Construction industry heavyweights have thrown their weight behind proposals to exempt medium-sized home schemes from the Building Safety Levy (BSL). Housing secretary Steve Reed (pictured) on Tuesday (16 December) announced a raft of changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), including an exemption from the levy for sites of…
Construction News’ former campaigning editor Sydney Lenssen died on 4 December 2025 aged 87. During his spell at the helm of the publication, he provoked feelings of guilt and the need for culture change among construction majors who previously cared little for their employees’ health and safety. Lenssen was an…
Construction was the worst performing segment of the economy in October, new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has shown. Output in the sector fell by 0.6 per cent in the month, helping to defy economists’ expectations and bring national gross domestic product (GDP) down by 0.1 per…
A group of 30 workers have been suspended from a chemical company’s construction site in Royston, Hertfordshire, after they downed tools over health and safety concerns. GMB and Unite have released separate statements alleging poor ventilation, grinding of paint with carcinogenic properties, lack of cold weather clothing, frozen pipes and…
Homes England has committed to providing more cash to get the construction industry to adopt modern methods of construction (MMC), despite its recent financial losses in the sector. On Thursday (11 December), the quango published its new strategic plan and investment strategy covering the next five years, outlining details of…
Willmott Dixon has been named as the preferred bidder to build a £31m Passivhaus leisure centre in Surrey that has been delayed amid unfavourable market conditions. Waverley Borough Council originally said construction work on Cranleigh Leisure Centre would start this autumn after it obtained planning permission in March. However, in…
Administrators for ISG are pursuing a specialist contractor and AtkinsRéalis for £4m worth of damages over an allegedly faulty school roof. The legal action has been launched against consultancy AtkinsRéalis PPS and roofing contractor Longworth Building Services over defects at a special educational needs (SEN) school it built in Bury,…
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) booked historical losses of £24m on its programme to build new prison accommodation last year, it has been revealed. The ministry’s “reactive approach” to add 20,000 new prison places by 2031 was responsible for the size of the loss, according to the National Audit Office’s…
The construction sector needs to be “wooed” for it to accept a new form of public-private partnership (PPP), experts have said in the wake of the collapse of a PFI contractor. The warnings come a week after the UK’s biggest private finance initiative (PFI) contractor Transform Schools (Stoke) Ltd (TSSL)…
A series of requirements should be placed on data centre development to tighten control of the sector’s growth and ensure power remains for housebuilding and other construction, an influential panel has urged. The London Assembly’s Planning and Regeneration Committee warned that the wave of tech hubs powering artificial intelligence and…
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