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The final section of the deck of the new Queensferry Crossing was lifted into place on Friday marking a critical milestone for the project. All hands on deck as final bridge section is fixed into place today Engineers have now fixed the 750 tonne bridge segment to the existing 1.7 mile deck span between Edinburgh and Fife. Galliford Try is part of the four-company consortium that includes Hochtief, Dragados, and American Bridge of Pittsburgh in the US  building the main motorway bridge over the Firth of Forth under a £790m contract. The structure now becomes the longest three-tower, cable-stayed bridge in the world and also by far the longest to feature cables which cross mid-span. This innovative design provides extra strength and stiffness, allowing…

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Lancaster University has been granted planning permission for an 85,000 sq ft health innovation building. Planning permission was already in place for a development of land immediately adjacent to the university’s Bailrigg Campus, but approval has now been given for the £41m first phase of the facility. The Health Innovation Campus aims to bring together innovators, academics, businesses and health care providers to drive advances in health treatment. Designed by John McAslan & Partners, the building will stretch over 120m rising from two to 5 storeys. The plan is to clad the scheme in a mix of natural stone aggregates to form robust lightweight concrete panels and bronze toned anodised aluminium mullions and panels. Construction work is due to begin this year with completion in September 2019.

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Microsoft is launching two new trials of its HoloLens “mixed reality” headsets as it bids to revolutionise the construction process. The software giant is working with Trimble and the Construction Information Technology Lab at the University of Cambridge. The first trial is looking at Automated Progress Monitoring in a bit to modernise the laborious and time consuming practice of regularly, and manually, inspecting remote structures. Microsoft said: “The process is currently conducted through visual inspections, form filling and report writing, and is made particularly painstaking by the need to extract information from different drawings and databases. “The new trial revolutionises the process by presenting all physical and digital information through HoloLens, allowing inspectors to check, cross-reference and report on inspections very quickly, and collaborate with site…

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Unfair letting fees have long been a problematic issue and it wasn’t until the the late 2016 Autumn Statement produced by Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, that the problem was tackled head-on at last. The statement was given on the 23rd of November 2016 last year in the Parliament (the full version can be found here, on the official government’s website) and the news spread rapidly like wildfire and raised numerous questions among tenants, landlords, letting agents and property portfolio managers alike all across the country. Will tenants really save hundreds? In recent years, fees had become so out of control that when the Autumn Statement was publicly released, it resulted in a 13pc share prices drop for Foxtons, one of the most high-market estate agencies …

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Liverpool City Council is set to sell its former administrative headquarters to a Singapore based developer who plan to turn it into a hotel. The sale of the Municipal Building on Dale Street to Fragrance Group Limited (FGL) is set to be rubber-stamped next month. The Grade II listed city centre office is expected to be handed over in Spring. Councillor Malcolm Kennedy, Cabinet member for regeneration, said: “Municipal Building has been a magnificent home for Liverpool City Council since the 1860s but we no longer have the staff numbers to justify retaining it. “I’m delighted we have a buyer of international repute who is looking to use Liverpool to break into the UK and European hotel market. “This will have a great impact in terms…

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TIMco, one of the UK’s largest independent wholesale suppliers of screws, fixings and power tools accessories, has introduced the innovative cavity wall fixing, Zip-Fix, to its newly extended range of products.  The fixing is an ideal heavy duty hollow wall anchor that’s suitable for use in plasterboard, concrete block, cavity walls and ceilings. The new product, one of more than 700 new items in the latest TIMco brochure, is available in bags of ten and provides the ideal anchor for hanging radiators, TV brackets and cabinets.  The Zip-Fix anchor can be used on a number of substrates including plasterboard (12.5 and 25mm thick) as well as 15mm dense board and block and, with safety factors applied, is capable of holding weights between 30 and 60kg. Simon Midwood…

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The field of industrial doors includes many different models, and each one is conceived for specific uses and have special features. Let’s see some of the main types of industrial doors, their peculiarities and their most common applications! Sectional doors: one of the main peculiarities of these types of doors, which are also used in residential contexts, is their vertical opening. The fact that they open vertically brings a big advantage, since this permits to save space both in front and behind the door itself. Also for this reason sectional doors are very versatile and can be used in various different contexts. Sectional doors can be both manual and motorized (in this case they can be equipped with remote automatic control) and the safety of the lifting …

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CLOCS commends new national Vulnerable Road Users course for construction industry Considerate Constructors Scheme creates e-learning course on Best Practice Hub to achieve greater awareness of vulnerable road users London, United Kingdom, 18 January 2016: The Best Practice Hub – the construction industry’s free to access online platform for sharing best practice – has produced an e-learning course about Vulnerable road users. Launched on 9 January, the course is designed to increase knowledge and understanding of the risks construction activity can pose to vulnerable road users and provides practical methods which can be adopted to minimise these risks. It is available to all registered Best Practice Hub users. A fundamental part of the course is to provide participants with an understanding of CLOCS – the national standard for …

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5 tips for tackling a listed property restoration in 2017 If you have been thinking of getting your listed property spruced up, whether it’s an extension or re-structuring the foundations, there are fundamental things that you will need to consider before. Sarah Khan, a member of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) and Jonathan Clark who is a member of the RIBA conservation group share their top tips on approaching a listed building restoration. Be particular with restoration scale According to RIBA accredited Conservation Architect Sarah Khan if you plan on doing work to both the interior and exterior of the building, you’ll need to apply for listed building consent and planning permission. If your listed building is in a conservation area, you’ll need to…

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January 17, 2017 – Construction firms’ call handling standards have come into question as the result of a major new study into telephone practice. The research conducted by audio branding specialist PHMG, which audited 185 firms in the construction industry, discovered the large majority risk losing custom by subjecting customers to generic music and audio while on hold. Typically, waiting on hold is seen as a major bugbear but 54 per cent of construction companies still leave customers listening to nothing but generic music. A further 26 per cent subject them to beeps, while 16 per cent leave callers in silence and four per cent force them to listen to ringing. No companies were found to employ brand-consistent voice and music messaging – viewed as the best practice approach to handling calls …

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