News

A new report examines how aggressive government belt-tightening and financial market deleveraging restrained worldwide infrastructure investments for 2012 and probably for the next five years. In the US, for instance, Infrastructure2012: Spotlight on Leadership, released by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and Ernst & Young, says that constrained public budgets and a growing recognition at the local level of the importance of infrastructure, combined with lack of action at the federal level, are causing state

The new hydrogen plant of speciality oil company Nynas has been inaugurated in Nynäshamn, Sweden, by County Governor Per Unckel. The SEK 800 million (E85.4 million) investment safeguards the refinery's supply of hydrogen and lays the foundations for future expansion. Next year Nynas will be switching its raw material for the production of hydrogen to natural gas, reducing the company's carbon dioxide emissions by 20,000tonnes/year.

German company HUESKER, which specialises in geosynthetics for the construction industry and textiles for industrial and agricultural applications, is celebrating its 150th birthday this year. The business concept of the classical cotton weaving mill was originally founded by H & J Huesker & Co in December 1861. In 2010, the International Geosynthetics Society committee presented HUESKER with the IGS Award for the development of high-strength geosynthetic reinforcements from innovative raw materials.

Joanna Oliver, the Construction Equipment Association’s (CEA) Director of Global Programmes, has been awarded an MBE [Most Excellent Order of the British Empire] in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list. She is one of a select few recipients recognised for their services to industry, and is rewarded for over 16 years of promoting UK exports.

Construction work is due to start soon in south Germany on the upgrades to 41km of the A8 autobahn at a cost in the order of e305 million. Work will include widening the road to six lanes between Augsburg-West and Neu-Ulm. The project is being carried out under the public private partnership (PPP) model, and is due for completion in September, 2015.

The UK government has confirmed the funding to build a replacement for Northside Road Bridge in Workington, which was destroyed in the floods of November, 2009. Local Transport Minister Norman Baker said that the Department for Transport will provide £11.17 million (e13.25 million) towards the new permanent crossing of the River Derwent in County Cumbria. The council’s Cabinet last month approved Birse Civils, part of the Balfour Beatty Group, as the preferred contractor to build the new bridge.

A silver spade ceremony was held in June to mark the official start of construction at the new Wacker Neuson plant in Hörsching, Upper Austria. Light and compact equipment manufacturer Wacker Neuson is investing around e65 million (including purchasing and developing the site) in what will be “one of the largest, most modern plants for compact equipment in the world.” The first compact equipment should be rolling off the production line as early as the beginning of May 2012.

Astucia SolarLite road studs have been recognised as one of the top three safety projects in Poland. The company’s Polish partner, Lunaro, was alerted to the need for more efficient road safety measures, and assisted in the planning and deployment of studs on Road No 3 near Przybiernow, Western Pomerania.

Authorities in Malta are continuing to examine options with regard to a road link connecting to the neighbouring island of Gozo. A competition was put forward to design a new bridge link between Malta and Gozo by ITS Malta. However the authorities are now evaluating the feasibility of building a tunnel.

The regional authorities in the Spanish Andalucia region are looking to the PPP model to develop infrastructure projects. A total finance deal worth some €768 million should be raised using the PPP structure so as to pay for five projects, which includes three road contracts. However the region originally had plans for €2.6 billion worth of infrastructure projects. The PPP model is being seen as the best way to progress with much needed infrastructure work in Spain given the severe financial problems the co

Drilling work on the Blanka road tunnel in Czech capital Prague has now been completed. The new tunnel will become part of the Prague ring road once it is open to traffic. Construction commenced in 2007 but the project has faced a series of problems, including three collapses. The original cost was estimated at nearly €870 million for the construction works, €172 million for technology and €65 million for survey work. However, due to the problems the link has suffered the project is expected to cost close t