News

A shortlist of three bidders has been confirmed for £2bn of development plans across Haringey in north London. The shortlisted bidders are Lendlease, Morgan Sindall with Affinity Sutton and Circle; and Pinnacle with Starwood Capital and Catalyst. The bidders who have dropped out of the race are Places for People, Galliford Try with Home Group and Urban & Civic. The Haringey Development Vehicle will work with the winning joint venture partner to deliver town centre regeneration and housing estate renewal across the borough. Over the next 20 years plans will see construction of 5,000 new homes and a new town centre in Wood Green. The leader of Haringey Council, Councillor Claire Kober said: “Today we are a step closer to appointing a partner to deliver one of the biggest regeneration…

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Highways England has revealed the line-up of a dozen consultants for its new Specialist Professional and Technical Services – SPaTS – framework. The agency plans to spend around £400m through the new arrangement over four years on support for the £11bn of capital investment in its Roads Improvement Strategy, announced in December 2014. Firms selected will offer a mix of technical engineering advice, commercial services, dispute resolution advice, insurance advice, procurement advice and post-opening project evaluation. SPaTS replaces previous routes available via T-TEAR, SPSF, PSF, and DRIP. This is an enabled framework and is available to the wider public sector.

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Select Property Group has secured planning permission for two residential tower blocks of over 500 flats for private rent in Manchester’s city centre. The two buildings, Riverside and Riverview, will operate under Select’s Affinity Living brand and will be built in a next to the Lowry Hotel on the banks of the River Irwell. Carillion is preferred contractor for the job and will start on site in October. The decision marks the third planning approval given for Select’s Affinity Living residential brand, after approval was granted for 677 apartments at Circle Square last month, a joint venture project with Bruntwood, and for 684 apartments at Embankment West in May. Located on New Bailey Street next to the riverside footpath, the 35-storey building, Affinity Living Riverview, will house 318 apartments, while the 17 storey building, Affinity…

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Construction companies have been fined £8m for safety offences since sentencing guidelines were changed earlier this year. New guidance was introduced in February instructing courts to consider the size of a company when it comes to imposing safety fines. Penalties have soared since then including a £2.6m fine for Balfour Beatty Utility Solutions after a worker was killed in a trench collapse. Insurance and risk specialist BLM has been tracking fines since the changes. BLM found that out of 101 health and safety fines issued since February, 38% affected those in the construction sector. The three highest fines alone totaled £5.6m while directors of two construction companies were also given custodial sentences. Helen Devery, partner and head of SHE practice at BLM said: “These new…

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Construction costs under Phase One of the Priority School Building programme have risen by £178m since January 2015. An update published by the Cabinet Office revealed cost increases for the programme to rebuild and refurbish 260 schools – taking the total budget to £2,298.8m. The report states: “A number of external factors continue to impact the programme, the most significant being the recovery of the construction market. “Over the last 22 to 24 months we have experienced a lack of interest from the contractors in the new batches being released into procurement and delays on a number of schemes as contractors seek additional funding to cover increasing costs of labour and materials. “This has resulted in delays against our internal delivery programmes, expenditure slipping backwards and an increase in…

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Brick making giant Forterra is planning to mothball two plants in Lancashire. The move was revealed in a trading update ahead of its interim results in September. Forterra was formerly known as Hanson Building Products and floated on the Stock Exchange in April. The company said profits since then were “in-line with management’s expectations.” But it added: “Given current economic uncertainty and sufficient brick inventory levels, the Board has reviewed the current production plan and has decided to maximise the utilisation of our most efficient brick plants and effectively manage our cost base.” Forterra said the mothballing plans were a “prudent action that will allow us to continue to meet customers’ needs while effectively managing our costs and cash position until we are able…

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Mobile CAD Surveying Solutions Ltd  can accommodate either a simple single property floor plan for a domestic or private customer to a complete schedule of buildings including whatever type of data collection the customer requires for commercial customers. If Architects or Surveyors and you require fast turn around building surveys, please give us a try! we currently work for dozens of architects, surveyors and designers around the UK and into mainland Europe, recently carrying out projects in France, Switzerland and the Channel Islands, or where they haven’t the capacity or staff to handle their own surveys or where they just require someone to make sure the job is done right, first time, Mobile CAD Surveying Solutions can help you. Currently we are working on many Commercial surveys …

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Lendlease is set to start construction next month on a £275m office complex at 245 Hammersmith Road in west London. Legal & General Property has sold a 50% stake to Mitsubishi Estate London to form a new partnership to develop the 250,000 sq ft scheme. The speculative scheme has been designed by Sheppherd Robson and already has planning consent from Hammersmith & Fulham Council. The new building will consist of a basement, ground and 11 upper storeys and an extensive public realm, including a new urban park and plaza to the Hammersmith Road. Simon Wilkes, Head of Business Space Development, Legal & General Property, said: “245 Hammersmith Road will be much more than just an office building; we are creating a destination with modern working and lifestyle trends at…

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Reporting from Friday the day after the BREXIT vote. Construction and property bosses appealed for calm today after the country voted to leave the European Union. The result sent shock waves through the financial markets as the pound tumbled and the stock market lost 8% in early morning trading. House builders were among the hardest hit with 20% falls in some big names like Taylor Wimpey. Leave won a shock victory with a 52% to 48% majority as more than 30 million people voted. During the campaign stay campaigners warned that an exit vote would push up construction prices by 15% and lead to a drop in investment. One contracting boss said: “The world has certainly changed this morning. “The vote is a shock and markets are reeling…

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McLaren Construction has won the contract to build a £90m distribution centre for homeware giant The Range near Bristol. The mega-shed will be the size of 15 Wembley Stadiums Rival bidders say the job has gone to McLaren who will start on site shortly.The deal was also confirmed by development partner Stoford. Work is expected to start on site shortly and take 12 months to complete. The 1.2million square feet warehouse will be built at the Central Park logistics centre in Avonmouth and will be the size of 15 Wembley Stadiums. Chris Dawson, founder of The Range, said: “This distribution centre is a big step in the expansion plans that I have for the business; it’s non-stop for us. “When the warehouse is up and fully operational…

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