Kier completes DfMA prison
Kier has completed the construction of the £253m HMP Five Wells in Wellingborough using a component-led Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) approach. The 60,000 sq m prison incorporates 15,183 precast panels and more than 60,000 sub-components across 13 buildings. Around 80% of the design has been standardised and is applicable to future projects.
Rigging team ‘re-meshes’ London Zoo’s Snowdon Aviary
A specialist rigging team has been working to ‘re-mesh’ London Zoo’s Snowdon Aviary before it reopens as a monkey enclosure this summer. Designed by architect Cedric Price, structural engineer Frank Newby and Lord Snowdon in 1962, it was pioneering in its use of a tubular aluminium tetrahedral framework and high-tensile steel cables for support.
Wates to bring 125 more women into industry by 2025
Wates has launched a programme to bring 125 more women into construction by 2025 via four employment schemes, each targeting a different part of the business. It will work with Women into Construction (WiC) to provide training and employment for women at all stages of their career.
Pictured is Charlie Hargreaves, community investment manager at Wates Residential.
Willmott Dixon trials net-zero pod for schools
Willmott Dixon has developed an off-grid pod that can be a temporary or permanent net zero learning space at schools. Called the ‘Now or Never pod’ after Willmott Dixon’s sustainability strategy, the timber-frame pod is powered by eight 450W solar roof panels and is designed to meet Passivhaus retrofit standards in terms of the fabric, airtightness and thermal efficiency.
Brompton plans bicycle factory on stilts
UK-based folding bicycle manufacturer Brompton has unveiled plans to build a new factory on stilts on a 40ha floodplain outside Ashford, Kent. The facility would open in 2027 and eventually be capable of producing more than 200,000 bikes a year. The surrounding area would be converted into a 24ha public nature reserve, with the floodplain restored to wetland.
Stepnell and Tarmac build ‘super-smooth’ underground test track
Contractor Stepnell and Tarmac have built a ‘super-smooth’ 2.7km stretch of automotive test track in Northamptonshire for Aero Research Partners (ARP). The Catesby Tunnel is in an old Victorian railway tunnel. Tarmac laid a specially designed asphalt surface which it claimed is smoother than many Formula
One race circuits.
Dr Hayaatun Sillem joins Laing O’Rourke board
Laing O’Rourke has appointed Dr Hayaatun Sillem, CEO of the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering Foundation, to its board.
Dr Sillem has been named as one of the ‘Inspiring 50 Women in Tech’ and one of the most influential women in engineering. She chairs the UK government’s Business Innovation Forum.
Image: Teri Pengilley
