Legal

VP has upped its provision in relation to an investigation into alleged anti-competitive practices involving one of its groundworks businesses. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an investigation into three groundworks businesses in April 2019. VP’s excavation support systems business, Groundforce Shorco, was included in this. In its interim…

Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson has been bailed following an arrest connected to a police investigation into construction contracts. In a statement released to local paper Liverpool Echo, Anderson said he was arrested as part of ‘Operation Aloft’ – Merseyside Police’s year-long investigation into developments in the city. “I was arrested…

A banned developer, who used money paid to his wound-up firm for holidays and gambling, has been jailed for 27 months. Vijay Madhaparia, 44, of Stanmore, North West London, was director of Laxmi Developments, a building development company incorporated in 2010. In 2012, Madhaparia was disqualified from being a director…

An Essex builder jailed for leading a drug dealing and money laundering conspiracy has been ordered to hand over more than £1.2m of assets. Jason Warner, 49, of Cambridge Road, Canvey Island, was given a confiscation order – which forces a convicted criminal to pay an amount decided by court.…

The Scottish Government has been urged to take firmer action on retentions after it carried out a consultation on the issue ahead of the formation of a group to examine alternative measures. A consultation of 100 clients and more than 380 contractors found the overall perception of cash retentions was…

A campaign calling for all construction companies to have to earn a licence in order to trade has been scrapped amid the coronavirus crisis. Last year, organisations including the Federation of Master Builders (FMB), British Property Federation (BPF), Construction Products Association and others set up a taskforce chaired by ex-BPF…

A building surveyor arrested for allegedly trying to sell COVID tests to construction workers will face no criminal charges, it has emerged. The 39-year-old from Uxbridge, west London, was arrested under the Fraud Act by the National Crime Agency in April. A statement from the law enforcement body at the…

Two of the UK’s largest suppliers of roofing lead have been fined just over £9.5m for breaking competition law. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) found that Hertfordshire-based firms Associated Lead Mills Ltd and H.J. Enthoven Ltd, which trades as BLM British Lead, had broken the law by entering into…

A protester has been given a suspended six-month jail sentence for trespassing on HS2-owned woodland in Crackley, Warwickshire. His lawyers said he did not know the land was covered by an injunction. Elliott Cuciurean, 22, was issued with the sentence by the High Court earlier this month. His representatives at…

Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is suing Kier for more than £800,000 over a delay in completion of the £24m Bolton Interchange bus station, which it alleges has been caused by “significant defects”. The work to deliver the new facility, close to the town’s rail station, began in May 2014…