Construction news

• Graham wins £220m Oxford 5km flood defence job

  15-09-2026 14:42 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Graham has landed the main works contract for Oxford’s major flood alleviation scheme.
  The contractor will spend five years building the 5km scheme, with construction due to start in 2027.
  The Environment Agency project will carve out a new stream and wetland corridor to the west of Oxford city centre, running from north of Botley Road to Kennington before rejoining the River Thames.Work will include lowering parts of the floodplain and building new flood walls, embankments, culverts, brid
  
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• Universal names first contractors for £5bn Bedford theme park

  15-09-2026 09:53 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Universal has named the first major contractors and consultants working on its £5bn theme park and resort in Bedford as construction gears up.
  Bovis, Galliford Try, Morgan Sindall, Careys, Sir Robert McAlpine, Wates and Winvic are among 23 firms appointed to support delivery of the Universal United Kingdom Resort.
  Universal has not yet revealed individual package scopes or contract values.
  The appointments give the clearest picture yet of the delivery team assembling around one of the UK&r
  
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• Heathrow third runway targets NEET crisis with 5,000 youth places

  15-09-2026 09:19 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Heathrow has pledged to create 5,000 apprenticeships and training opportunities for young people as part of plans to build a third runway.
  The airport has also launched a new Infrastructure Skills Council to examine how major UK projects can help tackle the growing number of young people not in education, employment or training.
  Nearly one million young people are currently classed as NEET.The council will bring together contractors, employers, trade unions, colleges and training providers to id
  
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• Gleeson falls into red after £14m clean-up hit

  15-09-2026 08:41 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  House builder Gleeson has fallen into the red after taking nearly £14m of exceptional charges to overhaul the business and tackle problems on legacy housing sites.
  The group posted a £2.7m pre-tax loss for the year to June 2026 against a £20.5m profit last time despite revenue jumping 12% to £410m.
  The biggest hit was a £7.1m provision to fix roads and other infrastructure on completed developments so they can finally be adopted by local authorities.Gleeson also boo
  
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• Kier to pull out of property investment

  15-09-2026 08:19 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Kier is pulling-out of property investment to focus on its core infrastructure and construction operations.
  The move will see no new investment in new property development from next year.
  Kier said the “process will be managed in a controlled way to balance timing and value, with capital to be realised in line with existing development schedules.”The property business generated revenue of £63m in the year to June 30 2026 with construction currently in progress on seven schemes.
  
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• HS2 closes in on final two civils contract resets

  15-09-2026 08:04 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  HS2 is closing in on deals to reset its final two major cost-plus main works civils contracts in a move chief executive Mark Wild said could avoid up to £2bn of future cost risk.
  Wild told watchdog MPs yesterday that talks with Balfour Beatty Vinci and Skanska Costain Strabag JVs should be wrapped up within the next two months, clearing one of the biggest hurdles in the troubled project’s wider reset.
  BBV is delivering 90km of route through the West Midlands, while SCS is building th
  
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• HMRC issues warning over construction payslip fraud

  15-09-2026 07:59 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Site workers are being warned about growing levels of payslip fraud as HM Revenue and Customs cranks-up the number of criminals arrested and taxes recovered.
  Manchester and Liverpool are being targeted by HMRC in a bid to prevent the fraud which sees criminal groups run payroll or umbrella companies that sit in the supply chain between the worker and the construction site they work on.
  These groups deduct tax, National Insurance and Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) contributions from workers&r
  
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• Prisoners help build new modular jail cells

  15-09-2026 07:55 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Inmates are helping to build new “rapid deployment cells” at Kirklevington Grange Prison in North Yorkshire.
  More than 152 new prison places are currently under construction at the site led by modular construction specialist Reds10.
  Two prisoners are working on the foundations for the project while inmates on temporary release are also working with Reds10 to help manufacture the cells offsite.The accommodation will be created from 181 modules, with more than 85% completed off-site.
  M
  
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