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Construction News is the leading provider of UK construction industry news, opinion, analysis and events. Founded in 1871, the Construction News celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2021.

CN runs a full programme of annual face-to-face and online events including conferences, award ceremonies, webinars, roundtables and more. We bring contractors, suppliers and clients together to share knowledge, best practice and other industry insight. We honour excellence in the industry through our awards events, which are judged by independent panels.

The magazine was first published as Labour News on 30 August 1871, under founder, Victorian reformer Alsager Hay Hill, aimed at tackling unemployment by printing information about job vacancies. It was first published under its current name during the 1960s.

Today it publishes news on topics impacting the UK construction industry, including sustainability, skills shortages, materials prices, workforce diversity, legal commentary, deep-dive analysis, administrations and contract wins.

Are overseas-worker changes a positive step or just too much hassle?

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Yash Dubal is director of A Y & J Solicitors Jeremy Hunt’s Budget announcement of a relaxation of immigration rules was designed to help construction firms struggling to employ workers in a range of trades and to “ensure that the UK labour market has access to skills and talent from…

How to use data sampling in construction disputes

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Daniel Garton is a partner and Primrose Tay an associate at White & Case The global volume of data created has grown at an incredible pace in recent years and is forecast to continue its rapid ascent. This has largely been fuelled by new technologies and digital solutions, including in…

Bid-rigging fines provide warning to construction sector

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Charles Livingstone is a partner at Brodies LLP The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has handed out fines of almost £60m to 10 demolition contractors and secured the disqualification of three former company directors, after finding that the firms had engaged in bid rigging across 19 contracts worth over £150m.…

Take a good look at NEC contract changes

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Chris Hallam is a partner at law firm CMS NEC has published a third set of amendments for its NEC4 suite of contracts. The latest amendments take account of user feedback, the drive for sustainability, and changes to working practices in a post-Covid world. Sustainability In July 2022, NEC published…

Subcontracting and international projects: don’t take your eye off the ball

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Pictured left to right: Michelle Essen is legal director, James Ignotus is a managing associate and Jessica Tresham is a partner at law firm Womble Bond Dickinson Contractors are pleased when, after months of responding to tender requests and reworking costs, they receive the good news that their tender submission has…

How to simplify public-sector procurement

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Paul Reeve is director of CSR at ECA and chairs the Build UK CAS review group In March, the Cabinet Office issued its long-awaited procurement policy note (PPN) 03/23. Significantly, this revised note now enables public-sector buyers to specify the Common Assessment Standard (CAS) when prequalifying suppliers for significant “public…

Digitisation’s critical role in reducing embodied carbon costs

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May Winfield is global director of commercial, legal and digital risks at engineering consultancy Buro Happold It’s well known that the construction industry is a major contributor to the climate emergency, with construction and materials accounting for an estimated 11 per cent of energy-related CO2 emissions. It is resource and…

Considering repudiation and liability in the termination of contracts

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Anita Crozier is an associate at law firm CMS A party terminating a contract for repudiation or otherwise for default by the other party will usually be entitled to compensation for loss of the contractual bargain.  “The Dalton case provides an example of when a termination-for-convenience clause (albeit not in…

NEC4: new and improved?

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Kirsteen Milne is legal director at Brodies LLP The New Engineering Contract 4 (NEC4) was published in 2017 and has seen a few amendments, with revisions in January 2019 and October 2020. The 2023 revision incorporates those amendments and secondary option X29 (from 2022), as well as introducing some new…