Time and date
CONSTRUCTION DIRECTORY
UK Construction News Archive for August 2013
30/08/2013
Walsall Housing Group (whg) has announced Kier Partnership Homes as development partner for the delivery of mixed tenure housing across five sites in and around Walsall. The £42 million project has been made possible by using grant funding through the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) Affordable H
30/08/2013
NHBC's latest registration statistics show that house-building levels in the UK continue to show improvement on recent years, with figures for July being 19% higher (13,539) than the same month last year (11,391). Taking the rolling quarter into account (May - July 2013), the period reveals a 30% i
30/08/2013
Tradesmen are working longer hours than ever, and are willing to sacrifice holidays and weekends in a bid to squeeze more jobs in. The average tradesman works between 41 and 50 hours a week, more than bankers (40.9 hours), medical practitioners (38.4 hours), barristers and judges (36 hours), and ac
30/08/2013
The civil engineering team working on National Grid's London Power Tunnels, which will create a new 32km electricity superhighway under London, have broken through at Wimbledon. The tunnels will house 10 new 400kV circuits totalling 192km, as well as 32km of 132kV circuits. Since work started in 2
30/08/2013
Clegg Construction has started work on a £3.8m project to redevelop two existing buildings for the new Science & Innovation Park at the University of Lincoln. The construction firm is redeveloping Becor House, now renamed as Joseph Bank Laboratories in honour of Sir Joseph Banks, and Minister House
30/08/2013
Polypool are proud to be involved with a Grand Designs project which has been filmed for the new series on Channel 4 and this will be aired September 11th at 9 o'clock. This project is a new build development in Camden, Central London. The house is built in a contemporary, modern style, with a foc
30/08/2013
A Dartford-based engineering firm has been prosecuted for safety failings after a teenage apprentice fell from a ladder as he received an electric shock from badly wired equipment. The apprentice engineer, just 17 at the time of the incident on 15 June 2012, fell nearly three metres to the floor as
30/08/2013
Victor Manufacturing has recently appointed Matthew Walrond as sales manager for the South West region. Andrew Gibson, sales director of Victor, said: "Matt has a solid working knowledge and experience of catering sales and the food service market. He comes to us from a regional food wholesaler an
29/08/2013
Local building and building services firms have taken a big step towards securing future work from a large contractor in the area. Affordable housebuilder and regeneration specialist Lovell has several projects starting in the next 12 months and held an event recently to help it establish a bank o
29/08/2013
The Costain Industrial Cooling Team, working on the Energy-from-Waste (EfW) plant on Teesside, has been awarded a Contractor of the Month safety award for achieving a consistently high safety performance on the project. The award, which was presented by the principal contractor Foster Wheeler, cons
29/08/2013
First-time buyers accounted for 11,200 loans for house purchase in London in the second quarter of 2013, the largest quarterly number since the end of 2007, according to new data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) released. Figures from the second quarter show that first-time buyers in Lond
29/08/2013
Chloe Smith, MP for Norwich North and Cabinet Office Minister for Political and Constitutional Reform, visited the National Construction College in Bircham Newton this week along with Peter Hansford, Government Chief Construction Adviser, who overlooked the Government Construction Summit in July thi
29/08/2013
Peterborough City Council has announced proposals to move the city's Household Recycling Centre to Fengate when the lease of the current site in Dogsthorpe expires in 2014. According to the council, the move to a purpose-built site in Fengate will offer a faster and more convenient service for resi
29/08/2013
EDF Energy has launched its Blue+Price Promise December 2014 which gives customers the chance to fix their energy prices for the next 16 months - with the freedom to leave at any time without paying an exit fee. Based on a national average of regional prices, the annual dual fuel bill for a custom
29/08/2013
Details of the delivery of the Great Homer Street development in Liverpool have been revealed by the UK's leading regeneration specialist St. Modwen. Work on site is now expected to begin in Spring 2014. The announcement comes as the scheme was awarded detailed planning consent by Liverpool City
29/08/2013
A Plymouth property developer put the lives of builders at risk by letting them work near unprotected holes up to nine metres deep at a "Dickensian" site in Cardiff, a court has heard. John Pinn was refurbishing two Victorian terraced properties in Crwys Road, Cathays, Cardiff, in November 2012 whe
28/08/2013
A major milestone for Crossrail in southeast London has been reached as one of its tunnelling machines reaches Woolwich and the other prepares to start the drive underneath the River Thames. The thousand tonne machine Mary, who started her journey from Plumstead in May, has broken through into the
28/08/2013
FM Conway is set to boost its asphalt manufacturing and recycling capacity by developing a new state-of-the-art plant near Heathrow, Middlesex. The new £10m 'Heathrow Asphalt' plant will enable the company to efficiently serve highways clients and partners in west London – providing 24-hour securit
28/08/2013
The Balfour Beatty Coventry 2012 project to improve public spaces and infrastructure in Coventry city centre, in preparation for Coventry's role as an Olympic football venue during the London 2012 Olympics, beat off strong competition to pick up the "effective partnerships" accolade at the recent Ch
28/08/2013
Construction union UCATT are demanding the immediate reinstatement of Len Ellis, their National Lay Representative in the Prison Service, who has been suspended on spurious charges of gross misconduct. Mr Ellis, who is employed at HMP Whatton in Nottinghamshire, is currently suspended, following a
28/08/2013
Kier apprentice Dominic Batty is celebrating after winning the Senior Wall and Floor category in the Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Skillbuild competition. Dominic, who lives in Barnsley, came first out of six students, and is now anxiously waiting to hear whether he has succeeded in getting th
28/08/2013
Basildon based housebuilder Redrow has been chosen by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) as their development partner for 'Nethermayne' in Basildon, Essex. The HCA has confirmed Redrow Homes will be their development partner, subject to completion of legal contracts, for the residential develo
28/08/2013
Essex based Ambient Electrical, one of the UK's leading electric underfloor heating providers has announced it has completed its move to a newly built 5000ft/² unit in Saffron Walden. The move will enable them to extend their stock and to compliment their existing range of electric underfloor syste
28/08/2013
Blyko Paving Products have supplied Novostones® Neige d'Ardenne paving to the London Olympic Stadium. Hyland Edgar Driver (landscape architects) were part of Team Stadium and specified more than 1.5 kilometres Novostones® Neige d'Ardenne 400x200x40 in a shotblast finish. Novostones® are available
27/08/2013
Amey has been awarded a contract by Welsh Water to deliver water services in South Wales, with the £18m per annum contract commencing in October 2013 and running for up to six years. It will see Amey take on responsibility for repairing and maintaining around 20,000km of clean water pipes, as well
27/08/2013
Figures published by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) show that more than 150,000 houses, along with over 1,000 hectares of mines, offices and warehousing, are planned for Green Belt sites. This is an increase of 84% in a year and comes despite Government assurances that its planning r
27/08/2013
E.ON has confirmed it is using detailed customer research to develop a new set of promises that will influence its supply activities. It is already applying Ofgem's new 'standards of conduct' rules, but to go a step further it is creating a set of promises that will be embedded in the company's act
27/08/2013
Work on a gateway route into Liverpool city centre will start today, according to the Liverpool Express. Repairs to the carriageway surface at Great Howard Street, between Leeds Street and Blackstone Street, will begin today (Tuesday 27 August) and will last for up to two weeks. The works are requ
27/08/2013
After five weeks of around-the-clock effort, six miles of new track, 143 new signals, a new platform, the work of 2,000 people and more than 30,000 bus movements, a full train service has begun again at Nottingham station. Network Rail's £100m investment in the railway through the city has seen its
27/08/2013
Willmott Dixon has secured its largest ever interiors redevelopment contract. The contract is a £19m project to refurbish a 10-storey 1960s-built teaching block for the University of Brighton. It comes as Willmott Dixon is targeting a £125m-a-year turnover in interiors work within three years, ta
27/08/2013
Morgan Sindall has been awarded a project to design and construct a 1.1 kilometre long dual-carriageway link road near Crewe for Cheshire East Council. The dual-carriageway will run between the existing roundabout on the northern spur off the A500 Hough-Shavington bypass up to the A5020 Weston Gate
27/08/2013
One of the country's leading independent schools, Magdalen College School in Oxford appointed Blakedown Sport & Play to design and build their new artificial sports pitch. The land which is owned by Magdalen College, an Oxford University College will be home to a new full size state-of-the-art spor
23/08/2013
Balfour Beatty has been awarded a £14.4 million contract by the North West London Hospitals NHS Trust to construct a new Emergency Department at Northwick Park Hospital in Harrow. The pavilion style building will provide users with a new walk-in entrance, waiting area, and external drop off area; a
23/08/2013
Kier Construction has been awarded a £3m contract to build a new facility for HR Wallingford, the world renowned civil engineering and environmental hydraulics company. HR Wallingford is extending its Froude Modelling Hall by 17,000sq ft to house the company’s new 70m-long wave simulator, believed
23/08/2013
As part of E.ON's ongoing commitment to listen and work with customers on improving its service, the company has today announced a series of new measures for its small business (SME) customers. E.ON's research with its customers revealed that they would prefer to negotiate a new fixed price contrac
23/08/2013
National construction specialist Seddon has been chosen for a £1.3 million project to extend Clifton Primary School in Balsall Heath, Birmingham. Clifton Primary, graded as 'Outstanding' by Ofsted for the second time in May 2013, is a National Support School and centre of excellence. To accommodate
23/08/2013
Moves to cut red-tape by streamlining housing standards would be a major boost to Britain's small and medium-sized house builders, and will help to increase the supply and choice of new homes needed to address the growing housing crisis, according to the Federation of Master Builders (FMB). As the
23/08/2013
Work has started to replace the 135 year-old existing London Road bridge, which crosses the main Derby to Birmingham Railway line, with a modern single-span bridge. London Road will be closed to traffic between Bateman Street and the entrance to the Rail Technical Centre from next week until the en
23/08/2013
Costain has secured a one year extension to an Operations and Maintenance contract at Fiddlers Ferry Fuel Services for SSE. The contract comprises the operations and maintenance of the furnace bottom ash systems, electrostatic precipitators, flue gas desulphurisation plant, industrial cleaning and
23/08/2013
A Wiltshire builder has been fined for illegal and dangerous gas work in Somerset, which could have led to a young family - including two young children - being killed by poisonous carbon monoxide fumes. Phillip Whittaker, from Westbury, was contracted by the householders to build an extension to a
22/08/2013
Viridor has welcomed the Deputy Mayor of London's judgment to allow the London Borough of Sutton's decision to approve the construction of its proposed Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) in Beddington to stand. Ian John, Head of Planning at Viridor, said: "The decision builds on the approval of the Lon
22/08/2013
Willmott Dixon continues to invest in the future of the construction industry with its repairs and maintenance company Willmott Dixon Partnerships, by inducting 16 new apprentices at the 4Life Academy in Birmingham. The 4Life Academy will be the hub for their training on the company's new Skills 4
22/08/2013
Biomass electricity will produce more than 70% greenhouse gas savings compared to fossil fuel alternatives, under changes made by the government to ensure the sustainability of wood-fuel used to create energy. From April 2015, the biomass industry – which is worth more than £1bn in new investment a
22/08/2013
More council tenants are seizing the opportunity to buy their home, Housing Minister Mark Prisk said today (22 August 2013). New published figures show a total of 2,149 properties were sold between April and June this year, nearly five times the 443 sold during the same period in 2012, bringing the
22/08/2013
The Eastern region of affordable housing developer and regeneration specialist Lovell has received a nationally recognised accreditation for working with its supply chain partners to promote best practice in equality and diversity. The Equality Accreditation in Supplier Management – awarded by spec
22/08/2013
Health chief Sir Bruce Keogh has described a newly opened NHS centre built by Kier Construction as an exemplar project. Sir Keogh, medical director of the NHS, officially opened the Corby Urgent Care Centre (UCC) in Northamptonshire, and challenged people to visit the building to see the future sh
22/08/2013
New research published today reveals there are still nearly 400,000 homes in England which have been given planning permission but haven't yet been built. The study, commissioned by the Local Government Association (LGA) and carried out by Glenigan, shows that there has been little progress made in
22/08/2013
The latest asset support contract for maintaining and improving the network of motorways and major 'A' roads in parts of Cambridgeshire, Peterborough, Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk has been awarded to Amey by the Highways Agency. The contract is valued at between £30m and £40m per annum, and will go l
21/08/2013
Formal approval was given for plans to restore the iconic Admiralty Arch to its former glory and open it up to the public, Minister for the Cabinet Office Francis Maude confirmed. In a public meeting, Westminster City Council (WCC) granted planning permission to developers Prime Investors Capital (
21/08/2013
NG Bailey's Rail division has been awarded a contract to provide the permanent M&E services for the redevelopment of London Bridge Station, including all temporary services to keep the station operational. Working alongside Costain, the contract will see the company design and install temporary wor
21/08/2013
Piling has started on site at Nova in London, in a joint venture between Cementation Skanska and Balfour Beatty Ground Engineering. The joint venture partners were appointed by Mace to carry out the ground engineering elements of this development for Land Securities. Nova, Victoria is an 897,000
21/08/2013
Costain's major project to completely refurbish London's Farringdon Rail and Tube station has picked up another award. The Costain Laing O'Rourke joint venture (jv) won the Sustainable Excellence title at the Network Rail Partnership Awards for its work to bring the Grade II-listed mid-19th century
21/08/2013
The construction team behind the new Redcar Leisure & Community Heart are literally throwing open the doors for one weekend in September to give people an exclusive look at progress so far. Staff at Willmott Dixon will be running several tours at the site in Kirkleathem Street, Redcar, on Friday 27
21/08/2013
An Ashford-based building company has been prosecuted for repeatedly failing to manage risks on a construction site and exposing workers to needless risk of injury. Canterbury Magistrates were told that the development site in Ramsgate, run by Ecobuild Homes Ltd, had been visited by Health and Safe
21/08/2013
Affordable housebuilder and refurbishment specialist Lovell has announced £12.5m worth of new contract wins for its refurbishment team. Lovell will begin work in September with WM Housing Group on a project to provide external wall insulation and associated works to more than 700 homes in Coventry.
21/08/2013
Kier Construction has been awarded an £18m contract to extend, refurbish and modernise the library at the University of Kent in Canterbury. The Templeman Library has been at the heart of the university's campus since it first opened in 1965, providing a meeting point, place of study and knowledge c
21/08/2013
Morgan Sindall has won a £19 million contract with Maro Developments to construct the new Matalan office building at the former Petrolite site at Knowsley Industrial Park. The project, which will form part of Matalan’s new headquarters, will see the leading construction and infrastructure company c
21/08/2013
A leading galvanizing firm has played its part in a £400 million project to update the world's first twin-track passenger railway. Worksop Galvanizing, Part of Wedge Group Galvanizing, was called upon by Nottingham-based Briton Fabricators to galvanize more than 600 tonnes of steel as part of the L
20/08/2013
Rydon has been appointed by the London Borough of Camden for the regeneration of the Bacton Low Rise estate in Gospel Oak for the first stage of a two stage tender process that will culminate in a fixed price being submitted in January 2014. The £50m redevelopment involves the full demolition of th
20/08/2013
A Motherwell firm has been fined for safety failings after a worker was seriously injured when he fell more than four metres from the flat roof of a single storey extension being built at Ardrossan. The 33-year old labourer, employed by Murdoch Mackenzie Construction Limited, was working on a farm
20/08/2013
UCATT members at Kier Services have voted overwhelmingly for strike action, in a dispute over the company imposing a change in the date the workforce is paid. UCATT members voted by a margin of almost three to one in favour of strike action, with 74.4% in favour of this form of industrial action.
20/08/2013
Willmott Dixon's expanding pipeline of housing work is giving an employment boost to the West Midlands with 42 new jobs created in the past six months at the company's Coleshill office. The latest project to be secured is a £6.6m contract for The Wrekin Housing Trust to create an extra care apartme
20/08/2013
The landmark partnership that is helping Birmingham become more energy efficient, has relaunched its website. Birmingham Energy Savers, the Birmingham City Council/Carillion Energy Services partnership, can now be contacted on
20/08/2013
Leading highways service provider EnterpriseMouchel has announced that it has changed its company name to EM Highway Services Limited (EM). The new name demonstrates the exact nature of business EM provides and further strengthens its identity within the market. However, the company will still be
20/08/2013
Kier Property has completed a £6m forward funding deal with Aberdeen Asset Management on its industrial development in Bracknell, Berkshire. The 38,129sq ft scheme, already 83% pre-let to leading building supplier, Travis Perkins, forms part of Kier Property's Trade City portfolio. This focuses on
20/08/2013
Updated information has been published on proposed government construction projects through to 2020 and beyond. Information on opportunities to win future government construction contracts worth more than £109bn will help suppliers to plan ahead, invest in and grow their businesses, Cabinet Office
20/08/2013
Major improvements are being carried out at East Cowes' Venture Quays site as part of ambitious plans to create a new marina to support the regeneration of the area. Around £2m is being invested by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) in upgrading buildings and improving services on the site, wit
20/08/2013
Peterborough City Council's Planning and Building Control team has retained its national Customer Service Excellence Standard for a further three years. The team is one of just 10 planning services departments in England to be awarded the standard, a recognition given by the Cabinet Office to organ
19/08/2013
Camden Council has announced it wants to charge owners of long-term empty properties an extra 100% on their council tax. It said the move is to tackle the problem of empty and unoccupied homes in the borough. In a statement on the authority's website, it added that bringing empty homes back into
19/08/2013
The owners of a former railway station in Powys, Wales, hope to raise £5,000 to transform a derelict steam train carriage into an arts venue, the BBC has reported. Erwood Station was located on the former Mid Wales Railway (MWR) between Llanidloes and Brecon, which closed in the 1960s due to cuts
19/08/2013
Shropshire-based social housing provider, Severnside Housing, has announced plans for a £4m sheltered housing scheme in Shrewsbury have received the go-ahead. Shropshire Council's Planning Committee gave their approval to the major redevelopment last week. Heaths Houses in Abbey Foregate, Shrews
19/08/2013
Sandwell Council has said it is to relocate staff from its housing department to Wednesbury Town Hall, according to Housing News. The move comes as the area's Black Country Town Hall is set to undergo a £500,000 transformation. The local authority will spend £300,000 on the move and will contribu
19/08/2013
The Kier Group has said good progress is being made on a £1m scheme to refurbish the footbridge at St Albans Station, while the facility remains operational 24 hours a day. Kier is carrying out the work on behalf of Network Rail. The improvement works commenced on site on 1 April and a scheduled
19/08/2013
Plymouth Argyle's Home Park Stadium is set to be transformed into a new £50m multi-use venue after plans received the green light. In a statement on the club's official website, it said it would cement its status with an "unrivalled leisure and sporting destination." Last Thursday, city Councillo
16/08/2013
Crossrail's eastern running tunnels team has marked another major milestone with the completion of the westbound cavern 40m below ground in Stepney Green, just 3 months after the completion of the eastbound cavern earlier this year. The Stepney Green caverns are some of the largest mined caverns ev
16/08/2013
The future of older people's accommodation in County Durham has been officially unveiled with the opening of a flagship £3.6m housing development, supported with £760,000 investment from the Homes and Communities Agency. North Durham MP Kevan Jones was joined by local councillors and tenants to mar
16/08/2013
BNRG Renewables has obtained a 25-year planning permission from Shepway District Council's Development Control Committee for its proposed 18MW solar array in Old Romney in Kent. The Committee voted 15 to one to support the scheme and is a testament to BNRG's professional and best practice approach
16/08/2013
GI Energy, the UK leader in the design and installation of Ground Source Energy Systems, is celebrating after saving the UK more than 40 million tonnes of carbon emissions to date with its heating and cooling systems. The Coventry-based company passed the milestone – the equivalent of the entire an
16/08/2013
Shropshire Wildlife Trust took receipt of a cheque for £210 from local renewable energy company Go Green Systems Ltd of Shrewsbury. The money comes from an arrangement set up with Go Green Systems who installed photo voltaic cells at the Trust's HQ eighteen months ago. It's hoped the cells will
16/08/2013
A landlord who rents an HMO property in south Manchester has been fined almost £12,000 after failing to apply for a property licence. Mr Edward David Murray, 47, of Parkwood Road, Baguley, was fined £10,000 by the Magistrates for operating an HMO without a licence and ordered to pay £1,550.83 court
16/08/2013
Essential works to refurbish a bridge across the Nene parkway will begin next week in order to ensure it is safe to use for years to come. Longthorpe Bridge, which carries Thorpe Road over the parkway, is the final bridge on the A1260 Nene parkway to require refurbishment. The works are due to beg
16/08/2013
Jason Hole was registered with Network Training Services on GQA Level 2 NVQ Certificate in Fabrication of Glass Supporting Structures in 2011. Jason, a fabricator at Windowbuild in Cardiff, completed the qualification framework in April 2012. Jason's assessor, Steve Kaged, of Network Training Servi
15/08/2013
A leading developer has been selected to take forward South Shields 365. Muse Developments will deliver the £100 million masterplan which aims to make South Shields an exciting destination every day of the year. Muse is a national developer best known in the North East for its transformation of New
15/08/2013
New figures show government action is getting Britain building and helping to provide the homes this country needs, Communities Minister Brandon Lewis has said. The latest housebuilding start figures show there were 29,510 new homes started between April and June this year - 6% higher than the prev
15/08/2013
MITIE has completed the first stage of a £1.7m project to generate energy savings for Bedford Borough Council. The project is focused on reducing running costs, generating income and cutting carbon emissions across seven council properties. Allhallows multi-storey car park is the first of the prop
15/08/2013
The planning and urban design masterplan for a major project that will give a £10.7bn boost to the UK economy by 2031 has been unveiled by Enfield Council. Meridian Water is a new £1.3bn eco-development that will provide up to 5,000 new homes and create up to 3,000 new jobs. The masterplan for the
15/08/2013
A large-scale housing refurbishment programme being carried out by housing regeneration specialist Lovell for social housing provider Cartrefi Cymunedol Gwynedd (CCG) in Gwynedd, north-west Wales, has given a major boost to local social enterprise Antur Waunfawr. Lovell has awarded Antur Waunfawr a
15/08/2013
The first phase of a £50m regeneration project in West Bromwich town centre has been completed. VINCI Construction UK completed the Tesco-led main contract, which began in October 2011. More than 10,000 square metres of retail space has been completed, along with seven restaurant units, the shell
15/08/2013
Rochford Housing, part of leading housing and care provider Sanctuary Group, has just completed the first phase of the Stratford House redevelopment in Hockley Road. The development will provide a total of 13 apartments and houses for affordable rent or shared ownership. This includes one ground
15/08/2013
Willmott Dixon is aiming to surpass the £1.1m it invested in community projects last year as it launched its 'Investing 4Life' Foundation Review. The Review details how the £1.1m was spent in 2012, including 30,000 hours of staff time given to community projects to improve local facilities, managin
14/08/2013
Fareham College has awarded the contract to design and build its new £12m engineering and advanced manufacturing skills centre to Leadbitter Ltd, it has been announced. The project is the first step in an ambitious £26m capital investment programme by the college, which received a further boost la
14/08/2013
Ministry Of Defence (MOD) has secured three major planning approvals that will allow the sale of surplus military facilities in the south of England. The sales will support our Armed Forces and release land to provide more than 5,000 much-needed civilian homes. The Defence Infrastructure Organisat
14/08/2013
Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor A/S (BWSC) and PensionDanmark have formed a joint venture, BWSC PLC, which will build, own and operate power plants internationally. The company's initial investment of £160m will go to a new biomass power plant, Brigg Renewable Energy Plant, which is to b
14/08/2013
E.ON Exploration & Production's (E&P) Tolmount gas discovery in the UK North Sea could contain significantly higher volumes than originally estimated, making it one of the largest discoveries made in this part of the North Sea for several years. The recently completed appraisal well reached its ta
14/08/2013
The UK housing market appears to have finally turned a corner as buyers returned to the market in their biggest numbers for four years, according to the latest RICS Residential Market Survey. During July, the amount of potential buyers looking to enter the market grew at the fastest rate since July
14/08/2013
Costain has won a contract to help keep rivers and waterways in the Midlands flowing. The framework contract for the Environment Agency – the first of its type for Costain – covers a wide variety of services, from routine inspections and maintenance of waterways to providing fast-response teams to
14/08/2013
Orbit Housing Group has chosen Lovell, the affordable house builder and regeneration specialist, to build 12 new bungalows in Milton Keynes. The bungalows will be the first new council houses in the borough for 15 years. Orbit was selected by Milton Keynes Council to design and build the 12 wheel
14/08/2013
A son frantically pulled his father to safety after he was trapped by rubble when a building collapsed during unsafe renovation work, a court has heard. The pair, aged 51 and 20 from Penkridge, Staffordshire, who have asked not to be named, fell through two floors but avoided serious injury in the
14/08/2013
Currently at the forefront of biometric technology and innovation, ievo have launched their new brand complete with a logo refresh, redesigned website, additional marketing support materials and Smartphone applications for ievo installer's and end user's. Since 2009 ievo have been manufacturing sup
14/08/2013
One week of hot weather and there is already talk of the latest heat wave entering the record books and beating that of the summer of 1976. So is it all just hot air or can we draw some comparisons with the UK's construction industry and some of the hot spots we are starting to see out there? It fe
13/08/2013
The Mayor Boris Johnson has announced significant progress in one of London's largest residential schemes, creating thousands of new homes and jobs for south east London. The final stage of planning consent, to build almost 3,000 homes on the 190 acre Greenwich Peninsula site, the majority of which
13/08/2013
The middle of the summer holidays may not be a time when most people are thinking about insulating their homes for the winter. But Manchester residents are being urged to make hay while the sun shines – and plan ahead by taking advantage of free and discounted schemes on offer. Residents are being
13/08/2013
Government action to help kick-start the housing market is working, Eric Pickles, said today. New figures show that the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme is surging head with 10,000 reservations for new build homes in the last four months. Ministers also pointed to the delivery of almost a third of
13/08/2013
A new swimming pool and spa faciltiies have been officially opened at the Ramsgate Sports Centre by Steve Backley OBE. Mr Backley described the new facilities as a way to continue 'inspiring a generation' and congratulated all of the agencies involved. The redevelopment project has been a collabor
13/08/2013
Lending to first-time buyers has hit its largest quarterly total since 2007, with 68,200 purchasing their first home in the second quarter of 2013, according to new figures released by the Council of Mortgage Lenders. This increase, along with growth in lending to home movers, has resulted in a jum
13/08/2013
A builder has been jailed for 12 months for illegally carrying out sub-standard gas work at a lone pensioner's home in Bedfordshire. Luton Crown Court heard that between 21 January and 30 June 2010, Patrick Regan carried out internal building work, including gas work and other building works affect
13/08/2013
Costain picked up a trio of titles at the 2013 Dwr Cymru Welsh Water Occupational Health & Safety Awards. In the awards ceremony, held at the Liberty Stadium in Swansea, the Costain Welsh Water team won the 'Most Improved' performance category. It also took the Highly Commended slot in the Excellen
13/08/2013
International management and construction consultancy, Gleeds, has been chosen as cost manager for the £260m redevelopment of one of the world's most famous motor racing facilities, the iconic Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Working on behalf of International Speedway Cor
12/08/2013
Major redevelopment plans for Chapel Arches in Maidenhead have been given the green light by the Royal Borough. The Chapel Arches scheme will transform a substantial part of the town centre with more than 200 new apartments, shops, restaurants, cafés and offices, built around the York Stream which
12/08/2013
Eurovia and Aggregate Industries have announced the formation of a new joint venture company that will supply asphalt, concrete, pre-cast and aggregate materials on the Isle of Wight and service the Island's Highways PFI. The joint venture company will trade as 'Wight Building Materials Limited'. A
12/08/2013
Peterborough City Council has announced its preferred bidder to deliver highways services including road maintenance, street lighting and gulley cleansing under a new 10-year contract which could save in the region of £750,000 a year. Council Leader Marco Cereste has been asked to sign off the deci
12/08/2013
Housing Minister, Carl Sargeant announced funding totalling £1,909,150 for three pioneer co-operative housing pilot schemes in Newport, Cardiff and Carmarthenshire. The Minister said: "This is a welcome step forward in delivering on the Welsh Government's commitment to develop new ways of providing
12/08/2013
The latest Construction Trade Survey published shows that conditions in Q2 improved across all construction sectors and throughout the supply chain, according to the Construction Products Association (CPA). Even small and medium-sized businesses, hardest hit by the downturn, reported their first ri
12/08/2013
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is inviting representatives of the construction industry to a free seminar about the dangers of dust. Every year, 500 workers die from the effects of inhaling dust from materials such as concrete, wood, mortar, gypsum or sandstone. The half day event, organise
12/08/2013
Renew has announced the acquisition of the entire issued share capital of Lewis Civil Engineering Limited (Lewis) for a cash consideration of £7.9m. The consideration includes £0.6m in respect of two freehold properties used by Lewis. The acquisition has been funded from the Group's cash resources
12/08/2013
Balfour Beatty has announced the award of the £30m London hotel scheme for the citizenM hotel group. The nine-storey hotel will comprise of 370 luxurious modular bedrooms over eight floors, a ground floor cafe, bar, living room spaces and a SocietyM business club on the eighth and ninth levels. T
12/08/2013
Young sailors from Worthing Sailing Club got a first look at their new clubhouse when Kier Homes gave an exclusive behind the scenes tour of the new facility. Councillor Robert Smytherman, Mayor of Worthing, joined Nigel Jupp, commodore of Worthing Sailing Club, and young sailors to tour the new bu
12/08/2013
The annual charity golf event organised by Cardiff housing developer and regeneration specialist Lovell has celebrated its 20th anniversary by raising a record-equalling £12,000. Gail Griffiths of Bobath Children's Therapy Centre Wales presents Gemma Davies and Meurig Jones from Lovell with a speci
09/08/2013
Blackpool Council has officially handed over the Queens Park estate to Lovell, paving the way for a new 198-home development. Lovell will now begin the first phase of works which will include the demolition of the first two tower blocks and the creation of 92 new homes. A ceremony commemorated the
09/08/2013
Leading interior building products distributor CCF has opened a brand new branch in Belvedere. Its extensive warehouse and trade counter supports a comprehensive product portfolio and offers excellent stock availability to meet demand from contractors in the busy South East London and Kent regener
09/08/2013
The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) has appointed a preferred developer to create much needed new homes in the heart of Liverpool. Fortis Developments Limited has been chosen by property owners the HCA to transform Merebank, Greenbank Drive, to create 78 market sale and rent homes. Detailed pla
09/08/2013
GDF SUEZ, through its Energy Services business line, has announced the purchase of Balfour Beatty's UK Facilities Management business – Balfour Beatty Workplace. The acquisition will give GDF SUEZ, through its primary brand Cofely, a strong position in energy services, technical services & facilit
09/08/2013
Young sailors from Worthing Sailing Club got their first look at their new clubhouse when Kier Homes gave an exclusive behind the scenes tour of the new facility. Cllr Robert Smytherman, Mayor of Worthing, joined Nigel Jupp, commodore of Worthing Sailing Club, and young sailors to tour the new buil
09/08/2013
The Kensington and Park Terrace Project received 'Highly Commended' status at the 2013 Newcastle University Excellent Contractor Awards. The award scheme recognises contractor excellence based on a range of Key Performance Indicators assessed by the University. The GRAHAM project was nominated by B
09/08/2013
Trade association ACAD has just announced two new asbestos training courses, in Essex, this autumn. ACAD runs a Supervisor Refresher course on 10 September and a Manager Refresher course on 11 September at its training centre, in Benfleet, Essex. The Supervisor Refresher course is designed for asb
09/08/2013
CITB has issued a stark warning to the UK construction sector – that it faces a skills 'time bomb' if it fails to recruit new workers to replace more than 400,000 people set to retire in the next 5-10 years. The labour market research, published by the Office of National Statistics, shows that acro
09/08/2013
A self-employed heating installer from King's Lynn has been fined for illegally carrying out sub-standard gas work at two homes in Norfolk. King's Lynn Magistrates' Court heard that Ryan Neale, trading as R. Neale Plumbing and Heating, installed gas appliances and associated gas pipework at propert
09/08/2013
Borkum West II, also known as Trianel Windpark Borkum, set in German waters in the North Sea is the latest project H&Askham are adding to the ever growing portfolio of works we can boast in the Offshore Wind Sector. Teams were mobilised to the project to begin HV termination and jointing works in ea
08/08/2013
Future students at John Bosco Arts College in Liverpool will conduct their studies on a new £18.2m school campus. Neptune Projects Ltd has awarded VINCI Construction UK a two year contract to design and construct a three-storey girls' arts college on the site of the existing school. The campus will
08/08/2013
An amazing 5,500 miles' journey ends on Sunday 11 August when an electricity transformer, the size of a house, is delivered to a National Grid substation at Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station. The 261 tonnes, 66 metres long, and five metres high transformer started its voyage in South Korea where it w
08/08/2013
Householders once again have the chance to sign up for a Peterborough City Council scheme that could save them money on their gas and electricity bills. Ready to Switch is a collective switching initiative run in partnership with 12 other English councils. The scheme uses the combined buying power
08/08/2013
Carillion Rail has invested in new training facilities as part of a new Cooperation Agreement with Austrian electrically-powered transport systems specialist, SPL Powerlines Group. The agreement will strengthen Carillion's existing capabilities in the rail sector, particularly around electrificatio
08/08/2013
A turf cutting ceremony to mark the start of construction of new two, three and four-bedroom homes on the former Saxby site in Chester Road, Wellingborough took place on Tuesday 6 August. The Mayor of Wellingborough, Councillor Graham Lawman, cut the first turf within the six acre (2.5 hectare) sit
08/08/2013
Cumbria County Council is set to receive a further £7.2m for road repairs after flooding. Roads in Cumbria damaged by devastating flooding in 2009 are to be repaired thanks to government funding, Transport Secretary, Patrick McLoughlin has announced. The additional funds will allow repairs to be c
08/08/2013
A heating installer has been fined for illegal and unsafe gas work in a London home. Abhishev Yadav, aged 28, of Greenwich, installed a boiler at a property on Penywern Road, Earls Court, that was later classed as "at risk" because the flue was not properly sealed or secured. He carried out the wo
08/08/2013
Sovereign Land has submitted an outline planning application for a £200m, five-year strategy to redevelop Telford Town Centre. The proposals will see the one million sq ft Telford Shopping Centre increase in size by up to 80%, with a net increase of almost 400,000 sq ft of retail and 250,000 sq
08/08/2013
Bellway has announced a 103-home development on the site of the former Princess Royal Hospital on Saltshouse Road, Hull. Princess Royal Park will feature a mix of three-bedroom semi-detached homes and three and four-bedroom detached homes, with prices due to be announced ahead of the company's sale
07/08/2013
Balfour Beatty has been appointed to extend the Midland Metro through Birmingham's city centre. The project involves delivering a 1.4 kilometre extension linking Birmingham’s two major rail stations, delivering more than 3.5 million passengers a year to the city's retail quarter for Centro, the reg
07/08/2013
A joint venture comprising BAM Nuttall and Van Oord has been awarded a contract valued at £75m by Peel Ports as part of its £300m scheme to create to new container terminal on the Mersey estuary in Liverpool. Once completed, this new facility will accommodate some of the world's largest container ve
07/08/2013
Fit out and refurbishment specialist Overbury, and construction and infrastructure company, Morgan Sindall - both Morgan Sindall Group businesses - have won a £16.5m contract to refurbish and expand a student accommodation development for Imperial College London. The design and build project involv
07/08/2013
Finance Minister Jane Hutt has announced a £900,000 EU funding boost to foster collaboration between social enterprises and housing associations to strengthen services and benefit communities. Led by Community Housing Cymru, the Building Enterprise project will assist around fifty organisations and
07/08/2013
New 'town centre first' planning rules will cut red tape and make it easier to bring empty and underused buildings back to life, revitalising our high streets and rural towns, Planning Minister Nick Boles has announced. The recommendations being published for consultation allow local people to tran
07/08/2013
A £22m specialist Science, Technology, Engineering, Enterprise, English and Mathematics (STE³M) school has been completed in Worrall, Sheffield. The two and half year Bradfield School contract included a three-storey 8,606m² main school building and a biomass energy centre, which was constructed on
07/08/2013
National Grid has started the second phase of a £30m project to upgrading a power line across Cumbria and Lancashire. New wires are being installed and steelwork repaired and renewed on the 345 pylons which make up the 116km long electricity transmission line which runs south from a substation at H
07/08/2013
Financial close has now been reached for Blue 3, a consortium comprising Kier and DIF Infrastructure II as co-investors, to design, build and maintain nine new community fire stations in south-east and east London on behalf of London Fire Brigade. The government is providing £52m funding under the
07/08/2013
British Land has confirmed that it has entered into an agreement with The City of London Corporation for the redevelopment of The Shoreditch Estate, E1. The estate comprises three sites covering 2 acres fronting onto Shoreditch High Street and Norton Folgate immediately to the north of Spitalfields
07/08/2013
Olsen Doors & Windows are working in partnership with Bespoke Glazing Solutions in Dorset as to enable them to offer high quality Scandinavian designed products manufactured to the highest standards and installed by experienced technicians to ensure the end result is always to desired result. All ex
06/08/2013
A winning design concept and team has been selected by Northamptonshire County Council for a major new state-of-the-art office development aimed at saving taxpayers millions and giving Northampton town centre a major cash-injection. The council announced last year that it planned to centralise its
06/08/2013
Lingfield (Catterick) Limited, a joint venture between Kier Property and Lingfield Securities, is poised to deliver a £25m revamp of Catterick Garrison town centre after Richmondshire District Council resolved to grant planning permission. The 150,000sq ft town centre scheme will deliver 700 new jo
06/08/2013
Residents have already started to move in to new homes in Runcorn after a three year regeneration project has been completed. Woodland Walk, Runcorn, has been transformed from a 1960's eyesore thanks to a £10m investment from Liverpool Housing Trust (LHT), part of Symphony Housing Group, and £4.5m
06/08/2013
Southwark Council and its recycling and waste partner, Veolia Environmental Services have announced plans to supply heating and hot water to parts of the borough generated through the South East London Combined Heat and Power energy recovery facility (SELCHP). The heating network will be the first
06/08/2013
Costain graduates have rated Costain the best in the civil engineering and construction industry. The Group came first in its sector in this year's Top Companies for Graduates to Work For survey by The Job Crowd, the UK's leading graduate job review website. The results are based on reviews submitt
06/08/2013
More than half (53%) of people in Britain say they are limited in their spending as a result of their housing costs. According to the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH), which commissioned the Ipsos MORI research, the cost of housing risks are choking off Britain's economic recovery. It comes a
06/08/2013
Mace has announced the appointment of Jason Butterworth as Director of Design & Transportation for the consultancy business and Adam McAllister as Head of Rail for Construction. Both these appointments demonstrate Mace's commitment to strengthening its capabilities in the transportation market and
06/08/2013
A new range of ready-mixed concretes has been launched by Britain's leading independent concrete supplier, Hope Construction Materials. HOPEFlow™ is a suite of high-performance, self-compacting concretes and flowing screeds that can be placed in a fraction of the time of conventional concrete. The
06/08/2013
Parents are paying out £2bn every year to help their children get on the housing ladder, as more and more young people are priced out of a home of their own. New analysis by NatCen Social Research for Shelter shows that the pressure on parents to help their children out with the money for a deposit
06/08/2013
Sir Robert McAlpine are the main contractor of the £80m contract to redevelop the Hereford cattle market into a leisure and shopping centre. This project will bring a three-storey Debenhams department store, a Waitrose store, a six screen ODEON multiplex cinema and 20 further shops and seven restaur
05/08/2013
The Construction Products Association (CPA) has published its latest forecasts and anticipates construction output growth of 2.2% in 2014 and 4.5% in 2015. The recovery will be led primarily by private housing in the short-term, with infrastructure expected to further boost activity in the medium-
05/08/2013
Anyone planning new building projects in their community can apply for a share of £17 million to get their ideas off the ground. Housing Minister Mark Prisk announced the fund, which will offer additional support to people with plans and ideas for their neighbourhood, from self-build homes to commu
05/08/2013
Almost 200 new affordable homes will be built after Manchester's registered home providers won a share of a £56 million funding package for the North West, provided by the Homes and Communities Agency Manchester City Council have worked in partnership with some of the city's successful housing prov
05/08/2013
The Welsh Government has approved funding for Prosiect Gwyrdd to treat waste that cannot be recycled from Caerphilly, Cardiff, Monmouthshire, Newport and the Vale of Glamorgan. Prosiect Gwyrdd will receive over £4.2 million of Welsh Government funding each year to divert non-recyclable waste from l
05/08/2013
E.ON has announced that residents in Leicester can now pop in for face to face energy advice, thanks to the launch of its new customer service hub on the city's high street. The energy company launched its 'Open House' with an Open House Party in Highcross Shopping Centre on Thursday 1 August. Thi
05/08/2013
Owls and other birds at a sanctuary in Ebbw Vale are enjoying bigger homes after Willmott Dixon donated materials to re-build a row of old aviaries. The Owl Sanctuary at Festival Park is extending and improving its facilities thanks to donations and help from volunteers. When Willmott Dixon heard a
05/08/2013
Two firms have been fined after a brick archway weighing two tonnes collapsed and injured two workers during a major refurbishment project. The two men, both joiners, were shoring up the arch after it become unstable due to the removal of some masonry on one of the support pillars. One fractured a
05/08/2013
Balfour Beatty, through its Mansell brand, has started work on the construction of 14 new affordable homes that will help ensure local families are able to continue living in their community. The project is being carried out for the Cotman Housing Association in Old Buckenham, just south of Norwich
05/08/2013
British Gas customers will no longer face early cancellation fees if they want to switch from one British Gas tariff to another. The energy supplier has removed cancellation fees for customers on British Gas' new and existing range of fixed and variable tariffs who want to switch to a British Gas d
05/08/2013
A Buckinghamshire construction company and its managing director have been fined for multiple safety failings following the total collapse of two large properties in Westminster. The buildings, on Fulham Road, were reduced to rubble in January 2011 and neighbouring properties sustained serious stru
02/08/2013
ISG has secured its first ever project with Cardiff University, appointed to the £13.5m new Business School development at its Cathays Park campus. Designed as a signature building within the University's property portfolio, the facilities at the striking new building will play an important role i
02/08/2013
BAM Construction has been announced as preferred bidder for a £9 million contract to build UTC Cambridge. The contractor will deliver a three-storey building to hold 670 students aged 14 to 19. The university technical college will specialise in biomedical and environmental sciences and technologi
02/08/2013
The Planning Portal website that provides a one-stop shop for processing planning applications and accessing guidance, is now accepting expressions of interest for investment to ensure it's enhanced to deliver a more comprehensive service and exploit further commercial opportunities, Planning Minist
02/08/2013
A new paper has set out the key challenges facing London's construction industry, as it reveals the value of new construction orders in the capital has fallen by almost a quarter in just two years. The summary paper, compiled by the London Assembly Economy Committee after a meeting with industry ex
02/08/2013
Leeds Council's striking new arena has been crowned with a 7,500sq m Sika Sarnafil single ply roofing system, installed by experienced contractor Lakesmere. Alongside main contractor BAM Construction and architects Populous, Lakesmere saw the project become its first fully Building Information Mode
02/08/2013
Transport Minister Norman Baker has announced £25 million of capital funding to enable the construction of demonstration-scale waste to fuel and other advanced biofuel plants in the UK. The money will be used to underpin significant private sector investment in one or more demonstration-scale advan
02/08/2013
Shrewsbury's historic Flax Mill Maltings has received a grant of £12.8m from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to support the conservation and redevelopment of the world's first iron-framed building, it has been announced. The funding will be put towards the first phase of the redevelopment of the Fl
02/08/2013
Government and business have published a long-term strategy that will strengthen the UK's position in the offshore wind industry. The multi-million pound investment has the potential to unlock £7 billion in the economy by 2020. Investments by the government will include £20 million from the Regiona
01/08/2013
McCaul Developments has made its first move into the Manchester City Centre market with the unveiling of 'The Point' housing development at the New Islington regeneration scheme. The family-owned business, based in Astley, has revealed that Phase One of the development, which includes 23 apartments
01/08/2013
Mace and Essential Living are to build the UK's first large-scale institutionally-backed residential homes on the Newington Butts site. The Mayor, Boris Johnson, has struck a deal that will see institutional investment used, for the first time in the UK, to build a large-scale residential rental de
01/08/2013
St James Group Ltd, part of the Berkeley Group of companies, has agreed a deal with National Grid Property to redevelop the former Southall Gas Works site. The strategic 80-acre site, located within the London Borough of Ealing and adjacent to a future Crossrail station, benefits from Outline Plann
01/08/2013
Costain, one of the UK's leading Tier One engineering solutions providers, has announced that it has acquired EPC Offshore, a specialist oil & gas project management services company, for an initial consideration of £9.6m (plus £1.0m for excess cash). Costain has also announced the launch of Costa
01/08/2013
British Gas owner Centrica has swelled its profits to £356m as its residential energy arm benefited from the past year's bitter winter. Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said: "Swelling profits are nothing to celebrate when fuel poverty is a very real concern. "These profits will anger a gro
01/08/2013
Seddon Construction is commencing construction on a new £5.1m fully fitted care home in Banks, near Southport, Lancashire, for owner Cinnamon Care Capital. The home, once completed, will be operated by leading care home provider Barchester Healthcare. Seddon has started work on the 70-bed buildin
01/08/2013
Two major companies were responsible for a major blaze in Leeds that led to the evacuation of six homes, the closure of a major road and gas supplies being cut off, a court heard. Leeds-based Northern Gas Networks Operations Ltd and Morgan Sindall (Infrastructure) plc both neglected basic safety me
01/08/2013
Housebuilder and developer Lovell has promoted national sales manager Justine Elliott to its board. Justine has been appointed to the company's senior management team as sales director. Justine joined Lovell as national sales manager in 2011. Under her leadership, the company's open market sales
01/08/2013
Willow Vale has recently opened its doors to residents following the completion of Bernicia's latest supported housing scheme thanks to investment from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA). Built on the site of the former Glebe Road Hostel, there are 39 two-bedroom retirement apartments in Bedli
01/08/2013
The Environment Agency is planning a major programme to improve flood defences in and around Hull. The scheme will see an investment of more than £20m in renovated and new defences along sections of the north bank of the Humber and the River Hull. Refurbishment is needed to maintain standards of p
