July constructsteel newsletter

Arcadis has announced that tender price inflation in the UK will be between 8% and 10% this year, following initial estimates of 5-6%. Ukraine war is singlehandedly responsible for adding a further 3-5% to the costs of most construction projects; for projects with a greater exposure to the steel market, including the logistics sector and some infrastructure sectors, the extra inflation will be even higher, ranging from 5 to 8%. In the meantime, an index for new nonresidential building construction in the US – a measure of what contractors say they would charge to erect five types of nonresidential buildings – rose 0.4% for the month of May and 19.3% from a year earlier.

Joe Biden’s proposal to try to curb the runup in gas and diesel prices by suspending federal motor fuels taxes for 90 days— and use “other revenues” to offset the hit to the Highway Trust Fund— has sparked criticism from construction and engineering groups. A key concern for construction and engineering groups is the proposal’s impact on the Highway Trust Fund, which draws on income from the gas and diesel taxes.

The number of construction market and regulations new homes completed in England in the first quarter of 2022 was down by nearly 11% on the previous quarter. 40,720 new homes were completed between January and March this year, compared to 45,610 between October and December last year – a drop of 10.7%. However, the number of new homes started did see an increase in England – 42,820 homes were started in Q1 2022, up 18.8% compared with 36,030 in Q4 2021.

The volume of product sold by Britain’s builders merchants in April 2022 was 15% down on April 2021. April 2022 was the first month since January 2021 that yearon-year volume sales have been down. Money taken through builders merchants cash registers was down just 0.9% in April, year on year, but with price inflation running at a whopping 17.0% for their merchandise, a lot less product went out of the door – 15.1% less, to be precise.

Chinese state-owned enterprises plan to invest some $1.5 trillion in nontraditional infrastructure projects between 2021 and 2025 as the government acts to sustain economic growth. Senior state-asset regulators said that the money would be spent on more than 1,300 “new infrastructure” schemes, meaning facilities that make use of emerging technologies such as 5G, AI and the internet of things.

Work will start on the construction of a 55km railway line connecting Manila with the city of Calamba in the Philippines following a US$4.3 billion loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The project includes the construction of 18 stations designed to provide safe access for all, and a connecting tunnel to allow the operation of direct trains from Calamba to stations on the future Metro Manila Subway system.

A consortium led by Saudi Arabian energy company ACWA Power is to build a US$1.5 billion onshore wind farm in Egypt that will be capable of providing electricity for over a million households. Described as an important milestone in the decarbonization of Egypt’s energy sector, the facility will have a maximum capacity of 1.1GW and will feature wind turbines with blade heights of up to 220m.

Cityzenith, a Chicago-based digital twin platform, announced partnering with the Los Angeles branch of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Better Buildings Challenge to help construct a digital twin, or virtual replica, of a section of the city to help make its buildings more sustainable and reduce carbon emissions. They provide cities with a digital twin free of charge, allowing potentially costly decarbonisation efforts to be tested virtually before a data-driven decision is made in the real world.

ProjectPay, a building and construction industry payments platform, has partnered with digital product creators Komodo to build a carbon emissions calculator for the construction sector. The calculator is said to break down Scope 3 embodied carbon emissions across the supply chain to give contractors a better understanding of their environmental impact and how to reduce it.

Colorado-based zero-carbon research company Prometheus Materials is using algae to create a greener binding agent. The mixture was developed under a Department of Defense grant by a team of scientists and engineers at the University of Colorado Boulder and will be used to construct a data centre. Prometheus Materials championed the technology after announcing the close of an $8 million Series A funding round led by Sofinnova Partners, a life sciences venture capital firm; additional participants included the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund and architecture and design firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.

British company ISG recorded £1.6Bn order book, latest results for the year to December 31 2021 show pre-tax profits more than doubled at £19m from £8.9m and revenue up 10% to £2.2bn. The firm is no looking forward to further recovery this year on the back of a record £1.6bn forward order book, after maintaining its zero-debt status and improving its net cash position by 18% to £120m.

HyperTunnel, a British tunnelling start-up, has received an unspecified amount of investment from French construction group Vinci. HyperTunnel will use Vinci’s money to help pay for trialling its ‘swarm bot’ technology. The idea is to build tunnels using a combination of horizontal directional drilling, artificial intelligence and 3D printing. The proposed method involves injecting the lining of a tunnel into the ground and then removing the waste using a swarm of small autonomous robotic vehicles.

The Boring Co. inched past another milestone, when the Las Vegas City Council unanimously approved an agreement with the Elon Musk-owned company. The deal permits Boring to build, own and operate underground tunnels beneath the Strip. The company will fund the project completely with its own money, though private stakeholders — such as hotels — will pay for the stops on their property.

Mace, UK-based construction company, has launched an annual “ambition fund”, set up to back innovations from within the business and from third-party suppliers. The fund will see Mace invest about £1m each year in innovations designed to make the construction industry greener and more productive. Establishing the ambition fund is part of Mace’s 2026 Business Strategy, which sets out its ambition to invest more than 2.5 per cent of its annual revenue each year in new products, technology and processes. Link Europe: Modulaire Group – the Europe and Asia Pacific based modular space specialist – has confirmed a strong performance for the first quarter of 2022, largely driven by acquisitions. For the three months to 31 March 2022, the Group delivered total revenues of €370m, up 16% versus the prior year including acquisitions. Prior to acquisitions, total revenue grew by 9% driven by growth in both modular space leasing and sales.

Nexii Building Solutions, Canadian modular construction startup, has raised additional CAD$155 million to become ‘rising star’ in modular construction. Founded in late 2018, Nexii became the fastest company in Canadian history to reach a valuation of more than CAD$1 billion, doing so in 31 months. Nexii’s patented building system involves the mass production of prefabricated panels for use in walls, floors, and roofs in an off-site factory, followed by on-site assembly. Besides software, the company relies on augmented reality to review project assemblies prior to physical construction.