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• TCC lands role on £85m Leeds apartment scheme

  17-04-2025 15:09 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  A Midlands construction consultancy has been appointed to support one of the biggest residential schemes ever to be built in Leeds city centre.
  Birmingham-based The Construction Consultants (TCC) has been appointed to support the £85m Castleton Works scheme which will provide nearly 400 build-to-rent apartments. Detailed planning permission has been granted by Leeds City Council
  The development, on the regenerated west side of Leeds city centre near The Junction and Wellington Place, will
  
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• Breakthrough for HS2 as first Birmingham tunnel section dug

  09-05-2025 13:58 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  HS2 has hit a major construction milestone with the breakthrough of its first Birmingham tunnel, completing the initial 3.5-mile bore of the Bromford Tunnel.
  Giant tunnel boring machine Mary Ann smashed through at Washwood Heath today, marking the end of a 652-day drive beneath the M6, River Tame, and critical National Grid infrastructure – all completed without disruption.
  The 125m-long TBM was launched in July 2023 by Balfour Beatty Vinci.Its crew of 450 specialist tunnellers worked arou
  
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• HS2 Curzon Street station redesign approved as timber roof axed

  09-05-2025 09:34 via constructionenquirer.com
  Revised plans for Birmingham’s landmark HS2 Curzon Street station have been approved, with a major design change seeing the timber-lined roof swapped for copper-coloured aluminium panels
  The Mace Dragados JV, working with Arcadis, WSP and lead architect Grimshaw made the change to meet tougher fire safety rules and cut future maintenance costs.
  Birmingham City Council’s planning committee signed off on the updated design after reviewing a report highlighting value for money, technica
  
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• Leicester rebids £22m station revamp after failed tender race

  09-05-2025 09:10 via constructionenquirer.com
  Leicester City Council is preparing a fresh procurement push for its £22m railway station overhaul after the original tender process attracted just a single bid.
  The station upgrade is being rebid with hopes to draw wider contractor interest following a rethink of the scheme, which will now launch with early contractor involvement and detailed design.
  The previous two-stage design and build contest last summer failed to deliver, prompting the council, Network Rail and East Midlands Railway
  
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• Kier wins East Coast College rebuild job in Great Yarmouth

  09-05-2025 08:48 via constructionenquirer.com
  Kier has signed the contract for a major campus rebuild for East Coast College in Great Yarmouth under a Department for Education-backed scheme.
  The project will see outdated facilities replaced with a new campus featuring a mock hospital ward, student-run hair and beauty salon, sports areas, training kitchens, restaurants, lecture hall and digital learning suites.
  New amenities will support both 16-19 year-olds and adult learners, tackling local skills shortages with modern training facilities
  
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• London to relax green belt building rules

  09-05-2025 08:46 via constructionenquirer.com
  Mayor of London Sadiq Khan is “actively exploring” the release of parts of London’s green belt for development.
  Khan said his position on the green belt has changed because “bold solutions” are required to fix London’s housing crisis.
  To meet demand, London needs 88,000 new homes a year over the next decade: close to a million homes. The capital has never built this number of homes before, and only ever built at anything close to this rate when there was a hou
  
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• R G Carter wins £28m hospital car park job in King’s Lynn

  09-05-2025 08:33 via constructionenquirer.com
  R G Carter has secured a £28m contract to deliver a new multi-storey car park at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn, paving the way for a full hospital rebuild.
  The project is a key enabling scheme for the £1bn–£1.5bn New QEH development, which received government funding confirmation in April.
  The car park will be built in two phases, with the first providing 500 spaces and the second adding 879 more, replacing the existing surface parking.Construction is
  
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• SIG chief quits to join Travis Perkins

  09-05-2025 08:16 via constructionenquirer.com
  The Chief Executive Officer at building materials distributor SIG is quitting to join rival Travis Perkins.
  Gavin Slark has been at the helm since February 2023 when he joined from Grafton Group.
  Slark will take up his new role at the start of 2026 and will continue as SIG’s CEO for a transitionary period.Andrew Allner, SIG Chairman said: “The Board looks forward to continuing working with Gavin until his departure.
  “He has steered the Group well through a difficult period in t
  
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• The construction industry is not modernising – Video of our first interactive call of 2025

  08-05-2025 18:43 via justpractising.com
  
  The first Plain Language Group open call was held last week and was absolutely fascinating. It has certainly given us food for thought.
  We asked participants to answer a series of open questions about where they are now and in the context of the wider industry with industry modernisation as set out in our 2023 report, Industry Voices: Why Won’t The Built Environment Modernise? and where they were, three years on from when we hosted the original round table session.
  We’ve published th
  
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• Willmott Dixon wins Great Yarmouth waterfront deal

  08-05-2025 12:40 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Willmott Dixon has been picked to lead the long-awaited transformation of Great Yarmouth’s North Quays waterfront.
  The contractor will partner with Great Yarmouth Borough Council on the town’s biggest regeneration opportunity in a generation.
  Plans for the 10.5-acre site include a major mixed-use scheme combining leisure, retail, housing and public space.The project aims to boost tourism, create jobs and support the town’s social and economic growth, while preserving its histor
  
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• Eight take key spots on £250m Prosper framework

  08-05-2025 12:18 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Eight contractors have secured spots on the key all-building lot for Prosper’s £250m investment works framework covering the North East, Cumbria and North Yorkshire.
  The four-year framework is set up to serve councils, housing associations, schools, NHS trusts and emergency services.
  Bell Group, Fortem, Lovell, Novus, Equans, Esh Construction, RE:GEN North East and CLC Contractors have all been appointed to deliver full-service refurbishment and investment works.
  This lot was reserve
  
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• Care home fire trial collapses

  08-05-2025 12:04 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  A trial into alleged breaches of fire safety regulations by four companies involved in the design, risk assessment, management and maintenance of the former Beechmere retirement village in Crewe has collapsed.
  Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service brought the prosecutions following the blaze in August 2019 which destroyed the care home which housed around 150 residents.
  Six firms were initially pursued but action against two of them was subsequently dropped.The trial against the remaining four began
  
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• McLaren storms April contracts league with flurry of wins

  08-05-2025 08:52 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  A strong winning streak last month took McLaren Construction to the top of the April contracts league.
  The firm bagged eight jobs in the month, the largest the planned £225m Cardiff Bay music arena. In London, McLaren also secured a £150m data centre in London Docklands, while in Yorkshire it sealed a shed deal for a distribution hub for retailer Home Bargains.
  Top 10 contractors by work secured in AprilClick here for further rankings
  According to data compiled by Barbour ABI, t
  
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• Goldman Sachs-owned Adler & Allan buys 180-strong civils outfit

  08-05-2025 08:34 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Private equity-backed environmental services group Adler & Allan has made its biggest purchase yet with the acquisition of South West-based civils contractor Glanville Environmental.
  The 180-employee Devon contractor, which specialises in drainage, geospatial surveys and civil engineering, has been snapped up by the Goldman Sachs-owned Adler & Allan Group – a national operator focused on delivering utilities and infrastructure.
  Glanville turned over around £31m last year, gen
  
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• Balfour Beatty lifts cash forecast after strong first quarter

  08-05-2025 08:17 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Balfour Beatty has upgraded its cash forecast for the year after enjoying a bumper start to 2025.
  Ahead of its AGM today, the contractor revealed that average monthly net cash hit £1.06bn in the first three months of the year — well above the £766m average recorded in 2024.
  Bosses now expect average net cash for 2025 to come in between £900m and £1bn, marking a significant improvement on previous expectations.Trading remains in line with forecasts, with the board st
  
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• Van Elle sells HGV fleet to haulage firm

  08-05-2025 08:15 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Piling specialist Van Elle has sold its in-house HGV fleet to WS Specialist Logistics Limited for £2.9m.
  The deal sees WS sign a five-year partnership with Van Elle to provide heavy haulage operations as its fleet, transport management team and directly employed drivers move into a new division of WS.
  WS has paid a total of £2.9m in cash for the assets being transferred and assumed operational management from May 1.Van Elle Chief Executive Mark Cutler said: “This new partnershi
  
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• Caddick lands first contract for £200m Skelmersdale revamp

  08-05-2025 08:00 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Caddick Construction has been awarded the first contract by the developer behind a planned £200m revamp of Skelmersdale town centre.
  Tawd Valley Developments (TVD) – the wholly owned development arm of West Lancashire Borough Council – has been appointed ‘master developer’ of the scheme.
  Its proposals for Skelmersdale town centre have now been approved and TVD has also been appointed to deliver a new eco-business park with Caddick awarded the first contract.Council
  
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• Buyers more bullish about prospects for year ahead

  07-05-2025 11:01 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Construction activity decreased for the fourth consecutive month in April but business optimism among buyers hit its highest level since December 2024.
  The bellwether S&P Global UK Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index recorded 46.6 in April – up slightly from 46.4 in March but below the 50.0 no-change value for the fourth consecutive month.
  It signalled the slowest decline in output levels for three months.Looking ahead, construction firms are optimistic on balance about their
  
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• Hinkley Point C hits peak build with 26,000 jobs

  07-05-2025 09:18 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  The number of workers building Hinkley Point C has surged to 26,000 as the nuclear power project hits peak construction.
  Around 18,000 people are working directly for the project in Britain.
  Around 12,000 are working on the site itself, with 3,000 more expected in the next 12 months.
  With the fit-out phase accelerating, an additional 8,000 people are supporting the project as part of the supply chain, including factories in Bristol, Somerset, Wales and right across the country.The project is sen
  
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• Winners revealed for £1.5bn decarbonisation deal

  07-05-2025 09:03 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Fusion21 has confirmed the suppliers successfully appointed to its national Decarbonisation Framework worth up to £1.5bn over the next four years.
  A total of 40 specialist firms – 42% being SMEs – have secured a place on the framework, designed to help deliver zero carbon goals, reduce emissions, maximise cost savings, achieve social value targets and support domestic and non-domestic retrofit measures.
  The framework gives members across the public sector access to qualified an
  
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• Early call-out for Ebbsfleet Garden City infrastructure

  07-05-2025 08:55 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Early works contractors are being called up to register interest in a major enabling works package for the key central phase of the planned Ebbsfleet Garden City in North Kent.
  Ebbsfleet Development Corporation is now gearing up to deliver its landmark Ebbsfleet Central project that will create a central commercial heart for the garden city scheme.
  The first phase of works will unlock infrastructure for the new commercial heart of the Garden City, with early market engagement set to start for pa
  
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• Council backs first Brutalist car park-to-flats scheme

  07-05-2025 08:42 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  A radical plan to transform a crumbling 1960s multi-storey car park into more than 110 flats has got the green light from planners in Newcastle-under-Lyme.In a UK first, social impact developer Capital&Centric will retain large parts of the old Midway car park structure and rework it into design-led flats as part of a wider town centre regeneration.
  The bold reuse is one of a trio of projects given the thumbs-up by Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council, delivering 328 new homes, new green spa
  
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• Over 40 firms win Wessex Water M&E minor works deal

  07-05-2025 08:40 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Wessex Water has finalised a sweeping M&E minor works framework with over 40 specialist firms lined up to deliver projects across the South West.
  The five-year deal, with an option to extend by three more, supports the water company’s AMP8 programme and is split across three lots covering M&E, small electrical, and small mechanical works.
  Firms winning spots on the flagship Lot 1 M&E works band include Bridges Electrical Engineers, C&P Engineering, Integrated Water Services
  
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• Cladding firm fined £225,000 after fatal fall

  07-05-2025 08:21 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  A cladding company and its director have been fined following the death of a worker who fell through a fragile roof whilst replacing panels.
  The 61-year-old was working for Camclad Contractors Limited, replacing cladding panels on a former abattoir that had been damaged in a storm, when the incident took place at Gaerwen Industrial Estate, Anglesey, on 24 January 2018.
  An HSE investigation found that the work had only been planned from photographs and that no site visit had taken place before st
  
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• Spencer lands Scottish bridge hat-trick

  06-05-2025 17:30 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Spencer Bridge Engineering has cemented its reputation north of the border after bagging a trio of bridge upgrade jobs on some of Scotland’s most iconic crossings.
  The Yorkshire-based specialist has secured work on the Kessock, Forth Road and Tay Road bridges as part of a major programme of upgrades stretching into 2026.
  At the Kessock Bridge near Inverness, Spencer will return to carry out strengthening, steelwork modifications and repainting inside the four towers. The upgrades will also
  
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• Moat seeks firm for £420m repairs and maintenance deal

  06-05-2025 09:06 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Moat Homes has fired the starting gun on bidding for a £420m repairs and maintenance contract as it looks to lock in a long-term delivery partner.
  The housing association presently has an 18-month interim contract with Mears after switching from Morgan Sindall as it seeks the right long-term partner to manage its repairs and maintenance service from September 2026.
  The 15-year framework – split into a 10-year initial term with a possible five-year extension – will cover respons
  
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• Subcontractors wanted across Scotland

  06-05-2025 08:58 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Main contractors and clients across Scotland will be looking to meet new subcontractors and suppliers this month.
  Interested firms can sign-up for the latest Constructionline Marketplace Live event in Glasgow on Tuesday 20th May 2025 at Hampden Park where new work opportunities will be up for grabs.
  The regional networking event will feature big names including Amey, Balfour Beatty and Robertson Group.Tickets for Marketplace Live are available to the entire Once For All network, which inclu
  
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• Aviva submits plans for 34-storey City office tower

  06-05-2025 08:53 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Insurance giant Aviva has lodged plans to redevelop 130 Fenchurch Street in London’s Square Mile with a 34-storey tower.
  Development manager CO-RE is working with architect Wilkinson Eyre on the project, which will provide around 600,000 sq ft of offices.
  Consultant Arup is acting as both MEP and structural engineer on the 146m tall tower.If approved, demolition of the site’s current 16-storey 1950s building, Fountain House, will get underway in 2026 with piling work expected to star
  
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• Lynch takes over hotel for Sizewell plant operators

  06-05-2025 08:25 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  Plant hirer Lynch has taken over a hotel to provide accommodation for workers on Sizewell and sites across Suffolk.
  The firm has secured the Best Western Hotel making 80 rooms available from Monday to Thursday every week.
  Lynch said it is a challenge finding accommodation in the area and will offer operators and partners a fixed-rate option available year-round.The hotel offers amenities including an onsite gym, swimming pool, and relaxation plus microwaves and laundry facilities providing guest
  
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• Completed buildings caught-up in Gateway 2 chaos

  06-05-2025 08:10 via constructionenquirer.com
  
  The backlog of Gateway 2 safety approvals stalling work across the country is also hitting some schemes where work is almost complete.
  The Enquirer has been contacted by one developer who faces “losing millions” after the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) decided its scheme would need to go through pre-construction checks despite being almost structurally complete.
  The firm has now been forced to write to buyers explaining why their flats are delayed and faces sales collapsing.The resi
  
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