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What can contractors gain from a sustainability strategy and why is it now a vital business imperative? Abigroup, one of Australia's leading and most diverse national contractors, has developed a sustainability strategy suited to its industry, workforce and business. World Highways discusses this and other issues with Sarah Marshall, Abigroup's national environment and sustainability manager. In the past a responsible business was viewed as one that performed strongly within legal boundaries to maximise pro

The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) has drastically changed the way governments and the private sector is prepared to procure vital infrastructure projects, says Philip Davies Governments have responded to the GFC by focusing on long term investment in transport infrastructure and shorter term stimulus packages to kick-start economies. As these projects proceed, the focus will shift to maintaining and achieving maximum benefits from assets and future infrastructure funding. The Public Private Partnership (PP

German company WEIRO has helped to introduce new microsurfacing technology to Estonia to upgrade its roads Estonia's rapidly growing road network requires modern and cost effective road surface rehabilitation technologies. As a result of technological and economical evaluations of the Estonian road network, it has been stated that repairs and upgrading of the existing network will remain the first priority, especially the repair of ruts, which represent a major problem in Estonia. The aim of a trial run of

In Brazil, concrete pavers from Wirtgen are being used to improve sections of the BR-101 highway as well as to construct concrete safety barriers. The use of these machines is of note as it is the first time concrete paving has been used on a federal road in Brazil. The 1st Army Engineering Division of the Brazilian Army is carrying out three of the eight North Eastern sections, as the construction work had to be speeded up project because the road is deemed crucial to the country's economy. Two Wirtgen SP8

The tender process for the new €2.35 billion Forth Bridge is starting, with Transport Scotland expected to award the contract early in 2010. The project is due for completion in 2016, while the companies expected to bid for the project include Balfour Beatty, Laing O'Rourke, Morgan Est and Vinci. Calls are still being made by some for the government to reinstate the original plan, which called for a wider bridge but would have cost more than twice as much.

Concrete paving machines from Guntert & Zimmerman have been carrying out important surface repair jobs around the world. In Belgium a paver from the firm recently completed a high speed road repair, while at Qatar's New Doha International airport one of the firm's S850 units has carried out a major apron paving contract. The new airport is being designed to cope with large passenger aircraft such as the Airbus A380 and the Sinohydro-Gamuda-WCT joint venture was awarded the contract to build two runways, thr

The latest technology continues to improve the quality of concrete paving while contractors are also benefiting from more adaptable equipment - Mike Woof reports For many concrete paving applications, versatility is required rather than a high production rate. Leading paver manufacturers such as GOMACO, Power Curbers, Terex and Wirtgen all offer high mobility machines that can be adjusted to cope with an array of tasks. For a contractor, the advantage of these smaller pavers is that they can be configured q

The latest compaction technology offers users the benefits of more accurate performance by combining heat detection and compaction metering with GPS In Europe several leading manufacturers now offer more accurate compaction technology, with Ammann, BOMAG, Dynapac and Hamm all having developed advanced control packages. The technologies vary widely but the advantages are broadly similar, with smart compaction allowing the user a greater degree of control over the compaction process and delivering major reduc