The M60 in Greater Manchester is officially the North West’s first fully-operational smart motorway, Highways England has announced. On 31 July the final package of smart improvements along junctions 10 to 18 of the M60 in Greater Manchester went live. … Continue reading →

Highways England has said that more than 100 miles of extra lanes will be added to the North West’s motorways through schemes starting on site in the next 18 months. Four new smart motorway schemes – with a combined value … Continue reading →

Construction buyers reported a steady continuation of industry growth following a dip in output earlier this year.  The  latest IHS Markit/CIPS UK Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index for May registered 52.5 – exactly the same figure as April. Crucially the figure … Continue reading →

Civil engineering contractors say that their workload was marginally down in the first quarter of 2018, overall, but orders were up. The Civil Engineering Contractors Association’s workload trends survey for 2018 Q1 in Great Britain suggests things are looking up, … Continue reading →

Laing O’Rourke has recorded the lowest inequality in pay between men and women among Britain’s top 30 main contractors. The firm’s record on equal pay was revealed as thousands of employers with over 250 staff were forced to published their … Continue reading →

Network Rail’s CP6 programme is looming into view while several CP5 projects continue to make the headlines. Midland Main Line Midland Main Line upgrade_Network Rail_Masts installed between Kettering and Corby Midland Main Line electrification was first proposed in the 1970s, … Continue reading →

The 15-year term maintenance contract is expected to be worth up to £326m. Balfour Beatty’s joint venture with Mott MacDonald has held the region covering Merseyside, Cheshire, Lancashire and Greater Manchester since 2012. At the end of last year the … Continue reading →

Construction will be the worst affected major industry following Brexit, according to a study commissioned by mayor of London Sadiq Khan. The report, produced by data analyst Cambridge Econometrics, looked at the effects on trade, investment and labour on different … Continue reading →

As the year draws to a close and we look forward to the Christmas break it’s a good opportunity for us to reflect on 2017 and what the jobs market will have install for us in 2018. It has been … Continue reading →

In a report on post-Brexit economic prospects, PwC highlighted that EU migrants make up around 10 per cent of the UK construction industry’s workforce. In London, this figure rises to 30 per cent, based on 2016 figures from the Office … Continue reading →

Former home secretary Lord Blunkett has vote to force the government to “pull its finger out” on skills to prevent a labour shortage for the UK’s major infrastructure projects. Speaking to Construction News, the Labour peer said the government must … Continue reading →

The leaked document on the government’s Brexit immigration plan, obtained by The Guardian, is a frighteningly stark reminder of the threat to construction, once we leave the EU. While the proposals are in a draft form and yet to be … Continue reading →