{"id":526677,"date":"2025-08-11T13:03:30","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T12:03:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/?p=526677"},"modified":"2025-08-21T15:35:22","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T14:35:22","slug":"three-prison-builds-declared-unachievable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/three-prison-builds-declared-unachievable-11-08-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Three prison builds declared \u2018unachievable\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Three major planks of the prison-building programme, designed to boost capacity by 20,000 places, are no longer considered achievable, according to the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NISTA gave the verdicts in its first annual<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/ar25.nista.grid.civilservice.gov.uk\/tables\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">report<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> since its creation in April, when it replaced the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) and National Infrastructure Commission.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The new body continues the IPA\u2019s practice of publishing overall ratings on whether major government projects are on track to be delivered in line with issues such as scope, deadline and budget.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Three of the Ministry of Justice\u2019s prison schemes have changed from an amber rating last year \u2013 meaning they had significant issues \u2013 to red, denoting \u201csuccessful delivery of the project appears to be unachievable\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thousands of prisoners have been released from their sentences early since last summer due to overcrowding in the prison estate.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The collapse of tier-one contractor ISG in September 2024, one of<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/civils\/crime-pays-the-mojs-top-construction-suppliers-revealed-29-07-2024\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the ministry\u2019s top builders<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, is known to have exacerbated already-delayed and over-budget plans to create 20,000 prison places to keep up with demand.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the red-rated programmes is adding capacity to the Category D estate. ISG was awarded \u00a3155m worth of work on the programme, which focuses on open prisons,<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/contractors\/isg\/isg-picked-for-155m-prison-work-25-09-2023\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">a year before the firm went under<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to a National Audit Office (NAO)<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/contractors\/isg\/isg-collapse-prison-delay-estimates-revealed-04-12-2024\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">report<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> last year, costs on the project were running at 115 per cent above their original business case a month before ISG\u2019s administration.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Houseblocks and Refurbishments Programme, providing 2,000 extra prison places, mostly in the closed category B and C estate, has also been downgraded to red.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kier and Wates<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/contractors\/kier\/kier-and-wates-secure-500m-prison-upgrade-work-20-06-2022\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">signed up to deliver \u00a3500m of programme work, across six sites, in June 2022.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Meanwhile, the Small Secure Houseblock Project \u2013 set to deliver about 1,200 places at Category C facilities via a repeatable, modular design \u2013 is now also thought to be undeliverable.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Last year\u2019s NAO report said costs had increased by somewhere between \u00a372m and \u00a3136m compared with the initial business case.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Three other projects, the Accelerated Houseblocks Programme, Rapid Deployment Cells and the largest \u2013 adding 10,000 places across four new prisons \u2013 remain amber-rated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/contractors\/isg\/isg-collapse-to-cost-prison-service-more-than-300m-28-01-2025\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In January, it was revealed that the collapse of ISG would add \u00a3300m<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to the new prisons programme and would have an even bigger impact on fire-remediation efforts in the estate \u2013 which, in turn, would further hit capacity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ISG was delivering around 17 per cent of the government\u2019s 20,000 extra prison places under its expansion programme, amounting to 3,600 places across 13 sites, including HMP Grendon in Buckinghamshire, when it went into administration.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Last week Laing O\u2019Rourke chief executive Cathal O\u2019Rourke told <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Construction News<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that the contractor was<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/financial\/laing-orourke-doubles-profit-and-says-contracting-model-is-broken-04-08-2025\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">still holding discussions with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) about taking over the contract to build Grendon<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) executive director Jim Barton told a parliamentary committee in January: \u201cSome projects could be delayed by up to about a year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt\u2019s fair to say that ISG going into administration has been a significant issue and challenge for [the expansion programme].\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Amy Rees, then director general and chief executive of HMPPS, added that the organisation\u2019s exposure was greater on the maintenance side than on the new prison places.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c[ISG was] involved, yes it will put at risk the completion by [the end of] 2027 but it won\u2019t change the outcome, because if those places are not remediated by the end of 2027 we will take them out of action,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rees was named as the<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/government\/prisons-expert-appointed-to-lead-homes-england-08-08-2025\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> new chief executive of Homes England last week<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"x_elementtoproof\">A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: \u201cThe government is delivering the largest expansion of prison places since the Victorian era \u2013 with 2,500 new spaces already delivered and 14,000 on track for delivery by 2031.<\/p>\n<p class=\"x_elementtoproof\">\u201cThese projects were progressing until a key supplier entered administration. We\u2019ve already launched a re-procurement process and are moving forward with new suppliers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>They added that the Small Secure Houseblocks programme was Red rated due to it requiring a new business case due to its costs rising. The revised case has now been approved and the project will have an Amber rating in 2025\/26, they said.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Overall, 213 government projects were assessed and rated, with 68 of those being construction work.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The New Hospital Programme, which has had its scope changed,<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/government\/new-hospitals-programme-set-to-fail-ipa-warns-17-01-2025\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">moved from red<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to amber in the latest report.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail remained red.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sizewell C and the establishment of the Great British Nuclear quango&#8217;s Small Modular Reactor project were given \u2018exempt\u2019 ratings due to commercial considerations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The reviews were carried out by the IPA in March, just ahead of its abolition.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Three major planks of the prison-building programme, designed to boost capacity by 20,000 places, are no longer considered achievable, according to the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA). NISTA gave the verdicts in its first annual report since its creation in April, when it replaced the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) and National Infrastructure &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43915,"featured_media":485285,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[547,549,535],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-526677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buildings","category-civils","category-isg"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.7 (Yoast SEO v26.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Three prison builds declared \u2018unachievable\u2019 | Construction News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Three major planks of the prison-building programme, designed to boost capacity by 20,000 places, are no longer considered achievable, according to the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/three-prison-builds-declared-unachievable-11-08-2025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Three prison builds declared \u2018unachievable\u2019\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Three major planks of the prison-building programme, designed to boost capacity by 20,000 places, are no longer considered achievable, according to the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/three-prison-builds-declared-unachievable-11-08-2025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Construction News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CN.community\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-11T12:03:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-21T14:35:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/08\/Kier_Laing_Wates_prison.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"414\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ian Weinfass\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@CNplus\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CNplus\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ian Weinfass\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/three-prison-builds-declared-unachievable-11-08-2025\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/three-prison-builds-declared-unachievable-11-08-2025\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ian Weinfass\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/d6199e963b3c9f48fbde9a4b6ee1f14a\"},\"headline\":\"Three prison builds declared \u2018unachievable\u2019\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-11T12:03:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-21T14:35:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/three-prison-builds-declared-unachievable-11-08-2025\/\"},\"wordCount\":764,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/three-prison-builds-declared-unachievable-11-08-2025\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/08\/Kier_Laing_Wates_prison.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Buildings\",\"Civils\",\"ISG\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/three-prison-builds-declared-unachievable-11-08-2025\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/three-prison-builds-declared-unachievable-11-08-2025\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/three-prison-builds-declared-unachievable-11-08-2025\/\",\"name\":\"Three prison builds declared \u2018unachievable\u2019 | Construction News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/three-prison-builds-declared-unachievable-11-08-2025\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/three-prison-builds-declared-unachievable-11-08-2025\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/08\/Kier_Laing_Wates_prison.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-11T12:03:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-21T14:35:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/d6199e963b3c9f48fbde9a4b6ee1f14a\"},\"description\":\"Three major planks of the prison-building programme, designed to boost capacity by 20,000 places, are no longer considered achievable, according to the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/three-prison-builds-declared-unachievable-11-08-2025\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/three-prison-builds-declared-unachievable-11-08-2025\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/three-prison-builds-declared-unachievable-11-08-2025\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/08\/Kier_Laing_Wates_prison.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/08\/Kier_Laing_Wates_prison.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":683,\"caption\":\"CGI of prison houseblock\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/three-prison-builds-declared-unachievable-11-08-2025\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Three prison builds declared \u2018unachievable\u2019\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"Construction News\",\"description\":\"Read UK Construction Industry News, Analysis, Opinion and data\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/d6199e963b3c9f48fbde9a4b6ee1f14a\",\"name\":\"Ian Weinfass\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/b97665f54ea944a3f51f604c47f83c3a\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ccf1ea1c6999e8c1aa3bf7ae5b18577f55840b6d3a5b20770f0b74322c887cbf?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ccf1ea1c6999e8c1aa3bf7ae5b18577f55840b6d3a5b20770f0b74322c887cbf?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ian Weinfass\"},\"description\":\"Ian is a regular contributor of news and features to Construction News and former deputy editor on the title. A British Journalism Awards finalist 2016 and 2023, Ian won the Feature Writer of the Year category at the International Building Press awards in 2023.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/author\/ian-weinfass\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Three prison builds declared \u2018unachievable\u2019 | Construction News","description":"Three major planks of the prison-building programme, designed to boost capacity by 20,000 places, are no longer considered achievable, according to the","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/three-prison-builds-declared-unachievable-11-08-2025\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Three prison builds declared \u2018unachievable\u2019","og_description":"Three major planks of the prison-building programme, designed to boost capacity by 20,000 places, are no longer considered achievable, according to the","og_url":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/three-prison-builds-declared-unachievable-11-08-2025\/","og_site_name":"Construction News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CN.community","article_published_time":"2025-08-11T12:03:30+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-08-21T14:35:22+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/08\/Kier_Laing_Wates_prison.jpg","width":620,"height":414,"type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ian Weinfass","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@CNplus","twitter_site":"@CNplus","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ian Weinfass","Estimated reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/three-prison-builds-declared-unachievable-11-08-2025\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/three-prison-builds-declared-unachievable-11-08-2025\/"},"author":{"name":"Ian Weinfass","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/d6199e963b3c9f48fbde9a4b6ee1f14a"},"headline":"Three prison builds declared \u2018unachievable\u2019","datePublished":"2025-08-11T12:03:30+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-21T14:35:22+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/three-prison-builds-declared-unachievable-11-08-2025\/"},"wordCount":764,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/three-prison-builds-declared-unachievable-11-08-2025\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/08\/Kier_Laing_Wates_prison.jpg","articleSection":["Buildings","Civils","ISG"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/three-prison-builds-declared-unachievable-11-08-2025\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/three-prison-builds-declared-unachievable-11-08-2025\/","url":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/three-prison-builds-declared-unachievable-11-08-2025\/","name":"Three prison builds declared \u2018unachievable\u2019 | Construction News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/three-prison-builds-declared-unachievable-11-08-2025\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/three-prison-builds-declared-unachievable-11-08-2025\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/08\/Kier_Laing_Wates_prison.jpg","datePublished":"2025-08-11T12:03:30+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-21T14:35:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/d6199e963b3c9f48fbde9a4b6ee1f14a"},"description":"Three major planks of the prison-building programme, designed to boost capacity by 20,000 places, are no longer considered achievable, according to the","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/three-prison-builds-declared-unachievable-11-08-2025\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/three-prison-builds-declared-unachievable-11-08-2025\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/three-prison-builds-declared-unachievable-11-08-2025\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/08\/Kier_Laing_Wates_prison.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2023\/08\/Kier_Laing_Wates_prison.jpg","width":1024,"height":683,"caption":"CGI of prison houseblock"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/buildings\/three-prison-builds-declared-unachievable-11-08-2025\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Three prison builds declared \u2018unachievable\u2019"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/","name":"Construction News","description":"Read UK Construction Industry News, Analysis, Opinion and data","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/d6199e963b3c9f48fbde9a4b6ee1f14a","name":"Ian Weinfass","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/b97665f54ea944a3f51f604c47f83c3a","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ccf1ea1c6999e8c1aa3bf7ae5b18577f55840b6d3a5b20770f0b74322c887cbf?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ccf1ea1c6999e8c1aa3bf7ae5b18577f55840b6d3a5b20770f0b74322c887cbf?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ian Weinfass"},"description":"Ian is a regular contributor of news and features to Construction News and former deputy editor on the title. A British Journalism Awards finalist 2016 and 2023, Ian won the Feature Writer of the Year category at the International Building Press awards in 2023.","url":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/author\/ian-weinfass\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43915"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=526677"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526677\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":527434,"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526677\/revisions\/527434"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}