In Brief
Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM) has acquired key rail engineering assets from UK consulting and engineering services group Mouchel.
The move further strengthens SKM's growing transport infrastructure practice, closely following its recent merger with transport planning consultancy Colin Buchanan & Partners Ltd.
"This acquisition continues our strategy to build world leading skills to meet the evolving needs of our clients and their operations," said Santo Rizzuto, Chief Executive Officer, SKM. "Our clients across a number of sectors continue to face a broad range of challenges and are seeking trusted partners to develop innovative, specialist solutions that meet their commercial needs across the entire life cycle of a project."
Mouchel’s rail operations are primarily London and Manchester-based, and this acquisition includes approximately 110 staff who will join with SKM's existing UK Buildings and Infrastructure operations.
In SKM's Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region the additional services and capabilities will be offered to transport sector clients under the name SKM Colin Buchanan.
This year is proving to be another successful one for SKM in terms of industry awards.
In the United Kingdom, the American Express Community Stadium, Brighton and Hove Albion’s new football club was one of four winners in this year’s Structural Steel Design Awards, recognising excellence in structural and architectural design with the use of steel.
The American Express Community Stadium features a spectacular steel arched roof, engineered to mirror the undulations and slopes of the surrounding South Downs. The Stadium comprises 4,200 tonnes of structural steelwork.
The stadium was recognised by the judges for the high standard of design that was achieved by the design team. The judges commented that, “The building provides a long awaited home for Brighton and Hove Albion FC with community facilities. A large structure, with a curving roof and main trusses, it sits comfortably in to the rolling South Downs, while the blue translucent roof shows off the well-executed roof steelwork.”
SKM provided structural engineering services for The American Express Community Stadium, including a full analysis of the erection sequence for the roof structure. SKM was also involved in the design of the extensive civil engineering works, required to accommodate the need for the stadium to blend in with its local environment.
At the Australian Timber Design Awards, SKM-S2F received the People’s Choice Award for the University of Wollongong Australian Institute for Innovative Materials (AIIM) Processing and Devices (P&D) Building (Microscopy Facility).
Located at the University of Wollongong Innovation Campus, the AIIM P&D Building is a new three-storey laboratory building designed to bring key University of Wollongong research projects to pilot plan scale. The centre-piece of a collection of research buildings, the microscopy building’s delicate timber structure is designed to meet stringent vibration and acoustic criteria and houses some of the country’s most powerful microscopes.
Any continuous structural elements in the vicinity must be non-ferrous as the microscopes are highly sensitive to electromagnetic interference – the driving force behind the timber structure.
SKM-S2F was engaged in three of the major disciplines of the built works in the Architectural, Mechanical, Environmentally Sustainable Design (ESD) and Electrical engineering aspects of the projects as a comprehensive coordinated package.
A report into the Queensland gas market developed with assistance from SKM MMA, SKM’s strategic consulting arm, indicates there are more than sufficient gas resources to meet strong growth in domestic and export demand in the longer term.
Released by the Queensland Minister for Employment Skills and Mining, the Honourable Stirling Hinchliffe, the Queensland 2011 Gas Market Review Report was conducted by the Queensland Gas Commissioner in consultation with industry.
The review analyses the Queensland gas market in the context of the eastern Australian gas market and development of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports from Gladstone.
The review indicates however, that access to gas reserves for new contracts for supply in the export start-up period from 2014 to 2020 is becoming a concern to domestic gas users that will lead to higher domestic gas prices. SKM MMA continues to monitor market activity and evaluate appropriate strategies in light of uncertainty around the release of new gas availability.
SKM has appointed Mark Thorn as its new Global Service Line Leader for Geotechnical Engineering.
A new appointee to SKM, Mark is a Chartered Engineer with an MSc (Soil Mechanics) and brings 29 years of experience in geotechnical engineering consultancy in the UK, Africa and South East Asia.
He has led the provision of geotechnical services on major highway and rail schemes, site regenerations, reclamations and site formations, power-related developments, slope stabilisation, mine stabilisation, airports, dams, urban developments and building structures.
Formerly the Business Development Director for URS Scott Wilson’s UK Ground Engineering business, Mark brings broad business skills to the role through his experience in leading major proposals, business development and client relations, business planning and commercial management.
Lithium and potash miner Orocobre has selected SKM to undertake detailed engineering for the company’s flagship Olaroz Project located in north western Argentina.
SKM has been involved in the Olaroz Project for over a year and completed the engineering and capital and operating cost estimates for a feasibility study on a 16,400 tonnes per annum high-purity, battery-grade lithium carbonate operation at the site earlier this year.
SKM has significant lithium-potash industry experience and is the only company ever to design and manage the construction of a complete lithium brine operation, at FMC's Salar de Hombre Muerto facility in Argentina. SKM has also provided services to lithium projects in Chile.
The Olaroz Project engineering team is now focused on reviewing the Olaroz Feasibility Study implementation plan to expedite project development once financing and governmental approvals are concluded.
Adelaide-based SKM water resources engineer, Brittany Coff, has won a prestigious scholarship to undertake a post-graduate degree in Sustainable Development at Cambridge University in the UK.
Brittany is one of nine scholarship recipients in 2012 from the Sir Robert Menzies Memorial Foundation, which each year provides scholarships for Australian graduates to pursue studies in the allied health sciences, engineering, law, and medical research.
Brittany is passionate about sustainability and in particular its application to water resources planning in Australia.
She holds a Bachelor of Civil and Structural Engineering from The University of Adelaide and won a University Medal in 2008. As vice-president of the South Australian chapter of Engineers Without Borders, Brittany has a keen interest in working with indigenous communities and the education of Australian Engineers about humanitarian engineering. Brittany enjoys playing soccer and touch-football.
For the first time in 2012, two engineering scholarships were awarded by the Foundation. In addition to Brittany, Ananth Dev Tayal, an electrical engineer from Perth now employed by Energy Australia in Sydney, will also head off to do an MPhil in Sustainable Development at Cambridge.
“I am very excited about the prospect of studying at Cambridge, the opportunity to visit SKM offices in the UK and also potentially doing some work while I’m there,” Brittany says. “The Sustainable Development course at Cambridge will be a great chance to develop skills in a discipline I’m really interested in and will run for 12 months, starting in October next year.”