Ground engineering contractor Van Elle has struck a deal to buy Galliford Try-owned piling specialist Rock and Alluvium for up to £3.8m. The deal will strengthen Van Elle in the South East and bolster the piling fleet with 11 more piling rigs. Van Elle will make an initial payment of £1.8m, and a deferred consideration

House builder Countryside and housing association L&Q have submitted outline plans for a mixed-use development which will form part of Chelmsford Garden Community. The partners are seeking planning for up to 3,500 new homes within three villages. The plans include a local centre and two smaller neighbourhood centres, three primary schools and one secondary school,

Demolition specialist Squibb Group is trying to strike a deal with its creditors under a Company Voluntary Arrangement. The Enquirer understands letters were sent out to suppliers owed money by Squibb last week as the directors called in Begbies Traynor in a bid to survive a cash-flow crisis. A creditors meeting will be held on

London’s Brent Council has given the green light to plans for a £300m high-rise development in Stonebridge Park. London development manager Avanton with partner investor Canada Israel gained planning for the 515-home tower at the regeneration of site formerly known as Wembley Point, moments from Stonebridge Park train station. Designed by architects Patel Taylor, Stonebridge Place promises

Purpose-built student accommodation provider iQ Student Accommodation has signed Bowmer & Kirkland to deliver its triple tower scheme in Manchester. The Echo Street project will deliver over 1,200 rooms project to be located next to Vimto Park in the Whitworth Street Conservation zone, next to the gateway of Piccadilly and the North Campus of the

The Government has set out plans to introduce a 30-month period of grace to allow the industry to prepare for the second staircase rule on 18m-plus buildings. Under the transition plan developers will get the two-and-half-year transition period starting from when the details of the new rules are published in Approved Document B. For already

Somerset County Council has picked Kier to takeover core highways maintenance works when Milestone Infrastructure completes its term at the end of March. Under an eight-year deal worth around £225m, Kier will deliver key maintenance works across a 4,172-mile road network. In a change to the way it delivers services, the council has divided up

Developer Berkeley Group’s St William division has submitted plans to restore the UK’s largest surviving cluster of Victorian gas holders to create 2,100 new homes within the heritage site. The Bromley by Bow Gasworks site in east London comprises seven disused Grade II listed gasholders. Seven gasholder frames will contain 10-storey blocks with six extra

Three companies have been fined a total of £420,000 after a falling slate tile fractured the skull of a three-year-old child. The slate came off a roof at a construction site at the Moonfleet Manor hotel in Weymouth, Dorset, and struck the young girl on 13 June 2019. She had been leaving the hotel with

Balfour Beatty has started the hunt for subcontractor partners to deliver key packages on the £1.3bn A66 Northern Trans-Pennine upgrade project. The contractor is heading the procurement for the delivery joint venture, which includes Kier and Keltbray which will deliver different sections of the route. The firms are to work under an enterprise-wide collaborative working