News

News in Brief: January / February 2018

SMEs will now be able to bid for up to £12Bn of public sector contracts more easily following work by government lawyer Chris Stanley to condense the existing Crown Commercial Service (CCS) contract terms into a new ‘slimline’ Public Sector Contract.

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Report reveals scale of PFI debt

Taxpayers will have to pay private contractors as much as £199Bn over the next quarter of a century under existing Private Finance Initiative (PFI) deals, a report from the National Audit Office reveals.

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Renewed retention focus follows Carillion saga

Trade bodies Build UK, the Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA), and the Construction Products Association (CPA) have issued a new call for the Government to abolish the practice of retention in the construction industry.

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Industry launches conflict avoidance pledge

A group of key sector institutions alongside two of the industry’s biggest clients have launched a Conflict Avoidance Pledge that aims to put an end to the number of disputes in construction and engineering.

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Scaffolder penalised over crane incident

A specialist scaffolding contractor has been fined after an employee suffered serious injuries following an incident at a site in Chaddesden that saw him knocked over by the arm of a crane.

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Carillion collapse sparks investigation

Investigations into the conduct of Carillion’s directors are being ‘fast-tracked and extended in scope’ at the request of Business Secretary Greg Clark. The construction giant went into liquidation in January after it lost money on large, risky contracts and ran up debts estimated to be in the region of £1.5Bn. This resulted in work being paused on construction sites around the country.

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Firms fined after tenant’s balcony fall

Two construction firms have been fined a combined total of over £1M following an incident that saw a tenant – who was attempting to gain access to her flat – fall through a fragile cement sheet.

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Rainbow contracts suite updated

FIDIC launched new, second editions of its Red, Yellow and Silver Books at its International Users’ Conference in December to replace documents that were first published almost two decades ago.

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Payment charter fails to take off

Government’s Construction Supply Chain Payment Charter has failed to take off and should be scrapped, the head of a leading industry association is urging.

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Regulations overhaul urged after Grenfell

The current regulatory system for ensuring fire safety in high rise and complex buildings is not fit for purpose, an independent review has found in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire. An interim report has been published as part of Dame Judith Hackitt’s review of building regulations and fire safety.

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