Construction news

• Building boss banned for covid loan abuse

  10-05-2024 08:37 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  A London-based builder has been disqualified as a company director for ten years after he overstated his company’s turnover to claim the maximum Bounce Back Loan during the pandemic and then failed to show the money had been spent on his business.
  Marcel Ion, 39, from Bromley, was the sole director of Mavion Group Ltd, a construction business which was registered in Dagenham.
  In June 2020, Ion applied for a £50,000 Bounce Back Loan on his company’s behalf, stating that the busi
  
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• Grenfell police probe to last at least until end of 2025

  22-05-2024 23:48 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  No charges will be made against companies or individuals involved in the Grenfell Tower fire until late 2026 at the earliest.
  The Metropolitan Police have issued an update into the investigation into the tragedy in June 17 which it described as “one of the largest and most complex” ever undertaken by the Met.
  A team of 180 officers and staff have identified and are investigating 19 companies or organisations and 58 individuals, as suspects.Police said they have so far interviewed und
  
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• Quest now offers latest industrial vacuum system

  22-05-2024 16:45 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Waste management specialist Quest has taken delivery of the new Dragonfly 40 Industrial Vacuum System
  The system is designed for areas with restricted access, where low noise and vehicle size are crucial.
  The all-in-one standalone unit is ready for immediate use anywhere, anytime, with its 80-litre diesel fuel tank providing eight hours of autonomous operation.The trailer-mounted unit features a cyclone, an automatic filter cleaning system, an efficient hydraulic positioning system and the abili
  
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• Mace confirms £100m London office retrofit

  22-05-2024 12:28 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Developer Helical has confirmed Mace as the main contractor on the redevelopment of a City of London office at 100 New Bridge Street, next to Ludgate Circus.
  Located adjacent to City Thameslink station, the 1990s office building will be renovated to create 200,000 sq ft of space in a project understood to be worth towards £100m.
  The project will retain 91% of the reinforced concrete lift cores and 85% of the reinforced concrete walls.Targeting BREEAM Outstanding and Well Platinum certifica
  
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• Mace confirmed on £100m London office retrofit

  22-05-2024 12:28 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Developer Helical has confirmed Mace as the main contractor on the redevelopment of a City of London office at 100 New Bridge Street, next to Ludgate Circus.
  Located adjacent to City Thameslink station, the 1990s office building will be renovated to create 200,000 sq ft of space in a project understood to be worth towards £100m.
  The project will retain 91% of the reinforced concrete lift cores and 85% of the reinforced concrete walls.Targeting BREEAM Outstanding and Well Platinum certifica
  
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• Wylfa chosen for next big nuclear power station build

  22-05-2024 09:25 via constructionenquirer.com
  The Government has selected Wylfa on Anglesey as the preferred site for the next large-scale nuclear power plant after Sizewell C.
  The site was bought by ministers for £160m from previous developers Hitachi who abandoned plans for a new reactor in 2019.
  The government is exploring building a gigawatt-scale nuclear power station, similar in scale to Hinkley in Somerset and Sizewell in Suffolk.
  This new project would revive the nuclear history of Wylfa and bring thousands of jobs a
  
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• Civils contractor A Catlow files administration notice

  22-05-2024 09:08 via constructionenquirer.com
  Sheffield based A Catlow Civil Engineering Ltd has filed a notice of intention to appoint an administrator.
  The specialist contractor works with clients throughout the UK and Ireland providing civil engineering and high voltage cabling services.
  Its client base includes leading utility companies and many civil engineering firms.  A Catlow has been in business since 2001 and employs around 50 staff.Data and credit checking specialist Red Flag Alert highlighted the firms’ administration
  
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• Bowmer & Kirkland trading profit halves

  22-05-2024 09:07 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Derby-based building contractor Bowmer & Kirkland saw profit slide in a challenging year of subcontractor insolvencies and tricky jobs.
  The building arm was supported by developer Peveril Securities which made a strong contribution to group profits in the year to August 2023.
  Revenue over the year rose 8% to £1.24bn but inflationary pressure and market challenges saw trading profit almost halve to just £24m from £47m in the previous year.
  Nearly £14m interest from Bow
  
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• Piling specialist Van Elle plans further job cuts

  22-05-2024 08:12 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Piling specialist Van Elle is planning further wave of job cuts and cost-saving measures as it faces lower levels of demand from housing and infrastructure.
  In a year-end trading statement this morning, chief executive Mark Cutler said revenue would be 6% down on the previous year at £140m, including five months contribution from the acquisition of Rock & Alluvium.
  He said Van Elle had identified a range of further cost-saving measures, consisting of headcount reductions and efficiency
  
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• Green light for ARC Oxford lab campus

  22-05-2024 08:12 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Plans for at 110,000 sq ft lab-ready science building at the ARC Oxford science and innovation campus on the outskirts of the city have been approved by planners.
  Seven buildings at the former Oxford Business Park site, now rebranded ARC Oxford, will be demolished to make way for the Ascent building.
  Designed by architects Spratley & Partners, the building will achieve a BREEAM Excellent rating, while delivering a 40% reduction in operational carbon emissions compared to current building reg
  
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• Stonehenge tunnel hit by another legal delay

  21-05-2024 15:30 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  The start of main construction works for the £1.7bn A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down upgrade including a tunnel near the historic Stonehenge site has been hit by another legal delay.
  National Highways chiefs hoped the long running planning saga was over when a High Court judge dismissed a challenge to the scheme by campaigners in February after a development consent order (DCO) was granted by the government last year.
  But the Court of Appeal has now decided it will grant a hearing to an appea
  
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• 40% affordable homes target for Labour’s new towns

  21-05-2024 13:03 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Labour aims to deliver 40% affordable homes in a next generation of new towns, if it wins power,
  Shadow housing secretary and deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner pledged to work with the private sector to build  “new towns” aimed at meeting a commitment to construct 1.5m new homes over five years.
  She said the party would appoint a new towns taskforce of independent experts to earmark sites for the first of its new towns before the end of its first year in power.In a speech to th
  
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• Plans go in for huge Olympic Park construction hub

  21-05-2024 10:58 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Network Rail Property has submitted an outline masterplan to regenerate 30 acres of brownfield land at Bow Goods Yard on the Olympic Park in East London.
  The scheme will deliver London’s largest integrated construction rail freight logistics hub capable of transporting 3.5m tonnes of materials to and from the site every year.
  Bow Goods Yard is one of London’s primary railheads and the new scheme will increase its capacity taking up to 90,000 HGV movements a year from London’s r
  
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• Vistry seals £157m West London housing deal

  21-05-2024 09:00 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Housing association Sovereign Network Group has picked Vistry to deliver a flagship scheme of 575 new homes in Ealing, West London.
  This innovative scheme at Merrick Place in Ealing is worth £157m and will be made up of mixed-tenure homes along with commercial floorspace across four separate buildings.  
  Now defunct Henry Construction had previously been lined up to deliver the major project, which has been designed by architect Cartwright Pickard.It has been designed to maximise
  
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• Streamlined Watkin Jones returns to profit in first half

  21-05-2024 08:41 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Student accommodation and private rental builder Watkin Jones returned to profit in the first six months of the year after a successful business restructure.
  This morning firm reported it was at last seeing an improvement in sentiment in the investment market bringing forward more opportunities.
  In the first half of the year, revenue rose 14% to £175m generating a modest profit of £2.1m after last year’s £43m full-year loss following provisions for building safety work.Al
  
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• Surgo Construction went down owing £4.5m

  21-05-2024 08:17 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  North East building contractor Surgo Construction went into administration in March owing £4.48m.
  The scale of the firm’s debts were detailed in an update from administrator FRP Advisory posted at Companies House.
  Hundreds of subcontractors and suppliers were left holding unpaid invoices worth more than £1.2m with little chance of unsecured creditors receiving anything for their submitted bills.The biggest creditor was Bellway Homes who are owed £1.18m by Sugro following
  
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• BAM wins £33m Kent secondary school job

  21-05-2024 08:09 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  BAM is to construct a new 750-pupil secondary school to replace the existing Orchards Academy in Swanley, Kent.
  The £32.8m project will deliver a full 100% new build school replacement on a live school site.
  BAM will deliver two distinct blocks – a teaching block and a sports hall block – integrating innovative modular construction techniques to minimise disruption.Daniel Brenchley, BAM construction manager, said that the school will be designed to achieve net-zero carbon build
  
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• Persimmon under fire for delays to £10m relief road

  21-05-2024 08:08 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  West Suffolk Council is serving two Breach of Condition Notices on Persimmon Homes after the latest delay to the £10m Haverhill Relief Road.
  The relief road was originally meant to be completed by March 2023 but has been hit by a series of delays and revised timetables with the house builder now hoping to complete the route by the end of this year.
  Cllr Jim Thorndyke, Cabinet Member for Planning at West Suffolk Council, said: “We have seen delay after delay and excuse after excuse. I
  
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• Bellway hires ex-brickie as group construction chief

  21-05-2024 08:08 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Volume house builder Bellway has appointed a new group construction director to oversee building practices and quality across its 21 operating divisions.
  James Griffin joined the industry as an apprentice in 1999 and worked for seven years as a bricklayer before joining the National House Building Council where he has worked for the last 17 years.
  At NHBC, he worked his way up from building inspector to regional director for the eastern region before joining Bellway.Griffin will now oversee Bell
  
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• Plan for £100m Liverpool Baltic station

  21-05-2024 07:31 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Plans for Liverpool’s £100m Baltic station scheme have been revealed for public consultation ahead of planning being submitted.
  Subject to approval, it is expected work could begin on site in 2025, with the station planned for opening by the end of 2027.
  The new Merseyrail station is one of four planned by recently re-elected Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram, who has committed to completing the project by the end of 2027 – a year ahead of its current schedule.The othe
  
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• 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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• Brickwork contractor Lee Marley returns to profit

  20-05-2024 08:34 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  The country’s largest integrated brickwork and scaffolding subcontractor Lee Marley Brickwork has returned to profit buoyed by larger multi-storey and complex projects.
  The brickwork specialist bounced back to a £2.8m pre-tax profit last year after a prior year loss of £2.2m in the face of wage and materials inflation.
  Revenue over the year to December 2023 was up over a fifth to £80m driving a jump in staff numbers to 210 from around 180 in the more challenging prior yea
  
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• Farrans makes breakthrough on tricky tunnel job

  20-05-2024 08:31 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Farrans Construction has completed an innovative tunnelling operation for Northumbrian Water as a TBM completed an underground crossing of the River Tees.
  The 220m tunnel is part of Phase 1 of a new £155m water pipeline to be constructed while protecting the watercourse and the wildlife that relies upon it.
  Northumbrian Water’s Project Pipeline: County Durham and Tees Valley will see the construction of around 57km of new pipes connecting Lartington Water Treatment Works with  2
  
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• Heidelberg buys aggregates and earthworks specialist B&A

  20-05-2024 08:08 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Heidelberg Materials UK has acquired south west aggregates recycling and earthworks contractor B&A Group.
  The move follows the recent acquisition of earthmoving and demolition waste recycling contractor Mick George Group by Heidelberg last monthBristol-based B&A employs a team of 70 and specialises in the supply of  recycled and primary aggregate as well as site clearance, earthworks, land remediation and sustainable land regeneration.Last year its had a turnover in excess of £
  
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• Housing contractor Durkan suffers second year of losses

  20-05-2024 07:54 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  South East housing contractor and developer Durkan suffered a second year of losses last year after further provisions for fire safety legacy work.
  Despite a 30% rise in revenue to £172m, the provisions and pressure on the housing market saw it suffer pre-tax losses of £3.9m in 2023, improved from a £9.3m loss in the prior year.
  During 2023, Durkan increased provision by £6.7m to bring a total carrying amount set aside for fire safety works to £12.6m.Durkan trading
  
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• Flagship biodiversity net gain scheme flawed

  17-05-2024 09:53 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Rules requiring developers to deliver a 10% improvement in biodiversity from new building projects in England are flawed.
  According to a report today by the public spending watchdog, the Government’s scheme launched last February has serious operational shortcomings that could eventually undermine the flagship scheme.
  Under the rules, developers must now achieve a 10% uplift in biodiversity at a site.
  When on-site gains are not enough to meet the 10% requirement, off-site gains can be crea
  
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• Plan in for £3bn Lincolnshire mega data centre

  17-05-2024 09:08 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Plans to build a £3bn next-generation AI-training data centre have been submitted to North Lincolnshire Council.
  The 3.3m sq ft hyperscale scheme will be built on land by the A160 near South Killingholme and would rank as one of Europe’s largest data centres.
  The total construction cost for the completed data centre will depend on the precise specification but is likely to range from a minimum £2.2bn to well over £3bn.Cost breakdown
  Land and building shell (15% to 20%): c
  
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• £210m M3 Junction 9 upgrade gains consent

  17-05-2024 09:05 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  The Government has granted development consent for the M3 Junction 9 Improvement near Winchester in Hampshire.
  VolkerFitzpatrick is lined up to deliver the complex £210m Winnall roundabout scheme.
  Programmed works include the creation of four traffic lanes in each direction of the M3 as well as building a same-direction free-flow link between the M3 and A34.Also VolkerFitzpatrick will be constructing three new bridges, rearranging the main junction 9 roundabout and providing a number of ot
  
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• £400m Lewisham resi-led scheme advances

  17-05-2024 09:04 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Residential living specialist Amro Partners has advanced plans to build its largest scheme to date in South East London.
  The firm has bought Lewisham Retail Park to paving the way for a £400m development that will provide 1,000 new homes.
  Over the last 18 months, Amro has acquired various adjoining land holdings from a number of private landowners, concluding with the acquisition of the Lewisham Retail Park site and remaining land holdings from Legal & General.Forming one of the final
  
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• Green light for Digbeth 1,300 homes scheme

  17-05-2024 09:03 via constructionenquirer.com
  Build to rent developer Dandara Living has got the planning thumbs up to build over 1,300 new homes and 30,000 sq ft of commercial space at Warner’s Fields in Digbeth.
  Work can now begin to regenerate the brownfield site, which is located within a mile of rail, tram, bus and coach connections.
  The development will deliver a new neighbourhood centred around a renaturalised River Rea, which runs through the middle of the site, but is not currently accessible to the public.Dandara will invest
  
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