Comments for New Civil Engineer

Comment on Consultation launched on plan to build new Bristol A4 relief road on disused railway by Bill Addington

Bill Addington — Thu, 31 Aug 2023 06:37:15 +0000

Interesting article but like so many in NCE these days would benefit from accompanying plans or sketches to illustrate what is being described.

Comment on Long term vision and collaboration will be critical to the future of nuclear infrastructure by Adrian Keith Pope

Adrian Keith Pope — Tue, 29 Aug 2023 13:46:30 +0000

Reintroducing nuclear into the UK is well past time. We used to have expertise in the field but then threw it away.
Most importantly, though, what form of nuclear power are we looking at ? Whenever I have seen a politician, or civil servant, talking about nuclear, they are always talking about the same materials that could be used to make nuclear weapons. The US developed a working test bed for molten salt thorium power in the 70’s but dropped it once they realised they could not make bombs – then they classified it of course. It can be made totally failsafe. The UK test bed apparently has an ice plug, being kept frozen by electricity, and when they go home for the weekend they just turn off the power and the plug eventually melts, dropping the molten salt into safe dispersed storage pans.
It would be nice if someone more knowledgeable than me wrote an article about this in the NCE and started a campaign for safe nuclear.

Comment on All planning consents now granted for £2.1bn electricity ‘superhighway’ between England and Scotland by awbarron@barronwright.co.uk.qsi

awbarron@barronwright.co.uk.qsi — Tue, 29 Aug 2023 09:50:05 +0000

This is a blatant attempt to steal Scotland’s renewable resources, just as was done with our oil. Another reason why Scotland must regain its independence as soon as possible. No doubt they’ll be coming for our vast water resources too.

Comment on Replacement bearings arrive for next phase of Wandsworth Bridge safety repairs by Michael Gowring

Michael Gowring — Fri, 25 Aug 2023 14:02:50 +0000

Bridge constructed by Holloway Bros at the beginning of WW2. Ian Gowring was Agent. I believe Jack Hamilton of Mott’s was RE.

Comment on ‘Structural irregularities’ in closed Harlow school likely from contractor issues, not modular methods by Sydney Lenssen

Sydney Lenssen — Thu, 24 Aug 2023 16:45:40 +0000

What a sad mess and dangerous

Comment on ‘Structural irregularities’ in closed Harlow school likely from contractor issues, not modular methods by Sydney Lenssen

Sydney Lenssen — Thu, 24 Aug 2023 16:44:55 +0000

What a sad mess, and dangerous

Comment on ‘Structural irregularities’ in closed Harlow school likely from contractor issues, not modular methods by Jeffrey Smith

Jeffrey Smith — Wed, 23 Aug 2023 07:13:32 +0000

I am hardly surprised that the DfE is reluctant to allow the NCE to get its “paws” on the report, what with there no doubt being legal issues. etc. to resolve. However, it would be good if the DfE could soon issue a brief statement indicating the areas of general concern (e.g. they could be doubts over interconnection of modules) so that all can learn from this sorry saga ASAP rather than us just hypothesising.

Comment on Norwegian steel truss rail bridge collapses as Storm Hans wreaks havoc for nation by Robert Burgess

Robert Burgess — Tue, 22 Aug 2023 17:25:08 +0000

I don’t doubt that this collapse was caused by scour failure. But why pin the cause of that on to climate change? The bridge that collapsed was built as recently as 1957. The earlier bridge – originally a rail bridge, converted to a road bridge when the newer one was in operation – was built in 1895. Yet the newer one has collapsed, not the older. If climate change alone was responsible you’d expect the older one to be more affected. I think something else is going on here, perhaps the design of the foundations. Have we forgotten something in the intervening 60 years?

Comment on NIC chair argues that maintaining a private water sector is the ‘right approach’ by mike muller

mike muller — Tue, 22 Aug 2023 06:58:47 +0000

It might be useful, for a start, to review the standards and priorities that were inherited from the European Union. Some of them reflect the interests of the service providers rather than the service users. This was supported by an unholy alliance between service providers and environmental lobbyists. Many of the provision of the EU’s water framework directives are unlikely to be met by the member countries and this is one area in which a review would be justified. As an example, Thames Tideway provided huge benefits for the corporates involved but it has yet to be demonstrated that it was the best way to use scarce public resources.

Comment on NIC chair argues that maintaining a private water sector is the ‘right approach’ by Ian Collins

Ian Collins — Mon, 21 Aug 2023 16:40:03 +0000

The country simply couldn’t afford to buy back and renationalise water companies. Water company’s operating licences could be withdrawn through statutory mechanisms but this would be an extremely lengthy process and could be hugely detrimental to water company share price, dividend and pensions investments and would impact investment in the network whilst each company worked its way out. Yet, and has been proven by Thames, the current model is not sustainable, so something has to change. Do we pay the true cost of water, like other utilities, I guess we will shortly find out either directly through increasing water bills or indirectly through taxation setaside to subsidise the model.