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Auckland Transport has broken ground on the $2.5bn City Rail Link (CRL) project in New Zealand. The project includes the construction of 3.4km twin tunnels up to 42m below the city streets, using a 7.5m diameter tunnel boring machine.The rail link will also involve two new underground stations at Aotea and Karangahape Road and a re-developed Mount Eden Station.Auckland Transport chairman Dr Lester Levy said: “It will change the look and feel of Auckland setting the city up for future growth. Making public transport a better travel choice will ease pressure on roads for those who need to use them.”Work on the project is expected to last for five and a half years. Upon completion, the project would almost double the number of people on the trains to 30,000 an hour at peak times.
Developer Moda Living and Apache Capital Partners have submitted plans to the Liverpool City Council for the £80M residential development in Princes Dock.To be located on Liverpool’s waterfront, the 34-storey tower is part of Peel Group’s £5.5bn Liverpool Waters project.Apache Capital is fully financing the project, which will include 304 apartments for rent, a lounge, a gym, a roof, a terrace, a garden and a cinema.Moda Living’s joint managing director Tony Brooks said: “We have worked in collaboration with Peel on their masterplan for this unique part of the city and are very excited about our first Moda Living development in Liverpool.”Peel Group development director Lindsey Ashworth said: “Our vision for developing this important waterfront and creating unique neighbourhoods in this historical part of the city will make it an incredibly vibrant and exciting place to live and provide quality accommodation for a growing city.”
Finland-based construction firm SRV Group has secured a €290M contract for the construction of Central Finland Central Hospital.The new 100,000sq m hospital, worth about €490M, will be built near the existing central hospital. Most of the hospital premises will be taken up by specialised care, while some will be reserved for the City of Jyväskylä's basic health care.The hospital's expenses will be divided among the 21 municipalities that make up the Council of Central Finland Health Care District. SRV’s head of operations in Finland Juha Toimela said: "Central Finland Central Hospital will significantly increase our already record-high order backlog. "The final target price of the project management contractor agreement was confirmed at a meeting of the Administrative Council of the Central Finland Health Care District. This is a great example on how SRV could found reduction on costs in co-operation with the client in order to meet the target price set.”Preparatory works will start in early August and actual construction is set to commence in the beginning of September 2016.
Swedish energy firm Vattenfall is set to commence construction on the €1bn offshore wind farm Horns Rev 3 off the west coast of Denmark.In February 2015, Vattenfall won the bid to build the wind farm, which will generate enough electricity to power 400,000 Danish homes. Vattenfall’s president and CEO Magnus Hall said: "Horns Rev 3 is an important part of Vattenfall’s ambitions in the field of wind and particularly on our focus on offshore wind farms."Horns Rev 3 also gives a clear signal to the world around us that Vattenfall’s strategy is to make new investments in renewable electricity generation and to grow in wind. "Vattenfall supports the transition to a totally renewable energy system and takes up the challenge, in spite of current low electricity prices and excess capacity."The wind farm will be commissioned in 2018.
Construction work has commenced on a $170M office tower on Brisbane’s city fringe in Queensland, Australia.The new office development, known as ‘Fortitude Valley’, is being delivered by Consolidated Properties Group (CPG) and Charter Hall Group.Upon completion, the 19,000sq m, 14-level office tower will become the new headquarters of the Australian rail freight company Aurizon and its 1,700 employees.CPG secured a 110-year lease for the site, from the Anglican Church, in a deal that secures the long term future of the existing Church building, on the site at 900 Ann St.Queensland’s deputy premier Jackie Trad said: “This is a landmark project for Fortitude Valley, bringing 1,300 jobs during the construction phase and 1,700 Aurizon workers to the area once construction is complete.”The tower is expected to be complete in 2018.
The secretary of state has approved Jaguar Land Rover's (JLR) plans to develop a research and development centre at Whitley South, UK.
Sigma capital group has entered into a partnership with Keepmoat Limited to deliver 5,000 new private rented sector (PRS) homes across England by 2021.The partnership will build two-, three- and four-bedroom properties in locations across North East, Yorkshire and the East Midlands, entailing a potential investment of about £800M.Sigma will manage investment and lettings, while Keepmoat will procure the land and take the lead on the design, planning and building processes.Graham Barnet, chief executive of Sigma, said: “I am delighted to announce our partnership with Keepmoat, which has grown out of our previous relationship with them, and our continued expansion in the PRS sector. “We are very pleased that Keepmoat has chosen to work with Sigma in its first development activity in the PRS market, and believe that it underscores Sigma’s success in the PRS sector.”Keepmoat’s chief executive Dave Sheridan said: “This is a significant milestone for our business, and we are proud to be working alongside Sigma to scale-up their PRS growth ambitions.“The partnership will deliver great quality market rented homes alongside our Keepmoat homes for sale, which will allow the pace of housing delivery on strategic sites to be increased, to deliver the Government’s aspirations and provide people across the country with much-needed housing options. There is an inherent need for more housing across the country, and we are looking to tackle the issue head on.”
Lendlease Group has been selected as the preferred contractor to design and build the $985M Northern Connector road project in Adelaide, South Australia.The project will include the construction of a new motorway with three lanes in each direction. The 15.5km road is set to link the Northern Expressway with the South Road Superway and the Port River Expressway.It will also involve four interchanges and a 16km path for cyclists and pedestrians. Transport and Infrastructure Minister Stephen Mullighan said: “The Northern Connector will provide enormous productivity benefits for freight travelling between Adelaide and the northern, western and eastern parts of South Australia, as well as to and from other states.“The six-lane motorway is expected to significantly improve freight access to Port Adelaide and the industrial areas of Adelaide’s north and north-west, bypassing six sets of traffic lights.“It will also deliver enormous benefits for the 52,000 vehicles a day expected to use it when completed.”Major works are anticipated to commence in the third quarter of 2016 and the project is scheduled to be complete in December 2019. The project will create about 480 jobs a year during construction.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has started construction on a new air traffic control tower and radar approach control at Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) in North Carolina.The new 370ft-tall air traffic control tower will be equipped with NextGen technology and will provide air traffic controllers with a bird’s-eye view of the airfield, and will accommodate current operations and future growth.The 80sq m tower cab has enough space to accommodate additional future air traffic control positions. The 3,900sq m base building will accommodate an expanded terminal radar approach control (TRACON), with space for future growth.It will also include training rooms, administrative offices, and a power distribution supply system along with the latest aviation security and air traffic simulation capabilities.In January 2016, the FAA awarded a $60M contract to Archer Western Construction to build the new facility. The total project cost, including equipment, installation, training costs, and demolition of the old tower, is estimated at $112M.Construction on the tower and TRACON base building is expected to be complete in 2018, and the facility is scheduled to be operational in 2020.
Sener and Acciona have begun the turnkey construction of the €500M Kathu Solar Park Complex in South Africa.Located in the town of Kathu, in South Africa’s Northern Cape Province, the 100MW plant will be able to generate enough electricity to supply 80,000 homes.Both firms will carry out the engineering, construction management and commissioning of the plant until its turnkey delivery. The project, part of the 2010 Integrated Resource Program (IRP) National Electricity Plan, will provide an increase in the country's generation capacity until it reaches 86.8GW in 2030.The project, which uses Sener’s ‘SENERtrough’ technology and a molten salt storage system, is scheduled to commence operations in 2018. It represents the second solar thermal project in South Africa on which both companies are working together, the first being the recently-opened 50MW Bokpoort plant.
The University of Manchester has secured planning consent from Manchester City Council to develop a £350M engineering campus.The Manchester Engineering Campus Development (MECD), part of the university’s £1bn masterplan to create a world-leading campus, will bring together a multi-disciplinary engineering and scientific community and consolidate the university’s student campus around Oxford Road.Mecanoo, an architecture firm responsible for Manchester’s HOME, has been appointed to the project. Upon completion, the development is due to become home to the university’s four engineering schools and two research institutes from the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences. Demolition on the site is currently in progress, and main construction works are scheduled to commence later in 2016. The development is scheduled to be completed in 2020.
Cheshire West and Chester Council has submitted a planning application to develop the Northgate area of Chester city centre as a mixed-use development.The £300M proposed project will include the construction of 46,500sq m of new retail, restaurant and leisure facilities in the UK city that will be delivered over two phases of construction.Phase one, expected to start in late 2017, will include the development of two restaurants within the shell of the current library building, a new market hall replacing the current Chester Market, a six-screen cinema, a new 167-bedroom four-star hotel and a conference centre. The hotel would replace the Crowne Plaza Hotel, which together with the Forum and several other buildings on the site would be knocked down in 2019. Work would then commence on the second phase of construction to create the main retail space, department store and residential development.David Lewis, managing director of Rivington Land, the council’s appointed development manager, said: “We are at a point where we have sufficient confidence in the commercial market prospects of the Northgate Scheme to advise the council to make this application for a major redevelopment of the city centre.“We have worked hard with the council and consultees to fine tune the detailed design of Chester Northgate to ensure the best possible fit with the city’s needs and the demands of retailers and other commercial interests.”
A joint venture between Murphy and Hochtief has been chosen as preferred contractor by Sirius Minerals to build the tunnel for the £2.4bn potash mine in North Yorkshire.The 37km underground tunnel, to be designed and built by the JV, will transport minerals from the mine to a processing plant on Teesside.This will involve a 6m-diameter TBM-bored tunnel between the mine head site at Dove’s Nest Farm near Whitby, and a portal near the town of Redcar.Designed by Arup, the plan is to use five hard rock TBMs, which will be lowered in at four intermediate staging shafts, at a starting depth of 350m below the surface at the mine head.The 12-month first phase of work will comprise front-end engineering design and a detailed geotech programme along the route.Chris Fraser, Sirius Minerals managing director and CEO, said: “This is the culmination of a huge amount of work by both the successful bidders and those that have been unsuccessful and we thank all of the groups involved for their efforts.“We are delighted to now be moving forward with our selected partners towards the implementation of the project.”AMC UK, a joint venture between Thyssen Group and Redpath Group, has been also selected as preferred contractor for mine site development.
The Government of Egypt and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development have signed a loan agreement of $98.6M for the construction of five desalination plants in Southern Sinai, Egypt.The project will aim to meet the demand for potable water in some towns in the South of Sinai, as well as in existing residential settlements, and other settlements due to be established, in the Sinai Peninsula.The five plants will process water from the Red Sea and other related works.One of the plants, to be located in the town of El Tor, will have a daily capacity of 20,000cb m, while the other four plants, to be located in Ras Sidr, Abu Zenima, Dahab and Nuwaiba, will each have a capacity of 10,000cb m per day.The development includes the supply of electricity to the plants and the installation of pipelines with a total length of about 42km and diameters ranging between 500–800mm for transmission of the desalinated water to storage tanks, and pipelines with a total length of about 183km and diameters ranging between 200–500mm for transmission of water from the tanks to the nearby settlements.Additionally, it will also involve the construction of eight pumping stations and the necessary networks for distribution of water inside the settlements. The project is expected to be complete by the end of 2019.
Brookfield Multiplex has won a $290M contract from joint venture partners Frasers Property Australia and Sekisui House Australia to construct the fifth stage of the $2bn master-planned Central Park precinct.This stage, known as DUO, is a mixed residential, commercial and hotel development on the corner of Broadway and Abercrombie Streets in Chippendale. It will feature two 18-storey towers sitting on a combined five-level basement car park.Designed by Foster + Partners, the project’s residential element will include 313 apartments, of which most of the units will be located within the eastern tower.Residents will have access to an indoor pool, jacuzzi, cardio room, yoga and recreation room, rooftop terrace and BBQ and a lounge and dining room.The neighbouring western tower will feature a 297-room hotel, 5,500 sq m of commercial space, a large childcare centre and hotel.The project will create about 800 jobs during peak construction and is scheduled to be completed in April 2018.
Saudi Aramco has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with GE and Cividale SpA of Italy to build the SAR1.5bn ($400M) forging and casting manufacturing facility in Saudi Arabia.The facility will be located in Ras Al-Khair under the Royal Commission of Jubail and Yanbu industrial area.It will complement Saudi Aramco’s plans to develop several industrial projects in the country including a maritime project focused on building, maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) of offshore platforms, jack-ups, offshore service vessels and commercial tankers.The facility is scheduled to be operational in 2020 and create 2,000 jobs in the region. Cividale is a producer in the steel and cast iron industry.Saudi Aramco’s senior vice president of finance, strategy and development Abdallah Al-Saadan said: “The MoU reflects our ambition to create a robust supply chain that builds positive synergies in the oil and gas manufacturing sector.“This builds on our deep commitment to support the goals of Saudi Vision 2030 to promote economic and industrial diversification in the Kingdom and boost localized manufacturing.”The plant is scheduled to be operational in 2020 and create 2,000 jobs in the region.
John Holland and partner Commercial & General have signed a contract to deliver the new $300M Calvary Adelaide Hospital in Australia.Upon completion, the 12-storey, 350-bed facility is due to become the largest private hospital ever built in South Australia, replacing the existing Calvary Wakefield Hospital.The project will be developed by John Holland and Commercial & General, and leased back to Calvary on a long term contract. Construction on the project is scheduled to begin shortly.John Holland’s CEO Glenn Palin said that the new facility will be 50% larger than the existing hospital, and enable Calvary to meet clinical demand.Palin added: “John Holland is perfectly placed to deliver this vital piece of infrastructure for the people of Adelaide. We have extensive experience in the construction of health facilities, and understand the complexities involved.“We have constructed various hospital facilities around Australia, including the Perth Children’s Hospital, Lismore Base Hospital and the Sunshine Coast University Private Hospital. We welcome the chance to continue our work in Adelaide.”Construction on the project is scheduled to begin shortly.
Three companies have started construction on the 224.25MW Nicolas-Riou wind project in Canada.EDF EN Canada, Énergie Éolienne Bas-St-Laurent (EEBSL), and Régie intermunicipale de l'énergie Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine (RIEGÎM) are working on the CAD500M ($381.4M) project, which is located in the RCM of Les Basques and Rimouski-Neigette.The project is anticipated to be operational at the end of 2017. It will create up to 400 jobs during the construction phase, and up to 10 permanent operation and maintenance jobs.EDF EN Canada’s vice president of development Cory Basil said: “EDF EN Canada welcomes the decree authorizing the construction and operation of the Nicolas-Riou Wind Project and offers our sincere thanks to the government of Québec for its permission to proceed with this important community project.“We are very excited to have formed a strong partnership between EDF EN, EEBSL and RIEGÎM. This project is the result of a partnership that pairs the experience and expertise of EDF EN Canada with the understanding of local expectations brought by our public partners.”65 V117-3.45 MW wind turbines to be used on the wind farm will be supplied by Danish manufacturer Vestas.
Skanska, as part of LaGuardia Gateway Partners consortium, has reached financial closure and signed a lease agreement with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) for LaGuardia Project in New York.With a lease term through 2050, the public private partnership (PPP) includes finance, design, construction, operation and maintenance of the LaGuardia Airport Central Terminal B.The design-build contract is valued at about SEK33bn ($4bn). Swedish company Skanska has a 70% stake in the contract, worth nearly $2.8bn.The deal also involves the construction work for supporting infrastructure and a new central entrance hall.Terminal B, opened in 1964, serves over 14m passengers per year. The new LaGuardia Central Terminal B, which will be constructed next to the existing terminal, has been designed to attain LEED Silver certification.Skanska’s CEO and president Johan Karlström said: “This is Skanska’s largest project ever. We are proud to invest in and lead construction of this project that will improve the quality of air travel for millions of people.“The LaGuardia Airport Central Terminal B project is a perfect example of how we, through Public Private Partnership, can expedite delivery of critical infrastructure, bringing together Skanska’s construction and investment capabilities. We have a strong position in the growing US market for PPP projects.”LaGuardia Gateway Partners includes Skanska Infrastructure Development, Vantage Airport Group and Meridiam as project sponsors and co-investors, with Vantage Airport Group managing operations.New facilities will start opening in 2018, with scheduled substantial completion in 2022.
Russian real estate development company LSR Group has begun construction on a new tram network in Krasnogvardeysky, St. Petersburg.The corresponding concession agreement was inked between the government of Saint Petersburg and Transportnaya Kontsessionnaya Kompaniya, a joint venture of LSR Group and Leader Investment Company. The overall project, including the upgrading of existing lines and the construction of a new tram network and its operation over the period of 30 years, is expected to cost RUB32.7bn ($488.6M).In particular, the construction and maintenance of the tram network will require an investment of RUB12.7bn ($189.7M).Construction work is expected to be complete in the fourth quarter of 2018.
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