Latest infrastructure news

First tunnelling breakthrough for London’s Tideway super-sewer

Charlotte the tunnel boring machine is celebrating completion of the first half of the 1.1km Frogmore Connection Tunnel from Wandsworth to Fulham and achieving the first tunnel breakthrough on London’s new 25km super sewer project. The tunnel boring machine, named after suffragist Charlotte Despard, has been working beneath part of the Thames since March as part of the £3.8bn, 25km Thames Tideway Tunnel project since being launched by contracting joint venture partners Balfour Beatty, Morgan Sindall and BAM Nuttall. Charlotte, which, at 3m diameter, is the smallest of four machines on the project, will now be lifted from the shaft and returned to Dormay Street to continue tunnelling 600 metres north, in Fulham, to complete the connection tunnel 30m beneath the surface. 

The whole Tideway project is expected to be completed in 2024, and will prevent tens of millions of tonnes of raw sewage pouring from sewers into the river every year, making for a cleaner, healthier river Thames. Progress of all four tunnel boring machines can be tracked online at www.tideway.london/tbm-tracker 

Manchester approves new £79m High Street regeneration 

Manchester City Council has given the go-ahead for a £79m regeneration scheme which developer CEG says will transform the gateway site between the High Street and Northern Quarter regions of the city centre. The development at 20-36 High Street will replace a predominantly vacant 1970s block with what is described as a “distinctly Mancunian building” designed by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios. The new building will feature light ivory-white glazed ceramic tiles to boost the amount of light in the street scape. Ground and mezzanine level cafés, restaurants and shops will provide around 65 jobs for local communities, with the development adding 360 homes above and new public green space to connect the High Street and the adjacent Northern Quarter. 

“This is an extremely challenging regeneration project on a constrained brownfield site,” said David Hodgson, Head of Strategic Development at CEG. “We look forward to continuing to work with the City Council to bring forward an exciting new development at High Street.”

Heathrow plans high-tech off-site component tracking

A cutting-edge tracking system has been revealed by Heathrow Airport as the key to tracking and monitoring the manufacturing and delivery of millions of component parts required to build a third runway as part of its £14bn expansion plan.

The new technology, it says, will serve as a nerve centre, enabling the planned network of nationwide offsite construction centres to work effectively together throughout, and keep the project on track. Siemens Digital Logistics pitched the technology as part of the Heathrow Innovation Partners process, which encourages partners across the supply chain to step forward with ideas to help deliver an expanded Heathrow airport efficiently, affordably and sustainably.

Heathrow expansion will pioneer the large-scale use of offsite construction to spread the economic impact of the project more widely across the UK. Since 2017, the airport has been looking for communities keen to become Logistics Hubs, construction centres that pre-assemble parts of the expanded airport offsite. The final four sites are set to be announced in 2020. 
 

Network Rail to boost innovation with Dragons’ Den

Network Rail is looking to boost its engagement and support for innovation by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by using a Dragons’ Den-style pitch approach, according to its latest SME Action Plan. The plans are currently described as “under discussion,” but would see Network Rail invite suppliers to pitch innovative ideas to a Network Rail panel. The Action Plan is designed to increase the number of SMEs engaged with the network operator’s £48bn ‘Control Period 6’ spending plans for 2019-24. Seed funding of between £10k and £30k would be granted to help develop and pilot the best ideas and those with the most positive business cases. The plan also includes forming a small team to focus on promoting innovation, who would be available to work with suppliers “to help them navigate the wider Network Rail business to find the right points of contact.”

Go-ahead for Birmingham’s tallest residential tower

Birmingham City Council has approved planning permission for a new £160m, 51-storey tower to be constructed next to the proposed High Speed 2 Curson Street Station site. The One Eastside scheme will include a total of 667 one and two-bedroom apartments in the main 160m tall tower, and another 15-storey building to be built alongside by developer Court Collaboration. The city centre site is adjacent to Birmingham City University, close to the Brindleyplace development and just five minutes from the Bullring shopping centre and Grand Central Station. The West Midlands development will include a gym, yoga room and cinema, plus rooftop dining and Sky Lounge bar area.

East London’s Silvertown Tunnel cleared for construction

Construction of the controversial, privately-financed Silvertown Tunnel under the Thames, linking the Greenwich Peninsula and Silvertown in East London, will start in 2020, after a six month delay to signing the £1bn contract. Transport for London (TfL) announced in May that it had awarded the contract to the Riverlinx consortium, comprising Aberdeen Standard Investments, BAM PPP PGGM, Cintra, Macquarie Capital and SK E&C. However, the contract was suspended following a legal challenge by a rival bidder. Following a successful court application to lift the suspension, TfL has now signed and closed the deal for Riverlinx to design, build, finance and maintain the proposed tunnel, which is expected to open in 2025.

Objectors to the scheme have argued that the new twin-bore road tunnel will generate traffic in the area rather than relieve congestion, and severely affect air pollution. However, TfL maintains that it is committed to ensuring that investment in public transport and air quality monitoring will overcome these concerns. “The tunnel will provide new cross-river bus routes in east London and during its construction we will work tirelessly to ensure that any disruption to local residents or businesses is kept to an absolute minimum,” said Stuart Harvey, TfL’s director of major projects.

TfL boss Mike Brown to lead Parliament revamp

Transport for London (TfL) commissioner Mike Brown will step down in May 2020 to take up a new role as chair of the Delivery Authority for the £4bn restoration and renewal programme of the Houses of Parliament. Brown has led TfL’s delivery of London’s transport strategy since July 2015. This is the culmination of a career in London transport, which started when he first joined London Underground in 1989.

After becoming chief operating officer in 2003, he briefly left TfL in 2008 to run a major transformation programme at Heathrow Airport, but returned as London Underground managing director in 2010 to oversee one of the largest upgrade programmes in the Underground’s 200-year history. 

In his new role, he will oversee work to revamp Parliament, commissioning and executing the programme for the shadow sponsor body, as it sets the programme’s scope, budget and timescale. “I look forward to this new change of direction, and to bringing the experience I have gained throughout my career to the job of restoring and renewing the iconic architectural jewel that lies at the heart of London and at the heart of our country’s democracy,” he said.