Author Archives: Charlotte Banks

Construction administrations crept up again last month, but experts suggest greater client confidence could improve conditions in the near future. Twenty-three construction firms went under in May, according to Creditsafe. The latest toll brings the total number of failed construction firms this year so far to 115, down from 154…

Plans for the next five-year period of road investment have been delayed due to the general election, Construction News can reveal. A draft of the third road investment strategy (RIS3), outlining which road schemes the government will fund between 2025-2030, was due to be published in late May. However, in…

A London council has announced it will finish building a leisure centre after the original contractor collapsed last year. Work stopped on the Platinum Jubilee Leisure Centre (CGI pictured) in West Drayton, west London, when the £665m-turnover Buckingham Group entered administration. Hillingdon Council said it would now “directly manage the…

As Rishi Sunak was picking out his skinniest suit for his big election announcement last week, political podcasters Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell were sitting on a stage 200 miles away in front of a packed audience of built-environment professionals. During the session, at Leeds’ UK Real Estate Investment and…

HG Construction has been selected to build a £69m build-to-rent scheme on a former car park in Leeds. The contractor will deliver 375 homes for McLaren Living, McClaren Group’s build-to-rent development arm. Construction is expected to complete in early 2027. Designed by architects Carey Jones Chapman Tolcher, the BeckYard scheme…

The final report of the inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire will be released in just over three months’ time, more than seven years after the tragedy that killed 72 people. The inquiry team announced today (23 May) that publication of its phase two report, which has been delayed three…

More women than men have left construction careers over the past year, according to the latest official figures. The proportion of women in construction careers has steadily declined over the past year, leading an overall downward trend in the number of people employed in the sector, as recorded by the…

NHS trusts’ confidence in the government’s £20bn new hospitals pledge is “on increasingly shaky ground” due to funding delays, a health leader has told Construction News. Trust leaders are concerned schemes in the New Hospital Programme (NHP) will be scaled back or delayed beyond the 2030 deadline, as many are…

The UK has ratified an agreement to join a global trade bloc, a move the government claims could boost construction output by £119m a year. The UK will be the twelfth member of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which includes Japan, Australia and Canada. The countries…

Global insulation products manufacturer Knauf Insulation has announced a €200m (£170m) investment to build a new UK factory. The new facility will be able to produce more than 100,000 tonnes of rock mineral wool each year once it opens in 2026, the firm said. A planning application will be submitted…