Articles by Date : March 15 2004 - March 21 2004

Council set to discuss Glass Needle plan
Plans for a glass needle tower in Cardiff are to be put before Cardiff Council next week. more
(19 March 2004 16:41)

Try steps down as Housing Forum chairman
Housing Forum chairman Hugh Try will step down on 31 March, having come to the end of his agreed term - he will be succeeded by Steve Lidgate who is.... more
(19 March 2004 16:32)

briefs
Retirement benefits Retirement benefits worth £2.4 million are waiting to be claimed by former construction workers according to B&CE Benefit.... more
(19 March 2004 16:19)

New fire sprinkler law for Scotland
The Fire Sprinklers Association (FSA) has today (Friday) congratulated the Scottish Executive on its decision to mandate sprinklers in high-risk.... more
(19 March 2004 15:54)

Babcock confirms talks ongoing over Peterhouse acquisition
Babcock has confirmed that it is the mystery player chasing Peterhouse. It values Peterhouse at £106m. more
(19 March 2004 15:52)

Industrial and off-highway market targeted by Caterpillar
Caterpillar said it will unveil six new Tier 3/Stage IIIa compliant engines for the industrial and off-highway market at Bauma, adding to the C18.... more
(19 March 2004 12:50)

CC appoints new training director
The Construction Confederation has appointed Jeff Thomas as director of training. more
(19 March 2004 11:50)

Union Railways invites tenders for £46m to £70m Temple Mills depot
Union Railways (North) is inviting contractors to pitch for a range of work worth between £46m and £70m to construct the Temple Mills train depot. more
(19 March 2004 11:45)

Highways Agency flags up £100m M1 Junction 19 improvement
The Highways Agency has advertised its intention to let a £100m to £120m project to improve Junction 19 of the M1 at a later date. more
(19 March 2004 11:27)

Tenders out to rebuild Chernobyl nuclear power plant
A formal invitation to tender for work to build a safe new shelter for the destroyed Chernobyl nuclear power plant unit 4 has been issued. more
(19 March 2004 10:04)

Alfred McAlpine and Amec win £330m deal to upgrade A1 stretch
Alfred McAlpine and Amec have won a £330m from the Highways Agency to upgrade a 39km stretch of the A1 in North Yorkshire. more
(19 March 2004 09:59)

Considering 'prescription'
As a matter of public policy, statute provides certain limitations of time within which claims for damages must be brought. In England and Wales the.... more
(18 March 2004 17:15)

AP Webb buys £1.2m depot
Specialist plant hirer AP Webb has invested £1.2m in a 1.2ha depot near Stafford. The unit has 630m2 of office space and a 1,331m2 six-bay workshop. more
(18 March 2004 17:14)

Construction pays off at Dew Pitchmastic as profit hits £1.5m
Dew Pitchmastic has announced a pre-tax profit of £1.5m on a £130m turnover in the 12 months to 2 November 2003. more
(18 March 2004 17:13)

Duffy signs up to ERP
Duffy Group, with an annual turnover of £70m, is the first medium-sized construction company to sign up to a global Enterprise Resource Planning.... more
(18 March 2004 17:12)

Build ProCure 21 offsite
NHS Estates is to sponsor a major promotion of offsite construction techniques at Interbuild next month in a bid to speed up the disappointing.... more
(18 March 2004 17:11)

'Exceptionally tough year' for Peterhouse
Peterhouse dived into the red last year to the tune of almost £8m. Executive chairman David Jackson described 2003 as "an exceptionally tough year by.... more
(18 March 2004 17:10)

Marubeni-Komatsu majors on aftersales and finance
Marubeni-Komatsu said it has embarked on a five-year strategy to boost its brand image and increase sales by reducing customers' overall costs. more
(18 March 2004 17:10)

ABHM says brass and steel handles meet building regs
The Association of Building Hardware Manufacturers (ABHM) has dispelled fears that specifiers of stainless steel and polished brass door handles risk.... more
(18 March 2004 17:09)

Irish registers are set to get legal backing
Contractors in Northern Ireland expect the government to introduce legislation by April 2006, backing both the local register of qualified operatives.... more
(18 March 2004 17:08)

JDM Accord fined £100k after reversing vehicle kills subbie
JDM Accord has been fined £100,000 following the investigation of an incident in which a subcontractor was crushed to death during road improvement.... more
(18 March 2004 17:08)

Gyllenhammar resigns from Montpellier board
Peter Gyllenhammar, Montpellier's biggest shareholder with a 34% stake in the publicly quoted company, has resigned from the board. more
(18 March 2004 17:07)

Rok's acquisitions enhance success
Rok's pre-tax profit doubled to £10m last year, proving that the vigorous acquisition strategy of chief executive Garvis Snook is paying dividends. more
(18 March 2004 17:06)

Batched PFI health deal decimated by late cuts
The government's flagship Northern batched PFI hospitals scheme is in further crisis this week after Bradford Teaching Hospital NHS Trust slashed.... more
(18 March 2004 17:05)

Balfour's PFI investment to rise
Balfour Beatty has no plans to churn its investment in PFI equity. "It gives us a long-term reliable income stream," said Mike Welton, chief.... more
(18 March 2004 17:04)

Nixon Hire buys new kit in plan to boost turnover
Newcastle-based hirer John Nixon (Nixon Hire) said it has embarked on a five-year expansion plan to double its turnover to £20m. more
(18 March 2004 17:03)

Nuttall bags £15m A47 deal
Nuttall has snatched a £15m deal to upgrade the A47 in Norfolk from under the nose of local favourite May Gurney. more
(18 March 2004 17:02)

Precept set for Scots £75m not-for-profit PPP project
Project management specialist Precept has surfaced as provisional preferred bidder for Argyll and Bute Council's radical £75m not-for-profit schools.... more
(18 March 2004 17:02)

Wembley arch is 'structurally sound'
Multiplex Construction UK has hit back at press reports claiming the new Wembley Stadium's 135m-high arch has been declared unsafe to raise into.... more
(18 March 2004 17:01)

HBF slams government targeting of foreign developers
The House Builders Federation (HBF) is unhappy with the government's decision to target international developers to build nearly 1,000 new homes in.... more
(18 March 2004 16:59)

Duo promotes ProCure 21
Kier Health and Marriott Construction have launched a series of seminars to promote the benefits of ProCure 21 to local NHS Trusts and supply.... more
(18 March 2004 16:58)

Balfour aims to be most profitable UK contractor
Balfour Beatty's pre-tax profit in 2003 roared ahead to £118m, making it a contender for the title of the most profitable UK construction group for.... more
(18 March 2004 16:58)

Huge potential in Iraq for Amec
Amec, in joint venture with Fluor, is bidding for seven contracts in water and power in Iraq with an estimated total value of £2.3bn. The outcome of.... more
(18 March 2004 16:57)

Tough trading conditions tighten T Clarke margins
T Clarke found trading conditions tough in 2003 as margins tightened. Pressures look like continuing throughout 2004, said the group, and only in.... more
(18 March 2004 16:56)

Try chief sells shares for less than Rok's bid
Galliford Try chief executive David Calverley sold 1.3 million shares on Friday at 50.5p each, netting £661,000, representing a mark-up of.... more
(18 March 2004 16:55)

Housebuilders hope Budget will bring big work bonanza
Housebuilders are anticipating a workload bonanza if, as expected, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown proposes a rapid expansion of affordable.... more
(18 March 2004 16:55)

BEAR jv still in red on Scots road contracts
Ennstone, Babtie and Ringway's much-troubled Scottish trunk road maintenance contracts made a further loss of £2.6m last year. more
(18 March 2004 16:54)

PeopleSoft buys JD Edwards 'to get into construction'
John Finnegan, UK sales director at PeopleSoft, said that following the acquisition of JD Edwards by PeopleSoft [previously the two were ERP rivals].... more
(18 March 2004 16:52)

BACH to the drawing board
Construction's academics have rounded on CITB-ConstructionSkills over the "appalling achievement rates" in apprenticeships (see page 3). Fewer than.... more
(18 March 2004 16:51)

Two fight for Derby schools
Derbyshire-based Bowmer & Kirkland has failed to make the grade for a PFI schools deal being rolled out on its doorstep and worth nearly £44m. more
(18 March 2004 16:50)

Winners named for HA's £500m roads
The new chief executive of the Highways Agency (HA), Archie Robertson, announced the winners for £500m worth of new road works on Monday. more
(18 March 2004 16:49)

Ennstone reveals a successful 2003
Aggregates group Ennstone unveiled a record pre-tax profit of £5.6m (£5m). Chairman Vaughan McLeod said he was pleased with the performance in 2003,.... more
(18 March 2004 16:48)

New-look McAlpine completed
The corporate transformation of Alfred McAlpine is officially complete, said Ian Grice, chief executive last week. more
(18 March 2004 16:47)

Training board blamed for apprentice failures
CITB-ConstructionSkills has come under fire over the pass rates in foundation modern apprenticeship - the entry-level apprenticeships for the.... more
(18 March 2004 16:47)

Carillion is hit by charges
Carillion kept up with the latest fashion by unveiling a string of exceptional charges that ate a big hole in its profit, although unlike others, it.... more
(18 March 2004 16:46)

Charges halve Keller's profit
Keller's 2003 pre-tax profit was halved as a result of the burden of £14m-worth of exceptional charges. more
(18 March 2004 16:45)

Better opportunities outside PFI
McAlpine is comfortable with its current position in PFI - it bids for two or three projects each year and expects to win one. more
(18 March 2004 16:44)

Redrow operating margin moves ahead
Housebuilder Redrow's operating margin moved ahead to 19.5% in the latest interim period, compared with 18.4% in the comparable period last year. more
(18 March 2004 16:43)

Mowlem in deep water over another pool deal
While the Bath Spa feud simmers on, Mowlem is in trouble over another swimming pool, this time in East Lothian. more
(18 March 2004 16:43)

Bouygues wins £120m health deal
Bouygues has fended off a challenge from its only remaining rival to emerge as preferred bidder for a £120m PFI hospital deal at Chelmsford. more
(18 March 2004 16:42)