. government Matthew Lugg welcomed or the latest manual. It is the quality Local roads are managed and the committee’s proposal but told of contractor’s regional managers maintained by local authorities rather the conference that a ring-fenced or project manager, and it is how than Highways England and make up funding model for local roads might demanding the client is. We have to 98% of the roads in the UK compared be unachievable. demand safety if it is to happen.” to the SRN which accounts for 2%. “The select committee’s report On delivering more effi ciently How funding for the maintenance refl ects what CIHT has been calling O’Sullivan is aiming his sights at and repair of this vast asset is spent for,” Lugg said. “The message is loud consultants. “The days of designing is left up to each individual local and clear there needs to be more something we then cannot afford to authority and lacks the structure and funding and a minimum fi ve year build and then paying the designer security of the RIS that Highways settlement. [Local roads] are so to value engineer it into something England employs on the SRN. important to local communities for we can build aren’t over yet, but they Describing the condition of the their economy and wellbeing and must come to an end soon,” he said. local road network as a “national the current condition of the roads Highways England will deliver a scandal”, the cross-party Commons is scandalous. We have reached a further £400M in effi ciency savings transport select committee tipping point and need to intervene. across RIS2, applying lessons from has recommended that the DfT “My estimate would be we need at RIS1, he added. formulates new funding plans in least a 50% increase in funding. But Challenges certainly loom for next year’s Spending Review for the where is this money going to come the roads sector, but in its recent local road network to stop cash- from?” Lugg asked. “While ring-fenced assessment, the Offi ce of Rail and strapped local authorities using funding for road maintenance would Road has lavished Highways England money earmarked for road funding to be desirable, I don’t necessarily with praise and given the strategic support other core services. think its achievable as it would be roads operator a clean bill of health. The committee’s proposal is a a massive shake up as to how local The sector must now wait to see ring-fenced long-term funding plan authorities are funded,” he added. what the Spend Review holds for – essentially an RIS for local roads – Instead, Lugg suggests: “Additional the privately funded schemes and giving councils more certainty about funding [for local roads maintenance] if spending for local roads will be their future funding and allowing should come with strings attached overhauled. N

SEPTEMBER 2019 NEW CIVIL ENGINEER 29 Since March 2015 the project has supported 2,800 person years of employment in POSITIVE Wales IMPACT Demonstrating the broader social value of infrastructure projects to secure funding will be key in the post-private finance world. New Civil Engineer reports.

was constructed in the 1960s, is now regional construction sector. However, Future considered as substandard and the pooling people and resources for KEY FACTS Welsh Government objective is to dual a prolonged period also has knock of Roads it in its entirety to modern highway on effects on local supply chains, standards while providing grade stimulating demand and spending in oad infrastructure 68% separated junctions. other parts of the economy, and then schemes rely on large Value The programme was split into six supporting employment. injections of public generated sections with the current, fourth, For example, the most recent investment. section to be upgraded extending for dashboard captures reported spend With these large by Heads of 8.1km from Brynmawr in the West to for the six month period to the end sums comes a need for the Valleys Gilwern in the East. of March 2019 at just over £25M, of transparency about how money is Commissioned by Arcadis which £17M or 68% is estimated to Road scheme Rspent and its potential local impact. and working closely with Costain have remained within Wales. These impacts are often understood remaining in on this section of work, Cardiff And this direct spending on goods in improvements to road safety Wales University’s Welsh Economy and services supports other Welsh and reduced travel times, but the Research Unit has been working activity. wider social value impacts are often to map out the regional social and In meeting the demands of the road overlooked. economic benefits of the A465 development project, these suppliers A collaboration between Arcadis, improvements, producing twice yearly also have to buy goods and services Costain and Cardiff University using “dashboards” of key information in the regional economy creating the A465 Heads of the Valleys scheme which allows the monitoring of multiplier or ripple effects. provides new outlooks and a platform impacts over time. An economic modelling framework to map the socio-economic benefits It is expected that a road project of shows that the £17M of direct local during the build phase, providing this scale and duration will boost the spend supported a further £9.9M in a holistic overview of the ongoing regional output through additional benefits to local communities and the activity in the supply chain, and from economy in the period over which the income being spent across other construction occurs. sectors. The A465 Heads of the Valleys The £17M of Over time these impacts stack road in South Wales is a strategically up. For example, since March 2015 important route forming part of the direct local around 70% of the project spending Trans European Transport Network. has stayed within the local economy, It extends from Abergavenny at spend supported a and this has supported (onsite its eastern end, joining the M4 at further £9.9M in and through multiplier effects) Llandarcy. approximately 2,800 person years of Much of the original route, which regional output employment in Wales. N

30 NEW CIVIL ENGINEER | SEPTEMBER 2019 “

ELECTRIC DREAMS The advent of smart, electric vehicles will have a major knock on effect on the civil engineering sector which will have to build its supporting infrastructure. Connor Ibbetson reports.

Future we are doing under our Future of Mobility programme is looking at of Roads KEY FACTS regulatory structures, because a lot of our regulations date from the 19th century,” he says. alk about autonomous 75,000 “We are trying to deal with all these taxis and driverless pods Number amazing changes and technologies might evoke a dystopian of electric with legislation from 1835. future straight from the “We need to modernise our pages of a Phillip K Dick vehicle regulatory structure to give towns novel, but the technology charging and cities the ability to deal with new behind it is not as a far off as you modes of transport.” points needed Tmight think. The Future of Mobility programme Partially autonomous cars are to cater aims to overhaul the road network already hitting the market, ride- for future as the UK teeters on the edge of a sharing apps like Über are changing “transport revolution” while attempting the business model for transportation demand to hit new net zero carbon targets. and electric vehicles are in such high Because, as Bruce says, roa d demand manufactures are struggling transport is the number one priority to fulfil orders. 20% if the UK is to achieve net zero carbon But none of these revolutionary Target emissions by 2050. technologies can work without the percentage of In May the Committee on Climate right infrastructure to support them. Change’s (CCC’s) Net Zero report, lays The first step is to do away with car parking out the steps to rapidly clamp down out of date historic legislation and spaces regulation, says Department for Transport (DfT) director of requiring energy technology and innovation charging We are trying Richard Bruce. points for “The ability to have better transport across the whole system is there electric to deal with all today. We don’t need to wait for vehiles by robo-taxis and flying cars,” Bruce told these amazing changes 2025 New Civil Engineer’s Future of Roads and technologies with conference in July. “However, one of the things legislation from 1835

32 NEW CIVIL ENGINEER | SEPTEMBER 2019 “ on greenhouse gas emissions in the next 30 years with a major focus being You take the transport electrification. A big push to prepare a the UK for driver out of the switch to electric passenger cars the car; you take the is already underway. With petrol and diesel cars set to biggest cost out and be banned from the roads by 2040 the wider roll out of EV infrastructure is a could offer door to key part of the National Infrastructure Commission’s (NIC’s) National “ door [autonomous] car Infrastructure Assessment report. It has been estimated that the UK services will need another 75,000 EV charge points to meet the demands of a future EV fleet. to be built along the strategic roads As such, the NIC has set new local network by 2050. Electrifying HGV authority targets to ensure 5% of fleet would need an additional 90,000 national parking spaces have access specialist depot-based chargers for to electric charge points by 2020 overnight charging. rising to 20% by 2025. While autonomous and electric The National Grid has also recently vehicles will certainly change revealed research that suggests 54 transport forever, the technology strategically placed charging hubs could offer answers to the along the strategic roads network construction industry’s most would give 99% coverage to the pressing issues. population of England and Wales Japanese mining and construction within 80km. specialist Komatsu has already But putting in big, petrol fitted out some of its excavator station-style charging hubs is and bulldozer fleet with Internet-of- not the main issue. It is providing Things style sensors that relay real- facilities for people without their own time data back to operators. This car parking spaces. is then used, with 3D mapping data “You do not need to go to a petrol obtained from drones, to control the station-style place,” Bruce says. giant earth movers. “For electric vehicles, it’s like a Highways England already mobile phone, you need somewhere mandates the use of machine to charge it at night and somewhere control in its projects. This is used to charge it on long journeys, but the to accurately position earthwork real challenge is for people who don’t machinery based on 3D design have off street parking, who live in models and GPS systems on site. the cities or in flats – where do they This reduces the need for site charge their car?” engineers to work in close proximity Charging at home is of course not to heavy machinery. an issue for those without cars, and Now the strategic roads network autonomous technology is going to operator is trialling its own revolutionise the vehicle ownership autonomous heavy plant on the model with the introduction of the £1.5bn A14 improvement between “robo-taxi”, Bruce adds. Cambridge and Huntingdon. “You take the driver out of the A £150,000 autonomous truck, car; you take the biggest cost used to transport excavated out and could offer door to door material, is programmed to follow [autonomous] car services for a predetermined route but is fully absolutely peanuts,” he says. capable of detecting and avoiding However, despite the progress of obstacles. developing new transport solutions, Using such smart vehicles has the real challenge for the highways benefits beyond taking the driver out sector in meeting carbon reduction of the cab. targets will be to remove the carbon The sensors fitted to heavy plant from freight transport. vehicles by Komatsu also report The CCC states that the most data on the vehicle’s condition, realistic option for removing polluting allowing engineers to foresee How will heavy goods vehicles off the roads is technical issues with their plant and electrical car to switch the entire fleet to hydrogen arrange preventative maintenance. charging evolve power. Using this data can also drive much to meet demand? The climate panel estimates that greater efficiency from the machine, switching road-freight to hydrogen reducing the wear and tear and would require 800 refuelling stations reducing carbon output. N

SEPTEMBER 2019 | NEW CIVIL ENGINEER 33 Smart motorways lend themselves to repetitive design processes

hard shoulder lanes into use as traffi c lanes at peak times and use technology to monitor and manage congestion. This includes using variable speed limits to keep traffi c running. At the core of Highways England’s second Road Investment Strategy (RIS2), is the plan to deliver this motorway network, known as the Smart Motorways Programme (SMP). A group of engineering consultants working with Highways England’s DESIGNED SMP team has developed what is termed the Rapid Engineering Model (REM) to bring about faster and smarter delivery through automated design. Leading the development with Highways England have been Bryden Wood and Jacobs. “REM is really a digital workfl ow. It is a collection of digital tools to automate design. The ambition is to go way beyond the smart motorways BY DATA programme, but this is a test ground An innovative digital design method will form the for REM,” says Bryden Wood director Phil Langley. basis of the future of road and bridge design at Much of the design of smart motorways infrastructure is generic, Highways England. Emily Ashwell reports. from overhead sign gantries to orange-painted refuge areas. This ith procurement The new fl eet of smart motorways means large elements of the design currently will create around 6,500 lane process are repeatable, particularly in underway for the kilometres of extra capacity and will the early stages. six fi rm, £4.5bn be the fi rst to include infrastructure “The SMP lends itself very well to alliance to build which incorporates technology for the automated design approach,” a new generation the connected autonomous vehicles adds Langley. of smart motorways over the next of the future. The REM is not one specifi c Wdecade, development of a next Smart motorways offer a cheaper computer programme. It is an generation design approach is also way of increasing capacity than approach to design where engineers underway. traditional road widening. They bring use existing software in a specifi c way.

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The next generation of smart This is a motorways will be designed using the Rapid Engineering Model data driven approach. The automated design “generates a more robust and reliable design

And as the REM begins to make a tangible impact, Highways England is pressing ahead with other projects to digitally enable more road bridges to be manufactured offsite. Laing O’Rourke, Ramboll and WSP, are developing a manufacturing, assembly and installation process for precast modular components in The software used includes computer the same outcome for £100,000. road bridges. They have won funding The REM approach has now been to produce a system that produces aided design programmes and KEY STAT algorithm builders such as Rhinoceros, tested with pilot schemes for existing highways bridge designs more Grasshopper, Revit and Dynamo. smart motorway design projects. In quickly. The funding has come from a The REM process starts with 90% addition, some teams developing the competition run by Highways England collecting and analysing data, such early “operations concept” for smart and facilitated by Innovate UK. as environmental and topographical Amount motorways construction have used The aim is to develop a digital tool information. The data is evaluated by which the REM. which will produce a multi-option Another outcome of the REM is that design which can be configured to determine the most suitable road automation conditions and to identify risks. An the data that a design is based on is as required. The final design will automated design which complies reduces less subjective and more transparent, be for a manufactured bridge with smart motorway design rules is preliminary and design changes can be explored which is constructed using a set then laid out. Specific project criteria in a digital programme which does of components which have been can be fed into the system to optimise design time not allow any deviation from design manufactured off site and which are the design. standards. already certified. “This is a data driven approach. The data which the REM produces The digital tool for the road bridge The automated design generates a or captures – such as analytics, innovation will be a 3D model, more robust and reliable design with evaluations or layouts – can be which has had the schematic details the risk reduced,” says Langley. used to generate other pieces programmed in. The cost and Areas the REM can be used on of information such as building production information for the bridge include designs for foundations and information models or drive-through is produced from this. retaining walls. The team has tested visualisations. One of the benefits The money for the bridges project and measured REM designs against is that the data is consistent and has been provided as part of a £20M existing smart motorway designs, delivered in a consistent format, injection into digital innovation comparing time and cost, design enabling better comparisons. projects at Highways England. quality and design outcomes. In future other factors, such as A different Ramboll project will “This automation reduces the project cost, will be factored into look at developing machine learning preliminary design time by around the REM. Highways England is looking which can process aerial imagery 90%,” says Langley. to scale up the use of REM across its to produce asset management and The real-time result of this is that major projects and Bryden Wood says environmental data and help the the concept design time has been it could be used in other construction body identify areas for environmental reduced from nine months to five areas, such as rail. improvement. days, which in turn significantly REM follows on from Ramboll’s As Highways England enters RIS2, speeds up scheme delivery. It also automated gantry design solution, it is under ever-more pressure to reduces design costs over the same rolled out for Highways England in deliver major programmes more stages. Where traditional methods the current RIS period (New Civil efficiently, and it looks like digital might cost £1M, the REM produces Engineer, September 2017). design is leading the way. N

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07617_002_WAV_Q-Bic Plus Campaign_Ticks Ad D_NCE_265x420_AW.indd 1 01/04/2019 10:15 CLEAN AND SAFE As Britain’s roads get busier, keeping them well maintained and safe to use gets harder. Sam Sholli looks at some innovations helping to address the challenge. Highways England is also trialling a new road surface using recycled tyres, developed by Tarmac, on a section of road between junctions 22 to 23 on the southbound carriageway of the M1 near Future with the Local Councils Roads Leicester Innovation Group (LCRIG), a best of Roads KEY STAT practice-sharing consortium of local authorities. LCRIG, will in turn use the services of technology firm Gaist epartment for £350M which will use machine learning AI Transport (DfT) Funding technology to review close to 150M statistics show that high definition images of the local 528bn kilometres pot DfT has road network. were driven on Great earmarked A £685,000 Highways England Britain’s roads in 2018, for improving research project is also aiming to a 0.3% increase on the previous year. find a way of making “ghost” road DSafety for the road user – whether local roads markings a thing of the past. Ghost on the strategic road network or the markings are faint marks that are far, far larger local road network – is remnants of original white road always paramount. markings removed due to, for Here, technology is coming to help, example, road layout changes. with artificial intelligence (AI) about to The roads body last month selected be used to develop the most thorough eight winners in a competition it understanding ever of Britain’s road launched to test materials designed markings. to remove markings on the M5 in the Road markings play a vital role in South West over the course of the keeping road users safe, so making next year. sure they are up to standard is imperative. Now, as part of a wider £350M funding package for improving the quality of local roads, the DfT is This should spending £2M to analyse the quality of markings on almost 160,000km of help lane road. It is hoped that this will give the DfT a clearer-than-ever picture of control and stop where investment is needed so it can advise local councils where to target people wandering investment. across roundabout The DfT will carry out the health-check in close partnership “ lanes

40 NEW CIVIL ENGINEER | SEPTEMBER 2018 “Once complete, the most One initiative successful products will be highlighted in research shared being trialled around the world and setting new high standards for the road industry,” involves substituting Highways England explained. The ambition to improve road waste plastic for markings does not end there, however. Contractor Colas has part of the bitumen just launched a particularly hi-tech “ solution that uses LED lighting panels content of asphalt bonded to the road surface. Colas believes its Flowell solution is a real game-changer for highways The solution involves MacRebur authorities – allowing them to alter recycling ordinary household plastic road markings in real time. waste and grinding it into flakes, pellets This can be used to, light up bus or shreds, to be added to the asphalt stop markings, open up new lanes or mix as a complimentary binder. The to temporarily assign use of a lane plastic waste product does not fully to one or more priority vehicles or a replace the bitumen but does reduce category of road users. Initially Colas the amount of it needed for the mix. is targeting traffic light controlled The Scottish firm’s product has roundabouts, where markings can be already been trialled in 18 local confusing depending on the angle a authorities in the UK. Among the road user approaches them. areas to trial the product is Cumbria, Colas UK’s intelligent transport where the material has been used systems technical director Paul for the past three years. Cumbria is Hodgkiss explains: “If you are the UK’s fourth largest local highway approaching a roundabout and you authority with approximately 7,900km have got white lines painted on the of road. It is also responsible for road, those lanes mean something dealing with the area’s household different to somebody else on the waste – a key part of the mix. other approach to the roundabout. Cumbria County Council senior “So what you can do with this is you asset and network manager Andy can still have your white lines, but as Brown explains: “This product is your lane’s signals go to green, the lanes made not from recycled plastic. It is illuminate in your direction only so as coming from waste plastic, so it is you get green and you move off, your stuff that does go to incineration and lanes illuminate for you. This should does go to the tip. help lane control and stop people “We are adding a material that wandering across [roundabout lanes].” reflects about 6% of the bitumen After extensive laboratory tests in binder in the asphalt mix. That France, the Flowell innovation is now percentage, as an overall, is only entering an experimental trial period. about 0.3% of the asphalt. From a During this stage, several trial sites highway roads point of view that does will be deployed to test the solution not make a lot of difference, but when in real conditions and drawing on the you put in the volumes that we are feedback from partner communities referring to and [consider] how much and users concerning the relevance of the waste plastic is used then that of its uses, ergonomics and urban becomes a much more interesting integration. economic model.” Safety is not the only issue, After grinding, the plastic waste however. Reducing the carbon melts during the asphalt production footprint of highways is a major process. “There is a slight issue with challenge, particularly as the UK the melting temperature because government has recently committed plastic is a polymer that needs a to legislating for the country to be higher temperature to melt. So there carbon neutral by 2050. are discussions around how that One initiative being trialled polymer gets mixed into the asphalt currently involves substituting waste mix with bitumen to ensure that it is plastic for part of the bitumen content fully melted,” Brown notes. MacRebur’s solution involves of asphalt. Scottish firm MacRebur The plastic waste can be mixed recycling ordinary household is leading the charge on this, having in the dry asphalt plant or it can plastic waste and grinding it into created a product which it claims can be pre-blended into the bitumen flakes, pellets or shreds, to be reduce costs for local councils by and wet-mixed, forming what added to the asphalt mix as a being more durable and cheaper to Brown describes as a “strong and complimentary binder maintain than standard asphalt (New homogeneous product” acting as a Civil Engineer, April). bitumen additive. N

SEPTEMBER 2019 | NEW CIVIL ENGINEER 41 Debate: Future of Roads CHANGING PATTERNS

DEBATE BACKGROUND

48% 29% 22% Percentage of Percentage of under Percentage of under 20s with 20s with a driving young people in a driving licence licence in 2014 the US who say in 1994 they will never get a driving licence

In association with Roads are designed for 50 years, but attitudes to travel are changing at a much faster rate, creating an existential challenge for highway engineers. Fewer people wish to drive, car pooling is on the rise and apps are making smarter travel decisions possible and easier for all. Margo Cole reports.

or years we have been building new roads to meet actual or predicted demand for travel. But major new roads take years – even decades – to stagger through the planning process and Fget designed and built. This may not have been an issue 10 years ago, when people’s travel behaviour was fairly easy to predict and planners could almost assume that everyone would own a car. But that is changing. So-called millennials, who are environmentally conscious, tech-savvy and growing up in an age of car-sharing and ride-hailing apps, are showing less desire to own a car, or even take their driving test. In 1992-94, 48% of UK 17 to 20 year-olds held a driving licence; by 2014, the figure had fallen to 29%. The percentage of 21 to 29 year old with a driving licence also fell over the same period. The picture is similar in Australia, Norway and Sweden, and there are even modest falls in the major Conventional road travel is changing with the advent of new technology car-producing nations of Japan and Germany. And, according to private car, but how you use it will be than ever?” He says the roads sector technology think tank RethinkX, 22% different. We’ll see a lot more focus on could change as rapidly as the retail of young people in the United States smart vehicles and active travel.” sector did, leaving the industry have no intention of ever getting a Sir Robert McAlpine highways wondering what happened, as big licence. director Tony Gates asks: “How do technology companies move into RethinkX reports a US survey that we respond to the fact that customer the market. “I’m concerned we’re looked at reasons young people are demand is changing faster than ever, not going to change fast enough, and not driving. They include the cost of and technology is changing faster someone else is going to come along owning and maintaining a vehicle and and change us,” he says. the fact that other transport options Aecom managing director of civil are available, including access to on- infrastructure for UK & Ireland Mark demand alternatives like Uber. There will Southwell also believes technology “The next generation are looking and connectivity will change the more to the Uber model and still be a need infrastructure market, particularly car-pooling,” says Marie-Claude highways. Hemming, director of external affairs for a private car, but “We have to think about what’s the at the Civil Engineering Contractors how you use it will be next thing that’s going to happen,” Association (Ceca). he says. “What’s going to be the “There will still be a need for the different disruptor for highways? And who’s

“ SEPTEMBER 2019 | NEW CIVIL ENGINEER 43 Future of Roads Debate

I think we should rethink AT THE ROUND TABLE how we appraise transport projects. We This report is informed by a round table debate Civil Engineering Contractors Association should be asking what held at New Civil Engineer’s Future of Roads Lila Tachtsi asset management director, Highways “ conference in July. The debate was held in England are the objectives that association with Aecom. Tony Gates managing director, Sir Robert McAlpine society collectively Around the table were: Mark Southwell managing director, civil infrastructure, UK & Ireland, Aecom wants Rupert Clubb lead officer, Transport for the South Tim Coffey divisional director, Highways England East Andy Brown senior strategic asset and network Peter Molyneux major roads director, Transport for manager, Cumbria County Council the North Paul Monaghan assistant director, engineering, going to come with something Kate Morris strategic planning and advisory City of London different?” director, Aecom Dave Beddell market sector leader, strategic Transport apps already make it Roger Geffen policy director, Cycling UK highways, Europe, Aecom easy to compare journey times by David Haimes regional investment programme Rory Poole head of roads, UK & Ireland, Aecom different modes, and the cost of each director, Highways England Mark Hansford editor, New Civil Engineer alternative. And with the likes of Marie-Claude Hemming external affairs director, Google and Amazon entering the transport sector, it does make the idea of assuming we should from transport, rather than how we base road provision on traditional deliver it.” “predict and provide” methods FURTHER READING Molyneux agrees. “We should be somewhat out of date. looking at why are people travelling, And, while technology companies and providing a network to meet the are collecting travel data through Read a review and analysis Find out more on travel ‘why’ question. We [currently] work apps like Waze and Google Maps, the of changing travel patterns apps and data collection very hard to get consensus on the people who commission, design and among young people in at https://blog.tfl.gov. ‘what’ – a new bypass, for example build transport infrastructure do not the UK at www.gov.uk/ uk/2016/10/12/tfl-joins- – without having clearly established have that information. government/publications/ the-waze-connected- consensus on the ‘why’.” “The big problem in transport is young-peoples-travel- citizens-programme/ Geffen says wider societal lack of evidence,” says Transport for whats-changed-and-why objectives should be driving the North major roads director Peter For more information on transport provision – including Molyneux. “We have little idea how Reasons why fewer young Manchester’s Beelines climate change: “We have got to many people travel on trains or buses people are driving can be initiative go to https:// be thinking more about how our and where they get on and off; or how found here www.rethinkx. tfgm.com/made-to-move/ decision-making process reflects all of many people are travelling in cars and com/blog/2018/6/7/is- bee-network these [other] aspects. At the moment, where they’re going to and from. We the-allure-of-the-motor- local authorities are left to their own may be making decisions based on car-starting-to-fade devices, and there is a mismatch travel survey data from 2011.” between transport and planning. He adds that, in the future, he “Transport policy tends to be sees transport engineers providing a at the moment. Not only are different focused on long journeys, but most network, but “what runs on that will modes funded from different [journeys] are local – taking kids to change and fluctuate – we need to be budgets, but the planning process school etcetera,” he adds. more fleet of foot to respond”. for transport is usually separate “If we are going to tackle the Transport for the South East chief to that for housing and strategic climate crisis, we need to enable officer Rupert Clubb agrees. “We need development. And issues like health people to do more [activities] locally: to move away from talking about and environment are rarely intrinsic workplaces more locally, shopping roads to talking about ‘transport to the decision-making process. more locally. We are never going to corridors’,” he says. “We should Cycling UK policy director eliminate the need to move stuff, but be merging [road and rail] funding, Roger Geffen says: “I think we we can try to move it less far. We and asking what are the transport should rethink how we appraise should be looking at how we use road corridors that are needed to move transport projects. We should be space more effectively, rather than people around.” asking what are the objectives that [building] more of it.” A silo mentality pervades almost society collectively wants. It is easier Geffen wants the government to everything associated with transport to get consensus on what we want provide clarity in its objectives for

44 NEW CIVIL ENGINEER | SEPTEMBER 2019 transport, and Ceca’s Hemming agrees. “We have to decide what outcomes we want, and then we can focus our energy,” she says. JOINED UP MODES IN MANCHESTER Geffen adds: “It may not result in the cheapest projects, but what you get will be more than just a piece of road.” “As transport professionals, one of the problems is that we put a huge amount of skills and resources into attempting to predict what is going to happen, but spend so little effort trying to measure what happened afterwards. We don’t know the true cost to society of our transport decisions.” Molyneux describes this as “the opposite of Amazon”. While the online retailer follows up every sale with a request for feedback, there is no “did you like this” questionnaire for transport infrastructure. The success of a road scheme is measured simply by whether it came in on time and to budget, not whether it transformed people’s lives – or even got them to where they want to be. In recent years, there has been a lot of emphasis on improving journey times. But this may not be the only measure that matters to people making journeys. These days travellers can use apps Manchester is working to connect all of its neighbourhoods with walking and cycling routes to tell them the best mode, route and time to travel for any given journey. Last year, Greater Manchester launched its ensure that each scheme is owned locally and Individual travellers can decide what “Beelines” vision to become the first UK city supported by the delivery team, not the other way their priority is: and they may choose region to have a fully joined up cycling and around,” it says. “It is vital that local communities to prioritise cost, health benefits or walking network. are involved in decisions that affect them.”

CO2 emissions, not journey time. And the Beelines design principles contain a If that is the case, then engineers The city plans to connect every neighbourhood blueprint for evaluating all future road projects: may have to be rethink the way they and community with walking and cycling routes, “Health benefits derived from reduced mortality approach the planning and design of and the city’s mayor Andy Burnham has allocated should be standard calculations for all highway transport provision if they are to be £160M to kick-start the project. schemes, so that designers can see the benefits seen as part of the solution, not part In the introduction to the Beelines proposal they are bringing, rather than focusing solely on of the problem (see box). N document, Greater Manchester cycling and journey time and traffic impacts,” says the design walking commissioner Chris Boardman makes guidance. it clear that one reason the scheme will work is Burnham adds: “By giving people a true because it is community-led, not engineer-led. alternative to the car, we will tackle many of our Transport “This network has not been created in isolation health, congestion and air quality issues in one by engineers,” he says. It has been created by all go. Environmentally-induced inactivity alone is policy tends of Greater Manchester’s 10 local authorities. costing our NHS in Greater Manchester more “The networks were drawn collaboratively by than £500,000 per week. to be focused on long council officers, local highway engineers, as well Health and where people live have often as local cycling, walking and community groups.” been linked in worldwide studies — and people journeys, but most This “bottom up” approach extends to the who live in walkable places are much less likely to journeys are local – design and delivery of individual schemes within be overweight. the network, according to the proposal document. “This vision is not anti-car; it is about giving “ “Interested local people will be invited to people an attractive alternative, especially for taking kids to school participate in project planning and delivery to short journeys within our communities.” etcetera

SEPTEMBER 2019 | NEW CIVIL ENGINEER 45 ‘It was impressive to see the finish product and both junctions working well. There has been great partnership working between Highways England, Leeds City Council and all partners involved. I understand there has been many challenges during the project and you have been able to deal with each one successfully’.

Andy Chan - Operations Portfolio Office and Performance Team (Capital Planning and Programming) at Highways England

M62 scheme – Junctions 27 &28 Overall cost of £8.9m Work start April 2018 – August 2019 Partners: Leeds City Council / WSP / AOne+ / M62 DBFO / Kirklees Council

Future of Roads Showcase INNOVATIVE photo : :

DELIVERY www . suavairphotos

Colas’ integrated team approach is . co . delivering cost and time savings for uk highways authorities and road users alike.

hat connects the Highways England vision up to 2025, parties assigned by Highways England. legendary 95 year KEY FACTS shared by Jim O’ Sullivan, chief Through a seamless “one team” old Autodrome de executive, Highways England at New approach, Highways England sought to Linas Montlhery, Civil Engineer’s recent Future of Roads deliver two schemes at adjacent junctions, scene of the 1925 £8.9M conference. Colas maintains that blending 27 and 28, on the M62, that also form French Grand Prix its innovation and technology strategy key parts of Leeds City Council’s local south west of Paris with junctions 27 and Total cost of with its international perspective and highway network. W28 of the M62 near Leeds? M62 project expertise enriches its offer to UK clients Widening slip roads at congested The answer is Colas and its in major projects, capital portfolio junction 28 at Tinsley would introduce collaborative approach to bringing management and in local authorities. additional lane capacity, while providing innovative strategies, technologies and £51,000 Colas, with in-house teams across six new signalling would increase traffic flow partnerships to future-proof Britain’s saving parts of the business – from highway civil at junction 27, a notorious black spot, roads. engineering to intelligent technological following a series of accidents, including As partners with Utac Ceram, Colas in resulting solutions – gives an end-to-end offer a fatality. France collaborated in the construction from the with intrinsic sustainability and quality. It The need to improve customer of TEQMO, the new innovation centre installation maintains this can save money, resources experience for road users is a key aim. and 12km connected vehicle test circuit and time from high levels of self-delivery While the default speed for vehicles dedicated to the development, testing and of two feeder on complex highways and engineering through roadworks remains 50mph, the certification of automated and connected pillars projects. DfT’s key performance indicator for lane vehicles located in the centre of the Take the M62 scheme in West availability was a key consideration in legendary French autodrome. Yorkshire, funded by the Department for planning traffic management strategies Colas is working at the heart of Transport (DfT) under the Minor Safety which also provided safe working discovering how technology can enable Improvement Fund programme as part environments. Colas says its integrated and enhance the road user experience, of Highways England Congestion Relief service is key to its commitment to offering guidance on how road networks Programme. reduce the physical length of roadworks must evolve to support connected and As principal contractor on this and the time it takes to do them. Colas’ autonomous vehicles. highly-complex project, Colas oversaw co-ordinated project approach gives road This aligns with delivery of the all delivery aspects including that of third users a better journey experience, with

46 NEW CIVIL ENGINEER | SEPTEMBER 2019 ‘It was impressive to see the finish product and both junctions working well. There has been great partnership working between Highways England, Leeds City Council and all partners involved. I understand there has been many challenges during the project and you have been able to deal with each one successfully’.

Andy Chan - Operations Portfolio Office and Performance Team (Capital Planning and Programming) at Highways England

M62 scheme – Junctions 27 &28 Overall cost of £8.9m Work start April 2018 – August 2019 Partners: Leeds City Council / WSP / AOne+ / M62 DBFO / Kirklees Council

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH COLAS

and diversions to the main National Roads Telecommunications Services. In modifying and upgrading existing traffic signals, street lighting and signs at Junction 27, the team negated the need for temporary traffic signals by moving existing traffic signal poles onto temporary NAL blocks. This reduced client costs and allowed contracting teams to complete lane widening at the roundabout and also ensured that Leeds County Council’s urban traffic control team could monitor the traffic signals equipment 24 hours a day 365 days a year. The integrated service delivered lower environmental impact and project over- runs and reduced risks from unexpected events. Along with productivity gains from a system of daytime, rather than night time – working, there were benefits of co-workers sharing plant and machinery from the same depot. Transport costs were minimised while the carbon footprint and fuel usage were cut by reducing traffic to and from site. Two key Colas “rethinks” on this project also saved considerable time and money. A traffic management strategy to provide “lane gain” to award safe working widths allowed for increased outputs and less worktime delays and a consequent The completed motorway), North East Regional Traffic rapid progress. And by investigating the reduction in tailbacks and disruption to this M62 junction 27 Officer Service and Kirklees Council, to embankment near the flyover at junction primary trunk network. Junction 28 was improvement the local communities, businesses and 27, Colas proved that the bedrock in works-free six weeks before the 42 weeks road users. the verge was adequate, thus removing deadline and junction 27 was delivered three Constant updates minimised the need to cut into banking and fit new weeks early. communication issues between £250,000 retaining walls which had been The safe working environment for contractors and subcontractors with specified for the scheme. operatives was also improved, with zero fewer contractor conflicts, facilitating With one order to place and one lost time incidents across 126,000 hours close cooperation and knowledge sharing. communication chain to follow, from of exposure. From the technology angle, Colas’ a client’s perspective, the quality and Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) is ITS expert teams undertook all works to reliability of Colas’ integrated service core to Colas’ approach, and it involved signals and street lighting on the project has profound benefits. On a broader its cross-disciplinary experts from the while supporting the delivery of upgrades dimension it gives solutions which take earliest stages of the £8.9M project which into account environmental, social and included major civils work, road restraints, societal issues, reflecting the expectation asphalt surfacing, signals and traffic of all stakeholders. control, road lighting and road marking. International “It was impressive to see the finished Undertaking a robust programme of perspective and product and both junctions working site survey and inspection addressed well. There has been great partnership matters which are usually ignored. expertise enriches Colas’ working between Highways England, Providing detailed technical advice about Leeds City Council and all partners products and solutions pre-empted costly offer to UK clients in involved. I understand there have been problems at implementation stage. many challenges during the project Colas’ model of collaborative working major projects, capital and Colas has been able to deal with began with building robust partnerships each one successfully,” says Highways with all stakeholders, from Leeds City “ England operations portfolio office and portfolio management Council, Highways England, A-one+ performance team (capital planning and area 12 (the managing agent for the and in local authorities programming) Andy Chan.

SEPTEMBER 2019 | NEW CIVIL ENGINEER 47 ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

performance data required for the AIP Highways first speaks volumes application. With this being a first for Essex A414 Harlow upgrade sees county’s first installation of complete Highways, the level of detail needed was understandably high. Here the support structural wall plastic attenuation system. of the experienced team at Polypipe proved invaluable in achieving a successful outcome.” Targeted as an innovation project by main Framework Manager at Morgan Sindall In total, 126m of 1500mm Rigistorm-XL has contractor, Morgan Sindall Infrastructure, Infrastructure. “With limited verge space been installed with three catch-pit chambers the A414 upgrade to Edinburgh Way in and complex below ground utility runs in providing sediment removal. Supplied with Harlow, Essex, will be the county’s first the area, we saw an opportunity to re- watertight push-fit seals, the run ties in to an installation of a large diameter, structural engineer the scheme around an extended existing 450mm Thames Water surface water wall plastic pipe attenuation system directly single run of 1500mm large diameter plastic drain at a bespoke RidgistormCheck vortex beneath a live carriageway. pipe with integrated water management flow control chamber limiting discharge to Designed entirely around Polypipe’s chambers below the highway. This would a specified maximum 32l/s. As cover depths Ridgistorm-XL pipe and chambers, the greatly simplify installation, improve health vary along the run, different stiffnesses of adopted system has been value engineered and safety and ultimately provide a more pipe have been supplied to optimise material to provide optimised storage, sediment cost-effective long-term solution.” usage. The upper end of the run where the removal and flow control of the increased Meeting the technical challenge invert level is 4.5m, an SN4 pipe is used, the levels of stormwater run-off generated by the In order to gain Approval in Principle (AIP) for remaining pipe is supplied at SN2.8 with an dualling of the existing single-lane highway. the re-design, Morgan Sindall Infrastructure invert of 2.9m. The improvement scheme is a key part of had to submit a detailed technical submission Essex County Council’s £15 million strategic to Essex Highways as the use of any pipe “The versatility of the Ridgistorm investment in the Harlow road network which over 900mm in this situation represented a system has allowed us to streamline will relieve congestion, improve road safety departure from the standards defined within our on-site programme, no specialist and support local economic growth. Under the Specification for Highways Works. the stewardship of Essex Highways, the main moving or lifting equipment has been “Morgan Sindall Infrastructure’s consulting construction phase began in January 2018 required to install the light-in-weight engineers, had previously worked with and is due for completion in April 2020. Polypipe on similar innovation schemes system, and with all the chambers Designing in value and developed the new proposal around being pre-fabricated off-site, we’ve “The original drainage and attenuation its Ridgistorm-XL system,” says Grant achieved excellent levels of handling design was based around installing twin McConochie. “From the outset, Polypipe speed and safety.” 900mm pipe runs on either side of the newly worked alongside our team, providing all Grant McConochie, Framework Manager, Morgan Sindall. dualled carriageway,” says Grant McConochie, the required geotechnical and material

To learn more about RIDGISTORM-XL Pipes and Chambers, come and see us at Highways UK, STAND K30 or visit us at www.polypipe.com/civils Innovative Thinking NEW DESIGN CONCEPTS, INVENTIVE CONSTRUCTION METHODS AND FRESH IDEAS

Whether it is building a major new highway through the Balkans, delivering a new light rail link to Luton airport or reinventing London’s Olympia, civil engineers are challenging norms and providing inspiration for others

KOSOVO’S VITAL NEW HIGHWAY / PAGE 50 LUTON’S AIRPORT RAIL LINK / PAGE 54 REDEVELOPING LONDON’S OLYMPIA / PAGE 58

SEPTEMBER 2019 NEW CIVIL ENGINEER 49 Innovative Thinking uilding Kosovo’s fi rst motorways has involved some ingenious thinking and no small amount of innovation. This has been especially so when it comes to upskilling a workforce in a Bcountry where a project of this scale has not been attempted before. After Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, its government realised it had to HIGHWAY establish itself on the world map, and to do that it needed connections. As the country has only one, very basic railway line, road is the predominant way to travel. But at the time of independence, the main route was a single carriageway road cut into the sides of the mountains, making it vulnerable to closures from landslides and accidents. So the government took the bold IN THE SKY decision to build the country’s fi rst A huge project to build a motorway system motorway, and in April 2010 began across Kosovo has done more than provide a construction of the 102km long R7, running south west from Kosovo’s transport solution, it has enabled local workers to capital Pristina to the Albanian border. In 2014 construction of a gain valuable training. Katherine Smale reports. second motorway started. This is the 65km long R6, running from Pristina south to the North Macedonian border and was completed in May. Both new, four lane motorways S E have been built by a joint venture R B of US construction fi rm Bechtel and I A

O 200m R G 520 480 E KOSOVO N N 480 480 E T M9 520 N Pristina

O 480 440 M Malisheve 560 ROUTE 6 520 ROUTE 7

A Ferizaj U-BEAMS I-BEAMS I-BEAMS U-BEAMS 600 560 L B 400 600 560A 600 N LEPENSE VIADUCT I The viaduct was split into seven sections, each with a 520A I A I - BEAM Lowest sections: 5-10m above ground level N O unique design and construction methodology640 specific mm0011 mm0011 D to the changing topography and geology 640 C E M A 440 440 680 U - BEAM 480 T-BEAMS Mid-height sections: 20-46m above ground level Route 7 720 440 mm0011 mm0011 102km long 520 480 520 560 760 T - BEAM Highest sections: up to 78m above ground level Route 6 560 65km long mm0011 mm0011 600 800 600

640 840 May 2019 Completed KOSOVO 680 SMAEB-I SMAEB-T 720 LEPENCE VIADUCT

50 NEW CIVIL ENGINEER SEPTEMBER 2019 It is riddled with steep mountains and valleys with varying geology

“changes,” says Jennions. “We were balancing the risk of execution of the old alignment, with do we have the time and capacity to do the new design? Can we source designs from different areas in the right time? “Sometimes you have to make bold decisions,” he says. The most signifi cant of the new structures was the Lepence viaduct, which, at 6km, is the longest in the Turkey’s largest contractor Enka. By The route passes “thousands” of boreholes, according Balkans. To hit the end date the far the most complex section was at through steep to Bechtel business development new viaduct had to be designed to the southern end of the R6, where mountains and manager Chris Jennions, the risk maximise speed of construction. the team encountered extremely valleys with associated with the stability of “We decided to move the alignment challenging geology and ground varying geologies slopes was simply too high, and the to the middle of the valley, but with conditions. alignment had to be moved. a bridge that’s so long, in a steep The terrain in the tiny country This modifi cation resulted in the sided valley, you only have a certain – which covers 10,000km2 compared need for a series of major viaducts amount of access points,” says to England’s 130,000km2 – differs running down the valleys – structures Jennions. “So, very quickly you have dramatically across its length. It is that had to be designed and to work out a linear execution plan riddled with steep mountains and constructed while construction was of how you build yourself into the valleys with varying geology. already underway, and without middle. The original alignment was changing the published “However, if we started building to be cut into the mountain opening date. from each end into the middle, we S E sides along the valleys, R “We had to make the wouldn’t have got there by today.” B but after carrying out I decision and make the This is where Bechtel operations A

O 200m R G 520 480 E KOSOVO N N 480 480 E T M9 520 N Pristina

O 480 440 M Malisheve 560 ROUTE 6 520 ROUTE 7

A Ferizaj U-BEAMS I-BEAMS I-BEAMS U-BEAMS 600 560 L B 400 600 560A 600 N LEPENSE VIADUCT I The viaduct was split into seven sections, each with a 520A I A I - BEAM Lowest sections: 5-10m above ground level N O unique design and construction methodology640 specific mm0011 mm0011 D to the changing topography and geology 640 C E M A 440 440 680 U - BEAM 480 T-BEAMS Mid-height sections: 20-46m above ground level Route 7 720 440 mm0011 mm0011 102km long 520 480 520 560 760 T - BEAM Highest sections: up to 78m above ground level Route 6 560 65km long mm0011 mm0011 600 800 600

640 840 May 2019 Completed KOSOVO 680 SMAEB-I SMAEB-T 720 LEPENCE VIADUCT

SEPTEMBER 2019 NEW CIVIL ENGINEER 51 Innovative Thinking R6 Motorway, Kosovo

manager Mark Allison stepped in. “To The viaduct was beam launchers, two 500t and 650t me, the innovation was not coming split into seven That steam cranes and a number of mobile up with a new system, but going sections, each curing cranes to erect up to 18 beams a day, through each of the processes within with a unique equating to around 500t of lifting. the system and optimising them to be design meant that you To feed the cranes and launchers, able to accelerate the construction U- and T-beams were manufactured sequence,” he says. could have less time in a highly optimised linear process Precast concrete construction is in a beam yard around 14km from the relatively new in the Balkans, but the in the formwork viaduct. The number of beams that team knew that, to open on time, as could be produced was limited by the much as possible of the structures “ time each took to cure to a sufficient had to be constructed using this strength in the mould. To speed this technique. It then came down to Three precasting yards were set up process up, the team used steam honing and fine tuning the process to at different points along the bridge to curing. speed up construction. keep the cranes fed. “We could cast a beam in a 24-hour To do this, the viaduct was split In the mid-height sections of period,” says Allison. “We could load into seven sections, each with a the viaduct, where the piers rise the rebar, cast the beam and steam unique design and with construction from 20m to 46m high, the deck is cure it. After that, it was strong methods specific to the changing supported by six, 2.2m deep U-beams enough to be lifted and put it in a topography and geology. spanning up to 40m. And in the two storage yard, which would then cure On the three lowest sections, highest sections, where the piers it to the point that was needed for where the alignment was only 3m reach up to 78m, T-beams spanning the cube test. Then you could use a to 5m off the ground, lighter beams up to 45m, were used. These beams straddle carrier to take it to site to which could be lifted by 250t crawler were launched and craned into place. erect it. cranes were used. This enabled these “There were a number of strategies “That steam curing meant that sections to be constructed quickly. for the installation of the T-beams,” you could have less time in the In these areas, 14, 30t to 40t precast says Bechtel project engineer Tom formwork.” concrete I-beams – seven under each O’Keeffe. “There were multiple fronts Allison adds that an added bonus carriageway – were used in each 34m as it’s a 2km stretch.” of the system was that the operations span. At its peak, the team used three could keep going throughout the

52 NEW CIVIL ENGINEER | SEPTEMBER 2019 With a bridge that’s so long, in a steep sided valley, you only have a certain “amount of access points

We had to do a borehole under pretty much every pier, and sometimes “more, as the foundations are quite large

winter, where normally work might have had to stop. “The winters here are harsh – down to -35°C; the steam curing process had the added benefit of keeping our concrete so that it was more malleable and it didn’t freeze,” he says. “If it freezes it can’t cure. So the investment in the steam cure was a big thing for us.” The viaduct was not the only challenging aspect of the project. To build the approach road to the viaduct, where the new motorway cuts into the hillsides, specially designed vertical gabion walls were installed to stabilise the rock. The gabions work together with a complex network of drainage channels installed above the wall to shed the vast quantities of water which come down from the mountains. “Each rock is carefully placed by hand, particularly on the face, and material in the valley were generally Challenges have works and no real infrastructure then it is filled up behind so that end bearing down to the rock, and included harsh to dispose of waste, the river had it doesn’t settle under the load of are up to 25m long. winters (top been used as a rubbish dump. the wall above,” explains O’Keeffe. The team also had to design the left), restoring However, working with the Ministry “Behind those, every metre, is a viaducts for earthquake loading, water quality in of Environment, the team was able to geogrid, which gives you a bit of which added an extra 5m to 10m the Lepence river clean up the river and improve the stability. Then we had to do global to the pile length for piers in the (top right), and quality of the water dramatically. stability checks on the overall wall, river flood zones, enabling them to working adjacent But something the team is really so they were a bit of a masterpiece in withstand scour to a depth of 10m to Kosovo’s only proud of is the 100,000 hours of themselves.” as well as ensuring the bridge will railway line training that was given to the 80% In total around 2.1km of vertical still stand in an earthquake with full (main picture) Kosovan workforce, especially when wall, ranging from 10m to 25m high, loading. it came to health and safety. was constructed to reduce the need To add a further complication to “We spent a lot of time trying to for land acquisition and quarried the project, Kosovo’s only rail line improve the safety here,” says Allison. material. Piling under the viaduct also runs through the valley, and After a time it becomes a point of piers was also a major challenge. the construction team had to co- diminishing returns, but that’s when Most are supported by a nine by nine ordinate with the railway authority you have to dig in hard grid of 1.2m diameter piles, but some to determine when it could carry out “Just looking around at the various “super piers” required a 16 by 16 grid. work around the tracks. construction projects around Kosovo “We had to do a borehole under While building the viaduct, the now, I see more people wearing safety pretty much every pier, and Bechtel-Enka team restored around gear that weren’t even involved in the sometimes more, as the foundations 10km of the Lepence river and set project,” he adds. are quite large,” says O’Keeffe. new environmental standards for the “That’s a really satisfying effect that Piles in the softer, less good country. With no water treatment we’ve had.” N

SEPTEMBER 2019 | NEW CIVIL ENGINEER 53 Innovative Thinking LUTON 07 Pe rc Airport iva DART l W parking ay port Approach Air

y 06 a Mid stay W

l l ay car park a w h t Central Parkway x r u o 1 Terminal a p ir 8 05 Station V A BRIDGE 10 Station A

London Luton Airport

01 04 RUNWAY

02 Viaduct Slab in fill AND TUNNEL R Gateway Bridge Trough a It may be 100 times smaller than the UK’s biggest ilw 03 ay Slab in cut Cut and cover tunnel

infrastructure project, but High Speed 2 engineers 1 A108 Gateway have taken inspiration from Luton Airport’s new Bridge light rail link. Report by Rob Horgan. Trough Cut and cover tunnel Parkway Station Viaduct Gateway Bridge Central Terminal Station Maintenance Slab in cut and fill

t just 2.1km long, the The Dart Vertical Direct Air-Rail Transit KEY FACT scale (Dart) project to combines connect Luton Airport with Luton Airport 2.1km seven different types 50m 500m Parkway railway station Length of Horizontal scale has, at first glance, very little in of structure and an Dart route commonA with High Speed 2 (HS2). But as VolkerFitzpatrick-Kier (VFK) joint innovative light rail venture project director Phil Hobson £225M “ 01 typically 7m by explains, the Dart is a “perfect Cost of Dart system LUTON 7m with 1.5m blueprint” for the country’s biggest rail link AIRPORT deep pile caps infrastructure project, even if it is 100 PARKWAY and six piles. times smaller. heads underground into a 350m cut STATION Five single piers Just like HS2, the Dart which is and cover tunnel, which dips beneath This 150m long plus two twin being constructed by VFK, involves the airport’s taxiway and into a new station raised 7m piers support the constructing new stations and a Central Terminal station, 20m beneath above existing composite bridge viaduct, as well as a tricky tunnelling the airport’s current “drop-off” area. ground level will deck. section. Luton Borough Council’s airport be constructed In total, the Dart combines seven company London Luton Airport Ltd from reinforced 03 different types of structure and an (LLAL) is funding the construction of concrete and GATEWAY innovative autonomous light rail the £225M Dart to reduce the number supported by 70 BRIDGE system. of cars travelling the airport. 750mm diameter This 72m long Starting at a new purpose-built Passengers travelling to London continuous flight 1,000t steel truss Luton Parkway station – which Luton Airport by rail today have to auger piles, up to structure with connects to the Network Rail station alight 3.5km from the terminal and 26m deep. composite deck – the Dart will run on a 350m long wait to catch a shuttle bus that takes will be launched viaduct, before transitioning to a 72m 10 minutes – or far longer during rush 02 onto reinforced long, 1,000t steel truss bridge with hour– to reach the terminal. When it VIADUCT concrete composite deck that runs over a live opens in 2021, the Dart will link the The 325m long abutments as one dual carriageway. airport with Luton Airport Parkway viaduct is 15m complete section The Dart then weaves its way station in under four minutes and will wide and built during a closure past Luton Airport’s landing lights, be capable of running 24 hours a day. off 15m tall piers of the A1081. The through a 600m long cut and fill In addition to main contractor VFK, supported by, abutments have section before entering a 500m long the main players on the project are concrete base trough section. It then lead designer Tony Gee & Partners

54 NEW CIVIL ENGINEER | SEPTEMBER 2019 LUTON 07 Pe rc Airport iva DART l W parking ay port Approach Air

y 06 a Mid stay W

l l ay car park a w h t Central Parkway x r u o 1 Terminal a p ir 8 05 Station V A 10 Station A

London Luton Airport

01 04 RUNWAY

02 Viaduct Slab in fill R a Gateway Bridge Trough ilw 03 ay Slab in cut Cut and cover tunnel

1 A108 Gateway Bridge Trough Cut and cover tunnel Parkway Station Viaduct Gateway Bridge Central Terminal Station Maintenance Slab in cut and fill

and geotechnical consultant Coffey. Vertical scale The scheme design was carried Wherever we out by Arup, and Doppelmayr Cable Car is supplying the cable-driven turn we face a autonomous transportation system, 50m 500m which was selected for its low different challenge Horizontal scale environmental impact. The VFK JV is also a partner on the Luton Investment Framework, which above ground level. been constructed 05 07 is on track to exceed its target of It is a reinforced concrete on CFA piles on TROUGH CENTRAL securing £1.5bn of inward investment “structure, and is supported by 70, the western end This 500m stretch TERMINAL in housing and commercial 750mm diameter continuous flight and bored piles of Dart is retained STATION developments in the town, while auger piles up to 26m deep. on the eastern by sheet piles for The Central expanding the airport and improving The new station will be clad in end. an open channel in Terminal Luton’s infrastructure and transport aluminium with a glass curtain wall which trains will run station and its links. The main challenge facing on the façade. Two walkways will 04 on a concrete base maintenance Hobson and his team is to ensure that be installed to create a “seamless” CUT AND FILL slab. facility must each section of the route progresses transition between the existing SECTION be constructed at the same rate. Network Rail station and the Dart 600m stretch of 06 using top-down “Wherever we turn we have a station. the route involves TUNNEL and bottom-up different challenge,” he explains. From the station, the Dart viaduct excavating SECTION methods. The “From a technical perspective, it is is sandwiched between the railway the ground to Constructing the 100m long a project with seven really big sites, line into the Network Rail station reach running 350m long tunnel bottom-up station each with agents and leaders and and a building owned by Express slab level in two involves installing involves installing teams that run each section. Newspapers building. locations and sheet piles, sheet piles, “And each section is different, Shovels first hit the ground in building up the excavating and excavating down, so each of the sites has a different December 2017, and four of the of ground in the propping casting installing temporary challenge.” the viaduct’s seven piers have been central section. the base slab. props, excavating The first site on the Dart route is completed so far. Approximately The permanent to formation level, the new Parkway station, which is Hobson explains that the viaduct 16,000m3 of walls of the tunnel casting the base being built on the site of Luton’s old location has been particularly earth will be are then built up slab and building Vauxhall car factory. The 150m long challenging: “[The viaduct section of excavated and and the roof slab the permanent station building is on two levels, with the Dart] is on lumpy terrain where deposited. constructed. structure. the control room and cable system the ground falls away. The Dart starts for the trains on the ground floor, and at 7m [above ground] and rises up to the platforms on the first floor, 7m 25m to Gateway Bridge through a gap

SEPTEMBER 2019 | NEW CIVIL ENGINEER 55 Innovative Thinking Luton Airport Dart

The Dart starts beneath the existing carriageway and into the purpose-built airport station. at 7m above “Building a tunnel through an existing live taxiway with all the ground and rises up critical services and aeronautical ground lighting (AGL) beneath there to 25m to Gateway is always going to be a challenge,” Hobson says. Bridge through a gap “Cut a comms cable or break an “ AGL and shut the airport down and that is only 20m wide you are talking millions of pounds in compensation alone. “So building a tunnel through a that is only 20m wide. taxiway without hitting anything “It is so tight that there is a party is, and always will be, the biggest wall agreement between the council challenge of this project.” and the Express Newspapers building Around 100m of the tunnel has in order for us to use their car park already been excavated, with the during construction, bearing in mind remaining section due to be complete that there is a railway on the other in early 2020. side,” he adds. But before this section can be The HS2 team tasked with completed, services will have to be constructing the 3.4km long Colne diverted onto protective beams and Valley viaduct has visited site in the placed into a “box-girder of protective last couple of months, taking notes steel” to ensure they are not on the this 350m long and 13m wide accidentally hit during excavation. viaduct. From the tunnel section, the Dart “The team [Align JV] that came to reaches its fi nal destination, the see us were from the Chilterns end [of Central Terminal station, which is HS2],” explains Hobson. “They were The new Luton The 1,000t asymmetric Gateway currently being built on the site of the interested in the way we are building Parkway Station Bridge, designed by Knight airport’s previous departures “drop- the viaduct and the methodology of is being built Architects, has a structural truss in off” area. that, as well as the propping system at on the site of a the central spine, the top chord of The 100m long station section the central terminal, as they have some former Vauxhall which traces a parabola rising from will be built from the bottom up. deep excavations to overcome as well. factory the deck. The spine is designed to Work involves installing sheet “Although we are around 100 times take the live load when a train passes piles, excavating down, installing smaller than HS2, there are a lot of over the bridge. temporary props and then excavating similarities in what we are doing, so “We changed the design of the down further to formation level and we are happy to help where we can.” bridge so that it was stiff enough casting the ground slab and then the The viaduct leads to the Gateway with or without the spine. However permanent structure. Bridge, a dramatic steel truss the centre spine structure is still Limited storage space means that structure that spans 72m over Airport needed to take the live load when the the 100m long maintenance facility Way, the main road into the terminal train goes over the bridge,” explains will be built bottom up. This involves area. The bridge is being constructed Hobson. installing a contiguous piled wall and offl ine, and will be driven 500m down “Welding that together over a live slab on top to provide storage space the A1081 dual carriageway and lifted carriageway would have been too during station construction. into place. much of a challenge, so we’ve built it When the Dart is complete, It will then be attached to offl ine but as close as we could to the passengers will be able to travel abutments on either side of the road fi nal resting place.” from the Central Terminal station to in one piece. From the bridge, the Dart runs London St Pancras in under half an Hobson admits that getting the between the airport’s landing lights, hour – making it the quickest airport bridge into position for the fi nal one of which is located above the to reach from the central London lift will be a particular challenge. “I route. A precast bridging concrete hub. am not envious of the driver who structure constructed offsite by The Dart may not be anywhere has to navigate his way down the Newark-based ABM Precast Solutions near as long or under anywhere near carriageway,” he says. “We will do the will be installed to carry this light the same amount of scrutiny as HS2, installation overnight as we will have above the line. but the early signs suggest those to shut the road down. We are also From there the Dart runs through tasked with delivering the country’s working underneath a fl ight path, so a 500m trough before heading biggest infrastructure project there are restrictions in terms of the underground into a 350m cut and can take inspiration from Luton’s size of cranes we can use.” cover tunnel section that runs autonomous transit system. N

56 NEW CIVIL ENGINEER | SEPTEMBER 2019 Is your septic tank 2020 compliant?

Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2014 came into force on 1 January 2015 and created General Binding Rules (GBRs) for septic tanks or small sewage treatment plants for domestic use. These rules are designed to reduce the level of pollution from sewage in the nation’s watercourses. Under the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2014, if you have a septic tank that discharges directly to surface water, ie, a water ditch, stream, river, etc, you must upgrade or replace your septic tank to a full sewage treatment plant system by 1st January 2020, or sooner if you plan to sell your property before this date.

Visit bit.ly/2020compliant to find out more or contact our technical team on 01933 654582 to discover your options www.marshindustries.co.uk Innovative Thinking 1 Theatre 4 Energy Centre 9 Hotel REDEVELOPMENT OF (former service yard) 5 Ho s (former extension of National hall) 2 Music Venue (former multistorey carpark) 10 High Level Public Square (extended West hall) 6 Cinema 11 Olympia Square 3 OLYMPIA LONDON Grand Hall (former multistorey carpark) 12 Olympia Logistics Centre 7 Pillar Hall 13 Central Tower 1 8 Kensington Olympia (former site of Central hall) 2 Station 14 National Hall L ONDON 5.6ha Kensington RUSSELL ROAD N Size of site 13 Olympia MACLISE ROAD DESTINATION Multi-storey Carpark OLYMPIA WAY 220 4 Pillar Hall Events per year OLYMPIA 5 LONDON CURRENT 2 Grand LAYOUT 51,000m 3 New space created 12 7 National 11 BLYTHE ROAD West 6 Central EARSBY ST 10 KENSINGTON 14 Redevelopment of Olympia London has to fit around HAMMERSMITH ROAD 50m live events and an ambitious plan has formed to undertake the work during the few days and weeks of 9 8 downtime between shows, as Ruby Kitching discovers.

THE SKY GARDEN: HIGH LEVEL PUBLIC SPACE he Olympia exhibition centre in Kensington, It is very Steelwork will support the high level public west London has been KEY FACT square, (15m above street level) requiring growing and evolving important universal column sections (shown in red) to be threaded through the ever since the first, 220 National and Grand halls. and most iconic, of its for us to stay buildings, the Grand hall, opened its Number of open throughout Tdoors in 1886. With its timber and events held at glass clad lattice iron arches spanning Olympia each construction 52m and its “crinkle-crankle” glass year and steel gable end, the hall was “ England’s largest enclosed space at 51,000m2 in tandem to ensure the venue can the time of construction. continue functioning throughout the It hosts events such as Ideal Home Amount of work – a vital endeavour considering exhibition and the International Horse new office around 1.6M people visit Olympia National Hall show plus live concerts. National space being annually. hall, built to complement the Grand Yoo Capital chairman John created DECKING IN THE NATIONAL HALL Steel work to in 1923, has a similarly impressive Hitchcox says: “Events and support public square steel and glass barrel-vaulted roof. exhibitions are the beating heart Grand Hall Later additions, including Central of Olympia London, so it is very hall in 1929, a multi-storey car park – important for us to stay open believed to be London’s first – in 1937 throughout construction. We host and West hall in 2006, have enabled more than 220 events every year and the venue to extend across its 5.6ha have comprehensive plans in place to site. But Olympia is now reinventing make sure that any disruption will be itself for the 21st century with a £1bn kept to a minimum.” redevelopment, funded by owner Around 51,000m2 of new offices, a Yoo Capital and Deutsche Finance cinema, a theatre, two hotels, shops, International. bars and restaurants will transform Consultant Pell Frischmann, this single-visit venue into a more Deck will form a new first floor contractor Laing O’Rourke and comprehensive entertainment level in the National Hall. The architects Heatherwick Studio and destination, with more amenities deck is being designed to go up in SPPARC, with day-to-day operator for locals to enjoy. A public square just 24 hours Olympia London, are developing 15m above street level, and wedged construction strategies and designs between the barrel-vaulted roofs of

58 NEW CIVIL ENGINEER | SEPTEMBER 2019 1 Theatre 4 Energy Centre 9 Hotel REDEVELOPMENT OF (former service yard) 5 Ho s (former extension of National hall) 2 Music Venue (former multistorey carpark) 10 High Level Public Square (extended West hall) 6 Cinema 11 Olympia Square 3 OLYMPIA LONDON Grand Hall (former multistorey carpark) 12 Olympia Logistics Centre 7 Pillar Hall 13 Central Tower 1 8 Kensington Olympia (former site of Central hall) 2 Station 14 National Hall L ONDON 5.6ha Kensington RUSSELL ROAD N Size of site 13 Olympia MACLISE ROAD Multi-storey Carpark OLYMPIA WAY 220 4 Pillar Hall Events per year OLYMPIA 5 LONDON CURRENT 2 Grand LAYOUT 51,000m 3 New space created 12 7 National 11 BLYTHE ROAD West 6 Central EARSBY ST 10 14

HAMMERSMITH ROAD 50m

9 8

THE SKY GARDEN: HIGH LEVEL PUBLIC SPACE Steelwork will support the high level public square, (15m above street level) requiring universal column sections (shown in red) to be threaded through the National and Grand halls.

National Hall

DECKING IN THE NATIONAL HALL Steel work to support public square Grand Hall

Deck will form a new first floor level in the National Hall. The deck is being designed to go up in just 24 hours

SEPTEMBER 2019 | NEW CIVIL ENGINEER 59 Innovative Thinking Olympia Redevelopment

It’s a modern high level public square, requiring universal column sections to be take on the threaded through the National and Grand halls. Columns have to original engineering be positioned so that they do not obstruct the path of lorries driving across the hall floors when shows are being set up or dismantled. the Grand and the National, will offer The site’s multi-storey car park will “a new perspective on these ornate, be recycled into an office building in yet functional structures. With the the new scheme, with some features, different parts of Olympia recalling such as ramps, retained. Since this different architectural styles, its reinforced concrete structure is redevelopment is giving designers the nearly 100 years old, degraded areas opportunity to unify them. will have to be repaired and gaps The undulating patterning of between the original floor slabs the Grand’s gable-end will be “stitched together” to align with office reinterpreted in the project’s most layouts. prominent additions – the Central “We have had to find out how the tower’s glazed façade and the public original building works, and then square’s canopy. work with it,” continues Hitchens. The only building to be demolished The public square echo the latticework of the arches Elsewhere on the site, extra will be Central hall to make way for canopy allows in the hall. “It’s a modern take on steel and composite floors will be Central tower, although the Art Deco views through to the original engineering,” comments added to create a live music venue façade will be retained. Advance the central tower Hitchens. on top of West hall and a hotel works begin in January 2020. But it will be the new Central tower on top of an existing extension to With only a few weeks or even offices and high-level public square, National hall. Offsite construction of days between shows within reached by escalators that could components, such as bedroom pods which mobilisation, work and eventually steal the limelight from the are being considered, again to make demobilisation must take place, halls in the new scheme. programme gains, but also to achieve “lateral solutions” have had to The 13 storey steel-framed high-quality finishes. be found, says Pell Frischmann composite floor and steel core New piles and columns will be structural and civil engineering Central tower will create a new threaded through both of these director Mike Hitchens. “Yoo Capital dynamic feature on the skyline, buildings to support extra loads. has been constantly asking us, can while the public square – a nod to Small diameter piles have been we do this, can we do that? We’ve had the street that once existed between designed in many areas because only lots of fun reimagining this space.” the National and Grand halls – small rigs can get in and out of spaces The project team is working with will allow parts of this ticket-only quickly and safely. temporary structures consultant ES venue to be accessed freely by the MEP contractor Desco is Global to design an agile deck which public. responsible for rationalising and will form a new first floor level in “We’ve worked closely with improving site-wide services. A new the National hall. The deck is being steelwork contractor Hare to energy centre will provide a more designed to go up in just 24 hours. understand where the greatest efficient heating and cooling system. The solution will require rotary efficiencies can be made in Central “The main benefit is that less plant bored piled foundations to be tower,” continues Hitchens. A 9m space will be taken up by centralising installed and the National’s floor by 9m structural grid was originally the system in one building. Boiler to be reinstated within the periods considered for the office floors flues will also come up at a single available between events. until Hare advised that larger and point [some 48m above ground The piles will eventually support fewer members on a 16.5m by 9m level],” says Desco director Marco temporary columns and 10m by 3.3m grid would be quicker to fabricate Ambelez. deck sections. and cheaper to deliver. “So you can Surveys of existing buildings The extra floor is needed to finish the job nine weeks earlier, were captured digitally and used provide exhibition space that will be which allows offices to be rented out to create the project’s building lost while Central hall is demolished quicker,” says Hitchens. information model of the project, and also to compensate for the Central tower consists of a which is sequenced to include the reduced exhibition space in Central service yard at ground floor and an new-build construction programme tower, which is predominantly offices. exhibition hall at first floor level with and all Olympia’s events. Designed not only to be as lightweight a structural grid of 16.5m by 18m. The model will be used by owner as possible and sized for transport by So a lightweight office structure was Olympia London to manage its assets. lorry, the steelwork trusses making essential for the floors above. New tenants are expected to move in up the agile deck sections will also Steelwork will also support the by 2023. N

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Doka UK | T Maidstone: 01622 749 050 | Sheffield: 01909 552 020 : 01417 793 999 | Ireland: +35 341 686 16 20 | [email protected] www.doka.com/uk Innovative Thinking SME Profile OUT OF THE ASHES Engineering consultancy Clarkebond has spent the last decade rebuilding itself into a firm which sticks to its core competencies, but works entrepreneurially wherever these competencies are needed. Emily Ashwell reports.

ased in Bristol’s administration, staff numbers went docklands, in the shadow down from 200 to 45. of one of the world’s KEY FACTS Commercial director Neil Marks greatest engineers, reflects: “As the financial markets “We positioned ourselves consultant Clarkebond £6M tightened, so the overdrafts were anywhere, because we had to embodies the engineering reduced as we owed more money. rebuild,” admits Marks. and entrepreneurial spirit of the city’s Clarkebond In the end we had no headroom to “We had to grub up work, as my old Bforefathers. turnover operate.” boss used to call it. We used to get The office is just yards from The team tried to do a management work wherever we could, although we Brunel’s SS Great Britain, which when 1946 buyout but was outbid by an Irish still had some long-term clients who it was launched in 1843, was the Year entrepreneur, recognising a good core looked after us.” world’s largest and fastest ship. Clarkebond business. The firm is still owned by Today it is a different picture Today Clarkebond – which was the same holding company today. for the firm, which was set up in recently undertook the structural established It has been a long and challenging 1946 to help rebuild Bristol and the engineering for the city’s new Being journey rebuilding the firm. It was surrounding area after the War. It is Brunel museum – also has its eyes unable to bid for public sector work now heading towards 100 employees on far horizons. It is now delivering for three years after administration, and has cautiously built itself back engineering projects globally, but it had some clients – including up. The firm’s longevity is apparent in including gearing up to help rebuild local property developers such as a walking tour of the centre of Bristol. Caribbean communities recovering Deeley Freed – who kept a steady On almost every street where there is from hurricane damage. income coming in. an iconic building, Clarkebond, has at Clarkebond may be helping to some stage over the last few decades, rebuild other countries, but it has worked on it. also recently emerged from an Clarkebond focuses on its core extensive rebuild itself. disciplines of civil and structural During the 2009/10 financial crisis engineering, although it also covers the firm went into administration, We positioned geotechnical engineering, has a traffic getting severely burnt Carillion-style and transportation department, from unpaid overseas contracts and ourselves and undertakes some flood risk some regional under-performance anywhere because we and hydrology. There is a rough while getting into debt after buying 50:50 split between structural and another practice. As a result of the had to rebuild civil engineering and the firm has 62 NEW CIVIL ENGINEER | SEPTEMBER 2019 “ READ MORE BUSINESS ARTICLES AT NEWCIVILENGINEER.COM/BUSINESS-CULTURE

We look to do what we do well, in more markets and over a wide “geographical area is working on a new accident and emergency department at the city’s hospital. The Bristol team is working on new structures at Hinkley Point C nuclear power station and the London office is working with Wates on a huge £1bn regeneration site in the London Borough of Havering, where it will deliver civil and structural engineering. Marks says that staff numbers are fed by graduates and apprentices, with students coming from its links with education institutions including the University of the West of England and Surrey University. In Bristol, where many of the multi- national consultants have offices, the competition for staff is tough, though it currently sponsors students ranging from those undertaking entry- a turnover of around £6M. It says Marks channels the Department for International level apprentices through to those its reputation put it in good stead the spirit of Trade to gain new opportunities, studying for masters degrees as a through the difficult times. Brunel including winning a grant to research way of encouraging them to join “We’re not embarrassed about new markets. when qualified. making money, we have got to On the tiny Caribbean island of “There are big outfits everywhere. survive. We just want to do what Dominica, which was devastated by With the big corporates’ slick we’re supposed to do and get paid Hurricane Maria in 2017, Clarkebond machine, they can go in and get the what we’re supposed to get paid has plans to work with architecture graduates because the students for. I have a very simple view in charity Article 25 to support the probably perceive that is where they life; if everybody does what they’re delivery of 1,700 new homes as part will get the best training and career supposed to do, generally things of the recovery effort. moves. But it is not necessarily the work out quite well. It’s only people Given its past experience with truth. We want engineers who can span that make it complicated,” says payment problems from overseas a broad area of technical expertise Marks. work, this time round Marks says and sectors and our projects are very The business strategy is to Clarkebond is “going in with its eyes diverse,” says Marks. stimulate growth by throwing its open” and prefers opportunities He cites the example of an engineer geographical catchment area wider. funded through established who started at its Exeter office as an With the experience of administration institutions such as the World Bank apprentice, did an HNC degree and still raw, it is looking for steady, or the Caribbean Development Bank. has been out to work in Myanmar organic growth, slowly building up Back in the UK, it has just won where Clarkebond is undertaking the business while staying stable. its first place on a Network Rail civil, infrastructure and drainage “We are into diversity in everything framework for the London North expansion for its largest public we do except for our core discipline. Western route, which Clarkebond hospital, the Yangon General Hospital. We look to do what we do well, – whose management has rail Clarkebond’s strategy is one of in more markets and over a wide experience – describes as a “foot in steady growth, with a clear strategy geographical area,” says Marks. the door” after two years of knocking. of sticking to what it knows. But when Through this strategy, it has a Other projects it is currently it comes to the actual engineering, number of overseas projects on the working on reflect the locations of the firm is keen to show the world horizon and has been working with its three offices. The Exeter office that it punches above its weight. N

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GOLD SPONSORS SILVER SPONSOR IN PARTNERSHIP Innovation Showcase WITH EJOT SPECIALIST SUPPORT The Liebig range of concrete anchors is tailored to meet a range of demands

he Liebig brand has for LIEBIG SAFTEYBOLT years been synonymous From M8 to M16, this anchor is unlike with quality, performance other heavy duty expansion anchors. and ease of installation, The principle of drawing an expansion gaining respect from sleeve over a tapered cone to create a specifiers and contractors friction grip is the same, but the Liebig alike. Many of the original flagship Safetybolt benefits from a secondary Tproducts remain at the forefront of cone at the top of the expansion sleeve. today’s anchoring technology. Once primary expansion has taken place at the bottom of the anchor, this also LIEBIG ULTRAPLUS expands. The result is more uniformed Regarded as the ultimate high- expansion over a greater surface area performance anchor. Sizes run from –improving its hold and resistance to M12 up to M36, extending associated applied tension loads. performance benefits beyond any other mechanical anchor, with unique features LIEBIG ANCHOR that include: More comparable to other heavy duty l Mechanical spring-loaded anchor anchors within price-sensitive markets, setting this product still offers unique features l Reverse undercut mechanism such as its three-piece expansion shield l Built-in isolation between fixture and which generates a more uniformed anchor single point expansion. l Modularity and application-specific This anchor, like the Liebig variants Safetybolt, has a domed washer under Standard undercut anchors work by The modular LIEBIG SUPERPLUS the nut or bolt head. It becomes drawing a sleeve over a cone, expanding design of Liebig Ranging from M8 to M16, this anchor flattened when the anchor is tightened the sleeve within a void already created anchoring requires no special drill bits, no to the correct torque. in the concrete by a special tool. technology offers maximum hole depth and no special Liebig Ultraplus works the bespoke solutions setting tools – reducing workmanship- MODULARITY opposite way, utilising its spring- and performance related issues. From drilling through to All Liebig anchors are modular in design, loaded mechanism so that when the benefits setting torque, Superplus is installed so special lengths are easily and cost- expansion segments reach the void, a like any regular expansion anchor yet effectively produced within a minimal cone drives down into a series of offers higher guaranteed performance lead time. They can be modified to shields, causing them to expand – making it a suitable choice for safety- increase anchorage depth or to enable and provide further performance critical applications. them to hold down much thicker benefits: The anchor draws a thick-walled fixtures. Because they are manufactured l Expansion segments open in the expansion shield over a tapered cone. using higher grade materials, higher direction of load, working like a cast-in The shield has biting keys “machined tensile and shear loads are easily anchor or foundation bolt in”, creating their own void in the achieved. l These segments are produced from a concrete and yielding very high tensile l Liebig anchors are now manufactured much thicker material giving them the and shear performance. in the UK by EJOT, backed by full capability to evenly transfer greater The Liebig range also includes heavy technical specification data and loads duty expansion anchors. support.

SEPTEMBER 2019 | NEW CIVIL ENGINEER 65 Company Profile Keltbray Piling TEN YEARS IN THE MAKING

Over the last decade, Keltbray Piling has gone from new entry to an established player in the ground engineering market. Claire Smith reports on the company’s growth since its launch in 2009.

en years ago the UK ground engineering sector may be having a Cain has been with the business since its engineering market was KEY FACTS challenging 12 months, it is nothing formation and remains today, Norman in the depths of the last compared to the state of the industry says that he brings a wealth of practical recession and many firms when Keltbray Piling was launched. knowledge and experience. were pulling out of the £70M “The industry was pretty dire 10 years Before the acquisition, Keltbray had market. One company ago and in the middle of the recession,” experience of the foundations market – Keltbray Group – had other ideas. Keltbray recalls Norman who joined Keltbray through working with other companies TEstablishing Keltbray Piling at that time Group turno- Group’s sister company Wentworth employed by the same client and may have seemed strange to some, ver last year House Partnership (WHP), which undertaking work in conjunction with nonetheless, it is a move that has paid specialises in temporary works design, its demolition division. This was on an ad off with the firm currently celebrating its at the end of 2010 and then moved to hoc basis with the agreed understanding tenth year in business. lead the piling business in early 2012. “It that integrated and collaborative working The business turned over £1M in its was a good time to launch the business, between the different contractors would first year and this rose year on year to in hindsight, costs were low as we didn’t be undertaken for the betterment of the reach £70M last year but, like many of have too many staff. We also didn’t have project programme. the major players, this has fallen back in enormous plant resource, but the plant With client satisfaction in mind, the last 12 months due to major projects we did have was wholly owned so the Keltbray looked at this model and the being delayed. The company has also overheads were low too. potential of enhancing its self-delivery gained industry recognition with winning “At that point in time, costs were capability by adding piling to its proven the Contractor of the Year Award at the driving everything, the need for five or demolition capability instead of using 2019 Ground Engineering Awards and 10 years business experience was almost others to deliver this work. the Innovation of the Year (Contractor) irrelevant, it was all about cost.” The acquisition of Cainwhite created category at the 2019 Construction News Keltbray Piling was born out of this offering. From there, Keltbray Specialists Awards. Keltbray’s acquisition of Cainwhite Piling gained a reputation for taking on According to Keltbray Piling managing Piling and Foundations after it went into increasingly challenging foundation projects, director Stuart Norman, these accolades administration. Norman was handed as well as integrating the work with other show how far the business has progressed the reins to the business, together with activities on site and using the expertise of in the last decade. While the ground operations director Lee Cain in 2012. in-house designers from WHP to deliver

66 NEW CIVIL ENGINEER | SEPTEMBER 2019 IN PARTNERSHIP WITH KELTBRAY

It’s about having the flexibility and finding the right balance of projects and at times “competing against your main contracting peers

Norman says: “This will be a game changing development with wide-ranging benefits that have the potential to enhance the standing and reputation of the collaborating parties involved, and to drive larger industry change in the UK and beyond.” Keltbray expects the benefits of this work – and other initiatives – to accelerate in the next 10 years, but Norman also hopes to see broader changes in the industry with greater attention to the potential for offsite, modular construction and a real focus on reducing conservatism in pile design. For Keltbray Piling itself, Norman is aiming for steady and sustained growth with expansion geographically in the UK and also a move into new markets. these challenging schemes. Keltbray is deep foundation construction through “We have delivered projects all “The benefit for the client is the gaining a development of the “Hiper” pile. over the country but don’t yet have access to up-front advice, not just on the reputation for The two year development with permanent regional bases,” he says. demolition, but with each member of the taking on overall project value of £1.1M is being “We are also looking at ‘bolt-on’ group influencing how the follow on work increasingly undertaken in collaboration with markets to our current techniques and was sequenced,” explains Norman. “It’s challenging Converge; DB Group; City, University that could come from acquisitions or about having the flexibility and finding the foundations of London; and GI Energy First. organic growth.” right balance of projects, both working for projects Insights into the findings are expected Whatever the approach, it is clear that and at times competing against some of to be presented at a symposium in late Norman believes that Keltbray Piling is your main contracting peers.” January 2020 at the Institution of Civil here to stay as a major player in the UK’s He believes that as well as shifting the Engineers in London. ground engineering market. piling market, his company has shifted some of the main contracting markets and Project milestones the client’s perception of the value that can be brought by an integrated offering. According to Keltbray, others in the 2009 – Molecular Research Facility is the 2015 – Keltbray Piling works with SRM for the first industry are now looking to follow the company’s first self-delivered piling project time at 10 Fenchurch Avenue, knocking weeks off business model that it pioneered and has 2012 – Three Quays near the Tower of London the construction programme successfully delivered. where Keltbray Piling undertakes 1,500mm diameter 2016 – Keltbray Piling undertakes its first Keltbray Piling believes that it is at the piling for the first time piles under bentonite support fluid at 150 forefront of the industry and is aiming for 2013 – Piling work for the Design Museum’s Bishopsgate, London further success by gaining a competitive Parabola building in Kensington where Keltbray 2019 – Official opening of the new Tottenham edge through its focus on innovation and works with Mace and Arup to deliver its first project Hotspur FC stadium, for which Keltbray provided improving efficiency in design and on worth over £2M the piled foundations. During the project Keltbray’s site. Key elements of this are two highly 2014 – Keltbray undertook a £10M secant piling initial contract nearly doubles to over £14M as the competitive grants won by the business contract at Chelsea Barracks which was successfully scheme develops including the addition of future in March this year from Innovate UK completed in a tight timeframe of 34 weeks proofing elements for the client. to deliver efficiency improvements in

SEPTEMBER 2019 | NEW CIVIL ENGINEER 67 Innovation News NEW INNOVATIONS THAT WILL TRANSFORM YOUR PROJECTS NEWCIVILENGINEER.COM/INNOVATIVE-THINKING

STRUCTURES FOREST GREEN’S TIMBER FOOTBALL STADIUM PLANS REVIVED

Plans for to build a Zaha Hadid-designed timber football stadium have been resubmitted to local planning officials after being knocked back at the first attempt. League Two club Forest Green Rovers’ proposed 5,000-seater stadium and wider “Eco-Park” in 2017. However, Stroud District Council rejected the plans by a vote of seven to four in June. Councillors cited noise issues and the impact on the landscape of the planned site close to junction 13 of the M5 when the stadium plans were axed. Forest Green Rovers club chair Dale Vince has confirmed that the club’s plans have been slightly altered and resubmitted.

TRANSPORT STRUCTURES HIGH SPEED 2 RECYCLED TYRES DAM MONITORING HIGH SPEED 2 TO CREATE A VIRTUAL TO BE USED IN COULD BE DONE MODEL OF OLD OAK COMMON STATION M1 RESURFACING FROM SPACE WORK USING SATELLITES

Highways England is trialling a A dam monitoring system new road surface using developed by a team led by UK recycled tyres on a section of civil engineering firm HR the M1 motorway. A section of Wallingford is to be expanded road between junctions 22 to after a successful trial in South 23 on the southbound America. The Damsat system carriageway of the M1 near uses satellites, remote Leicester has been laid with the sensors, weather forecasts and new material. The material was consequence modelling to developed by Tarmac which is monitor structures across the A virtual replica of High Speed Common. HS2 Ltd has understood to be the first firm globe from space. After 2’s (HS2’s) Old Oak Common partnered with AR experts in the UK to have developed an successful trial monitoring of station is being created to train Pauley, the National College for asphalt which uses a mixture dams used to store toxic mine staff ahead of the west London High Speed Rail and innovation of tyres and granulated rubber. waste in Peru, the UK Space hub’s construction. In a management consultant Up to 750 waste tyres could be Agency is increasing its support UK-first, augmented reality (AR) Inventya to deliver the project. used in every kilometre of for the programme so Damsat is being used to train staff who They will work closely with resurfaced road. can monitor water dams. will run the HS2 hub at Old Oak station designers WSP.

68 NEW CIVIL ENGINEER | SEPTEMBER 2019 Institution of Civil Engineers Record

ICE xxxxxx New ICE council members elected

Results for ICE’s Council Elections were announced at the Annual General Meeting on 23 July. Thirteen new Council members were elected. The newly elected members will take office from 5 November 2019.

GENERAL MEMBERS l Julie Luzia Bregulla Dipl. Ing PhD CEng FICE l Andy Alder MEng MSc CEng FICE l Kate Cairns BEng (Hons) DIC MSc CEnv CEng FICE l Richard Bayfield BSc (Hons) MSc CEnv CEng FICE FCIArb INFRASTRUCTURE l Gillian H Castka BEng MSc CEng MICE MHKIE l Norman Chan BA (Hons) MA Fdsc Civil Engineering EngTech New prime minister urged to MICE

REGIONAL MEMBERS prioritise infrastructure policy l East of England: Paul Mitchelmore BSc CEng MICE Ensuring a comprehensive of the government’s priorities. of recommendations for the l London: Yan Zhou MSc BEng plan for future infrastructure ICE director general government. CEng FICE planning and delivery should Nick Baveystock said: “The These include adopting all l Scotland: Steven Graeme remain high on the new government has a rare and of the recommendations made Robertson BSc (Hons) CEng MICE government’s agenda, says important opportunity to by the National Infrastructure l South East: Norman F Brent the ICE. produce the first strategy of Commission in its National BSc (Eng) CEng FICE FCIWEM New prime minister Boris this kind and ensure that future Infrastructure Assessment, C.WEM Johnson has been announcing infrastructure delivery meets and demonstrating, in detail, l Yorkshire & Humber: David M new policies since August and the needs of our society. how these will be delivered. Hirst Eur Ing BEng (Hons) CEng the Institution is urging him to “The UK needs a national The ICE also wants ministers MBA FICE FEI keep infrastructure high on his strategy that takes a holistic, to set out support for new list of priorities. evidence-based approach approaches to funding and INTERNATIONAL MEMBER Publication of the UK’s first to planning and delivering financing infrastructure. These l Europe and Central Asia: Jose National Infrastructure Strategy infrastructure to ensure we include a UK investment bank M Lores BEng (Honours) MSc (NIS) in the autumn should deliver the best outcomes. to replace the loss of access to CEng MICE go ahead as planned. This is Whoever the new PM is must the European Investment Bank an opportunity to ensure a heed the warning from the as a consequence of Brexit, and GRADUATE MEMBER holistic, joined-up and strategic public and make creating a implementing a pay-as-you-go l Benjamin Jacob Weller BEng approach to infrastructure National Infrastructure Strategy funding model for England’s MSc DIC GMICE planning, says the Institution. a top priority.” strategic road network. The ICE’s latest policy Drawing on the large body l The full report is at www. l For further information see: report, What should be in of work done by the Institution ice.org.uk/news-and-insight/ www.ice.org.uk/about-ice/who- the National Infrastructure over the last three years, policy/what-should-national- runs-ice/ice-council#election Strategy?, offers a clear summary the report sets out a range infrastructure-strategy.

SEPTEMBER 2019 | NEW CIVIL ENGINEER 69 Institution of Civil Engineers Record

ICE Learning Hub adds career help tool New Learning Hub tool enables ICE members to identify training and skills needs for their future career development

ICE members can better tailor There are also profiles of their learning and career individuals discussing their development to their next job career progress and the learning role, following the launch of a new and knowledge they have used tool on the ICE Learning Hub. as examples. The tool allows members to ICE engineering knowledge select a range of engineering, director Nathan Baker said: project management and “The new career tool will help business roles and review the members to make the most of and continuous professional in the Learning Hub’s career key competences and skills the free learning programmes development, the ICE is helping to development section. required. available to them. assure society that infrastructure The Learning Hub has also The Learning Hub will “Members can use these professionals can be trusted been updated with new content. automatically recommend resources to help them fulfil the throughout their career.” The latest learning programme learning programmes that will competency requirements in Members will find the new helps members with ethics and help members in or working their current roles or progress feature alongside the existing professionalism issues. towards selected roles, as to their next role. skills analysis tool, which allows It was developed by the ICE well as giving tips for self- “Through supporting members to self-evaluate against Ethics Committee, working development. members’ lifelong learning 29 different work-based skills, together with the University of

SAFETY MARINE TECHNOLOGY No more changes to Coastal Management ICE to host National Digital Twin Day CDM regs please, conference programme says ICE report is published

No more changes to CDM The full conference regulations are needed at programme for Coastal present, as the construction Management 2019, taking industry now needs an extended place from 24 to 26 September period of stability, according in La Rochelle, France, is now to an ICE report. CDM 2015 – 3 available. Delegates can also go years on examines the impact on a half-day technical site visit of the Construction (Design & to La Faute Sur Mer, to look at Management) Regulations 2015 the aftermath of Storm Xynthia. The Centre for Digital Built will outline next steps for the legislation in the three-year The conference is part of the ICE Britain is partnering with the National Digital Twin and will period following its introduction. water knowledge programme ICE to host National Digital showcase the latest examples The report says that the and focuses on new coastal Twin Day, a conference to of infrastructure digital twins in regulations are working, with engineering approaches that drive collaboration to develop the UK. A series of interactive the industry having accepted integrate planning and “place- digital twins, at One Great workshops will also provide recent changes. The full report shaping”. The full conference George Street in London on guidance on digital twin adoption. is at www.ice.org.uk/knowledge- programme is at www.ice. 9 September. It is part of the Go to www.ice.org.uk/events/ and-resources/information- org.uk/events/ice-coastal- ICE’s Digital Twinfrastructure ational-digital-twin-day for more sheet/cdm-2015-3-years-on management-2019. knowledge programme and information.

70 NEW CIVIL ENGINEER | JUNE 2019 SOUTH EAST VIEW SMART MOTORWAYS BOOST ENGINEERS’ SKILLS

The march of the The complex technical Highways England Smart Motorway challenges within these programme continues in the South East, with schemes encourage greater Edinburgh. recently completed collaboration between client, Other recent new schemes on the programmes cover high speed Richard M25 and M3, and consultant and contractor rail, road safety, geotechnical Salter huge construction data management, and soil programmes underway “ stabilisation materials. on the M4, M20, M23 and contractor. Most of these schemes require the l The Learning Hub is free for and M27. Each scheme grafting of new technology onto less-than-perfect ICE members to use at www. is unique but they each share a common factor: infrastructure, meaning the workforce is having to ice.org.uk/knowledge-and- their positive impact on local skills. learn to work together more effectively. resources/learning-hub. These schemes tend to be delivered by large We should not forget too the close-working and well-established construction organisations, needed with local planning authorities and other usually working as joint ventures. However, the local stakeholders to de-risk programmes and PROFESSION boots on the ground and designers in offices tend ensure that stakeholders are consulted and ICE seeks Fellows to be locally sourced – such as consultant teams, informed throughout delivery. contractors, and specialist supply chain partners. Finally, this new construction arrangement to join Professional This means civil engineers in the South East are has forced the operators and area maintenance Conduct Panel being exposed to some of the highest value and teams to adopt new ways of maintaining the most technically challenging highway schemes infrastructure safely and efficiently. Remotely- that the region has seen in years. operated traffic management technology should The ICE is appealing to for more This benefits the industry and individuals in a significantly reduce the need for maintenance Fellows to apply for places variety of ways. For example, the schemes act as operatives to put themselves in harm’s way, while on its Professional Conduct an effective career motivator for all engineers and automated vehicles might one day allow the Panel which helps maintain especially early career professionals, encouraging separation of road workers and traffic entirely. professional standards. The PCP further professional development. With a two to The technical benefits of these schemes will investigates formal allegations three year construction programme and many always be subject to debate while user safety, of professional misconduct more in feasibility and design, they offer stability cost and resilience is assessed in different ways. made against members, meeting to employers and employees too. This provides However, their role in developing skills in the South quarterly to discuss complaints time and space for individuals to engage in further East is undeniable: fostering collaboration; exposing made about ICE Members training and boost their involvement in local ICE thousands of civil engineers to nationally significant and review claims between activities, from science, technology, engineering projects; and encouraging continuing professional meetings. Successful candidates and maths volunteering in local schools to joining development. It is vital that we seize this opportunity will be chosen by November. the local ICE Branch Committee. and maintain our position as the best roadbuilders, Fellows wishing to apply should Likewise, nothing brings a team together like maintainers and operators in the world. send their CVs and a covering having a problem to solve: the complex technical l Richard Salter CEng FICE is ICE Thames Valley letter to Adanna Akintola-Davies challenges within these schemes encourage chair and the Highways England Engineering at professional.conduct@ice. greater collaboration between client, consultant Manager (Structures) for Area 3. org.uk

JUNE 2019 | NEW CIVIL ENGINEER 71 Institution of Civil Engineers Record

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EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD GOVERNANCE IS VITAL Rachel Skinner (chair), Bill Grose, Alan Clucas, Andrew Mylius, Martin Knights, Mike Napier, Miles Ashley, Rob Naybour, Tim Chapman, Tony Gates, Zakiyya Adam, Aimi Elias, John Dillon, David Caiden, Fay Bull, Stephen Wells, Simon Creer For any charity, fi nance, risk and We concluded that the Magazine of the assurance are key Institution of Civil Engineers 1 Great George Street, London SW1P 3AA not only to good ICE would benefi t from 020 7222 7722 | www.ice.org.uk governance but to the very survival of the a single committee to oversee ICE MEMBERS’ ADDRESS organisation itself. The CHANGES/ SUBSCRIPTIONS Jane ICE should aspire to be fi nancial issues, investments, QUERIES Smallman at the forefront of good www.ice.org.uk/myice to update your practice. resource and administration address quickly online. For subscription I stepped into the “ queries, please phone 020 7665 2227, or email [email protected] role of vice president, fi nance in November 2018 at the same time as the recent governance On behalf of the Trustee Board, we will be SUBSCRIPTIONS changes were put in place, including the creation taking a particular interest in major projects, For subscription queries contact; of the Trustee Board. This offered a timely such as the replacement of the membership dsb.net Ltd, 3 Queensbridge, opportunity to review whether ICE has the information system, and overseeing the Northampton NN4 7BF correct oversight mechanisms in place in the management of ICE’s investment portfolio. Telephone: 01604 828 705 areas of fi nance, assurance and risk. FARC will also be monitoring the statutory All rights reserved © 2019 New Civil At the Trustee Board meeting in February, the reporting of human resources information, and Engineer. Published by EMAP a member trustees discussed whether we had the right ensuring there are effective risk controls in place of the Metropolis Group. Metropolis management mechanisms in place to ensure in across all areas of the ICE. Group respects the privacy of every that the ICE is run as effectively as possible and Working closely with the Audit Committee, we person for whom we have personal complies with legislation and best practice. will ensure that there are no signifi cant areas of data. We comply with data protection While there were areas of good practice, we overlap in our activities and more importantly, legislation such as the Data Protection concluded that the ICE would benefi t from a no gaps. We report to the Trustee Board on key Act 1998 and the General Data single committee to oversee fi nancial issues, issues at each meeting and will also provide a Protection Regulations which regulates investments, resource and administration across formal annual report to the Board. the processing of data and ensures that your data is processed fairly and the organisation. To function effectively and provide the lawfully, is kept secure and only that data This has led to the creation of the fi nance, oversight and strategic direction required for the necessary for any processing is kept. assurance and risk committee (FARC). I ICE, the Trustee Board requires expert groups, You can see our privacy policy at www. am proud to be serving as chair of FARC, such as FARC, to competently and effectively metropolis.co.uk/privacy joined so far by four other members: one challenge and review the ICE’s key areas and Council representative, one Trustee Board report back to the Board. Printed by Precision Colour Printing Ltd, representative, and two lay members with This will allow the Trustee Board to set the Telford. Registered as a newspaper with fi nance and accountancy qualifi cations. fundamental policies that the Executive is to the Post Offi ce ISSN 0307-7683; Issue In due course, we will be seeking three follow in its action. No: 2078. Statements made or opinions additional members to ensure we have a good I hope that members will support FARC and expressed in New Civil Engineer do not necessarily refl ect the views of ICE range of skills and experience from across the that our work will help you to have continued Council or ICE committees ICE’s membership. confi dence in the oversight and governance of FARC’s remit covers budgeting and in-year the ICE, ensuring the success and longevity our fi nancial performance, fi nancial strategy, Institution. planning and policy, and assurance and risk. l Jane Smallman, ICE vice president, fi nance

72 NEW CIVIL ENGINEER | SEPTEMBER 2019

Careers CONTACT TJ THEIVENDRAN 020 3953 2217 [email protected]

Flood Risk Manager £43,662 - £54,574 – Grade 6 – Permanent, Full-time Birmingham City Council’s Drainage and Flood Risk Management Team are responsible for undertaking key functions as Lead Local Flood Authority in a challenging urban environment. The consequence of flooding to residents and businesses has a Training Courses significant impact of the lives of the affected citizens. Working JCT 2016 Design and Build Contract closely with partner agencies, we seek to mitigate and reduce the Heathrow: 10 Sep potential for flooding within the City. The role requires the post holder to be the lead professional for the Design of Retaining Walls to EC7 Cardiff: 11 Sep Authority’s Flood Risk Management and drainage function, providing strategic direction, leadership and service delivery NEC4 Engineering & Construction Contract through a dedicated team of professionals. The team functions Birmingham: 24 Sep include flood defence, forward planning strategy, catchment analysis and planning control, revenue and capital works, managing Drainage & Environmental contractors and consultants and supporting our Resilience function. Flood Risk Assessments For any Informal enquires please contact Kevin Hicks, Assistant Glasgow: 28 Aug; Birmingham: 2 Oct; Bristol: 11 Dec Director, Highways and Infrastructure on 0121 464 7939 or email [email protected] Drainage Design (Foul & Surface Water) Bristol: 24 Sep; Heathrow: 16 Oct; Birmingham: 27 Nov To apply and view the Job Description & Person specification for this role, please visit https://www.wmjobs.co.uk/ and search for SuDS – Engineering Aspects vacancy reference BCC001048 Manchester: 26 Sep

Closing date for applications: 22 September 2019. Land Drainage Law for Non Legal Professionals Birmingham: 17 Oct Right to work in the UK documentation will be fully checked for all applicants. All non UK and non EU applicants are required to apply for a Certificate of Sponsorship from Birmingham City Council Geotechnical & Piling and must be approved by the Ground Investigation 1: UK Border Agency (UKBA) before any employment offer can Ground Investigation Report be confirmed. Glasgow: 16 Oct; Cardiff: 24 Oct; Manchester: 3 Dec

Ground Investigation 2: Interpretation for Design Glasgow: 17 Oct; Cardiff: 25 Oct; Belfast: 7 Nov; Manchester: 4 Dec LAST CHANCE Sheet Piling & Cofferdams - Construction Belfast: 17 Oct TO BOOK!

Health, Safety & Welfare Site & General Safety (ICE Attribute No 6 & IStructE Core Objective 3.2 & 3.3) Glasgow: 17 Sep EXCHANGE, CELEBRATE AND INSPIRE Confined Space Awareness Cardiff: 25 Sep

400+ CDM Regs 2015 Overview for Designers Construction professionals Expert55+ judges Birmingham: 11 Sep; Manchester: 3 Oct; Heathrow: 22 Oct attending the Festival Role of the Temporary Works Coordinator/Supervisor Cardiff: 19 Sep; Heathrow: 8 Nov

16 15 CDM Regs and Compliance 2015 Awards categories – Hours of networking Bristol: 10 Oct; Glasgow: 28 Nov; Heathrow: 11 Dec including 6 live-pitched categories across the day

Attendee enquiries Sponsorship enquiries Highways & Bridges Rafael Younes Francis Barham (Endorsed by IHE for CPD) T: 020 3953 2115 T: 020 3953 2912 Highway Drainage Design E: [email protected] E: [email protected] Glasgow: 11 Sep; Heathrow: 26 Sep; Bristol: 5 Nov

Event collaborator Accelerator partner Breakfast briefing partner Traffic Signs Manual Chapter 8 Belfast: 19 Sep; Glasgow: 7 Nov

Asphalt Technology Silver partners Supported by Glasgow: 20 Sep

01446 775959/[email protected] techfest.newcivilengineer.com www.symmonsmadge.co.uk

SEPTEMBER 2019 | NEW CIVIL ENGINEER 73 Featured Jobs

Looking for your next career opportunity? Browse and apply online: newcivilengineercareers.com

Job title: Principal Asset Engineer Job title: Graduate Structural Design Engineer Job title: Senior Civil Engineer/Utilities Manager Salary: Up to £47,400 inclusive of car cash allowance Salary: Up to £25,000 + Benefi ts Salary: £55-65k plus benefi ts Location: Leeds, West Yorkshire Location: Central London Location: Central London You’ll be responsible for determining our asset Current workload is a mixture of high-profi le niche We are looking for a Civil Engineer with 10-15 investment priorities, implementing our asset projects with values up to £15million across years post qualifi cation experience, and a strong strategy, and managing signifi cant infrastructure London and the South East. Top base salary and background in utilities (particularly water and risk. Other key areas of responsibility will be benefi ts combined with the chance to work for a wastewater projects) to work within the Company’s to ensure all asset inspections are carried out well-established niche consultancy in a relaxed dress- Commercial Dept. in Central London. effectively, and that data on all our waterway assets down studio environment with hands-on training and Link: http://bit.ly/AnningtonSenior is properly maintained. The role involves leading a development. small engineering team. Link: http://bit.ly/WDGSE Link: http://bit.ly/CRTpae

Job title: Principal Civil Engineer – Design Job title: Highway Design Lead Job title: Senior Highways Design Engineer Salary: Up to £47,400 inclusive of car cash allowance Salary: Competitive Salary: £40,450 - £47,064 per annum Location: Wigan/Northwich Location: Otley, West Yorkshire Location: Isle of Man You’ll lead a small team of senior engineers and Successful applicants will be working at Senior The Senior Highway Engineer’s role will be to work engineers working on the designs and specifi cations Engineer or Principal Engineer level and looking for within the Department of Infrastructure, Highway for a wide range of repair projects. It’s an extremely a step up. Recruitment of the Highways Design Lead Services Division in the Isle of Man Government. The varied role that will see you doing everything from is of critical importance as the role holds prime post holder will be part of an experienced team that developing cost-effective construction solutions to responsibility for delivering and developing upon the works to develop and improve the highway network managing the supply chain, supporting contractors, business already in place for Roads and Highways on the island. The work will include feasibility stage, and providing expert engineering analysis and advice. projects. design and delivery of highways projects. Link: http://bit.ly/CRTprincipal Link: http://bit.ly/RODhighway Link: http://bit.ly/IOMhighway

Read by over 47,000 engineering professionals, New Civil Engineer is the perfect platform to advertise your vacancies. T: 020 3953 2507 E: [email protected] W: newcivilengineercareers.com Careers CONTACT TJ THEIVENDRAN 020 3953 2217 [email protected]

Historic waterways. RECOGNISINGRECOGNISINGRECOGNISING Innovative THE NEXT solutions. GENERATIONTHETHE OFNEXT CIVILNEXT ENGINEERS • Principal Civil Engineer • Principal Asset Engineer • Civil Engineers GENERATIONGENERATION OF OF CIVIL CIVIL ENGINEERS ENGINEERS• Asset Engineers ENTER NOW Entry queries Sponsorship Opportunities AT GRADUATES.NEWCIVILENGINEER.COM/ENTERGreta Banaityte Francis Barham At the Canal & River Trust, we believe life is better by water. 020 3953 2649BY 24 AUGUST020 3953 2912 Right now, we have opportunities across the country for [email protected] [email protected] qualified engineers to join us in transforming our canals and rivers into spaces where local people can spend time and feel better. This is an opportunity to bring innovative solutions to some Entry Entryqueries queries SponsorshipSponsorship Opportunities Opportunities truly fascinating engineering problems, while preserving Greta GretaBanaityte Banaityte FrancisFrancis Barham Barham and enhancing much-loved structures, natural habitats 020 3953 020 26493953 2649 020 3953020 29123953 2912 and historic sites. We can also offer you extensive support [email protected]@emap.com [email protected]@emap.com for your career development along with excellent benefits including a car cash allowance and generous holidays. Visit canalrivertrust.org.uk/about-us/work-for-us In partnership with: to find out more and to apply. Please search under the following reference numbers:

2019-5862 Principal Civil Engineer – Design Up to £47,400 • Wigan or Northwich

2019-5820 Principal Asset Engineer Up to £47,400 • Leeds Sponsorsed by: 2019-5701 Civil Engineers – Design Up to £33,680 • Birmingham, Gloucester, Leeds, Milton Keynes, Warwick and Wigan

2019-5872 Asset Engineers Up to £33,680 • Leeds and Gloucester

Closing dates for applications: Principal Asset Engineer/Asset Engineer – 6 Sept 2019 Principal Civil Engineer/Civil Engineers – 8 Sept 2019

Canal & River Trust is a registered charity No.114679.

SEPTEMBER 2019 | NEW CIVIL ENGINEER 75

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