Geomechanics.io

The First-tier Tribunal has ruled that any risk, however small, of fire spread or structural failure can constitute a “building safety risk” under s.120 of the Building Safety Act 2022, in a case concerning the 280-apartment Canary Riverside estate (Belgrave Court, Berkeley Tower, Eaton House and Hanover House). In applications for Remediation Orders and Remediation Contribution Orders over seven external wall systems, six were found to contain relevant defects, with reconstituted stone cladding the sole exception. The Tribunal prioritised current compliance with Building Regulations B3 and B4 and Approved Document B over historic regulatory compliance or PAS 9980 “low” risk ratings, finding missing or defective cavity barriers in masonry cavity walls with phenolic insulation (EWT1) to be a relevant defect.

The US government is set to take a 10% stake in USA Rare Earth via 16.1 million shares plus warrants for 17.6 million more at $17.17 each, alongside $1.3 billion in debt financing under a CHIPS Act facility and a reported additional $1 billion private investment, valuing the package at about $1.6 billion. Funding targets USAR’s Round Top open-pit rare earth project at Sierra Blanca, Texas, which a 2019 report estimates could produce 2,213 tonnes of REEs over 20 years, including over 1,900 tonnes of heavy REEs such as dysprosium. The deal underpins a US mine-to-magnet chain centred on Round Top feedstock, a 5,000 t/y magnet plant in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and a processing and separation lab in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.

Novagold’s Donlin Gold project in southwest Alaska now carries an initial capital cost estimate of $9.2 billion (up 25%) and sustaining capital of $2.3 billion (up 35%), but its post-tax NPV has risen to $5.1 billion at $2,100/oz and 5% discount, with a 10.3% IRR and $19.6 billion after-tax cash flow. The 27-year operation is underpinned by 560 million measured and indicated tonnes at 2.22 g/t Au (about 40 million oz) plus 88.9 million inferred tonnes at 2.03 g/t, based on drilling to end-2024 by Wood Group and Geosyntec. Owners Novagold (60%) and John Paulson (40%) plan to appoint a prime contractor in Q1 for a new bankable feasibility study, targeting construction from 2027 and commercial production from 2031.

Engineers led by the University of Warwick have produced what is described as the world’s first structural engineering design manual for bamboo, aimed at standardising calculations for loadbearing frames, connections and serviceability checks. Developed by an international team, the manual is intended to support code-compliant design of engineered bamboo elements such as laminated beams and columns, moving beyond prescriptive, region-specific rules. For civil and structural engineers, this offers a reference to justify bamboo in primary structures, particularly in low- to mid-rise buildings in high-seismic and high-humidity regions.

Work has started on United Utilities’ £48M upgrade of the Knutsford sewer network in Cheshire, centred on a 1.8km stormwater tunnel to increase storage and reduce storm overflows. The scheme will add new underground capacity to intercept peak flows before discharge to local watercourses, targeting improved bathing and ecological water quality. Contractors will need to manage tunnelling in urban ground conditions around existing utilities and foundations, with construction staging critical to maintaining sewer service during tie-ins.

AFC Bournemouth has secured planning permission for enabling works at Vitality Stadium, initiating a multi‑phase redevelopment that could more than double the current spectator capacity. Early works are expected to focus on site clearance, service diversions and ground preparation to accommodate new stands and associated infrastructure. Contractors and designers will need to plan phased construction and temporary works around continued stadium operation, with careful sequencing of piling, foundations and access routes to manage crowd safety and match‑day logistics.

Millions more homes across England, Scotland and Wales are projected to face severe flood risk as climate breakdown accelerates, with some communities likely to become effectively uninsurable and potentially require managed retreat. The Guardian’s investigation points to sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) – such as permeable pavements, swales, detention basins and green roofs – as critical to reducing peak flows and surface water overload in urban catchments. For civil and drainage engineers, the message is rapid retrofitting of SuDS into existing streets and developments, not just tightening design standards for new builds.

Formal approval for the £108M Middlewich Eastern Bypass allows main construction to proceed in Cheshire East, unlocking a long‑planned relief route around the A54/A533 corridor. The scheme is expected to divert heavy traffic away from Middlewich town centre, reducing congestion on existing single‑carriageway sections and improving journey time reliability for regional freight. Contractors and designers will now move from enabling works to full earthworks, structures and pavement construction, with detailed phasing critical to maintaining access to local industrial estates and residential areas.

The Department for Transport has agreed to re-test the business case and engineering feasibility of an underground Manchester Piccadilly station as part of new agreements with northern regional authorities on Northern Powerhouse Rail upgrades. The review will compare sub-surface options against the existing surface station configuration, focusing on capacity, journey time benefits and constructability in a dense urban rail hub. Outcomes will influence future alignments, tunnelling requirements and interchange design for east–west NPR services through central Manchester.

Thirty construction workers on Johnson Matthey’s planned hydrogen gigafactory in Hertfordshire remain suspended and risk dismissal after the client refused to reinstate their site access passes. The dispute affects a major process-industrial build, likely involving large-scale structural steelwork, extensive M&E integration and hazardous-area design typical of hydrogen production facilities. Prolonged loss of this workforce could disrupt programme sequencing, specialist installation continuity and commissioning schedules, with knock-on effects for contractors’ labour planning and cost control.

HS2 raised concerns about contractor safety practices only months before a “serious” crane disassembly incident in September on the high‑speed rail project. The event involved a crane being taken down on an HS2 worksite, prompting investigation into lifting plans, exclusion zones and contractor competence in line with CDM Regulations. Engineers can expect closer scrutiny of temporary works design, crane stability checks and method statements for assembly/disassembly operations across HS2 packages.

Dennis Boehm has received the Wallace Hayward Baker Award from the Deep Foundations Institute for more than three decades of work on deep foundations, starting with Hayward Baker (now Keller) in 1990. He is recognised as an expert in both wet and dry soil mixing, applying these methods on complex ground improvement and deep foundation projects across North America. For practitioners, his work reinforces the role of soil mixing in controlling settlement and improving bearing capacity where conventional piling or mass excavation is impractical.

Sydvaranger Drift AS, GRANGEX AB’s wholly owned subsidiary, has signed a mining services agreement with Finnish contractor E. Hartikainen Oy to support the restart of the Sydvaranger open-pit iron ore mine at Kirkenes in northern Norway. Hartikainen, founded in 1965 and active across the Nordic region, will bring large-scale open-pit mining and earthworks capability to the brownfield operation. The deal signals mobilisation of experienced Nordic mining fleets and operators for near-term pre-stripping, haulage and pit rehabilitation planning at the idled site.

Cheshire East Council has approved Balfour Beatty for the £53.8m main construction phase of the 1.6‑mile (2.5km) Middlewich eastern bypass, with site works due to start in spring 2026 and opening targeted for spring 2028. The single carriageway will link Pochin Way to the A533 Booth Lane, incorporating new bridges over the Sandbach–Northwich railway line and the Trent and Mersey Canal plus a combined cycleway/footway. The £107.67m scheme, backed by a capped £48m Department for Transport contribution, is intended to ease A54/A533 junction congestion and unlock up to 1,950 homes and employment land.

Bids are open for Fusion21’s fourth national grounds maintenance framework, valued at up to £85m over four years and covering hard and soft landscaping, including tree works, hedge and shrub management, cleaning and waste handling for public sector estates. The framework, confirmed as compliant with the Procurement Act 2023, offers flexible call-off options such as direct award, which may streamline contracting for local authorities, housing providers and NHS trusts managing large external assets. Submissions close at 12:00 on Wednesday 4 March 2026 via fusion21.co.uk/tenders.

Planning approval has been granted for Ulster University’s six-storey Centre for Digital Healthcare Technology on Frederick Street, Belfast, replacing the recently demolished Northland House on a site cleared by B Small Contractors. The £18m main construction contract sits within an overall £42m project to deliver laboratories, office space, communal areas and public realm works, designed by Todd Architects with Arup and Turner & Townsend. The building targets BREEAM Excellent using low-energy systems, climate-resilient materials, roof-mounted solar PV and a green roof terrace.

MPs on the House of Commons public accounts committee have urged ministers to refer the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) insulation scandal to the Serious Fraud Office after the National Audit Office found 98% of external and 29% of internal wall insulation installed by mid‑January 2025 was defective. Ofgem has so far identified fraudulent installations worth 1.75% of scheme value, but PAC members believe actual fraud is far higher, citing systemic failure across DESNZ, TrustMark and UKAS, and a fragmented quality-assurance regime. The committee warns that the new Warm Homes Plan, expected to scale up measures such as solar PV and further retrofit, must be backed by far tighter technical oversight and accountability to avoid repeating these failures.

Thames Water has opened a £5.7bn tender for the White Horse Reservoir near Abingdon, a 150‑billion‑litre strategic storage scheme intended to supply Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, Hampshire and London and deliver up to 120 million litres per day to Southern Water during drought via the planned Thames to Southern Transfer pipeline. Procured under the Specified Infrastructure Project Regulations, the main works contractor and separate infrastructure provider will follow the Thames Tideway Tunnel model, with a new Ofwat‑licensed entity financing and delivering the asset. Requests to participate are due by 24 April 2026, with water deployment targeted from 2040 and around 1,800 construction jobs forecast.

HBC Construction has secured a £7.2m design-and-build contract from Network Rail for a 15,000 sq ft timber-frame maintenance delivery unit at the Blast Lane depot in Sheffield, following its Barnetby MDU project in north Lincolnshire. The building is designed to be net zero in operation, incorporating heat recovery ventilation, smart lighting and controls, an enlarged rooftop solar PV array, upgraded fabric and water management systems, and is expected to save about 850 tonnes CO₂e over 20 years. A more than 25% footprint reduction, standardised structural grid and simplified form enable off-site construction, lower material use and improved operational efficiency, with completion due in 2027.

Ivanhoe Atlantic is pivoting to a US IPO after securing a $1.8 billion, 25‑year deal to rehabilitate and use Liberia’s rail network for exporting iron ore from its Kon Kweni project in Guinea via the “Liberty corridor”, with first shipments targeted for 2027. Kon Kweni’s initial phase is designed for 2–5 Mtpa at about 66.5% Fe, with a planned ramp‑up to 30 Mtpa requiring roughly $850 million in additional export infrastructure. Over the concession life, the company expects to pay Liberia about $1.4 billion in rail user fees and $600 million in other taxes and charges.

Sigma Lithium’s share price jumped up to 17% to about $14.50 in New York, after the company announced an additional sale of 100,000 tonnes of high-purity lithium fines at current market prices and rejected Brazilian media reports of an “operational injunction” at Grota do Cirilo as fake, short-seller-driven claims. Management said remobilisation at the Minas Gerais site is on track to finish this month, with the existing plant rated at 270,000 tonnes per year of lithium oxide concentrate (about 38,000–40,000 tonnes LCE). A second plant under construction is planned to double that capacity.

Eurasian Resources Group is committing more than US$1 billion to its Kazakhstan mining and metallurgical assets, funding a 2‑million‑tonnes‑per‑year hot briquetted iron plant, a new iron ore pellet plant and an 80 MW ferroalloy gas utilisation power station at the Aktobe ferroalloys complex. The programme also covers a 7.5‑million‑tonnes‑per‑year chromium mine, modernisation of the Aksu power station, and upgrades at the Pavlodar alumina plant, including vertical calcination kilns, filtration units and recovery of 15 tonnes per year of gallium. Kazakhstan will gain first domestic production of HBI and gallium, strengthening ERG’s integrated ferrous and critical metals value chain.

Copper jumped as much as 3.3% on the LME to $13,173.50/t, closing in on this month’s record near $13,400/t, as traders reacted to long-term supply concerns despite looser nearby spreads from increased deliveries into US and Asian warehouses. Mining investor Robert Friedland warned that with annual consumption at 30 Mt and only 4 Mt recycled, maintaining 3% global GDP growth would require mining in the next 18 years as much copper as in the past 10,000 years. The US has now listed copper as a critical mineral and is reviewing potential tariffs through mid‑2026, adding policy risk to project planning and offtake strategies.

Silver broke through $100/oz for the first time, touching $101.22 in New York after starting the week below $90, driven by safe‑haven flows following a US‑Europe rift and heavy retail buying in China and Western markets. Traders are also pricing in potential US tariffs on silver‑intensive solar components and a looming structural supply deficit, pushing year‑to‑date gains above 25% after the metal more than doubled in 2025. Gold hit a record $4,987.69/oz, up nearly 14% in 2026 after a 40% rise in 2025, with Goldman Sachs now targeting $5,400 by year‑end.