RSK has acquired Octavius Infrastructure from Sullivan Street Partners, moving the formerly consultancy-focused group into tier one main contracting across UK rail and highways, with Octavius’ 700 staff retained under chief executive John Dowsett. Octavius reported £322.9m turnover and £8.6m pre-tax profit to 31 March 2025, while RSK turned over £2.24bn but remained loss-making after 11 acquisitions in the year. Current Octavius schemes include Ryde Pier and Waterloo Station roof refurbishments, new stations at Okehampton and Charfield, and the A46 Walsgrave and A140 Long Stratton Bypass upgrades.

Cooling design for hyperscale data centres is becoming a critical constraint as AI workloads drive power densities well beyond traditional 5–10kW per rack, forcing operators to consider liquid cooling, rear-door heat exchangers and direct-to-chip systems. Engineers must balance evaporative and adiabatic cooling against tightening water-stress and abstraction limits, particularly in regions already facing summer drought restrictions. Site selection, pipework routing, thermal storage and integration with district heating networks are emerging as key civil and MEP interfaces, with planning authorities increasingly scrutinising water-use intensity alongside PUE.

Work has restarted on two nearly complete residential blocks at Southwark’s St Saviours Estate in Bermondsey after ARJ Construction, which had finished about 90% of the works, went into administration in April 2024. Newly appointed contractor Bloom Construction, founded in 2023, is now tasked with delivering 40 council homes at the Fendall and Maltby site by spring 2026. The remaining scope covers final fit-out, M&E commissioning, contaminated soil removal, external works and landscaping, lift installation, play equipment and full building control compliance.