Construction news

• Olympian Homes plans Bristol’s tallest building

  20-07-2023 08:27 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Developer Olympian Homes, working closely with Whitbread, has submitted plans for what will be Bristol’s tallest building.
  The project, designed by architect Hodder+Partners, will redevelop a 20-storey aging Premier Inn at St James Barton roundabout, in the centre of the city.
   Olympian Homes proposes to transform the site – to be renamed St James Square – with an 18-storey co-living homes project and a 28-storey student rooms building.
  20-storey Premier Inn building will
  
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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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• Winners named for £4.3bn Pagabo civils and enabling framework

  01-10-2026 23:19 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Graham has landed three of the five key civils collaborative partner roles on Pagabo’s new £4.3bn national civils and enabling works framework.
  The contractor takes the delivery role for England and Wales, plus the single collaborative partner appointments for Scotland and Northern Ireland.
  England and Wales is split into three specialist roles to give clients access to different expertise from the earliest stages of a project. Graham takes delivery, Costain sustainability and M Grou
  
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• John F Hunt sells power division to Finning

  01-10-2026 18:33 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Demolition giant John F Hunt Group has sold its temporary power division to Finning.
  The deal for John F Hunt Power Group and sister company Morris Machinery is understood to be worth more than £50m.
  John Hall, Chairman of the John F Hunt Group and founder of John F Hunt Power, said: “John F Hunt Power was born out of a practical challenge. During demolition projects throughout the 1980s and 1990s, we recognised the need for reliable temporary power solutions to support crane operati
  
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• Diesel-free plant fleet grows on Lower Thames Crossing

  01-10-2026 09:05 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  More than 30 zero-emission machines are now working on the £10bn Lower Thames Crossing project for National Highways with the diesel-free fleet set to hit 150 by peak construction in 2028.
  Work on the new road and tunnel under the River Thames began in early 2026, and is being carried out only using electric, HVO and hydrogen powered equipment and machinery.
  Machines currently at work include 20 tonne excavators, rollers, tractors, telehandlers and hydrogen generators.No diesel has been pe
  
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• Trio shortlisted for £5.6bn Oxfordshire reservoir

  01-10-2026 08:51 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Three heavyweight contracting teams have made the final cut in the race to build Thames Water’s £5.7bn White Horse Reservoir in Oxfordshire.
  The shortlisted teams bring together some of the world’s biggest infrastructure contractors, with Balfour Beatty, Bouygues and Italian group Webuild leading rival joint ventures.Shortlisted consortiaWFH JV – Webuild, Hyundai Engineering & Construction and FCC Construccion
  BMV+ – Bouygues Travaux Publics, J Murphy & Sons
  
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• Graham lands final Gateway 2 approvals at £530m Fallowfield

  01-10-2026 08:34 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Graham has secured full Gateway 2 building control approval for the University of Manchester’s £530m Fallowfield Campus redevelopment.
  The latest approvals clear all 29 blocks on the 3,300-room student scheme for construction, including seven buildings classed as higher-risk under the Building Safety Act.
  Gateway 2 approval has now been secured for all seven blocks reaching at least 18m or seven storeys, while approval has also been granted for the remaining 22 lower-rise buildings.G
  
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• 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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• New Finance Director at Anamore

  30-09-2026 16:44 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Building remediation specialist Anamore has appointed Maurice McHugh as its new Finance Director as the business enters its next phase of growth.
  James McCallan, Director at Anamore, said: “We’ve built a strong business with an established presence across the UK and Ireland, and we’re now focused on taking Anamore to the next level.
  “We’re securing major opportunities, growing our team and continuing to build on the expertise and relationships that have brought us t
  
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• Bridgestone starts building first Trafford Waters high rise

  30-09-2026 15:12 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Bridgestone Construction has started work on the first high-rise residential scheme at the Trafford Waters site in Manchester after securing Gateway 2 approval from the Building Safety Regulator.
  The £37m Anchor Residency will be a 208-home apartment development across eight and 13-storey buildings  located within regeneration specialist Peel Waters’ wider Trafford Waters district.
  Architect Leach Rhodes Walker led the architectural design, supported by Thomas Consulting as stru
  
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• Police hand over Grenfell files for charging decisions

  30-09-2026 14:10 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Met police investigators have submitted all files to the Crown Prosecution Service to allow them to make charging decisions following the Grenfell Tower fire.
  The 20 files relate to 20 companies and organisations and 54 individuals.
  The CPS will consider charges including corporate manslaughter, gross negligence manslaughter, health and safety offences, fraud and fraud-related offences and misconduct in public office.
  The CPS has committed to making the charging decisions before the tenth annive
  
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