Author Archives: Price David

The MIPIM property conference has been postponed over coronavirus fears less than two weeks before it was due to open in Cannes, southern France. The event is now scheduled to run from 2-5 June instead of 10-13 March. Paul Zilk, chief executive of organiser Reed MIDEM, said the wellbeing of…

Members of the teams involved with the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower have been accused of trying to “sabotage” the inquiry into the fire that killed 72 people. Speaking on behalf of one of three groups of the bereaved, survivors and residents, QC Stephanie Barwise said a request for their evidence…

Contractors and designers working on the Grenfell Tower refurbishment knew the cladding would quickly fail in the event of fire, it has been alleged at the inquiry into the June 2017 blaze. Emails between four companies at the centre of the refurbishment have revealed knowledge of the cladding system’s weakness…

The lawyer representing Rydon at the Grenfell Tower inquiry revealed internal emails from the cladding manufacturers that discussed safety concerns over their materials years before the Grenfell Tower fire. Materials supplied by two companies, Celotex and Arconic, were focused on by Marcus Taverner QC, who is representing the contractor whose…

The Grenfell Inquiry’s lead counsel has hit out at firms involved with the refurbishment of the Grenfell Tower for blaming others for what went wrong. In his opening statement for phase two of the inquiry, Richard Millett QC highlighted that contractor Rydon, its subcontractors and all those involved with the…

Housing association Radian will expand its in-house construction capabilities, as it aims to deliver 10,000 homes. Speaking at the Construction News Summit, the firm's director of development, James Pennington, said the company would move away from taking the design and build (D&B) route with third parties. He said: “We do…

Paul Hamer has accused contractors of too often "playing the victim" when dealing with the government, and of failing to work together effectively to address industry-wide problems. The Sir Robert McAlpine chief executive told the Construction News Summit that the industry needed to address government with a smaller number of…

Simons Group has filed for administration. The East Midlands-based contractor has been forced to call in the administrators after suffering losses and delays to new projects starting, Construction News understands. The £100m-turnover company was also carrying a significant pension deficit. In its last set of filed accounts for the year…

Planners were overruled by the business secretary Andrea Leadsom over an application by Drax to expand its power plant in North Yorkshire. The Planning Inspectorate recommended withholding approval to install two new 1,800 MW gas-powered turbines primarily on the grounds of the high emissions they would produce. The gas-powered units…

A continued slump in construction activity and new orders has seen contractors cut their employment levels at the fastest rate for almost nine years, a new PMI survey has revealed. The CIPS/IHS Markit index for September posted 43.3, down from 45 in August and well below the 50.0 threshold between…