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On behalf of client Torbay Council, main contractor Dyer and Butler has awarded Aarsleff Ground Engineering the soil nailing contract to stabilise the embankment as part of a major Highways widening scheme on the A3022 Brixham Road between Clayland Cross and Wilkins Drive. The widening of Brixham Road is part of the Western Corridor scheme – one of the Local Enterprise Partnership’s portfolio of strategic infrastructure projects that will help to generate growth throughout the whole of Devon, Plymouth, Somerset and Torbay. Specifically, Aarsleff will install 378 No. self-drilled fully galvanised soil nails, of 6m length. Aarsleff will install the soil nails with their excavator mounted hütte drill mast. Owing to the success of the contract win, Aarsleff’s Assistant Manager for Geotechnical Jonathan Greener said “Combined with …

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It may not happen often but electric motor failure can have serious consequences when it does occur. In fact, it can be difficult to know just what to do. As business downtime and losses mount, it’s very easy to make a panicked decision over whether to rewind and repair or replace your motor. What should motor owners do? With new high-efficiency motors available, do they take the plunge and invest in a whole new motor altogether that promises higher efficiency levels but with significantly greater costs? Or, do they commit to an electric motor rewind or repair? While the cost is often lower, many are concerned about the potential inefficiencies that an electric motor rewind can bring — yet are these worries grounded in fiction? This …

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Caddick Construction has taken over from Carillion on the £154m Angel Gardens scheme in Manchester. Caddick is the sister company of Moda who are developing the scheme with Apache Capital. It is one of the first major private jobs to restart on site following Carillion’s collapse. Caddick will be directly hiring 20 former Carillion employees and the move will save around 500 jobs on site protecting around 30 subcontractors previously working under Carillion. Angel Gardens is one of the country’s biggest residential schemes outside of London and Caddick Construction will now act as construction manager to deliver the 35 storey, 466 home build to rent (BTR) project. Carillion started work on Angel Gardens in January 2016. Andrew Parker, director of projects at Moda, said: “We have had contingency plans in place for…

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Aarsleff Ground Engineering has been awarded a sheet piling project that will allow the company to utilise its new Giken ECO 700S machine, allowing for the silent and vibration-free driving of sheet piles at Grovehill Depot in Beverley. On behalf of main contractor, North Midland Construction/Building Ltd, Aarsleff will be installing 155 No. steel sheet piles, 700mm width and 12.0m in length. The sheet piles will form a retaining wall approximately 108 l/m for maximum retained height.   A long reach excavator mounted with Movax unit will handle and pitch piles to the press unit. Owing to the challenging site conditions, and wanting to deliver a safe and successful installation process, Aarsleff suggested a Movax unit mounted on a long reach excavator be employed. The limited working …

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Balfour Beatty and Galliford Try have been left counting the cost of Carillion’s collapse with big hits on the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route project. Carillion was in joint venture with the duo on the £550m contract, which they are obliged to complete. The current estimate of the extra cash contribution outstanding from Carillion to complete the project is £60-80m, of which any shortfall will be funded equally between Balfour and Galliford. Both firms said they were discussing the position urgently with the Official Receiver of Carillion and Transport Scotland, to minimise any impact on the project. Balfour Balfour, which was also working with Carillion on the £1.4bn A14 in Cambridgeshire and the £200m M60 Junction 8 to M62 Junction 20 scheme, estimated its cash hit …

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Suppliers and subcontractors are owed around £2bn by Carillion. The figure in the firm’s last results statement for “trade and other payables” highlights how hard the supply chain could be hit by the company’s collapse. Subcontractors should be offered some protection on most public jobs by the use of Project Bank Accounts. PBAs ring-fence money from the client and protect suppliers’ cash if a main contractor goes under. One industry source said: “This is the real acid test for PBAs now as a lot of Carillion’s contracts will have been using them. “PBAs have certainly helped speed up payments to suppliers but they’ve never seen a test like a firm the size of Carillion going under.” But millions held in retentions will still be…

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Award-winning UK construction, refurbishment and fit out contractor, Gilbert-Ash, has been appointed for a £2m fit out project at the British High Commission in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Work on the 3,000 square metre building adds to the long list of international projects Gilbert-Ash has completed with the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO), with work undertaken in a total of 43 countries worldwide to date. This is the second project Gilbert-Ash has completed on the British High Commission in Colombo, Sri Lanka having completed a £5m refurbishment project in May 2016. Scheduled to take seven months to complete, the fit out project involves re-roofing the building and eradicating damage prevalent in the region due to its climate. The new roof is a purpose-…

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The Financial Conduct Authority has launched an investigation into company announcements made by Carillion in the lead up to its recent profit warnings. A brief Stock Exchange update this morning said: “The Financial Conduct Authority  has notified Carillion plc that it has commenced an investigation in connection with the timeliness and content of announcements made by Carillion between 7 December 2016 and 10 July 2017.  “Carillion is cooperating fully with the FCA.” Carillion issued a positive trading update on December 7 2016 where it predicted a rise in operating profits. On March 1 2017 it published positive results for 2016 as group revenue jumped 14% to £5.2bn producing group pre-tax profits of £147m. Chairman Phillip Green said in the results: “Given the size and quality of our order book and pipeline of…

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Just 35 firms have signed up to the Government’s payment charter nearly four years after it was launched to great fanfare as the solution to payment abuse in the supply chain. The Construction Supply Chain Payment Charter initially committed firms to pay within 60 days on both private and public sector work. From this month the payment pledge tightens up, shifting signatories to 30 days to meet the Government’s target of bringing construction into line with other industries. But just three main contractors and two private clients have signed-up to date, with the last new firm committing to the payment pledge last August. Now specialists subcontractors are writing the Charter off as a non-starter, despite it being pushed by the Construction Leadership Council and pan-industry trade body…

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As we head into 2018, only one factor of the economy is certain – our uncertainty about the implications of Brexit is making a significant impact on the UK construction industry. General optimism in the industry has been at its most subdued since mid-2013, while the latest estimates from the Office of National Statistics suggest that construction output contracted 0.5 per cent in third quarter of 2017, having shrunk by 0.3 per cent in the previous three months. Duncan Brock of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply said, “It appears that the continued fall in commercial activity was testament to Brexit-related uncertainty on the horizon and the sector’s fear about the direction of the UK economy as clients still hesitated to spend on bigger projects.” Howard Archer of …

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