Welcome to the Friday Feed, our rundown of this week’s construction news
🚉 Rail
In rail news, work to connect HS2 to the West Coast Mainline has been pushed back by a further four years, as new chief executive Mark Wild focuses funding on completing the line between Old Oak Common and Birmingham Curzon Street. The East West Railway Company has launched early market engagement for a £700m Programme Support Framework, ahead of the main construction phase of the Oxford–Cambridge link. Meanwhile, West Midlands Railway has completed a £70m upgrade to Tyseley Depot, improving maintenance capacity and reliability across the network. Transport for London is also exploring the West London Orbital rail line, which would connect Hounslow to West Hampstead via four new stations.
🚢Ports and Aviation
Peel Ports has committed an additional ÂŁ10m to expand Great Yarmouth Port, soon to be rebranded as the Port of East Anglia, to support major offshore wind projects. At Newhaven, plans are advancing for a new renewable energy and logistics hub, backed by the Newhaven Enterprise Zone. Meanwhile, Birmingham Airport has confirmed a ÂŁ300m investment programme running through to 2029, including upgrades to terminals, retail and hospitality areas.
⚡Energy
A study by University College London has found that wind generation cut UK energy costs by ÂŁ104bn between 2010 and 2023, reducing gas use and supporting energy security. Premier Foods has unveiled a ÂŁ2.1m solar farm at its Barnsley bakery, generating 2.2MW of clean power to reduce emissions and energy costs at the Mr Kipling site. The Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult and North East Combined Authority have announced a ÂŁ2.1m investment in a new offshore cable testing facility at Blyth, enhancing R&D capability in the region. ScottishPower Renewables has also installed a high-voltage converter station at the 1.4GW East Anglia Three wind farm. Meanwhile, revised plans for the 500MW Light Valley Solar project in North Yorkshire have gone out to public consultation.
đźš— Roads
AECOM has set out ten recommendations to improve infrastructure delivery in the UK, calling for the use of AI, digital tools, and smarter funding strategies to accelerate projects. In Staffordshire, a ÂŁ6m improvement scheme on the A34 corridor between Weeping Cross and the town centre has been completed, introducing resurfaced roads, stronger bridges, and safer crossings for pedestrians and cyclists.
🏠Property and development
Leeds City Council has launched a £1.5bn YORbuild Major Works 2 framework, supporting public sector construction projects across northern and eastern England over the next six years. IM Properties has started enabling works on the £140m Stratford 46 Business Park, a 65-acre mixed-use employment site near Stratford-upon-Avon offering logistics and office space. In the South East, Equinix has completed a £3.9bn acquisition of a data centre site in Hertfordshire, expected to become one of Europe’s largest digital infrastructure hubs. Tilbury Douglas has also secured three education projects worth £65.7m through the Department for Education’s framework, including redevelopments in Worcestershire, Durham and Hampshire.
đź’§Water
Welsh Water has launched consultation on its Cwm Taf Water Supply Strategy, the largest infrastructure scheme in its history, to modernise South Wales’ drinking water network and increase storage capacity. The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management has warned that the sector faces an urgent skills gap, with over 43,000 new workers needed by 2030 to meet future infrastructure demands. Finally, Anglian Water and Cambridge Water have opened a public consultation on their 28km Grafham–Cambridge interconnector pipeline, the first major AMP8 project designed to strengthen supply resilience in eastern England.
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