Author Archives: David Price

If you want to sell a construction business, there have traditionally been three options: sell it to another company, to the management or to the public through a listing on the stock exchange. Since 2015, a fourth option has gained in popularity: selling the business to the staff. The concept…

A £250m residential tower in Canary Wharf has received planning approval. The 500-apartment block is being developed by Far East Consortium (FEC). The 56-storey building will also have commercial space on the ground floor and 35 per cent of the new homes will be affordable. A construction start date has…

Profit at Royal Bam’s two UK operations more than doubled in 2021. The adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for Bam Construct jumped from €4.3m (£3.6m) to €30.9m (£25.8m). Its Netherlands-based parent company cited increased work levels and a favourable claim settlement for boosting its returns. Revenue…

Amey has hired George Pargeter from Balfour Beatty to be its local authority business director. Pargeter, who will join Amey this month, will have responsibility for contracts in Kent, Staffordshire, Surrey and Trafford, plus Amey’s UK-wide traffic management operations. He has joined the infrastructure services firm after 27 years with…

The head of a construction products manufacturer has warned that easing materials inflation could be temporary. Alumasc, which produces water management and building envelope products, has seen the cost of materials rise as much as 20 per cent, which chief executive Paul Hooper said the company has had to pass…

Construction vacancies dropped to a five-month low in January, according to data from the Office for National Statistics. In the three months to the end of January there were 38,000 vacancies in the industry. This was down on the 41,000 reported in the three months to the end of December…

Scape has opened the pre-qualification for its £4bn civil engineering framework. From today, contractors will have until 25 March to submit pre-qualification questionnaires ahead of tendering for a framework spot. The national civil engineering framework is due to begin next year and run until 2027, with an option for it…

More than 100 former employees of Midas have started legal proceedings over how they lost their jobs. At least two legal firms are representing the ex-staff members. The claims centre on the lack of consultation regarding redundancies before the company went into administration earlier this month. If it is found…

The number of administrations in the construction industry dropped to the lowest level for seven months in January. There were 12 administrations in the first month of 2022, according to data collected by Creditsafe. This was the lowest rate since June 2021, when seven failures were recorded, and reversed the…

Kier has been appointed to deliver a £107m mixed-use scheme in Gloucester. Described as a 'city-centre campus', the scheme includes 135,000 square feet of Grade A workspace for tech firms, a 130-room hotel, rooftop restaurant and bar, and 43 apartments. There will also be space for cafes, bars and restaurants…