News

Institute of Quarrying (IQ) CEO Phil James is leaving for a new role after four years in charge of the UK-based organisation. He had joined the IQ in late 2012 as joint CEO with MPQC and drew on his rare combination of quarry management experience and professional body expertise in executing his senior role. James will become the new CEO of the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) in September 2016. In his new post he plans to continue his link with the minerals industry and to combine the challenge

Contractor Balfour Beatty is to construct new truck parking facilities alongside the M20 motorway in Kent in the UK. The package of works was awarded by Highways England and the £130 million deal covers the development of the proposals during the Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) phase of the project. This deal also includes the construction of the lorry area subject to a decision to proceed from the UK Government. The £250 million truck parking area was initially announced by the UK’s Chancellor of the Ex

Researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Canada believe they may have discovered a cure for ‘concrete cancer’, which afflicts many concrete structures. The Canadian claims for a concrete cancer cure revolve around a novel method for producing concrete using discarded glass. Researchers at UBC’s Okanagan campus were able to reduce the chemical reaction that previously caused glass-fed concrete to weaken, expand and crack. This reaction is widely referred to as concrete cancer. “Every

Paraguay is setting out plans for a series of major road development works, with this programme being planned by the country’s Ministry of Works. The Paraguayan Government says it will spend some US$1 billion on road projects in the area around Chaco, with those of highest priority being built within the next two years. The most important of the projects is the bi-oceanic corridor, which is expected to cost some $700 million to construct. The work on the bi-oceanic corridor is receiving financial support fr

In the UK, foundation work for Sunderland city’s new bridge is about to start as the huge cofferdam in the middle of the River Wear nears completion. Water has been drained out of the cofferdam, a large steel watertight structure within the river, to allow the building of pylons for the bridge deck. It is the first bridge to be built over the Wear in Sunderland for more than 40 years and is part of the wider strategic transport plan to link the Port of Sunderland and city centre with the A19 road.

The latest report by Brandon Schoettle and Michael Sivak, Sustainable Worldwide Transportation at the University of Michigan, builds on their recent series of eight reports addressing public opinion, human factors, and safety-related issues concerning self-driving vehicles. An identical survey to that used in 2015 was administered. The survey was developed to examine motorists’ preferences among levels of vehicle automation, including preferences for interacting with and overall concern about riding in s

The European Commission’s latest figures for road safety reveal some cause for concern across the EU. While the EU has the world’s safest roads overall, the road fatality rate has slipped during 2015. And this is for the second consecutive year also as EU road deaths in 2014 also showed an increase over 2013. By comparison, there were decreases in the European road death rate of 8% in 2012 and 2013.

An in-depth analysis of crash statistics from Italy shows that road safety is improving in the country, albeit slowly. The Italian National Statistiscs Institute has published the yearly report (2014) covering road crashes. The data reveals that in 2014 there were 1777,031 crashes involving injuries. This represents a drop of 2.5% compared with the figures for 2013. In all 3,381 people were killed in road crashes in Italy during 2014, a drop of 0.6% compared with 2013. The number of serious injuries from ro

Caterpillar Work Tools, a manufacturer of excavator and wheel loader attachments, has opened a distribution centre in Den Bosch, Netherlands. The distribution centre will provide shorter shipping times as well as increased product availability to Work Tools customers and Cat dealers in EAME - Europe, Africa, Middle East - as well as CIS countries, the former Soviet Union states. The 9,000m2 centre houses hydraulic items such as grapples, hammers, pulverisers and shears as well as fabricated tools, including

The French government has replaced its public private partnership advisory agency ahead of incoming laws to make P3 contracts easier to process and manage. The Mission d'appui aux Partenariats Public-Privé (MAPPP) is replaced by Fin Infra, the Mission d’appui au financement des infrastructures. Fin Infra has extended powers and more personnel over MAPPP. Unlike its predecessor, it will be able to provide advice on concession contracts and other forms of public-private contracting, rather than just pub

Europe’s construction equipment manufacturing association, CECE, plans to hold its annual congress in Czech capital Prague. CECE is working jointly with SVSS, the Czech construction equipment industry association, to organise the 2016 edition of the CECE Congress. Called, An Industry in Transformation; Drivers of Success, the congress will be held in Prague from the 5th to 7th October 2016. Key benefits for attendees will be understanding how colliding trends could affect business, preparing for times of