Author Archives: Greg Pitcher

Former Crossrail boss Mark Wild is to become chief executive of High Speed 2 (HS2) Ltd. The experienced transport leader will take the reins of the shortened rapid rail link with a brief to keep costs down and prevent delays. A start date has not yet been set for his…

Digital sign-ins for workers have been blamed for a doubling in cyber attacks on construction companies over the past year, according to a report. Financial advisory specialist Kroll said the sector accounted for 6 per cent of its incident responses in the first quarter of this year. That was double…

Delivery of Labour's new town ambitions would require clear pipelines of work, a radical approach to planning and innovative funding routes, key industry figures have warned. Shadow housing secretary Angela Rayner said in a speech at the UK Real Estate Investment & Infrastructure Forum in Leeds this week that she…

The University of Cumbria has advertised a fresh deal to build its new campus in Carlisle city centre after Sir Robert McAlpine (SRM) walked away from the delayed scheme. The Hertfordshire-headquartered contractor said in March 2022 that it had been named as sole contractor on the £78m Citadels project (pictured)…

Major contractors have called for a clear focus on construction during the campaign period that began with yesterday’s announcement of a general election on 4 July. Prime minister Rishi Sunak caught many political commentators by surprise by calling voters to the ballot box six months before the end of the…

Bam has won a £33m deal to build a secondary school in Kent. The Dutch-owned contractor will construct a 750-pupil replacement facility for Orchards Academy in Swanley. The project will see Bam deliver new classrooms along with indoor and outdoor sports spaces on the operational site of the existing school.…

An international group of contractors has secured £1.8bn of works on an England-to-Scotland power project. Athens-based Mytilineos Energy and Metals, US giant GE Vernova and Milan's Power Link Submarine Cable Solutions were appointed to National Grid's Torness to Hawthorn Pit HVDC Link. The engineering, procurement and construction deals will see…

A specialist contractor representative body has written to ministers warning that housebuilders are boosting profits through a “hard squeeze on the supply chain”. The Finishes and Interiors Sector (FIS) sent a letter to both Conservative and Labour MPs in the wake of a bullish trading statement from developer Vistry. The…

Sales of key building materials have plummeted for a seventh consecutive quarter, an industry organisation has said. The Construction Products Association’s (CPA’s) latest State of Trade Survey showed that 36 per cent of heavy-side products manufacturers saw volumes drop in the first three months of 2024. This continued a slide…

The opening of Morgan Sindall’s 20,000 square metre new home for the University of Gloucestershire has been pushed back amid construction challenges. The scheme to transform a former department store in Gloucester city centre into a modern learning facility was approved by councillors in March 2022. Students were initially expected…