Author Archives: Joshua Stein

The construction industry has started 2024 strongly, with an increase in housing work seeing the sector bounce back into growth. Construction output expanded by 1.1 per cent in January compared with December, with a total output value of £15.42bn compared with £15.25bn, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).…

A lack of construction-sector capacity means a proposed legal deadline to remove gas boilers in buildings north of the border is unachievable, Scottish ministers have been warned by advisers. The Regulatory Review Group (RRG), which advises Scottish ministers on new legislation, has voiced “significant concerns” about the 2045 target in…

Costain’s chief executive has called for the next UK government to appoint a cabinet-level minister to get a grip of infrastructure delivery. In an interview with Construction News, Costain chief executive Alex Vaughan outlined a set of priorities for the upcoming general election, aimed at delivering improved performance in the…

Costain has reported a fall in profit after spending £8m on restructuring. The contractor made a pre-tax profit of £30.9m in the year to 31 December 2023, in comparison with £32.8m the year before. Turnover at the contractor was also down, to £1.33bn from £1.42bn in 2022. Costain said the…

VolkerFitzpatrick has snagged a £34m job to deliver a 550-metre-long road near Canterbury. The contractor will both design and build the section of a “new strategic highway” called the Sturry Link Road, which is being built on the A28 to serve around 16,000 new homes and ease congestion in the…

Contractor Alun Griffiths has walked away from a bumper scheme to build a bypass in Somerset. The contractor left the £89.2m Banwell Bypass site after it already started enabling works, risking further delay to the project, according to local councillors. The impasse is the latest spanner in the works at…

McLaren Construction has signed a £41m deal to build a bumper industrial complex in Essex. The contractor will develop the Centurion Park site for industrial developer Tungsten Properties, consisting of 10 buildings and covering more than 33,000 square metres of warehouse and associated space. McLaren will also build a roundabout…

Charles Banner KC will lead a major review into speeding up infrastructure projects, the government has announced. Banner, who is also a peer in the House of Lords, will examine whether nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs) are “unduly held up by inappropriate legal challenges”, and how that could be “effectively…

Inflated cladding remediation costs have taken the shine off Kier’s booming revenue, as the contractor posts its interim results. The firm tabled an additional £7.2m of cladding remediation costs in its results for the six months to the end of 2023. Kier said the fund will cover projects where it…

Former government construction adviser Paul Morrell has urged ministers to introduce stopgap measures on product-safety testing after concluding no comprehensive action is likely before the general election. Last year, Morrell produced a report for the government that recommended a raft of measures to improve failings in the current regime, which…