AECOM, the world’s biggest engineering firm, plans to spend billions of dollars on acquisitions amid expectations for growing U.S. funding of road, rail, water and energy projects, Chief Executive Officer Michael Burke said. “We’ll look to be the largest infrastructure firm in the world -- both construction and design,” Burke said Monday in an interview at Bloomberg’s Los Angeles bureau. “I’ve got to spend $3.5 billion, and we think it’ll be spent on good, solid strategic acquisitions. We will grow organically also.” Infrastructure spending by the U.S. government is likely to grow because it’s one of the few priorities shared…

Getting the first three steel girders for the new Kawarau Falls Bridge to Queenstown, from Napier, wasn’t an easy task, says NZ Transport Agency Senior Project Manager Phil Dowsett. The girders, weighing in at more than 22 tonnes, were fabricated  in Napier by Eastbridge  , a firm which specialise in bridge steel fabrication. “The original plan was to transport the girders by rail but the 14 November, 2016 earthquake left the main rail trunk line impassable between Kaikoura and Blenheim,” says Phil Dowsett. “The McConnell Dowell team needed to find another way to get the steel girders to Queenstown efficiently,…

Anglo-Australian mining titan Rio Tinto announced the award of a US$45 million to the New Zealand civil construction firm Fulton Hogan. The contract, which is for the construction of a dam at the Amrun bauxite project in Cape York, Queensland, was announced last Wednesday. The project will have Fulton Hogan’s Queensland division constructing a 10.9-gigaliter (2.9 billion gallon) dam as well as an impoundment area, embankment, intake infrastructure, spillway, fishway, and access corridor. A name for the dam has already been selected as well – “Arraw,” chosen by the area’s Traditional Owners, which is the native population’s name for the…

Leading New Zealand civil engineering and resource company, Fulton Hogan, has been recognised with a major international award for innovation.Fulton Hogan picked up the Premier Award in the Innovation Achiever’s Award category as part of the UK based Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) International Innovation and Research Awards, announced in London earlier this week. Fulton Hogan, New Zealand Chief Executive Robert Jones, says the company is delighted with the award. “We are proud to receive this external recognition for our overall programme to encourage and develop innovative ideas from our 6,000 strong workforce, whether it’s from the workers on the…

Amid the uncertainty over U.S. immigration policy, one fact is sending a chill through U.S. higher education: Some U.S. graduate programs in engineering, Science has learned, are seeing a sharp drop this year in the number of applications from international students. University administrators worry that the declines, as much as 30% from 2016 levels in some programs, reflect heightened fears among foreign-born students that the United States is tightening its borders. A continued downturn, officials say, could threaten U.S. global leadership in science and engineering by shrinking the pool of talent available to carry out academic research. It could also…

On 1 February 2017, we merged with traffic and transportation engineering specialists, T2, creating a new business called HGT2. This is the first merger in our 131-year history and is a significant milestone for both companies. ‘Much thought and effort has gone into our decision to merge with T2 and we’re excited about the new opportunities it will create and the additional specialist services we can offer clients,’ says our Managing Director, Glen Cornelius. T2 employs people in Auckland and Wellington. Its services include transportation planning studies, transport assessments, economic analyses, detailed design, safety studies and assessment, policy development and…

Unprecedented infrastructure investment projections across New Zealand, Australia and the wider Asia-Pacific region have prompted Tonkin + Taylor to launch a massive UK-based talent drive. The boom years ahead are being driven by both the public and private sectors, with the New Zealand Government alone earmarking $NZ50 billion for large-scale infrastructure projects over the next 10 years. In a similar vein, the New South Wales Government has announced a $AUS20 billion plan to “turbocharge” the NSW economy. T+T intends to stay ahead of the game and our new recruitment-focused website is already up and running at www.tonkintaylor.co.nz/careers/working-in-new-zealand Next month our…

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has appointed University of Auckland’s Deputy Dean of Engineering, Margaret Hyland as its new Chief Scientist. "We are delighted to announce Margaret’s appointment as Chief Scientist. This crucial leadership role will be important as we implement the National Statement of Science Investment, and will contribute to the deepening relationships between the Ministry and the science community," says Paul Stocks, Deputy Chief Executive Labour, Science and Enterprise. Margaret, who is Professor of Chemical and Materials Engineering at the University of Auckland, holds a PhD from the University of Western Ontario in Canada and…

Engineers are concerned about the risk that earthquake-prone buildings pose to public safety in the Wellington region, and fully support the Government’s move to compel building owners to secure facades. New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering (NZSEE) President Peter Smith says during this period of increased earthquake risk in Wellington, Lower Hutt, Marlborough and Hurunui, it’s important to secure facades and speed up remedial work. "These facades need to be secured, particularly because many of them are in popular retail areas like Cuba Street, Riddiford Street and Jackson Street. "Engineers are very conscious of the lives lost when facades collapsed…

You don’t get much closer to the spirit of engineering than in the beginnings of waterjet cutting. “I got started years ago, in about ’71,” said Dr. John Olsen, one of the originators of waterjet technology and currently VP of operations at Omax Abrasive Waterjets. “I had been reading about some experiments done on rock cutting in England and a friend of mine and I thought it would be fun to try and build a pump and cut something. That was a kind of back-alley operation; it was in my garage and his garage.”  Dr. John Olsen is pictured above…

Engineers take home an average of nearly $100,000 a year and their salaries are growing strongly, according to the annual IPENZ Remuneration Survey. Engineers’ median base salary grew by 6.3 per cent in the year to October 2016. According to Statistics New Zealand, average wage inflation in the year to June 2016 was 1.5 per cent. Engineers’ median base salary is $92,500, with another $5500 on top of that in bonus or other payments. The survey reveals that in the very first year of their career, engineers earn an average of $55,000 plus another $2000 in cash benefits. Institution of…