A consortium led by Itinera and including Spie Batignolles and Ghella has been awarded the €1bn (£855M) contract for the excavation of the Mont Cenis base tunnel in Italy.
The twin bore Mont Cenis Base Tunnel, also known as the Mont d'Ambin Base Tunnel, is the largest engineering work on the…
Author Archives: Belinda Smart
Jacobs to work with Thames Water to develop robotic ‘no dig repair’ technology for wider industry
Thames Water has engaged Jacobs to develop new technology that can fix leaks on water mains without the need to dig a hole.
It is understood the technology will take the form of a robotically driven repair instrument small enough to travel inside water pipes. As well as Jacobs, Thames Water’s…
Swiss rail operator to overhaul Jura mountains’ Hauenstein Base Tunnel
Swiss Federal Railways SBB has unveiled plans to renovate the double-track Hauenstein Base Tunnel, part of the Basel–Olten railway line, one of Switzerland’s leading rail routes for freight and passengers.
The 8km tunnel was built from 1912 to 1916 and crosses the Jura mountain range between Tecknau in the canton of…
Snowy 2.0 in ‘reset’ as cost blowout sees budget top £6bn
Australia’s Snowy 2.0 hydroelectricity scheme has undergone a ‘reset’ of its contract model and scope after updated figures revealed it will cost six times more than originally planned.
Snowy 2.0 in New South Wales is being built by Future Generation (FGJV) – a joint venture between Webuild, Australian firm Clough and…
Podcast | How smart data could improve flood management to create climate resilient infrastructure
The latest episode of The Engineers Collective is out now.
Urban populations are growing while climate change means both droughts, as well as sudden intense rainfall events, are on the rise. However, existing urban infrastructure in the UK has not caught up with the water management challenges presented by these scenarios.…
Preferred bidder named on Melbourne’s Suburban Rail Loop East tunnelling contract
A consortium including Ghella and Acciona has been named as preferred bidder for tunnelling works on Suburban Rail Loop East (SRL East), part of Melbourne’s planned Suburban Rail Loop (SRL).
Suburban Connect, a consortium made up of Ghella, Acciona Construction and Australasian construction company CPB Contractors is expected to deliver SRL…
Thames Tideway ‘super sewer’ cost holds steady at £4.5bn
Tideway, the company building London’s new super sewer Thames Tideway, has released its latest annual report, confirming the capital cost of the project remains £4.5bn, as reported in April.
Tideway confirmed the figure in its financial results for the year ending March 2023, detailing a year in which almost all underground…
Future of Rail | High speed rail networks spring up worldwide despite engineering challenges
High speed rail projects are rolling out at pace worldwide, bringing unique challenges that expand the frontiers of engineering.
People never used to think of railways as equivalent in complexity to something like a nuclear power station,” says Aecom global transit director Russell Jackson. “But given the scale, the number of…
Watch: Case Study – the case for regeneration over replacing bridge structures
This talk was first presented at the NCE Bridges Design & Management conference on 28 June. Hewson Consulting Engineers director Andrew Hodgkinson and principal engineer Michael Duvall provide a case study on refurbishing a bridge rather than replacing it. They discuss the decision making process used to determine how…
Watch: How can we utilise technology to improve the management and inspection of assets?
This talk was presented live at the NCE Bridges Design & Management conference on 28 June. The panellists were: GHD associate director Ghazi Suliman, Jacobs NTD consultant James Watson, Atkins professional head of civil engineering structures and geotechnics Chris Mundell, National Highways deputy head of structures Colin George, Transport for…