Contract Journal articles from May 2006

Contract Journal archives from May 2006

High and mighty.
May 4, 2006... Contract Journal: forthcoming features 1 June SED 2006 Review All the gossip, all the big deals and all the other news from SED's first exhibition at Rockingham, in our extensive show review. 1 June Utilities With civils in a slump,...

Under cover.(PAVILLION to exhibit and launch its new products)
May 4, 2006... The Pavilion is as diverse as ever this year, exhibiting tried-and-trusted favourites alongside brand new products and services across a range of areas, including tools, security systems, hydraulics and pneumatics, surveying equipment,...

Out with the old...
May 4, 2006... The combined impact of the continuing emphasis on recycling [degrees] in construction as in other facets of life [degrees] and the need to develop brownfield sites means the popularity of the Site Clearance Zone continues to grow. There are at...

Action stations.(demonstrating of the very latest equipment)
May 4, 2006... The move to the Rockingham Performance Park allows SED the use of a purpose-built all-weather showground for the first time. What won't change however is the superb mix of manufacturers, suppliers and dealers demonstrating the very latest...

Get your motor running.
May 4, 2006... Preview SED 2006 [degrees] Truck Zone Road transport is a vital part of the construction industry, enabling people, materials and machinery to get to and from sites [degrees] and SED's Truck Zone is full of vehicles and trailers designed...

Stars of the show.(SED Awards for Excellence trade show)
May 4, 2006... earthmoving road transport The annual SED Awards for Excellence are an opportunity for exhibitors displaying, demonstrating or launching new kit at the show to push their products up above their competitors' [degrees] providing they can prove...

Bowmer bags Sheffield academies.(Bowmer and Kirkland Ltd wins Sheffield Development Corp's contract)(Brief article)
May 4, 2006... Bowmer & Kirkland has scooped two more academy schools deals for the United Learning Trust. The latest coups are both in Sheffield and total more than [pounds sterling]40m, bringing Bowmer's haul in the sector to five. The Spring...

Four firms chasing [pounds sterling]35m Birmingham development.(Balfour Beatty Construction Inc)(Kier Construction Corp)(Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd)(Brief article)
May 4, 2006... Four firms have until next month to price a [pounds sterling]35m mixed development opportunity in Birmingham. Jostling for position on the design and build scheme, known as 45 Church Street, are Sir Robert McAlpine, HBG, Kier and Balfour...

Four on the register for [pounds sterling]50m Notts uni project.(A.G. Miller Company Inc)(Bowmer and Kirkland Ltd)(Laing O'Rourke)
May 4, 2006... Four firms are hoping to graduate onto a [pounds sterling]50m redevelopment deal for Nottingham Trent University. The contest will be between Bowmer & Kirkland, Laing O'Rourke, Miller and ISG Interior Exterior. A source said: "The...

Tolent to build Yorks centre.(Tolent deal to design and build distribution centre in Yorkshire)(Brief article)
May 4, 2006... Tolent has negotiated a [pounds sterling]20.6m deal to design and build the biggest distribution centre to date in Yorkshire. The scheme, for developer Helioslough, involves a speculative warehouse at Thorne, near Doncaster. The...

A drop of the hard stuff.
May 4, 2006... Preview SED 2006 [degrees] Concrete One recent advance, which will be hotly debated at the Concrete Show at SED, will be innovations in volumetric concrete mixers. Competition among concrete mixer manufacturers has heated up over the past...

50% of site electricians supplied by agencies.(labour agencies)(Brief article)
May 4, 2006... Half of all site electricians are now supplied by labour agencies, rather than being directly employed, according to the latest figures from the Electrical Contractors' Association (ECA). "We can no longer afford to ignore this situation...

company life.(number of days you can take sick leaves, annual leaves and churn rates and incentives)
May 4, 2006... How many days annual leave? This varies between countries. It is 23 to 25 days in the UK and 25 in Sweden. Other places all have a lower figure. Can you take them when you want? Yes. In Sweden, it is normal to take a four-week...

Mansell airport safety record: one in a million.
May 4, 2006... Mansell's airports division, Mansell Airports, has achieved BAA's prestigious One in a Million' health and safety target. Having hit the target means Mansell has reached a million man hours worked without a single reportable accident....

Equitable set-off.
May 4, 2006... In 1993, Safeway Stores entered into an agreement with a developer named Chelverton, whereby Chelverton agreed to design and construct a new supermarket with a two-deck car park on a site owned by Safeway in Oxted, Surrey. In order to...

Taxing times ahead.(new Construction Industry Scheme )
May 4, 2006... With the roll-out of HM Revenue & Custom's (HMRC) new Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) less than a year away, all contractors should now be in the process of getting their houses in order for next April. Latest HMRC figures show that of...

Building: we have the technology.(BSW Timber PLC makes innovation in its product exhibiting it)(toiletries industry to design new innovated luxurious bathroom)
May 4, 2006... If you ever played conkers as a child, you'll be familiar with the hardening qualities of vinegar. Soaking conkers in acetic acid, or vinegar, toughens their coats, and produces prize specimens. It is surprising, then, that it has taken this...

Balfour is still UK's biggest PFI player.
May 4, 2006... Had it not been for a flurry of activity in the past few weeks, then the 12 months to March 2006 would have been comparatively quiet as far as PFI closures were concerned, certainly compared with previous years. As it is, the last year shows a...

Further debate ahead of Euro emissions standard.
May 10, 2006... With the October deadline for implementing Euro-4 emission standards in new trucks looming, a new battleground has opened up for truck manufacturers over which technology is preferable: selective catalytic reduction (SCR) or exhaust gas...

Two weeks left for CJ entries.
May 10, 2006... There are only two weeks left to enter this year's Contract Journal Construction Industry Awards for Excellence [degrees] and to win, you have to enter! The CJ Awards cover the whole spectrum of the construction industry. This year's...

Thames Valley Police's poor performance.(Reports of thefts)(Brief article)
May 10, 2006... The Equipment Register (TER) has revealed that the Thames Valley Police area has the worst record of preventing plant thefts, according to its recent report. The Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxford region saw 269 thefts during 2005,...

Brandon sale now official.
May 10, 2006... Wolseley is set to take formal control of Brandon Hire after its offer for the tool hire company was declared unconditional. The firm plans to combine its new acquisition's 143 outlets with its Hire Center network of 135 branches. ...

Birse lands Luton airport scheme.
May 10, 2006... Birse is expected to get clearance this week for a [pounds sterling]20m contract to improve access routes to Luton airport. The work, for Luton Borough Council, centres on junction 10A of the M1, where 6km of single-lane highway will be...

Nuttall poised for busway scheme.(Cambridgeshire County Council's scheme )(Brief article)
May 10, 2006... Sources are claiming that Nuttall is emerging as the favourite to jump aboard a troubled guided busway deal in East Anglia, worth around [pounds sterling]86m. One insider said the race for Cambridgeshire County Council's scheme "is not...

Babcock & Brown wins [pounds sterling]60m Irish PPP.(Brief article)
May 10, 2006... Babcock & Brown is set to nab the biggest-ever PPP courts deal to come up for grabs in the Republic of Ireland. Insiders say the firm has emerged as preferred bidder for the [pounds sterling]60m Dublin-based scheme, being promoted by the...

Local boost from housing scheme.
May 10, 2006... Local and regional contractors are set to share in a [pounds sterling]53m-plus deal to build nearly 500 affordable homes across Norfolk and Suffolk. After getting government cash for the scheme, the project is being launched by e2, a new...

Four chase [pounds sterling]20m Royal Hospital job.
May 10, 2006... Four firms are hoping to gain admission to a [pounds sterling]20m care home deal in west London. In the queue for the Royal Hospital Chelsea are Wates, Walter Lilly, Galliford Try and Laing O'Rourke. The scheme includes a new 125-bed...

S Wales highways work to be shared three ways.
May 10, 2006... Three outfits are to share out highways maintenance work in south Wales, potentially worth [pounds sterling]54m. The lucky trio, who will work for the South Wales Trunk Road Agency, an organisation under the control of Neath Port Talbot...

Midas touch for M&S contractor.
May 10, 2006... Midas Retail has won a [pounds sterling]25m extension to its present contract to remodel Marks & Spencer stores.The new deals cover makeovers at stores in Bath, Bristol, Weymouth, Exeter, Truro and Cheltenham. The contracts, each of which...

Boot walks tall on rich field of assetsLavendon's recovery continues Hot topics for Maya.(Henry Boot and Sons PLC)
May 10, 2006... Top performers Contractors********Housebuilders********Suppliers Henry Boot*****+23.3****Telford Homes*****+10.1********Ennstone****+5.8 Lavendon****+16.6****Crest Nicholson****+7.3****Cemex****+4.7 Severfield Rowen****+11.8****Wilson...

Clients get better framework deals.(construction frameworks are showing significant improvements in terms of client satisfaction and time and cost savings)(Brief article)
May 10, 2006... Local authority construction frameworks are showing significant improvements in terms of client satisfaction and time and cost savings, according to a report launched at the Local Government Taskforce (LGTF) Efficiency Conference this week. ...

Growing family.(Company overview)(Company overview)
May 10, 2006... Business Conlon Construction "Our fathers were never afraid to move forward, so we mustn't be either." She is at the head of a firm steeped in family history, but Theresa Noblett is determined to keep her business looking to the future....

UCATT slams ruling on asbestos claims.
May 10, 2006... UCATT general secretary Alan Ritchie has condemned a House of Lords ruling on asbestos-related mesothelioma, which is expected to result in thousands of claimants receiving reduced levels of compensation. The Law Lords found that multiple...

Holiday pay guidelines updated.(Laws, regulations and rules of holiday pay)(Brief article)
May 10, 2006... The government has revised its official guidelines on holiday pay under the Working Time Regulations in the light of the recent European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling that it is illegal to roll up holiday money in an inclusive hourly rate (CJ...

Babcock plans IT upgrade in rail division.(Company sales and earnings of Babcock International Inc)(information technology)(Brief article)
May 10, 2006... Babcock International has reported that its rail division made the group's lowest margin last year with a figure of 2.9%. Babcock's annual financial results (12 months to 31 March 2006) show turnover at [pounds sterling]840m ([pounds...

Gleeson pencils in [pounds sterling]30m for sale.(The Gleeson Group anticipates a price of more than [pounds sterling]30m for its construction engineering division, with the most likely buyer being a major civil engineering group )
May 10, 2006... Gleeson anticipates a price of more than [pounds sterling]30m for its construction engineering division, with the most likely buyer being a major civil engineering group that doesn't have a major presence in the water sector. Terry...

Clarke unfazed by price hikes.(Brief article)
May 10, 2006... The sharp escalation in prices of steel and copper [degrees] as well as other construction-related commodities [degrees] has not shaken T Clarke, the electrical contractor. In a trading update last week, Russell Race, the group's...

Nuttall hits 5.1% margin.(Company sales and earnings of Edmund Nuttall Ltd)(Brief article)
May 10, 2006... Edmund Nuttall, part of Dutch parent company Royal Bam, achieved a sparkling operating margin of 5.1% last year, well above the industry average. In the previous two years, Nuttall's margin has run to 4.1% and 4.4%. Annual results (12...

Costain goes into battle over invoices.
May 10, 2006... Costain has launched a legal battle for unlimited compensation after accusing two men of fraud. Costain claims the two men conspired to invent invoices for plant hire and is demanding damages of more than [pounds sterling]300,000 from...

Report offers rethink on major scheme planning.(Rethinking the Planning Regulation of Land and Property Markets report)(Brief article)
May 10, 2006... The now-defunct Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has put forward alternatives to planning regulations for major schemes. The Rethinking the Planning Regulation of Land and Property Markets report, written by Phil Allmendinger and Michael...

Body advises on 'risk leadership'.
May 10, 2006... Contractors are opening themselves up to uncessary risks, damage and waste through poor risk identification and big-headed leaders, according to a guideline document drawn up by the Institution of Civil Engineers and the Actuarial Profession....

Tyne Crossing tenders proceed.
May 10, 2006... Tendering for the New Tyne Crossing has been allowed to continue after a legal challenge against the project failed in the High Court last week. The judgment means that Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Authority can press ahead with the...

SMEs facing battle to secure nuclear work.
May 10, 2006... Fears are growing that local small- and medium-sized (SMEs) contractors could be squeezed out of millions of pounds of nuclear decommissioning works under proposed changes by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). The NDA, as part of...

Grass needs dictate materials for stadia.
May 10, 2006... Keeping the grass alive is becoming a major factor in materials selection for sports stadia, after FIFA upped its demands for World Cup grounds. CJ heard last week that German designers are specifying plastic roofs for football grounds to...

Four dry silos help meet demand for mortar plants.(Brief article)
May 10, 2006... Four new dry silo mortar plants are due to come on stream this year as the product takes a greater market share, according to research firm BDS Marketing. The firm predicted the construction industry will need six more plants in the near...

Meet the BREEAM team.
May 10, 2006... What will a sustainable world look like? Will it still contain the more than six billion people who already call it home? Will it still have an economy predicated largely on the vast consumption of finite resources? Will construction...

An outstanding challenge.(Quality Hotel in Llanberis)
May 17, 2006... At 11.30pm on Sunday 7 May, the last team to complete the COINS Three Peaks Challenge 2006 emerged from the darkness to reach the finish line at the Quality Hotel in Llanberis. Thirty eight walking teams and their support crew could finally...

CPA warns members over terms of equipment hiring.
May 17, 2006... The Construction Plant-hire Association (CPA) has again warned members about the potential problems of not sticking to its terms and conditions when hiring out equipment. While members are free to adopt other conditions, the CPA said doing...

Panther makes [pounds sterling]2.5m investment.(Brief article)
May 17, 2006... Following its recent acquisition by the Lavendon Group, Panther Platform Rentals is investing [pounds sterling]2.5m in new access equipment. The new order will see 150 scissor and boom lifts added to the fleet, which already comprises...

New ISO plant access standard.
May 17, 2006... The concerns of the quarrying industry about accidents occurring when entering or leaving the cab or servicing heavy machinery are to be addressed by plant manufacturers after a meeting of the trade bodies for Europe, Japan and the USA. ...

Terex reveals new machinery.
May 17, 2006... Terex Compact has unveiled a 10t site dumper, two telehandlers and two excavators at SED. It describes the PT10000 dumper as a "true" 10t capacity machine, while its telehandlers comprise the gap-filling 4t/20m Girolift 4020 and an...

Truck buyers beat tacho changes.(Brief article)
May 17, 2006... Truck registrations in April almost doubled as operators rushed to register vehicles ahead of the 1 May deadline for digital tachographs. Unusually, 60% of April's 10,750 registrations occurred in the last 10 days of the month. ...

CNH chief sees reorganisation paying dividends across group.
May 17, 2006... CNH president and chief executive Harold Boyanovsky has praised the reorganisation of his firm's brands after a solid first quarter, which saw construction equipment sales increase 14%. In Latin America construction equipment sales jumped...

Aerial launches 13m boom at SED.(Subsidiary Aerial Access)(Brief article)
May 17, 2006... Tanfield Group subsidiary Aerial Access has launched a 13m self-propelled boom at SED. The S13-T, an articulated boom that comes in narrow- and wide- base versions, is the first such machine to be marketed by Aerial Access since Tanfield's...

Finning offers kit with particulate filter option.
May 17, 2006... Finning has indicated that it can fit diesel particulate filters to most of its wheeled excavators, wheel loaders and other machines depending on engine size, thanks to a partnership with German filter manufacturer Huss. The news follows...

Terex Italia adds crawler cranes.
May 17, 2006... Terex Italia has beefed up its range of telescopic crawler cranes with the introduction of the TCC 40 and the TCC 60. The TCC 40, which has a 27.5m boom length, will pick up 40t at 3m. Meanwhile, the TCC 60 replaces the A 600C. Its...

Making drama out of crisis.(Safety workshops)
May 17, 2006... The atmosphere is a mixture of anticipation and palpable tension. As the slight man at the front opens his presentation to the roomful of wary Rok site operatives with a few dull slides, the mood sours even further. Someone near the front...

New orders stumble on.
May 17, 2006... New orders in the first quarter increased 9% in value to nearly [pounds sterling]11.8bn compared with a year ago, according to the latest data from the Department of Trade & Industry. Compared with Q4 2005, the increase was greater at 12%. But...

1249 group plans [pounds sterling]235m Yorks regen.(Brief article)
May 17, 2006... With a new partner on board in place of Multiplex, the 1249 Regeneration Partnership plans to start work later this year on a [pounds sterling]235m deal in South Yorkshire. The borough council and regional development body Yorkshire...

Trio run for Scots PPP school.(Brief article)
May 17, 2006... Three groups are set to pick up the tender paperwork for a massively delayed and rescoped PPP schools deal in Scotland. Dumfries & Galloway Council is understood to gone for a group featuring Hochtief/Barr/McLaughlin & Harvey, plus a...

Rok housing deal could rise to [pounds sterling]35m.
May 17, 2006... Rok has clinched a housing maintenance deal with Anchor Trust potentially worth up to [pounds sterling]35m. The work will be carried out under two framework agreements, totalling around [pounds sterling]6m a year for three years and...

EP invites bids for Winfrith Tech Centre scheme.(English Partnerships)(English Partnerships )(Brief article)
May 17, 2006... Developers have until 9 June to register interest in a deal to expand the Winfrith Technology Centre near Poole, Dorset. Development agency English Partnerships (EP) wants to enhance the 50.8ha site it bought two years ago from the...

Home help.
May 17, 2006... How would you like your firm to contribute to one of the industry's leading charities [degrees] and at the same time boost its profile in Contract Journal? That's the offer Contract Journal is making companies that take part in its latest...

A near-miss mission.(Construction accidents )
May 17, 2006... Lurid headlines about tragic construction accidents mean that the industry is indelibly associated with dramatic injuries and deaths. While these high profile incidents do occasionally take place, most accidents on sites are far less serious....

Training funds threatened.
May 17, 2006... Ambitious plans to slash the drop-out rate and treble the number of construction apprentices successfully completing their training are being threatened by continued uncertainty over the future level of government funding. The...

Women make their mark on Durkan profit.
May 17, 2006... Durkan Holdings doubled its pre-tax profit to [pounds sterling]4.3m in 2005 as turnover strengthened to [pounds sterling]110m, a rise of [pounds sterling]18m on the previous year. The group's three main operating divisions are: building...

May Gurney's shareholders call for investment payback.
May 17, 2006... May Gurney has unveiled plans to float on the London Stock Exchange. After backing a management buy-out in 2001, the group's main shareholders now want to see a return on their investment. May Gurney's top team, by contrast, has pledged to...

VSD Avenue wins [pounds sterling]105m Derbs coal clean-up job.
May 17, 2006... The VSD Avenue consortium of Deme Environmental Contractors, Volker Stevin and Sita Remediation has been appointed preferred contractor to clear-up Europe's most contaminated site. VSD will spend a year designing the processes to treat...

Midas wins [pounds sterling]90m deal.(Brief article)
May 17, 2006... Midas Homes has been named preferred development partner for the [pounds sterling]90m regeneration of the former CompAir Holman site in the Dolcoath area of Camborne. The joint clients are English Partnerships and Cornwall's urban...

EDF Energy wins [pounds sterling]100m Dorset streetlighting PFI.
May 17, 2006... EDF Energy has been appointed preferred bidder for Dorset County Council's [pounds sterling]100m-plus streetlighting PFI deal. The final business case is being prepared for submission to the Department for Transport. Council cabinet members...

Deconstructing the workforce.
May 17, 2006... The twin effects of HM Revenue & Customs' (HMRC) crackdown on bogus self-employment and the government's tightening of immigration procedures could see the UK pool of up to 20,000 Bulgarian and Romanian construction workers plummet to less than...

Buzz of excitement awaits Bee Bee over its new plans.
May 17, 2006... Bee Bee Developments, owner of SED's new home Rockingham Performance Park, will submit major regeneration plans next month for various towns in north Northamptonshire. In Kettering, Bee Bee wants to build 10,000 homes (which it hopes would...

Irish construction sites face Revenue scrutiny.
May 17, 2006... The Revenue in the Republic of Ireland is set to launch a major drive against tax evasion in the construction industry. A quarter of all audit staff will concentrate on the sector in the coming months, according to Revenue Commissioners'...

Balfour stays quiet over Dew.(Dew Pitchmastic)(Brief article)
May 17, 2006... Balfour Beatty has declined to comment on rumours of its acquisition of parts of Dew Pitchmastic. CJ understands that an announcement was due on Monday, but no such statement was made before going to press. Dew's latest figures show an...

Insolvency and the Construction Act.
May 17, 2006... On 7 and 26 March 2002, George Wimpey, acting as the developer, entered into a contract with Melville Dundas for the design and construction of a residential development in Glasgow. The form of contract was the JCT 1998 With Contractors Design...

Regulation and policy update.(construction industry regulations)
May 17, 2006... Construction (Design and Management) The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) has confirmed that the target date for implementing the revised Construction (Design and Management) (CDM) Regulations is 6 April 2007 with some transitional provisions....

Fair payment forum meets.(ublic Sector Construction Clients Forum)(Brief article)
May 17, 2006... A fair payment working group, set up to look at ways of securing payment to subcontractors on public sector contracts, met for the first time last week. The group forms part of the Public Sector Construction Clients Forum and is made up of...

CECA: punish incompetents.(Civil Engineering Contractors Association)(Brief article)
May 17, 2006... The Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) wants incompetent workers to be stripped of their CSCS cards. Speaking at CECA's health and safety conference in London last week, Alan Muddiman, chairman of the association's health and...

Pay row fear as rate hits [pounds sterling]18/hr.
May 17, 2006... Sources fear more pay disputes at Wembley National Stadium and T5 after it emerged that Bristol-based electrical subcontractor TB Worrall is paying staff at Wembley the highest wages in the UK in the hope of completing works early. It is...

Substitution clause protection set at tribunal.
May 17, 2006... Contractors have been provided with greater protection from action by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) over employment status when they allow their subcontractors to provide substitutes' following a landmark decision by an employment appeal...

Corus out to prove steel is still best for barriers.
May 17, 2006... Tough competition from the concrete sector has driven Corus back to the drawing board, after Highways Agency (HA) legislation permitted a concrete barrier to be used for motorways. The company has developed two new variations of its Vetex...

Wrap targets construction for green treatment.
May 17, 2006... Recycling body Wrap said last week it will green-up [pounds sterling]10bn-worth of construction projects over the next two years and save the industry [pounds sterling]50m through targeting site waste. Wrap's business plan for 2006 to 2008...

High-density housing does not have to mean flats.
May 17, 2006... High-density housing can be achieved with houses, not just flats, said English Partnerships (EP) this week. The organisation added that contractors can build houses for less when they team up with designers and developers. EP set down...

Too much planning, not enough design.
May 17, 2006... The current planning process is producing "mediocre" house designs, claimed speakers at last week's Building Research Establishment (BRE) annual conference. English Partnerships chief executive John Callcutt said contractors and developers...