Inside: New garden village plan explored p12 Hampstead Ponds remodelling p44 New Civil Engineer FEBRUARY 2017 | IBP MAGAZINE OF THE YEAR POWER BASE BRITAIN WANTS TO LEAD THE WORLD IN RENEWABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGY new civil engineer / jan 16 1 NEW CIVIL ENGINEER EXPLORES THE BIG ISSUES FACING CIVIL ENGINEERS IN OUR NEW DIGITAL GUIDES LATEST GUIDES : GERMANY’S GREEN GOALS GUIDES.NEWCIVILENGINEER.COM/GERMANY PARIS’ URBAN PLANNING RENAISSANCE GUIDES.NEWCIVILENGINEER.COM/PARIS TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION TRENDS GUIDES.NEWCIVILENGINEER.COM/TECHNOLOGY DIGITAL DISPATCHES YOU’LL GET: DETAILED ANALYSIS INSIGHT FROM THOUGHT LEADERS IMMERSIVE VIDEO AND GRAPHICS REAL LIFE CASE STUDIES INTERROGATABLE DATA New Civil Engineer New Civil Engineer BRITAIN MUST EXPLOIT RENEWABLES ADVANTAGE MARK HANSFORD EDITOR ews this month that the world’s first solar road has Our coasts provide us with opened in France is hugely exciting and shows – once again – how far ahead of the game Britain’s Continental a reliable renewable energy N cousins are when it comes to investing in innovation. It may in itself be modest – Colas subsidiary Wattway source. We could have as much has embedded 2,880 photovoltaic tiles into 1km of road surface at Gué à Pont west of Paris – but the statement of intent is there: France wants to as 50% of Europe’s tidal energy lead the way and has made clear its plan to lay 1,000km of such roads. But will it ever be thus? Does Britain always have to follow? resources This year promises to be a hugely significant one for Britain as Brex- “ it negotiations get into full swing. Depending on your view it is either with a reliable, renewable energy source, which is just beginning to doom and despair or a beautiful new dawn. It could be either: few, if be explored. Some estimate that we could have as much as 50% of Eu- anyone actually knows – that much we do know. rope’s tidal energy resources. But what it most definitely is, is an opportunity for Britain to rein- We are pushing the boundaries with other renewables too in this vent itself as a global leader in technology, much as France (and others) country, as we have shown by building Europe’s largest solar photo- have done over the last few decades. Early last year – pre-referendum voltaic farm in a London reservoir. The wind even blows occasionally, – we mooted that one technology where Britain could present itself as offering opportunities there. a global leader was in high speed rail; capitalising on our bold plans for We are even beginning to explore the opportunities presented by High Speed 2 (and even 3) to lead the way in designing and delivering small scale nuclear power. 21st century railways. So is this the moment? That suggestion got a rather lukewarm reader response at the time (“Are OK, yes, we are forging ahead with a fairly large, fairly convention- you having a laugh?” was the typical one). So this month we’re trying again: al nuclear power station at Hinkley Point. And yes, while UK suppliers this time with energy, or more specifically, low carbon energy. will be heavily involved, it is a French design. So right now it perhaps We have unique opportunities in Britain. Our coasts provide us doesn’t feel like the moment Britain shows the world the way. But let’s say, for the sake of not re-opening a long and tedious argu- ment, that Hinkley, while not entirely showcasing the best of British, We are pushing will buy us time. It will provide the UK with a valuable baseload for 20 years or so. That’s 20 years to really kick on and invest in other renew- the boundaries with able technologies; renewable technologies the world wants, technolo- gies that Britain can sell. other renewables too, by building And global markets developing. According to climate change invest- ment tracker Climatescope, Asia, led by China and India, installed far Europe’s largest solar photovoltaic more clean energy capacity in 2015 than the other 56 countries it sur- farm in a London reservoir veyed combined – and in doing so secured £102.8bn in clean energy “ investment. Surely that’s a market worth investing in? FEBRUARY 2017 | n Ew civil EnginEER 3 Contents NEW CIVIL ENGINEER FEBRUARY 2017 MAGAZINE OF THE INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS 03 Comment, 21 This month's big issue: Analysis & News Alternative energy 0 7 Lighthouse: Back to our roots 08 The Edit: High Speed 2 boss defends Euston terminus 09 The Edit: Mersey Gateway viaduct concrete pour completed 10 News Insight: Rail restructuring 12 Analysis: Garden Villages 14 Your View: Heathrow challenges; are engineers doozers? High Speed 2 16 Elevating infrastructure: Delivering projects to grow the economy 58 Institution of Civil Engineers: Children become engineers for a day; Mair confi rmed as next President; Council members sought Britain’s unique geography and climate put it in a strong position to develop and exploit world leading expertise in renewable energy production as it seeks a new way in the world, post-Brexit 22 Overview: Britain aims to become a 36 Solar power: Floating, sun powered world leader in renewable energy energy farms are starting to appear on water reservoirs 26 Storage batteries could soon start to take up the slack when 40 Nuclear: Small modular reactors when there is no wind could be the future 30 Tidal power: Britain is in pole 42 Nuclear: Small reactors could position to exploit emerging supply remote communties with renewable energy technology no Grid access School children: At ICE bridges exhibition 4 NEW CIVIL ENGINEER FEBRUARY 2017 New Civil Engineer Get news delivered daily Weekly Wrap and analysis delivered weekly with our newsletters. Sign-up at newcivilengineer.com Story of the week: A technical investigation into bridge collapses in South East Asia 44 Technical 48 Technical CONTRIBUTORS Excellence Excellence Katherine Smale p12 Analysis [email protected] Twitter @katsmaleNCE Michaila Hancock p16 Elevating infrastructure 44 Engineers have strengthened 48 A major excavation is paving the way embankments supporting for Cardi ’s biggest ever property Hampstead’s system of ponds development 50 World 54 Engineering Fiona McIntyre View Equality p22 Alternative energy fi [email protected] Twitter @fi onamcnce Robert Henson p34 Maygen [email protected] Twitter @rob_henson 50 Contractors push through mixed 54 The anticipated boom in highway ground to deliver a tunnel for Spain’s maintenance is triggering a big Margo Cole growing high speed rail network diversity push p44 Hampstead Ponds FEBRUARY 2017 NEW CIVIL ENGINEER 5 22 June 2017 Hilton Park Lane, London DEFINING GREAT CIVIL ENGINEERING What are the most outstanding civil engineering practices? Who are delivering for their clients? Where is the best place to forge a civil engineering career? THE NCE100 AWARDS WILL REVEAL ALL Find out more at: 100awards.newcivilengineer.com/2017 SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES ENTRY & TABLE INFORMATION Emma Rowland 020 7391 4546 Jonathan Pike 020 3033 4316 [email protected] [email protected] #NCE100 @ncedigital NCE_AWD24_100_ AD 265X210.indd 1 07/10/2016 08:39 Lighthouse ICE VIEWPOINT Getting back to our coffee shop roots he ICE’s foundation delivery of projects. In a time of story still retains its Securing those gains is important. power. Two hundred The poor productivity growth rapid change T years ago a group of of our sector cannot continue engineers gathered without doing real damage to the and big challenges we in the Kendal Coffee House in Fleet sustainability of the industry. Street to share their problems… As Tim laid out in his Presidential need the support and today it is an idea that still makes a Address, however, there is a bigger lot of sense to a lot of people. By ArT WE prize. collective brain power In the UK, 2016 was a good mAsTEr The ability to manage “ of our peers more year for infrastructure. The mega- WhAT WOuld infrastructure in real time and projects – those now famous mAsTEr us guarantee a level of performance – than ever 3H’s of Hinkley, High Speed 2 and unlocking benefits for users, driving Heathrow are moving. But we also up the productivity of the whole have recognition from government economy and generating the wealth themselves into a Digital and clients that important as these to support our growing population. Engineering Community to projects are, they are only part of So what has that got to do with encourage more people to get the story. the coffee shop? involved. The rhetoric coming from Well, in a time of rapid change and Similar developments are taking the government is about high big challenges we need the support place across the Institution. The performing assets and networks. and collective brain power of our world is a more complex place Across the industry, digital is a hot peers more than ever. than in 1818. We have more and button topic. ICE President Tim Of course, the size of the different opportunities – be that Broyd is one of a number of leading profession has grown a bit since driving a continuous improvement players urging us to think of tech as 1818. We can’t get everyone who in our safety performance – or more than a means of improving the needs to be involved in a single making our towns and cities more branch of Starbucks anymore. accommodating for cyclists. But that just means the Institution That just means we need to is working harder to ensure that you create more coffee shops and more ICE President can access knowledge and events communities. And we need you to Tim Broyd is at times and locations that work for get involved.