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Families were evacuated from their homes last Wednesday night when a giant sinkhole opened up on a street in St Albans. Hertfordhsire County Council had been made aware of a small hole earlier in the week and had sent a team to inspect it. But the sinkhole suddenly opened up creating a crater 20 metres wide and 10 metres deep. A Hertfordshire County Council spokesman told the BBC: “We were informed about a hole in the footpath last week. It was inspected and barriers put around it on Monday. “Work was scheduled to fill it in this morning. Following our inspection, there was no reason to suspect that the hole would collapse.” Highways engineers are currently assessing the scene before the crater is filled in.

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The CITB is cutting its bloated management structure as it fights for survival. The training body has started consultation over redundancies among its current 188 “middle management positions” The plan is to initially cut numbers by 14% – or 26 roles. Latest figures from the CITB show that in 2014 it employed 1,457 direct and temporary employees – more than all but the biggest construction companies. The Government has launched consultation over an industry-wide training levy for large firms which threatens the whole future of the CITB. Adrian Belton, Chief Executive of the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), said: “For the past 18 months, CITB has been transforming itself to better meet the needs of industry. “We have a revamped Executive and Leadership Team, a new board appointed in January of …

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Highways England has formally invited bids for specialist works contracts under its new road maintenance regime for the East Midlands. The roads body is abandoning asset support style contracts to replace the Area 7 managing agent deal with a more traditional contract model bringing control of maintenance in-house once again. It made the decision to use Area 7 as a test-bed for a different approach after announcing at the start of the year that it would rerun five ASC regions bid races. Previous bids were rejected because of a mismatch between contractor’s low bid prices and quality of service expected. The new one-off framework is now being estimated at £500m over four years, rather than a £300m costing used in previous estimates. It will see Highway England shifting from relying …

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BAM Nuttall and Cambridgeshire County Council have agreed to fund an investigation into what has gone wrong with the ill-fated guided busway project. The council planned to launch a £31m legal claim against the contractor over unresolved defects. But it has agreed to wait for the outcome of a six-month probe, which will involving digging up sections of the busway at night to minimise disruption. Last year a report by technical advisers for the council advised that BAM Nuttall should be held to account for fixing problems including shallow foundations and inadequate drainage. It has been estimated this could take three years to complete. BAM has contested the findings, but would not comment on the proposed legal threat, which looked set to reopen old wounds for …

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Surf Snowdonia have created a brand new surfing phenomenon that had all wave-crashers flocking to them on September 1st, when the new attraction made its first debut. Boasting of holding the new record of the world’s longest man-made surfable waves, participators of all abilities are able to take part; with choices of riding waves as high as 2m and as low as 70cm. Setting History Once Again This is not the first time the company will see their name printed in history. They were also the first to create a revolutionary inland surfing lagoon. Based in North Wales, the company built the attraction in 2007 on what was once an industrial estate, and have been a hit ever since. How Does It Work? The new…

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The first planning applications have gone in for the £750m redevelopment of the former BBC site in Manchester city centre. Bruntwood and its residential development partner Select Property Group hope to gain permission for the first phase by the end of the year and start construction in late 2017 on the 2.5m sq ft mixed use site. Chris Oglesby of Bruntwood, MSP and Corridor Manchester said: “We’ve produced a masterplan that embraces and exceeds the ambitions of the City’s Strategic Regeneration Framework to create a vibrant new neighbourhood including fantastic new office, residential, retail and leisure uses, alongside exceptional new public spaces and routes through the site. “Its unique location, connecting the city centre with the Corridor Manchester, enables the site to support the cross-fertilisation and …

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Construction at a new housing development at Manor Farm, Stretham is now under way following today’s official ground breaking ceremony. The project is the first of its kind to be developed in East Cambridgeshire involving a Community Land Trust. The scheme, located just outside Ely, has been created through a partnership including Laragh Homes, Peterhouse College, Cambridge and the Stretham and Wilburton Community Land Trust (CLT). The new development includes 50 homes, a third of which will be affordable. A new doctor’s surgery and several small business units will also be constructed, to boost the community’s amenities and economy. After extensive community consultation, the buildings have been designed around a large village green crossed by footpaths, cycle routes and bridleways. Laragh Homes has worked closely with the Stretham …

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Canary Wharf Contractors is introducing the latest technology to plot safe routes for lorries making site deliveries to its new Southbank Place development. Routes will try and avoid left turns in a bid to make London’s roads safer for cyclists. The move follows a raft of measures unveiled by Mayor of London Boris Johnson earlier this month to protect cyclists from HGVs. Canary Wharf Contractors Ltd (CWCL) is implementing technology from PIE Mapping to help construction HGV drivers take alternative routes, reduce pollution and congestion and protect cyclists. The company will create workable routes which minimise road sharing between HGVs and cyclists so that they avoid each other during peak periods. Testing and careful modelling of all left turns coming into London is currently underway and the …

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The Government’s competition watchdog has set out plans to ban cement companies from issuing generic price rise letters to the industry. The new measure, which is now out to industry consultation, is one of a series of actions aimed at raising competition in the aggregates, cement and ready-mix concrete markets following an in depth probe by the Competition Commission last year. Instead, any future price announcement letters will have to be specific and relevant to contractors receiving them, including setting out the last unit price paid, the new unit price, and specific details of any other fees and charges that apply to each firm. At the end of July. Lafarge Tarmac sold one of its cement plants and Hanson sold one of its ground granulated blast furnace …

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More than 60% of construction workers polled by constructaquote.com admitted that they didn’t have an employment contract and a further 20% said that they weren’t sure whether they did have a contract or not. The study, which polled more than 1000* UK adults who work in the construction industry, also questioned the respondents about their annual leave entitlement and sick leave. Four out of five (82%) revealed that they did not receive any sick pay from their employer and 86% don’t get any paid annual leave. When asked if they get paid if the weather stopped them from working, only 12% said that they did, with a further 4% stating that it would depend on the circumstances. When asked if they considered themselves to be …

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