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CONTENTS 31.12.09-07.01.10
NewCivilEngineer
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New Civil Engineer lst Floor,GreaterLondonHouse HampsteadRoad,LondonNWl 7EJ EDITORIALENQUIRIES Tel: (020) 7728 4544 (fax4666) Email: [email protected] EDITOR1AntonyOliver (020)77284541 antony.oliver DEPUTYEDITDR1JackieWhitelaw (020)77284542 jackie.whitelaw CONTENTEDITOR1MarkHansford (020)77284543 mark.hansford CHIEFsus EDITOR1AndrewBolton (020)77284537 andy.bolton FEATURESEDITOR1AlexandraWynne (020)77284540 alexandra.wynne SENIORREPORTER1EdOwen (020)77284545 ed.owen REPORTER1JoStimpson (020)77284544 jo.stimpson ADVERTISING
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31.12.09-07.01.10 NEWCIVil ENGINEER3le 1 8 JAN.20tO
05
NEWS
Cumbria floods
United Utilities facing mass legal action over Cumbria floods
20
FEATURE
Tsunami rebuild
Fouryearsafterthe BoxingDay tsunami,communitiesarebeing rebuiltbetter.
22
FUTURE
Edinburgh"s Royal Museum Complexstructuralwork is underwayto createa new entrancefoyer.
Alsoin this issue
06 News
Engineers defend approach to winter maintenance
News analysis
Tube Lines' Dean Finch talks to NCE
Letters
Scour inspections, plant safety, Channel Tunnel
16
08 News
VT Group pushing for Mouchel takeover
18
10 News
Tube Lines ready for war with LU
26 .CENews
Engineers to probe global water shortage challenges
Comment
AntonyOliver
"What will ail this politicalbattling mean for civilengineersl"
2010 - opportunities ordespairforcivilengineers
Welcome to a new decade -whatever it's called. The question of course is whether 2010will tum out to be the year of opportu- nit y or the year of despair for civil engineers.
While there are no crystal halls there are a few certainties.
We know that the banking crisis hangover in the shape of a f178bn public spending deficit and eye-wateringly large public debt will be with us for much of this decade.
And we know that the forthcoming General Election will dominate the first half of 2010. Regardless of outcome, it will inevitably shape the politicallandscape of the next 10years.
As we are already seeing in the pre-elec- tion announcements this week, whoever is in charge will find balancing the nation's books and aspirations their biggest challenge.
There will be no easy answers. But with health, education and social policies still at the top of the agenda, what will all this political battling mean for civil engineers?
Well the public spending deficitwill take years and a huge amount of public sector spending cuts to whittle away and so will have a substantial impact on the amount of cash available to maintain the national realm.
This will mean in alllikelihood 20%to 30%
cuts in spending on local authority highways maintenance and environmental services and similar sized cuts on national roads and delays to many other major projects.
The need to contrai and substantially reduce public borrowing over the next decade will also see major project investment in areas such as rail, roads, energy and flood defence deferred if not cancelled.
So big challenges ahead but it is not all gloom. There are, for example, signs that the UK will very soon emerge froIDrecession.
While this will certainly not see champagne corks popping it will at least give optimism that the controversial economic stimulus policy of investing public cash in major infra- structure projects is at last bearing fruit.
And the need to rein in public spending and boost the effectiveness of every public pound spent must also represent a signifi- cant opportunity for our market. No local authority or national agency can afford the status quo and all will be looking for help and ide as to deliver more with less.
Then there's energy. Whether renewable, nuclear, clean coal or new efficient gas, there is now no doubt that this decade must see new investment and construction of generation capacity.
And as the economy recovers we should also start to see an increasing amount of private finance becoming available to invest in major infrastructure projects.
So all in all we can probably expect the next decade to be an interesting one.
Whether we move forward in 2010 under Brown, Cameron or coalition, your challenge is to ensure that it is indeed also filled with great opportunity for civil engineers.
