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The Government needs to fire-up a massive school building programme to deliver more than 2,000 schools in England by 2020 to meet booming pupil numbers. Over 24,000 extra classrooms required in the next four years The depth of the country’s school places crisis has been thrown into the spotlight in new research for public sector procurement specialist Scape Group. Local authorities now predict the number of primary and secondary school pupils will swell by an extra 729,000 by 2020. To meet this demand the Government needs a radical rethink of it school building programme. This would include setting new targets to build 1,744 primary schools and 378 secondary schools in the next four years. This equates to two new schools every day to meet the shortfall. More than 500 of these would be needed in London alone to head off…

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Stirling-based Robertson Group is predicting main contractors will have to rebalance margins as project bank accounts become commonplace on public sector work in Scotland. Chairman Bill Robertson predicted a fundamental business model shift as he unveiled another year of strong profit growth to March 2016. He predicted further upward pressure for healthier main contractor margins would result from greater involvement of private sector funders in the industry. Robertson said: “Due to the changing source of funders in our market the group board believes that healthier margins in our sector will be a requirement of participation by funders to major projects and businesses. “Our group companies therefore will continually focus on a growing return on capital and improving risk profile in our projects in preference to growth in volume. “Indeed, in construction, if the intended …

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The Government is pledging £5bn of public money to accelerate building of tens of thousands of homes. Under the latest plan to galvanise the house building industry, ministers will set aside £2bn of new public borrowing to fund an Accelerated Construction Scheme to make public land with planning permission available to builders. A further £3bn home building fund using previously-announced cash will provide loans to stimulate new building projects where finances are tight. Builders will be encouraged through these funding pots to use more modern building techniques in the hope of delivering homes twice as quickly. Also new rules will be introduced to make it easier for developers to demolish offices and replace them with residential housing on a like-for-like basis. Local planning authorities will be able …

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The Scottish Government is introducing project bank accounts on public work projects to protect subcontractors from insolvency and payment abuse. Subcontractors on the Royal Hospital for sick children called for project bank accounts after the collapse of Dunne Group last month From 31 October, project bank accounts will be a tender requirement on building projects over £4m and civil engineering projects valued over £10m. The Scottish Government has been co-ordinating trials for a couple of years and contractors received the first project bank account payment from NHS Lanarkshire on two work packages worth £1.4m at Monklands Hospital several years ago. The payment was made under the NHS Frameworks Scotland 2 agreement with Graham Construction. Other schemes where the payments were trialled include Transport Scotland’s Inveramsay Bridge project…

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Crossrail workers have slammed site welfare conditions after having to walk two miles to use a toilet. One worker said: “It’s an absolute joke down there – how can you run a major project like this making people walk for two miles to use the loo? “We haven’t had a mobile toilet in the tunnel down here for weeks now. “We have to walk all the way to Tottenham Court Road which is two miles away.” Workers are also unhappy about a lack of canteens and a site access system described as “chaotic”. Another source said: “There’s only one turnstile to get on site in some places so the queues are chaotic. “You have to leave early to try and beat the rush and lose out…

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A £4m construction project currently being undertaken by the Highways Division of North Midland Construction plc (NM Group) to enhance public spaces in Sheffield city centre, has provided one young person with paid work experience that should hopefully help him to kick start his career. The NM Group is installing a new footpath and cycleway scheme designed to improve safety and rejuvenate main routes to the University of Sheffield Campus. The company needed additional members of staff to work on the project and turned to Skills Made Easy for help with its search.  Skills Made Easy is a unique government backed programme designed to help businesses overcome skills shortages in the Sheffield City region and also to help young people develop their skills by connecting …

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Contractors building the £1.3bn Queensferry Crossing have set a new record by creating the the longest free-standing cantilever in the world at 644m. The structure will become the longest three-tower, cable-stayed bridge in the world The bridge deck sections are edging closer and closer by the day as engineers come close to linking the deck sections at the north and south sides of the bridge. When the weight of a 750 tonnes bridge section is lifted the deck deflects by 4m giving the impression the two decks will not meet. Once work is complete on the project in June 2017, the new Queensferry Crossing will stretch 2.7km in length and will include three single column towers and approach viaducts. Galliford Try is part of the four-company…

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Newly appointed Scheme Executive Chairman Isabel Martinson to recruit new Board Directors to take Scheme to the ‘next level’ London, United Kingdom, 19 September 2016: The Considerate Constructors Scheme (CCS) – the national Scheme to improve the image of the construction industry – is recruiting for new Board Directors. Isabel Martinson, who was appointed as Executive Chairman of the Scheme in July 2016, is looking for senior representatives from within and outside of the construction industry to expand the CCS to move to the ‘next level’, to further enhance the construction industry’s image and reputation. The CCS is an independent organisation formed in 1997. Since its formation, it has significantly altered the approach the construction industry takes to those affected by its activities, the construction workforce, and the impact construction has …

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A Scottish Water employee has rescued remarkable pictures giving a unique insight into daily life on a major Aberdeen sewer scheme more than 100 years ago. The Girdleness Outfall Scheme was designed to improve sanitation in the growing city and employed an army of construction workers hand-digging tunnels and using steam engines to help deliver the major scheme. The images date from 1900 and 1901, the last year of the Victorian age, when construction was in full swing and capture the scope of the impressive engineering project. Bob Nicoll, of Scottish Water in Aberdeen, said: “I’ve had the pictures for the last 15 or 16 years. “They were part of some old archive stuff due to be thrown out but I felt they needed to be rescued from that as they show an amazing part of the…

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A property investment fund suspended in the wake of the Brexit vote is set to resume trading. The Columbia Threadneedle UK Property Authorised Investment Fund was one of a number of funds suspended as the EU Referendum result spooked the market. Trading will restart on September 26 as the company described initial market fears as “irrational”. Don Jordison, Managing Director of Property, Columbia Threadneedle Investments, said: “In the short period following the referendum we saw animal spirits drive unprecedented levels of redemptions from daily dealt open-ended property funds. “Much of the earlier commentary now appears slightly irrational and more informed reflection has settled the market. “Any effects of the Brexit vote on the overall UK economy – negative or otherwise – will take many months if not…

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