Buildings

The redevelopment of two hospitals in the Scottish Highlands has been put on hold after the Scottish government froze hospital construction spending for two years. NHS Highland has confirmed that the £160m redevelopment of Lochaber’s and Caithness’s health facilities, led by Balfour Beatty, will not go ahead for the foreseeable…

Countryside Partnerships is set to build more than 700 homes in north London after striking a deal with mayor Sadiq Khan. The housebuilder, part of the Vistry Group, was selected by the Greater London Authority to deliver the £276m scheme in Colindale, Barnet. Under the agreement, Countryside will build 427…

Laing O’Rourke will use modern methods of construction to create a training hub for the Army in Surrey. The contractor will deliver facilities for a non-infantry centre of excellence at Alexander Barracks in Pirbright. Laing O’Rourke is one of seven firms on the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) Strategic Alliance framework,…

Google has started construction work on a $1bn (£790m) data centre in Hertfordshire. The new development is being built on a 33-acre site in Waltham Cross, which Google acquired in 2020. The company has not named any contractors working on the site or explained what construction works it has now…

A Conservative MP has said that Laing O’Rourke did a “shocking job” on the construction of a housing block in Ipswich, adding that the contractor “seemed to have got away with it”. Laing O’Rourke was the design-and-build contractor for The Mill, a 327-home development in central Ipswich that features blocks…

The Scottish Government has ruled out new hospital construction projects until 2026 at the earliest, a key figure has claimed. NHS Lothian finance director Craig Marriott said ministers north of the border had told local health chiefs that they would be waiting “at least” two years for new capital investment.…

Health chiefs have appointed a joint venture of Vinci and Sir Robert McAlpine to deliver a £312m overhaul of two hospitals near the Welsh border. Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust appointed Integrated Health Projects (IHP) as design and construction partner for its estate-transformation programme. The joint venture will rejig…

Wates has landed the £70m conversion of a Grade II-listed building in central London into a life-sciences hub. The contractor has been appointed by clients Oxford Properties and Pioneer to work on the eight-storey Victoria House in Bloomsbury Square. The 1930s building has a number of unique heritage features behind…

Five firms have secured work retrofitting energy-efficiency measures across Scotland and Northern Ireland. Bell Group, PHS Home Solutions and Procast Building Contractors were named to carry out refurbishment and installation tasks across both countries. The trio are joined on the Scotland-specific lot of the framework by Paisley business Clark Contracts…

Northumbrian Water has appointed seven firms to its largest-ever package of framework agreements, which will deliver the company’s £3.6bn five-year investment programme. Costain, Bam Nutall, Esh-Stantec, Farrans Construction, Mott MacDonald Bentley, Avove Ltd and MWH Treatment have joined the water company’s Living Water Enterprise (LWE), a 12-year partnership that will…