Construction news

• Drax powers up £20bn mega data centre scheme

  03-11-2026 10:44 via Construction Enquirer
  
  Plans have been unveiled for a £20bn-plus data centre development at Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire, with the first phase targeted to be operational in early 2028.
  Energy giant Drax has teamed up with investment group Brookfield and its UK-based AI infrastructure business Radiant to develop one of Britain’s largest data centre campuses.
  The partners are targeting more than 1GW of capacity, with Brookfield estimating that total investment could exceed £20bn if the scheme is delivered i
  
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• Housing main drag on industry again in October

  05-11-2026 12:40 via Construction Enquirer
  
  Construction buyers have reported the lowest level of residential work since last December as the housing market continues to rag down the whole industry.
  The bellwether S&P Global UK Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index recorded 43.6 in October – down from 46.1 the previous month.
  The index registered below the neutral 50.0 value for the twenty-second month running.Residential activity (index at 35.1) was by far the weakest-performing segment, with the latest reading the lowest since
  
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• Sizewell C backs drive to ditch diesel and cut carbon

  05-11-2026 12:04 via Construction Enquirer
  
  Sizewell C has put contractors on notice to prepare for life after diesel and a squeeze on the most carbon-intensive building materials.
  The nuclear developer has signed an industry pledge to drive down construction emissions through buying decisions, contract incentives and cleaner site operations.
  The move puts plant fleets, concrete mixes and steel sourcing firmly in the spotlight across the project’s supply chain.Under the Construction Leadership Council’s Five Client Carbon Commitments,
  
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• JRL gets green light for 359-unit Sutton co-living revamp

  05-11-2026 08:48 via Construction Enquirer
  
  JRL Group and development partner Halcyon have secured planning permission to transform a vacant office block in Sutton town centre into a 359-unit co-living development.
  Sutton Council has approved the redevelopment of St Nicholas House, clearing the way for a major refurbishment and extension of the former 12-storey office building.
  The scheme will see the existing structure partially demolished, retained and extended to create a building rising to 15 storeys.Designed by Assael Architecture, t
  
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• Vistry jobs cull begins as daily debt heads for £800m

  05-11-2026 08:47 via Construction Enquirer
  
  Vistry has started wielding the jobs axe as it moves to more than half its regional operations amid worsening market conditions.
  In a trading statement this morning, the house builder warned that average daily net debt was heading towards £800m in the second half as tough trading and delays to partner-funded deals squeeze cash.
  Chief executive Adam Daniels said he had started driving through plans for a smaller business focused on generating cash and cutting borrowing.
  The partnership homes foc
  
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• Morgan Sindall to beat profit targets again

  05-11-2026 08:39 via Construction Enquirer
  
  Morgan Sindall is set to beat its profit targets again this year as construction and fit-out continue t0 out-perform the general market.
  In a trading update today the contractor said: “Strong trading momentum has continued and, together with strong visibility of secured orders through to the end of the year, the Group now anticipates that its full year results for 2026 will be slightly ahead of its previous expectations.”
  It added: “The Construction division has continued to perform strong
  
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• Euston Station mega scheme set for 26-year build programme

  05-11-2026 08:08 via Construction Enquirer
  
  Lendlease and The Crown Estate have set out plans for the Euston station mega development with a building programme stretching over 26 years.
  The partners’ Impact Partnership joint venture is leading the 60-acre regeneration above and around the rail hub as the Government’s master development partner.An environmental scoping report submitted to Camden Council reveals proposals for up to 650,000 sq m of development, with landmark buildings rising to 25 storeys.
  Architect Allies and Morrison i
  
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• Forco is the new name for Mace Construct

  04-11-2026 12:00 via Construction Enquirer
  
  Mace Construct has confirmed it will be known as Forco when it launches its new brand in January 2027.
  The contractor said the new name is “short, impactful and easy to pronounce.”
  Mace Construct and Mace Consult became two separate businesses in March, with the agreement that Mace Consult would retain the Mace brand.The business will continue to trade as Mace Construct until the New Year then go forward as Forco with a new corporate strategy unveiled alongside productivity targets through t
  
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• Morgan Sindall Operations Director joins GMI

  04-11-2026 08:55 via Construction Enquirer
  
  GMI Construction Group has appointed James Garnett to the newly created role of Group Operations Director.
  Garnett joins from Morgan Sindall where he has spent the last seven years most recently as Operations Director for the North East and Cumbria business.
  At GMI Garnett will work with the Board and regional leadership teams to strengthen operational performance and support project delivery.His priorities include improving processes, streamlining reporting, and making better use of data to sup
  
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• United Living wins right to pursue £7.4m London defects claim

  04-11-2026 08:45 via Construction Enquirer
  
  United Living has beaten an attempt by architect Hawkins Brown to shut down a fresh £7.4m defects claim over a north London flats development.
  The contractor is chasing the cost of replacing a façade system and fixing alleged fire protection defects at the Wenlock Building in Wharf Road, Islington.
  Hawkins Brown argued the action should be thrown out because United Living could and should have brought the claims in earlier proceedings, which were settled in March 2023.
  That deal required the a
  
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• Places for People names groundworks firms for £246m deal

  04-11-2026 08:18 via Construction Enquirer
  
  Places for People has picked over 40 contractors for a national groundworks framework worth around £246m over four years.
  Coinford Central and RJ McLeod secured the widest spread of places, each landing spots on six of the framework’s 13 regional lots across England and Scotland.
  M&J Evans Construction and Houlihan & Co each picked up four lots. Other winners include MV Kelly, Erith, Tamdown, O’Halloran & O’Brien and Chasetown Civil Engineering.
  North West
  Lancashire, Manchest
  
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• Parliament restoration hits two-year snag before crunch vote

  04-11-2026 08:18 via Construction Enquirer
  
  Parliament’s mega restoration faces a two-year hold-up before MPs have even taken a crunch vote on getting the programme moving.
  The temporary home needed to clear MPs out of the Palace of Westminster will not be ready until 2034 at the earliest. The original full move-out target was 2032.
  Now the Public Accounts Committee has warned that every year spent delaying a decision adds up to £420m to the programme’s potential lifetime bill.
  MPs and peers are expected to vote by the end of 2026 on
  
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• ISG recoveries hit £46m but trade creditors won’t get a penny

  03-11-2026 13:53 via Construction Enquirer
  
  ISG administrators have clawed back nearly £46m since the contractor collapsed but trade creditors are still not expected to see a penny.
  The latest report from EY-Parthenon leaves unsecured creditors facing losses on estimated claims of £885m, two years after the group’s failure.
  HMRC is expected to recover part of its £91m preferential claim, although the taxman will also face a shortfall.
  Administrators recovered nearly £7m in the six months to 19 September 2026 as they chased outstandi
  
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• Graham wins first tower on £1.2bn Liverpool site

  03-11-2026 12:16 via Construction Enquirer
  
  Graham has won the tender race to build the first tower on the £1.2bn Kings waterfront development in Liverpool.
  Metropolitan Demolition has now cleared the plot to allow work to start on No.1 Kings – the 28-storey ‘pathfinder’ tower for the wider site.
  Work will see the delivery of 255 new homes for rent, alongside ground floor retail, first-floor resident amenities and rooftop social spaces for a scheme with a GDV of £80m.
  Hugh Frost, Chairman of developer Beetham Davos Limited said: �
  
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• Emergency works ordered as Galliard tower crisis widens

  03-11-2026 09:12 via Construction Enquirer
  
  London’s Newham Council has ordered emergency works at a Galliard Homes development in Canning Town as structural safety fears force residents out of five blocks.
  Dangerous structure notices were served demanding immediate temporary works and risk mitigation at Centurion Tower, Sovereign Tower and St Vincent’s Court in Canning Town, east London.
  The crisis widened on Friday when residents of neighbouring Thanet Tower and Prince Court were also told to leave following a further engineering as
  
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• Clancy picked for £39m Southern Water pipeline

  03-11-2026 09:08 via Construction Enquirer
  
  Clancy is set to sign a £39m deal to design and build Southern Water’s Andover Link Main pipeline in Hampshire.
  The contractor will deliver the underground link between Winchester and Andover, alongside new and upgraded pumping infrastructure to strengthen drought resilience.
  The 22.8km pipeline will connect Crab Wood service reservoir near Winchester with Micheldever Road service reservoir on the outskirts of Andover.Some early preparation work, such as vegetation clearance, is expected to s
  
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• Canary Wharf gets green light for major office overhaul

  03-11-2026 08:57 via Construction Enquirer
  
  Canary Wharf Group has secured planning permission for a major overhaul of the 10 Cabot Square office building in London’s Docklands.
  Tower Hamlets Council formally approved the scheme on 30 October, clearing the way for a deep retrofit of the existing building, including partial demolition, a new façade and additional rooftop office accommodation.
  Designed by architect Howells, the redevelopment will transform the ageing office block while retaining much of its existing structure.The project
  
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• Work set to start on £230m Farringdon hotel

  03-11-2026 08:50 via Construction Enquirer
  
  Main construction work will start imminently near Holborn Viaduct in Farringdon central London for a new £230m aparthotel.
  A joint venture between Central European developer and investor Penta Real Estate and aparthotel operator Staycity Group has been established to fund delivery of the new 350-room scheme.
  Work will transform the Morley House site with Altius Real Estate acting as development manager throughout the project.Construction will begin following the demolition of the existing offi
  
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• WSP and Costain line up for West London Orbital route design

  02-11-2026 18:46 via Construction Enquirer
  
  Transport for London has brought in WSP, Costain and architect Fereday Pollard to help plot a new London Overground route across west London.
  The team will support the next development stage of the proposed 18.5km West London Orbital, linking Hounslow with Hendon.
  Costain will bring engineering and construction planning expertise to help shape how the railway could be delivered, with Fereday Pollard contributing station design experience.The proposed route would improve connections across west a
  
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• Willmott Dixon bags £18m Bury Interchange first phase

  02-11-2026 18:24 via Construction Enquirer
  
  Willmott Dixon has secured an £18m contract to deliver the first phase of Bury Interchange’s redevelopment for Transport for Greater Manchester.
  Work starts this month on tram platform improvements and a 57m steel pedestrian footbridge over the Metrolink lines.
  The bridge will provide a direct link to Union Square, with a new pedestrian route offering step-free access to Pyramid Park.It will also maintain passenger access to trams during the planned second phase, clearing the way for the wide
  
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• KierBAM JV confirms £600m Devonport dock upgrade

  02-11-2026 15:57 via Construction Enquirer
  
  Kier and BAM have secured a £600m main works contract to upgrade Devonport’s 10 Dock for submarine maintenance.
  Plymouth dockyard operator Babcock awarded the deal, which moves the team from early contractor involvement into the main works phase.
  The overhaul will prepare 10 Dock for deep maintenance of the Royal Navy’s Astute-class attack submarines.Existing dock walls will be strengthened, narrowing the dock, while part of the floor will be replaced with a reinforced concrete base support
  
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• Green light for £3bn Kent–Suffolk power link

  02-11-2026 09:22 via Construction Enquirer
  
  National Grid has secured development consent for its estimated £3bn Sea Link project, paving the way for construction to start early next year.
  The 138km electricity connection between Suffolk and Kent will include two converter stations, subsea and underground cables, and upgrades to the onshore transmission network.
  Construction is expected to begin in early 2027 and finish in 2031, subject to detailed delivery planning.
  National Grid has submitted project costs of £3.2bn to Ofgem in 2023/2
  
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• Developer lines up next phases at £180m Wigan mill scheme

  02-11-2026 09:21 via Construction Enquirer
  Heaton Group is lining up the next major phases of its £180m Cotton Works regeneration in Wigan after securing approval for 179 new homes.
  The local developer has already completed the first phase at the former Eckersley Mills complex, transforming Grade II-listed Mill One into offices, hospitality and leisure space.
  The restored mill now includes Heaton Group’s headquarters, The Three Mills pub, Grade A office space and rooftop bar and events space.Attention is now turning to Block A, the fi
  
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• Bugler Group sold to employee ownership trust

  02-11-2026 09:21 via Construction Enquirer
  
  Hertfordshire housing contractor Bugler Group has switched to employee ownership after the three owing Bugler brothers sold their shares to a trust.
  Andy, Kieran and Denis Bugler will remain in their current roles and continue running the Rickmansworth-based business.
  The group builds affordable and private sale homes across London and the South of England. It reported turnover of £125m and net profits of £8.5m for the year to March 2026.Bugler expects to at least match those results in the cu
  
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• 20 firms land £500m MAG airports minor works deal

  02-11-2026 09:21 via Construction Enquirer
  
  Manchester Airports Group has picked 20 contractors for a £500m framework covering jobs worth up to £5m each at its Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands airports.
  Lancashire building firm W H Good ranked most successful securing  a clean sweep of building and M&E places across all three airports.
  VolkerFitzpatrick bagged five spots in the contest for building, civils and M&E work packages.The framework will start in December and run for five years, with an option to extend for anoth
  
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• Balfour Beatty to build Britain’s biggest substation

  02-11-2026 09:20 via Construction Enquirer
  
  Balfour Beatty has been named as National Grid’s contractor for what is expected to be Britain’s largest electricity substation at Teesworks on Teesside.
  The deal emerged as National Grid Electricity Transmission announced it had bought the 73-acre Dorman Point site for the massive new power facility.
  The Teesside Node A substation will initially provide 1.44GW of additional electricity capacity to support major data centre, AI, advanced manufacturing and other energy-intensive developments
  
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• GMI checks in to York with sixth Dakota hotel job

  02-11-2026 08:49 via Construction Enquirer
  GMI Construction is to start main works on a 140-bedroom Dakota hotel inside York’s medieval city walls.
  The Leeds contractor is delivering the eight-storey scheme for Evans Property Group, with completion planned for spring 2028.
  Demolition of the former Northern House office block on Rougier Street is now complete, clearing the way for the new hotel on the constrained 0.7-acre site.The job is GMI’s sixth Dakota hotel, extending a relationship spanning developments in Leeds, Glasgow, Manche
  
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• Ibstock profit warning as brick sales plummet

  02-11-2026 08:47 via Construction Enquirer
  
  Ibstock is warning that performance during the second half of this year will be “materially below previous expectations” after brick sales continued to dive.
  In a trading update the materials giant said brick sales were 22% below expectations during the third quarter of 2026.
  The group said it is slashing production by 20% to avoid stockpiles and is continuing with a cost-cutting drive.Joe Hudson, CEO of Ibstock Plc, said: ‘’Trading conditions deteriorated sharply during the third quarte
  
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• Lucky escape for H&V workers after tower block roof fire

  02-11-2026 08:17 via Construction Enquirer
  A contractor has been fined after four workers had to flee a fire that engulfed the roof of a 14-storey apartment building under construction in Surrey.
  The four subcontractors were working under the control of C Watkins Plumbing Limited, installing an air source heat pump on the roof of the Old Telephone Exchange development in Staines-upon-Thames, when the incident happened on 26 July 2024.
  Sparks from welding work ignited uncovered rigid foam insulation that had been laid across the roof. The
  
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• Big contractors gain voice in £181bn electricity drive

  30-10-2026 11:49 via Construction Enquirer
  
  M Group, Balfour Beatty and United Infrastructure have joined suppliers’ trade body BEAMA to strengthen contractors’ voice in Britain’s £181bn electricity network investment drive.
  The trio are the first members named in a new Electricity Network Infrastructure Services Group launched by the trade body.
  BEAMA, formerly the British Electrotechnical and Allied Manufacturers’ Association, represents manufacturers and suppliers of electrical equipment and energy infrastructure technology.It
  
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