News

Civil engineering costs will rise by 14 per cent over the next five years, according to forecast data from the Building Cost Information Service (BCIS).  The data company said tender prices for civil jobs will also increase by 22 per cent over the same period – which stretches to the…

Balfour Beatty has nabbed a bumper job to dual part of the A9 in Scotland. The contract, worth £184.7m, will cover a 9.6km stretch of road between Tomatin and Moy. Once complete, there will be around 33km of continuous dual carriageway stretching from Inverness to Slochd. It is the first…

Willmott Dixon has suffered a second successive loss after the collapse of a major mechanical and electrical (M&E) subcontractor cost it £12.8m. Willmott Dixon did not name the subcontractor but said it had been completing works on two unnamed projects when it went under last year, adding that the insolvency…

HG Construction has been picked to build a 37-storey student accommodation scheme in Manchester.  The Hertfordshire-based contractor will deliver 1,014 student rooms across One Medlock Street, a new student scheme set to be delivered in Deansgate, south of Manchester’s city centre.  The scheme is being developed by Greystar, while HG…

As the election results rolled in on Friday morning (5 July), former Mace executive-turned-hopeful MP Mike Reader reflected on how familiar the last week had felt: the stress and pressure as deadline day approached, the long hours, coordinating a large team – all skills he developed winning major jobs like…

New housing secretary Angela Rayner could revive two data centre projects on Home Counties greenbelt land that were previously rejected by local councils. Councillors initially ruled against both projects due to their greenbelt status, but faced appeals from the developers. The councils both received letters informing them that Rayner will…

Skanska has hailed “early contractor involvement” as it reports an increased profit for last year. The Swedish contractor’s UK arm, Skanska UK, penned a pre-tax profit of £27.3m in the year to 31 December 2023, up from £24.5m in the previous year. The contractor’s turnover dropped slightly, from £1.38bn to…

The new government has announced it is dropping ‘levelling up’ from the name of the housing department.  Deputy prime minister and housing secretary Angela Rayner told staff at the department of the name change on Monday (8 July) as she pledged: “No more gimmicks.”   The Department for Levelling Up,…

Avant Homes (Scotland) Ltd has been fined £333,000 after a man was crushed by falling concrete blocks on a site in South Lanarkshire.  Conor Joseph Morgan was an HGV driver delivering materials to Shott Farm in High Blantyre, a site overseen by Avant Homes (Scotland) Ltd, when the incident happened…

New Labour chancellor Rachel Reeves has outlined a raft of planning reforms to “get Britain building again”. Reeves used her first speech in her new post to announce a reversal of many Conservative policies including consulting on a new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) , restoring mandatory housing targets and…