Construction news

• Tunnel fit out robot to revolutionise civils work

  15-05-2024 08:25 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  A team of innovators including Costain and VVB Engineering has developed the first robotic and AI solution set to revolutionise the installation of mechanical and civil services in tunnels.
  The prototype Automated Tunnel Robotic Installation System (ATRIS) replaces traditionally hazardous, labour-intensive and time-consuming techniques and can autonomously select brackets, locate where they need to be mounted along a tunnel wall, and install them.
  Once fully-developed, the final system can be de
  
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• M&E firms warn of persistent skills shortages

  07-06-2024 08:55 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Specialist contractors in the mechanical, electrical and plumbing sectors are warning that ongoing systemic skills shortages are now holding back growth.
  The latest quarterly survey supported by the main electrotechnical sector trade bodies paints a picture of an overriding issue that has now been a serious concern for the last four quarters.
  The warning comes as the sector also reports growing workloads and orders driven by big data centre and lab work for larger firms and decarbonising program
  
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• Scaffolder dies from chemical burns

  07-06-2024 08:12 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Tata Chemicals Europe Limited has been fined £1.125m after a young father died following an incident while erecting a scaffold tower at a chemical plant in Northwich.
  Michael Densmore, from Halewood in Merseyside, died following complications to the wound he sustained after his right foot slipped into a trough containing a liquid chemical calcium hydroxide – more commonly known as ‘milk of lime’ – causing chemical and thermal burns.
  The 37-year-old father-of-four wa
  
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• Wates rejigs businesses as veteran leader retires

  06-06-2024 22:23 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Wates Construction managing director Paul Chandler is retiring at the end of this year, after a 42-year career in construction.
  The industry veteran joined Wates from Skanska in 2017 and grew the construction arm from around £700m to £1.3bn turnover, delivering profitable growth year on year.
  His decision to retire comes as Wates chief executive Eoghan O’Lionaird makes changes to realign parts of the business.Steff Battle, presently managing director in Wates’ constructio
  
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• Southern Water names consultants for AMP8

  06-06-2024 22:23 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Southern Water has picked a seven-strong consultant team to steer its £7.8bn investment programme for the AMP8 (2025-30) period.
  The professional services framework is one of three critical frameworks to be used for the programnme, with capital delivery and network services still to be decided.
  The framework, which runs for an initial five years with the option to extend by another three years, is broken down into three lots:
  Asset Management support services (£80m)
  Mott MacDonald; A
  
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• Construction buyers see momentum building

  06-06-2024 10:43 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Construction activity continued to rise in May with industry buyers reporting positive momentum across all sectors.
  The bellwether S&P Global UK Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to 54.7 from 53.0 in April – the fastest rate growth rate in two years.
  For the first time since May 2022, all three monitored categories of house building, commercial and civil engineering saw activity increase.New business rose for the fourth consecutive month, and at a solid pace that was t
  
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• Bouygues bags £80m London NHS diagnostic centre job

  06-06-2024 09:32 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Bouygues UK has been appointed lead contractor to design and build an £80m ambulatory diagnostic centre at West Middlesex University Hospital.
  The facility for by Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust will provide vital diagnostic and treatment services in cancer, renal and imaging for local residents in Hounslow, Richmond and Ealing.
  The project includes five storeys of new build, a rooftop plant and a small terrace area. On the ground floor there will be a new single stor
  
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• London £3bn schools framework out to tender

  06-06-2024 09:20 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Tendering is starting to refresh the line-up of firms for a major London and Home Counties schools framework for new build and retrofit work.
  London’s Haringey Borough Council is handling the procurement of the £3bn framework, which has been reshaped to allocate places for small and medium-sized firms as well as bigger players in the market.
  The Framework Alliance Agreement will replace the current LCP Framework (Major Work 19) which is due to expire in October 2024.It has been set u
  
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• Openreach fined £1.34m after engineer drowns in river

  06-06-2024 08:44 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Broadband network builder Openreach Limited has been fined £1.34m after an engineer died while trying to repair a telephone line.
  Alun Owen,32, from Bethesda, died after he slipped and fell into the River Aber in Abergwyngregyn and was swept away on 6 October 2020.
  An investigation by the HSE and North Wales Police found that a number of Openreach engineers had been attempting to repair the telephone lines, which ran across the river, over a period of two months. They had been working both
  
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• Road sweeper firm Go Plant went down owing suppliers £4.3m

  06-06-2024 08:17 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Road Sweeper Hire specialist went into administration owing its supply chain £4.3m.
  The firm’s debts are detailed in an update from administrator Alvarez & Marsal filed at Companies House.
  Administrators took charge of the firm in May and sold parts of the business for £2m to waste management contract Sweeptech in a pre-pack deal.Go Plant had 330 employees when it went under with 116 jobs saved by Sweeptech.
  The majority of redundant staff are now pursuing a claim for the f
  
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• Glencar bags £30m Cambridge lab and office job

  06-06-2024 08:08 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Glencar is to build a £30m office and lab project at Chesterford Research Park near Cambridge.
  The 60,000 sq ft Sidney Sussex is designed by architect BCRI and will sit within the 250-acre parkland Cambridge life sciences cluster.
  Sustainability is at the core of the design, with renewable energy sources, efficient structural uses, and daylighting strategies to minimise carbon emissions.
  Construction work is just getting underway with project completion anticipated by October 2025.
  Three-s
  
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• Berkeley’s £270m Bath gas works scheme approved

  06-06-2024 08:08 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Berkeley Homes has got the go-ahead to build over 600 homes at a former gas works site in Bath next to the River Avon.
  The firm is bringing forward the £270m scheme on Windsor Bridge Road in Twerton.
  Works will start with demolition and extensive remediation of the site, including works to the existing river wall, infrastructure and gasholder voids.
  The extensive remediation and enabling works as well as main build costs are expected to be around £200m.Architect Grimshaw designed the
  
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• Bids due in to replace Luton Airport car park destroyed by fire

  05-06-2024 14:55 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Tenders are due back by the end of this week to rebuild a car park at Luton Airport which was destroyed in a major blaze last year.
  Some of the industry’s biggest names will be vying for the job awarded under the Crown Commercial Service Construction Works and Associated Services framework.
  The Enquirer understands the contract to rebuild the Terminal Car Park is worth up to £37.5m.Interested firms attended a bidders day late last year and toured the site last week for a detailed loo
  
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• Seven secure £3bn United Utilities sewage works deal

  05-06-2024 09:08 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  United Utilities has named the seven contractors and consultants it will partner with to deliver a £3bn spend on improving wastewater infrastructure in the North West.Partner firms
  C2V, (VolkerStevin/Jacobs joint venture), Costain, Jacobs, Murphy, Kier Integrated Services, Mott Macdonald Bentley, and MWH Treatment.As well as using large suppliers, the water company is keen to tap into the local supply chain and will be appointing more delivery partners in the coming months.The partnership
  
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• Kier FM arm splits into three business streams

  05-06-2024 09:06 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Kier’s FM business Kier Places is splitting into three clear business streams in a fresh five-year plan for growth.
  The business led by managing director Jamie McKechnie will now operate across three distinct client-focused areas: Building Solutions; Residential Solutions; Workplace Solutions
  The reorganisation will also see Kier extend its geographical reach to the south coast through the Building Solutions stream in a bid to open up to more framework opportunities in the region, alongsid
  
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• Plan in for £500m London beds and sheds docks scheme

  05-06-2024 08:36 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Developer Regal London has submitted a revised planning application for a mixed-use development at Orchard Wharf in London Docklands.
  The scheme next to the mouth of the River Lea on the northside of the Thames will comprise a safeguarded wharf and logistic centre, over 200 affordable flats and nearly accomodation for 1,400 students.
  Regal also proposes a ground floor cafe and community hub, 7,400m² of landscaped space.
  Regal has now teamed up with Thames Clippers Logistics to use the propo
  
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• Boot gets nod for £110m Walsall warehouse scheme

  05-06-2024 08:17 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Henry Boot has clinched planning consent for a £110m industrial and logists scheme at the SPARK brownfield development site in Walsall.
  The approval covers three units totalling 464,000 sq ft on the wider 620,000 sq ft SPARK project is being delivered in partnership with Walsall Council, Homes England, West Midlands Combined Authority and Black Country LEP.The former James Bridge Copper Works site, once the largest undeveloped brownfield site in the Black Country, is currently undergoing s
  
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• Surface repair rivals offer lifeline to ex-Merlin staff

  05-06-2024 08:11 via constructionenquirer.com
  Rivals of collapsed hard surface repair specialist Merlin are joining forces to help staff and contractors hit by the firm’s demise.
  Around 100 Merlin Repair Specialists staff are looking for new jobs while contractors have been left in limbo for repair and resurfacing work on sites.
  Now fellow specialists Prymo and LS Surface Repairs are working together to offer former Merlin technicians work and step-in to help contractors left in the lurch.Prymo managing director Jasen Jackiw –
  
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• Operator trapped on crane boom in London site fire

  04-06-2024 16:11 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Seven people have been hospitalised after a fire broke out at a construction site in east London.
  In dramatic scenes, a worker presumed to be the crane operator sought refuge at the end of the counter jib as thick black smoke engulfed the mast of his Wolff tower crane.
  The fire broke out at contractor Bouygues’ Makers Yard residential scheme, near Silvertown Way in Canning Town.According to the London Fire Brigade, the fire started within a base in the commercial unit in the 10-storey
  
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• Operator trapped on crane boom in London fire

  04-06-2024 16:11 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Seven people have been hospitalised after a fire broke out at a construction site in east London.
  In dramatic scenes, a worker presumed to be the crane operator sought refuge at the end of a boom as thick black smoke engulfed his crane.
  The broke out at contractor Bouygues’ Makers Yard residential scheme, near Silvertown Way in Canning Town.According to the London Fire Brigade, the fire started within a base in the commercial unit in the 10-storey residential building still under cons
  
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• Statom Group wins civils package to transform port site

  04-06-2024 10:46 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Statom Group North Limited has landed the major civil engineering works package to transform Ardersier Port just east of Inverness.
  Port owner Haventus is transforming Scotland’s largest brownfield port into a facility for the deployment and servicing of offshore wind installations.
  Civils work will last until October 2025 and the Enquirer understands the package is worth more than £40m.Statom’s work will include RC capping structures to form the new quayside and anchor wall (b
  
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• Swedish giant officially launches UK operation

  04-06-2024 09:26 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Swedish-owned Sortera has officially launched in the UK this week as GBN Services and O’Donovan Waste Management formally merge following Sortera’s acquisition of the two London-based companies last year.
  The merger sees Sortera assume responsibility for six existing sites – Rochford, Harlow, Edmonton, Uxbridge, Tottenham and Wembley –previously owned and operated by GBN and O’Donovan’s respectively, as well as close to 400 members of staff.
  The rebranded wast
  
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• Wrekin joins civil engineering products “supergroup”

  04-06-2024 08:43 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Products specialist Wrekin has joined forces with four other European firms to form civil engineering “supergroup” Civitec.
  Road ironworks specialist Wrekin will now work alongside Product Industriels Lorrains (P.I.L), Fonderies de Saint Dizier (FSD), Geoworks, and Encotel who are all involved in the design, specification and manufacturing of products for the civil engineering industry .
  The group aims to “contribute to the development of sustainable and resilient infrastructur
  
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• Vistry strikes deal to build 1,750 private rental homes

  04-06-2024 08:24 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Vistry has struck a deal to build around 1,750 homes for the private rented sector.
  The homes with a development value of £580m will be owned by Blackstone Real Estate and Regis, while being managed by Leaf Living.
  The portfolio, concentrated in the south east, will come from building out plots in Vistry’s former house building landbank across 36 development sites.  The homes would be pre-sold in-line with Vistry’s Partnerships strategy of pre-selling around 65% of all hom
  
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• Top construction chiefs call for more foreign workers

  04-06-2024 00:34 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  A dozen construction chiefs have set out a blueprint for the next Government to deliver infrastructure growth and boost the wider economy.
  The plan calls on the next Government to implement a dozen reforms to deliver an unprecedented 244 projects that form the UK’s ambitious pipeline.
  The hit list of reforms calls for a more flexible immigration system to allow firms to fill immediate skills gaps and help transfer specific skills to the UK workforce.
  Tier 1 bosses also want to see the Appr
  
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• Third contractor to finally finish £135m Swansea job

  03-06-2024 16:38 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Local contractor Andrew Scott Ltd has been appointed to finish the £135m Copr Bay development in Swansea.
  Parts of the mixed-use scheme were left unfinished when main contractor Buckingham Group went into administration last September after completing most of the job.
  Willmott Dixon was drafted-in shortly after to finish the car park and some snagging work at the site with about £5m worth of work left to do.But between then and now Willmott Dixon and Swansea Council have had a change
  
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• JRL plans first Manchester 28 storey resi block

  03-06-2024 09:20 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  London construction group JRL has submitted plans to build a 28-storey build-to-rent tower in Manchester.
  The £75m project close to Piccadilly station on Sparkle Street will provide around 360 flats and requires demolition of low rise commercial units before work can get underway.
  It is JRL’s first development project in Manchester and will see the group’s main contracting arm Midgard deliver the project, designed by architect SimpsonHaugh.Midgard has been operation in Manchest
  
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• Barratt and Springfield deal to deliver new Scottish village

  03-06-2024 08:44 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  House builders Springfield Properties and Barratt Developments have entered into a partnership to accelerate the delivery of a new 3,042-home village at Durieshill, on the outskirts of Stirling.
  Springfield is supplying the land, having driven the development through the design and planning process while Barratt will lead the provision of an ambitious infrastructure programme across the 600 acre site.
  Initial groundworks are expected to start later this year creating over 200 new jobs.The infras
  
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• CR Construction (UK) wins £34m historic mill restoration

  03-06-2024 08:42 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  The UK arm of Hong Kong-listed contractor CR Construction has won the job to create 190 flats at the historic former Talbot Mill in Manchester.
  Manchester-based developer Capital & Centric is behind the plans to restore one of the city’s oldest Victorian mills, located in Ellesmere Street, Castlefield.
  Under a £37m contract, CR Construction (UK) will deliver 190 homes along with public realm and amenity block works against a 105-week programme.The project will consist of three re
  
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• Weston Homes names next CEO

  03-06-2024 08:29 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Private volume house builder Weston Homes has promoted south east  housing expert Peter Gore as the new chief executive officer of the group.
  In his new role, he will work closely alongside chairman Bob Weston driving growth at Weston Homes, offsite specialist British Offsite and serviced office provider Weston Business Centres.
  The group also encompasses environmental and safety consultancy Stansted and construction plant hire and warehousing arm Weston Logist
  
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