Our Members, Our Industry
Britain's civil engineering contractors are a vital element in the community, constructing and maintaining the basic infrastructure needed to underpin a fast-moving, flexible economy and a modern civilised society. Every household and every business is dependent to some degree on their efforts.
Their work relates mainly to the infrastructure that supports the following essential services:
1)
Transport and Communciations
roads, railways, bridges, tunnels, harbours, inland waterways, airports, and land-based facilities for telecommunications networks
- 2) Production and Distribution of Energy
power stations (including nuclear), overhead and underground power lines, dams for hydroelectric power generation, wind and wave power installations, oil and gas pipelines, gas mains, and other on-shore oil and gas facilities
3) Public Health
dams and reservoirs for the storage of water, water purification facilities, water distribution networks, sewage treatment plants, and the sewerage.
In addition, civil engineering contractors pave the way for all sorts of building developments, both residential and non-residential, preparing sites and installing services. Remediation of contaminated land in preparation for the re-use of 'brownfield' sites is an increasingly important element of their work.
Contractors therefore work for a wide variety of clients, in both the public and private sectors. Principal clients include the Highways Agency, Scottish Executive Roads Division, Welsh Assembly Government Roads Directorate, local councils; Network Rail, London Underground, BAA, Associated British Ports, British Waterways, the Environment Agency, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, English and Welsh water and sewerage companies, Scottish Water, and the Ministry of Defence.
Britain's civil engineering contractors employ around a quarter of a million personnel, from civil engineers and other construction professionals to general operatives. Well over 100,000 others are engaged in producing the materials and products that are incorporated in civil engineering works. They account for close to a fifth of all construction output, with the annual value of their works rising towards £20 billion.
High-profile civil engineering projects recently completed, currently under construction, or shortly to be started in this country include the Channel Tunnel and Channel Tunnel Rail Link, the London Underground Jubilee Line Extension, Terminal 5 at London Heathrow Airport, the Second Severn Crossing, the Cardiff Bay Barrage, and the Falkirk Wheel.
British contractors are world leaders in their industry, exporting technical excellence around the globe. They play an especially important role in projects in the Third World, where increased investment in basic infrastructure is a prerequisite for raising levels of economic and social development.