Balfour, Fluor & NABTU: Top 5 Construction Stories This Week

FM Conway’s Sustainable Answer to Low-Carbon Motorways

UK-focused infrastructure and engineering firm FM Conway has showcased sustainable road construction on the M4, one of the UK’s busiest motorways.

In a first-of-its-kind project, FM Conway reduced emissions from the project by 630 tonnes of CO2e - equal to around half of the standard design. FM Conway used low-emission machinery, innovative paving techniques and low-carbon materials to achieve the result.

Andy Weymouth, framework delivery manager at FM Conway, emphasised how collaboration with its partners was central to the project’s success.

Top 10: Construction Drones

Construction drones are unmanned aircraft used to capture aerial imagery, measurements and sensor data across a building or infrastructure project. 

Early construction applications focused on photography and basic surveying, but improvements in GPS, photogrammetry, LiDAR, thermal imaging and onboard autonomy have expanded their role. 

Today, teams use drones to map land, calculate stockpile volumes, compare as-built work with plans, monitor progress and inspect hazardous structures without putting workers at unnecessary risk. 

One company dominates in this arena.  DJI represents around 70% to over 90% of all drones deployed on commercial and private construction sites globally for surveying, aerial mapping and progress tracking.  

From Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) mapping to autonomous inspection, these are the leading construction drones for surveying, progress tracking and site safety.

Vestas, BMS, FairWind, Collett & Sons Giant Turbine Build

Vestas has fitted the UK's most powerful onshore wind turbine to date, a 6.2MW EnVentus machine, at the site in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. 

The machine is the first of 44 units due to be erected across the 308MW project. 

Once complete, Sanquhar II will rank as the UK's fourth-largest onshore wind farm, sitting alongside the nine-turbine, 32MW Sanquhar I site that CWP and Vestas built together in 2018.

Three Key Changes to Note Among Fluor’s Board of Directors

Texas-based engineering and construction giant, Fluor, has welcomed a third new addition to its directors board in the space of five months.

The company appointed James F. Caldwell Jr, a former US Navy Admiral, to the Board's Audit and Governance Committees, bringing the total to 11.

Why NABTU and BlackRock’s Partnership is Pivotal For Trades

If ever a clear signal was needed that the future of work in construction is shifting, NABTU’s collaboration with BlackRock is it.

They have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to support infrastructure growth in the US and provide more opportunities for its construction workforce.

The MoU is also meant to strengthen supply chain resilience and help with long-term economic development linked to AI and energy infrastructure investment.

The collaboration will see NABTU capitalise on BlackRock’s AI Infrastructure Partnership with Microsoft, offering the US construction industry more opportunities.