Construction news

• New right-to-work rules and safety levy hit construction today

  01-10-2026 08:28 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Sweeping new right-to-work rules come into force today forcing construction firms to check self-employed workers as part of a fresh crackdown on illegal migrant labour and rogue employers.
  Contractors hiring individual workers must now confirm they are legally entitled to work in the UK, bringing self-employed and non-standard labour much closer to the checks already required for employees.
  Until now, statutory right-to-work checks have largely applied to people classed as employees.New extended
  
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• Willmott Dixon to lead cast on £29m Berwick theatre revamp

  07-10-2026 14:35 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Willmott Dixon is poised to land the £29m transformation of Berwick’s Maltings Theatre after Northumberland councillors backed its appointment.
  Cabinet approved the construction deal this week, subject to full council signing off extra funding and the decision clearing call-in.
  The wider project bill has jumped £7.7m to £36m, with a November start targeted if the revised funding package gets the green light.The Eastern Lane revamp will bring the main theatre, café
  
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• Kier scoops £65m Thames Water sewage works haul

  07-10-2026 14:09 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Kier has bagged four Thames Water contracts worth nearly £65m to upgrade sewage treatment works in Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Surrey.
  The haul is dominated by a £54m overhaul of Harpenden sewage treatment works, where Kier will boost treatment capacity by more than 50% to support growth through to 2036.
  The scheme forms part of Thames Water’s Go to Green programme and will modernise key treatment facilities to meet tighter environmental standards and improve the health
  
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• Wates buys £29m Surrey FM firm

  07-10-2026 14:03 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Wates-owned WPS has bought Surrey-based Calibre Building Services to beef up its in-house M&E maintenance capability and expand its facilities management arm.
  The Redhill firm brings almost 200 staff and a portfolio of building management clients across London, the South East and the Midlands.
  Calibre turned over £29m in the year to April 2026, up from £26.9m previously. But pre-tax profit more than halved to £433,000 from £994,000.Founded in 2011 and co-owned by dire
  
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• Willmott Dixon’s London fire service HQ retrofit clears planning

  07-10-2026 09:13 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Plans have been approved to overhaul London Fire Brigade’s historic headquarters at 8 Albert Embankment, clearing the way for construction to start shortly.
  The Grade II-listed London landmark will be brought back into full use as the Brigade’s headquarters, with completion targeted for 2029.
  Willmott Dixon Interiors secured the preconstruction role earlier this year to take the scheme through Stage 3 and 4 design, ahead of the planned return of around 840 staff.The Brigade said all
  
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• Painter sentenced after stepson electrocuted on job

  07-10-2026 09:09 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  A sole trader has been sentenced after his stepson was fatally electrocuted while working on a domestic property in Chester.
  Daniel Watton, 50, trading as Inside Out Painters and Decorators Property Maintenance, was given a suspended jail sentence following the death of trainee painter Connor Lambert.
  The 24-year-old, from Market Drayton, died after coming into contact with electricity, when a ladder was being moved near overhead power lines. He had been working at the house in Farndon on 29 Jul
  
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• Winners named for £1.6bn University of Oxford framework

  07-10-2026 08:37 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  The University of Oxford has confirmed winners for its latest £1.6bn construction framework.
  Mace, McLaughlin & Harvey and Galliford Try break into the line-up alongside returning partners BAM, Willmott Dixon and Morgan Sindall.
  The six secure places on the top tier of the new Oxford Inspire construction framework, covering large-scale new build and refurbishment schemes worth more than £15m.
  Wates, previously a main partner for projects above £20m, moves to reserve status
  
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• RSK turnover nears £2.5bn as buying spree rolls on

  07-10-2026 08:16 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Buy-and-build environmental and engineering group RSK lifted operating profit last year as water work and another wave of acquisitions pushed revenue towards £2.5bn.
  But the expansion drove net debt close to £1bn, with hefty financing costs keeping the group firmly in the red.
  Operating profit more than quadrupled to £18m as revenue rose 10% in the year to April 2026.
  RSK spent £172m on 10 acquisitions during the period, swelling net debt to £965m from £734m.
  
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• Big builders pile into Pagabo’s developer framework

  07-10-2026 08:16 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Pagabo has picked 52 firms for its next-generation developer-led framework, lining up contractors, developers and advisers to bring forward major regeneration schemes.
  The four-year deal for public buying body YPO will cover housing, commercial development and mixed-use projects, alongside education, healthcare and infrastructure.
  Willmott Dixon/Be Living and Hochtief PPP Solutions secured the broadest spread of places, each landing six of the seven lots.Hill, Higgins, Hochtief, Stepnell and Wat
  
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• Kier lands £115m Manchester Airport station upgrade

  07-10-2026 01:01 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Kier will start work this winter on a £115m upgrade to Manchester Airport station, extending platforms and overhauling tracks and signalling to boost rail capacity.
  Network Rail and Kier will deliver the programme through to 2028 as part of the wider Manchester Rail Upgrade.
  The job will extend platforms 1, 2 and 3 to accommodate longer trains, remodel the station approach tracks and modernise signalling to support more frequent and reliable services.Engineers will tackle the first major m
  
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• RAAC expert takes chief construction adviser role

  06-10-2026 15:59 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  A leading engineer who helped tackle Britain’s RAAC crisis has landed the Government’s top construction advisory job.
  Professor Sergio Cavalaro has been handed a three-year brief as chief construction and scientific adviser to help sharpen building safety regulation and raise standards across the industry.
  The Loughborough University professor will join the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government full time.He takes over from interim chief construction adviser Thouria Is
  
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• Construction output falls at slowest rate since January

  06-10-2026 11:09 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Construction buyers have seen the slowest downturn in industry output for eight months.
  The bellwether S&P Global UK Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index recorded 46.1 in September – up from 44.3 in August but still below the 50 growth mark.
  Slower rates of contraction were seen in all the residential, commercial and civil engineering segments.
  Commercial construction (index at 48.5) saw the greatest resilience, with business activity falling only marginally and at the weakest
  
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• Kier to return to stalled £3bn Harlow health campus

  06-10-2026 08:58 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Kier is lined up to return to the high-containment laboratory project at Harlow’s £3bn UK Health Security Campus as officials revive procurement after years of reviews and delays.
  A fresh Government business case for the mega campus build sets out plans to reinstate Kier’s pre-construction services agreement for the specialist and technically complex H50 building.
  For the wider main campus build, the Government will now launch a fresh separate two-stage tender, expected in Nove
  
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• Court case begins after passer-by killed by falling bricks

  06-10-2026 08:27 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  A trial began at the Old Bailey yesterday following the death of a woman killed by two tonnes of falling bricks from a crane on an east London construction site.
  Michaela Boor, 29, died after being struck by falling bricks as she walked on the pavement past a building site on the corner of Burdett Road in Bow, east London, on 27 March 2018.
  Higgins Homes has been charged with corporate manslaughter and a Health and Safety at Work Act offence.Site manager Thomas Anstis, 69, lifting  plan sup
  
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• Tier 1 tender rises cool but specialist trades costs hold firm

  06-10-2026 08:25 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Tender price inflation is losing steam as contractors sharpen bids to fill workloads, but bottlenecks in key trades are stopping clients reaping the full benefit.
  Cost consultant Gardiner + Theobald has trimmed its 2026 tender price inflation forecast to 3.25% from 3.5% in its Autumn Market Update.
  London’s forecast falls to 3.5% from 3.75%, with the South East, South West and East Anglia also seeing quarter-point cuts. Forecasts for the remaining regions are unchanged.G&T said the mar
  
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• TCC helps with worker apartments for huge theme park

  05-10-2026 17:28 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  As work begins on the UK’s biggest ever theme park development in Bedford, a leading Midlands construction consultancy is supporting a luxury apartment project to provide much-needed accommodation.
  Universal Studios is planning to open its UK resort in 2031. The massive project will include a theme park, hotels, shopping, dining and entertainment venues. It involves major road and infrastructure improvements including a new railway station. The entire project will provide thousands of jobs
  
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• Port giant calls for smarter handling of construction materials

  05-10-2026 17:12 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Peel Ports Group is calling for a smarter approach to how construction materials enter and move around the UK.
  The UK’s second largest port operator is making the call ahead of Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s first Budget, which it says is an opportunity to help the construction sector regain momentum.
  David Huck, Chief Operating Officer at Peel Ports Group, said: “Despite being tasked with an ambitious pipeline of projects, the construction industry is seemingly struggling to ov
  
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• Willmott Dixon cleared for £50m Leeds school rebuild

  05-10-2026 17:03 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Willmott Dixon has secured planning clearance to press ahead with a £50m rebuild of Oulton Academy in Leeds.
  The Department for Education-backed scheme will sweep away ageing teaching blocks, some dating from the 1950s, and deliver a new school for 1,350 pupils.
  Enabling works begin this month after the firm carried out preparatory work during the summer holidays.Willmott Dixon will phase demolition and construction over several years to keep the academy, part of Carlton Academy Trust, ope
  
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• William Hare powers up profit despite sales slump

  05-10-2026 16:33 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Constructional steelwork giant William Hare shrugged off a sharp sales slump to lift profits as its spread of UK and overseas work helped it weather a tougher market.
  But group chief executive Susan Hodgkiss warned economic and political uncertainty was clouding project start dates, with more challenging conditions ahead.
  The country’s second biggest structural steelwork contractor grew pre-tax profit by 27% to £40m in 2025, despite turnover falling by a fifth to £338m.Hodgkiss
  
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• OCU sold after four-year growth blitz

  05-10-2026 10:48 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Infrastructure contractor OCU Group is changing hands after a four-year expansion spree that has seen revenue rocket to £1.2bn.
  Private equity firm Triton Partners has agreed to sell the business to TDR Capital in a deal that will hand the fast-growing utilities specialist to a new financial backer.
  Terms have not been disclosed.
  The sale comes after Triton drove through 18 acquisitions and transformed OCU from a regional utilities contractor into a much broader critical infrastructure bus
  
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• Plans go in for £1bn Northampton city centre overhaul

  05-10-2026 09:04 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  A £1bn regeneration of Northampton’s long-derelict Greyfriars site has taken a major step forward after plans were formally submitted to West Northamptonshire Council.
  Developer ECF is seeking permission for up to 1,220 homes alongside more than 100,000 sq ft of retail, leisure, commercial and community space across the town centre site.
  ECF, the development partnership between Homes England, Legal & General and Muse, has lodged a hybrid application covering most of the regenerat
  
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• Carpenter killed in fall through floor

  05-10-2026 08:33 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  A luxury house builder has been fined £120,000 after a carpenter died when he fell through an unsafe first floor while carrying out refurbishment work.
  Oxfordshire based WG Carter Limited was sentenced following the death of 59-year-old Richard “Felix” Roper, who fell from height while working at a domestic property in Gloucestershire.
  The father of two had been carrying out work on the first floor of Manor Barn House, Nether Westcote, on 30 August 2022, where extensive repairs
  
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• Winners named for £5bn Pagabo major works deal

  05-10-2026 08:27 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  BAM and Morgan Sindall have emerged as the biggest winners on Pagabo’s new £5bn major works framework after landing places across every lot.
  The pair secured positions in all four project value bands as well as coveted collaborative partner roles on the four-year YPO framework.
  In total, 56 individual contractors have secured places across the framework, generating 114 appointments once repeat wins across the five lots are counted.
  Five contractors have been handed the key collaborat
  
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• Wates gets final green light for 1,000-home Harrow job

  05-10-2026 08:26 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Wates has finally secured full planning clearance for its £360m Poets Corner regeneration in Harrow, clearing the way for work to move ahead on more than 1,000 homes.
  Harrow Council has issued the formal decision notice after completing the Section 106 agreement, nearly a year after councillors resolved to approve the scheme.
  The move unlocks the former Civic Centre site for Wates Residential and the council’s Harrow Strategic Development Partnership.Detailed consent covers the first
  
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• Willmott Dixon wins £100m Brentwood shopping centre revamp

  05-10-2026 08:04 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Willmott Dixon’s development arm and regeneration specialist Milligan have been picked to drive a £100m-plus overhaul of Brentwood’s Baytree Shopping Centre in Essex.
  Brentwood Borough Council appointed the pair through Pagabo’s developer-led framework to turn the ageing town centre site into a new leisure-led destination.
  The first phase will focus on the front of the centre, with plans for a boutique or premium cinema, restaurants, bars and upgraded public realm around
  
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• Tunnelling work complete on £150m Hinkley fish pipe

  02-10-2026 12:27 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Tunnelling work has now been completed on a £150m pipeline forming Hinkley Point C’s fish return system.
  Work has created a 1.8m-diameter tube which will send fish accidentally heading to the power station back to the Bristol Channel along a 620 metre route dug into the seabed.Specialist contractor Joseph Gallagher is working with Kier and Bam on the project.The project is spending a total of £700m on fish protection measures including underwater speakers to deter marine life f
  
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• 31 contractors bag £600m National Grid civils framework

  02-10-2026 09:02 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  National Grid has named 31 contractors for a major substation civils framework carrying stated contract values totalling £600m.
  The deal covers construction and refurbishment work across National Grid Electricity Distribution’s network in the South West, Wales and Midlands.
  AmcoGiffen, M Group Transport, Pod-Trak and Coombes Forestry have secured places across all 10 geographic lots, with each carrying a stated contract value of £40m.
   Biggest multi-lot awards by forecast
  
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• Bob Holt-led EARNZ picks up GEM for £23m

  02-10-2026 08:08 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Energy services ‘buy-and-build’ group EARNZ has struck its biggest deal since being launched by former Mears chief Bob Holt, agreeing a takeover worth up to £24m for London building maintenance specialist GEM.
  The deal will more than double the scale of Cheltenham-based EARNZ and give the group a major foothold in London as it builds towards a £130m turnover energy, maintenance and decarbonisation business.
  GEM turned over £30m in the year to June 2026, generating &
  
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• 40-storey tower plan for London City Road cluster

  02-10-2026 08:07 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Plans are being drawn up for a 40-storey residential tower as part of a 400-home redevelopment on City Road near Old Street Station in London.
  Landowner The Estate Office Shoreditch has unveiled proposals to replace the existing petrol filling station and fast-food restaurant at 241 City Road with two residential buildings.
  The scheme would deliver up to 400 homes for rent, including affordable housing, with the taller block rising to around 40 storeys.A second building would step down to betwee
  
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• Mace to be replaced on £200m Oxford labs scheme

  02-10-2026 08:02 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Mace Construct is set to leave the £200m Daubeny Buildings project at Oxford Science Park at the end of this year following a major redesign of the partially built scheme.
  The contractor will complete its present package before handing the next stages of the project to a new builder.
  The Ellison Institute of Technology has yet to name Mace’s replacement, although Sir Robert McAlpine is among the contractors being linked with the next phase.
  The potential involvement of McAlpine comes
  
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