• Royal Albert Docks developer goes into liquidation

    Royal Albert Docks developer goes into liquidation
    The Chinese backed developer of the Royal Albert Docks site in East London has collapsed into liquidation following a series of winding-up petitions from creditors.
    PwC has been appointed as liquidators of 23 companies within the ABP Group which was developing the 35- acre plot.
    Construction work stalled in 2019 after the first phase of work delivering 56,000 square feet of office and retail space and the completed units have largely remained empty while ABP has not paid a significant number of
  • Quartet wins London council £570m home estate revamp

    London’s Haringey council has selected a quartet of contractors to deliver its £570m Estate Renovation Plan to drive a decade-long upgrade of 20,000 council homes.
    The borough has split the programme into four geographic patches in a bid to speed up delivery and tighten accountability.
    Equans Regeneration will cover the west of the borough, United Infrastructure takes central areas, Hugh LS McConnell will handle the east (south), and Mulalley and Company has secured the east (north)
  • Drone squad to fight fly tippers

    The Environment Agency is launching an upgraded 33-strong fleet of drones to fight fly tippers.
    The drones will carry laser mapping technology to capture evidence to help secure successful prosecutions of waste criminals.
    The agency has also developed a new screening tool that enables officers to scan and cross-check lorry licence applications against waste permit records – with suspect operators flagged before they have a chance to move waste illegally.The new capabilities are backed by a
  • Bradford’s 1,000-home City Village gets green light

    Bradford’s long-awaited City Village regeneration scheme has cleared planning to pave the way for up to 1,000 homes in the city’s former commercial heart.
    The flagship scheme, driven by Bradford Council and regeneration specialist ECF – the partnership between Homes England, Legal & General and Muse – will transform the ‘Top of Town’ area covering Chain Street and both Oastler and Kirkgate closed shopping centres.
    Phase one has now been waved through and w
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  • Signs of a building recovery as pipeline begins to stir

    The first flicker of recovery is beginning to show across the building sector, with consultants and architects pointing to early signs that a market held back by delay and uncertainty may finally be edging forward.
    Cost consultant Gardiner & Theobald has revised its 2026 average tender price inflation forecast up to 3.0%, from 2.5%, reflecting persistent cost pressures and a pipeline that is starting to stir rather than stall.
    It is not a demand surge driving the upgrade, but a combination o
  • Contractors being conned by fake skills cards checks

    Fraudsters have set-up a network of bogus websites in a bid to cheat the CSCS skills card checking system.
    The scam was rumbled by construction identity validation specialist PPAC Systems and some of the fake sites have been been shut down.
    But the sophisticated fraud could still see more unqualified workers get on sites because of its complexity.The scam involves setting up replica sites posing as the official place to validate CSCS cards offered by qualification body GQA.
    Each bogus card has a
  • Kier lands £120m delayed Edinburgh eye hospital job

    Kier has been appointed to deliver the long-awaited £120m replacement for the Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion in Edinburgh, ending years of uncertainty over the troubled project.
    The contractor will act as principal supply chain partner for NHS Lothian on the new specialist facility at the Edinburgh BioQuarter in Little France.
    The project will replace the ageing Eye Pavilion, which was first declared “not fit for purpose” in 2014.
    Since then the scheme has been hit by funding
  • Bidders days for £5.4bn Southern Construction Framework

    Southern Construction Framework is stepping up early market engagement ahead of tendering its £5.4bn work programme with a pair of regional Suppliers’ Days next month.
    The sixth generation framework, jointly re-procured by Devon County Council and Hampshire County Council, will replace the current Southern Construction Framework when it expires in 2027.
    Free events will be held in Exeter and Winchester, giving contractors and supply chain firms an early steer on how SCF-6 will be str
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  • BAM Construction UK returns to profit

    BAM’s UK construction arm has bounced back into the black after swinging from a £24m loss to a £27m profit in 2025.
    In a turnaround year for the building business turnover at the construction division edged up 7% to £979m, driving the recovery in adjusted EBITDA after the prior year’s red ink, stemming mainly from the Co-op Live job in Manchester.
    The UK civils arm again proved the engine room. BAM Nuttall generated £81m profit on £1.55bn revenue, delive
  • City skyline revealed after record planning approvals

    The City of London Corporation has revealed a new skyline CGI showcasing what the Square Mile’s tall buildings cluster will look like in around six years’ time.
    The computer-generated images show what the City of London’s financial district will look like from above, once all of the buildings that have either been granted planning permission, or are already under construction are completed following a record year of planning approvals in 2025.
    The Corporation said 2026 had seen
  • Acheson staff win 90-day wage payout a year after firm folded

    Thirty-one former staff at collapsed Dorset contractor Acheson construction have secured a 90-day pay award after a tribunal found the firm failed to properly consult before making redundancies.
    The court ruling follows Acheson’s slide into administration on 18 February 2025, when administrators were appointed after the business filed a notice of intention the previous day.
    At the time, around 40 redundancies were made immediately, with most of the firm’s 48-strong workforce losing t
  • Balfour Beatty to start £200m Lincoln link road in March

    Balfour Beatty will break ground next month on Lincoln’s long-awaited North Hykeham Relief Road after ministers confirmed more than £110m of funding for the £200m job.
    The dual carriageway will link the A46 Pennells Roundabout to the Lincoln Eastern Bypass, finally completing the city’s full ring road and relieving pressure on the A46 corridor.
    Backed by the Department for Transport, the scheme is designed to unlock 4,500 homes and 7 hectares of employment land while easi
  • Employee-owned Kilnbridge delivers record year

    Concrete frame and structures specialist Kilnbridge Group has delivered its strongest results since switching to employee ownership, with pre-tax profit jumping 81% to £6.7m on the back of surging turnover and a £300m forward pipeline.
    The group posted a 50% rise in turnover to £129m in the year to June 2025 on the back of HS2 work, commercial and energy schemes.A £300m order book (2024: £200m) now underpins the next phase of growth, giving the business strong visib
  • Worker killed on Norfolk housing site

    A construction worker has died after an accident on a housing site in Sprowston, Norfolk.
    Emergency services were called to the Tilia Homes site on Tuesday morning where a new estate is under construction.
    Site sources told the Eastern Daily Press that the victim suffered a broken neck when roof trusses fell on him.The source said. “Trusses fell on him and broke his neck. I am unsure whether they were being delivered using cranes.”
    A spokesman for Tilia Homes said the victim had been
  • Starmer backs £14bn vision for Welsh rail overhaul

    The Prime Minister has signed off a sweeping £14bn vision to overhaul Welsh rail, confirming seven new stations and almost £445m of immediate funding to get schemes moving.
    Keir Starmer will today formally endorsed Transport for Wales’ long-term blueprint for railway improvement alongside First Minister for Wales Eluned Morgan.
    The Spending Review cash will kickstart a pipeline designed to support 12,000 jobs across Wales and drive a decade of rail construction.Seven new statio
  • Cardo snaps up painting and fire coating specialist

    Private equity-backed housing maintenance contractor Cardo Group has sealed its sixth takeover in 12 months after snapping up employee-owned decorating specialist Trident Maintenance Services.
    The painting and fire coatings specialist employs around 100 staff and operates across England and Scotland.
    Last year the firm turned over £18m and more than doubled pre-tax profit to £1.7m, underlining its strong position in the compliance-driven coatings and refurbishment market.The deal str
  • Keenan saves 54 jobs as FK Group falls into administration

    Keenan Holdings has rescued 54 jobs and key live contracts from the collapse of facade specialist FK Group into administration.
    Administrators from BTG Begbies Traynor were appointed over FK Group – comprising FK Group, FK Facades and FK Construction – last Friday after the business was hit by sustained inflationary pressures and wider market challenges.
    In the run up to the appointment of administrators to the Altrincham business, 57 redundancies were made.A further 54 employees hav
  • Keenan saves 54 job as FK Group falls into administration

    Keenan Holdings has rescued 54 jobs and key live contracts from the collapse of facade specialist FK Group into administration.
    Administrators from BTG Begbies Traynor were appointed over FK Group – comprising FK Group, FK Facades and FK Construction – last Friday after the business was hit by sustained inflationary pressures and wider market challenges.
    In the run up to the appointment of administrators to the Altrincham business, 57 redundancies were made.A further 54 employees hav
  • Jerram Falkus Construction files administration notice

    Historic London contractor Jerram Falkus Construction Ltd has filed an administration notice.
    The notice of appointment to appoint an administrator was lodged yesterday and comes after the firm’s sites suddenly shut this week.
    One supplier told the Enquirer: “We turned up at one of their jobs to make a scheduled delivery on Monday and the gates were locked.“Their people seemed in total shock as to what was going on.”
    The firm has been in business since 1884 operating acro
  • Green light for first tower on £1bn Liverpool scheme

    Planning approval has been granted for the first phase of the £1bn King Edward development adjacent to Liverpool’s Pier Head.
    Demolition works starting this spring will be followed by construction of a 28-storey residential tower on the regeneration site’s first plot.
    A demolition contractor will be appointed imminently while the Enquirer understands talks are now set to start with a shortlist of contractors for the first tower.Hugh Frost of developer Beetham Davos said: &ldquo
  • TCC lands historic conversion

    Birmingham-based The Construction Consultants (TCC) has been appointed as project managers, quantity surveyors and employers agents to oversee the £5m restoration of a local historic building for developer ETME Group.
    The Grade II-listed Derwent Works pressings and stampings building in Constitution Hill in the Jewellery Quarter had fallen into disrepair but will now be transformed into apartments and retail units.
    The factory was built in the late 19th century by Taylor & Challen, a c
  • Bauer Technologies lands Metro piling deal

    Bauer Technologies has been appointed to deliver specialist piling works as part of Phase 2 of the Wednesbury to Brierley Hill Metro extension – a major infrastructure scheme forming a key element of Transport for West Midland’s (TfWM) investment in the West Midlands Metro network.
    Subcontracted by MPB Structures, Bauer Technologies will undertake foundation piling works for a series of new structures along the route, supporting the delivery of this strategically important transport
  • Watkin Jones clears Gateway 2 for Bristol student halls

    Watkin Jones has secured Gateway 2 approval for a 201-bed purpose-built student accommodation scheme in Bristol, allowing construction to push ahead on the Freestone Road site.
    The £60m scheme is being delivered for a joint venture between Moorfield Group and Tiger Developments, and is targeting EPC A, BREEAM Excellent, and featuring PV panels alongside a district heating connection.
    The Freestone Yards development will transform a brownfield plot in the Temple Quarter into four blocks pro
  • Plan for 240 flats at Nottingham Station gateway site

    Plans have been unveiled for a 244-home build-to-rent scheme on railway land beside Nottingham railway station.
    Developer blocwork has teamed up with Network Rail’s property arm Platform 4 and listed landlord Grainger to bring forward the brownfield redevelopment at the junction of Station Street and London Road.
    The scheme, which will be submitted for planning shortly. will deliver one- and two-bedroom flats for rental living on the underused rail-side plot.Richard Thomas, director at blo
  • Battersea Power Station masterplan reset for final 16 acres

    The developer behind the vast Battersea Power Station redevelopment in London has pressed the reset button on its masterplan, appointing Studio Egret West to steer the final 16 acres of the 42-acre riverside regeneration.
    The move will unlock up to 3.2m sq ft of homes, offices, cultural and leisure space across the remaining half of the central London scheme.
    Studio Egret West will recast the original blueprint drawn up more than 15 years ago by Rafael Viñoly, reshaping the future phases
  • Fit-out firm Artemis files administration notice

    Fit-out and refurbishment specialist Artemis Interior Services Ltd has filed a notice to appoint an administrator.
    The London-based contractor filed the notice yesterday.
    Latest results for Artemis for the year to December 31 2024 show a turnover of £21.6m generating a pre-tax loss of £2.1m.The firm blamed the “disappointing year” on “two challenging projects which resulted in significant losses.”
    It added: “This is the first year in the history of the b
  • £100m Eden Project Morecambe gets green light

    Lancaster councillors have waved through revised plans for the £100m Eden Project Morecambe backing a dramatically slimmed-down version of the long-awaited seafront attraction.
    Lancaster City Council granted planning permission for the second time after developers halved the size of the scheme and cut the number of signature domes from four to two.
    The rethink follows years of cost inflation that stalled the original programme, which had targeted a 2024 completion.Designed by Grimshaw Arch
  • Ferrovial bags £80m Slough sewage works revamp

    Ferrovial has landed an £80m job to overhaul Slough Sewage Treatment Works for Thames Water.
    The scheme will be delivered through an integrated joint venture between Ferrovial Construction and sister company Cadagua, which specialises in water treatment.
    The project will upgrade the Berkshire works to meet tighter Environment Agency wastewater standards and boost operational resilience.Planned works include expanding treatment capacity to hit tougher ammonia and phosphorous limits and impr
  • Police swoop on skills card test centre

    Four men have been arrested following a police probe into a suspected fraudulent construction skills card test centre.
    Officers from Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary’s Economic Crime Unit raided the independent testing centre in Winchester over the weekend.
    The swoop was the culmination of an ongoing investigation following a tip-off from the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) that the centre was accepting payment to help people fraudulently pass CSCS skills card safety te
  • Police swoop on site safety test centre

    Four men have been arrested following a police probe into a suspected fraudulent construction test centre.
    Officers from Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary’s Economic Crime Unit raided the independent testing centre in Winchester over the weekend.
    The swoop was the culmination of an ongoing investigation following a tip-off from the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) that the centre was accepting payment to help people fraudulently pass safety tests to help gain CSCS cards.F

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