Construction unions and contractors have agreed a pay increase from next month of at least 6% for around 500,000 site workers operating under the Construction Industry Joint Council agreement. In a two-stage CIJC deal, workers will receive a further 1.5% rise from 1 January 2024, delivering a compound increase of around 7.6%. Additionally, the lowest

Sheffield’s Grade II listed Cole Brothers building, which was home to John Lewis in the city, is to be transformed into offices, shops and cafes. Sheffield City Council has named developer Urban Splash as its preferred bidder to re-establish the landmark building as a focus for people to meet and eat in the city. Final

Newcastle City Council is set to apppoint Robertson Construction to complete two projects in the city that stalled in the wake of Tolent’s collapse. The near £200m turnover Gateshead-based contractor collapsed into administration in February leaving a string of projects in the lurch. Now the city council is set to appoint Robertson to complete Tolent’s

Morgan Sindall is set to report better-than-expected trading for the first-half with profits strongly up. In a trading statement for the first six months of the year, the construction and regeneration contractor said the fit-out division in particular had delivered a much stronger performance than expected. The surge in work is being driven by a

The man in charge of building Everton’s new £500m stadium has been made interim Chief Executive Officer of the whole club. Colin Chong assumed the role this week on top of his other role as Chief Stadium Development Officer overseeing construction of the new stadium by main contractor Laing O’Rourke. Chong joined Everton from Laing

The number of surprise construction site safety visits has fallen to a record low. A freedom of information request made by the Unite union discovered that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) undertook only 7,647 unannounced inspections in 2022/23  – a 2% decline on the previous year when there were 7,793 inspections. The number of

BAM Construction has been appointed as lead contractor for phase one of the £210m “Our Cultural Heart” development in Huddersfield. The project will see the refurbishment of the former Queensgate Market and Huddersfield Library buildings to house a food hall and a modern museum and gallery alongside a new community-focused library, live entertainment venue and

Underfunding and slow delivery of the Government’s rebuilding programme has seen the school estate deteriorate leaving many schools still at critical risk of collapse. Spending watchdog the National Audition Office has issued its latest assessment on the Government’s progress to tackle the rundown schools. It now estimates that around 700,000 pupils are now learning in

More than 200 suppliers and subcontractors were owed £4.6m when Northumberland based Howard Russell Construction went into administration. Administrators from FRP Advisory took control of the business in May. An update on the administration filed at Companies House said the firm was sunk by a combination of rising materials costs, project delays and defect liability