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Guidance has been produced by the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) and industry stakeholders, in collaboration with the Building Safety Regulator (BSR). It provides the baseline principles to guide those involved in submitting and assessing applications for building control approval (Gateway 2) for buildings officially designated as higher-risk. It includes recommendations on the approach and submission of relevant information. The guidance is freely available on the CLC website. Its publication follows months of frustration among developers and contractors that their applications were being held up by a bureaucratic logjam within the BSR and often having applications returned for non-compliance with the small print of the new procedures. The BSR became the building control authority for multi-occupancy buildings of more than 18 metres (or of 7+ storeys)  in England on 1st October 2023. Under the new regime, an applicant must pass through three gateway points: planning (Gateway 1), building control approval (Gateway 2) and building control completion (Gateway 3). Stephanie Pollitt, programme director for housing at lobby group BusinessLDN (formerly London First), said: “The lack of clear guidance around BSR applications is one reason why tens of thousands of homes have become stuck in the gateway process. This new work from the Construction Leadership Council marks a critical step forward which will help provide clarity to developers from here on out. Comprehensive pre-application engagement between the BSR and developers, more pragmatism around when developments can get started, and improved link-up with experts at the local authority level will all be vital over the months ahead.”    Tim Galloway, deputy director of the Health & Safety Executive, currently the BSR’s parent body, said: “We’ve supported construction industry leaders to write guidance, that speaks industry’s language, to help improve the quality of the applications that are being submitted. The guidance will help applicants demonstrate to themselves and BSR that their designs and plans will result in the safe, quality homes we all want. Applications that clearly demonstrate compliance are approved faster, and everyone in BSR wants those designs and plans off the page and onto site as quickly as possible.” Berkeley Group divisional chairman Karl Whiteman, industry sponsor for the CLC’s building safety workstream, said: “The CLC has worked closely with the BSR and a broad range of leading technical experts from across the sector to develop robust and practical guidance for Gateway 2 applications. This will help to improve the quality of submissions, ensure the regulator can approve them swiftly and consistently, and enable the sector to increase the delivery of safe and high-quality homes. “On behalf of the CLC, I want to thank the many expert contributors to these guidance notes, including members of Local Authority Building Control, Construction Industry Council, Build UK, the G15 (a membership group of London’s leading housing associations), Construction Products Association, Royal Institute of British Architects, Architectural Technical Leads Group and the Home Builders Federation.” Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk Read More

A region-by-region approach is the best way to tackle the construction industry’s skills shortage, a leading procurement body has said. According to Scape chief executive Mark Robinson, the task of mapping skills to regional needs has been made easier by last week’s publication of the national infrastructure pipeline, which provides real-time updates on 780 planned private and public sector projects. Scape spent the past year talking to combined and local authorities about their “region’s most pressing built-environment needs”, he told Construction News.  On Monday (21 July), it published the results of those discussions in a report, A Year of Change: Public Good, Public Building – What the Nation Needs Now. “Something that came over loud and clear [from the discussions] was that development in each region requires vastly different skills, from sustainability expertise to building-safety knowledge,” Robinson said. Scape found that major construction works in Wales, for instance, tend to be focused on green energy, such as the installation of solar panels at Cardiff Airport. Meanwhile, in the East Midlands and Central South regions (covering cities such as Portsmouth and Southampton), the focus is more on transport infrastructure. “Being able to map those skills against the national pipeline would help identify regional gaps ahead of time and ensure the right team is in place at the right time,” Robinson said. “Not only will this facilitate more efficient and cost-effective delivery at a national level, it will also help industry and local authorities nurture new talent – something that we heard can be difficult with a lack of pipeline visibility.” Scape’s report also calls for better communication between local authorities and central government via liaison personnel, to reflect local priorities in national decisions around policies and funding. “Skills-mapping on this scale will require close and consistent communication between central and local governments,” Robinson said.  The report further emphasises the importance of public-private collaboration to successful construction project delivery.  Scape found that many of the technical skills needed to push ahead with building vital infrastructure “sit within the private sector”. “Early onboarding of private partners [on construction projects] will help here,” the report suggests.  Successful collaboration between public and private organisations, it adds, “results in skills exchange, maximised efficiencies and alleviated risk for the public sector”. In addition, earlier collaboration would lead to longer-term knowledge sharing between private and public sector partners, and allow private organisations to embed themselves in local communities at an earlier stage. Construction has faced recruitment difficulties for years, with recent estimates suggesting the industry will need nearly 50,000 extra workers every year for the next four years to meet growing demand.  That need is set to rise as the sector gears up to meet the government target for 1.5 million homes to be built during the current five-year parliamentary term. CN approached the Department for Education for comment. Read More

A tribunal court has finally set a date to hear appeals by three former Carillion directors over their fines, totalling almost £1m – three years after they were first lodged. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued penalties worth a combined £870,000 in June 2022 after concluding that the directors had “acted recklessly” by issuing “misleadingly positive” financial updates about the doomed contractor, which went under in January 2018. Former chief executive Richard Howson was fined £397,800, while former finance directors Richard Adam and Zafar Khan were told to pay £318,000 and £154,000 respectively. They were each later banned from being company directors for between eight and 12.5 years.  However, the trio lodged appeals against the fines on 22 July 2022. Three years later, Construction News can reveal that the Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber) has finally published hearing dates for the appeals to take place in February 2026.  The former directors will only be forced to pay up if a tribunal judge rules that the fines should be upheld or amended, meaning they have yet to pay a penny of the combined £870,000.  When announcing the fines in 2022, the FCA said it would have also fined Carillion £37.9m for publishing misleading accounts, had it not already collapsed into liquidation with £7bn of liabilities and just £29m in cash.  In a statement released after the three directors lodged their case to the Upper Tribunal, the financial regulator said financial statements published by Carillion on 7 December 2016, 1 March 2017 and 3 May 2017 were “misleading and did not accurately or fully disclose the true financial performance of Carillion”. “Those announcements made misleadingly positive statements about Carillion’s financial performance generally, and in relation to its UK construction business in particular,” the FCA said. “The announcements did not reflect significant deteriorations in the expected financial performance of Carillion’s UK construction business and the increasing financial risks associated with it.” The FCA said that the three directors had “acted recklessly and were knowingly concerned in Carillion’s contraventions”. It added that the directors were “each aware” of Carillion’s real financial position but “despite their awareness of these deteriorations and increasing risks, they also failed to make the board and the audit committee aware of them”. Financial services giant KPMG received fines of £14.4m and £21m by the Financial Reporting Council for failures relating to its audit of Carillion. It also settled a £1.3bn lawsuit with the Insolvency Service, which, as Carillion’s liquidator, also alleged that the consultancy had been negligent in its audit.  According to Howson’s LinkedIn profile, the former CEO is now based in Tampa, Florida, where he has been the president of a small energy tech company since January 2024. Khan is a self-employed consultant, according to his LinkedIn profile. Meanwhile, it is unclear whether Adam is in work or not. The FCA has not responded to a request for comment. The judiciary declined to comment. Howson, Adam and Khan have been approached for comment. Read More

Image © 2023 Google Unsecured creditors linked to collapsed contractor J Tomlinson are set to receive a dividend after all, after HMRC claimed less money than was expected. Administrators from FRP Advisory did not expect unsecured creditors – including the construction supply chain – to receive any of the £33m they were owed when J Tomlinson went under in July 2023. But they have now changed tack after secondary preferential creditor HMRC claimed less than half of what FRP Advisory had expected the UK tax body to claim, leaving funds for unsecured creditors. FRP Advisory is now pursuing a creditors’ voluntary liquidation (CVL) rather than a full dissolution. A CVL allows directors of a firm to fulfil their duties to creditors and take control of the liquidation process. In documents published earlier this month, the administrators said: “As the joint administrators are now of the view that a dividend will also become payable to the unsecured creditors […] it is appropriate for [J Tomlinson] to move from administration to creditors’ voluntary liquidation pursuant to Paragraph 83 of Schedule B1 of the Insolvency Act 1986.”  It is unclear how much money unsecured creditors will receive, or when it will become available, “as this will be dependent on the final debtor realisations, and the final level of preferential claims”. As a secondary preferential creditor, HMRC receives money from administration processes before unsecured creditors. Initially, FRP Advisory expected it to claim about £5.3m, but it instead sought £2.7m, which the administrators expect to pay out in full.  They said they also expect to pay out funds to unsecured creditors. So far, the administrators have received £18.1m worth of claims from unsecured creditors. J Tomlinson, which was based in Beeston, Nottinghamshire, was employing about 400 people when it went under. The firm turned over £106m in its final full financial year, according to its last reported accounts. The administrators cited “severe inflationary pressure on costs” for its demise. They later added that the business had initially been rocked by “overdue retentions and other debtor balances, inflationary pressures and disputes regarding completion payments on large construction projects” in early 2022. Read More

An MSP has demanded an “urgent meeting” with Amey after it admitted that already-delayed works on a section of a key link road in Scotland would take a further month. On Friday, the contractor said repairs to the A96 close to Union Bridge in Keith, northern Scotland, would not be completed before “the end of August”, as a subcontractor had “encountered difficulties” when installing sheet piling. Temporary traffic lights have been in place at this part of the main road linking Aberdeen and Inverness for exactly a year since a slope failure was reported on 21 July 2024. Amey’s project to reconstruct the damaged wingwall and reinstate the bridge’s load-carrying capacity began on 2 March this year and was due to finish in mid-May. This was then pushed back to 25 July before the latest setback led to further months of misery for motorists in the area. Douglas Ross, Scottish Conservative MSP for the Highlands and Islands, said on social media: “Enough is enough. This latest delay is unacceptable. “No wonder this update was snuck out late on a Friday – clearly to dodge more embarrassing coverage. I’ve written to the SNP transport secretary and Amey seeking an urgent meeting with senior bosses.” Amey said: “Despite carrying out appropriate checks and surveys with regards to the temporary works, our subcontractor had encountered difficulties with the installation of some of the sheet piling in certain parts of the site. “These temporary works are critical to the next phase of the project because they create a temporary wall for earth retention and allow us to safely carry out the excavation in advance of the concrete foundations and the construction of the new wall.” It said additional ground testing is now required before the next phase of the works can continue. “Unfortunately, this has resulted in a further delay to our scheduled programme with a completion date now likely to be the end of August,” it added. “We recognise that this will come as a further disappointment to the local community and road users, and we apologise for the extended delays caused to this project along with the associated disruption, but the majority of these issues have been outside of our control.” Amey said the next phase of the project involved excavation of earth to allow the installation of new concrete foundations, along with the construction of a wall and facade. “We have been working with the subcontractor to identify opportunities to expedite works through the use of different materials and extended working with a view to removing the temporary traffic management at the earliest opportunity,” it added. “Despite the complexity and challenges that this work has presented, this is not the experience we intended, and we very much regret the continued disruption.” Read More

Sales of structural building materials have rebounded after a shaky start to the year, indicating “signs of recovery” for the wider industry, according to researchers. Data published by the Construction Products Association (CPA) showed a balance of 53 per cent of so-called heavy-side manufacturers did more business in the second quarter of 2025 than the first. This was a turnaround after a majority of firms reported a dip in sales of structural materials in the first three months of the year. Heavy-side manufacturers expected the positive trend to continue, with a balance of 54 per cent foreseeing a further rise in business in the third quarter of the year. The latest data also showed that structural product sales were up year on year, with a balance of 40 per cent seeing an increase since the second quarter in 2024.  An even stronger proportion of suppliers expected further growth in trade over the next 12 months. Meanwhile, light-side manufacturers – those making fittings, fixtures and services for buildings – experienced a sixth straight period of quarter-on-quarter growth in the three months to the end of June. A balance of 29 per cent of respondents expected a seventh over the summer, with the majority anticipating further increases in sales during the next 12 months. The CPA’s head of construction research, Rebecca Larkin, said: “The return of growth for the heavy side and an extended run of growth for the light side heralds the signs of recovery for construction demand. “An increase in heavy-side sales typically aligns with new activity and starts on site, and gives our sector some confidence that construction output will start picking up – albeit gradually – as we move into the second half of the year, and households, businesses and investors gain confidence to give the green light to planned projects.” Demand was expected to be the primary constraint on sales by the majority of heavy and light-side manufacturers, with labour availability the next most frequently cited. A balance of 31 per cent of heavy-side manufacturers reported an annual increase in costs in the latest period, with an even greater proportion of light-side suppliers seeing inflation. “The survey results highlight that challenges remain,” said Larkin. Read More

A Unite investigation led by construction lawyer Martin Bowdery KC into the controversial scheme in Birmingham claims the job was awarded with no competitive tender to contractors who were “good friends” of McCluskey. The building was under construction from 2016-20 and cost over £110m. It was later valued at £38m. The report stated that the original contract gave the builder an “officially agreed £12.5% profit mark-up” before extra costs started to mount up. The cost of preliminary items like scaffolding and machinery jumped from £11.9m to £22.4m which the report “could not identify any reasons for.” Other increases identified in the investigation included the cost of “holes through blockwork and the like” rising from an original estimate of £91,000 to £1.28m. The cost of rainscreen cladding also rose 375% to £3.3m. McCluskey’s lawyers told the BBC he paid for his own travel in full, and, to his recollection, always paid the cost of his football tickets. Read More

The development, close to Wolverhampton University, will also provide ground floor retail space. Each unit will include a kitchenette as well as associated amenities, and the third floor apartments have sweeping views across Wolverhampton city centre. TCC is providing commercial and quantity surveying services to construction managers, Tamworth-based WB Property Group and employers agent services to Birmingham-based Beauford Group – a specialist in student accommodation projects. The development is due for completion in September this year. TCC co-founder and director Sandeep Sunner said, “This is a prestigious student scheme in the heart of Wolverhampton which will create first-class, purpose built accommodation for its student residents, as well as superb views for residents on the top floor. “We were brought in after the original main contractor went into administration and the site lay dormant for several years. We are delighted to be involved in such an imaginative scheme.” TCC has a wealth of experience across public and private sectors including industrial, commercial, retail, leisure, care and residential projects. Headquartered in Bennett’s Hill, TCC is a multi-disciplined consultancy providing specialist project management, quantity-surveying, employers agent, building surveying and health and safety services to a wide range of sectors. Read More

The money has been spent across multiple areas of the business, including the expansion of the hire fleet for accommodation and power, significant property developments, new plant and machinery, vehicles, and the acquisition of Rawley Plant Hire Limited. Hire fleet accounted for the largest share of Wernick’s 2024 investment, with £70m allocated to significantly increase the number of rental assets across the Group’s core divisions. A key part of this investment also supported urgent Department for Education (DfE) requirements, delivering temporary classrooms for RAAC-affected schools, demonstrating Wernick’s agility and proven experience in public sector contracts. A substantial portion of the fleet investment has focused on sustainable solutions, helping clients meet their net zero targets. This includes continued growth of the GreenSpace range of energy-efficient accommodation, as well as innovation within the temporary power division. Here, Wernick has invested in advanced battery storage and solar technologies designed to reduce fuel consumption and lower carbon emissions, strengthening both environmental performance and customer value. Wernick’s long-standing strategy of owning all its freehold properties continues to pay dividends. Recent developments at sites in Dundee, Aldridge and Dunston have been completed successfully, with further projects underway in Langley Mill, Glasgow, Cannock, and Inverness. These investments ensure all operating companies benefit from industry-leading facilities and excellent working environments for its people. Jonathan Wernick, Chief Executive Officer, said: “As a generational family business, we are focused on building a strong, sustainable future. “This investment strategy reflects our confidence, our long-term vision, and our commitment to providing better solutions, facilities, and equipment – not only to maintain our position as a market leader, but to ensure we continue delivering the best for our clients and our people.” Read More

The move comes in response to increasing client demand as businesses seek to adapt their existing properties to achieve net zero targets and comply with the UK’s tightening Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES). Chartered building surveyor Mike McGill, with over 35 years’ experience in surveying, upgrading and adaptation of UK buildings, will head up the new service. This strategic expansion has led to G&H successfully securing a contract with UK property investment and development company, CEG. Under the new appointment, G&H will work to improve the energy performance of Tricorn House, a 1970s office building in Birmingham. The goal is to achieve a minimum EPC B rating for the building, ahead of the current 2030 deadline in line with MEES regulations, reduce its operational carbon costs, and support the client’s wider targets to decrease energy intensity. Following a detailed building survey and options appraisal of Tricorn House, G&H will create a detailed prototype of one office floor, using Building Information Modelling (BIM) and thermal dynamic modelling to identify the most efficient and commercially viable retrofit solution for the whole building. McGill said: “I’ve joined G&H to lead its new building performance service because there’s a significant need from UK clients for seamless, proven, and viable solutions to decarbonise their buildings and achieve their net zero targets. By combining G&H’s vast experience with my background in adapting buildings, we have the capability to devise and deliver exactly what the market is demanding. “We’re off to a great start following our appointment by CEG. They’ve taken the initiative to ensure the long-term sustainability of Tricorn House, well ahead of the MEES deadline. Tricorn House is a typical 1970s concrete office tower, exactly the kind of building that’s often written off as too challenging to retrofit. CEG wants to use this project to prove that these buildings can be successfully upgraded and continue to play an active role as economic and social assets in our city centres.” Paul Greenhalgh, FM quality and procurement manager said: “We needed a partner that could not only improve Tricorn House’s EPC rating to ensure its legal compliance and its commercial viability, but also one that offered a complete integrated solution. “G&H’s approach really appealed as it covers everything from initial assessment to final certification. Knowing the project will be designed and managed by Chartered Building Surveyors and CIBSE building services engineers, and delivered by G&H’s own team, is very reassuring.” As part of the UK government’s target to reach net zero by 2050, all commercial buildings are expected to achieve an EPC C rating by April 2028 and an EPC B rating by April 2030 for both new and existing leases. Properties failing to meet these proposed standards will no longer be lettable, though these requirements have not yet been formally legislated. Read More