🚉 Rail
A new report from the National Audit Office has said that the Government must be confident that updated HS2 plans can be delivered, before committing to them. The UK’s independent public spending watchdog has said that the Department for Transport (DfT) has made progress but must get the reset of HS2 “right this time following past failures”. In Shipley, the TransPennine Route Upgrade East Alliance has secured a £160m train depot contract. Lastly, Arcadis has delivered a net zero carbon station at Cambridge South. The new rail hub, which opened to the public on 28 June, serves the Cambridge Biomedical Campus and the city’s rapidly growing southern communities.
🛫 Ports & Aviation
The construction of a new road has been completed at Heysham Port, constructed by Holcim UK, Fibre Concrete Solutions and Kiernan Construction, the road is designed to handle hundreds of daily HGV moves. Large ships calling at UK ports will now need to be in a new emissions trading scheme. All ships over 5,000gt calling at a UK port will need to comply, regardless of flag or ownership. In the Southwest, Gloucestershire Airport is being relisted for sale by Savills after a £25m deal fell through. Gloucester City Council and Cheltenham Borough Council, the joint owners of the airport, say they have received several approaches from interested parties.
⚡Energy
In the energy sphere, Ofgem has given its support to sixteen electricity storage schemes. The long duration electricity storage (LDES) projects help balance supply and demand in the electricity network. In Scotland, Balfour Beatty has been awarded a £325m contract to build the Netherton Hub by SSEN. Delivered through SSEN’s Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment Offshore Framework, Balfour Beatty has already been awarded the enabling works at the site. BAM has won the first civils package on the EGL3 link for the northern converter station. The contractor has signed a deal with SSEN Transmission for design and buildability support at the Peterhead site in Aberdeenshire.
🚗 Roads
In the roads sector, the Shetland Islands Council is backing a £1.5bn plan to replace ferries with tunnels. The tunnels connecting some of the islands could be in place within eight years, with a feasibility study for Shetland Islands Council calling the idea “economically transformative”. Elsewhere, a new contractor is being sought for a A46 bypass after a £297m Skanska contract was cancelled. The contractor said the client had cancelled the deal for the scheme, which covered the upgrade of a 6.6km section. On the Scottish island of Skye, new active travel routes have opened. The Moll Road and Old Sleat Road projects were both pushed for by local communities and funded by Transport Scotland.
🏠Property and development
In the construction industry, Balfour Beatty has appointed Angus Murray to lead its UK major projects. He will oversee delivery of schemes including Hinkley Point C and Net Zero Teesside. In other news, Lendlease and The Crown Estate have finalised a £24bn development joint venture. The first project for the venture will be the enormous Silvertown regeneration scheme near London Royal Docks. Lastly, contractors have been appointed to a £1.5bn Leeds City Council major works framework. The firms on the framework include Galliford Try, John Graham, Kier, McLaren, Morgan Sindall, Vinci, Wates, and Willmott Dixon.
💧Water
Scottish Water has been told it will be allowed to increase annual bills by 2% by the Water Industry Commission for Scotland for the 2027-2033 period. Elsewhere, AtkinsRéalis has appointed a new Global Market Lead for water. Ian Dyck’s new role will involve leading strategic planning, design, and engineering teams. It also includes overseeing the Thames Tideway Tunnel sewer project in the UK. Finally, Kier has won early contractor involvement roles worth £500m from Southern Water. The contract covers the Hastings Resilience programme and the Brighton East nitrate removal scheme, as part of Southern Water’s £3.1bn Strategic Delivery Partner framework.