UK Major Projects Pipeline Update – June 2024

‍Rail

HS2

• Mark Wild has been named as the new incoming CEO.
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• EKFB (Eiffage Kier Ferrovial Bam JV) has passed halfway in the construction of the prefabricated 880m Thame Valley Viaduct.
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• The government is expected to confirm over £1bn of public funding to construct the tunnels between Old Oak Common and Euston.
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• Rail systems contracts are expected to be announced imminently. These include:
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  1. Track contracts (c£1.5 billion).
  2. Signalling and traffic management (c£540m) with a shortlist of Alstom, Hitachi and Siemens.
  3. Overhead contact system (c£302m) with a shortlist of BBVT and Colas.
  4. HV Power.

 TransPennine Route Upgrade

• Network Rail has alerted the market that they are seeking a programme delivery partner on the Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU) in a contract worth £100m.
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• Four weeks of major upgrades were completed last week. Over 3km of new track was installed between Morley and Cottingley stations, while work was carried out on over 13km of cables for signalling upgrades.
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• Another four-week period of upgrades on the TRU is scheduled to take place between 24 June and 19 July.
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• COWI has been appointed to design tunnelling works to three Victorian era tunnels along the route.

East West Rail

• David Hughes takes over as CEO from Beth West.
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• Nearing completion on its new stations and has commenced systems testing between Bicester and Bletchley.
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• The government has given the green light for the delivery of works on the Bletchley to Bedford section, supported by £240m from existing budgets.

Network Rail CP7

• North West and Central (NW&C) capital works frameworks have been announced (c£2bn). Full list can be found here.
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• 15 suppliers were appointed to the Eastern Routes Partnership (ERP) framework (c£3.5bn). Full list can be found here.
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• The Southern Renewals Enterprise announced Liz Baldwin as the new Director for the Southern Integrated Delivery team. The SID partnership combines the strengths and expertise of Network Rail and four business partners –VolkerFitzpatrick, Octavius, AtkinsRéalis and VolkerRail. Work on the Southern Renewals Enterprise commenced in April.

West Yorkshire Metro

• A strategic outline case was to be submitted to the Department for Transport, with a public consultation agreed over summer 2024. Commencement for construction of phase one was estimated as 2028.

DART+

• The Railway Order application in Dublin for DART+ South West was submitted in March.
  
  

Water

Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Programme (HARP)

• United Utilities is seeking a technical advisor in a£50m contract, to provide technical advice regarding tunnelling machinery and works, financial consultancy, civil engineering and geotechnical services and quantity surveying.
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• The Competitively Appointed Provider (CAP) to design, build, finance and maintain all six tunnel sections of the asset(£1.75bn) is yet to be announced.

Thames Tideway

• Construction of the £5bn Thames Tideway Tunnel is now complete.
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• Commissioning work is set to begin this summer and it should be fully operational by 2025.

Abingdon Reservoir

• Thames Water has revealed the interim masterplan for its 150Mm3 reservoir in Abingdon, Oxfordshire as public consultation on the project commences.

United Utilities

• Have named the seven contractors and consultants it will partner with to deliver £3bn-worth of water and wastewater infrastructure over the next five years. The full list an be found here.
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• Tony Slater has joined to lead the enterprise organisation.

Highways

Lower Thames Crossing

• A recommendation report on the Lower Thames Crossing development consent order(DCO) application was sent to the Secretary of State for Transport in March.
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• Planning decision is expected in the next three months.

A303Stonehenge Tunnel

• A legal challenge against the second DCO was thrown out by Mr Justice Holgate in February. An appeal against this judgment is now set to be heard by the Court of Appeal.

A66 Northern Trans-Pennine

• The Government has granted development consent for the £1.3bn A66 Northern Trans-Pennine dualling.
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• Delivery partners Balfour Beatty, Kier and Keltbray are now waiting for the green light to start the project, which is to be delivered under an enterprise-wide collaborative working agreement.

Energy

Wylfa

• Wylfa on Anglesey has been chosen as the preferred site for a large-scale nuclear power plant.
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• In March of this year, the UK government said it would buy the Wylfa site from the previous developer Hitachi for £160m. Hitachi withdrew its funding for the project in 2020, as it failed to reach a funding agreement with the UK government. In 2020 Horizon Nuclear Power dropped its planning bid for the site entirely.

Hinkley Point C

• The first 520t steam generator for the power station arrived on site in May.
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• EDF now estimates that the cost could hit £46bn,when taking price rises into account.
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• The completion date could also be delayed by three years.

Sizewell C

• The Suffolk project has been granted a nuclear site licence, meaning a nuclear power plant can be built on the site.
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• EDF now needs to request permission to start nuclear-related construction works from the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR).
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• Framatome has been awarded several contracts which will see them deliver two nuclear heat production systems.
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• The government announced that it has made an additional £1.3bn available to Sizewell C, meaning that £2.5bn has been allocated to the Suffolk project to date.

Great Grid Upgrade

• Seven partners have been announced to support the delivery of an initial nine Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment(ASTI) projects. Full list of partners can be found here.
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• The nine ASTI programmes are:
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  1. Norwich to Tilbury North - public consultation postponed to after the election.
  2. Norwich to Tilbury South - statutory consultation on proposals extended to after the election.
  3. North Humber to High Marnham – DCO to be submitted 2026.
  4. Grimsby to Walpole - DCO to be submitted 2027.
  5. Chesterfield to Willington - public consultation postponed to after the election.
  6. Brinsworth to High Marnham – public consultations end 17^th June2024.
  7. Tilbury to Grain and Tilbury to Kingsnorth - Planning applications were submitted in February.
  8. Pentir to Trawsfynydd (cable replacement) - construction work to start in 2025.
  9. Pentir to Trawsfynydd (second circuit) - construction work to start in2025.

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National Grid Eastern Green Link

• Eastern Green Link 1 - Currently nearing the end of the development phase, construction work is planned to commence in 2025, with the new connection anticipated to be operational in 2029.
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• Eastern Green Link 2 - Construction work is planned to commence later this year with the new connection due to be operational in2029.
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• Eastern Green Link 3 & 4 – Public consultations until mid-July 2024.

National Grid Viking Link

• The £1.8bn project connecting the UK with Denmark was launched in April. It is the world’s longest land and subsea interconnector.

Dogger Bank Offshore Wind Farm

• Seaway7 has commenced installation of monopile foundations and transition pieces for the Dogger Bank B phase of the offshore wind farm project.
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• The team recently completed installation of all 95transition pieces on Dogger Bank A, concluding the installation of the foundations for the first phase of the project.
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• The second unmanned High Voltage Direct Current(HVDC) platform has been installed by Saipem at Dogger Bank B in April.
  

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Carbon Capture        

• The Government has granted development consent for Drax to build the world’s largest carbon capture facility at its North Yorkshire power station.
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• Net Zero Teesside Power (NZT Power) and the Northern Endurance Partnership (NEP) have selected nine contractors for engineering, procurement, and construction contracts with a combined value of around £4bn. More details can be found here.

UKAEA – Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP)

• Paul Methven has been appointed as CEO of UK Industrial Fusion Solutions (UKIFS) responsible for the delivery of STEP.
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• The first phase of the nuclear fusion programme is to produce a concept design by the end of 2024.
  
  

SGN – Fife100

• The hydrogen network project is well into the construction phase. Over 65% of the new 8.2km hydrogen network in Buckhaven and Denbeath has been installed.
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• Construction of the hydrogen demonstration homes is complete.
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• Construction of the production and storage facility in Fife Energy Park is underway.
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• The network will go live in summer 2025. It will be operational until 2027.

Skye Reinforcement Project

• SSEN Transmission has awarded the detailed design and development phase of the c£690m Skye 132kV reinforcement project to Balfour Beatty.
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• Subject to planning approval, the full construction contract award is expected later in 2024.

Aviation & Maritime

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Manchester Airport

• Mace is set to complete the final phase of the £1.3bn transformation programme in the next 18 months. This will see the completion of Terminal 2’s second pier, a new check in hall, new security scanners, and an extension of the departure lounge.

Associated British Ports – Future Port Talbot

• The Department of Energy Security and Net Zero have made the decision to advance the Future Port Talbot project to the Primary List phase of the Floating Offshore Wind Manufacturing Investment Scheme (FLOWMIS).

I’d love to hear of any project updates you have. Drop me an email at jn@newsomconsulting.co.uk

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