News

The director of a building contractor has been fined after he hit an employee while reversing a lorry. Peter O’Hare, who is both a director and worker at County Down-based Peter O’Hare Ltd, caused an employee to suffer “serious crush injuries” in the incident, which took place in November 2022,…

Crest Nicholson looks set to merge with Bellway in a £720m takeover deal, after its management backed the latest proposal.  The merger between Crest and Bellway, which have turnovers of £780m and £1.25bn respectively, would create further consolidation in the housebuilding sector - with two other giants, Redrow and Barratt,…

Barratt Developments has put aside £192m to remediate dangerous buildings. In a trading update published this morning (10 July), the housebuilder said the “legacy property” sum includes £61.9m relating to increased contingency for fixing fire safety and external wall systems, from the first quarter of the year to June 2024.…

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…