Geomechanics.io

Clancy reported 2025/26 pre-tax profit of £31.7m, up from £28m, on revenues rising to £498m from £429.6m, supported by an order book now valued at £2.8bn. Management says the stronger balance sheet is funding new investment in delivery capability, including upgrading plant and fleet for utility and civils frameworks and expanding digital project controls. For geotechnical and civil contractors, the enlarged pipeline and capital spend signal continued demand for long-term infrastructure programmes rather than short-term, one-off schemes.

Equipment manufacturer Haulotte reported first-half equipment sales up 9% to €234 million, driven by demand for its mobile elevating work platforms and telehandlers. Total revenue rose 5% to €276 million, as rental income dropped from €12 million to €8 million and service revenue slipped from €37 million to €34 million. For contractors and plant hirers, the figures signal continued fleet investment in access equipment despite weaker rental and after-sales activity.

The £46.1M Leeds Station Sustainable Travel Gateway upgrade to the main entrance of Leeds City Station has been pushed back from its original September 2025 completion date, with only partial opening now “possible” in October 2026. The scheme, funded through the West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s transport investment programme, focuses on reconfiguring the station forecourt for buses, taxis and active travel, including widened pedestrian routes and segregated cycle access. Contractors and designers will need to manage prolonged interface risks with live rail operations and city-centre traffic management while phasing the delayed works.

The Office of Rail and Road has authorised opening of the £18.3M Balgray railway station in Barrhead, East Renfrewshire, allowing passenger services to start later this month on the Glasgow South Western route. The new stop is expected to relieve pressure on nearby Barrhead station and support housing growth around Balgray Reservoir, with platforms designed for modern ScotRail rolling stock and full step-free access. For civil and rail engineers, the approval confirms compliance with current ORR and Network Rail standards on platform geometry, accessibility and signalling integration.

More than 100 campaigners have protested against National Highways’ plan to infill a historic disused railway overbridge in Hertfordshire, a treatment typically involving mass concrete or foamed fill placed between abutments to avoid structural repairs. Opponents argue that infilling would permanently block the former rail corridor for future active travel or rail reuse and alter the masonry structure’s heritage character. For asset managers and bridge engineers, the dispute signals continuing scrutiny of infill as a low-maintenance option for ageing masonry spans on disused lines.

VolkerRail has completed the Sheffield Supertram “Delta Junction” track renewal ahead of programme, finishing works on one of the network’s most complex multi‑track, tight‑radius junctions earlier than planned. The project involved replacing heavily worn embedded rail and special trackwork within a constrained urban corridor, maintaining tram clearances and geometry while working around live utilities and adjacent carriageways. Early completion reduces possession time on a critical interchange, limiting disruption to tram operations and road traffic and providing a more robust trackform for future high‑frequency services.

A new steel footbridge has been lifted into position at Leyton Underground station in north London by Bam during a tightly sequenced overnight crane operation over the August Bank Holiday. The bridge was installed above live tracks, requiring full possession of the line, precise lifting tolerances and pre-assembled sections to minimise disruption to Central line services. For station upgrade teams, the operation illustrates continued reliance on heavy night-time cranage and modular steelwork to deliver step-free access and capacity improvements on constrained urban rail sites.

Government review of the Office of Rail and Road finds the regulator will need “new capability and skills” to oversee road schemes delivered under a regulated asset base, with the Lower Thames Crossing expected to be the first Rab project. The review points to gaps in expertise for long-term economic regulation of a multi‑billion‑pound, multi‑decade road tunnel and approach roads, compared with ORR’s established rail and strategic roads roles. For designers and contractors, this signals closer scrutiny of lifecycle cost, performance metrics and risk allocation on LTC and future Rab schemes.

The National Wealth Fund has signed new partnership agreements with four additional mayoral and city-region authorities to accelerate delivery of local infrastructure schemes across the UK. The expanded programme is aimed at bringing NWF equity and debt into regionally led projects such as urban regeneration, transport upgrades and energy-transition assets, alongside existing local funding streams. For civil and geotechnical teams, this signals a larger pipeline of shovel-ready schemes where early-stage ground investigation, value engineering and risk-sharing structures will be critical to secure NWF backing.

Keeping outcomes at the heart of rail infrastructure delivery means designing projects around measurable benefits such as reduced journey times, higher train frequencies and improved freight paths, rather than simply delivering new track, signalling or stations. The approach pushes teams to link early option selection, GRIP/Project SPEED-style staging and whole-life asset management to specific passenger and freight outcomes, for example peak-hour capacity targets or reliability thresholds. For engineers, this shifts success metrics from capital spend and completion dates to operational performance, resilience and user experience over the asset’s design life.

G4S has secured a 10-year facilities management contract for the Sizewell C nuclear power station, initially creating 150 jobs and rising to about 400 over the contract’s duration. The scope will cover hard and soft FM across construction compounds and operational buildings, supporting a twin EPR plant designed for 3.2GW capacity on a constrained Suffolk coastline site. For civil and nuclear engineers, stable long-term FM support should aid site logistics, security integration and maintenance planning during both major earthworks and later commissioning phases.

Anglian Water’s @one Alliance has hired 269 engineers in the first year of AMP8 and plans to recruit a further 200 to deliver its regulated water and wastewater capital programme under AMP9. The alliance, which delivers large-diameter mains, treatment works upgrades and resilience schemes across eastern England, is scaling design and site teams to handle a rising volume of complex civils and MEICA projects. Rapid expansion of engineering capacity signals strong demand for geotechnical, structural and pipeline specialists familiar with UK water sector standards and long-duration framework delivery.

A $37.4 million Northern Territory Government contract has been awarded to Exact Contracting to seal 22.5 kilometres of Santa Teresa Road, the primary link between the Santa Teresa community and Alice Springs. The unsealed section, which services multiple pastoral leases and several freight operators, has been historically prone to flooding and closures, disrupting heavy vehicle access. Pavement design, drainage capacity and flood immunity will be critical, given the road’s role as the main freight and community access corridor in a remote arid environment.

Final stage works on Tasmania’s $605 million Midland Highway upgrade are set to start after securing approvals under Australia’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. The project covers about 181 kilometres between Hobart and Launceston, a key freight and tourist corridor carrying heavy road freighters and local traffic. With the Protected Matters Management Plan now cleared, designers and contractors must tightly manage construction impacts on listed species and habitats while delivering final geometry, pavement and safety upgrades.

Sir Robert McAlpine has completed the 38,000 m² Sloane Robinson Building at the University of Bristol’s £500m Temple Quarter Enterprise Campus, providing capacity for about 4,500 students and 650 staff and anchored by a 300-seat ‘in the round’ Bill Brown Lecture Theatre and 22 Active Learning Studios. The building targets BREEAM Excellent, uses eco-concrete and a district heating connection, and carries more than 750 rooftop solar panels for on-site generation. Located beside the new eastern entrance to Bristol Temple Meads, it forms a key element of the wider Bristol Temple Quarter regeneration and public realm upgrade.

Developer Balma has awarded Talo a £4m contract for five ultra‑low energy homes at The Barons in Shoreham, using Talo’s Finnish-derived offsite timber superstructure, shallow foundation system, pre-installed external timber finishes and factory-fitted triple-glazed picture windows and sliding doors. At Croft Mews in Edenbridge, the same system cut the build programme from around 12 months to four months to achieve watertight shells, giving Balma a six‑month programme saving and earlier return on investment. The new courtyard homes target EPC A, with electric underfloor heating and hot water powered by rooftop solar, MVHR and EV charging on each unit.

Huws Gray has added plant and tool hire to its St Helens builders’ merchant branch, extending the company’s national hire network to 88 sites. The branch, which already employs 14 staff, has created three additional roles to support the new service. Contractors can now hire small tools and compact earthmoving kit on site, including brand new micro diggers, excavators, tracked barrows and 1‑tonne dumpers, improving access to short-term plant for local groundwork and civils jobs.

Baxi has launched the Megaflo Essential range of hot water cylinders aimed at social housing, designed for heat pumps including its HP50 and HP55 ASHPs and featuring a high surface area coil, twin 3 kW immersion heaters and a secondary return for faster hot water delivery. A new internal expansion mechanism removes the need for a separate expansion vessel, cutting installation time, saving plant-room space and simplifying maintenance, with indirect models using coil-in-coil heat exchangers for rapid heat recovery. Baxi has also upgraded its premium Megaflo Eco cylinders with the same internal expansion system, retaining 60 mm insulation and a 30-year stainless-steel inner tank warranty, while discontinuing the Baxi Assure range.

Bristol City Leap, a partnership between Bristol City Council and Ameresco, is replacing fossil-fuel boilers with low‑carbon air source heat pumps at Belbrook Children’s Respite Unit, Ridingleaze House and Symes House, three of the council estate’s top 30 carbon‑emitting buildings. Belbrook will also receive a rooftop solar PV array, upgraded LED lighting and additional loft insulation, with all three sites getting new pipework, radiators and controls. Backed by the council’s Decarbonisation Fund, Bristol Climate Action Investment and the Government’s PSDS, the works are expected to cut annual energy use by 154,008kWh and CO2e emissions by 28 tonnes.

GMI Construction Group and Bywater have topped out the 35 Fountain Street redevelopment in Manchester, retaining the existing steel frame and adding three new upper floors in a low‑carbon cross‑laminated timber (CLT) hybrid structure. The 87,000 sq ft Grade A office scheme, spanning a basement plus nine upper floors and delivering about 16,000 sq ft of additional workspace with roof gardens, records upfront embodied carbon of 371kgCO₂e/m² versus roughly 1,000kgCO₂e/m² for a typical new build. Responsibly sourced timber is expected to sequester about 618 tonnes CO₂e, with the project targeting BREEAM Outstanding, NABERS 5 star, WELL Platinum and EPC A by summer 2027.

The Federal and New South Wales governments have released the proposed design for Spring Farm Parkway Stage Two, a three‑kilometre, four‑lane arterial that will complete the east–west link between Menangle Park and Spring Farm in Sydney’s southwest. The new section will connect directly with the already‑operational Stage One, opened to traffic in August 2024, creating a continuous corridor intended to cut local travel times and redistribute traffic from existing constrained routes. For designers and contractors, the scheme signals upcoming packages around earthworks, pavement, drainage and intersection tie‑ins on a greenfield suburban alignment.

HS2 Ltd has appointed former Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU) director Neil Holm as its new chief programme officer, bringing experience from a multi‑billion‑pound, 76-mile rail corridor modernisation involving major electrification, re-signalling and capacity upgrades. Holm previously oversaw complex works on constrained brownfield alignments, including track quadrupling, new overhead line equipment and major station remodelling between Manchester, Leeds and York. His move signals HS2’s focus on delivery discipline across long linear worksites, high-output rail systems installation and integration of civils, track and systems on a live national network.

Kiely Group has entered the Irish infrastructure market after completing its first contract in Tuam Municipal District, County Galway, marking a return to founder Michael Kiely’s home region. The firm, which has UK experience in highways maintenance and term service contracts, is expected to target local authority frameworks and road asset management work across the west of Ireland. For contractors and consultants, the move signals additional competition for minor works, resurfacing and maintenance packages in a county with ageing regional road networks.

Tunnelling for Victoria’s Suburban Rail Loop East has started on schedule, with 137-metre-long Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) Alice now driving the first twin tunnel from Burwood towards Glen Waverley. Sister TBM Hacia is fully assembled in the launch shaft and will begin excavating the parallel bore within weeks, using an “umbilical” power and services connection rather than a traditional trailing gantry. Early progress will set baseline advance rates, settlement performance and segment lining behaviour for subsequent SRL drives under Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.