August News!

August 2021 has finally seen ‘Freedom Day’ with the vast majority of restrictions finally being lifted across Scotland.  Even more staff have returned to working out of the SVM office and it is hoped that even more will be welcomed back from home working over the coming weeks.  It has been such a long road to get to this point and we cross our fingers that things only continue to progress in this direction.  We hope that all of our clients and collaborators are safely enjoying the return to ‘almost’ normality and also keep in our thoughts all of those for whom the pandemic has been particularly difficult. 

August sees absolutely no drop in the works that keep streaming into SVM Glasgow with works kicking off for the new VAMOS project, which concerns level crossings across central England, and also a new project phase for works on the London to Corby Route.  Still down South, we have been asked to provide design advice for a Railway Depot to the west of Manchester, while closer to home we are returning to old favourites Anderston and Glasgow Central Low Level for further station refurbishments; and the next phase of works for the CETs at Fort William Station.  Meanwhile, in the commercial sector, there has also been instruction this month to undertake some mechanical design for an office refurbishment at a business park in Musselburgh. 

August remains busy with existing projects too, the most prominent of which being rationalisation works at Carstairs; detailed design works at both Reston Station and our Portobello Junction project; the remainder of design for an Inverness Railway yard; construction phase works for Aberdeen; and large scale design works on the Ferrybridge to Goole route in England.  There are several other live projects right across the country beginning in England with Horsham platform extension works; initial survey for works in Whitley Bay; station design in Rotherhithe; and shore supplies at Crewe.  Also still progressing this month are our 650V feeders renewal scheme in Middlesbrough and Whitehouse; mechanical design in the Hambleton area; Station design works in Liverpool and our long running project at a Birmingham Station.  An interesting project at Reading Triangle is beginning to make headway, while we are nearing the end of design works at Bristol Junction.  Moving North, asset surveys for multiple Railway depots are across the whole country while good progress has been made at Ayr Station.  Central Scotland is a veritable hive of activity with HST Lighting Upgrades at multiple sites; Edinburgh Recontrol works; design for multiple NR station commercial properties; and various works at Corkerhill including points converters and accommodation buildings, the latter of which is also being designed at Yoker.  Linlithgow platform extension and Cathcart DBs are ongoing as is mechanical design at Polmadie Depot; SBEM works at a Glasgow Railway Yard; and blue light installation at Bellgrove.  There are still plenty station works ongoing at the two ‘biggies’, Glasgow Central and Edinburgh Waverley with retail areas and electrical design for lighting DBs in the former and concourse lighting, heating and ventilation in the latter while AFA works at Croy, Johnston and Port Glasgow Stations continue to do well.  Creeping nearer the highlands we are beginning a new phase of works for rail sidings in Fort William while Perth Depot shore supplies is nearing the finish line.  We remain involved with electrical calcs for a project near Burntisland; Dundee railway yard lighting; and Aberdeen lighting gantries while GRIP stage 4 works at Dalcross are in full swing.  Finally, our Inverness projects, including Railway Yard design, Depot LV and HV upgrades, Motorail sidings, shore supplies; carriage stabling works, and EBike installation are all in the home stretch. 

Not satisfied with just taking the Railway by storm, we have also maintained several commercial projects this month with works ongoing for a landfill site on beautiful Islay; design for the landmark Bell’s Bridge in Glasgow; and Glasgow’s Tidal Weir.  Still in our home city we remain involved with the Clyde Gateway regeneration scheme and have recently completed cable calculations for an industrial site in Carstairs.  As well as this we continue to provide design advice for a retail park in Wishaw and a residential development in Edinburgh. 

We are eagerly awaiting our first SVM night out in over a year, and we are delighted to be booking an extra seat since we have recently welcomed Natasha Rayan to our ranks as assistant mechanical engineer.  We’re glad to have her as part of the team and hope that she finds SVM a great place to develop her skills.  There may still be room for more – so why not apply to join us too?  If you are an EP design engineer in either the electrical or mechanical disciplines, please send a CV to elise.mclean@svm-glasgow.co.uk.  We’d love to hear from you.