Technology

Public projects should be built using standardised components and assemblies, new procurement guidance says. The Cabinet Office’s Construction Playbook, released today, outlines how it wants government and industry to work together on public projects in future. One of the key measures outlined is the encouragement of standardised design to “harmonise…

A new vehicle aimed at speeding up large-scale developments that cross planning boundaries has been unveiled in the East Midlands. The East Midlands Development Corporation is being pushed by local authorities, universities and some businesses in the area, who say it will help deliver large developments, including a ‘Garden of…

Wates has promoted Dan Sadler to the newly titled role of offsite manufacturing director. Sadler, the firm’s current operations director for the Midlands, will lead its offsite manufacturing business Prism and examine new ways in which it can support the wider business. Earlier this year, Prism was merged into a…

Legal & General’s modular business, Modular Homes, posted a fourth successive year loss in its most recent financial year. The company made a pre-tax loss of £30.6m in the 12 months to 31 December 2019. The firm, formed in 2016, posted no revenue in 2019 as in previous years. The…

The Tideway megaproject was unable to implement more ambitious offsite measures because of contractual issues, its chief technical officer Roger Bailey has revealed. In the early years of the London super sewer project, Tideway had looked at building one factory on the Thames Estuary to manufacture all of the precast…

The productivity of modular housebuilding has been reduced during the pandemic, with reductions in contractor output much like those seen in conventional construction, according to a new report from analysts at AMA Research. The firm has forecast that overall output among panelised modular building contractors will have fallen 20 per…

Winvic Construction is to trial a new high-tech safety system at a logistics scheme in Leicestershire. The contractor will deploy an experimental system called Computer-Vision-Smart, which employs artificial intelligence to monitor cameras placed around the site. A smartphone app is used to provide onsite workers with real-time alerts about hazards…

HS2 is set to deploy a robot arm to automate two risky tasks during tunnelling work on the rail megaproject. The robot, dubbed Krokodyl, has been developed by main works contractor Align, a joint venture between Bouygues, Sir Robert McAlpine and VolkerFitzpatrick. It will be deployed on a pair of…

A dog-like robot could be deployed on large or dangerous sites in the UK next year. Scanning specialist Trimble and robotics firm Boston Dynamics have agreed a strategic alliance with the aim of bringing Spot, Boston Dynamics's four-legged mobile robot, to working sites. The robot will be equipped with Trimble's…

An East Midlands-based contractor has landed a £117m deal to develop Nottingham’s broadband infrastructure. Broadband infrastructure developer CityFibre has appointed McCann for the project to replace the city’s legacy networks with full-fibre broadband. CityFibre said detailed planning was already under way for a “network capable of serving Nottingham’s current and…