Burns Construction to fit out Marischal Square Ice Cream Parlour
An Aberdeen construction company has landed a £200k contract to fit out the coolest place in town – Mackie’s first ice cream parlour at the Marischal Square development. Burns Construction (Aberdeen) Ltd has started work to transform the site and give it...
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Architects Recommend Compulsory Sprinklers and Fire Alarms
Architects are calling for compulsory fire alarms in multi-occupancy buildings and sprinklers or other automatic fire suppression systems in all new and converted residential buildings. These are among the wide-ranging recommendations made by the Royal Institute of...
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22 Major Road Projects Delayed by Highways England
Highways England have revised its £15bn road improvement programme which has lead to twenty-two major road improvement projects being delayed or cancelled. To reduce the impact of roadworks on motorists and minimise congestion while improvements take place, Highways...
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Anti-Tilt Alarm for Dumpers
Emolice Technology, a Bracknell-based manufacturer of inclinometers, has developed a warning system for forward tipping dumper trucks that are about to overturn. The Si-1 tilt warning system is designed to help address the mounting number of deaths and injuries caused...
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V&A Dundee Architect sees Cliff-Inspired Vision Revealed for first Time
The architect of V&A Museum of Design Dundee said he is “delighted and satisfied” as he saw his vision inspired by Scotland’s cliffs revealed for the first time. Kengo Kuma visited the £80.1 million project shortly after the removal of a temporary cofferdam which...
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Banksmen Issued with Bodycams for Protection
All banksmen directly employed by Aggregate Industries Contracting are now fitted with cameras strapped to their uniforms in a bid to protect them from abuse and confrontation. Aggregate Industries has invested more than £20,000 kitting out banksmen with bodycams. The...
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UK launch for Robotic vest set for next year
The EksoVest, which will give workers the power to lift heavy objects on site, will be launched in the UK in March next year. A robotic vest designed to enable construction workers to lift heavy objects with reduced exposure to injury or muscle strain will launch in...
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Marshalls buys CPM for £38m
CPM manufactures and sells concrete pipes, containment and inspection chambers, manhole covers, retaining walls and other bespoke industrial concrete products for the civil engineering sector. The company was formed in 2004 combining a drainage business in Much...
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Anti-dozing collars for Amey highways drivers
Amey have been trialling wearable technology that knows when drivers are dozing off and lone workers are in trouble. Biometric and location devices detect when the body is under stress and help workers raise instant alarms at the touch of a button. Principal engineer...
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UWS outlines ‘Hamilton Green urban village’ proposals
New plans have been revealed to transform the Hamilton campus of the University of the West of Scotland (UWS) into an ‘urban village’ complete with 365 homes and a five-storey hotel. A masterplan framework devised by Ironside Farrar on behalf of South Lanarkshire...
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Manchester names contractors for £200m civils framework
Thirteen contractors have been selected for Manchester City Council’s £200m civil engineering framework. The four-year framework will be used by all the councils across the Greater Manchester region. It starts in January 2018. Projects expected to be procured through...
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Amey trials wearable safety tech
Amey highway engineers have been trialling wearable technology, with a view to reducing risks to drivers and lone workers. Biometric and location devices, which detect when the body is under stress and help raise instant alarms at the touch of a button, were piloted...
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Mitie celebrates £50m success in Scotland
Mitie’s property management business has been awarded a number of social housing contracts in Scotland. The most substantial contract is with Aberdeenshire Council, and covers all aspects of social housing repairs. A North Lanarkshire Council win, valued at £3.1m per...
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BAM Construct UK employees raise £19,000 for charity in a month
Employees at BAM Construct UK stepped, cycled, kicked, bounced and ran their way through Childhood Cancer Awareness Month in September and raised an incredible £19,000 for children and young people’s cancer support charity CLIC Sargent. Hundreds of workers across the...
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McAlpine are set to start HMRC office at Cardiff central square
Construction on the next project at Cardiff’s Central Square development is set to be started by Sir Robert McAlpine. The 100m office project has been fully pre-let to the HMRC. The 12-storey building will provide 265,000 sq ft for the Government tax hub building and...
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A boost in transport consultancy by Mace
Mace have strengthened its transport consultancy business by the appointment of two senior directors. Carl Dainter joins Mace as Head of Aviation for Consultancy, after 16 years at AECOM. He has extensive experience of working through all stages of the lifecycle of...
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Empiric to sell Stirling student accommodation development site
Student accommodation operator Empiric Student Property has exchanged contracts to sell the freehold of the Forthside Way site in Stirling for £2 million excluding costs. The site has detailed planning permission for a 208 bed student accommodation development, which...
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Perth City Hall and Perth Museum and Art Gallery designers selected
The designers for the revamped Perth City Hall and Perth Museum and Art Gallery have been unveiled following a competitive process. Metaphor has been appointed as the “interpretation and exhibition designers” for the city centre venues and will work...
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Bouygues on board for £300m Cambridge physics lab
The University of Cambridge has brought in Bouygues to help with its plans for a new physics laboratory. Lynxvale, the development arm of the University of Cambridge, has awarded Bouygues UK an £8.5m professional services contract to provide preconstruction input on...
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Murphy faces unprecedented cabling challenge in Lincolnshire
J Murphy & Sons has been named as preferred supplier to install 60km of underground cables for the Triton Knoll wind farm. Murphy will design and install all the onshore cabling for the offshore wind power project, between Anderby Creek on the Lincolnshire coast...
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Lidl are set to build its largest UK warehouse in Peterborough
Lidl Uk are set to build its biggest regional distribution centre so far on a 34-ache site.. The warehouse will be Lidl UK's 15th distribution centre and its largest in the UK at 754,999 sq ft. This increased size underlines Lidl UK’s ambitious expansion plans to...
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One in four dissatisfied with their new-build homes
A survey of owners of new-build homes has found that nearly nine out of 10 still require snagging after handover and 26% of buyers would not recommend their builder. The survey of 287 property owners, conducted between November 2016 and May 2017, also found that only...
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Bellway profits top £560m
House-builder Bellway has reported double-digit growth in revenue and profit, and provided an upbeat assessment of market prospects. For the year to 31st July 2017 Bellway generated revenue of £2.56bn, a 14% increase on the previous year’s £2.24bn, and grew pre-tax...
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First building tops out at Glasgow’s new urban business district
A topping out ceremony has taken place for the first building at Glasgow’s new urban business location, Magenta @ Clyde Gateway. The £9 million Red Tree Magenta building is currently under construction by contractors Robertson, and is due for completion in summer...
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Ogilvie completes student development at Edinburgh’s Old Printworks
A new 237 bed purpose-built student accommodation development at The Old Printworks in Edinburgh has been completed in time for the 2017/18 academic year. Delivered by Crosslane Student Developments on behalf of the Unite Group, the £31 million development was...
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New tribunals centre to be built in Glasgow
The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) has announced plans for a new Tribunals Centre in Glasgow. SCTS has worked with HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) to find accommodation in Glasgow and the new Tribunals Centre will be located at 3 Atlantic Quay....
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Council to remove external window panels in Clydebank after review of high-rise flats
West Dunbartonshire Council is set to remove external window panels on 11 high-rise blocks in Clydebank as the post-Grenfell review of Scotland’s buildings continues to raise questions over the use of cladding in use across the country. The council commissioned an...
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£95k fine follows back-breaking fall
London building firm West Hill Projects has been fined more than £95,000 after one of its workers fell from height and broke his back. Hammersmith Magistrates’ Court heard that on 5th December 2016 a man was working next to a large opening in a flat roof on Wandle...
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Ulster builders fear hard Irish border
A hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic would damage the Norther Irish construction sector, according to research by the Federation of Master Builders (FMB). Most construction SMEs in Northern Ireland told the FMB that a hard border with the Republic,...
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Owen Pugh boss blames bullying majors for collapse
The former boss of collapsed civil engineering contractor Owen Pugh, has blamed bad luck and bullying main contractors for his company’s demise. John Dickson said he had been through “three years of hell” and had lost his home. Northeast-based Owen Pugh was placed in...
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Interserve in bank talks
Interserve is in talks with its lenders, who have reportedly been spooked by the company’s latest profits warning. Last month Interserve revealed the cost of quitting the waste-to-energy sector was proving to be even more costly than it had originally expected. In...
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Breakthrough on Glasgow’s Shieldhall tunnel
Tunnelling work to build Scotland’s biggest sewer has now completed. Scottish Water’s £100m Shieldhall tunnel, being built by Costain Vinci, is designed to help tackle flooding and improve river water quality in Glasgow. A 1,000-tonne tunnel boring machine (TBM) has...
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Political risk clouds construction growth forecasts
Construction activity will remain flat in 2018 but growth should return in 2019, according to latest forecasts from the Construction Products Association. Growth in private sector house-building and infrastructure next year will be offset by a decline in the...
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Mersey crossing comes in on time and under budget
After more than three and a half years of construction, the £600m Mersey Gateway Bridge has opened to traffic on time and under budget. The 1,000m-long crossing of the River Mersey between Runcorn and Widnes opened just after midnight on the morning of Saturday...
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Hinkley point tunnels have concrete problems
The contractos at Hinkley Point will need to replace 150 cubic metres of concrete poured on the site as part of work to form tunnels to contain pipes and cables. Constructed above the galleries sections of tunnels which will contain site infrastructure, problems have...
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Plans submitted for over 100 affordable homes across five Inverclyde sites
Sanctuary Group is working with Inverclyde Council to deliver 104 new affordable homes for rent across five sites. The sites are distinct in character with proposals ranging from 8 to 44 units across 2-4 storeys. Three of the five sites have been submitted for...
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