Construction news

• Aluminium cladding specialist collapses

  20-05-2024 09:16 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Aluminium cladding, doors and windows specialist RKN Aluminium has fallen into administration.
  RKN Aluminium was established in 2006, and since provided specialist curtain wall, window and door designing, manufacturing and fitting to hundreds of projects around the country.
  The Melton Mowbray-based firm had recently moved into purpose-built premises and employed around 30 staff delivering service for a host of contractors like VolkerFitzpatrick, Glencar and AsheRKN also worked closely with Bowme
  
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• Tunnelling work complete on £150m Hinkley fish pipe

  02-10-2026 12:27 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Tunnelling work has now been completed on a £150m pipeline forming Hinkley Point C’s fish return system.
  Work has created a 1.8m-diameter tube which will send fish accidentally heading to the power station back to the Bristol Channel along a 620 metre route dug into the seabed.Specialist contractor Joseph Gallagher is working with Kier and Bam on the project.The project is spending a total of £700m on fish protection measures including underwater speakers to deter marine life f
  
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• 31 contractors bag £600m National Grid civils framework

  02-10-2026 09:02 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  National Grid has named 31 contractors for a major substation civils framework carrying stated contract values totalling £600m.
  The deal covers construction and refurbishment work across National Grid Electricity Distribution’s network in the South West, Wales and Midlands.
  AmcoGiffen, M Group Transport, Pod-Trak and Coombes Forestry have secured places across all 10 geographic lots, with each carrying a stated contract value of £40m.
   Biggest multi-lot awards by forecast
  
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• Bob Holt-led EARNZ picks up GEM for £23m

  02-10-2026 08:08 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Energy services ‘buy-and-build’ group EARNZ has struck its biggest deal since being launched by former Mears chief Bob Holt, agreeing a takeover worth up to £24m for London building maintenance specialist GEM.
  The deal will more than double the scale of Cheltenham-based EARNZ and give the group a major foothold in London as it builds towards a £130m turnover energy, maintenance and decarbonisation business.
  GEM turned over £30m in the year to June 2026, generating &
  
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• 40-storey tower plan for London City Road cluster

  02-10-2026 08:07 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Plans are being drawn up for a 40-storey residential tower as part of a 400-home redevelopment on City Road near Old Street Station in London.
  Landowner The Estate Office Shoreditch has unveiled proposals to replace the existing petrol filling station and fast-food restaurant at 241 City Road with two residential buildings.
  The scheme would deliver up to 400 homes for rent, including affordable housing, with the taller block rising to around 40 storeys.A second building would step down to betwee
  
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• Mace to be replaced on £200m Oxford labs scheme

  02-10-2026 08:02 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Mace Construct is set to leave the £200m Daubeny Buildings project at Oxford Science Park at the end of this year following a major redesign of the partially built scheme.
  The contractor will complete its present package before handing the next stages of the project to a new builder.
  The Ellison Institute of Technology has yet to name Mace’s replacement, although Sir Robert McAlpine is among the contractors being linked with the next phase.
  The potential involvement of McAlpine comes
  
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• Winners named for £4.3bn Pagabo civils and enabling framework

  01-10-2026 23:19 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Graham has landed three of the five key civils collaborative partner roles on Pagabo’s new £4.3bn national civils and enabling works framework.
  The contractor takes the delivery role for England and Wales, plus the single collaborative partner appointments for Scotland and Northern Ireland.
  England and Wales is split into three specialist roles to give clients access to different expertise from the earliest stages of a project. Graham takes delivery, Costain sustainability and M Grou
  
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• John F Hunt sells power division to Finning

  01-10-2026 18:33 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Demolition giant John F Hunt Group has sold its temporary power division to Finning.
  The deal for John F Hunt Power Group and sister company Morris Machinery is understood to be worth more than £50m.
  John Hall, Chairman of the John F Hunt Group and founder of John F Hunt Power, said: “John F Hunt Power was born out of a practical challenge. During demolition projects throughout the 1980s and 1990s, we recognised the need for reliable temporary power solutions to support crane operati
  
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• Diesel-free plant fleet grows on Lower Thames Crossing

  01-10-2026 09:05 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  More than 30 zero-emission machines are now working on the £10bn Lower Thames Crossing project for National Highways with the diesel-free fleet set to hit 150 by peak construction in 2028.
  Work on the new road and tunnel under the River Thames began in early 2026, and is being carried out only using electric, HVO and hydrogen powered equipment and machinery.
  Machines currently at work include 20 tonne excavators, rollers, tractors, telehandlers and hydrogen generators.No diesel has been pe
  
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• Trio shortlisted for £5.6bn Oxfordshire reservoir

  01-10-2026 08:51 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Three heavyweight contracting teams have made the final cut in the race to build Thames Water’s £5.7bn White Horse Reservoir in Oxfordshire.
  The shortlisted teams bring together some of the world’s biggest infrastructure contractors, with Balfour Beatty, Bouygues and Italian group Webuild leading rival joint ventures.Shortlisted consortiaWFH JV – Webuild, Hyundai Engineering & Construction and FCC Construccion
  BMV+ – Bouygues Travaux Publics, J Murphy & Sons
  
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• Graham lands final Gateway 2 approvals at £530m Fallowfield

  01-10-2026 08:34 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Graham has secured full Gateway 2 building control approval for the University of Manchester’s £530m Fallowfield Campus redevelopment.
  The latest approvals clear all 29 blocks on the 3,300-room student scheme for construction, including seven buildings classed as higher-risk under the Building Safety Act.
  Gateway 2 approval has now been secured for all seven blocks reaching at least 18m or seven storeys, while approval has also been granted for the remaining 22 lower-rise buildings.G
  
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• New right-to-work rules and safety levy hit construction today

  01-10-2026 08:28 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Sweeping new right-to-work rules come into force today forcing construction firms to check self-employed workers as part of a fresh crackdown on illegal migrant labour and rogue employers.
  Contractors hiring individual workers must now confirm they are legally entitled to work in the UK, bringing self-employed and non-standard labour much closer to the checks already required for employees.
  Until now, statutory right-to-work checks have largely applied to people classed as employees.New extended
  
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• New Finance Director at Anamore

  30-09-2026 16:44 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Building remediation specialist Anamore has appointed Maurice McHugh as its new Finance Director as the business enters its next phase of growth.
  James McCallan, Director at Anamore, said: “We’ve built a strong business with an established presence across the UK and Ireland, and we’re now focused on taking Anamore to the next level.
  “We’re securing major opportunities, growing our team and continuing to build on the expertise and relationships that have brought us t
  
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• Bridgestone starts building first Trafford Waters high rise

  30-09-2026 15:12 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Bridgestone Construction has started work on the first high-rise residential scheme at the Trafford Waters site in Manchester after securing Gateway 2 approval from the Building Safety Regulator.
  The £37m Anchor Residency will be a 208-home apartment development across eight and 13-storey buildings  located within regeneration specialist Peel Waters’ wider Trafford Waters district.
  Architect Leach Rhodes Walker led the architectural design, supported by Thomas Consulting as stru
  
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• Police hand over Grenfell files for charging decisions

  30-09-2026 14:10 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Met police investigators have submitted all files to the Crown Prosecution Service to allow them to make charging decisions following the Grenfell Tower fire.
  The 20 files relate to 20 companies and organisations and 54 individuals.
  The CPS will consider charges including corporate manslaughter, gross negligence manslaughter, health and safety offences, fraud and fraud-related offences and misconduct in public office.
  The CPS has committed to making the charging decisions before the tenth annive
  
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• Steelwork firm J&D Pierce powers back with £6.8m profit

  30-09-2026 09:20 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Scottish steelwork contractor J&D Pierce has returned to growth after two years of falling turnover as a strengthening market helped drive a surge in operating profit.
  Revenue rebounded 23% to £121m in 2025, adding nearly £23m of workload in a year.
  The rise ends two successive years of declining turnover after revenue fell to £104m in 2023 and then below £100m in 2024.
  Pierce previously turned over £195.2m during an extended 17-month accounting period in 2022,
  
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• Planning approvals for new homes crash to 14-year low

  30-09-2026 08:46 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Planning approvals for new homes have plunged to their lowest quarterly level since 2012.
  Just 45,315 homes secured permission in England during the second quarter of 2026, down 21% on the previous three months.
  Home Builders Federation figures show permissions over the 12 months to June fell 8% to 214,515 homes, 36% below the 2017 peak.
  Volume house builder applications were hit particularly hard. Approvals for homes on sites of more than 10 units slumped 21% quarter on quarter to 39,689 and we
  
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• Aggregates firm fined after worker crushed to death

  30-09-2026 08:25 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Gill Aggregates Limited has been fined £24,000 after one of its workers was drawn into machinery and suffered fatal crush injuries at its site in Dagenham, East London.
  Manjit Kumar, 34, was working as a production operative on 24 June 2020, when the incident occurred. He was operating a bag flattening conveyor system forming part of a larger piece of machinery.
  Kumar was drawn into the compression conveyor through an opening in the guarding. His colleagues raised the alarm and stopped the
  
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• BAM in frame as £25m Teesside flood job gets go-ahead

  30-09-2026 08:21 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Plans have been approved for a £25m Environment Agency flood defence scheme on Teesside with construction due to start early next year.
  Hartlepool Borough Council has cleared the Greatham North East Flood Alleviation Scheme, paving the way for around two years of construction work.
  BAM Nuttall has previously been brought onto the project by the Environment Agency for early supplier engagement, although a full main works award has yet to be publicly confirmed.The job will see a new 1.5km fl
  
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• Developers to get power to build own grid connections

  29-09-2026 17:30 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Developers will be given greater powers to build their own electricity grid connections under a major shake-up aimed at breaking one of the biggest blockages holding up construction projects.
  The Government today launched Great British Grid as a new publicly-owned infrastructure investor within Great British Energy alongside plans to widen self-build rights for grid connections.
  The reforms could open a significant new market for contractors as developers of data centres, industrial plants and o
  
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• AC1 signs deal to finish Torsion’s Manchester apartment job

  29-09-2026 17:25 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  AC1 Construction has signed a replacement building contract to finish Zentra Group’s delayed One Victoria apartment scheme in Manchester following the collapse of Torsion Construction.
  Practical completion of the 129-home development is now expected in December, around 18 months later than the original programme.
  Harrow-based AC1, a privately-owned contractor with annual turnover approaching £30m and offices in London and Manchester, was first brought onto the job under a letter of i
  
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• Construction set to start on stalled Liverpool site

  29-09-2026 17:03 via constructionenquirer.com
  Developer Bentry Capital has secured Gateway 2 approval for the first phase of the £87m Abbey Row site in Liverpool clearing its in-house contractor, Mellior Construction to start main works on the 241-home scheme next month.
  The site has already been cleared and the initial subcontractor packages have been secured, allowing Mellior Construction to move directly into the principal construction phase.
  Abbey Row was formerly known as the Islington Quarter and was first put forward for planni
  
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• £2 diesel threatens £600m construction fuel shock

  29-09-2026 09:06 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Construction has suffered a near £600m fuel price shock since the start of the year as diesel prices soared to a record £2 a litre yesterday.
  The infrastructure sector burns more than 1bn litres of diesel a year, meaning the rise from around £1.41 a litre in January has inflated its theoretical annual fuel bill by around £590m.
  The 42% surge is ripping into margins across plant-heavy civils businesses, with muckshifting contractors among the hardest hit.Diesel can account
  
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• Billington boss to retire after 42-year steel career

  29-09-2026 09:04 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Billington chief executive Mark Smith is to retire after more than 42 years in structural steelwork as the contractor reports a 70% surge in first-half profit.
  Smith will step down on 1 January 2027 after nearly 12 years at Billington, with chief operating officer Trevor Taylor lined up to succeed him.
  Taylor has taken an increasingly operational role across the group over the past five years and was promoted to chief operating officer in October 2025.
  Smith announced his departure from the top
  
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• Drink driving builder jailed for killing highways worker

  29-09-2026 08:41 via constructionenquirer.com
  A builder has been jailed for ten years for killing a highways worker after driving into a coned-off section of the M23 near Gatwick Airport.
  Vilius Domarkas, 38, was sentenced yesterday after admitting causing death by dangerous driving at an earlier hearing.
  The fatal collision occurred on July 8 when highways worker Anthony Howe was hit by Domarkas’ Citroen Relay van which veered into the coned off lane.Domarkas was found with glazed and bloodshot eyes and was slurring his speech, was u
  
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• Kier lands £60m London Holborn office retrofit

  28-09-2026 16:35 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Kier has been selected as preferred contractor for Railpen’s 100,000 sq ft office refurbishment at Red Lion Square in Holborn, London.
  The contractor is entering a pre-construction services agreement for The Fenner ahead of a planned site start later this year.
  Stiff + Trevillion has designed the estimated £60m overhaul of the existing building at 26 Red Lion Square, which will be transformed into eight floors of Grade A workspace over the two-year programme.The scheme includes new f
  
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• Costain appoints new head to deliver HS2 tunnels

  28-09-2026 15:41 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Costain has appointed Rohan O’Grady as the new managing directior of Skanska Costain STRABAG joint venture delivering the London tunnels section of HS2.
  O’Grady will take up his new role next month replacing Jonathan Morris who has served as interim MD for the last six months and will now be taking a sabbatical.
  O’Grady joins Costain from Australian based CPB Contractors where he oversaw a string of major infrastructure projects.Jonathan Willcock, Managing Director, Transportat
  
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• McLaren bags £55m Elephant & Castle contract

  28-09-2026 12:54 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  McLaren Construction has been confirmed winner of a £55m contract to build new student accommodation in Elephant & Castle, south London.
  Developers Fabrix and PATRIZIA have appointed McLaren for Walworth Corners – a 134,000 sq ft PBSA development which will see the 0.34‑hectare brownfield site transformed to provide 283 student beds, 20 new affordable homes for social rent and retail and community space.
  Enabling works are now underway with completion targeted for Spring 20
  
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• House builders hail return of Help to Buy-style loans

  28-09-2026 09:04 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  House builders have welcomed Government plans to revive Help to Buy-style equity loans in a bid to kick-start the struggling new-build housing market.
  The new Your First Home scheme will allow eligible first-time buyers in England to purchase a new-build home with a deposit of just 2.5%, backed by a Government equity loan worth up to 20% of the property value.
  Full details are due to be unveiled at the Budget on 28 October, including household income limits, regional property price caps and the
  
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• First plans go in for vast Royal Docks scheme

  28-09-2026 08:47 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Developer Arada has submitted a series of planning applications to the London Borough of Newham for the £2.5bn Thameside West site between the Thames and Royal Docks.
  The plans detail the first 1,500 home stage across six buildings on the 47 acres site which will eventually deliver at least new 5,000 homes in east London.
  At the heart of the proposals will be a new seven-acre park, alongside around 1,000 new trees, creating a greener, more biodiverse environment for residents and the wider
  
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