• Race starts for £3bn West Midlands framework

    The race has started to secure places on the £3bn third-generation Constructing West Midlands framework.
    Acivico, owned by Birmingham City Council, is leading procurement of the CWM3 framework alongside partners Solihull and Sandwell councils.
    Contractors fighting to renew places include Galliford Try, Morgan Sindall, Willmott Dixon, Speller Metcalfe, Seddon, Interclass and GF Tomlinson.Twenty contractors will be selected to deliver a pipeline of projects spanning education, housing, healt
  • Persimmon brick factory working 24/7 to meet demand

    Persimmon’s in-house materials are now the preferred choice across the whole business.
    The house building giant has boosted production at its Brickworks, Tileworks and Space4 timber frame operations.
    At it’s latest results Persimmon said: “Further investment across all three facilities will also play a pivotal role in supporting our growth ambitions. Our in-house materials are now the preferred choice throughout the business.“This approach delivers significant advantages
  • Costain builds record £7bn order book as profit jumps a third

    Costain has laid down a strong platform for its next phase of growth after piling up a record £7bn forward work position and lifting operating profit despite a sharp revenue drop in transport.
    The firm posted revenue of £1.05bn for the year to 31 December 2025, down 16% from £1.25bn, as lower road and rail activity dragged back the top line.
    Pre-tax profit increased 32% to £48m while net cash rose to £189m from £158m. An improvement in cash flow gave the group
  • Market sounding starts on £46m Mid Wales school

    Powys County Council has kicked off early contractor engagement for a £46m all-age school project in Mid Wales.
    Firms are being invited to take part in discussions ahead of inviting tenders later this year for the new Ysgol Bro Hyddgen development in Machynlleth.
    The project will deliver a net-zero operation education campus for 540 pupils on the existing school grounds, replacing outdated buildings currently spread across two sites.The Ysgol Bro Hyddgen scheme already has full planning co
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  • £150m Cambridge to Cambourne busway job heads for tender

    Cambridgeshire County Council is preparing to invite bids for the construction of the £150m Cambourne to Cambridge busway and park-and-ride scheme.
    The council plans to invite tender in May for the major transport project, which forms a key part of the Greater Cambridge Sustainable Transport Programme.
    The scheme will deliver a new dedicated busway linking the fast-growing settlement of Cambourne with Cambridge, alongside a new park-and-ride site aimed at cutting congestion on the A428 cor
  • Muse gets green light for office-to-apartments conversion

    The latest two blocks have been given the go-ahead as part of the £500m regeneration of Wythenshawe in Manchester.
    Developer Muse and Wythenshawe Community Housing Group submitted three separate planning applications for 422 new affordable homes in December 2025.
    Now, works on two of the three new communities – C2 The Birtles and Brotherton House – can begin, with the third – Alpha House – expected to get the green light in the coming weeks.Brotherton House, a forme
  • Manchester city council JV to build 1,600 homes

    Manchester City Council is lining up a new joint venture with the Greater Manchester Pension Fund to accelerate development of 1,600 homes on council-owned brownfield land over the next decade.
    The partnership will drive the next phase of schemes under the council’s This City housing company, targeting a pipeline of seven sites in north, east and central Manchester.
    The collaboration agreement will go before the council’s executive for approval at the end of this week.The next scheme
  • Graham set for £100m Cardiff Crossrail phase one

    Graham is set to be officially signed as principal contractor to build the first phase of Cardiff’s long-planned Crossrail tram-train network linking the city centre with Cardiff Bay.
    Cardiff Council will ask cabinet members on 19 March to rubberstamp Graham’s appointment and finalise the contract value for the opening stage of the scheme.
    This would allow construction to begin this summer.
    The first phase of the project is backed by £100m in joint funding from the Welsh Govern
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  • Worker electrocuted after cherry picker hits power line

    Two companies have been fined after an employee was killed and a colleague left with life-altering injuries when a cherrypicker collided with an overhead powerline.
    Willand O&M Ltd and New Wave Marine Ltd were sentenced at Exeter Crown Court last week following an incident on 1 June 2020 at the Willand Biogas site in Devon.
    Carl Parsons, 34, was electrocuted and colleague Luke Madavan was left with life-changing injuries.Described by his family as funny, loving, kind and a fantastic father,
  • Go-ahead for 2,300-home scheme at former GSK London HQ

    Developer Hadley Property Group has gained planning for a large-scale redevelopment of the former GlaxoSmithKline headquarters in Brentford, West London.
    The ambitious scheme at 980 Great West Road spans 13 acres and will see over 2,300 homes built across a mix of tenures, with 35% classed as affordable.
    The plans also include around 330,000 sq ft of commercial and retail space, creating a new mixed-use neighbourhood along the M4 corridor.Former Glaxo HQ building at redevelopment site where 96%
  • Habiko submits first 240-home scheme in Warrington

    Affordable homes partnership Habiko has lodged plans for its first housing scheme of 240-home affordable flats in Warrington town centre.
    The affordable homes partnership between Muse, Pension Insurance Corporation and Homes England has submitted proposals to Warrington Borough Council to redevelop land off Academy Way, on the site of the former DW Sports building.
    The plans would deliver one and two-bed affordable flats across two six-storey buildings arranged around a central landscaped courty
  • MTX wins £33m Welsh modular hospital revamp

    MTX Contracts has been appointed to deliver the £33m transformation of the historic Royal Alexandra Hospital in Rhyl, North Wales.
    The main design and build contract awarded by the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board for the three-storey 2,500m² facility will see MTX employ advanced elements of Modern Methods of Construction
    MTX has led the scheme through a two-stage procurement process under a Pre-Construction Service Agreement (PCSA), working closely with NHS Wales Shared Servic
  • North West landlord unveils £428m contractor panel

    North West housing association Regenda has picked a raft of contractors for a £428m works and consultancy framework covering construction, refurbishment and professional services across northern England and North Wales.
    The four-year framework, set up with Rise Construction Framework, will support projects across Merseyside, Cheshire, Lancashire, Cumbria and Greater Manchester as well as North Wales and Yorkshire.
    The biggest slice of work sits in the general construction lot, where 38 fir
  • McLaren tops contracts league on data boom

    McLaren Construction surged to the top of the contractor league tables in February after landing a £500m deal to build a major datacentre campus in East London.
    The firm has secured a shell and core contract to deliver the first of three giant datacentre buildings at Ada Infrastructure’s Docklands campus, propelling it to the number one spot in the monthly rankings.
    Sisk ran McLaren close in a strong month for big-ticket project wins. The contractor secured two major schemes worth an
  • Probe launched after Falcon tower crane collapse

    Full details have been confirmed of the crane collapse in west London on Wednesday first reported by the Enquirer.
    The failed machine was a luffing jib tower crane on hire from Falcon Cranes working on a Hill Group housing job at Barlby Road for Kensington and Chelsea Council.
    A spokesperson from The Hill Group said: “On 4 March, an incident occurred at our Barlby Road site, being constructed on behalf of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, involving the jib of a tower crane becom
  • Housing drags down fledgling construction recovery

    Construction buyers have reported an accelerated downturn in February sinking signs of a recovery at the start of this year.
    The bellwether S&P Global UK Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) registered 44.5 in February – down from January’s seven-month high (46.4) and the 14th consecutive monthly fall.
    Residential building remained the weakest-performing segment in February (index at 37.0) and the rate of decline accelerated since January.Commercial construction ac
  • Taylor Wimpey to spend £150m this year on safety defects backlog

    House builder Taylor Wimpey plans to spend around £150m this year fixing fire safety defects as it ramps up remediation work to fix a backlog of fire safety work.
    The firm has now revealed that previously hidden defects involving cavity barriers behind brickwork and render account for up to two-thirds of the steep £222m hike in its cladding remediation provision last year.
    The problems only emerged after intrusive investigations and updated Fire Risk Appraisal of External Walls (FRAE
  • Tower crane collapses in London

    A tower crane jib is understood to have collapsed on a site in west London on Wednesday.
    Site photos shared with the Enquirer show the aftermath of the failure on the residential site.
    No-one is believed to have been injured in the incident.
    The Enquirer has contacted firms understood to have been involved for comment.
  • Near-1,000 homes approved for Isle of Dogs site

    London’s Tower Hamlets council has approved plans for a near-1,000 home twin-tower scheme on the Isle of Dogs at Mastmaker Court in Millharbour.
    The hybrid planning application will see two existing warehouse buildings demolished and replaced with two residential towers delivering co-living and affordable housing alongside community and education facilities.
    The development has been designed architect Squire & Partners for site owner Pirin Limited and its development partner Fifth Stat
  • Keltbray lays foundation for HS2 Curzon Street station

    HS2 has reached a major construction milestone at its Birmingham terminus after completing the last of 2,011 concrete piles that will support the foundations of Curzon Street station.
    The huge piling programme, delivered by the Mace Dragados joint venture with Keltbray marks the end of a critical substructure phase on the 400m-long city centre station.
    Each reinforced concrete pile has been sunk between 6m and 24m deep into the ground to form the backbone of the new seven-platform terminus, whic
  • Go-ahead for Preston 500-home plan at shopping precint

    Plans to bulldoze Preston’s ageing St John’s Shopping Centre and replace it with three residential towers, shops and a new NHS health hub have been given the green light.
    Members of Preston City Council’s planning committee have just backed the scheme with outline consent, clearing the way for a major reset of the city centre site after more than 60 years of retail use.
    Developer Wansfell Ltd will now move forward with outline proposals to demolish the existing precinct and adj
  • Go-ahead for Preston 500-home plan at shopping precinct

    Plans to bulldoze Preston’s ageing St John’s Shopping Centre and replace it with three residential towers, shops and a new NHS health hub have been given the green light.
    Members of Preston City Council’s planning committee have just backed the scheme with outline consent, clearing the way for a major reset of the city centre site after more than 60 years of retail use.
    Developer Wansfell Ltd will now move forward with outline proposals to demolish the existing precinct and adj
  • John F Hunt wins Euston Tower demolition

    John F Hunt has been appointed by British Land under a PCSA to undertake the demolition and deconstruction package for the redevelopment of London’s Euston Tower site.
    The specialist previously completed the soft strip back in 2024 and will now bring down the 36-storey building bar the reinforced concrete core which will be retained to its full 126 metres in height.
    To enable this, a complex temporary works scheme has been designed by the John F Hunt engineering consultancy RKD, to strengt
  • GMI confirmed for green Manchester office scheme

    Developer Bywater has confirmed  GMI Construction Group as main contractor at 35 Fountain Street – a new‑build scheme claimed to be the city’s most sustainable office block.
    Designed by Bennetts Associates, the building will retain the existing steel frame while incorporating a hybrid structure featuring cross‑laminated timber (CLT) to reduce embodied carbon.
    The scheme will comprise 87,000 sq ft across basement, ground and eight upper floors, including two newly con
  • Former Balfour chief to become Barratt Redrow CEO

    Barratt Redrow has appointed Dean Banks as its next Group Chief Executive.
    He will join the Group in the final quarter of 2026 and succeed David Thomas who has decided to retire from the business after 11 years as Group Chief Executive and 17 years with the group.
    Banks will join from Australian infrastructure specialist Ventia where he has served as Group Chief Executive since 2021.Prior to that Banks was CEO for UK Construction Services at Balfour Beatty.
    Banks said: “I am proud and priv
  • Bouygues E&S contracting arm reborn as Equans Sci-Tech

    Bouygues Energies & Services Contracting arm has been rebranded as Equans Sci-Tech in a move designed to target the UK’s fast-growing life sciences, technology and advanced manufacturing sectors.
    The business, now fully integrated into Equans following its acquisition by Bouygues Group in October 2022, will operate as a single-source specialist for mission-critical environments from bases in Glasgow and Manchester.
    The refreshed brand will focus on laboratories, cleanrooms and advanced
  • Trio bag £1bn concrete road replacement deal

    Kier, Graham and Sisk have secured a new six-year framework to rebuild England’s ageing concrete motorway and trunk road network.
    National Highways’ near £1bn Legacy Concrete Roads Reconstruction framework will run from 2026 to 2032, spanning RIS3 and the start of RIS4, and will drive a major rebuild of England’s roads.
    So-called “legacy” concrete roads – largely built in the 1960s and 1970s – are concentrated along the eastern side of England, inc
  • Galliford Try lifts full-year outlook after 20% profit surge

    Galliford Try has powered through the first half with a 20% surge in pre-tax profit and margins edging closer to its 2030 target of 4%.
    With 98% of this year’s orders in hand and improving markets in both building and infrastructure, the contractor said it expected full-year results to exceed market forecasts.
    Pre-tax profit climbed by nearly 22% to £24m for the six months to 31 December 2025, on revenue up 1.3% to £935m.
    Chief executive Bill Hocking said: “I’m most
  • Vistry boss Greg Fitzgerald announces retirement

    Greg Fitzgerald is retiring from house builder Vistry.
    He will step down as Chair in May but will continue to serve as CEO for up to 12 months, or until a successor is appointed.
    Fitzgerald was Chief Executive of Galliford Try PLC from 2005 to 2015, having previously been Managing Director of its house building division. Prior to this, he was a founder and later, Managing Director of Midas Homes, which was acquired by Galliford Try in 1997.As Chief Executive, he transformed Galliford Try from a
  • Consultation to start on merging CITB and ECITB

    The government has announced that it will consult industry on the principle of the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB) and the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) forming a single training body.
    The consultation is expected to run over 12 weeks and will be launched later this month.
    Tim Balcon CEO of the CITB said: “Regardless of the outcome we must continue to work to tackle the joint needs of industry – we need to be providing standardised levels of com
  • Galliford Try lands £16m Hartlepool school rebuild

    Galliford Try has secured a £16m contract to rebuild St Helens Primary School in Hartlepool as a net zero carbon in operation scheme.
    The job has been awarded to Galliford Try Building North East and Yorkshire by the Department for Education and the Northern Lightings Learning Trust.
    The Headland-based school caters for 374 pupils, including additional resourced provision for 25 young people with Special Educational Needs.The replacement two-storey building will be delivered as a cost pilo
  • £231m London Barbican Arts Centre overhaul approved

    The £231m overhaul of the Barbican Arts Centre in London has been given planning and listed building consent, clearing the way for a major retrofit of one of Britain’s best-known post-war landmarks.
    The go-ahead from the City of London Corporation unlocks long-awaited works to tackle ageing building fabric, poor accessibility and outdated infrastructure across the Grade II-listed Brutalist complex.
    The scheme, designed by Allies and Morrison with Asif Khan Studio and engineer Buro Ha
  • Wates veteran to drive Caddick subcontracting growth

    Caddick has strengthened its specialist subcontracting businesses with the appointment of Mark Kearney as commercial director for CCL Facades and Caddick Civil Engineering.
    Kearney will head up the commercial functions of both businesses, operating from Caddick’s Wakefield and Durham offices and working closely with the respective managing directors to position the firms for sustainable growth.
    His remit spans key regions including Yorkshire, the North East, North West and Midlands, where
  • “Energy and optimism” at Kier after strong set of results

    New Kier chief executive Stuart Togwell has unveiled a strong set of half-year results and hailed the “real energy and optimism” across the group.
    Results for the six months to December 31 2025 show pre-tax profits up to £32.6m from £28.6m last time as turnover ticked-up to £2bn from £1.97bn.
    Kier also hit its target of an average net cash position during the period for the first time in 13 years.
    Togwell – who took over the firm in November – said
  • Scottish Water unveils £13.4bn six-year spend plan

    Scottish Water has set out a £13.4bn blueprint to protect and upgrade the water and wastewater network between 2027 and 2033.
    The publicly-owned utility said the six-year programme will future-proof ageing assets, tackle climate pressures and maintain what it claims are among the lowest charges in the UK.
    Of the £13.4bn total, £8bn is earmarked for maintaining and improving pipes, treatment works and other core infrastructure.
    The balance will fund operating and essential costs
  • Mears offloads education and health FM arm for £18m

    Contractor Mears has sold its facilities management arm for £18m to sharpened its focus on housing.
    The group has sold Morrison Facilities Services Limited, which delivers FM work mainly across education and health, following a competitive sales process.The disposal completes another step in Mears’ strategy to concentrate fully on housing services.The business was sold on a debt and cash-free basis with a normal level of working capital.
    Mears bought Morrison Facilities Services back
  • BBA standards body has own accreditation suspended

    The British Board of Agrement (BBA) has had its accreditation suspended and cannot currently issue safety certificates to building products manufacturers.
    The BBA is construction’s leading independent certification body with its approval logo seen as demonstrating fitness-for-purpose and compliance with building regulations.
    It is overseen by the government appointed UKAS National Accreditation Body which assesses and accredits certification and testing organisations across all industries.
  • Galliford Try wins £60m RAF Lakenheath munitions hub

    Galliford Try has been picked to deliver a £60m munitions handling facility at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk.
    The job will be delivered for the Defence Infrastructure Organisation on behalf of the United States Air Force, which operates from the RAF Lakenheath base.
    The scheme includes three new munitions handling buildings covering storage, testing, maintenance and administrative functions.It marks the first project Galliford Try will deliver directly for the US Air Force, extending its defen
  • E+S slide rail systems now available from AGD

    Hire specialist AGD is making a pioneering trench shoring system available to companies across the industry.
    E+S invented the first trench shoring systems in Germany in the 1950s. They were the first company to design the slide rail system which facilitates quick and easy installation of small cofferdams and excavation pits up to 9m depth.
    AGD  has just installed its first slide rail excavation pit and is now offering the system for sale or hire nationwide throughout the UK and  Irelan
  • Bovis seals £200m London Stock Exchange revamp

    Bovis Construction has sealed a pre-construction services agreement to deliver a £200m overhaul of the home to the London Stock Exchange.
    The contractor beat rival bids from Structure Tone and Wates to secure the job with Oxford Properties and Hines to deliver the refurbishment, extension and full turnkey tenant fitout of the City landmark.
    David Cadiot, chief executive officer at Bovis, said: “Having successfully completed the original building in 2003, it’s a real privilege t
  • Byrne Group drops O’Keefe Demolition name

    Byrne Group has rebranded its O’Keefe Demolition & Groundworks business to Byrne Demolition and Byrne Groundworks.
    Michael Byrne, Byrne Group Chief Executive, said: “This rebrand marks an exciting new chapter as we bring these specialist divisions under the unified Byrne Group banner. The change reflects our strategic intent to create greater integration, efficiency, and alignment across our services – enhancing our ability to deliver seamlessly across the full bu
  • Winners confirmed on £37bn hospital framework

    The ten winning contractors have been confirmed for the £37bn Hospital 2.0 Alliance framework.
    The winners are:Bovis
    Dragados
    Integrated Health Projects (IHP) (Sir Robert McAlpine/VINCI)
    John Graham
    Kier
    Laing O’Rourke
    Morgan Sindall
    Sacyr
    Skanska
    Willmott DixonThe bid race opened 12 months ago and last summer a shortlist of 16 firms was announced.The firms missing out are BAM, Bouyges, FCC, McLaren, Multiplex and Sisk.
    Natalie Forrest, Chief Programme Officer at the New Hospital Pro
  • Gateway 2 legacy backlog cut to just three cases

    The Building Safety Regulator has slashed its Gateway 2 legacy backlog to just three cases after shifting 18 of the most technically challenging schemes into a specialist complex case process.
    Fresh figures covering December to 25 February show the long-running pile of historic applications has all but cleared.At the start of December there were 60 legacy cases sitting in the system.
    That number has now fallen to three standard cases, with 18 high-risk or technically intricate schemes moved into
  • Major circular construction hub opens in Royal Docks

    Ambitious plans to create Europe’s largest circular construction hub in London’s Royal Docks are underway with the opening of the facilities gates today.
    The new facility, delivered with Newham Council and climate charity Tipping Point East, will recycle and reuse construction materials that would otherwise head to landfill.
    Backers say it will become the largest circular construction hub in Europe once fully operational and forms the first phase of a wider Circular Economy Village p
  • Construction covid loan cheat gets six-year director ban

    The director of a south London construction company has narrowly avoided jail after admitting exaggerating his company’s turnover to claim £150,000 via three Covid Bounce Back Loans.
    Adebanjo Adebayo Talabi, from Walworth, was the director of Bebo Construction Limited.
    An Insolvency Service investigation found the 42-year-old applied for three loans, between August and November 2020, from three separate banks.On each occasion, the company’s turnover had been exaggerated&nb
  • Local authorities sitting on £9bn of developer contributions

    Local authorities in England and Wales are sitting on £9bn of developer contributions intended to fund essential local infrastructure such as schools, public transport and affordable housing.
    The unspent money paid as part of planning agreements for new housing developments includes £6.6bn from Section 106 agreements and over £2.2bn raised through the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL).
    The cash pile was revealed following a Freedom of Information (FOI) survey by the Home Buil
  • Kier veteran joins RED leadership team

    RED Construction Group has drafted in a Kier finance veteran and a hospitality sector specialist as it targets over £200m turnover.
    The specialist main contractor has appointed Alastair Gordon-Stewart as its first full-time group finance director and brought in Michael Walsh as strategic director to strengthen its push into the luxury hotel market.
    The twin hires come as RED marks its 10-year anniversary and reshapes its senior team to support what it describes as sustainable long-term gro
  • Kier veteran joins RED boardroom

    RED Construction Group has drafted in a Kier finance veteran and a hospitality sector specialist as it targets over £200m turnover.
    The specialist main contractor has appointed Alastair Gordon-Stewart as its first full-time group finance director and brought in Michael Walsh as strategic director to strengthen its push into the luxury hotel market.
    The twin hires come as RED marks its 10-year anniversary and reshapes its senior team to support what it describes as sustainable long-term gro
  • Farrans starts £30m Bristol Airport terminal extension

    Farrans has landed a £30m contract to build a two-storey terminal extension at Bristol Airport as the regional hub advances its £400m investment programme.
    Work is under way on the infill scheme between the existing terminal and departure gates, increasing capacity to 12 million passengers a year.
    Floor space will rise by almost 45%, with 17 new retail and food outlets taking the total to 38. The design includes island retail units, expanded seating and a hidden speakeasy bar.Arrival
  • Costain returns to FTSE 250 index

    Costain is returning to the FTSE 250 index for the first time in more than 20 years.
    The re-entry comes after years of consistent financial performance and ahead of a results announcement for the year ended 31 December 2025 on 10 March 2026.
    Alex Vaughan, Chief Executive Officer of Costain, commented: “I am extremely proud of the whole Costain team and the role they have played in achieving Costain’s return to the FTSE 250.“This significant milestone follows what has been a sus

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