• Morgan Sindall signs off on £30m Huntingdon school

    Morgan Sindall signs off on £30m Huntingdon school
    Cambridgeshire County Council has picked Morgan Sindall to deliver the new £30m Prestley Wood Academy in Huntingdon.
    The Special Educational Needs & Disabilities School will be located at the heart of the Alconbury Weald and will cater for 150 pupils aged between 3-19 years.
    The school will form part of the Alconbury Weald Education Campus that will see the addition of a new Secondary School in future phases.
    Jamie Shearman, area director for Morgan Sindall Construction in Cambridgeshi
  • Construction output slides for fourth month running

    Construction output slides for fourth month running
    Construction output has fallen for four months running as a deepening house building slump keeps the industry stuck in reverse.
    Output dropped 0.2% in August, while sharp downward revisions wiped out the brief recovery previously reported for July.
    July’s initial 0.1% rise has been revised to a 0.5% fall, with June’s decline also deepened from 0.1% to 0.3%.The figures leave construction trailing the wider UK economy, which edged up 0.1% in August.
    Over the three months to August, con
  • Contractors get easier route to claw back recladding costs

    Contractors get easier route to claw back recladding costs
    Contractors and developers that have picked up the bill for unsafe cladding repairs are being handed a clearer route to claw back cash from manufacturers.
    The Remediation of Unsafe Cladding Bill, introduced to Parliament yesterday, would strip away legal barriers that have left firms carrying repair costs while manufacturers escape paying their share.
    Ministers admit the existing claims regime under section 149 of the Building Safety Act has failed to deliver, with few cases brought.The overhaul
  • Becketwell site picked for Great British Railways Derby HQ

    Great British Railways is heading for a new-build headquarters in Derby after the Government yesterday picked Becketwell for its national base.
    The rail body will take the planned eight-storey 3 Springwell Square office, giving fresh momentum to the next phase of the £200m city-centre regeneration.
    The 106,000 sq ft building will house up to 450 staff, with construction expected to start in 2027 and completion targeted for spring 2029.Developer Peveril Securities is the property arm of Bow
  • Advertisement

  • M&E and cladding to be stripped from part-built hospital

    Remedial work will start next week to strip a partially-built hospital back to its steel frame.
    Robertson Construction North East was appointed replacement contractor in January at the the new £35m Berwick community hospital where work stopped last November when original contractor Merit collapsed into administration.
    Robertson has been assessing the work so far and client Northumbria Healthcare NHS Trust has now confirmed the scale of remedial work needed.The trust said: “From Monda
  • Willmott Dixon lands £40m Sheffield leisure centre

    Willmott Dixon lands £40m Sheffield leisure centre
    Willmott Dixon has netted a £40m contract to build Sheffield’s new Uriah Rennie Leisure Centre, with work kicking off next month.
    The council job forms the construction element of a £51m investment to replace Springs Leisure Centre.
    Procured through the SCAPE Construction Framework, the project will be delivered in two phases on a two-acre site beside the existing centre with work is due to run until September 2028.Willmott Dixon will first build the new facility and carry out
  • East West Rail alliance lined up for £650m extension

    East West Rail alliance lined up for £650m extension
    Network Rail is lining up £650m of extra work for its East West Rail alliance to boost capacity and help handle demand from the planned Universal theme park near Bedford.
    Laing O’Rourke, VolkerRail and AtkinsRéalis are set to land the design and construction package without a fresh competition, extending their existing Marston Vale Line works.
    The proposed deal covers upgrades between Bletchley and Stewartby, the Oxford Parkway to Bletchley route and work at Milton Keynes Cent
  • Powerday launches carbon reporting tool for contractors

    Powerday launches carbon reporting tool for contractors
    Powerday has launched a free Carbon Reporting Tool giving construction firms live emissions data on every waste movement leaving their sites.
    Using data drawn directly from Powerday’s operational systems, it calculates the transport emissions associated with each waste movement carried out on a contractor’s behalf.
    As the industry works to create carbon savings where possible, planning conditions and client contracts now ask for evidence of carbon performance at every point of the su
  • Advertisement

  • Laing O’Rourke names new Expanded Structures boss

    Laing O’Rourke names new Expanded Structures boss
    Laing O’Rourke has promoted Conor Considine to lead Expanded Structures, 19 years after he joined the business as a site engineer.
    Considine moves up from operations leader to take the top job on 19 October.
    The civil engineer joined in 2007 and rose to project leader in 2021. His track record includes work on Old Oak Common and the Olympia redevelopment.Considine replaces Ray O’Rourke’s nephew Stephen O’Rourke who left the firm last month to explore opportunities outside
  • Winners named for £2bn LHC construction deal

    LHC Procurement Group has selected 64 contractors for the larger building lots and civil infrastructure work on its £2bn public buildings framework.
    Galliford Try and Midlands contractor McPhillips secured places across all five categories, spanning civils and building projects worth more than £25m.
    Kier, Morgan Sindall, Tilbury Douglas and Willmott Dixon also feature among the 20 firms picked for the biggest building jobs.
    They join winners including Baxall, Beard, Farrans, GMI, Gui
  • Amey lands twin Northern Powerhouse Rail roles

    Amey has bagged two Northern Powerhouse Rail deals to help shape upgrades across Yorkshire.
    Network Rail’s latest award puts the consultant in charge of making six projects work together as one railway.
    It follows a separate win to develop Leeds to Sheffield corridor upgrades, paving the way for more trains and faster journeys.Both deals were awarded through Network Rail’s Development and Design Partnership Framework. Contract values have not been disclosed.
    The latest system integra
  • Green light for £600m Westminster office scheme

    Green light for £600m Westminster office scheme
    Investment manager Meadow Partners has secured planning approval for the £600m redevelopment of 10–20 Victoria Street in Westminster.
    Plans will transform two existing buildings into a 12-storey Grade A office development providing 24,000 sq. m of workspace and 754 sq. m of new retail and restaurant space designed by Piercy & Company.
    J. Andrew McDaniel, co-founder and partner at Meadow Partners, said: “10-20 Victoria Street, located along a heavily trafficked and prestigio
  • Roads axe hits 24 projects across England

    Roads axe hits 24 projects across England
    Two dozen road projects across England have been dropped from the government’s funding programme.
    The cuts tear into the future civils pipeline, with four of the biggest schemes alone carrying a combined price tag of more than £1.6bn.
    The Department for Transport has not publicly published the official list but has started to write to each impacted council informing them of the cancellations.
    They include the £930m M5 Junction 9 and A46 upgrade in Gloucestershire, £303m M
  • Wates calls for £100m bundles in NHS health centres build plan

    Wates has called for the Government’s planned building programme of NHS neighbourhood health centres to be bundled into £100m-plus regional packages to pull in private cash and get builders on site faster.
    The contractor warns a patchwork of standalone jobs risks bogging down delivery with repeated tender exercises, higher costs and lengthy approvals.
    Its prescription is a new public-private partnership model giving contractors and investors a clear pipeline of work.The government pl
  • Briggs & Forrester names Benedetti as next chief executive

    M&E specialist Briggs & Forrester has named Duncan Benedetti as its next group chief executive, with Paul Burton stepping down from the role at the start of next year.
    Burton will remain group chairman as the Northampton-based building services contractor enters its 80th year.
    Benedetti steps up on 1 January 2027 after two decades with the £240m turnover group. He currently heads its Living business and sits on the group board.His promotion also triggers a change at Living, where o
  • Contractors called up for £60m Hampshire housing job

    Eastleigh Borough Council has gone out to tender for a design and build contractor to deliver 192 mixed-tenure homes at Kings Copse Avenue in Botley.
    Full planning permission is already in place and the council is pushing ahead with infrastructure and enabling work before the main contractor comes on board.
    The scheme will be delivered in one phase and includes the homes, roads, utilities, landscaping and public open space.Eastleigh will use an initial qualification round to cut the field to fou
  • Call for three-year freeze on new housing red tape

    Call for three-year freeze on new housing red tape
    House builders are being hit with more than £38,000 of extra regulation, tax and policy costs on every new home compared with 2020.
    According to a new housing commission led by former housing minister Gavin Barwell extra rules and taxes are pushing viable schemes into the red.
    The Prosper UK Housing Commission said the total cost of delivering a typical home has risen by around £76,000 in six years, with roughly half of the increase coming from government requirements rather than lab
  • Bellway stands firm on subcontractor rates

    Bellway stands firm on subcontractor rates
    Bellway is standing-firm on agreed rates with subcontractors despite rising costs.
    In its latest results Chief Executive Jason Honeyman said: “Build cost inflation was at low single-digit levels during the first half of the financial year but increased in the second half, principally reflecting greater pressure on material and energy costs amid heightened geopolitical and supply chain uncertainty.“The Group has received price increase requests from suppliers and subcontractors but ha
  • Balfour Beatty sells Hong Kong Gammon stake for £250m

    Balfour Beatty sells Hong Kong Gammon stake for £250m
    Balfour Beatty has sold its half share in Hong Kong contractor Gammon for £250m as chief executive Philip Hoare sharpens the group’s focus on the UK and US.
    Long-standing joint venture partner Jardine Matheson has taken full ownership of the civil engineering and building business, ending a partnership dating back to 2004.
    The deal completed today but Balfour will receive the cash in three equal instalments, with the final payment due by the end of 2028.Hoare said: “Balfour Bea
  • Winners named for £240m Network Rail steel supply deal

    Winners named for £240m Network Rail steel supply deal
    The winning firms have been confirmed for a £240m Network Rail framework to supply steel products and structures for overhead line equipment (OLE) across the UK.
    The largest packages are £99m for steel structures and £70m for steel piles.The winning firms are:
    Steel Piles (£70m):Adey Steel
    European Active Projects
    Severfield Structural SolutionsSteel Structures (£99m):Adey Steel
    Fullmen
    Pro Steel Engineering
    Taziker IndustrialOther winners for the smaller lots inclu
  • McLaren clears Gateway 2 for £229m Ebury estate rebuild

    McLaren clears Gateway 2 for £229m Ebury estate rebuild
    McLaren Construction has cleared the Gateway 2 hurdle for the £229m second phase of Westminster’s Ebury Bridge estate regeneration.
    The Building Safety Regulator approved four separate applications covering five buildings, clearing the way for major construction work to start.
    The 334-home phase is the largest of three planned in Westminster City Council’s redevelopment of the 1930s estate.It follows completion of the first phase and will deliver a mixed-tenure neighbourhood as
  • Graham bags £45m Stratford student scheme

    Graham bags £45m Stratford student scheme
    Graham has landed a £45m student accommodation scheme for Gamuda Land UK at Marshgate Lane in Stratford, east London.
    The 321-bed development will rise between Stratford High Street and Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, just 100m from Pudding Mill Lane DLR station.
    The appointment takes the project into construction as Gamuda expands its London development portfolio.The scheme will provide a mix of cluster flats and self-contained studios, with shared kitchen, dining and social spaces, a gym a
  • Lovell lined up to rescue £25m east London housing job

    Lovell lined up to rescue £25m east London housing job
    Lovell Partnerships has been lined up to take over a stalled £25m housing scheme in east London following the collapse of Jerram Falkus Construction.
    Tower Hamlets Council has approved a pre-construction services agreement for Lovell to draw up a rescue plan for 62 affordable homes and five commercial units at Arnold Road in Bow.
    The deal puts Lovell in pole position to finish the job, although the main works contract remains subject to agreement on costs, programme and delivery arrangemen
  • Bennett Construction to build £132m Guildford scheme

    Bennett Construction to build £132m Guildford scheme
    Native Land has appointed Bennett Construction to deliver the main phase of St Mary’s Wharf in Guildford.
    The contract award came as the developer confirmed £132m in funding for the 180-home development on the bank of the River Wey in Guildford town centre.
    Bennett will take over management of the 1.7-acre site to commence preparatory work immediately, with the main phase of construction work beginning in the coming weeks.Since securing planning consent in 2022, Native Land has subst
  • Willmott Dixon takes £24m starring role at Rugby school

    Willmott Dixon takes £24m starring role at Rugby school
    Willmott Dixon has bagged a £24m expansion of Rugby’s Avon Valley School & Performing Arts College.
    The Warwickshire County Council job will add 300 secondary places as new housing puts pressure on local classrooms.
    A new three-storey teaching block and four-court sports hall will boost facilities, with capacity rising to 1,400 pupils. The scheme also includes a 20-place specialist provision for pupils with communication and interaction needs.Michelle Cotterill, director at Willm
  • Taylor Woodrow loses bid to block Cardiff fire defects claim

    Taylor Woodrow loses bid to block Cardiff fire defects claim
    Contractor Taylor Woodrow has failed to block a fresh claim by house builder Taylor Wimpey to recover around £24m in costs to rectify alleged fire safety defects at seven high-rise apartment blocks in Cardiff.
    The High Court rejected the contractor’s argument that the house builder was trying to rerun a dispute already lost in arbitration.
    The ruling allows the housing developer to pursue its claim over Victoria Wharf under the Defective Premises Act. It is also seeking a building li
  • Vp back on track after Brandon Hire restructure

    Vp back on track after Brandon Hire restructure
    Equipment rental giant Vp is on course to perform in line with market expectations for its latest results which are due to be unveiled next month.
    Analysts are expecting the firm to deliver turnover of £351.3m pre-tax profits of £32.5m for the year ending 31 March 2027.
    Vp said electricity transmission continues to perform well, rail remains stable and there is “encouraging momentum in water” as AMP8 activity has grown in the second quarter.During the year Vp announc
  • M&E firm Integral slashes losses after workforce cut by a fifth

    M&E firm Integral slashes losses after workforce cut by a fifth
    Building services and FM specialist Integral UK has slashed losses after a sweeping shake-up cut its workforce by more than a fifth.
    The JLL-owned firm chalked up its seventh straight year of pre-tax losses but moved closer to break-even as it trimmed its contract portfolio and largely closed out legacy construction jobs.
    Pre-tax losses narrowed to £921,000 in 2025 from £8.8m the year before.Turnover fell 7% to £273m as bosses prioritised profitability across engineering servic
  • HBC powers back towards £110m turnover

    HBC powers back towards £110m turnover
    HBC Construction is on course to smash through the £100m turnover barrier this year after returning to profit in 2025.
    The former Henry Boot Construction business expects revenue to reach £110m in 2026, with a strong increase in profitability as major projects drive its recovery.
    In a financial update, HBC reported 2025 trading pre-tax profit of £1.24m against a £1.65m loss the previous year. Turnover jumped 43% to £71m from £50m.The accounts cover the trading
  • Wiltshire and Gloucestershire start £392m surfacing race

    Wiltshire and Gloucestershire start £392m surfacing race
    Wiltshire and Gloucestershire councils have put £392m of road surfacing work up for grabs in a double boost for highways contractors.
    The neighbouring authorities have launched separate competitions for countywide programmes stretching into the next decade.
    Wiltshire’s £200m machine surfacing deal will run for an initial six years from June 2027, with two extensions of two years potentially taking it through to May 2037.The work covers machine surfacing and associated civils, r

Follow @new_constructio on Twitter!