Eighty-three per cent of Britain’s cities – 59 urban areas – are classed as highly vulnerable to urban heat in new spatial analysis by Ordnance Survey, the Met Office and 4 Earth Intelligence. The dataset combines OS building footprints, surface cover and green space with Met Office temperature projections to map local heat exposure at street-block scale. For civil and geotechnical engineers, this points to urgent retrofit of shading, permeable and high-albedo surfaces, and revised pavement and rail design to cope with more frequent extreme surface temperatures.

Galliford Try’s environment business has secured a £110M contract from Severn Trent Water to deliver the River Mease improvement project, targeting water quality upgrades on the protected River Mease catchment in the Midlands. Works are expected to centre on wastewater treatment enhancements, sewer network upgrades and nature-based solutions to cut nutrient loading into this Special Area of Conservation. The scale of the programme signals significant opportunities for geotechnical input on riverbank stabilisation, outfall structures and construction in sensitive, high-groundwater environments.

Decommissioning of Scotland’s first commercial wind farm, operated by ScottishPower, is being used as a UK-first testbed to align turbine end-of-life with material reuse and circular economy principles. Analysis of the dismantling process tracks recovery pathways for steel towers, concrete foundations and composite blades, examining options such as onshore recycling, repowering and secondary construction uses. Outcomes will inform future decommissioning strategies for UK wind assets, with direct implications for design-for-disassembly, waste permitting and contractual requirements on recyclability.