News

The major milestone on the £14.8bn scheme has seen boring machines drive through 26 miles of new tunnels Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin joined the Prime Minister and the Mayor of London at Farringdon today to celebrate the end of tunnelling on the Crossrail scheme. Work began in the summer of 2012, with eight 1,000-tonne tunnelling machines boring 26 miles of new rail tunnels underneath the capital. Prime Minister David Cameron said: “Crossrail is an incredible feat of engineering that will help to improve the lives of working people in London and beyond. “The project is a vital part of our long term plan to build a more resilient economy by helping businesses to grow, compete and create jobs right along the supply chain.” McLoughlin added: “This is a …

Read more »

New Research Reveals the UK’s Hardest Places to Find Work in Construction New research conducted by a leading business insurance website has revealed the areas within the UK where particular construction workers are struggling the most to find regular work. The study found that 15% of construction workers in the North East and 13% in Wales are currently struggling to find regular and reliable work, with electricians and bricklayers struggling the most across the UK. After it was recently revealed that the UK construction sector rebounded in May from a near two-year low in April, researchers at a leading business insurance website decided to look into how construction workers around different regions of the UK are finding the search for work. The team at www.constructaquote….

Read more »

Network Rail director of safety strategy Emma Head will join the HS2 team as corporate health and safety director in August. With 16 years’ experience in UK rail, she led the strategic safety agenda focusing on technology, working practices, culture change, risk management and system safety both internally and across the industry. She has worked on both the client and contractor side of the industry across major engineering schemes like the West Coast Route Modernisation Project and London’s Crossrail. Before Network Rail she worked for nearly two years with Morgan Sindall and for over six years with Barhale. HS2, chief executive Simon Kirby said: “Emma represents a hugely important addition to the HS2 team. “Her experience of driving through effective and lasting change on the existing rail network …

Read more »

London and the North East were the only places in the country to see home building registrations fall during the three months from February to April.  According to the latest NHBC figures, UK new homes registrations were unaffected by the run up to the election, increasing by 20% to 41,307 compared with the same period last year . But London saw a sharp fall of nearly 2,400 registrations, equating to a 30% drop over the period. The smaller North East regional fell by a similar percentage which amount6ed to a decline of 450 registration compared to the same period a year before. The latest figures suggest that the cooling in house prices in the Capital is now working through into fewer starts compared the exuberance of a years ago. Across …

Read more »

SDS Limited has been selected by the London Stock Exchange as one of this year’s ‘1000 Companies to Inspire Britain’. SDS has been identified, from over 3,600 high-growth manufacturing companies in the UK, as having a unique capacity to innovate and create new jobs, in turn spearheading the revival of the UK economy. To be considered for inclusion, businesses must not only have demonstrated growth in revenue over the last 4 years, but have also significantly outperformed their industry peers. By showcasing the UK’s most dynamic companies, the recently announced LSE report highlights the importance of fast growing businesses to the future of the UK economy. Xavier Rolet, Chief Executive, London Stock Exchange Group, said: “This report is a significant part of London Stock Exchange’s broader campaign to …

Read more »

Amnesty International has said that progress to improve the rights of migrant workers building Qatar’s FIFA World Cup facilities is not being made fast enough. Though it is more than 12 months since Qatar’s government promised reforms to improve migrant labour rights, Amnesty said that only limited progress has been achieved in five of nine areas. The authorities have failed to make any improvements in the other four according to a scorecard briefing titled ‘Promising little, delivering less: Qatar and migrant labour abuse ahead of the 2022 Football World Cup’. “Qatar is failing migrant workers,” said Mustafa Qadri, Gulf migrant rights researcher at Amnesty International. “Last year the government made promises to improve migrant labour rights in Qatar, but in practice, there have been no significant advances in …

Read more »

The Merseylink construction consortium selected to deliver a new gateway project on the River Mersey has developed a new bridge. The trestle bridge will be used by heavy construction vehicles and sophisticated equipment purely as an access platform to the build site. A lifting section, which will be used to allow boats to pass up and down the river, is also due to be installed. The consortium is made up of three contractors, FCC Construcción, Kier Infrastructure & Overseas and Samsung Construction & Trading. The temporary bridge will be dismantled and removed completely when the new Mersey Gateway Bridge is in place. Richard Walker, Merserylink Project Director, said: “Completion of the trestle bridge marks another important milestone for the Mersey Gateway Project. “It will provide …

Read more »

Balfour Beatty suffered a significant revolt among shareholder ranks over the firm’s remuneration report at its AGM yesterday. Shareholders holding nearly a third of the stock voted against accepting the 2014 remuneration report, which included terms for doubling Steve Marshall’s salary to £531,500 during the eight months that he acted as executive chairman. The protest vote reflected a groundswell of shareholder concern about the previous boards’ pay after a performance that saw Balfour Beatty rack up a total trading loss of £391m last year. After the London AGM, Balfour issued a statement that said: “The company notes the significant number of votes cast against Resolution 2, the advisory vote on the directors’ remuneration report. “As shareholders are aware, 2014 was a challenging year for the company and the remuneration …

Read more »

Five firms have secured places for £10m-plus projects under Cambridgeshire County Council’s and Northamptonshire County Council’s shared services framework. They are among a total of 30 firms making the cut on a panel that will be used to deliver an estimated £500m-£1bn of work over four years. The Local Government Shared Services construction framework will be used for repairs and renovation, refurbishment, demolition, modular build, extensions and new build. LGSS Framework £100k – £1.5m £1.5m – £3m £3m – £6m £6m – £10m £10m plus Steele & Bray Jeakins Weir Wildgoose Kier Wates Borras Barnes Keepmoat Farrans John Graham T + B Lakehouse Seddon Willmott Dixon Galliford Try D Brown Ashe Lakehouse Bouygues Vinci Coulson Watson …

Read more »

Newly conducted research has discovered that nearly one quarter of registered individuals who work within the construction industry did not vote during last week’s general election, with the majority of these individuals blaming a lack of knowledge surrounding party policies behind their decision not to take to the ballot. After the news that an estimated 66.1 per cent of the electorate in Britain voted during last week’s general election, a team of researchers at a leading business insurance website in the UK has discovered that as many as one quarter of construction workers who were registered to vote last week, made the decision not to. The team at www.constructaquote.com polled a total of 2,159 individuals working across a range of industries within the construction sector for the purposes …

Read more »