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Developer LXB properties is planning to start tendering next month for a major out-of-town retail and leisure scheme at Rushden Lakes, in Northamptonshire. The developer announced today that it had cleared all hurdles to planning and would now start the near 500,000 sq ft shopping and leisure complex early next year. Several contractors including BAM, Bowmer & Kirkland and McLaren had been in project talks but progress was being hampered by planning uncertainty. LXB received the green light from communities secretary Eric Pickles in June subject to a six-week period where further challenges were permitted. This has now passed and LXB Properties can go ahead with the retail park on a 244-acre plot of brownfield land next to the A45 Northampton Road. A spokesman said: “Pre-lets …

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Construction buyers are reporting the biggest boom in new job creation since their monthly surveys began back in 1997. The latest Markit/CIPS UK Construction PMI survey for July showed new job vacancies opening up at the fastest rate for 17 years. The index dipped slightly to 62.4 from 62.6 in June bu the headline figure has now posted above the 50.0 no-change threshold for 15 months running. July data also signalled the steepest rise in residential building activity since November 2003 while rates charged by subcontractors increased at a near-record pace. David Noble, Group Chief Executive Officer at the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply, said: “The house building sector is racing ahead this quarter with the fastest growth in construction of homes for over a decade. “The industry as a …

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A construction worker has been rescued after falling down a 19ft bore hole on an Aberdeenshire building site. The 25-year-old man was working on a Stewart Milne Homes site on the outskirts of Aberdeen when the incident happened yesterday afternoon. A fire crew and a line rescue specialist team managed to hoist him up from the 3 feet diameter bore hole. He is said to have suffered leg injuries as a result of the fall. The Stewart Milne Homes site at Sunnyside Farm in the village of Drumoak, is being developed with plans for 35 homes.

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Scientists have come up with a way of using noise cancelling technology for acoustic barriers alongside roads and railway lines. Sonobex Limited, a newly formed spin-out from Loughborough University, has funding from the Technology Strategy Board, to bring its SonoBarrier acoustic fences to market. The first CE mark prototypes are expected to be produced by February 2015, the company says. Sonobex uses a patented acoustic meta-material technology called sonic crystals, which are fabricated materials designed to control, direct and manipulate sound. Sonobex sonic crystal based noise reduction technology is a passive method that superimposes disturbing noise with scattered anti-acoustic noise to cancel out the disturbance. Designs are tuned to particular dominant frequencies to achieve significant reduction levels. Sonobex has a £358,000 budget for its project, …

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Construction industry capacity shortages have prompted Mace to increase its forecast for tender cost inflation in London. The company’s cost consultancy division reports that contractors are now turning down work in the capital as they are able to pick and choose their jobs. With competition falling, margins are rising, it says. The surge in demand has led Mace to increase its forecast for London tender cost inflation from 3.5% to 4.5% for both 2014 and 2015. Outside of London, there is still enough capacity across the UK to meet demand, as well as steady competition. This continues to subdue price increases. Mace’s forecast for average inflation in tender prices has therefore remained unchanged at 2% for 2014, rising to 2.5% in 2015 and 3% in 2016, by which time it is expected …

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A London construction company and the director of a Hertfordshire roofing firm have been fined for safety failings after a worker was seriously injured when he plunged almost six metres through a void for a roof light. The roof light void where the fall occured The self-employed roofer, who does not want to be named, broke and fractured several bones in his back and bruised his diaphragm, lungs and thigh in the incident in Brent on 29 February 2012. He was unable to work for 14 months and still requires hospital treatment for back problems that have forced him to seek alternative employment. The fall occurred while he was under the control of Rickmansworth-based John Donald, trading as John Donald Roofing. The director had in turn been sub-…

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A CONSTRUCTION giant buying up large parts of London is lobbying Camden Council to a build skyscraper at the cost of the community, local residents warned yesterday. Supporters of the Save Swiss Cottage campaign have urged Camden to repeal Essential Living’s proposal to demolish the former Reuters building on 100 Avenue Road to build “long-term private rental” accommodation. The proposed area for redevelopment currently houses one of the few local green spaces, a community centre, Hampstead Theatre and the homes of local residents, including caring facilities for people with disabilities. Save Swiss Cottage member Sarah Gottlieb spoke to the Star about her fears over the construction, including its impact on the community and the inescapable ramping up of housing prices in the area. In her view the …

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Construction of a new £13.5m state of the art three-storey teaching block for Horsham’s Millais School has reached the half-way stage. Funded through West Sussex County Council’s School Capital Building Programme, the works will see a new teaching block to house specialist facilities for art, music and technology and new suites for maths and modern languages. Work started in October last year, and Willmott Dixon is currently on track to finish the second phase of works by November this year. Work is currently in the second of four phases and the team are working toward ultimate completion in November 2015. Headteacher Leon Nettley, chair of governors Liz Barnes, Willmott Dixon’s local managing director John Waterman, and project manager Matt Dubber, attended the event with several …

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Calls are growing to scrap the industry’s CIS tax scheme as HM Revenue & Customs launches consultation on reforms to the current system. Chancellor George Osborne conceded that changes to CIS were needed in his latest budget. The tax man is now calling on construction companies for their views on the scheme which is estimated to cost the industry £250m a year in administration. But industry experts believe the Government should be looking at scrapping CIS rather than just tinkering with the way it operates. Howard Royse, construction industry representative of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), said: “It is important that people working in the industry take this opportunity to tell HMRC exactly what they think of CIS. “We at ICAEW …

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The BBC will start showing a three-part documentary next week highlighting construction work on London’s Crossrail. BBC 2’s Fifteen Billion Pound Railway starts on 16 July at 9pm and follows work on the new train tunnels and stations under London. Crossrail provided exclusive access over two years to the BBC’s producers Windfall Films who spent time with tunnellers and engineers as construction of the new railway progressed. They witnessed the engineering challenges and key milestones including the spectacular tunnel machine breakthroughs. Crossrail Chief Executive Andrew Wolstenholme said: “The documentary series provides a unique insight into the complexity and challenges of delivering Europe’s biggest construction project through the very heart of London. “Every day people walk past our construction sites unaware of the maze of tunnels that are being constructed …

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