News releases 2014

A snapshot of Atkins' projects around the world in 2014 - 18 December 2014

As 2014 draws to an end, Atkins has compiled a snapshot of some of its exciting projects currently underway around the world.

Middle East

Suites in the Skai, Dubai
Atkins was appointed as lead designer for two 60-storey towers to be located in the heart of Jumeirah Village. The first tower will comprise of 498 serviced apartments with the sky lobby located at the top of the podium accommodating a spa, all-day-dining, health club, meeting rooms and an extravagant landscaped roof. The other tower will be a four-star hotel with a mix of guest rooms, one and two bedroom apartments, 30 penthouses on the top 10 floors and a 700m² Chinese restaurant that commands breathtaking views.

Al Habtoor Polo Club, Dubai
Atkins has recently been appointed by Al Habtoor Group to provide full multidisciplinary design services for the hotel, 162 residential villas, a polo academy and a riding school with 500 stables. The design for the 550,000m2 inland development is inspired by Andalusian architecture.

Asia Pacific

Colombo Port City, Sri Lanka
In April, Atkins signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for global strategic cooperation with China Communications Construction Company Ltd and China Harbour Engineering Company. The first project under the MOU is to assess the opportunity of incorporating a marina into the proposed 2.5sqkm mixed use Colombo Port City development in Sri Lanka. Facilities will include high end residential property and the marina will attract local sailing and motor boat enthusiasts, visiting international yachts and commercial tourist operators offering a wide range of water based activities including whale and dolphin watching, sports fishing, diving and marine safaris.

Window of Canton, China
Another project that has come from the MOU is the unusual Atkins-designed office development, the Window of Canton, which will become the new icon of Guangzhou, capital city of Guangdong Province in China and third largest in mainland China by gross domestic product. Atkins was appointed to provide architecture services from concept through to extended preliminary design stage for the development, which from a distance reads as '001' which symbolises Guangzhou as the first Chinese city open for international trading as a port for the ancient Silk Road several dynasties ago. The development will house high end office space overlooking the Zhujiang River.

UK

Met Office development, Exeter
An Atkins-designed Met Office development located at Exeter Science Park has been granted planning permission. The site features a large IT Hall, which will house a major part of the Met Office's new £97 million supercomputer, and a striking two-storey 'collaboration' building which will allow world class research into weather data and climate change. The design for the collaboration building reflects the patterns on computer circuit boards, with a hexagon outline and non-vertical elevation and both buildings are designed to be BREEAM Excellent.

Testing driverless cars, Bristol
The VENTURER consortium (which includes, amongst others, Atkins, Bristol City Council, South Gloucestershire Council, AXA and Williams Advanced Engineering) has secured funding from Innovate UK to test driverless cars in Bristol. The consortium will explore the feasibility of driverless cars in the UK, investigating the legal and insurance aspects of driverless cars and exploring how the public react to such vehicles.

Europe

European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS)
Atkins is helping to deliver the most important combined upgrade in passenger and freight train services in Europe, the ERTMS, which is being implemented across 3200km of track on the Danish rail network. The project promises a radical improvement in safety, performance and capacity, and opens up the possibility of running non-stop trains across all borders. The signalling programme is entering an important phase, where the new systems will be rolled out in Denmark.

Copenhagen-Ringsted new rail line, Denmark
The rail section between Copenhagen and Ringsted has, for a long time, constituted a bottle neck. This has resulted in the construction of a new 60km double track rail line via Køge, enabling it to meet future transportation needs and leading to the future Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link. In collaboration with Vössing, EKJ and Sweco, Atkins is delivering the design of the new line. The complete packages of tender materials have now been delivered by the joint venture team and sent out for tender. In the new year, Atkins will begin work on the new Ringsted station, and once the double track rail line is ready in 2018, the public will benefit from an enhanced railway timetable, reduced travelling time and improved reliability.

North America

Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) contract, Louisiana
Atkins has been awarded a new engineering services contract which involves data collection and design and construction oversight on projects initiated by the CPRA. Atkins' existing work with Louisiana clients, coupled with this recent contract award, enabled Atkins to open an office in Baton Rouge and increase the level of seamless project support throughout the state. Atkins' work will help the CPRA implement its coastal masterplan which will protect natural resources and critical energy infrastructure.

General engineering consultant for Puerto Rico Ports Authority
The Puerto Rico Ports Authority (PRPA) has awarded Atkins a general engineering consultant contract to serve as architectural, engineering and planning consultant to help to reconstruct and make much-needed improvements to the airports throughout the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Atkins will help PRPA engineers, planners, and operations staff plan, design, procure, and supervise infrastructure projects for the next five years.

Energy

Structural analysis services for ADMA-OPCO, Abu Dhabi
The Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Company (ADMA-OPCO) has awarded Atkins two contracts for structural analysis services worth over (US) $3 million in October, complimenting ADMA-OPCO's expansion programme for its offshore production facilities through the support of safe life extension of existing critical infrastructure.

Solan subsea oil storage tank, UK
Designed by Atkins engineers and fabricated in Dubai, the Solan subsea oil storage tank for client Premier Oil was successfully installed west of Shetland this year. Atkins worked on concept development through to Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) and detailed design on the project. The tank offers an innovative storage solution that took years to design and engineer.

Ends

For more information:

Jane Sheils
Group PR manager

jane.sheils@atkinsglobal.com
+44 1372 752350

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Notes to editors:

Atkins

Atkins (www.atkinsglobal.com ) is one of the world's leading design, engineering and project management consultancies*, employing some 18,000 people across the UK, North America, Middle East, Asia Pacific and Europe. Our people's breadth and depth of expertise and drive to ask why has allowed us to plan, design and enable some of the world's most complex and time critical projects.

*15th largest global design firm (Engineering News-Record 2014) and the third largest multidisciplinary consultancy in Europe (Svensk Teknik och Design 2013).

Recent projects from across the Group:

Atkins is working across urban regeneration, master planning, national energy programmes, major transport schemes, water and environment projects - applying smart design solutions on projects including:

  • Central Planning Office - helping to co-ordinate Qatar's National 2030 Vision for world class transport infrastructure, which will bring major benefits to the economy;
  • The London 2012 Games infrastructure transformation - as technical advisor to London's boroughs as the Olympic Park moves into its legacy configuration as a follow-on role to our work as the Games' official engineering and design provider;
  • 's peaceful nuclear new build programme - providing technical assurance to lenders backing the United Arab Emirates' most ambitious energy infrastructure projects;
  • North Sea and Gulf of Mexico oil and gas platforms - extending the operational life of critical oil and gas platforms to allow cost-efficient and safe recovery of fuel sources from mature fields;
  • offshore wind alliance - provision of expert engineering and design support for the UK's biggest offshore wind alliance with Scottish and Southern Energy;
  • - designing the Central London twin tunnels and station architecture for Europe's biggest civil engineering scheme which will see tunnels passing beneath 470 listed buildings and critical infrastructure;
  • Railway - providing multidisciplinary design expertise on the 1,200 km Rail network which will passenger and freight transport in the ;
  • Denmark - providing signalling expertise on the first countrywide installation of an train control and management system in Denmark;
  • Hong Kong-- Bridge - lead consultant on this integral part of the new Hong Kong link road scheme which will significantly boost land connectivity in the region;
  • Sixth Form College - design of the energy consumption College in the UK which aims to reduce operational energy use by more than 60% compared to previous designs;
  • UK National Composites Centre - providing technical expertise to bring the latest lightweight carbon fibre materials to all engineering sectors, helping to develop innovative applications and reduce costs and carbon;
  • US Environmental Protection Agency - providing technical assessment and analysis of national water-related resources and ecological systems in North America;
  • Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) broadband - providing technical, commercial and procurement support to help deliver broadband to one of Europe's most remote regions.


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