Construction news

• Concrete specialist beats Budget EOT change

  28-11-2025 08:21 via constructionenquirer.com
  Greater Manchester based specialist Goodmix Concrete was sold to its staff just hours before Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) rules were changed in the Budget.
  The deal to transfer a majority ownership of the Ready Mixed Concrete firm into an EOT was completed on Tuesday.
  In a surprise move in Wednesday’s Budget Chanceller Rachel Reeves cut the current 100% Capital Gains Tax relief in half for business owners who sell via an EOT.Goodmix Concrete founders Chris and Jasmine Goodier decided on
  
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• Benniman bags latest DIRFT next-gen logistics job

  09-12-2025 15:24 via constructionenquirer.com
  Benniman has clinched another major shed job at Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal after Prologis UK handed the firm a next-generation cold store and logistics hub at the Northamptonshire rail freight powerhouse.
  The 285,000 sq ft cross-docked unit, known as DC11, will pack in 48 docks, a 22m haunch height and extensive tenant enhancements, along with external amenity areas.
  The job believed to be worth around £40m is designed to hit EPC A+, BREEAM Outstanding and net-zero carbon
  
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• Willmott Dixon on blocks for £35m Surrey leisure centre

  09-12-2025 15:23 via constructionenquirer.com
  Willmott Dixon has beaten rivals to emerge as preferred bidder for the £35m leisure centre rebuild at Cranleigh, Surrey.
  The long-awaited scheme cleared a key milestone after Waverley Borough Council resolved planning conditions and reset the delivery timeline in response to shifting market costs. Construction will now start next summer.
  The builder will now enter detailed negotiations on design and programme for what will be the UK’s third Passivhaus-standard leisure centre.
  New lei
  
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• Vinci wins funding sign-off to begin main £70m St Helens rebuild

  09-12-2025 09:09 via constructionenquirer.com
  Vinci Building has been given the green light to start the main construction phase of the £70m first stage of St Helens’ town centre transformation after councillors signed off one of the biggest funding commitments in the borough’s history.
  The £69.7m injection – approved at cabinet – unlocks the full build programme for phase one of the 24-acre overhaul and allows Vinci to switch from demolition and remediation works to full-scale construction in early 2026.
  
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• Groundforce appoints new Managing Director

  09-12-2025 09:09 via constructionenquirer.com
  Specialist construction services provider Groundforce has appointed Warren Buckland as Managing Director.
  Buckland has been serving as Interim Managing Director since early 2025, following five years overseeing several of Groundforce’s specialist businesses, including Groundforce Bridge, Groundforce Ireland, Groundforce Training and Stopper Specialists. Prior to this, he spent three years as Director of Stopper Specialists.
  In his role as Managing Director, Buckland will lead the strategic
  
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• £175m Trafford Stretford Mall resi job out to bid

  09-12-2025 08:52 via constructionenquirer.com
  Joint venture partners Bruntwood and Trafford Council have kicked off the hunt for a contractor to deliver the first major residential phase of the £210m Stretford Mall redevelopment.
  Detailed designs for Plot 2A are due to be submitted early in the new year. This will consist of a 249-home Build to Rent block that sits at the heart of the new town centre and marks the most dramatic physical change to the Mall since the masterplan was signed off in 2023.
  A large chunk of the 350,000 sq ft
  
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• Mace design director joins McLaren

  09-12-2025 08:40 via constructionenquirer.com
  McLaren has appointed Lucy Craig as design director for its Construction Management and Specialist Projects division.
  Craig joins from Mace where she was operations director and design lead working on major projects including Paddington Square and Battersea Power Station.
  She gained a Masters in Construction Engineering from the University of Cambridge in 2018, which enables her to lead multi-disciplinary, integrated design and engineering teams, aligning with clients’ requirements at the
  
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• London new-build freeze drags Mulalley to £3.2m loss

  08-12-2025 22:30 via constructionenquirer.com
  London’s sharp slowdown in public-sector housing new build along with rising costs pushed Mulalley to a £3.2m pre-tax loss last year.
  But the Essex-based firm’s powerhouse housing maintenance and upkeep division helped cushion the blow, with strong demand from councils and social landlords driving a 15% uplift in group turnover to almost £200m in the year to March 2025.
  Mulalley said the development landscape had become increasingly hostile as stalled viability, high mort
  
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• Worley lands EPCM deal for UK’s first full-scale cement CCS plant

  08-12-2025 18:36 via constructionenquirer.com
  Heidelberg Materials has taken the next big step towards building the UK’s first full-scale carbon capture plant at its Padeswood cement works after signing an EPCM deal with Worley and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
  The contract clears the way for full construction of a facility to strip out around 800,000 tonnes of CO₂ a year and produce evoZero, the world’s first carbon-captured near-zero cement at commercial scale.
  Under the EPCM agreement, Worley will lead delivery of the ca
  
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• Trapped load drags labourer over scaffolding

  08-12-2025 16:52 via constructionenquirer.com
  A property refurbishment company and a roofing contractor have been fined a combined £800,000 after a worker fell from scaffolding and suffered life-changing injuries.
  The worker was contracted as a general labourer for Premier Property and Construction Limited on a project managed by Axis Europe Limited at Cathcart Hill, London on 15 April 2024.
  During an unplanned lifting operation, the load became trapped. When the worker attempted to free it, the released load caused him to be pulled o
  
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• CITB cuts more training funds despite £95m cash pile

  08-12-2025 15:03 via constructionenquirer.com
  The Construction Industry Training Board has announced a sudden cut in training grants and funding for popular courses.
  CITB chiefs said the cuts were “due to the success” of Employer Networks and the New Entrant Support Team (NEST).
  The training body said demand for its services has grown by 36% over the last four years while the Levy rate had remained the same.It said: “At current levels, demand for CITB support will exceed its Levy income. Without action, CITB risks being un
  
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• CITB cuts more training funds despite £79m cash pile

  08-12-2025 15:03 via constructionenquirer.com
  The Construction Industry Training Board has announced a sudden cut in training grants and funding for popular courses.
  CITB chiefs said the cuts were “due to the success” of Employer Networks and the New Entrant Support Team (NEST).
  The training body said demand for its services has grown by 36% over the last four years while the Levy rate had remained the same.It said: “At current levels, demand for CITB support will exceed its Levy income. Without action, CITB risks being un
  
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• Hampstead mega mansion to become super-prime apartments

  08-12-2025 12:31 via constructionenquirer.com
  Investor-developer Bentry Capital has purchased Branch Hill House in Hampstead Village for £16.4m and has plans to convert the Edwardian mansion into a super-prime apartment complex.
  The new No.1 Hampstead is set to become a gated scheme of 50 premium lateral apartments set in 1.7 acres of landscaped gardens.
  Branch Hill House currently provides 23,456 sq ft of accommodation across a grand Edwardian Baroque mansion built in 1901 by Ernest Flint and architect Henry Flitcroft for banking tyc
  
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• Historic contractor sold to staff

  08-12-2025 09:35 via constructionenquirer.com
  Historic contractor Emanuel Whittaker Ltd has transitioned to an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT).
  The Oldham-based firm has been in business since 1837 and operates across the North West with a focus on public sector housing, public buildings and private sector renewal and refurbishment.
  Managing Director Clive Newton joined the company in 1966 as an office boy, and co-director John Gallagher joined the firm from school nine years later. Newton and Gallagher have worked together for over 50 years
  
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• DfE names 23 winners for £15bn schools framework refresh

  08-12-2025 09:34 via constructionenquirer.com
  The Department for Education has picked a fresh line-up of 23 firms to deliver its £15bn school rebuilding programme over the next eight years.
  The next-generation deal – Construction Framework 2025 – splits delivery between national big guns handling £12m-plus major projects and a wider field of tier 2 contractors taking on lower-value regional school jobs.
  The shake-up has opened the door to several new firms while confirming the status of long-standing DfE builders.Ten
  
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• Reforms urged to unlock £262bn London office upgrade boom

  08-12-2025 09:18 via constructionenquirer.com
  London developers are urging ministers and planners to overhaul the rules blocking a huge pipeline of retrofit and redevelopment work across the capital’s ageing office estate.
  More than half of central London’s workspace – 147m sq ft – is now classed as secondary stock and falling behind energy and quality standards.Upgrading it could unleash £262bn of investment value and £11.4bn a year in rental income, according to new analysis by the London Property Allia
  
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• Jobless young people to get six-week construction course

  08-12-2025 09:00 via constructionenquirer.com
  The government has unveiled plans to get more youngsters on Universal Credit into construction.
  Construction is one of the focus industries alongside health, social care and hospitality for the new £820m initiative.
  The government said jobless youngsters will “be referred to one of up to six pathways by their work coach: work, work experience, apprenticeship, wider training, learning or a workplace training programme with a guaranteed interview, designed in partnership with emp
  
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• Employee-owned plant dealer Warwick Ward collapses

  08-12-2025 08:45 via constructionenquirer.com
  Employee-owned plant dealer Warwick Ward has fallen into administration after 55 years in business with 89 jobs axed.
  Interpath restructuring partners James Lumb and James Clark were appointed joint administrators to Warwick Ward (Machinery) attempts to refinance, sell or secure new investment failed.
  Headquartered in Barnsley, Warwick Ward grew from a family-run firm founded in 1970 into a major stockist and supplier of new and used earthmoving and waste recycling machinery, also operating out
  
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• Tucker M&E went under owing suppliers £4.7m

  08-12-2025 08:42 via constructionenquirer.com
  Hull based Tucker Mechanical & Electrical Building Services went into administration owing its supply chain £4.7m.
  Documents filed at Companies House by administrator Exigen Group reveal the scale of debt at the £25m turnover specialist which had been in business since 1973 and also had a regional office near Birmingham.
  Documents in the report stated that Tucker “heavily” relied on subcontractors after cutting directly employed staff to cut operating costs.The firm r
  
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• Graham bags £45m Uni of East London campus build

  08-12-2025 08:12 via constructionenquirer.com
  The University of East London has handed Graham the £45m job to deliver its New Academic Building that forms the centrepiece of a wider £170m Stratford Health Campus redevelopment.
  The win marks UEL’s biggest capital project to date as it pushes ahead with its Vision 2028 strategy to expand medical and healthcare training across east London.
  The New Academic Building will house teaching, learning and research spaces and, subject to General Medical Council approval, will become
  
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• £700m Scottish super-hospital goes to ministers for final approval

  05-12-2025 09:22 via constructionenquirer.com
  NHS Lanarkshire has signed off the full business case for its planned new £700m University Hospital Monklands and passed Scotland’s first fully digital, net-zero carbon hospital to ministers for final approval.
  The milestone clears the way for construction to start next year on the 185-acre Wester Moffat site in Airdrie.
  Laing O’Rourke is leading pre-construction on the Monklands Replacement Project, adding to its track record of delivering 18 major hospitals since 2010.The exi
  
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• Ravenscraig 200-acre site remediation gets go-ahead

  05-12-2025 09:15 via constructionenquirer.com
  A huge clean-up of the derelict Ravenscraig steelworks site will kick off early next year after planners gave the green light for one of Scotland’s biggest ever land-remediation jobs.
  North Lanarkshire Council has approved extraction and remediation works across 200 acres of the 1,200-acre plot – unlocking the next phase of brownfield regeneration scheme.
  The programme involves ripping out deep steelworks foundations and shifting more than 2.7m cubic metres of material to prepare lan
  
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• Roofer verbally abused safety inspector

  05-12-2025 09:12 via constructionenquirer.com
  A Cornish roofer has been sentenced after failing to comply with requests for information from an HSE inspector and verbally abusing her.
  The HSE investigated after workers had been observed carrying out roof replacement work without any scaffolding being in place.
  The regulator identified unsafe work on a roofing job carried-out by Steven Hendry, 40, from Liskeard, leading HSE inspector Hatti Shipp, to serve a prohibition notice against him.As a result, further information was requested from He
  
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• Gateway 2 sign-off for landmark Stratford student tower

  05-12-2025 09:05 via constructionenquirer.com
  Student rooms developer Unite has bagged Building Safety Regulator Gateway 2 sign-off for its landmark 41-storey Meridian Square tower project in Stratford, London.
  Contractor RG Group is hotly tipped for the job, which will rise next to Westfield Stratford City, but has still to get a start date.
  Architect BDP designed the 952-bed tower that offer several roof terraces and a fully kitted-out gym aimed at London’s growing student market.
  As part of the project, Unite will also help deliver
  
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• 13 firms win £150m Lincolnshire roads race

  05-12-2025 08:50 via constructionenquirer.com
  Lincolnshire County Council has picked a 13-strong line-up of contractors for its new four-year highways framework.
  Firms selected will carry out general works and major resurfacing jobs worth up to £150m.
  The framework will run from January 2026 to January 2030 and is split into three lots for schemes ranging from small junction improvements to big-ticket A-road upgrades and primary route resurfacing across the county.
  General works £0–£1.5m (Total value £18m)Amalg
  
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• Kori wins £30m London care home job

  05-12-2025 08:31 via constructionenquirer.com
  Kori Construction has landed the contract to build a £30m care home in north London.
  Main construction work will start next month on the site in Highgate according to construction data specialist Barbour ABI.
  The job is due for completion in March 2028 and will provide a 61-bed care home including specialist dementia care facilities.The scheme has been designed by Wolff Architects and includes social areas, shared dining rooms, an art studio, a spa and gym, a screening room and a library.
  
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• £125m South London estate rebuild approved

  05-12-2025 08:15 via constructionenquirer.com
  London’s Lewisham Council has given the green light to the £125m regeneration of the 1950s-built Achilles Street estate in New Cross.
  The £125m construction programme will see 278 homes built, delivering 60% affordable housing, new maker spaces and a major upgrade of streets and public areas.
  The scheme replaces outdated housing with 122 new council homes for social rent and 44 shared ownership properties, increasing the number of social rent homes on the estate from 87. Nearly
  
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• Buyers report steepest output fall for five-and-half years

  04-12-2025 10:50 via constructionenquirer.com
  Construction buyers reported a “sharp and accelerated reduction” in output levels last month.
  The latest bellwether S&P Global UK Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to 39.4 in November from 44.1 in October.
  It was the lowest reading since May 2020 while lower volumes of construction output have now been recorded for eleven months in a row.Activity fell below the 50 no change mark in all sectors with housing activity (index at 35.4), commercial construction (43.8)
  
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• Anglian Water to shift £1.5bn work to single Tier 1 partner

  04-12-2025 08:50 via constructionenquirer.com
  Anglian Water has put contractors on notice for a major bid race to appoint a single design and build firm or JV to deliver a £1.5bn programme of flagship projects across AMP8 and AMP9.
  The new Major Infrastructure Delivery Framework marks a clear shift from the multi-contractor alliance model that underpinned its AMP4 and AMP5 programmes.
  Now Anglian intends to try a more commercial approach with a sole Tier 1 delivery partner that operates in parallel with its existing Strategic Pipeline
  
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• Balfour Beatty powers up order book 20% to record £18.4bn

  04-12-2025 08:45 via constructionenquirer.com
  Balfour Beatty is set to close the year with a turbocharged order book and cash pile as the UK energy boom powers the pipeline to record levels.
  This morning Balfour said it would reach year-end with an order book around 20% higher at roughly £18.4bn, driven by more than £3.5bn of new UK power-generation work and the long-awaited inclusion of £3bn of Sizewell C civils.
  Revenue is expected to come in more than 5% ahead of last year’s £10bn, with UK construction and s
  
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