Procurement – Covid-19

Stop withholding payments to improve safety, urges Hackitt

Cash retentions must be scrapped as part of a cultural shift that will be necessary on construction projects to deliver safer buildings, Dame Judith Hackitt has urged. Speaking at the launch of new guidance on collaborative procurement to support building safety this week, she welcomed its focus on the practice of retentions.

To read more of this and every other news story on this site, please log in with your Construction Law membership account details. If you don't have an account, you can get free access to the news on this site and receive a free newsletter on Fridays by creating a Newsletter account. See the panel to the right.

Subscribers to the printed magazine get access to the entire Construction law website.

Social value procurement criteria to be rethought

Government is reportedly planning to scale back emphasis on achieving wider social value outcomes from public procurement under the direction of the new Minister for Government Efficiency, Jacob Rees-Mogg. The net effect may end up being a return to lowest price tendering, warns one lawyer.

To read more of this and every other news story on this site, please log in with your Construction Law membership account details. If you don't have an account, you can get free access to the news on this site and receive a free newsletter on Fridays by creating a Newsletter account. See the panel to the right.

Subscribers to the printed magazine get access to the entire Construction law website.

Government “missed” failed ACM fire test result, Inquiry hears

Results of a “catastrophic” fire safety test on a polyethylene cored ACM cladding product “just got missed” by the government some 16 years before the Grenfell Tower fire, the Inquiry into the 2017 blaze has heard.

To read more of this and every other news story on this site, please log in with your Construction Law membership account details. If you don't have an account, you can get free access to the news on this site and receive a free newsletter on Fridays by creating a Newsletter account. See the panel to the right.

Subscribers to the printed magazine get access to the entire Construction law website.

Ukraine crisis piles further pressure on construction margins

Knock on effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are set to pile additional cost pressures on the construction sector and could force some projects to be cancelled or put on hold, warns Mace in its latest market analysis. The report also delivers a fresh warning that insolvencies are likely to rise this year.

To read more of this and every other news story on this site, please log in with your Construction Law membership account details. If you don't have an account, you can get free access to the news on this site and receive a free newsletter on Fridays by creating a Newsletter account. See the panel to the right.

Subscribers to the printed magazine get access to the entire Construction law website.

First signatories join carbon reduction code for construction

High Speed 2 and Skanska are among the first organisations to sign up to a new Carbon Reduction Code for the Built Environment, which provides a framework for reporting on progress towards net zero.

To read more of this and every other news story on this site, please log in with your Construction Law membership account details. If you don't have an account, you can get free access to the news on this site and receive a free newsletter on Fridays by creating a Newsletter account. See the panel to the right.

Subscribers to the printed magazine get access to the entire Construction law website.

Prison sentence given for unsafe excavation work

A principal contractor has been handed a prison sentence after he was found to have supervised unsafe excavation work at a site in Denton, Greater Manchester which put workers in danger and rendered a neighbouring property unstable.

To read more of this and every other news story on this site, please log in with your Construction Law membership account details. If you don't have an account, you can get free access to the news on this site and receive a free newsletter on Fridays by creating a Newsletter account. See the panel to the right.

Subscribers to the printed magazine get access to the entire Construction law website.

Late payments exacerbated by pandemic

Covid has worsened late payments in the UK construction industry as firms continue to struggle with cashflow in the aftermath of the pandemic, according to research carried out by Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking.

To read more of this and every other news story on this site, please log in with your Construction Law membership account details. If you don't have an account, you can get free access to the news on this site and receive a free newsletter on Fridays by creating a Newsletter account. See the panel to the right.

Subscribers to the printed magazine get access to the entire Construction law website.

Slow progress on infrastructure “poses threats” to key agendas

Government is at risk of failing to deliver the key aims of its National Infrastructure Strategy unless it picks up the pace of detailed policy design and implementation, the National Infrastructure Commission has warned. The role infrastructure must play in achieving net zero should not be forgotten, according to one lawyer.

To read more of this and every other news story on this site, please log in with your Construction Law membership account details. If you don't have an account, you can get free access to the news on this site and receive a free newsletter on Fridays by creating a Newsletter account. See the panel to the right.

Subscribers to the printed magazine get access to the entire Construction law website.

Leadership Council reports early win in net zero drive

Efforts to decarbonise the construction sector have reached an important initial milestone according to the Construction Leadership Council, which last year set out its CO2nstruct Zero industry change programme.

To read more of this and every other news story on this site, please log in with your Construction Law membership account details. If you don't have an account, you can get free access to the news on this site and receive a free newsletter on Fridays by creating a Newsletter account. See the panel to the right.

Subscribers to the printed magazine get access to the entire Construction law website.

Falls from height continue to cost contractors

A construction company has been fined after two bricklayers suffered serious injuries in a fall of approximately eight feet while building a parapet wall at a property in Cheshire. Falls from height remain the number one cause of serious injury and death in the construction industry.

To read more of this and every other news story on this site, please log in with your Construction Law membership account details. If you don't have an account, you can get free access to the news on this site and receive a free newsletter on Fridays by creating a Newsletter account. See the panel to the right.

Subscribers to the printed magazine get access to the entire Construction law website.

+ More