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Production has started into building the UK’s first Eco-Town which will be situated in North West Bicester, Oxfordshire. The project which will see up to 6,000 sustainable homes being built is part of a long term eco-friendly drive known as the “Exemplar”. The initial construction involves the production of 33 homes in the area. Each one will be highly efficient and produce zero carbon making this the first true zero carbon community in the UK. In addition, the development will boast 40% green space which is well above the national average. Mark Fielding MD at Cotaplan building systems highlighted on the project, “Like ourselves, A2dominiona have a vision to transform the way communities live and use accommodation in a sustainable way.  Cotaplan are glad to see …

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With the UK pushing ahead full force with housing developments up and down the country to meet the ever growing demand, it seems that architecture has become somewhat homogeneous. For many, such a landscape of properties serve only to blend into a pool of choices that are all depressingly the same, which leads them to search for older properties which boast character features from decades gone by.  Trevor Smith from Essex Drain Engineering Services speaks out about the five of the main considerations to bear in mind when old is not always as beautiful inside and out. The roof and chimney: Structures vital to both your bank balance as well as your safety The roof of any home serves as one of the most important structures (as …

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Leeds shopfitting and joinery specialist Wood-Mitchell Building Group has been placed in administration. Most of the 70 staff at the £12m turnover firm have been laid off by administrators from Deloitte. The administrators are now in the process of shutting the business down, which traces it history back to 1896. Wood-Mitchell serviced a variety of regional and national clients across a range of sectors, from museums, offices and shops. Deloitte’s Leeds office aims to run the business with a skeleton staff to complete some outstanding contracts and will put the firm’s freehold property in Lowtown, Pudsey up for sale.

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Aberdeen council has backed development partner Henry Boot’s funding proposals for a £333m conference and exhibition centre on the outskirts of the city. The planned £333m Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre will be built at Bucksburn near the Dyce airport and will replace the existing AECC at the Bridge of Don, which was built in 1985. A mixed-use residential-led scheme is proposed for the Bridge of Don site once the new centre is up and running. Boot will submit detailed plans targeting a planning permission by the end of 2015 to develop the initial phase of the project, including the 750,000 sq ft exhibition and conference centre, two hotels and an anaerobic digestion green energy centre. Construction is penciled in to start in mid-2016 and run through …

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Leeds-based McFadden Construction has become the first victim of the financial turmoil at construction business GB Group. Yesterday the local civil engineering firm itself filed for administration after being locked in a long-running payment dispute with GB Group over work on a major Leeds hotel project. McFadden boss Martin Horne said: “There are several contractors that have not been fully paid on the Leeds hotel. “We were in the throes of a second adjudication for around £700,000, after winning £450,000 in an earlier ruling for work on the reinforced concrete basement. “But with GB Group filing for administration there is now obviously a big question mark over the case, which has been putting a big strain on our cashflow. “This payment dispute has hit more …

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An explosives specialist has been fined after a quarry blast sent rocks of up to 15 kilos flying outside a danger zone toward employees and across a public road. Falling rocks narrowly avoided hitting workers as they landed well outside the designated blast zone at Moons Hill Quarry near Shepton Mallet on 7 February 2012. Bristol Crown Court heard that workers acting as sentries outside the danger area were aware of rocks flying above their heads and landing all around them immediately after the blast. Rocks also landed in the processing plant area of the quarry, which is on the other side of a public road. HSE inspectors discovered that the blast had not been properly planned. Too much explosive was used in an area where the ground was already …

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Development Securities and Transport for London has formed a joint venture to create a mixed-use scheme at Southwark Underground station. The one-acre site above and around the London Underground station on Blackfriars Road has potential for a 225,00 sq ft landmark scheme, led with 300 flats. The development site combines three sites: a vacant office building, Algarve House; adjacent land owned by TfL including the air space above Southwark Underground station; and further land around the station owned by the London Borough of Southwark Located between the Elephant and Castle regeneration area and the South Bank, the high rise project including developing air-rights would deliver over 300 flats as well as shops and restaurants. Development Securities and TfL have signed up architect AHMM to develop a masterplan …

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The deal marks the firm’s first foray as a major housing developer in the UK and saw it fend off rival bids from a Mace, Argent and Peabody consortium and specialist developer Grainger. Balfour Beatty’s UK construction arm will deliver all construction, which is expected to generate £400m, while the group’s investment arm injects £35m of equity over eight years, representing 50% of the equity required. The development will be constructed in phases over eight years creating 50 apprenticeships and sustaining 350 construction jobs at the peak of construction. The transformational project at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in East London is being delivered in a 50:50 joint venture with Places for People, which will manage sales and letting. It will create two new neighbourhoods, to be called East Wick and Sweetwater, with …

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Between the years 2009 and 2014, male workers in the UK were on average 20.75 times more likely than their female counterparts to suffer a fatality at work. This is despite the fact women currently make up 47% of the UK workforce[1]. The most recent data for the years 2013/14 indicate that a total of 85 men died whilst at work, compared to the total female death toll of four. Of these, 42 deaths were related to construction. Fatal falls, which again were most prevalent in the construction industry, accounted for three in every ten worker deaths. A full illustration of the year on year comparative data between the genders can be found here. This infographic shows the prevalence of male mortality rates in the UK workforce compared to females, per average 100,000 …

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The growth spurt in house building activity enjoyed by much of the industry could be coming to an end. According to the latest Government figures housing starts climbed again last year rising by 10% to 137,010. This growth comes on the back of a 36% rise on 2012 and 59% jump from the trough in 2009. But the latest quarterly figures also suggest activity may have peaked before getting anywhere near the output levels required. Seasonally adjusted housing starts in England are estimated at 29,800 in the December quarter 2014, a 10% decrease compared to 33,250 starts in the September quarter, which itself was down 10% on Q2. Completion figures, which always lag behind starts, are running at only 118,760, well below the 245,000 homes a year target widely accepted by all political parties as …

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