Mitie Group is returning to new build contracting after buying Stevenage engineering and fit-out contractor JCA Engineering for up to £31.5m. Based in Stevenage, JCA turned over £72m last year delivering a pre-tax profit of just over £5m with around £19m cash at bank. It employs 200 staff. JCA brings 20 years of experience in

Costain is looking to make around 25 staff redundant as a restructure of its digital operations sees its technology centre in Somerset wound-down. The contractor opened the new technology centre in Worle in 2019 with a £3.5m investment and plans to employ 150 people. Sources told the Enquirer that numbers have been pared back at

Midgard has been appointed by developer Urbanest to deliver the largest purpose-built student accommodation PBSA scheme in Europe. The £250m trio of towers next to Billingsgate Market in Docklands will also become Europe’s largest Passivhaus development. The scheme will deliver 1,672 student beds and 80 residential apartments for students of University College London (UCL). The

Permission has been granted for two planning applications covering the next phase of developer Far East Consortium and Manchester City Council’s Victoria North joint venture. Two planning applications were approved yesterday for the emerging Red Bank neighbourhood forming a key part of the wider Victoria North development. The first granted full planning is for FEC’s

Retail giant M&S has launched a legal challenge against Michael Gove’s decision to refuse plans to demolish and rebuild its flagship store on Oxford Street. The Levelling Up Secretary’s decision in early August went against the recommendation of his planning inspectors. Plans for a new ten-storey steel and glass office complex on the site have

More than 100 schools are facing the immediate closure of buildings constructed from potentially dangerous aerated concrete panels. The Department for Education this week widened the scope of closures due to the use Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete during construction. In guidance issued just days before the new school year, education chiefs have said that all

Haydon Mechanical & Electrical fell into administration owing nearly £10m to suppliers and subcontractors. The scale of the debts is highlighted in an update from administrators at insolvency specialist Leading. The report also confirms that Leading will be looking-into the novation of contracts to a sister company called Millharbour FM Ltd before Haydown went into

Laing O’Rourke has been appointed preferred construction partner on a major new hospital job in Lanarkshire. The current estimate for construction cost alone to replace University Hospital Monklands is £700m but a final figure is yet to be determined. NHS Lanarkshire is looking to deliver Scotland’s first fully digital and net zero carbon hospital through

Henry Boot has completed the sale of its historic head office at Banner Cross Hall in Sheffield. The Grade II listed building has been used by Henry Boot since 1932 but the contractor is relocating to a new head office at the Isaacs Building in Sheffield city centre. Banner Cross Hall has been bought by

Keepmoat Homes and Applebridge Construction will donate a total of £135,000 to the Aire Rivers Trust after polluting Pitty Beck multiple times while building a new housing estate near Bradford. Site owner Keepmoat will donate £100,000 while subcontractor Applebridge will hand over £35,000. An investigation by the Environment Agency found that Pitty Beck was polluted