Contract Journal articles from January 2006

Contract Journal archives from January 2006

CPCS chief's resignation delays red card decision.
January 11, 2006... The Construction Plant Competence Scheme (CPCS) has suffered a blow with the resignation of its management board chairman John Gladstone after 14 years on the committee. Gladstone's unexpected departure effectively delays decisions on...

Michelin expands to tackle demand surge.
January 11, 2006... Michelin has announced a major expansion of its Lexington plant in the US, which manufactures its biggest earthmoving tyre ranges. A new brownfield plant will be built alongside the existing facility and will allow a 50% increase in output by...

Ringway strikes deal with Jacobs.
January 11, 2006... Ringway has teamed up with Jacobs in a drive to secure more work from the Highways Agency (HA). The 50:50 Ringway Jacobs Limited partnership was formed after the two groups worked closely on the Dartford crossing and trunk road contracts...

Multiplex asks FA to minimise Wembley fines.
January 11, 2006... Multiplex is in talks to offset huge fines for late delivery of the [pounds sterling]757m Wembley Stadium project in London, CJ understands. Reports in several Australian newspapers have claimed in the past week that Multiplex is subject to...

Gleeson hits housing jackpot in Liverpool.
January 11, 2006... MJ Gleeson has emerged as ?the preferred developer for a massive housing scheme to be rolled out by Liverpool City Council. A deal signed with the council gives Gleeson first refusal on any developments planned by the council for up to 12...

Morrison scoops [pounds sterling]34m Portsmouth MoD scheme.(Brief Article)
January 11, 2006... Morrison has emerged victorious from a [pounds sterling]34m PFI housing battle in Portsmouth for the Ministry of Defence. The work will be carried out by Tricomm Portsmouth, a special-purpose firm set up by Morrison specifically for the...

Duo bag [pounds sterling]70m Anglian work.(Brief Article)
January 11, 2006... Two contractors have tapped into [pounds sterling]70m-plus of water infrastructure work for Anglian Water Services. Galliford Try has scooped its first framework agreement with the utility and will share the work with MJ Gleeson over a...

May Gurney snatches Sussex roads victory.
January 11, 2006... May Gurney has cleaned up on highways maintenance deals throughout Sussex. The latest scalp is in West Sussex, where the county council maintenance programme is potentially worth around [pounds sterling]250m. It is expected that May...

Wates and Verry scoop academy schools deals.(Brief Article)
January 11, 2006... Wates has beaten off challenges from two rivals to chalk up victory on a [pounds sterling]19.4m academy schools deal in south London. And in a second academy schools scheme weighing in at the same value, Kent has once again proved a happy...

Carillion scoops [pounds sterling]73m Ayrshire schools PPP.
January 11, 2006... Carillion has emerged as ?preferred bidder for a [pounds sterling]73m PPP schools deal north of the Border. The contractor, bidding under the banner of Education for All along with Cyril Sweett and HBOS Treasury Services, has chalked up...

Pressure causes firms to quit Huntingdon lab.
January 11, 2006... Animal welfare campaigners ?are claiming victory after materials suppliers and specialist ?contractors changed their minds about working on a vivisection laboratory, for Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), causing delay to construction work. ...

Welsh announce ProCure 21 list.(Brief Article)
January 11, 2006... Five ProCure 21 contractors are on the shortlist for the Welsh Health Estates (WHE) capital works partnering framework contract. The five are: HBG; Integrated Health Projects (Norwest Holst/Sir Robert McAlpine); Interserve; Kier; and Laing...

Editor's comment.(Editorial)
January 11, 2006... Getting the best by being the best How much time, effort and money do you spend on recruiting and retaining staff each year? For many construction companies, finding and keeping staff can often prove to be a bigger headache than finding...

60-second interview.(Brief Article)(Interview)
January 11, 2006... Where did you go to school and what qualifications did you come away with? I attended Northgate Grammar School for Boys in Ipswich, and left aged 16 with seven O Levels. What made you choose construction as a career? I had ability in...

Reap what ?you sow.
January 11, 2006... "This job gives me fantastic opportunities to progress, something that simply did not exist in my previous job." Surfacing gang member Alex Moore is passionate about construction. But if a friend had not attended the local agricultural show...

How toa.(Brief Article)
January 11, 2006... It may have become something of a job advertisement cliche [degrees] must be a self-starter' [degrees] but all organisations want people who can function effectively without constant instruction and supervision. Self-starters deliver from day...

Leavers and joiners.
January 11, 2006... Cowlin Construction Cowlin Construction has announced several promotions. In Bristol, Neil Sherreard has been promoted to regional managing director, while Kevin Cornish has been promoted to head of construction. Mike O'Neill has been...

Best Places ?to Work in Construction Awards 2006.
January 11, 2006... Everyone knows that construction is all about people. But if the industry wants to compete with other industries and services, it has got to work doubly hard to attract and retain the best people. It hasn't always done so in the past, but we...

Contract Journal seeks best employer of 2006.
January 11, 2006... Contract Journal today launches the second year of its pres-?tigious and highly successful Best Places to Work in Construction Awards. In association with Hays Construction and CITB-ConstructionSkills, the event will set out to find the...

Term contract losses shake Bethell.(Bethell Group)(Brief Article)
January 11, 2006... Bethell Group's margin of 2.4% in 2005 marks a trimming back from the 3.2% figure achieved in the previous year. Chief executive Tim Kilroe said that the latest financial period ?(12 months to 30 September 2005) had been "a challenging...

The heat is on for Balfour's offer.(Balfour Beatty take over offer for Mowlem)(Brief Article)
January 11, 2006... Time is starting to run out for Balfour Beatty if it is to launch a counter-offer for Mowlem. Mowlem's shareholders meet on 30 January to vote on the offer from Carillion and to comply with takeover rules, Balfour has to act before 20...

Dean & Dyball targets [pounds sterling]200m breakthrough.(Brief Article)
January 11, 2006... Dean & Dyball anticipates turnover will break through the [pounds sterling]200m barrier this year. After growing the annual workload towards that barrier last year, chief executive Adrian Dyball said he expects turnover to hit [pounds...

Galliford Try breaks [pounds sterling]1bn orders barrier.
January 11, 2006... Galliford Try's construction forward orderbook stands at [pounds sterling]1.1bn, exceeding the [pounds sterling]1bn mark for the first time. Some 85% of the total is in the public and regulated sectors and 90% has been secured on a...

Gleeson rebuffs its mystery shell suitor.(Gleeson Group )
January 11, 2006... The mystery bidder behind the [pounds sterling]200m approach for Gleeson Group has been identified as a shell company quoted on the Alternative Investment Market (the junior section of the Stock Exchange). Terry Massingham, chief...

Special projects boost Surgo's turnover by 35%.
January 11, 2006... Surgo Construction's turnover in 2005 rose by 35% to [pounds sterling]50m and the pre-tax profit figure will be close to [pounds sterling]500,000 said Ian Walker, managing director. Walker and finance director Bill Blyth led a six-man...

Ennstone Thistle chief executive switches to Tulloch.
January 11, 2006... Tulloch has appointed Ciaran Kennedy to the new post of chief operating officer. Kennedy has spent the past four years as chief executive of Ennstone Thistle, based in Dundee, having served as finance director for the previous eight years....

Event fees deter small firms.
January 11, 2006... Sir, I have recently received invitations to two Govnet events: The 2nd Annual Efficiency Delivery Conference and Procurement in Action, Delivering Effective Partnerships. Topics included: "taking advantage of wide-scale collaboration...

Offsite alliance aims to educate construction.
January 11, 2006... Sir, I read with interest the Building Services Research and Information Association's (BSRIA) forecast predicting slow progress in the uptake of offsite techniques over the next 30 years (CJ 23 November 2005). BSRIA's Andrew Eastwell...

New Year Honours list recognises construction.
January 11, 2006... A handful of industry players received recognition in the New Year Honours. Midas chairman Stephen Hindley was awarded the CBE for his services to the construction industry. Also awarded CBEs were: David Sutherland, chair of Tulloch...

Rights and remedies.
January 11, 2006... It is generally thought that the English courts will be reluctant to enforce obligations to negotiate in good faith. There are a number of reasons for this. Such obligations are often thought of as a type of agreement to agree' and thus too...

JLG unveils two new telescopic handlers.(Brief Article)
January 11, 2006... JLG has launched two new European specification telescopic handlers to complement its existing 11-model range. The 266 and 307 models have maximum lifting heights of 5.8m and 6.9m, and lifting capacities of 2.6t and 3t respectively. ...

A-Plant wins Morrison deal.(Morrison Construction Co.)(Brief Article)
January 11, 2006... A-Plant has won a 17-month preferred supplier contract with Morrison to supply a full range of non-operated plant on a national basis. Gary Thompson, A-Plant's UK sales director, said the deal will help reduce costs and ultimately add...

Arcomet ready to cash in on self-erector boom.
January 11, 2006... Arcomet, the recently appointed UK distributor for Potain tower cranes, has put itself in pole position for a predicted rise in the use of self-erecting cranes. In order to satisfy an anticipated upsurge in demand, the company has set up...

Brandon open to buy-out by management.(Brandon Hire )(Brief Article)
January 11, 2006... Brandon Hire has confirmed that it has given permission for its managers to explore the possibility of a management buy-out of the company. The potential buy-out team is led by Brandon Hire chief executive Charles Skinner and finance...

IPAF progress on work safety.(International Powered Access Federation)(Brief Article)
January 11, 2006... The International Powered Access Federation (IPAF) said it has issued 53,646 of its PAL cards (Powered Access Licences) in 2005, an increase of 24.7% compared to 2004. "The Work at Height Regulations have definitely made employers more...

Arup begins probe into Kajima houses.
January 11, 2006... Arup is due to start a three-month investigation at the site of Kajima's 46-unit CASPAR housing scheme in Leeds next Monday (16 January), following concerns over the safety of the structures. In October, it was announced that tenants at the...

Amey faces inquiry after closure of M9.
January 11, 2006... Amey's trunk road contract for southern Scotland is at the centre of an investigation by the Performance Audit Group (PAG) after a section of the M9 was closed for two hours to allow extra gritting to take place. Transport Scotland, the...

Highways Agency receives huge interest in M25 scheme.
January 11, 2006... The Highways Agency (HA) is thought to have received more than 70 expressions of interest from companies looking to bid for its [pounds sterling]5bn M25 DBFO scheme. An HA source told CJ that ?the industry's interest in the scheme was...

Accord ahead in Area 1 race.(Contracted with Highways Agency)(Brief Article)
January 11, 2006... Accord has emerged as the frontrunner for the Highways Agency's (HA) [pounds sterling]175m Area 1 Managing Agent Contractor agreement for the Devon and Cornwall region. Five firms expressed interest in the five year scheme, which has...

R McAlpine drops Holyrood action.(Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd.)(Brief Article)
January 11, 2006... Sir Robert McAlpine has dropped its 12-month legal challenge against the Scottish Parliament over allegations that European procurement rules had been breached in awarding Bovis Lend Lease the [pounds sterling]431m Holyrood ?contract. ...

Nuttall's M3 scheme proves a glass act.(Edmund Nuttall Ltd.)(Edmund Nuttall )(Brief Article)
January 11, 2006... Edmund Nuttall went green recently when it mixed drinking with driving on a motorway project. The company has specified ground-up recycled glass over traditional sand for a scheme on the M3. The equivalent of 20 million wine bottles will...

Construction needs more waste recycling facilities.
January 11, 2006... The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) last week called for the government to invest in large-scale recycling and incineration facilities for construction waste. However, the ICE added that recycling is not always the best option, and...

Recovery fails to halt price hikes.
January 11, 2006... Contractors on fixed-price contracts for public schemes will face increasing costs, despite a pick-?up in the construction market, claimed the Construction Products Association. The Association's economics director Alan Wilen told CJ ?last...

Timber frame v brick and block: the debate goes on.(Timber Frame Association)(Brief Article)
January 11, 2006... The argument continues to rage on the suitability of timber ?frame or brick and block for housebuilding. The Timber Frame Association (TFA) last week claimed its method is [pounds sterling]1/m2 cheaper than masonry at [pounds...

back bites.
January 11, 2006... New year's honours A big thank you to all those readers, contacts and advertisers who sent us wine for Christmas [degrees] hic [degrees] much appreciated. Thanks for the cards too [degrees] the two most memorable being sent by HSS Hire (rather...

Celtic crusaders.
January 11, 2006... The luck of the Irish has nothing ?to do with Ferrovial and SIAC delivering the Republic of Ireland's largest live PPP project to date [degrees] the 35-year, [pounds sterling]300m N4/N6 motorway scheme [degrees] nearly a year early and on...

A happy new year?
January 11, 2006... The steelwork contractor: Conder Structures 2006-01-05T13:50:09ZAdobe InDesign 3.0adobe:docid:incd:771a66a3-7f84-11da-9ed1-94577f3ec575defaultapplication/x-indesignboxhead The fit-out contractor: Holloway White Allom 2006-01-05T13:47:30ZAdobe...

Minister dismisses alternative ideas.
January 18, 2006... Project bank accounts and banning retentions are not a "silver bullet" solution to solving payment abuse, according to construction minister Alun Michael. Asked by CJ about his views on these two possible solutions, Michael refused to...

Rattigan steps up the pace with new JCB 3CX 'Rockets'.(Brief Article)
January 18, 2006... London-based plant hirer JA Rattigan & Sons is so impressed with the road speed of its six new JCB 3CXs with torque converter lock-up, that owner John Rattigan has nicknamed them The Rockets'. The company undertakes operated hire jobs...

Certex markets a replacement crane block kit.(Brief Article)
January 18, 2006... Lifting gear distributor Certex is marketing a replacement crane block system [degrees] the McKissick Quic-Kit. Designed to provide a customised replacement block within minutes, it can be used on overhead cranes using rope diameters...

MEWP red diesel concession under threat.(Mobile elevating work platforms)(Brief Article)
January 18, 2006... Mobile elevating work platforms (MEWPs) and road construction vehicles remain under greater threat of having their concession to use red diesel withdrawn. The HM Revenue & Customs' (HMRC) website said: "The government believes the mobile...

Ford, Daf and Land Rover dominate sales leagues.(Ford Motor Company Ltd., Land Rover UK Ltd.)(Brief Article)
January 18, 2006... Ford, Daf and Land Rover dominated the 2005 sales leagues for light, heavy commercial vehicles and 4x4s respectively. All supplied more than one in four of the vehicles in their categories. Ford registered 87,000 commercial vehicles of 3.5t...

Editor's comment.(Brief Article)(Editorial)
January 18, 2006... Claws out for payment clauses Getting universal agreement over how to improve payment terms in the construction industry was never going to be easy. Predictably, the proposed revisions to the Construction Act, unveiled this week, have...

CITB pleads for help to save training levy.
January 18, 2006... Sir Michael Latham, chairman ?of the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), has told the government to take "urgent" action to preserve the statutory training levy. The CITB is hovering on the brink of failing to meet the legal...

Strategic Forum eyes key issues.(Brief Article)
January 18, 2006... Health and safety, insurance, the Olympic Games and sustainability are just four of the subjects to be tackled by the restructured Strategic Forum. The Strategic Executive Group, which held its first meeting of the year last week,...

T5 workers plan four-day walk-out over bonus pay.(Brief Article)
January 18, 2006... Workers on Heathrow's T5 project are due to strike later this month in a dispute over bonus pay. Members of the TGWU and GMB unions will stage a walkout and overtime ban from this Friday until next Tuesday. It follows a similar four-day...

Protesting sparks back to work at Wembley.(Brief Article)
January 18, 2006... The threat of a walk-out by electricians on the troubled [pounds sterling]757m Wembley project has been averted after the workers at the centre of the row returned to work as usual. Two-hundred-and-fifty sparks employed by agency Beaver...

Webster wins [pounds sterling]90m streetlighting deal.
January 18, 2006... A preferred bidder and a quartet of shortlisted contenders have plugged in to a brace of PFI streetlighting deals valued at [pounds sterling]90m-plus. For their combined project, the London Boroughs of Barnet and Enfield have turned the...

A McAlpine sued by museum.
January 18, 2006... The Royal Armouries Museum, which houses the most treasured British armour, is suing Alfred McAlpine for [pounds sterling]1m. The company set up to run the Leeds-based museum, Royal Armouries (International), and the board of trustees of...

Out with the old, in with Renew.
January 18, 2006... As a man who experienced turbulent times at Laing Construction, and who parted company with HBG Construction on less than cordial terms, Brian May can ?speak from experience of the trials and tribulations of life at a major contractor. ...

Councils told to speed up delivery of BSF work.(Building Schools for the Future )
January 18, 2006... Partnerships for Schools (P4S) is leaning on local authorities to tow the line when planning their Building Schools for the Future (BSF) schemes. This new hardline approach is part of a drive to speed up the delivery of the BSF programme...

Buy4London strikes housing materials deal.
January 18, 2006... Buy4London, a housing association consortium, is to buy all its materials through Procurement for Housing (PfH), a national ?purchasing organisation, in a bid to drive down its materials costs. The deal will see Buy4London purchasing all...

Vanguard hospital PFI falls prey to DH review.
January 18, 2006... PFI hospital schemes are continuing to suffer from the fall-out of the Department of Health's (DH) review (CJ 11 January). The revamped Plymouth Hospitals Vanguard PFI project, which was due to be relaunched this month in the form of two...

Balfour on board for HMS Nelson.(Balfour Beatty Construction)(Brief Article)
January 18, 2006... Balfour Beatty Construction has been awarded a [pounds sterling]15.4m contract for the design, building and maintenance of additional facilities at HMS Nelson in Portsmouth. The contract incorporates a further 300 single living...

Three Peaks Tanzania visit.(Brief Article)
January 18, 2006... A small group of construction professionals from last year's COINS Three Peaks Challenge earned the chance to visit Tanzania recently to see where some of the money they helped raise for aid agency CARE International is being spent. The...

company life.
January 18, 2006... HR issues Paul Wilkinson is people director. Rok shuns the tag of human resources' because human' is seen as being a somewhat inanimate word. Rok sees its people as the driving force behind its performance. IT issues Richard Gifford, IT...

Building arm plays part in Balfour orders boost.(Balfour Beatty)(Brief Article)
January 18, 2006... Balfour Beatty's orderbook grew by 13% during 2005, from an initial figure of [pounds sterling]6.8bn, to around [pounds sterling]7.7bn. The group has a further [pounds sterling]1.2bn of work at preferred bidder stage, the most notable...

Costain breaks orders record and eyes double-digit growth.(Brief Article)
January 18, 2006... Costain's trading update highlighted the group's record orderbook, worth [pounds sterling]1.9bn, as at 31 December 2005. The group has set itself a new objective for the next three years to achieve "double-digit growth in both volumes and...

Interserve core divisions pave way for profit boost.(Interserve International (Freight) PLC)(Brief Article)
January 18, 2006... Analysts have upped their anticipated pre-tax profit figure from Interserve in 2005 to the [pounds sterling]46m mark on a unchanged turnover of [pounds sterling]1.2bn. Tim Jones, finance director, said: "We've had a very good year and...

Geoff Brewer: 500 not out.
January 18, 2006... Having written 500 case summaries for Contract Journal over the past 10 years, it seemed appropriate to mark the occasion with a digest of the most important or interesting cases I have covered in that time. Preparing a shortlist such as...

Construction must address skills deficit.
January 18, 2006... The construction industry faces a shortfall of 10,000 workers every year for the next four years, according to a report from Resourcing Solutions (RSL). The report states that while 110,000 new workers have entered the industry every year...

Hitachi unveils trio of Zaxis excavators.
January 18, 2006... Hitachi Construction Machinery Europe (HCME) has launched the first three models of its new Zaxis-3 series of excavators. Produced to fully comply with the latest European Stage III A emissions regulations, the initial launch consists of...

Higher ?and hire.
January 18, 2006... The first big event of the year for the hire sector gets underway next week, with the Hire Show taking place at Excel Arena in London Docklands on 25-26 January. Most of the major exhibitors will be there. JCB is using the show to show off...

Anti-retention clients revealed.(Brief Article)
January 18, 2006... The Specialist Engineering Contractors' (SEC) Group has published a list of construction clients and contractors not using retentions. It has taken nearly a year for the group to compile the comprehensive list of 60 clients, which ?it...

Review reveals DTI's ignorance, says CC.(Construction Confederation, Department of Trade and Industry)
January 18, 2006... The Construction Confederation (CC) has criticised the government's proposed changes to the Construction Act as demonstrating a "lack of understanding" and increasing the risk of burdening the industry with red tape and confusion. The...

Asbestos-to-glass sites planned.
January 18, 2006... Asbestos waste will be sent to glassmaking furnaces if a [pounds sterling]250m scheme gets underway later this month. Recycler Vitrium Holdings plans to open up six sites across the UK, which will recycle hazardous waste from construction and...

Energy prices insane, say product-makers.
January 18, 2006... Products firms last week called for a return to "sanity" on energy costs, as unions backed interest rate cuts to prevent job losses. Tile maker Dennis Ruabon last week revealed that enormous ?gas bills have forced it to lay off ?90 staff....

Red Bank ties up deal for Hanson.
January 18, 2006... Hanson Building Products has bought Derbyshire-based Red Bank Manufacturing Company, which makes chimneys and other roofing products. The acquisition marks a new range of products for Hanson. The company said the acquisition secures its...

Grey is the new black for Polypipe's drainage unit.(Brief Article)
January 18, 2006... Polypipe Civils has changed the colour of its Polystorm drainage units from black to grey in response to customers' misconceptions. Polypipe decided to change the colour because it wanted ?to distinguish its product from those that could...

Wolseley seals materials deal.(Wolseley UK )(Brief Article)
January 18, 2006... Wolseley UK has signed a deal to supply building materials to all government departments. The company signed a framework agreement with the Office of Government Commerce Buying Solutions, which will give it preferred status as a supplier....

May eyes 2% margin at Renew.(Brian May)(Brief Article)
January 18, 2006... Brian May has set a target of a 2% margin in his first business plan at Renew, the company he joined as chief executive last summer. In an exclusive interview with CJ, the former Laing and HBG boss said his medium-term priority is margin...

Buckingham joins the big league.
January 18, 2006... He didn't realise it, but when Buckingham managing director Paul Wheeler arrived at his son's school to attend a parents evening in September 2000, it would ?prove a very significant moment for his company. Also attending the parents evening...

Sixty jobs lost as JWS goes under owing [pounds sterling]1.4m.
January 25, 2006... Sunderland-based contractor JWS Construction (North East) has collapsed with the loss of 60 jobs after a client owing it [pounds sterling]1.5m went into administration. JWS owes its creditors [pounds sterling]1.4m. JWS was working for...

Overhaul of industry KPIs on the cards?(key performance indicators)(Brief Article)
January 25, 2006... The industry's key performance indicators (KPIs) could be set for a major overhaul by Constructing Excellence (CE). CJ has learnt that CE is in talks with the industry about the possibility of developing more relevant and bespoke KPIs...