Autodesk has been named as the official design and make platform of the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic games and team USA.
Over the next four years, Autodesk’s software – used by designers, engineers, builders, and creators – will support LA28’s more than $1bn temporary overlay and construction plan, incorporating sustainable design principles.
LA28 will use Autodesk software and building information modelling tools to bring to life an ambitious venue plan that delivers on sustainability.
With no-new-permanent-venues planned, a commitment has been made to adapt existing or build temporary infrastructure. Software will help retrofit the 40-plus competition and major non-competition venues across southern California – including the LA Memorial Coliseum.
Network Rail has finished a key stage of a major project to replace a deteriorating bridge in Hackney. Works closed the line for 16 consecutive days, impacting train services, while the project to replace a 150-year-old bridge that carries the junction of Downs Park Road and Bodney Road over the railway.
The bridge was in very poor condition, with a full replacement needed to avoid an unplanned closure and keep passengers and road users moving in future.
Although the railway under the bridge has now reopened, there is more work to do, including relocating utility services and concreting the bridge deck. All work is expected to be completed, and Downs Park Road fully reopened, by early 2025.
With the arrival of the final four of ten supersized ship-to-shore cranes this week, the Port of Salalah’s $300m expansion plan remains on track. By the end of the year, the port will have increased its annual container handling capacity from five million to six million teu. Considerable infrastructure work has also been carried out to upgrade its existing electricity grid, including a new high-capacity power substation and high-voltage feeder lines. Further works include expansion of the yard and a new access road.
The Laing O’Rourke Centre for Construction Engineering and Technology has launched its 2020-2023 Transforming Construction Review. The review aims to generate the evidence and tools required to challenge the status quo and pave the way for a new era in the construction industry.
Promoting engagement between academia, industry and policymakers, the centre is catalysing change within the industry through educating and upskilling current and future construction leaders. Its aim is to generate the evidence base and thought leadership to underpin and support the implementation of new policies, processes and methods in the construction sector and is centred around three desired outcomes; (i) sustainable infrastructure, including net zero carbon and biodiversity; (ii) improving productivity; and (iii) increasing the social value delivered by construction projects in the built environment. To read the review, visit https:// tinyurl.com/3cb244zx.
Plans to build a two-mile tunnel along the A030 in Wiltshire near to Stonehenge have been ditched by the new Labour government. The controversial scheme, which had been approved by the previous Conservative government, had faced a number of legal challenges from campaigners.
Fugro has successfully completed four years of continuous survey operations in New Jersey and New York for US-based offshore wind developer Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind. The work has helped pioneer a new data collection and management approach that increased survey efficiency.
- Topcon Positioning Systems’ president and CEO, Ray O’Connor will retire in September 2025 after over three decades of leadership. He will transition to the role of chairman of the board of directors this month, with Ivan Di Federico taking over as president and CEO.
- Balfour Beatty has been awarded a contract, through the GIS2 RIIO T2 framework, to which the company was appointed in 2022, to construct three new 275kV substations in Argyll, Scotland, in Craig Murrail, An Suidhe, and Crarae on behalf of SSEN Transmission.
- A £7.3m scheme that will complete the fitout of the recently widened Ash Barge Dock at Northumberland Energy Park has been given to Esh Construction. Working on behalf of Advance Northumberland, once completed, areas of the berth will provide a safe working load of 5,300kN to make the dock serviceable for the import and export of components and finished goods for the in the offshore energy and subsea markets.
- The Indian government has approved the building of a new major port in Vadhavan, near Dahanu in Maharashtra, India. The Project will be constructed by Vadhavan Port Project Limited (VPPL), an SPV formed by Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) and Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB), with the Vadhavan Port developed as an all-weather Greenfield deep draft major port.
- VolkerFitzpatrick has been awarded a contract from Transport for London (TfL) to develop the concept design of new maintenance facilities at its Cockfosters Depot as part of the Piccadilly line upgrade. Procured through Pagabo’s civil engineering and infrastructure framework, this upgrade project will help boost capacity and modernise the ageing assets of the London Underground line, which opened in 1906.
- The Engineering Council has been voted in to join the UK Accreditation Service (UKAS). Membership will enable further collaboration to increase and assure appropriate standards of competence across engineering sectors and industries.