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From Roskill to Arora, Bishop & Taylor discuss Heathrow expansion and alternatives of the past. They also wonder why Mace sold its most profitable operations. And they review some of the latest goings-on overseas, including the Strait of Messina Bridge.   6th August 2025  – Episode 183 – Listen online  Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk Read More

The graph is pointing in the wrong direction. See below for the bigger picture. According to the latest S&P Global Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), total construction activity levels fell at the steepest pace since May 2020. Underlying data highlighted marked decreases in volumes of work carried out across all three monitored sub-sectors, but a considerable drag came from a fresh drop in residential building. The headline PMI was 44.3 in July, down from 48.8 in June; the previous post-covid low was a reading of 44.6 in February 2025. Any score below 50 indicates a decline in activity. The lower the score, the steeper the decline. July’s score was perilously close to June 2019’s reading of 43.1, which – the pandemic aside – remains a 15-year low. Respondents blamed site delays, lower volumes of incoming new business and weaker customer confidence for July’s poor showing. Some respondents also cited a reduction in public sector work, with civil engineering seeing the sharpest drop during July. There was a renewed decline in residential building activity while commercial construction declined more gently. The volume of new incoming work declined for a seventh month running in July, according to this survey, with the pace of contraction at its most pronounced since February. A drop in tender opportunities was cited. Looking ahead to the next 12 months, surveyed companies were optimistic of growth in activity, on balance, but expectations were weak when compared with their long-run trend. This was despite business confidence ticking up slightly from June’s two-and-a-half-year low. Concerns surrounding the broader economic outlook weighed on company growth projections. The downward trend in payroll numbers continued into July, extending the current period of falling employment to seven months. Lay-offs, recruitment freezes and the non-replacement of leavers were seen in panellists’ anecdotal replies to the questionnaire. UK constructors also pared back their usage of subcontractors, but their rates charged nevertheless rose at a sharp pace, in line with the trend seen since late last year. Aside from the covid period, you have to go back to summer 2019 to find when the industry was last struggling this much Joe Hayes, principal economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said: “Having trended upwards in recent months, our survey data for July signal a fresh setback for the UK construction sector, with total industry activity falling at the sharpest rate since May 2020. Dissecting the latest contraction, we can see a fresh and sharp drop in residential building, as well as an accelerated fall in work carried out on civil engineering projects. “Forward-looking indicators from the survey imply that UK constructors are preparing for challenging times ahead. They’re buying less materials and reducing the number of workers on the payroll. Expectations also continue to underwhelm, despite a modest pick-up in confidence from June’s two-and-a-half-year low. “Anecdotally, companies reported a lack of tender opportunities and a hesitancy from customers to commit to projects. Broader themes of uncertainty, both domestically but also internationally, will do little to reignite investment appetites.” Gareth Belsham, director of Bloom Building Consultancy, commented: “There’s no sugarcoating it – this data will be tough to swallow for almost everyone in construction. “All three subsectors of the industry saw output contract in July, with the sharpest fall coming in civil engineering. House-building, the sector beloved of politicians in need of a photo opp, also declined badly. “To make matters worse, the pipeline of new work is drying up fast. New order numbers have now fallen for seven months in a row, with July’s slump the worst seen since February. Little wonder contractor confidence is weak and many construction firms are laying off payrolled staff. “June saw sentiment plunge to its lowest level since December 2022, and while July’s figure improved marginally, even the most optimistic of builders will find it hard to see the glass as half full. “Tomorrow the Bank of England is widely expected to cut its base rate for the third time this year, and the prospect of cheaper finance will be welcomed by developers who are struggling to square their finance costs with weak demand for their end product. “The one bright spot is commercial sector construction. While it too saw output fall in July, at least more commercial schemes are being greenlit. Those that do are laser-focused on value and have a fully costed business case – there is minimal margin for error.” Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk Read More

The Pastures Place development in Corby Glen, Grantham Barratt Redrow has teamed-up with British Gas to deliver homes with free energy to a new development in Grantham as the first step of a wider partnership roll-out over the coming year. The trial at the Pastures Place development will see 10 homeowners pay no energy bills on their homes for two years in return for sharing data on the use of their home’s eco technology and their home in use. The data will enable the builder and the energy company to understand how consumers adapt to living in a home with renewable energy. The homes’ eco technology will be provided by Hive, whose Intelligent Energy Management system uses software to control smart devices that are connected to the grid. This will optimise customers’ air source heat pumps, maximum-fit solar panels and batteries, smart sensors and lights. It is designed to help ensure more of a home’s energy needs are met from the energy generated from a home and use more energy when the grid is quieter and can deliver cheaper energy. Homeowners won’t pay electricity bills for heating, hot water, lighting, cooking and household appliances for two years, saving them an estimated  £105 per month, on average. The deal doesn’t include electrical car charging and also carries a fair usage agreement of 5,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) in total over the year. If a home generates more electricity than a consumer uses, they can, after the two-year trial, sell the extra energy through the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG). Homeowners should continue to see low bills, with those generating more electricity than they use achieving zero bills or even earning money. The data from the trial homes will also be analysed by researchers at the University of Salford, home of the Energy House 2.0 climate chamber where Barratt Redrow has for the past two years been researching technologies in its net zero carbon concept house. Oliver Novakovic, head of technical & innovation at Barratt Redrow, said: “The partnership will see Barratt Redrow and British Gas test a template for delivering low to no bill homes at scale. The trial of free energy bill homes at Corby Glen is an important step forward from the concept homes that we have built at the University of Salford to delivering the learnings into customers’ homes. We are designing and delivering innovative, energy efficient, low carbon homes that enable customers to live comfortably with advanced fabric and heating technology, so that they can gain the benefits of both lower bills.” Hamish Phillips, net zero business development director at Centrica, which owns British Gas and Hive, added: “We understand the meaningful difference that smart home solutions can make – not only helping customers save money, but also supporting their ambitions to live more sustainably. Our partnership with Barratt Redrow is a strong example of how the right eco-tech empowers people to take control of their energy use and get even more from their homes.” Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk Read More

The Avove Ireland team Avove, formerly Amey Utilities, has taken over the Northern Irish operations of Jacopa, which manufacturers and installs sewage treatment equipment. Jacopa works with Northern Ireland Water under a number of product and services frameworks and under IF105 Integrated Partnerships Framework as partner in two joint venture companies, DLJ Water (with Lowry Building & Civil Engineering and Deane Public Works) delivering capital projects and Jacopa-Deane Group (with Deane Public Works) delivering base maintenance projects. Jacopa Ireland, which has 30 employees based in Enniskillen, will now be known as Avove Ireland. Avove is the new name for the utilities division of Amey that was bought by Rubicon Partners in 2022. It said that the expansion into Northern Ireland demonstrated its commitment to the water sector. Avove executive chair Mark Perkins said: “With this acquisition we look forward to collaborating with Northern Ireland Water and combining the strengths of the Jacopa team with the experience and capability of Avove to provide a thoughtful approach and exceptional service.” Jacopa Ireland frameworks manager Kieran Madine said: “Having spent my entire career in the water and wastewater sector, I’m delighted and excited by Jacopa’s alignment with Avove. This partnership opens tremendous opportunities as we join forces with a dynamic, innovative, and forward-thinking organisation. Avove’s business model, focused on delivering cutting-edge and sustainable solutions for the water industry in Ireland, aligns perfectly with our vision for growth and excellence.” Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk Read More

It wasn’t an especially high roof fall but edge protection should still have been put in The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted roofing contractor Gary Smith for failing to provide edge protection for subcontractors. The result was that a worker suffered serious injuries after falling from a flat roof. It was the second time that Smith, trading as GJ Smith Roofing, had failed to provide edge protection on a job, with HSE previously taking enforcement action against him. The incident on 15th December 2022, when a team of roofers and labourers were working on his behalf, replacing a flat roof on a house in the Luton area. At around 11am, one of the workers was carrying wooden boards across the roof, when he inadvertently stepped off the edge of the roof, falling a distance of about 10 feet. He suffered a fractured vertebrate in his back and a broken ankle. The HSE investigation found the task had not been properly risk assessed and planned which meant that edge protection around the flat roof had not been put in place, despite it being reasonably practicable to do so.  Following HSE intervention, edge protection was installed before work resumed Gary Smith of Watling Street, Dunstable, pleaded guilty to a breach of Regulation 4(1) of the Work At Height Regulations 2005.  He was fined £2,125 and ordered to pay costs of £5,445 at a hearing at Luton & South Bedfordshire Magistrates’ Court on 29th July 2025. HSE inspector Tim Nicholson said after the hearing: “Clearly Mr Smith hadn’t learnt from his previous failures. Sadly, this latest offence resulted in a man being seriously injured. “What makes this incident even more frustrating is the fact it could so easily have been avoided by properly planning the task and ensuring that suitable edge protection had been put in place prior to work starting.” Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk Read More

Rendering courtesy the Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Interborough Express will cover 14 miles through Brooklyn and Queens and create 19 new stations on an existing right-of-way.  The Metropolitan Transportation Authority advanced plans to convert a freight line in New York City into a commuter light rail. Called the Interborough Express, the service will cover 14 miles through Brooklyn and Queens and create 19 new stations on an existing right-of-way. The design-build contract went to a partnership between Jacobs Civil Consultants Inc. and HDR, for nearly $166 million.  “I love this—we’re using underutilized existing infrastructure, a freight rail line that gets at most two trains a day and we’re going to turn it into a light rail line that serves maybe 200,000 people a day,” said Janno Lieber, MTA’s CEO and acting chair during an agency board meeting in late July.  The agency estimates the rail line will cost a total of $5.5 billion, with half of the funding already set aside in the agency’s 2025-2029 capital plan. The path of the proposed train line arches through parts of the city where transit is often scarce. While 900,000 New Yorkers live within one-half mile of the route, half don’t have cars and many live in what MTA refers to as “rail deserts,” or areas without meaningful transit access. With an end-to-end run time of 32 minutes and connection points at subway lines, bus stops and the Long Island Rail Road, the Interborough Express should speed up commutes within and between the boroughs, according to the agency. Late last month, it selected the Jacobs/HDR bid from six submissions that also included those from AECOM USA Inc., Arup US Inc., a joint venture of HNTB New York Engineering and Architecture P.C. and STV Inc., EXP Services P.C., and a joint venture of Gannett Fleming Engineers and Architects P.C. and AtkinsRéalis Architecture and Engineering.  MTA declined to disclose the values of the five other project bids.  The agency says it selected Jacobs/HDR because of the partnership’s “extensive experience” on similar projects and its “innovative approach” to project sequencing, logistics and design coordination, and demonstrated understanding of the corridor constraints,” the agency wrote in its July board action Items.  Jacobs/HDR will have 24 months to develop early designs and bridging documents for two further design/build contracts, one for each of two construction phases. The first focuses on preparing the corridor for the train—bridge repair, utility relocation, environmental remediation and more—while the second is dedicated to installing the light rail, including tasks like laying tracks, constructing stations and providing traction power. An option in the Jacobs/HDR contract allows the first phase to be split into three for an additional $8.6 million. The inked design-build contract marks progress on a project first proposed in the 1990s by the Regional Plan Association, a nonprofit that advocates for accessible transit development in the New York City metropolitan area. Of different stretches of freight rails not being used for public passengers in the city, converting this stretch has been a priority for the organization because it would serve the highest number of possible riders by far, said Kate Slevin, its executive vice president.  “Much of the transit system in New York City was built at a time when the goal was to improve access in and out of Manhattan,” Slevin said. “But there’s been a lot of growth and development in Brooklyn and Queens,” including along the waterfront in Sunset Park and Bay Ridge, where the Interborough Express will end, she added.  Originally, the group envisioned the line as running 26 miles into the Bronx, but a northern portion of the right-of-way will instead be incorporated into MTA’s extension of the Metro-North Railroad New Haven line to Penn Station on Manhattan.  Slevin credited New York Gov. Kathy Hutchul’s pursuit of transit development with the project moving forward, along with outreach campaigns and resolved concerns about how freight and passenger service can operate along the same lines. MTA has not yet offered an estimated completion date, but Slevin said the Regional Plan Association will watch to make sure the development stays within its existing right-of-way as much as possible. Integration into local communities, either by fostering new businesses, supporting existing green spaces—or both—will also be important parts of the project, she said, along with making sure locals on either side of the tracks will be able to access trenched portions. Read More

Key Highlights Nonresidential construction employment increased by 6,400 positions on net The construction unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.4% in July Unemployment across all industries rose from 4.1% in June to 4.2% last month. WASHINGTON, DC — The construction industry added 2,000 jobs on net in July, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data released today by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. On a year-over-year basis, industry employment has increased by 96,000 jobs, or 1.2%.  Nonresidential construction employment increased by 6,400 positions on net, with growth in 2 of the 3 subcategories. Heavy and civil engineering added 6,000 jobs, while nonresidential specialty trade added 1,900 new positions. Nonresidential building lost 1,500 jobs for the month. The construction unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.4% in July. Unemployment across all industries rose from 4.1% in June to 4.2% last month. “The construction industry has added just 7,000 jobs over the past four months,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “Industrywide employment is up only 1.2% over the past year, a lackluster pace of growth that historically is seen during and immediately following recessions. The good news for ABC members is that the nonresidential segment continues to outperform, growing at twice the pace of the industry at large over the past 12 months. Given that ABC member backlog remains healthy and hiring expectations remain relatively optimistic, according to ABC’s Construction Backlog Indicator, it’s possible that weakness will be confined to the residential side of the industry during the second half of 2025.” ABC Visit abc.org/economics for the Construction Backlog Indicator and Construction Confidence Index, plus analysis of spending, employment, job openings and the Producer Price Index. Read More

INCHEON, SOUTH KOREA — IAPMO®, a global team of experts engaging industry and government for a safer built environment, played a leading role in the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Workshop: Strengthening Standards and Technical Regulations for Safer Drinking Water – Developing an International Roadmap. The two-day workshop helped kick off the Third Senior Officials’ Meeting and Related Meetings (SOM3), which began July 26 and are slated to run through Aug. 15. Participants With more than 2.2 billion people worldwide lacking access to safely managed drinking water, the workshop brought together government officials, industry leaders, and international experts to develop a collective roadmap for safer, more sustainable drinking water and sanitation systems across APEC economies. The workshop featured participation from the Philippines, Indonesia, the United States, Chile, China, Chinese Taipei, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, and Vietnam, along with world-leading manufacturers and organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), The Water Institute @ UNC, World Vision International, ASTM International, TOTO USA, LIXIL International, and Kohler China. Vital Issues Through expert panels, breakout sessions, and collaborative discussions, the workshop covered many vital industry issues impacting APEC economies, including: The role of safer infrastructure solutions in meeting health, sustainability, and development goals. Aligning plumbing product standards and regulatory frameworks to ensure material safety and prevent contamination. Enhancing industry leadership and cross-sector partnerships to improve supply chain integrity. Developing mutually recognized conformity assessment systems to reduce technical barriers to trade. Meeting the Common Challenge “APEC economies share the common challenge of ensuring safe drinking water. We want to work together to identify how standards can contribute to this work,” said Kent Shigetomi, the project overseer and US representative to the APEC Subcommittee on Standards and Conformance. “WHO is pleased to support efforts that strengthen drinking water safety across APEC economies. By harmonizing standards with public health goals, we can help ensure safer, more sustainable water systems for all. Through this partnership championing the importance of robust industry standards, we can achieve a meaningful change,” said David Trouba of the WHO’s Water, Sanitation and Health (WSH) Unit. “This workshop is a pivotal step toward creating a unified approach to water safety, efficiency, and sustainability across the Asia-Pacific region,” said Dain Hansen, Executive Vice President, Government Relations, IAPMO. “APEC economies have a unique opportunity to lead the way in harmonizing standards, strengthening regulatory frameworks, and building resilient supply chains to ensure safe drinking water for all.” “At TOTO, we believe access to safe, clean drinking water is a fundamental human right,” said Fernando Fernandez, vice president at TOTO for Codes and Standards. “Participating in the APEC 2025 workshop underscores our commitment to advancing water safety, sustainability, and innovation across the region. Through collaboration with governments, industry leaders, and global organizations, we aim to contribute to practical solutions that improve lives and protect the environment for future generations.” “Adopting harmonized global standards is not simply about regulation—it’s a strategic lever for advancing economic development, environmental protection and global cooperation. Standards support national water quality and security, align with international sustainability goals, and create a predictable framework that benefits both the public and private sectors,” said Troy Benavidez, leader, Strategic Partnerships, Government Relations and Policy, LIXIL. “At Kohler, we believe that access to safe drinking water is a fundamental human right and a shared global responsibility. As a global manufacturer, we’ve experienced firsthand how fragmented standards, inconsistent certification requirements, and misaligned compliance frameworks can slow innovation and limit access to water-efficient solutions. We’re proud to contribute our expertise in standards development, product certification, and sustainable design to support APEC’s efforts to harmonize technical regulations. By working together to streamline requirements and promote mutual recognition, we can accelerate market access, strengthen public health protections, and advance a more resilient and sustainable water future for all,” said Tina Zhu and Yanqu Sun, Codes & Standards, Kohler Co. “All children, families and communities deserve access to safe and sustainable water and sanitation systems for health and prosperity. We look forward to this conversation with others in Asia and the Pacific about our continuing work to deploy the highest quality infrastructure,” said Lindsay Lange, Senior External Engagement Advisor for WASH, World Vision International. International Roadmap Insights and recommendations from this event will directly inform the APEC International Roadmap for Safer Drinking Water Systems, which will guide future policy, regulatory, and industry actions across APEC economies. Read More