Contract Journal articles from November 2006

Contract Journal archives from November 2006

Caterpillar?s line-up of rigid dump trucks gets a makeover.
November 8, 2006... Caterpillar has renewed its range of rigid dump trucks, introducing the 36.3t payload 770, the 772 (a new size for Cat at 45.4t ), as well as giving its 773, 775 and 777 the F generation treatment. All the machines are designed for...

Iveco launches re-engineered Euro 4-compliant Daily range.(Brief article)
November 8, 2006... Iveco is the latest truck and van builder to launch new products in the wake of the Euro 4 emissions regulations. Its latest Daily comes with new 2.3 litre and 3.0 litre engines, a restyled cab and front end, uprated brakes and a revised load...

Case blamed for Saville?s demise.(Saville Tractors)(Brief article)
November 8, 2006... The fate of Saville Tractors was sealed by the termination of the Case distributorship, according to administrator BDO Stoy Hayward. However, the manufacturer has denied this. In a statement, BDO said: ?Due to the termination of the...

Multiplex chairman says sorry.
November 8, 2006... The chairman of Multiplex has admitted the catastrophic impact of the ?757m Wembley Stadium contract on the Australian company? fortunes in the first six months of trading last year. Speaking to shareholders last week, Allan McDonald said:...

MoD supply chain calls for best practice.
November 8, 2006... Ministry of Defence contractors and suppliers have told their client they want a raft of new deals including independent facilitators and a website within which best practice can be shared. They also said barriers to greater integration...

Government is failing construction targets.(Brief article)
November 8, 2006... The government is failing to meet its self-imposed targets across a range of construction activities leaving it near the bottom of the European league for investment in the built environment, according to industry associations. In its...

?5k penalty for welder?s plummet.(McFarlane Telfer)(George St John )(Brief article)
November 8, 2006... Maintenance firm McFarlane Telfer was fined ?5,000 last week and ordered to pay ?5,556 costs after a welder-fabricator fell 3.2m into a light well and broke his neck. The incident took place on 24 May last year when George St John was...

Prime movers.
November 8, 2006... More than 250 delegates turned up to last week? Prime Contracting Suppliers Association Conference for what could have been a very public kicking on their joint performance under the Ministry of Defence? prime contracting initiative. The...

Firms fined ?300k for sewerage worker death.
November 8, 2006... Two firms in the North West have been fined ?300,000 with costs when a worker was killed after falling 5m into a sewerage overflow in Oldham. Bethell Construction of Kearsley in Manchester and Future Environmental Services of Preston were...

Health and safety oversight leads to fatality.(Timbmet Rochdale)(David Carter)(Brief article)
November 8, 2006... Timber company Timbmet Rochdale, of Cumnor Hill in Oxfordshire, has been fined ?25,000 and ordered to pay ?8,408 in costs after an employee fell 10m to his death through the roof of its factory in Rochdale. The company pleaded guilty to two...

HireTrain aims to match skills with availability.(Hire Association Europe)(Brief article)
November 8, 2006... Hire Association Europe (HAE) has applied to set up a dedicated training group that will match training needs against availability across the whole of the hire industry. The association will operate the CITB-ConstructionSkills-sponsored...

PFI operators told: be patient.(Private Finance Initiative)(Andy Carty)(Brief article)
November 8, 2006... New guidance on the benchmarking and market testing of operational PFIs warns operators to allow at least nine months to two years to complete the process. The guidance, issued this week, aims to help both the public and private sector...

One size doesn?t fit all in Lafarge plasterboard recycling initiative.
November 8, 2006... Lafarge Plasterboard has launched a new waste management programme to encourage the recycling of plasterboard. The initiative involves offering a waste collection service tailored to suit the size of the job. Customers have a choice of bag...

Supply chain ready for upturn in green work.
November 8, 2006... The construction supply chain is well-placed to meet any increase in demand brought about by moves to increase the environmental content of the Building Regulations. According to Wolseley, sustainable construction is already a commercial...

O?Flynn eying Edinburgh job.(Flynn Construction )(Brief article)
November 8, 2006... Irish developer/contractor O?Flynn Construction is planning to build a mixed scheme, with a reported value of ?200m, on a central Edinburgh site that has been derelict for the past 40 years. The firm proposes hotels, shops, offices and...

Morrison scores hat-trick of utility deals worth ?80m.
November 8, 2006... Morrison Utility Services has reeled in a trio of new contracts totalling ?80m-plus. The largest contract is worth ?50m over 15 years for the design and installation of 40,000 water meters in non-domestic properties for Cork County...

Willmott JV wins Walsall scheme.
November 8, 2006... A pairing of Willmott Dixon Housing and social housing specialist Housing 21 has emerged as preferred bidder on a ?165m PPP deal for Walsall Council. The scheme involves building 322 homes for vulnerable people across the borough under a...

Catnic ups production capacity with new plant in Caerphilly.(Brief article)
November 8, 2006... Corus subsidiary Catnic has opened a new lintel fabrication plant in Caerphilly in order to capitalise on the growing market for fabricated products. The new plant, less than a mile from the company? existing facility, increases production...

National roll-out for ?1bn colleges deal.
November 8, 2006... A national framework to deliver a ?1bn programme to rebuild further education colleges is in the pipeline. The framework, which is expected to be rolled out across England, will be based on the South East Centre of Excellence? (SECE) regional...

Higgins expects turnover of ?250m.(Higgins Group)(Higgins Homes)(Brief article)
November 8, 2006... Higgins Group anticipates turnover bouncing higher to ?250m this year thanks largely to its push into mixed-tenure developments. Paul Lewellen, finance director, said: ?The ?21m Apple Tree Farm contract at Crawley is a good example of what...

Smith set to join Taylor Woodrow.(Ian Smith)(Brief article)
November 8, 2006... Ian Smith will become the next chief executive of Taylor Woodrow in January when Iain Napier steps down after five years in the post. Smith, aged 52, is chief executive officer of the General Healthcare Group. He has had a career with an...

Styles & Wood share rush bodes well for the future.(Brief article)
November 8, 2006... Styles & Wood (S&W) is to float on the Stock Exchange. The shares were oversubscribed two-and-a-half times. Priced at 150p, they will give the group an opening market capitalisation of ?97m. The group? revenue (previously known as turnover)...

United House achieves ?20m surge in turnover.
November 8, 2006... United House, the social housing contractor, has unveiled an annual turnover of ?90m for 2005, which represents a jump of ?20m over the previous year. Results (12 months to 31 December) show a pre-tax profit of ?870,000, much higher than...

Unsafe access leaves driver seriously injured.(Hanson Building Products)(John Fradley)(Brief article)
November 8, 2006... Hanson Building Products of Stewartby in Bedfordshire has been fined ?95,000 and ordered to pay ?13,660 in costs after a worker fell several metres from a tower being used as an access while repairing a drive and conveyor system at Quest Pit in...

A McAlpine hits jackpot with deals worth ?130m.
November 8, 2006... Alfred McAlpine has secured a series of contracts worth more than ?130m. The company has been awarded two new infrastructure services support contracts worth in excess of ?50m. These are an extension of its strategic highways...

HSE to take tougher line on prosecutions.(Health & Safety Executive )
November 8, 2006... The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) has vowed to show its teeth more after admitting it has been under-prosecuting in the past. The admission was made last week at the Health & Safety Commission? launch of its 2005/06 national statistics on...

Man with a mission.
November 8, 2006... There couldn? be a more appropriate place to meet Nick Raynsford than Greenwich. And not only because it? the parliamentary constituency of the former construction minister and current Construction Industry Council (CIC) chairman. It? also...

Full steam ahead.
November 8, 2006... You wouldn? normally expect to see Wates carting a tram through the streets of London. But then, this isn? a normal job. The contractor has been working on the ?19m refurbishment of the London Transport Museum (LTM) in Covent Garden. Aside...

Hire market to grow by 14%.
November 15, 2006... The plant and tool hire market is predicted to grow by 14% by 2011, topping ?5bn in total (at 2006 prices), according to latest research from Market & Business Development (MBD). The market, worth ?4.3bn in 2005, is predicted to rise 3% a...

Bell eyes depot in Scotland as part of expansion plan.
November 15, 2006... ADT manufacturer Bell is considering opening a depot in Scotland in what may be the first move in expanding its infrastructure ahead of the introduction of John Deere wheel loaders in 2007/08. Initially, the Scottish depot will handle the...

Haki pushes for scaffolding code.
November 15, 2006... Dangerously weak scaffolding is continuing to be sold cheaply in this country, according to research done by the Original Scaffolding Equipment Manufacturers. Scaffolding contractor Haki is urging the National Association of Scaffolding...

RMC and Cemex sue Nayler for road resurfacing breach.
November 15, 2006... Asphalt contractors RMC aggregates (Greater London) and Cemex UK Operations are suing Nayler Chemicals for ?356,246 in damages for breach of contract in supplying defective products, according to a writ issued in London? High Court. Their...

Councils face major spending shake-up.
November 15, 2006... Local government is set for a major upheaval in how it spends its ?55bn annual budget on goods and services following a report from PricewaterhouseCoopers for the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). The report, which is...

China economy boom threatens UK firms.
November 15, 2006... Concern is growing that the sharp rise in demand for metals as China? economy booms is hitting the prices of domestic construction products like windows and doors. Keith Holt, joint managing director of Hoppe UK, says one large...

SMEs record upturn in Q3 workloads.
November 15, 2006... Workload and employment among small- and medium-sized firms grew in the quarter June to September, according to the latest figures from the Federation of Master Builders (FMB). It follows four successive periods of negative growth. Three...

Firms told to prepare for CIS draft subcontractor lists.
November 15, 2006... Contractors are to be given details of their draft subcontractor lists for new CIS by the end of November, either by letter or CD-ROM, from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). If the lists are incomplete, firms are being advised to contact their...

Road surfaces given new steel.
November 15, 2006... Researchers at the University of Sheffield are developing a long-lasting road surface material - steel fibre reinforced concrete - using the steel cord extracted from waste tyres. The three-year project is intended to cut construction costs...

Court imposes fines of ?80,000 after fatality.(Lyons Landfill)(Francis Michael Lyons)(Nathaniel Hugh Scollan )(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... Lyons Landfill and Francis Michael Lyons of Felstead, Essex, have each been fined ?80,000 and been ordered to pay ?35,000 legal costs, following the death of a lorry driver working on a quarry and landfill site. They were prosecuted under...

Bobcat raises reliability of breaker tool.(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... Bobcat has launched a hydraulic breaker attachment, featuring an internal design with fewer moving parts for greater reliability. The HB1180, part of the 80 series of hydraulic breakers, is approved for use on Bobcat skid steers (S220 to...

Case sales rise but residual values drop.
November 15, 2006... Case has heralded an increase in total annual sales of more than 10% as a sign it is over the worst of its UK dealer problems, despite evidence of a slip in residual values and even stronger growth at sister company New Holland. George...

Fastline bags Metronet deal.(Metronet Rail)(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... Fastline has won a trackside plant hire contract worth around ?5m with Metronet Rail for its London Underground operation. Metronet previously suffered a number of engineering overruns due to plant breaking down with no replacement available....

HA defends costly newt rescue.(Highways Agency)(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... The Highways Agency (HA) has defended the ?300,000 cost of relocating a colony of great-crested newts amid national media criticism. The amphibian roadblocks were discovered during a ?51.4m improvement project on the A1157 Deeside Park...

TowerLight unit combines site lighting with CCTV.
November 15, 2006... Lighting specialist TowerLight has teamed up with security specialists to produce what it claims is a unique concept ? a unit that combines site lighting with CCTV. The manufacturer rigged its VT-1 SuperLight with monitoring equipment, to...

Filth Avenue.
November 15, 2006... When the doors of The Avenue Coking Works near Chesterfield closed for the last time in 1992, the national coal board simply walked away. What was left behind was a legacy of industrial pollution. The site had begun life in the 19th century as...

Regeneration revolution?
November 15, 2006... Construction firms whose business depends on government regeneration and social housing policy could be forgiven for feeling impatient with the leisurely pace at which ministers have spent the past six months reviewing this. Builders complain...

Bath Spa uni work delayed by protesters.
November 15, 2006... Firms hoping to make the grade for a ?15m deal for Bath Spa University are sweating it out while influential protest groups try to stop the project going ahead. HBG, Cowlin and Kier are understood to be among those interested in a scheme...

Trio in line for ?360m Somerset framework.
November 15, 2006... Three contenders are tussling to haul in the largest-ever corporate services framework deal. In the hunt for the ?360m scheme in the South West are IBM, with Hyder and Mouchel Parkman as subcontractors; BT, working with Carillion; and...

Stuart Milne bags ?45m office work.(Stewart Milne Construction)(Acergy)(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... Stewart Milne Construction has secured two office deals in Aberdeen totalling around ?45m. An estimated ?23m scheme will see a nine-storey office block built in the city centre on the site of a former NCP car park. Completion is due within...

Bovis and HBG do battle for ?80m Liverpool D&B project.(Bovis Lend Lease)(design and build)(Neptune Developments)(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... The list of contenders for a ?75m to ?80m deal on Merseyside has been slashed in half by joint clients Neptune Developments and Countryside Properties. This means Bovis Lend Lease and HBG are now head-to-head for the Liverpool-based design...

Leeds and Hackney BSF deals move on.
November 15, 2006... Significant developments have taken place on two deals worth almost ?380m in the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme. CJ understands that a preferred bidder has surfaced on Leeds City Council? ?212m scheme, while only two...

Bristol hospital PFI to trial EU bid rules.
November 15, 2006... The North Bristol NHS Trust? ?370m privately financed Southmead hospital scheme is to pilot new EU procurement rules which could see three bidders taken to the wire, raising fears among major contractors that PFI schemes will become too...

OGC unveils plan for education e-auction.
November 15, 2006... The government is to launch a second controversial reverse e-auction (REA) commodities framework contract aimed at the education sector. The Department for Education and Skills will pilot the framework, which is expected to use six...

CITB pilots new scheme in Poland.(Construction Industry Training Board)(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) has this month launched a pilot programme of UK health and safety tests carried out in Poland for local construction operatives who are planning to work in this country. ?As part of our work...

Brookson to offer illness and accident insurance.(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... Warrington-based Brookson, said to be the leading composite company service provider, is aiming to build up its fledgling construction portfolio with the launch of a personal accident and critical illness insurance plan. Brookson entered...

Talks break down on UK?s opt-out of 48-hour week.(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... Negotiations on a compromise deal on the UK? opt-out from the 48-hour working week have broken down without agreement. CBI deputy director general John Cridland commented: ?The government deserves credit for standing firm and delivering on...

Possible buy-out at Enterprise.(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... A management buy-out at Enterprise, led by chairman and chief executive Owen McLaughlin, could be on the cards following an unsolicited approach for the group by an unnamed private equity firm. As a result, all matters relating to the...

Gleeson Building ahead of first-year prediction.
November 15, 2006... Gleeson Building (GB) has out-performed its own expectations by logging a pre-tax profit in its first year of independent trading after a management-led buy-out from the Gleeson Group. Martin Smout, GB? chief executive and leader of the...

Ex-Knowles chiefs urge QSs to merge.(Quantity surveyors)(JR Knowles)(Roger Knowles)(Patrick Lineen)(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... Quantity surveyors (QS) who want to release cash but fear that they are far too small to float on the Stock Exchange are being urged to consider a solution: merger. Roger Knowles and Patrick Lineen are about to contact 12 medium-sized QS...

Mann aims for ?70m turnover.
November 15, 2006... Mann Construction, founded in 1996 by Peter Manning and Brian Mulry, has announced an increased turnover of ?40m and has unveiled ambitions of taking future turnover to a higher figure of ?70m. Latest financial results (12 months to 30...

Sutherland in ?9.4m Rok share swap.(David Sutherland)(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... David Sutherland featured in the past month? biggest share buying deal ? it ran to ?9.4m and involved the acquisition of shares in Rok. There were two more big construction-related trades in October, each triggering more than a million...

?Green? Murphy pension deficit grows by ?2m.
November 15, 2006... J Murphy and Sons, better known in the construction industry as ?the green Murphy?, suffered a ?2m increase in the deficit of its pension scheme last year. The shortfall now stands at ?11m. When the scheme is assessed to the accounting...

OFT fine hits profit at Prater.(Office of Fair Trading)(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... Prater, the envelope contractor involved in roofing, cladding and curtain walling activities, enjoyed a surge in turnover to ?39m last year. However, annual financial results (to 31 December 2005) show a dip in pre-tax profit to ?870,000...

Do you work for the best employer in construction?
November 15, 2006... Contract Journal today launches its Best Places to Work in Construction Awards 2007. In association with Hays Construction and Construction-Skills, this unique event finds the best employer in the industry by asking employees what they...

Respect the decision.
November 15, 2006... Adjudication has now been a part of life in the construction industry for more than eight years, and it was very quickly established that once a decision had been given then there were very few ways in which it might be effectively challenged....

HR plays an essential role.(human resource)(Brief article)
November 15, 2006... Sir, It is good to see the HR function beginning to receive the recognition it richly deserves in the construction industry (CJ 25 October 2006). The commercial importance of effective human resources operations to the construction...

Abatement versus set-off.(Geoff Brewer)
November 15, 2006... Sir, Geoff Brewer? article The defence of abatement (CJ 1 November 2006) eloquently describes the distinction between abatement and set-off. He specifically makes reference to the Construction Act, observing that while set-off may not be made...

CSCS is not compulsory.(Letter to the editor)
November 15, 2006... Sir, It is gratifying to see that OGC has now incorporated a skills requirement in its Common Minimum Standards (CMS), as reported in your news item (25 October 2006) under the heading of CSCS compulsory on public sector work. Those who...

Balfour?s hat-trick at the top.(Balfour Beatty Construction Inc.)
November 22, 2006... Balfour Beatty enjoyed a third month at the top of the CJ50 chart in October, with a contracts haul of more than ?490m. The rest of the top 10 saw plenty of movement and even a new entrant, one of 14 across the table. The civils sector saw...

2012 deadline hits Decent Homes firms.(Brief article)
November 22, 2006... Decent Homes contractors are facing a dilution of their workload following the government? decision to force Arms Length Management Organisations (ALMOs) to extend their Decent Homes programmes past the 2010 deadline to 2012. The move will...

Wates tipped for role in Sheffield homes line-up.(Mears Group )(Brief article)
November 22, 2006... Wates is tipped to join the ?669m Sheffield Decent Homes framework as its sixth member. The news follows last week? revelations that framework member Mears Group has been stripped of much of its workload for the next year due to poor...

Insurance loopholes could bankrupt firms.
November 22, 2006... Plant hirers, demolition companies and contractors could be put out of business because their insurance cover contains clauses that prevent claims being honoured, according to John Norbury, director with insurance broker Buckingham House...

Lavendon in ?30.9m bid for Gardemann.(Lavendon Group to take over Gardemann Group)(Brief article)
November 22, 2006... Lavendon Group, the parent company of Nationwide Access, Panther Platforms, AMP Access and Kestral Powered Access, has launched a ?30.9m bid to take over German access rental hirer the Gardemann Group. The bid has been accepted subject to...

Registration partners named.(Plant Theft Action Group, Construction Equipment Association )(Brief article)
November 22, 2006... Plant Theft Action Group (PTAG) chairman Kevin Clancy said the group is in the final stages of talks with the Construction Equipment Association (CEA) to sponsor the plant registration scheme and Datatag to provide data handling. Datatag won...

Construction courts see rise in cases.
November 22, 2006... Business is booming in the construction industry? main legal forum, the Technology and Construction Court, according to its annual report. Last year a total of 392 cases were brought to the court compared with 364 in the previous year. The...

Unexploded bomb found on Burnley BSF scheme.(Bovis Lend Lease Proprietary Ltd.)(Brief article)
November 22, 2006... Workers had to be evacuated from the building site of Burnley? new sixth-form centre following the discovery of an unexploded bomb in its ?most dangerous state?. Bomb disposal experts from Chester rushed to the scene after workers for West...

...as BAA continues fight against Aggregates Levy.(British Aggregates Association)(Robert Durward )(Brief article)
November 22, 2006... The British Aggregates Association (BAA) has lodged an appeal at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) against the Luxembourg Court of First Instance? (CFI) decision that the Aggregates Levy is not discriminatory. The BAA is disputing the...

Products body calls for climate rebate.
November 22, 2006... The Construction Products Association has called on the Treasury to offer a 100% Climate Change Levy (CCL) rebate for energy-intensive companies, claiming it could actually help in the fight against carbon emissions. The Association said...

Mek-Tek?s MBP goes automated.
November 22, 2006... Mobile volumetric concrete mixer manufacturer Mek-Tek has launched an automated Fibre Feeder unit for its MBP range. The feeder, which has a 19kg capacity and can operate with a variety of materials, is designed to provide a continuous...

Asbestos sheeting find in N Ireland.
November 22, 2006... Sheets of asbestos have been discovered on a demolition site in Dundonald, Northern Ireland, after children were found playing in the area. The asbestos cement sheeting, wrapped in polythene, was discovered on private land behind a locked...

Barford posts 70% jump in export sales.(Brief article)
November 22, 2006... Barford has recorded a 70% year-on-year jump in export sales and claims to have built a distribution network in all the key European markets. The news follows a year in which Barford has invested more than ?1m in paint and production...

ConstructionSkills eyes ways to boost revenue.(Brief article)
November 22, 2006... ConstructionSkills has unveiled plans to boost its revenue and give even more money back to levy payers, as it tries to make more use of its status as a Sector Skills Council. The body? chief executive Peter Lobban told CJ: ?Our target is...

A McAlpine to build council headquarters.
November 22, 2006... Alfred McAlpine has clinched a ?20.5m deal to design and build a headquarters complex and an operations centre for Hunting-donshire District Council. At nearly 7,000m2, the new office development will be built on the existing...

Amec and Balfour Beatty line up for ?115m Scottish PPP contract.
November 22, 2006... Only two firms are left in the waiting room for a ?115m PPP hospital deal in Scotland as the contest enters its closing stages. Amec and Balfour Beatty are now the only outfits still in with a chance of scooping the Fife Health Board?...

Members call on ECITB to improve its performance.(Engineering Construction Industry Training Board)(Engineering Construction Industry Association)(Brief article)
November 22, 2006... Engineering construction contractors have fired a warning shot to their industry? training board. They have delivered an ultimatum that they are only prepared to continue to support the statutory training levy subject to an improved performance...