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Buckingham Group starts £30m London ice rink
Buckingham Group Contracting has just started demolition work to clear the way for a £30m ice skating centre in London’s Lee Valley.
The project designed by Faulkner Browns will replace the 34-year old Lee Valley Ice Centre with two Olympic size rinks.
The centre would be the first twin-pad venue in the south of England, and will also feature a new gym and exercise studio.
Lee Valley Regional Park Authority is promoting the scheme, which will be built in two phases to maintain an open ice rink at the site at all times during construction.
The consultant team includes structural and civil engineer Expedition and MEP engineer Max Fordham.
The proposed building will have an 80,000 sq ft footprint and rise 10.5m in height.
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Osborne sells £130m civils arm to private equity
Geoffrey Osborne has sold its £130m revenue infrastructure business to London private equity firm Sullivan Street Partners.
The deal cuts the family-owned south east contractor’s ties with civil engineering on which it was founded 55 years ago.
The remaining £250m turnover construction business will now focus on residential and education building projects.
Osborne Infrastructure Limited is a leading regional civil engineering and transport infrastructure businesses, with longstanding relationships with key clients Network Rail, Highways England, and Transport for London.
The business will continue to operate under the leadership of managing director John Dowsett, who will now become CEO.
David Fison, former CEO of Skanska UK and the Osborne Group, will return to the civils business as chairman.
Richard Sanders, Founding Partner of Sullivan Street, said: “We are excited to be acquiring a business with a fantastic reputation and which provides essential infrastructure to the nation’s transport networks.
“We look forward to supporting the management team as OIL enters its next chapter as a focused independent business.”
Dowsett said: “We are delighted to welcome the investment and support from Sullivan Street which will help us to achieve the growth ambitions set out within our business plan.”
Andy Steele, Chief Executive of Osborne added: “Having secured the very best sponsor for Osborne Infrastructure Ltd, we now have an amazing opportunity to prioritise our investments and focus our energy and resources into becoming market leaders in the residential and education sectors.
“This move provides us greater clarity of purpose and with our in-house expertise we can add value into every stage of the property lifecycle.
“Through offering end-to-end land acquisition through operation and property maintenance, we will provide sustainable, intelligently designed spaces that improve people’s lives.”
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Renewal race for Scape £750m Eastern region framework
Scape has started the renewal race for places on its East Midlands and the East of England framework for projects worth up to £7.5m.
The next-generation framework, worth £750m over four years, introduces a parallel lotting structure to give clients the option to engage early with two contractors before awarding a project.
Scape’s existing regional construction framework has successfully delivered 362 projects and is due to expire in Summer 2022. Current framework incumbents include: Ashe, Clegg, Conamar, R G Carter, Lindum, Seddon and G F Tomlinson.
In response to additional feedback from clients, this framework will provide further flexibility by offering a ‘commercial choice’ option in addition to a direct award procurement pathway, as part of the contractor selection process.
The new framework will be structured into 4 regions:
John Simons, acting group procurement director at Scape, said: “By evolving this framework offer, we will provide a simplified and high-quality route to market that will enable clients to get projects off the ground quickly through delivery partners who have the expertise to help them achieve their ambitions.”
Firms have until 24 September to submit prequals for the framework which will go live in August 2022.
Click here for tender notice.
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Former Harry Fairclough staff win pay battle after collapse
More than 60 Harry Fairclough employees made redundant when the contractor collapsed have won their legal battle against the business and secured a payout totalling just over £180,000.
A tribunal judged that the company had failed in its duty to its staff after the contractor ceased trading last year.
The Warrington firm was founded in 1898 and closed closed its doors for the final time in February 2020 resulting in more than 150 job losses.
Now 61 former employees represented by legal firm Simpson Millar are due to receive a pay-out totalling £183,056 after an employment law tribunal found that Harry Fairclough had failed in its legal obligation to formally consult with its staff during the ‘redundancy consultation period’.
The pay-out comes in the form of protective awards which have been claimed from the Redundancy Payments Service (RPS), which is part of the Governments Insolvency Service.
Damian Kelly, an employment law expert at Simpson Millar, said: “The collapse of Harry Fairclough had a devastating impact on the many employees who were left out of work with very little notice.
“We are delighted to have now secured a Protective Award for those affected, which will provide much needed peace of mind following what has been an incredibly tough year for anyone looking for work within the construction industry.”
A Protective Award is an award of compensation of up to 90 days’ gross pay that can be awarded by an Employment Tribunal for failure by an employer to follow the correct procedure when making redundancies.
Kelly said: “While many people assume that job losses are simply inevitable if a business enters into administration, not least in the construction industry given the uncertainties around lockdown regulations during the past year, employers do still have a duty under current employment law legislation to carry out a proper consultation with staff at risk of redundancies.
“When that law is disregarded, it is possible, as Simpson Millar has demonstrated, to hold the company to account through the Employment Tribunals.
“Sadly we are working on behalf of several thousand clients whose livelihoods have been affected by the turbulence caused by the pandemic over the past year or so.
“Of course, the process to claim for a Protective Award does not result in an influx of cash immediately, and this has been exacerbated by the lengthy delays in the Employment Tribunals nationwide which are also still suffering from the outfall of Covid with a 60% increase in employment law claims as a result of Covid.
“Nevertheless, legal protection remains in place to support people who are made redundant without being taken through the correct consultation process, and the money recovered in successful claims will provide some longer-term security for those affected.”
The RPS is a government funded scheme set up to pay up employees up to a maximum of 8 weeks’ pay in the form of a protective award where an employer has become insolvent and has therefore decided not to properly consult with its employees over inevitable redundancies.
Kier road workers stage sick pay protest
Highways workers at Kier are planning a protest on Wednesday following a row over sick pay.
Construction union Unite is backing the demonstration at Kier’s Basingstoke office following a dispute on its Highways England Area 3 contract which covers Hampshire, Surrey, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire and parts of Buckinghamshire.
Unite officials said the workers – who have provided a seven day, 24 hour service throughout the pandemic – only receive statutory sick pay (SSP) worth just £96.35 a week when off work.
Office based Kier staff and workers directly employed by client Highways England receive full sick pay for up to three months.
Unite regional officer Malcom Bonnett said: “Kier’s workers who operate in all weathers to keep the South East’s motorway network fully operational deserve full sick pay, when they are ill.
“The pandemic has exposed the fact that workers simply can’t survive on SSP which is less than £100 a week.
“The lack of sick pay results in workers continuing to come to work when they are ill. In normal times, due to the safety critical work they undertake. this could have tragic consequences. During the Covid pandemic it leads to unnecessary risk of exposure to infection.
“It is simply unjustifiable that office based workers receive full sick pay while those working on the motorway network only receive SSP.”
A Kier spokesperson said: “The terms and conditions of our operational workforce in Highways, including those employed in Area 3, are aligned with the Construction Industry Joint Council, which is a union-supported national agreement.
“The welfare of our employees is a key priority for us and we are therefore committed to working through this matter in collaboration with Unite.”
5 Tips For Construction Project Managers
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Construction project managers are responsible for overseeing and supervising construction projects from start to finish. They are tasked with making sure projects are delivered on time and within budget. Job duties differ from company to company, but construction project managers are typically responsible for overseeing the budget, working with owners, architects, and engineers, hiring subcontractors, scheduling and planning work, and ensuring materials and equipment are delivered to the project site on time.
Liverpool firm collapsed owing £4.25m to subcontractors
North west building contractor Nobles Construction collapsed into administration leaving subcontractors and suppliers £4.25m out-of-pocket.
The £25m revenue Liverpool contractor employed over 50 staff and had been battling with the impact of Covid on the business and two contract disputes with clients.
Employment claims stand at over £570,000 following the firm’s administration at the end of June.
Early details of the firm’s creditors sent to administrator MB Insolvency reveal nearly 400 firms impacted by the collapse of the Wavertree-based building contractor, which was established in 1995.
A dispute with the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts over time extensions had resulted in three adjudications in Nobles’ favour.
It is understood LIPA had contested the adjudications and launched High Court action against the building contractor for around £1.8m.
Nobles was also locked in a payment dispute with developer High Street Group over a £33m contract for a 362-apartment project known as Cheshire Junction in Warrington.
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Firms called to register for £3.5bn Kent theme park
The London Resort has opened pre-procurement registration of firms interested in helping to deliver its planned 500-acre theme park on the Swanscombe peninsular in Kent.
Billed as one of the most ambitious theme park projects ever in Europe, the London Resort will be the first European development of its kind to be built from scratch since the opening of Disneyland Paris in 1992.
The ambitious project, which would cover the area of 136 Wembley stadiums, is being delivered by London Resort Company Holdings, which is owned by the Kuwaiti European Holding Company Group.
With over £1bn due to be invested in the scheme, it has been designated as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project and was accepted for examination by the inspectorate at the start of this year.
Since then London Resort has requested an extension to submit revised proposals following Natural England’s decision to apply to designate 250ha of the Swanscombe Peninsula as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Provided its Development Consent Order application is granted, London Resort said works could start in 2022, with a view to the London Resort opening in 2024.
Click here for supplier registration.
Canary Wharf Group plans next resi skyscraper
Canary Wharf Group has revealed plans for its next major residental tower at the western end of the Docklands Estate.
The Park Place build to rent tower has been designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and will rise to 55 storeys, just a few floors lower than the neighbouring Newfoundland residential building at 58 storeys.
Place Place build to rent tower will be built next to Westferry Circus
The slender high-rise will rise from a four-floor mixed-use pavilion containing shops, restaurants and workspace next to a new waterside public square. 
The site is currently vacant but was previously occupied by a 1980s building, which was the former HQ of Littlejohn Frazer demolished some time ago.
The Park Place site has been the subject of a number of previous planning consents all office-led schemes.
The latest plan is for 624 homes specifically built for rent only and would include both market rent and affordable homes.
The new residential tower will extend the retail and restaurant trade through the weekend at the Western end of Canary Wharf
Subject to receiving planning permission, it would be the intention to start enabling works on site in 2023.
Building fit-out is planned for 2025 with the building, which is to be built by Canary Wharf Contractors, handed over in 2028.
The new homes would be managed through Vertus, Canary Wharf Group’s specialist rental organisation
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Rail website launch to improve infrastructure delivery
The Better Value Rail Toolkit has been launched to bring together the best ideas for rail schemes and make the delivery of transport infrastructure projects faster and cheaper.
The website can be used by those sponsoring rail schemes and their advisors to help make the right decisions early on in rail projects.
The brainchild of the Department for Transport, Network Rail and Office of Rail and Road is designed to help deliver infrastrucrure more quickly, save money and make sure that rail is the best fit for any given project.
Rail Minister Chris Heaton-Harris said: “This is a brilliant new website that brings together the best thinking and ideas from across the rail industry and allows everyone to access it.
“We have created a toolkit for early-stage thinking that will make the delivery of transport infrastructure projects faster and cheaper as we build back better on our railways.”
Network Rail’s chief executive Andrew Haines said: “The Better Value Rail toolkit has been developed based on listening extensively to stakeholders about how we can provide clear advice and support, be easier to do business with and help ensure focus on schemes that have a good chance of being delivered.
“That’s why we believe the toolkit will help us turn good ideas into great schemes, delivering for passengers, local communities and the taxpayer.”
John Larkinson, chief executive at ORR, said: “We have to make sure that money available to develop new rail schemes is used wisely. I’m pleased that the rail industry has worked closely together here, and as a joint team, to help people develop projects.
“The toolkit is a one-stop shop to help make better decisions earlier and identify the right solutions to drive better value by saving time and money.”
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