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CONTENTS 12.03.09
www.nce.co.uk1 12.03.09 NEWCIVil ENGINEER3
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NEWS 06
Cologne collapse
Diaphragm walls at centre of investigation into fatal German failure.
19
ENERGYREPORT Mixing it Up
The UK must invest heavily in power plants over the next la years just ta keep the lights on.
29
MIDDLE EAST
Dubaigoes green
New environmental standards and cost pressures are opening the door to foreign expertise in the UAE.
Alsoin this issue
06 News
Ground anchoIs key in Cologne collapse probe
14 Analysis
Gordon Brown's
"green new deal"
16 Letters
Structures, rail, Lego vs Meccano, infrastructure
08 News
Blacklisting scandaI hits contractors
41 ICENews
ICE to ballot members on 2.5%subs increase
09 News
Thames pulls reservoir
Comment "II is down to civilengineers to embraIe Ihis new world and make sure Ihat Brown's green new deal is Ihe real deal"
AntonyOliver
1 PPAEditoroftheYearIl is down 10US10 build lomorrow's green economy loday
Prime Minister Gordon Brown gathered industry bosses behind his "new green deal"
this week in what he described as the oppor- tunity ta "build tomorrow's green economy today". It was an important initiative and one that civil engineering must embrace.
For aIl the gloom in the economy right DOWwe are at a very exciting moment.
Alreadywe are seeing a welcome injection of confidence as the Keynesian economic recovery starts to filter through and projects such as Crossrail, M25 and Manchester waste lumber towards the start Hile.
Are we at last really seeing a govemment that DOtonly believes in the value of public investment in decent modem infrastructure but which is also committed to a carbon reduction programme along the way?
Welllet's hope so. As Atkins chief execu- tive Keith Clarke explained this week, the rime ta act on this "the most serious issue" is
today, DOt tomorrow.
But before you all condemn this strategy as just more spin frOIDa weary administra- tion it is worth underlining the fact that this strategy is pegged on economic recovery.
This low carbon industry strategy intends ta DOtjust create another stimulus for the economy but actually become the economy - an estimated 400,000 new jobs and f45bn added ta GDP within 10 years.
"This transition will transform our whole economy. It will change our indus trial land- scape, our supply chain and the way in which we all work and consume," says the govern- ment's strategy.
The question is of course: Will the govem- ment have the nerve ta see this strategy through? will it have do things differently and invest in "carbon critical design"?
We need to ensure that we tan deliver in a future that is more concemed about carbon than cash if we are to star in business. Not least Silicethe US has woken up ta the issue.
ln the 50 Jars silice the oil-fuelled poli- cies of George Bush left the White House, President Obama's new low carbon agenda, with promises of $16bn (fll.67bn) a year in investment, looks set ta seize the initiative.
And while this is clearly good for the future of the planer, we risk seeing the low carbon competitive advantage built up over the last decade effectively disappearing.
That could give us a problem. ln a world which is changing the way it opera tes we cannot afford ta fall behind.
As the government strategy accepts:
"The challenge is to make sure that the UK benefits economically and industrially frOID the move ta low carbon."
With infrastructure so critical to the global recovery and the global carbon reduction strategy, it is clown to civil engineers ta embrace this new world and make sure that Brown's green new deal is the real deal.
