Author Archives: Ian Weinfass

A contractor that was turning over £40m five years ago has placed the majority of its staff on unpaid leave and said it may have to make redundancies. Henley Construct, a residential-focused builder with headquarters in Battersea, South London, blamed factors including Brexit, COVID-19 and rising costs for its current…

Six education unions have written an open letter calling on the government to take urgent action over schools at risk of collapse. In the letter, the unions said that spending on the buildings had fallen sharply over the past decade, while also pointing out that the Department for Education (DfE)…

Graham has won the contract for a £53m mental health facility in Liverpool. Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust appointed the contractor to build the facility in Mossley Hill, in the south of the city. The new inpatient building will feature 80 single bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms instead of the shared…

The sixth housing minister in the past 12 months has been named. Rachel Maclean, MP for Redditch in Worcestershire, has been appointed to the role following the government reshuffle earlier this week. She replaces Lucy Frazer, who moved to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, on Tuesday (7 February)…

Vinci has landed a £100m office block that will house 3,000 civil servants. Blackpool Council and development partner Muse awarded the contract for the 215,000 sq ft, seven-storey building, which is part of their £350m redevelopment of Blackpool town centre. The building work began this week and is due for…

The planning system should be redesigned to ensure all major infrastructure projects receive permission before construction begins, a House of Lords committee has said. The cross-party built environment committee said in a new report on national infrastructure policy that it can take as long to gain planning permission as it…

Plans have been unveiled for the UK’s largest timber development, called The Phoenix. The 700-home, mixed-use neighbourhood proposed for Lewes, East Sussex, would transform a 7.9 hectare brownfield site of a former foundry, called the Foundry Iron and Steelworks, into a development powered entirely by renewable energy. It would use…

Balfour Beatty is on site carrying out work on a Travelodge hotel after an £800,000 dispute over alleged combustible cladding and other defects was settled. In 2020, Construction News revealed that Travelodge was suing Balfour over what it said were faults at the 70-room hotel on Princess Way, Swansea. Travelodge…

Two people were arrested at a protest blocking the entrance to the construction site at HMP Full Sutton prison near York on Tuesday (31 January). Kier’s work at the site, which will add 1,400 spaces to the prison population, was disrupted by 10 protesters from the HS2 Rebellion group. The activists…

Wates has appointed the head of a marine engineering company as its new chief executive. Eoghan O’Lionaird, CEO of FTSE-listed James Fisher and Sons, will take over at the contractor on 20 February. The 56-year-old has also worked in executive roles at companies including Philips, high-tech equipment and software firm…