Inland Homes has agreed to sell the final phase of its Carters Quay development in Poole to Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council.

The deal will see Inland Partnerships build the new homes on the council’s behalf. The site is ready for construction and piling works are set to start in April 2022 with work set to be completed by the end of 2024.

Inland Homes acquired the brownfield site – formerly a Pilkington Tile Factory – and worked with the local council on a long-term basis to regenerate the area. Inland Homes has alreasy completed three phases of the development which have provided 165 homes.

The last phase will contain 161 new homes and 8,000 square feet of commercial space.

Inland Chief Executive Stephen Wicks said: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with BCP Council to deliver the final 161 homes at Carters Quay. We have already built a collaborative and productive relationship with BCP, who shared our vision for the regeneration of Carters Quay from the outset.

“The Group’s partnership housing division is growing from strength to strength with a forward order book now in excess of £200m. Our partners recognise the Group’s ability to add value across all stages of the project and this latest contract is testament to that.”

 

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Developers HUB and Smedvig have picked JJ Rhatigan as the main contractor to deliver the first phase of The Landing large rental flats project in Maidenhead.

Funded by the build-to-rent operator Get Living for £155m, JJR has just started construction on the cleared site, with a first phase completion date expected in Winter 2024.

The 3.5-acre mixed-use scheme is set to revitalise Maidenhead town centre, giving a much-needed boost to this key commuter hub.

Apartment blocks will rise to 16 floors in first phase of the town centre scheme

The first phase of four of the six blocks will deliver 429 homes alongside 23,000 sq ft of ground floor retail space and extensive new public realm.

It is HUB’s second partnership with the Irish contractor, which is currently on-site completing a £53m mixed-residential scheme in Abbey Wood, Greenwich, and marks JJR’s further expansion into the UK residential sector.

“This is our biggest contract so far in the UK,” said Ger Ronayne, chief executive officer of JJR. “It significantly builds on our continuing success in the UK market as the business expands and meets the market challenges head on, to deliver exciting projects across both England and Ireland.”

Designed by award-winning architect Studio Egret West, the mixed-use development, known as The Landing, will also deliver 104,000 sq ft of office space and another 15,000 sq ft of ground floor retail and leisure space in two further phases.

A new garden square including soft landscaping, trees and seating areas will create a green destination in the heart of the town.

The Landing site – a key part of Maidenhead’s wider regeneration that includes the £500m redevelopment of the town’s shopping centre – is also adjacent to Maidenhead station, where Elizabeth Line trains will arrive in 2022, and will provide a much-needed link between the refurbished station and the town centre.

Damien Sharkey, Managing Director at HUB, said: “We are very excited to now start construction on this fantastic new place that will bring beautifully designed, well-connected homes, employment opportunities and community facilities to the town centre. We are happy to be working alongside JJR for the second time, with their reputation in the industry for construction excellence.”

Established in 1952, JJR is a Tier One Main Contractor operating throughout Ireland and since 2012 in the UK, focusing on Greater London and the South East.

Ger Ronayne, CEO of JJR, said: “We look forward to working with them over the next couple of years to bring phase one of The Landing to completion.”

Lancaster based modular construction company OEP Building Services has gone into administration.

Administrators from Dow Schofield Watts are now in charge of the business which specialised in bathroom pods.

OEP Building Services was hoping to reach a turnover of £18m in 2020 but was hit hard by the pandemic and the Enquirer understands that OEP is still in adjudication with its insurance company over a £250,00 business interruption claim following a five-week Covid shutdown.

OEP has also been hit by surging materials prices on its fixed price contracts particularly steel, timber, adhesives, plastics and M&E components which are estimated to have cost the business £600,000 this year.

The company also faced the withdrawal of a major loan facility when its peer-to-peer lender went under and lost £350,000 during the collapse of contractors including CPUK, Marcus Worthington and Cruden.

A sister company of OEP Building Services which manufactures its steel frames has taken 88 employees across under the TUPE regulations.

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The accompanying tables show the top 10 major upcoming industrial and water treatment construction projects in Canada. They are all in the planning stage and are mainly new projects, but may also involve additions and/or alterations.

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Are you thinking you’ll be busier in 2022 thanin 2021? If that’s the case—it may be a great time to add new construction softwareor new or used equipment and deduct all of it on this year’s taxes.

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Volume house builder Weston Homes has bought part of a former textiles dyeing factory complex in south east London for a £100m multi-storey flats scheme.

The 4.6 acre Dylon factory site will be transformed with a 254 apartments scheme with, undercroft basement parking, and children’s play space  within landscaped gardens.

The site already benefits from full planning consent, granted last Spring, allowing construction to start in late 2022 with a 20 month build programme.

It forms the second phase of the redevelopment of the Dylon works following on from 223 built to Crest Nicholson undertaken in 2017.

The contemporary buildings are designed for first time buyers and will have full height windows, balconies and tiered roofscapes complete with feature London Yellow Stock brickwork, providing a connection to nearby residential buildings.

Bob Weston, Chairman and Manging Director at Weston Homes said: “This new outer London development is part of our ongoing major growth and expansion. The business has a highly diverse range of developments, including a series of major landmark schemes commencing and many others in the pipeline.”

Over the last five years, Weston Homes has purchased land sites for over £2 bn worth of residential and mixed use development across outer London and the South East.

This includes 20 current active sites and over 7,500 new homes in the pipeline including traditional housing and large scale urban regeneration projects.

 

 

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Plans for a £35m university building in Nottingham city centre have been given the planning go-ahead

Work will start early next year on the nine-storey block, which will house Nottingham Trent University’s School of Art and Design.

Bowmer & Kirkland and GF Tomlinson are understood to be in the bidding for the project which has been designed by architect Hawkins Brown.

The planned building at 40–42 Shakespeare Street will provide a variety of workspaces for designing and making, collaboration areas, specialist studios and labs.

The building has been designed to achieve BREEAM ‘Excellent’ and DEC ‘A’ rating.

Design decisions, such as the use of post-tensioned concrete slabs and ceramic cladding, have helped to reduce their carbon impact using Hawkins\Brown’s self-developed, open-source H\B:ERT software.

Nottingham School of Art and Design project team

Architect: Hawkins Brown

Structural & Civil Engineer: Mott Macdonald

MEP engineer: Waterman

Carbon consultant: Hawkins Brown

Project Manager: Turner & Townsend

Cost consultant: Turner & Townsend

Fire Engineer: Arup

Subcontractors and suppliers across the North West are braced to lose millions after the company behind the 16-storey Natex student accommodation scheme in Liverpool fell into administration.

Mount Group Student Natex was developing the £45m scheme which was due for completion in December.

The company is now in the hands of administrators Mazars but the wider Mount Group remains unaffected.

Mount Group Student Natex was incorporated in 2016 and work started on the 574-bed scheme in 2019 with Manchester based Barton PM as management contractor.

Mazars told the Liverpool Echo: “The administrators are presently assessing the financial position of the company with a view to determining the optimal strategy for the completion of the development.

“The company’s financial position has been adversely affected by delays and increased costs resulting from, among other factors, the Covid-19 pandemic and supply chain issues associated with the pandemic and Brexit.”

One local subcontractor told the Enquirer: “Payments have been delayed for ages on this job and suppliers are owed millions.”

HS2 is sliming down the planned Euston station terminus in a bid to save cost and programme time.

The station will now move to a simpler 10 platform design from the originally planned 11 platforms.

This will allow the station main contractor joint venture Mace Dragados to build the £2.6bn project in a single stage, rather than two stages as originally envisaged.

The changes are far less dramatic than some in the industry feared after a 15-month review seeking cost-saving options and efficiency opportunities, depending in part on the scope of the northern route of HS2, particularly the future of the eastern leg.

HS2 minister Andrew Stephenson revealed the new plan in a six-month update to Parliament yesterday.

He said that the changes will ease the £400m budget pressure already identified on Euston station budget.

Stephenson said the exact savings would be identified as the updated design is developed over the coming months.

“In response to a recommendation from the Oakervee Review about looking into the efficiency of the Euston station, the move to a smaller, simpler 10-platform station design at Euston has now been confirmed,” he said in the report

“This will provide a more efficient design and delivery strategy and play a significant role in mitigating the affordability pressures recently identified.

“Moving to this revised HS2 Euston station design maintains the station infrastructure capacity to run 17 trains per hour, as set out in the Phase One full business case.”

Stephenson also highlighted potential minor delays in the southern section of the line leading into Old Oak Common from outer London.

He said contractors were now focused on identifying efficiencies and controlling risk in these key areas.

The added delivery risk stems from residual delays in completing enabling works and handover to main works in certain locations.

Slower than planned design progress and securing planning consents by the main works civils contractors had also limited productivity of the supply chain.

HS2 is currently reporting future potential cost pressures of around £1.3bn compared to £0.8 billion six months ago.

The overall budget for Phase One, including Euston, remains £44.6bn. This is composed of the target cost of £40.3bn and additional government-retained contingency of £4.3bn.

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Near record-breaking softwood timber imports have replenished stocks to a level needed to meet the demand surge from construction.

This brings the prospect of an easing in supply bottlenecks once ongoing delivery issues from a shortage of HGV drivers are resolved.

According to the Timber Trades Federation more than 7 million m3 of timber and panel products were imported by the UK between January and July.

This is nearly 2 million m3 above the same period in 2020, and half a million m3 above 2019 levels – the UKs last ‘regular year’ before COVID-19 – which is about an 8% increase.

Nick Boulton, TTF head of technical and trade, said: “After a year of record production and nine months of near-record structural softwood imports it is highly likely the UK is at a point where there is sufficient volume of wood at UK ports and in the UK timber supply chain to satisfy construction demand.

“With Q3 now behind us, which we viewed as a real pressure point this year between supply and demand for timber products, we expect that over the coming months we will find there is greater stability within the UK market.”

But he warned: “We are not yet out the woods as any return to ‘regular’ patterns within the UK market will be difficult amid the ongoing shortage of HGV drivers, and in fuel and labour, which are likely to continue to impact the market in the coming months.

“These shortages are of high concern to the timber supply chain as while there may now be enough timber in the UK to meet demand it does little good to anyone when there are no means to transport stock from ports to warehouses or customers.”

Also there is still no sign of any easing of sky-high timber prices for structural softwood in particular.

Latest TTF statistics show the average price of sawn and planed softwood in May, June and July rose by 55%, 65% and 88% respectively over their corresponding months in 2020.