There’s a particular stretch of the DART line, just south of Dun Laoghaire, where the track runs so close to Dublin Bay that on a rough day the spray comes right over the wall onto the platform. It’s one of the most scenic commuter journeys anywhere in Europe, and also, [...]
A round-up of July 2026 across UK rail, construction, water, renewables, defence, marine and data centres, and the materials and standards that underpin them. This issue covers the month to 27 July 2026. July was the month the UK’s industrial base and its infrastructure ambitions collided in public. The government [...]
Most people who encounter GRP never know it is there. It does not look unusual. It does not announce itself. It is simply the platform you walk across, the handrail you hold, the fencing line you pass on the way into work. GRP has been quietly embedded in UK infrastructure [...]
GRP has been used in UK infrastructure for over fifty years. It is on railway lines, in water treatment plants, at nuclear facilities, and on offshore platforms. And yet the same misunderstandings come up in conversations with engineers, contractors, and procurement teams year after year. Here are five of the [...]
Question 1 GRP rebar is significantly lighter than steel rebar. Roughly how much lighter is it? A) Around 25% lighter B) Around 50% lighter C) Around 75% lighter D) About the same weight Question 2 True or false: an angle grinder cuts through GRP palisade fencing quickly and cleanly, just [...]
The standard pitch for GRP goes something like this: it is corrosion resistant, lightweight, and non-conductive. All true. But it does not quite capture what GRP actually does when it is put somewhere genuinely hostile. So here is a more direct version. Take the worst environments a material can face. [...]
BREEAM Infrastructure is a sustainability assessment framework that is distinct from BREEAM New Construction and operates across a different project base. Where BREEAM New Construction applies to buildings, BREEAM Infrastructure covers roads, railways, flood defence, water and wastewater infrastructure, tunnels, bridges, and utilities projects. For engineers and project sustainability managers [...]
Network Rail has committed to reducing its operational carbon footprint by 50 per cent by 2030 and to achieving net zero by 2050. Those commitments are not confined to energy procurement and traction power. They extend into the infrastructure materials chosen for station upgrades, lineside access systems, anti-trespass installations, and [...]
Public sector infrastructure procurement has changed. The Construction Playbook, published by the Cabinet Office and embedded across central government contracting since 2020, has established whole-life value, carbon reduction, and supply chain transparency as non-negotiable criteria in how public construction contracts are assessed and awarded. For suppliers of structural and access [...]
The UK water sector entered AMP8 in April 2025 carrying an obligation it cannot defer. In 2020, water companies collectively committed to achieving net zero operational carbon emissions by 2030, making AMP8 the last five-year regulatory cycle before that deadline falls. With Ofwat directing a record £96 billion of investment [...]
