Buildings

The Labour Party will create a taskforce to choose sites for a generation of new towns to be announced within a year if it is elected, according to the party’s deputy leader Angela Rayner. Rayner told delegates at the UKREiiF property conference in Leeds that independent experts will be appointed…

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…

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…

Six contractors appointed to carry out £100m of work on universities in the North East have an extra period of opportunity after their four-year deal was extended. The North Eastern Universities Purchasing Consortium has published an official notice of modification to its Minor Works Lot 1A Framework Agreement. Rather than…

NHS trusts’ confidence in the government’s £20bn new hospitals pledge is “on increasingly shaky ground” due to funding delays, a health leader has told Construction News. Trust leaders are concerned schemes in the New Hospital Programme (NHP) will be scaled back or delayed beyond the 2030 deadline, as many are…

The cost of a Morrison Construction project to build a Passivhaus grammar school in Paisley is set to grow by more than £10m, the local council has said. A Renfrewshire Council meeting last week recommended raising the budget for the new Paisley Grammar School and Community Campus (PGSCC) from £75.1m…

Speller Metcalfe is to deliver major upgrades to two public buildings in Wolverhampton. The contractor, which has offices in the West Midlands city, was named as preferred bidder for works on its Central Library and adult education facilities. The deal forms part of a £61m investment in Wolverhampton’s Learning Quarter…

A major archaeological discovery last year at a Kier construction project has raised the cost of the job by nearly 50 per cent. The project to demolish and then rebuild Abbey Fields Swimming Pool in Kenilworth, Warwickshire, was set to cost £26.8m when Kier scooped the project back in October…

Bam Construction has taken a big financial hit on Manchester’s Co-op Live arena after delays sent costs spiralling by £85m, the scheme’s developer has said. Project costs have already ballooned from £365m to £400m and are expected to rise to £450m, arena boss Tim Leiweke told Manchester Evening News today (15…

Willmott Dixon has landed a deal to build a research and development lab in Manchester Science Park. The £60m job will involve developing a 131,000 square foot laboratory space, known as Greenheys, across six floors in Manchester’s knowledge quarter at Oxford Road. Three of the floors will be the headquarters…