Author Archives: Colin Marrs

Morgan Sindall subsidiary Muse Developments has taken a third share in a new joint venture aimed at delivering 3,000 affordable low-carbon homes with a value of £1bn. Muse is teaming up with government body Homes England and institutional funder Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC), with the partners injecting £54m of startup…

Stalling developers, building safety regulator issues and squeezed social landlord finances mean the government is on track to miss its 2035 target for remediating dangerous cladding, according to a spending watchdog. A report by the National Audit Office (NAO) said work to remove the most dangerous aluminium composite material cladding…

Leo Quinn, the boss with the biggest wage bill in construction, has given a cautious welcome to the Budget. Chancellor Rachel Reeves yesterday (30 October) announced a 1.2 percentage point rise in employers’ national insurance (NI) contributions and lowered the threshold at which employers start paying them. But Quinn, chief…

The government has announced billions in new funding for green energy projects next year, but experts have raised concerns over grid connections. In early October, the government announced a £21.7bn investment over 25 years in carbon capture projects based in Teesside and Merseyside. Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Budget today (30 October)…

The government has announced a 1.2 percentage point rise in employers’ national insurance (NI) contributions, but has taken measures to protect small businesses from the rise. In today’s Budget, chancellor Rachel Reeves said that the employers’ NI rate will increase to 15 per cent from April next year. In addition,…

A materials shortage could stymie government plans for housing and infrastructure growth without quick action, according to the Construction Leadership Council (CLC). A statement from John Newcomb and Peter Caplehorn, co-chairs of the CLC’s Material Supply Chain Group, said that product availability was currently “good”, despite higher demand for bricks…

The government has announced an investment of £1bn to top up next year’s capital budgets for schools and housing. Ahead of this week’s Budget, chancellor Rachel Reeves (pictured) said that it would add £500m to the final year of the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme. In addition, planned investment in the…

A contractor has been fined a total of £215,000 after a roofer suffered severe injuries when he was thrown from a cherry picker that was hit by a bus. Main contractor McTaggart Construction Ltd, based in North Ayrshire, pleaded guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court on 10 October to charges relating…

A letter has flooded in to Construction News Towers with an appeal for help. Philip Brown, a retired welder living in Wales, is looking for a specific back copy of CN from the 1980s. Brown worked on a Doncaster colliery at the time, and the project featured on the cover.…

Modular builder TopHat is to lay off staff and wind down its modular housing operations, it has announced. The latest blow to the modular housing sector comes a month after Construction News reported that the firm had seen off a winding-up petition lodged by one of its creditors. Top Hat,…