Carillion has been selected as the preferred bidder for £400m first phase of the Battersea Power Station development project.

Situated to the west of the Power Station, Circus West at Battersea Power Station will comprise 866 apartments, townhouses and penthouses as well as a range of offices, shops, community and cultural spaces designed by Ian Simpson Architects and de Rijke Marsh Morgan (dRMM). The apartments will be in two blocks built on a podium with two levels of basement parking. The main block will vary in height from eight storeys at its southern end, rising to 18 storeys and then reducing to 12 storeys at its northern end. The second block will be eight storeys high.

Preparatory work on Phase One has already begun with main construction works expected to commence in the summer of 2013 and scheduled for completion in 2016. This will coincide with the start of the renovation of the Grade II* listed Power Station itself, the largest brick building in Europe and one of the most significant surviving examples of Art Deco architecture. This will involve the rebuilding of the iconic towers which will remain the centrepiece of the site in the new development.

Carillion expects to create up to 1,400 jobs on-site, at the peak of phase 1 construction.

As previously reported, the project manager is Turner & Townsend.

Losing bidders for the main construction contract were Brookfield, Laing O’Rourke, Sir Robert McAlpine and Lend Lease.

The Battersea Power Station development site is owned by a Malaysian consortium of SP Setia, Sime Darby Property and Employees' Provident Fund.  The development is being managed by British firm Battersea Power Station Development Company.

The completed 39-acre development will have 3,500 new homes, under current plans.

Carillion chief executive Richard Howson said: "We are delighted to have been selected as the preferred bidder for this prestigious project, which I believe reflects Carillion's reputation for delivering high-quality, value for money projects.  We look forward to working in partnership with the Battersea Power Station Development Company to deliver this iconic project that will make a major contribution to the transformation of this historic site.

"This takes the total value of new orders and probable orders for Carillion in 2013 to some £2.6bn and demonstrates the benefits of our strategy in construction services of focusing on national projects."

Battersea Power Station Development Company chief executive Rob Tincknell said: "This will be one of the largest construction contracts to be awarded in recent history and, on behalf of the Battersea Power Station shareholders, we are delighted it will go to an award-winning British firm.

"The first phase of any redevelopment is an important statement of the qualities that will govern the entire project and for that reason we took a lot of time selecting the contractor.  After a great deal of consideration, we believe Carillion is best placed to deliver the ambition, precision and rigour that people rightly expect from a scheme which will flank a building as famous and distinguished as Battersea Power Station.

“Battersea Power Station is the last central London regeneration project of its sort and over the course of the redevelopment it will generate 15,000 new jobs, 3,500 new homes and the restoration of the historic Power Station."

Proposals for a new crossing of the Thames to relieve congestion on the M25 Darford bridge and tunnels have been put forward by the Department for Transport for consultation.

The consultation is the first step in deciding on the location of a new lower Thames road crossing, which was one of the top 40 infrastructure projects in the government’s 2011 national infrastructure plan.

Three options have been proposed:

• option A: at the site of the existing A282 Dartford-Thurrock crossing

• option B: connecting the A2 Swanscombe Peninsula with the A1089

• option C: connecting the M2 with the A13 and the M25 between junctions 29 and 30

A variant to option C would additionally widen the A229 between the M2 and M20

Roads minister Stephen Hammond said: “With traffic levels expected to increase by a fifth over the next 30 years, it is vital we take action now on the future of a new Lower Thames crossing to make sure that our road network is able to meet the future economic needs of the country.

“There are some tough decisions to be made, but this is the first step in making sure that the residents, businesses and motorists who rely on the crossing receive the service they expect and deserve in the years to come.

“I encourage anyone who uses the existing crossing or has an interest in the location of the new crossing to let us have their views on these proposals. This will enable us to make the right decision on the location of the new crossing.”

The Dartford crossing is operating above its design capacity and there are often long queues for the toll plazas, although there are plans to replace the toll barriers with automatic charging.

However, even with these improvements there will be a future need for additional river crossing capacity, the DfT reckons.

The Freight Transport Association (FTA) welcomed movement on the scheme, which it described as essential.

Malcolm Bingham, FTA’s head of road network management policy, said: “There is absolutely no doubt that improving capacity and easing congestion at Dartford is essential, therefore FTA believes that there is a definite requirement for a third Thames crossing, but we have to ensure that the best option is selected, providing real relief on this important national artery.

“There is a terrific opportunity here that must not be wasted, and strong leadership to decide what the best option is has to be paramount.  FTA will help with determining what the right option is by consulting with its members on what that best crossing will be.”

The consultation runs until Tuesday 16 July.

The Competition Commission (CC) is promising 'hard-hitting measures' to 'break open' the cement market amid allegations of coordination among producers.

It is threatening to force major producers to sell cement plants and looking at setting up a cement buying group.

The CC said that it had found that “both structure and conduct in the sector limit competition by aiding coordination between certain UK producers”. This is costing consumers £45m a year or more, it reckons.

An investigation into the supply of aggregates, cement and ready mix concrete (RMX) in Great Britain has provisionally concluded that coordination between the three major cement producers – Lafarge Tarmac, Cemex and Hanson – is likely to be resulting in higher prices for all cement users. A fourth major producer, Hope Construction Materials (HCM), has since been created, as a spin-off from the Lafarge Tarmac merger.

The CC makes no accusations of explicit collusion between the producers, as such, but because there are so few producers that are so dominant, they “have an unusually high level of understanding of each other's businesses”. In the view of the CC, “this has created conditions that allow them to coordinate their behaviour, thereby softening competition and resulting in higher prices for consumers”.

The CC is now considering several measures to increase competition in the cement market, including requiring the major producers to divest cement plants (and RMX operations as part of the remedy to coordination in cement); the creation of a cement buying group; prohibiting generalised price announcement letters to customers; and restrictions on making available other information which can aid coordination.

The CC has not identified any problems with the markets for aggregates or readymix concrete.

Professor Martin Cave, CC deputy chairman of the commission and chairman of the inquiry group, said: “We have provisionally found some serious problems with the way the cement market operates in GB. In a highly concentrated market where the product doesn't vary, the established producers know too much about each other's businesses and have concentrated on retaining their respective market shares rather than competing to the full. Strikingly, despite low demand for cement over recent years, prices and profitability for the GB producers have still increased.

“There are only four cement producers in the UK and one of those is a new entrant to the market. This concentration-and the close links between the producers at many levels-along with industry practice, has for a long time given GB producers detailed awareness of how their counterparts are performing, as well as of their future pricing strategy.

“Established information channels such as price announcement letters can signal their plans, and tit-for-tat behaviour and cross-sales can be used to prevent or retaliate against any moves to disturb the overall balance between the different players in this market. They have also been in a position to increase the already significant barriers that exist for new entrants.

“Our finding does not mean they are explicitly colluding or operating a cartel because there are already several ways of communicating each other's intentions without the need for specific discussions.

“Given the extent of the problems we have found, we feel that hard-hitting measures may be necessary to open up the cement market to greater competition by transforming existing structures and behaviour. The fundamental importance of this product to construction and building and the amount of such work that is funded by the public purse only underlines the need for these actions. Our initial assessment is that these problems could have cost GB consumers around £180m over the period 2007 to 2011, and we also believe this could be an underestimate.”

Measures being considered are:

• divestiture of cement production capacity by one or more of the Top 3 cement producers;
• divestiture of readymix (RMX) plants by one or more of the Top 3 cement producers;
• the creation of a cement buying group or groups;
• prohibition on GB cement producers sending generalised cement price announcement letters to their customers;
• restrictions on the disclosure of cement market data by the UK Government and by GB cement producers to private sector organisations;
• recommendations to the UK Government/European Commission on the publication of GB cement producers' verified emissions data under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme; and
• structural measures to address the AEC in relation to GGBS/GBS production in GB.

The CC is required to publish its final report by 17 January 2014 and will now invite responses. Any interested party is invited to respond to the provisional findings and notice of possible remedies by 12 June 2013.

To submit evidence, email aggregates@cc.gsi.gov.uk

The Building Research Establishment (BRE) is opening its doors in Watford this weekend to reveal untold secrets about the 1943 dambusters mission.

The original model of the Mohne Dam used by the Building Research Station to test Barnes Wallis’ bouncing bomb theory in 1940 is being made available for public viewing for the first time at the BRE.

The final outcome of the raids in May 1943 is well-documented and made famous by The Dam Busters film (see picture below). However, the part played by the Building Research Station, as it then was, has been left out of most of the history books, owing to the secrecy surrounding it.

BRE is now opening its archives. It's fascinating stuff. You can read all about it on its website at http://www.bre.co.uk/page.jsp?id=3146

And you can visit the model dam at BRE Watford only on Saturday 25 May 2013. It is free but booking is required, via http://www.bre.co.uk/eventdetails.jsp?id=7116

Above: Richard Todd played Wing Commander Guy Gibson in The Dam Busters

Mace has won the £1bn-plus contract for a landmark residential project in St Petersburg, Russia.

Client and specialist company SPb Renovation appointed Mace as delivery partner for the scheme, which involves the design and construction of a net residential area of more than 780,000m². The project will create some 15,600 apartments along with three schools, five kindergartens, a polyclinic and all the supporting roads, transport and utilities infrastructure required for a development housing 25,000 people.

As delivery partner, Mace’s role covers the full range of project, design cost and construction management as well as technical supervision.

The appointment follows two previous commissions undertaken during 2012 for SPb Renovation.  Mace assisted in establishing the programme management procedures for SPb Renovation’s overall programme of 22 projects to rehouse a significant proportion of St Petersburg’s population from old neglected houses into modern residential quarters.  The second commission was a business case review and implementation plan for the Gutenborg project. 

SPb Renovation CEO Arthur Markaryan said: “We have worked with Mace to develop our internal systems for our overall programme of works and also set the implementation strategy for the Gutenborg project. Mace came on board and from the start demonstrated that they shared our vision and values to deliver change in the residential market in St Petersburg by raising the bar in design and delivery performance standards.”

Mace director, Rob Ewen, said: “We are thrilled to have won such a challenging and significant project that will inspire change in the residential infrastructure of St Petersburg by delivering a better standard of both accommodation and living experience through the quality of design and construction performance. “

Design and technology company Bryden Wood has developed a set of standardised set of components, similar to the chassis approach taken in the automotive industry. These elements will be used by the various plot architects to produce site-specific detailed designs. The chassis approach is designed to allow cost and programme to be reduced while maintaining high quality levels.

Balfour Beatty has won a £50m contract to build a new engineering faculty for the University of Sheffield.

The new six-storey New Engineering Building, designed by architect RMJM, is on the university’s Jessop East site. It will house lecture theatres, laboratories and other learning facilities.

Completion is expected in 2016.

As well as RMJM, the project team includes cost consultant Turner & Townsend, consulting engineer Arup and planning consultant Montagu Evans.

Balfour Beatty’s contract is part of an £81m investment plan by the university, which recently overtook Cambridge for engineering research income earned.

The new development is expected to create around 500 jobs during the construction phase alone and is predicted to bring £44.5m into the local economy during the construction phase and first year of operation.

Balfour Beatty is already working for the university on a £16m redevelopment of its Students Union building.

Lamar Investment & Real Estate Development has awarded Drake & Scull Construction (DSC) a SAR1.725bn (£302m) contract to complete the stalled Lamar Towers project in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

DSC Saudi Arabia will oversee and undertake all aspects of construction works on the project and the engineering division of sister company DSI KSA will carry out mechanical, electrical and plumbing works.

The Lamar Towers project was initially launched in 2007 but was halted in 2009. The project was restructured and refinanced in 2013 and a new development company was assigned to manage it.

The Lamar Towers project occupies a 34,800m² plot on Jeddah Corniche and has a total built area of 409,770m². It comprises two high-rise towers sitting on a 13-floor curved podium. The towers measure 322m and 293m in height and have 57 and 49 storeys respectively.

Drake & Scull Construction managing director Saleh Muradweij said: “The project will bring together an abundance of high profile engineering experts within our team in the region. We are quite familiar with the unique architectural design of the project as we are currently successfully executing the Jawhara tower in Jeddah which is a project of similar structural scale and engineering complexities. The construction of this extraordinary structure is scheduled to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2015 and will be one the most remarkable landmarks in the region.”

The director of a demolition company has been jailed for three years after an employee was killed when he was knocked out of an aerial work platform at the Swan Hunter shipyard.

It was not his first offence.

Another man, and the firm he ran, were also prosecuted and fined for their part in the incident.

The victim, 53-year-old Ken Joyce from Lanchester, County Durham, was working for Allan Turnbull, trading as A&H Site Line Boring & Machining, when the incident happened on 2 December 2008.

Mr Joyce was dismantling the structural steelwork of the roof of the burning hall at the Swan Hunter shipyard in Wallsend, Newcastle.

During a four-week trial at Newcastle Crown Court, a jury heard how Mr Joyce was working from one platform while two colleagues were working from another. They were dismantling the structure and using a crane to lower the steel beams to the ground.

While removing a beam brace connecting two plate girders, one of the plate girders struck Mr Joyce’s basket, knocking the machine over. Mr Joyce fell to the ground, suffered serious head injuries and was pronounced dead soon after.

A joint investigation carried out by Northumbria Police and the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) established that North Eastern Maritime Offshore Cluster Ltd (NEMOC) had subcontracted the dismantling work to Allan Turnbull.

The jury was told that NEMOC and its director Christopher William Taylor failed to check that Mr Turnbull had the necessary competence to carry out the work.

The police and HSE investigation also found that Allan Turnbull had failed to adequately plan the work.

Allan Turnbull, 61, of Boundary Cottages Farm, Inkerman, Tow Law, County Durham, was found guilty of gross negligence manslaughter following the trial. He had earlier pleaded guilty to breaching Sections 2(1) and 3(1) by virtue of Section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. He was sentenced to three years in prison.

Allan Turnbull had previously been prosecuted in November 2005 after an employee sustained serious leg injuries while dismantling a redundant brick manufacturing plant.

North Eastern Maritime Offshore Cluster Ltd (NEMOC), which had been operating from the Swan Hunter Yard, was fined £1 for each offence after it was found guilty in absence of breaching Sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company is now in liquidation.

Christopher William Taylor, 51, of North Cottage, Adderstone Crescent, Newcastle, was fined a total of £30,000 (£15,000 for each offence) and ordered to pay £50,000 costs.

HSE inspector Emma Scott said afterwards: "This was a tragedy that could easily have been prevented had a safe system of work been in place.

"Instead Ken Joyce lost his life as a result of collective failures which included not preparing in advance a detailed plan of how the work should be carried out and no lifting plans to ensure the safe removal of the beams.

"I hope other companies can learn from this and ensure they take the necessary action to deal with the high risk involved with work of this nature."

Lambeth Council has approved plans for then £1bn redevelopment of the Shell Centre on London’s South Bank.

The developer is Braeburn Estates, which is a joint venture of Canary Wharf Group and Qatari Diar.

Construction will now start at the end of this year, with completion planned for 2019.

With Carillion simultaneously working on the £400m Battersea Power Station first phase, it looks like there will be no let up for construction in the capital.

The 1.45 million sq ft mixed use Shell Centre scheme, which has been masterplanned by Squire & Partners, will transform the 1960s office site, providing new offices for Shell and other companies, as well as hundreds of new homes. The value of the development is put at more than £1bn, reflecting the cost of purchasing the land and the cost to develop it.

The 27-storey tower will remain the centrepiece of the new site, and will continue to be owned and occupied by Shell. It will be complemented by eight new buildings, one of which will incorporate a further 245,000 sq ft of new offices and trading floors for Shell.

 Approximately 800,000 sq ft of office space (including the Shell Centre Tower), along with around 80,000 sq ft new retail units, restaurants and cafés, will be accompanied by approximately 800,000 sq ft of residential space incorporating up to 877 new homes.

During the six-year construction phase, an average of 700 workers will be employed on site, rising to approximately 1,630 at peak.

Shell’s global HQ on London’s South Bank was built in 1961 to accommodate 5,000 employees. At the time, it was the biggest office block in Europe.

Sir George Iacobescu, chairman and chief executive, Canary Wharf Group, said: “We are delighted that Lambeth Council has approved these plans for us to work on such an important and historical site. We will continue to work with the London Borough of Lambeth and the local community as we move to the next phase of planning and development to ensure that all involved in the area get the best possible opportunities from this new development.”

The list of architects contributing to specific scheme buildings is as follows:

• Masterplan - Squire and Partners
• Building 1 - office use; Squire and Partners
• Building 2 - office use; Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF)
• Building 3 - residential use; Patel Taylor
• Building 4A & 4B - residential use; Squire and Partners
• Building 5 - residential use; Stanton Williams
• Building 6 & 7 - residential use; GRID Architecture
• Landscaping and public realm; Townshend Landscape Architects

Mansell has taken over a £8.8m fast-track fit-out of two halls of residence on the campus of Loughborough University.

Ocon Construction began work in December before it fell into administration in March this year.

The first phase of work involves the refurbishment and upgrade of the Eggington halls of residence. The second phase will see improvement works at the nearby Falkner site.

The existing Falk-Egg halls, constructed in 1974, are made up of 73 two- and three-storey accommodation blocks previously housing 584 student rooms. One bedroom from each of the three-storey blocks will be removed to provide enhanced communal living and kitchen space.

A full refurbishment of the halls, sub-warden flats, reception and games room will be completed. This will include asbestos removal, mechanical and electrical upgrades together with the fitting of new floors, ceilings, kitchens and bathrooms. In addition, furniture, fixtures and fittings will be replaced and the blocks redecorated.

The new accommodation will be ready by September 2013 with the second phase due to complete by December 2013. Work will follow in the New Year by work to replace exterior doors and windows, re-roofing and landscaping.

Mansell was already working on site at Loughborough University on a new Health Exercise and Bioscience building that will serve as a new National Centre for Sport & Exercise Medicine.

London-based Quattro (UK) has taken delivery of a batch of Volvo loading shovels and excavators for its recycling, aggregates and hire business.

Quattro (UK) recycles construction materials including reclaimed aggregates, demolition waste, road planings, soils and general construction waste across five sites in London. It also hires equipment out.

The new shovels are to support a recently commissioned concrete batching plant at its Thorney Lane site near Iver, Slough. This is capable of producing up to 80m³ of ready-mixed concrete per hour, using either primary or reclaimed aggregates.

In charge of the plant here is a new Volvo L150G loading shovel, while a second L150G has been bought for a new aggregate washing facility nearby.

Quattro (UK) has also bought four new Volvo EC220D excavators (pictured below). Two of these 22-tonners have been put in the hire fleet and the other two have been deployed at a site in Brentford, recycling and sorting industrial waste. Both units have been equipped with additional hydraulic circuits for rotating selector grapples.

“We’ve run Volvo shovels and dumptrucks for many years, which have proved a good return on investment as far as reliability and residual values are concerned,” said plant manager Mick McDermott. “The excavators on the other hand, are replacing another brand and we have high expectations that they will perform in the same manner as our other Volvos and give an overall saving in fuel economy.” 

Moortown Construction is using Peri falsework on the construction of two new police divisional headquarters (DHQs) in Leeds and Normanton.

Moortown is working for main contractor Interserve, which was chosen by West Yorkshire Police Authority to design, build, finance and operate the new DHQs.

The Normanton site is expected to be complete by the end of 2013 while Leeds DHQ will be opening in 2014. The design and build project is expected to cost £100m.

Peri was appointed by Moortown Construction to supply falsework for both the Leeds and Normanton projects. Large tableforms were used to support the in-situ soffits. The large tableforms are made up of the Peri Multiprop, an aluminium primary beam and GT24 timber beams as secondaries. The use of aluminium frames, props and primaries keeps weight down.

Peri also provided pre-assembled Vario wall formwork to the Leeds DHQ site to support the construction of a fair-faced concrete wall.

Mick King of Moortown Construction said: “Having worked with Peri on various projects previously, we knew that they would meet and indeed exceed our requirements for formwork provision.”

Are changes in the planning regime failing to safeguard the future supply of essential construction materials? Is it a real threat? Mark Smulian reports

Builders and planners are always going to have plenty of disagreements – with builders seeing planners as bureaucrats who obstruct their work, and planners seeing builders as people who would concrete the country given half a chance. Their disagreements over housing and commercial development are well known. Less well-aired are disputes over aggregate extraction.

The Mineral Products Association (MPA), representing the quarry companies, fears that the planning system is not producing enough permissions for the sand, gravel and rock that will be vital to the industry in a few years’ time when or if an economic upturn  comes. But the industry’s needs come up against the wishes of residents near to proposed quarrying sites. Few would welcome aggregate extraction near to their home, and local councillors have to explain to their voters why they have given planning permission for new quarries. Even when a site is remote, there will be opposition from those that seek to prevent despoiling of the countryside.

Planning is now governed by the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), drawn up by the coalition government to reduce sprawling volumes of planning policy, incomprehensible to all bar the experts, to a more manageable 50-or-so pages. The idea was that within this broad framework local authorities would create local plans setting out sites for development, including minerals extraction. Ministers intended this to be part of their localism agenda – with communities encouraged to shape development in their area. However, councils that failed to produce plans would eventually be expected to give permission to applications deemed ‘sustainable’, with disputes settled by appeal to the Planning Inspectorate.

A year on and the MPA sees no sign that the NPPF has delivered any benefits.  There has been no progress in speeding up quarrying applications, leading to concerns about the long-term security of materials supplies for the construction industry. It has found that fewer than 50% of councils have produced their core strategies – the overarching local level plans – and a mere 20% have completed their minerals policies. This is impacting on investment decisions by the quarrying industry. Aggregates firms could simply make applications and hope to win on appeal to the inspectorate, but that is a hit-and-miss way of working and full of potentially expensive uncertainty at a time when money is tight.

“In spite of the undoubted and well- intentioned aims of the NPPF, the weight being given to it and interpretation and implementation are proving variable,” says MPA chief executive Nigel Jackson.

The NPPF requires supply and demand assessments in each area to show where enough materials will be extracted to deliver landbanks of at least seven years for sand & gravel and 10 years for crushed rock. But the MPA has found “very inconsistent approaches across England and Wales, and the thrust is erring towards provision of fewer sites for future mineral extraction.”

According to the MPA, the replenishment rate for aggregates is around 60%, and only the reduced demand seen during the downturn masks “the underlying potential shortfall of future supply in some areas”.

“MPA members are saying that the last thing that they want to do at the moment is engage with the planning system and submit applications,” Jackson says. “They are considered too expensive and too risky. Costs are escalating disproportionately as cash-strapped planning authorities and other regulators seek to recover an ever increasing proportion of the cost of their services from operators.”

New reserves can take five-to-15 years from securing planning permission to becoming available for use. The MPA argues that delays could damage the economy’s ability to revive, since construction cannot make its full contribution to economic revival if materials are not readily available. Jackson says the government should “get a grip on unduly ‘localist’ interpretations of national policy in order to make the NPPF work”.

He adds: “You wonder why councils are running the gauntlet of not having plans in place because that means applications can be decided on appeal. “You could run the argument that it is good for the industry to have a lack of plans because it can make applications, and it has a good record of winning on appeal if it can show they are in line with sustainable development. But that just adds a layer of uncertainty.

“What I hear from members is that they are not making applications unless it is critical to staying in business.” Jackson says that the MPA is trying to tackle the problem by appealing to the public directly to support quarrying. “We have run our Make the Link campaign to raise public awareness of the role of aggregates in the economy, that it is a sector with a £9bn turnover, and we’ve been talking to MPs in minerals areas showing how our industry is helping to reduce CO₂ emissions and improve biodiversity and restoration.”

Not everyone shares the MPA’s perspective of slothful local authority planning departments threatening construction recovery. Steve Lamb, a director of the Quarryplan consultancy, which advises the industry on securing planning permissions, says: “I would agree with the MPA there is a shortfall of planning permissions, which may mean a lack of replenishment. But I don’t think the NPPF is looked on by councils as a reason not to give permission.

“Problems are due mainly to the vast length of time needed to go through environmental impact assessments, community engagement and planning permission itself. When you put all that together the amount of work and resources needed gives a lead-in time that can take years.”

Lamb points out that this is made worse by the financial cuts suffered by councils. “Many have lost staff, including planners and specialists in ecology and landscape,” he says. “That creates problems when planning applications need that expertise and consultants have to be engaged instead, which is a cost in itself.”

He thinks the NPPF “does give out the right message on minerals, but it’s a matter of better resources, especially where key people have retired”.

Lewis Herbert, an academic who runs planning-related courses at Anglia Ruskin University, notes: “I think the short but pithy three-pages of guidance in the NPPF on minerals policy, planning applications and evidence base are fairly clear that councils still need to weigh up priority for effective minerals supply while addressing other material considerations.

“Most operators will also be aware that there have been significant reductions in the staffing of many minerals planning teams as local authorities cut their spending. They are doing the same with fewer resources.”

The Campaign to Protect Rural England, no ally of the aggregates industry, is sufficiently realistic to recognise “the need for a stable and reliable supply of aggregates to meet society’s needs”. But a spokesman says: “The majority of local authorities have minerals landbanks above the recommended minimum, so suggesting that there is a planning problem is wide of the mark. “Applications are particularly complex and controversial, and often raise issues of severe potential damage to rural beauty and tranquillity, and so the industry should reasonably expect them to take time.

“The MPA acknowledges that applications for aggregate quarrying have fallen dramatically in recent years – to suggest that this is because of a lack of confidence in the system strains credibility.”

The CPRE says local authorities should promote the reuse of materials, rather than continue to provide more quarry sites on the basis of past levels of use.

“We have already seen that between 1990 and 2008 the level of mineral extraction for construction decreased by 30% even while construction output value rose steadily throughout this period,” it says.

The Royal Town Planning Institute – the planners’ professional body – says: “Our view is that this is nothing really to do with the NPPF, which is well-written and supportive of the industry. It may be the case that local authorities are interpreting it differently, but at a local level it is a locational issue, just like housing, of what communities want built in their area.”

Councillors will rarely wins votes by giving permission for quarrying, but if the MPA is right then, come an upturn, the price of vital raw materials will inevitably rise sharply.

Clark Construction Group and Kiewit Infrastructure South have won the design-build contract for a metro line to Washington Dulles International Airport in the USA.

Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) has awarded the contract to the Capital Rail Constructors joint venture. Parsons is serving as the lead designer for the nearly US$1.2bn (£790m) project.

Work involves designing and building an 18km segment of the Silver Line including six stations.

“This is the first of many milestones to come for the second phase of the Silver Line,” said MWWA president and CEO Jack Potter. This contract is the largest of several Phase 2 procurement packages and represents approximately 50% of Phase 2 work.

Phase 1 of the project is currently under construction and is now more than 90% complete. Construction of Phase 2 is due for completion in 2018.

Engineering services group Renew has reported a 16% drop in first-half revenues but a 7% rise in profits.

For the six months to 31 March 2013, revenue was £152.4m, down from £182.4m for H1 2012. Profit before tax was £4.6m (2012 H1: £4.3m).

Net debt has been reduced to £3.2m (H1 2012: £6.9m) and the order book has swollen to £361m, as of 31 March 2013, which is a record high for the company and up from £304m six months earlier.

During the first half of the year, revenue from the engineering services division grew by 4.8% to £110.4m (2012: £105.3m), representing 72% of group revenue. Operating profit increased by 6.5% to £4.9m (2012: £4.6m) with operating margin maintained at 4.4% (2012: 4.4%). The board said that delivery of multidisciplinary engineering services to mainly regulated markets would continue to result in profit growth for the company.

Specialist Building revenue was £42.0m (2012: £76.8m) delivering an operating profit of £1.0m (2012: £1.0m). The delayed award of projects has depressed revenue in the year to date, chief executive Brian May said, but this is expected to increase in the second half of the year as orders have been confirmed. The forward order book stood at £100m (2012: £75m).

A group led by Italy’s Impregilo has won the contract to build a 13km underground metro line in Doha.

Impregilo has a 41.25% share of the special purpose company appointed by by Qatar Railways Company for the €1.7bn (£1.39bn) scheme to design and build the Red Line North line.

Red Line North will run for approximately 13km northward from Mushaireb station and include the construction of 7 new underground stations. Two parallel tunnels 11.6km long and with an internal diameter of 6.17m.

The new project, together with three other underground lines, is a part of a plan for new transportation infrastructure promoted within Qatar’s national development plan for 2030.

The total contract amount of the Red Line North contract is approximately 8.4bn Qatari Riyals, equal to about €1.7bn, of which €630m is for the planning and civil works, with approximately €1.1bn of provisional sums for preparatory works, electro-mechanical plant and architectural works for the stations.

Turner & Townsend has opened a new office in St Petersburg as part of its continued expansion in Russia and the CIS.

The office on Nevsky Prospect will initially support a team of 20 full-time technical staff, with numbers expected to double by the end of the year.

The St Petersburg office will provide support for the company’s local and international clients currently undertaking large residential and mixed schemes, corporate headquarters and industrial developments in both St Petersburg and the Leningrad region.

Turner & Townsend has been operating in Russia for nine years. Its work has included delivering Russia’s first LEED Gold-certified office, on behalf of Siemens, as well as work for clients including Group M (WPP), KIA Motors and Young & Rubicam.

Turner & Townsend director and Russia country manager Paul Grace said: “This is an exciting next step for our growth in Russia, and will allow us to strengthen our support to our clients in the region and further extend our range of services delivered locally.”

A £24m development in the centre of Reading is one of four new contracts picked up by Galliford Try that are together worth more than £60m.

Galliford Try has been contracted by Muse Developments to build the second phase of the Chatham Place regeneration scheme in the centre of Reading. This £24m development will see the creation of two new apartment blocks containing 184 homes along with 2055 sq ft of ground floor retail space. One of the buildings will be nine storeys high, and the other 19.

Mace was contractor for the £45m first phase of the development.

In a separate award, LHA London has contracted Galliford Try to build its latest hostel for young working people and students at Torquay Street in London. This £13m project will see the creation of 158 micro-flats with communal facilities.

Thirdly, Lothbury Investment Management has selected Galliford Try to build 24,500 sq ft of office space at 55 St James's Street in London. The commercial development will include a basement and residential level on the sixth floor when completed in January 2015.

Finally, Galliford Try Building and English Cities Fund have reached financial close for the £13.5m E3 Salford regeneration project in Chapel Street, Salford. The development will create 97 homes for private sale with additional retail units.

Galliford Try chief executive Greg Fitzgerald commented: "We are delighted to have won these four contracts so soon after our recent regional successes in Manchester. These awards reconfirm that we are securing contracts in line with our strategy across the country. The South East in particular remains a key market for us and we look forward to working with all our partners going forward to deliver these important schemes for each of them."

A recycling company must pay more than £370,000 in fines and costs after being found culpable for the death of a young man crushed by a wheeled loader.

Linas Mataitis, a 25-year-old Lithuanian living in Mitcham, was struck by the bucket of a wheeled loading shovel at European Metal Recycling (EMR) Ltd’s site in Willesden during a shutdown clean-up on 18 July 2010. He sustained fatal injuries after being pushed and pinned against a steel column.

EMR is one of the world’s largest metal recycling firms but failed to properly segregate people and moving vehicles, a court heard yesterday (20 May).

Southwark Crown Court was told that Mr Mataitis had joined the company two months earlier as a temporary worker. He was working near a large shredding machine that had been powered down for essential annual maintenance, with surrounding safety zones and interlocking gates opened up to allow worker and vehicle access. He was one of a team of workers using hand shovels to scrape and clear dirt near conveyors feeding the shredder, which they placed into piles for colleagues using machines to clear.

On the morning of 18 July there were three vehicles operating alongside the team on foot; a bobcat, a mini excavator and a wheeled loading shovel. The smaller machines were being used to fill the bucket of the loading shovel, which then drove away to be emptied.

The court heard the loading shovel was returning to be refilled for a fourth time when it struck Mr Mataitis and crushed him against a conveyor support.

A subsequent HSE investigation found that although EMR had a documented procedure for clearing dirt from around the conveyors, which mentioned the use of a Bobcat, it did not cover the shutdown operation when the safety gates were open, when more vehicles were operating nearby and when there was increased pedestrian movement. As such, there were inadequate arrangements for safely managing the movement of people and machinery.

HSE also established that the loading shovel was being driven by a partly trained operator who may not have been authorised to use it. The company had confusing and conflicting records in this regard, highlighting failings to properly manage and audit training and supervision.

European Metal Recycling Limited, of Delta Crescent, Westbrook, Warrington, Cheshire, was fined a total of £300,000 and told to pay a further £72,901 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching Sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

After the hearing, HSE Inspector Jane Wolfenden said: "Linas’ tragic death was entirely preventable. European Metal Recycling, as one of the world’s largest recycling companies, should have been fully aware of its health and safety duties, and of the clear risks presented by vehicle and pedestrian movements.

"A risk assessment isn’t a paper exercise where a ‘one size fits all’ approach is acceptable, and the company should have properly planned for the shutdown operation where the level of risk was significantly increased –implementing safe systems of work to suit.

"The same can be said for training, instruction and supervision, where there was no clear direction or protocol for monitoring new or inexperienced workers.”

A Durham firm has been fined after a worker suffered horrific injuries and had to have his arm amputated when he fell into dangerous machinery in an asphalt production plant.

John Wyatt, 61, from Northumberland, was employed by Tynedale Roadstone Ltd and had been carrying out an inspection of the conveyor area at its premises in Newburn Haugh Industrial Estate, Newcastle, when the incident happened on 18 June 2009.

Newcastle Magistrates’ Court heard yesterday (20 May) that Mr Wyatt had gained access to the conveyor area to carry out an inspection, but slipped and fell forward and was caught up in the snub pulley roller and the conveyor belt.

His right arm was so badly injured that it had to be amputated at the shoulder. He suffered spinal injuries for which he had to undergo surgery to fuse his spine back together. He also fractured all his ribs on the right side, broke his left wrist and suffered friction burns to his stomach and severe cuts to his face.

Mr Wyatt was in intensive care for more than three weeks and was in hospital for more than three months. He can no longer work and still has mobility issues.

An investigation by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) found that although safety gates to the plant had been fitted with locks to restrict access these had been disabled.

The investigation also concluded there were no suitable risk assessments, inadequate safe systems of work and a lack of information and instruction for employees.

Tynedale Roadstone Limited, of Davison House, Rennys Lane, Dragonville Industrial Estate, Durham, was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay £18,994.17 costs after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

After the hearing HSE inspector Sal Brecken said: "Mr Wyatt’s horrific injuries should not and need not have happened. This incident was easily preventable had Tynedale Roadstone carried out an adequate risk assessment of their equipment and properly supervised their employees.

"Plant of this type is recognised in the industry as being high risk, which is why they are so heavily guarded with trapped key systems. Safety devices are installed on machinery with dangerous moving parts to protect those who work with them. Companies have a legal duty of care to ensure they are properly fitted and working effectively at all times.

"Disabling or switching off safety devices puts workers at unnecessary risk and is simply not acceptable. HSE will not hesitate to take enforcement action in cases such as this."