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.