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Costain to trial Self-Healing Concrete

Costain starts self-healing concrete site trials

Costain Logo
The first major trial of self-healing concrete in the UK is being undertaken at a site in the South Wales Valleys.

Costain and researchers from Bath, Cambridge and Cardiff universities are piloting three separate concrete-healing technologies for the first time in real-world settings.

The pioneering trials are taking place on construction sites on the Heads of the Valleys road improvement scheme in South Wales – the A465.

Eventually the researchers hope to incorporate them into a single system that could be used to automatically repair concrete in the built environment.

It is estimated that around £40bn a year is spent in the UK on the repair and maintenance of structures, the majority of which are made from concrete.

Once damage is detected, the systems being trialled will set in motion reactions that repair the concrete autonomously without the need for human intervention.

Self-healing systems
The first technique uses shape-shifting materials, known as shape-memory polymers, to repair large cracks in concrete. When these materials are heated with a small current, they can transform into a different shape that the material has ‘memorised’. The researchers believe that these materials can be embedded into concrete and used to close cracks or make them smaller.In the second technique, researchers will pump both organic and inorganic healing agents through a network of thin tunnels in the concrete to help repair damage.In the third technique, the team will embed tiny capsules, or lightweight aggregates, containing both bacteria and healing agents into the concrete. It is anticipated that once cracks occur, these capsules will release their cargos and, in the case of the bacteria, the nutrients that will enable them to function and produce calcium carbonate, which the researchers envisage will heal the cracks in the concrete.

The researchers have cast six concrete walls at the test site, each containing the different technologies.

Over time the team will load the concrete at specific angles to induce cracks, and then monitor how effective each of the self-healing techniques is.

Oliver Teall, a civil engineer at Costain, said: “From this trial we should gain an insight into the feasibility of constructing a full-scale structure using these techniques and their early-stage effects on structural properties.

“We will be monitoring properties such as stiffness, permeability and the mechanical damage recovery of the trial walls in comparison with conventional reinforced concrete walls.”

This story is by constructionenquirer.com

 

 

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Wembley, Did You Know?

Wembley Stadium

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wembley in Numbers
• At its peak, there were more than 3,500 construction workers on site.
• 4,000 separate piles form the foundations of the new stadium, the deepest of which is 35 m (115 ft).
• There are 56 km (35 mi) of heavy-duty power cables in the stadium.
• 90,000 m3 (120,000 yd3) of concrete and 23,000 tonnes (25,000 short tons) of steel were used in the construction of the new stadium
• 2,618 toilets
• 47 retail units
• 164 turnstiles
• 26 lifts
• 30 escalators
• 34 bars
• 8 restaurants
• 688 food and drink service points
• 98 kitchens
• The seats are spread over three tiers: lower 34,303, middle 16,532 and upper 39,165

General Stadium Facts
• The new Wembley reopened its doors in 2007
• The original Wembley Stadium was known as the Empire Stadium, and was built as the centrepiece of a British Empire Exhibition at the end of the First World War
• The stadium has a circumference of 1 km
• There are 107 steps in the trophy presentation route – the old stadium had 39 steps
• The new Wembley encloses 4,000,000 m³ inside its walls and under its roof. This is the equivalent of 25,000 double-decker buses or 7 billion pints of milk
• The deepest of the piles that form the foundations, at 35 metres, is as deep as the Twin Towers were tall
• The new pitch is four metres lower than the previous pitch
• The stadium’s pitch is enhanced by desso technology which combines synthetic grass with the real Wembley grass to strengthen the surface
• This system provides a consistently high standard playing surface at Wembley and enables the multi-use venue to host football, rugby, American football and music events
• The pitch is covered by specially designed protective panels for rock concerts which creates space for up 25,000 fans to stand
• Each of the two giant screens in new stadium is the size of 600 domestic television sets
• The total length of the escalators is the same as a 400 metre running track
• The Royal Box is in the traditional position – in the middle of the north stand – as in the old Wembley Stadium

The Arch and the Roof
• The most striking, highly visible feature of the stadium is 133 metre tall arch that sits above the north stand
• With a span of 315 metres, the arch is the longest single span roof structure in the world and is visible right across London
• With a diameter of 7.4 metres the arch is wide enough for a Channel Tunnel train to run through
• A representative from every county in England was involved in the construction of the arch
• The stadium roof rises to 52 metres above the pitch. This compares to the 35 metres tall Twin Towers of the old stadium
• The roof is over 11 acres, of which four of the acres are retractable
• The stadium has a sliding roof design which allows the pitch to be exposed to direct sunlight and ventilation whilst ensuring that spectators are covered
• The arch supports all of the weight of the north roof and 60 per cent of the weight of the southern side
• The arch ensures that there are no pillars in the new stadium which could obstruct the views of fans

The Seats
• The stadium has 90,000 seats with no obstructed views
• There are 310 wheelchair spaces and 400 press seats
• The rows of seating, if placed end to end, would stretch 54 kilometres
• There is more leg room in every seat in Wembley Stadium than there was in the Royal Box of the old stadium
• The stadium was designed with stands that are higher and closer to the pitch than the original stadium and with better uninterrupted views

 

 

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£3.8bn To Be Spent On Road Improvements

Highways England chiefs are meeting contractors and suppliers to detail a wave of new projects worth over £3.8bn in the Midlands and East of England over the next five years

Roadworks Sign

The event held yesterday and today form part of an ongoing regional roadshow to drive home Highways England’s national plan for 112 major road improvements, including 15 smart motorway projects in its first five years of operation.

Roads minister Andrew Jones said the Government spending plan was to triple levels of spending on England’s roads by the end of the decade.

“As part of our long-term economic plan, we are making the biggest investment in roads in a generation.”

He underlined the Government’s commitment to spend £3.8bn in both regions, ahead of the Chancellor’s spending review on 25 November, which many industry watchers fear could take a slice out of planned transport investment.

Midlands (£1.8bn): schemes to start by 2021

• Improvements planned for M42 junction 6
• New smart motorway around the M42/M40 interchange
• Development of a new link road connecting M54, M6 and the M6 Toll
• New, bigger M6 Junction 10
• Plans to replace roundabouts at A50 Uttoxeter
• Widening of the A500 at Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent
• New smart motorway between M6 junctions 13 and 15
• Improvements planned for A46 junctions
• A new smart motorway between junction 2 and 4 of the M6
• Improvement for the A38 Derby junctions
• Widening of the A5 Dodwells to Longshoot
• A new smart motorway between junction 23a and 25 of the M1

Across the West Midlands, Highways England will also spend around £600m on maintenance, including £160m to resurface more than 900 miles of carriageway; £225m for repairing and renewing structures like bridges and viaducts; and £60m to improve vehicle barriers.

East of England (£2bn): schemes to start by 2019/20

• A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon major improvements in Cambridgeshire
• Upgrading six sections of the A47/A12 corridor in Norfolk across a 115 mile section of the A47 between Peterborough and Great Yarmouth.
• Increasing capacity on the A1(M) providing an additional 14 lane miles to relieve congestion in Hertfordshire, including Stevenage and Welwyn Garden City
• Upgrading technology at junctions on the M11 across Essex and Cambridgeshire, from Stansted Airport to Cambridge
• Providing technology along the A12 in Essex and Suffolk from the M25 to Ipswich and widening the stretch between Chelmsford and the A120 to 3 lanes
• Providing a new 13 mile stretch of dual carriageway on the A428 between western Cambridgeshire and the north east of Bedfordshire
• Building 17 new cycle paths including along parts of the A12, A47, A120 and A5.

This story is by constructionenquirer.com

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Clugston Awarded Service And Logistics Facility

Siemens has awarded Clugston the contract to build a 12,300 sq m service and logistics facility at Hull’s Alexandra Dock which will support a wind turbine blade factory already under construction at the site

Siemens wind turbine plant

The building will house facilities for the service and maintenance of wind turbines as well as the storage of parts and equipment required in pre-assembly and operational phases.

It will also be the logistics hub for Siemens’ UK onshore and offshore service business.

The Enquirer understands the deal is worth around £11m and construction will begin in November and is due to be completed in early autumn 2016.

Shaun Cray, Siemens’ General Manager, Real Estate and Construction, for the Hull project, said: “Clugston supplied the most competitive bid, in terms of programme and price, as well as proposing an innovative engineering solution to deliver enhanced value to Siemens, in order to secure this contract against significant competition from other high-quality regional and national construction companies.

“We are very pleased to be able to award a major contract to a company with a long history in the Humber region and, once again, deliver on our commitment to support local procurement wherever possible.”

Construction information specialist Glenigan said other bidders included Graham, Henry Boot, Lindum, VINCI and Hobson & Porter.

Steve Radcliffe, Managing Director of Clugston Construction, said: “As a local business whose involvement in the Humber area stretches back almost 80 years, we are excited to be playing a part in building this facility which will play such an important role in the growth of the offshore wind industry and establishing the region as the centre of renewable energy in the UK.

“In delivering this scheme we will draw upon our local construction skills and supply chain which will create further economic benefits for the region.

“As members of UK Build, the trade body formed to represent main contractors and specialist subcontractors, we support the drive to promote the economic advantages of using local construction skills and resources.

“This is based on evidence that every £1 spent on construction output generates £2.84 of total economic activity, with much of that retained locally due to the structure of the construction industry.

“To achieve this, we will draw on existing relationships, established over many years, with regional suppliers and host a ‘meet the buyer’ event to create additional local opportunities.”

VolkerFitzpatrick is currently building the main Hull blade factory and VolkerFitzpatrick has awarded a major subcontract for electrical and mechanical services to Hull-based Neville Tucker Heating Limited.

This story is by constructionenquirer.com

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Labour Plan To Build A Stagering 100,000 New Homes A Year

Labour party set out its plans for housing and infrastructure

Labour-Party-Logo

 

 

 

 

At its annual conference in Brighton, the Labour party has added detail to its plans to reinvigorate social house building, take more state control of infrastructure projects and offer employees additional rights.

Newly-appointed shadow housing minister John Healey launched a paper outlining Labour’s alternative proposals for increasing output in this Parliament, 2015-20. It believes that output from the social sector – although including units for sale – can be scaled up to reach up to 100,000 extra units a year by 2020.

The report proposes five measures:

  • Giving councils the freedom to borrow against their assets, creating up to 60,000 additional homes over five years.
  • Tightening the obligations of commercial developers to fund more new social homes through the planning system, restoring the number of homes delivered through this method to enable 16,000 new homes a year.
  • Reform of Right to Buy to actually deliver one-for-one replacements, bringing in 6,000 additional replacement homes per year compared to the status quo.
  • Using the power of the government balance sheet to bring down the cost of finance for housing associations by extending the guarantee scheme, creating an additional 2,000 homes per year.
  • Funding a significant HCA grant programme to allow councils and housing associations to build at scale, and lever in private finance. Calculating the grant needed at £60,000 per unit, the same level offered in 2008-11, would enable an average of 30,000 additional units per year.

Healey’s report also proposes looking at ideas from France, “where the introduction of popular tax-free savings accounts now provides the source for a good deal of the country’s social housing finance”, and Denmark, “where there is a national mechanism for pooling and recycling housing association surpluses”.

The speech by John McDonnell, the new shadow chancellor, was billed as a “rejection of austerity politics”. He set out a plan to transform the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, creating “a powerful economic development department, in charge of public investment, infrastructure planning and setting new standards at work for all employees”.

This would also involve creating “an effectively resourced and empowered national investment bank”.

McDonnell announced that Sir Bob Kerslake, formerly head of the civil service in 2012-14 under the coalition, chairman of the Peabody Trust and also a former chief executive of the Homes and Communities Agency, has been appointed to conduct a review of the Treasury as part of a wider look at the role of the state in economic life.

Meanwhile, Angela Eagle, shadow first secretary of state and shadow secretary of state for business, innovation and skills, described a “race to the top” driven by more R&D investment and innovation, and supported by government-backed industrial strategies.

She referred to a “skills emergency” in construction, manufacturing, science, engineering and technology.

The conference also passed a motion calling for a “new deal” for workers that would include a new Ministry of Labour, extending employment rights to the first day of employment, and a “genuine” Living Wage.

Brian Rye, acting general secretary of UCATT, who seconded the motion, said: “For the majority of private sector construction workers, employment tends to be nasty, brutish and short. Most workers do not have a permanent employer. Most large construction companies barely employ a single construction worker.”

This story is from construction-manager.co.uk

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VolkerStevin Bags Super Sewer Enabling Works

VolkerStevin has been appointed by Thames Water to carry out enabling works in advance construction of the massive Thames Tideway Tunnel 

Thames Super Sewer

The £23m project will involve preparing the way for numerous marine construction projects along the Thames.

It follows the appointment of J Murphy and Sons earlier this year to undertake utility protection and diversion works for the project.

Rob Coupe, managing director at VolkerStevin, said: “This is an exciting project and one we are proud to be a part of.

“After a successful early contractor phase, we are delighted to continue working on this important scheme, which will benefit Londoner’s for years to come.”

The work is all part of the larger Thames Tideway Tunnel project  which will help the capital cope with growing demands on its sewerage system and improve the water quality of the river using combined sewer overflow interceptor structures.

Mark Sneesby, chief operating officer for Tideway, said: “VolkerStevin will deliver this important preparatory work in advance of the main tunnelling project next year.

“It’s great to see work actually beginning on what will be an exciting construction project.”

This article is from constructionenquirer.co.uk

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