City of London planning applications hit 10-year highThe City of London Corporation has clocked its busiest year for planning applications in a decade as developers race to deliver more premium office space in the Square Mile.
Fresh data from the Corporation shows 2025 delivered the highest volume of applications in ten years. Major schemes over 100,000 sq m were up 36% on 2024 suggesting growing…
Thirty arrests after immigration raid on Swindon siteThirty construction workers have been arrested for immigration-related offences following a raid on a major warehouse site.
Immigration officers carried out the raid earlier this week at Panattoni Park, the former home to Honda in Swindon, alongside Wiltshire Police.
Supt Mike Vass, Swindon hub commander, told the BBC: “This was a significant…
Leeds iconic Tetley brewery building revamp approvedDeveloper Vastint UK has secured planning to revamp the iconic Tetley building in Leeds.
Work will now get underway next year on the full restoration of the 92-year-old brewery HQ as the historic centrepiece of the emerging Aire Park district.
The two-year refurbishment project will create public market hall and around 13,000 sq ft of offic…
Panattoni buys Northampton site for £75m logistics schemeDeveloper Panattoni has acquired a 15-acre logistics site at Brackmills Industrial Estate, Northampton with plans for a £75m speculative scheme.
A planning application is due to be submitted early next year with construction scheduled to start in 2028 on a single warehouse unit of 340,000 sq ft.
Gregg Titley, Head of Development, East and…
Government advances single construction regulator planThe Government has pressed ahead with consultation on its plan to set up a single construction regulator as ministers push to merge building, product and competency oversight into one watchdog.
The move aims to sweep away the current fragmented safety system. But the plan has already sparked industry concern after two years of procurement…
Civil engineers sound the alarm bellCivil engineering contractors have reported the first drop in workloads since the pandemic and are urging the government to act.
The latest quarterly Workload Trends Survey for 2025 Q3 released by Trade body CECA found that workloads moved to -1% on balance – the first negative reading since 2020 bringing an end to an extended period of growth.
Activity…
Springfield strikes deal to build homes for power workersScottish house builder Springfield Properties has inked its first major housing agreement with SSEN Transmission to deliver nearly 300 homes for workers building Scotland’s next generation of energy infrastructure.
The AIM-listed house builder will roll out 293 homes across six sites in Highland, Moray and Aberdeenshire, with SSEN…
Planning reboot could spare SMEs from Building Safety Levy hitSmall builders look set to benefit from a major shake-up of planning rules, with ministers proposing possible exemptions from the Building Safety Levy and a new fast-track regime to get homes built quicker.
The Government has published a fresh set of proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework, aimed at speeding u…
Hunt starts for Square Mile £4bn heat network developerThe City of London Corporation has kicked off a £4.3bn tender race to find a development partner to design, build and run a flagship low-carbon heat network across the Square Mile.
New modelling shows the system could ultimately supply heat to around 1,200 buildings and rely heavily on the River Thames for strategic heat supply.
The 42-year…
Steel fixer crushed by blockwork wall collapseA construction company has been fined £100,000 after a steel-fixer was seriously injured when a newly built blockwork wall collapsed at a site in Poole.
Matrod Frampton Limited pleaded guilty at Bristol Magistrates’ Court after the incident left 69-year-old Patrick Grant with life-changing injuries.
The court heard how the breeze block wall had…