Buildings

Costs to restore Manchester’s iconic town hall have jumped by an extra £95m and its completion has been further delayed until early 2027, partly due to subcontractors on the Bovis-led job going bust. Manchester City Council said the overall budget to restore the Grade I-listed building will now be £524.8m.…

An interim contractor is working on a new £35m hospital in Northumberland where work was halted after offsite specialist Merit filed for administration. South Tyneside-based Opus Building Services has been appointed on a temporary basis to take on the project to build Berwick Community Hospital. The firm is “now established on…

An NHS trust has declared itself “disappointed” by delays to the opening of a £105m rehabilitation centre built by Sir Robert McAlpine (SRM) and Vinci. The long-awaited Nottingham health hub – part of the government’s New Hospital Programme – is yet to be handed over due to a problem with…

Councillors are set to vote on a proposal to demolish the oldest residential tower in Edinburgh after its condition deteriorated, putting a £20m price tag on remediating it. A report to the city council’s Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Committee has recommended taking down the 1952-built Westfield Court. The mixed-tenure…

The Department of Education (DfE) has issued half a dozen main works contracts, with a combined value of more than £160m, under its £7bn 2021 Construction Framework. Tilbury Douglas has been appointed to deliver three of the six projects, including a £14.9m deal to build Buckton Fields Primary School in…

A new contract model for nuclear fusion construction projects launched this week could be used on future UK schemes, a legal expert has said. The Collaborative Contract for Integrated Fusion Project Delivery was developed by EU organisation Fusion for Energy (F4E) and King's College London's Centre of Construction Law and…

New-build housing completions in England have hit an eight-year low, prompting calls for action at next week's Budget to boost the ailing housebuilding sector. Data published yesterday (20 November) by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) laid bare the extent of the challenge in meeting the government's…

A joint venture backed by government and institutional investment has been launched to build more than 2,250 homes in some of England’s most deprived communities. Homes England, Swiss Life Asset Managers and regeneration specialist Capital&Centric have formed the Impact & Places Partnership, which aims to deliver £860m worth of residential…

McLaren Living and Heim Global Investor have appointed Winvic as contractor on a £130m build-to-rent scheme in central Birmingham. The development, named Oasis, will deliver 456 one- and two-bedroom homes on Kent Street, close to Birmingham’s cultural quarter. It will also feature a gym, residents’ lounge, co-working areas, and external…

Galliford Try has failed in a High Court attempt to extend the deadline for bringing claims over alleged defects at the Hive library and history centre in Worcester, more than a decade after the building opened. The case centres on long-running problems with water leaks at the Hive, built by…