News

World heritage body UNESCO has given its approval to plans for a e40 million road bridge near Germany’s world-famous Lorelei Rock. The bridge, crossing the River Rhine at St Goarshausen, will be the first on an 85km stretch between Koblenz and Mainz in the Mittelrheintal Valley, for which there is a preservation order. It has been estimated that a tunnel under the river (as an alternative) would cost up to €70 million.

Wacker Neuson Group (WN) achieved its higher ever revenue quarter in the first three months of 2012. The €274million revenue recorded in Q1 2012 was a 29.3% rise on the €211.8million posted over the same period of 2011. “The compact equipment segment and the Americas region were our two strongest growth drivers, reporting revenue gains of 51% and 34% respectively relative to the previous year’s quarter,” said Cem Peksaglam, chief executive of WN. “Our expansion strategies are gaining traction. Despite gene

Norphonic emergency roadside telephones (ERT) have been selected for the Hardanger Bridge, one of the world’s longest suspension bridges, crossing the picturesque Hardangerfjord in southwestern Norway. The Hardanger Bridge will be among of the longest suspension bridges in the world, even longer than the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, with a total suspension-span of 1310 meters and will significantly improve the connection between Norway’s two largest cities (Oslo and Bergen). Norphonic was awarded

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 tender process to construct a €1.3 billion highway project in the Bosnian autonomous entity of Republika Srpska is underway and will be open until 2 September, 2011. Bosnia's Ministry of Transport has held talks with a total of five companies so far. The highway will run from Glamocani through Banja Luka and to the town of Mrkonjic.

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.

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.