Legal

Lagan Construction and a local authority have been fined a combined £50,000 after a worker was killed by a falling tree during a storm. Electrical engineer Matthew Campbell, 24, died after working on water mains at Slieve Gullion Forest Park, Newry, Northern Ireland, in September 2018 in stormy conditions. According…

A demolition contractor has been fined £130,000 after a site engineer was crushed to death. James Rourke died after being run over by an excavator at the housing job in Brampton, Cambridgeshire, according to a statement by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The 22-year-old had been attaching ‘warning’ signs…

A court has ordered the client involved in the Battersea Power Station revamp to pay a subcontractor £3.2m. The subcontractor, QFS Scaffolding Ltd, worked on the second phase of the bumper development project. The phase was completed in January 2022, but costs had ballooned on the project. Initially, QFS signed…

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is seeking a judicial review after a tribunal refused warrants to raid homes as part of an investigation into suspected construction chemical cartel activity. In a hearing on 13 and 14 March, the Administrative Court heard an application by the CMA for a judicial…

The High Court has overturned housing secretary Michael Gove’s decision to block Marks & Spencer’s controversial Oxford Street redevelopment. Justice Lieven upheld M&S’s appeal against the decision on Friday morning (1 March) in a blow to campaigners, who objected to the carbon impact of demolishing and rebuilding the retail giant’s…

Builders merchants, scaffolders and a subsidiary of a large main contractor are among firms named by the government for failing to pay the minimum wage. More than 500 companies have been named after investigations by HMRC found that between 2015 and 2023 they had breached the National Minimum Wage Act.…

A payroll firm involved in a long-running dispute with the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) over £8m of levy payments has lost large parts of its latest legal battle. In 2018, the CITB assessed that Hudson Contract Services (now known as Knot Builders) owed £27.4m (later revised to £7.96m) in…

A roofer and council worker have been jailed for defrauding New Forest District Council out of more than £88,000, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said. Mark Diaper, who worked at a now-defunct roofing company in Southampton, was found to have bribed council maintenance operative Richard Cullen to secure work…

A self-employed construction contractor who fraudulently obtained a £20,000 Covid bounceback loan has been ordered to pay back half the amount. Adam Lennard, 58, was given an eight-month jail sentence, suspended for 15 months, and ordered to pay back £10,000 to the public purse, according to a statement by the…

The High Court has refused an application by a director to remain in post after admitting his role in an illegal demolition cartel. Nicholas Brown, former managing director of Brown and Mason Group, agreed an undertaking in May last year with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to not serve…