BAM Nuttall has announced a recent project award by the Royal Mail Group to undertake the remediation of its former mail centre site at Nine Elms in South London.

The site has been used by Royal Mail since the 1970’s and prior to that the 4.2ha site was part of the Nine Elms Gas Works, which was built in the latter part of the 19^th century.

Work will commence in June to start regenerating the area by carrying out site clearance, demolition, utility diversions, bulk earthworks, and remediation including onsite soil and water treatment.

The site, which is currently being marketed by Royal Mail, will be prepared for the proposed development of up to 1870 residential units, a new primary school and over 6 acres of public space. Royal Mail secured planning permission from Wandsworth Council in March 2012 for this scheme.

This exciting project is a notable addition to BAM Nuttall’s portfolio of works in the urban regeneration sector, which has seen significant projects undertaken at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and Kings Cross.

These projects have transformed these brownfield sites in London and prepared them for future use for the benefit of local communities.

BAM Nuttall has announced a recent project award by the Royal Mail Group to undertake the remediation of its former mail centre site at Nine Elms in South London.

The site has been used by Royal Mail since the 1970’s and prior to that the 4.2ha site was part of the Nine Elms Gas Works, which was built in the latter part of the 19^th century.

Work will commence in June to start regenerating the area by carrying out site clearance, demolition, utility diversions, bulk earthworks, and remediation including onsite soil and water treatment.

The site, which is currently being marketed by Royal Mail, will be prepared for the proposed development of up to 1870 residential units, a new primary school and over 6 acres of public space. Royal Mail secured planning permission from Wandsworth Council in March 2012 for this scheme.

This exciting project is a notable addition to BAM Nuttall’s portfolio of works in the urban regeneration sector, which has seen significant projects undertaken at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and Kings Cross.

These projects have transformed these brownfield sites in London and prepared them for future use for the benefit of local communities.

Three contractors have been appointed by the University of Manchester to deliver of its £1bn capital programme that will create new jobs and boost economic growth.

Balfour Beatty, Laing O’Rourke and Sir Robert McAlpine will deliver the majority of the University’s capital projects in excess of £10 million over the next eight years.

The University of Manchester’s Campus Masterplan is the largest capital programme in the institution’s history and is one of the largest currently underway in the higher education sector.

The contractors will work on a number of major developments, including the flagship £350 million Manchester Engineering Campus Development (MECD), which will bring together the University’s four Schools of Engineering in one location and also provide teaching and office space.

University Director of Estates and Facilities, Diana Hampson, said: “This Construction Partnering Framework is probably unique within higher education. The scope and scale of the Campus Masterplan requires a huge amount of resource and presents significant delivery challenges. A collaborative, partnership arrangement was therefore vital in ensuring both quality and value.

“It will benefit all partners and importantly it will have environmental as well as social benefits such as creating jobs for unemployed people. We are looking forward to working closely with the three contractors on some landmark developments across our campus.”

Jon Adams, Balfour Beatty Managing Director for Northern Major Projects: “We applaud The University of Manchester for their innovative and ground breaking procurement route which enables delivery of best value and we look forward to working collaboratively with them on a framework which will see over £1 billion of new University buildings delivered to create a state-of-the-art campus in Manchester.”

Costain has been appointed by Highways England to deliver two of the three sections of the A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon Improvement Scheme that will see £600 million worth of work.

The Costain joint venture with Skanska has been awarded Package One, covering the A1 junction at Alconbury to the East Coast Mainline and Package Two covering east of the East Coast Mainline to Swavesey.

The A14 Improvement Scheme is required to enhance the capacity and reliability of the UK strategic road network in order to ensure better journeys for road users.

Stretching over 25 miles, the works will improve this highly congested stretch of road. Initial design work will commence immediately with the development of detailed plans for the delivery phase, which will commence in late 2016.

The road will be open to traffic in 2020, with the works in Huntingdon town being completed after.

Andrew Wyllie CBE, Chief Executive of Costain, said: “The A14 is a strategically vital transport corridor in East Anglia and we are delighted to have been appointed to this major improvement project by Highways England.

“This appointment reflects our reputation for delivering solutions to national infrastructure needs in long-term, strategic partnerships with our customers.”

Housing statistics released today show the Scottish Government is ahead of its 5-year target to build 30,000 affordable homes by March 2016.

The figures show that 26,972 affordable homes have been delivered in the 4 years from 2011-12 as part of the Affordable Housing Supply Programme – 90 per cent of the Scottish Government target. This includes 18,670 homes for social rent – 93 per cent of the social rent target.

A total of 15,541 new build homes, both private and for social rent, were completed in the full year to end December 2014, 4 per cent (657 homes) more than the 14,884 completions in the previous year.

Private sector led housing accounted for a large proportion of this increase, with a 16 per cent increase in private sector led completions in 2014.

In addition, social sector new build homes completed for the first quarter of 2015 show a total of 1,677; more than double the number of homes completed in the same period last year.

This brings total social sector completions in the financial year 2014-15 to 4,221, an increase of 4 per cent on the previous year.

Housing Minister Margaret Burgess said: “Housing is at the heart of the Scottish Government’s ambitions to create a fairer and more prosperous country and the supply of affordable housing is a key priority. I’m delighted to say we are well on track to meeting our five year target of 30,000 new homes by 2016.

“The figures for the first quarter to the end of March 2015 are positive and we will work with partners to deliver our target of 30,000 affordable homes across Scotland by next year.

“In addition, we will continue to work closely with the housing sector to support the construction of new homes across all tenures, supporting jobs in the construction industry and wider economy, and helping to strengthen communities, promote social justice and tackle inequality.”

Morgan Sindall has been appointed to a major new framework covering the county of Suffolk in the East of England that will boost economic growth and create construction jobs.

The £500 million Suffolk Construction Framework will be available as a vehicle for the procurement of public sector building works and has been established by Suffolk County Council.

The framework covers three bands; Band 1 will cover projects with a value up to £250,000 while Band 2 will cover projects ranging from £200,000 to £2.5 million, and Band 3 will cover projects with a value of over £2 million.

Morgan Sindall has been appointed to both Band 2 and Band 3 and will now tender to deliver projects for public sector customers with several other contractors on the four-year framework.

The framework is set to be operational from June 2015 and will govern the procurement of a full spectrum of new build and refurbishment schemes in education, health and community across Suffolk. These may include libraries, civic office developments and programmes for Suffolk Fire and Rescue.

John Homer, Morgan Sindall’s managing director of Construction East, said: “We’re very pleased to have been appointed to this key framework which will provide an effective and efficient procurement vehicle for public sector building works across Suffolk.

“The framework will streamline the procurement process and deliver improved performance, quality and value for money from which communities across the region will benefit.

“Morgan Sindall has a strong track record working closely alongside our public sector partners to deliver schemes which have a positive impact on local communities.

“Our commitment to excellence, paired with a key focus on social value and collaborative working, make us an effective partner on schemes large and small.

“Our teams have achieved exceptional results against key performance indicators and customer satisfaction on major public sector frameworks across the UK and we look forward to continuing to build upon this legacy as we work closely with our partners to deliver innovative, quality projects on time and on budget.”

Morgan Sindall’s Suffolk Construction Framework appointment follows its appointment to the four-year £4 billion Southern Construction Framework, which covers the South of England, earlier this year.