Buildings

Multiplex has started construction work on a 50-storey residential tower at Bankside Yards by the River Thames in central London. The Australian contractor is working with building-frame subcontractor Keltbray and facade subcontractor Scheldebouw on the 250-flat tower, which is part of the £3bn Bankside Yards regeneration led by developer Native…

Wates and Equans are among 100 contractors named on a bumper framework focusing on social-housing repairs. Wates’ property arm, Wates Property Services, and Equans Regeneration scooped spots along with Seddon Construction, Mitie’s property services business and Lovell Partnerships on the £3.2bn framework, which is run by social-housing consortium Efficiency North.…

Unite Students and Balfour Beatty have signed separate deals to develop university student halls with a combined worth of more than £400m. Balfour Beatty is set to build 1,899 bedrooms with the University of Sussex in a £200m deal, while student-accommodation giant Unite announced a separate, £250m joint venture (JV)…

Laing O’Rourke has denied claims from Unite that unqualified electricians are working unsupervised on the £555m Bramley-Moore Dock Stadium for Everton Football Club. The union warned of a risk of “catastrophic damage” occurring after allegedly seeing electricians-mate contracts stating that the junior workers may not be supervised. Electricians mates would usually…

A significant number of councils will stop offering building-control services from April unless the deadline to prove professional competence is extended, the head of the service has warned the government. From 6 April, all building-control professionals must have passed a competence assessment and be registered with the Building Safety Regulator,…

McLaren Construction has been selected to refurbish and extend the former House of Fraser department store on Oxford Street, central London. McLaren had already started work on the project almost two years ago for client Publica Properties Establishment under a preconstruction services agreement. Erith is undertaking the demolition and reinstatement…

Vistry has won a contract to develop 5,000 build-to-rent (BTR) homes for Sigma Capital Group. The developer’s subsidiary, Countryside Partnerships, agreed a deal to develop the properties across the UK for Sigma’s BTR brand Simple Life Homes. Vistry said it would deliver the homes over the next five years “across…

Major contractors including Galliford Try, Equans and Seddon have scooped multiple spots on a new housing framework worth more than £3bn. The eight-year development framework covers new-build, retrofit and refurbishment projects across the UK. The Communities and Housing Investment Consortium (CHIC), which runs the framework, said it would “support and…

Willmott Dixon has won a £55m contract to rebuild a police headquarters in Hertfordshire. The firm was appointed to demolish 11 buildings from the 1960s that are reaching the end of their design life, and replace them with an office complex for Hertfordshire Constabulary in Stanborough, Welwyn Garden City. The…

A council is retendering a £57m ultra-low-carbon school job won by Willmott Dixon last year. West Sussex County Council has opened bidding for a single-stage design-and-build contract for the Bedelands Academy (pictured), a new 900-pupil secondary school for those living in a new Homes England-led development called Burgess Hill Brookleigh.…