MWH has been appointed by Amey to perform Owner’s Engineer and Project Management Services as part of its £225M Isle of Wight Waste Contract. As part of this contract Amey will be applying for planning permission and an Environmental Permit for a state-of-the-art treatment facility which will include a new mechanical treatment plant and refurbishing the existing advanced thermal treatment plant at a cost of £50M.  


Atkins has signed an agreement to acquire the Projects, Products and Technology segment of US firm EnergySolutions an international nuclear engineering services business, for US$318M (£206M).

Manufacturing orders stabilised slightly compared with last month, but exports are at their lowest for almost three years, according to the latest CBI monthly Industrial Trends Survey. The survey of 458 firms shows that output also recovered, though another small fall is expected in the coming three months. 29% of firms reported that output grew in the three months to November, while 25% said it decreased giving a balance of +4%, from -4% in the three months to October. But manufacturing output is expected to fall again next quarter (-6%) 11% of firms said their export order books were above average, while 40% said they were below, giving a balance of -29%. That was below the long-run average (-20%) and at the lowest level since January 2013 (-29%)

ICE has joined an international coalition that will develop the first set of globally-recognised ethics standards for real-estate and built environment professional organisations. The International Ethics Standards Coalition which was created at the United Nations last year. ICE is the 60th organisation to join the coalition. It is hoped that the new International Ethics Standard will be ready by early 2016.

Kier-owned Mouchel Consulting has won the contract to provide consultancy services for North Yorkshire County Council. The four year, £40M sole provider framework starts in April 2016 and relates to a range of services including estates management, property projects and highways services.

Transport planning specialist, Phil Jones Associates has acquired the majority shareholding in transport modelling firm Multimodal. Established in 2012, Multimodal delivers all elements of microsimulation modelling from concept design testing to fully detailed option modelling and analysis and has undertaken projects for clients such as Jaguar Land Rover and Land Securities. 

Black & Veatch has won a place on the Welsh Government construction consultancy framework. The firm will operate in two areas, or lots. The first is Lot 6, which will focus mainly on flood alleviation; much of this work will be for Natural Resources Wales (NRW). The other would be site supervision, which includes environmental and landscaping clerk-of-work roles that come under Lot 9. NRW’s flood risk management capital programme budget for this four-year framework is £20M per annum; of which five to 10 percent will come through Lot 6 each year.

Skanska and BAM Construct UK have become the first contractors to be BIM 2 accredited using the BSI’s new verification scheme. BSI also said that it is planning to develop a Kitemark for BIM Design and Construction next year, incorporating verification to PAS 1192-2.

Carillion has reported an increase in new orders in the second half of the year with over £1bn worth of new work on the books. In its latest trading statement the company said. Chief executive, Richard Howson predicted construction operating margin across the group would be closer to 3% for 2015. 

Balfour Beatty’s trading statement last week said it will be “net cash positive at the year end” as its Build to Last transformation programme takes effect. The trading statement said: “The Build to Last transformation programme continues to gain traction, as new standardised processes and controls are rolled out across the businesses.The Group has had success in winning new contracts on improved terms; the order book is expected to remain broadly stable in the second half.At the same time the Group remains focused on managing the historic problem projects across the business through to completion. The group expects to be net cash positive at the year end.” Balfour Beatty has also agreed a new £400M credit line with its banks – a reduction in the previous credit facility.

Northern Gas Networks, Northern Powergrid, Yorkshire Water and Northumbrian Water, which together make up Infrastructure North, are due to launch a report today (Monday) which shows they are driving forward economic regeneration through £2bn worth of investment per year. The independent report undertaken by Edge Analytics shows that for every £1 the four companies invest, a ripple effect of 87p additional spend in the region is created. This means that over the next five years, they’ll generate additional investment of £10bn in the north.