JCB HYDROGEN NEWS H

ot on the heels of JCB announcing that its hydrogen combustion engine will make its international public debut at the forthcoming Conexpo in Las Vegas, comes the news that the UK government has given its approval to test and use its world-first hydrogen-powered backhoe loader on the public highway. Of perhaps more strategically important news is that a JCB hydrogen-fuelled engine has been fitted into a 7.5-tonne Mercedes truck, illustrating the scope of hydrogen as a key fuel of the future.

Chairman Lord Bamford said, “This is a giant leap forward for JCB and the rest of the world, because we all have one goal: to reduce emissions. The hydrogen engine we have installed in the truck is the same as those already powering prototype JCB machines. There is no reason we should not see hydrogen combustion engines in vehicles used on the roads in the future, including cars.”

Construction Workers Needed

New figures from the Construction Industry Training Board reveal that hundreds of thousands of extra workers will be required by 2027 to meet the demand from the construction industry. Their annual construction skills network report shows that 224,900 extra workers will be needed to meet UK construction demand between now and 2027.

They predict that construction output is set to grow for all regions of the UK, as slow market growth returns in 2024. The major sectors for demand are private housing, infrastructure, repair and maintenance. If projected growth is met, by 2027 the number of people working in construction will be 2.67m. The construction industry is expected to remain a sector where there is demand for workers, despite the economic uncertainty.