Plans in for £60m Stoke goods yard quarter
Developer Capital & Centric has lodged plans to build a £60m urban quarter next to Stoke-on-Trent’s train station.
Plans for the Goods Yard, involve creating a mixed-use community for new homes, works spaces, shops, bars, cafes and a new public square at the Swift House site.
The project is advancing after receiving £16m from the Government’s Levelling Up Fund – one of three regeneration projects to benefit in Stoke-on-Trent up to the value of £56m.
Plans for the Goods Yard
The Goods Yard Living: Over 170 design-led flats for rent, with a mix of 1,2 and 3-bed homes. The new building is planned to feature private resident gardens, as well as resident facilities such as a café or bike repair shop, alongside other uses such as a gym or convenience store.
Signal Box: A café-bar in what is currently a derelict Network Rail signal box.Vaults Warehouse: Restoration of the stunning, locally-listed, brick vaulted, below ground warehouse to create a combined work space and leisure venue.Canalside Jetty: Opening up the water’s edge to the public and creating a potential mooring point for visiting canal boats or a water taxi.The Pavilion: A contemporary building with an industrial feel that will provide 5,000sq.ft. of floor area for workspace and/or leisure uses.
The Goods Yard Square: A bustling public square at the heart of the siteHotel: A 150-bed hotel (to be delivered as part of Phase 2)
Tim Heatley, co-founder of Capital & Centric, said:“We’ve been floored with the reaction from Stoke-on-Trent and the positivity shown for the Goods Yard. We’ve designed every inch of the site to create a genuine community, with design-led new homes surrounded by new public spaces, shops, work spaces, bars and cafes.”
Capital & Centric are working in partnership with Stoke-on-Trent City Council to bring forward the landmark project.
Cllr Abi Brown, leader of the city council, said:“Being successful with not one, not two but three bids to the Levelling Up Fund was a fantastic result for our city, and a real vote of confidence in the direction we are moving. The funding will turbo charge our regeneration plans and provide new jobs, homes and investment into our local economy.
“Obviously the Goods Yard was the focus of one of our successful Levelling Up Fund bids and it’s exciting that Capital & Centric have kept the momentum going by submitting their planning application.
“This is a HS2 connected site with a massive amount of potential, and one we have been pushing forward as a fantastic development opportunity to the market for the last four years.”
Project data
Landowner Stoke-on-Trent City Council
Development Partner Capital & Centric
Architect Glenn Howells Architects
Main contractor Bowmer + Kirkland
Landscape architect Re-form Landscape Architecture
Structural engineer Civic Engineers
M&E consultant JHP
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Miller Homes fined £200,000 for polluting dyke
Miller Homes has been fined £200,000 after polluting a Huddersfield watercourse for more than 1km.
The house builder appeared at Leeds Magistrates’ Court this week where it pleaded guilty to polluting a tributary of Grimescar Dyke with silt at Lindley Park on 8 February 2018.
It was fined £200,000, ordered to pay costs of more than £8,500 and a victim surcharge of £170.
The court heard that Miller Homes Limited purchased the land for a residential housing development in 2012. The site includes a series of tanks and lagoons for flood prevention measures.
Following reports of discolouration of Grimescar Dyke on 8 February 2018, an Environment Agency investigation traced the source of the silt pollution to an underground tank on the Miller Homes site, which is part of the development’s flood prevention measures.
Miller Homes said they had the site drainage infrastructure cleared by a contractor and this activity could have potentially impacted on the discharge from the tank.
The silt discharge impacted Grimescar Dyke for at least 1.2km. Silt pollution is hazardous to fish, blocking their gills and damaging breeding grounds. It can also damage the habitats that aquatic insects, vital food for a number of species, depend on.
Andy Swettenham, Environment Management Team Leader for the Environment Agency, said: “Miller Homes Limited did not follow its own management procedures, put in place after a previous conviction.
“Their own procedures dictate that the site should have a site specific Environment Plan and associated Surface Water Management Plan. These plans did exist but were not sufficient to prevent the pollution.
“This case emphasises the need not only for companies to have a comprehensive water management and pollution prevention plan in place but also to ensure it is fully implemented and all activities on site are properly supervised and monitored.
“If a member of the public had not reported this to us then the impact of the pollution could have been far worse.”
Miller Homes Limited was previously fined £100,000 in 2016 for a similar offence in 2013 at the same site, after which it developed its companywide management procedures.
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Plans in for Manchester Red Bank enabling works
Manchester City Council has submitted fresh plans for enabling works and infrastructure to create a 5,500 home neighbourhood on old railway sidings in the Red Bank area of the city.
The Government has granted nearly £52m from the Housing Infrastructure Fund to overcome infrastructure constraints needed to bring about delivery of new homes and green spaces, including the first phase of a new City River Park within the Red Bank neighbourhood – part of the wider Victoria North programme of development.
Red Bank is one of seven neighbourhoods that make up the Victoria North regeneration area – one of the biggest renewal projects the city has ever undertaken.
The planed Red Bank neighborhood plan will transform the disused 25-acre former Red Bank carriage sidings which has been been blighted by fly-tipping and anti-social behaviour.
Preparing the site for development will kick-start a wider programme of investment to create a new green neighbourhood.
Further planning applications will be submitted next year seeking permission for the main infrastructure works, improvements to St Catherine’s Wood and the first elements of the City River Park.
These will be followed by applications for residential development.
Victoria North is a joint venture programme between Manchester City Council and developer Far East Consortium (FEC).
Over the next 15 to 20 years, the Victoria North project will deliver more than 15,000 new homes (at least 20% of which will be affordable housing), with each neighbourhood connected by high quality green spaces and 46-hectare City River Park, which will open up and celebrate the Irk River Valley for the first time in decades.
Driver crushed between vehicles at builder’s merchant
A builder’s merchant has been fined £180,000 after a worker suffered multiple injuries when he was struck by a reversing vehicle.
Mold Magistrates’ Court heard how on 6 June 2019, a skip lorry driver drove into the waste management yard area of Thorncliffe Building Supplies’ Abergele site and parked his vehicle.
As he was removing the net from the skip, a loading shovel from the same company reversed into the driver, trapping him between his vehicle and the loading shovel. He sustained life changing injuries including fractures to his pelvis and a crushed bowel.
An HSE investigation found that the system of work to control risks from transport was not fully adequate and not monitored; and as a result, was not being followed therefore exposing workers to risks.
At the time of the incident the inner banksman, who is responsible for managing traffic at the site, was not present at his station and there weren’t any measures in place to prevent new vehicles from accessing the site.
Thorncliffe Building Supplies Limited of Rhyl pleaded guilty to safety breaches and was fined £180,000 and ordered to pay costs of £5,856.
Speaking after the case, HSE inspector Sarah Baldwin-Jones said: “This incident could so easily have been avoided by simply following correct control measures and safe working practices.
“Monitoring of the safe working practice and CCTV evidence would have highlighted risks created when the banksman left the yard area. A rising barrier fitted at the yard entrance, or relief cover for the banksman during the day, would have prevented this incident occurring.
“Companies should be aware that HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action against those that fall below the required standards.”
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GMI names head for new North East business
GMI Construction Group has lured Gary Oates back to the business to take up the newly-created role of North East operations director.
Oates left GMI Construction just over five years ago to join specialist industrial contractor TSL Projects where he became project director.
He previously spent more than 16 years with GMI, starting as a site manager before progressing to contracts manager.
He returns to lead the north east growth strategy from a new Teesside office. He is also joined by new North East commercial manager Paul Raine, who joins from Leeds-based Torsion Group.
Gary Oates (left) takes north east operation director role supported by Paul Raine, new commercial manager.
Lee Powell, divisional managing director, said: “Both these appointments underline our commitment to the North East and we are resolved to play a greater role in creating jobs and generating economic prosperity.
“Gary is highly experienced and committed and, as such, is the right person to lead our North East division and grow this business in a region that is already enjoying the benefits of the levelling up agenda. We’re also delighted to welcome Paul to the team, who brings with him extensive commercial knowledge.
“GMI Construction Group has a long association with the North East and has been involved in several high-profile developments, allowing it to build a strong relationship with local suppliers and sub-contractors.”
This month, GMI will start work on a £30m contract to construct 362,600 sq. ft of commercial units as part of the first phase of the Hillthorn Business Park development at Washington, near Sunderland.
Appointed lead contractor by client Legal & General, GMI is due to complete the seven units, ranging in size from 21,000 sq. ft to 83,000 sq. ft, by September 2022.
It is part of a £60m two-phased development designed to stimulate economic growth by supporting the needs of industrial, advanced manufacturing, storage, and distribution businesses in the area.
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Builders slam plans for electric car chargers in all new homes
The National Federation of Builders has slammed government plans to require all new homes to have electric vehicle (EV) chargers as another “stealth tax” on construction.
The federation fears the construction industry will foot the bill for chargers while electricity companies benefit.
It said that to achieve planning permission builders are required to fund substations so that electricity companies can provide enough load to new and old developments.
Costs are considerable – upward of £50,000 for a handful of homes – and neither the builder or homeowner profits from this infrastructure because the electricity companies receive revenue in perpetuity from someone else’s investment.
Richard Beresford, chief executive of the NFB said: “We support the green industry and a green transition because it is a necessary part of change but due to how infrastructure investment works in practice, once again, the Government is seeking to grow its political capital and advance big business, at the expense of the construction industry and taxpayer.”
Rico Wojtulewicz, head of housing at the House Builders Association (HBA), the housebuilding arm of the NFB, said: “This Government has only been in power for two years and has already introduced four new and stealth taxes on the construction industry. EV charging will be the fifth.
“It’s a disgusting way to treat a sector who worked throughout the Covid-19 lockdown to help pay for furlough and the impact of Covid-19.
“The Government needs to think very carefully about how it achieves a green revolution. It must require electricity companies to shoulder this cost, as they will be profiting from these investments in perpetuity.
“Or perhaps it is time to bring services into public ownership because the Government is not proving able to regulate the sector in a way that doesn’t cost the taxpayer.
“As we told the Prime Minister during COP26 in relation to retrofitting and onshore renewable energy, it is time the Conservatives began risking some of their own political capital and not simply expecting taxpayers and business to risk their financial capital. The Governments green legacy is looking like taxation and flawed policy, not revolutionary change.”
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Product testing mess to intensify site materials shortages
Construction work on more than 150,000 homes could be delayed unless the government wakes-up to a looming crisis in construction product testing.
The industry is due to switch to the UK Conformity Assessed (CA Mark) on January 1 2023 when the old European CE Mark for product compliance is phased out.
Construction products will have to be tested in UK centres – but a lack of facilities is sparking a capacity crisis.
The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) said the lack of testing capability is a particular problem in some specialist areas including radiators, glass, passive fire protection, glues and sealants.
In a letter to ministers it warned: “If the current situation prevails, these products will not be available on the UK market after the January 2023 deadline.
“The inability to certify radiators in the UK, for instance, could delay the construction of over 150,000 homes in a single year and will also delay the switch to low carbon heating.
“The consequences are clearly damaging not only tothe UK construction sector but also to the Government’s ambitions around housebuilding, infrastructure, building safety and net zero in the built environment.”
The government has already pushed the testing transition back to 2023 but construction leaders want to see more help for the industry.
The CLC is calling for urgent investment in UK testing capability, some test to be allowed abroad and flexibility around the planned regulations.
It said: “Continuing risks associated with the implementation of the UKCA Mark on the UK supply chain already disrupted by the pandemic, product and raw material shortages, increased energy costs and skills shortages are of great concern to the Construction Leadership Council and our numerous industry partners. “There are steps that can be taken to mitigate these risks, but action is needed now. The extension of the deadline to January 2023 is not sufficient to prevent significant disruption.”
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Private investor snaps up modular schools builder
Private investor HLD Group has bought Wakefield-based modular building specialist the Thurston Group.
The established £37m revenue business specialises in modular construction for the education, commercial and healthcare sectors and delivered a £2.7m profit in 2020.
Founded in 1970, Thurston employs over 250 people across three sites in the east of England.
The acquisition is the largest deal in HLD Group’s 10-year history and follows recent acquisitions of the Clugston distribution services arm and steel fabrication company SP Fabrication.
Demis Ohandjanian, CEO, HLD Group said: “This is a very exciting opportunity that will benefit both entities and result in new growth opportunities for the already profitable Thurston Group.
“We’re also delighted to have the opportunity to work with existing company management, who will remain within the business.
“Our intention is to ensure the continuation of Thurston Group’s strong organic growth, while introducing new revenue opportunities that will result in a substantial upsizing of the business over the next 3-5 years. ”
The acquisition was facilitated by Independent Growth Finance, through a £16m asset-based lending facility that formed part of the total acquisition cost.
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Northern routes and HS2 scaled back in latest Tory rail plan
The government has unveiled the “biggest ever public investment in Britain’s rail network” with £96bn pledged to deliver faster journeys for people across the North and the Midlands.
But a lot of the programme is money previously committed and savings from scrapping HS2’s eastern leg to Leeds. An £18bn cheaper version of the Northern Powerhouse Rail plan has also been adopted.
The original Hs2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail plans were costed at £185m
The Integrated Rail Plan (IRP) will see construction work including:
Three-new-high-speed-lines-covering-110-miles
Complete HS2 from Crewe to Manchester, with new stations at Manchester Airport and Manchester Piccadillya new high-speed line between Birmingham and East Midlands Parkway. Trains will continue to central Nottingham, Derby and Sheffield on an upgraded and electrified Midland Main Linedelivering Northern Powerhouse Rail through a new high-speed line between Warrington, Manchester and Marsden in Yorkshire as in the first of the options originally put forward in 2019.a study to look at the best way to take HS2 trains to Leeds, including capacity at Leeds Station.
The upgrading or electrification of 3 existing lines:
the complete electrification of the Midland Main Line from London to Nottingham, Derby and Sheffield.a programme of rapid upgrades to the East Coast Main Line to the East Midlands, Yorkshire and the North East. Journey times will be up to 25 minutes faster than nowfull electrification and upgrade of the Transpennine Main Line between Manchester, Leeds and York as part of delivering the first phase of NPR, installing full digital signalling, with longer sections of three- and four-tracking to allow fast trains to overtake stopping services, and increase through passenger services by 20%. An additional £625 million in new funding has been confirmed today to progress the Transpennine Route Upgradein total, electrification of more than 180 miles of route, meaning that 75% of the country’s main lines will be electric, to meet the ambition of removing all diesel-only trains from the network by 2040, as part of our commitment to reach Net Zero by 2050.
The freeing up of money to improve local services and integrate them properly with HS2 and NPR
a new mass transit system for Leeds and West Yorkshire, righting the wrong that Leeds is the largest city in Western Europe without one. There will be £200 million of immediate funding to plan the project and start building it, and we commit to supporting West Yorkshire Combined Authority over the long term to ensure that this time, it gets doneseparately, we could halve journey times between Bradford and Leeds, to be as low as 12 minutesgreater connectivity benefits between the West and East Midlands in comparison to previous plan and progressing work on options to complete Midlands Rail Hub, dramatically increasing local services through central Birmingham and across the Midlands and connecting them better to HS2investment to deliver a programme of fares, ticketing and retail reform including the roll out of contactless pay-as-you-go ticketing at commuter stations in the Midlands and North, ending ticket queues and tackling confusion about fares by automatically ensuring that you are charged the best price. The government will also drive towards rolling out digital ticketing across the whole network
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “My mission is to level up opportunity across our country, which is why we’re making train journeys faster and more reliable through the biggest ever public investment in our rail network.
“Levelling up has to be for everyone, not just the biggest cities. That’s why we will transform transport links between our biggest cities and smaller towns, ensuring we improve both long-distance and vital local services and enabling people to move more freely across the country wherever they are.”
Construction leaders have given the revised plans a lukewarm response.
Director of Policy at the Institution of Civil Engineers, Chris Richards said: “Today’s decision on HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail will be a blow for many. Decisions are always subject to political review, but it has taken us 12 years to get nowhere – we have to make the next 12 about progress.
“The detailed background work for the schemes mentioned today has already been donewe can therefore shift right away to planning and ensuring we are maximising public benefit We expect to see a delivery plan in the next 12 months, otherwise today’s announcement is a further step on the journey to nowhere.”
Andy Bell, director at Ramboll in the UK, and chair of ACE’s transport group, said: “Just 18 months ago the Prime Minister told Parliament in a statement following the Oakervee review, that it ‘does not make any sense’ to build Northern Powerhouse Rail without HS2 and the Government’s strategy was to do both ‘simultaneously’.
“Clearly the pandemic has strained public finances since then, but another change of approach does not help an engineering sector scaling up skills and resources – at a time of global demand for rail expertise – around what appeared to be clear commitments and pledges.”
The government added: “The new plans, using a mixture of new-build high-speed line and upgraded conventional lines, were drawn up after it became clear that the full HS2 and NPR schemes as originally proposed would have cost up to £185 billion and not entered service until the early to mid-2040s.”
Darren Caplan, Chief Executive of the Railway Industry Association (RIA), said: “It is worrying that this scheme has been scaled back. Northern Powerhouse Rail will be essential in connecting up towns and cities in the North of England, alongside delivery of the Transpennine Route Upgrade.
“This project has been promised time and time again since 2014, with millions of pounds spent on its design and shovels ready to go. These plans being torn up will only add yet more costs and delay work.”
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Steelwork firm Robinson collapsed owing £8.6m
Derby steelwork contractor Robinson Structures collapsed with total debts of £8.6m.
According to the directors’ statement of affairs, trade creditors have been left around £2.5m out of pocket.
Among the preferred creditors Barclays Bank was owed around £1.2m and HM Revenue and Customs around £1.8m, in unpaid VAT and PAYE.
The family-owned firm fell into administration last week following the removal of its insured credit limits with its key suppliers.
But creditors are hoping that a pre-pack deal that saw fellow Derby steelwork contractor B&K Structures swoop to buy up assets in a pre-pack deal could help to raise the final distribution to creditors.
Assets of the third-generation steelwork contractor, which was set up in the 1950s, included its new HQ and workshop.
Following the pre-pack deal, which saved around 68 jobs, a new business B&K Hybrid Solutions will operate from the former Robinson HQ and production plant, giving the new business capacity to manufacture 10,000t of structural steelwork per annum.
The new well-equipped facilities form part of a larger, long-term plan to deliver on the increased demand for steel and timber-steel hybrid schemes within the UK.
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