Construction news

• Countryside Properties sets aside £41m for recladding

  30-11-2021 08:52 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Countryside Properties is setting aside £41m to cover post-Grenfell cladding and fire safety retrofits on its former building projects.
  The firm revealed its commitment to retrofit 69 buildings, as it unveiled improved results showing a return to profit as it began a strategic switch to focus entirely on its partnerships business going forward.
  John Martin, chairman, said: “We have examined all buildings developed by Countryside over the last 15 years and identified 69 buildings acro
  
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• Government steel strategy set to drive up construction costs

  20-03-2026 09:21 via constructionenquirer.com
  Contractors are bracing for a fresh wave of cost inflation after the Government unveiled a hardline steel strategy designed to curb imports and boost domestic production.
  Ministers have set out plans to cut steel import quotas by 60% from July and impose a 50% tariff on material brought in above those limits — a move aimed at shielding UK producers but set to ripple through the construction supply chain.
  The strategy also sets a target for UK steel to meet up to 50% of domestic demand, up
  
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• Teenage labourer dies in ventilation shaft fall

  20-03-2026 09:19 via constructionenquirer.com
  A construction firm has been fined £40,200 after a teenage labourer died after falling down a ventilation shaft on a London building site.
  Renols Lleshi, 19, was helping to dismantle scaffolding on the 12th floor roof garden of a block of flats being built at the Ark Soane Academy site, Mill Hill Road, London W3 on 5 July 2023. As he stepped onto a ventilation shaft the covering gave way, and he fell six floors to his death.
  His father said “My family and I are devastated by the loss
  
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• Hill seals London Woolwich social homes deal with Clarion

  20-03-2026 09:04 via constructionenquirer.com
  Clarion Housing Group has struck a deal with The Hill Group to deliver 188 social rent homes as part of the wider Woolwich Leisure Centre redevelopment in south-east London.
  The homes will sit within a 557-home mixed-tenure scheme being brought forward by Hill in partnership with the Royal Borough of Greenwich, alongside a new leisure centre.
  Clarion has acquired the affordable element through a Section 106 deal, securing the social rent homes in Blocks D and E of the development.The scheme will
  
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• Former Battersea Power Station boss launches tribunal claim

  20-03-2026 08:54 via constructionenquirer.com
  Former CEO Don O’Sullivan is bringing a claim for unfair dismissal and whistleblowing detriment against Battersea Power Station Development Company and four senior Malaysian executives.
  O’Sullivan joined Battersea in June 2024 after 21 years at Galliard Homes.
  He was dismissed in May 2025 amid claims he raised whistleblowing concerns about his employer, a Malaysian-owned development company.He alleges that he was dismissed following charges of gross misconduct after raising concerns
  
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• Gobion lands £52m DP World London Gateway yard job

  20-03-2026 08:53 via constructionenquirer.com
  Gobion Construction has secured a £52m contract to deliver a major container storage yard expansion at London Gateway Port in Thurrock.
  The job, awarded by London Gateway Port, will see the SME contractor build out a new automated container yard at Berth 5 as the port ramps up capacity.
  The one-year programme is due to start at the end of March following the standstill period, with completion targeted by March 2027.Works will deliver 10 automated stacking crane modules alongside heavy-duty
  
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• American student builder gets Birmingham green light

  20-03-2026 08:47 via constructionenquirer.com
  America’s largest student accommodation developer Landmark Properties has been given the green light for a scheme at 120 Suffolk Street in the centre of Birmingham.
  The purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) community will also include high quality communal and outdoor spaces next to New Street Station.
  The job will be completed in 2029 and reinforces Landmark Properties’ plans to implement four to six PBSA and residential schemes per year.The firm entered the UK market in 2024,
  
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• Winners named for £1bn North West contractor framework

  20-03-2026 08:42 via constructionenquirer.com
  Procure Partnerships has unveiled the winners of its £1bn framework covering construction, infrastructure and demolition works across the North West.
  The four-year deal is open to public sector clients across the region and is split into six construction lots, six infrastructure lots and a single demolition lot.
  Up to 10 contractors have been appointed to each lot, with heavyweights including Kier, Morgan Sindall, BAM, Galliford Try, Vinci, Wates and Willmott Dixon dominating the top-value
  
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• Go-ahead for Manchester Garden Village

  19-03-2026 09:00 via constructionenquirer.com
  Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council has resolved to grant planning consent for revised proposals for 2,150 new homes at Godley Green Garden Village.
  The news follows a £17.4m funding deal towards upfront enabling works and supporting infrastructure from Greater Manchester Combined Authority.
  Godley Green Garden Village will provide up to 2,150 new homes, in addition to a host of community facilities and amenities, including a new primary school, sports pitches, two local centres. allotme
  
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• McGoff resets leadership to fuel next growth phase

  19-03-2026 08:49 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Manchester-based contractor McGoff Group has overhauled its senior structure to support expansion across build-to-rent, elderly care and childcare schemes as revenues surge across its core construction arm.
  The business is ditching its single group director model for construction services and moving to standalone leadership teams headed by new MDs across its key divisions as workload ramps up.
  Main trading arm McGoff Construction Services is expected to post a strong rise in revenue in the year
  
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• Second-generation nuclear reactor demolition era begins

  19-03-2026 08:48 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  The UK’s next wave of nuclear decommissioning has moved a step closer after the regulator signed off the transfer of Hunterston B to public sector control ahead of full dismantling.
  Government decommissioning body, Nuclear Restoration Services will take over ownership of the North Ayrshire reactor from EDF on 1 April.
  This will be the first Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactor station to enter formal decommissioning – marking a major shift as Britain begins retiring its second-generation nucl
  
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• Amey tops construction minimum wage breach list

  19-03-2026 08:47 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Amey has been named as the highest-profile construction firm to underpay workers in the Government’s latest national minimum wage crackdown after failing to pay £169,447 to 2,608 staff.
  The infrastructure services contractor is the standout name in a list of around 30 firms, largely made up of smaller subcontractors and specialist trades, representing a small 7% slice of all firms named by the Government for breaches.
  This is the first ‘naming round’ since the Chancellor&
  
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• Amey tops construction mimumum wage breach list

  19-03-2026 08:47 via constructionenquirer.com
  Amey has been named as the highest-profile construction firm to underpay workers in the Government’s latest national minimum wage crackdown after failing to pay £169,447 to 2,608 staff.
  The infrastructure services contractor is the standout name in a list of around 30 firms, largely made up of smaller subcontractors and specialist trades, representing a small 7% slice of all firms named by the Government for breaches.
  This is the first ‘naming round’ since the Chancellor&
  
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• Willmott Dixon wins £39m college upgrade

  19-03-2026 08:23 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Willmott Dixon has been chosen by the Department for Education to deliver a £39m education building at Hopwood Hall College’s Rochdale campus.
  The project procured via the DfE Construction Framework will see demolition of the existing college buildings and their replacement with four-storey educational facility spanning 75,000 sq ft on the St Marys Gate campus.
  Construction is expected to commence imminently with the new building scheduled for completion towards the end of 2028.Micha
  
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• Balfour pleads not guilty after nuclear site death

  18-03-2026 17:35 via constructionenquirer.com
  Balfour Beatty Group Limited has pleaded not guilty to health and safety offences following a worker fatality at AWE’s Aldermaston nuclear site.
  The firm appeared at High Wycombe Magistrates Court on Wednesday morning for a prosecution instigated by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), the UK’s independent nuclear regulator.
  The charges relate to an incident which occurred at the Aldermaston site in West Berkshire on 6 July 2023 when Stuart Cook, 58, a construction worker from Ea
  
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• Contractor J Smart plans new industrial hub

  18-03-2026 16:46 via constructionenquirer.com
  Developers Manse LLP and contractor J. Smart & Co have formed a joint venture and submitted a planning application to North Lanarkshire Council for a new industrial and logistics development at Eurocentral.
  The proposed Eurocentral Gateway scheme will deliver over 200,000 sq ft of new industrial and logistics space in one of Scotland’s most established and sought-after distribution locations.
  Work will involve construction of two high-specification industrial buildings of approximately
  
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• Final phase of London’s Elephant Park gets green light

  18-03-2026 14:48 via constructionenquirer.com
  The final piece of the Elephant Park regeneration in London’s Elephant and Castle area has secured planning, paving the way to close out more than a decade of transformation across the 10-acre site.
  Developer Hub is bringing forward the 1.2-acre mixed-use development, known as Chords. This will consist of 695 co-living flats and 20 three-bed family homes alongside community infrastructure, including a new NHS health centre.
  Designed by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, the scheme will be deliv
  
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• HMRC promotes digital tax changes – with print ads

  18-03-2026 13:37 via constructionenquirer.com
  HMRC chiefs are reminding construction sole traders about digital tax changes with a print based advertising campaign.
  Making Tax Digital changes comes into force next month and require construction sole traders with qualifying income over £50,000 to maintain digital records and send quarterly updates via HMRC-recognised software.
  But the government publicity campaign for the changes is being pushed through the industry’s dwindling range of shrinking print titles.One contractor said:
  
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• Caddick bags £25m Durham student flats job

  18-03-2026 09:17 via constructionenquirer.com
  Caddick Construction has landed a £25m design and build deal to deliver a 232-bed student scheme in Durham as it ramps up regional growth.
  The contractor will build the Melbury Court development off Old Dryburn Way for Whitesmocks, adding to its expanding North East pipeline.
  The PBSA scheme will provide modern student flats alongside landscaped public realm to improve the surrounding setting.Completion is targeted for summer 2027 ahead of the 2027/28 academic intake.
  The award marks anoth
  
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• Laing O’Rourke wins £3.2m High Court payout in film studios row

  18-03-2026 08:54 via constructionenquirer.com
  Laing O’Rourke has secured a £3.2m High Court victory after successfully enforcing an adjudication decision in a payment dispute with client Shepperton Studios.
  The Technology and Construction Court ruled that Shepperton must pay the sum plus VAT and interest following a row over an interim payment from a £331m design and build contract in 2021.
  Laing O’Rourke had originally sought to enforce a £5.6m adjudication award in its favour but the court reduced the final s
  
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• Wates buys its head office building

  18-03-2026 08:53 via constructionenquirer.com
  Wates Group has purchased its long-standing head office in Leatherhead, Surrey.
  The acquisition of the 37,000 sq ft Wates House comes after the contractor has leased the building for 20 years.
  Eoghan O’Lionaird, Chief Executive of Wates Group, said: “As a purpose-led business, everything we do at Wates is driven by reimagining places for people to thrive.“Securing the future of Wates House – our home for more than two decades – strengthens Wates’ long-term com
  
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• Beard gives away £4.5m as profits hit £9m high

  18-03-2026 08:50 via constructionenquirer.com
  Beard has capped a record year by handing half its £9m profit back to communities as turnover surged 16% to £230m.
  The family-owned contractor chose to donate £4.5m to regional charities instead of boosting shareholder dividends, marking one of the biggest philanthropic moves seen among UK regional builders.
  Strong trading was driven by a busy delivery year, with 62 projects completed across its South of England patch and a steady stream of framework and direct award wins.Opera
  
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• Morgan Sindall starts £28m steel decarbonisation centre

  18-03-2026 08:32 via constructionenquirer.com
  Morgan Sindall has started work on the South Wales Industrial Transition from Carbon Hub (SWITCH).
  The £28m research facility is designed to accelerate the decarbonisation of the steel and metals sector on a brownfield site at Port Talbot’s Harbourside.
  Morgan Sindall was first instructed under a design and build deal in 2023.SWITCH Harbourside, will be a purpose built, open access research hub supporting innovation across academics, industry and government.
  Its focus will help secto
  
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• Costain bags £45m Rugby sewage works upgrade

  18-03-2026 08:24 via constructionenquirer.com
  Costain has secured a £45m deal to upgrade key assets at Severn Trent’s Rugby Newbold sewage treatment works, extending a long-running partnership between the pair.
  The contractor will act as principal contractor and principal designer on the scheme, which runs to 2028, delivering new facilities and upgrading existing systems to boost operational resilience.
  Work will also increase feed and storm capacity at the site, forming part of Severn Trent’s wider AMP8 investment push ac
  
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• Barking Riverside doubles down with 20,000-home green light

  18-03-2026 08:08 via constructionenquirer.com
  London’s biggest single-ownership housing scheme has been scaled up after planners backed a major expansion at Barking Riverside.
  Developer Barking Riverside Limited has secured revised outline consent to deliver up to 20,000 homes on the 443-acre east London site – almost doubling the original 10,800-home consent.
  The decision from Barking & Dagenham councillors clears the way for a long-term build-out of one of the capital’s most significant brownfield regeneration p
  
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• Andrew Davison becomes joint MD at AGD

  18-03-2026 00:01 via constructionenquirer.com
  Plant hire specialist AGD Equipment Ltd has appointed Andrew Davison as Joint Managing Director.
  Davison brings over 25 years of experience in the piling and ground improvement markets, having spent most of his career with Keller and more recently working on HS2.
  Over the coming months Davison will be taking time to meet AGD customers and suppliers across the country.
  During his free time Davison races a Caterham car which has just been painted in the AGD orange livery. 
   
  
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• Flood defence pipeline swells with £1.4bn boost

  17-03-2026 09:25 via constructionenquirer.com
  The Environment Agency has unveiled details of a £1.4bn flood defence blitz to advance more than 600 schemes across England this year and next.
  Major schemes in the pipeline have already started and include the £59m Bridgwater tidal barrier (Kier), £37m Derby flood works (Sisk) and Kendal Flood Risk management scheme (VolkerStevin).
  The programme also spans small repairs works alongside a growing push on natural flood management to slow water upstream.
  Click here for full list
  
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• Final HS2 TBM starts drive towards Euston

  17-03-2026 08:39 via constructionenquirer.com
  HS2 has started the final tunnel bore on the project from Old Oak Common station in west London towards Euston.
  Euston is the second bored tunnel underneath the capital – after the Northolt Tunnel – and is being constructed by the Skanska Costain STRABAG joint venture.
  The 198-metre long machine operates as a 24/7 underground factory, excavating the earth and installing concrete segments into rings to create the tunnel.Overall, on both bores of the tunnel, 48,294 concrete segments wi
  
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• West Midlands Police attacked over abnormal loads

  17-03-2026 08:30 via constructionenquirer.com
  Plant chiefs have blasted West Midlands Police’s approach to abnormal load movements and are warning its behaviour could delay HS2 and other major  infrastructure projects.
  Under national rules, companies moving abnormal loads to construction sites are required to notify the police in advance – not seek permission.
  Most abnormal loads are safely self-escorted by trained operators with police escorts used only where there is a clear and exceptional risk.The Construction Plant-hir
  
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• One in four construction workers now under 30

  17-03-2026 08:30 via constructionenquirer.com
  Fresh site scan data of skills card-carrying workers shows the workforce is getting younger and better qualified, challenging long-held fears about an ageing site workforce.
  New figures from the Construction Skills Certification Scheme reveal that now more than one in four CSCS cards is held by workers under 30.
  It is the first tangible evidence that the industry is successfully attracting young talent after years of concern about a looming greying workforce time bomb.
  The figures mark an eight-
  
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