News

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…

Turnover at Ipswich-based Barnes Group has reached £100m for the second consecutive year, according to the firm’s newly published annual accounts. Revenue for the year ending 30 September 2023 reached £100.7m, up marginally on the previous year’s £100.5m and more than 20 per cent higher than its 2020/21 total of…

The government has injected £3bn into affordable housing, which it says will finance 20,000 new homes. The extra funds were pledged towards the Affordable Homes Guarantee Scheme, which, for the first time, can now also be used to upgrade existing properties to make them safe or “fit for the future”.…

The government is in talks to buy the Wylfa nuclear site from Hitachi. The UK’s state-owned nuclear business, Great British Nuclear (GBN), is in “early-stage discussions” with Hitachi over the sale of the 20.8-hectare site in Anglesey, as first reported by the Financial Times. GBN hopes to find a new…

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 major trade body has warned that new biodiversity net gain (BNG) legislation, which comes into force today (12 February), will deter homebuilding. Rico Wojtulewicz, head of policy and market insights at the National Federation of Builders (NFB), said some of the organisation’s members had told him that they planned…

A member of the public has died after apparently falling from a building site crane during the night. West Yorkshire Police said they were called to the site in Central Road in Leeds city centre just before 8am on Wednesday (7 February) after a body was found. A spokesperson said:…

Homebuilder JS Crawford Contracts (Borders) Limited has gone into provisional liquidation, following a delay to completion of a development in Melrose in the Scottish Borders. Blair Nimmo and Alistair McAlinden from Interpath Advisory were appointed on 7 February to handle affairs at the business. JS Crawford, a family-run firm, was…

Unite has said it is “alarming” that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) does not keep track of the number of investigations it carries out involving cranes. In December, Construction News reported on calls for the re-establishment of the national crane register in the wake of a number of site…

The High Court has refused an application by a director to remain in post after admitting his role in an illegal demolition cartel. Nicholas Brown, former managing director of Brown and Mason Group, agreed an undertaking in May last year with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to not serve…