The Civil Engineering Contractor March 2019 | Page 17

WORLD NEWS
AG&P is investing heavily in gas infrastructure to support India’s drive to switch to natural gas.
US software house Autodesk is to acquire a bid-management
platform called BuildingConnected for USD275-million.
The company says the acquisition will add bid management,
risk analysis, and other preconstruction solutions to its
portfolio. It will also acquire BuildingConnected’s network
of more than 700 000 construction professionals, which
is used by clients and main contractors looking to hire
particular skills. According to Autodesk, it is “the largest and
most active digital network of construction professionals”,
with customers that include Turner Construction, McCarthy,
Mortenson, StructureTone, Skanska, Clark Construction,
Ryan Companies, and Aecom.
In addition to its bid-management function,
BuildingConnected offers ‘TradeTapp’, a subcontractor risk
analysis platform, and ‘Bid Board Pro’, a platform that helps
subcontractors manage and win more bids. Bid management
is a critical step in preconstruction, since bidding is the
genesis of construction projects. BuildingConnected,
along with Autodesk BIM 360, Revit, AutoCAD, and its
acquisitions of PlanGrid and Assemble Systems, gives the
company a comprehensive construction offering and go-to-
market capabilities.
www.civilsonline.co.za
Denmark’s government plans to extend Copenhagen with
nine new islands, it announced in January. The nine islands
would be off its southern coast. According to the Copenhagen
Post, the project will provide 3-million m 2 for up to 380
businesses, which in turn would create 12 000 jobs for the
population of the Danish capital. Work on the scheme could
begin in 2022. It is to be sited off the 450ha Avedøre Holme
district, which was created by dredging in the 1960s.
The concept was for the site to develop into a kind of
European Silicon Valley that would allow Denmark and the
capital to compete with Amsterdam, London, and Stockholm
and attract ‘green’ digital transition jobs. The government is
also aiming to move the Lynetten water treatment plant to
the islands, freeing up space for Lynetteholmen, another
project to extend the city that was announced in October last
year. This scheme, which aims to provide homes for 35 000
people, will also involve dredging up new land, this time
between the eastern suburbs of Nordhavn and Refshaleøen.
The plan was to give each island its own theme, so that each
accommodates companies from the same industry. However,
the overall aim of the new area will be to provide a home for
green businesses.
CEC March 2019 | 15
India’s gas infrastructure is being heavily
invested in by global engineering firm AG&P
(Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific Company of Manila),
which has secured rights to put up facilities in
India to make natural gas available to residents
and businesses in two areas of the southern state
of Tamil Nadu. The grant to AG&P — along with
22 other entities — was part of New Delhi’s
ninth bidding round for city gas distribution
(CGD) projects that cover 63 geographical areas
across India, including seven areas in Tamil Nadu.
The Petroleum & Natural Gas Regulatory
Board awarded rights to the homegrown
multinational’s unit AG&P LNG Marketing
Pte to build LNG facilities in the districts of
Kanchipuram and Ramanathapuram in Tamil
Nadu. AG&P is also building an LNG terminal in
Karaikal, in the territory of Puducherry. AG&P is
investing heavily in gas infrastructure to support
India’s drive to switch to natural gas as a clean
and affordable source of fuel. In Tamil Nadu,
AG&P’s CGD networks will deliver natural
gas directly, safely, and conveniently to houses,
gas stations, and industrial and commercial
establishments.