Articles by Date : April 07 2008 - April 13 2008

Bad on-site logistics costing UK construction £1.2bn a year
Poor on-site logistics costs the construction industry £1.2bn, according to logistics company Elliott Thomas. more
(11 April 2008 16:00)

Burning builder saved by puddle
Safety chiefs are warning contractors about the risk of live electricity cables after a workman caught fire during a cable explosion and had to put.... more
(11 April 2008 14:45)

Balfour, Skanska, Costain and Laing O'Rourke take Thameslink contracts
Network Rail has named four preferred contractors to deliver track and station upgrades at three sites in a £27m package of work in London. more
(11 April 2008 14:25)

Wienerberger fined after employee hospitalised
Brick and tile manufacturer Wienerberger has been fined for two breaches of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations following an.... more
(11 April 2008 12:54)

1600km of rail lines proposed to tackle growth
More than 1,600km of high-speed rail lines and new rail tunnels under the Irish Sea and English Channel are needed to cope with the rapid growth of.... more
(11 April 2008 10:48)

Barratt considers sale of property division for £250m
Barratt is considering the sale of its commercial property division to reduce debt incurred in the £2.2bn acquisition of Wilson Bowden last year. more
(11 April 2008 10:35)

Bank of Scotland buys into Tulloch Homes
Bank of Scotland has paid £27.5m for a 40% stake in Inverness housebuilding group Tulloch Homes. more
(11 April 2008 10:28)

Morgan Sindall's seven leaders awarded options over 344,000 shares
Morgan Sindall has awarded share options to its seven-strong senior team this morning totalling 344,000. John Morgan, founder and executive chairman,.... more
(11 April 2008 09:00)

Marshalls boss Holden heads March construction share deals
Marshalls' led the way among March's construction share deals, as three directors went on a £300,000 spending spree that bolstered their tally of.... more
(10 April 2008 17:52)

London Olympics construction: latest news
Latest news on the London 2012 Olympics construction programme. more
(10 April 2008 17:47)

Builder guilty of manslaughter following poisoning
A builder who blocked a boiler pipe, poisoning a man, has been found guilty of manslaughter by a jury. more
(10 April 2008 17:34)

Metronet crisis: RMT members vote for strike action
Workers at the failed Metronet consortium have voted in favour of industrial action in a row over pensions and staff transfers. more
(10 April 2008 16:58)

Dealer Hosplant wins court case against Takeuchi
Machinery dealer Hosplant has settled a case it brought against Takeuchi UK on terms it described as “hugely beneficial”. more
(10 April 2008 14:00)

Vinci still keen on M25 widening
Vinci is still keen to bid for prestige UK road projects like the £4.5bn M25 DBFO, despite what it calls “difficulties” in this country's road.... more
(10 April 2008 13:38)

Balfour Kilpatrick scoops £10m college deal
Balfour Kilpatrick, part of Balfour Beatty, has plugged into a £10.1m contract to design, supply and install mechanical and electrical services for a.... more
(10 April 2008 12:00)

Update: RICS response to ONS figures showing construction order slump
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has added its response to today’s figures from the Office for National Statistics which reveal.... more
(10 April 2008 11:37)

Wates Group makes 4% margin on £950m turnover
Wates Group lifted its profit margin to 4.0% last year, a useful rise on the previous figure of 3.7%, which turnover rose 10% to £950m. more
(10 April 2008 11:08)

Construction orders slump
Construction orders in the UK in the three months to February were down 5% on the previous three month period, official figures show. more
(10 April 2008 10:54)

Skanska bags £150m commercial sector job
Skanska has scooped a commercial-sector deal in the City of London, weighing in at a hefty £150m. more
(10 April 2008 10:36)

Construction deaths still "too high"
A provisional total of 69 construction fatalities for 2007/08 is still too high, construction union UCATT has warned today. more
(10 April 2008 10:30)

£45bn BSF programme being 'watered down'
Ministers have been accused of watering down the £45bn Building Schools for the Future programme, by prioritising a handful of new schools in each.... more
(10 April 2008 10:14)

McGee Group hits 6.4% margin for second year running
McGee Group, the demolition and civil engineering contractor, is on line to hit an annual turnover of £75m this year, well up on the previous figure.... more
(09 April 2008 17:00)

Three win Network Rail framework worth up to £135m
Network Rail has signed May Gurney, J Murphy and Osborne up to new framework agreements that could be worth a total of £135m. more
(09 April 2008 15:57)

Jobs losses at Hanson as brick demand hits 20-year low
Hanson blames credit crunch and housebuilding slump as Caernarfon plant shuts. more
(09 April 2008 15:29)

BSF consultation could create education work glut earlier than expected
Contractors could take advantage of billions of pounds worth of education work much sooner than expected if proposals in a government consultation.... more
(09 April 2008 15:22)

EEDA explores £1bn regional infrastructure fund
The East of England Development Agency (EEDA) has revealed that it is exploring the possibility of a £1bn fund to pay for transport and other.... more
(09 April 2008 14:57)

Two construction bosses take home around £1m each
Carillion chief executive John McDonough and Balfour Beatty chief executive Ian Tyler each took home around £1m in salary, bonuses, and pensions.... more
(09 April 2008 12:29)

Update: Eco-town panel announced
Two television presenters are among a panel of experts that are expected to advise and support developers the government's eco-towns schemes, Housing.... more
(09 April 2008 11:48)

Infrastructure boom predicted for Scotland
The Scottish construction industry is poised for a period of major growth following the announcement of some of the country’s most ambitious housing.... more
(09 April 2008 11:13)

Housebuilders share prices slump
Persimmon, Bovis and Redrow saw their share prices slump in the face of a shock house price fall that also caused the pound tumble more than two.... more
(09 April 2008 10:55)

Premier Inn plans expansion
Premier Inn will add six new hotels to its stable as part of a £100m expansion in London ahead of the 2012 Olympic Games. more
(09 April 2008 10:44)

Eco-town panel to be announced
A panel of a dozen experts who will oversee the creation of new eco-towns will be announced today. more
(09 April 2008 10:34)

Franklin M&E goes into administration - 30 jobs lost
Franklin M&E has gone into administration with the loss of around 30 jobs. more
(09 April 2008 10:29)

Shortlists for Olympic bridges announced
Carillion, Costain, Edmund Nuttall, Lagan Construction and John Sisk and Son (Holdings) have all made the shortlist to construct Olympic Park’s focal.... more
(09 April 2008 09:51)

Metronet crisis: Balfour Beatty given 12 months to hit targets on Tube work
Balfour Beatty has just 12 months to prove itself on a new £102.4m London Underground track renewal contract agreed with Metronet's administrators. more
(09 April 2008 09:46)

Bovis Homes leader's pay packet halved to £513,000
Malcolm Harris, chief executive of Bovis Homes, was paid a salary of £513,000 last year, well short of his previous pay package which ran to £988,000.... more
(09 April 2008 09:00)

HMRC v Neil Martin CIS case nears conclusion
The CIS dispute between the HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and Cumbria-based civils contractor Neil Martin is drawing to a head. more
(09 April 2008 09:00)

Miller Group lifts turnover to £1.3bn
Miller Group lifted turnover in 2007 to £1.3bn and achieved its 14th consecutive year of operating profit growth, reaching a figure of £128m. more
(09 April 2008 00:01)

JCB axes 30 jobs in North Wales
JCB has confirmed that a total of 30 people have lost their jobs at JCB Transmissions in Wrexham. more
(09 April 2008 00:00)

Caledonian Building Systems' Dave Turnbull offers an insight into company life
Profile of Caledonian Building Systems' Dave Turnbull more
(09 April 2008 00:00)

Credit crunch sparks £2.3bn college framework rethink
Learning and Skills Council believes contractors will get hungrier as lean times bite. more
(09 April 2008 00:00)

London Underground unveils framework shortlist
Taylor Woodrow, YJL, Costain, Fitzpatrick, Bovis Lend Lease and Carillion are among 18 firms shortlisted for London Underground's (LUL's) first.... more
(09 April 2008 00:00)

Hinowa debuts dumper at SED
Visitors to SED (13-15 May, Rockingham Motor Speedway, Corby) will be the first in the UK to see Hinowa's revolutionary new battery-powered mini.... more
(09 April 2008 00:00)

Councils given power to fine utilities for overruns
Local authorities will be able to set binding start and finish dates for road works and fine utility companies for overruns under beefed-up powers.... more
(08 April 2008 18:00)

Receivership for doors and windows supplier Abbot
A £20m supplier of windows and doors into the housebuilding market has gone into receivership. The debts of Abbott Group and its counterpart.... more
(08 April 2008 17:20)

ECA and HVCA 'convergence' talks progress
Leaders of the electrical contracting and heating and ventilating sectors are taking a "softly, softly" approach to a long-awaited attempt to bring.... more
(08 April 2008 16:32)

Hampshire police prosecute three for telehandler thefts
Police recover 55 'ringed' machines from as far afield as Eastern Europe and Finland. more
(08 April 2008 16:28)

Gee Construction expects turnover to jump to £40m this year
Gee Construction expects turnover to rise to £40m this year as it revealed pre-tax profit for 2007 ran to £1.9m. more
(08 April 2008 16:20)

Jackson Civil Engineering bounces back into profit
Jackson Civil Engineering is back in profit. Latest figures show a pre-tax profit of £640,000 which represents a profit margin of 0.9%. more
(08 April 2008 16:00)

Mulalley wins £80m of South East housing work
Family-run contractor Mulalley looks well placed to pick up housing work in the South East, worth £80m-plus. Sources say that Mulalley together.... more
(08 April 2008 15:56)