Articles by Date : April 14 2003 - April 20 2003

Amec completes Ipedex SAS acquisition
AMEC has today (Thursday) completed the purchase of Ipedex SAS, an integrated services provider to the international oil and gas industry. more
(17 April 2003 13:00)

Spectrum targets retail and Europe
Interior fit-out specialist Spectrum has moved into retail and is forging into Europe. more
(17 April 2003 10:54)

SEC Group asks members to comment on best value across local government
The Specialist Engineering Contractors' (SEC) Group is to send out questionnaires to members asking for feedback on how well local authorities are.... more
(17 April 2003 07:44)

Dome plan approved by council
Plans to turn the Millennium Dome into a major sporting and entertainment centre have been approved by Greenwich Council. more
(17 April 2003 07:20)

Workers get 23% pay rise
Contractors and employers representatives have agreed a 23% pay rise over three years for more than 600,000 building workers. more
(16 April 2003 19:27)

CPRE continues battle against airport expansion
The Council for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) has again questioned whether Britain needs a huge expansion of runways and airports over the.... more
(16 April 2003 15:37)

HSE targets workers at height in London blitz
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors will be targeting construction sites across the City of London at the end of the month to educate.... more
(16 April 2003 15:32)

Arsenal FC admit stadium delay inevitable
Arsenal Football Club has admitted today (Wednesday) that it is now unlikely that its new stadium will be ready in time for the start of the.... more
(16 April 2003 14:48)

Metronet engineering jobs in jeopardy
A reorganisation of frontline maintenance work on Metronet's Tube concession could see a cut in the number of engineers the consortium employs. more
(16 April 2003 14:15)

A good grounding
This year the Showground is host to many modified machines, new products and demonstrations. Find out who is showing what and where you can find.... more
(16 April 2003 14:15)

Clearing up
There's never been a better time to be in the recycling business. What with the Aggregates Levy, the Landfill Tax, and the general 'greening' of.... more
(16 April 2003 14:14)

In the big tent
Variety is the spice of life in the Pavilion and Workshop at this year's SED. From tyre sealants to portable hydraulic testers; from warning beacons.... more
(16 April 2003 14:14)

Reach for the sky
Although it isn't a 'cranes year' at SED you wouldn't believe it from the impressive names exhibiting at this year's show. Not only are there UK and.... more
(16 April 2003 14:13)

Contractors: tired of taking the blame
Contractors are tired of taking the brunt of public scorn and risking their reputation through poor works co-ordination by utility providers,.... more
(16 April 2003 14:12)

In the mix
In its second year at SED the Concrete Show has grown by 30%, making it bigger and better than last year. This year, visitors to the only UK event.... more
(16 April 2003 14:11)

Must try harder
When it comes to the history of investment in UK schools, both primary and secondary, the last quarter of a century reads like something out of the.... more
(16 April 2003 14:08)

3, 2, 1; we have LIFT off
If public private partnerships were dogs, NHS LIFT would be a greyhound. Springing out of the traps barely 12 months ago, this form of PPP is already.... more
(16 April 2003 14:07)

Government stalls on road charging
Roads contractors face a potential slowdown on major road schemes, estimated at £4.8bn, in the next seven years because the government has not made.... more
(16 April 2003 14:04)

PFI's premiers
Just over a decade ago, with the economy in the depths of recession, few could have imagined that a revolution was about to take place in public.... more
(16 April 2003 14:03)

Ill-fated IT costs WS Atkins £120m
The total cost of WS Atkins' ill-fated investment on a troublesome new IT system in Worcester could be as high as £120m, said two industry sources.... more
(16 April 2003 14:03)

Failing standards
The private finance initiative is coming of age. Since the growing pains of the 1990s, the number of deals signed, and players that have emerged, are.... more
(16 April 2003 14:02)

Housebuilders to put design and quality first
Uniform house types may cut costs but they ignore local identity and do not deliver value, according to a housebuilding manifesto. more
(16 April 2003 14:01)

Tunnelling out of insurance crisis
A code of practice (CoP) for the procurement, design and construction of tunnels and underground structures in the UK looks set to save the.... more
(16 April 2003 14:01)

Topcon looks to 50% savings with automated control system
Machine control specialist Topcon has introduced the TS5-3DMC, which the company claims is the first fully automated machine control system for.... more
(16 April 2003 14:00)

MK Piling buys UK's first CA40H
Piling equipment and crawler crane specialist AGD Equipment Sales has delivered the first Clo-Zironi CA40H compact hydraulic self-erecting piledriver.... more
(16 April 2003 14:00)

William G Search diversifies with Volvo mini excavators
Leeds-based William G Search - best known for site accommodation, amenities, plant and hydraulic platforms hire - has entered the compact excavator.... more
(16 April 2003 13:59)

JW to check plant meets safety regs
Independent Scottish insurance broker The JW Group has introduced an inspection service that checks plant conforms to the appropriate regulations and.... more
(16 April 2003 13:59)

Senior post announced at Manitowoc
Frans Vanwinkel has been appointed sales and marketing vice president of Manitowoc Crane Group (Europe, Middle East and Africa). more
(16 April 2003 13:58)

CTE wins £1m order for 30 platforms
CTE UK, the British subsidiary of Italian access equipment manufacturer CTE, has secured an order worth more than £1m for 30 of its Z-series machines.... more
(16 April 2003 13:58)

Mouchel is prepared for Amey uncertainty
Support services group Mouchel has said that all of its joint venture roads contracts with Amey are profitable, but there has been "lots of.... more
(16 April 2003 13:57)

Cast iron price hike will be passed on
Price increases of up to 60% in the first quarter of 2003 in cast metal foundries' key raw materials will be passed on to all sectors of the industry.... more
(16 April 2003 13:57)

Fight against bogus tools is a success
A campaign against counterfeit power tools launched in January has led to about 40 prosecutions across the UK. more
(16 April 2003 13:56)

High Court rules out rolled-up pay
Scotland's High Court has confirmed a decision that including holiday pay in a rolled-up hourly rate contravenes the provisions of the Working Time.... more
(16 April 2003 13:55)

Four await Belfast sewer deal
Four consultants are in motion for a £100m deal to upgrade Belfast's sewer system. more
(16 April 2003 13:55)

Birse Build wins school projects in Wrexham
Birse Build has moved to the top of the class on an £11m schools project in north Wales. more
(16 April 2003 13:55)

MoD calls up five teams for £30m job
Five firms have got their call-up papers for a Ministry of Defence barracks revamp project around Edinburgh, worth up to £30m. more
(16 April 2003 13:54)

Morrison plugs skills gap with ex-offenders
Morrison Utility Services (MUS) is addressing the acute skills crisis in the gas industry by providing employment opportunities for young offenders..... more
(16 April 2003 13:53)

A46 tenders delayed till June
The Highways Agency (HA) is to abandon a radical procurement route for a major scheme on the A46 in Nottinghamshire and revert to more standard.... more
(16 April 2003 13:53)

Laing Roads/Skanska go for second PFI in Norway
The government has finally admitted that there is an insurance crisis by appointing an insurance expert to join the Department of Trade & Industry. more
(16 April 2003 13:52)

DTI appoints an insurance expert
The government has finally admitted that there is an insurance crisis by appointing an insurance expert to join the Department of Trade & Industry. more
(16 April 2003 13:51)

Portsmouth needs more cash for PFI roads maintenance job
Portsmouth City Council is trying to squeeze more cash out of the government so that the UK's first privately financed local authority roads.... more
(16 April 2003 13:50)

Skanska tops CJ's PFI league
Skanska has topped a league table compiled by CJ to establish the contractors that have won the most construction business through PFI. more
(16 April 2003 13:50)

CITB grants for manufacturers
Manufacturers could receive Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) funding for training if pilot schemes just launched prove successful. more
(16 April 2003 13:49)

Equion/Wates win joint PFI
Equion in partnership with Wates has clinched preferred bidder status on the first joint venture schools PFI deal. more
(16 April 2003 13:49)

Levy pushes customers to untaxed by-products
One year after the implementation of the Aggregates Levy, compelling evidence is emerging that the Levy has caused important practical problems for.... more
(16 April 2003 13:48)

Sansom breaches safety regs
Sansom Construction has been fined £1,750 for breaching health and safety legislation after a member of the public was struck by a falling scaffold.... more
(16 April 2003 13:48)

EC takes legal action against White City job
The European Commission (EC) is pursuing legal action against the UK government for failing to carry out an environmental impact assessment (EIA) for.... more
(16 April 2003 13:47)

Holyrood procurement was 'blatantly' flawed
The procurement of Scotland's Holyrood project "blatantly disregarded Treasury guidelines" and "failed to achieve fairness and transparency". more
(16 April 2003 13:46)

All talk and no action
The best that can be said for the Chancellor's latest Budget is that he didn't make life any worse for the construction industry (see p2). more
(16 April 2003 13:46)

No VAT cuts, no surprises in the Budget
The failure by Chancellor Gordon Brown to reduce VAT on domestic repair, maintenance and improvement (RMI) work in the Budget has been condemned by.... more
(16 April 2003 13:45)