Buildings

The major redevelopment of a 35-storey tower in Islington has been given the go-ahead by planners. Permission to retrofit and expand a 1990s office building near Old Street Junction was secured by developers Endurance Land, which plans to turn the space into an innovation hub. The project will see 99…

Mace has been appointed as construction manager on remediation works at Birmingham City Football Club’s stadium, taking over from Buckingham Group. The stadium’s Tilton and Kop stands have been partially shut since 2020 due to asbestos damage, and their remediation was left with an uncertain future after Buckingham collapsed into…

The procurement arm of social housing consortium Efficiency North has extended the deadline for bids on two frameworks with a combined value of almost £4bn. EN:Procure revealed earlier today (11 September) that interested parties have until 29 September to submit bids on a £3.2bn installation and repairs framework covering Yorkshire,…

The future of the UK’s largest unbuilt film studio is uncertain amid high inflation and rising interest rates, it has emerged. In a trading update this week, steel specialist Severfield said its work on the Sunset Waltham Cross Studios project had been removed from its order book. Last year, ISG…

Kier, Tilbury Douglas and Wates are among 87 contractors to have been appointed to an £8bn public sector framework. The Procure Partnerships Framework focused on construction work when it launched four years ago, but has now been expanded to include decarbonisation and retrofit, demolition and site preparation, and infrastructure. Designed…

Collapse-prone reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) is more likely to fail if the structure has been mistreated or overloaded, according to a leading researcher. Hundreds of schools have been forced to vacate buildings with the lightweight concrete, following updated guidance from the Department for Education. More than 20 schools are…

The worker who died while working on Everton Football Club’s new stadium was a ventilation engineer who was crushed between a scissor ladder and a beam, according to reports. The Liverpool Echo reported that the inquest into the death of 26-year-old Michael Jones (pictured) opened at Liverpool Coroners Court on…

Marks & Spencer has launched legal action against the government’s decision to block its controversial redevelopment in Oxford Street, central London. Operations director Sacha Berendji said that housing secretary Michael Gove had “wrongly interpreted and applied planning policy” in rejecting the retailer’s plans to demolish and rebuild its flagship store…

Laing O’Rourke has been appointed as the preferred construction partner on a new hospital in Lanarkshire. The firm will support the delivery of the Monklands Replacement Project (MRP), which will be “Scotland’s first fully digital and net-zero carbon hospital”, according to the client, NHS Lanarkshire. It is estimated that MRP…

The Department for Education (DfE) is urging school leaders to make emergency evacuation plans for buildings that contain a potentially dangerous type of concrete, according to reports. The government has undertaken a huge effort to investigate the use of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) across state-owned buildings, amid fears the…