Industry failed to learn lessons from high rise fires

Lessons from a series of major fires at high rise buildings clad in aluminium composite material (ACM) panels were not properly learned by the UK construction and cladding industry in the years leading up to the Grenfell Tower fire of 2017, a sector specialist has said.

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Revisit fire safety plans, government told

Government should establish a new comprehensive building safety fund – paid for in part by the construction industry – to address the ‘true scale’ of fire safety issues facing residential buildings, a committee of MPs has urged.

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Arbitration survey reveals scale of Covid adaptation

An explosion in the use of virtual hearing rooms has been reported by the international arbitration community in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, findings of a major survey released this week reveal.

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Procurers focus on efficiency gains after pandemic

Driving operational efficiency has unseated reducing costs as the top priority for chief procurement officers according to a global survey, while 70% report that risk in procurement has increased over the last year of Covid-19 due to supply chain problems.

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Firms fined £53,000 after excavation collapse

Fines totalling £53,000 have been handed to a Scottish house builder and a groundworks contractor after a worker was crushed and severely injured during an excavation collapse at a construction site in Cumnock, East Ayrshire.

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Traditional procurement holds back sector decarbonisation

Decarbonisation of infrastructure is not happening fast enough to achieve net zero by 2050, with “disappointingly little” movement away from lowest cost procurement towards commercial models that incentivise carbon reduction, an industry report has concluded.

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Insurance cover drying up post Grenfell

Rising professional indemnity insurance premiums and restrictions on cover are preventing construction companies from taking on projects and could delay work to improve the safety of buildings post-Grenfell, an industry survey has revealed.

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Simplified pre-qualification system to save £1Bn a year

A new common assessment standard is now up and running to help simplify the previously complex pre-qualification process for the procurement of suppliers in construction.

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News in Brief May 2021

A skills hub dedicated to improving the quality of procurement practices in construction has been launched by the Supply Chain Sustainability School to help boost sector productivity and value for clients.

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Construction firms to face claims over Covid deaths

Firms in construction may soon start to face legal action over Covid-19 deaths within the sector according to lawyers, with latest available data indicating that the virus has taken the lives of over 100 construction workers across England, Scotland and Wales.

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