When Balfour Beatty invited 30 members of the Danish Construction Association to take a look around its King’s Cross Central development in London and Mansell’s M25 upgrade project in St Albans, it’s well-planned day hit an unexpected logistical challenge — fitting them all into the photos.
The group represented major Danish infrastructure firms such as Arkil, Per Aarselff and MSE, and was impressed by the innovative construction techniques and sustainability measures they saw displayed. Or as chairman of the Association Jesper Arkil put it: “Our visit was quite an eye-opener and we will be taking our learnings from our stay back to Denmark with us.”
That’s fine, but in return can we please have more of those Saturday night Scandi-dramas?
… or even embarking on a Danish degree?
Not in forensic pathology or criminology, we hasten to add, but Architectural Technology and Construction Management. The Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists has just accredited the bachelor degree course offered by Denmark’s VIA University College, where English is the teaching language. According to the website, your fellow students will come from countries including Kenya, Moldova, Latvia and Bulgaria — perfect for our globalised future. And did we mention that there are no tuition fees if you’re an EU citizen? Nigel? David?
… using renewable energy to power your on-site equipment?
If you’ve just switched to driving a hybrid fuel car, then this is the equivalent technology for on-site power generation. Plug the Cygnus Hybrid power generator into a portable solar panel array or portable wind turbine (you do have one, don’t you?) and it will deliver the electricity to run your site. And if you have a higher demand load and need to use conventional diesel too, it can cut fuel consumption by up to 30%.
The company behind the product has secured financial backing from former Dragons’ Den star James Caan.
… testing your colleagues for blood alcohol levels?
Tell people you’re going to randomly test for blood alcohol levels and they might naturally get slightly defensive. But test them every day as part of their going-to-work routine, and it’s accepted. That, at least, is the claim of the company behind the AlcoSense TruTouch, a non-invasive biometric alcohol tester which enables workplace testing as often as required. We’ll leave it up to you to judge whether this technology has a place on site.
