Construction news

• Building envelope specialist Bailey buys Comar

  13-03-2025 08:17 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Building envelope specialist Bailey has acquired The Parkside Group including Comar architectural aluminium systems and Axim architectural hardware.
  The move enhances Bailey’s capabilities expanding its total building envelope offering to include aluminium window, door and curtain walling systems.
  Daniel Gilmore, CEO of Bailey, said: “This strategic acquisition establishes Bailey as the UK’s sole provider of a complete building envelope solution.“By bringing Comar and Axi
  
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• Council building workers to strike over pay

  08-06-2026 16:50 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  More than a thousand local government craftworkers will take strike action later this month in a dispute over pay and conditions.
  The strikers – who predominantly undertake local authority housing maintenance and repair work – are employed at Bristol, Southwark, Stoke-on-Trent, Newham, Leeds and Babergh and Mid Suffolk councils.
  The workers will strike on 17,18, 23 and 24 June following the latest local government pay offer to Red Book workers.Employers offered a 3.2% increase linked
  
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• Tilbury Douglas reshuffles regional building team

  08-06-2026 15:43 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Tilbury Douglas has promoted Simon Butler to managing director of its regional building business after growing its order book to £1.6bn.
  Butler will lead the regional building arm as the contractor pushes ahead with its five-year growth plan and targets further expansion.
  The move follows a strong 2025 for the building, infrastructure, engineering and fit-out specialist. Butler’s previous role at Tilbury Douglas was managing director of Building Central.Tilbury Douglas has also stren
  
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• Rhatigan’s UK arm powers towards £200m turnover mark

  08-06-2026 15:12 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Irish contractor JJ Rhatigan’s UK arm has continued its fast expansion, growing turnover by more than seven-fold in five years as it cements its position in the British market.
  The contractor, which recently opened a new London headquarters at 26 Finsbury Square in the City, lifted revenue 26% to £195m in the year to October 2025 from £154m previously. Pre-tax profit surged 74% to £16.9m from £9.7m a year earlier.
  The latest performance caps a period of rapid growth
  
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• £50m rescue loan to keep Manchester’s tallest tower on track

  08-06-2026 09:12 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Manchester’s bid to build the tallest tower outside London has been rescued after the Greater Manchester Combined Authority stepped in with a £50m funding package to bridge a viability gap on the landmark scheme.
  The GMCA is reported to have approved the huge loan from its Good Growth Fund to unlock delivery of developer Salboy’s Viadux Phase 2 development, paving the way for the 76-storey Nobu Manchester tower and a separate affordable housing block.
  Planning approval for the
  
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• National Grid delay threatens McAlpine’s £1.25bn steel furnace finish

  08-06-2026 08:48 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  National Grid delays to a major power upgrade could leave Sir Robert McAlpine’s £1.25bn electric arc furnace project at Port Talbot waiting months for a live electricity connection after construction is complete.
  Tata Steel has revealed that problems delivering the electrical infrastructure needed to power the giant furnace will delay commissioning by between six and eight months and potentially longer.
  The critical path for delivery of the UK’s key green steel production proje
  
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• Kier opens £70m subcontractor hunt on Army barracks rebuild

  08-06-2026 08:41 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Kier has launched a major supply chain recruitment drive for its £243m overhaul of Keogh Barracks in Aldershot, inviting firms to bid for major construction packages worth nearly £70m.
  The contractor is delivering the Ministry of Defence scheme under the Defence Estate Optimisation Single Living Accommodation and Technical Infrastructure Programme, which will modernise living, working and training facilities across the Army base over the next five years.
  Kier has now started market e
  
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• Getjar revenue up a third as Gateway 2 bottlenecks start to ease

  08-06-2026 08:34 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Concrete frame specialist Getjar lifted turnover by a third and increased pre-tax profit in 2025 as it continued to expand its piling, groundworks, cut-and-carve and precast operations despite tough market conditions.
  The Borehamwood-based contractor grew revenue by around a third to £96m in the year to 31 August 2025 from £72m previously, while pre-tax profit edged up 14% to £2m.
  Directors said the business had maintained a strong balance sheet despite severe competition, high
  
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• Brick firms buys fencing company

  08-06-2026 08:33 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Construction materials distributor BRCK Group has acquired H.S. Jackson & Son (Fencing) Limited for an initial consideration of £15m.
  BRCK Group – formerly known as Brickability – was the subject of a failed takeover bid earlier this year by Bovis owner Atlas.
  Kent headquartered Jacksons is a designer, manufacturer and installer of premium timber and steel fencing, gates and perimeter security systems and serves a broad range of residential, commercial, industrial and high-
  
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• Curo Living changes name after construction arm collapse

  08-06-2026 08:09 via constructionenquirer.com
  Residential contractor Curo Living has changed its name weeks after the main Curo Construction and Curo Interiors operations ceased trading.
  Curo Living is now known as Sorel Living. The company said: “This isn’t just a rebrand, it’s a reflection of how far we’ve come and where we’re headed.
  “Our new name and strapline ‘Building Better Homes’ captures everything we stand for: quality, collaboration, professionalism, and always putting our clients f
  
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• Knights Brown rides coastal work boom to record profit haul

  05-06-2026 11:30 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Hampshire-based civils contractor Knights Brown almost doubled pre-tax profit in a record year as a surge in coastal and ports work helped drive revenue past £136m.
  The specialist contractor increased turnover 17% to £136m in the year to March 2026, up from £116m previously, while pre-tax profit climbed 62% to £4.6m from £2.8m.
  Operating margin rose to 3.3% from 2.5% a year earlier as project delivery and commercial performance improved across the business.The 350-s
  
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• McAlpine hires former Wates director as healthcare MD

  05-06-2026 08:46 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Sir Robert McAlpine has hired healthcare specialist Simon Kydd to spearhead its health sector business as the race to deliver the Government’s New Hospital Programme gathers pace.
  Kydd joins as health sector managing director, replacing Stuart McArthur, who is stepping down after a decade helping build the contractor’s healthcare operation and its market-leading IHP joint venture with Vinci Building.
  He brings more than 20 years of healthcare sector experience to Sir Robert McAlpine.
  
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• Erith bags Ratcliffe power station demolition mega-job

  05-06-2026 08:17 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Erith has been appointed to dismantle the former Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station in a vast four-year demolition programme that will eventually bring down the site’s iconic cooling towers.
  The contractor will mobilise this summer before starting demolition works later this year on what remains one of the UK’s largest industrial clearance projects.
  Over the next four years Erith will strip out and demolish all former structures, remove waste materials and leave the 700-acre site ready
  
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• Raft of redundancies at consultant Cundall

  05-06-2026 08:10 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Consultancy giant Cundall has undergone a round of redundancies as industry work levels continue to fall.
  The Enquirer understands that “low single digit” job losses have been implemented across Cundall’s 1,300 strong workforce
  A Cundall spokesperson said:  “To ensure we are meeting project requirements and client workloads, we have taken steps to streamline our operations, which has included moving some colleagues into growth sectors and, regrettably, some unavoidab
  
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• Watkin Jones green light for Cardiff 33-storey co-living tower

  04-06-2026 20:35 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Developer Watkin Jones has secured planning committee backing for a 400-unit co-living tower in the centre of Cardiff.
  The build-to-rent specialist has received a resolution to grant planning permission for the Custom House Street scheme, subject to completion of a Section 106 agreement.
  Formal planning permission is expected in late summer.The 33-storey project will regenerate a long-vacant city centre site close to Cardiff Central Station and St David’s Shopping Centre. An originally pla
  
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• House building downturn drags construction to six-year low

  04-06-2026 13:59 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  The UK construction sector suffered its steepest downturn for six years in May as house building activity sank further, new orders dried up and contractors faced the sharpest materials inflation since 2022.
  Latest data from the S&P Global UK Construction PMI showed overall activity falling to 38.2 in May from 39.7 in April, marking a seventeenth consecutive month of contraction and the weakest reading since the pandemic shock of May 2020.
  Outside the pandemic period, the decline was the shar
  
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• Green light for £59m Swadlincote civic and leisure hub

  04-06-2026 13:44 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Enabling works are set to start this summer on a £59m leisure centre and civic office scheme in Swadlincote after planners gave the project the green light.
  The South Derbyshire District Council scheme will replace the existing Green Bank Leisure Centre and council offices as part of a wider town centre regeneration push.
  BAM and Bowmer & Kirkland are understood to chasing the build contract for the complex which was designed by CPMG Architects.The leisure element will include a six-co
  
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• Scottish Hydro sparks £7.4bn contractor framework race

  04-06-2026 13:43 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Scottish Hydro Electric Transmission has launched a £7.4bn framework hunt for contractors to help deliver its expanding high-voltage network investment programme across Scotland.
  The utility giant is seeking long-term strategic delivery partners across six workstreams covering civils, buildings, overhead lines and underground cable construction under framework agreements that could run for up to eight years.
  The framework will support transmission network upgrades, customer connections, as
  
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• A9 dualling race starts for £1.9bn mega framework

  04-06-2026 13:37 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Transport for Scotland has kicked off the race to find contractors to deliver the final 58mile stretch of the A9 dualling programme from Perth to Inverness.
  After a delivery review it is switching to a framework-led approach to deliver the final five contracts on the programme, ditching the previous project-by-project tender model.
  The new £1.94bn framework is designed to bring contractors into schemes earlier through an early contractor involvement model. Officials believe the approach wi
  
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• Labourer drowns in water-filled site excavation

  04-06-2026 08:46 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  A contractor has been fined after a man drowned when he fell into an exposed excavation hole described as a ‘death trap’, at a building site in Hertfordshire.
  Mykhalio Hustei had been working for Alchemist DB Limited as a labourer on a project building several flats on the High Street in Bovington.
  The 35-year-old had been living in a property adjoining the site when he attempted to make his way home from a night out on 22 October 2021. As he tried to access his own home he fell into
  
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• Hollywood giant gears up for £5bn UK resort build

  04-06-2026 08:44 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Main construction work is poised to start on Hollywood giant Universal’s £5bn UK theme park after ministers committed £1.3bn to unlock the transport and infrastructure upgrades needed to make the Bedfordshire mega-project a reality.
  The entertainment resort, branded Universal United Kingdom Resort, will rise on the former Kempston Hardwick brickworks site and is set to become Universal’s first theme park destination in Europe.
  Government backing will fund road, rail and c
  
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• Hinkley workers locked-out of site after canteen sit-in

  04-06-2026 08:40 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  M&E workers at the Hinkley Point C nuclear site have been banned from the job for a week after staging a canteen sit-in.
  Hundreds of workers from the MEH Alliance have been told not to return to the job until next Monday.
  A long-running dispute came to a head earlier this week as workers staged the sit-in protest over shift pattern changes and safety concerns.Site management told the protesters not to return to the site until next week without pay.
  A heavy police presence was also evident th
  
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• Hunt starts for £60m Crystal Palace Park housing contractor

  04-06-2026 08:11 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Clarion Housing has launched the search for a main contractor to deliver 202 affordable homes at Crystal Palace Park following planning approval for the long-awaited scheme.
  The housing association’s development arm has issued a £60m design-and-build tender covering two sites at Rockhills and Sydenham Villas on the edge of the South London park.
  The project will deliver 148 homes for social rent and 54 shared ownership properties, alongside a new community centre, landscaping, access
  
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• BSR turns the tide as approvals outpace new home applications

  04-06-2026 08:10 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  The Building Safety Regulator is finally getting ahead of the Gateway 2 queue, approving more new homes than are entering the system for the first time since the regime was introduced.
  In the 12 weeks to 30 May, the regulator determined applications covering 14,928 homes while receiving new submissions for 13,964 homes, signalling that the long-running backlog is beginning to move in the right direction.
  Project approval rates are also climbing sharply.Across all Gateway 2 categories – new
  
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• Government and Hill seal land for 10,000-home Cambridge site

  03-06-2026 17:20 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Hill Group and Homes England have set a 2029 start date for the first homes at the giant Cambridge East development after completing the acquisition of the 700-acre former airport site.
  The partners plan to begin construction of an initial phase of up to 500 homes from 2029 as they push ahead with one of the UK’s largest urban extension projects. The wider scheme will eventually deliver more than 10,000 homes, 3m sq ft of commercial space and around 9,000 jobs.
  The deal sees Homes England,
  
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• Government and Hill seal land for 10,000-home Cambridge East scheme

  03-06-2026 17:20 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  THill Group and Homes England have set a 2029 start date for the first homes at the giant Cambridge East development after completing the acquisition of the 700-acre former airport site.
  The partners plan to begin construction of an initial phase of up to 500 homes from 2029 as they push ahead with one of the UK’s largest urban extension projects. The wider scheme will eventually deliver more than 10,000 homes, 3m sq ft of commercial space and around 9,000 jobs.
  The deal sees Homes England
  
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• Murphy builds record £412m cash pile in 75th year

  03-06-2026 09:00 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Murphy capped its 75th anniversary year with record revenue, profit and cash reserves as booming investment in Britain’s energy and infrastructure networks pushed its order book beyond £8bn for the first time.
  The family-owned contractor increased revenue 13% to nearly £1.6bn in 2025 while operating profit climbed 8% to a record £86m.
  Cash reserves further strengthened, rising to £412m, leaving Murphy with one of the strongest balance sheets in the industry.The perf
  
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• Willmott Dixon keeping close eye on supply chain

  03-06-2026 08:43 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Willmott Dixon is promising to look after its supply chain amid worries over industry price inflation.
  The contractor has posted a strong set of annual results and reported an encouraging start to this financial year.
  But  Chief Executive Officer Graham Dundas said: “We remain far from complacent about the wider economic picture, including the risk of renewed inflation from geopolitical events.“Across our industry, prices are coming under strain, and I’m conscious that our
  
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• McLaren wins £1bn data centre campus near M25

  03-06-2026 08:28 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  McLaren Construction has been drafted in to spearhead delivery of US developer Corscale’s £1bn data centre campus at Iver in Buckinghamshire.
  The contractor and MEP specialist Phoenix ME have secured a pre-construction services agreement for the 14-acre Court Lane site alongside the M25, launching a scheme that will transform a rundown industrial estate into a hyperscale data centre campus.
  Works will start on 1 July with site clearance, utility diversions and remediation operations
  
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• HS2 finally slides in giant Curzon bridge after welding delay

  03-06-2026 08:17 via constructionenquirer.com
  HS2 engineers have finally slid the tallest bridge on the scheme into position above Birmingham’s Cross City railway line after overcoming major welding challenges that delayed the operation by almost a year.
  The 4,200-tonne Curzon 2 structure was moved 180 metres in a complex three-stage launch and is now locked onto permanent piers, creating a new 40m-high landmark on the approach to Curzon Street Station.The successful launch marks a major milestone on the Birmingham section of the rail
  
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