Next phase of £650m Nottingham Island Quarter revised
Developer Conygar has submitted redrawn plans for phase 1B of Nottingham’s biggest regeneration scheme for decades, The Island Quarter scheme.
The proposals – which were initially submitted in January – include a 223-room hotel, 247 flats and an extensive food and beverage area in a 100m long forum.
As well as improving ventilation and access routes to the building, the changes build in extra flexibility during the construction process to face industry challenges, such as material shortages and labour availability.
Phase 1B will create up to 350 jobs during the construction phase
Tom Huffsmith, of Conygar, said: “Throughout the last year, we have worked closely with our design team to ensure that the plans for The Island Quarter have constantly been updated to meet the changing needs of a post-pandemic world.
“These alterations to 1B reflect those made to the overall masterplan for the site, which has been reimagined to include more green space, better routes for pedestrians and cyclists, and a focus on intergenerational living.
“1B is going to be a truly iconic building for the city, and we’re working closely with Nottingham City Council to ensure the plans will be approved and progress can continue to be made on this important site.”
David Jones, director at planning consultant AXIS, said: “While these changes will bring a positive impact to both the useability and buildability of 1B, the design intent is very much the same. The functions of the building itself remain as they were in the original planning submission – 1B will be a real flagship for The Island Quarter.
“The design changes are indicative of the impact of the pandemic, which is reflected more widely in Leonard Design and Studio Egret West’s emerging masterplan for the site as a whole.”
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London councils set out £98bn plan to retrofit 3.8m homes
All 33 of the London’s local authorities have signed up to a net zero carbon route map to retrofit 3.8m homes across all tenures in the capital to achieve an average EPC B rating by 2030.
The plan, which will be revealed in detail at the end of this month ahead of the Government spending review, could bring about a £98bn investment in the green economy in London, say councils.
The Retrofit London Housing Action Plan has been developed by the London Housing Directors’ Group with support from the London Environment Directors’ Network, the GLA, and Enfield and Waltham Forest as lead boroughs.
London boroughs are urging ministers to increase local government’s resources for this work.
They want the government to use the upcoming Spending Review to release £30m of funding for the next phase of the UK Cities Climate Investment Commission work.
Councils argue this is necessary to unlock over £200bn of private investment for delivering net zero across the UK’s 12 biggest cities.
The group also wants to see fresh financial incentives to encourage private retrofitting, such as green mortgages offering lower rates and a variable Stamp Duty Land Tax for more energy-efficient homes.
Key principles going forward
• Boroughs need to retrofit their own stock of 390,000 council homes and facilitate retrofit on the whole housing stock across London’s 3.8m homes.
• Planning decisions and guidance should support low-carbon retrofit activity, particularly in finding innovative ways to address the retrofit challenge in conservation areas.
• London needs to move away rapidly from gas heating.
• Boroughs will work collectively to develop skills and procurement models that can build capacity within the sector
The cross-party group London Councils warns the country’s retrofit market is highly unstable after serial failures of past green initiatives to tackle housing carbon emissions.
The National Audit Office slammed delivery standards in the government’s £1.5bn Green Homes Grant scheme as “rushed” and noted the scheme’s design failed to “sufficiently understand the challenges”.
Launched in September 2020 and scrapped in March 2021, the scheme was set up to help homeowners retrofit and insulate their homes.
It warns the industry cannot see a rerun of u-turns on the delivery of the £3.8bn Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund and £2.5bn Home Upgrade Grant.
London Councils says that boroughs’ ambitions for retrofitting the capital rely on targeted government investment, facilitating new private financing opportunities, and encouraging funding by landlords and individual households.
Joanne Drew, Co-Chair of the London Housing Directors’ Group, said: “Boroughs are fully committed to the home retrofit agenda and are proud to pioneer a new collaborative approach.
“Our plan identifies the steps needed to turn ambition into reality, setting out the costs involved and measures we will take to work with residents and landlords.”
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London council terminates United Living housing repairs deal
A West London council has parted ways with United Living Property Services just one year into its five-year responsive repairs contract.
Hammersmith & Fulham Council said it recognised that Brexit and Covid had presented challenges but cited failure to meet required resident service levels.
United Living will hand over its northern council territory to reserve contractor Morgan Sindall at the end of this month.
Council officials advised not to go out to competitive tender, warning the process would go beyond the winter months, when
demand for responsive housing repairs typically increases significantly.
A spokesman said: “When we launched the new service, we introduced an annual review where we could look at the previous year with the contractors and decide what went well and what needed to improve.
“As part of the annual review and from meetings throughout the year, both the council and United Living Property Services have mutually agreed that the residents of H&F will be best served if United Living Property Services withdraw from the contract on 29 October 2021.
“The reserve contractor for United Living’s patch is Morgan Sindall which currently carries our repairs in the north of the borough. They will take over the day-to-day repairs in this patch from October.”
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Mutiplex launches flexible working to attract more women to industry
Multiplex has adopted a new flexible working programme for its 825 UK staff in a bid to encourage more women into the industry
‘Multiplex Flex’ is designed to “shift the cultural dial of the construction industry” by addressing structurally related issues linked to gender equity alongside improving health and wellbeing and driving improved overall performance and productivity.
The contractor hopes more flexible working will help to attract and retain talent to support career progression and assist women into senior roles where the gender pay gap is highest.
A wide range of flexible working options will include flexitime, early Friday finishes, weekend time off in lieu, 9-day fortnight compressed hours working, teleworking and four-day weeks
The system has been trialed on sites in London and Glasgow with encouraging results.
Key findings from the three ‘Flex’ pilots were:
A significant improvement in the work life balance, helping to tackle construction’s long hour cultureA redistribution of care responsibilities within households as more men were able to support their partners with school runs, pickups, and evening choresLess stress and burnoutIncreased trust as more people working flexibly normalises flexible working practicesNo negative impact on project programme, productivity, or budgets, as well as improving Multiplex’s ability to meet client needs
Callum Tuckett, Managing Director of Multiplex’s Europe business, said: “It is well-documented that the construction industry is behind the curve in terms of creating opportunities for women, including pay equity and career progression.
“By enabling project directors to unlock formal and informal flexible ways of working and introducing more flexible options throughout the employee life cycle of recruitment, training and promotion, we are convinced we can create a working environment at Multiplex that is not only equitable and more diverse, but happy, healthy and productive.”
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Crane operator electrocuted after striking power line
A contractor has been fined £160,000 after a worker was fatally electrocuted while operating a lorry mounted crane.
Cardiff Crown Court heard how on 17 May 2016, ASL Access Scaffold Limited employee Martin Tilby was fatally electrocuted when the crane he was operating struck an overhead power line while he was unloading materials in a field at Cowbridge, South Glamorgan.
An HSE investigation found that no risk assessment had been carried out in the field where the incident happened, and no control measures were put in place to prevent contact with the overhead powerlines.
ASL Access Scaffold Limited of Bridgend was found guilty of breaching safety regulations was fined £160,000 and ordered to pay costs of £45,000.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Damian Corbett said: “This death was easily preventable, and the risk should have been identified. Employers should make sure they properly assess and apply effective control measures to minimise the risk from striking overhead powerlines.
“This death would have been preventable had an effective system for managing unloading materials been in place.”
Companies House records show the firm entered a Creditors Voluntary Liquidation in February 2017.
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Gallagher Group buys four Cemex ready-mix plants in Kent
Kent construction business Gallagher Group has more than doubled its ready-mix concrete operation buying four plants across Kent from Cemex UK.
It is the firm’s first external acquisition after almost 50 years of consistent organic growth, taking its total number of concrete plants from two to six.
New facilities at Tunbridge Wells, Sittingbourne, Margate and Dover join existing group operations at Maidstone and Ashford to give full coverage across Kent.
Sean Connor, Managing Director of Gallagher Aggregates, said: “For some years, our ready-mix concrete customers have been asking us to spread our net wider.
“These new acquisitions let us to do just that. We’re more than doubling our concrete production capacity.
“We’re investing significant sums in upgrading these sites, as well as adding to our mixer fleet and taking on additional staff.”
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Green light for £300m Blackpool Central leisure park
Plans have been approved for a £300m themed leisure development off the Golden Mile in Blackpool.
Developer Nikal has teamed up with entertainment business Media Invest Entertainment to develop the Blackpool Central scheme, which will include three indoor entertainment centres, a hotel and restaurants.
The new indoor theme park will including a flying theatre, rides for all the family and the latest immersive virtual reality experiences.
It will also feature a new major public square for live events, such as music concerts and sporting events.
The first phase of development, which received detailed planning includes a 1,300 space multi-storey car park, set to be build by Dutch firm Ballast Needam, which will free up land for future phases which were granted outline planning by Blackpool Council’s Planning Committee.
Construction of the multi storey car park and restoration of heritage bubikdings is expected to start in 2022 and will take around two years to complete.
Nikal and Media Entertainment Invest Entertainment will also prepare a detailed planning application for the wider scheme during the delivery of the Multi Storey Car Park and Heritage Quarter.
The site is located on the south western edge of Blackpool town centre just off the Golden Mile
Richard Fee, Chief Executive Officer, Nikal said: This is a key moment for levelling up Blackpool’s visitor economy post COVID.
“Blackpool Central will help transform and future-proof the town’s tourism offer.
“Our lead investor, Alan Murphy, has been behind the project from the beginning and is delighted to see the scheme coming to fruition.
“We have worked hard to ensure that the scheme will complement Blackpool’s current attractions and wider leisure offer.
“This approach will help us to secure game-changing benefits for Blackpool – drawing in 600,000 additional visitors a year and boosting annual spend in the local economy by £75m.
“We are now looking forward to getting spades in the ground to build the Multi Storey Car Park and Heritage Quarter, which are the catalysts for delivering our wider vision.”
The scheme is a key part of the Blackpool Town Deal supported by £39.5m of government funding.
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Bolton splits with £1bn city regeneration plan developers
Bolton Council has parted ways with the developers behind its ambitious £1bn town centre regeneration plans.
Developer Bolton Regeneration – a partnership between Chinese firm Beijing Construction Engineering Group International (BCEGI) and regeneration specialists Granite Turner – have agreed with the council to rip up the agreement.
A key part of the plan, the £250m redevelopment of Bolton’s Crompton Place Shopping Centre was due to start this year.
Now the council will have to find a new developer to take forward this project as well as its other planned Trinity Gateway and Le Mans Crescent projects due to be developed by Granite Turner.
The council said that as circumstances have changed over the last 18 months, a mutual agreement was reached with partners BCEGI and Granite Turner to surrender their options agreements on the projects.
Bolton Council leader, Coun Martyn Cox, said: “Although re-procuring development partners will extend the development process, removing all option agreements gives us a much better chance of securing a levelling up fund grant from government.
“The work already undertaken in relation to these projects means the new developers will start from a more advanced stage than would normally be the case and will therefore be in a position to start construction as soon as possible.”
The council said it hoped to have a new development partner in place before the end of the year.
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Plans to go in for 2.8m sq ft Ilkeston warehouse park
Developer Verdant Regeneration will submit plans later this Autumn to redevelop the former Stanton Ironworks near Ilkeston in Derbyshire into a vast 2.8m sq ft warehouse park.
The firm has just gone out to public consultation on its plan for the 200-acre site located near J25 of the M1 between Nottingham and Ilkeston.
As well as extensive remediation and re-use of a large, brownfield site, the plans include consolidation of the existing rail line and provision of new rail spur.
David Ward, Director of Verdant Regeneration, said: “The team has been working closely with Erewash Borough Council and a wide range of stakeholders to prepare a planning application which offers significant economic development and employment in a scheme which also retains much of the green open space and waterways within the site.”
New Stanton Park site has already been identified by Erewash Borough Council as a key regeneration site in their Core Strategy.
With a direct and operational link to the Midland Mainline railway, the site has potential to become a key distribution point for materials being imported and exported efficiently throughout the UK and beyond.
Following the end of the consultation, feedback on the initial plans will be incorporated into the planning application, submission expected later in the year.
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HS2 launches best practice sharing initiative
HS2 has launched a major new initiative to share insight from the country’s largest construction project with the wider UK infrastructure industry.
The move will see the publication of lessons learnt, good practice and innovation from across the project published regularly here.
The first tranche of Learning Legacy material includes over 100 resources covering a range of topics including Design Engineering & Architecture; Environment, Digital Engineering; Health & Safety and Occupational Health & Wellbeing.
New learning legacy papers will be published every six months and the project builds on similar initiatives at London 2012, Crossrail and Thameslink London Bridge.
HS2 Ltd Chief Executive Mark Thurston said: “Major projects like HS2 do not happen in isolation – we build on the experience and lessons learned from previous projects and rely on the wider industry to deliver. That’s why its so important that we pay back and offer the next generation the same opportunities to learn from our experience.
“Today’s launch of the HS2 Learning legacy project shows just how seriously we take that responsibility and I’d like to thank everyone who put time into sharing their insight and experience from across the design and early stages of the project.”
