News round-up: 19 July 2006

Five contractors are set for a share of a £400m social housing deal across Essex and south-east London for Swan Housing Group. They are: Jackson, Lovell Partnerships, Wates, Higgins and Willmott Dixon Housing. Work includes providing 2,000 new homes every year over the four years of the framework deal.

The National Audit Office has launched a six-month study into the delivery of London's 2012 Olympic Games. It will investigate the delivery mechanisms eing put in place, financing arangements, baseline costs and risk management against strict targets.

Liverpool City Council is inviting contractors to bid for its four-year, £140m framework for new and refurbished school building work under the Building Schools for the Future secondary and primary school programme.

Barratt has been selected by English Partnerships to build more than 500 homes at Harlow in Essex on a site at the northern edge of the town known as Harlow Gateway.

Dartford Borough Council has advertised a comprehensive housing repairs service framework covering its 4,400 properties. The work will be let for seven years with a possible three-year extension. The total 10-year value is worth £60m.

The Royal Shakespeare Company is seeking a construction manager to undertake its £53m Transformation Project, which centres round the remodelling of the Grade II-listed Royal Shakespeare Theatre, as well as some smaller buildings.

Presentation Housing Association is looking for a contractor to undertake £40m-worth of new build and refurbishment work over a five-year period in Bolney Meadow, London.

Contractors are being invited by Aldwyck Housing Association and the ARC consortium to pitch for a £30m development programme, which will include both new build and refurbishment work.

Saxon Weald Homes is seeking up to three contractors for its £25m to £40m, four-year framework contract to provide sheltered accommodation and extra care facilities in West and East Sussex and Hampshire.

Kent Community Housing Trust has advertised a four-year new build framework deal for a housing project in south London and Kent, which will be worth anything between £3m and £20m.

The Olympic Delivery Authority has published a Health, Safety and Environment (H&SE) Standard for Olympic projects. It expects a safety target of no more than one reportable incident for every million man hours worked. Unsafe practices and unhealthy working conditions will be subject to a zero-tolerance policy. Health and safety performance will be measured against strict targets.

Peel Airports has devised a £600m masterplan for its John Lennon Airport in Liverpool. It includes a new runway extension and a new cargo terminal on green-belt land.

The £300m PFI redevelopment of Pinderfields General Hospital and Pontefract General Infirmary has been given full planning permission. Mid-Yorkshire Hospital NHS Trust has appointed Consort Healthcare (Balfour Beatty/RBS) as preferred bidder for the project.

The St Enoch Centre in Glasgow is set for a £100m redevelopment. A planning application has been lodged, which includes a new cinema, nightclub, bars and restaurants.

Mansell has sealed a £23m contract from Billericay, Brentwood and Wickford NHS Trust for the construction of the new Brentwood Community Hospital. Completion is set for June 2008.

North Yorkshire County Council has appointed Jacobs as preferred consultant for its engineering and property services contracts, worth £7m in total. The contract period will run to 2012, with a potential extension to 2016.

Wates has won a £6.7m Home Office contract to strip out, refurbish and fit out the Templefields House in Harlow for the Serious Organised Crime Agency. Works are due to complete in September.

Norwest Holst has been awarded two contracts, worth £5m in total, to upgrade and refurbish three laboratories at the University of Liverpool.

Bluestone has won a £4m contract to build a new primary school in Oxley, Wolverhampton, for Wolverhampton City Council.

English Architectural Glazing has sealed a £3m contract from Lace Market Properties to design, manufacture and install curtain walling, windows and doors to the Litmus Building in Nottingham.

Gleeds has won a contract with Media City UK for the construction of the BBC's new state-of-the-art media complex in Salford, Manchester. The site is expected to be occupied by 2010.

[Contract Journal, 19 July 2006, p. 1, 3, 4]