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- VCE Build Weekly Pulse: Issue 02
VCE Build Weekly Pulse: Issue 02
Another exciting week in the world of civil engineering!
VCE Build
August 16, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes
🌟 Editor's Note
Welcome to another exciting week in the world of civil engineering ! We've got a packed newsletter full of insights, events, and inspiring stories from the heart of innovation.
🗓️ Upcoming Events
2nd International Conference on Civil Engineering: Innovations & Advancements (ICCEIA 2025)The 2nd International Conference on Civil Engineering: Innovations & Advancements will take place in Paris, France, offering both in-person and virtual attendance options. This hybrid format ensures that participants who cannot travel can still engage fully through online presentations. Attendees will have the opportunity to connect with researchers from around the world, whether face-to-face or virtually. To further encourage remote participation, the registration fee for the virtual option has been reduced.
| ASCE 2025 ConventionJoin ASCE at the 2025 Convention in Seattle, WA, October 8 - 11 to connect with colleagues, join innovating and future forward sessions, and earn professional development hours (PDH) Inspiring Innovative Infrastructure.
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Glasgow’s Clyde Bridges civil engineering trailJoin the ICE Glasgow and West of Scotland ECNet Committee for a guided civil engineering trail along the River Clyde. Explore Glasgow’s iconic bridges—from historic suspension designs to modern innovations—while gaining engineering insights from practicing professionals. This walking tour also offers valuable networking opportunities for industry peers.
| The World's Largest Event For Carbon Capture, Utilisation & StorageSince the onset of the industrial era, carbon dioxide levels in Earth’s atmosphere have risen dramatically, driving climate change and its global impacts. Addressing this challenge is one of humanity’s most urgent priorities, demanding swift and coordinated action. Industrial sectors worldwide are now turning to advanced technologies to meet ambitious net-zero emission targets. Among these solutions, carbon capture has emerged as a critical tool. Research by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) identifies carbon capture as essential for reducing emissions, supporting sustainable development, and helping to safeguard the planet’s future.
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🚀 Stay Inspired
Transforming Technology, Energy, and Safety Worldwide
Industrial Breakthrough: Holistic drive systems cut downtime by 40% and slash maintenance costs across heavy industries.
Renewable Shift: Casa dos Ventos adds 1.5 GW solar to Brazil’s grid with Nextracker partnership
Earthquake Resilience: Japan sets global benchmark with seismic building codes and advanced structural designs
Quantum Computing Goes Mainstream
Cooling column project builds connection between civil engineering, architecture at Rice Global Paris Center
Numerical study on bearing performance of rock socketed pile anchored by inclined anchors under uplift and horizontal combined load
Construction industry outlook shows recovery with shift to ‘innovative procurement strategies’ to tackle rising costs - article here
🦄 Project Spotlight
Qiddiya: The World’s First Multi-Purpose City
Part of the Vision 2030 program and located in the southwestern part of Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia, this city can be described as the city of the future of all things a global and international city has to offer. It is being developed to accommodate 600,000 residents and 48 million annual visitors.
The Backstory: It is being developed by the Qiddiya Investment Company which was founded in 2018.
Key Innovation: It features multiple key attractions like the region’s largest water park.
Funding: $350B USD budget, backed by investors and sponsors such as Almosafer, Globant, ESL FACEIT Group, and Mercedes-AMG
🔥 In Case You Missed It…
Website Roundup
Why Fire-proofing Crucial in High-Rise Construction?
What is Bluebeam and Why Is It So Powerful?.
Why Arch Dams Are Rare—and Brilliant: The Hidden Physics Behind Dam Engineering
🏆 Reading of the Week
 | Heat Waves & Civil Engineering: Designing Cities for a Hotter Future🌉 Background: Rising global temperatures and urban heat islands are driving longer, more intense, and more frequent heat waves that threaten infrastructure, public health, and sustainability. 👑 Achievement: Civil engineers worldwide are developing innovative responses such as reflective pavements, green infrastructure, passive cooling designs, predictive modeling, and climate-resilient construction, with successful case studies in Singapore, Los Angeles, and Seville. 🙈 Quirk: Asphalt—the backbone of urban roads—can reach 60°C during a 40°C heat wave, softening past 50°C and literally melting beneath drivers’ tires. |
The Asphalt Meltdown
Despite being the backbone of modern infrastructure, asphalt can’t handle the heat. During a 40°C heatwave, road surfaces can climb past 60°C, softening bitumen to the point of rutting, potholes, and safety hazards for drivers. It’s a striking reminder that cities themselves are vulnerable when temperatures soar.
Civil engineers, however, see opportunity in the crisis. From Singapore’s lush green building policies to Los Angeles’ reflective pavements and Seville’s expansive shade projects, they’re rethinking how cities can cool themselves. “We can’t just build for today’s climate,” one engineer notes. “We need materials, designs, and policies that are ready for the heat of tomorrow.”
Heat waves don’t just test comfort—they test infrastructure, water systems, energy grids, and public safety. Civil engineers are increasingly tasked with blending data, design, and resilience to create urban spaces that endure. Just as old roads can buckle under new extremes, outdated construction methods can’t carry us into the future.
The lesson? Innovation in civil engineering isn’t only about building bigger and stronger—it’s about building cooler, smarter, and more resilient against the relentless rise of heat.
Did You Know? It took 110,000 tons of concrete, 55,000 tons of steel and 22 million person-hours to complete the construction of the Burj Khalifa
Till next time,