THE imminent departure of David Higgins as chief executive of Network Rail has come as a shock to many people in the rail industry, but Network Rail insiders are pointing out that he was never expected to stay in the job until the end of the new control period, CP5, [...]

The European Investment Bank (EIB), the world’s largest public financial institution, has announced that, effective immediately, it will no longer finance most coal-, lignite- and oil-fired power stations in an effort to help Europe meet its climate targets. The announcement comes on the heels of a similar announcement by the World [...]

Developer Minerva has finally got the go-ahead for a 1m sq ft mixed-use scheme at the Ram Brewery site in Wandsworth, London. The developer had to scale-back plans and abandon designs for two residential towers after objections from English Heritage and the Health and Safety Executive. Wandsworth planners have now [...]

Det norske oljeselskap ASA has, as partner in PL 265 (20 percent), explored a potential on the basement high to the west of the main fault and to the west of the Johan Sverdrup field. Exploration well 16/2-18 S, the Cliffhanger North prospect, did not find sandstone reservoir from the Jurassic in [...]

Leading British renewable energy company RES has today welcomed the Government’s decision to grant development consent for its North Blyth Biomass Power Station, located at Battleship Wharf in Northumberland’s Blyth Estuary. Once operational the 100MW power station will be able to generate low carbon electricity to power the equivalent of over [...]

The Government has green lighted plans for a £250m biomass power station on the Northumberland coast. Hertfordshire-based renewable energy company RES is now tendering for the EPC contract to build the wood-fuelled plant at Battleship Wharf in Northumberland’s Blyth Estuary. Once operational the 100MW power station will be able to [...]

Today is the second day of the of Network Rail’s National Track Plant Exhibition at Long Marston in Warwickshire. The exhibition is ‘live’ for the first time, with suppliers taking advantage of the site’s rail-connectedness to show off the kinds of plant they have never been able to deliver by [...]

DOF Subsea Norway, a specialist subsea solutions provider, has been awarded a contract by Teekay Petrojarl Production AS in Norway for its newbuild FPSO. The scope of work includes mooring pre-installation, tow-out and hook-up work for Teekay Petrojarl Production’s new FPSO, which will be installed on the BG-operated Knarr field [...]

Funding for a Crossrail station at Woolwich has been confirmed by TfL and the DfT. The procurement process for the station fit-out will now go ahead, with an invitation to tender expected in late 2013 and work starting in 2014. The station will be operational when Crossrail services start in [...]

Network Rail has released new pictures of the factory train that will allow it to electrify the Great Western Main Line far more efficiently and quickly than any previous scheme. The High Output Plant System (HOPS), manufactured by Windhoff Bahn- und Anlagentechnik GmbH, will build electrical infrastructure as it travels [...]

Offshore technology provider AGR Enhanced Drilling, via its subsidiary Ocean Riser Systems, has entered into a NOK120m (USD20m) Letter of Intent (LOI) together with Statoil to deliver the next-generation EC-Drill® Managed Pressure Drilling system. This latest contract will replace a purchase order made last year, when Statoil joined with Norway-based [...]

After raising £130 million (€151 million) in an IPO, the UK’s first solar fund with institutional backing has begun trading on the London Stock Exchange. The fund, Bluefield Solar Income Fund Ltd, focuses on large-scale agricultural and industrial solar assets. According to James Armstrong, a managing partner of investment advisor Bluefield [...]