Legal

The council in charge of Grenfell Tower has lifted its contract ban on a construction firm involved in the refurbishment of the building carried out prior to the 2017 tragedy. London-based Artelia Projects UK Ltd was a consultant to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea’s (RBKC) tenant management authority…

A construction firm has been fined after a worker fell from the roof of a partially constructed barn in Shropshire. The man had been appointed by Dewi Williams Limited to complete the installation of roof sheets onto a barn that was under construction at a site in Oswestry, the Health…

Competition authorities have confirmed their investigation into possible market collusion by housebuilders has been dropped in return for a payment of £100m towards affordable homes and other measures agreed by the companies involved. Yesterday (30 October), the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced its acceptance of four “binding commitments” from…

The risks of modern slavery in the housebuilding sector are “poorly understood” despite its size and political importance, a new report says. Residential accounts for around 40 per cent of UK construction output, but academics from King’s Business School found that the housebuilding sector is is often excluded from research…

The first hearing in a health-and-safety prosecution over a serious workplace injury at the Hinkley Point C nuclear construction site will take place in December. Bouygues Travaux Publics SAS and Laing O’Rourke Delivery each face a single charge under health and safety law following an investigation by the Office for…

More than eight out of 10 construction firms investigated by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) have been handed infringement decisions, according to a new report by law firm CMS. The report found that all the investigations resulting in infringement (84 per cent) by the watchdog involved some form of…

Six contractors have been issued a total of £415,000 in penalties for employing illegal workers. The firms were named in the Home Office’s latest list of companies penalised for employing people with no right to work in the UK between 1 January and 31 March. One of the largest fines,…

Industry figures have welcomed government proposals to speed up judicial reviews when nationally important infrastructure projects are challenged. The Treasury announced it is to work with the judiciary to cut the time legal challenges take by six months. It argued the move would help kickstart economic growth and speed up…

Housebuilder Persimmon has agreed an undisclosed settlement with an engineering consultant over damages to a new-build caused by tree roots. The dispute involved the wrong foundations being used to build a £649,495 four-bed house in Reading, which led to cracks and gaps developing. The settlement, between Persimmon and Simpson Associates…

A self-employed builder has been ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work after a man fell to his death while helping him with a roofing job. Andrew Layley died in hospital weeks after falling from a domestic roof extension in Reading, Berkshire. The 69-year-old was working for Raffaele…