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NEWS
Costain JV Awarded Crossrail Contract
Costain, one of the UK’s leading engineering solutions providers, has announced that in Joint Venture (‘JV’) with Skanska it has been awarded a London Crossrail contract to construct the main station works at Bond Street Station, worth approximately £110 million.
The project will involve the main construction, platform fit-out and Mechanical and Electrical services for the Western Ticket Hall in Davies Street and the Eastern Ticket Hall in Hanover Square. It follows on from the contract already awarded to the JV and announced in March 2011, for the initial construction of the structure of the station.
“This contract awarded to Costain by Crossrail is, we believe, further demonstration of the successful implementation of our ‘Choosing Costain’ strategy, in which we focus on building long term relationships with and winning repeat works from blue chip customers who are spending billions on meeting vital infrastructure needs. This contract further contributes to the strength of our order book, which comprises approximately 90% repeat business.” Visit: www.costain.com
DP World London Gateway, Britain’s new deepsea container port, took delivery of three giant quay cranes in early March when the vessel Zhen Hua 26 floated up the Thames on the final leg of the cranes’ three-month voyage from China. The biggest ever to be delivered to the UK, the cranes are 138 metres tall – two and a half times the height of Nelson’s column – and are upright on the ship. Weighing 2000 tonnes, it would be possible to roll the London Eye under the lifting arm.
These will be just the first quay cranes destined for London Gateway. A further 21 will be delivered once construction on the six main berths is completed. The quay itself – where the cranes will sit – will be over 2.5km in length once the port is fully operational. Visit: www.londongateway.com
Biggest cranes sail up the Thames by ship
Sir Robert McAlpine is preferred bidder on college super campus
Aconsortium led by Sir Robert McAlpine has been announced as Preferred Bidder for the City of Glasgow College New Campus project in Glasgow.
The Glasgow Learning Quarter consortium, which includes McAlpine’s Capital Ventures team and Forth Electrical Services, fought off fierce competition for the 25-year concession to design, build, finance and maintain the new campus.
The circa 70,000m2 development will comprise two new buildings constructed on college land at Cathedral Street in Glasgow city centre and at Thistle Street on the banks of the River Clyde. The technology-rich new campus will transform the learning landscape for some 40,000 students and 1200 staff. Visit: www.sir-robert-mcalpine.com
YIT will build technical maintenance buildings for the Klaipeda port terminal in western Lithuania. The project is part of the contract signed by a consortium between Lemminkäinen and YIT for the renewal of the cargo terminal at Klaipeda Port.
Lemminkäinen is the consortium’s main contractor and is responsible for civil engineering, electrical work and paving. YIT Group’s Lithuanian subsidiary YIT Kausta is responsible for YIT’s role in the consortium. The total value of the project is €28 million, of which YIT’s share represents slightly over €6 million.
“This is a significant project for us, as it strengthens our market position in contracting operations in the Klaipeda region, where our focus has thus far been on residential construction. We are pleased to be involved in the development of a key Lithuanian port terminal, joining forces with another strong player in the field,” says YIT Kausta managing director Kestutis Vanagas. Visit: www.yit.fi
NEWS
New developments in the Construction industry
HOCHTIEF to upgrade Riga Airport
Aconsortium made up of HOCHTIEF, FCC Construcción SA and A/S A.C.B. has won the contract to upgrade the infrastructure at Riga International Airport in Latvia. The contract has a total volume of around €79.5 million. Of this, HOCHTIEF has a share of approximately €25.4 million.
The project includes among others the construction of two new halls, new taxiways and de-icing platforms, as well as a new landing strip, runway and apron lighting. The refurbishment and drainage of the take-off and landing strips and the runways, and the extension of the apron with no disruption to daily airport operations will present a particular challenge.
The companies involved – on the HOCHTIEF side including HOCHTIEF Solutions Latvia and the Austria branch of HOCHTIEF Solutions – will start work in May 2013 and complete it by August 2014. Visit: www.hoctief.com
VINCI acquires Portuguese airports company
VINCI has announced the signature, with the Portuguese government, of the contract to acquire the shares of ANA, the company holding the 50-year concession for Portugal’s 10 airports: Lisbon, Porto, Faro and Beja on the mainland; Ponta Delgada, Horta, Flores and Santa Maria in the Azores; and Funchal and Porto Santo in Madeira. In terms of enterprise value, the transaction is worth €3.08 billion.
This transaction is in line with VINCI’s strategy of making VINCI Airports a leading international player in airport concessions. With this acquisition, the company will be managing 23 airports in Portugal, France and Cambodia, handling more than 40 million passengers a year and including a European hub with over 15 million passengers. Total revenue will exceed €600 million, for Ebitda of around €270 million. Visit: www.vinci.com
Mansell project for Loughborough University
Mansell, a Balfour Beatty brand, has commenced the construction of HEBS 2 – a new three-storey Health and Bioscience building that will serve as a National Centre for Sport and Exercise Medicine at Loughborough University.
The £11.5 million facility will provide 5000m2 of teaching and research space and contain clinical and physiological diagnostic equipment for health professionals and patients. Other facilities include educational, training and research facilities, a gym for rehabilitation and an external car park and access road. Visit: www.constructingcommunities.com
Skanska has been awarded a contract for building the image and invention centre at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg. The client is Västfastigheter. The contract comprises construction and conversion of a total area of about 22,000m2 .
Skanska has been active at the hospital since 2011 with excavation, foundation-laying and frame works, among other things. The current assignment will be the second phase, out of three, in developing the hospital. In the assignment, Skanska will make additional framework, installation and connection to the adjacent building. Visit: www.skanska.com
Bouygues Construction to build tallest skycraper in Lyon
GFC Construction and Bouygues Bâtiment Ile-de-France, two subsidiaries of Bouygues Construction, are to begin work on an office tower in Lyon, a contract worth €124 million. The Incity Tower, as it will be known, was designed by Valode & Pistre and AIA Architectes and it is being built for Sogelym Dixence. The skyscraper will be the tallest building in Lyon: its metal spire will reach a height of 200 metres, making it taller than ‘The Pencil’ in Part-Dieu, currently the tallest building in the city.
Incity will replace the old UAP tower, which was deconstructed by Bouygues Construction. The new tower will form part of the transformation of the PartDieu business district in Lyon, the second largest in France. With 44,145m2 of floor space on 40 storeys, the skyscraper will be a new landmark on the Lyon skyline. It will accommodate around 2700 employees. Visit: www.bouygues.com
INDUSTRYNEWS
STRABAG and Rio Tinto enter into tunnelling partnership NCC to construct first
Global mining company Rio Tinto, in cooperation with tunnel boring machine manufacturers, recently developed two new tunnel boring systems (TBS) and one shaft
Care home contract for Veidekke
The Norwegian municipality of Re has awarded Veidekke Entreprenør the contract to build a new care home with 116 spaces in Re in Vestfold County. This will be a turnkey contract valued at NOK 276 million, excluding VAT.
The new care home will be in Revetal, which is the centre of Re municipality. Floor space will total 16,000m over three levels and a cellar. The building will include all of the services related to care for the elderly provided by the municipality, and it will replace older buildings that are currently used for the purpose. Visit: www.veidekke.no boring system (SBS). Now STRABAG SE, the publicly listed European construction group has signed an agreement with Rio Tinto for a long term partnership.
STRABAG will carry out field trials at selected construction sites using the new excavation systems and technologies and will undertake to optimise the systems.
The new systems are world-class technical innovations. Current tunnel boring machines for infrastructure works are designed for long tunnels with a large radius, however the new TBS are designed to meet the mine operator’s requirements for variable tunnels with a small radius. Visit: www.strabag.com
Astaldi contract for St Petersburg ring road
The city of St Petersburg and Northern Capital Highway (NCH) have finalised the concession agreement relating to the project for the completion of the WHSD (Western High-Speed Diameter) – the city’s ring road.
Astaldi will perform as part of a joint venture with the Turkish construction company, IC Ictas. The value of the works to be performed stands at €2.2 billion (Astaldi has a 50% stake). The NCH consortium, responsible for commissioning the project, comprises VTB Capital and Gazprombank, respectively the second and third largest banks in Russia. The WHSD is the most important PPP contract developed to date in Russia and is of strategic importance for the transport system in the city of St Petersburg. The construction contract awarded to Astaldi involves the design and performance of all works to construct 12km of road. Visit: www.astaldi.com
phase of Carlsberg Byen in Copenhagen
NCC has been commissioned to build a new campus, housing, offices and retail space in phase one of the Carlsberg Byen area in Copenhagen. The client is the property development company Carlsberg Byen P/S and the order value is approximately SEK 1.5 billion.
The project comprises 101,000 square metres, with the largest portion, nearly 60,000 square metres, being a new campus for the University College Copenhagen, UCC, which will concentrate all of its operations in Carlsberg Byen. When completed, more than 10,000 students and 800 employees will work in the area.
In addition to the educational premises, the project comprises 6500 square metres of retail space, 3500 square metres of office space, 15,000 square metres of residential space and nearly 20,000 square metres of basement space.
Carlsberg Byen will be built on Carlsberg’s former brewery area in western Copenhagen. Visit: www.ncc.se
Impregilo Salini JV wins Polish highway contract
The Joint Venture between Impregilo and Salini Polska, together with the Polish company Kobylarnia (33.32%), has won three lots of the A1 Torun – Strykow Highway in Poland. They will construct approximately 75km of highway at a total value of €250 million.
The initiative, promoted by the Polish General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways, co-financed by the European Community, will be realised in 12 months and marks the return to Poland of the Joint Venture Impregilo – Salini, which built a highway near the city of Katowice between 1994 and 1996. Visit: www.impregilo.it
