This Month's stories:

Europe — Portugal, Netherlands and London

Proposals Sought for Major Portuguese Bridge Project

Design-build proposals are being solicited for a major new Portuguese highway bridge crossing the Tagus River between Carregado and Benavente, 30 km north of Lisbon. Five international teams may be vying for the estimated $320-million project, which includes an 830-m-long bridge and 11.7 km of approach viaducts. Final selection is expected in May.

The owner, BRISA Auto-Estradas de Portugal S.A., the country's largest toll road operator, will leave decisions on bridge type to the winning group, says spokesman Franco Caruso. "We don't normally build bridges," he explains. BRISA's own engineering division is managing the conventionally procured highways. These include the partially completed 44-km-long A10 highway that will cross the Tagus on the new bridge.

Five large consortia of Portuguese, Spanish and Brazilian firms are expected to compete. With two lanes each way, expandable to four, the crossing will provide some competition to Lisbon's six-year-old Vasco da Gama Bridge. That toll bridge also was erected as a design-build package by a British/French/Portuguese team as part of a build-operate-transfer contract held by locally based Lusoponte Concessionária para Travessia do Tejo S.A.

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Netherlands Wastewater Project Breaks Ground

Work has started in the Netherlands on one of Europe's largest wastewater treatment plants. The design-build-finance-operate project, valued at over $330 million, will provide a new plant at the coastal town of Schipluiden and upgrade a unit at nearby Houtrust. Together, the two plants will serve 1.7 million people in and around The Hague when project consortium Delfluent completes work in 2008.

Led by Veolia Water Systems, Paris, the Delfluent consortium has set up internal contracts with its shareholding companies to implement the work. Divisions of Veolia are handling design and construction of the treatment process elements. Another team, including consortium partners Heijmans Beton-En Waterbouw N.V., Zaltbommel, and Strukton Groep N.V., Utrecht, both construction companies, will handle design and construction of civil and building components.

Veolia has overriding management of construction activities and also controls a further grouping of consortium members that will maintain and operate the plants during the 30-year contract. Other members of the service company are locally based water suppliers. The area's publicly owned utility, Delfland District Water Authority, says it will retain legal responsibility for wastewater services. The authority claims its design-build plus finance and operate arrangement will save money and reduce future hikes in utility bills.

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Massive London Hospital Project Awarded

A design-build team led by the U.K. division of Sweden's Skanska A.B., Stockholm, will build the U.K.'s biggest and newest hospital and renovate the country's oldest under a single contract valued at over $1.8 billion. The contract was awarded at the end of last year and negotiations and financing are still under way.

Work at the Royal Whitechapel Hospital in London's East End and St. Bartholomew's Hospital in the adjacent city financial district will provide around 1,250 beds for the state-owned Barts and London National Health Service Trust. Most of the construction will be concentrated around the 18th century core of Whitechapel Hospital. A new naturally ventilated, glass-clad building rising 18 floors will include two towers and a helicopter ambulance service landing pad. At St. Bartholomew's, known as Barts, a new cancer and cardiac care center will be built. But refurbishing the generally 250-year-old buildings at Barts, which was founded in 1123, will form a major element of the contract.

While financiers, including the Innisfree Fund, London, raise funds, Skanska and architect HOK International Ltd., London, are supporting permitting work and developing designs. Skanska Construction Ltd., London, will be in charge of the design-build phase. Its affiliates will take part in maintenance work during the contract's 30-year term.

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