Building News is an information portal for all professional building specifiers. Here you can find all of the latest construction news from around the UK and the rest of the world.

Construction figures on the increase across February

Spearheaded by strong performances from the housing and hotel, leisure & sport sectors, overall contract value for the construction industry in February reached £6.4 billion based on a three month rolling average, a 15.4 per cent increase on the same month last year.

According to the latest edition of the Economic & Construction Market Review from industry analysts Barbour ABI, contracts for housing projects reached £2.7 billion in February, the same figure as January 2017, which are the best performing months for residential building since the economic downturn. Coinciding with the strong housing figures, the hotel, leisure & sport sector construction contracts reached £736 million (see figure 1.1) on the month, a substantial 105.3 per cent increase compared to February 2016.

Barbour ABI

Looking across the other sectors within construction; Infrastructure accounted for £1.48 billion worth of construction contracts on the month, a 20.8 per cent increase on January. Commercial & retail projects also increased month on month by 17.5 per cent – the highest since September 2016, although values in the sector remain lower than previously when viewed over the longer term.

However it was the industrial sector that accounted for the most disappointing figures in February, with a 35 per cent year-on-year decrease and its lowest monthly total since October 2014.

Whilst the value of construction contracts remained very strong on the month, the number of projects saw a decline of 19.6 per cent compared with January. Larger, more valuable projects were commissioned in February, including projects such as a £400 million Port of Dover job and the Trafford Park Metrolink extension, valued at £350 million.

Commenting on the figures, Michael Dall, Lead Economist at Barbour ABI, said “After recent slumps in the infrastructure and commercial & retail sectors, it was encouraging to see both bounce back and produce encouraging figures in February, alleviating some of the pressure away from housebuilding.”

“With the hotel, leisure & sport sector recording its highest construction contract value in years, it will give the sector a well needed confidence boost, thanks greatly to a £400 million holiday resort, another major project given the go-ahead in February, a trend that made last month a positive one for construction.”

/0 Comments/by

Hold fire on Parliament restoration, urges Treasury Committee

The House of Commons Treasury committee have urged that they be permitted to complete their own enquiry before any decision is made on the refurbishment of the Palace of Westminster.

The Restoration and Renewal of the Palace of Westminster is likely to be one of the largest major restorations in the history of the public sector estate. The consultants have estimated that the cost, if carried out over the minimum period of 5-8 years, will be between £3.5 and £4 billion.

Rt Hon. Andrew Tyrie MP, Chairman of the Treasury Committee, said “This is one of the largest major restorations in the history of the public sector. Apparently, it is likely to cost at least £3.5 billion over 5-8 years.

“This can only be justified to taxpayers if Parliament and the public see the evidence required to make an informed decision.

      Read more: Radical concept for temporary floating Parliament unveiled

“The Committee’s inquiry into this hugely expensive project will challenge and assess the work and conclusions of the existing reports.

“Until such work has been carried out, it would be imprudent for Parliament to commit to a specific option.”

What work needs to be carried out?

Since 1992, every effort has been made to maintain what is ultimately an outdated and increasingly unsuitable infrastructure. Services such as heating, cooling, water, sewage, electricity and cabling have been kept semi-functioning, but have not been modernised. Astoundingly, there has been no real general renovation of the building and its services since the partial rebuild of 1945-50 – some of the services even predate the war. The original basements and vertical shafts that litter the building are now completely filled with pipes and cables, making further work difficult to carry out – which results in further expense.

Reports illustrate that asbestos features heavily throughout the palace and although asbestos remains safe if treated with great care in compliance with safety regulations, it makes any intervention so much more difficult. Another issue is that most of the work undertaken over the last 50 years is largely undocumented and since many areas are inaccessible, the state of dilapidation and subsequent risk is mostly uncharted. The building is completely at the mercy of fire, with little modern safety practices in place and fire compartmentation considered almost impossible.

The original roofs are no longer watertight and there are many areas plagued with penetrating damp, damaged by interior leaks and flooding.

The cost

So now at the crux of the issue, how much does it cost to renovate a 150 year old Grade I listed building which is partly sinking, contains asbestos and has outdated cabling? The short answer is ‘a lot.’ The sheer amount of work and the sensitive nature of refurbishing a World Heritage Site results in a sky-high estimate of between £3.5bn and £5.7bn, with some suggesting the sum could rise to as much as £7.1bn.

A 2012 report warned that “major, irreversible damage” may be done to the building unless significant restoration work is carried out soon, making the refurbishment one of the most urgent and arguably important renovation projects in the UK today. Some feel that the whole thing is a needless expense to the taxpayer and a vanity project for British Parliament. Another previous report concluded that the maintenance costs alone are so astronomically high that if the Palace of Westminster was a commercial structure of no historical significance, it would be far more cost-effective and efficient to demolish it and rebuild using modern methods of construction, such as modular offsite building.

Whatever you stance, the Houses of Parliament are of national, historical and cultural importance and refurbishment will happen. It should therefore be imperative that efforts are made to soften the bludgeoning blow to the taxpayer’s pocket, shouldn’t it?

/0 Comments/by

New apprenticeship standards are a welcome boost

Apprenticeship standards in construction are set to increase following the Government’s approval of two new apprenticeships in bricklaying and plastering, says the Federation of Master Builders (FMB).

Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the FMB, said “We feared that the Government’s ambition to deliver three million apprenticeships by 2020 would lead to an emphasis on quantity over quality. Today the Government has demonstrated that it really is committed to working with the industry to increase the quality of apprenticeship training by approving these new standards. Research by the FMB shows that two-thirds of construction SMEs believe that the overall quality of construction apprenticeships has decreased during the past 30 years. Furthermore, over 70% of small construction firms would be more likely to train an apprentice if the quality of construction apprenticeship standards were improved. Given that it’s construction SMEs that train two-thirds of all apprentices, the Government is right to back the FMB’s mission to increase the quality of apprenticeships.”

“The Government’s Trailblazer process is all about putting control back into the hands of the employer to ensure that apprenticeship training actually reflects what’s required in the workplace. It is the employers – large and small – who have given up their time to shape these two new high quality apprenticeship standards and they should be commended. What this means is that the bricklayers and plasters of the future will have a much higher minimum skill level than they do currently. All bricklayers will be able to build arches and chimneys and all plasterers will be able to install drylining, and apply solid and fibrous plaster. These broad skills will future-proof the individuals from forthcoming recessions and ensure that we don’t lose them from the construction industry at the first sign of trouble.”

David Kehoe, Technical Support and Training Representative at British Gypsum, said “This is the best thing to happen to the plastering industry for a number of years. British Gypsum is pleased to welcome this new plastering apprenticeship, which will raise the standards and quality of tradespeople within our industry. The FMB is to be congratulated for bringing together employers to develop the new standards and this will improve the quality of training delivery for apprentices coming into our industry.”

Jenny Herdman, Director of the Home Building Skills Partnership, commented “The Home Building Skills Partnership is pleased to have worked alongside the FMB to develop an apprenticeship standard that promotes the skills of the bricklayers we need to meet the Government’s target for increasing housing supply.”

Sarah Beale, CEO of the Construction Industry Training Board, said “Approval of the bricklaying and plastering Trailblazer apprenticeship standards is fantastic news for learners and industry alike. They will help young people get the skills they need for successful, rewarding construction careers while ensuring the country has the bricklayers and plasterers it needs to build the many projects in the pipeline.”

/0 Comments/by

8% of UK construction workforce comes from the EU

New figures from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) reveal that the UK construction industry could lose almost 200,000 EU workers post-Brexit should Britain lose access to the single market, putting some of the country’s biggest infrastructure and construction projects under threat.

RICS has cautioned that for Brexit to succeed, it is essential to secure continued access to the EU Single Market or to put alternative plans in place to safeguard the future of the property and construction sectors in the UK.

Latest RICS figures show that 8% of the UK’s construction workers are EU nationals, accounting for some 176,500 people. 30% of construction professionals surveyed revealed that hiring non-UK workers was important to the success of their businesses.

The UK is already in the grip of a construction skills crisis. While some overseas professionals, such as ballet dancers, are regarded as critical by the UK Government, and are therefore prioritised during the visa application process, construction professions have not yet been added to the ‘UK Shortage Occupations List’. RICS is warning that this could already be placing the UK’s predicted £500 billion infrastructure pipeline under threat and must be addressed as a priority.

When asked about the effectiveness of current plans to address the UK’s long-term skills shortages, 20% of respondents felt that apprenticeship schemes were not effective at all.

Jeremy Blackburn, RICS Head of UK Policy said “These figures reveal that the UK construction industry is currently dependent on thousands of EU workers. It is in all our interests that we make a success of Brexit, but a loss of access to the single market, has the potential to slowly bring the UK’s £500 billion infrastructure pipeline to a standstill. That means that unless access to the single market is secured or alternative plans are put in place, we won’t be able to create the infrastructure needed to enable our cities to compete on a global stage. We have said before that this is a potential stumbling block for the Government, which is working to deliver both its Housing White Paper and Industrial Strategy.

“A simple first step would be to ensure that construction professions, such as quantity surveyors, feature on the ‘UK Shortage Occupations List’. Ballet dancers won’t improve our infrastructure or solve the housing crisis, yet their skills are currently viewed as essential, whereas construction professionals are not.

“Of course, we must also address the need to deliver a construction and property industry that is resilient to future change and can withstand the impact of any future political or economic shocks — key to that will be growing the domestic skills base. As the industry’s professional body, we are working with Government and industry to develop that skills base, building vital initiatives, such as degree apprenticeships, in our sector to drive the talent pipeline forward. This survey reveals that more work needs to be done to promote the indisputable benefits of these schemes to industry — RICS intends to take this forward as a priority.”

/0 Comments/by

New report warns of Brexit impact on environment and air quality

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has expressed his ‘deep concern’ about the impact of Britain leaving the European Union on the environment – and on air pollution in particular.

In an official report about the impact of Brexit on London, the Mayor calls on ministers to ‘guarantee’ that environmental regulations, monitoring and enforcement standards will be strengthened in the aftermath of Brexit, rather than weakened.

European Union regulations have overall had a hugely positive impact on Britain’s environment. They have led to British homes, vehicles and appliances becoming more energy-efficient, waterways becoming cleaner, a decline in harmful emissions and a reduction in the amount of waste produced in Britain.

Only last year, European Union regulations were used in a legal case by Client Earth, in which the Mayor was an interested party, to force the government to come forward with a new air quality strategy by the end of March – bringing quality back within legal limits.

However, the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Andrea Leadsom MP, recently told Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee that only two-thirds of EU environmental regulations would be directly brought into British law.

Furthermore, there are serious challenges to recreating monitoring and enforcement schemes that are currently run by the EU – and have no equivalent in British law.

The Mayor, in London’s official response to the government’s Brexit White Paper, is calling on the government to introduce a new Environment Act, to guarantee that environmental regulations and enforcements are at least equivalent, if not better, than the current EU standards.

This would include enshrining key EU safeguarding principles in British law, including the ‘polluter pays’ concept, ‘environmental rights for citizens’ and the ‘precautionary principle’ – so lack of knowledge is not used as an excuse for poor decisions.

Sadiq is also asking for a guarantee that recently announced EU policy – which has yet to be enshrined in UK law – including the recent Winter Package on energy efficiency and renewable energy, will be transposed into British law as part of the Great Repeal Bill.

The Mayor has made tackling London’s dangerously polluted air a key plank of his administration in City Hall. He has announced plans for a new T-charge on the most polluting vehicles from October, is consulting on introducing the world’s first Ultra-Low Emission Zone in 2019 and on extending it to the North and South Circular, is introducing Clean Bus Zones on the most polluted roads and has announced his intention to clean up London’s entire bus fleet by 2020.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan said “I campaigned for Britain to remain in the European Union, but I accept that the British public voted to leave and we now must respect their democratic will.

“However, the British people did not vote to make our air more polluted or our environment dirtier.

“Our relationship with the EU has been particularly important for London’s environment. Our homes, vehicles and appliances are more energy-efficient, our water is cleaner and better protected, harmful emissions are on a long term decline and we produce less waste. This has all been helped by environmental protections and targets driven by EU directives, regulations and standards.

“The Government should legislate for a new Environment Act to ensure that the UK has an equivalent or better level of protection than in the EU, enshrining key environmental safeguarding principles such as polluter pays, environmental rights for citizens and the precautionary principle. It should also ensure that the necessary powers and resources are devolved to the authorities best placed to tackle their environmental issues and targets.

“I have made it clear that air quality is a key priority for my administration and Londoners need complete assurance of no reduction in regulatory standards and protections in this or other environmental areas. They must be strengthened rather than weakened.”

Sam Lowe, Campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said “Brexit can’t be allowed to undermine environmental progress, which is why government must commit to bringing EU environmental laws and principles into UK law. That’s just a first step, they then need to create the domestic institutions so that these laws are enforceable. Continued cooperation and collaboration on the environment with our EU neighbours must also be a priority in the Brexit negotiations.

“The fact is that climate change and air pollution transcend national borders, so they demand coordinated action at a regional and international level – Brexit won’t change that.”

Leah Davis, acting director at Green Alliance and chair of the Greener UK coalition, said: “With 80 per cent of the UK’s environmental laws having been developed with the EU, leaving the EU will be a pivotal moment to restore and enhance the UK’s environment. Today, nature is struggling and the air in our cities is dangerous to breath.

“We will need to secure the benefits of existing environmental laws as we leave the EU, and we will need to go further still, with ambitious new milestones for environmental restoration and high standards for pollution and resource efficiency. While the Greener UK coalition is ready and willing to play its part, it is vital that governments and politicians lead, and we welcome the Mayor’s leadership on this.”

/0 Comments/by

Mayor approves construction of new £500m stadium for Chelsea FC

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has approved Chelsea Football Club’s plans for a state-of-the-art £500 million stadium on the site of their existing Stamford Bridge ground.

Plans for the new stadium will see Chelsea’s match-day capacity increase from 41,600 to 60,000 and will include the construction of an elevated walkway over the nearby District Line, linking the stadium to Fulham Broadway station.

Sadiq said he was satisfied the new stadium was a ‘high-quality and spectacular design’ which would significantly boost capacity for the Premier League club.

His decision today further builds on his support for London football, including his move to give the green light to a new stadium for AFC Wimbledon, which sees the ‘Dons’ set to return to their Plough Lane home nearly three decades after leaving it in 1991.

Sadiq has also made it clear he ‘wholeheartedly supports’ Millwall FC remaining in Lewisham.

Chelsea’s proposal was approved unanimously by Hammersmith and Fulham Council’s planning committee in January.

The club’s application also includes an investment of £12 million in community activities, such as employment and skills training, as well as a contribution of £3.75 million towards affordable housing in the borough.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said “London is one of the world’s greatest sporting cities and I’m delighted that we will soon add Chelsea’s new stadium to the already fantastic array of sporting arenas in the capital.

“Having taken a balanced view of the application, I’m satisfied this is a high-quality and spectacular design which will significantly increase capacity within the existing site, as well as ensuring fans can have easy access from nearby transport connections.

“I’m confident this new stadium will be a jewel in London’s sporting crown and will attract visitors and football fans from around the world.”

The new stadium has been designed by architects Herzog and de Meuron – who also designed the iconic Birds Nest Olympic stadium in Beijing and the widely acclaimed Allianz Arena in Munich.

/0 Comments/by

Building of UK’s first grid-scale electricity storage facility imminent

Construction of the first grid-scale electricity storage facility to be built in Britain for more than 30 years could begin as early as 2018 following today’s granting of planning permission for the scheme.

Developer Snowdonia Pumped Hydro (SPH) has been given the go-ahead by the UK government to turn two abandoned slate quarries at Glyn Rhonwy near Llanberis in North Wales into water reservoirs that will store some 700 MWhs of electricity—sufficient to supply 200,000 homes with electricity for seven hours a day over a projected operational lifetime of 125 years or more.

The GBP 160m facility will use surplus electricity, for example from wind and solar sources, to pump water through an underground tunnel from the lower to the upper reservoir. When lack of wind or sunshine reduces renewable power output, or when fossil fuel generators fail to start, the water will flow back down the tunnel, spinning a turbine in an underground chamber to regenerate the stored electricity at a power output of 99.9 MW.

The only visible evidence of the pumped hydro storage facility will be a modest building on an industrial park, and two reservoirs contained by slate dams blending with existing slate tips, whose water levels silently rise and fall each day.

The UK currently has four pumped hydro storage sites, the youngest of which was built with taxpayers’ money more than 30 years ago. SPH is seeking private equity funds to build the Glyn Rhonwy scheme without public money.

Pumped hydro provides over 90% of the world’s electricity storage, and countries including the US, South Africa, Australia and China are among those expanding their national pumped hydro fleets as they seek to balance the intermittency of wind and solar.

In Britain it was thought that only a limited number of mountainous areas were suitable for pumped hydro sites, but SPH has shown energy civil servants how the UK could build some 50 GWh of pumped hydro storage using unconventional sites like ex-industrial quarries, coastal locations and existing drinking water reservoirs.

“There are signs that the government is taking storage seriously,” said SPH managing director Dave Holmes. “The National Infrastructure Commission last year urged swift action on storage, and a team inside the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is looking urgently at how planning barriers and market disincentives to storage can be addressed. We see the grant of permission for our Glyn Rhonwy scheme as highly significant, signalling a real change that will enable the UK to meet carbon reduction targets, while keeping electricity supply secure and prices for consumers under control.”

Energy experts agree that as the percentage of intermittent renewable generation on Britain’s electricity grid continues to increase, a mix of storage types and technologies may be the optimum solution to ensure that electricity supply remains secure and affordable. These include long duration grid-scale storage such as pumped hydro, localised shorter duration storage provided by household or community batteries, complemented by demand reduction measures.

SPH has not sought to develop Lithium-ion batteries at grid-scale. Said Holmes. “Glyn Rhonwy can be expected to deliver around 32 million MWh over its lifetime. An equivalent 700 MWh Lithium-ion installation would deliver just 2.1million MWh before needing its batteries replacing. This means electricity delivered by pumped hydro is twenty times cheaper per MWh than Lithium-ion batteries over its lifetime, and carries less environmental baggage.”

The Glyn Rhonwy facility is expected to bring a significant economic boost to North Wales, supporting hundreds of jobs during the construction phase and creating up to 30 high quality full time local positions to operate the site for its 125 years or more service lifetime.

/0 Comments/by

Budget delivers more good news for construction industry

The Spring Budget includes plans that will be undoubtedly welcomed by professionals working within the construction industry.

The announcement of new funding to build 110 free schools and the allocation of £103 million to tackle infrastructure issues in the midlands and the north of England indicates that there is money being spent and the government will be calling on us as an industry to support their plans.

Also mentioned in the Budget, was a stronger growth forecast for the UK economy to 2% in 2017 which will likely have a greater positive impact upon the industry’s fortunes over the coming year.

Tackling the skills gap

Labour supply and skill shortages have long been a major concern for construction; an issue that has been thrown into sharper relief following the Brexit vote. The Government’s efforts to raise the status of vocational training, with the introduction of T-Levels, are a welcome step towards tackling this long term issue. The government will increase by more than 50 per cent the number of programme hours of training for 16-19 year olds on technical routes to more than 900 hours a year on average. This includes the completion of a high quality three-month industry work placement.

Responding to this topic, Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) said “The Chancellor clearly understands that the UK won’t address the productivity challenge unless we rethink our approach to technical and vocational education. T-Levels could be the answer if they genuinely rival A-Levels in the eyes of parents, teachers and young people. UK society as a whole has been guilty of putting too much emphasis on the academic route – this has made it more difficult for vital sectors like construction and house building to attract the talented people we need. In construction, we are suffering from a severe skills shortage and this is likely to worsen once we leave the EU and no longer have easy access to European labour. This £500 million funding announced today for T-Levels is therefore a welcome and much-needed boost.”

/0 Comments/by

78% of construction workers use their personal smartphone at work

  • 120 hours lost per year per employee to personal smartphone use
  • 78% respond to personal text messages at work

The average British worker spends as many as 120 hours per year using their smartphones in the workplace, and those working in construction are among the worst culprits, according to research.

Research of 2,012 UK adults carried out by gadgets and technology etailer, LaptopsDirect.co.uk, has revealed more than three quarters (78%) of construction workers admit to using their smartphones during working hours.

78% regularly respond to personal text messages during working hours, and 59% regularly take personal phone calls whilst working.

52% admit to answering instant messages via platforms such as Whatsapp and Facebook, whilst 9% have sent a Snapchat from their workplace.

44% of respondents said their workplace permitted reasonable use of smartphones.

More than a third (38%) regularly check their social media accounts while in the workplace.

Those working in information and communications (96%), followed in second place.

Mark Kelly, marketing manager at LaptopsDirect.co.uk, said: “It’s no surprise that we are addicted to our smartphones however overuse during working hours can add up, leaving a serious shortfall in productivity. Although companies monitor and prohibit the use of social media during the working day, the research shows that there is still a large amount of people continuing to use their device.

“Use of smartphones and social media in the workplace can lead to hundreds of thousands of hours in lost productivity per year, which could cost UK companies millions of pounds.”

14% have been told off for using smartphones at work, while just 4% have been disciplined for use of their own tech during work time.

/0 Comments/by

Construction subcontractors forced to accept contract terms

Over half of UK subcontractors believe they must accept the terms of contracts with large construction firms, or face the risk of losing future business, according to new research from specialist funder, Bibby Financial Services (BFS).

Findings of the Subcontracting Growth survey show that the majority of firms (55%) do not believe they can influence the terms of agreements with main contractors. The research highlights the power imbalance between the sector’s large and small businesses.

Helen Wheeler, Managing Director of Construction Finance at Bibby Financial Services said: “All too often we see the battle of David versus Goliath in the construction industry, with larger contractors wielding the power and smaller firms reluctant to negotiate terms through fear of losing future work or gaining a reputation for being difficult.

“However, understanding and negotiating suitable contract terms is critical in ensuring that projects are priced accordingly and profitable for subcontractors.”

Findings of the research reveal that late payment from prime contractors is the most significant challenge subcontractors face over the year ahead (27%), followed by skills shortages (21%). One in five (20%) said the health of the UK economy is the biggest threat to their business in the next 12 months.

The majority of subcontractors (51%) do not believe the UK’s decision to leave the EU will affect their businesses. Almost one in five (19%) said that Brexit will have a negative impact and 17 per cent said it will be bad for their businesses.

Helen continued: “On the subject of Brexit, subcontractors are divided. For some it will help the UK to secure infrastructure investment from wallets further afield than Europe. Others see it posing a threat to labour pools and a cause of significant inflationary pressures.”

“One thing that is clear is the impact poor payment practices are having on the industry. It is unsurprising but discouraging that late payment from main contractors is still an issue for smaller construction firms across the country.”

The report also revealed the enormity of the task for subcontractors having to negotiate contracts with businesses taking on an average of 40 contracts per year. The average value of these contracts was £205,076, highlighting the significance of the work undertaken by the UK’s army of subcontractors.

One in five firms (20%) believes that unfair penalty clauses from prime contractors have negatively impacted their businesses.

Peter Vinden, Managing Director of construction specialists, the Vinden Partnership, said: “The power imbalance of the construction sector is well known but it is critical that subcontractors recognise that there is support available to help them check and negotiate terms with larger firms.

“Ensuring that they are not signing contracts with unfavourable terms or clauses could be the difference between taking on a profitable project and insolvency.

“The impacts of signing contracts with onerous terms or clauses can be anything from a lack of cashflow preventing salary payments through to insolvency, so it really is important that firms ensure they’re negotiating the best terms for their business and seeking help where they need.”

/0 Comments/by