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CONTENTS 15.03.12

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NewCivilEngineer

lst Floor,GreaterLondonHouse HampsteadRoad,LondonNW17EJ

EDITORIALENQUIRIES Email:prefixplus@emap.com EDiTOR1AntonyOliver (020) 77284541 antony.oliver

DEPUTY EDiTOR1Mark Hansford (020) 77284543 mark.hansford

CHIEF SUB EDiTOR1Andy Bolton (020) 77284537 andy.bolton NEWSEDiTOR1AlexandraWynne (020)77284540 alexandra.wynne

DESIGNER1JamesMcCarthy (020)77284536 james.mccarthy

REPORTER 1 Declan Lynch

(020) 77284546 declan.lynch

ADVERTISING

DlSPLAYADVERTISING1FrancisBarham (020) 77284525

RECRUITMENT1JonathanSnowden (020) 77283829

CUSTOMERENQUIRIES StruanRae

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www.nce.co.uk

1

05

NEWS Energy

Government inertia delays nuclear power decisions

14

COVERS'DRY

King"sCrossrebirth A spectacular canopy is centrepiece of station's refurb

20

CONCRETE Sustainability

Newstrategyto increase sustainabilityofconcreteuse

Alsoin this issue

06 News

Students face NCE subs hike

07 News

Costain has f600M acquisitions war chest

10 Analysis

Reconciling light rail costs with transport demand

12 Letters

Drought, airports, safety, HR departments

24 Concrete

Bahrain's largest precast concrete flyover 25 BCE

Nuclear debate, Rennie prize, Northern Ireland

Comment

AntonyOliver

TOCELEBRATENCE'S40THANNIVERSARY OFINFORMING,INSPIRINGAND CHAUENGINGCIVILENGINEERS,WE ARELOOKINGATTHEKEYEVENTSTHAT

HAVESHAPEDTHELAST40 YEARS.

SEEWWW.NCE.CO.UK

"Thereisstrongevidencethat investingin infrastrudurereally doesstimulateregeneration"

Osbornemust keep theinfra~tructuretap switched on

As this week's cover story clearly demon- strates, the UK and especially London, is undergoing an infrastructure bonanza.

King's Cross station's spectacular new concourse is long overdue and only the nrst stage in a much bigger plan to bring one of the capital's premier mainline stations into the 21st century. It is just one of the many new transport facilities being prepared and enhanced in rime for the world's arrival for the Olympic Games this summer.

At the heart of the transport experience will of course be St Pancras and Stratford stations but equallywe have seen the Jubilee Line's signalling upgraded, London Bridge rejuvenated beneath the Shard, new escala- tors at Victoria... the list goes on.

This week BAA also revealed a flSM revamp of its 1Syear old Heathrow Express service with refurbished trains, new platform facilities and upgraded on-board informa- tion systems.

There is no question that enhanced trans-

port systems in London will be one of the 2012 Games' legacies.

But it is also creaI that the infrastructure investment bonanza goes way beyond 2012, driving continued economic growth across the capital for decades to corne.

There is strong evidence that investing in modern infrastructure really does stimulate regeneration. Hence the multi-billion pound investments underway at Heathrow and Gatwick airports. Hence the multi-billion pound investments by London Underground across the capital. Hence the multi-million pound revamp of Victoria station which kicked offlast year.

And this week we saw the launch of the nrst tunnel boring machine on the Cross- rail project. Few around the capital will have failed to notice the scale of redevelop- ment already progressing at Paddington, Farringdon, Tottenham CourtRoad

and

Meanwhile Arup has been appointed to

mastermind the new Euston station as part of the High Speed 2 project. Again we see the opportunity to create enhanced passenger facilities and attract regeneration invest- ment.

London is certainly a unique example. As the seat of the nation's government and busi- ness activity and as a global nnancial centre, it is inevitably an attractive investment option. But scale aside, there is no reason similar economic returns will not flow from projects at other locations across the UK.

So as chancellor George Osborne prepares his budget this week he must be reminded that the critical driver for the nation's coffers remains economic activity across the UK.

Wherever you live in the tJK, the most important part ofhis Budget will be how

- and how much - he intends to invest in enhancing infrastructure. History is witness to the fact that is always the wisest pound a nation cali ever spend.

BIAntony Oliver is NCE s editor