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The Government has granted development consent to build the giant Thames Tideway Tunnel project along the Thames in London. Communities Secretary Eric Pickles and Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss both today signed the order granting development consent for the 25km Thames Tideway Tunnel to be built and operated. Pickles said: “This is a challenging infrastructure project, but it is clear that the Thames Tunnel will help modernise London’s ageing Victorian sewerage system, and make the River Thames cleaner and safer.” A construction start has slipped from May 2015 as originally planned to 2016. The 7.2 metre diameter ‘super sewer’ is designed to stop more than 39m tonnes of untreated sewage being flushed into the Thames every year. Construction will involve work at 24 sites from Acton in the West to Abbey …

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A fall-off in refurb and maintenance work and new housing growth rates hit otherwise broadly improving output figures in July. Overall construction recorded no growth during the month and just a 0.6% rise in the second quarter compared with the first three months of 2014. But new work output continued to rise by 1% in July and 0.5% in Q2 compared to the start of the year. The latest figures suggest the pace of construction growth is easing as housing starts show tentative signs of tailing off. Private sector home building rose 1.1% on the month in July, down from 2% in June. The annual growth rate slowed to a five-month low of 16%. New orders also published today for the second quarter were 3.8% higher …

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JJ Roofing Supplies, the largest independent roofing merchant in London, have announced the acquisition of thousands of Velux® Roof Windows and Flashings and will be running a stock clearance from 1 September 2014 with at least 40% off Velux® V21 series windows available in stores and online, with next day delivery. VKR Holdings, Velux’s parent company, have worked closely with JJ Roofing Supplies for years and February’s launch of the New Generation Velux® Roof Windows led to another collaboration between the two companies to bring amazing value to their customers. JJ Roofing Supplies have been working closely with Velux® to bring surplus discontinued stock from the previous V21 range to customers at an incredibly low price. The stock has already been delivered to JJ Roofing Supplies and such is …

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Nine contractors have secured places on 20 framework agreements with Network Rail worth £1.6bn over the next five years. The deals cover an extensive programme of enhancements and renewals to the London North Western and East Midlands routes. The winners are: Amalgamated Construction Limited, Amey, Buckingham Group Contracting, Carillion, J Murphy & Sons, Miller Construction, Skanska, Story Contracting and VolkerRail. Network Rail’s infrastructure projects director, Rob Offord, said: “The awarding of these frameworks represents a significant milestone in the implementation of our new procurement and contracting strategy. “This will bring improved safety, whole-life cost efficiency and delivery performance through collaborative relationships with a consolidated and strategically aligned supply chain.” The awards by regions are:

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Peel Environmental’s plans for a £200m energy from waste plant at Kellingley Colliery, North Yorkshire have been given the green light. The energy centre near Knottingley will produce enough electricity to power around 63,000 homes, once the three-year construction programme is finished. The plant will save around 95,000 tonnes of CO2 each year, compared with sending the waste to landfill. The consent, subject to conditions and a section 106 agreement, is another landmark for Peel Environmental after City of York Council granted consent for an anaerobic digestion facility and co-located horticultural glasshouse at Wheldrake, York, earlier this year. Myles Kitcher, Managing Director of Peel Environmental, said: “This facility is one of a number of energy centres we are developing across the UK which will help broaden the …

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The owner of a Kent scaffolding contractor has been jailed for 15 months after a worker plunged 14 metres to his death at a site in North West London. The sentence will run concurrently with the unrelated life imprisonment imposed on Mark Anthony Hayes at the Old Bailey in July for the murder of his brother in a family feud. The latest conviction is the third that Hayes, 53, trading as WSS Scaffolding, has received for offences arising from the fatality of scaffolder Grant Dunmall at Linden Gardens in Notting Hill on 2 July 2012. Hayes was fined at two separate appearances at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in January and March last year for offences relating to the non-disclosure of essential documents to support a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation. When …

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A Hove-based firm has been fined after it flouted asbestos regulations and removed some of the dangerous material just three weeks after being refused a licence to carry out such work. Asbestos Damage Limitations Ltd, trading as ADL, was prosecuted at Brighton Magistrates’ Court last week for safety breaches following the work undertaken at premises in Dyke Road, Hove, between 22nd and 25th October 2013. The case was brought by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) after investigating a complaint that an unlicensed contractor was carrying out asbestos removal work. The court was told that ADL’s licence to remove asbestos had expired the previous month in September 2013.  The firm had applied for a renewal of the licence and had been for a renewal interview with HSE …

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There is only one remaining area of the country where house prices are less than three times the average national salary The borough of Copeland in north-west England is the last “affordable” area left in England, where the average house price is less than three times the average annual salary. According to a study by the Trade Union Congress, one in five local authorities were deemed “easily affordable” in 1997 with the cost of a home below three times earnings. However, the federation of national trade unions has found that this number has now shrunk to just one area. The combination of the housing market recovery across the UK and low wage growth since the recession means that areas which were traditionally accessible such as …

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Tony Pidgley, the charismatic founder and boss of Berkeley Group, is famous for calling the top of the housing market during the downturn. Today, the London housebuilder holds its Annual General Meeting – and in a trading statement this morning, Pidgley said the market is “stabilising”: Since the start of the current financial year, the market has reverted to normal transaction levels from the high point in 2013, providing a stable operating environment. Demand for the right product with good design in the best locations has remained resilient. This follows a statement by newly-floated estate agent Foxtons last week, which suggested the London market is cooling. Stability seemed to be word of the day, with the statement also indicating no change to current earnings expectations: With a …

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In the construction business, the task of designing and completing a large construction project both on schedule and on budget depends on a solid and effective building project management strategy. One of the most important elements of an effective project management strategy is the creation of a high degree of synchronization throughout the team. The team’s ability to collaborate effectively is, in fact, the only way to make sure that the construction will be successful and to the client’s specifications. A construction team that is not working together and communicating effectively could lead to the project hitting snags along the way, some quite serious. Unfiled paperwork, incorrect documentation and miscommunication between different work teams can result in costly delays and even the cancellation of the project altogether. …

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