Welcome to the Friday Feed, our rundown of this week’s construction news
🚉 Rail
In this week’s major rail news, Transport for Wales have commenced market engagement for the redevelopment of Caerphilly Station. The £25M project has an engagement deadline of 8 December. Elsewhere, Network Rail have announced that they have completed the first low carbon track renewal in the country. This took place in south London, consisting of 1km of rail renewed between Honor Oak Park and Forest Hill.
⚡Energy
In energy news Wylfa on Anglesey has been announced as the location for the first small modular reactor (SMR) in the United Kingdom, with the potential for up to 8 in total to be built on site. This is being applauded for bringing thousands of jobs and billions in investment to the North Wales region. In Scotland, the Crown Estate has supported the European Marine Energy Centre’s Offshore Wind Research and Innovation (R&I) Programme, as a public sector backer. This will drive development into offshore wind in Scotland. Lastly, according to an energy sector expert, the public are unlikely to see any of the £6.4Bn of public funding which has been put into Sizewell C as equity.
đźš— Roads
Balfour Beatty, Kier and Wills Bros have been shortlisted as the three firms competing to win the A9 dualling works. The project will be worth up to ÂŁ205M and will take place between Pitlochry and Killiecrankie
🏠Property and development
The phase one business case has been approved for the new £1.3Bn coastal town in Edinburgh. Plans are laid out for the next ten years and anticipate the development of 847 new homes. Elsewhere, plans for a new civil engineering framework worth nearly £90M from Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) have gone to market. The contracts, designed to reinforce Scotland’s forest infrastructure, will run for four years and plan to underpin sustainable forest management and timber haulage across the country.
Yorkshire Framework: Contract winners have been announced on a £1Bn Yorkshire framework which will cover a wide range of infrastructure investments including: highways, bridges and structural works, drainage, urban realm schemes, flood‑alleviation and coastal protection for projects. The framework will be run jointly by East Riding of Yorkshire Council and Sheffield City Council. The initial plans for the project are to last for four years, with the possibility of a further two years. The 8 winners are: Aureos Infrastructure Services, Bam Nuttall, Esh Construction, Galliford Try Infrastructure, Jackson Civil Engineering, Octavius Infrastructure, Graham and John Sisk & Son.
đź’§Water
Dwr Cymru have launched market engagement for new investment worth ÂŁ556M to replace ageing water treatment infrastructure in the Cym Taf region. The contracts are being planned to be awarded in 2028 and will last for 30 years. Lastly, contractors and consultants have criticised the rate of work since the commencement of the AMP8 investment period. There is concern that the aims and objectives of the water companies and Ofwat will not be achieved within the time period if pace does not increase.
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