Construction news

• Bidding starts for £600m animal science estate deal

  01-11-2021 23:42 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has opened the bidding for a new framework to deliver buildings for its Animal and Plant Health Agency science estate.
  The Engineering Delivery Framework has been split into seven lots covering infrastructure, building construction and design.
  DEFRA estimates successful firms will share around £600m of spend at the main estate in Weybridge, Surrey as well as the regional labs at Starcross, Camarthen, Penrith, Newcastle, Shrewsbury, Bur
  
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• Go-ahead for £20m Edinburgh brewery

  01-11-2021 14:12 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Plans have been approved for the first major brewery to be built in Edinburgh for nearly 150 years.
  Brewer Innis & Gunn will invest £20m in the project, which will be built at Heriot-Watt University’s Research Park.
  Spanning a two-hectare site, the new facility, designed by local practice Comprehensive Design Architects, will provide increased brewing capacity to support continued growth both in the UK and internationally.Plans are being drawn up to ensure that undergraduates stu
  
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• Grant Thornton fined £1.3m for Interserve audits

  01-11-2021 12:35 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Watchdogs at the Financial Reporting Council have fined accountant Grant Thornton £1.3m in relation to the statutory audits of the 2015-2017 financial statements of Interserve plc.
  Interserve plc went into a pre-pack administration in March 2019 and was rebranded as Interserve Group.The Adverse Findings against Grant Thornton and its partner Simon Lowe concerned audit work performed on:a substantial loss provision in the financial statements for FY 2015 and FY 2016 against an ‘E
  
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• London property giant Landsec to buy rival U+I for £190m

  01-11-2021 09:02 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  London developer Landsec is to buy urban regeneration specialist U + I for around £190m.
  The recommended cash offer offers a 73% premium to U+I’s share price and will give the big London office developer a significant new pipeline of mixed-use regeneration schemes in London and Manchester.
  Landsec said the acquisition, which will be made through a newly-formed subsidiary LS Development,  saw value from combining U+I’s front-end development capabilities, and portfolio of re
  
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• Mitie buys electrical contractor Rock

  01-11-2021 08:48 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Mitie Group has acquired Rock Power Connections Limited in a deal worth up to £14.5m.
  Rock specialises in installing the substations and cables which ultimately take the electricity from the power stations to the buildings where it is needed.
  The company also has a growing EV charging installation division for non-residential blue-chip customers which will boost Mitie’s expansion plans in the market.The deal comprises an initial payment of £10m, with two deferred payments worth
  
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• Mass brawl breaks out on London site

  01-11-2021 08:15 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  McAleer & Rushe has demanded a full investigation into a major brawl that erupted on one of its London jobs between members of a concrete gang working for specialist JB Structures.
  Site staff filmed the rolling brawl which suddenly broke out last week between the gang working on the deck on a concrete frame being erected at a residential project in the capital.According to a source, issues had been simmering after a previous incident several weeks before.
  The source told the Enquirer: &ldquo
  
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• Willmott Dixon starts £38m Brentford housing job

  01-11-2021 08:13 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  The London Borough of Hounslow has picked Willmott Dixon for another large housing scheme to create 96 affordable homes and commercial space on the £38m scheme on BrentfordWaterside scheme
  The deal to deliver the Block D development follows a series of residential projects for Hounslow, with Willmott Dixon currently building Frank Towell Court to create 102 new homes. 
  The Block D development, procured using the Genesis framework, involves the creation of three blocks ranging from six
  
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• Suspended jail sentence for scaffold boss after forklift death

  01-11-2021 08:11 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  The managing director of a scaffolding company has been been given a suspended prison sentence after an employee died when he was struck from behind by a forklift truck.
  Leicester Magistrate’s Court heard how on 20 June 2016, Shaun Flynn had just finished loading a lorry in the yard of Boss Scaffolding (Northampton) Limited when he was struck from behind by the raised forks of a moving forklift truck. He subsequently died from his injuries.
  An HSE investigation found that Boss Scaffolding
  
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• Industry to be hit with 16% cement price hike

  01-11-2021 01:00 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Cement producers are planning to hike prices by £15 a tonne blaming high energy costs for the biggest single increase in decades.
  The big industry-wide hike amounts to around a 16% jump and will come into force at the end of this year.
  It threatens to send a shock wave through construction taking the annual rise to an unprecedented 30% over the year.
  One contractor warned: “This is going to hit everybody but also major projects very hard. A jump like this will impact planned spending
  
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