Author: California Builder

Port of Cromarty Firth has signed a letter of intent with Ideol, which has its headquarters in France. The agreement would see the company and its future local construction partners use the port’s land and Firth berthing sites. They would also cooperate towards further developing the facilities and infrastructure to establish a concrete hull serial…

The new funding includes £760m for the next phase of East West Rail to reinstate direct rail services between Bicester and Bletchley for the first time since 1968. It also includes £34m to progress plans to reopen the Northumberland line between Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Ashington, which closed to passengers in 1964 as part of the Beeching…

The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) welcomed the bits that were in line with its own recommendations but has expressed concerns about a number of the proposals. Last week the Ministry of Housing published its response to the 2019 consultation on the Future Homes Standard, which sought views on changes to Part L…

Litecast’s new works Litecast’s new factory in Ansley Common, Nuneaton, is a 5,400 sq m (58,000 sq ft) building on a 60-acre site that the company has purchased. Production capacity is 72,000 linear metres of cast concrete beams per week, compared with 42,000 linear metres at the old site, a mile away on the town’s…

ACM cladding on Grenfell Tower before the fire The good news is that all high-rise buildings in the social sector and student buildings are now fully remediated or have work underway to remove unsafe aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding, according to latest statistics from the Ministry of Housing1. The private sector is not doing quite…

Queenn Elizabeth II Bridge (Brian Chadwick/Creative Commons) Latest accounts for  Dartford-Thurrock River Crossing Charging Scheme show that motorists paid £209m to use the M25 to cross the Thames to the east of London during the year ended 31st March 2020. At the same time, total expenditure for the year ended 31 March 2020 amounted to…

November 2020 saw the largest year-on-year increase in builders’ merchant sales in Great Britain since March 2019, despite tougher Covid-19 restrictions taking effect from Thursday 5th November. Year-on-year, four categories sold more in November 2020 than in November 2019, led by strong performances from Landscaping (+29.3%) and Timber & Joinery Products (+16.3%). Heavy Building Materials…

Simon Courtney (left) and David Lowery David Lowery joins Galliford Try as operations director, with responsibility for the company’s relationship with Highways England. He joins from French contractor Eiffage, where he was executive director for the Eiffage Kier Ferrovial BAM joint venture working on HS2. He was previously with Carillion, where he was project director…