Caerphilly Engages Market on £15M A469 Landslip Repair in Geotechnically Sensitive Area
Caerphilly County Borough Council has begun early market engagement for a £15 million scheme to repair the long‑running landslip on the A469 between New Tredegar and Pontlottyn. The site, reduced to single‑file traffic since Storm Dennis in 2020, sits in a highly complex geotechnical setting with steep topography and poor ground conditions. Detailed designs by Tetra Tech call for soil nails, bored piles, gabion replacement and full carriageway reconstruction, with works slated from November 2026 to November 2028. The council will award the contract under an NEC4 framework, requiring specialist contractors to manage a temporary road closure.
Bill Introduced to Ensure UK Geotechnical Data Is Available to Engineers to Save Billions
Labour backbencher Mike Reader has tabled the Geotechnical Data Bill, requiring parties that conduct ground investigations to upload factual borehole logs, soil tests and site reports to the National Underground Asset Register (NUAR). The measure builds on NUAR’s existing utility‑mapping...
UK Needs Earlier, Joined-Up Planning to Unlock Land for Data Centres, Aecom Argues
Aecom’s new report warns that the UK’s data‑centre boom will stall unless landowners, planners, utilities and infrastructure providers coordinate far earlier in project pipelines. It identifies grid reinforcement, water capacity and planning consent as recurring bottlenecks that delay "powered land"...
How AI Will Reshape Fees, Teams and Competitive Dynamics
Artificial intelligence is rapidly automating routine engineering tasks that once consumed weeks, forcing consultancies to rethink the traditional billable‑hour model. Mike Rustell outlines three possible fee structures—value‑based pricing, hybrid fixed‑fee/time‑and‑materials, and commoditisation—each reflecting how AI compresses effort while liability remains....
Research Uses Shape Memory Alloy and Fibre-Reinforced Concrete to Strengthen Ageing Bridges
Swiss researchers at Empa have demonstrated a novel bridge‑deck strengthening technique that embeds heat‑activated iron‑based shape memory alloy (Fe‑SMA) bars within an ultra‑high‑performance fibre‑reinforced concrete (UHPFRC) overlay. Laboratory and large‑scale tests on 5 m cantilever slabs showed that the Fe‑SMA/UHPFRC system...
The Value of Circular Steel in Modern Construction
7 Steel UK is scaling a fully domestic, circular steel model that turns the UK’s 8 Mt of annual scrap into low‑carbon billets using an electric arc furnace. By keeping scrap in‑country, the company shortens supply chains, boosts material traceability and cuts embodied...
ICE Introduces Three Mandatory Continuing Professional Development Topics
Following a year‑long consultation, the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) has made three continuing professional development (CPD) themes mandatory for all professionally qualified members. The required topics—ethical and professional behaviour, safety and risk management, and sustainable development—must be addressed each...
Are We Doing Enough to Design for Low Temperature Heat in Net Zero Buildings?
The UK Climate Change Committee warns that net‑zero building designs often ignore low‑temperature heat distribution, embedding inefficiencies from the earliest stages. Heat pumps perform best at 35‑50 °C, yet many projects still design for legacy 70‑80 °C boiler systems, compromising seasonal COP...