Affinity Water has selected Mace start work as its service provider as they move into AMP6, the upcoming regulatory period for the water industry this month.

Mace will provide programme and project management expertise, design and delivery services, commercial management and planning expertise to ensure successful delivery of Affinity Water’s asset investment portfolio.

Mace Chief Executive, Mark Reynolds, said: “Securing the Service Provider role is a significant milestone for Mace and allows us to continue the exciting journey to assist Affinity Water to become the leading community-focused water company in the UK.

“This is a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate how the collaboration can benefit both organisations and the communities we serve”.

Stephen Martin, Asset Management Director, Affinity Water Ltd, said: “Last year we developed a creative and ambitious business plan that sets new standards for the way we will deliver high quality water for our communities over the next five years.

“I am pleased to announce the appointment of Mace as our partner to help us deliver this plan. We chose Mace because, with its balance of skills, expertise and behaviours, it has demonstrated the capability to enable us to be successful.

“I look forward to building on this established relationship as we continue to work on achieving the commitments we have made to our communities”.

Scottish Water has announced the preferred bidder for a major part of its new £3.5 billion investment programme that will create new jobs in the building trades.

ESD (Efficient Service Delivery), a joint venture between Galliford Try, MWH Treatment and Black and Veatch, is the preferred bidder for a contract worth around £560 million over the next six years.

ESD will oversee the delivery of projects including work on reservoirs, water treatment works and pumping stations, which will help build on the significant improvements made to water services for the benefit of Scottish Water customers in recent years.

A further announcement of local contractors around Scotland to support the alliances in helping to deliver the overall programme is expected to be made later this spring, supporting employment in Scottish SMEs and helping to sustain local economies.

Douglas Millican, Chief Executive of Scottish Water said: “This is our third alliance appointment and the benefits for communities of Scotland across Scotland will be felt through all of these partnerships.

“Through the commitment of our alliance partners, 90 modern apprentice and 55 graduate roles will be created as a result of our investment programme in the three alliances. This reflects the commitment of Scottish Water to developing the next generation of people to take forward the future of the industry.

“As well as being good news for the economy, our investment programme will enable us to build on improvements to customer service around Scotland, while protecting and enhancing the environment.”

Kier is set to deliver a £170 million first phase of The Ram Quarter, its major flagship regeneration scheme in Wandsworth, London.

The Ram Quarter will be delivered in three phases, with a total value of around £600 million that will create new construction jobs and boost the building trades.

Working with project managers Gardiner & Theobald, architects EPR and engineers WSP Group, Kier will deliver 411,000sq ft of new build housing and retail space, laid out across nine blocks of between four and ten storeys.

To provide the necessary infrastructure, 105,000sq ft of basement space will be constructed for car parking, as well as an energy centre to service the entire development’s electricity needs.

Phase one will also see the development realign 230m of flood defences along the River Wandle in order to open up the space and provide public access along a new riverside walk.

Kier managing director for major projects, Colin Lamb, said: “We are very pleased to be working with The Greenland Group on the £170m first phase of The Ram Quarter project. It is a landmark development that will deliver substantial economic and social benefit for the community of Wandsworth and the wider region, as it regenerates this historical site.”

In addition, the first phase of the project also includes the 56,000sq ft refurbishment and remodelling of the Grade II listed brewery complex, transforming it into high quality restaurants, boutique shops, cafés and bars, a micro-brewery, a brewery museum and an additional 14 residential units – taking the total number of homes delivered in phase one to 338.

Willmott Dixon has been given a £14 million job to convert the Matrix building in Aldgate into the new upper scale Dorsett City, London, hotel.

The contract is Willmott Dixon’s first project for Dorsett Hospitality International, which operates 22 hotels around the world, including eight in China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and the UK, providing over 8,600 rooms in total.

This will be Dorsett’s second hotel in London and sees Willmott Dixon start on site in May to build the 13 storey complex which will be located on Aldgate High Street next to Aldgate tube station and the 18th century St Botolph Church.

When complete in December 2016, it will provide 270 bedrooms along with restaurant, fitness centre and 1,600 sq ft of meeting areas for the business community.

Roger Forsdyke, managing director at Willmott Dixon’s Cobham office said, “This is a really interesting office to hotel conversion right in the heart of The City of London, providing new capacity in this fast growing part of London. Importantly, it plays to our strengths and know-how of working on tight, constrained sites in urban locations, as well as our record for working in historic parts of London on landmark buildings.”

Dorsett Hospitality International’s first hotel, Dorsett Shepherds Bush, opened in 2014 and when complete in 2016, Dorsett City, London, will further underline the company’s vision to expand its hotel portfolio in selected strategic regions in the United Kingdom and Europe.

VolkerStevin‘s joint venture with consultant CH2M has secured a £43m design and build water treatment works upgrade in Oswestry, Shropshire.

The scheme will enhance the existing Oswestry water treatment facility, which currently treats water from Lake Vyrnwy in North Wales via the Llanforda open reservoir.

Darren Hynes, framework director for C₂V+ said: “After being named as one of four Construction Delivery Partners for the AMP6 framework in 2014, we are delighted to be appointed for this scheme at this early stage of the framework.

“It demonstrates the collaborative approach between C2V+ and United Utilities whilst providing sustainable employment opportunities for the local economy by creating over 50 jobs over the next two years.”

Works on site will commence in spring 2015 with an overall construction period of two years.

Due to the composition of the raw water and the condition of the existing plant, the works are required to improve the capacity and quality of water produced at this facility, which currently supplies water to customers in 39 distribution zones in Liverpool and parts of Cheshire.

This innovative solution has been successfully used in North America and Europe and is an energy neutral process which will provide significant savings to United Utilities through the installation of hydroelectric turbines that feed surplus energy back into the grid.

Twelve companies have been selected as finalists for the third cohort of the Cognicity Challenge, competing in the Connected Home and Virtual Design & Construction streams of Canary Wharf Group‘ s smart city accelerator challenge.

The finalists will benefit from a twelve-week programme located within ‘High Growth Space:24′, the expansion space of Level39‘s tech company incubator, in Canary Wharf’s iconic One Canada Square.

This cohort has been specifically chosen to address the future development of the Canary Wharf estate – including the new phase, previously known as Wood Wharf – which will include residential properties for the first time.

The first phase of this development will be completed by 2020 and innovative Virtual Design & Construction technology will help inform the design and development of this stage in Canary Wharf’s progress towards becoming a truly smart and integrated city.

Innovators in the Connected Home stream will help create differentiators for the residential buildings on the estate, creating the next generation of live-work development at Canary Wharf.

During the twelve-week programme, each of the finalist companies will gain access to world-leading specialists including an expert group of Canary Wharf executives.

At the end of the accelerator programme the finalists will deliver a business plan and pitch to Canary Wharf Group executives and expert judges, with the winners of each stream receiving £50,000 and the chance to pilot their technologies on the estate.

Eric Van der Kleij, Head of Level39 and Managing Director of ENTIQ, said: “The Cognicity Challenge offers these innovative companies a unique opportunity to accelerate the development of their future city technologies and pilot them within the Canary Wharf estate, helping take smart, sustainable cities from concept to reality whilst offering Canary Wharf Group a procurement methodology and pipeline that de-risks the uptake of innovation, both in the existing buildings and the new phase of the estate.”

Dozens of firms across the West Country and South Wales have been consulted by one of the UK’s largest contractors, in a major engagement exercise to help deliver landmark buildings for the region.

BAM Construction drew together its key subcontractors and suppliers this week to involve them closely in how the company delivers a growing workload.

Nick Goff, BAM’s Regional Director said: “Successful construction is about good partnerships. Everybody says they do it, but for BAM, this is not words, it is carefully focused actions.

“Our supply chain is critical to our ability to deliver the quality we are known for with the non-confrontational, problem solving approach and social responsibility that are our hallmark.

“They also need to trade efficiently and profitably. This event was about finding ways to involve them in tenders and on site that enables us to be more competitive together, leaner in management, and raise the bar on performance for our clients.”

The company has provided demolition and asbestos removal services for BAM and worked on several of its sites such as Winterbourne Academy in Bristol, Penrose special needs school in Bridgwater and Exeter University’s Living Systems Building. It previously worked with BAM on Bristol’s Imperial Tobacco HQ.

Planning statistics for Scotland published this month show the number of local housing developments was at the highest for the past 11 quarters.

Planning applications were processed more quickly than ever, while the average time to process major housing developments remains the same.

Communities Secretary Alex Neil said: “Scotland’s planning system must facilitate much needed new infrastructure and create high quality, sustainable places to live and work. That’s crucial to promoting strong, sustainable economic growth.

“There is good work in authorities across the country and I am encouraged to see that local housing applications are not only increasing, but that decisions are being made on them more quickly than ever.

“I am however concerned that a small number of major housing applications are still taking far too long and that this is distorting the overall average figures.

“I recognise there is still more that can be done to support delivery which is why we are working across Government and closely with planners, house builders and other partners to develop a five year Joint Delivery Plan for Housing.

“The Plan will be published shortly and will set out our joint priorities for action to support new housing.”

The development of affordable housing in Coventry is to be given a substantial boost, with Wates Living Space to build 50 high quality new homes.

Wates Living Space has been awarded the £5.6 million contract to build a range of contemporary two to six-bedroom homes across three sites in the city.

Designed by Oakley Architects, 45 of the homes will be built across two sites on Whitworth Avenue in Stoke Aldermoor. The remaining five will be built on Kele Road following the demolition of a former health clinic that currently lies vacant on the site.

To meet Coventry City Council‘s 10 per cent renewable energy target for all major new developments, the homes will comply with Level 3 of the Code for Sustainable Homes.

Lee Sale, Regional Director for Wates Living Space, said: “This development will bring a significant boost to the local economy, by providing opportunities for local businesses to join our supply chain whilst also creating employment and training opportunities for local people.

“The new homes feature attractive and thermally efficient designs that will ensure a secure and cost-effective place to live for generations to come. We are pleased to be providing our expertise on this exciting development and look forward to delivering further projects in the Coventry.”

Kevin Willetts, Executive Director of Development at WM Housing Group commented: “This project has come about as a result of partnership working with Coventry City Council and is funded in part by a Social Housing Grant from the Homes & Communities Agency.

“We are delighted that Wates will be delivering much needed new affordable housing for Whitefriars in Coventry through this project.”

Wates Living Space is also currently delivering Gateway, a £6 million homeless centre for Whitefriars Housing in Coventry. This is due to open in spring 2015.

The creation of the £1.7 billion London’s next business district that will create thousands of jobs has today moved a significant step closer.

The Greater London Authority has given the go-ahead in the process towards full planning approval to ABP for the 4.7 million sq ft development at Royal Albert Dock.

This follows the decision by Newham Council last year to grant planning permission subject to the response from the GLA.

ABP is expected to be able to begin work on the 35 acre site later this year and build what is being described as London’s next financial business district following the City of London and Canary Wharf. The first phase will be completed in 2018.

UK planning regulations are complex and it is understood it took months of negotiations between ABP and the planning authorities involving London Borough of Newham, Transport for London, and the Greater London Authority before agreement was finally reached.

The final stage is for UK Secretary of State, Eric Pickles, who is responsible for planning within the UK Central Government, to formally allow ABP to progress and Newham have already sent the documents to his office for ratification.

ABP’s Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director, John Miu, said: “Obviously we are delighted by how the whole planning process has progressed and we are looking forward to getting underway and completing our first phase in just 3 years.

“There is tremendous interest from across Asia from companies wanting to locate in the Royal Albert Dock business district development and we look forward to making further exciting announcements in the months ahead.”

Sir Robin Wales, Mayor of Newham, said: “This decision means that we are a step closer to realising the vision of Newham as an international location for business.

“The ABP development will bring further investment in to east London, including thousands of jobs and opportunities for Newham residents within high-tech businesses as well as construction industries from at home and abroad.

“ABP is a significant part of the Royal Docks transformation which will see the revival of the waterfront and reinstate the docks as the heart of London’s industry.”