Legal

Two firms, one of which is in administration, have been fined a combined £120,000 after a groundworker suffered severe injuries when heavy drainage pipes fell on top of him. Anthony Pennell, who worked for R O’Donnell Plant & Civil, sustained several fractures to both sides of his pelvis, as well…

Balfour Beatty’s US business is being sued by a federal agency over allegations that a female truck driver was subjected to severe sexual harassment at work. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced this week that it had launched the action against Balfour Beatty Infrastructure Inc, alleging that the driver…

Cardiff Council has said Galliford Try will be “held to account” after kick-starting demolition of a much-loved building facade without planning consent. The local authority branded the contractor’s decision to start removal of the colourful frontage of Guildford Crescent as “completely unacceptable”. Earlier this summer, Galliford Try submitted plans for…

Tilbury Douglas has been given the go-ahead to continue its claim against Arup, in the latest stage of a long-running legal dispute over a flawed design for enabling works near Edinburgh’s Haymarket station. The company claims Arup failed to exercise due care and skill in drawing up the design for…

An industrial and agricultural building specialist has been fined after a worker was put into intensive care after falling 10 metres through a roof. CK Steelwork & Cladding Ltd was carrying out work on the roof of a building on the Heathlands Industrial Estate in Carlisle, Cumbria, in March 2022,…

The director of a construction company that fraudulently secured a Covid bounce-back loan has been forced to repay £50,000. Marian Ghimpu, director of Deea Construct in Croydon, has been banned from being a company director for 13 years and must repay money to the public purse, after he secured a…

An MP has suggested that issues around the Didcot Power Station collapse have been “kicked into the long grass” as the investigation into the incident drags on. On 23 February 2016, the boiler house at the decommissioned Oxfordshire facility collapsed, with Michael Collings, 53, found dead shortly afterwards. The bodies…

Marks & Spencer has launched legal action against the government’s decision to block its controversial redevelopment in Oxford Street, central London. Operations director Sacha Berendji said that housing secretary Michael Gove had “wrongly interpreted and applied planning policy” in rejecting the retailer’s plans to demolish and rebuild its flagship store…

A judge has ruled that a £4m legal battle between Berkeley Homes and John Sisk & Son should be heard in more detail, after Berkeley failed in an attempt to bring the case under a fast-track procedure. The case centres on who is responsible for design flaws on three bridges…

Clients will be required to appoint a main contractor on high-risk tower blocks before a building-control approval application is made, the government has confirmed. The government announced its intention to press ahead with the move in a response to a year-long consultation on changes to building regulations aimed at improving…