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A CONSTRUCTION giant buying up large parts of London is lobbying Camden Council to a build skyscraper at the cost of the community, local residents warned yesterday. Supporters of the Save Swiss Cottage campaign have urged Camden to repeal Essential Living’s proposal to demolish the former Reuters building on 100 Avenue Road to build “long-term private rental” accommodation. The proposed area for redevelopment currently houses one of the few local green spaces, a community centre, Hampstead Theatre and the homes of local residents, including caring facilities for people with disabilities. Save Swiss Cottage member Sarah Gottlieb spoke to the Star about her fears over the construction, including its impact on the community and the inescapable ramping up of housing prices in the area. In her view the …

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Construction of a new £13.5m state of the art three-storey teaching block for Horsham’s Millais School has reached the half-way stage. Funded through West Sussex County Council’s School Capital Building Programme, the works will see a new teaching block to house specialist facilities for art, music and technology and new suites for maths and modern languages. Work started in October last year, and Willmott Dixon is currently on track to finish the second phase of works by November this year. Work is currently in the second of four phases and the team are working toward ultimate completion in November 2015. Headteacher Leon Nettley, chair of governors Liz Barnes, Willmott Dixon’s local managing director John Waterman, and project manager Matt Dubber, attended the event with several …

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Calls are growing to scrap the industry’s CIS tax scheme as HM Revenue & Customs launches consultation on reforms to the current system. Chancellor George Osborne conceded that changes to CIS were needed in his latest budget. The tax man is now calling on construction companies for their views on the scheme which is estimated to cost the industry £250m a year in administration. But industry experts believe the Government should be looking at scrapping CIS rather than just tinkering with the way it operates. Howard Royse, construction industry representative of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), said: “It is important that people working in the industry take this opportunity to tell HMRC exactly what they think of CIS. “We at ICAEW …

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The BBC will start showing a three-part documentary next week highlighting construction work on London’s Crossrail. BBC 2’s Fifteen Billion Pound Railway starts on 16 July at 9pm and follows work on the new train tunnels and stations under London. Crossrail provided exclusive access over two years to the BBC’s producers Windfall Films who spent time with tunnellers and engineers as construction of the new railway progressed. They witnessed the engineering challenges and key milestones including the spectacular tunnel machine breakthroughs. Crossrail Chief Executive Andrew Wolstenholme said: “The documentary series provides a unique insight into the complexity and challenges of delivering Europe’s biggest construction project through the very heart of London. “Every day people walk past our construction sites unaware of the maze of tunnels that are being constructed …

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The Government has given Tottenham Hotspur planning permission to build a 58,000-capacity stadium after a public inquiry. Communities minister Eric Pickles has just approved a compulsory purchase order made by the London Borough of Haringey, which will enable the Northumberland Development Project to continue to proceed. More than 95% of the 3 hectare site has been acquired by agreement and work has already begun on the first phase of the redevelopment plan. The order was requested to allow the final phases to proceed and follows a public inquiry. The redevelopment proposals have had far reaching support from local MPs, the London Mayor’s champion for Tottenham and the chairman of the Independent Tottenham Taskforce. Spurs said the announcement “was a very significant step” and now hope to be able to …

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New figures released by the Government show it has smashed its target to roll out project bank accounts on centrally funded jobs. Francis Maude, Minister for the Cabinet Office, said that £5.2bn worth of government construction projects are now being paid through project bank accounts. Maude said: “As part of our long-term economic plan this government is reforming public sector construction and helping develop a more efficient and competitive industry that will lead to more jobs and better value for taxpayers. “To win the global race, we must support the smaller suppliers which are the lifeblood of our economy. We’ve beaten our target on project bank accounts but we will keep pushing ahead to ensure suppliers of all sizes are treated fairly.” The 2011 Government …

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The London construction market is now so strong that contractors can “pick and choose” schemes they bid for. Steve McGuckin, UK managing director of consultant Turner & Townsend, said: “The days of builders bidding for every sniff of work are gone. “The confidence in London is now so strong that contractors are able to pick and choose their projects. “Tender prices are still competitive, but with input costs starting to creep up this may not last forever.” McGuckin was commenting on latest official construction figures which have been revised up to show 1.5% growth during the first quarter of the year. That is more than double the original 0.6% estimate by the Office of National Statistics. McGuckin said: “With such a big upward revision to the …

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Revised tenders for Google’s King’s Cross HQ contract are not due to be submitted to the internet giant until the New Year. The Enquirer understands that contractors bidding for the job are working to a January 2015 deadline to submit new tenders. The value of the contract has also doubled to £600m as Google radically alters the designs for its new UK flagship. BAM Construct were named preferred bidder on the original £300m contract last March. The contract race was then re-opened  after Google instructed architects Allford Hall Monaghan Morris to rework the scheme. The re-bidding means original rival bidders Carillion and Skanska are back in the race with BAM. Bidders are now looking at the New Year for the race to begin as the construction …

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More than 300 subcontractors and suppliers of failed cladding group Astec are unlikely to see a penny owed to them. The latest creditors’ report from administrator Deloitte reveals that the three main businesses Astec Projects, Astec Group and Concept Design (Interiors) owe unsecured creditors £12.2m. Of this sum, £7.3m is owed to suppliers and subcontractors, with a further £2.8m owed in intercompany debt. Deloitte estimates that when they took over on 11 April this year around £1.7m was being held by clients and contractors in retentions. A further £5.6m due for work in progress is now unlikely to be recovered. Administrators said that they expect to be able to pay Barclays Bank from sales of property proceeds but have warned there is precious little …

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