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Wates Group has appointed Kevin Grace as commercial director for Wates Construction London, following April’s confirmation of George Mosey as managing director, as part of a reset of its London construction business. Grace joins from Mace Construct, where he was commercial lead on the £1.1bn British Library extension, bringing UK and Australian major-projects experience in commercial management. He will take up the role in October, leading commercial strategy on large-scale, high-value public and private sector schemes across the capital.

Woodalls has expanded its European delivery team, appointing former Unispace leaders Melisa Armocida as project director in France (Paris-based) and Marielena Sardi as project manager in Spain (Madrid-based) to oversee complex workplace, luxury retail and high-end commercial fit-out programmes. Armocida brings more than 15 years’ experience from Unispace, WeWork and JLL delivering multi-country corporate interiors across Europe, the Middle East and Latin America, while Sardi adds eight years’ experience managing Southern Europe workplace projects for multinational clients. The move targets rising demand from US enterprise occupiers seeking consistent pan-European project execution with strong local market knowledge in France and Spain.

Henry Brothers has opened its sixth UK office in Edinburgh, giving the contractor a permanent east coast base to complement its existing Glasgow operation. The firm has been active in Scotland since 1997, recently delivering education projects at Frogston and Aberlady primary schools and defence works at HMNB Clyde, RNAD Coulport, RAF Lossiemouth and the Army Reserve Centre in Dunfermline. Regional director for Scotland Nick McKeown says the capital base will support further UK expansion as the company approaches its 50th anniversary.

Keon Homes has started construction on 32 new council homes in Wolverhampton’s Heath Town district, marking the second phase of the local authority’s housing programme. The scheme is supported by upgrades to the district heat network, signalling a move towards more centralised, low-carbon heat supply for the estate. For civil and building engineers, the key issues will be integrating new dwellings with existing estate infrastructure and coordinating utility corridors and plant space for the expanded heat network.

Skills shortages across civil engineering and construction are increasing workplace risk, RoSPA warns in a new report, as experienced supervisors, temporary works coordinators and plant operators are stretched thinner on complex sites. The charity links gaps in competence to poorer control of high‑risk activities such as lifting operations with mobile cranes, work at height on scaffolds and excavations near live services. RoSPA urges contractors and clients to prioritise formal competence assessment, targeted refresher training and tighter supervision ratios rather than relying on inexperienced agency labour to fill vacancies.

Campaigners have launched a petition against National Highways’ plan to infill a 125-year-old masonry railway bridge in Hertfordshire, attracting around 700 signatures in its first week and branding the works “vandalism”. The structure, part of the Historical Railways Estate, is reportedly earmarked for concrete or granular infill to remove the need for ongoing structural inspections and strengthening. Opponents argue that infilling will preclude future active travel or light rail reuse and want a repair-and-monitor regime instead of permanent burial of the arch barrel and abutments.

EDF has approved a two-year life extension for its Hartlepool and Heysham 1 advanced gas-cooled reactor stations, keeping both 1970s-vintage plants in operation until 2030 instead of closing in 2028. The decision secures several gigawatts of baseload capacity on the UK grid, deferring decommissioning and major dismantling works on the reactor pressure vessels, graphite cores and reinforced concrete biological shields. Civil and structural teams will need to manage ageing mechanisms in pre-stressed concrete, containment structures and cooling water systems under extended inspection and maintenance regimes.

Specialised Roading Equipment is rolling out redesigned bitumen sprayers with remote-controlled spray bars, enclosed operator platforms and automated calibration to cut exposure to hot binders and live traffic. The New Zealand-based manufacturer is also running on-site training on safe spraying windows, nozzle selection and pressure–temperature control to reduce overspray and fume risk on high-speed corridors. For road contractors, the shift towards automation and operator separation has direct implications for traffic management layouts, plant selection and compliance with evolving spray seal safety standards.

Footballers and netballers across Victoria will wear blue arm bands this weekend as part of the Transport Accident Commission’s Road Safety Round, promoting safer driving behaviour and commemorating road fatalities across the state. Campaign ambassador and Hawthorn AFL forward Nick “the Wizard” Watson launched the initiative with AFL Victoria and TAC representatives, targeting community clubs that are heavily reliant on regional and peri-urban road networks. For transport and civil planners, the campaign keeps political and funding attention on high-risk local roads rather than only major arterials.

Immersion of the first of 89 tunnel elements for the Fehmarnbelt fixed link between Denmark and Germany was completed in May after a multi‑day marine operation, marking a key milestone for the 18km immersed tunnel. Project director Guy Taylor details how factory-style offsite production of standardised concrete elements and tightly sequenced immersion campaigns are being used to control programme and cost on what will be the world’s longest immersed road and rail tunnel.

Coastal and maritime engineering in the Middle East is shifting from headline megaprojects such as artificial islands and deepwater container terminals towards managing large portfolios of existing breakwaters, quay walls and navigation channels. Engineers are focusing on asset life extension under aggressive saline and thermal conditions, using tools such as long-term bathymetric monitoring, probabilistic wave and overtopping analysis, and upgraded armour units or corrosion-resistant reinforcement. The region’s experience with extreme design sea levels and rapid land reclamation is feeding back into guidance on whole-life performance, inspection regimes and retrofit strategies for more mature coastal markets.

Graham has completed a new bridge over the A10 in Cambridgeshire, providing a direct link between the Waterbeach New Town development and Cambridge city centre and removing a key severance point on the strategic route. The structure spans the dual carriageway to carry active travel and local traffic between the new settlement and existing urban area, reducing reliance on A10 junctions already operating near capacity. For designers and contractors, the scheme signals further A10 corridor upgrades tied to large-scale housing growth and associated junction, drainage and earthworks packages.

Bowmer + Kirkland has reached a key construction milestone at its Derbyshire headquarters, with chairman Jack Kirkland laying the final brick on one of the new office buildings in the multi-phase redevelopment. The scheme replaces legacy accommodation with modern office space designed to current UK building and energy standards, signalling a long-term commitment to the site as an operational hub. For contractors and consultants, the project suggests upcoming fit-out, services integration and external works packages as the campus build-out progresses.

Yorkshire Water has set up an £80M multi-supplier framework for technical consultancy and design to support its AMP8 capital programme from 2025 to 2030, covering treatment works, trunk mains, sewers and resilience upgrades. The framework will be used to develop optioneering, outline and detailed designs for both above- and below-ground assets, including geotechnical assessments for new pipelines and structures, hydraulic modelling, and civil/MEICA integration. Consultants will be appointed on a call-off basis, giving early design input on schemes before construction procurement.

Galliford Try has secured a £47.5M contract from Thames Water to deliver the Camberley Sewage Treatment Works Flow Compliance project, upgrading a works previously criticised as a “cess-pit”. The scheme will focus on improving hydraulic capacity, process performance and resilience to meet tighter environmental permits and storm-flow compliance obligations. Civil and MEICA scope is expected to include new or uprated inlet works, flow control structures and treatment units, with construction staged to maintain full treatment during the upgrade.

Peak journey times through the Silvertown and Blackwall tunnels have fallen by up to 58% in the first year since the 1.4km twin-bore Silvertown Tunnel opened in April 2025, according to TfL’s Silvertown & Blackwall Tunnels Monitoring Report. The new under-river crossing, carrying two lanes of traffic each way beneath the Thames between Silvertown and Greenwich Peninsula, has redistributed flows previously constrained at Blackwall. TfL reports more reliable peak travel times and reduced queuing on key approach corridors, with ongoing monitoring of traffic volumes, air quality and user charging impacts.

The London Borough of Ealing has awarded Preston-based consultants XAIS-PTS a £33M contract for road condition monitoring services under Lot 2 of its Highways and Transport Services Framework. The framework will cover systematic pavement condition surveys and asset data collection across the borough’s highway network, informing prioritisation of resurfacing, patching and structural maintenance. For geotechnical and pavement engineers, the deal signals sustained demand for high-resolution condition data to optimise lifecycle planning and justify capital works on urban carriageways and footways.

Barhale has completed Anglian Water’s first dedicated treatment plant to strip the toxic insecticide Cypermethrin from raw water before it enters the supply network, targeting a contaminant that is highly toxic to aquatic life at very low concentrations. The scheme introduces a bespoke process stream specifically configured for Cypermethrin removal, rather than relying on conventional granular activated carbon or standard pesticide treatment lines. For water engineers, the project signals a move towards contaminant-specific process trains as more persistent synthetic pesticides appear in catchments.

ProTX has launched the Arresta 100, claimed as the world’s first vehicle arrestor purpose-built for temporary static works, targeting the “missing middle” between cones/signs and full concrete barriers on short-duration sites. Designed for rapid deployment and removal around low-speed lane closures and shoulder works, the modular system is intended to physically stop errant vehicles rather than merely deflect them, addressing around 800 annual roadwork site crashes in Australia, including 18 fatalities and 245 serious injuries.

Procurement has begun for the main construction contract on Queensland’s Tiaro Bypass, an 8.5‑kilometre, four‑lane highway realignment east of Tiaro on the Bruce Highway north of Brisbane. The project will create a new divided carriageway section, removing through‑traffic from the existing town main street and improving continuity on this nationally significant freight and cyclone evacuation route. Geotechnical and civil design will need to address greenfield earthworks, floodplain behaviour and tie‑ins to existing Bruce Highway geometry and pavement structures.

A second tranche of 24 projects has secured funding under Western Australia’s Regional Road Safety Program after its scope was expanded to include local government roads. Works will target run-off and head-on crash risks through measures such as shoulder sealing, audio-tactile line marking and roadside hazard removal on regional routes managed by councils. For designers and asset managers, the funding signals continued priority for low-cost, network-wide safety treatments over isolated major upgrades, with implications for pavement widening, drainage adjustments and clear zone management.

The Games Independent Infrastructure and Coordination Authority has awarded BMD the early works contract for the new Brisbane Stadium, a key package ahead of the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Scope includes bulk earthworks, erosion and sediment controls, and semi-permanent site infrastructure, setting geotechnical parameters and drainage behaviour before main construction. Contractors will need to manage sediment basins, staged cut-and-fill and temporary stormwater controls carefully, as these early levels and ground treatments will lock in foundation options and future stadium access geometry.

SurveyX (UK), a Yorkshire-based start up led by project manager Joe Walshaw with over 30 years’ survey and ground engineering experience, is launching a suite of underground investigation services for tunnels, utilities and drainage networks. The firm will combine topographical surveys, ground penetrating radar, utility tracing, CCTV inspections and 3D building scanning to capture precise spatial data, structural details and defect locations for repair or future use. SurveyX has already secured contracts in Kent and is targeting UK-wide coverage within two years, leveraging AI- and internet-enabled workflows to accelerate ground exploration and design planning.

Finning has completed a certified rebuild of a 2011 Cat D6T dozer for waste operator Enovert, stripping the 9,511‑hour machine to chassis and renewing the powertrain and hydraulics at its Cannock rebuild, repair and response centre. The work combined new and remanufactured components, including engine, transmission, torque converter, final drives, hydraulic pumps and motors, cylinders, hoses, main control valve, hydraulic tank, undercarriage, cab and wiring harness, plus full repaint. The dozer returns to landfill duty with a five‑year/8,000‑hour powertrain and hydraulics warranty, extending asset life at lower capex than a new unit.