Construction and Infrastructure

Robert Tarazi, managing director of Qatar’s leading ready-mix concrete company Beton WLL, talks to Gay Sutton about preparing the company for significant growth.

UK infrastructure developer Aeternum has revealed plans to develop an energy park near Blackburn in Lancashire, as well as new residential housing.

The company has acquired the 118-acre site of the former Sappi Paper Mill in Feniscowles to the south-west of Blackburn, which it will develop alongside sites at Castleford and Bromborough for mixed use (using the existing attributes of its power station, reservoirs and brownfield land where the mills were situated), together with new homes within the borough.

The first phase of the controversial HS2 rail line is expected to get the go-ahead from the UK government today.

Transport secretary Justine Greening is expected to back the high-speed 100-mile rail link from London to Birmingham, which will be completed by 2026.

The first London-Birmingham phase will cost £17 billion, while the total cost incorporating the second phase—a further section of the line extending to Manchester and Leeds—is expected to reach £32 billion. This northern extension would be completed by around 2032/33.

Sulaiman Al-Rumaih, vice president of the Energy and Industrial division of the Tamimi Group, talks about the dynamic expansion of the business within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and beyond. Jayne Alverca reports.

Steel making facilities in Singapore are among the most modern and ecologically sound to be found anywhere, as Alan Swaby learns.

There’s no doubt that Singapore punches well above its weight. Barely 40 kilometres at its widest, the island is so developed that buildings can only go skywards. And despite decades of development, work continues at a rapid rate, with the construction industry consuming over 1.25 million tons of reinforcing steelwork each year.

ECG Engineering Consultants Group S.A. is a group of highly qualified consultants whose expertise in large and complex projects covers all major disciplines of design and construction management/supervision and lies behind some truly outstanding building throughout the Middle East and beyond.

A Balfour Beatty joint venture has been awarded a £414 million contract by Bord Gais Networks in the Republic of Ireland.

The infrastructure group, along with CLG Developments Ltd, was awarded the nine-year contract for the installation and maintenance of vital gas transmission and distribution networks across Ireland, including the delivery of new construction, emergency response and planned maintenance services.

Work will begin early in the New Year, Balfour Beatty said.

AHEB Investment Group and Quicksilver Project Management have formed a joint venture to create the largest biomass-to-energy installation in the world as part of a new UK eco-park.

The Centre of Excellence Eco-Park, based on a sustainable ecological design, will be spread across 300 acres of land and boast a large waste-to-energy facility in addition to the world's largest aquaponics installation.

Vulcan Materials Company, the largest producer of construction aggregates in the US, has confirmed that Raleigh, North Carolina-based Martin Marietta Materials has made an unsolicited offer for the company.

Birmingham, Alabama-based Vulcan said it would “carefully review the proposal and determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interests of the company and its shareholders”.