Planning, Building & Construction News

Despite ongoing cost pressure, hiring in the construction industry remains strong, with 70% of employers planning to recruit. The issue is not demand but delivery, writes Brendan Ryan, director of construction and property at Hays.

Andrew Mcmullan, of the Design Council, speaks about how the council is considering designing the future and its importance.

Thouria Istephan’s final report and the latest Grenfell Inquiry progress report highlight ongoing UK fire and building safety reforms.

Drilon Baca, economist at Glenigan, discusses the results of the Glenigan Construction Index after a disappointing Summer.

BIM and laser scanning are now essential tools in meeting heightened fire safety standards, writes Ryan Donoghue, head of digital engineering at AJ Digital.

James Farrelly of RLB Digital on how digital needs to start with data rather than software, the challenge rather than the solution.

Plans for 5000 Heathrow youth apprenticeships have been announced, alongside 108,000 jobs in the wider industry.

The Oxford Flood Alleviation Scheme will protect all properties vulnerable to flood risk along the River Thames, creating savings of more than £1.8 billion by reducing flood damage and disruption.

Construction does not have a scheduling problem; it has a planning problem, writes Mark Chapman, head of innovation at Eleco

Will new towns solve Britain’s housing problem? Only if barriers to delivery are properly addressed, writes Victoria du Croz, partner and head of planning at Forsters

John Taylor, Publications Manager at BSRIA, explores what the move toward machine-readable information means for how buildings are designed.

The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) and BIM in Asset Management (BIMinAM) have launched a public consultation on new guidance aimed at improving the quality of as-built and handover information across construction projects.

Morgan Sindall Construction is delivering a £17m new Greenway Junior School in Horsham, designed around flexible learning, inclusive spaces and low-carbon operation.

Hugh Simpson, chief executive of the ARB, discusses architectural professional access in the wake of their ongoing consultation.

With the Climate Change Committee warning that, 20 years after the passage of the Climate Change Act, the UK remains poorly prepared for the physical risks  brought about by climate change, Lee Adcock, group sustainability director at Genuit Group, argues that climate adaptation in the built environment increasingly comes down to delivery capability, rather than policy ambition alone.

Greater flexibility on funding is needed to ensure that SuDS not only deliver but are also affordable for everyone, says Jo Bradley, convenor of British Water’s Sustainable Water Management Focus Group

The Home Builders Federation has released new research calling for government support to boost UK road adoption.

Colin Rees, co-lead of consultancy at IES, discusses the Artificial Intelligence cooling problem in Europe and ways to handle it.

John Smith, technical director at Donaldson Timber Systems, explains that the key to achieving maximum benefit from offsite manufacturing is having the right technical conversations as early as possible.

The fall in output follows four consecutive increases in the three-monthly series, with strong growth in the three months to April and May of 1.3% and 1.5%, respectively.

Construction has spent more than 30 years diagnosing its productivity problem. Countless reviews have pointed to earlier collaboration and repeatable delivery. The industry broadly knows what to do. What it has lacked is the discipline, data and delivery model to do it  consistently, writes Jason Millett, CEO of Mace Construct