News

Tottenham Hotspur are believed to have awarded the first contract package on their £400m stadium. Sky Sports News is reporting that Essex based Anderson group has secured a £50m deal for the stadium foundations and concrete structures like upper floors and stairways. Anderson carried-out a similar package of works on Tottenham’s £45m Training Academy at Bulls Cross in Enfield, Middlesex where McLaren Construction was main contractor. We understand that McLaren in a joint venture with FCC is one of the front-runners for the main stadium contract. Sky Sports News said it had seen a letter sent from Savills to Haringey Council. The letter stated: “THFC have today entered into a Joint Contracts Tribunal (JCT) Design and Build Contract for the civil engineering …

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ISG’s construction managing director Alan McCarthy-Wyper has suddenly left the firm after just 18 months. McCarthy-Wyper was brought in from Balfour Beatty Rail by ISG chief executive David Lawther in May 2013. He was tasked with streamlining the struggling UK construction division. McCarthy-Wyper cut overheads, shrinking the division into three regions. But the construction division made a £1.2m operating loss this year after scraping in with a small profit in 2013. Since the management shake-up two senior regional chiefs have quit ISG. Northern lead Andy Mallice left to join Robertsons in June after nearly four years with ISG. While former ISG south west director John Rawlinson joined GB Solutions as managing director of its new central and south west region after leaving last year. Phil Brown, …

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A host of major contractors will be looking to meet new suppliers at an event in north east London next week. The Supplier Engagement Day is being sponsored by ISG and Waltham Forest Council. Constructionline is hosting the event which will allow subcontractors to meet other firms including Wates, Durkan and Higgins. Councillor Clare Coghill, Cabinet Member for Economic Growth and High Streets said: “This is a great opportunity for local businesses in our borough to feel first hand some of the benefits of the significant regeneration going on throughout Waltham Forest. “It’s right that wherever possible local businesses meet the needs of developers who are helping to build a better borough.” Andy Preston, Client Relationship Manager for London at Constructionline, said: “Local SME contractors are …

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GlaxoSmithKline has got the planning green light to build a £350m biopharmaceutical factory at Ulverston in Cumbria. It will be the first new GSK manufacturing facility built in the UK for almost 40 years and will employ around 450 construction workers at peak. Planners at South Lakeland District Council approved the pharmaceutical giant’s Cumbrian plans, subject to a section 106 agreement. A more detailed reserved matters application for the first part of the development will be submitted during 2015. GSK plans to build three separate production buildings, providing 1.3m sq ft for manufacturing, research, office and warehouse facilities. Work will start on the first phase in 2015. It will then take about six years before it is operational. This part of the factory will be built on the existing car park on …

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Two pedestrians have been crushed by a falling site hoarding in east London. The man and woman were hit by the huge hoarding while walking by Bellway Home’s Pembury Circus site in Hackney on Wednesday afternoon. A 70metre x 2metre high section of the hoarding was blown over Ambulance crews were called to the scene where they treated two patients – a man and a woman – for leg, back and hand injuries and took them to Homerton Hospital. The woman was seriously injured, officials said. A London Ambulance Service spokeswoman told the London Evening Standard: “We were called at 1.39pm to Pembury Road at the junction with Dalston Lane to reports of a collapsed advertising board. “We sent a duty officer to the scene, two ambulance …

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Problems have been discovered with steel work on the new Olympic Stadium roof. The Enquirer understands that cracking was spotted in some of the welds during recent lifting operations at the site. Sources close to the project also claimed that some strengthening plates in parts of the new roof structure had been missed out. Steelwork contractor William Hare is believed to be working around the clock overseeing remedial work. Balfour Beatty is main contractor on the £154m job to convert the stadium into a new home for West Ham United football club. The cost of the roof reconfiguration work is estimated at £41m to create the world’s largest cantilevered roof which will be 84 metres wide at its deepest point. Work has involved dismantling and removing …

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Comparison of Galvanized Steel with Stainless Steel By:  Jake Hyet Even though both galvanized steel and stainless steel are technically steel, they are very different from each other and have many different applications.  It is important that you know the difference, particularly when you have to decide which material to use for a home improvement or construction project.  Here is an explanation of what each steel is composed of and their uses. Uses for Galvanized Steel Galvanized steel is frequently used for home construction projects.  It is also commonly used in framing homes.  Nails, nuts and bolts are made from galvanized steel.  You may not know this, but it is also an established and commonly used choice for ornamental fencing.  …

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Canary Wharf Group is starting the hunt for package contractors on its massive redevelopment of the Shell Centre site on London’s South Bank. The move comes despite an ongoing legal challenge against the scheme which has delayed the start of construction. Canary Wharf Group is construction manager on the project and joint development manager with Qatari Diar. The scheme was approved by Communities Secretary Eric Pickles in June but is now facing a legal challenge by a lone objector. The High Court challenge is due to be heard in December but the developers are confident of victory and are pressing ahead with the scheme. Canary Wharf Group majority owner Songbird Estates said: “A Section 288 objection to the Secretary of State’s decision was filed and a court date …

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The Considerate Constructors Scheme (CCS), an initiative which aims to improve the image of the industry by encouraging best practice, has reached its 80,000th registered site. The 80,000th site belongs to Morgan Sindall’s Brampton Village Primary School site in Huntingdon, and the Managing Director for Construction East and the project team from Morgan Sindall were presented with a plaque on Friday 19th September to mark the occasion. Registering a site with the CCS demonstrates a commitment to improving the image of construction, as all registered sites must adhere to a Code of Considerate Practice. This involves a commitment from sites registered with the Scheme to care about appearance, respect the community, protect the environment, secure everyone’s safety and value their workforce. All registered sites are regularly monitored …

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Contractor Leadbitter has been fined £100,000 after a worker was critically injured when he was run over by a nine tonne dumper truck. David Windsor, 62, from Bristol, suffered life changing injuries, including severe brain damage, in the incident at a site in Devonport, on 7 October 2010. He also sustained facial fractures, serious injuries to right arm, fractured ribs, a fractured pelvis, leg fractures and foot injuries all on his right side where the dumper ran over him. He spent two weeks in intensive care, a month in a high dependency unit and was finally discharged home from a brain injury rehabilitation unit in April, 2011 – more than six months later. Plymouth Crown Court heard that Windsor, a delivery driver, was delivering a mortar silo to the Leadbitter site …

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