Plans for a £35m university building in Nottingham city centre have been given the planning go-ahead

Work will start early next year on the nine-storey block, which will house Nottingham Trent University’s School of Art and Design.

Bowmer & Kirkland and GF Tomlinson are understood to be in the bidding for the project which has been designed by architect Hawkins Brown.

The planned building at 40–42 Shakespeare Street will provide a variety of workspaces for designing and making, collaboration areas, specialist studios and labs.

The building has been designed to achieve BREEAM ‘Excellent’ and DEC ‘A’ rating.

Design decisions, such as the use of post-tensioned concrete slabs and ceramic cladding, have helped to reduce their carbon impact using Hawkins\Brown’s self-developed, open-source H\B:ERT software.

Nottingham School of Art and Design project team

Architect: Hawkins Brown

Structural & Civil Engineer: Mott Macdonald

MEP engineer: Waterman

Carbon consultant: Hawkins Brown

Project Manager: Turner & Townsend

Cost consultant: Turner & Townsend

Fire Engineer: Arup

Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.thegraduatemag.com/?p=936

Laing O’Rourke is on course with plans to take the UK’s largest private contractor public after unveiling a strong set of results for the year to March 31 2021.

Latest figures show the group made a pre-tax profit of £41.4m from £45.5m despite the impact of Covid-19 as turnover ticked-up to £2.5bn from £2.4bn.

Chief executive Ray O’Rourke is planning to list the business on the stock exchange within the next three years after turning the firm around following a string of losses which ended in 2019.

Slashing bank debts by a total of £182m in the last 18 months has also allowed it to replace a multi-bank finance deal with a single £35m credit facility from HSBC which has cut interest payments.

Shareholders Ray and Des O’Rourke also wrote-off £58m in loans made to the company by converting them to equity in the business.

Chief Financial Officer Rowan Baker confirmed to the Enquirer that floating the business was an option as order books hit £7.9bn and prospects look encouraging for the rest of this financial year.

She said: “There was a significant net cash improvement during the year of £120.9m, and we finished FY21  with net cash of £276.1m. These solid results and strong cash positions enabled us to accelerate  the restructure of our debt facilities and set the foundations for future growth.

“The business has continued to perform strongly in the first half of FY22 and is on track to meet  management’s expectations of continued revenue and margin growth.”

Baker has a listed company background after joining from McCarthy & Stone last year.

O’Rourke said it is planning to invest in a new Risk and Internal Audit function next year which will ensure its systems are “on a par with those seen in operation at premier listed businesses.”

Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.thegraduatemag.com/?p=913

The Prime Minister will today announce the UK has secured £9.7bn of new foreign investment in UK green infrastructure at the Global Investment Summit.

He hailed 18 planned investment deals in wind and hydrogen energy, sustainable homes and carbon capture that will support green growth and create up to 30,000 jobs.

Among the headline commitments, Spanish electric utility giant Iberdrola confirmed it will invest £6bn in the East Anglia Hub through Scottish Power, subject to securing planning consent.

This will be Iberdrola’s biggest offshore wind development anywhere in the world and would supply enough green energy to power 2.7 million British homes, while creating 7,000 jobs.

While global logistics firm Prologis intends to invest £1.5bn over the next three years to develop net zero carbon warehouses across London, the south east and Midlands.

Malaysian conglomerate Petra Group will invest £30m in establishing its  Petra Modular business for production of sustainable modular homes, creating 225 jobs. It will also invest £30m in establishing Petra Group’s ‘Green Rubber’ business in the UK, which will see the development of a production facility creating 110 jobs.

Other deals announced at Global Investment Summit

US-owned waste specialist Viridor plans to invest up to £1bn in latest decarbonisation technology at its five UK sites to become the first net zero waste company by 2030.Turkish-owned Eren Paper is investing £500m to acquire a mill in Shotton, North Wales, and convert it to produce cardboard manufactured from paper waste. The mill will be powered by biomass fuel.Budweiser Brewing Group and green hydrogen energy services Protium have teamed up to invest more than £100m in a new hydrogen generation system to fuel the brewery’s production and also its key logistics assets, including heavy goods vehicles and forklift trucks.Jacobs will create over 150 jobs as it grows its high-tech Birchwood laboratory in Warrington, where Jacobs carries out research and development to support critical UK national infrastructure.Huaneng will invest in the 50MW Battery Storage project in StoneHill. This greenfield project is a major new milestone for energy storage in the UK and will employ local partners in construction and operationsHiPoint AG will invest £50m to create five new facilities for the recovery and processing of horse stall waste into reusable bedding, fertilizer & bio-fuels, creating 90 jobs across the UK.Ultimate Battery Company will invest £28m setting up a UK production plant for lightweight, eco-friendly batteries, creating 300 jobs.Global Marine will invest £10m in building hybrid engine crew transfer vessels and surface effect ships to service offshore wind infrastructure, creating 10 jobs in the East of England.HyPoint will invest £6.6m establishing a HQ in the South East for the development of their next generation hydrogen fuel cell system, creating 10 jobs.Treedom will establish a UK office in London for their online platform for planting trees, creating 10 jobs.Tes Amm is creating 15 new jobs in Scotland, doubling its electronic waste recycling solutions for lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles, consumer electronics and IT & mobile technologies.Sumitomo Corporation are launching Presidio Ventures Europe, a venture arm of Sumitomo, focused on energy and mobility.Peer-to-peer lending firm Zopa has raised £220m, led by Softbank Vision Fund 2, to grow their responsible and sustainable banking and lending services in the UK.Getir plan to invest £100m to rapidly expand its sustainable and superfast grocery delivery service across the UK, creating 7,000 permanent jobs in 2022. The business utilises a 100% electric fleet of delivery vehicles.

A West London council has parted ways with United Living Property Services just one year into its five-year responsive repairs contract.

Hammersmith & Fulham Council said it recognised that Brexit and Covid had presented challenges but cited failure to meet required resident service levels.

United Living will hand over its northern council territory to reserve contractor Morgan Sindall at the end of this month.

Council officials advised not to go out to competitive tender, warning the process would go beyond the winter months, when demand for responsive housing repairs typically increases significantly.

A spokesman said: “When we launched the new service, we introduced an annual review where we could look at the previous year with the contractors and decide what went well and what needed to improve.

“As part of the annual review and from meetings throughout the year, both the council and United Living Property Services have mutually agreed that the residents of H&F will be best served if United Living Property Services withdraw from the contract on 29 October 2021.

“The reserve contractor for United Living’s patch is Morgan Sindall which currently carries our repairs in the north of the borough. They will take over the day-to-day repairs in this patch from October.”

Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.thegraduatemag.com/?p=843

A contractor has been fined £160,000 after a worker was fatally electrocuted while operating a lorry mounted crane.

Cardiff Crown Court heard how on 17 May 2016, ASL Access Scaffold Limited employee Martin Tilby was fatally electrocuted when the crane he was operating struck an overhead power line while he was unloading materials in a field at Cowbridge, South Glamorgan.

An HSE investigation found that no risk assessment had been carried out in the field where the incident happened, and no control measures were put in place to prevent contact with the overhead powerlines.

ASL Access Scaffold Limited of Bridgend was found guilty of breaching safety regulations was fined £160,000 and ordered to pay costs of £45,000.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Damian Corbett said: “This death was easily preventable, and the risk should have been identified. Employers should make sure they properly assess and apply effective control measures to minimise the risk from striking overhead powerlines.

“This death would have been preventable had an effective system for managing unloading materials been in place.”

Companies House records show ASL Access Scaffold Limited entered a Creditors Voluntary Liquidation in February 2017.

Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.thegraduatemag.com/?p=831

Sandwell NHS trust bosses has revealed that the Midland Metropolitan Hospital is set to miss its 2022 opening.

Carillion replacement builder Balfour Beatty kept the project going through the pandemic, but has recently been hit be supply delays, workforce shortages and unexpected facade replacement works.

Sandwell and West Birmingham-Hospitals NHS Trust said the hospital project which has been dogged by delays since Carillion’s collapse is now likely to open in 2023, five years later than planned when the PPP contract was signed with Carillion.

Over the next two months the Trust said it would be working with expert advisors in the National New

Hospitals Programme team and Balfour Beatty to confirm a firm 2023 opening date that patients, staff and partner organisations could have confidence in.

Chief executive Richard Beeken said: “The new Midland Metropolitan University Hospital construction programme has progressed well during the pandemic, however, there have inevitably been some significant impacts over the past 18 months relating to supplies, workforce availability and replacement of part of the external facade due to changed fire regulations.

“Over the next two months we will continue to work closely with Balfour Beatty to review the work programme, with independent expert assessment, so that we can announce a 2023 opening date before the end of the year.”

Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.thegraduatemag.com/?p=822

Bolton Council has parted ways with the developers behind its ambitious £1bn town centre regeneration plans.

Developer Bolton Regeneration  – a partnership between Chinese firm Beijing Construction Engineering Group International (BCEGI) and regeneration specialists Granite Turner – have agreed with the council to rip up the agreement.

A key part of the plan, the £250m redevelopment of Bolton’s Crompton Place Shopping Centre was due to start this year.

Now the council will have to find a new developer to take forward this project as well as its other planned Trinity Gateway and Le Mans Crescent projects due to be developed by Granite Turner.

The council said that as circumstances have changed over the last 18 months, a mutual agreement was reached with partners BCEGI and Granite Turner to surrender their options agreements on the projects.

Bolton Council leader, Coun Martyn Cox, said: “Although re-procuring development partners will extend the development process, removing all option agreements gives us a much better chance of securing a levelling up fund grant from government.

“The work already undertaken in relation to these projects means the new developers will start from a more advanced stage than would normally be the case and will therefore be in a position to start construction as soon as possible.”

The council said it hoped to have a new development partner in place before the end of the year.

Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.thegraduatemag.com/?p=782

An old oil rig fabrication site in Hartlepool is set to be the home of a precast concrete tunnel segment factory for HS2, creating over 100 new jobs.

Austria’s largest construction firm Strabag will build the facility to fulfil a 36,000 segment contract for its joint venture with Costain Skanska delivering twin bored tunnels from HS2’s new Old Oak Common station to Green Parkway running underneath Northolt.

To be located at Hartlepool Dock, owned and operated by PD Ports, construction of the new factory will begin in January 2022 to start production of 6-tonne precast concrete tunnel segments will commence in December 2022.

Work will start by redeveloping the exterior land parcel to suit the segment storage requirements and rail logistics platform.

Former oil rig fabrication site at Hartlepool Port

Then focus will turn to the internal fit-out which will house an advanced automated segment carousel and reinforcement hall.

Robots will also be controlled by telemetry to produce the high quality reinforcement cages required for each segment.

HS2’s chief commercial officer, Ruth Todd, said:“The decision to manufacture the segments not only in the UK, but in a new facility in the North East, is another demonstration of how HS2 is having a positive impact on regional economies across the UK and helping the country to build back better after the pandemic.”

Andrew Dixon, Commercial Director at Strabag said: “This new production facility in Hartlepool and our existing precast factory in Wilton for the Woodsmith Mine project underline our long-term commitment to the region.”

This contract is the second of two for precast concrete tunnel segments for HS2’s London tunnels.

Pacadar UK will be delivering 58,000 segments for the first London tunnel being constructed between West Ruislip and Green Park Way, in Ealing. The combined length of HS2’s London tunnels being constructed by SCS JV is 26miles, the same length as Crossrail.

Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.thegraduatemag.com/?p=764

Agreement has been reached for the sale of the last of four stalled Elliot Group schemes after the developer collapsed into administration following the arrest of founder Elliot Lawless.

Administrators for the company’s £70m hotel scheme on Norfolk Street in Liverpool’s Baltic tech district have exchanged contracts with the scheme’s original investors.

HBG Insolvency Ltd will now put the sale proposal before the High Court for final ratification.

The 306-bedroom property had secured planning permission and construction had commenced, before ceasing when investors decided not to continue funding the project following Lawless’s arrest in December 2019.

Lawless said: “When my schemes were placed in administration I made a promise that I would work ceaselessly to help secure each site’s sale and protect the interests of investors, so I am delighted that my final stalled scheme is to be acquired by its original investors.

“The process, as with the other administrations, has been handled by a third party under strict rules and I sympathise with investors whose bids for The Residence and Infinity weren’t successful.

“It has not been easy but with flexibility and good will on all sides the administrators have been able to ensure that all of my stalled projects will now be placed in the hands of new owners and move forward to completion.

“What this latest deal reinforces is that my projects were always very good schemes in prime locations.  I’ll take considerable satisfaction from seeing them completed.  If you take a look at the outstanding job done by the investors who bought Aura in Liverpool, for example, you can see that the original vision for each project can still be delivered in the right hands.”

No charges have ever been brought against Lawless and he says he “looks forward to Merseyside Police concluding their investigation.”

Outsourced CIS payroll provider and Umbrella Company Crest Plus has passed its latest HMRC compliance inspection.

HMRC’s inspection team regularly carry out compliance checks on payroll companies like Crest Plus, assessing approximately the tax agents per week.

In the latest check HMRC’s agent conducted an in-depth analysis of Crest Plus’ tax return service, exploring how they maintain compliance standards throughout the process.

Detailed checks were carried out on the multi-step procedure, from how they compliantly engage with clients; carry out and evidence the returns; communicate assurances with clients; and finally submit the tax return.

Val Lawton, Managing Director at Crest Plus said: “One of our core values has always been and always will be that we put compliance first. The importance of operating compliant systems and processes can’t be undervalued in our sector, especially as we aim to provide the highest level of customer care to our clients and agency partners.

“Passing this inspection was a great achievement and a satisfying reward for our teams who work hard day-in, day-out to ensure rigorous checks are carried out and regulation is always followed to the letter. We’re very proud of our tax return procedure and happy with the positive feedback from HMRC’s inspector.”

Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.thegraduatemag.com/?p=725