News

The Labour Party wants to implement planning reforms in an effort to supercharge housebuilding as soon as it takes office if it wins Thursday’s election. In an interview with The Times, party leader Sir Keir Starmer and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said they would “hit the ground running” and initiate…

A building control company which last month saw its high-risk building inspection work taken over by the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) has been sanctioned by a professional disciplinary panel, it has emerged. In results published last Wednesday (26 June), a disciplinary panel for the CIC Approved Inspectors Register (CICAIR) said…

City of London officers have recommended councillors back a bid to build a 73-storey skyscraper as tall as the Shard in the capital’s financial district. A report to councillors ahead of a meeting on Tuesday (2 July) urges them to grant consent for the 1 Undershaft proposals subject to conditions…

Ferrovial’s UK contracting arm posted a record turnover and returned to profitability last year, despite winning no new work. Revenue from contracts in the 2023 calendar year rose by 9 per cent to an all-time high of £536.6m – its fifth successive year of revenue growth. All the contracts were…

A Reading-based contractor has been fined £30,000 after the death of a delivery driver. Father of four Levi Alleyne, known as Chunky, was electrocuted while delivering crushed concrete to a construction site where BBM Contracts was principal contractor. He died after the crane arm of his lorry came into contact…

A coroner has warned about the safety of remote-controlled loader cranes after a father of two was crushed to death. Bolton-born driver Michael Harrison died in February 2021, aged 42, after the crane arm he was using to unload scaffolding came down on him. Harrison had been operating the loader…

Tata Steel has threatened to pause steel-making at its site in Wales as worker walkouts loom. The UK arm of the Indian corporation said it “may not have any choice” but to halt both of its traditional blast furnaces at its Port Talbot plant if strikes go ahead next month.…

Ex-Osborne directors have blamed the 2022 Liz Truss mini-budget for problems with the firm’s build-to-rent development business, a new report reveals. Leaders at the company said in April when the company filed for administration that its problems were caused by high inflation, the lingering impacts of Covid and Brexit, and…

Beard has started work on a £9.2m job to create a Central African forest habitat at Bristol Zoo.  The facilities will include a new gorilla house, crocodile house and a parrot aviary as well as an outdoor space for gorillas featuring a moat - with the gorillas set to enjoy…

Underlying construction activity will rise slightly this year as an early election and strengthening economy provide more confidence to investors, a key report has predicted. Industry intelligence specialist Glenigan forecasts a 3 per cent increase in 2024 in projects worth under £100m getting underway on site. Its report then predicts…