NEWSBRIEF

costain in £15m double win

Costain Construction has won two contracts worth a total of nearly £15 million. The largest is a £10 million contract to construct a new 3,680m2 Waitrose supermarket at Malvern in Worcestershire. It also has a £4.8 million contract to build an office unit for Rolls Royce Pension Fund in Egham, Surrey.

ucatt selling short say gmb and tgwu

Ucatt's decision to accept a 3 per cent pay offer for local authority building workers has upset the two other main construction unions. GMB and TGWU construction members are angry both at the level of the agreement, which they say is too low, and at Ucatt for not presenting a united union front to the employers. Ucatt, which represents by far the largest proportion of union members out of the 50,000 or so DLO workers, expressed surprise at the GMB and TGWU stance.

tarmac to build hungarian power station

Tarmac has won a £100 million contract to construct a new power station in Hungary. TBV Power, Tarmac's specialist power business and its partner, Foster Wheeler of Finland, will build a 150MW coal-fired power station for AES Electric, part of the AES Coroporation of the USA.

wates acquires interiors group

Wates Group has acquired shop-fitting contractor Charles Barrett Interiors from receiver Grant Thornton. Charles Barrett, which has a turnover of £15 million and employs 76 staff, will continue to be run by John French the current MD. John Edwards, operations director for Wates Construction will take on the additional role of chairman of Charles Barrett with immediate effect.

rics survey shows property confidence

In its latest survey of the commecial property markets over the three months to the end of June, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said: "The commercial property sector will ride a late-1990s economic slowdown far more successfully than it coped with the slump at the end of the 80s." While confidence in commercial property among charted surveyors has dropped over the quarter by nearly 24 points (to 5.8 per cent) the net balance is still in the positive, which means that more respondents to the survey are expressing optimism than pessimism.

morrison to build azerbaijan hotel

Morrison Construction Group is to build a new £62.5 million Hilton hotel and office complex in Baku, capital of Azerbaijan. Morrison and Hilton will invest equity in the project along with the other investors. Debt finance is being provided by a consortium of international banks.

government gives 20 roads the go-ahead

In advance of this week's Government review of 140 road schemes currently on hold, the British Roads Federation has produced a top-20 list of schemes it believes should go ahead. Among the schemes listed which it believes are "vital for the economic and environmental well-being of the country." It includes: the M25 J12-19 widening including terminal 5 spur; M1 J23A-25 widening; A6 Great Glen Bypass and A63 Selby Bypass.

ebc leads field for defence contract

EBC Construction is believed to be in pole position to win an £11 million contract from the Ministry of Defence for the refurbishment of Bickleigh Barracks near Plymouth in Devon. The 92-week contract is to provide 402 new accommodation units for junior ranks, a new parade ground and company stores and offices.