Arcadis will help rebuild the set of long-running soap Coronation Street as part of ITVs new production facility in Salford Quays, Manchester.

The contract is for cost management and quantity surveying, and comes after the old set in central Manchester was partially blown apart by a runaway tram in an explosive plot twist to celebrate the soap’s 50th anniversary.

The new studios will house an indoor and outdoor Coronation Street set, as well as TV studios, sound buildings, production suites and actors’ dressing rooms.

Russell Bolton, director of buildings for Arcadis in the UK, said: “We are really pleased to be involved in one of the most prestigious and high-profile schemes currently in the region.”

He said: “Arcadis has been working with ITV to plan this move in the region for a number of years so we have already developed a close working relationship with the client and are ready to get started immediately.”

Construction will begin in the first quarter of next year and finish in the second quarter of 2012.

This article was sourced from Building.co.uk

Here at BuilderScrap we were hoping for much cheerier stories in the build up to Christmas but that isn’t to be with construction projects falling steeply in November as the recovery in work faltered in the face of public spending cuts.

The total value of construction projects starting on site in the three months to November plummeted 14% compared to the same period last year, according to new figures from construction information specialist Glenigan.

The drop was expected in Government funded projects due to the spending review, but slides in private housing and retail projects is a worrying development for firms’ banking on these areas to tide them over.

But Allan Wilen, economics director at Glenigan, predicted the fall in retail work will be short lived and will recover next year to become a valuable construction bright spot along with office and rail work.

“The major supermarkets have led retail project growth this year and this is set to continue in 2011,” he said.

“Retailers and landlords are also expected to increasingly refurbish premises to increase consumer footfall and spending.”

“Major new shopping centre projects will take longer to emerge, although work is continuing on Westfield’s Stratford City project and work has restarted on the Trinity Quarter scheme in Leeds.”

He also believed that the recovery in commercial building taking hold in London will begin to spread to other regions as developers dusted down old schemes.

“New office projects fell sharply during the recession and hence little new floor space has come onto the market.”

“In central London demand, capital and rental values have been rising and the shortage of quality office space will worsen as the economy recovers.”

Developers such as Land Securities are already pressing ahead with major projects such as the £500m ‘Walkie-Talkie’ building in the City of London,” added Wilen.

He added: “The Department for Transport’s capital budget over the next five years will broadly match that of last five.”

“Rail investment will take a growing share at the expense of areas such as roads with numerous projects to increase network capacity and improve station facilities including high profile projects such as Crossrail and Thameslink.”

 This article was sourced from the Construction Enquirer

Rock bottom bidding across all construction sectors has begun as desperate contractors slash their prices in a hunt for turnover.

One contractor said: “It’s ridiculous at the moment with some firms just blatantly buying work while clients go with them because all they are interested in is the lowest price.”

“It’s surprising with public sector clients because they have spent the last few years talking about valuing quality over price.”

“But it’s like that has been washed away overnight and all they see is the lowest price now budget cuts are starting to hit.”

Local authorities have already run into trouble after opting for the cheapest bid then watching their chosen contractors go bust.

Connaught and Rok undercut rivals across the country before their collapse.

And earlier this month St Alban’s council was left without a contractor for a £27m leisure centre after McNamara went under.

Rivals bidding against McNamara said the Irish firm’s bid was millions below all the others.

One contractor told the Enquirer: “We’ve gone for jobs recently and you get three or four firms in the same ballpark then someone who is more than 10% cheaper.

“Instead of that ringing alarm bells with clients, they are just going with the cheapest.

“It’s like we’ve learned nothing from the past or from what has already happened this time round with Connaught and Rok.”

BuilderScrap sourced this article  from Construction Enquirer.

The recent recovery in construction work will go into reverse next year with an output fall of 2%, according to the latest forecasts from the Construction Products Association.

The quarterly forecasts show the 4.5% estimated growth for this year will stall on the back of public spending cuts, leaving a 2% fall in output next year and a further 0.7% fall in 2012. The figures are gloomier than suggested by government figures, and predict the industry’s output will not regain its 2007 peak of £108bn within the next five years.

The falls are expected despite a predicted 6% rise in private sector work in the next two year, as the public sector contracts by 17%. This collapse will be led by public sector housing, with a contraction in starts of 40% over the next two years.

Output in the education sector is also set to contract by 46% over the next three years following the cancelling of the Building Schools for the Future programme.

Spend on rail construction; however, will double by 2015 despite a drive for cost savings on major projects including Crossrail and Thameslink.

Michael Ankers, Chief Executive of the Construction Products Association said the stalling of construction growth would impact upon the growth of the whole economy. He added he did not expect the increase in private sector investment in construction over the next two years to compensate for the sharp falls in public sector investment.

“By 2013, however, we expect to see strong growth in the commercial sector, combined with increasing construction activity related to housing, rail schemes and the development of energy infrastructure, leading to a recovery in construction output at the end of our forecast period,” he said.

“The increase in construction output in 2010 has been an important component of the growth in GDP over the last two quarters. Unfortunately, these latest forecasts show that construction is unlikely to provide the same impetus over the next two years and this will almost certainly slow down the rate of growth in the wider economy.”

This article was sourced from building.co.uk

BuilderScrap has partnered with  Constructing Excellence Wales, to launch  a dedicated Welsh BuilderScrap platform on November 13th.

Karin Black, Waste Strategy Advisor for the Welsh Assembly Government said: “The rhetoric about waste reduction has gained momentum in recent years, but real alternatives have relied largely on the commitment of individual contractors and educated clients. The agreement with CEW to take up the challenge of supporting a significant diversion of materials from landfill by deploying the BuilderScrap materials reuse platform is a major step in the right direction. This is the first government backed initiative of its type in the UK and is pivotal to CEW’s’ ongoing strategy to reduce the waste generated by the construction industry.”

By choosing to work with BuilcerScrap as we  already have an established materials reuse platform, CEW has saved both time and valuable resources in creating the initiative which was launched on 13th November 2010 at the The Federation of Master Builders Annual Conference in Swansea.

Previous government numbers have over-estimated the growth of the construction industry according to a revision of the numbers by the office for National Statistics (ONS); they admitted the construction industry grew less than previously though in the three month to June.

Originally the ONS said construction output rose 6.8% in the second quarter from the first three months of 2010 – down from the 9.6% it estimated before.

The revision for the sector, which accounts for 6.3% of all UK output, could shave 0.2% off the second quarter GDP growth number of 1.2%.

This backtrack came as construction materials producers found that Government construction output figure didn’t match the sluggish behaviour of aggregates, asphalt, cement and ready mixed concrete sales.

However material sales have improved in the third quarter of 2010 compared with the same period in 2009.

Aggregates, cement and ready mixed concrete were 3%, 9% and 6% higher respectively than last year. But 2009 was a historic low point so any uplift need to be regarded as an inevitable growth rather than a sustainable growth.

The Government previously published data indicating that construction output increased by 10% in the second quarter and a further 4% in the third quarter, underpinning the stronger than expected GDP growth figures of 1.2% and 0.8% recorded in the second and third quarters.

These official figures indicate that the level of construction output in the UK is now at an all time high but the Mineral Products Association said “nothing could be further from the truth.”

MPA Executive Director, Simon van der Byl, said, “Everyone needs to take great care in interpreting construction related data for 2010 to date.”

“Firstly the figures only reflect a welcome comparative improvement and secondly the 21% cut in public investment set out in the Comprehensive Spending Review will mean substantial reductions in construction sectors such as health education and roads and will put huge pressure on local authority spending.”

“These negative pressures are likely to outweigh what will probably be a slow and uneven recovery in housing, commercial and other private sector construction over the next two years.”

“In the longer term the private sector and infrastructure projects should deliver strong construction growth, but prospects for 2011 look very depressed.”

“The possibility that many construction materials sectors and construction in total may experience a double dip recession during 2011 and beyond cannot be ruled out.”

The economic figures for the months of July and September were higher than had been predicted even though they showed a slowing of growth to 0.8% from 1.2% in the previous quarter.

But the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which compiles the figures, said that the fundamental growth picture was the same as in the previous quarter, with just one or two sectors making a big difference.

“It is lower than the second quarter figure of 1.2% growth,” ONS chief economist Joe Grice told BBC News.

“But that figure, as we said at the time, was very much affected by the adverse weather in the first quarter, which affected construction in particular.”

The construction sector has indeed had an extraordinary year.

In the weather-affected first three months of the year, it contracted 0.8%. It then staged a remarkable recovery in the second quarter, growing an incredible 9.5%. In the third quarter, it grew another 4%.

It means that in the year since the recession ended, construction has grown by 11%.

Looked at over the longer term, construction was one of the sectors that suffered the most in the recession and so has the most scope to grow in the recovery.

Other sectors such as the service sector, for example, contracted much less in the recession and have demonstrated less impressive growth since it ended.

This article was sourced from the BBC.

The UK will be getting its first ever purpose-built solar farm in Truro, Cornwall.

35 Degrees is the solar company who has won the permission to begin £4 million construction at a former tin mine site, Wheal Jane.

The farm will cover 5 acres of land and will generate 1.3MW of electricity through a massive 6,000 metre-high photovoltaic panels.

Cornwall Council have given the loan for the construction and believe there to be a further £1 billion investment for the county. They hope that others will follow suit and apply for building permissions.

Lucy Hunt, manager at Cornwall Development Company, the economic development company for Cornwall Council, said: “We’re seeing the start of a Cornwall solar gold rush.”

While solar energy has yet to make the impact of other renewable energy sources such as wind power, it is seen as having great potential. An average sized domestic solar PV system in the UK will generate 2,125 kWh per year, more than half the typical household.

In the government’s Comprehensive Spending Review the feed-in tariff plans were maintained. This was welcomed by the solar energy industry.

Solarcentury’s executive chairman, Jeremy Leggett, said: “My colleagues and I are delighted that the coalition politicians who understand the potential for UK plc in the unfolding global solar revolution have maintained course with the feed-in tariff.”

The docklands of the Wirral Peninsula faces a massive regeneration scheme over the next three decades after the £4.5 billion planning application was given the green light.

The Wirral Waters scheme will transform more than 500 acres of disused brownfield sites over the next 30 years in the Birkenhead region. The project aims to breathe fresh life into the area, creating environmental as well as economic benefits to Birkenhead, Wallasey as well as the Merseyside region as a whole.

The development is expected to create tens of thousands of jobs during the construction phase and has been hailed a massive boost to the economy of the area as well as the residents that the project will impact directly upon.

The cabinet member for regeneration and planning strategy, Andrew Hodson commented: “This is a great day for Wirral. We have been working closely with Peel for almost four years to bring jobs and regeneration to the borough”.

“The approval of this planning application will lead to the total transformation of what is currently derelict brownfield land within East Float at Birkenhead Docks and when finished will create over 27,000 jobs.

“This has taken place against a backdrop of the worst recession in living memory and it is a credit to both Peel and Wirral Council that we have kept the plans moving.”

He added: “Subject to getting the okay from the government, we hope work will start on site within the next two years and officers of the council will continue to work with Peel as we move into the development phase.”

At BuilderScrap we are delighted to hear the news of this local development, as a Wirral based company this announcement marks exciting times for the area and we look forward to seeing the project progress.

Source: EDIE (net) 23 August 2010

Laing O’ Rourke became the first winner of the North West Construction Hub (NWCH) framework tendering process securing the £90m Manchester Central Library and Town Hall redevelopment.

The project which has been designed by architect Vincent Harris includes the restoration of Manchester’s Grade II- listed Central Library and Town Hall as well as redevelopment of St Peters Square. The project is due to be delivered by 2013.

Andrew Jackson, leader of Laing O’Rourke’s Construction North division, said: “Securing this exciting and unique project will enable Laing O’Rourke to build on our solid reputation for delivering landmark projects. It is a complex and challenging project, and one of huge value architecturally, culturally and civically. We look forward to partnering once again with Manchester council.”

This is the first of a number of tenders which will be done through the North West Construction Hub which divides work into three separate frameworks dependent upon project value. The High Value Framework tenders for jobs over £10m and is competed between a total of five organisations, the others being Bovis Lend Lease, Kier, Morgan Sindall and Wates.

The Framework has been developed as a method to ensure that local council can work in partnership with public sector construction in order to ensure that the delivery is efficient and on time. It also shares knowledge and experience as well as creating an emphasis on improved quality and sustainability.

(Source: Building.co.uk)