Friday round-up: Biggest project risks | Lendlease exit | Volvo electric tests

Take a look at a trading update from pretty much any contractor (and we do, frequently), and you’ll see how keen they currently are to emphasise how they are avoiding risk.

But what are the biggest project risks in construction? Andy Brown reported on a new study that ranks the biggest risks and sources of disputes in the sector. Find out what they are here.

One construction business that has moved to dramatically reduce its exposure to risk is Australian firm Lendlease, which announced it was selling some of its overseas businesses.

For more on which markets are affected and what drove the decision, click here.

And in the week after we learned that Cat is launching a new programme to support customers in the energy transition, Volvo Construction Equipment has shared results from its testing of its 23-ton EC230 electric excavator.

Now commercially available in the US, Volvo has revealed how revealed how its machine fared on pilot projects with contractor Skanska and rental company Sunbelt Rentals.

Image of the week

The Hankou Tunnel, part of the the Xinxiang-Jincheng Expressway, in the Taihang Mountains (Image courtesy of CSCEC)

A spiral tunnel in China, built by Chinese construction giant China State Construction (CSCEC), has been officially recognised as the world’s longest.

Guinness World Records has issued a certificate to confirm the status of the Hankou Tunnel on the Xinxiang-Jincheng Expressway, which is 4,457m in length.

The Changtai Yangtze River Bridge, which connects the cities of Changzhou and Taizhou in Jiangsu Province, has a total length of 10.03 kilometers. It is an expressway-railway bridge over the Yangtze River. Currently, the construction of the bridge is progressing in an orderly manner.

Constructed by the China Communications Construction Co (CCCC), the bridge’s completion is expected to drastically shorten travel times between Taizhou and Changzhou, thereby stimulating economic growth in southern Jiangsu and the broader Yangtze River Delta region.