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Liverpool City Council has appointed engineering consultancy Ramboll to lead the design team to develop a permanent cruise terminal on the River Mersey. The multi-disciplinary design team includes architects Stride Treglown, cost managers Gardiner & Theobald, property consultants JLL, and landscape architects Hyland Edgar Driver. The team will initially work up detailed designs for the proposed £50m passenger facility before submitting a planning application for the former Princes Jetty, off Princes Parade, later this year. Further applications are likely to include associated projects like a new 200 room hotel and 1,100 space multi-storey car park to enhance the city’s capabilities in handling the next generation of turnaround cruises, which can carry up to 3,600 passengers. Subject to planning approval the Ramboll team will project manage and assist…

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Northern Irish contractor McLaughlin & Harvey has been named preferred bidder for Blackpool’s new Winter Gardens conference centre. The new exhibition and conferencing facilities form part of a council effort to turn the fortunes of the town around The council has agreed to appoint the firm under a pre-construction services agreement ahead of construction starting in October with a view to completing the project by spring 2019. McLaughlin & Harvey was reported to have had the most attractive bid over rivals Eric Wright, Gilbert Ash, Esh and Willmott Dixon. Architect Bisset Adams designed the £25m landmark conference centre, which attracted central Government funding. The complex will have a double height entrance foyer, with exhibition space on the ground floor and conferencing facilities above The new venue…

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Sellafield has formally invited firms to bid for four key partner roles to deliver its £4.5bn construction programme. The firm, which runs the Cumbria nuclear site, is rolling out a new collaborative procurement model that will change how major projects are delivered. The four successful programme and project partners will work alongside Sellafield’s in-house engineers in integrated teams over the next 20 years. This collaborative model will be used to deliver the huge works programme more safely, efficiently and cost effectively. The selected firms will work together to deliver three initial major projects.  The SPRS Retreatment Plant, SIXEP Contingency Plant and Replacement Analytical Project, together estimated at £1bn – £1.7bn). Further major projects in the pipeline still need more detailed project definition…

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Manchester-based social housing specialist Harbur Construction has sunk into administration. The firm founded just seven years ago turned over £28m last year and employed more than 20 staff out of its Manchester Business Park base near the city airport. Administrators from Leonard Curtis confirmed staff had been now laid off. Harbur specialised in buying land, obtaining planning permission for schemes and then constructing them in conjunction with the relevant residential provider. The firm built up skills in remediating brownfield sites in order to deliver affordable housing and commercial developments. Harbur Construction was on site building a £2.9m 30 apartment scheme at Back Church street in Bolton and was working on several schemes for TAC Development including a £6m housing job of 70-plus units on the…

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The pace of house building is finally showing signs of cranking up a gear with new home registrations for the first quarter of 2017 hitting a 10-year high. Homes starts take off in first quarter Nearly 42,500 new homes were registered in the UK by NHBC in the first three months of the year. This represent a 17% jump on last year with both private and social housing showing strong growth. Private sector homes were up 10% at 31,197 units, while affordable home registration jumped 40% to 11,273 new homes compared to last year. For the first time in seven years all 12 regions across the UK enjoyed growth in registrations, when compared to the same period 12 months ago. The North East (+39%), London (+38%) and Eastern (+…

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London Mayor Sadiq Khan has written to supporters of the £200m Garden Bridge project confirming he will not provide the financial guarantees needed for construction to start Khan said that “the continuation of the project will expose the London taxpayer to additional financial risk, both with regard to the bridge’s construction and its operation and maintenance.â€� The scheme has been on life-support for some time and the latest move looks to kill-off any chances of it being built. Khan said: “Under the previous Mayor, a considerable amount of London taxpayers’ money has already been spent on the Garden Bridge. “I have always been clear that not a penny more of taxpayers’ money should be allocated to the project.â€�Having assessed all the information…

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Construction workers at the £18bn Hinkley Point construction site are on course to be the best paid builders in the industry. We understand that pay talks have set the bar at nearly £60,000 a year for full-time builders on the site. Talks are currently ongoing between main contractor joint venture Bouygues Travaux Publics/Laing O’Rourke and the construction unions. And the industry’s ongoing skills shortage means the unions are in a strong position. One source close to the talks said: “This is the biggest construction site in the country and everyone wants to get it built on time. “The unions know that and any pay deal will be better than the one at Heathrow T5 where everyone made sure people were paid industry leading rates…

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Tool and equipment hirer HSS racked-up a pre-tax loss of £17.4m last year as it continues to close branches and distribution centres. Results for the year to December 31 2016 show losses grew to £17.4m from £13.8m last time as turnover ticked-up to £342.2m from £312.3m. HSS said the losses were down to “a year of investment in a new distribution network structureâ€� and “right-sizingâ€� plan for its branches. HSS shut 18 under-performing branches during the last quarter of 2016 and seven distribution centres during the year. A further 37 branches are being closed during the first half of this year. John Gill, Chief Executive Officer of HSS Hire, said: “2016 was a year of significant operational change and investment for the…

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BAM Construction Limited and its groundworks subcontractors have been fined after a man suffered multiple life changing injuries including severe burns to his neck. Winchester Crown Court heard how BAM had been appointed by Network Rail to construct a new railway operating centre in Basingstoke. BAM later appointed Shoreland Projects Ltd as the groundworks contractor for the project. On 26 January 2015, when work began to install lampposts on the site entrance road, the fifth lamp post touched the 11kV overhead power lines when it was being lifted into position by an excavator, causing Mark Bradley to suffer his injuries. A colleague rushed to Bradley’s aid, using a piece of timber to push him away from the lamp column. An HSE investigation found a failure to properly identify the…

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Hinkley workers get £50m ‘hotel style’ site accommodation Offsite accommodation specialist Caledonian Modular has checked-in with the £50m contract to design and build campus living accommodation for Hinkley Point C . Workers facilities include nearly 1,500 en-suite bedrooms across 44 individual buildings The vast workers’ village will set new standards in site facilities and is considered to be the largest hotel-style development in Europe for 25 years, equivalent to a 3-star hotel. When completed in 2017/18, it will provide 1,496 en-suite bedrooms across 44 buildings at two key locations. The Bridgwater Campus is the larger of the two developments, with Caledonian providing twenty-nine accommodation blocks, each offering en-suite rooms for 34 workers. Hinkley Point C on-site accommodation campus A further 15 buildings will be located at …

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