Manchester PFI Court

record sales at Weaver Construction

Midlands-based Weaver Construction Group has achieved a year of record sales having turned over in excess of £36m for the year ending March 2000. The firm, which provides a range of construction services, has already secured £15m orders this year.

Rochdale builder kicked off register

The National House-Building Council has deleted Rochdale builder JS Developments from its register for disciplinary reasons. These include failure to follow NHBC standards and requirements on building quality and customer care, as well as failure to co-operate with NHBC inspectors and the late registration of properties for cover under the Buildmark warranty scheme.

Treasury reaps £30bn from road users

The British Road Federation has claimed that the Government made £30bn profit on road users last year, £4bn more than 1998. Its publication Road Fact 2000 highlighted that the Government raised £35bn in road user taxation, such as vehicle excise duty and fuel duty, whereas only £5bn was spent on the network. BRF also claimed that a third of all the incidents causing congestion are related to the poor maintenance of roads.

CARILLION FAVOURITE FOR MANCHESTER COURTS

The Carillion/Group 4/SGE consortium is thought to be favourite to become preferred bidder for the £30m private finance initiative scheme to provide new magistrates courts in Manchester, according to sources close to the project. The consortium would only say that it had not yet heard from the client, although it expected a decision very soon. The other bidder waiting to hear is the HBG Construction/Babcock and Brown Properties team.

BOVIS LEND LEASE SIGNS TREASURY PFI

The Exchequer Partnership consortium of Bovis Lend Lease, Stanhope and Chesterton International has reached a financial close on the private finance initiative project to refurbish and redevelop the Treasury building in London's Great George Street. Work on the £118m, 46,000m2 first phase will begin shortly. The Treasury will reoccupy this area under a 35-year lease. A second phase, covering a similar size, will proceed when an occupier has been confirmed. Work will be carried out under a construction management approach.

NAPIER QUITS HEWDEN

Alistair Napier, plant hirer Hewden's well-regarded chief executive, left the company last Friday (5 May) "to pursue other business opportunities". Non-executive chairman Sir John Robb is acting as executive chairman until a new chief executive can be appointed. This is expected "before the end of the year".

STEWART TIPPED AS HEAD OF PARTNERSHIPS

James Stewart is being strongly tipped to become the chief executive of Partnerships UK, the private finance initiative facilitator. Stewart is head of project capital for Europe at Newcourt Capital. The Treasury is expected to make the announcement this week.

ABB wins £4.5m station refurbishment

Laing has chosen West Midlands's firm ABB Building Technologies to supply mechanical and electrical refurbishment on Railtrack's Hamilton Square station on the Merseyrail Loop. The contract is worth just under £4.5m. Up to 40 engineers will be on site around the clock until work finishes in the autumn.



BOXTEXT: NEWSBRIEF