Tag Archives: Climate change

Victorian engineers may have given us some amazing railway assets, but did their construction techniques bake in earthworks challenges for us today?

Wet weather makes engineers looking after earthworks on the UK’s railway network nervous – and for good reason. Landslips in cuttings or on embankments present a big risk…

Increased frequency of extreme weather events is taking its toll on rail infrastructure but the industry is collaborating with academia to strengthen assets against future conditions.

Britain’s rail infrastructure is put under intense pressure every day as it carries millions of people to and from their destinations. It is built to…

Climate-related disasters across the world have focused attention on the need for resilient and adaptive infrastructure.

Civil engineers are used to designing and building infrastructure for extremes, not averages. But the definition of “extreme” has shifted in recent years. Even with progress towards net zero, climate change is happening right now…

The climate crisis is a stark reality and UK industries know they must do something about it.

Recent data from consultant GHD’s latest research report – Recovery, Resilience, Reconnection: Designing business for an ever-present state of disruption – shows that 60% of businesses already have net zero targets and intend to…

Getting journalists onto site quickly to ascertain the contributing factors that have led to engineering failures has been central to the success of the insight NCE has delivered over the last 50 years.  I feel fortunate that, at the time of writing, there have been relatively few major civil engineering…

There are opportunities as well as challenges in readying infrastructure to cope with climate change.

Designing infrastructure to ensure that it remains resilient in the face of climate change is becoming more urgent – but effective adaptation involves more than just making it tougher or bigger.  There is increasing awareness that…

Managing surface water in urban areas has the potential to enhance the environment. benefits already seen are just the beginning.

Imagine a future where instead of looking out over a sea of grey roofs, all you can see are meadows – but you are still in a city centre. Maybe it…

Potential flood risks in Scotland will come with a three-day warning following launch of the Scottish Flood Forecast map by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).

According to SEPA, the launch is the biggest change to flood warnings in over a decade and will provide more advance notice to at-risk communities…

Stonehaven: Other factors to blame? I believe it is rash for the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) report to conclude that the cause of the Stonehaven rail crash in August 2020 was due to “shoddy construction” by the contractor. It was probably, however, a major contributor. I have not seen…

Whole life carbon accounting and management are likely to become contractural obligations as a result of carbon commitments made at the COP26 climate summit last year.

This is one of the conclusions of a paper published by a group of civil engineering experts put together by the ICE. The Moving Beyond…