Latest news - property, engineering, utilities
Industry News Update - July
1st Jul 2009
Below is a quick update of this week's industry news.
Utility Week
19/06/09
The conservatives would axe the Infrastructure Planning Commission and use the Independent Planning inspectorate to deal with nationally important schemes
• The IPC’s administrative staff of civil servants would be transferred to the inspectorate
• Eon UK chief executive Paul Golby told the forum he was relaxed about the change
Veolia Projects is fifth new supplier- p4
• Veolia Water Projects has become the countries fifth household water supplier
• The transfer to Veolia was part of the sale of Thames Water’s entire non-regulated business
• Veolia Water projects are a part of Veolia Water UK, which also owns Three Valleys, Tendring Hundred, and Folkestone & cover Water
Businesses waste £10 Million a day- p4
• Businesses in Great Britain could cut their water use by one third and save up to £10 million each day in the process, according to sustainable business organisation Envirowise
• In a survey of 420 businesses in May this year, the group found that two-thirds of British businesses did not monitor of manage their water use at all, and only 15% had water saving targets in place
Pioneering system will supply biogas by 2011- p7
• Biogas produced from waste water sludge should be supplying 500 Manchester homes within two years
• The national Grid and United Utilities have begun work on the pioneering project at the Davyhulme wastewater treatment works
• The scheme will cost £4.3 million, anaerobic digestion will be used to produce bio-methane for injection into the local gas grid
EDF: Join green team- p8
• EDF energy has urged the public to ‘do something green for the team’ on the 10th July as it used its status as sustainability partner for the 2012 Olympics to raise awareness of climate change
• EDF has promised ‘a wave of activity’ on green day, which it says will become an annual event
Regeneration & Renewal
29/06/09
Cambridge to pump-prime homes
• Cambribgeshire Horizons is set to use flexibilities to spend almost half it's £29 million public funding to support housing growth.
•The Trumpington Meadows scheme will provide 1200 on the Southern edge of Cambridge.
•The Scheme will also include a new primary school and community amenities
•Work on the scheme, subject to planning permission could start on site early next year
Stop Press
•The Government will not proceed with a national road-user charging scheme if it wins the next election, the new transport secretary said.
•The capacity of londons Olympic Staduim after the games need to be re-examined. The plans to down size the stadium from an 80 000 seat veue to 25 000, will be re visited.
Property Week
29/06/09
Gatwick Spreads Wings
•The controversy surrounding the purchase of Gatwick Airport is likely to attract more attention that Heathrow and fight over it's third runway
•The bidders for Gatwick- Manchester Airports group and global infrastructure partners- have all included plans for a second runway in their proposal to buy the airport from British Airports Authority (BAA)
•However, the proposed site for Gatwick's second runway, Loefield Heath, is also a part of a 240 acre employment area, the largest in Crawley. If second runway is built at the site it will slice the area in to two halves
•Resident and environmental groups have vowed to protest the prosals but businesses are beginning to see the benefites that a second runway could bring to the area
Puma Claws back UK Shops
• Puma is to close all but one of it's UK stores because of tough trading
the sports wear brand, which only began opening most of it's UK shops in the last two years, has hired Kitchen LA Frenais Morgan to dispose of all its UK stores except the shop on Lonond's Carnaby Street.
Puma, Based in Herzogenaurach, Germany, signed up for a raft of store in large regional shopping centres during 2007/08, including Westfield London and Belfast's Victoria Square.
