Horizon Nuclear Power has appointed a former Laing O’Rourke bid director as programme director for the planned Wylfa Newydd nuclear power station.

Civil engineer Carl Devlin brings a wealth of experience leading major infrastructure projects and programmes in both operational and greenfield environments.

Most recently he spent nearly three years as programme engineer for London Underground’s subsurface upgrade.

Before that he worked for Capita, Laing O’Rourke as bid director and held senior project and programme roles on the Westfield Stratford shopping centre and Terminal 5 projects.

Devlin and his team will be responsible for developing and constructing the Anglesey nuclear power station.

He said: “There’s been great progress made to date but there are still many challenges ahead and I look forward to using my industry experience to lead the programme department in ensuring the successful development of the project.”

The appointment comes as Horizon continues to progress its Wylfa Newydd project, with its chosen reactor technology – the UK ABWR – having moved onto the final step in its regulatory assessment and preparations underway for its second round of public consultation.

The company also continues to grow both at its headquarters in Gloucester and on-site at Anglesey, with a new HQ opening early next year and the site office set to double in size in the coming months.

As CIRIA launch their new Sustainable Urban Drainage Manual (C753) this week we’re keen to hear how your project designs are considering SUDs and Water Sensitive Urban Drainage. 

CIRIA’s new guidance focuses on the cost-effective planning, design, construction, operation and maintenance of SuDS. Schemes incorporating SuDS recognise the value of rainwater, seeking to capture, use, delay or absorb it, rather than reject it as a nuisance or problem. Sustainable drainage delivers multiple benefits. As well as delivering high quality drainage whilst supporting areas to cope better with severe rainfall, SuDS can also improve the quality of life in developments and urban spaces by making them more vibrant, visually attractive, sustainable and resilient to change by improving urban air quality, regulating building temperatures, reducing noise and delivering recreation and education opportunities. 

The SuDS Manual (C697), first published by CIRIA in 2007, is the one-stop-shop for delivering SuDS and it is this guidance that has been significantly revised. The updated SuDS Manual (now C753) incorporates the very latest research, industry practice and guidance. In delivering SuDS there is a requirement to meet the framework set out by the Government’s ‘non statutory technical standards’ and the revised SuDS Manual complements these but goes further to support the cost effective delivery of multiple benefits. Copies of the new guidance (C753) can be accessed from here.

Further information on SUDs is also available from Susdrain (www.susdrain.org) which provides guidance, case studies, facts sheets, videos, galleries, blogs and other resources to underpin the delivery of SuDS including CIRIA’s Sustainable water management for schools guidance.

This winter Welsh Government will be launching their “New interim standards for SuDS” which will align delivery with the Government’s Water Strategy aspirations. CEW will be facilitating a number of events for the industry so if you’d like to register your interest in joining these workshops please contact the CEW team for more information.

Head of London Underground Crossrail and chair of the Constructing Excellence procurement group, Charles Mills, calls for more innovative procurement methods.

Many researchers into construction comment on the inherent conservatism and lack of innovation in the industry. Practices and methods are slow to change and develop; what has changed in a generation? The Latham and Egan reports of 20 years ago identified hurdles to efficient working that still remain firmly in the path of progress today. Contrast this to manufacturing where the race is on to lead the so-called fourth industrial revolution. The first was harnessing coal and steam; the second, the introduction of the production line; the third the use of automation. The fourth will see factories transformed by digital technology.

Why has innovation not transformed the construction industry in the same way that it has manufacturing?  Isn’t it because in construction innovation is not rewarded? Perhaps even worse than that, the traditional tendering and procurement methods actively discourage innovation. The supply chain offers only to build what the client proposes; it is not incentivised to offer alternatives. To offer an alternative bid is a costly venture with a limited chance of success and there is no guarantee that the bidder’s novel approach will not be plundered by the client without acknowledgement. Thus with only the client engaged in original thinking, the innovative potential of the vast bulk of the industry is completely untapped.

If however a procurement method was employed that rewarded innovative thinking then the intellectual potential of the supply chain could be mobilised to drive the industry forward. This is precisely what LU’s Innovative Contractor Engagement (ICE) process does.

ICE was used to procure the £ ½ bn design and build contract for Bank Station capacity upgrade scheme.

This is not hot news, the contract was awarded in 2013 but nevertheless the success of the method is worth reflecting on:-

• 45% increase in the benefit to cost ratio
• 19% increase in Journey Time Social Benefit over the 60 year project life
• 10% (£61m)reduction in EFC
• 5 week reduction in station closure time for construction (saving £35m in social dis-benefit)

Since then LU employed the same process to award the £40m Bakerloo Line Link in 2014, a passenger tunnel that is a component of the Crossrail project, enhancing value by 40% and demonstrating that the methodology holds good for smaller schemes also.

It is initiatives like these that must be employed widely if the Construction 2025 target of a 30% reduction in costs is achieved.

We at the CE Procurement Group believe that the Construction 2025 target of a 30% reduction in construction costs cannot be achieved without wholesale abandonment of the traditional procurement models.  In acknowledgement of this, Innovation was the subject of the Constructing Excellence members forum on June 10^th; you can find Don Ward’s report on the day by following this link