Buildings

Balfour Beatty has signed a £119m deal to build a flagship net-zero Scottish prison – with the total scheme cost now four times the original estimated price. The tier one contractor was appointed to a preconstruction contract for the 18,500 square metres HMP Highland in Inverness in 2022. Balfour Beatty…

Homes England chief executive Peter Denton has defended a doomed £60m investment into failed modular builder Ilke Homes, saying it is his agency’s job to take financial risks. Speaking to Construction News after a government-commissioned review encouraged Homes England to act more ambitiously, Denton said he thought his organisation’s risk…

A government-commissioned review has floated the creation a new body for transforming existing buildings – to oversee cladding work, retrofitting and decent homes standards. A regular review into the effectiveness of Homes England, which recommended that it transfer its current building safety responsibilities elsewhere, suggested a new cross-departmental body might…

Clients should pay for extra costs incurred by scaffolders due to measures in the Building Safety Act, according to the head of a trade body. On Saturday, (6 April), the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) took responsibility for signing-off all designs for high-risk residential buildings before construction can begin. Any changes…

The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers has been appointed as the new scheme administrator for NABERS UK – a standard for measuring operational carbon emissions from commercial buildings. The move comes seven months after the Building Research Establishment (BRE) stopped using the NABERS tool in favour of the more…

Kier has announced that it will help develop small modular reactors (SMR) with US firm X-Energy. The contractor has signed a memorandum of understanding with X-Energy and Babcock subsidiary Cavendish Nuclear to collaborate on the new technology. The firms will have access to £3.34m from the UK Government Future Nuclear…

The Environment Agency has alerted contractors to a £3bn framework it will take to market next year. The sustainability watchdog said a formal contract notice for its Collaborative Delivery Framework 2 (CDF2) would be published in March 2025. Selected contractors will deliver asset management activities across the agency’s infrastructure portfolio.…

Ardmore is to deliver the second and final phase of a life science campus in King’s Cross, north London. The contractor was appointed by Reef Group, the developer of the 1 million square foot Tribeca campus that includes laboratories, housing, shops and restaurants plus public realm areas. Phase one of…

A local authority has agreed to find an extra £17m for a school project abandoned by Willmott Dixon. West Sussex County Council cabinet member for children and young people Jacquie Russell approved the need for the cash to deliver the new secondary school in Burgess Hill. Willmott Dixon was awarded…

Maritime infrastructure giant Peel Ports is seeking contractors for £750m of work. The organisation, which owns and operates six key facilities around the UK and Ireland, posted an official notice of its general and marine construction frameworks. The deals will deliver design-and-build services and last for eight years. A North…