Supply Chain

One person has died and three people have been injured in an incident at a concrete company in Devon that has prompted a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation. Devon and Cornwall Police were called by the ambulance service to reports of an industrial incident at West Country Concrete Products…

Major contractors have a duty to support smaller firms to stop them going out of business, Costain’s chief executive has said. Speaking to Construction News after the publication of the group’s half-year results for the year ended 30 June 2022, Alex Vaughan said he was concerned for smaller suppliers navigating…

Several "challenging" contracts in its engineering division were not enough to prevent NG Bailey returning to profit in its latest financial year. The mechanical and electrical specialist registered pre-tax profit of £3m in the 12 months to 25 February 2022. It it had fallen to a £4.4m loss the year…

The Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) has issued an urgent warning to all contractors over the safety of fire dampers. Inspections by maintenance contractors found that a “huge number of dampers” had been incorrectly installed and would fail to work during a building fire. BESA’s head of technical Graeme Fox…

Pre-tax profits at Costain rose by more than a fifth in the first half of this year, thanks to inflation protection mechanisms written into its contracts. In interim results for the half-year ended 30 June, published this morning, the contractor reported pre-tax profits of £11.2m, compared with £9.1m during the…

A string of administrations among mechanical and electrical (M&E) firms could be down to teams entering sites last – making them more susceptible to project cancellations, a construction expert has warned. Earlier this month, Construction News reported that 43 per cent of construction firms that went into administration in July…

Construction project starts have fallen by almost a third in a year, according to the latest information from Glenigan. The analyst’s August review revealed that project starts fell by 18 per cent in the three months to the end of July, and were 31 per cent lower than at the…

The impact of the newly introduced Building Safety Act on project pipelines will be the focus of discussions at this year’s Transforming Construction event in November. Formerly known as the CN Summit, the event returns under a new name for its tenth episode – aiming to provide delegates with more…

Continued threats of strike action across UK ports could trigger a “scramble” for materials and increase prices, the Construction Products Association (CPA) has warned. More than 500 port operatives in Liverpool will strike over an “inadequate” 7 per cent pay offer, Unite the Union confirmed last week, calling it a…

Façade specialist Speedclad Limited has gone into administration, with 44 staff being laid off. The Yorkshire-based firm appointed Interpath Advisory’s managing directors for the north, James Lumb and Howard Smith, as joint administrators on 16 August. Eight staff will, however, stay on for the administration process as they seek a…