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Swift action by employees at Sims Crane & Equipment Co. helped emergency responders quickly locate the body of a railroad worker crushed in a train derailment on October 25 in Sanford, FL. Chris Arnold, Sims’ Orlando-based crane application specialist, said that minutes after he heard about the derailment on a radio newscast, he was in touch with his Railworks Corporation client contact at the Sun Rail accident site, and offered to send a crane to lift the derailed cars back on track. Arnold said he did not know then that a railroad employee had been crushed beneath one of the cars, which were carrying gravel at the Sun Rail expansion construction site. “We work derailments regularly, but this was the first fatality for me,” said Arnold. …

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Construction of a congestion-busting link road between Sheffield and Rotherham is set to start ‘in the coming months’ after government and European Union funding was approved. The £16 million route will run beneath the M1 junction 34, allowing vehicles to bypass congested roundabouts at either end of Tinsley Viaduct. The investment is part of the £30 million North Bus Rapid Transit scheme, which aims to reduce journey times on public transport. Planning permission has already been granted – and the approval of £15.9 million from the Government and £8m from the EU has now meant the project can begin. The rest of the funding is coming from Sheffield and Rotherham councils and South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive. Construction of the link road and bus priority measures elsewhere in …

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Land-banking’ culture to be scrapped to encourage house-building Firms have been exploiting loophole in order to wait for house price rises New rule comes weeks after Labour’s criticised ‘land seizure’ policy Housebuilders will no longer be allowed to delay big developments after the government introduced stricter rules to prevent so-called ‘land banking’. Planning minister Nick Boles has scrapped a 2008 measure – introduced in the midst of the financial crisis – which allowed three-year permissions to be easily extended. Some developers exploit the loophole and hoard plots for years as they wait for house prices to rise before starting to build homes. Mr Boles said: ‘This measure to extend planning permission was always intended to be temporary and, while it…

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Britain’s recovery hopes have been dealt a double blow as official figures showed the construction sector shrank and the UK’s goods deficit with the EU reached a record high in September. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said construction output decreased 0.9% month-on-month. It meant a previous estimate for impressive growth of 2.5% over the third quarter in the sector was revised sharply downwards to 1.7%. Separate ONS data on trade showed the monthly deficit failed to narrow from £3.3 billion while the balance of goods exports to the EU compared with imports from the region reached a record negative of £6 billion. The setback for construction comes despite signs of improvement in the housing market and Government initiatives such as Help to Buy buoying …

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Quadriga Ltd explains how the UK’s historic buildings can be restored to their former glory and saved from decay using a variety of tried and tested techniques. The UK is famed for its architectural beauty, with many stunning historic buildings to be found across the country. From castles and churches to the listed buildings that make our cities such attractive places to visit, it is important to make sure all of these remain structurally sound and aesthetically pleasing so that they can be enjoyed by visitors for years to come. The combination of speed and care required for these tasks is something  Quadriga Ltd has perfected over two decades of building restoration work. Restoring a building No two restoration projects will ever be entirely the same, as …

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Alpha Tower was constructed at a time of rapid change in Birmingham city centre with the Paradise Forum development housing the John Madin-designed Central Library being built at the same time It emerged this week that the landmark Alpha Tower building on the corner of Easy Row and Broad Street in Birmingham city centre has been put on the market for just over £10 million. The asking price is 25 per cent of the price it changed hands at in 2008 . The tower sits on the Arena Central development site — a £400 million 2.3 million sq ft mixed-use scheme that will transform the Broad Street area. Work on site began in July with the demolition of a multi-storey car park to build a 210-room Holiday …

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The engineering and construction industries rely as much on innovation and new forms of technology as they do experience and traditional methods. Whether it’s a completely new form of technology designed for a specific purpose, or an improvement on existing methods, advances are making home designs more efficient and better environments for us to live in. Take a look at the following examples, which are just a sample of innovative building solutions. Self-closing doors It’s sad to admit, but modern homes need to be designed with stringent security features to reduce the threat of break-ins, vandalism and crime. A UK government survey found that in 2012 alone, more than 1.8 million theft offences occurred and there were more than 65,000 reported incidents of robbery – you can find …

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The yearly Premier League season lasts for around nine months. What with regular training sessions and of course football matches, the busy schedule leaves little room for clubs to carry out building work without severely disrupting the player’s fixtures. As a result, construction needs to be done quickly and efficiently, while still producing high-quality, usable buildings. Replacing the traditional bricks and mortar method of building, fabric structures are becoming increasingly popular. Fabric structures boast a number of benefits, so it’s easy to see why so many football clubs choose to use them. Here are just a few of the advantages: Bespoke designs Fabric structures are not restricted to the same limitations as typical brick structures. Rather, they can be made in a variety of intricate shapes …

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Most construction companies believe that they have good engagement with the workforce. But as Rhaynukaa Soni argues, operatives need management to demonstrate a more active interest in their on-site safety. On most construction sites today you will find a plethora of signage, notice boards, information sheets, posters… the list is endless and I now refer to it as ‘posteritis’. How much of this is actually read and absorbed by those on-site remains questionable. A challenge I’ve set many times when visiting various sites is to tell operatives that they will be awarded £1m right there and then if they can recall five of the posters currently on their notice board – no one can. Despite a significant increase over the last 10 years in …

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Housing Minister Kris Hopkins has offered a deal that will give a decade of strong protection for social tenants with the cost of living. The minister highlighted how this will also give greater stability for landlords, as they will be able to use this certainty to predict their likely revenues and invest in new homes. A fair deal for tenants and landlords Yesterday’s (31 October 2013) proposals would come into effect from April 2015, and offers a fair deal for tenants and landlords alike. For tenants, annual rent increases will be linked to inflation – using the more stable Consumer Price Index as a measure rather than the Retail Price Index as has been used in previous years. In turn, it will give councils and housing associations the …

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