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Three major planks of the prison-building programme, designed to boost capacity by 20,000 places, are no longer considered achievable, according to the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA). NISTA gave the verdicts in its first annual report since its creation in April, when it replaced the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) and National Infrastructure Commission. The new body continues the IPA’s practice of publishing overall ratings on whether major government projects are on track to be delivered in line with issues such as scope, deadline and budget. Three of the Ministry of Justice’s prison schemes have changed from an amber rating last year – meaning they had significant issues – to red, denoting “successful delivery of the project appears to be unachievable”. Thousands of prisoners have been released from their sentences early since last summer due to overcrowding in the prison estate. The collapse of tier-one contractor ISG in September 2024, one of the ministry’s top builders, is known to have exacerbated already-delayed and over-budget plans to create 20,000 prison places to keep up with demand. One of the red-rated programmes is adding capacity to the Category D estate. ISG was awarded £155m worth of work on the programme, which focuses on open prisons, a year before the firm went under. According to a National Audit Office (NAO) report last year, costs on the project were running at 115 per cent above their original business case per month before ISG’s administration. The Houseblocks and Refurbishments Programme, providing 2,000 extra prison places, mostly in the closed category B and C estate, has also been downgraded to red. Kier and Wates signed up to deliver £500m of programme work, across six sites, in June 2022. Meanwhile, the Small Secure Houseblock Project – set to deliver about 1,200 places at Category C facilities via a repeatable, modular design – is now also thought to be undeliverable. Last year’s NAO report said costs had increased by somewhere between £72m and £136m compared with the initial business case. Three other projects, the Accelerated Houseblocks Programme, Rapid Deployment Cells and the largest – adding 10,000 places across four new prisons – remain amber-rated. In January, it was revealed that the collapse of ISG would add £300m to the new prisons programme and would have an even bigger impact on fire-remediation efforts in the estate – which, in turn, would further hit capacity. ISG was delivering around 17 per cent of the government’s 20,000 extra prison places under its expansion programme, amounting to 3,600 places across 13 sites, including HMP Grendon in Buckinghamshire, when it went into administration. Last week Laing O’Rourke chief executive Cathal O’Rourke told Construction News that the contractor was still holding discussions with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) about taking over the contract to build Grendon. HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) executive director Jim Barton told a parliamentary committee in January: “Some projects could be delayed by up to about a year. “It’s fair to say that ISG going into administration has been a significant issue and challenge for [the expansion programme].” Amy Rees, then director general and chief executive of HMPPS, added that the organisation’s exposure was greater on the maintenance side than on the new prison places. “[ISG was] involved, yes it will put at risk the completion by [the end of] 2027 but it won’t change the outcome, because if those places are not remediated by the end of 2027 we will take them out of action,” she said. Rees was named as the new chief executive of Homes England last week. A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “The government is delivering the largest expansion of prison places since the Victorian era – with 2,500 new spaces already delivered and 14,000 on track for delivery by 2031. “These projects were progressing until a key supplier entered administration. We’ve already launched a re-procurement process and are moving forward with new suppliers.” They added that the Small Secure Houseblocks programme was Red rated due to it requiring a new business case due to its costs rising. The revised case has now been approved and the project will have an Amber rating in 2025/26, they said. Overall, 213 government projects were assessed and rated, with 68 of those being construction work. The New Hospital Programme, which has had its scope changed, moved from red to amber in the latest report. HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail remained red. Sizewell C and the establishment of the Great British Nuclear quango were given ‘exempt’ ratings due to commercial considerations. The reviews were carried out by the IPA in March, just ahead of its abolition. Read More

Geraint Lewis is a VAT director with Moore Kingston Smith A flurry of recent cases has shown that the construction industry is in HMRC’s crosshairs. The tax body appears to be pursuing compliant businesses for sums owed by others. This initiative is part of a battle between HMRC and fraudsters using staffing agencies to defraud the tax system of very significant sums. HMRC’s list of deliberate defaulters for the first half of 2025 includes at least six staff companies that, in total, have defaulted on £51m of tax. “Frustratingly, HMRC will not provide a list of due-diligence steps for businesses to follow” How these fraudsters operate differs, but they need an innocent victim who requires a reliable source of temporary workers and to outsource payroll and pensions. The fraudsters set up what appear to be legitimate staffing agencies that seemingly do a good job for a very competitive fee. The kicker is that someone in the supply chain neglects to pay the VAT. The beauty of this structure for the fraudsters is that temporary staff companies can be set up quickly with the minimum of physical infrastructure, and by charging VAT on wages, National Insurance and pensions, they can process large amounts of VAT very quickly. The problem for HMRC is that these staff agencies have few assets, making it difficult for HMRC to collect the outstanding tax. This means HMRC is directing its fire at the companies using the temporary staff – which typically have no knowledge of these events and made no financial gain from the fraud. However, for HMRC, the attraction is that these are real businesses with assets, offering the opportunity to collect the lost revenue.  ‘Should have known’ While these companies are not party to any fraud, and have paid and recovered VAT in good faith, a little-known legal principal gives HMRC the basis to deny VAT deduction to businesses if HMRC can demonstrate that the business knew, or should have known, that the VAT being recovered was charged on transactions linked to a tax fraud committed by another party. Being an innocent party, or even the victim of fraud, is not a defence – HMRC simply needs to demonstrate that a taxpayer ‘should have known’ that the transactions were linked with fraud. HMRC argues that any business that, for example, failed to undertake a detailed supplier due diligence, or pick up on certain red flags, such as frequent name changes, suppliers with little if any electronic footprint, or very low pricing, has failed to meet the ‘should have known’ test and HMRC is entitled to refuse credit for any VAT the end customer has recovered on invoices from the fraudsters – even though those amounts were paid in good faith. Review your processes The litigation in these cases is complex and the outcome almost always rests on the business being able to evidence that its actions in dealing with the fraudsters were entirely above board, and that its supplier-review process was not only robust but also reviewed regularly. Frustratingly, HMRC will not provide a list of due-diligence steps that businesses should follow to give them protection against footing the bill for someone else’s fraud. The appropriate measures will depend on the nature and size of the business. Businesses should take advice and develop their own procedures, and then ensure that any policies implemented are followed and records kept showing that due-diligence actions were taken. The tax tribunal continues to hear many cases in this area (referred to as the Kittel Principle), which often see a victory for HMRC. Given the pressure on public finances, we can expect this trend to continue. The need for businesses to review their internal processes in this area, and never turn a blind eye, has never been greater. Read More

Building, roofing and landscaping-products company Marshalls has posted a 4 per cent rise in half-year (H1) revenue to £319.5m but a 46 per cent drop in pre-tax profit to £11.7m. The group’s landscaping division served as the main drag on the numbers in the six months to the end of June, with adjusted operating profit plunging 96 per cent to £300,000. Marshalls pointed to weakened demand in the sector but said its “transform and grow” plan was starting to show promise. Chief executive Matt Pullen told Construction News the “improving trend in revenue for landscaping and recovery of market share” was encouraging, and that much work was being put into resetting the front end of the business, with an emphasis on building stronger customer relationships. “We’ve seen our brand presence grow across the distributor network, and you can see that on the ground,” he said. “And even while the profitability was below expectations in landscaping, that business is starting to see some early improvement signs.” He added: “We’ve taken some decisive action to reduce costs [and] align our capacity to meet the current market demand, and we’re making some really strong progress with our portfolio simplification. “That portfolio has become overly complex and overly large, and we’re now resetting [it].” H1 operating profit at the West Yorkshire-based company was 37 per cent lower, at £18.1m, and the return on capital employed fell from 7.6 per cent to 7.3 per cent. On an adjusted basis, pre-tax profit fell from £26.6m to £22m. While landscaping failed to deliver, other divisions fared better. In roofing, which generates around half its turnover from new housing, revenue at Marley – which Marshalls acquired three years ago – grew modestly. But the outstanding performer was Viridian Solar, which saw revenue rise by 50 per cent in H1. Pullen told CN “part of that is driven by regulatory tailwinds, and particularly in a business like Viridian Solar, by the Part L building regulations”, the latest updates for which came into force in June 2022, setting standards for energy efficiency on new and existing buildings. “That business was performing really, really well, and will perform even better as [the government] move[s] forward with the announcement of the Future Homes Standard,” which will mandate the use of solar power in most new homes. “And we expect that to come in at some point in 2027,” he said. Marshalls’ operating cashflow conversion on an annualised basis at June 2025 was 94 per cent of adjusted EBITDA, down from 111 per cent in June the previous year. Even so, the company said the numbers demonstrate the “consistently strong cash-generative nature of the group’s businesses”. The dividend on the company shares fell by 15 per cent to 2.2p a share, which remains within the scope of the board’s dividend policy. Marshalls’ shares fell sharply at the end of July, after the firm lowered its full-year adjusted profit before tax forecast to £42m-£46m. The share price dipped by about 0.5 per cent in mid-morning trading in London today (11 August), having lost around 30 per cent in value already this year. Looking forward, Pullen told CN he was confident of solid performances across the company, even in subdued markets. “Our water-management business, which was formerly civils and drainage, has grown really strongly in the first half of the year, and we expect similar growth in the second half of the year. “Across our business, there are some really good stories of growth, in line with our ‘transform and grow’ strategy, and landscaping is about turning around that performance – controlling the things that we can control in the near term, while setting it up to take advantage as and when market conditions do improve.” Analysts at Peel Hunt said: “It was a tough first half for the group, as the landscape division held back decent performances in the other divisions.” Read More

Professional indemnity (PI) insurers have started quizzing construction firms as to whether they have sufficient oversight of artificial intelligence (AI) use in their businesses, a broker has said. Miller Insurance highlighted the emerging issue in a review of the London construction market. While there has been much talk of AI technology improving efficiency and accuracy in the building sector, it said concern has grown among insurers about risks relating to areas including governance and data security. “Proposals now often include questions about AI, reflecting concerns over intellectual property issues, design errors and potential negligence from inadequate oversight,” the broker said. According to Miller, insurers are particularly keen to look at how construction firms use generative AI in design, planning and risk forecasting. AI use has soared in popularity in recent years as the technology has improved, including in construction. Last month, Balfour Beatty announced a £7.2m investment in Microsoft’s 365 Copilot AI tool, which runs alongside applications such as Outlook and Excel, as part of a digital transformation strategy. The contractor said it aimed to boost productivity and site safety through automation and better decision-making. Guidance issued by the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) last year urges construction workers to treat AI as a “new colleague”. The document says AI offers the opportunity to improve everyday working patterns, and CIOB encourages staff to “Treat AI as your new colleague, your construction assistant, potentially removing the burden from often repetitive data tasks.”  It advises: “Work out where it can provide complementary analytical skills, pattern recognition, consistency and increased processing speed.” According to the Information Commissioner’s Office, which regulates around data laws, AI systems have the potential to “exacerbate known security risks and make them more difficult to manage”. Companies have duties to process personal data in a way that ensures it is not unauthorised or unlawfully processed, and this can be made harder when using AI systems. In January, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology published advice to guard AI systems against cybersecurity threats. Elsewhere in Miller’s half-year overview, it said “robust” capacity and “good” appetite among PI insurers to provide cover was fuelling competition and driving premiums down. A half-year report by Gallagher, another broker, released last month, also said heightened competition was pushing down rates. Miller warned that issues remain for smaller companies, however. “With improving market conditions, there has been a clear trend towards higher contractual requirements for PI limits, especially from public sector bodies and tier-one contractors,” it said. “This is putting pressure on some consultancies and specialist subcontractors to significantly increase their cover to stay eligible for tender opportunities.” It said that businesses that demonstrated strong internal governance, robust quality-control processes and clear supply chain diligence would get better deals. Earlier this year, Construction News explored whether changes introduced under the Building Safety Act 2022 could lead to the PI insurance market grinding to a halt, as it did in the aftermath of the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire. Commenting on the impact of the act, Miller said: “Early disputes suggest that safety-compliance failures may constitute breaches of professional duty, possibly triggering PI claims. “These cases will shape future interpretations of coverage, particularly regarding exclusions tied to known risks and regulatory breaches.” Read More

A drywall contractor withdrew a job offer for a finance director position after the successful applicant submitted requests around their disability, an employment tribunal has found. Employment judge Sarah Keogh found that Drywall Solutions UK discriminated against I Hajee-Adam by rescinding the offer because it decided “it did not want to make the reasonable adjustments” he had requested. Drywall’s actions would “reasonably have the effect of causing the claimant significant distress and humiliation”, the tribunal found. Hajee-Adam brought five claims in March 2020, and the judgment was given on 28 July this year. Two of the claims succeeded, while two others partially succeeded and one was dismissed. Background to the case In October 2019, Hajee-Adam was verbally offered the role of finance director, and subsequently sent the firm a number of requests around his disability. Hajee-Adam had chronic IBS, anxiety and seasonal affective disorder at the time of his application. The tribunal found that he made a number of requests: that his hours be spread over three days; to start work at around midday; to receive a desk with natural light; and to work no more than 20 hours per week. Drywall did not object to the requests initially, the tribunal found, but rescinded the job offer on 24 October 2019. In its letter, the firm said: “Having reflected on the positions our plans for growth meant that we would expect a financial director to be able to give more time to the business as it grows and on reflection we felt that your refusal to be able to work any more than two days, on grounds of your personal wealth, would be detrimental to the business as we grow, and that it would not be worth the investment in time and effort to embark on the employment relationship that ultimately would not grow with the business needs.” Hajee-Adam alleged that Drywall directly discriminated against him, harassed him and failed to make “reasonable adjustments” to meet his requests. ‘Treated less favourably’ Drywall argued that it had rescinded the job offer due to the “claimant’s attitude” displayed in a further letter sent to the firm, as well as concerns around the lack of flexibility he had displayed concerning the hours he could work. But the tribunal rejected the claim that it was done because of his lack of flexibility, as the firm already knew he would be available two days a week before they offered him the job. Moreover, it found that Drywall changed its reasoning for pulling the job offer, first telling Hajee-Adam in October 2019 that it was because it could not meet some of his requests. In November, in a formal letter rescinding the job offer, it pointed instead to the lack of flexibility and “attitude” he had displayed. The tribunal found that Hajee-Adam was “treated less favourably than someone without the claimant’s disabilities would have been treated”. It added that Drywall’s reasoning was “inconsistent and […] changed over time”, noting that it was not clear who made the decision to pull the job offer. “The respondent cannot show that the reason for withdrawing the offer was nothing whatsoever to do with disability,” the tribunal found. The judge dismissed Hajee-Adam’s claim for direct discrimination, but his claims of disability discrimination and harassment both succeeded. His claims for indirect disability discrimination and a failure to make reasonable adjustments partially succeeded. Keogh also addressed the tribunal hearing’s duration, noting that the claim had had a “long and complex procedural history getting to a final hearing, with a number of postponements”. Read More

An article from Economic Reports Notable strength in data center and warehouse activity accounted for the growth as developers absorb tariff-related cost increases, according to Dodge Construction Network. Published Aug. 11, 2025 Aerial view of a large distribution center warehouse under construction. Teamjackson via Getty Images This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Another month of construction planning growth indicates a wave of projects is breaking loose, according to Dodge Construction Network. The Dodge Momentum Index, which tracks nonresidential projects entering the planning stage and leads actual construction spending by a full year, soared 20.8% in July.  Commercial and institutional planning spiked 14.2% and 35.1%, respectively, during the month. The rise follows a 6.8% gain in June. “Planning data skyrocketed in the month of July on the back of several large projects entering the planning queue for data centers, research and development labs, hospitals and service stations,” said Sarah Martin, associate director of forecasting at Dodge Construction Network. “After months of wait-and-see due to tariff uncertainty, owners and developers have begun to move forward with projects and assumed higher costs for them.” Tariffs on materials such as steel and aluminum have added pressure to construction budgets, causing delays or outright cancellations on a number of jobsites. Though some developers are still moving forward, Martin cautions others will remain hesitant. That dynamic will likely keep planning activity uneven in the months ahead, she said. “Combined with more organic momentum in planning for hotels, warehouses and recreational projects, cumulative activity drove record highs in the DMI,” said Martin. “As economic and fiscal uncertainty remains prevalent, volatility in planning activity will remain elevated” Momentum expanded across all commercial subsectors, with notable strength in data center and warehouse planning. Massachusetts’ DOT also contributed more than $700 million in planning for the construction of several service plaza projects across the state. Institutional activity accounted for the bulk of July’s gains. Education, healthcare and public projects all posted substantial increases in planning, according to Dodge. For example, the Hospital Corp. of America submitted plans for several new facilities in July, helping push institutional growth to an 85% year-over-year increase. Overall, the DMI jumped 41% compared to July 2024. Commercial planning rose 24% over that period, and institutional planning nearly doubled. Even excluding data center projects from 2023 through 2025, commercial planning would still be up 26% from a year ago, fueled in part by warehouse development, according to Dodge. A total of 47 projects valued at $100 million or more entered planning in July, according to Dodge. Major commercial projects included: The $500 million Fairview Connections data center in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania. The $500 million Jabil artificial intelligence data center in Salisbury, North Carolina. The $460 million Peabody Union hotel in Nashville, Tennessee. The largest institutional projects to enter planning included: The $459 million ASM campus research and development lab and office in Scottsdale, Arizona. The $398 million research and development lab in San Diego. The $380 million PPV unaccompanied housing and Navy dormitory in Norfolk, Virginia. Read More

Skip to main content An article from The California-based road builder and materials company benefited from a robust bidding environment and continued healthy funding levels from the IIJA. Published Aug. 11, 2025 A Warren Paving barge loaded with aggregate on the Mississippi River system. Granite Construction announced it had bought Warren Aug. 6, 2025. Courtesy of Granite Construction This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Granite Construction continued paving a profitable path in the second quarter while racking up a record amount of backlog and buying two aggregate suppliers. The Watsonville, California-based road builder, materials supplier and infrastructure firm purchased Hattiesburg, Mississippi-based Warren Paving and Arroyo Grande, California-headquartered Papich Construction for a combined price of $710 million.  Kyle Larkin Permission granted by Granite Construction Granite’s continued investment in material suppliers reflects the firm’s bullishness on both public and private infrastructure work, along with the booming data center market. Those facilities, along with computer chips and racks of servers, need roads and parking lots to access them as well. Two aggregate purchases Warren Paving, which owns a quarry, 11 aggregate yards and three asphalt plants along with 170 owned and leased barges on the Mississippi River system, will expand Granite’s materials business in the Southeast, while building on its buying spree in the region.  In late 2023, Granite scooped up Lehman-Roberts and Memphis Stone & Gravel, both of Memphis, for a combined $278 million. Then last year, it acquired Brookhaven, Mississippi-based aggregate supplier Dickerson & Bowen.  On an earnings call Aug. 7 to discuss the firm’s second-quarter results, CEO Kyle Larkin said Warren Paving will complement those previous purchases.  “Warren Paving’s logistics expertise should allow us to supply materials to certain Lehman-Roberts and Dickerson & Bowen asphalt plants and positions us to expand the distribution network as we continue to grow our Southeast platform investment,” Larkin said on the call. He also highlighted opportunities to supply data center jobsites in the region, which has been attractive to owners looking for cheap land, plentiful power and water and a robust labor pool.  “We believe private investment will ramp up in the region, whether through data centers or other large commercial developments.”  In California, Papich will expand Granite’s operations along the state’s Central Coast and Valley, an area where it currently has less of a presence. “It’s complementary to our current footprint,” Larkin said.  The addition of the two businesses will add approximately $425 million to Granite’s revenue annually, the company said. It raised its revenue guidance for 2025 accordingly to between $4.35 billion and $4.55 billion and anticipates approximately $150 million in revenue from the units in the remainder of the year.  By the numbers The deal was the highlight of a quarter that also saw Granite grow its backlog — which the company calls Committed or Awarded Projects — to $6.1 billion, a company high. That’s $488 million more, or 9% higher, than a year ago.  Revenue of $1.13 billion increased 4% from $1.08 billion a year ago. The company also grew profits to $71.7 million, nearly doubling the $36.9 million of net income it reported for 2024’s second quarter.  Larkin attributed the higher revenue, backlog and profits to a robust bidding and funding environment, particularly in the company’s core infrastructure markets, as well as more efficient operations and integration within the company.  “In California and across our footprint, we continue to see a healthy list of project bidding opportunities in both the public and private markets,” Larkin said. He also said money from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, passed in 2021, hasn’t reached its apex, which he expects to come in 2026 or 2027.  “IIJA funding continues to be strong,” Larkin said. “I think that’s pretty universal in all the markets that we’re in. And just as a reminder, the spending to date on the IIJA is still less than 50%. And so we haven’t seen, in our opinion, that peak yet.”  Read More

It’s no secret that owning and managing vehicles keeps getting more expensive for construction businesses. What’s harder to uncover is total cost of ownership (TCO), and ways to lower that amount, especially with cost pressures coming from all directions. Rising costs have a cumulative effect An obvious source of financial strain is purchasing vehicles. Unfortunately, light-duty trucks such as pickups have seen significant cost spikes in recent years. Delivered prices for factory orders have surged 51% since 2021, while commercial auto insurance costs climbed in 2024 and show no signs of dropping. Maintenance is also increasingly expensive. A combination of workforce shortages and supply chain challenges has sent labor, materials, and parts prices soaring. Other fleet management costs are harder to quantify but can impact the bottom line, like when a truck breaks down, causing unanticipated downtime and delays. The time involved in fleet management — making acquisition and maintenance decisions, and handling seasonal or market fluctuations — is another invisible cost that adds up. “Not many construction businesses have personnel solely dedicated to managing their fleet,” says Billy Dobosz, Assistant Vice President at Enterprise Fleet Management. “Typically, those decisions fall on the shoulders of someone with a host of other responsibilities. Snap decisions can be costly in a capital-intensive industry like construction, where expenses are financed upfront but full payment is contingent on project completion. Businesses may try to help cash flow by delaying big expenditures such as vehicle purchases. But if an aging truck is totaled or needs a cost-prohibitive repair, they’re forced to act quickly — or risk losing the contract and damaging the company’s reputation. “With a reactive fleet plan, they’re making decisions based on whatever the need is today,” Dobosz says. “But to truly be efficient with your capital, you’ve got to have a plan going forward.” 3 keys to reducing fleet costs Owning all your vehicles outright poses one set of costs and burdens, but businesses may hesitate to move to exclusively renting and leasing on an ad hoc basis. Many contractors don’t realize there are alternative ways of managing their fleet that allow them on-demand access to the vehicles they need with less risk and lower overhead. Consider the following three tactics, which, when combined, can help reduce your TCO while increasing vehicle efficiency and reliability. 1. Develop a flexible fleet model tailored to your business. A strategy that gives your company access to vehicles through multiple sources — leasing, owning, and renting — balances the risks and uncertainties of vehicle management. “One of the biggest hidden costs of an ownership model is not having the right number of vehicles,” says Gordon Welsh, Corporate Business Development Manager at Enterprise Truck Rental. “Many construction companies have capital tied up in assets they aren’t using efficiently.”  A hybrid plan that includes rentals and leases can ease cash flow concerns by helping a company optimize its asset mix. This approach can also boost safety, an all-important consideration in the construction industry: Companies can trade in vehicles in the event of a recall or other safety issue, or use early trade-in offers on leased vehicles to swap for a newer model with enhanced safety features.  Easy access to rentals not only enables contractors to bridge the gap during a recall or repair, but it’s also a way to seize short-term and seasonal opportunities that require vehicles for a short period of time. 2. Make maintenance affordable and seamless. A comprehensive maintenance program also contributes to safety by monitoring upkeep needs and providing preventive maintenance scheduling. It’s an important strategy for tackling the hidden costs of ownership.  “A company that manages its own maintenance might pay unnecessarily high amounts,” Dobosz says. “By going it alone, they’re missing out on the negotiated rates unlocked by a mobility partner’s strategic relationships with maintenance providers. That’s a typical hidden cost in an ownership model, because many don’t realize such cost savings are possible.”  With a managed maintenance program, upkeep costs are baked into the contract, and repair prices are typically much lower than retail rates as partners benefit from a larger footprint.  Telematics — smart equipment monitoring technology incorporated into the vehicle — can further improve maintenance costs by giving contractors real-time insights into vehicle health and usage. Those insights allow for a proactive approach to maintenance that can lead to fewer surprise breakdowns, better cost control, and improvements in overall fleet efficiency and performance.  3. Stop reacting and start predicting. With a well-managed fleet, maintenance is preventive and planned, not just a reaction to problems. However, managed maintenance is just one aspect of proactive fleet management. Having ready access to historical data through a mobility partner can help companies plan more effectively. “By identifying patterns, we help customers plan ahead, not just respond to issues,” says Brett Vandermeulen, Director of North American Truck Rental for Enterprise Mobility. “For example, if some trucks have higher mileage than others, we recommend ways to shift them around to slow the depreciation and maintenance cycles. Being proactive is cheaper and less intrusive to the business in the long run.” Having access to the right mix of vehicles and solutions can help businesses plan ahead, especially with the right partner. Enterprise draws from expertise in the rental business and vast amounts of historical data to help companies plan more effectively. “We’re the world’s foremost experts in putting the right vehicles in service and keeping those vehicles compliant and on the road,” Welsh says. “We take what we’ve learned about managing a fleet of vehicles in a rental branch and apply that to our commercial customers.” Complete mobility solutions from a single partner Enterprise is uniquely positioned to support construction businesses’ unique needs with a complete range of services and solutions that work seamlessly together in any combination needed, whether it’s full fleet management, seasonal truck rentals, or any other business mobility needs. Enterprise Fleet Management provides long-term leasing, maintenance, and lifecycle planning for owned or leased assets, while Enterprise Truck Rental offers flexible access

The Karparc scheme in Newcastle-under-Lyme will start on site this autumn. In a UK first, the car park conversion will see the brutalist frame reimagined as a new community of one- and two-bedroom apartments. Underneath a striking three-storey atrium, residents will enjoy lush greenery and social spaces including a gym, lounge, mini cinema and social hub. John Moffat, Joint Managing Director at Capital&Centric, said: “This isn’t your average regeneration. We’re flipping expectations of what’s possible in our towns. “Signing with Clegg Construction means Karparc is one big step closer, bringing new homes, green spaces and energy to a spot that’s long been overlooked. We can’t wait to get going this autumn.” Read More

Grant Prior 1 day ago Staffordshire based M&E contractor Cannock Building Services (CBS) has gone into voluntary liquidation. A statement of affairs posted at Companies House reveals the firm had debts of £4m when it went under. Money owed included £640,000 in unpaid bills across more than 90 firms in the supply chain. CBS had been in business since 2012 offering a fully integrated mechanical and electrical engineering and contracting service. Recently completed projects included a £1.3m MEP package for Consortia on an apartment complex in Birmingham and a £4.5m job for Elliott Group on a large residential job in Worcester. Read More