AIF Knowledge Base footage now 'live'

ONLINE ONLY Several of the 25 contractors appealing against a combined £79m fine by the OFT for collusion on pricing have said they expect to get back “millions”, Building reported. The upbeat ...

ONLINE ONLY Councils have walked away from pledges to build 100,000 social homes since being told by central Government to scrap building targets, Construction News reported. A study carried out for the ...

ONLINE ONLY Contractors have called for changes in the way the Health and Safety Executive  operates, Construction News reported. The call comes as Lord Young prepares to announce the results of his ...

ONLINE ONLY Fire safety experts called for an investigation after government data revealed the first conclusive proof that timber-frame buildings suffer more damage than other kinds of structure in a fire, Building ...

ONLINE ONLY Laing O’Rourke has shut its dedicated Middle East arm and cut its global workforce by almost half to 18,222 people, Building reported. Employee numbers at Laing O’Rourke fell from 35,753 ...

ONLINE ONLY An MP is investigating the nationwide performance of troubled social housing firm Connaught, Construction News reported. Simon Wright, MP for Norwich South, contacted fellow members of parliament, as well as ...

ONLINE ONLY Shares in troubled social housing maintenance and construction firm Rok jumped ten per cent after the company appeared to draw a line under problem contracts in its plumbing, heating and ...

ONLINE ONLY London Mayor Boris Johnson has published controversial new space standards for the capital’s new homes, Building reported. The standards, contained in the London Housing Design Guide, stipulate 73 specific requirements, ...

ONLINE ONLY Only 58 students have completed the new advanced construction and built environment diploma course, reported the Construction Enquirer website. Figures published this week by the Joint Council for Qualifications show ...

ONLINE ONLY A number of large QSs have sought assurances from Aecom that its £204m acquisition of Davis Langdon will not damage their relationship with it, or mean they lose future work, ...

ONLINE ONLY Councils must be offered greater incentives if significant progress is to be made in stimulating the housebuilding market, Construction News reported.  Housing minister Grant Shapps this week said the government ...

ONLINE ONLY The threat of legal action from contractors ensured that the government approved scores of "sample" secondary school projects and academies, Construction News reported. In a series of tough negotiations, a ...

ONLINE ONLY Bournemouth council has named Morgan Sindall as its preferred development partner to steer the £500m regeneration of the seaside resort’s town centre, in one of the first examples of a ...

ONLINE ONLY A wide-ranging coalition of 29 planning, property and construction groups has written to the communities secretary Eric Pickles criticising the government’s drive to a “localist” planning system and requesting an ...

ONLINE ONLY Davis Langdon, the UK cost and project consultant, has been bought by acquisitive American giant Aecom in a deal worth £200m.  Davis Langdon, which turns over around £270m per year ...

ONLINE ONLY The MoD’s Defence Estates could offer opportunities for firms hit by public sector cuts, Construction News reported. Steve Rice, the Next Generation Estate Contracts programme manager told Construction News that ...

ONLINE ONLY The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) is preparing plans to sell off the site next to Stratford International station to return money to the Treasury after the 2012 Games, Building reported. ...

ONLINE ONLY Civil servants covered up potential reductions of £705m in domestic and commercial energy bills linked to the planned extension of Part L in order to help former housing minister John ...

ONLINE ONLY Transport for London has put all new projects on hold and all existing projects under review, Building reported. All new projects are on hold until “at least” the finalisation of ...

ONLINE ONLY Villages in England will be able to build new homes without getting planning consent from their local authority under new Government plans, Construction News reported. The Right to Build initiative ...

ONLINE ONLY The strongest figures for construction output since 2008 hide a more pessimistic outlook, Building warned. In constant prices, output in the three months to May was as strong as in ...

ONLINE ONLY Industry fears of a double-dip recession grew this week as commercial development re-entered decline and analysts warned firms that they faced more job cuts, insolvencies and the possibility of a ...

ONLINE ONLY Consultants and architects are racing to re-organise their Building Schools for the Future teams so they can bid for the government’s “free schools” initiative, Building reported. Several firms have formed ...

ONLINE ONLY Sir John Egan, author of the seminal ‘Rethinking Construction’ report, has attacked the way contractors treated the scrapped Building Schools for the Future scheme. Egan, who is a member of ...

ONLINE ONLY The CIOB were invited by the AIF (Access Industry Forum) to deliver a keynote speech at this year’s three-day Safety & Health Expo.   On behalf of the CIOB, Brian ...

ONLINE ONLY The review into future school building work will not be completed until the end of the year, Building reported. Senior industry figures told Building this could mean it will be ...

ONLINE ONLY The Government this week abandoned the £55 bn Building Schools for the Future programme, cancelling over 700 school schemes, Construction News reported. About £7.5bn of capital investment already pledged will ...

ONLINE ONLY Funding for the first four of Gordon Brown's eco-towns was quietly slashed by 50% last week while plans for a further six developments have also been dropped, Building Design reported. ...

ONLINE ONLY A £17m revamp of a secondary school in Islington, currently being built by Balfour Beatty under Building Schools for the Future, has prompted teachers to walk out on strike. Buildig ...

ONLINE ONLY Four out of the top ten earners on a list of high-salaried quango employees are leading the construction of the London 2012 Olympics, Construction Enquirer reported. Figures published by the Cabinet ...

ONLINE ONLY Tony Douglas, the former chief operating officer of Laing O’Rourke who was recently appointed chief executive of Abu Dhabi Ports Company, has urged UK firms to seek a role on ...

ONLINE ONLY The CIOB will be holding an international conference in Shanghai next week, concluding with the Institute's first-ever overseas AGM. Members can find out more about the conference, plus linked forums ...

ONLINE ONLY New construction minister Mark Prisk pledged to simplify procurement and strip away unnecessary hurdles such as over-prescriptive prequalification, Building reported. Addressing the industry formally for the first time at a ...

ONLINE ONLY Education Secretary Michael Gove’s plans to relax planning rules to make it easier to turn derelict hospitals, shops and pubs into “free schools” received a cautious welcome from the architectural ...

ONLINE ONLY Capital expenditure was spared fresh cuts but the industry was left waiting for hard information after spending decisions on housing and school building budgets were deferred under the Budget, Building ...

ONLINE ONLY Costain is providing its new managers with hands-on experience of working in the building trades, according to news website Construction Enquirer. The firm is concerned that many engineers and supervisors ...

ONLINE ONLY An intensive programme of work has started to finalise a definition of zero carbon homes as quickly as possible, Building reported. The pressure us on to rush out a definition ...

ONLINE ONLY The Government has pulled the plug on £2bn of schemes, including the £450m Hartlepool hospital and the £27m Stonehenge visitor centre by Denton Corker Marshall, Building reported. Chief Secretary to ...

ONLINE ONLY Contractors believe cover pricing is as rife as it was two years ago despite the £130m of fines imposed by the Office of Fair Trading last September, Building reported. According ...

ONLINE ONLY Housing minister Grant Schapps has claimed that housebuilding will increase under the coalition government despite anxiety in the industry that schemes are already being put on hold. Construction News reported ...

ONLINE ONLY Bovis Lend Lease has pulled out of a possible nuclear deal with EDF energy at the eleventh hour after parent company Lend Lease objected to ‘unethical’ work. Building reported that ...

ONLINE ONLY The government is likely to announce a formal halt to the £55bn school building programme within weeks, Building reported. Building claims that officials are preparing a formal announcement, amid growing ...

ONLINE ONLY The 310m tall Shard of Glass tower in London is undergoing essential repairs, putting Mace's deadline for completion under pressure. Building reported steelwork contractor Severfield-Rowen is carrying out remedial work ...

ONLINE ONLY Laing O’Rourke is to close its Middle East division following deep cuts to the firm’s global workforce that have almost halved staff levels over the past year. Building reported that ...

ONLINE ONLY A £610 million funding gap means The Homes and Communities Agency has to review its Kickstart scheme and may be unable to fund residential schemes for a year, Building reported. ...

ONLINE ONLY Chancellor George Osborne cut swathes out of the construction industry as the coalition government set out how it would achieve £6.25bn of savings this financial year. In the days following ...

ONLINE ONLY The government is considering making up to £4-5bn of cuts to the £16.9bn Crossrail scheme, Building reported. An internal Crossrail team, under instruction from ministers to save money,  understood to ...

ONLINE ONLY The coalition government has published its programme for the next five years, paving the way for a  new nuclear power station programme and pledging a Green Deal to give homeowners ...

ONLINE ONLY Details of the construction bosses who collaborated with the use of blacklists in the industry could be about to be made public, the Construction Enquirer website reported. The decision follows ...

ONLINE ONLY Building Schools for the Future projects approved for funding as far back as July 2009 could be in doubt as the new coalition government “reprioritises” all BSF pipeline projects, according ...

ONLINE ONLY The collapse of the 30-year Tube Lines PPP deal with Transport for London has been blamed on an “onerous” and “expensive” contract, Building reported. The comments follow a decision last ...

ONLINE ONLY Billions of pounds worth of schools projects and a major healthcare framework are to be halted by the incoming Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition, Building reported. It is understood that the new ...

ONLINE ONLY The RICS and eight of the largest QS firms in the country are to hold crisis talks next month, Building reported. The meeting will discuss the profession’s grievances against the ...

ONLINE ONLY Construction professionals now have a new way to find out about the best construction vacancies. The Chartered Institute of Building’s brand-new jobs site, www.ciobjobs.com, is now live and over the ...

ONLINE ONLY City analysts have warned that the uncertainty of a hung Parliament will delay recovery in the construction industry, Building reported. Howard Seymour, a construction analyst at Numis Securities, said the ...

ONLINE ONLY The turbulent relationship between the RICS and its QS members has reached crisis point, Building reported. It has seen a draft letter to the RICS governing council from the institution’s ...

ONLINE ONLY Contractors working for  Sainsbury’s will be encouraged to take on unemployed people under a new training programme launched by the supermarket giant, Building and Construction News reported.   Sainsbury’s has lined ...

ONLINE ONLY This month sees the launch of the CIOB’s brand-new job site, CIOBJobs.com. From 04 May the site will advertise UK and international vacancies in construction management and related disciplines, targeting high-quality ...

ONLINE ONLY Contractors fear that the general election could delay much-needed PFI-funded work by slowing down contract awards over the next year, Construction News reported. Both the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives ...

ONLINE ONLY In an open letter to readers of Building, Conservative party leader David Cameron set out his party's pre-election pledges on employers' National Insurance, red tape and regulation, procurement, transparency and ...

ONLINE ONLY Hesitant signs of recovery and a slightly improved forecast for the commercial sector were announced by the Construction Products Association, Construction News reported. In its spring forecast the CPA reduced ...

ONLINE ONLY Volcanic ash has affected the construction industry, with the Construction Products Association being asked by government to carry out an assessment of the damage caused, Construction News reported. Some product ...

ONLINE ONLY Liberal Democrat plans to slash building programmes have alarmed the construction industry, according to reports in both Construction News and Building. The construction industry voiced its concerns after the surge ...

ONLINE ONLY Supermarket giant Tesco is planning a £1.6 bn store development programme, Building reported. The programme, which is an expansion of 40 per cent on last year's development output, will see ...

ONLINE ONLY Sean Tompkins, the incoming new chief executive of the RICS, has vowed to heal the rift between the institution and its discontented QS members, Building reported. Tompkins, whose appointment was ...

ONLINE ONLY More than £4bn of large developments in London have come back online in recent months,  according to research by Building. The news coincides with this week's topping out of the ...

ONLINE ONLY A government adviser has warned construction firms that new legislation could “take them to the cleaners” if they fail to take action against corruption, Building reported. The powers were conferred ...

ONLINE ONLY English councils have put more than 7,000 homes out to tender in the past weeks in advance of “purdah” rules that will stop quangos spending until after the general election, ...

ONLINE ONLY Up to a million child labourers, some as young as six, work in India’s stone quarries, according to an investigation by Building. Just one per cent of the sandstone quarried ...

ONLINE ONLY Construction activity has expanded for the first time in more than two years, according to the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply. A survey by the CIPS reveals the first ...

ONLINE ONLY A Commons committee has warned that the budget for the Olympic Park is “worryingly tight”, Building reported. The Public Accounts Committee said that the schedule was on track but that ...

ONLINE ONLY Safety campaigners have responded with “shock” after the government failed to meet the recommendations of the Donaghy report and introduce gangmaster licensing and a dedicated construction minister. Rita Donaghy, former ...

ONLINE ONLY Housebuilders that have benefited from government Kickstart funds have been condemned by MPs for paying bosses “unthinkable bonuses”, reports Building. In the same week, the magazine also revealed that the ...

ONLINE ONLY The Tories are planning to funnel £3 bn a year of funding to build new social housing directly to elected mayors if they win the election, Building reported. The Homes ...

ONLINE ONLY Chancellor Alistair Darling pledged to slash the regulatory costs of housebuilding and to deliver development land in a “new deal” for housebuilders, Building reported. However, there was no news on ...

ONLINE ONLY Laing O’Rourke finance director Iain Ferguson quit last week and commercial head Anna Stewart has stepped into his shoes, Building reported. Construction News also highlighted that it is the second ...

ONLINE ONLY The Local Education Partnership procurement model at the heart of Building Schools for the Future is at risk of being watered down or abandoned, construction industry leaders have warned. Balfour ...

ONLINE ONLY Leeds City Council will now not take reprisals against contractors named in the Office of Fair Trading probe after lawyers advised that the evidence is too weak for action. Legal ...

ONLINE ONLY Law firm Eversheds has called on well-financed contractors to complete projects before getting paid, Construction News reported. By waiting for payment until a project is completely built contractors can help ...

ONLINE ONLY Tesco has started to outsource work on UK projects to Indian architects and quantity surveyors based in India. Building reported that the retailer flew the workers to Britain last year, ...

ONLINE ONLY Contractors Kier Group and Rok are first off the blocks to enter the £28bn market for retrofitting the UK’s existing housing stock of 26 million homes, Construction News reported. Kier, ...

ONLINE ONLY A Conservative government would allow “low risk” construction companies to arrange their own independent safety audits, providing immunity from Health and Safety Executive inspections. “If a Conservative government is elected, ...

ONLINE ONLY The BBC’s head of property launched an attack on the construction industry in response to a stinging National Audit Office report on three of the broadcaster’s projects. Building reported that ...

ONLINE ONLY Balfour Beatty, the UK’s biggest contractor, announced healthy results for 2009, with turnover breaking the £10 billion barrier for the first time. Building reported an 8 per cent rise in ...

ONLINE ONLY Plans to green Britain’s 26m existing homes have been unveiled by the Department for Energy and Climate Change under the government’s Warm Homes, Greener Homes strategy. Building reported that the ...

ONLINE ONLY British engineering contractor MW Kellogg is to come clean to the Serious Fraud Office about corruption offences the firm itself engaged in, Building reported. The London-based construction and process engineering ...

ONLINE ONLY The Conservatives' planning green paper, which introduces a presumption in favour of sustainable development but devolves more decision-making power to local authorities and communities, was this week met with concern ...

ONLINE ONLY Lacklustre year-end results across the construction sector were reported this week. Pre-tax profit at construction giant Morgan Sindall slumped 28 per cent while turnover slipped 13% to £2.2bn.  Kier was ...

ONLINE ONLY The developer and bank behind the failed £1.5 bn Silvertown Quays mixed use project are likely to sue the London Development Agency for £60 m. Building reported that the developer, ...

ONLINE ONLY CIOB president-elect James Wates, who is replacing Sir Michael Latham as chair of CITB ConstructionSkills this April, takes the helm of the organisation amid testing times, Building reports. With the ...

ONLINE ONLY Contractors need to take a central role in retrofitting 26 million homes to meet carbon reduction targets, chief construction advisor Paul Morrell told Construction News. Morrell placed carbon reduction at ...

ONLINE ONLY New strategic plans for schools estates could give contractors greater visibility about forthcoming work, Construction News reported. Partnerships for Schools (PfS) intends to work with local authorities to create overarching ...

ONLINE ONLY Davis Langdon, the UK’s second largest QS which employs 5 000 people, is in takeover talks with two American firms. Building reported that talks with Aecom, the £3.8bn turnover multidisciplinary ...

ONLINE ONLY Directors of the defunct Construction Confederation may be held personally liable for the £20.8m  black hole in the body’s pension fund after it emerged that the behaviour of individual officers ...

ONLINE ONLY Skanska, the Swedish contractor operating in the UK for the past decade, has been named as preferred bidder for the £1 billion Essex Building Schools for the Future contract. Construction ...

ONLINE ONLY Internal documents from the Health and Safety Executive and reported in Construction News reveal a sharp rise in construction fatalities. John Spanswick, chair of the  Strategic Forum's health and safety ...

ONLINE ONLY Firms bidding for the £695 million upgrade to Victoria Station in London may be asked to work without pay for a year, in effect subsidising the project for cash-strapped client ...

ONLINE ONLY Zero-carbon eco-schools are to be rolled out across England under plans published by the Zero Carbon Task Force, according to a report in Building. The initial pilot will see 36 ...

ONLINE ONLY Local authorities are making moves to exclude contractors implicated in the Office of Fair Trading inquiry into bid rigging from tendering opportunities, says a report in Building. It revealed that ...

ONLINE ONLY Industry figures lined up to pay tribute to Alan Cherry, founding director of Countryside Properties, who has died aged 76 six months after being diagnosed with cancer. Cherry, who was ...