Pavement engineering centre opens

A NEW state-of-the-art pavement engineering centre boasting cutting-edge research facilities was officially opened at The University of Nottingham last month by Tim Matthews, chief executive of the Highways Agency. The £2.3 million Nottingham Centre for Pavement Engineering (NCPE) on the University Park campus is the result of a 10-year contract between the School of Civil Engineering and Shell UK.

The new centre will cover bitumen and asphalt technology, as well as other pavement engineering applications, and will house separate research facilities for each of the partners. The University will use it for pavement testing and academic research into all aspects of pavement and rail-track engineering, while Shell Bitumen will centralize their UK bitumen and pavement engineering operations at the centre, including work currently being carried out at the Shell Global Solutions bitumen laboratory at Cheshire Innovation Park.

The centre will also provide independent testing services to clients from the road and rail industries.

Commenting on the new facility, Shell Bitumen’s managing director, Tim Green, said: ‘The co-operation and smooth operation of the construction and start-up bodes well for the future of the NCPE. We now have exceptional facilities which greatly enhance our ability to meet the growing needs of our customers, sharing the very best resources with a globally renowned university.

‘Developing new ways of coping with the increasing demands of modern traffic loads, while meeting increasing environmental and sustainability considerations, is an ongoing challenge for everyone connected with road construction and maintenance. The NCPE will offer valuable assistance in such developments and provide the highest-quality technical support and innovative solutions.’