EU INRA 10

www.euinfrastructure.com • Q3 2010

SHIFTING SANDS Desertification in Spain is a growing problem, and time is running out to find a solution

IN FOCUS: Air safety with IATA Rebuilding the Balkans How the war-torn Western Balkans have been rebuilt Waste management EU Commissioner Janez Potocnik talks waste management strategies Green capital 2011 Why Hamburg has been given the green light

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FROM THE EDITOR 5

Make habits, break habits We can dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of our responsibilities.

H

umans are creatures of habit. There’s a certain comfort we glean from routine – we wake, shower, dress and go to work five days a week, with two days off in between in order to relax and recharge before yet more routine.

Written down, it sounds faintly hellish; the type of thing you would spend every waking hour striving desperately to avoid, but in reality this structure is something we all crave.

And once we have made our habits, our habits come to make us. Breaking free from our pre-programmed cycle of comfort can prove difficult – just look at a smoker’s pleading, darting eyes, restless fingers and sudden proclivity for salted snacks as they try to quit a habit that has become second nature to them for proof. Our bad habits are happy to persist until an overriding factor – expense, health, a greater sense of responsibility – wins out.

And so it is with the environment. Slowly but surely Europeans are overriding their bad habits and being educated on a newer, more sustainable way of living. Better care over water resources and waste management are issues that are being adopted at ground level, with every nation in the EU being urged and incentivised to do its bit for the environment.

Spaniards of all ages know to turn the tap off while they brush their teeth, for they are acutely aware of the importance of preserving their water resources.

Every German can sift swiftly through their rubbish, separating plastic from glass, cardboard from tin and depositing each into their own specially marked receptacle with the minimum of fuss. The Brits are expertly drilled in switching off superfluous lights and power outlets, while all Scandinavians are shot-through with the urge to cycle whenever and wherever they can.

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Europeans have much to be proud of in this respect.

They are global leaders in breaking bad habits and making new, greener ones. The European Commission has instigated a great many initiatives that makes it even easier, with every passing day, to live a sustainable life, for which they should be applauded.

Yet there is still much work to be done before the continent can truly consider itself fully sustainable.

Newer EU countries must be fast-tracked along this path, urged to break their own bad habits and adopt the greener strategies of their neighbours. Our travel and tourism industry must take greater responsibility for not just its carbon footprint but also its impact upon various destinations throughout the continent, as our report on Spain’s desertification shows. As consumers too, we need to address how, and how often, we import and export food and goods over land and sea, seeking ways to reduce the impact our desire for year-round choice in the fruit and veg aisle is having on the environment.

Awareness of the need to change is high, attitudes are some way down the right path and government assistance has so far been commendable. But we still need better inter- and intra-national cooperation, a greater collective sense of responsibility and more incentives to break the habits of a lifetime.

“The Spanish are some of the most efficient water users in Europe already.

Consumptions per capita are among the lowest in the EU. Awareness is already excellent” Asagua, Director General, Adrian Baltanas (page 32)

“If you visit Sarajevo or Belgrade today, you will be surprised by the lack of reminders of the war in the 1990s. All of the buildings have been renovated. Bridges have been repaired.

Tourism is back” Professor of Politics and International Relations, University of Peloponnese, Greece, Asteris Huliaris (page 46)

Ian Clover Editor

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CONTENTS 7

32

Just deserts Spain’s desertification is a problem with very real human cause and effect, so what can be done to halt it?

Trash talk Janez Potocnik, EU Environment Commissioner, offers an insight into the EU’s waste management and biodiversity policies, revealing how far we’ve come, and how long there is left to go on the road toward sustainable living

Building bridges Rebuilding the Western Balkans region is an ongoing project that has received the aid and assistance of a number of banks, investors and institutions in recent years; yet there is still much to be done

40

46 Plane safe IATA’s SVP of Safety, Operations and Infrastructure, Gunther Matschnigg, talks about the challenges the aviation authority has faced over the past 12 months and his plans for the future

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CONTENTS 9

56 Euro vision Raimund Desalla of STRABAG on how Europe’s improving infrastructure is bringing the continent together

58 Polished up?

The road and rail infrastructure of Poland is receiving an intense overhaul and investment, but will standards be raised sufficiently in time for 2012’s Euro Championship?

58 Executive Interview 54 Dr Ing Stefano Mainero, EPN Consulting 82 Thirza Rojer, Multifunctional Solutions 92 Stefaan Volkaert, Stevo Electric 104 Ricardo Moro, Global Energy Services

62 Extra terrestrial TETRA Association Chairman Phil Godfrey discusses in depth the planned improvements and expansion of the TETRA mobile radio network

70 Sensor webs for defence The Executive Director for Marketing and Communications at Open Geospatial Consortium Steven Ramage reveals the defence possibilities made real by real-time sensor webs

84 Up and away A number of components, companies and systems must work together to get you from terminal desk to cabin safely; so what exactly goes on behind hangar doors?

100

86 Playing it safe Rinus Brinks, President of the European Safety Federation (ESF), the European organisation of manufacturers and suppliers of Personal Protective Equipment, talks to EU Infrastructure

90 Well trained Hans-Georg Zimmerman, Spokesperson for Track Infrastructure at Deutsche Bahn, talks to EU Infrastructure about the rail company’s strategy for track expansion and sustainability

94 A breath of fresh air The winds of change are blowing through Europe’s renewable energy sector

98 Mix it up RW Energy’s Kevin McCullough explains the industry’s need for a mixed energy portfolio

100 Low carb diet Npower’s Head of Business Energy Services, Dave Lewis, talks us through the UK’s new Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficient Scheme (CRC) and explains how companies can benefit

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CONTENTS 11

Ask the Expert

Details

138

60 Zoltan Pap, Intertoll 68 Manuel Torres, Motorola EMS

Industry Insight 126 Antti Korhonen, Ekahau

Next big thing 72 Ian Spence, Spacemetric 74 Phil Douglas, 2e Systems

106 Tomorrow’s world: a master plan

136 138 141 142

EU Infrastructure talks to Matt Kitson about his revolutionary vision for designing the communities of the future

112 Hamburg – European Green Capital for 2011 Hamburg will be 2011’s European Green Capital; EGCA Project Manager Thea Pieridou tells us why the city was chosen

City focus: Smart cities Project focus: The Netherlands Book reviews 36 hours in: Budapest

128

118 Project management Gregory Balestrero offers his thoughts on how the project management industry is changing – and what it could look like in the future

120 The road to a smarter planet IBM CEO Sam Palmisano outlines his vision for more intelligent transport solutions

128 Urban legends With more than half the world’s population now living in urban areas, EU Infrastructure investigates the unstoppable rise of the megacity

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NG Oil & Gas Summit 2010 3 - 5 November 2010 The Four Seasons Resort & Club, Austin, Texas The NG O&G Summit is a three-day critical information gathering of the most influential and important executives from the oil and gas industry.

The NG O&G Summit is an opportunity to debate, benchmark and learn from other industry leaders.

A Controlled, Professional and Focused Environment A Proven Format This inspired and professional format has been used by over 100 executives as a rewarding platform for discussion and learning.

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30/07/2010 14:32

14

THE BRIEF

Summer roundup

T

he traditional summer lull in newsworthy events that ordinarily descends on Europe as the continent enjoys its holidays has been conspicuously absent this year. With ash clouds and economic woes, oil spills and World Cup thrills, it has been a busy few months, with Europe at the forefront.

It has been a summer to forget for BP. The British oil giant has finally managed to plug its ruptured oil well pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico, but not before spending close to €5 billion on numerous failed attempts. In the wake of this disaster, the company has begun touting some of its assets to interested buyers in an attempt to raise capital following the hit to profits they have suffered since the crisis first began to escalate – BP’s assets in Vietnam and Pakistan (worth €2 billion) – are set to be offloaded as soon as a suitable buyer can be found.

If the BP debacle has taught us anything, it is that the need for renewable energy is stronger than ever before. Investments in European renewable energy are proving to be a viable option for pension funds and insurance companies, according to BNP Paribas

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A ‘Property Investment in Europe’ study found that 64% of construction companies in Europe have embedded sustainability criteria into their real estate investment strategy.

Clean Energy Partners’ CEO Joost Bergsma. Mr. Bergsma spoke at July’s Investing in Renewable Energy Infrastructure conference in London, and commented that the EU’s goal to generate 20 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020 “provides a backdrop for strong demand and lower subsidies in feed-in tariffs for sustainable energy projects.”

After the furore that followed the Icelandic ash cloud, civil aviation authorities have urged Europe and the USA to work together with more harmony by adopting new satellite-based air traffic control systems.

Representatives of the AeroSpace and Defence Industries Association in Europe met with their North American counterparts at the Farnborough Airshow where, says AIA chairwoman Marion Blakely, “they told government authorities to work in close collaboration with all sectors of the industry to get it right when it comes to the harmonisation of the system.” A global standard for operations designed to deal with volcanic ash issues was also discussed, although a satisfactory outcome on this issue is yet to be resolved.

The European Commission has been extremely active over the past few months and will be investing

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THE BRIEF 15

6.4 billion on research and innovation within science, public policy and commerce in 2011, including a €1.2 billion financial boost for the Information and Communication Technology sector Europe-wide. Such an investment will assist Europe’s next generation network and service infrastructures, electronic and photonic components, robotic systems and digital content technologies. Funding will also be directed into what the EC calls ‘The Future Internet’ – a European broadband infrastructure.

As the construction industry’s slump continues into the third quarter of the year, some positive news was posted by Volvo, who delivered forecastbeating earnings in the second quarter thanks to an uptake in the demand for their pick-up trucks.

Volvo is the world’s second largest manufacturer of trucks, and is a favourite throughout the construction industry. Volvo Chief Executive Lief Johansson told the Financial Times that a reduction in costs in the construction sector across Europe had helped drive demand: “During the second quarter, the Volvo group’s sales continued to increase as a result of the gradual recovery in demand in most of the group’s markets.”

In the commercial real estate sector, a 15 percent increase in transactions for the second quarter of the year was reported by CB Richard Ellis, with the market for Europe reaching a turnover of 23.5 billion between April and July, compared to €20.3 billion in the first three months of the year. Investment activity in the UK, Germany and France accounted for 62 percent of the total turnover.

Spain’s four million unemployed were afforded a few days’ respite from their worries in mid-July following their football teams’ inaugural triumph at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Economists have predicted that the country’s victory will help to spread a feel-good factor that will prop up Spain’s ailing economy through increased consumer and tourist spend over the summer months.

In Greece, the Prime Minister George Papandreou finally faced up to the severity of the country’s economic situation by vowing to follow Ireland’s example by raising taxes and cutting pay for state workers. “Ireland’s wage cuts are a blueprint for Greece and other European countries that lost competitiveness,” Frankfurt Trust advisor Ralf Ahrens told Bloomberg.

And finally, British scientists have discovered a new star that they claim is 265 times heavier than the sun, seven times hotter and shines nearly 10 million times brighter. The R136a1 cluster was discovered by the European Southern Observatory and is estimated to be 165,000 light years away in a star cluster of the Tarantula Nebula, which is currently shooting its way through a neighbouring galaxy. Which begs the question – if the star is so bright and massive, how come we didn’t spot it sooner?

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News in pictures

Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne arrives at the Economist UK Energy Summit in London prior to discussing the coalition government’s plans to back a £200 billion (€249 billion) drive to invest in the renewable energy sector over the next decade.

The Airbus A380 parks triumphantly alongside an Etihad Airways Boeing 777 at the Farnborough Air Show as a bumper crop of orders for the aircraft prompted civil aerospace commentators to claim that a recovery for the industry was finally under way.

Figures released by the International Bottled Water Association in July revealed that 90 percent of water bottles worldwide are not recycled, with 38 billion bottles ending up in landfill sites throughout the globe in 2009. In Europe, the average consumption of bottled water is 105 litres per person per year.

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16

NEWS AND NUMBERS

London galling

T

he European Commission has issued a second and final written warning to the UK insisting it cleans up London’s air or risk being taken to the European Court of Justice where it could face a fine of up to £300m (€360m).

Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik (interviewed by EU Infrastructure on page 40) has warned that London’s dangerously high levels of minute airborne particles called PM10s could lead to asthma, lung diseases, strokes and heart attacks. A study by the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee estimates that particle pollution in London is responsible for as many as 4300 premature deaths a year.

A statement by Mr. Potocnik said: “For the Greater London urban area, the commission considered that the UK had not shown that compliance with the daily PM10 limit value would be achieved by the time the exemption period expired in 2011…If the UK fails to take the necessary measures to comply with the legislation, the commission could refer the case to the European Court of Justice.”

London’s air pollution levels are among the worst in Europe, with the city having failed to meet air quality standards that were introduced at the end of 2004. The last act of the outgoing Labour government was to apply for a time extension until 2011 in order to comply with these air quality laws.

Bad air day The top five worst offenders in Europe Figures based on the EU’s Air Quality Index

77 85 87 88 100

CADIZ DI

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LONDON NDON

MARSEILLE RSEILLE

PARIS

GRANADA

…and the best

20

ALMERIA

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NEWS AND NUMBERS 17

Top Ten road deaths per year by EU Member State

Plans to halve road deaths by 2020 The European Commission (EC) has set a new target to halve the number of road deaths in the EU by 2020.

Currently, the annual death toll on the EU’s roads stands at 35,000, a target that the EC believes can be cut by 50 percent. The European Transport Safety Commission (ETSC) has welcomed the targets, but warned: “The measures announced by the European Commission call seriously into question the chances of reaching it.” The ETSC said that the EC had failed to place enough emphasis on making road infrastructure safer, prioritising the best methods for cutting deaths by speeding, and highlighting the dangers of drink driving and not wearing seatbelts.

The Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) also criticised the EC for what it calls a ‘missed opportunity’ to place greater Europe-wide emphasis on driver training. “There is convincing evidence that further training makes drivers safer, and could be relatively cost-effective,” said Neil Greg, IAM’s Policy Director.

However, in the UK, where road fatalities have fallen by 12 percent in the past year, the EC’s targets were praised. “Moving forward together on road safety is good for the EU – Member States have much they can learn from each other and, given its position as a road safety leader, the UK can share a lot from its experience,” said Head of Road Safety for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents Kevin Clinton.

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01

02

03

04

05

Latvia has the highest rates of road deaths in Europe, with 223 deaths per million inhabitants, which is two and a half times the EU average of 90. Poland’s figure is 193 deaths per million inhabitants.

06

07

08

09

10

POLAND – 5437 fatalities

ITALY – 4731 fatalities

GERMANY – 4477 fatalities

FRANCE – 4275 fatalities

SPAIN – 3100 fatalities

UK – 2645 fatalities

GREECE – 1553 fatalities

HUNGARY – 996 fatalities

BELGIUM – 944 fatalities

PORTUGAL – 885 fatalities Source: International Road Traffic and Accident Database

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18

NEWS AND NUMBERS

Less energy consumed during recession

B

P’s 2010 Statistical Review of World Energy revealed that energy consumption in 2009 was lower than in the previous year, marking the first decline since 1982 as the global economy retracted for the first time since WWII. Throughout the globe, consumption of oil, gas and nuclear power declined, with coal consumption remaining stable and only renewable energy sources – such as hydroelectric, solar and wind power – showing an increase in consumption in 2009, hinting that CO2 emissions from energy use fell for the first time since 1998.

“Energy consumption reflected the pattern of recession and recovery,” said BP Chief Economist, Christof Ruehl. “For the world as a whole, primary energy consumption fell by 1.1 percent in 2009, the first decline since 1982.

Consumption in the industrialised countries of the OECD fell by five percent – more than their decline in GDP; those countries consumed less energy last year than ten years ago.

“Energy consumption outside the OECD increased by 2.7 percent – more than their increase in GDP and driven by growth in China. The shift toward the developing world continues.”

Oil consumption fell on a global scale by 1.2 million barrels per day, which equates to 1.7 percent. In the OECD, this figure was 4.8 percent (two million barrels per day), which is the fourth year in a row that there has been a decline. Outside of the OECD, oil consumption again grew, but at its slowest rate since 2001, at just 860,000 barrels per day.

Gas production declined for the first time ever, with Russia producing 21.1 percent less gas, and Turkmenistan 44.8 percent as consumption demand declined throughout most of Europe. As a result, the US surpassed Russia as the world’s largest producer of gas.

Hydroelectric generation grew by 1.5 percent, which was belowaverage growth but still enough to make the commodity the world’s fastest-growing major fuel in 2009.

Talent shortage A Hay Group survey of HR professionals in the renewable energy sector found that: 64% reported concerns over a skills shortage in the renewable energy sector 69% of respondents find it difficult to recruit in the current market due to salary inflation 72% of businesses reported that career progression, rather than money, were the main reasons departing employees cited for leaving 73% of employers are concerned with retaining key talent, with 75% of those surveyed looking to overcome the problem by training existing staff to a higher level 86% of employees find a new job within the renewable industry

69% 9% 72% 86% 64% 73%

Source: Hay Group UK

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20

NEWS

European news

01

ROMANIA Romania’s construction industry suffered more than any other Central European country’s during 2009’s economic downturn. Figures released by research firm PMR Consulting showed that the construction industry contracted by 15.1 percent last year, following impressive growth of 33.6 percent and 26 percent in 2007 and 2008 respectively.

The reasons behind Romania’s poor performance are numerous, but the key driver behind the contraction was a combination of political instability, the economic deterioration within the EU and a 12 percent decline in civil engineering, which had acted as a counterbalance for other eastern European countries to help buoy the construction industry’s slump.

Despite there being sizeable EU funding readily available to Romania, its government’s inability to use these funds effectively has exacerbated the situation. However, such a transition period is – says PMR Consulting – normal for new EU entrants.

03

SPAIN Spain has lowered its solar and offshore wind power targets by 14 percent, according to a draft released by the country’s Institute for the Diversification and Saving of Energy.

The Spanish government was keen to reiterate that they intend to generate more than 20 percent of their total electricity output from renewable sources. Figures from their Renewable Energy Plan predicts installed capacity of 13,446 megawatts of solar power by 2020, which is some way down on earlier predictions.

The European Commission demands that all EU countries produce at least 20 percent of their power through clean sources by 2020. Despite these cutbacks

by Spain (offshore wind power will reach 3000 MW rather than the predicted 5000 MW), the country is still on course to produce 22.7 percent of renewable energy by 2020 – within the agreed target.

BULGARIA Bulgaria’s export growth is at its strongest for the past five years, according to official figures released by Finance Minister Simeon Dyankov.

Against the backdrop of increasing financial instability in southeastern Europe, Bulgaria’s minister was

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02

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NEWS 21

04

suggesting that such growth could even bring about increases in public sector wages, bucking the downward trend of much of Bulgaria’s central and eastern European neighbours.

“Statistics for April 2010 indicate 40 percent export growth, the highest monthly growth over the past five years,” said Mr. Dyankov. “The most positive part of the data is that growth, on a monthly basis, is very strong, not only in exports to the European Union – which is at 23 percent – but also to countries in the Middle East, Asia and other regions, where it is 57 percent.”

FINLAND In the land of Nokia, the iPhone is king. According to a survey by Finnish analysts QAim, Apple’s iPhone is the most popular mobile phone model for web browsing services, with one in three of every page load and page view coming from users of Apple’s groundbreaking device.

Despite the iPhone’s pre-eminence in browsing services, Nokia still remains the dominant player in Finland’s mobile phone industry, accounting for 60.7 percent of all browser-based activity. However, these figures originated from a total of 199 different Nokia phone models, whereas Apple’s 33.9 percent share is down to one thing – the popularity of the iPhone.

“The fragmentation of the market for mobile devices creates a huge headache for developers of mobile services,” said QAim CEO and founder, Janne Aalto. “The Android-based devices already on the market, as well as many more probably still to come, will have a major impact on both Apple and Nokia’s market shares in the use of mobile services.”

05

06

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AUSTRIA Austria’s mountainous landscape could be more at risk from climate change than other, flatter countries, according to a recent collaborative study by the University of Exeter and Austrian researchers.

The study focused on the effects on Austria of the last two examples of extreme weather – the heat wave of 2003 and the floods of 2005 – and concluded that unpredictable hazards from landslides, rock falls, debris flows and melting glaciers increases as climate change continues to play havoc with the country’s seasons.

The 2003 heat wave pushed that summer’s mean temperature five degrees above average, triggering record Alpine glacier loss that caused increased rock-fall activity as the permafrost receded. Severe rainfall in 2005 created record levels of water sediment deposited downstream, causing €555 million in damage. “While human activity and land management are important factors, we expect global warming will cause accelerated ice loss in the Alps over the next decade,” said professor Jasper Knight of the University of Exeter. Temperatures in the European Alps have increased by more than double the global average since 1900.

ITALY The Italian government has seized billions of euros worth of former mafia properties as Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi steps up the country’s efforts to smash organised crime and break up Italy’s three main mafia syndicates.

The renowned Cosa Nostra of Sicily, the ‘Ndrangheta’ of Calabria and the Camorra of Naples have lost more than 15,000 properties between them – including residential villas, factories and farms – totalling more than ten billion euros in value.

In 2009 alone, 1223 mafia ‘businesses’ were closed by the authorities, with a total of 9198 pieces of real estate confiscated – 73 percent of these turned into not-forprofit farming and social initiatives, or handed over to local public utility companies for infrastructural redevelopment. “It is a complicated task targeting mafia assets,” said the head of Palermo’s anti mafia unit (DIA) Elio Antinoro, “because their holdings are often registered under the name of dummy corporations abroad or figureheads.”

Citizens and those with physical and mental disabilities are the main beneficiaries of the scheme, which includes a rural farm run by Terra Futura for the rehabilitation of psychiatric patients.

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22

NEWS & NUMBERS

Concentrated Solar Power: Can it Power the World?

The first commercial CSP plant opened in Spain in 2007, and now similar projects are being lined Africa the hope thatinthe continents hotthe climate can helphot power the world. up forinnorth Africa the hope that continent’s climate can help power the world.

EU 27 22,032 km2 0.5% of land

OECD N.America 35,224 km2 0.1% of land

Transition Economies 8,808 km2

Middle East 4,008 km2 0.07% of land Africa 3,656 km2 0.01% of land

CSP to Support Entire Region’s Power Needs

China 16,280 km2 0.17% of land

Developing Asia 6,128 km2 India 3,824 km2 0.12% of land

World 120,144 km2 0.08% of total land

12,680 km2 0.15% of land

Latin America 5,872 km2 0.03% of land

5.7 hours

107,000 TWh

Concentrated solar power could meet up to 7% of the world’s power by 2030 and 25% by 2050

250

Annual Global Investment Required ($ billions) 2010

200

2030 2050

150

Annual Production / Consumption of Fossil Fuels

Equivalent Solar Delivery in Deserts

100 50

It would only take 47 days to acquire the equivalent in solar energy from the deserts, for all proven fossil fuel reserves.

0

Reference Scenario

Moderate Scenario

Advanced Scenario

Sources: Greenpeace and Desertec

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NEWS & NUMBERS 23

What is CSP?

Enough solar energy falls on the Earth’s surface in 20 minutes to meet our needs for a year

CSP (Concentrating Solar Power) systems produce heat or electricity using hundreds of mirrors to concentrate the sun’s rays to a temperature typically between 400 and1000ºC.

Ideal Landscape Low humidity Low dust Low fumes Located within less than 40 degrees of latitude north or south

The Sun emits 3.877 x 10 26 J per second

1km2 of CSP

Total fossil fuel potential 3.9 x 10 22 J per second

Enough to generate 100 - 130 GWh of solar electricity a year. This is the same

A

Approx area of CSP, required to generate as much electricity as currently consumed by the World

0.3%

of the area of North Africa could supply all of the energy required by the EU

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62% of new EU electricity in 2009 was renewable

80%

of the African landscape receives almost 2000 kwh per m2 per year

report by the European Commission has revealed that 62 percent of new electricity generation capacity installed in the EU27 in 2009 was renewable, a five percent increase on 2008.

The study published by the Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) showed that for the second year running, among the sources of renewable energy utilised by the EU27 wind energy provided the largest share of energy generation. In terms of absolute European energy generation, 19.9 percent was produced by renewables, with hydropower holding the largest share (11.6 percent), followed by wind (4.2 percent).

The report – entitled ‘Renewable Energy Snapshots’ – aims to produce an up-todate picture every year of the EU’s progress towards the binding target of 20 percent for energy generation from renewable sources by 2020. The report is compiled based on two types of data; official figures from EU countries or EUROSTAT, and those provided by industry associations, research industries.

In each case, the JRC notes that due to the methodology of collection, values might deviate and claims there is therefore a margin of uncertainty that should be taken into account.

According to the figures, renewable sources provided 17GW of new electricity generation capacity installed in the EU last year, out of a total of 27.5GW built, with wind accounting for 10.2GW (38 percent) of that figure. It is believed that if figures keep increasing at this rate, by 2020 up to 1400TWh of electricity could be generated from renewable sources, which would account for approximately 35-40 percent of overall electricity consumption in the EU. While this is excellent news for the continent, there are some issues to be resolved; namely ensuring fair access to grids, substantial public research and development (R&D) support and the adaptation of current electricity systems to accommodate renewable electricity. It is also believed that the figure can be further reached with the increase of biomass usage with seven member states (Bulgaria, Romania, Latvia, Finland, Italy, Sweden, Hungary) announcing biomass as the main renewable energy resource for the future.

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24

IN MY VIEW

Safety first Improving safety levels on construction sites is a constant challenge, Philip White, Head of Construction Division for the Health and Safety Executive, tells EU Infrastructure.

Overseeing the construction industry’s safety procedures is an ever-evolving task.

At the HSE we continually work on those areas where we think the biggest risks lie; where we still see problems. This means that we deal with sites where refurbishment is going on, smaller sites where asbestos has yet to be removed, picking up the themes of the HSE strategy, taking enforcements and securing justice – a lot of our work covers these issues.

Regarding asbestos for instance, in the UK there is a licensing ratio that restricts the removal of the more dangerous forms of asbestos (lagging on pipe work and sprayed insulation) and we normally license some 600 contractors to do this. But what we are doing is paying more visits this year, managing the whole procedure more effectively.

Ensuring the safety of migrant workers on construction sites requires an additional set of practices and awareness campaigns.

Last year we employed someone from the Polish, Romanian and Asian communities of London to help distribute over 100,000 safety cards providing basic information in the native language of those communities, and set up a helpline and an email response unit.

Approximately 40 percent of London’s construction workers are migrants, so our outreach workers have tried a number of novel strategies to open doors to communities that were previously difficult to reach.

We are hoping to expand this program to the Chinese community and the Lithuanian community too, while also reinforcing our safety messages within the Polish and Asian communities because they are extremely large groups, with many working in the construction industry.

Smaller building projects require greater assistance and focus from the HSE. If there is one area that the HSE should be concentrating more on, it would be the smaller projects throughout the UK. This is because of ignorance among smaller builders and also – dare I say it – complete flouting of legal requirements in some cases. This could be anything from reroofing a domestic house, a small extension to a factory or similar type of property for example – these are issues that need to be tackled and where considerable improvements are still needed. For some it is a case of cutting costs, but there are other examples where it is complete ignorance of the rules and regulations. To tackle this, we have revamped our

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website to make the language and advice much more accessible and understandable for SMEs. We are also publishing a range of leaflets that are pretty much pictorial do’s and don’ts. It’s all very direct and straightforward.

Coming out of recession you tend to have new people coming into the industry as companies tend to grow a bit faster than they would normally do, so we need to be prepared for that

The London 2012 Olympics has proven a valuable learning experience for the construction industry in the UK. There are a lot of major companies operating on many different parts of the Olympic project. I think that they have learnt a lot thanks to the high standards the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) are expecting, but also just through sharing experiences between themselves, and that has had an impact when it has been fed back to companies, a lot of whom are national companies. So we see it as having a very positive experience – learning the high standards and taking that back into other projects. We hope that will continue as time goes on.

The economic downturn has drastically reduced the level of building activity, which has impacted favourably upon safety levels.

The level of overall construction work in the UK is down, and that does have an impact in terms of fewer people working fewer hours. Our research into this has showed that companies are still investing in health and safety despite the downturn. It is being considered as an extremely important priority, and obviously, when gearing up for an upturn, we need to make sure that people and organisations are up to speed on safety measures. The challenge for us, if you look historically, is that when coming out of recession you tend to have new people coming into the industry as companies tend to grow a bit faster than they would normally do, so we need to be prepared for that.

Even in the safety industry, it is important to keep your eye on the future.

If we see companies growing quickly but not really taking on any responsibility for their health and safety, we’ll consider taking enforcement action. We advise these companies, but if we see failings we will issue an improvement notice to make sure that they have the proper training arrangements in place and that they have competent staff on board to manage projects and their systems of work. It is highly important to keep a look out for where the industry is going, and who is coming into it unprepared.

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IN MY VIEW 25

The last ten years have seen sustained improvement in the safety procedures of the construction industry.

In the past ten years I have seen a much bigger shift in attitudes towards better safety in the industry, and this has been achieved partly through big challenges that were laid down by the last Labour government – to turn concern into action. The industry rose to that challenge. You can change things through legislation but ultimately it is culture and attitudes that drive changes, and that is what we address at HSE. We said nearly ten years ago that HSE had a plan and a program to change the culture of the industry through a number of initiatives, by getting people to show better leadership in the industry, even at the very largest companies. And while we had hoped that more of this approach would trickle down to the medium and smaller businesses, this hasn’t necessarily been the case – we now almost have a two-tier industry; at one level where the big compa-

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Workplace fatality rates in the UK construction sector are down by 14%

Britain’s safety record is the lowest of the EU’s five largest countries

nies perform pretty well, and the other end of the scale where we still see a lot of poor practices among smaller companies. This, I think, is an inevitability of the nature of the industry.

Environmental sustainability is likely to drive and shape the construction industry in the near future.

There is obviously going to be a big drive for a lowcarbon economy, and that is going to present us with a number of challenges in terms of the types of work that is being carried out. We are going to be building more wind turbines, more nuclear power stations, erecting solar cells, installing mini generators and insulating domestic houses – all of these activities will ultimately impact how we operate. This is a big challenge and we need to take a long, hard look at how we are going to deal with this growth area and ensure that the standards of the industry are maintained.

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NEWS AND NUMBERS 27

Welsh wind

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umoured to be one of the biggest wind farms in Europe, let alone in Wales, Gwynt y Mor is destined to be a major task for RWE Innogy, Stadtwerke München (SWM - Munich Municipal Utility) and Siemens who have joined forces to oversee its construction.

It is expected that the entire project will cost €2 billion, including the grid connection to the coast. Of the joint venture, RWE Innogy will hold 60 percent, while Stadtwerke München and Siemens take 30 and 10 percent respectively.

The 576MW wind farm will consist of 160 3.6MW Siemens SWT turbines and has an expected output of 1,950 GWh per year, enough to power 400,000 homes (40 percent of the homes in Wales).

Construction is expected to begin next year with final commissioning occurring in 2014 – it is hoped that the wind farm will prevent the release of about 1.7 million tonnes of CO2 per year.

Gwynt y Mor will be installed in Liverpool Bay, some 18km off the North Wales coast, with the first foundations of the turbines being erected in late 2011. It will cover an area of 79 km2.

The wind farm’s construction is expected to create more than a thousand jobs, as hundreds of long-term maintenance roles are needed, and by next year, 1000 construction jobs will be created at the Port of Mostyn where the giant windmills will be put together, with up to an estimated 250 permanent jobs to follow.

In a statement, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Chris Huhne, said, “This is the first, of what I hope will be many examples of how we can make the most of our island’s huge renewable energy potential. I want to make sure we grab all the opportunities the rapidly expanding renewables industry has to offer, and that wind power can come of age under this government.”

Secretary of State for Wales, Cheryl Gillian, agreed: “Gwynt y Mor will be one of the single biggest private investment projects ever seen in Wales, creating up to 1000 quality jobs and contributing many millions of pounds to the regional economy of North Wales. It will also become one of the largest off-shore wind farm projects in Europe.”

Power supply manufacturer PULS wins green award

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uropean DIN Rail power supply manufacturer PULS has been awarded a prestigious LEED Gold certificate in recognition of the energy saving credentials of its new factory in China. The company was also awarded €50,000 by the Suzhou Industrial Park Authority for the energy saving concepts incorporated in the building’s design.

LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) certification provides independent, third-party verification that a building project meets the highest green building and performance standards.

The new PULS factory, which will be officially opened in October 2010, will employ approximately 450 people and provide additional production capacity for the company’s range of DIN Rail power supplies, mainly for the rapidly developing Chinese market.

“Our products are very much about high-efficiency and saving energy, so it’s fitting that our new factory should incorporate all the latest energy saving design and technology,” said Harry Moore, Managing Director of PULS UK. “As China is a rapidly growing market, it makes sense to have a manufacturing plant as close to those customers as possible, rather than shipping products all the way from Europe.”

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NEWS

Wasting energy, logically

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ncreasing commercialisation of biological waste-to-energy plants throughout Europe is spurring demand for a new wave of green energy technologies on the continent.

Government regulation and support, allied with increased funding from banks and demand from energy conscious companies have helped raise the profile of biological waste plants that treat waste to produce greener energy.

Analysis from growth partnership firm Frost & Sullivan estimates

Smart stadia

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arodowe Centrum Sportu (NCS) National Sports Centre and NextiraOne have signed and agreement for the implementation of an IT and communications network for the National Stadium in Warsaw – a multi-functional facility which is being prepared for major events, including the UEFA European Football Championship, EURO 2012.

Under the contract, NextiraOne will deliver, install and commission network equipment together with security components, implement system and applications software for the new stadium’s network and conduct all necessary project and integration work. In addition, NextiraOne will provide training for system users together with ongoing support and maintenance.

The National Stadium’s new IT and communications network will be an efficient, flexible, secure and reliable framework for a wide range of applications,

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that the market for biological waste energy in Europe could be worth as much as €2.9 billion by 2016. In 2009, the German market alone – which accounted for 76.8 percent of the total European market – was worth €812 million, with countries such as Italy, Czech Republic and the Netherlands expected to grow exponentially over the next few years.

For more on Poland’s preparation for the 2012 European Championships, go to page 58

including video surveillance, video transmission, applications for automated systems, such as for ticket sales, and the security of the facility. It will also provide the platform for voice communication, data transmission and access to the Internet. ”Creating an IT and communications network for such large and prestigious facility as the National Stadium in Warsaw is an enormous undertaking, and we were therefore looking for an experienced partner that was cost-effective and could meet all our specific requirements,” said Robert Wojtaś, Vice President of NCS. ”We recognize the challenge and responsibility of this project for the NCS,” said Marek Kobielski, President of NextiraOne Polska. “The knowledge and expertise of our expert teams is our guarantee that the National Stadium in Warsaw will achieve a modern and reliable IT and communications infrastructure, ready for use by - among others – the organizers and participants of EURO 2012.”

The new network for the National Stadium will be completed by February 15th, 2011.

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NEWS

The Costa rapid construction

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pain’s beleaguered construction industry is facing four more years of woe as analysts predict it will take that long for the country to clear its glut of empty, unsold holiday homes.

With the country facing the prospect of close to one million empty properties by the end of 2010, Spain’s economic recovery is unlikely to be helped by the previously robust construction industry, which is all but dormant as developers and agents try frantically to cut through the oversupply of homes.

Figures from the Association of Developers and Constructors of Spain (APCE) revealed that there were 700,000 new homes on the market at the end of 2009, with an additional 220,000 either under construction or in the planning stages. The worst affected areas are the previously popular holiday regions of the Costa del Sol, the Costa Brava and the Costa Blanca. Conversely, areas with greater internal demand for homes, such as Madrid, have fewer excess properties and so are better placed to reduce their inventory of empty properties much sooner.

“The excess of new homes in Cantabria in the north of Spain will be gone in less than two years,” says Jose Manuel Galindo, President of the APCE. “On the other hand, the provinces of Andalucia and Valencia (home to the Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca respectively) are looking at maybe four to six years before the market can digest this glut of housing.”

Company index Q3 2010

Don’t Miss…

“Councils are pushing to promote developments and strip more vegetation, so who is fighting for the environment?

The scale of Spain’s desertification problem needs to be escalated”

“Progress is its own reward, but I believe the satisfaction and pride involved in winning a prestigious European award spurs cities to invest in further implementation of EU environment policy”

Dr. Leopoldo Serrano of the UNCCD, page 32

Thea Pieridou of the EGCA, page 112

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“I can clearly say today that it was a wrong decision not to open the airspace quicker, and the whole ash cloud debacle was all handled based upon incorrect information” Gunther Matschnigg of IATA, page 76

Companies in this issue are indexed to the first page of the article in which each is mentioned.

2e Systems 8, 74, 75 Asagua 32 Case New Holland 12, 48 CombiBox 10, 85 Deutsche Bahn 90 Ekahau 126, 127 EPN Consulting 54, 55 European Safety Federation 86 Global Energy Services 4, 104, 105 Health and Safety Executive 24 Hilson Moran 106 Indutex 26, 89 IATA 76 IBM 120

Intertoll 29, 60, 61 KfW Entwicklungsbank 46 Longphone 66 Mentura 64 Motorola 6, 68, 69 Multifunctional Solutions 82, 83 Npower 100 Open Geospatial 70 Powerclimber wind 97 PTF Hausser GMBH 43 Qfree 50 RW Energy 98 Spacemetric 31, 72, 73 Stevo Electric 19, 92, 93 Strabag AG 56 TETRA Group 62

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DESERTIFICATION IN SPAIN

s t r e s e Just D

Sun, sea, sangria and sand. Too much sand. As desertiďŹ cation continues to be a problem for southern Spain, Ian Clover investigates what can be done to halt the march of the desert.

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DESERTIFICATION IN SPAIN 33

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quint and it almost doesn’t look real. The distant craggy horizon rises and falls like an overwrought ECG needle. Azure, cloudfree skies proffer zero protection from the relentless burn of the scorching sun. Green tuft s of hardy vegetation poke optimistically through the ground, standing lonely on vast plains of red and dusty rocks as tumbleweed – actual tumbleweed – sits idly by, the non-existent breeze rendering their only purpose obsolete. Everything is still. Everything is parched. And everything is quiet.

Yet this isn’t the wild west of 19th Century USA; this is the vast Tabernas Desert of 21st century southeastern Spain. The busy airport of Alicante is just over an hour away, easyJetting in millions of northern European tourists every summer for sunshine frolics and fun. A total of 54 golf courses can be found within a 100km radius of here, and the intense climate has made this corner of Iberia Europe’s leading grower of fruit and vegetable – the ‘Costa del Plastico’ an affectionate moniker given to a strip of coastline blanketed by row upon row of plastic greenhouses growing lettuce, tomato, almonds, figs and all manner of fruits; primed, picked then packaged up and shipped off to a supermarket near you.

The human demand for water in this region of Spain is intense. Golf courses soak up water like a yawning hippo, hotels and holiday developments boast huge swimming pools and perfectly green lawns and gardens, and the agriculture industry demands intense irrigation in order to match Europe’s hunger for affordable fruit and veg all

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DESERTIFICATION IN SPAIN

Spain: Deserted.

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Fully desert: Tabernas Desert (20 miles north of Almeria) spans 280 square kilometres and receives just 24 centimetres of rainfall per year. The desert is home to the Texas Hollywood, Mini Hollywood and Western Leone studios and provided the backdrop to some of the most memorable spaghetti westerns.

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Semi-desert: Bardenas Reales (Navarre) covers 45,500 hectares and boasts a weird and wonderful landscape forged by millions of years of sun exposure, intense heat, scant rainfall and high winds.

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Semi-desert: Cabo de Gata-Nijar Natural Park (Almeria) has the lowest rainfall in Europe, receiving just 12 centimetres annually. The stark landscape, hot weather and beautiful coastline made it a tourist favourite for decades, but human impact upon the landscape has seen the Spanish authorities take action to cut the number of visitors to the park.

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At Risk: Alicante is an extremely popular resort that has been drawing package holidaymakers for decades. It suffers from extreme weather oscillations, not least in rainfall – average rainfall is 33 centimetres a year, but torrential downpours can bring as much as 20 centimetres in 24 hours. Such irregular weather leads to a mere 30-odd rainy days a year.

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At Risk: Almeria city is the capital of the Almeria Province and has the warmest average temperature in the whole of Europe. While tourism is extremely important, it is the region’s agriculture that most defines it – its greenhousecovered valleys produce tonnes of fruit and vegetables, of which 70 percent is exported to the rest of Europe.

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year round (88 percent or all water used in southern Spain goes on agriculture). Ostensibly, this is a thriving corner of a country hit hard by the economic downturn. Business is booming, tourism is steady and golf spend is a sustainable, year-round source of income. Yet the fact remains: this is a semi-arid landscape, and human activity is only speeding up the inevitable process of desertification.

Wild west The Tabernas Desert’s unique landscape has been eyed-up by Hollywood movie producers for decades. Some of the most iconic wild west backdrops ever committed to fi lm were shot not in the Nevada Badlands or Arizona desert, but in Franco’s Spain: lower-production costs made it a simple and accessible location for actors, directors and producers. Classics such as The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, A Fistful of Dollars, The Magnificent Seven, Johnny Yuma and even parts of the original Lawrence of Arabia were shot at the Texas Hollywood studios here.

Tourists can even visit these fi lm sets today, wandering through a complete replica of an old America west town complete with saloon, bank, jail, shops and stables.

It’s a strange experience – being able to stroll through what one believes to be the unmistakable landscape of America’s mid-west, yet being only an hour’s drive away from Mediterranean resorts clambering over themselves to offer the lowest-priced lager-with-full-English-Breakfast combos by the beach.

Th is quasi-Saharan landscape has been this way for thousands of years. The Sahara itself is a mere 400km due south, and the climate of Murcia province and Almeria is the driest in Europe (average rainfall in the Cabo de Gata-Nijar Natural Park is just 12 centimetres per year, compared to an average of 80 centimetres in Manchester, England), and the hottest too – temperatures surge past 40c on a daily basis between June and August. However, United Nations estimates warn there will be a 40 percent reduction in rainfall by 2070, with statistics to show that, since 1880, the global surface temperature increase is 0.8c, while in Spain that figure is 1.5c. Such dramatic climate change can only mean one thing – the desert is returning to reclaim its land.

So how to combat it? Th ree experts: one on soil, one on vegetation, and one on water provision, give their opinion on what can be done to halt the sand’s march across the parched landscapes of southeastern Spain.

Spain’s Desalination Europe’s first ever desalination plant was built by Spain in the 1960s, and the country leads the Western world in its consumption of desalinated water.

As a result, Spanish technology and innovation contributes to bringing clean and sustainable water to millions of people worldwide, including the Middle East and India.

At Carboneras in Almeria, southern Spain, the largest seawater desalination plant quietly hums its way through millions of gallons of seawater each day, chemically and physically filtrating it before reverse-osmosis membranes kick in and convert brine into fresh water. While the CO2 emissions of such a plant leave a lot to be desired, its effect on Spain’s water supply has been worth it. A total of 20 desalination plants have been built throughout the country in the past six years, providing Spain with 50 percent of its entire water requirements.

Soil salvation Studies by the United Nations Centre to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) have shown that six percent of Spain’s arable land has already been lost forever, and the Spanish Environment Ministry estimates that one-third of the country’s 500,000 square kilometres is at ‘significant risk’ of desertification, with the resorts and cities of Almeria, Alicante and Murcia most at risk, their situation exacerbated by human activity that has upset the delicate soil-water relationship of the land. “Desertification has strong human components, so humans have the capac-

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DESERTIFICATION IN SPAIN

ity to halt the process,” says Jose Luis Rubio, President of the European Society for Soil Conservation. “Societies in Spain do not always realise that soil is the base of the ecosystem. If air is polluted you cannot breathe it; if water is contaminated you cannot drink it; and if soil is tainted then we lose it, and if we lose soil, we lose everything.”

Rubio has studied the effects of soil erosion on Spain’s landscape for decades and believes that, while desertification will always be something of a concern for southeastern Spain, better management of resources can help halt the desert’s creeping advance. “When soil is damaged through human activity, it becomes deeply degraded and can be easily washed away, which means there can be no vegetation cover, landscape, biodiversity – nothing. But the effect that concentrated human economic activity is having on the land can be avoided with a little more forward planning.”

Faced with such intense demand for tourist provisions such as golf courses and swimming pools, in addition to the stripping of indigenous olive groves for a more waterintensive crop output, environmental authorities face an intense battle. “Agricultural restoration of the most affected parts of the southeast – Castilla, the Ebro Basin, Almeria, Alicante and Murcia – would help,” says Rubio.

“Th is can be achieved through better water management that protects against salinisation, tree planting, and restoration of land gradation after forest fires, which destroy 1000 hectares of land every summer, stripping the vegetation cover and removing all nutrients from the soil.”

Poor town planning has exacerbated the situation in some towns, believes Rubio. “Inadequate planning of buildings and infrastructure works in tandem with the torrential rains that hit this part of the country to affect the stability of the soil and inhibit its ability to hold organic matter. Th is looseness in the soil leaves it with less buffer capacity to resist extreme climactic events – a situation that is made worse by civil works such as roads cutting off the natural pattern of rainfall runoff.”

Soil should not be treated so lightly. Like the hardpumping legs of a graceful swan, soil drives the earth’s ecosystem almost unnoticed, yet it is the earth’s living skin, holding everything together. In the EU alone, soil holds 70 billion tonnes of carbon, which equates to seven percent of the world’s entire carbon storage. EU member states pump out two billion tonnes of carbon a year, so even something as little as a 0.1 percent loss of carbon from European soils is the equivalent of an extra 100 million cars on the road. With no soil, there is no life, and Spain had better act fast to hold on to what it has.

“Areas like Almeria are really quasi-desert,” admits Rubio. “Desertification will always occur there to some extent, but the problem we are seeing is that other areas with better biological balances are beginning to experience desertification, which is happening in part because of climate change and in part because of socioeconomic pressures on the government to develop tourism, which has been tremendously important for the economic strength of Spain.

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“In many cases, this all-too recent and rushed explosion in infrastructure has increased the pressure on the land, dismantling the capacity of the soil to control its natural fi ltration process and, in many cases, increasing the likelihood of, and damage caused by, landslides and torrential rain, which is a natural component of our climate.” It is indeed a catch-22 situation – Spain needs tourists’ money, tourists want the sunshine, warmth and year-round dryness that characterises this corner of the country, but the landscape? The landscape needs a rest.

Vegetation vitality Or does it? Can careful agricultural planning, allied with determined soil conservation and better future infrastructural planning help slow the desertification process and salvage the lands of Almeria, Valencia, Alicante and Murcia for future generations to enjoy as we have for so long? Dr. Leopoldo Serrano is the General Director of Spain’s Natural Environment and Forest Policy at the Ministry of the Environment, and believes that the level of vegetation cover in Spain’s southeastern corner is no worse, or better, than before. “In quantitative terms at least, vegetation cover and biodiversity remains the same.

However, mismanagement and overexploitation has had a qualitative impact on the state of the vegetation, and this needs to be addressed.”

Left to its own devices, the landscape does possess some recovery capacity, but Serrano is of the opinion that human intervention is required to nullify the damage caused by human activity. “The occupation of land for agricultural purposes – greenhouse agriculture in particular – has had a very drastic impact on the quality of the land. Urbanisation has been damaging too; it is a complex situation that cannot be solved by a simple policy of desertification control but via various programmes of land management and prevention of wildfi re. Institutional and socioeconomic systems need to adapt to these threats if they are to be able to detect problems, react to them and, ultimately, improve the situation.”

Serrano is an advisor for the UNCCD and has worked on various systemic integrated missions designed to lessen the human impact suffered by Spain’s vegetation. “We look at land planning, at the water policy of the region and the use of other natural resources. There is enormous pressure on Spain’s water resources but, largely, water distribution policies are good – the administration is correct and the knowledge is there. Quite simply, however, we need to look at a better system for land planning. More and more people are trying to live in the southeast region of Spain and the institutional system is more interested in local socioeconomic interests than general environmental concerns.

“Councils are pushing to promote developments and strip more vegetation, so who is fighting for the environment? The scale of this problem needs to be escalated – people need to get involved with their community and their neighbourhoods, pushing for better urban planning that takes environmental concerns into account.” Drastic action is, believes Serrano, unnecessary: just a greater awareness

“The Spanish Environment Ministry estimates that one-third of the country’s 500,000 square kilometres is at ‘significant risk’ of desertification”

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DESERTIFICATION IN SPAIN 37

What is desertification?

Desertification is the process of degradation of land in arid and semi-arid regions. This degradation can occur for a number of reasons, including climatic variations and the impact of human activities, such as overgrazing of livestock, river water diversion, overdrafting of groundwater, and increased water consumption caused by overpopulation.

Desertification reduces biodiversity in the soil, which inhibits its capacity to enrich vegetation, leading to increased scrub and soil erosion. Poorly planned roads and urban areas can affect natural runoff courses of rainfall, further exacerbating the situation.

from the councils, the land planners, the developers – and the general public – that the current system of infrastructural development needs to change before the country’s desertification process goes beyond the point of no return.

Ironically, Spain’s current economic malaise will likely prove beneficial for its landscape. The collapse of the construction industry has enabled local councils and planners to take stock of what they have, what they need and what can be improved. The agricultural industry – so thirsty for water – has slowed as Europe-wide demand has fallen. “Everything is less intensive at the moment,” admits Serrano. “We have less intensive farming, less intensive building and no real growth. For some, this is a dilemma, but it will hopefully lead to a more considered approach to development in the future which will help the biodiversity of southeastern Spain.”

Over the past few years as the construction industry has slowed down, the Spanish government has embarked upon the plantation of 45 million trees throughout the Mediterranean east of the country at a cost of €90 million. Th is plan will not only help to hold the soil and its nutrients in place but will also soak up an additional 3.5 million tonnes of CO2 emissions. By 2012 the plantation process will be complete. “The plantation of these millions of trees, correctly planned and executed, will prove extremely beneficial for the landscape,” says Serrano.

Water worries There is little wriggle room for Spain’s water authorities. The country receives 346 billion cubic metres of rain-

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fall annually, leaving behind 109 billion cubic metres after evaporation and runoff. The annual water demand for the country is just 35 billion cubic metres, but the country is subjected to a number of stark climatic imbalances.

The green and lush lands of Galicia and Cantabria in the north and north west of the country are some of Europe’s wettest regions, while the driest region of the continent – Almeria – is in the extreme southeast of the country and ferociously thirsty for drinking and irrigation water. Getting this excess rainwater from northwest to southeast is no mean feat, encountering a multitude of physical, infrastructural and political hurdles along the way before even a drop is diverted.

“The Iberian Peninsula is subjected to two very different climatic systems – a Mediterranean one, which has minimal and inherently irregular rainfall; and an Atlantic system, which is characterised by heavy and steady rainfall,” explains Adrian Baltanas, Director General of water lobby group Asagua. “So these water shortages and droughts in the south and southeast are nothing new – the Roman Empire even built impressive hydraulic infrastructures to assure the water supply of its big cities, including the famous aqueducts of Segovia, Tarragona and Merida.

“Th is ‘water supply guarantee’ has been a permanent worry in Spain, and so it has only been logical that irrigation methods have developed alongside the pace of Spanish society. However, the 20th and 21st centuries have brought with them enormous technical and economic advances at an unprecedented pace, of which water reservoirs and transportation have played an important part.

“In the EU alone, soil holds 70 billion tonnes of carbon, which equates to seven percent of the world’s entire carbon storage”

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that will be fully completed by 2015,” says Baltanas. “Th is program will supply five million people with desalinated water and 75,000 hectares of agricultural irrigation, as well as 30 percent of purified water to be put to industrial and tourist use such as golf courses, for instance.”

Ah yes, the golf courses of southern Spain. So ubiquitous and eye catching, alien visitors to areas around Marbella and Murcia might well deem this the true Garden of Eden. Lush lawns, fairways and greens dazzle like emeralds next to the scorched browns and yellows of Spain’s true, unassisted Mediterranean landscape. Ecologists have estimated that a single 18-hole golf course in southern Spain consumes the same amount of water as a town with a population of 5000 inhabitants. Th row in the presence of thirsty crop farms (tomato farms are extremely prevalent in the sun-rich, rain-poor Murcia region) and you have a two-pronged assault on a resource that has been scant in the region long before rich folk began clubbing balls into holes for fun, or Europe began demanding seasonal fruit and veg all year round.

“There is pressure, of course, but these water management programs are necessary as we move towards a more sustainable future,” says Baltanas. “In some ways, desalination, reutilisation and modernisation of water infrastructure can only be achieved if it is obviously necessary that something has to be done. And so, fi nance for these projects is assured by both the public and the private sector because if we are able to guarantee water supply for all of our tourists, all of our golfers and all of our farmers – which we are – then funding and continued development of sustainable water supply will remain and continue to evolve.

“Tourism is an incredibly important sector for Spain’s economy, so it is only logical that we have invested in, and will continue working on, programs that will ensure we remain a world leader in this field.”

“The Spanish Environment Ministry estimates that one-third of the country’s 500,000 square kilometres is at ‘significant risk’ of desertification”

Striking a balance Simply put, Spain’s impressive growth in recent years would have been impossible without a steady supply of water. We now take advantage of 50 percent of all rainfall in Spain, which has allowed us to assure the needs of all cities and resorts in southern Spain. Without this, tourism, construction and intense agriculture could never have happened.”

Spain’s erratic and dispersed rainfall has resulted in a highly sophisticated water management and irrigation system. Despite this, between 30 and 60 percent of the country is at risk of some stages of desertification according to the UNCCD. Ambitious and innovative programs, such as the Water Framework Directive and the National Plan of Water Quality, are designed to assure more sustainable water management for Spain in the future, including ambitious programs of reutilisation and desalination. “In the Mediterranean littoral of Spain there is an effective desalination and reutilisation scheme

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“Ecologists have estimated that a single 18-hole golf course in southern Spain consumes the same amount of water as a town with a population of 5000 inhabitants”

Despite the lack of rainfall in southeastern Spain, Baltanas is confident that a steady water supply for tourists and agriculture can be maintained, but does this not exacerbate the problems outlined by Dr. Serrano and Jose Luis Rubio? If the tourists keep on coming, will the land not continue to suffer, despite the fact that water is being managed effectively and efficiently?

“The additional resources provided by the reutilisation and desalination of water we assure will allow for the execution of other programs that will help to fight the onset of desertification,” assures Baltanas. The Spanish government and its Autonomous Communities are fully compromised by their strategies on sustainable management of their resources. They have begun implementing a number of measures designed to raise awareness among the general public about the importance of water, soil and vegetation to their country’s fragile landscape. “The Spanish are some of the most efficient water users in Europe already. Consumptions per capita are among the lowest in the EU. Awareness is already excellent,” says Baltanas.

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It would appear that the general public is empowered and encouraged to do its bit, and the current economic downturn has come at an opportune time for the landscape – construction has ceased, roads are less busy and demand on agriculture has eased off. “The process of natural reforestation, while an extremely long process, has already begun happening in a number of areas,” says Dr. Serrano.

“These fallow, quiet periods are helping the vegetation to recover some of its natural habitat, particularly in more mountainous areas. However, we have to understand that in some ways Spain’s recent socioeconomic development has actually been beneficial for the environment because we no longer have farmers surviving on the land by herding goats that eat and destroy everything in their sight. Moving away from this exploitative farming has not only been the mark of Spain becoming part of a developed Europe, but has, in some places, been beneficial for the landscape.”

Spain’s socioeconomic shift from simple farming techniques to large scale tourism and specialised agricultural produce may indeed have helped the landscape in some ways, but as Rubio points out, if future land and

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Summer 2005 was Spain’s worst drought in 60 years (source: UNCCD)

The UNCCD says 12% of Europe is at risk of turning into desert

urban planning is poorly implemented, desertification will continue to worsen. “The UNCCD’s actions for Spain – which include a national program to combat desertification, have been delayed and underfunded since initial plans were fi rst drawn up in 2006,” reveals Rubio. “It is my opinion that there have been nowhere near enough economic resources applied to confronting the desertification problem in Spain, but there is hope that the European Union will soon agree upon a common strategy to help deal with the problem, because we are able to show evidence that positive human intervention can help.

“Little by little we are seeing a better understanding of the interrelationship between the terrestrial ecosystem and human impact, and a greater awareness that we need to take care of the whole system.” If this means more considered urban planning, artificial reforestation and better water management, then so be it. Deserts might well be romantic, evocative and exotic landscapes, but only when viewed in their correct context. A man-made, destructive desert that ruins the livelihood of millions is not good: just bad, and extremely ugly.

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Trash talk EU Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik talks to EU Infrastructure about the current state of the Union’s waste management sector, its biodiversity awareness, its green successes and the work that is still to be done.

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he role of European Commissioner for the Environment is undoubtedly a challenging one. The European Union, lest we forget, is a political and economic entity comprised of 27 separate member states, each with their own unique climate, landscape, wealth, culture and history. Getting them all to agree on matters of any import takes time, careful negotiation, persuasiveness and more bureaucracy than you could shake a stuffed Manila file folder at.

As Greece’s recent financial woes have proved, a shared commonality with 26 other countries is not always for the best, especially when other countries have greater resources, a greater understanding or more knowledge on a particular subject or issue. Overcoming these disparate starting points and achieving a collective goal cannot be easy.

Each country has its own set of priorities, and where the environment is concerned, member states like Germany (stalwarts and co-founders of the EU) and Bulgaria (joined as recently as 2007) are poles apart. So how does the EU

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ensure that it delivers a harmonised strategy that all of its members can abide by? Janez Potocnik is the current European Commissioner for the Environment at the EU and has faced a number of challenges since ascending to the post in 2009. “Designing our policies in an environmentally friendly way is one of the basic objectives of the EU – protection and improvement of the environment are important elements of the EU treaty,” says Mr. Potocnik. “Sustainable development is based on three pillars: environmental, economic and socio-economic. We need to constantly assess if these three pillars are considered in the right balance in different policy areas, such as, for example, trade, industry, energy, agriculture and many others.

“The challenge for me is to develop – together with my fellow Commissioners – policy options that can create opportunities for economic growth and environmental protection alike; the aim is for a flourishing but more resourceefficient and greener economy. This is best explained by one particular example – the proper management of waste. If waste is managed well it provides price-competitive recycled materials, significant emissions of greenhouse gases are avoided and pollution is minimised, thus helping biodiversity while creating jobs and employment.”

Attitudes towards waste management no doubt differ throughout the continent: in some countries this is a hot topic; an issue that is at the forefront of the minds of most individuals and businesses, while in others the notion of ‘managing’ waste rather than simply ‘disposing’ of it prevails. Mr. Potocnik is faced with the challenge of changing this imbalance, tackling attitudes throughout the EU and engendering a more proactive view of waste management.

“One of the biggest and most challenging steps we face is the new Waste Framework Directive. The directive lays down ‘measures to protect the environment and human health by preventing or reducing the adverse impacts of the generation and management of waste and by reducing overall impacts of resource use and improving the efficiency of such use’. This means that not only has waste management to be an environmentally acceptable process in itself but it also needs to contribute to a more efficient and ‘greener’ use of natural resources. Waste prevention and recycling are good examples of this.”

Issuing and developing an EU-wide waste directive is just the first step; implementing, managing and advertising the need to better manage waste quickly becomes the biggest challenge, reveals Mr. Potocnik. “The directive requires Member States’ waste policies to be aligned with what we call a ‘waste hierarchy’. This means that preference should be given to waste prevention, followed in descending order by preparing waste for re-use, recycling, other recovery (for example energy recovery), and disposal such as landfi ll as the last resort. The directive will become national law across the European Union by the end of this year. It should encourage a fundamental change in attitudes towards present policies in many Member States, notably those who still rely heavily on waste management with low environmental value, such as landfi lling or inefficient incineration.

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“It’s not just a matter for the authorities – every citizen can contribute to better waste management, for example by engaging in separate collection of waste for recycling. We set the frame through legislation on packaging waste, waste batteries, electronic waste and old cars. But citizens need to participate if the full environmental potential of separate waste collection schemes is to be realised.

“Last but not least is the issue of waste prevention. We are encouraging less wasteful production processes and product design. These must be complemented by less wasteful consumer attitudes. Some studies indicate that households could save hundreds of euros each year through simple changes of attitudes in purchasing food. It would be good for their budgets and would help avoid environmental damage due to unnecessary food production.”

Such a unified framework towards waste management is a nice idea in principle, but Mr. Potocnik is realistic in his aims. He knows that some member states are more proactive than others. “Producing large amounts of waste is often associated with low overall productivity of the national economy,” he says. “Simply put, the most resource efficient member states are often those which also have the most advanced waste management policy. So a thriving economy and environmentally good waste management are not only compatible, they also reinforce each other. In Germany, for example, nearly half of the copper comes from recycled scrap. This brings significant energy savings, which is good for the climate, and it avoids unnecessary mining of copper ore that may help protect bio-diversity.

“At EU level we have a comprehensive system of regulations that enables all member states to have advanced waste policies, but political will is needed if they are to be effective.

One example is the attitude to landfills: while the frontrunners have achieved zero landfi lling of untreated waste for some years now, others are still dumping over 90 percent of their secondary resources into a hole in the ground.”

“While the front-runners have achieved zero landfilling of untreated waste for some years now, others are still dumping over 90 percent of their secondary resources into a hole in the ground”

Improving attitudes While the EU’s directives are clear-cut, the commission allows some flexibility for each member state to initiate and implement its own strategies within the parameters of the

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framework, an approach that Mr. Potocnik believes allows for responsibility, freedom of choice and a fostering of trust between nations. “EU directives leave a lot of discretion to individual member states in terms of detailed implementation. This is encouraged because frame conditions vary a lot across the Union – just think of geographical conditions, climate, population density and traditional consumption patterns. However, with this freedom comes the responsibility to take EU law seriously. Take the example of bio-waste from kitchens and gardens: this waste can be extremely problematic for the climate if it is left to decompose in a landfill. On the other hand it can deliver valuable compost and bio-gas if managed well. It is remarkable to see how well some member states exploit this environmental and economic opportunity, while others do not do enough, although they all have the same EU legislation at their disposal.

“I have made it one of my priorities to work with all member states towards the best possible implementation of EU environmental legislation. For this purpose I will further encourage and support dialogue between the front-runners and those who would like to learn from their experience.

I should add that we hold over 30 meetings every year in Brussels where experts from national waste management authorities come to exchange experiences and learn from each other. Together with them we are continuously checking the legislation and, where needed, adapting and modernising it.

“But the Commission is also the guardian of the EU treaty. Where we find continuous under-performance and violation of EU law, I have to intervene. Legal proceedings are a last resort.” Although a last resort, the legal framework that the EU Environment Commission has in place is binding and should act as enough of a deterrent for every member state. However, Mr. Potocnik reveals that there are still unacceptable shortfalls throughout the Union. “Not only are the differences between the implementation and enforcement of the legislation unacceptably large – a situation which is bad for the environment – but it also distorts the competition in the internal market. The present crisis should teach us that we can no longer allow short-sighted economic solutions such as landfilling, when structurally sound long-term investments, for example in recovery and recycling schemes, produce more value, generate more jobs and are environmentally superior.”

Top priorities Since ascending to the role of EU Environment Commissioner, Mr. Potocnik has identified three main priorities that he believes could and should be tackled during his tenure, these being biodiversity, resource efficiency and implementation of EU Environment law. On the issue of biodiversity, Mr. Potocnik is eff usively positive at the potential impact increased awareness of this mandate can have.

“This year is the UN International Year of Biodiversity. In October 2010, the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 10) to the Convention on Biological Diversity will be held in Nagoya. The aim of this meeting will be to establish a global strategy to halt biodiversity loss and to agree on common targets.

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“In mid-March 2010, the European Environment Ministers agreed on a new long-term vision and mid-term headline target for biodiversity in the EU for the period beyond 2010, when the current target expires. The new target looks to ‘halt the loss of biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystem services in the EU by 2020, restore them in so far as is feasible, while stepping up the EU contribution to averting global biodiversity loss’. At the end of March, the European Council committed to this EU post-2010 vision and target and underscored the urgent need to reverse continuing trends of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation.

“Concretely, the European Commission plans to propose a post 2010 EU Biodiversity Policy by the end of 2010 or early 2011.” The decline of biodiversity in Europe is an often overlooked issue, particularly among the media and, by association, the general public, but the fact remains that biodiversity is an important issue for the continent, and one that Mr. Potocnik would like to see addressed more seriously. “In order to raise awareness about the decline in biodiversity (31 percent of Europe’s butterfly species are declining, more than 40 percent of our birds are threatened, only four percent of our natural forests remains) and what implications this may have on our lives and economies, the European Commission is running a public awareness-raising campaign. We have a website available in all EU languages [ec.europa.eu/environment/biodiversity/campaign/] and events have been or will be launched across the EU.” The issue of resource efficiency is ostensibly very simple, but one that Mr. Potocnik is aware can easily be overlooked or misunderstood. “Resource efficiency is a key part of the EU2020 strategy, which aims to transform Europe into a knowledge-based, resource-efficient economy. Simply put, it is about using less of what we have to achieve the same output, or even greater – a sort of ‘common sense revolution’. This way of thinking has to be applied to our energy consumption, our natural resources (biodiversity, clean air and water) and waste management.

“Resource efficiency is not only about environmental protection, but needs to be integrated horizontally into other EU policy areas, such as agriculture, transport, fisheries, regional policy etc. The European Commission aims to put forward a Roadmap for a Resource efficient Europe in 2011.”

The third and final priority identified by Mr. Potocnik’s commission is the implementation of EU Environment legislation and law. “The EU Environment legislation is extensive and has direct and concrete consequences on many aspects of European citizens’ lives. Some 80 percent of environmental laws that exist in EU Member States originate at EU level. We spend years negotiating between Member States before agreeing on a common direction. It is important that these agreements are followed up, and are fully and correctly implemented and enforced in all EU Member States. This is one of the tasks of the European Commission, as guardian of the Treaties. Upon a breach of EU law, the European Commission will launch an infringement procedure against the Member State that has failed to comply with EU regulations. On average, 20 percent of all infringement cases relate to breaches of EU Environment law.”

“It’s not just a matter for the authorities – every citizen can contribute to better waste management, for example by engaging in separate collection of waste for recycling”

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Waste, energy and awareness With raised awareness comes a greater scrutiny and responsibility to see through actions and plans. The EU Environment Commission certainly has the vision and the manpower in place in order to affect change, as well as the technology and cooperation of most Member States. The next challenge, believes Mr. Potocnik, lies in encouraging greater adoption of new techniques and a wider understanding of the potential of technology. “Technologies are continually developing, but there is also a need to encourage innovation and dissemination, refining known technologies and making them more widely available on the market. One example is refinements to current thermal processes like gasification and pyrolisis. Another example is bio-refineries, where thermal and biochemical processes are used to produce a wide range of chemical products from biodegradable waste, including second generation biofuels. Or there is the well-established example of anaerobic digestion technology for production of biogas. But the success of these technologies in the market may depend on the carbon market or renewable energy subsidies.

“We are also seeing considerable progress in technologies which allow for more efficient use of energy that has already been generated (co-generation, heat recovery, energy efficient devices etc.). EU legislation is facilitating their entrance to the market.”

Another technology and technique that can be easily adopted and adapted by EU Member States is the proper management of bio-waste, which is something that holds great environmental and economic opportunities, believes Mr. Potocnik. “Good management approaches [toward bio-waste] can turn a serious problem, i.e. uncontrolled climate-gas emissions, into benefits for European soils from high quality compost, renewable energy from bio-gas or combinations of both. The Commission presented its analysis with recommendations for authorities and operators a month ago. The Communication clearly shows that all the necessary legal instruments are in place, and that it is up to national authorities to make full use of them.

“Several Member States are already showing that excellent bio-waste management is possible if the law is applied correctly and rigorously. I am keen to see how this communication will be used by the different actors involved.

Our investigations confirmed that the maximum benefits are achieved when bio-waste is collected separately and not contaminated by other waste. I have asked my services to assess if legal provisions for such separate collections can be developed to further assist Member States.”

“There are three exciting steps ahead of us,” he says.

“One is the imminent review of the long-term strategic basis for our waste policy. Th is will result in a progress report on our present ‘Thematic Strategy for the Prevention and Recycling of Waste’ by the end of this year, followed by a full review in 2012. Secondly, Member States have to transpose the new Waste Framework Directive into national law by December this year. Th is is arguably one of the most modern pieces of waste management legislation in the world. It will be a big challenge and an incredible opportunity for the EU and Member States alike to make it work and reap its benefits – we foresee a 10-year process until its last measures, a new set of recycling targets, will be fully operational. The third step is a comprehensive overview of our waste legislation in the next few years. We want to be sure that we are aiming at the right problems, that we are employing the right instruments and measures and that we are setting ourselves the right targets for making the best possible contribution to greening the economy and improving Europe’s resource efficiency.”

Exciting times indeed. Tangible achievement of these aims will spur the Member States on to greater things – better awareness, more integrated policies, increased civilian participation and the realisation of a greener future for all. There is still a long way to go, but Mr. Potocnik is happy with the strides that have been made. “Over the last decade or so, the EU waste management industry has been a major success story,” he concludes. “It has provided continuous growth when many other sectors were struggling. I hope that this positive trend will continue – what could be more indicative of a greening economy than a sector that is thriving because it contributes to better environmental protection and better management of natural resources? I see a very dynamic future for this sector – it will probably evolve from ‘simply’ managing the waste that others are producing into one of the key players when it comes to managing the overall life cycle of material and energy resources. For this it will be necessary to establish a level playing field on the internal market as well as internationally.

“There must be fair competition between primary and secondary resources, giving full credit to the environmental benefits created by re-use, recycling and recovery. I believe that the key elements for this process are in place; my hope is that together we will make best use of them.”

Fast Facts The EU disposes of three billion tonnes of waste annually, 90 million tonnes of which are hazardous (source: Eurostat statistics) This equates to approximately six tonnes of solid waste per year for every man, woman and child (source: Eurostat statistics) 10% – the increase in waste generated in Europe between 1990 and 1995 (source: OECD) Estimates by the OECD predict that the EU will produce 45% more waste in 2020 than it did in 1995 67% of waste is either burned in incinerators or dumped in landfill sites rather than managed appropriately (source: EU Commission) Municipal waste generation in Germany and The Netherlands fell in the 1990s, and continues to fall today (source: EU Commission)

The future With such a clear set of goals for the EU’s waste management progress and biodiversity awareness, Mr. Potocnik can be rightly proud and excited about what the coming years hold. Greater Member States’ awareness is a perpetual goal, but the signs are that all nations within the EU are keen to pull together to help implement EU Environment legislation and improve their green credentials. There is still work to do, however, before Mr. Potocnik is fully satisfied.

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BUILDING BRIDGES The Western Balkan region suffered massive infrastructural damage during the troubles of the 1990s. Even today there is still much work to be done, but great strides have been made already, as Ian Clover discovered.

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hat familiar sound of chinking cutlery and background chatter fi lls the air all along the picturesque embankment of the Ljubljanica River, which winds its pretty path through the historic heart of Ljubljana, the capital city of Slovenia. The local literati mingle contentedly with wealthy German, French and Italian tourists on the plazas of the numerous cafes f and restaurants that vie for custom along the riverbank. The distant horizon is formed of dazzling snow-peaked mountains, while the imposing Ljubljana Castle looms large from a hilltop over the city, at once charming and peaceful, yet also hinting at a tumultuous past.

Thus far undiscovered by the invading hordes of stag weekenders, Ljubljana’s old world charm, beautifully kept squares, mountain backdrop and laid-back, bohemian atmosphere is reminiscent of Prague perhaps 30 years ago. Quaint yet modern, this stunning city is a testament to its inhabitants and its geographical location. Its progressive residents have helped to forge a national GDP that is among the highest in south eastern Europe; no mean feat when one considers just how close the country came to all-out war with its neighbours less than 20 years ago.

Today, Slovenia remains the only former Yugoslav country to be granted EU entry, having been admitted in 2004. Prior to the troubles in the Balkan region in the early 1990s, Slovenia was seen as the most likely to thrive and prosper. Independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFR Yugoslavia) was declared in June 1991 and – but for the brief interferences by the Yugoslav army in Slovenia’s Ten-Day War – the country escaped pretty much unscathed from the catastrophic fallout of the ensuing war in (the former) Yugoslavia.

However, peace in Slovenia became the exception to the rule. By the summer of 1991, a series of confl icts were sparking up throughout the Western Balkans region hundreds of kilometres to the immediate south. The entire area (now comprised of Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and parts of Macedonia and Albania) imploded along ethnic and nationalistic lines; Europe and the EU turned its back on the belligerents, and NATO was brought in to try to bring peace and stability to the region, often with disastrous consequences as fire was fought with fi re across the land.

While Ljubljana dodged the damage, other cities of a similar character and size were not so lucky. Sarajevo, Belgrade, Zagreb, Dubrovnik and Mostar all suffered heavy infrastructural damage throughout the war, forever altering their landscape and severely hindering their economic capabilities after the wars ended. Smaller towns were incapacitated; road and rail networks destroyed and, perhaps most iconically, Mostar’s Old Bridge was obliterated: images of its rubble-strewn foundations severing the city’s two sides became a powerful symbol of a formerly united region at war with itself.

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Road to recovery We live in relatively trouble-free times today. While Kosovan spats continue to niggle sporadically, the rest of the region has set about rebuilding, restructuring and, while not quite reuniting, at least displaying some degree of harmony and collaboration.

Much of this harmony has been as a result of better economic stability thanks to the aid efforts of a number of banks and organisations that have been instrumental in assisting the region’s recovery.

One such bank is Germany’s KfW Entwicklungsbank which, along with the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), has delivered not just fi nancial aid but a guiding hand to the region since the troubles first subsided in the mid 1990s. “Jointly with the EBRD and the EIB we offer longterm fi nancing and, because we are an AAA-rated bank, we combine this financing with a very strong support network and implementation support for infrastructure projects,” says Roland Siller, First Vice President at KfW. “So our support is not all about fi nance; it is also about technical assistance and knowledge transfer.”

By 1995 the Yugoslav troubles had dissipated enough to allow and enable foreign aid to reach the region safely. The immediate aftermath of the war was an immensely critical time – wounds were raw, emotions were high and one false move by any authority, politician or official body could have easily reignited the fragile truce that had tentatively settled across the beautiful but battered Balkan landscape in the weeks and months immediately after guns were downed. “Foreign aid to the region peaked twice,” reveals Asteris Huliaris, Professor in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Peloponnese in Greece, and a noted scholar on the Balkan region. “First in the 1995 to 1997 period – when a significant amount of assistance was given to Bosnia, and secondly in 2001-2 after NATO bombings had severely damaged Kosovo.”

Huliaris reveals that development assistance for the Balkans between 1995 and 2006 ranged between €6 to €6.5 billion per year. “In Bosnia for the fi rst three years after 1995, foreign aid received by the locals was approximately $1400 per head, which is higher than any other figure for national state building projects since WWII. Th is money largely went on rebuilding much of the infrastructure that was destroyed by the bombing, with humanitarian expertise instrumental in ensuring the money reached its intended recipients.”

The situation in the immediate aftermath of the war was bleak. Europe was faced with its greatest humanitarian disaster since the Second World War, with thousands of displaced refugees without homes, running water, electricity or hope. “At KfW, we started with emergency help right after the war,” continues Siller. “Th is entailed rehabilitating the major infrastructure of all of the countries that comprise the Western Balkans. Initially this meant ensuring that the water supply was turned back on and remained stable for

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the full 24 hours a day, and then it developed into more structured investments.”

WORK IN PROGRESS

Infrastructure investment Since that first post-war cleanup and calming period, the Western Balkans region has hit a number of roadblocks on its path to recovery, but has also overcome just as many hurdles and attained a great number of successes. “Our assistance in the region developed over time into a focus on three main issues,” says Siller. “One is municipal infrastructure in the environmental area, such as water sewerage and solid waste management. The second area that the KfW is focusing on is renewable energy and the challenges of rebuilding and integrating the regional electricity market.

“In Bosnia we have, for instance, invested in new hydro power plants and in a new wind farm. Finally, we offer support for micro enterprises and SME-development via the banking sector.”

Working as part of the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF), KfW have entered into a number of collaborative efforts with the EBRD, the EIB and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help bring stability and prosperity back to the Western Balkans. Following the initial focus on shoring up the countries’ existing infrastructure, the WBIF has pooled and coordinated various sources of finance (in the form of leveraged loans and grants) and expertise for ‘priority projects’ in the region, which include supporting SMEs and investing in energy efficiency.

At the launch of the WBIF, Olli Rehn, European Commissioner for Enlargement, remarked: “In turbulent times, the EU’s enlargement process provides an anchor of stability to the countries of the Western Balkans. The EU stands by the region to help it alleviate the impact of the economic crisis. The Western Balkans Investment Framework is a tangible demonstration of this joint effort to support the integration and the economic recovery of the region as it will pool together resources for priority infrastructure projects.” The European Commission has so far allocated €110 million in funding for municipal infrastructure projects in the region, in addition to invaluable man hours of technical assistance and expertise. EU Member States are invited to donate, and the various banks involved in the joint frameworks for the region have devised a number of strategies for the careful apportioning of aid and expertise to those countries most in need of it.

“There are a number of joint programmes that KfW and other banks are involved in where it makes sense to share risk,” says Siller. “We co-finance bigger projects with the EIB and EBRD, and have just put together a ‘Green for Growth Fund’, an energy-efficiency framework with the EIB and European Commission, where we also invite private investors to invest. Another project we are cofi nancing with the EIB is a major investment in the port infrastructure of Zadar in Croatia.”

The EU’s involvement in the Western Balkans is an encouraging and clear indication to countries such as Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia that accession to the Union is achievable and something that should be

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Bosnia and Herzegovina In the immediate aftermath of the war, it soon became apparent that Bosnia and Herzegovina was the most widely devastated region, losing most of its existing transport network and suffering extensive damage to residential areas. Even today, the number of residential dwellings is below 1991 levels.

Bosnia has much work to do on its transportation infrastructure, while Herzegovina’s only rail connections are with Serbia.

Serbia The bulk of Serbia’s damage was inflicted upon the country’s bridges and institutional buildings, but the Serbian government has grand plans for its transportation corridors, which it sees as the lifeblood for a reinvigorated economy and infrastructure. It has earmarked €4 billion for its infrastructure, with €1.6 billion to be spent on road networks and €1.1 billion to be spent on its rail networks over the next four years.

Croatia Many of Croatia’s cities and towns escaped widespread damage, so the country has been able to focus its efforts on repairing its damaged transport network and infrastructure, boosted by EU, public and private funds.

Kosovo Massive amounts of foreign aid was ploughed into Kosovo between 1999-2004, totalling $3.1 billion altogether. Today, residential housing remains a problem, as does general utility infrastructure, such as water, electricity and sanitation.

Albania There is no rail line connecting Albania to its neighbouring Balkan countries.

However, the country is on course to complete its section of a four-lane highway connecting Kosovo and Albania to the region’s main road network.

This investment is costing €1.4 billion.

Montenegro The EU has invested more than €131 million in Montenegro’s infrastructure in the past few years, with the country’s road network receiving the bulk of the funds.

Other recipients will be local authorities and several government departments.

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ECONOMIC CRISIS

D

espite the vast quantities of funding that have been ploughed into the region, the economic crisis has, inevitably, had a negative impact upon the financial aid finding its way to the Western Balkans. A recent lack of funding has hindered the simultaneous construction of road, rail and air projects, hindering the region’s ability to generate a truly harmonised transport network. When times are tight, it is only natural for governments’ stimulus plans to focus more internally, and the Western Balkans is no different.

However, an improved transport network for the Western Balkans would increase the region’s collective GDP, create jobs and help offset the high trade balance deficits that currently damage the region’s ability to trade on a level playing field. It would also help to attract tourists and improve social mobility – key indicators of a progressive and stable society. The global

financial crisis has slowed investment into the country, but awareness remains strong; as does the will to assist wherever possible. Integration into the EU is not only sought by the states of the Western Balkans, but by the EU itself. “The Balkans are part of Europe, geographically, culturally, historically, economically, in fact in every way you care to think,” wrote EU Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik in Eurozine earlier this year. “The fact is that all Balkan countries would today be members of the European Union had the recent terrible war in the region been avoided. But it was not. It happened, and it is a reminder to all of us of how fragile Europe, and especially this region, still is.”

strived for. Currently, Croatia is the front-runner thanks to the great strides its infrastructural and political landscape has made since the end of the troubles. “Croatia is certainly much more advanced than a good part of the rest of the Western Balkans,” admits Siller. “I think they still need more investment on their larger infrastructure. They are well-placed to be admitted to the EU in the coming years.

However, for us at KfW Development Bank, our focus has now switched to those countries that are still a little way off accession, countries like Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania and even Kosovo, who may be looking at 2020 before being granted entry to the EU.”

Corruption concerns So what could be holding these countries back from EU membership? Billions of euros have been spent on roads, railways, electricity and water supply, schools, TV and phone lines and other areas of infrastructural importance in the region, yet there remains a very real problem of corruption at some governmental levels. “Much of the aid to the Western Balkans has been wasted,” reveals Huliaris.

“Money that was meant for development assistance has been either embezzled by corrupt officials or was badly coordinated in the first place and hampered by bureaucracy.

“In 1998, the Office of the High Representative, which oversaw the initial stages of Bosnia’s reconstruction, created an investigative unit that discovered that at least $20 million in aid intended for the rebuilding of public buildings was embezzled by corrupt officials from all ethnic groups. And in 2005, it was revealed that $11 million from the USA meant for the support of national redevelopment in Montenegro’s electricity grid was diverted to overseas accounts. Again in June 2008, the United Nations taskforce on EU-fi nanced operations in Kosovo found evidence of extensive theft, corruption and widespread breaches of contract totalling $80 million.”

Despite the relatively recent fi ndings of corruption in 2008, Huliaris is positive that lessons have been learnt and

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FACT: Today, the income of the average Croatian is double the income of the average Serb and four times higher than the income of the average Albanian

Above: The Croatian national bank

foreign aid is now not only making it through to its intended recipients, but that the countries of the Western Balkans are acting more responsibly and transparently than ever before. After all, if EU accession is their aim, they realise that they had better start toeing the line. “Donors have learnt from their mistakes. The administrative capacity has gradually improved. Corruption – while still a problem – can be overcome by better aid monitoring and evaluation.

In Bosnia for example, there is the Peace Implementation Council, which is a group of 59 countries and international organisations that provide short humanitarian and construction assistance, sets objectives, monitors progress and establishes benchmarks. A similar programme offers guidance and oversight in Kosovo too so, although belatedly, the problems of poor coordination and application are being addressed and overcome.”

One problem that has emerged from such intense investment, involvement and attention on the region is that of ‘enlargement fatigue’, better known as aid dependence.

Countries like Bosnia, Albania and Kosovo have an entrenched mindset and way of doing things that has been forged by decades of striving for independence, decades behind the Iron Curtain and the recent troubles at the turn of the Millennium. Such a fractious history has engendered a different mentality from those in the rest of Europe, and as a result the influx of aid and investment has had an impact on the people there. “Bosnia and Kosovo have been suffering from aid dependency, without a doubt,” remarks Huliaris. “They have found it increasingly difficult to cope with fewer grants and reduced free access to aid.”

Such dependence on fi nancial assistance has led to high unemployment rates in the region, particularly in Bosnia where jobless figures stand at 45 percent. Old Socialist mentalities prevail; State help is expected and the relationship between working hard and a better quality of life is skewed. However, there are signs that the people of the Western Balkans are taking on board the lessons and expertise being cast their way by foreign investors.

30/07/2010 14:30

CONSTRUCTION

52

Construction began in 1557 and took nine years The Old Bridge stood for 427 years, until it was destroyed on November 9, 1993

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he beautiful Old Bridge in Mostar had stood for centuries in the heart of the town in the Herzegovina region of the Balkans before it was bombed in 1993. In 1999, a project to rebuild and restore the Old Bridge to its former grandeur was implemented, jointly ďŹ nanced by the EBRD and via sizeable donations from Spain (who had a large contingent of peacekeeping troops in the town during the troubles). The project was completed in the spring of 2004 and the bridge reopened in July of that year.

REBUILDING THE MOSTAR BRIDGE

Reconstruction commenced on June 7, 2001

In 1999 the World Monuments Fund formed a coalition to oversee the reconstruction

The reconstructed bridge was inaugurated on July 23, 2004

Balkan Blues 52

30/07/2010 14:30

CONSTRUCTION 53

“There is a lot of entrepreneurial spirit in the Balkans,” says Huliaris. “If you travel throughout the region you will be surprised by just how much people are trying to make a living by devising personal strategies for survival and economic stability.

Siller agrees. “We have invested in building up subbands of investment like the Pro-Credit network or the European Fund for South East Europe (EFSE), and we can see that there have been strong changes in small and midsize companies building up. However,” he warns, “I would still say that the infrastructure for these companies is not at a level that we would like. There is still much to be done.”

KfW Entwicklungsbank (the German Development Bank) Acting on behalf of the German federal government, KfW Entwicklungsbank finances investment and advisory services in developing countries. It generally works together with government institutions in the countries concerned. Its aim is to build up and expand a social and economic infrastructure and to create efficient financial institutions while protecting resources and ensuring a healthy environment.

Modern marvels Change in the Western Balkans has been impressive, frustrating, dramatic, bedevilled and sweeping since the end of the troubles. The goal of EU membership seems very real for Croatia, while the other countries in the region know that they have some way to go before that dream can become a reality. Political stability and peace have been largely achieved. Prosperity is next on the agenda. “I think we need to be a bit more modest in what we ask for from the region,” says Siller. “The changes that have occurred so far – political stability being the main one – have been quite dramatic. But there is still some way to go. We have, for instance, begun programmes on municipal infrastructure such as water and sewerage in Serbia’s secondary cities – this level of regional focus is very important.

“It is the same situation for Albania: KfW is working on a large programme, co-fi nanced by the EU and other investors, on water infrastructure. A third example I could give is on energy, where we are fi nancing a €70 million programme for the first wind farm for Bosnia. There will be a transmission line from Albania to Kosovo, delivering a truly regional project for the energy community in southeast Europe. Having the same standards of energy, water and transport infrastructure in every country in the region is really important.”

Region-wide projects such as these take time. A political climate that is steady helps, as does the continued investment of European banks, the EU and private benefactors. Corruption is being tackled on a daily basis, and mentalities within the Balkan nations are slowly but surely coming around to a more enterprising way of thinking.

“There is certainly a good amount of knowledge there that we can build upon,” says Siller. “At KfW we have a lot of experience in helping municipalities, and in the Balkans we are experiencing a gradual increase in the quality of management of the services and a reduction in technical and administrative losses. For instance, in the programme we have in Serbia we have instilled competitive elements, so if a company is successful in reducing its technical losses, it receives a higher investment in the second term of our programme. So that helps increase professionalism, plus we have engineers on hand to offer support, which is very well received by the institutions. Tendering for projects is better than ever too, so we can be sure that the money gets to where it should go.”

Balkan Blues 53

If you visit Sarajevo or Belgrade, you will be surprised by the lack of reminders of the war in the 1990s. All of the buildings have been renovated.

Bridges have been repaired. Tourism is back

Increased professionalism and transparency is helping the Balkan nations to help themselves. With infrastructural progress steady, cultural and political modernisation is following suit. “I think the Balkans are changing in ways that are not always apparent in statistics,”’ says Huliaris.

“For example, if you visit Sarajevo or Belgrade, you will be surprised by the lack of reminders of the war in the 1990s.

All of the buildings have been renovated. Bridges have been repaired. Tourism is back. The Balkans were, even before the war, portrayed as the Th ird World of Europe, which led to the creation of the term ‘Balkanisation’. Th is is no longer correct. The region is improving spectacularly.”

The reasons behind such rapid improvement are manifold, and foreign aid and investment has played a massive part in modernising the countries affected by the war, enabling citizens to pursue their goals and dreams unhindered, just like their fellow Europeans. “You now have more accountable institutions,” concludes Huliaris.

“You have democracy. In almost all of the states the media is freer than ever. A number of well-educated people are returning from the rest of Europe as the economic crisis has forced them home. Economic policies have improved.

Foreign aid policies are better. For example, in Kosovo recently 120,000 houses were rebuilt with the minimum of fuss. Refugees have come back. Serbia’s infrastructure has been improved dramatically. Sarajevo is like a different place – even those who have lived there for decades remark at just how much the situation has improved.”

There is still some way to go for Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Albania. Public infrastructure is still in need of investment; road and rail links between the countries need improving, as do relationships; brain drain is still an issue in some of the countries; and ethnic tensions remain. That being said, a more prosperous region, with more economic equality, will lead to greater harmony and collaboration, which can only help ease future tensions and set every nation on the path towards the promised land of EU membership. The EU’s Foreign Affairs Chief, Catherine Ashton, said recently in a statement: “Integrating the Western Balkans into the European family of nations remains one of the last challenges to building a democratic and unified Europe.”

Music, no doubt, to the ears of the millions in the region who still remember the all-too recent horrors of the last war, and the hopelessness of a situation that looks to have a bright future over the not-too distant horizon.

30/07/2010 14:30

54

EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW

Connected professionals produce better results Dr. Ing Stefano Mainero explains why connecting professionals together is important to accomplish innovative results.

Why did you decide to set up a consultancy that is also a professionals network?

Stefano Mainero. I have been working in European projects for 15 years and I’ve found that working together with professionals who possess different cultural backgrounds and experiences makes everyone grow faster.

One of my main expertises is Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), a transport discipline that appeared during the mid-1980s as Road Transport and Traffic Telematics (RTTT) and evolved into ITS one decade later. At that time ITS was concerned only with solutions for traffic infrastructures. In this century, ITS was seen also as a tool to improve air quality and road safety. Today, ITS includes new services for travellers and communications between vehicles and road infrastructures to enhance safety. There are also psychological studies on how ITS influences drivers’ behaviour.

As we see, experts in different topics can now sit together to work on an ITS project, which was impossible to foresee 25 years ago. A professionals network helps to fi nd the right skills at the right time for a specific project. Th is generates an economy of scale.

How does belonging to a Professionals Network give added value to individuals as well as companies?

SM. Each of us has a number of friends and acquaintances that work in different fields. The same happens to organisations that have their own relationships, either commercial or technical. When someone has got a question to ask, a topic to discuss, a partner to look for, usually they go fi rst to their closer circle of connections. If they belong to a Network, such as EPN Consulting, they can ask whether these requests can be satisfied by some members. If nobody is able to do it, then the Network will search for solutions among its 2nd or 3rd level of connections, which increases exponentially the chances of success.

Does a professionals network help to prepare European projects and national/international calls for tenders?

SM. Sure. For example, EPN Consulting is a not only a professionals network but also a consulting fi rm. One of its services is assisting clients in preparing European projects proposals and helping them to manage project activities once it is approved for funding and kicked-off.

There are basically four situations companies can be in: i) they have innovative ideas but lack partners; ii) they

EPN.indd 54

have partners but not ideas; iii) they have both partners and ideas but not the time nor skills to prepare the proposal and, finally, iv) they would like to participate because they have innovative ideas/products but don’t know how to proceed.

Each of these cases can be tackled more easily if they are part of a network. In particular, EPN Consulting could help them to fi nd tailored solutions.

The same applies to call for tenders. Larger bids are divided into lots and each lot covers a specific topic (ITS, Telecommunications, ICT, etc.). Within EPN Consulting it is easier to fi nd the right partner(s) for the right lot.

Conversely, EPN Consulting informs members about new calls for European projects and/or bid opportunities that individuals and companies may not be aware of.

How can a professionals network deliver innovation?

SM. When professionals are inter-connected they can be easily contacted by other members or their acquaintances.

Innovation is the act of introducing a new idea or concept; when ideas are shared among professionals with different cultural background they can be discussed and improved.

The fact that comparing different solutions to fi nd the one that will meet all requirements will introduce a harmonisation that didn’t exist before. Th is is innovation.

EPN Consulting fi rmly believes in networking and its consulting service greatly benefits from expertise and suggestions coming from all members.

Dr. Ing Stefano Mainero is Founder and Managing Director of EPN Consulting, The European Professionals Network. He has 15 years’ experience in consultancy on European projects and Intelligent Transport Systems, helping private companies and public organisations to solve their issues by promoting innovation.

30/07/2010 14:44

INNOVATIVE NETWORK OF PROFESSIONALS | CONSULTANCY | BUSINESS HUB

• Different Cultural Backgrounds Put Together • Different Expertise Merged and Complemented • Promoting Lateral Thinking To Find Bright Solutions • Focused to Europe To Value Commonalities and Differences

Innovative Network of Professionals

European Projects • Consortium Building • Ideas Evaluation • Proposal and Budget Preparation • Project Management, Coordination and Dissemination • Partnership ITS & Sustainable Transport • Road Transport • Public Transport • Multi-modal Transport • Logistics Innovation • Methodologies • Procedures • Technologies • Products Knowledge Transfer • Communication Methodologies • Business Management • Productivity Enhancement • Resources Optimisation

Consultancy

Business Hub • Raising Awareness • Promoting Expertise • Exchanging Know-How • Generating New Business Opportunities

Business Hub

BE CONNECTED. BE CONTACTED JOIN EPN CONSULTING

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EPN Consulting Limited Portland House | Stag Place | London | SW1E 5RS | United Kingdom Tel.: +44 (0) 207 869 8015 Fax: +44 (0) 207 869 8001

Email: inforequest@EPNconsulting.eu Web: www.EPNconsulting.eu

30/07/2010 14:34

TRANSPORT FOCUS

56

EURO VISION Raimund Desalla, Commercial Head of Directorate for Central and Eastern Europe at STRABAG speaks to EU Infrastructure about the challenges involved in knitting the continent together through large-scale construction projects.

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here have been numerous attempts to bring Europe together over the past few decades.

As a former warring, disparate and occasionally fiercely independent corner of the globe, the challenges of uniting this kaleidoscope of nations have been great and wide-ranging.

There have been a few successes – the European and monetary union (largely, anyway), the ability to get by in the de facto lingua franca of English, and the unfathomable hysteria generated by part-time talent show rejects given their 15 minutes of fame at the annual Eurovision Song Contest – but the continent is still some way off a United States of Europe.

However, in terms of physical, tangible cooperation, there have been a number of successes. Motorists can now drive comfortably from the depths of Deptford in England to the French Riviera with barely any problems, save for a bit of queuing at Dover and the occasional erratically driven Citroen C2V swerving comically into a beret-wear-

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TRANSPORT FOCUS 57

ing gentleman on a bicycle adding stereotypical hazards to their journey. Low-cost air carriers serve every corner of the continent with impressive ease and regularity, and the high-speed rail network is spreading across Europe at a remarkably seamless pace.

One of the companies heavily involved in the construction of much of Europe’s transport infrastructure is STRABAG, where they are proving instrumental in modernising and integrating the road network of Eastern and Central Europe. Countries such as Poland, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria are benefiting hugely from their recent accession to the European Union, and public-private partnerships (PPP) are proving the catalysts for these countries’ transport networks, bringing them in line with much of their western neighbours on the continent. “We have a young and growing PPP segment to our business,” says Raimund Desalla, Commercial Head of Directorate for Central and Eastern Europe at STRABAG. “There are currently 29 projects under our jurisdiction, which include the large A2 motorway section II in Poland and a number of mini-projects totalling €7 million.”

Desalla is convinced that PPP projects are not only a great business initiative for construction companies, but that they are also invaluable in raising the infrastructural standards of countries that have lagged behind the rest of the continent for decades. “PPP will be increasingly important as a public sector procurement method for companies, but also in the assistance and creation of large motorway projects, including those in Poland, Hungary and Ireland, which we are currently involved in.”

Collaborative actions Strong partnerships are essential in the construction industry, so a jointly funded initiative that has the capital backing of the government and the expertise, capital and contacts of the top-bidding companies will ensure that all projects are completed to the highest specifications.

“With PPP, the client and the contractor work together as partners,” explains Desalla. “The introduction of joint controlling and the early inclusion of the contractor in the planning phase helps to minimise the risk for both parties while also raising security in terms of quality, costs and deadline.”

In Poland, modernisation of the country’s road and rail network has been a priority for the Polish government and the European Union for some time. As one of the larger countries in Europe, and the gateway between Germany and Russia, Poland’s importance as a transport hub has grown dramatically in the past few years. The need for growth and modernisation is, therefore, paramount for a fully connected Europe. “The largest project in our company’s history is currently taking place in Poland,” says Desalla. “Section II of the A2 motorway is our chief project right now, with an investment volume of €1.6 billion, which dwarfs the level of investment we are putting into projects in Denmark, Germany, Italy and Ireland.”

Elsewhere in Eastern Europe, STRABAG has recently opened the M6/M60 motorway in Hungary, adding an

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extra-efficient thoroughfare linking northern Europe with the Balkan states and the Adriatic Sea.

Environmental concerns As one of the largest construction companies in the world, STRABAG has a distinct responsibility to give due consideration to the environmental impact the company’s projects have throughout Europe and beyond. “We are working on a number of projects within and outside of Europe,” explains Desalla. “We are building in Abu Dhabi and elsewhere beyond the Central and Eastern European region, including skyscrapers in The Netherlands and large projects in Russia, so of course environmental and sustainability matters are a cause for consideration in all we do.

“One of the things we have been looking at is the fostering of the construction of buildings that operate in an environmentally friendly manner and produce low levels of emissions. The successful implementation of this strategy is evident in the certifications that we have already received for a number of the buildings we have constructed, including the Z-two office building in Stuttgart, which won the silver certification and is one of the first buildings in Germany to be certified according to sustainability criteria.

“Another arm of our business – and something that is important throughout the whole of Europe – is our commitment to investing in environmentally friendly projects such as offshore wind facilities, establishing business units that promote these projects. We also conduct intense research in the fields of sustainable materials.”

Europe-wide concerns over the environment are well documented. Sustainability targets are regularly set by the EU Commission, so the notion that all nations are able to work together in order to reduce their carbon emissions is an important one for the continued strength of a united Europe.

Desalla is acutely aware that, no matter where their next project, it is important for construction companies to heed Europe-wide governances on environmental targets. “In terms of resources, we have a comparably dense network of our own raw materials: we are self-sufficient by 80 percent in asphalt production, and approximately 40 percent in concrete.” Such self-sufficiency ensures that the company can bid for projects throughout the continent safe in the knowledge that all environmental concerns regarding the sourcing of materials have already been taken into consideration, which not only aids efficiency but is also a far more accurate indicator at the planning and bidding stage.

Whether physical, political or ideological, a strong and united Europe is getting ever closer. Better integration and harmonisation of the roads, rail and aviation is key to ensuring that ideas, proposals and political agendas – which include issues concerning sustainability and the environment – can be delivered to the required standard.

Eastern Europe is playing catch up, but there is a discernable diligence across the continent that should ensure a more balanced, even-footed Europe is closer to reality with every passing day.

“PPP will be increasingly important as a public sector procurement method for companies, but also in the assistance and creation of large motorway projects, including those in Poland, Hungary and Ireland”

30/07/2010 15:00

58

POLAND FOCUS

Poland’s road and rail infrastructure has a major task on its hands in order to be up to the job of ensuring the European Championships of 2012 are a logistical success, discovers EU Infrastructure.

One of a few roads linking Poland to the Ukraine

W

hile the rest of the world has been devouring the footballing feast served up by the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Poland – their team absent from the tournament – has been quietly busying itself in preparation for the next festival of football, the European Championships of 2012, jointly hosted by Ukraine and Poland.

Sentiment towards the two former Soviet States has been universally benevolent and supportive, yet there have been signs in recent months that the traditional western worries of inefficient construction and unrealistic governmental goals will combine to delay and hinder the countries’ preparations. Poland has received plenty of financial investment since both its accession to the EU and it being awarded the tournament, yet there are still some nagging concerns that the country’s road, rail and aviation infrastructure is not of sufficient standard to cope with the influx of fans that such a global spectacle inevitably attracts.

However, precedent tells us that nations get the job done by hook or by crook: Athens was bedevilled with the same accusations prior to the Olympics in 2004 but hosted the games splendidly; this year, there were very real con-

Polish Feature 58

cerns that South Africa’s stadia and infrastructure would not be ready in time for the World Cup, yet everything went swimmingly. Besides, beyond the European Championships, Poland has a number of other reasons to modernise, not least because a fully harmonised and integrated transport network with the rest of Europe will enable the country to fully realise its potential as an important hub and commerce link between east and west.

On the road

Model and subsequent construction of the National stadium in Warsaw

One of the main infrastructural projects currently under construction in Poland is the A2 motorway, which is a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) enterprise between the Polish government and Austria’s STRABAG construction company that is being funded by the European Investment Bank (EIB). “The funding that Poland has received from the EIB, especially the €1 billion for the 105km of the western part of the A2 motorway, has been significantly helpful,” says Senior Construction Analyst for PMR Consultants, Bartlomiej Sosna. “Without fi nancial assistance from the EIB, the concessionaire would have serious problems with project fi nancing. Other PPP projects have been delayed because of a lack of funding, including a 180km section

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POLAND FOCUS 59

of the A1 motorway that will no longer be ready in time for Euro 2012. However, the A2 is, I’m happy to report, on schedule.”

Poland’s road infrastructure is undergoing a rapid overhaul as the country strives to hit its deadlines for Euro 2012 and improve its appalling road safety record, where road deaths are double the EU average. Bullish pledges by the government that they are going to construct 3,000km of highways in time for the championships do not help in managing expectations, but Sosna is confident that things are moving, smoothly, in the right direction. “At present there is approximately 770km of motorways and expressways under construction tilted 55 percent in favour of expressways. Between 2006 and 2009 that figure was somewhere between 400-500km, so there has been a defi nite uplift. In recent years the tendering process has fi nally been streamlined, the results of which will be seen come 2012 and the European Championships.”

Potential is slowly being realised, but there is still some way to go, warns Sosna. “There is still approximately 3,000km of expressways to be built [only 650km currently exists], while the national PKP Polish Railway group has encountered a number of problems with project preparation and co-fi nancing. Some sections of the country’s rail infrastructure are undergoing modernisation at the moment, but it is only a real small percentage compared to the initial plans that were drawn up immediately after Poland was awarded Euro 2012.”

The EU will have to ensure that there is a continued effort to aid construction and modernisation even after Euro 2012, because although there has been clear improvement already, a number of essential projects are unlikely to be completed in time, with completion dates for a number of the rail and road projects expected around 2015. It is important that no impetus is lost in the immediate aftermath of the competition.

Taking flight In terms of aviation, however, Poland is most definitely on track. Ambitious plans for expansion and modernisation throughout a number of the country’s airports have been well implemented in a realistic and considered manner. “The situation with Poland’s aviation infrastructure is rather good,” says Sosna. “A predicted increase in the number of fl ights coming in to the country means that many terminals would, at current levels, run out of capacity capability very soon, but expansion projects have been prepared well in advance and the whole process has been advancing well, thanks in part to the added pressure Euro 2012 has brought.”

The severe winter of 2010 slowed the speed of construction throughout Eastern Europe, with Poland particularly hard-hit. Resulting delays have slowed the sector’s growth to just 4-5 percent, but there is still optimism throughout the industry that Poland is robust enough, proud enough and ambitious enough to hit its targets, put on a good show in 2012 and continue to grow and modernise long after the fans and the football have gone home.

Polish Feature 59

OUT OF AFRICA After the Vuvuzelas were packed away, the triumphant Spanish waved off to Madrid with the World Cup safely stowed, and the thousands of fans, TV crews, street vendors and various dignitaries whisked back home, what did the World Cup leave South Africa with, aside from a few memories of that glorious four weeks of football-fuelled fun?

Stadia: The stadiums for the 2010 South Africa World Cup were completed €203 million over budget, with the host cities picking up the additional expense. Durban’s 56,000-seater World Cup Stadium was completed at the behest of FIFA just a few hundred metres from the existing Kings Park Stadium, which, despite holding 50,000, did not meet FIFA requirements.

Throughout the country it is a similar story – gleaming new stadiums that looked great during the tournament now run n the very real risk of becoming expensive white elephants if a use cannot be found for them.

Transport: President Zuma claims that 33 billion rand (€3.3 billion) was spent on transport infrastructure, telecommunications and stadia, although more than a third was spent on the latter. The main highways between the larger cities that hosted World Cup games have been improved, as have some sections of the rail network, but there is still much work to do throughout the rest of the country.

Construction: The World Cup created an extra 6,000 jobs in the construction sector, but the future situation for many thousands of workers is not so positive: unions are predicting high unemployment in the coming months. Optimists, however, point to the fact that thousands of previously inexperienced workers can now add ‘Helped to build the World Cup stadia’ to their barren CVs.

Reputation: What the World Cup of 2010 really achieved for South Africa was the sweeping away of previously held notions that the country is awash with gun crime and violence. A peaceful and happy tournament has changed that perception, so much so that Johannesburg’s Grant Thornton Strategic Solutions anticipates an extra 2.2 million tourists will visit the country over the next five years, all d Cup. Cup on the back of the successful World

30/07/2010 14:36

ASK THE EXPERT

60

Tunnels ahead Integrated motorway management equipment supports ensuring safety of the road users on Hungary’s first tunnel chain”, says Zoltán Pap.

C

oncluded on 21 November 2007, the Concession Agreement includes the financing, construction, operation and maintenance of the M6/M60 Motorway within the framework of a Public Private Partnership. A special feature of the 80km M6/ M60 Motorway is the tunnel chain, which is unique in Hungary and consists of four tunnels with viaducts between, totalling a length of more than 5km.

The concession company (shareholders Strabag AG, Colas SA, John Laing Infrastructure and Intertoll-Europe) successfully delivered this section of motorway in Hungary to a very stringent programme by the end of March 2010. Th is achievement was made possible by all stakeholders participating in the efforts to deliver their respective share, including the public sector participation.

The implementation of the tunnel chain, taking into account the total length of tunnels and viaducts, site conditions and lack of local staff with relevant experience, represented a challenge from both a construction and an operational point. The special purpose operations company established for this project, Mecsek Autópálya Üzemeltető (established by Intertoll, Colas and Strabag), has a dual role: to deliver the motorway and tunnel management systems, and routine operations of the project road.

Intertoll.indd 60

The operational activity on the open road is similar to other Hungarian motorways and includes routine and ad hoc maintenance works and winter operational tasks in which Intertoll has decades of international experience. The major challenge was the operations and maintenance of the tunnel chain.

The centre of the tunnel operations is the control room in the Operations and Maintenance Centre located in Bátaszék. Th is room, with the state-of-the-art video wall and central control units, is the nerve centre of the tunnel operations. The operations controllers are on duty in the control room on a 24/7 basis, 365 days of the year, monitoring the tunnel traffic and the technical status of equipment ready to intervene to safeguard the road users and infrastructure, if required. To ensure their support, road patrols and a team of system technicians, electricians and repairmen is also available.

Based on a pre-determined emergency plan; in the event of an emergency automatic sequences shall start the necessary control processes in the SCADA system to aid the operators. The basic concept for developing the motorway management equipment system architecture was to form a unified integrated information system for subsystem equipment on the open road and in the tunnels. The objective was operational continuity through redundancy combined with ease of op-

eration and maintenance with optimised spare parts management.

Data from the roadside equipment is transferred to a data control unit located near the installation point, from there via fibre optic backbone to the central data unit and then to two geographically separated redundant servers. A redundant optical ring network is installed in the tunnel chain section to ensure uninterrupted communication.

The emergency Call System includes SOS call boxes every two kilometres along the motorway, and every 150 metres in the tunnels.

There are also emergency panic buttons every 50 metres. A meteorological subsystem provides measured data from the road that supports the winter maintenance.

CCTV cameras installed both on the open road and in the tunnels provide continuous visual cover and record video streams automatically in case of an emergency. Traffic Logging Equipment installed at nine locations along the road performs counting and classification of vehicles provides required traffic data. In addition, two of these sites are equipped with High Speed Weighin-Motion sensors to provide statistical information about overloading. TLE in tunnels monitors for dangerous traffic conditions.

Optical Height Gates are installed ahead of the tunnel portals to detect vehicles that are above the height limit of the tunnels and enable the operator to prevent such vehicles from entering the tunnels by the means of traffic lights and variable signage alerts. Additional features include ventilation system jet fans installed in tunnels longer than 500 metres and controlled automatically, taking into account wind velocity, visibility, CO2 levels and any potential fire hazard. It must be noted that the above systems are necessary for ensuring the continual safety of the road users.”

Zoltán Pap is Project Development Director of Intertoll Europe, an independent toll and motorway infrastructure developer and operator –a wholly owned subsidiary of Group Five, a major construction group in South Africa.

Zoltan has been involved in developing motorway concession projects since the mid nineties. After working for Intertoll overseas he joined Intertoll Europe in 2001.

30/07/2010 14:45

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62

COMMUNICATIONS

EXTRA T Phil godfrey.indd 62

30/07/2010 14:42

COMMUNICATIONS 63

TETRA’s continued advancement and improvement is increasingly meeting the needs of traditional mobile radio user organisations. TETRA Association’s Chairman Phil Godfrey tells EU Infrastructure how the standard bearer for the industry is looking to expand its services.

The TETRA World Congress 2010 took place in May in Singapore. What made you decide to hold the event there?

Phil Godfrey. Well, traditionally we used to hold the event in various parts of Europe, but TETRA has become a global standard so we felt that it was appropriate to not expect everybody to want to come to Europe, and the Asia Pacific region is the fastest-growing region and probably has the greatest potential still. So two years ago we decided to go to Asia and we went to Hong Kong, which was a very successful event. Then we were back in Munich last year, and then decided it was appropriate to go back to Asia this year.

You are in Budapest next year. Is it something that you will look to alternate between Europe and Asia?

PG. That is what seems to have happened in the last few years. There are various pressures to go elsewhere, particularly South America or even Central America. We have also been trying for some time to open up the North American continent. We have had various meetings with both the Federal Communications Commission, the FCC in the US, and also their equivalent, which is Industry Canada in Canada. And the FCC invited us to demonstrate, but part of the problem is that because TETRA packs an awful lot of information into a single 25 kHz channel, it actually exceeds their current analogue emission mask by a very small margin.

That does not imply that it is more likely to cause interference, it is just that they still use a mask that a transmitter has to fit inside of, which was originally developed for the old 25 kHz analogue radios. So in North America they recognise that the steeper sides of TETRA make it a good neighbour to other technologies and invited us to apply for a waiver. We actually had a meeting with the FCC in May to see what progress was being made. It is taking longer than we had hoped but they still seem quite positive.

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COMMUNICATIONS 65

How has the TETRA technology – particularly TEDS (Tetra Enhanced Data Service) – matured and evolved?

PG. A number of years ago we decided that we needed to make sure that TETRA remains an up-to-date technology, and so we had a working group to look at what enhancements were needed to the standard to make sure that it was good for the future. That working group came up with a number of items that were fed into ETSI, and they did the standardisation work to standardise those enhancements. Range extension was considered an important item, particularly for air to ground use, because transmissions obviously go a lot further from airborne equipment, and so range extension was one new codex or sound device. But the most important was an enhanced data service.

If you go back to when TETRA was originally specified, which was back in the early 1990s, if you were lucky your landline modem would give you a speed of 14.4kbs. It sounds ridiculous in today’s age of super-fast broadband, but that actually was the case. And so at 28.8kbs we classed TETRA as high-speed data; but that of course has been long since overtaken. We came up with a suite of standards for producing a higher speed data rate depending on the modulation scheme that you use and also the channel bandwidth that you use. But TED specifies anything up to about 600kbs, while the most popular in a 50 kHz channel will give you about 150kbs. With that you can actually do quite a lot, including accessing online databases and even a certain amount of video.

Tell us more about TETRA’s video capabilities.

PG. It is obviously not catering for high-speed streaming, but it depends on what you want to send. For example, if you have a police control centre that has a reported little girl lost and they want to send a photograph out to everybody’s handset, then obviously, this can be done using TETRA release 1, but you can do it a lot quicker with TED. Th is standardisation work was completed two and a half years ago. Just before the World Congress, EADS announced that they delivered TEDs products to the Finnish police, and they were in the process of going through acceptance testing of those. Also during the World Congress Motorola launched their TEDs products. So we were really pleased – having talked about TEDs for quite a long time – see actual products fit in the market.

What makes TETRA so reliable and important for mission-critical users like the police force?

PG. TETRA is a technology that was designed specifically for people in working groups who, therefore, need to communicate in groups. That sets it apart from any of the cellular technologies: 1G, 2G, 3G, and even 4G, which are all based around the principle of-person-to-person calling or accessing data from a single point. TETRA is quite specifically designed for people who work in groups. The reason that TETRA is quite a complex technology is because the mobility management of tracking fleets of people across what can be a nationwide infrastructure is complicated: if somebody makes a call to his home group and two or

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Phil Godfrey three people have gone over to the other side of the country, they can still be included in that group, but in an efficient manner. In other words, you don’t light up the entire country’s transmitters to make that call. Th is is actually quite a complex process to do – to track the people, know where they are, know whether they should or should not be included in a particular call etc.

Is TETRA unique in this respect?

PG. There are very few technologies that are designed specifically to do this. TETRA is one. There was a Frenchdeveloped technology that became known as TETRAPOL – which has nothing to do with TETRA – for the police; they were obviously jumping in on the name. Then there’s Project 25 in the US; there are one or two other proprietary technologies, but Project 25 was designed more towards low-capacity systems operating over large areas. If you consider the geography of the US you can understand why they have optimised it in that way.

TETRA is designed more for high-capacity networks with high functionality and has become the standard worldwide.

How important is TETRA’s reliability in overload situations?

PG. Very. If you compare TETRA with cellular technologies, and if you take something like the London bombings, the first thing that happens is everybody jumps on to their mobile phone to call home and say, “I’m all right.” The networks cannot cope with that sort of demand; they are not sized for it and they are not designed for it and so the networks either collapse, or in some cases they are actually switched off for security reasons, because some people trigger bombs using mobile phones.

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The TETRA networks for mission critical users are specified and designed to cope with peak loads of traffic, and they have priority mechanisms and graceful fallback mechanisms that are designed specifically to cope with very high peak demand.

How is Europe utilising TETRA in cross-border interoperability?

PG. The TETRA release 1 included within its specification an interface called the intersystem interface, which was really designed to enable cross-border working. In particular in the public safety circles in the very early days there was a telecommunications group as part of the Schengen agreement, who were given the task of making sure that when the physical borders came down in Europe, policemen chasing criminals could drive across borders and continue to work, making sure that networks were capable of being connected together to provide that level of cross-border working, and that specification was called the intersystem interface.

It has actually been rather slow in coming to market. In the early days of TETRA the manufacturers were under a lot of pressure to get the core technology out and to keep introducing more and more of the functionality. So the intersystem interface tended to get overlooked. However, a lot of the national public safety agencies are now pressing for this.

As TETRA expands into new markets, how challenging is the issue of interoperability?

PG. The new markets have been a bit more forward in demanding the technology. But this is made more difficult by the fact that different manufacturers have different architectures for their networks. The two main manufacturers of infrastructure are EADS and Motorola, so it is getting those two to work together that has been probably the biggest challenge, because their networks are completely different. They have been working together; they’ve been making some progress, although admittedly it has been a bit slow.

EADS has the contract to supply infrastructure for Germany and also for Sweden, so they have continued to work on the intersystem interface and have managed to get that working between their own networks. So they are two completely independent national networks, but they’re both EADS, which makes it slightly easier.

How do you ensure that neither security nor interoperability is compromised?

PG. Security is an extremely important subject. Within the TETRA Association we have a special group called the Security and Fraud Prevention Group that is specifically responsible for all aspects of security over TETRA networks.

They handle all of the encryption issues and most police networks, and probably most public safety network that include a certain amount of encryption.

There are various types of encryption; you can encrypt just the air interface so that nobody listening in with a scanner would be able to understand anything, even if they have a TETRA decoder. But many organisations feel that that does not give them enough protection, because somebody in the

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telephone exchange could tap into the landline feed and pick off the conversations there. So for those that feel they need additional levels of security, they will implement something called end-to-end encryption, which means that the link from one user to the other user is fully encrypted all the way, regardless of how many switches it goes through. TETRA is a digital technology, and therefore all of the voice that goes from one user to another user is already digitised. So to add encryption in itself is not that difficult; it does not slow down the messages – all you do is scramble up the bits before you transmit them and then unscramble them on the other end.

The most important thing is managing the encryption keys. You need to change them regularly; you need to make sure that only the right people are allowed to get access to those keys. And there are strategies for doing that, and the Security and Fraud Prevention Group covers this as part of their role.

What steps are you taking to ensure that TETRA remains relevant in the future?

PG. The next step is where what has colloquially become known as TETRA release 3 comes in. We effectively asked our users, “Okay, guys, what is it you’re going to need for the future?” That was actually quite a difficult task, because many of the public safety users in particular are still trying to cope with the level of functionality that they’ve recently been given.

If you think back over the years, most public safety agencies have been working with open channel, “Can you hear me, Charlie? Over” radios. And now that they have the levels of functionality that TETRA gives them, they can have the ability to create different groups and dynamic groups, so they are now asking us, “Right, now that we’re no longer limited in our procedures by the limitations of the communications network, let’s go back and see how we can make most efficient use of our personnel by modifying or configuring the network accordingly.”

But the clear response that has come back from users is that everything is going data: the ability to have officers filling in reports on the street, the ability for them to query databases, access images and all that sort of thing is clearly going to be an advantage to us, and therefore we need a higher-speed data than we have currently. So the next challenge for our engineers is mobile broadband. We are looking at some of the available technologies, such as WiMAX and LTE, to see whether or not those technologies could form the basis of a third generation of TETRA or whether they are too far adrift and we would be better starting with a clean sheet of paper.

Clearly we do not want to reinvent the wheel, but sometimes it is actually easier to do that than to make major modifications to another technology.

“TETRA is a digital technology, and therefore all of the voice that goes from one user to another user is already digitised. So to add encryption in itself is not that difficult”

Phil Godfrey is the Chairman of the TETRA Association. He has been in the mobile radio industry for over 30 years with Pye, Philips and finally Simoco where he became Market Development Director. Godfrey was one of the founding members of the TETRA Association back in 1994 and has been instrumental in developing the standard into a globally recognised technology. In addition to his role with the TETRA Association Godfrey also runs his own consulting business.

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Next generation public safety With ever increasing demands placed on public safety networks, they must adapt, explains Manuel Torres, Corporate Vice President & General Manager, Motorola Enterprise Mobility Solutions EMEA.

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ublic safety networks deliver information directly to professionals in order to help them make effective decisions. TETRA is regarded as the cornerstone of the majority of public safety networks around the globe, while the deployment of Tetra Enhanced Data Services (TEDS) is enhancing public safety further through innovation and improvements in both radios and other devices.

With public safety bodies facing increasing demands as a result of growing populations and increasingly complex social and technical infrastructures, networks need to adapt in order to help public safety personnel work efficiently and effectively. As a result, technology has evolved in order to ensure the maintenance of the very highest levels of performance in mission-critical situations.

The next generation of public networks The importance of TETRA must not be understated.

TETRA provides a cost-effective, resilient network capable of accessing data nationwide, enabling officers to access information such as vehicle registration data or the missing person’s register while out in the field.

TEDS provides the same cost-efficient coverage footprint as TETRA but with faster data speeds and it allows many current systems to be upgraded. TEDS enables enhanced information access and data input across wide areas, allowing officers to search systems, report from the field, access images and even receive short CCTV clips to assist in identification. In addition, short audio clips (for example witness interviews) can be recorded and sent back to the office from the field. In the modern world there is enormous pressure on network capacity due to the number and density of users. Consequently, we expect to see next-generation mobile networks and also wireless technologies that deliver broadband-on-the-go being used alongside TETRA networks to enable these datahungry applications.

In the future, devices will provide flexible connectivity to enable collaboration between different terminals.

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth compatibility for data communications is also likely to be included in public safety radios.

Using Bluetooth, officers can send data from their radios to devices such as computers at HQ or printers in the field. As mobile broadband networks become available,

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Bluetooth will also support the transfer of data between, for example, a TETRA handheld device and a vehicle terminal equipped with wireless connectivity.

Motorola puts user-centric design at the heart of its devices and focuses on developing specific devices to meet specific user needs. While future devices are likely to be capable of capture and transmission of video and more powerful command and control functionality, there’s a clear expectation from end users that equipment must remain intuitive to use.

Flexible applications There is clear benefit in creating applications at a national level that can be used locally. However, in order for this to happen, the devices and systems used by various agencies mean that any application must be flexible enough to provide access to national services while seamlessly integrating local applications. Consequently, it is necessary to adapt existing architectures for use over mission critical wireless radio systems and Motorola already makes Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) available so partners can develop services on its TETRA networks and devices.

Furthermore, the application must ‘know’ over what network information is being accessed and by which type of device: for instance, whether an officer is working on a radio with a small screen across TETRA, or is using an in-car laptop in a city connected over a high-speed private 4G network. Based on these variables, the application will be able to decide if it needs to restrict some features and how information is presented to deliver the best user experience.

Manuel Torres

“There’s a clear expectation from end users that equipment must remain intuitive to use”

Delivering the future TETRA will remain the cornerstone network for mission-critical public safety voice and data communications with TEDS over private 4G networks, offering the potential to enhance data capacity to deliver multimedia services, such as video, for access to information at the point where it is needed the most.

Manuel Torres is Corporate Vice President & General Manager for Motorola Enterprise Mobility Solutions, EMEA. He has overall responsibility for Motorola’s channels and growth operations as well as the private direct radio business for large governmental projects including government, enterprise and mobility solutions across Europe, Middle East and Africa.

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Sensor webs for defence Steven Ramage, Executive Director for Marketing and Communications at Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC), lifts the lid on how realtime sensor data can be used for defence applications.

In OGC’s OWS-4 Testbed Demo, NASA EO-1 satellite data was fused with other data to predict the movement of a dangerous plume of radioactivity. Data acquisition and fusion involved web services that implemented open standards.

“At a dock in a major city, an explosion releases a cloud of radioactive cesium that drifts over the metropolitan area. The Port Authority Emergency Operations Centre quickly launches an emergency management operation that relies heavily on access to information from a wide variety of sensors.”

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his summarises the scenario for a live demonstration (in 2007) that showed how users of existing soft ware products using existing standards could discover, access and fuse real-time data from a wide variety of sensors, and how users could immediately use the sensor data with online map data and decision support systems. Sponsoring organisations for the demonstration included BAE Systems, Ordnance Survey Great Britain, NATO C3 Agency, Tele Atlas NV and various US federal agencies. The demonstration concluded OGC Web Services Phase 4 (OWS-4), an interoperability testbed managed by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC).

Soft ware standards, such as the ubiquitous ‘http’, underpin the world’s information infrastructure. Standards for geospatial soft ware – location services, navigation, earth imaging, geographic information systems (GIS), etc.

– comprise an essential part of the information infrastruc-

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Partner and GMEs contributing missions Partner ASI/Alenia Spazio CNES CSA/MDA DLR Eumetsat EUSC ESA

Mission Cosmo-Skymed Pleiades, Spot Radarsat 2 Terrasat Meteo Missions User ERS Envisat / Sentinels

ESA’s Heterogeneous Missions Accessibility (HMA) project brought national space agencies and others into a standardisation process to make Earth observation satellites available in a consistent manner to users in support of Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) missions.

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ture for emergency and disaster management and national defence. Indeed, geospatial information infrastructure plays a critical role in planning, building and managing all physical infrastructure, as well as in protecting it. And almost all sensor-produced records include location, so geospatial standards include standard ways of communicating sensors’ locations and motions, as well as other information about the sensors.

Web-accessible sensors are becoming increasingly important in defence and other domains where lives and property are at risk. One reason for this is that technologyimposed delays can be horribly expensive in emergencies, disasters and security events, and people’s performance expectations have been raised by our daily experience of the web. We jump from one website to another to quickly narrow in on the information we seek.

That agility is possible because http and other web standards constitute a ‘common language’ of interfaces and encodings that enables all web clients and servers to communicate instructions and results. For sensor webs, http and other well-known web standards are necessary but not sufficient. Systems for discovering web-resident sensors, assessing the sensors’ fitness for use, perhaps scheduling their use, and then accessing them and their live or stored data require additional standard interfaces and encodings. The OGC’s Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) standards provide these, enabling agile sensor webs.

European space agencies’ multimission vision Sensor Web Enablement standards are a cornerstone of the European Space Agency’s strategy for addressing harmonised multimission satellite tasking for disaster, emergency response and security as well as for land, marine and other global services. Th is challenge is being addressed cooperatively by the European Space Agency’s Member States agencies that own Earth observation missions (DLR-Germany, ASI-Italy, CNES-France, the Canadian Space Agency and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites EUMETSAT).

To meet users’ needs for interoperability, the European Space Agency has worked with the other agency partners within the Heterogeneous Missions Accessibility (HMA) Architecture Working Group to model a standard approach to tasking satellite-mounted sensors. To implement this, they are using the OGC Sensor Planning Service standard.

Location-aware Sensors on the web As sensors of all kinds begin to ‘speak the same language,’ sensor webs become part of the web. At the same time, the web is expanding in a new direction with readily available ‘mass market’ geographic information and geospatial services such as road directions, aerial photos and location-specific advertising. On the web, geospatial information from governments, businesses and individuals becomes increasingly available, usable and ‘mashable’ into applications, and sensor webs are part of this new infrastructure.

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NEXT BIG THING

New solutions for image management Image management issues can be overcome with the utilisation of a range of new solutions, says Ian Spence.

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irtual globes from Google and Microsoft have created enormous public interest in geographical information while making the task of handling large amounts of data seem easy. These technologies have raised expectations by serving up only data that has already been pre-processed, a costly and time-consuming procedure that the end user never sees. While the professional user is more aware of the hidden complexities, virtual globes have hinted at better things for them too.

Expectations are also growing of high data volumes. In Europe the GMES programme, the Sentinel satellites and numerous complementary multinational and national initiatives will increase the supply of geospatial imagery to unprecedented levels over the coming years. Many professional users will have petabyte archives and will face significant challenges in fi nding and making relevant data available for use in a timely fashion.

Against the background of emerging expectations and challenges, Spacemetric provides next-generation systems that enable fast and easy access to imagery directly from the sensor without the need for pre-processing. This technology can be applied to archives both large and small and offers very rapid access to imagery using onthe-fly technologies.

Spacemetric was founded in 1999 with a focus on desktop satellite image production systems but quickly saw the value of server-based solutions and web services. Its Keystone Image Management System can already meet tomorrow’s challenges in an integrated enterprise-class solution that catalogues all of your imagery, whether from satellite or airborne sensors, and provides rapid access to processed imagery via online services.

Rigorous photogrammetric methods and physical sensor models underpin all of Keystone’s geometrical transformations. Integration with other systems is through open standards, such as WMS and CSW from the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), and through the SOAP-based Keystone API. An advanced client, the Keystone

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Gripen with reconnaissance pod (Courtesy: Gripen International) Console uses a plugin architecture based upon Eclipse and NASA’s World Wind SDK to provide a powerful platform for exploiting the Keystone Server’s capabilities. Several of Spacemetric’s customers are already adapting and extending the Console to suit their own needs.

The Keystone system was first delivered in 2005 to DMC International Imaging (DMCii) in the UK, a leading provider of satellite image data and services. Keystone provides an integrated ground segment for a constellation of several imaging satellites coordinated by DMCii. It has also been adopted by DMCii’s parent company and leading smallsat supplier, Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL), for a number of imaging satellites including the forthcoming Nigeriasat-2.

The Keystone system is the core of a solution used by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, one of Europe’s largest users of satellite imagery. It forms the back-end of the Community Image Data Portal, where it is used

to catalogue and process commercial satellite imagery for agricultural subsidy monitoring.

Three years ago, support was added to Keystone to process imagery from the Z/I DMC digital camera. The Swedish national mapping agency (Lantmäteriet) operates two such cameras and a Spacemetric solution now handles production of all their digital aerial orthoimagery.

Keystone is used for security applications such as image intelligence gathering by the Swedish Air Force. The Keystone system manages and serves reconnaissance data directly from the Gripen fighter to intelligence analysts.

In The Netherlands, the National Aerospace Laboratory has adopted the Keystone system to manage and process airborne video imagery for its unmanned airborne vehicles (UAVs).

The latest developments within Keystone see it closely integrated with other elements of the European geospatial infrastructure. For the European Space Agency, the Keystone system delivers advanced browse services within ESA User Services. For DMCii and the Disaster Monitoring Constellation, it integrates multiple satellite missions within the GMES Space Component through the HMA (Heterogeneous Missions Accessibility) interfaces.

Over the coming year Spacemetric plans a significant expansion of Keystone uptake and continued technological development. Drivers of the growing demand for image management systems are clear, and Spacemetric is well placed to offer leading solutions that meet these challenges.

For more information, please visit www.spacemetric.com

Ian Spence has over 20 years experience in the space and earth observation sectors. He has worked in the UK, Sweden and Italy and over the past 10 years has filled senior management roles with an emphasis on business development.

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NEXT BIG THING

Keeping customers and staff informed – in real time!

Information – important when things are running well, essential when things go wrong. Airlines, for example, have to deal with snowstorms and ash clouds. Phil Douglas explains how innovative solutions keep everyone informed.

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veryone wants instant information. Companies want timely information about delivery delays; bus drivers need to be notified when roads are blocked; fuel companies must be notified when an aircraft arrives. As critical situations develop, keeping everyone informed becomes more and more difficult.

The ‘Valentine’s Day Blizzard’ of 2007 is a good example.

Heavy snowfalls and winter storms closed US airports as bad weather rolled up the east coast. The situation escalated when airlines were not able to keep all the fl ight crews, passengers and airport staff informed. Airports were not able to handle the volume of passengers waiting at the airport, and passengers were stuck on aircraft for up to 10 hours.

The backlog took several days to clear, and the negative publicity even longer.

Customers at home, in the office or on the road expect to be informed. Mobile phones have revolutionised communication on the road, but traditional communication is still not excluded. Notification updates according to the customer preference and priority are important. If there is sufficient time before an event, we can email the information, but if this is time critical we will notify the passenger

by SMS and optionally by telephone using IVR (Interactive Voice Response).

Knowing who has received the information is also a vital part of these applications. If a passenger acknowledges

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their rescheduled fl ight, the fl ight can be rebooked and they can proceed directly to check-in. Customer acknowledgement or feedback via SMS, mobile portal, interactive voice or the web site is fed back into a central system. Customers who do not reply can be escalated though the communications channels – for example, for email 10 hours before an event, to SMS within six hours, to voice within two hours and fi nally, if required, landing up at the call centre.

Instead of waiting for an hour at the baggage carousel, we can now inform passengers as soon as their flight lands that their baggage did not make it, and even provide reference numbers and contact details. Saving the customer time and frustration, and by demonstrating that everything is under control, ultimately creating a positive situation out of a negative one.

These solutions also need to be robust, reliable and capable of handling high traffic volumes. Critical situations may only happen a few times a year but it is during these times that such applications become worth their weight in gold. During the recent volcanic activity in Iceland, spreading ash clouds far across Europe, 2e’s applications were used extensively to notify ground staff, crews and passengers. In the past a call centre would have handled these notifications as best they could, but with the situation changing every hour, automated notifications are the only practical solutions.

Just to add to the complexity, privacy and data protection are also extremely important and topical issues.

In accordance with the law, airlines are allowed to notify customers of operational issues as long as the information is relevant to the customer. Anything more than that is considered spamming – even if unintentional.

Every solution has different requirements and 2e is usually requested to fully customise our solutions to match the business processes. ‘Enterprise Messaging’ is a relatively new industry buzzword, and this is only just beginning to be combined with the mobile and customer notification world.

The world is still in the fi rst generation of messaging for business applications. There are many more opportunities available. Having direct contact with customers has opened up a whole new world. The big winners will be those that prepare well, act swift ly and take advantage of the vast range of business-enhancing ideas.

“As critical situations develop, keeping everyone informed becomes more and more difficult”

Phil Douglas is CEO of 2e Systems in Germany, a company specialising in mobile solutions and applications for the airline industry. They built their first mobile applications in 2000, and developed the world’s first mobile barcode applications for check-in at airports.

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PLANE SAFE

The airline industry has had a tough 12 months, characterised by ash clouds, terrorist attempts, environmental concerns and the recession. Gunther Matschnigg, Senior Vice President of Safety, Operations and Infrastructure at IATA, spoke with Ian Clover about the industry’s security aims, regulations and operational future.

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hen the ‘Fasten Seatbelt’ light dings into action toward the tail end of your fl ight as you begin to make your descent to your chosen destination, what do you do? Most normal folk will close their laptops, remove the earphones, wake their travelling partner or maybe make a daring last minute dash to the toilet. However, for Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab – a 23-year-old Nigerian student aboard a Northwest Airlines transatlantic fl ight coming into land at Detroit on December 26 last year – this fi nal ding was his cue to embark upon his fiendish plan to bring down the plane.

Attempting to ignite a device comprised of small firecracker-type explosives hidden in his underpants, Mutallab’s plan failed thanks to the diligence of crew members and passengers, and his own ineptitude. Frogmarched to the front of the plane, his trousers in tatters and his legs burnt and black with soot, Mutallab’s attempt at martyrdom and an eternity spent immersed among virginal bliss instead ended in the unedifying sight of being bundled into a security van on Detroit airport runway and whisked off to await trial. If Mutallab’s actions are seen to have been in any way as serious as 2001’s Richard ‘shoe bomber’ Reid, then a life sentence awaits.

The airline industry has always had to be tough on terrorist threats, even before 9/11. Aeroplanes are obvious terrorist targets, and so the security measures and processes passengers have to adhere to in order to fly are willingly accepted as overly heavy handed, time-consuming and thorough. The subconscious removal of jackets, belts, shoes and jewellery as we are herded through full body scanners has become second nature, as has the more recent procedure of gathering together miniature liquid bottles in clear plastic bags for our hand luggage – all thanks to 2006’s foiled Heathrow attempt to bring down six planes with the use of liquid explosives.

Earlier this year, the aviation industry faced yet another threat to its ability to safely, conveniently and efficiently transport travellers to their desired destination – the now-infamous Icelandic ash cloud. Th is time, however, the threat was all natural (we are, as yet, to hear Al Qaeda claim responsibility for billowing millions of tonnes of ash into the air from their base camp deep in the bowels of Eyjafjallajokull) and totally alien to European travellers.

Aircraft all over the continent were grounded for weeks; timetable chaos ensued and exasperated passengers ranted, raved, pleaded and then, eventually, accepted their lot. The planes were going nowhere. Safety came first. Punctuality came second. Passenger comfort trailed a distant third.

Th is brief period of plane-free skies was latched upon by environmental groups keen to highlight just how damaging the aviation industry is to the environment, decrying the imminent demise of airlines as we knew it. Far more injurious, though, was the fi nancial damage this downtime did to the industry. With recession still barely shaken off, the airline industries and travel operators could ill-afford to be grounded, particularly when eye-watering losses such as €2.5 billion were reported for European businesses during those trying few weeks in April. Airlines were hardest hit of

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On the one hand we have got to tighten security and implement measures to ensure that our passengers are safe, yet we have also to try to enhance the travel experience for passengers

course, losing an estimated €1.4 billion in revenue.

Such a challenging start to the year proved wearisome for figureheads throughout the industry, yet Gunther Matschnigg, Senior Vice President of Safety, Operations and Infrastructure at IATA – the International Air Transport Association – has watched the last 12 months unfold from his Montreal headquarters with a mixture of pride, frustration and excitement at what the future holds.

“There have been numerous challenges for IATA over the past 12 months, particularly the economic environment and the volatility of the industry,” begins Matschnigg. “We are only now starting to see an upswing in the fortunes of the industry and may, by the end of the year, start to see parts of the industry making money after year on year losses.”

The past 12 months have, reveals Matschnigg, been wholly characterised and defi ned by terrorist threat, ash clouds and the ongoing drive for increased passenger security. “The terrorist attempt at the end of December last year and the volcanic ash cloud are the two issues that are still very fresh. Both of these unforeseen events shaved quite a bit of money off the industry – €1.4 billion is a lot to lose, especially when our profit margins are slim to begin with, so an unforeseen eruption like the Icelandic ash cloud wiped away any buffer we had in place.

“Then there was the event of December 26. In that instance we were lucky that the terrorist attempt didn’t bring

down an aircraft, but we have to be prudent and continue to work extremely hard together with the governments to ensure that these things won’t happen again. It is so challenging, because on the one hand we have got to tighten security and implement measures to ensure that our passengers are safe, yet we have also to try to enhance the travel experience for passengers, particularly in the current economic climate.”

9/11 The unforgettable events of 9/11 changed the aviation industry forever. Transatlantic business fl ights – previously the realm of perhaps the most relaxed form of airline security – suddenly became an arduous journey of long queues, intense scrutiny and often-invasive procedures infl icted upon innocent passengers. Suspicion reigned and security was tightened to levels never before seen. “Th is was nine years ago now and I think it’s fair to say that flying is much more secure today than it was then,” says Matschnigg. “There are a number of measures that have been introduced since then that have greatly improved security, including the data transmission that goes to the airports; the information that reaches the cockpit, and the information that is generally submitted to staff at every level of the flying procedure.

“But on the other hand what we haven’t yet done as an Eyjafjallajokull volcanic eruption

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industry is place more focus back on to passenger travel – some security regulatory bodies have lost sight that it is actual people going through their security processes.

Although security is presently heightened, I think we can still make travel convenient and enjoyable, which is why we have decided, with the support of the Department of Homeland Security and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), to develop a checkpoint for the future, to really focus on making the passenger experience as enjoyable as possible.

“We have to utilise the same dedication we have shown with our security measures on passenger comfort and ask ourselves: ‘Is it really necessary that we implement this or that security measure?’ While I cannot fully reveal exactly what is in the pipeline at the moment because we are still at the development stage, I can safely say that we are working toward fewer queues, less waiting time, more technology and the eradication of this two, three hour waiting that still prevails in some airports across the world.”

Ash cloud Even the most exhausting and frustrating delays are tolerated by the masses if there is a legitimate reason for the hold up. But April’s ash cloud deposited not just very fi ne particles on to the wings of planes, but also a collective volcanic funk throughout the moods of travellers at most airports in northern and western Europe. If this seemingly unprecedented occurrence was hard for

I can safely say that we are working toward fewer queues, less waiting time, more technology and the eradication of this two, three hour waiting that still prevails in some airports across the world

pending passengers to comprehend, then the airlines’ collective response was even more arcane for Matschnigg to grasp. “From an airline point of view we followed the instructions given by the service provider and regulatory bodies. On the fi rst day of the ash cloud they closed the airspace in Europe and nobody knew exactly what was going on, although it was only the fi rst day so we were willing to accept this.

“But as the second, third, fourth and fi ft h day came along and we [IATA] knew that there was no threat to airlines, there was still nobody with the courage or authority to instruct airspace to be opened up fully. I can clearly say today that it was a wrong decision not to open the airspace quicker, and the whole debacle was all handled based upon incorrect information – many test fl ights were undertaken by airlines and governments that proved there was no risk to engines or aircraft in that part of the world. But still, the newsreels showed maps and charts with ash cloud cover.

Th is was totally wrong. It was an overreaction; Europe was completely uncoordinated.”

While an individual with Matschnigg’s expertise might have been able to challenge the folly of the prevailing attitude toward the ash cloud as it was happening, the issue of safety hung heavy over the industry. Surely it was better to ground fl ights wholesale than run the potential risk of even one fatality or injury? “If that were the case, then why did France open up but Germany and Belgium did not? The ash cloud, rather peculiarly, stopped at the political border.

THE HISTORY OF AVIATION SECURITY

1972 After decades of hijackings throughout the world, the USA’s Nixon administration hit upon the idea of installing metal detectors at airports throughout the country in an attempt to prevent guns and knives being brought on board. Early metal detectors were sometimes two metres long, and were known to spread a sense of mild panic among those first through. Consumer worries about radiation were soon alleviated when a study by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed that a typical metal detector gave off less radiation than the luminous dial on a wristwatch.

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Nobody can explain that. Th is was a very uncoordinated event for Europe. Our strong recommendation to the governments of Europe was to implement a crisis management team that could have dealt with this better.

“Volcanoes and volcanic ash occur right across the entire globe. There are more than 500 active volcanoes and nearly every week there is an eruption somewhere, so this ash cloud was nothing new for the international fl ight community. Europe handled it totally differently, closing airspace that would have remained open elsewhere in the world, all to the detriment of passengers, the airlines and the economy. A lack of knowledge, a lack of experience and a reluctance to look at other parts of the world for guidance made the problem worse. But Europe’s aviation industry has learnt a lot from this experience.”

Safe and secure Aviation in general has much to learn as the industry continues to mature. Consumer demand is at its highest ever levels, while environmental and safety pressures continue to be the catalyst for better technologies and more streamlined collaboration between the various entities that ensure passengers get through check-in, on to the plane, on to the runway, into the air, then safely on to their destination. Th is patchwork of professionals has proved to be something of a logistical nightmare in the past, which is why Matschnigg devised the internationally-recognised IATA Operational Safety Audit, which aims to make the

entire regulatory process of aviation smoother, more accurate and, by default, safer for the passenger.

“Th is audit came about when I was working for Austrian Airlines and we would be audited 13 times a year,” says Matschnigg. “I was thinking ‘what the heck? Why do we have to go through theses audits?’ I didn’t see where they added any value. Other airlines thought the same – they saw it as a redundant process that wasted a lot of time and

1989 The Lockerbie bomb disaster of late 1988 forced the FAA to re-visit their screening policy, more carefully checking portable computers, bags and radios with the use of X-ray machines that were able to verify the contents of all carry-ons. A new ruling was introduced in early 1989 that meant only bags which were accompanied by a passenger could board the cabin.

2001 The attacks of 9/11 dramatically altered the atmosphere of airport security. Where previously passengers were afforded the benefit of the doubt, the actions of the hijackers on that fateful day were unprecedented. Not only was security tightened worldwide at the screening stage (such as a restriction on the types of items passengers could bring on board), but cabin crew were retrained in order to deal more effectively and forcefully with hijack attempts.

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money because there was no unified standard. So when I came to IATA I brought this up with the operations group and they fully endorsed a concept for a global safety audit.

Then between 2000-02 we developed the standards to cover the industry and the regulators, and launched the audit programme in 2003.

“Since then we have completed 860 audits on 330 airlines on the register, where before there would have been thousands of disconnected audits on the go, because under the previous system the IOSA (IATA Operational Safety Audit) recognised some but not others. So one goal – to reduce the number of redundant audits – was achieved.

The second goal was to enhance overall safety, and I think the fact that ground operation units and airlines use this same audit process has led to a standard that is known by everybody. It is a very thorough and methodical audit of safety procedures, fl ight operations, engineering departments and every aspect of the airline process. If a company passes the audit then I think it’s fair to say that they have an extremely robust set of practices in place.”

Tallying audit procedures with overall operational safety is a very quantifiable goal, and one that – while ongoing – is progressing satisfactorily. Less tangible, but equally important for the industry, is the measure of human error.

Complete eradication of manmade mistakes is universally recognised as impossible, but Matschnigg is confident that improved staff screening, staff training and technology can help minimise the impact humans play when things go

We always need people who have the right mindset to work in aviation and this is one issue where personally I am a little concerned

wrong. “We always need people who have the right mindset to work in aviation and this is one issue where personally I am a little concerned,” reveals Matschnigg. “Th is is why IATA and ICAO launched a programme three years ago called the ITQI – the IATA Training Qualification Initiative – to fi nd the right people because this business cannot survive without professional human beings. We know this.

However, our needs can be supported by the right technology, and this is where we need to work hand-in-hand with airlines’ development departments.”

Striking the right balance between well-trained staff and optimum technology is something that Matschnigg is continuously working toward. “The optimum varies in each discipline. Flight operation is different to engineer maintenance for instance; the need for training for each technology differs drastically. For example, flying an Airbus 380 today compared to flying a 727 30 years ago – the difference is day and night. The technology has advanced immeasurably, so we have to make best use of the technology that we have at our disposal but, of course, human error will always be a factor. To address it, several programmes are on the way for the cockpit, for the engineer, on the dispatch side of things and also for air traffic control.”

A better passenger experience Flying anywhere these days is cheaper and more fi lled with choice than ever before. The proliferation of budget airlines has opened up a whole new world of weekend-

2006 In the immediate aftermath of the foiled Heathrow liquid bomb attempts, all airports in the USA, the European Union and Australia restricted passengers from taking any liquids on board as hand luggage. This ruling was relaxed after a few weeks, but passengers are still not permitted to take on board any liquids over 100 ml (although liquid purchased in the airside safe area are pre-screened and safe to take on board), and all liquids under 100 ml must be placed in a transparent, resealable plastic bag that is not more than one litre in capacity.

2002 Richard Reid’s failed December 2001 attempt to bomb a transatlantic flight with a device concealed in his shoe prompted the authorities to again make changes. From the beginning of 2002, all passengers boarding a flight to or from the USA now had to remove their shoes and socks when passing through the scanner.

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tripping opportunities, business ventures and stag and hen party destinations. We are all much more frequent flyers than we were 10 years ago, yet for every two-hour fl ight to the sun, there’s that immeasurable period of misery awaiting us at airports, in baggage claim and even online, where hidden taxes and extortionate baggage costs are making the experience of flying more stressful by the day.

Profiteering, driving down overheads and the old ‘sell ‘em cheap, stack ‘em high’ mentality pervades throughout, all because the entire aviation network is comprised of a number of disparate entities competing for your business.

Th is is a situation that Matschnigg is looking to change. “I’m not satisfied with the cooperation between airlines, ground operations and travel companies. I think we need to do better with the regulatory bodies; there are situations that can be improved if only the industry had the chance to comment. Th is is only my opinion but I can speak from both sides, having been a regulator in the past.

Aviation is built on trust and working together. It is the responsibility of the regulators, of the manufacturers, of the service providers. It is the responsibility of the airlines and the airports and the pilots and the ground staff to work together. Sometimes this coordination and cooperation is lacking because people are all pulling in different directions based on their constituency, and this is something we should do better on.

“As an industry we need to improve how we operate. The long waiting lines, this being treated like you’re

Commercial pilots go through more extensive training than doctors

For every hour in the air, a commercial jet receives 12 hours of maintenance

a criminal – these are things that can be avoided so long as we do things more intelligently. There is still lots to improve upon, but air travel can become the pleasant luxury it used to be.”

Matschnigg stops short of saying that lower costs are in any way correlated to poorer security, but his passion for his fi nal point hints that that may indeed be the case. “Why are governments not picking up security costs in aviation?

Why is the government picking up security costs when it comes to soccer games, when it comes to travelling with the rail companies, when it comes to making sure people are safe when they visit theatres and festivals? Why not aviation? Th is is still an unanswered question. Why does the aviation community – the airports and the airlines, but also the passengers – pick up all of the cost of security? Th is is still not clear. Th is is something we have got to emphasise – responsibility. The government has a responsibility to create a safe and secure political environment, so why not in aviation?”

Governments and aviation authorities have worked hard in the past to foil and thwart would-be bombers and terrorists. Their collaboration has averted disaster numerous times when armed with tip-offs, intelligence and a sense of urgency. This desire to protect the public should not begin and end with each tangible terrorist threat. Increased government collaboration in aviation can help to make the entire flying experience safer, cheaper and more comfortable for all.

The future Aviation bodies around the world are constantly seeking new methods to further improve airport and airline security, including biometric scanning, retina scanning, advanced X-ray machines, combined shoe and iris scanners, RFID tracking and even more subtle passenger screening techniques, such as interviewing passengers, tracking their movements through the concourse and analysing body language.

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EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW

The missing link in simplifying the business Thirza Rojer discusses how modern tracking technology can help improve passenger efficiency, safety and enjoyment at the airport gate.

TR. There is quite some effort needed to fi nd and collect these carts. Th is amount of manpower can be reduced by using RFID technology to locate the carts and trace how many are scattered over the airport and not in use. Th is is also a means to check if the responsible persons are doing their jobs. Next to the operational improvement it can improve the Pax logistics and stimulate non-aeronautical revenues. For instance, the passengers can easily be managed to particular areas of the airport by the use of the RFID information screens technology. They can receive the latest information on screens on products being sold in the various shops, which can lead to increased non-aeronautical revenues. In the future, by scanning the boarding cards passengers can even be directed to their particular gates.

Airports are currently focusing on ways to increase revenue by using innovative technologies and equipment. In what ways can your solution contribute towards this?

TR. Statistically it’s proven that shopping carts stimulate the Pax to shop in airport terminals more often then in the past. Now people with reduced mobility and children can be transported by their families and enjoy the airport and shopping facilities by using these trolleys. No more waiting for assistance and being transported from one location to another and waiting there again. The GR01 will increase overall passenger comfort because this device can be used to carry approved hand luggage and still provide enough space to sit and rest on, no matter your age or weight. We not only stimulate Pax travelling alone to shop, but we also stimulate the Pax travelling with children and the PRMs to shop. Th is way a broader percentage of the travellers are contributing to the total revenue of the airport.

One of the main concerns for airports in Europe is to increase operational and passenger efficiency. What solutions do you propose to reach this goal?

Thirza Rojer. There are lots of ways to increase passenger efficiency. The passenger flows must become more efficient. One of the problems confronting passengers with children and reduced mobility is moving from check in to the gate. According to the new EU regulations, airports are obliged to offer assistance to passengers with reduced mobility. Th is will cost airports in the future dearly in special equipment and manpower. The expectation is also that in the future more people with reduced mobility will be travelling and insisting on this service.

The GR01 airside trolley can assist in this matter by increasing the processing speed of passengers at the various security checkpoints, because strollers no longer need to be checked at these checkpoints. Also by using the GR01 a family member can take an elderly or family member with reduced mobility to the required area in the airport.

What benefits can be seen in incorporating RFID technology into baggage cart systems?

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With increased security checks constantly being implemented within Europe’s airports, it is becoming difficult to ensure optimum passenger flow. How does your equipment contribute to maintaining a sufficient flow?

TR. By obliging the passengers to check in the children strollers at the desk, the intensity of checking different strollers and mobile devices that comes out of non-clean areas to clean is reduced. All unnecessary delays at security check points are avoided, thus increasing the overall passenger flow, as they can use this multifunctional airside baggage cart until boarding. GR01 is property of the airport, which means that the system is under the surveillance of the airport that should be classified as sterile or clean.

Passenger terminal managers are looking at ways to improve comfort in order to ensure that customers are happy and will continue using facilities. How important do you feel passenger comfort is to the whole airport experience?

TR. We think passenger experience is of the utmost importance. One important aspect at various airports is the lack of sitting space when reaching the gate or on the way to the gate. By using GR01 the passengers can sit and rest at designated areas thus increasing overall passenger comfort.

Thirza Rojer has been involved in B2B Marketing and Sales activities for the last decade. As the Director of Global Sales Operations, she is responsible for the global introduction of the Multifunctional Solutions Inc. products range.

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AIRPORT TECHNOLOGY

UP AND AWAY There are various companies, systems and components working like clockwork behind closed doors at airports across the world, ensuring every passenger gets from check-in to cabin with the minimum of fuss.

T

here’s a lot to remember when boarding a fl ight. Do you have your ticket and passport? Are you on time? Have you found the correct gate? Did you switch the gas off at home? Is the cat’s litter tray emptied in readiness for your neighbour’s check-up visit? But with practice, it becomes almost like second nature.

Behind closed doors, however, there is a far more complicated chain of events taking place. The – largely – smooth and effortless public facade of the airport you see gives little insight into the network of activity and connectivity that goes on with every fl ight.

Airside safe area > Once you’re through the scanning and screening parts, you enter the airside safe area. To you this is a welcome chance to relax, grab a coffee and a bite to eat and keep on eye on the departure screens. For airports, this zone is a constant challenge – every dining utensil, water bottle, buyable gift and staff member must be carefully screened and monitored to ensure that, at this point, the stringent security measures you have just gone through are not undermined by any item or action.

Software safety > The airlines have to know not only who has checked in and when, but also which bags will be accompanying each passenger: unassisted bags are now banned, so an integrated software system scans and tracks each bag to ensure the cabin and ground crew of each flight are informed if a bag makes it on board, but a passenger doesn’t.

The runway > At this stage, the travel companies, airlines and the airport have done their job, so now it’s down to the airside operations safety units to ensure you board safely. Their job is a juggling act between marshalling arriving aircraft to the correct gates, allocating stands, monitoring noise levels, checking the perimeter area, auditing and checking all ground handlers, ramp operators and refuellers, inspecting runways and ferrying you to your waiting plane…at which point air traffic control takes over and you can relax once more.

Ground support > The ground support team must ensure that every plane that lands is taxied to the correct pits where they are refuelled, cleaned, waste water is emptied and fresh water and pre-conditioned air is added to the plane’s systems. This procedure must be undertaken within a very narrow timeframe – so while you’re browsing the duty free, your plane is being given a complete scrub down.

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HEALTH AND SAFETY

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Playing it safe The European Safety Federation is representing the manufacturers of PPE at the European institutions concerning all issues regarding the manufacturing and use of PPE. EU Infrastructure asks ESF President Rinus Brinks how legislation and standardisation influences the industry.

What has the European Safety Federation done to help establish common European standards for the use of PPE? Rinus Brinks. Before 1994 there were national standards all over Europe and so almost every country had its own standards. Those countries were then already working together under the umbrella of the CEN, the European Committee for Standardisation. With the publication of the EU Directive on PPE in 1989 (and fully applicable five years later), the PPE market in the EU was opened and harmonised.

Whereas previously manufacturers would refer to a national (British or German or Italian etc, standard, the need for European standards was created with the Directive.

The CE marking on the PPE products was also introduced with this Directive. Th is marking means that the product is in conformity with the EU legislation and guarantees the free movement of PPE in the European economic area. For the development and the revision of the European standards, many of the ESF members are active in the working groups preparing the document. The ESF secretariat is involved in the CEN PPE sector forum where horizontal issues are discussed for the benefit of all PPE standards.

How did CE markings benefit PPE markets?

RB. It created a situation where we just had to deal with one set of European legislation and standards for one particular product. It makes it a whole lot easier in the world of safety. When companies are active in several countries, for instance having the main office in one country and sending out personnel to another country, it makes the communication about safety a lot easier. For suppliers of PPE the introduction of the EU legislation opens the whole European market for the same product, with one certification valid throughout the EU. You do need the user instructions for the product in the language of the country where you are selling the product, which leads sometimes to booklets in 20+ languages delivered with each PPE. Is there enough awareness in Europe of the importance of PPE?

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RB. Regarding awareness on PPE, I want to highlight a few things that are really important. Even if PPE are the last in line to protect people, after prevention and collective protection, the vast majority of employees use PPE. What always needs to be improved is the correct selection and use of safety products as well as their correct maintenance.

That is an issue that the European Safety Federation really wants to highlight and we will never stop highlighting this issue. It is in the interest of any company or end-user who is using these products. Th is is particularly an issue for companies that are small to medium-sized. They often have less specialised safety knowledge in-house, in these cases, health and safety are mostly part of the responsibilities of the company owner, who clearly has other priorities.

Therefore it is important that those companies are aware that they should seek help from specialists rather than buying PPE from a supplier that does not have the expertise to advise them on the right product for the job.

Ideally companies should only buy PPE from welltrained specialists who understand their risks and can advise them on the best products, help them with the training of the users and assist in the maintenance of the PPE. This way the customer will get the best safety for the best price. As an organisation, we are partners with the European Agency for Safety and Health at work for their campaigns, also to raise the awareness of the importance of PPE. The current campaign is about safe maintenance, a field where PPE play an important role in the safety and health of the maintenance workers, who are suffering a significantly higher number of accidents than the average in Europe.

Can you describe the ESF’s membership?

RB. The ESF members are national manufacturers and supplier associations. The members of those national associations are manufacturers or distributors or service suppliers, but the common denominator is PPE. The companies that are members in the national associations are dedicated to supply PPE that is in compliance with the applicable legislation. It is important to cooperate with both levels. On the European, level decisions are taken about EU legislation, European standards and so on. But also on a national level,

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there are still a lot of decisions taken, for instance on limit values for certain chemicals that can have an influence on the selection of PPE, and of course the national authorities have a big influence on the European level.

Another advantage of working with national associations is that ESF can also represent smaller companies that would not be interested in being a member of a European organisation, but do have an interest in being a member in their own country. Th rough our structure they still have the benefit of the information and lobby work on the European level. We are considered as the representative organisation of PPE manufacturers on the European level and our members are recognised as such in their own countries. Th is way we strengthen each other and have a voice on all levels.

What are the key issues that you are tackling currently?

RB. At the moment we have some things that are really changing in the market. All the PPE currently falls under a European PPE directive. We have now started to work on a revision of this directive, which of course deserves our full attention. It is not the purpose of the revision to change everything, only to improve the legislation. The EU commission has started an impact assessment study so that every stakeholder can give input on how they judge the impact of the revision of the directive for themselves. For instance, for manufacturers it is important that the costs to produce PPE are not increasing without added (safety) value for the user of the product.

The revisions will relate directly to some specific items in the directive; for instance, in the current directive you will fi nd safety products in three different categories. Category three is the highest category. Th is covers products where the associated risks are irreversible or mortal. That doesn’t necessarily mean that category one or two does not cover meaningful products. You have a situation for instance where hearing protection is in category two, which is a bit strange because the complete defi nition of category three products will fit hearing protection products. So there is a proposal to switch hearing protection from category two to category three. That’s just an example of what we’re looking at.

Another important issue for ESF is the harmonisation of the PPE market in Europe. Even if there is an EU Directive that supports the open market, there are still some differences in interpretation and application of this legislation. For the members of ESF this is unacceptable as this creates differences in the market between countries and thus possibly differences in protection offered to users in different markets.

You have spoken in the past about the importance of RFID technology to the PPE industry. Can you explain how it can be applied in this context?

RB. If an RFID tag is attached to for instance a protective garment, then it could contain information on who is the wearer of this garment, when it was given to that person, when it needs washing, how and where should it be ser-

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viced and how many times it is serviced; in other words, a full history of the equipment. For garments this technology is already used as a replacement for the more traditional barcodes. That technology could (and most likely will) be expanded to all types of PPE, so that for each product a database of information will be available, not only on each individual product, but also on types of products. This can contain important information for future selection of PPE, but also in case of accidents or incidents it can be useful to have the history of the products involved.

In case all PPE are equipped with RFID, a safety function can also be added: if a person enters a zone with specific risks, he or she needs to pass an RFID reader and only if he or she has the qualification to work in these specific conditions and if fully equipped with the appropriate protective equipment, entry will be granted. This can be very important on sites where many different contractors are working.

What are the main aims of ESF today?

RB. First priority is to make sure that all PPE on the EU market are safe and in full compliance with the legislation.

The revision of the PPE directive is one part of this, the harmonisation of interpretations and applications of the legislation are another part. Raising the awareness on PPE and the need for correct selection, use and maintenance of them is another means to reach this goal. As an organisation, it is our goal to have every member state from the European Union represented by a national association of the ESF. That is not the case at the moment but we are halfway there. We are going to increase our efforts into encouraging the establishment of such associations in those countries where there is no such organisation at present.

About the European Safety Federation (ESF) The ESF was formed in 1991 when nine organisations, each representing the manufacturers of PPE in their home countries, decided to form a body that could defend their interests at EU level.

The ESF’s main objective is to create a common policy based on the mutual interests of its members, concerning the manufacturing and use of PPE in Europe.

Today it represents 600 companies with over 50,000 employees.

What is the biggest challenge the ESF faces going forwards?

RB. In Europe we are working towards European standards. That is a process that has been established, based on EU legislation. The next challenge is to work towards global standards. For some PPE there are already ISO standards, and several other are in preparation. However, as the legislation in the EU is unique in the world, it is not always easy to bring the ISO standards to the level that is acceptable in the EU. There have been several incidents in recent years that have highlighted the need for global standards – like SARS or swine flu.

If the WHO is making a recommendation with the Centers for Disease Control, it is normally a recommendation with respect to American products. So they do their best and give recommendations for people needing to protect themselves using respiratory protective equipment. In other parts of the world these products are not available as there are different standards applicable. That is the beauty of global standards. It means that in emergency circumstances the message is clear and there won’t be any question marks because in those emergencies there is already enough stress. And of course the education about the correct PPE for each risk is a continuous challenge for ESF and its members.

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RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE

WELL TRAINED Deutsche Bahn’s Spokesperson for Track Infrastructure, Hans-Georg Zimmerman, took time out from his busy schedule to reveal to EU Infrastructure the company’s strategy for sustainability, growth and improved efficiency.

D

eutsche Bahn’s (DB) sleek HQ in the heart of Berlin is a fittingly gleaming edifice. Sparkling against the backdrop of the Sony Center in the city’s Potsdamer Platz area, the company’s blood-red ‘DB’ logo is beamed for miles across Berlin’s flat expanses, leaving Berliners and the millions of tourists who visit the city each year in no doubt as to who is in charge of transport here. While the BVG-run U-Bahn (underground metro service) might be older and more extensive, it is DB’s overland S-Bahn train network that proves the backbone of the city’s ultra-efficient transport network.

With Berlin as the hub, Deutsche Bahn’s reach and

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influence spreads throughout the four corners of Germany, linking east with west, north with south, Scandinavia with the Mediterranean and providing every corner of Europe with a fast, efficient and extremely safe mode of transport.

Indeed, some two billion passengers thank DB for arriving on time each and every year. The company shoulders massive responsibility, but does so with the professionalism, technical expertise and clockwork-efficiency that we have come to expect from one of Germany’s foremost field leaders.

Th is is not to say that DB is able to operate unhindered by economic and environmental pressures; the past few

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years have been just as challenging for DB as they have been for any other large organisation, and a number of strategies have been devised in order to stave off cutbacks, cope with a different type of customer demand and prove their sustainability credentials. “Our forecasts predict that rail traffic will increase continuously until 2025, and so to cope with this increase, bottlenecks – which are already extensively used – will have to be extended,” said HansGeorg Zimmerman, Spokesperson for Track Infrastructure at Deutsche Bahn. “In order to close several gaps of capacity, DB has, as a strategic approach, set up a management capacity arm called ‘Kapazitatsmanagement’, which has enabled us to defi ne routes where extension is essential, which will prove to be extremely beneficial for both passenger and freight traffic.”

With such exponential growth predicted, DB has already begun taking steps to ensure the flow of rail traffic throughout Germany can continue unhindered. “There are currently 37 defi ned single measures along the north-south axis which should be fully realised by 2017, which will efficiently absorb future rail traffic volumes in Germany.

“Besides the realisation of these single measures, DB has also developed new concepts for upgrading the main routes, alternative routes, and junctions in order to create greater possibilities for new rail capacity with the given capital expenditure at our disposal.”

Expansion investment DB is organised as a business group and has over 500 subsidiaries, of which one – DB Netz AG – is responsible for the rail infrastructure. As the DB organisation continues to grow, DB Netz AG is tasked with ensuring that the increased volumes of passenger and freight traffic is delivered and transported satisfactorily and punctually throughout the country, not least at the ports and borders. “DB Netz has implemented a special program for developing the infrastructure in the seaport’s back country,” says Zimmermann. “The ‘Sofortprogramm Seehafenhinterlandverkehr’ [crash program for seaport back country traffic] is part of the master plan for freight traffic and logistics of the federal ministry for traffic, building structure and urban development. Th is program contains various measures which can be realised with small investments and show results in the direct catchment area of seaports and the back country to increase route capacity.”

Zimmermann reveals that the implementation of this program has seen route capacity accomplished within the past two years. “In 2008 the first measures were realised in Duisburg seaport and one year later single measures in the bottleneck of Hamburg and further parts of the project ‘Konzeption Westliche Ruhr I’.” Th is program has attracted in excess of €90 million in recent investment, while the total volume cost of the project came in at more than €300 million.

“In addition to the extension of railway lines,” continues Zimmermann, “DB is increasing the capacity of the rail network by developing new methods and tools in the area of distribution (guidance of transport streams),

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Our forecasts predict that rail traffic will increase continuously until 2025, and so to cope with this increase, bottlenecks – which are already extensively used – will have to be extended

technologies (free float), railway schedules (system routes) and operations (disposition procedures).” Free float is a new project that was implemented by DB Netz AG in 2009 and has been especially designed for long freight trains in excess of 835 metres operating on the line between Padborg and Maschen.

DB Netz AG is also developing and testing a prototype for the realisation of partly automated recognition, and seeking a solution for the confl icts and regulation of train destination.

Sustainable Bahn DB is involved in a number of green initiatives too, working diligently to ensure that its rail network is as sustainable and environmentally friendly as possible. No mean feat, but a challenge that DB’s energy supply company – DB energie GmbH – is meeting head on. “The DB Energie GmbH intends to increase the percentage of the renewable traction energy from its current level of 18.5 percent to 30 percent by 2020,” says Zimmermann.

Another green initiative that DB Energie is concerned with is renewable energy. “Currently,” reveals Zimmermann, “DB Energie obtains most of its green power from hydro energy. However, since here in Germany hydro energy is almost exhausted, one alternative we have highlighted is wind power. On March 1st this year, DB Energie generated 59,000 MWh from the Markisch-Linden wind farm in Brandeburg. Th is amount of energy equates to the annual power requirements of six ICE-trains and is generated as rotary current, transformed by converter mills to 16.7-hz and then passed into the traction electricity supply lines. The current supplied by the wind farms partly replaces the energy previously gained at the 50-hz market.”

Despite such impressive figures, DB is still cautious about adopting what it calls the ‘unstable wind feed’ delivered by the Markisch-Linden wind farm as a main source of energy. “Alongside an immediate C02 reduction, DB will determine, via practical experience, whether it is economically viable to add this unstable wind feed to our power portfolio,” admits Zimmermann. “Based on this stock data DB will then make a decision on the future extension of adopting wind power for the company.

“Our investments in modern converter techniques and the conclusion of long-term power supply contracts for new generating plants are set to have a positive impact on our C02 balance. We have commissioned the use of a modern coal power station – Datteln 4 – that is 20 percent more efficient than previously used power stations and will save the environment 790,000 tons of C02 per year.”

On the track, DB is equally progressive in its efforts to reduce its carbon footprint without impacting upon the high levels of service it has become renowned for. “DB Energie has also worked hard at substituting older converters for those that transform a 50-hz current obtained from the public power grid to traction current,” says Zimmermann.

“Because these converters work electronically and are static, they are able to operate at a significantly higher-level of energy efficiency, saving 69,000 tons of C02 per year.”

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ASK THE EXPERT

Testing times Stefaan Volkaert of STEVO Electric on the latest technology for testing high-speed DC breakers in rail networks.

“In order to carry out these modifications and consequently ensure a durable exploitation of the equipment, the need for testing equipment is essential”

roblems that arise when testing ultra high-speed DC breakers are currently of great concern to those involved in the construction of rail networks. They are particularly concerned about the difference between having at their disposal complete test equipment giving satisfactory results on site, compared to the testing bench of manufacturers.

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tection must be provided alongside routine maintenance and test runs – among which are tests of release (threshold IDS). Often the owners have to modify the IDS threshold or to replace the system of release with another range of adjustment. In order to carry out these modifications and consequently ensure a durable exploitation of the equipment, the need for testing equipment is essential.

Solutions

What the future holds

STEVO Electric provides a mobile high-current generator – which has been on the market since 2004 – for adequately testing high-speed DC breakers in the transport sector, i.e. trains, subways, trams and trolleys, concerning not just infrastructure but traction substations and rolling stock too. Since 2004, STEVO Electric has been marketing the BALTO 6.000A system – up to 13.000A of capacity in a master/slave version – worldwide in several traction domains (traction substations and rolling stock) to which high-speed DC breakers are applied. Moreover, STEVO Electric maintains long-term contacts with manufacturers of high-speed DC breakers, which are essential for homologations used for testing the equipment in question.

Nowadays the railway networks – whether a tram or a train network – are in a period of full growth. The networks have deployed a number of innovative techniques that deliver more powerful performance increases that take into account the crucial character of the fast circuit breakers, giving the ultimate protection. Th is ultimate pro-

Relative to the current design of the BALTO system, the market requires more performances in the fields of transport, efficiency and usefulness. To match those requirements, identified during multiple demonstrations and in discussions not only with the manufacturers but in particular with the managers and owners of rail networks, STEVO Electric took the decision to develop an innovative new system – BALTO 30.000A – based on a list of demands. It is hoped that the new system will be available in the second part of 2010.

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Stefaan Volkaert is the general manager and founder of STEVO Electric, which was set up in 1999 to distribute high and low voltage equipment for the energy sector in the Benelux region. Its contacts in the transport industry expressed a need for mobile test equipment for testing high-speed DC breakers used in infrastructure – including in substations and in rolling stock applications and it developed test equipment for high-speed DC breakers. Its aim is to now develop test equipment for all kinds of electromagnetic circuit breakers as well as test equipment for AC Vacuum Circuit Breaker 50Hz and 16Hz2/3 for traction vehicles.

To find out more visit www.STEVOELECTRIC.BE or contact stefaan. volkaert@stevoelectric.be

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WIND FOCUS

A BREATH OF FRESH AIR The wind of change is blowing through the world’s energy markets – and Europe is set to be the key beneficiary, as well as leading the way.

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riven by European utilities’ desire to deliver an increasing amount of clean power, the offshore wind industry is poised for substantial scaling over the next decade, with the global installed base expected to grow to nearly 45GW by 2020, according to a new market study from IHS Emerging Energy Research. And with large northern European utilities taking responsibility for leading the industry forward over the short-term, the stage is being set for North America and Asia to significantly ramp-up the development of their offshore capabilities as well.

“The global offshore wind energy industry’s entry into the next decade will be marked by concrete progress built on the past 10 years of moving along the learning curve,” says Senior Wind Analyst Eduard Sala de Vedruna, author of the report. “While the global offshore market has been slow to take off due to cost and logistical challenges – climbing from 70MW installed to 1.5GW over the past eight years – the industry is now scaling thanks to an increased focus on offshore by Europe utilities.”

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The global offshore wind energy industry’s entry into the next decade will be marked by concrete progress built on the past 10 years of moving along the learning curve

In Europe, tapped-out onshore markets and higher capacity factors offshore are driving governments to incentivise the technology, providing key support to the wide-scale industrial build-out that is required. “Offshore is still very much a European industry led by the UK and followed by Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark. These markets will fuel Europe’s offshore wind eminence as the annual megawatts added scale globally,” says Sala de Vedruna.

Utilities own around 90 percent of the 20GW of offshore projects in the pipeline in Europe, many of which are now moving to procure turbines and defi ne engineering, procurement and construction strategies for project execution. Northern European players – and German utilities in particular – have the most aggressive expansion plans in terms of megawatts and geographic diversity of their pipelines, says Sala de Vedruna. “European utilities such as RWE, E.ON, DONG, Vattenfall, Scottish and Southern Energy, Statkraft , and Iberdrola are well-positioned to rely on their strong balance sheets and industry expertise to overcome the increased costs and risks associated with offshore wind projects,” he explains.

Heading offshore Europe’s offshore wind industry has rapidly evolved into a consolidated market mainly in the North Sea, with onshore competition moving offshore as utility players expand their portfolios. “What began as a market in which

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ers, pure play developers, EPC contractors, and specialised service and equipment providers are increasingly getting active in offshore, he adds.

To reduce installation costs and maximise power output, utilities are seeking bankable, larger turbines to maximise economies of scale. Europe’s trend toward 5MW turbines for 200MW and larger projects moving further offshore will provide key references for near-term projects in Canada, the US, China and Korea. The recent launch of larger turbines, the increasing size of projects and the industry’s ability to scale the supply chain with vessel, cabling and foundation installation capacity are fundamental to project execution, says Sala de Vedruna.

The renewable energy economy

smaller developers competed to lock up permitted sites for sale to utilities has shifted to utilities working in tandem with other utilities and developers to assemble the technical skills, fi nancing, and power experience needed for project execution. Th is shift has been crucial to the market’s reaching maturity to handle the sets of technical, construction and interface risks inherent with EPC on this scale,” says Sala de Vedruna.

As a result, Asia and North America are currently looking to Europe for technology and cost benchmarking.

Between 2010 and 2020, these two regions will contribute nearly 25 percent of the total new offshore capacity installed worldwide, according to the study. EER expects Asia to tap its offshore markets in 2014, led by China and Korea. In North America, test projects in the US (Deepwater Wind) and Canada (NaiKun) may come to fruition by 2012, with over 6GW projected by 2020.

And Sala de Vedruna believes the movement of European players along the value chain is setting the tone for longer-term global competition, with each project providing essential expertise for the industry to improve standardisation across projects for offshore installations, which are larger and more costly than onshore wind projects.

“Offshore projects still present major challenges throughout the process, from permitting to construction and available technology, requiring more skilled players to manage the projects and contingencies,” says Sala de Vedruna. In addition to utilities, independent power produc-

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wind energy will help meet 50 percent of the EU’s electricity demand in 2050

Europe’s wind energy market has grown by 23% year-on-year

And he is not the only one to see the potential in the sector. At the recent European Wind Energy Conference and Exhibition held at Warsaw in April, top wind energy professionals told the assembled delegates that wind energy would help meet 50 percent of the EU’s electricity demand in 2050.

“2050 might seem like a long way off, but the decisions we take today will have a big impact on our energy supplies in 40 years’ time,” says Arthouros Zervos, President of the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA). And with the G8 and EU already committed to an 80 percent greenhouse gas reduction by 2050, Zervos is adamant that strong leadership was required to ensure the huge opportunities afforded by wind are realised over the coming decades. “We can’t allow the politicians to make grand statements and leave the serious decisions to the next generation,” he says. “Given the long life of power plants, our vision for 2050 has to be reflected in the construction of new power plants from at least 2020 onwards. A fully renewable power sector is the only solution to reaching 80-95 percent CO2 reductions by 2050. The remaining carbon emissions will be needed for other sectors, such as agriculture.”

Indeed, Zervos believes we should be talking about a “renewable energy economy” rather than just a low carbon one. “Renewable energies can provide 100 percent of Europe’s power supplies by 2050 without any further contribution from so-called low-carbon technologies,” he asserts.

Wind energy is already a mainstream power source in Europe, and annual market growth has been impressive over the past 10 years, averaging 23 percent year-on-year.

“Realistically, wind can provide 50 percent of power supplies by 2050 if the necessary changes to infrastructure and markets are made,” agrees Christian Kjaer, EWEA’s Chief Executive. “The potential is there and the industry is ready. All we have to do is maintain current growth rates, both on and offshore. I am also confident that other renewables can easily meet the other half of Europe’s electricity needs.”

Cost efficient?

Kjaer also believes that wind power is fundamental to reducing electricity prices as well as CO2 emissions.

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EWEA recently completed a comprehensive assessment of studies conducted into the impact of wind energy on electricity prices, including fi ndings from case studies in Germany, Denmark and Belgium. The report fi nds that electricity prices were reduced by between €3-23/MWh depending on the amount of wind power, and concludes that the studies “essentially draw similar conclusions” that “an increased penetration of wind power reduces wholesale spot prices”.

Kjaer believes that this is a significant fi nding. “It has already been well-established that wind reduces CO2 emissions,” he says. “But now we have stronger evidence than ever before that wind power also reduces electricity prices for consumers. The message is clear – if you want affordable CO2-free electricity, increase the amount of wind power in your electricity mix.”

The report found that wind power is often used as an alternative to CO2-intensive production technologies, with wind replacing hard coal power plants – the technology that usually sets the price on the wholesale market – during hours of low demand, and gas-fired power plants during hours of high demand in all the countries under review.

EWEA believes this is because wind’s low marginal costs push more expensive technologies, such as gas and thermal plants, out of the market.

However, there are still a number of hurdles to be overcome in order for wind to become a widespread and fully functional part of Europe’s energy mix – not least the adoption of a Pan-European power market. Europe needs to interconnect its electricity networks as a necessary step towards a truly integrated European electricity market. “A pan-European grid is the fi rst priority, but a clear vision of, and a strong political commitment to, the long-term energy mix is also essential,” says Kjaer, adding that an integrated power market is essential for the smart management of renewable energies, and in order to lower the costs for consumers. “Energy is an international challenge,” he says. “It is astounding that 24 years after establishing free movement of goods, services, capital and labour, the EU has not yet established a fi ft h freedom: free movement of electricity.”

There are promising signs that this could be about to change, however, with the new EU Commissioner for Energy, Günther Oettinger, recently announcing his support for a European supergrid. “We will never be able to deliver our ambitious energy efficiency or greenhouse gas emission targets without fully utilising the opportunities that large and integrated markets offer,” Oettinger said during a spirited speech delivered at the Eurelectric Conference in Brussels, before adding that transmission system operators will bear the critical task of building the infrastructure needed to integrate large scale wind energy with both the networks and the markets. “We require a European mechanism that allows us to produce our energy in the most efficient way, so we can be sure that valuable wind power is not stuck at a border, or worse never produced, because we do not have the right cables to carry it.”

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GEARBOX The gears in this box connect the lowspeed shaft to the high-speed shaft.

They boost the rotation speed of the high-speed shaft to 1000-18000 rotations per minute

GENERATOR The generator’s electrical output goes to a transformer that converts it to the right voltage for the larger electricity grid

LOW-SPEED SHAFT The turning blades spin this shaft 30-60 times per minute

HIGH-SPEED SHAFT This rapidly spinning shaft drives the generator to produce electric power

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RENEWABLE ENERGY

Mix

it up

Springboarding from the Radlinger Group, RW Energy has upped the renewables game. COO Kevin McCullough explains the industry’s need for a mixed energy portfolio to actualise carbon-emitting targets.

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or a long time, RW Energy’s (RWE) growth in the renewables market was limited entirely to the UK – the business model was matured and honed over several years, but it wasn’t until certain changes were introduced within the company’s executive board in Germany that trends were shifted. Predominantly the company had been what Kevin McCullough explains as “a very carbon-heavy player within the energy sector,” but in order to stay on top, the company quickly recognised the changing times and the need to move away from its traditional carbon-based technologies.

“The decision was taken with the introduction of our new group Chief Executive, Juergen Grossman, to up the game in renewables,” says McCullough. “We had a very solid base on

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which to build that from RWE npower renewables in the UK and the role has been to try to extrapolate that throughout Europe, and to build it slightly different from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. The business we have in Spain is a different business model to the one we have in Italy, Poland and the UK, but it was important to take that experience and knowhow and grow it.”

The company wasted no time in moving quickly. RWE and Westphalia-Lippe Agricultural Association signed a cooperation agreement for biogas, and a deal was struck with REpower Systems of a framework agreement on the supply of 250 off shore wind energy units for the Nordsee 1 project. McCullough notes that fast innovation is the key to success in such implementations. “If you are going to stick to what you’ve always done, you’ll stay doing what

you’ve always done. That market will decrease because others will eat away; because we were a little later than most of our competitors in getting into large volume renewables, we had to make some fairly bold moves quickly,” he says.

“A typical example was the formation of a strong partnership agreement with one of the major wind turbine manufacturers globally – we secured a contract with REpower Systems for up to 250 five- or six-megawatt turbines that we could deploy in a range of offshore projects around Europe. Once all of the 250 turbines are procured and paid for, the value of that project is in excess of US$2 billion.

“We commit to that contract with terms and conditions that we can live with so that we can be flexible when projects come to fruition. It’s one thing to say that you’re going to

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develop large scale, off shore wind in particular, but a gigawatt of offshore is likely to cost in excess of €2.5 to €3 billion, so it’s not for the fainthearted. You have to show that you are really committed and have the means to back that commitment up. Those framework agreements and getting them ready in place quickly is fundamentally important,” he says.

Offshore projects McCullough adds that there have only been minimalist lifestyle changes towards energy, and current policies of low carbon and low price are highly ambitious: renewables involve typically expensive technologies and skimming on the cost involved will see the continuation of energy sourced from fossil fuels. He notes how onshore wind is now beginning to fi nd party with gas and coal turbine plants, whereas offshore wind still remains in a different league.

“It’s at least 50 percent more expensive than onshore wind in pure capital of cost because of the amount of infrastructure that sits beneath the waves, but then when you look at the life of an asset 50 to 150 kilometres from shore, it’s a square area the geographical size of the city of London. To maintain that over a 20 year lifespan is significantly different from simply driving to a turbine in a field or in a valley that you can gain access to, so we’re beginning to learn the full lifecycle cost. If we want a low carbon economy we all must ultimately fi nd a means for society to pay for this low carbon economy.”

RWE is participating in the British Offshore Wind Accelerator Initiative, launched by the Carbon Trust, and is one of the original utilities to begin building commercially viable, offshore wind farms. In 2003 the company built North Hoyle, which has continued to operate since then and is regarded as the best performing offshore wind farm in British waters. McCullough advises that the company’s technical availability is at around 90 percent, making it significantly more advanced than that of RWE’s competition and proving its expertise to the Carbon Trust and Offshore Wind Accelerator Program in order to develop innovative new products.

Combining innovative products with cost reductions is highly important. The company is currently developing ways into lowering production prices and making the supply chain in the manufacturing process more efficient, for both its onshore and off shore activities.

Working alongside the Carbon Trust, RWE is developing how electricity is to be taken from those wind farms and deployed into the national grid, simultaneously learning how these operations can be made cheaper.

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The company has not been secretive of its fi ndings. “We have to be a little sensitive on some of the information regarding the commerciality of any particular project, but it’s in our interest to share information about how we maintain our assets, how we benchmark our assets – how do we know that we’re actually the best of something that we do without sharing that information? We’re very active about sharing the basic concepts of good practice, such as health and safety initiatives and maintenance philosophy,” explains McCullough.

“If we and all our competitors did that in complete isolation then UK, PLC and EU players would take a lot longer to see the benefits due to the parochial nature that that would support. We don’t believe in that, we want to open our doors. The North Hoyle project is a classic example of this: most of the round one offshore wind projects have had full public

“If we want a low carbon economy we all must ultimately find a means for society to pay for this low carbon economy” visibility, partly because they were initially funded by a capital grant. For the fi rst early years of their life we had to be very transparent with that learning experience, and that’s a philosophy that we should try to extend where we can.”

Energy mix Consumer interest is fast catching on to the global emphasis of green energy, and understanding how to provide a mix of energy types and getting that mix right for its consumers is an issue facing nearly all utilities worldwide.

McCullough discusses how the company is administering these choices and points to the example of the large combustion plant directive in the UK, which is placing pressure on the energy gap – the capacity of generation ability and the level of demand at any one time.

“We have the Magnox fleets shutting down now,” he explains. “The AGR’s will follow, and at any point in time today we have investment decisions to make to replace some of those assets that will be affected by schemes like that.

We have to do it in a way with the best knowledge that we have available at any given time, but we try to spread the risk so that we’re not putting all eggs in one basket.

“We see real strength in playing as an energy generator portfolio as opposed to a single party player. With the technology that’s available today I don’t believe in a world that is 100 percent renewable-backed, nor do I believe in a world that’s 100 percent nuclear, coal or anything else. When you look at things like carbon capture and storage with sequestration they have the potential to be very viable projects, but only on a project-by-project basis.

“Not only does that take very high efficiency coal plants close to 50 thermal efficiency, but by adopting the technology to strip out the carbon dioxide, it reduces our thermal efficiency closer to 30 again. Then you also have the sustainability issue of taking that CO2 and transporting it vast distances, with all of the steel pipe work, infrastructure and compression plants, and storing it for somewhere between 30 and 100 years. However, with the climate change dilemma you have to ask whether a wholesale basis for every coal plant is sustainable, so the answer is not completely CCS; it’s not completely nuclear. It has to be a selection of these technologies so that we can make the best of everything we have available and stop trying to fi nd this silver bullet that frankly, in my experience of 25 years in the energy sector, doesn’t exist,” he says.

Whether Europe’s transmission and distribution network is strong enough to cope with the rise of micro generators and the transmission of renewable energy from point of generation to point of use remains to be seen. McCullough believes the network to be sufficient to cope with a large penetration of renewable energy, and to successfully distribute energy too. Smaller scale energy is made in a more distributed nature via combined heat, power plants and generation, be it micro, domestic or small business scale. He notes the example of Germany, which has historically been a centre of large points of generations, similar to that in the UK. “It means that we have to actually adapt to how we think about a new form of rules as to how we regulate and manage the grid,” he explains.

“When you look at 23,000 megawatts installed in Germany and look at the very significant percentage of penetration that is in the market, then look at markets like the UK that are down in the single digit percents and very low numbers at that, there’s a vast amount of room to go at before we really run into problems. Will we run into problems? We might, but let’s actually make the progress towards that hurdle rather than not starting and stopping now before we get there.

We can’t continue doing nothing.”

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CARBON MANAGEMENT

Low carb diet On April 1 2010, the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficient Scheme (CRC) went live in the UK amid not a little confusion as to how the scheme works, who can benefit, and how.

EU Infrastructure asked Npower’s Head of Business Energy Services, Dave Lewis, to explain more.

The CRC is a recent scheme that is highly incentivised, so could you tell us how businesses are responding to it so far?

Dave Lewis. Well I have to say it is difficult to assess at this early stage, although we do know that only quite a low proportion of companies have registered so far.

Registration opened on April 1 and will run up until the end of September, but the registration level is currently running at between five to 10 percent, which is approximately 5000 companies that are impacted by the scheme, a figure that is surprisingly low. I must admit, some of the more high-profi le names I thought would have pushed for a fast registration have failed to do so, so it does seem that there is still quite a bit of work left to do for a lot of companies.

It also suggests that there is maybe still some concern about what is required of these companies, such as how to gather and manage all the information that is required because it is a very bureaucratic process. In summary then, I think that companies are struggling a little bit with the new legislation – we have had conversations with companies that initially thought they had it all under control, only to then turn to us to do it for them because they realised that it was far more complicated than they maybe appreciated. It is a challenging scheme; the data management alone cannot be underestimated because unless a company has an ongoing process for managing its carbon footprint they are having to start from scratch in order to fully understand their carbon emissions from all of their fuel sources on all of their sites.

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If a lot of companies have to start from scratch, are they daunted by the prospect of adapting to the scheme, or are the low registration rates down to a lack of inclination to adapt?

DL. I think the main issue is understanding where to start. Npower has been affected by this just as much as any other business: the task of just writing down the list of properties that fall under this jurisdiction was far from straightforward in itself. We had to conduct several iterations just to understand all the sites that were impacted. Once the scope had been grasped, the next stage was the data management, which means going back two years because the scheme requires you to capture your carbon footprint from 2008.

If a company has not registered in time for the September cut off point, are they then penalised?

DL. Absolutely. The environment agency has a very clear view of whom they expect to be impacted by this, so they have a good idea of all the sites that should be registered, which is any company that has a half-hourly electricity meter. At best guess this is about 20,000 organisations.

The benchmark is as follows: if a company, through their half-hourly electricity meters, consumed more than 6GW hours of electricity in 2008, then they are a full participant of the scheme and therefore have to register and manage their carbon under the CRC process.

If a company, through their half-hourly electricity meters, consumed more than 6GW hours of electricity in 2008, then they are a full participant of the scheme and therefore have to register and manage their carbon under the CRC process

How are these 20,000 companies being contacted to ensure they are aware of their obligations?

DL. They have been contacted by us. Npower has been asked by the environment agency to mail out to all of the sites that have these half-hourly electricity meters to inform them that they are impacted. But, with all the best will in the world, this has proved a sizeable task. Our information is sent to billing addresses, so the guidelines are often reaching no farther than the accounts team, not energy managers or fi nance directors – the guys who are really impacted by all this. Our requirement from the government has been to get these declarations signed off by a board member of a sufficient level that the environment agency is satisfied with. There are thousands of companies out there that are in the sights of the environment agency, and they need to know it.

In response to the introduction of the scheme, you set up a CRC Assist programme. How can this scheme help businesses to get on board and better manage their carbon output and energy use?

DL. CRC Assist is a very specific product. We are agents under CRC, so we can represent organisations as part of the CRC scheme, and we are also registered agents with the environment agency, so we can effectively manage the whole process for an organisation. In this instance, we will tell them what to do, we will source the data for them; we will run the data management process for them. So, everything that they need to do to comply can be done via our CRC Assist scheme, which covers the basic steps.

There are other things that we can assist with in order to make a company’s registration process successful. In the early days of the scheme, having smart metering installed in your portfolio earns you extra credit as an early action, which then builds to extra, subsequent credit depend-

NPower 101

ing on how much smart metering you have in your portfolio. Also, being accredited to the Carbon Trust Standard shows that your company has an energy management scheme in place, which can also earn more credit.

There are many equivalents to the Carbon Trust Standard too, so we can work toward getting companies accredited under those standards as well. Our aim is to ensure companies understand how to run their energy management programmes and reduce their energy consumption because, ultimately, CRC was started as simply the Carbon Reduction Commitment, and I think companies have become confused, asking ‘is it carbon trading?’ or ‘is it the EU Emissions Trading System?’ It is neither. Th is is about energy reduction, using less energy.

The scheme does support, however, a Carbon Allowance Purchasing Scheme. How does this work and how have companies responded to it so far?

DL. In the early part of the scheme, which is called the introductory phase and is three years long, a company can buy allowances for whatever is required; it is at a fi xed price, so a company has to calculate its carbon allowances and its carbon footprint, purchasing allowances for what it thinks its footprint will be in the following year. So a company covers its future year’s allowances.

For example, in April a company can buy allowances to cover its future year consumption and, at the end of the year, it can surrender them. The idea is to buy enough to cover allowances, which means a company has to understand exactly what its footprint is and also anticipate any changes to its footprint throughout the year. So it might be that a company is expanding and acquiring sites and so has to buy more carbon, or a company might need less carbon allowance because, fundamentally, it is becoming more efficient.

Therefore, a complete understanding of a company’s carbon footprint is important because allowances are purchased for a full footprint, irrespective of what gets recycled back to the company. Th is is quite a large cash flow requirement, particularly if a company purchases every ton of CO2 in its portfolio – carbon is priced at £12 per ton (€16) which, if you are dealing in electricity only, will add £6 (€8) a megawatt hour to a company’s electricity bill.

Despite the cost, is it easier for companies to simply buy more carbon allowances rather than follow the course of long-term investments in energy-efficient techniques to ultimately lower their carbon footprint?

DL. Well this is why the scheme is structured in the way that it is because, ultimately, a company gets a recycle payment, and in the fi rst year they get a minimum of 90 percent of that cost back because the penalty band is plus or minus 10 percent. However, in order to purchase a full allowance, there is quite a big cost involved, which is what will discourage companies from significantly overburdening just to be safe because too much carbon allowance purchases becomes quite a burden in itself. Companies could play it safe, sure, but then they would have to manage the cost impact of that on their business.

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CARBON MANAGEMENT

What is the CRC?

T

he CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme is a mandatory climate change and energy saving scheme for the UK, aimed at cutting emissions and improving energy efficiency in large private and public sector organisations.

There is a financial incentive for these organisations to reduce energy – carbon emissions are priced, with the organisations purchasing Carbon Allowances that are equal to their annual emissions.

There is an emissions ‘cap’ for total allowances available to the CRC participants, who are encouraged to determine the most cost-effective way to lower their emissions, either by purchasing more Carbon Allowances or investing in ways to reduce their emissions and thus restrict the number of allowances they have to buy.

An organisation is eligible for CRC if they possess at least one half-hourly meter (HHM) that is settled on the half-hourly market and consumed more than 6000-megawatt hours of electricity per year of HHM during 2008.

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Will the CRC scheme be adopted elsewhere in Europe or do other European nations have their own methods for restricting carbon consumption?

DL. I have not come across anything quite like it in Europe yet so I think it is quite unique. Germany is obviously very strong on renewables, targeting their carbon emissions through renewables and incentivising companies to take part. I think CRC is a little bit of the UK playing catch-up.

The government has already tackled the energy-intensive part of the market, and the CRC is aimed at non energy-intensive organisations, such as retailers, multi-site organisations, landlords, property owners and those other companies that traditionally have not been managing their energy and carbon quite so closely as the energy-intensive sector because, until now, there has been little cost incentive to do so.

FAST FACT: The CRC aims to cut carbon emmissions by 80% by 2050 compared to 1990’s baseline

So the government’s aim is to instigate a change from the bottom up – do companies grasp this?

DL. They do, yes. In addition to the Carbon Allowance Purchasing Scheme, the environment agency is also publishing a lead table. At the end of every year of the scheme, each of the registered organisations will be ranked according to their performance under CRC. How it gets measured will change a little bit throughout the scheme, and that bit is quite complicated, which is why we have products to help organisations perform better in terms of their energy management and so rank higher up on the lead table. This has two impacts: reputation and fi nancial – the better you do, the more industry respect and money back you receive.

The money that the scheme raises is recycled fully back into it, but how do the companies benefit from this?

DL. There are no stipulations attached to the money that gets recycled back: a company pays it in and, six months later it all comes back out again to the participant. Ultimately, though, the ones that really benefit are those at the top of the lead table – leaders are rewarded with a bonus, while those at the bottom get a penalty. Over time, this risk band increases. In the first year it is plus or minus 10 percent, rising to 20 percent next year and so on, up to 50 percent after five years.

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In the economic downturn, companies will obviously focus on cutting costs rather than carbon, so what would you say to the decision makers of companies who are reluctant to cut carbon right now?

DL. I think you do both. Energy is no longer a cheap commodity. It varies in price, quite significantly, and the market has moved a lot in the last couple of years. By banking carbon savings you are banking the value of that carbon, and so you are banking good energy savings. Th is potentially incentivises a company to do more rather than less because it makes the paybacks more attractive. Hence, I would suggest that those issues that were borderline before are now more attractive because there is that potential of fi nancial gain, coupled with mitigating risk under the lead table and moving up it.

How far are we from seeing wholesale changes in attitudes and behaviours throughout Europe, and will the CRC be a catalyst for change?

DL. I can see it already. It is happening in every organisation I have spoken to; they all recognise that they have to do something about their carbon footprint, so there has been a defi nite change in the consciousness of most organisations. There is an understanding that success as a company depends on good energy management not just as part of the CRC but on all levels, such as supply chain, where all companies need to be demonstrating good performance and good corporate social responsibility.

Thought-processes are really beginning to change and the whole industry is becoming much more strategic; energy and environmental concerns are reaching the decision makers in pretty much every business, which can only be seen as a good thing.

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O&M challenges at renewable energy plants Renewable energy plays an increasingly important role in the European energy mix. In terms of operation & maintenance, how can independent service providers contribute to the maturity and reliability of the sector? Ricardo Moro shares his ideas.

Renewable energy is becoming a very significant part of the European energy mix. How does this fact influence the exploitation of generating assets?

Ricardo Moro. With European objectives of 20 percent of the energy coming from renewables, it becomes a strategic objective to ensure that plants are operated in the best possible way to ensure high electricity yields and minimum downtime or efficiency loss. And of course asset owners demand the same high standards in order to maximise the return on their investment.

How should independent service providers (ISPs) of operations & maintenance services prepare for demands of better service?

RM. ISPs like Global Energy Services (GES) must respond to those demands. Customers request from ISPs to show their commitment by signing service contracts based upon plant availability and energy output objectives, including rewards and penalties derived from achieving them or not.

This commitment must be supported by better service levels provided by the ISP. What are the types of improvements that an O&M company needs to undertake to really fulfil customer expectations?

RM. Service crews must be familiar with the specific technology to be serviced. Sometimes this is achieved by hiring experienced technicians. In other, rarer cases, there is a cooperation between turbine manufacturer and ISP to provide O&M services. Another step is to increase the qualification of the team so that the technicians, especially the team leader, can organize and execute in an optimal way both the planned maintenance activities and the reaction to any unexpected event. In parallel, talent retention schemes are advisable. For example, rewards can be offered to the service crew when the required plant availability and energy output are achieved.

It is crucial to have a skilful and motivated team, but at the same time the whole operating model has to be improved at several levels. At the execution level, standard operating procedures have to be put in place so that activities are carried out in a homogenous and repetitive way, regardless of skill or habit of the individual technician. Other measures are the use of standard kits,

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5S deployment, etc. At the planning level, capacity planning systems must be developed to ensure availability of people/tools/materials where and when required. At the management level, key process indicators need to be identified, measured and monitored in order to trigger corrective actions when necessary.

“It is crucial to have a skilful and motivated team, but at the same time the whole operating model has to be improved at several levels” Has your company engaged in such improvements as those just mentioned? If so, please describe.

RM. GES, the leading ISP worldwide, is ready to share commitment, risks and rewards with plant owners. For that purpose we are undergoing a transformation project which contemplates actions such as those described above with the goal of increasing uptime and performance in the wind farms that we are servicing. Such a project has been completed in our GES USA organization and we are now extending the results to other regions where we operate.

Th roughout the project we have used many principles coming from the lean operations culture. It has been a very exciting challenge to study concepts originated in manufacturing production environments and adapt them to a service environment. We have found this mental exercise enormously stimulating and creative.

Finally, please summarise the practical results of the transformation project for your company.

RM. GES is now in a better position to provide O&M services to our customers, many of whom are global and demand from us common operational standards anywhere in the world. And this is an ongoing process: further cooperation between asset owners, turbine manufacturers and ISP companies will make renewable energy a more mature and reliable contributor to the energy system.

Ricardo Moro is Chief Executive Officer at Global Energy Services, the leading independent service provider in the wind sector with almost 11,000 MW maintained worldwide. He is an industrial engineer and has over 20 years’ experience in the renewable energy sector, both in manufacturing and in service activities.

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SUSTAINABILITY FOCUS

Tomorrow’s world: a master plan

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British engineers Hilson Moran have developed a strong portfolio of sustainable projects in recent years, but for the firm’s Director of Sustainability, Matt Kitson, that is not enough. He speaks to EU Infrastructure about his revolutionary framework for sustainable master planning and his vision for designing Europe’s communities of the future.

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ext year London will welcome its newest addition to the East End skyline. Currently in design stages, The Pinnacle will rise majestically from the heart of the city’s banking district, adding to the collection of structures that are redefi ning the horizon of 21st century London. The 66-storey office and retail building, nicknamed the ‘Helter Skelter’ for its spiralling architectural design, curling like a coiled snake upwards to tower over the British capital, is set to integrate solar power technologies that will generate the largest single amount on a building in London. In addition, it will include a wealth of energy efficient features, such as biomass heating and ground water heat exchange.

Its pronounced aesthetics will almost certainly earn The Pinnacle a place among the great edifices of London but, more significantly, its low carbon energy and water efficiency features mark a trend that has become paramount for architects and developers the world over. At Hilson Moran, the engineer consultancy firm behind the EC2 tower, the project portfolio is teeming with similar developments that all exhibit the latest advancements in sustainability technology.

Hilson Moran’s influence on the built world is far-reaching; its projects can be seen across Europe and into the Middle East, ranging from luxurious residential to innovative office space and efficient transport infrastructure. But while projects such as The Pinnacle are undoubtedly both arresting and socially responsible, implementing such sustainability features is no longer headline-making news, and nor should it be. “Sustainability is simply good design,” explains Matt Kitson, Director of Sustainability at Hilson Moran. “People should be doing it anyway. It is not a bolt-on solution, it’s just good quality design.” This seems to be common opinion among industry professionals. Whether because demonstrating social responsibility is a good marketing tool, or because developers are acting for genuine moral reason, sustainable infrastructures are popping up across the world. “The sustainability agenda has flourished out of the recession,” says Kitson, highlighting that this trend marks the future of construction and development. “Designers that design using the principles of sustainability – social, economic and environmental – will be around for longer. Consultants also need to offer post occupancy evaluations of buildings as part of the dialogue with the end user, to check that these principles are working in practice.”

Kitson explains that the greatest challenge involved in developing a sustainable built environment is people. “The predicted population rise in Europe is the greatest issue facing the construction and engineering sector,” he says. “The majority of cities will experience a population increase over the next 10 years. Our challenge is how to fulfi l the needs of this increasing population, while ensuring that cities remain vibrant and prosperous.”

According to a report into the state of European cities commissioned by the European Union back in 2007, almost every country in the EU had seen a significant migration of its existing population to large urban zones. Extended residential development in these areas is all well and good, but as Kitson points out, the inevitable demands placed on a city’s utilities infrastructure that is already exhausted will pose a considerable problem. “We only have to look at some US cities to identify the potential pitfalls,” he explains. “US cities went through huge population booms. However, within a couple of generations, people began leaving the city centres for the suburbs, leading to social segregation and racial tension within the inner cities, as well as obesity and diabetes issues due to the lack of transport infrastructure, overreliance on cars and sedentary lifestyle.”

Despite impressive amounts of funding for research and development into energy and environment from the Union, there remains a distinct difference in the standards of sustainable infrastructure across the European region. Kitson outlines the difficulties that have hindered such developments in some of Europe’s more economically robust countries, citing the UK as an example. “[The UK’s] infrastructure is on the cusp, with the introduction of district heating and cooling systems only just starting to be introduced by forward thinking developers. Th is is perhaps because the installation of centralised district heating systems requires developers to make a major investment in energy efficient in-

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SUSTAINABILITY FOCUS 109

frastructure, long before they will see any capital return from the buildings on the development.

Although this will deliver huge benefits in the long term, the challenge for consultants is to find solutions that are palatable for developers, balancing initial outlay against long-term rewards, so that the environmental, social and economic indicators of sustainability are aligned.”

Kitson’s concerns are symptomatic of his firm’s focus on the wider community of the built environment, an ideal that has been key in the development of Hilson Moran’s innovative Sustainable Built Environment Tool (SuBET).

“The rationale behind it was ‘how do you create communities where people want to live?’” explains Kitson. “SuBET offers a framework for masterplanning that focuses on place making for our future cities, while at the same time making sure that aspects such as energy, waste, social and cultural impacts are not overlooked.”

The new way The next generation in sustainability developing, the SuBET incorporates all considerations beyond simply the physical impacts of a development, and marks an evolution in the role of industry professionals. Kitson believes such a system compares favourably to the sustainability standards in place today, such as LEED or BREEAM. While these regulations provide a helpful standard that developers can endeavour to meet in order to improve efficiency features of a building, Kitson believes there is the potential for the grauitous addition of features in order to meet the standards. “Poorly implemented solutions can become even less helpful than doing nothing,” he says, “as they damage the credibilty of renewable solutions. Sustainable masterplanning requires a 360-degree assessment of a proposed scheme; not simply bolting on technological solutions, but designing in sustainability from the outset.”

The SuBET is the brainchild of Kitson himself, in conjunction with Dr Huam Al Waer, Director of the Sustainability Research Group at the University of Dundee and Emeritus Professor Dereck Clements-Croome. While it sets out to provide a framework of standards for a development’s sustainability, it goes much further than other certification frameworks used in the industry, allowing for a more subjective analysis of a project. “It’s not about certification,” Kitson explains, “it’s the thought process that’s important. LEED and BREEAM both pre-set what is deemed to be a good thing. However, SuBET allows the stakeholders to decide what is most important and facilitates the development of a sustainable masterplanning design.”

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Taking three years to fully develop, the SuBet framework marked a significant investment of time and innovative skill, but one that looks set to pay off. Kitson highlights that the repsonse from Hilson Moran’s clients and project partners has been positive, with many critics of the tool describing it as the ‘next generation way of thinking’ when it comes to developing the built world. Kitson goes on to explain that the framework takes into account all aspects of a project, from its environmental effects to its social and economic impacts, and incorporates the specific considerations of each development,

such as regional planning issues or national impact of the project.

This attention to the socio-cultural is a concept that seems to resonate with Kitson and he is keen to point out that the municipal infrastructures that firms such as his are responsible for must meet the specific demands of the city’s population. “A lot of city populations have a very young demographic; families and young professionals in particular,” he says. “We need to ensure we offer the amenities and ecology that suits this young population: parks and open spaces, as well as schools and hospitals.”

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SuBET uses 70 different environmental and social indicators to assess the complete impact a development will have on its surroundings

He emphasises the benefits of implementing a master-planning framework to look at the whole picture of the development rather than using a set of efficiency certification standards. “Sustainable master planning means moving beyond a narrow building-centric view of design and energy efficiency ratings to considering the huge number of socio-economic and cultural factors that also have an impact on the long-term sustainability of communities and the environments in which we live, work and play.”

Kitson points out that when it comes to project planning, environmental considerations such as land use, water conservation or energy efficiency have well-established parameters for sustainability, whereas considerations less readily quantifiable, such as social diversity and cultural identity, have largely remained unaccounted for in such standardisation frameworks. “[Long term

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sustainability] could incorporate a whole spectrum of measures,” he explains. “From encouraging a greater diversity of commercial and retail centres and creating employment opportunities near transport facilities, to a more innovative use of space and consideration of land use between adjacent plots, together with concentrated areas for specific facilities such as schools and shops.”

One of SuBET’s unique benefits, both for the industry professionals implementing it and the prospective residents of the communities, is its subjectivity. “It does not provide a standard solution,” explains Kitson. “There needn’t be a uniformed or harmonised approach to masterplanning, because every country’s priorities will differ according to the climate, culture and population.” Taking into account all of the characteristics that affect a built environment, he highlights how the tool’s flexible framework approach can

be adapted to incorporate different countries’ requirements in terms of land, culture and climate.

“The approach can be tailored to the needs of the country,” he explains. “SuBET enables us to analyse the many different indicators of sustainability at the very inception of a project and to assess a proposed master-plan using bespoke weightings for environmental stewardship, economic growth and socio-cultural impact, according to the particular development’s and country’s priorities.”

Community spirit “The social and economic impacts of a development are closely intertwined,” Kitson explains, and points out one of the primary challenges that the industry professionals will face in order to successfully utilise such frameworks. “[They will] require a more lateral level of thinking than just a straight-forward environmental assessment

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of the development could ever achieve,” he says.

“Good quality, high density developments can in fact help create more viable neighbourhoods capable of supporting local services. While smaller, denser developments may be an acceptable trade-off where other amenity advantages are improved, housing densities need to be graded appropriately to maximise local accessibility and prevent overcrowding.”

In addition to encouraging this new way of thinking, Kitson hopes that his master-planning framework will result in greater flexibility among professionals in the industry. This flexibility, he explains, is necessary to the development of a wholly sustainable master-plan as it will allow professionals to fully realise the various factors that combine to create such a plan. “For architects, engineers, planners and developers,” he explains, “sustainable master-planning means moving beyond the familiar territories of own disciplines and towards a more multi-disciplinary approach to consultation and engagement within the entire project team and with wider stakeholders at the earliest possible stages of planning.”

Kitson’s socio-economic master planning undoubtedly represents a revolution in metropolitan design, incorporating factors commonly overlooked in the development of larger residential areas. He outlines some of the factors that he feels should be taken into consideration. “In terms of social diversity,” he explains, “we need to ensure that master-planning includes detailed consideration of the adjacency of work, leisure and living spaces.” Indeed, as he revealed earlier, he is keen to avoid the divided and tense societies that emerged as a result of the poorly conceived city developments in the US. “Promoting physical connectivity through effective street networks between the new development areas and the existing urban fabric increases social networking and the usability of the local environment.”

This marks just one step in Kitson’s plans to create a unified community. “Community cohesion means finding a way to develop a collective pride and participation in community life,” he explains, and goes on to highlight that while these sociological issues may not seem to fall under the jurisdiction of those in the construction industry, architects and planners can help significantly toward creating a unified community. “[Community cohesion] may involve enhancing the visual characteristics of a development to evoke greater cultural and spiritual responses, while contributing to the quality of local life,” he explains. “This may mean considering the height, setback, sizes and materials used in developments to provide continuity while injecting personality and character, or encouraging greater community inter-

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Urban nightmare Not every city has benefited from the careful and considered approach to urban planning that Matt Kitson is advocating…

New York Well, Manhattan to be precise. Although the city’s urban planners weren’t to know back in 1811 that Manhattan Island would go on to become the financial, media and fashion capital of the world, they still should have foresaw the folly of their grid structure. At 20 kilometres in length, Manhattan has just 16 streets running north-south, but a total of 155 streets covering the five kilometres west-to-east. With the majority of traffic flowing north to south and back again, this iconic part of New York finds itself in almost terminal gridlock.

Birmingham, England It was hardly Birmingham’s fault that much of the city’s centre was flattened by the German Luftwaffe during WWII, but what came after was all of the city’s own making: dour, grey and chunky brutalist buildings sprung up throughout the centre, most infamously at the Bullring, which was a heaving behemoth of concrete, dodgy underpasses, urine-soaked stairwells and an infuriating one-way system. For 50 years this eyesore stood until, in 2000, the city planners did the honourable thing and tore the whole lot down, replacing it with something altogether more futuristic and appealing.

Dubai Dubai looks great in the brochures. Its sparkling horizon of towers and skyscrapers is a testament to the creativity, vision and bloody-mindedness of the human spirit – ‘yes we WILL build a futuristic city in the middle of the desert, and yes we WILL create man-made islands in the shape of palm trees’. All very impressive, but just you try traversing the place at ground level. The Sheikh Zayed road is the main thoroughfare between one end of the city and the other, and so is at the mercy of the Lexus- and SUV-driving army of vehicles that crawls and slithers its way along the only conduit in town. You could get out and walk of course, but the 50-degree heat and vast distances between anywhere of interest makes that a fool’s errand.

action through an increased focus on recreation and leisure activities.”

These plans seem so simple in theory; creating wholesome and united communities by ensuring straight and well-lit connecting roads or a common infrastructure aesthetic appear so obvious that it seems ludicrous that they had not been made standard planning requirements across the board. But Kitson’s master-planning framework does not stop here. In an attempt to simultaneously reduce carbon emissions in his sustainable communities and improve the health of its residents, he highlights the need to implement a comprehensive transport infrastructure. “Proximity and access to frequent public transport helps reduce the reliance on car transport,” he says, warning that such networks need to be carefully

planned to reflect future growth expectations.

“Promoting systems to reduce congestion can also assist in lowering vehicle pollution linked to poor public health. Even simple measures can encourage people to get moving, such as limiting off-street car parking, providing cycle paths and safe street lighting.”

Ultimately, Kitson explains, the success of sustainable master-planning frameworks such as this will depend upon a complete change of mindset from both national governments and the industry professionals who build the cities.

“Long-term sustainability demands the creation of safer, more vibrant and inclusive communities that offer a wide range of opportunities for jobs, leisure, culture and activity. Such areas are more adaptable to change in the long term and offer better prospects overall for economic growth.”

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HAMBURG EUROPEAN GREEN CAPITAL FOR 2011

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The European Green Capital Award (EGCA) will go to Hamburg for 2011, an award the city richly deserves, EGCA Project Manager Thea Pieridou tells EU Infrastructure.

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amburg will be the European Green Capital (EGCA) for 2011, following in the footsteps of Stockholm, the inaugural and incumbent holder of the title for 2010. This relatively new award has been devised by the European Commission to promote greater environmental awareness among cities throughout Europe by encouraging the exchange of green ideas and city-on-city competition. But how has Hamburg – home of Europe’s second largest port and a bustling, industrialised metropolis that is the second largest city in Germany – earned such an accolade?

The city’s First Mayor, Ole von Beust, is acutely aware that busy, mechanised Hamburg might just surprise some people. “As one of the largest ports in the world, Hamburg is no unspoilt paradise,” he stated in an official address. “But we always want to show that economic development and environmental protection go together well. We accept the environmental challenges of the 21st century and respond to them with dedicated action.”

Such dedicated action from Hamburg saw off the challenge of seven other nominated cities (including Bristol, Oslo, Amsterdam and Copenhagen), and has enabled the city to truly showcase exactly why it was chosen as Europe’s capital of green for 2011.

“Hamburg was awarded the 2011 title for a number of reasons,” says Thea Pieridou, the European Green Capital Award’s Project Manager. “One of which was The Hamburg Climate Protection Act, which contains a special cost-efficiency benchmark for energy-saving measures in public buildings, saving energy and €3.4 million per year.

Additionally, over 600 boiler systems have been replaced with modern condensing boilers in recent years, an investment of €18 million. These are just a few examples of the steps Hamburg has taken that made it the frontrunner for 2011’s EGCA.” The EGCA, despite being a relatively new accolade, has rapidly garnered EU-wide prestige thanks to the wealth of directives in which a city has to impress during the application process. Hamburg, reveals Pieridou, simply covered more bases more effectively than its competitors. “The experts evaluating Hamburg’s performance commended the excellent integrated waste management system, which features high levels of source separation of individual materials and energy recovery,” she says.

“Very good performance in water consumption, metering and leakage was also noted by the panel. Concerning water consumption in particular, high investments in infrastructure and incentive pricing have been introduced, awareness campaigns have been launched and innovative practices on separated urinal collection in public toilets have been implemented. Future plans include more efforts on separated rain water management.”

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German cities in general are excellent role models for the rest of Europe, delivering high living standards combined with low carbon footprints. Their inhabitants are encouraged to think green at all times, and a collective civic duty appears to envelope each and every citizen, backed by a local government that provides the funding, direction and management required to achieve widespread sustainability nationwide. Hamburg’s time as 2011’s European Green Capital will hopefully see it become a role model for other European cities, and other European citizens. “With a population of 1.8 million people, Hamburg faces a great number of metropolitan challenges,” admits Pieridou, “but it also brings together many comprehensive approaches, a strong green vision with policy commitment and the necessary funding required to resolve them.

“Hamburg has developed a meticulous, well-structured communication strategy and a very attractive programme of events in 2011 for well-chosen target groups involving all of the city’s stakeholders. This strong networking and enthusiasm will provide a unique platform for EU dialogue and the city will act as an excellent role model for other cities.”

So in which sectors has Hamburg been particularly impressive, progressive and environmentally aware?

Renewable energy Hamburg’s renewable energy sector is one of the city’s booming industries. Vestas, the world’s largest wind turbine company, has recently relocated its Central Europe division to Hamburg and will be joined by The Nordex Group, which is one of the world’s leading wind power plant suppliers. A number of other wind and solar companies are increasing their presence in the city over the next few years, and Greenpeace is expected to locate its new headquarters at Hafencity, a new quarter of Hamburg’s port that is due to open in 2011.

Renewable energy is Hamburg’s fastest-growing economic sector. “The establishment of companies is a medium-and long-term process, and companies invariably choose to settle in locations that promise the best for their business – locations that offer accessibility of markets, availability of qualified personnel and a critical mass of competitors, suppliers and scientific institutions,” says Pieridou. “Which is why Hamburg attracts so many renewable energy companies. The title ‘European Green Capital’ is a unique opportunity to foster a positive environment for the renewable energy sector in Hamburg, which is communicated on a global scale.”

CO2 emissions In a city of 1.8 million people (and a greater metropolitan population of 4.3 million), energy consumption in Hamburg is a serious issue. Th ankfully, the city’s governors have proactively sought partnerships and arrange-

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ments with a number of green companies in an effort to make the city emission-free.

And the signs are that it’s working. “The city combines integrated and participative planning with policy commitments, and has set ambitious climate protection goals, such as reducing its C02 emissions by 40 percent by 2020, and by 80 percent by 2050, Says Pieridou. “Concretely speaking, C02 emissions per person have been reduced by approximately 15 percent compared to 1990, with annual energy savings of some 46,000 MWh.” This is an extremely impressive feat for a city of Hamburg’s size and make-up.

Public transport Hamburg boasts a world-class transportation system, with every resident afforded access to a public transport link within 300 metres of their home. Such an impressive infrastructure (based largely on its network of buses, subways and trains) has helped to keep traffic levels low for decades, while innovative new technologies are making even the buses greener. “At present,” says Pieridou, “the city has achieved high environmental standards and good performance in terms of cycling and public transport indicators.

The experts were impressed, for example, that every single one of Hamburg’s citizens has public transport within 300 metres of their door. There is also a systematic structure of green spaces which are easily accessible to citizens.”

Fuel cell buses are low-emission vehicles that have been in widespread use throughout Hamburg since 2003, and the city is also dotted with a number of hydrogen fi lling stations for the buses, which draw their utility product from renewable energy sources, particularly wind power.

Sustainable growth Even the most well intentioned cities have to consider the economic impacts of going green, and Hamburg is no different. What Hamburg is, though, is perennially inventive and forward thinking. So while the city’s port and lifeblood of its economy has to ensure it grows in order to stay competitive, it’s growth does not have to impact upon the environment.

Physical expansion plans have been shelved in favour of more efficient land use, which includes fi lling in harbour basins in order to match capacity needs for the future. The city’s cavernous port has been able to work in harmony with the sustainable aims and achievements of Hamburg in order to lessen its overall environmental impact. “As one of the largest ports in the world, Hamburg has proved that economic growth and environmental protection are not conflicting issues,” says Pieridou.

“Indeed, the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) has created the organisational structure needed to find adequate responses to the present environmental challenges. During the past two years, the HPA has worked diligently to coordinate environmental strategy and environmental activity, with the overarching goal of supporting company policy while, at the same time, maintaining sustainable development. The port has been growing inwardly for several years. First, modernisation to secure a greater level of productivity on the quays,

Promoting green thinking During 2011, in an effort to communicate Hamburg’s ideas throughout Europe, the city will become a Green Capital on wheels, in a very literal sense. “The city of Hamburg will be launching a ‘train of ideas’ promoting green ideas, achievements and future plans. The train will travel around Europe in 2011 sharing experiences and best practices in a unique and innovative way,” says Pieridou. The tour will travel to a total of 15 cities including Vienna, Zurich, Antwerp and Malmo.

Green expectations Hamburg beat six other cities to the 2011 award. Here, EU Infrastructure takes a sideways look at what those defeated cities may need to improve upon if they are to be in with a chance of winning the EGCA in the future.

Amsterdam The Dutch capital has long attracted tourists in their millions, drawn by the city’s liberal and relaxed laws towards a certain ‘greener’ herb that has fostered the city’s laid-back atmosphere over the past few decades. Amsterdam is uniformly flat and, as such, is a biker’s paradise, with three quarters of the locals owning a bicycle and the municipal authorities encouraging pedal power via the provision of plentiful cycle lanes and parking facilities for bikes, thus helping to un-‘clog’ the roads. However, despite all these green credentials, red is the colour that springs to mind when one thinks of Amsterdam: if the authorities can somehow develop more sustainable practices in the city’s famous red-light district, then the title could be theirs.

Bristol The city of Concorde, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the SS Great Britain, Banksy and a dialect so obdurate that various hefty tomes and garish t-shirts have been produced in an attempt to decipher it might not seem an obvious candidate for the EGCA. But Bristol, despite its extremely hilly landscape, has become Britain’s biking capital, and boasts more than 450 parks and green spaces – which is proportionally more than any other city in the UK. If the authorities can tackle the joint issues of better waste management and educate its inhabitants on the need to put their kebab wrappers and burger cartons in the bin rather than scattered in fountains, perched on statues or flapping greasily in the wind each Friday night, then the EGCA could be coming a-calling very soon.

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Freiburg The beauty of Freiburg makes it a beguiling sight for visitors and a continuous source of pride for the locals. Think fairytale twisting streets, medieval architecture and a lush and verdant backdrop and you have the setting for a serene and peaceful city that also enjoys Germany’s best climate. Yet these facets are the very thing that keeps the city from achieving its green potential – renewable energy sources are accountable for just four percent of the city’s power supply, and hydro power covers a mere 0.2 percent of its power consumption. If the authorities can invent a gorgeous, 16th century-looking renewable power station complete with cuckoo clock and intricately carved doorways that augments the overall look of the landscape, then Freiburg could be on to a winner.

Copenhagen Bike-obsessed and painfully aware of their civic duties to the city, Copenhageners do all they can to make their home as green and sustainable as possible. The city’s wastewater management is excellent, as is its provision of bike paths and community-focused architecture. Where the city needs to improve is its allocation of parkland; more green space is needed, and the famous Tivoli Gardens could do with a bit of a makeover in order to make them attractive to a wider range of locals.

Munster Munsteraners – the city’s inhabitants – make a total 374,528 bicycle journeys every day, which is rather impressive for a city of just 280,000. Easily traversable by bike, the city has green credentials seeping out of every pore, from its biological waste programme to its commitment to reduce its CO2 output by 40 percent by 2020.

However, the city is also home to 50,000 students who – while perhaps vociferous on the plight of the latest Che Guevara-lite figure making the headlines in any given week – are not always so hot on recycling, carbon-friendly living and resisting the urge to micturate in fountains and rivers after an evening enjoying the locally sourced beer.

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Oslo Oslo’s toll ring was first implemented 20 years ago, setting the Norwegian capital apart as a forerunner for urban transport management. Today, the toll ring continues to reduce traffic volumes in the city centre by as much as five percent, with the excellent public transport system receiving 45 percent of its funding from cash generated by the toll ring. All well and good, but for a city that endures five months per year where daylight barely pushes past four hours a day, the lights are on for an awfully long time, dully illuminating the citizens against the persistent winter gloom that so captivated/annoyed (delete as applicable) Edvard Munch.

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families and nature-lovers. The many parks of the city are the most tangible and visible sign of Hamburg’s ‘green’ credentials, delivering a verdant landscape for its inhabitants to enjoy. The main parks are the Stadtpark – classed as Hamburg’s ‘Central Park’ and boasting a carefully manicured central lawn and imposing water tower that is home to one of the largest planetariums in Europe – the Ohlsdorf Cemetery and the Planten un Blomen, a 46-hectare park that hosts an array of open air concerts and shows in the summer months.

The EGCA

and on the other hand, major development activities such as the westward expansion within the port limits. It is also important to note that the planning of the Central Terminal Steinwerder (CTS) is currently underway. Further ideas,” continues Pieridou, “are being explored for the Port of the Future, where efficient land use and key environmental issues continue to be a priority.”

Green areas Hamburg’s parkland and green areas are vast and systematically interlinked, making the city a haven for cyclists,

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One major aim of the EGCA is to promote innovation and competition between cities, engendering an atmosphere of healthy contest but also encouraging collaboration, education and harmony. Both Stockholm and Hamburg are worthy recipients of the accolade, and fellow European cities are being urged to set similar sustainability targets themselves – not solely in pursuit of the award, but in pursuit of a greener future. “The EGCA helps convince local governments and authorities that sustainable urban development is the key to a successful future,” says Pieridou. “Progress is its own reward, but I believe the satisfaction and pride involved in winning a prestigious European award spurs cities to invest in further implementation of EU environment policy at the local level, boosts eco-innovation, streamlines environmental actions and projects and promotes friendly competition amongst the cities.

“Cities across Europe differ enormously and sharing concrete examples of what a European Green Capital can look like is essential to promoting further progress.”

The recent financial crisis should not be used as an excuse for cities to be dragging their heels on the issue of sustainability. Investment in renewable energy sources, better public transport, intelligent waste management and a commitment to reduce C02 emissions costs little more than the current, antiquated practices employed by many cities in Europe. Indeed, a healthier and happier population, living in a greener environment and enveloped by a sense of worth and armed with the capacity to effect change, is more likely to drive a functioning and potent economy.

“As the EU 2020 strategy shows, green growth is a must if we want to promote a sustainable and competitive economy,” says Pieridou. “The financial crisis and the economic downturn have shown us that economic growth coupled with urban, green revitalisation are now more important than ever. If cities want to prosper, they must learn to safeguard the natural resources that underpin their economies and the quality of life of their growing urban populations. Cities are the places where environment policy is put into practice, and the ones that do it most successfully deserve to be rewarded.

“I believe that Europeans who want to live in urban areas want towns and cities that are healthy,” concludes Pieridou.

“Cities should, therefore, strive not only to improve their economies but also to improve the quality of life of their citizens and reduce their impact on the global environment.

The advantages of improving the urban environment – such as cleaner air, land and water, better public transport and expansion of green spaces – are clear for all to see and enjoy.”

“Cities across Europe differ enormously and sharing concrete examples of what a European Green Capital can look like is essential to promoting further progress”

EGCA 2012 and 2013 Cities in the running for the European Green Capital Award for 2012 and 2013 are Barcelona, Malmo, Nantes, Nuremburg, Reykjavik and Vitoria-Gasteiz.

The winners for both 2012 and 2013 will be announced on 20-22 October 2010 at an award ceremony in Stockholm.

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HEADINGMANAGEMENT PROJECT

The shifting sands of the project management landscape Gregory Balestrero offers his thoughts on how the project management industry is changing – and what it could look like in the future.

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t was 40 years ago that the Project Management Institute (PMI) came to life through the vision and dedication of a small group of working project managers.

Four decades on we fi nd ourselves in the 21st century, with a wholly different landscape for the project management profession to the one that existed 20-30 years ago – and also to the one that will exist in 20-30 years time.

If we look back to the 1980s for example, the main trends in project management were limited to publications on human resources, team building and leadership. In 1984 PMI launched its fi rst certification programme and in 1996 project management started to develop increasingly organised ideas and processes – as evidenced by the publication of the first edition of the Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, currently in its fourth edition. Fast forward to today and we can see that there has been a significant move towards more projectbased work as organisations begin to realise the value in using project management to implement their goals and strategies.

So what can we expect from project management in the future? Certainly there will be an increase in the breadth of project types that will

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appear. The emergence of mega-projects that run across multiple markets and in multiple languages – such as Masdar, the zero carbon city in Abu Dhabi – will compound project complexity, leading to a growth in demand for multicultural and multi-lingual capabilities.

Moreover, we will also see three overarching factors – environmental sustainability, technology and social responsibility – play increasingly integrated roles in the planning, execution, delivery and legacies of programme and project management work.

Firstly, environmental sustainability is no longer the idealistic vision of an environmentally sensitive CEO. The current environment is forcing a change in business values. Visionary organisations are recognising they cannot depend solely on their fi nancial returns for ongoing success. They know a smart customer will make ‘buying’ decisions based on the organisation’s environmental and social footprint as well. Th is requires innovative project management capabilities that establish sustainable, socially responsible and fiscally prudent programmes that will become essential in looking to add quantifiable value to their organisations.

Sustainability considerations vary consider-

ably by sector, but nearly all industry sectors have reported at least some of these impacts in recent years. The recent spike in global energy prices brought sustainability to the forefront of nearly all projects, and the complexity of bio-additives such as ethanol create a tension between energy needs and food supply. As society reacts to address climate change, project managers are likely to be faced with ever increasing mega-projects to meet energy demands as well as new population centres and new transportation systems.

Secondly, from a technology perspective, it is clear that IT has already become and will continue to be more tightly integrated with innovative project activities through the use of tools such as virtual networking, surface technology and the mobile internet. Projects will be even more distributed and involve virtual teamwork.

The information conveyed is the same, but the way in which it is conveyed has evolved and will continue to evolve as technological advances alter the way we share and communicate information.

New tools will be developed that will allow the project team to simulate virtually every project management decision, built using advances in technology used for the current generation of

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video games, adapted and enhanced to apply to all situations that might arise in the typical project. The soft ware development genius behind games such as Grand Theft Auto and Nintendo’s Wii Fit will be unleashed on project management’s simulation development to producee platforms to train and enable project managers to fully understand decision ramifications.

Finally, social responsibility will dramatically impact human resources in global supply chains. Global suppliers are focusing on the workforces of suppliers, and evaluating them according to rigid and strict guidelines. As project professionals, the leader will have to be rigorous and vigilant with the supply chain and be ready to make decisions accordingly. It is clear that responsibility for the entire supply chain and its social and environmental impact will fall squarely on the shoulders of the project leader.

It is also important to acknowledge that the understanding of what constitutes project success is changing. In future, judgments on project success will include an even broader set of criteria than they do today and will span the

entire business lifecycle, cle, rather than just the project lifecycle. Th is wider approach leads us to look at how business strategy will become an increasingly dominant aspect in this field – the awareness that project management can be linked directly to strategy, environmental and social responsibility, and innovation is evolving and will continue to do so. Project management is rapidly moving from a professional capability to an enterprise competency.

As a profession, project management will continue to be an experiential discipline, best learnt by practice, credentialing, mentoring and job shadowing. Training, consulting and mentoring will play a large role in developing the skills sk of future project managers, but there will be b a greater focus on a keener understanding of the relationship of their projects to business value, more sophisticated governance abilities and better communications skills. Much of the training will be simulation-based and will be embraced by the generation of project managers that grew up with computer games, iPods and mobile phones.

The project management community is poised for a period of extraordinary productivity, efficiency and integration due to technological advances, and even greater changes will come as a result of globalisation, collaboration and innovation in the industry as it takes its place fi rmly in the 21st century.

Gregory Balestrero is President and CEO of the Project Management Institute.

Interest in project management remains low

Construction companies are showing little interest in project management despite the need for cost control during the downturn and the urgent requirement for on-site safety. “There is a big misunderstanding, especially in the Middle East region, about the importance of project management and education in general. I know many people who will agree with this,” says Mounir Ajam, CEO of project management consultancy and training firm Sukad. “Some people view it as a bureaucracy and they don’t see that proper project management will help them improve efficiency, reduce costs and increase value for their project over the long-term.”

Quality and safety is expected to suffer for the next couple of years and construction companies are unlikely to invest in project management, continues Ajam. “Obviously, in a fast-track environment, people want to produce buildings very quickly and usually the first thing they sacrifice is safety and quality. If people want to cut costs they usually do so by cutting corners.”

Ten to 15 years ago, there wasn’t a single university that offered project management, which has lead to limited skills in the field.

However, the situation is getting better: “Usually the people who practice project management are technical people, for example business analysts,. These people are technically trained and then all of a sudden they are asked to manage a project with no prior experience.

This situation is improving and universities are starting to offer training in project management.”

Source: www.constructionweekonline.com Written by Sarah Blackman on December 8, 2009

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By implementing intelligent transport solutions, cities around the world are beginning to see improved mobility and a more cost-effective network. IBM CEO Sam Palmisano reveals how solutions are set to get even smarter to meet the transportation needs of the 21st century.

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t’s fair to say that the fi rst decade of the 21st century has been remarkably eventful.

In the last few years, our eyes have been opened to global climate change, the risk of a pandemic and the environmental and geopolitical issues surrounding energy. We entered the new century with a shock to our sense of security on 9/11 and have become aware of the vulnerabilities of global supply chains for food and medicine. And today, of course, we are working our way out of a global fi nancial crisis.

It’s interesting how many of those crises are linked to transportation. Indeed, more recently, transportation had its own major crisis – the disruption of global air traffic caused by the volcanic eruption in Iceland.

So what links this decade-long series of crises? These are the manifestations and consequences of being globally integrated, reminding us that we are all now economically, technically and socially connected. But we see now that being connected is not enough.

Have you noticed how often in the past decade we have used or read the term ‘systemic breakdown’? While connecting economies, business flows, supply chains – and transportation networks – is important and has yielded tremendous benefits, connectivity by itself does not make for reliable, resilient, well-functioning systems.

Fortunately, something else is happening at the same time. In a word, our planet is becoming smarter. And this isn’t just a metaphor. Intelligence is being infused into the way the world literally works: the systems and processes that enable services to be delivered; physical goods to be developed, manufactured and sold; everything from people and freight to oil, water and electrons to move and billions of people to work and live.

First, our world is becoming instrumented. Today, there are nearly a billion transistors per human, each one costing one ten-millionth of a cent; there are four billion mobile phone subscribers; and 30 billion radio frequency identification (RFID) tags are produced globally. Because of their increasing sophistication and low cost, these sensors and devices give us, for the first time ever, real-time instrumentation of a wide range of the natural and manmade systems all over the world.

Second, our world is becoming interconnected. Very soon there will be two billion people on the internet. But that’s just the beginning; systems and objects can now ‘speak’ to one another; too – think about the prospect of a trillion connected and instrumented objects: cars, cameras, roadways, pipelines, even livestock and pharmaceuticals. And then think about the amount of information produced by the movement and interaction of all those things: it will be unprecedented.

Th ird, all things are becoming intelligent. Thanks to advanced analytics and ever more powerful supercomputers, we can turn mountains of data into insight. And that intelligence can be translated into making our systems, processes and infrastructures more efficient, more productive and responsive.

The key to smarter systems lies not in the chip, or the sensor, or the mobile device. It’s not the smart meter, or the smart power line or even the soft ware, per se. It’s the data. From a smart bay in Ireland, to smart power in Malta, to smart telecommunications in India, to smart food tracking in Norway, companies and institutions are applying technology in new ways. All around the world, economic stimulus is being injected by governments, much of it aimed at smart grids and healthcare data integration, and crucially, smart transportation to improve the systems that make our world work.

Now as we look ahead to the needs and challenges of the 21st century, it is clear that we must do more. We know what any transportation system is, on the most basic level. From ancient times to the present, any such system has been made up of three elements: vehicles (cars, ships and planes, which move goods from one place to another); pathways (roads, rail lines, shipping lanes); and terminals (stations, car parks, airports, seaports). These are

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the endpoints where journeys begin and end, where passengers transfer transfer funds and make payments among institutions. Consider retail: we from one mode of transportation to another and where goods are tracked, take it for granted that we can use the same payment and billing systems, organized and assembled. That’s the system. regardless of store, website or industry. All these systems have standards We also know that population growth, unprecedented urbanisation and interfaces that permit information to flow. and continued globalisation are placing great strains on all elements of that A true transportation system would need to connect the vehicles, system, pushing them beyond the capacity of their serviceable life. And we pathways and terminals as well as the government agencies and regulaknow that the United States is not investing in its infrastructure at tors, the freight and logistics carriers, the vehicle and infrastructure the same levels as other countries. The US spends at most 2.6 manufacturers, and the travel-service providers. It would percent of GDP on infrastructure, coming 27th among 36 also need to connect the travellers themselves, providing Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Developa steady stream of data on their journeys, condition and The US spends ment (OECD) nations. Compare that to China, which location. It would do this across all modes of transpor2.6% of GDP on invests at a rate of nine percent to 12 percent of its tation. Clearly, transportation in America today fails infrastructure.

GDP. Th is underinvestment creates strains on America this key test of a well-functioning system. transportation system that puts citizens and businesses Third, many of the components and subsystems of By contrast, at risk of deteriorating safety conditions, competitivetransportation are not instrumented, or are differently China spends ness and quality of life, not to mention the waste of preinstrumented from state to state, so that it is impossible 9-12% cious resources and productivity. to know with confidence what their current status is. This However, it doesn’t have to be this way. Over the past two isn’t just a colossal waste of time and money, it also introduccenturies, advances in transportation, from canals, to rail, to aues inconsistencies in quality and multiple opportunities for error. tomobiles, to aircraft, have created the modern world, determining which Look at the potential impact of an emergency like the Iceland volcano. cities would thrive, and ushering in a new age for business, for society and What if that happened in the US? What if, say, Mt. St. Helens erupted again? for how we lead our lives. Now the time has come to return to transportaOr what if there were another 9/11? What would the economic, societal and tion and what it has given us: new opportunity. We must reinvent transporinnovation impact be of this lack of system knowingness? tation to meet the needs of the 21st century.

And when it comes to the fourth characteristic of a well-functioning We have the tools and know-how to address the challenges. Intelligent system – adaptability – ask yourself: is our transportation system in technologies are emerging to enable transportation networks and users to America today, spanning roads, parking, railroads, airports, seaports, communicate with each other, improving system performance, safety and bridges, tunnels and communications, ready for what’s coming? Demand convenience, making IT just as important to 21st century transportation is only going to grow, especially as population growth and urbanisation as airplanes, asphalt and petroleum were in the last century. And under continue to expand. The instrumentation of things and cities as well as the the guidance of organisations like the ITSA and the US Department of empowerment of individuals with mobile devices, will continue to increase Transportation, with the leadership of Secretary Ray LaHood, progress is exponentially and we will need far more physical and digital capacity from within our grasp. our transportation networks.

Over the past year and a half, IBM has been working with cities and naThanks to an instrumented and interconnected planet, we’re capturtions around the world to improve many kinds of systems and make them ing data in unprecedented volumes. In just three years, IP traffic is exsmarter, with particular success in transportation. In doing so, we have pected to total more than half a zettabyte. We’re receiving these enormous learned that our transportation system isn’t, in fact, a system, it’s a colstreams in real-time, and they are coming in multiple forms, from text to lection of related industries, operating in close proximity to one another. rich media, sensors to cell-phone cameras, and we’re capturing it from just And, at IBM, we know something about systems. Over nearly a century of about every kind of system or event imaginable: supply chains, rail vibrawork with businesses and governments, we have designed, built and mantion, weather patterns and billions of individuals using social media. aged systems from Social Security, to modern electronic banking, to retail.

But the most important point about this is not how much data there In doing so, we have learned what is required for a system to be reliable is. The important point is what it could tell us. To capture that, you need to and resilient. First, there must be clarity on the system’s purpose or goal, dive deeper, to move from ‘big data’ to smarter data. That’s why analytics a vision of its end-state. Second, its elements must actually be connected, are key – the sophisticated mathematical algorithms that can detect the which is another way of saying, interfaces matter. Th ird, we must be able patterns, spot the correlations and see the context of the data – because a to know, continually and with confidence, the status of the system and its data point by itself is just about useless. Where once we inferred, now we critical components. And fi nally, the system must be able to adapt as condican know and where once we interpolated and extrapolated, now we can tions change, often in real-time. determine, that’s the promise of a smarter planet.

Viewed against these four characteristics, every well-functioning And it’s coming to life in smarter transportation all over the world. system looks strikingly similar. Now let’s look at American transportaAll in all, smarter transportation means advanced traffic management for tion today. There is a broad consensus, forged, in many respects, by the air, land and sea. It is optimised around the traveler, is connected across all example of the ITSA and DOT, that American transportation must become elements of the system, and communicates its status in real-time. It fluidly traveller-centric, whether that traveler is a person or a package. interacts with the other systems of our planet, from healthcare, to public The idea is simple: the traveller’s time, safety and experience should safety, to commerce and more, because we are increasingly coming to unbe the initial design point. A system’s design point matters and what you derstand that our communities, cities and our entire nation are complex optimise it for will determine the value it ultimately delivers. The problem systems that span both nature and human society. is that the system has to be actually connected to truly deliver on its goal.

In the future, smarter transportation will even apply advanced modelIn many areas of life, this kind of connectivity is so basic that we simply ling to something as previously unpredictable as, say, the flow of volcanic take it for granted. Consider banking: we take it for granted that we can ash across the Atlantic Ocean. All of this and more is possible today, or

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Making transportation smarter is in everyone’s interest. For a whole spate of reasons, the boldest action and the most pragmatic action are now one

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US President Barack Obama presents the National Medal of Technology and Innovation to Sam Palmisano at the White House in Washington on October 7, 2009.

soon will be. The progress of technology is only accelerating. To get there, I believe those of us across the transportation ecosystem must take a leadership role. The initiatives undertaken by Secretary LaHood and his colleagues at DOT are promising, but the truth is that the rest of us do not have to wait for the government or anyone else; indeed, we must not.

Looking forward we need help in four key areas. First, standards. We must establish agreed-upon data standards for transportation. Th is is long overdue, but I am hopeful that it will soon be accomplished. As we do this however, it is essential that those standards be open; that’s the only way to interconnect processes and data sets across the whole system.

Second, smart systems by design. In anything as complex, interdependent and fluid as the transportation ecosystem, the qualities we seek cannot be ‘bolted on’ after; we need to build in the key criteria of interconnectivity, system knowingness, analytics and security from the beginning.

Th ird, moving to a true transportation system will enable, and require, far more collaboration: not just regarding the familiar idea of ‘private sector-public sector cooperation’. A diverse, multi-stakeholder world requires all the parties actually working together, shoulder-to-shoulder on a daily basis. We all have particular responsibilities – to customers, to partners, to regulators, to citizens – but in today’s world, fulfi lling those responsibilities requires that we also fulfi ll our responsibilities to the system as a whole.

That will be transformative and will also require change.

From new models of technology, to the changing form of the corporation, to the changing role of the individual in modern life, to new expectations for sustainable living, we are entering a very different world. We must come together around clear guidelines on how to operate and manage our organisations and industry, from an ethical and societal point of view. It is exciting to embrace technology to improve speed, safety, efficiency and

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passenger experience, but the idea of pervasive sensors and cameras sharing data with transportation providers and governments is not going to sit comfortably with everyone.

In conclusion, smarter transportation is not some grand, futuristic ideal. For one thing, the examples are real, and more are being deployed right now around the world. For another, smarter transportation is practical because it is non-ideological. While debates will continue to rage on many contentious issues that impact transportation – from energy, to security, to climate change, to the economy – no matter which viewpoints ultimately prevail, the system that results will have to be smarter, more transparent, more efficient, more accessible, more resilient, more innovative.

And that’s one fi nal reason for hope: making transportation smarter is in everyone’s interest. For a whole spate of reasons, the boldest action and the most pragmatic action are now one.

We fi nd ourselves today at a unique moment. The key precondition for real change now exists: people want it and they are hungry for leadership. Such a moment doesn’t come around often, and it will not last forever, so ask yourself this: in hindsight, when the circumstances that cry out for change are gone, when things have returned to ‘normal’, don’t we always wish we had been bolder? More ambitious? Gone faster, gone farther? Did anybody ever wish they had done less?

Despite the litany of challenges we face, I am confident that the US will do what leaders do: lead. I’m convinced we can build a smarter and safer transportation system in America and that in doing so, we will achieve both societal progress and economic growth for our cities, states and nation.

This text is based on a speech given at the Intelligent Transportation Society of America, 2010 Annual Meeting & Conference, on May 5 2010.

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INTELLIGENT OPTIONS

1 3

Smarter transportation is helping cities all over the world predict demand and optimising available capacity and dramatically enhance the end-to-end traveller experience and improving operational efficiency while reducing environmental impact. Smarter transportation can also help with a nation’s economic recovery. A recent study from the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation found that for every US$1.25 billion invested in transportation infrastructure in the United States, 35,000 jobs are created and supported.

A smart card system has enabled Singapore Land Transport Authority to develop optimal routes and schedules, reducing congestion, increasing the appeal of public transit, and cutting fare leakage by 80 percent and the cost of fare processing by two percent.

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DHL’s RFID-based system monitors the temperature of pharmaceutical shipments at various points from departure to arrival – helping its customers keep products fresh and generating a new source of revenue growth.

F France’s ’ SNCF manages passenger and freight railways, as well as city buses and trams. It operates 14,000 trains per day, including the high-speed TGV and segments of the Paris and regional transit systems. A predictive maintenance system using intelligent sensors is helping SNCF prevent accidents, reduce delays and cut maintenance costs by an estimated 30 percent.

2

Air Canada developed applications for smart phones that allow travellers to download electronic boarding passes, check in, get flight status and book rental cars. There was a 60 percent increase in mobile checkins, and 93 percent of Air Canada passengers say self-service improves their travel experience. The app also saves 80 percent of the check-in cost.

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INDUSTRY INSIGHT

Real-time location and communication solution Antti Korhonen reveals how new tracking, location and communication technologies could be just the solution your company has been looking for.

Seas during 2010, they have been testing a system based on Ekahau RTLS (Real Time Location System), which includes Wi-Fi based RFID tags as badges or wristbands, and an Apple iPhone, which shows each tag’s location on its screen displaying a map of the ship. The location information is transmitted to the iPhone via the ship’s existing Wi-Fi network access points. The system also enables the iPhone user to send messages and alerts to those wearing the wristband.

“With Ekahau’s Wi-Fi based RTLS solution, the location of assets and people within the network’s coverage area is automatically updated” Location made easy – Where GPS does not work

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f you have ever been on a big cruise ship and have been unable to fi nd someone important like your wife or child, you can relate to the following situation; she was here just a minute ago, and now she is nowhere to be found! You would like to call her, but of course your mobile phone does not work in the middle of the sea. If you are lucky, she turns up at the cabin or is somewhere you intuited she would be – the gift shop, play room, pool, etc.

But there are times when fi nding your loved one can be really challenging, especially if you are on board on a very large ship – like Finland’s new Oasis of the Seas.

In the unfortunate situation where a child goes missing on board, the situation typically starts out quietly, but soon escalates into frustration and quickly turns into a full-blown panic. At the end, it is not only the parents of the missing child who are running around; it is also the management and the crew members of the ship. After 30 minutes looking for someone, you really start to feel overwhelmed and anxious.

On your future cruise, however, a helpful technology sends you traveling worry free. In the case of Oasis of the

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In general, where GPS takes you to a correct street address, the Ekahau RTLS tells you, in 3D, on which of the 50 floors and in which room inside that building the person or asset is, all in real time.

Another example. In the USA, an average hospital uses approximately 10-15 medical equipments for each patient. The total hospital inventory therefore easily reaches 3,000-5,000 mobile equipments that need to be found for clinical care, and also need to be maintained periodically to keep them qualified for patient care. But right now, in which building, floor or room are they?

Traditional solution to this problem has been, and still is in many hospitals, to purchase more equipment.

Th is creates another problem of excess inventory of medical equipment, and hundreds of thousands of additional capital or leasing costs annually.

Similar to the cruise line example, Ekahau RTLS solution, based on the existing Wi-Fi network and Wi-Fi asset tags, pinpoints in real-time the exact location of medical equipment, patients or personnel. The Ekahau solution also provides utilisation rate reports over time, answering: ‘how many assets do we have, and how they are being used?’

With Ekahau’s Wi-Fi based RTLS solution, the location of assets and people within the network’s coverage area is automatically updated and can be synchronised with other systems and personnel that call for the information. Overall, the system optimises the management of processes by making them visible. Moreover, the system enables new processes, such as routing security personnel automatically to the location where a tag alarm button was pressed or a tamper switch was activated.

Antti Korhonen has over 20 years of experience in high tech and IT industries in international sales and marketing leadership and product management. Prior to Ekahau, Korhonen worked at Vaisala Inc., Boston, MA, USA, as a General Manager of Vaisala’s Industrial Business Division for North-America. He has worked in several management and leadership positions in companies such as Government Research Institute VTT, Computer 2000, and Western Digital Corporation.

For more information, please visit www.ekahau.com

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MEGACITIES

Urban

LEGENDS

Why the tale of the 21st century will be deďŹ ned by the rise of the megacity.

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I

f space travel had been possible 100 years ago, those early astronauts would have seen the light from 16 concentrations of a million or more people. Today, the crew of the space shuttle can see 450 such shining cities on the globe – the economic, governmental, cultural and technological power plants of an increasingly urban age.

The pace of such development is staggering. At the turn of the last century, only 13 percent of the world’s population lived in cities; two years ago, for the fi rst time ever, more than half of us were urban metropolitans, and by 2050 that number will rise to 70 percent. We are adding the equivalent of seven New Yorks to the planet every year – putting a huge strain on the planet’s resources and infrastructures in the process. And it’s not just the number of cities that is on the rise; their size is increasing, too. Welcome to the age of the megacity.

Megacities are defined as urban population centers of more than 10 million inhabitants, and they are on the rise: 60 years ago there were only two, New York/Newark and Tokyo, but today there are 22 such megacities – the majority in the developing countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America – and by 2025 there will most likely be 30 or more.

As these megacities evolve, many groan under the weight of a sudden, massive and unprecedented demand for services. The basic necessities of clean water, of sanitation systems to remove megatons of garbage and human waste, of transportation systems to shuttle millions of workers – not to mention the need for electrical networks, healthcare facilities, and policing and security – are creating one of the greatest logistical challenges ever seen in human history.

And the challenge is only going to intensify, with experts predicting the expansion and merging of already highly urbanized zones to form a number of ‘megalopolises’ – vast swathes of development such as the one made up of the Greater Boston-New York City-Philadelphia-Baltimore-Washington areas (the so-called Northeast megalopolis) with an urban population of 55 million. Indeed, the phenomenon of endless urban sprawl could be one of the most significant developments – and problems – in the way people live and economies grow in the next 50 years, according to UN-Habitat, the agency for human settlements, in its bi-annual State of World Cities report.

On the one hand, the development of such megaregions is generally regarded as positive, asserts the report’s co-author Eduardo Lopez Moreno. “They [megaregions], rather than countries, are now driving wealth,” he says. “Research shows that the world’s largest 40 megaregions cover only a tiny fraction of the habitable surface of our planet and are home to fewer than 18 percent of the world’s population, but account for 66 percent of all economic activity and about 85 percent of technological and scientific innovation. The top 25 cities in the world account for more than half of the world’s wealth, and the five largest cities in India and China now account for 50 percent of those countries’ wealth.”

Yet the growth of mega-regions and cities is also leading to unprecedented urban sprawl, new slums, unbalanced

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TOP 5 MEGACITIES OVER TIME

8.4 3. London

12.3 1. New York-Newark

6.5 4. Paris

19.5 5. Mexico City

3. São Paulo, Brazil

12.3

21.7

MEGA-GROWTH In 1950, there were 83 cities with populations exceeding one million; by 2007, this number had risen to 468. In 1950, New York City was the only urban area with a population of over 10 million. Geographers had identified 25 such areas as of October 2005, as compared with 19 megacities in 2004 and only nine in 1985. The UN forecast tells that in 2015, over 600 million people are expected to have their home in a megacity.

development and income inequalities as more and more people move to satellite or dormitory cities. “Cities like Los Angeles grew 45 percent in numbers between 19751990, but tripled their surface area in the same time,” says Moreno, who believes that urban sprawl is the symptom of a divided, dysfunctional city. “It is not only wasteful, it adds to transport costs, increases energy consumption, requires more resources, and causes the loss of prime farmland,” he explains. “The more unequal that cities become, the higher the risk that economic disparities will result in social and political tension. The likelihood of urban unrest in unequal cities is high.”

What is most shocking about the report, however,

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4. São Paulo, Brazil

In 1800, only

3% of the world’s population lived in cities

is that the US emerges as one of the most unequal of all the world’s societies, with cities such as New York, Chicago and Washington showing higher levels of inequality between the haves and have-nots than places like Brazzaville in Congo-Brazzaville, Managua in Nicaragua and Davao City in the Philippines. “The marginalization and segregation of specific groups creates a city within a city,” says Moreno. “The richest one percent of households now earns more than 72 times the average income of the poorest 20 percent of the population. In the ‘other America’, poor black families are clustered in ghettoes lacking access to quality education, secure tenure, lucrative work and political power.”

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5. Moscow 1. Tokyo

5.4 2. Delhi

12.3

22.2 2. Delhi

5. Dhaka

28.6

20.9

11.3 2. Tokyo

25.8 37.1 3. Mumbai 1. Tokyo

20.0 4. Mumbai

Numbers are in millions

KEY 1950 2010 2025

Infrastructure concerns Infrastructure has a key role to play in reducing these disparities, as a recent Siemens study into the challenges facing megacities as population growth continues to explode shows; 81 percent of stakeholders involved in city management cite the importance of the economy and employment in infrastructure decision-making.

In the Siemens study, transportation emerges as the top megacity infrastructure challenge by a large margin – not least because it is seen as the one infrastructure area that stakeholders believe has the biggest impact on city competitiveness. They are also highly aware of its environmental impact (for example, air pollution) and are keen to

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Belgium is Europe’s most urbanised country:

97% live in cities or towns

move to greener mass transit solutions. It is not surprising therefore to fi nd that transport also emerges as the top priority for investment. Stakeholders acknowledge that the four other infrastructure sectors covered by the study – water, electricity, healthcare, and safety and security – are also in need of investment, but interestingly they are less likely to see a strong link between spending in these areas and improved competitiveness, despite the fact that each has an important impact on the overall attractiveness of the city for investment.

Water infrastructure is also being pegged as a major concern for city administrations in the coming years.

Megacities around the world must fi nd ways to control

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MEGACITIES

Building from the ground up With cities consuming 75 percent of our natural resources, is a blank-canvas approach to development the key to our urban future? These new city projects are being built from the ground up, and could provide a blueprint for future urban projects.

Masdar City, Abu Dhabi Touted as the world’s first zero-carbon city, Masdar will be car-free, powered by renewable energy with services digitally managed and providing real-time information. With a maximum distance of 200 metres to the nearest transport link and amenities, the compact network of streets will encourage walking and is complemented by a personalized rapid transport system. Shaded walkways and narrow streets will create a pedestrian friendly environment, while surrounding land will contain wind, photovoltaic farms, research fields and plantations, enabling the city to be entirely self-sustaining.

Dongtan, Shanghai Development plans for this ‘city within a city’ – currently being built on an island off the coast of Shanghai – call for it to be modest in size (500,000 residents) and scaled for the people who will live there, rather than for automobiles or architectural monoliths. It is also designed to be completely self-sufficient, providing its own food and energy. Chinese officials hope Dongtan will offer practical lessons about pollution control and sustainability that can be applied to Shanghai proper, as well as to other rapidly growing urban areas.

Songdo, South Korea Songdo is located on the waterfront of the South Korean city of Incheon and will feature numerous eco-credentials – beautiful open space and parks, green roofs, solar passive design, co-generation plants, a waste management system, mass transit and over 120 buildings built to LEED standards. It is expected to cost over $30 billion, house 75,000 residents and handle 300,000 commuters. The first phase of the city has already been completed and Central Park, the 100-acre green space modeled after New York City’s landmark park, is now finished.

And in the US…

Treasure Island, San Francisco A masterplan developed for the proposed $1.4-billion island by architectural and engineering services company Skidmore, Owings and Merrill details up to 8000 new homes (30 percent of which would be affordable to those on lower incomes), several solarpowered skyscrapers, an organic farm, three hotels, several shops and restaurants, a wastewater treatment plant, large-scale wind turbines for energy generation and 300 acres of recreational land. The goal is to create a sustainable, compact, mixed-use residential community that is not car-dependent.

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PEOPLE MAGNETS

Employment and educational opportunities are the main attraction of urban centers. But hopes for a better life are often dashed as overpopulation puts a huge strain on cities’ infrastructures and their ability to provide basic necessities – like clean water and a decent place to live. Consider: • • • •

Overall almost 180,000 people move into cities every day Of the billion people designated very poor, over 750 million live in urban areas 1 billion people, one-sixth of the world’s population, now live in shanty towns The number of slum-dwellers is estimated to grow by nearly 500 million by 2020

runoff while providing clean water for millions of inhabitants. With the World Health Organization suggesting 1.1 billion people – or 18 percent of the world’s population – now lack access to safe drinking water, governments increasingly need the money and know-how to build massive public works.

In São Paulo, Brazil, for instance, planners are struggling to cope with a drainage system that was built when the city was a fraction of its current size. Poor maintenance has left much of it clogged, while forest and parkland have given way to haphazard housing in many areas of the world’s third-largest city. Now there are fewer green areas to soak up incessant rains. Meanwhile, Mexico City is sucking up water from natural aquifers at twice the rate they are being replenished. The result: Mexico City is sinking, in some areas up to 16 inches a year, threatening its entire infrastructure – including the city’s deteriorating drainage system, whose capacity has diminished by 30 percent since 1975 while the area’s population has doubled. In addition, the city, which sits at an altitude of over 7300 feet, must pump water up 3000 feet to reach residents. Last year it had to ration water after one of the worst droughts in six decades. The drainage program includes plans for treatment plants to turn runoff into clean water for use by farmers.

New solutions for old problems The infrastructure and engineering challenges presented by the emergence of these densely populated

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Mexico City is sinking, in some areas up to 16 inches a year, threatening its entire infrastructure – including the city’s deteriorating drainage system

urban centers are significant, not least because such rapid growth is being played out in the largest and most complicated urban habitats human beings have ever lived in.

Managing such complex systems in the future is going to take a much smarter approach than the ones we are currently using.

Faced by huge pressures on public services, cities tend to emphasize direct and immediate supply-side solutions.

However, this does not always mean adding more capacity: in many cases – particularly in the highly developed megacities of the US – increasing the efficiency of existing infrastructure over building new roads, railways and hospitals can be just as effective. By contrast, although it is mentioned by a minority of the survey respondents, demand management never emerges as a priority. Demand management approaches have been advocated in a variety of areas, but even the specialists in specific infrastructure sectors do not see managing demand as the primary solution to their challenges. Yet with consumption consistently outstripping supply in many cities and infrastructure areas, there is a strong case for the wider adoption of demand management strategies on a global basis.

Many believe the answer lies in embedding more (and better) technology into the networks and systems that underpin our cities, and the effects of such an outlook are already being felt around the globe. Transportation officials in Singapore, Brisbane and Stockholm are using state-ofthe-art systems to reduce both congestion and pollution.

Public safety administrators in major cities like New York and Chicago are able not only to solve crimes and respond to emergencies, but to help prevent them. A large hospital organization in Paris is implementing an integrated patient-care management solution to facilitate seamless communication across its business applications – enabling them to track every stage of a patient’s stay in the hospital.

While smart water management in the Paraguay-Paraná River Basin of Brazil is helping to improve water quality for São Paulo’s 17 million residents.

And of course, when urban planners can no longer fi nd the surface space to install vital infrastructure components, they go underground. And while few, if any, cities can rival New York in the density and complexity of its subterranean networks, 21st century cities are looking to take the concept to a new level. For instance, officials in Oslo, Norway, may be the next underground pioneers. In their capital, developers have created a whole sub-urban community. Troubled by the city’s hilly terrain, engineers have built all sorts of structures – such as power plants, an air-traffic-control tower, and a dairy processing operation – under the surface. As a result, some of the world’s most sophisticated air-circulation systems can be found in Oslo, as well as underground lighting that’s tweaked to mimic the movement of the sun throughout the day.

Thoreau called the city “millions of people being lonesome together”, but it needn’t be; that is where infrastructure – the underlying network of nodes and interconnections that underpin every urban center – has a vital role to play.

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TRAVEL & GADGETS & BOOKS & LEISURE & MONEY & TRAVEL & GADGETS & BOOKS & LEISURE & MONEY 135

Smart cities The world’s cleverest conurbations p136

Project focus Six Dutch projects currently under construction p138

Budapest Hungary’s wonderful capital city p141

Books The latest releases on building, energy and infrastructure p142

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138

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TOP 10

The world’s smartest cities

01

This list of the world’s smartest cities has been compiled by Forbes based not only on infrastructure and liveability, but also economic fundamentals.

1. Singapore:

The 21st-century successor to 15thcentury Venice, this once-impoverished island nation now boasts an income level comparable to the wealthiest Western countries, with a per-capita GDP ahead of most of Europe and Latin America. Singapore Airport is Asia’s fifth largest, and the city’s port ranks as the largest container entrepot in the world. Over 6000 multinational corporations, including 3600 regional headquarters, are located there, and it was recently ranked number one for ease of doing business.

2. Hong Kong: As the center of the world economy continues to shift from West to East, Hong Kong is certainly reaping the benefits. Hong Kong Shanghai Bank’s chief executive recently relocated there from London.

Its per-capita GDP is ranked 15th in the world, the Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal have ranked Hong Kong the freest economy in the world.

3. Curitiba, Brazil: This well-run metropolis in southern Brazil is famous for its rapid bus-based transit, used by 70 percent of its residents, and its balanced, diverse economic development strategy. The city’s programme of building ‘lighthouses’ – essentially electronic libraries – for poorer residents has become a model for developing cities worldwide. Environmental website Grist recently ranked Curitiba the third greenest city in the world.

02

4. Monterrey, Mexico: Over the past few decades Monterrey has emerged from relative obscurity into a major industrial and engineering center. The city of 3.5 million has 57 industrial parks, specialising in everything from chemicals and cement to telecommunications and industrial machinery. Monterrey and its surrounding state, Nuevo Leon, boast a per-capita GDP roughly twice that of the rest of Mexico.

5. Amsterdam:

This longstanding financial and trading capital is home to seven of the world’s top 500 companies, including Philips and ING. Relatively low

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03

04

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05

06

corporate taxes and income taxes on foreign workers attract companies and individuals. Amsterdam’s advantages include a well-educated, multilingual population and a lack of political corruption, as well as its location – in the heart of Europe, close to a major international airport and a short train trip to Rotterdam, the continent’s dominant port.

6.Seattle, United States: Seattle’s location close to the Pacific Ocean has nurtured trade with Asia, and its proximity to Washington state’s vast hydro-power generation station assures access to affordable, stable clean electricity. The area also serves as the conduit for many of the exportable agricultural and industrial products produced both in the Pacific Northwest and in the vast, resource-rich northern Great Plains, closely linked to the region by highways and freight trains.

7. Houston, United States: Houston’s close ties to the Caribbean, as well as its dominant global energy industry, thriving industrial base, huge Texas Medical Center complex and first-rate airport, all work to its long-term advantage. Arguably the big city in the US with the healthiest economy, Houston is also investing in a green future; last year it was the nation’s largest municipal purchaser of wind energy.

07

08

8. Charleston, United States: Charleston has expanded its port and manufacturing base while preserving its lovely historic core. Once an industrial backwater, Charleston now seems poised to emerge as a major aerospace center, with the location of a new Boeing 787 assembly plant there, which will bring upward of 12,000 well-paying jobs to the region.

9. Huntsville, United States: This southern US city has long had a ‘smart’ core to its economy, a legacy of its critical role in the NASA ballistic missile program.

Today the area’s traditional emphasis on aerospace has been joined by bold moves into such fields as biotechnology. Kiplinger recently ranked the area’s economy number one in the nation.

10. Calgary, Canada: With the expected rise in commodity prices over the next decade, Canada seems likely to produce several successful cities. Over the past two decades, Calgary’s share of corporate headquarters has doubled to 15 percent, the largest percentage of main offices per capita in Canada. Although the plunge in oil prices hit hard, rising demand for commodities in Asia should help revive the Albertan economy by next year.

09

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10

Source: www.forbes.com

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PROJECT FOCUS

The Netherlands: Project focus Ijburg, Amsterdam The combined pressures of population growth and rising sea levels have been met with innovation in Amsterdam, where Dutch construction company Dura Vermeer has created the floating suburb of Ijburg. The premise is very simple – these novel homes, offices, shops and greenhouse gardens are docked to floating walkways and rise or fall with the sea level. Quality of life is good; water, sanitation and electricity are all fully sustainable and a real sense of community has already been forged. When complete, the suburb will be home to 45,000 dwellers living in the 18,000 properties attached to seven artificial islands created by dredged sand.

Maasvlakte 2, Rotterdam Cost: ¤1.5 billion Status: Three of the four islands have been fully completed Completion: 2015

Breaking world records almost every week, the Maasvlakte 2 land reclamation project is set to enlarge the port of Rotterdam by a total of 2000 hectares in time for its completion date in 2013. In June, 11 Boskalis and Van Oord trailing suction hopper dredgers shifted 3.8 million cubic metres of sand to the area in one week, breaking all previous land reclamation records.

The quay walls that will comprise the Maasvlakte 2 harbour are set to measure more than three kilometres in distance and will contain five million tons of freshly quarried rock supported by 240 million cubic metres of sand. Upon completion, Maasvlakte 2 will further cement Rotterdam’s position as Europe’s largest, busiest and most important port.

Cost: ¤2.9 billion Status: Halfway to completion Completion: April 2013

MS Nieuw Amsterdam, Rotterdam The MS Nieuw Amsterdam is a signature class cruise ship that made her maiden voyage on July 4th this year. More than 280 metres long and weighing in at a gross of 86,700 tons, this beautiful behemoth is the latest jewel in Holland America Line’s 81-strong fleet. The liner boasts a number of unique features, including outside view glass elevators, a cyber coffee house; a state-of-the-art spa with thermae suites, hydro pool and the largest floating gym in the world; a number of restaurants, clubs and shops and even a dedicated, teen-only section called ‘Loft’. The Nieuw Amsterdam has a total of 11 guest decks, is powered by six diesel generators and propelled by Azipod propulsion technology.

Cost: ¤364 million Status: Set sail on maiden voyage on July 4th, 2010 Completion: May 2010

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PROJECT FOCUS 139

Wastewater treatment plant, Epe Epe, a small town in east Netherlands, will become the site of one of the world’s most sophisticated and sustainable wastewater treatment buildings when the new plant opens in mid-2011. Both cost-effective and carbon-efficient, the plant will cut the town’s carbon footprint while doubling the existing plant’s treatment capacity with the utilisation of new Nereda technology, which nurtures special microorganisms that grow in compact granules (rather than ‘floc structures’, which act as inhibitors), allowing for more effective wastewater treatment. Water Board Veluwe and engineering consultancy DHV signed the design and build contract for the plant.

Cost:¤15 million Status: Contracts are all signed; initial work is imminent Completion: Mid-2011

Project Buiksloterham, Amsterdam The aim of the Project Buiksloterham is to transform a former 100 hectare industrial estate into climateneutral inner city land that is suitable for a variety of usages, including residential and commercial. A total of 2000 property dwellings (comprising 30 percent social housing) are planned by 2015, with every property made completely climate-neutral. Various companies involved in the project have pledged to a climate table that will rank and track the progress of CO2 reduction.

The overall aim is to achieve 100 percent C02 neutrality, with all building-related emissions compensated by the use of renewable energy and local power generation. New bridges, bus and ship connections and improved public space are also under construction at the site on the banks of the river Ij. Cost: ¤200+ million Status: Construction has begun on the residential buildings and public spaces Completion: 2015

Sun Island, Almere Sun Island is one of Europe’s most innovative sustainable energy projects and is located in the Noorderplassen-West district of the Dutch city of Almere. Urban planning for the area has been fully committed to sustainable living, and Sun Island is the flagship project. The island is comprised of water collectors that are heated by the sun’s rays. The heated water is then filtered directly into the 2700 homes in the immediate vicinity, providing hot tap water and central heating, and supplying 10 percent of the district’s annual heating needs. Sun Island’s collector area is approximately 7000 m2, making it the fourth-largest solar collector field in the world.

Cost:¤7 million Status: Fully constructed, partially connected Completion: Summer 2010

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30/07/2010 14:31

BOOK REVIEWS 141

1

Construction Materials, Methods and Techniques: Building for a Sustainable Future

By William P. Spence and Eva Kultermann

2 Building for a Changing Climate: The Challenge for Construction, Planning and Energy

Comprehensive coverage of the most up-to-date green methods for residential and commercial building construction, along with the construction materials and properties needed to carry them out. A logical and well-structured format follows the natural sequence of a construction project.

EU Infrastructure says: A thoroughly rounded, needto-know guide that could prove critical to success in the green building sector.

By Peter F. Smith

With a practically universal consensus that our climate is changing rapidly, there is extensive debate about what we can do to mitigate the damage being caused. It is becoming increasingly clear that a large part of our resources will have to be directed towards adapting to new climatic conditions. Nowhere is this more evident than in the built environment. In this book, sustainable architecture guru Peter Smith lays out his vision of how things are likely to change, and what those concerned with the planning, design and construction of the places we live and work can and must do to avert the worst impacts.

EU Infrastructure says: An invaluable mine of information on the global environmental crisis.

Sustainable and Resilient Critical Infrastructure Systems: Simulation, Modeling, and Intelligent Engineering

3

By Kasthurirangan Gopalakrishnan and Srinivas Peeta

As our critical infrastructure becomes increasingly interdependent, the need to ensure that it remains resilient and sustainable, whilst at the same time being adaptive, has become a key focus area for the future. This book is looks at recent advances in simulation, modeling, sensing, communications/ information and intelligent and sustainable

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LEED Materials: A Resource Guide to Green Building

By Ari Meisel

It may be good to be green, but it’s still far from easy and an 4 architect’s knowledge of materials can make or break a building’s green rating. Though LEED’s performance-based criteria exclude individual materials and products from earning points toward certification, their specific use can. Apply a material in the wrong situation and you may not get credit for it. Fortunately, with a little insider knowledge, you can also use one material to get credit in two, three, or even more areas. LEED Materials is packed with critical information on nearly 200 materials, products and services.

EU Infrastructure says:This book fits well alongside other LEED references in any architects’ library.

The Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Architecture

By Alanna Stang and Christopher Hawthorne

From the arid deserts of Arizona to the icy forests of Finland, the authors of this book have travelled the globe to find all that is new in the design of sustainable homes. Six different climactic zones are presented in The Green House – waterfront, forest and mountain, tropical, desert, suburban and urban; there is also a section on mobile dwellings.

Each chapter features a series of homes. Projects are presented with large colour images, plans, drawings and an accompanying text that describes their green features and explains how they work with and in the environment.

EU Infrastructure says: A beautiful book and one that is an indispensable reference for anyone interested in sustainable design.

technologies that have resulted in the development of sophisticated methodologies and instruments to design, characterise, optimise and evaluate critical infrastructure systems, their resilience, and their condition and the factors that cause their deterioration.

EU Infrastructure says: Particularly pertinent for those involved with infrastructure planning, design, financing and maintenance.

5

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142

CITY GUIDE

36 Hours in...Budapest Time: +1hrs GMT | Currency: Forint | Language: Hungarian | Population: 1.7 million

Time off

In the know You should watch your step in Budapest. Never-ending architectural splendour catches the eye everywhere you look, making it a one of the most distracting and beautiful cities in Europe, so tread carefully. The glorious Danube splits the city in two, with Buda on the west and Pest on the east linked by a procession of wonderful bridges.

Beyond the city limits is the great Hungarian Plain, which is one of the flattest sections of land on continental Europe and an untouched primordial swathe of dense forest, save for the occasional sliver of high speed road and rail networks linking east with west with increasing ease and efficiency.

Economy Being the capital of Hungary and one of the main centres of commerce in Eastern Europe, Budapest is something of an economical powerhouse, attracting thousands of workers each year from the surrounding towns and cities, and often from other countries too. MasterCard’s Emerging Markets Index ranks Budapest third globally; the Economist Intelligence Unit ranks it as central Europe’s most liveable city and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology is headquartered there. Tourism is also a major source of income, with the city attracting approximately 20 million visitors per year.

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Hungarians can only sigh wistfully at the thought of a cooling dip in the sea; the nearest coastline is thousands of kilometres distant, and the country’s very own ‘Sea’ – Lake Balaton – is also quite a drive away. Fear not though: Budapest is home to some of the finest and most famous natural spas in Europe (the reason why the Romans first settled here), each with its own unique atmosphere and attraction. The most famous is the Szechenyi Baths on the eastern Pest side, which is one of the largest bathing complexes in Europe and comprises medicinal treatments, saunas, plunge pools, steam rooms and all manner of waterways and indoor and outdoor pools filled with patrons. Some of whom will be naked. You can choose to join them in the buff or preserve your modesty; it’s up to you. Other downtime attractions include the magnificent Parliament Building, Heroes Square, the Museum of Fine Arts and Buda Castle, which sits proudly atop Castle Hill.

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CITY GUIDE 143

Drink

Eat The city’s most famous restaurant is the Matyas Pince, which has been filling bellies and emptying wallets for over a century. It is located right on the banks of the Danube near Elisabeth Bridge and delivers the perfect balance of traditional Hungarian cuisine (not all bad, but definitely an acquired taste) and international dishes to make it a good choice for pretty much all travelling parties, particularly if you catch the live gypsy music that comes a-plucking toward your table every evening. If this strikes you as a little contrived, then a true glimpse of Hungarian dining can be experienced at a number of lovely restaurants throughout the city – the Kisharange Etkezde is one such example, comprising paper tablecloths, cramped seating, hearty fare, moustachioed waiting staff and a warm – if incomprehensible to non-Hungarian speakers – welcome. An experience not to be missed!

Sleep Hotel Gellert The four-star Hotel Gellert is Budapest’s most famous hotel, boasting the best location in the city and its famous natural baths, which rival those of Szechenyi for splendour and variety. The hotel opened in 1918 and has been a favourite with tourists and travelling dignitaries ever since, delivering top-quality service, state-of-the-art facilities and a regal, elegant décor that evokes memories of Romanesque extravagance.

Budapest’s distinct districts have fostered a number of delightfully different atmospheres in which to relax and unwind. The popular Castle District is a magnet for trendy types who enjoy their drinks cool and their décor cooler. Nowhere is this more evident than at Oscar Café, which is an American-themed cocktail bar refreshingly lacking in the pretension you fear its reputation and gaudy lighting might foster. Head over to the Jewish Quarter in Pest and you are met with yet more funky bars vying for your custom: Bar Domby is the most atmospheric, delivering charming service with understated décor and some of the best cocktails in the city.

Continental Hotel Zara Opened in June 2010, the four-star Continental Hotel Zara is a magnificently modern establishment that combines its excellent location and top-class facilities with impeccable service to make it one of Budapest’s best new hotels. The chic and contemporary design is sure to appeal to business guests, while its location at the heart of the historic quarter makes it a fine option for tourists hoping to explore the city on foot.

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144

PHOTO FINISH

Football first, environment second Spain’s Foreign Minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos, reluctantly draws his eyes from the big screen that was specially erected at the EU Headquarters in Brussels so that ministers could follow their respective nations during the 2010 World Cup. Moratinos was attending the one day European Summit to discuss jobs, the economy and climate policies, but the football was an evidently more pressing matter on the day.

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30/07/2010 14:25

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