The Government has granted planning approval for three new gas-fired power stations. Consent has been given to Powerfuel Power to build an integrated coal gasification gas-fired power station at Hatfield, to RWE npower to build a combined cycle gas turbine power station at Pembroke, and to Centrica Leasing to construct a combined cycle gas turbine [...]
Crossrail Recruitment Drive Starts at the Top
So, one of the worst kept secrets at Crossrail is official: Rob Holden CBE will take over from Doug Oakervee OBE as Chairman in April. Here’s the press release. Difficult to think of a better guy for the job with his proven track record of delivering to time and to budget on High Speed 1. [...]
NDA nominates 4 sites for new nuclear power “by 2025″
Personally, I am delighted to hear the NDA has nominated four sites for new nuclear power stations in the UK. Nobody wants a nuclear power station in their back yard, but we need them. Fossil fuels are burning up fast, and as the Energy debate at Civils clearly showed, we need to get on and [...]
Obama Opens Era of Hope
Barack H. Obama has been sworn in as the new US President. In these undoubtedly hard times, America and much of the world looks to him as a beacon of hope. Today the celebrations cease and the hard work begins.
And there is plenty of work to do, whether it’s in the US, here in the [...]
Crossrail Kicks off 2009
Among the reasons 12% more visitors came to Civils 2008 than the year before were the great mix of exhibitors, the conference, seminars and the overall networking opportunities. That said, there is no denying that major projects exhibitors drew the crowds, with Crossrail being one of the biggest and most popular.
Hailed by Gordon Brown as [...]
New Year New Hopes for Civil Engineering
So it’s January 2009 now and we’ve all been back at work for at least a week. I hope you were able to have a relaxing time over Christmas and New Year, because it sure looks like it’s going to be a really tough year in 2009. If people were being gloomy about the economy [...]
We need Energy Diversity
Sparks flew at yesterday’s Civils Debate on Short Haul Flights vs High Speed Rail and I thought the energy debate had the potential to be every bit as contentious. Disarmingly though the panel of Piers Clark from Mouchel, Philip Wolfe of the Renewable Energy Association, Tom Delay of the Carbon Trust and Keith Parker of [...]
Forget Credit Crunch - this is Planet Crunch
Tony Juniper, former director of Friends of the Earth, tells it like it is. Forget credit crunch, climate change is a reality and it is going to be catastrophic if you didn’t already know. He showed us lots of models and charts relating to carbon emissions and global warming predictions. Everything is going in the wrong [...]
Looking for a Job? Try Tunnelling Engineer!
Not so long ago it was an urban myth that plumbing was virtually the best paid job in Britain, due to a skills shortage. In the coming years it might just turn out that Tunnelling Engineer becomes the most in-demand profession. Steve Walker, Thames Water’s Director of Major Projects, who spoke at this morning’s Breakfast [...]
E-On’s Lightfoot calls for Balance in Power Generation
Jim Lightfoot, MD of generation at E-On UK kicked of today’s business breakfast by setting out his company’s plans and ambitions in UK power generation. For him, we need a balance of coal, gas, nuclear and renewables if we are to meet the UK’s power generation needs in the coming years. Each has its place [...]