Author Archives: Ty Byrd

A dearth of relevant up-to-date knowledge about one of construction’s principal structural materials threatened to hinder the biggest ever programme to rebuild and revitalise England’s many concrete roads.

A dearth of relevant up-to-date knowledge about one of construction’s principal structural materials threatened to hinder the biggest ever programme to rebuild…

The first reconstruction scheme under National Highways’ Concrete Roads programme is a challenging testbed.

National Highways can hardly have chosen a more difficult project with which to kick start the reconstruction element of its programme to rebuild and revitalise England’s concrete roads. The 8km A11 dual carriageway between Spooner Row and…

An exploratory tunnel driven ahead of the main Brenner Base Tunnel bores through the Alps is helping contractors meet the challenges in building the world’s longest underground railway corridor.

Tunnelling through robust rock with complex fault zones – fractures between two blocks of rock – is characterising construction of the Brenner…

Cornwall’s A30 improvement scheme is aiming to not just deliver a dual carriageway, but also a better environment around the 14km stretch of new road.

Significant levels of sustainability, environmental mitigation and ecological enhancement are marking out the A30 improvement scheme in Cornwall as something special. Never mind that the…

Covid-19 and the Ukraine conflict are the kind of unforeseen events that can impact heavily on the successful planning and development of infrastructure. They serve to emphasise that while projections and forecasts are all very well, nothing is certain.

Good infrastructure policy, therefore, is that which accepts the possibility of uncertainty…

Mike Winney died in 2007. This is written by his close former colleague Ty Byrd.

Mike was a highly experienced reporter with many fine stories to his name but the pinnacle of his achievement did not involve words, it was a drawing. A drawing that illustrated much better than any…

Aco’s holistic approach to water management is proving increasingly valuable as an antidote to climate change and Britain’s diminishing biodiversity. 

Management of surface water is the specialty of the Aco Group, widely acknowledged as being among the world’s top suppliers of storm water control and sustainable drainage systems.  Extensive investment in…

Modern methods of construction are about more than modular components and Laing O’Rourke is working hard to realise the full potential of the approach.

The latest iterations of modern methods of construction (MMC) bring together a number of different themes and practices with the aim of creating a high productivity, high…

Failure in April 1978 of the Willow Island cooling tower in Wheeling, West Virginia – still considered the worst ever construction disaster in the United States – was perhaps the most significant event during my time on NCE.  Fifty one men died when concrete failed during the tower’s 29th lift,…

Material passports could enable highway authorities, among others, to construct more for their money at a much reduced carbon count by facilitating use of “preloved” components.

Imagine you have a bridge to build on a tight budget. You visit a digital materials exchange to find a similar bridge that is scheduled…