News

Consultant Turner & Townsend is converting to a limited liability partnership. The move means plans to float on the Stock Exchange have been abandoned. Plans for a partnership come as the firm boosted its turnover to £380m in the year ended 30 April 2015 with revenue in the UK rising to £158m Turner & Townsend now employs 4,100 staff worldwide and staff numbers rose 14% last year. The firm said: “Independence is a keystone of the Turner & Townsend brand, and a unique strength that has served the company and its clients well. “As part of an ongoing strategy to maintain and protect its independence – and to reward and attract world-class talent – Turner & Townsend is now set to convert to a limited liability partnership….

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Carillion started work last Friday morning to erect a 650-tonne roof truss over Anfield’s new Main Stand expansion project. Work started at 6am  to lift the truss onto two 28m high towers at either side of the Main Stand. The lift is being performed by two of the UK’s largest cranes the AK680 and AK912 which are 252ft-high. Work was due to start Thursday but was delayed by high winds. The lift operation was scheduled to take a full day to complete and follows months of detailed planning by Carillion. Ian Ayre, chief executive officer of Liverpool FC, said: “This is an historic milestone in Anfield’s history as the stadium transformation continues to take shape. “We embarked on this significant expansion project just seven months ago …

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Highways England has awarded a raft of smart motorways jobs to contractors worth up to £1.5bn. Balfour Beatty in a joint venture with Vinci has taken the largest deal for a 10-mile stretch of the M5 Junctions 4a to 6 in Worcestershire; a 12-mile section of the M6 Junctions 2 to 4 in the Midlands, and a 32-mile stretch of the M4 Junctions 3 to 12 in London and Berkshire. The contract is worth up to £607.4m and work on the first £45.4m package on the M4 will start this autumn. The M6 deal is expected to start work in 2017/18 and the M4 scheme in 2016/17. Kier has secured work worth up to £475m in a 50/50 joint venture with Carillion under the Collaborative Delivery Framework. The JV will work …

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The Government is pulling funding from the Green Deal Finance Company due to “low take-up and concerns about industry standards.” Energy and Climate Change Secretary Amber Rudd said she will now “work with the building industry and consumer groups on a new value-for-money approach.” The Government said: “Future schemes must provide better value for money, supporting the goal of insulating a million more homes over the next five years and the Government’s commitment to tackle fuel poverty.” Existing Green Deal Finance Plans and Green Deal Home Improvement Fund applications and vouchers will be honoured. Mark Bayley, Chief Executive, Green Deal Finance Company (GDFC) said: “The most important thing at the moment is for us and the Department to reassure those who …

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A string of potential buyers is lining-up to buy parts of historic building restoration specialist Fairhurst Ward Abbotts. The firm went into administration earlier this month when most of the 235 staff were made redundant. FWA was established back in 1941 and holds the royal warrant for building and decorating services to the Queen. The company built up a countrywide reputation for delivering renovation and refurbishment of historic properties, plus luxury new build projects. A statement from administrators Begbies Traynor said: “The Administrators are receiving a number of enquiries from parties interested in acquiring parts of the business; some of which are in the early stage due diligence processes. “No further information can be provided due to the confidentiality of the negotiations taking place at this time, but …

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Emergency resurfacing work took place on a stretch of the M6 on Saturday after a lorry fire melted parts of the road. Highways England said: “The M6 southbound is closed between junctions J13 (Stafford South) and J12 (Cannock) due to a severe HGV fire which engulfed all lanes of the carriageway shortly after 01:30 this morning. “The intensity of the fire has caused extensive damage to the carriageway and resurfacing is required. “The southbound carriageway is therefore expected to remain fully closed into the mid/late morning today.”

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A new study has revealed that more than two thirds of British homeowners have suffered a costly accident due to a failure regarding a DIY project; with the average cost of DIY accidents adding up to £1,830  per year. The most common accidents emerged as a result of ‘breaking something with a hammer’ and ‘not following the instructions’. Over two thirds of people who attempt to carry out complicated DIY projects by themselves at home have had an incident that has ended up potentially costing them more money than if they were to hire a specialist In a bid to further extend its research into home DIY and the costs associated with it, the team at www.constructaquote.com polled a total of 2,038 British people for the …

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Chancellor George Osborne is launching a radical revamp of planning rules in a bid to boost house building levels across the country. Automatic planning permission will be granted on many brownfield sites while major housing schemes could also be fast-tracked. The moves will be part of a plan called “Fixing the Foundations” to boost the UK’s productivity revealed today by the Chancellor as a follow-up to his latest Budget. Planning powers will also be devolved to Mayors in London and Manchester while councils will be sanctioned if they take too long to deal with applications. Osborne said: “Britain has been incapable of building enough homes. “The reforms we made to the planning system in the last Parliament have started to improve the situation: planning permissions …

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Green construction campaigners were left reeling today as the Government dumped its zero-carbon homes targets. Chancellor George Osborne’s “Fixing the Foundations” report confirmed that zero-carbon building policy is being dropped along with targets for homes to be compliant by 2016 and other buildings by 2019. Julie Hirigoyen, Chief Executive of the UK Green Building Council, said: “Let us be in no doubt this announcement is the death knell for zero carbon homes. “It is short-sighted, unnecessary, retrograde and damaging to the house building industry which has invested heavily in delivering energy efficient homes. “Britain needs more housing but there is no justification for building homes with a permanent legacy of high energy bills.” Rob Lambe, Managing Director of Willmott Dixon Energy Services, said: “Since the …

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Long-established historic building restoration specialist Fairhurst Ward Abbotts has gone into administration. More than 200 staff with the Dartford-based firm are understood to have received letters informing them they have been made redundant. The news comes as two other contractors – Nottingham M&E specialist D H Fathers and Tyneside builder Turney Wylde Construction – also entered administration bringing total job losses to over 400 last week. FWA was established back in 1941 and holds the royal warrant for building and decorating services to the Queen. The firm built up a countrywide reputation for delivering renovation and refurbishment of historic properties, plus luxury new build projects. As well as the Royal Palaces, FWA worked on some of the UK’s finest historic buildings including the National Galley, the V&A …

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