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Yearly Archives: 2021
Wates confirmed winner of £450m car battery gigafactory
Wates and Turner & Townsend have been appointed by client Envision AESC to lead the design and project manage construction of its £450m car battery gigafactory in Sunderland.
The factory will be built at the 50-acre International Advanced Manufacturing Park and will form part of a £1bn partnership with Nissan UK and Sunderland City Council to create an electric vehicle (EV) hub to deliver the next generation of electric vehicle production.
Wates will develop an adaptable design that provides the infrastructure to support battery production by 2024. The contractor will work alongside Turner & Townsend who will act as the project manager and cost manager.
Planning permission was granted in October for the gigafactory, which represents an initial 9GWh plant with potential future-phase investment by Envision AESC of £1.8bn.
This will generate up to 25GWh and create 4,500 new high-value green jobs in the region by 2030, with potential on site for up to 35GWh. This commitment will power Nissan’s new vehicles in the first phase and support the continued localisation of vehicle parts and components with advanced technology.
As part of the design process, Wates is already engaging with local supply chain partners, seeking their input on areas ranging from clean utilities to fire protection services.
Chris Caygill, Managing Director of the Envision AESC battery plant, said: “Envision AESC is pleased to be working with both Wates Group and Turner & Townsend as key partners in this next stage of our UK gigafactory development.
“Each brings unique strengths to the project that will help deliver a world-class battery manufacturing facility essential to helping the UK automotive industry transition to a fully electrified future.
“We pride ourselves particularly on the safety record of our batteries, which continually achieve zero critical incidents in new product and process designs. Together with smart, digitally integrated clean energy generation, storage and use in our battery plants, we are supporting the global transition towards net zero carbon energy targets.”
Paul Chandler, Executive Managing Director of Wates Construction Group, said: “At Wates, we are constantly looking for a better way, using innovation, adaptability, and collaboration to help us take on the challenge of making our sector more sustainable.
“This project, to design the Envision battery gigafactory, will be a vanguard for that, representing a huge opportunity to accelerate Envision and the UK Government’s net zero ambitions.
“Not only that, but the project is also an essential piece of the puzzle in the Government’s levelling up agenda, and we’re incredibly proud to be laying the foundations for sustainable growth in the region.
“There is enormous potential to bring about real change, creating a legacy for Sunderland and the Northeast, through the creation of new green jobs and inward investment.”
Greystar JV targets London for £1.8bn build to rent homes push
Property investor Greystar Real Estate has teamed up with a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority to develop build to rent housing in London and its commuter towns.
The JV plans to spend £1.8bn on a pipeline of new-build projects, starting with a project in London’s Battersea district where it hopes to build 14,000 sq m of residential and commercial space at Lombard Street.
Both investors are targeting London, following a similar deal in 2015 in the Netherlands, which created a portfolio of more than 6,000 homes for students and young professionals.
To springboard into the London market, the JV has also confirmed it will buy private rental business Fizzy Living from Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing.
This will see its take over management of nearly 1,000 occupied homes and take on 30 Fizzy Living staff, at a portfolio valuation of £400m.
The Fizzy Living assets are well-located and close to public transport in Canning Town, Lewisham, Epsom, Stepney Green, Poplar, Walthamstow, Hayes and Silvertown. Greystar will start capital improvements and other operational enhancements.
Mark Allnutt, senior managing director – Europe, Greystar, said:“Demographic trends and a severe structural undersupply of housing is driving demand for high quality rental homes in the UK, so this remains a high conviction investment strategy for Greystar.
“We have a highly successful relationship with ADIA in the Netherlands and now have a unique opportunity to create a rental housing portfolio of substantial scale in London and its surrounding commuter towns.
“The Fizzy transaction provides us with day one access to eight operational assets and a host of new team members that we are pleased to welcome to Greystar.
“In addition, we will grow the portfolio through our newly formed partnership with ADIA from the ground up.”
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Renaker submits plan for Manchester tower quartet
Manchester developer and builder Renaker has submitted plans for its next major high-rise scheme in the city estimated to have a £750m development value.
The Trinity Islands scheme consists of four towers from 39 to 60 storeys, as well as bringing significant public realm improvements.
The Deansgate scheme designed by SimpsonHaugh would create nearly 2,000 flats, varying from one, two and three bedrooms, and underlines growing confidence in the Manchester high-rise flats market.
Consultant WSP is supporting both the M&E and structural design of Trin ity Islands.
Renaker bought the site from rival developer Allied London back in 2018, which then had planning for five high-rise buildings, including one at 67 stories that was due to be Manchester’s tallest block of flats.
The site, which consists of two parcels of land. It is bounded by the River Irwell to the north and west, Liverpool Road to the east and Water Street and Regent Street to the south.
The new Trinity Islands scheme will consist of two pairs of towers, with designs that seek to give each pair their own visual identity.
On site C, the buildings are conceived as diamond forms with a crystalline facade, while site D will emphasise the taller height of the buildings with curved facades.
Towers planned for site D
Towers planned at site C of Trinity Islands
Midgard bags world’s tallest octagonal resi tower job
JRL-owned main contractor Midgard has scooped the job to construct the world’s tallest pure octagonal residential building at the Paradise site in Birmingham.
Under a 44-month contract Hertfordshire-based Midgard will now demolish the existing 77 Paradise Circus Queensway office building ahead of starting work on the 49-storey building.
Singaporean real estate developer City Developments Limited (CDL) has just bought the scheme, which will cost £110m to develop including land cost.
The team leading Paradise Birmingham, MEPC, will remain as the development manager of the 155m building.
Construction will involve installing a 179m tower crane on site in the first half of 2022 – the tallest tower crane ever used in the city and the same height as the Gherkin in London.
Designed by Birmingham-based Glenn Howells Architects, the 155m tall tower will provide up to 370 new build to rent homes and marks the latest phase of the £700m Paradise scheme, so far delivered by BAM and Sir Robert McAlpine.
Prefabricated elements including the facade and modern methods of construction will contribute to a lower embodied design for the Octagon
Neil McGinty, UK development director at CDL, said: “We are delighted to collaborate with MEPC to develop the visionary Octagon residential tower, which will transform Birmingham’s skyline.
“Since we made our foray into the UK BTR segment in 2019 with the acquisition of The Junction in Leeds, we have been looking for opportunities to grow our portfolio strategically through the development of iconic BTR residential landmarks.
“Our investment in the Paradise project allows us the unique opportunity to actively participate in the rejuvenation of the Birmingham city region.”
Under the Glen Howells design eight flats on each floor will boast uninterrupted views
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First pier poured for UK’s longest rail viaduct – video
Construction of the UK’s longest railway bridge has taken a major step forward with completion of the first of 56 giant concrete piers to support the Colne Valley Viaduct as it crosses a series of lakes on the outskirts of London.
Stretching for 3.4km, the viaduct near Hillingdon was cast by concrete specialist Kilnbridge working in partnership with engineers from HS2’s main works contractor Align JV.
Weighing in at around 370 tonnes, the 6m tall reinforced concrete pier was cast on site using a specially-designed formwork. This was then removed after four days to reveal the final product.
Each pier is designed to support the full weight of the deck above and rests on a set of concrete piles going up to 55m into the ground.
This foundation work began earlier this year and will require the construction of 292 piles and 56 pile caps across the whole length of the viaduct.
The construction team have also now completed the first of four jetties across the lakes to get equipment into position to support the construction thereby taking construction vehicles off local roads. Where the viaduct crosses the lake, the piles will be bored directly into the lakebed, using a cofferdam to hold back the water while the pier is constructed.
Align’s project director, Daniel Altier, said: “I have no doubt that the viaduct will become one, if not the most striking element of HS2 phase 1 once complete.”
The main deck of the viaduct – which supports the railway line – will be built in 1000 separate unique segments at a temporary factory nearby before being assembled from north to south, starting next year.
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Race starts for Sellafield £250m steelwork and cladding deal
Sellafield’s project delivery team is starting the hunt for two key delivery partners for a combined steelwork and cladding package worth nearly £250m over 18 years.
The tender is the latest to hit the market from a new pioneering procurement model that uses Project 13-style integrated collaborative teams.
The big procurement shake-up is being delivered by Programme and Project Partners (PPP), driving forward the clean-up of the Sellafield site in West Cumbria.
This overarching integrated team is made up of a Kellogg Brown and Root (Integration Partner); Jacobs (Design and Engineering Partner); Morgan Sindall Infrastructure (Civils Construction Management Partner) and Doosan Babcock (Process Construction Management Partner), and Sellafield.
Peter Hogg, the PPP head of supply chain, said: “We are keen to hear from potential key delivery partners to take part in an exciting long-term partnership to design and deliver steelwork and cladding of industrial buildings at the Sellafield site.
“This is the latest Multi Project Procurement process to be announced and we are looking forward to hearing from innovative organisations in these fields.”
The package includes early contractor involvement, final design, temporary works, supply and erection services. Contracts may be divided into two lots, due to the scale of the undertaking.
Key delivery partners will be expected to deliver a third of their works using small and medium-sized enterprises.
A full strategy paper outlining the procurement approach, commercial model, timeline, and other important information will be issued to interested firms at the start of the market engagement phase, which runs until 2 February 2022.
Pre-tender schedule
Complete Tender Management portal expression of interest – deadline (7 January 2022)Initial supplier briefing – Microsoft Teams briefing to present the package (week commencing 10 Jan 2022) presentation date scheduled for 13 January 2022.Questions and answers – Sharing of questions and answers following the briefingOnline survey – responses due by 19 January 2022)Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) issued (2 February 2022)Matchmaker process – Promoting the process for SME engagement (ongoing throughout)
To register interest firms need to email: PPP
by 7 January.
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Skanska wins £53m Slough data centre job
Skanska has signed a £53m contract to build a new data center in Slough for developer Virtus.
The LONDON11 data centre design and build job includes fit-out of six new data halls, construction of external steelwork plant gantries, plant rooms for mechanical and electrical and public health services, all MEPH infrastructure across the site and office fit out.
Construction work begins this month to complete the project by Spring 2023.
The construction of LONDON11 will add more than 13MW of new capacity within 5,500m2 of net technical space at the Slough campus.
This increases Virtus’ total data centre estate to more than 178MW and 77,000 sq m across its UK locations.
This includes the four data centres within Virtus’ Stockley Park Campus, all built by Bouygues Energies & Services and makes Virtus Data Centres one of Europe’s leading data centre providers.
Neil Cresswell, CEO of Virtus Data Centres said: “The start of building LONDON11 is a significant milestone in a busy year for Virtus.
“Throughout the COVID-19 epidemic our focus on operational excellence has enabled us to provide safe, reliable service to our valued customers, from our five live data centres, whilst also safely bringing two additional new data centres live in the past six months.”
Balfour Beatty US arm to pay £49m over military housing fraud
Balfour Beatty’s US operation has been ordered to pay out £49m after pleading guilty to major fraud on its military housing maintenance contract.
The Balfour Beatty Communities pay-out is made up of £25m in fines and £24m in damages relating to its military housing contract at 21 Air Force, 18 Navy, and 16 Army bases across the United States, in which tens of thousands of service members and their families lived.
As part of the settlement with the US Department for Justice, BBC pleaded guilty to one count of fraud and has agreed to the appointment of an independent compliance monitor for a three-year period, while it has also been placed on probation for three years.
According to court documents, from around 2013 to around 2019, Balfour Beatty Communities staff falsified performance information for incentive fee requests at various military housing projects.
Specifically, BBC staff altered or manipulated data in property management software and destroyed and falsified resident comment cards to falsely inflate performance to obtain pay performance incentive fees that BBC had not earned.
US Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco said: “Instead of promptly repairing housing for U.S. service members as required, BBC lied about the repairs to pocket millions of dollars in performance bonuses.”
“This pervasive fraud was a consequence of BBC’s broken corporate culture, which valued profit over the welfare of servicemembers.
“Today’s global resolution sends a clear message to companies that if they do not maintain adequate compliance programs, voluntarily self-disclose misconduct, and fully cooperate with the government, they will pay a price that outweighs the profits they once reaped.”
In a statement today Balfour said: “Balfour Beatty is committed to the highest standards of ethical conduct.
“The wrongdoing that took place is completely contrary to the way the company expects its people to behave.
“The company apologises for the actions of Communities to all its stakeholders. It has been made clear to all employees that breaches of policies, procedures, or law will not be tolerated.
“Communities welcomes the appointment of the independent compliance monitor and looks forward to a constructive engagement.”
In 2019, the Balfour Beatty undertook an in-depth review of operations at Communities and, as a result, introduced a series of changes to prevent misconduct from occurring in the future.
These involved therestructuring of the Communities management team including the additional appointment of several key executives and aChief Compliance Officer for the US.
It said: “Communities also has enhanced its ethics and compliance training for all employees and has made significant improvements to the maintenance work order processing system, underpinned by enhanced controls and protocols that are aimed to prevent misuse and strengthen oversight.”
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M Group buys Babcock power lines arm for £50m
Infrastructure specialist contractor M Group Services has bought Babcock’s Overhead Line Power business for £50m.
Following the acquisition, the business will be rebranded to form part of Morrison Energy Services, sitting alongside and enhancing existing electricity, gas and green energy capabilities.
In latest accounts to March 2021, the power business reported total revenues of £70m and pre-tax profit around £7m before allocated overheads.
The overhead line electric transmission and distribution business counts among its clients including National Grid, Scottish Power Energy Networks and Western Power Distribution.
Jim Arnold, Chief Executive M Group Services, said: “It is important for us to deliver sustainable growth both organically and through acquisitions and we are pleased to strategically enhance our capabilities with this acquisition which provides the means to accelerate our growth by delivering a greater breadth of electricity transmission services to our clients.
“The culture, capabilities and reputation that have become synonymous with this business make it a perfect fit for us. We are delighted to welcome David Maddocks and his team to M Group Services.”
David Maddocks, Director of Babcock Power, added: “I am extremely excited to be joining M Group Services. Our overhead line capability compliments the existing range of services and provides a solid platform to grow in a market that has great opportunity for expansion.”
This acquisition takes the total number of strategic acquisitions made by M Group Services to 15 since December 2016.
52 jobs axed as industrial coating specialist goes under
Staffordshire-based specialist Industrial Coating Services has fallen into administration with the loss of 52 jobs.
ICS, which specialised in the surface preparation and application of protective coatings, suffered from critical cash flow issues arising from a sustained period of working on loss-making contracted work.
Since last year ICS was working on the major Wandsworth Bridge refurbishment in London which is now due to be completed next summer after further additional critical works were identified on the structure.
The original contract with VolkerLaser is understood to have been secured for around £3m.
The business, which operated from an industrial paint shop building in Rugeley, was marketed for sale prior to the administrators’ appointment, but a buyer could not be found.
Ben Jones from administrators FRP Advisory , said: “Without significant investment or the prospect of new ownership, ICS was unable to trade through its difficulties and continue as a going concern.
“All trading and operations have ceased. Regrettably, all of the 52 employees have been made redundant, although a small number will continue to support the administrators with their statutory duties. ”
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