The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero is assessing options for a new floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) and a strategic geological gas storage facility to bolster UK gas resilience. An FSRU would provide ship-based LNG storage and regasification at an import terminal, while geological storage would likely use depleted gas fields or salt caverns for high-volume, seasonal buffering. The work signals potential demand for large-diameter offshore pipelines, high-pressure injection wells and long-term integrity management of underground gas containment.

New research on Australian expansive clays warns that more frequent intense rainfall and drought cycles are accelerating differential movement and cracking in lightweight buildings, pavements and transport corridors founded on shrink–swell soils. The work points to heave and settlement driven by deep moisture fluctuations, with particular concern for lightly loaded slabs, shallow footings and low-volume roads where historical climate data underestimates design suction changes. Engineers are urged to revisit site classification, footing depth, drainage and moisture barriers, and to integrate updated climate projections into geotechnical design for new and existing assets.

Ground conditions at Sizewell C have forced the Civil Works Alliance to depart from the Hinkley Point C reference design for the offshore intake and outfall tunnels, driving new solutions for lining, support and construction sequencing. Contractors have had to re-optimise tunnel geometry and TBM drive strategy for the North Sea sediments and local stratigraphy, rather than the harder rock and different stress regime at Hinkley. The changes affect segment design, joint detailing and groundwater control, with direct implications for durability, settlement behaviour and marine interface works.