Morgan Sindall has been appointed to carry out a £2.7 million expansion of St Martha’s Catholic Primary School in King’s Lynn.

The project for the Roman Catholic Diocese of East Anglia is already underway and will provide the school with a new teaching block, comprising eight additional classrooms, an extended kitchen facility, a new school hall and a multi-use games area.

Morgan Sindall will also deliver hard and soft external landscaping including new planting areas, additional foot paths and a new school car park.

Students will remain on site throughout the construction process, which is due to be completed in time for the 2016 academic year.

Helen Bates, Assistant Director at the Roman Catholic Diocese said: “This is a shared project between the Diocese and Norfolk County Council, which will not only increase the number of primary school places in this part of King’s Lynn, but will also help to meet a growing demand for Catholic school places. The school will eventually increase in size from 210 places to 420, although it will not reach its full capacity until 2021.”

Gavin Napper, Morgan Sindall area director, said: “We’re delighted to have been appointed to this important scheme, which will expand and upgrade St Martha’s Primary and provide school users with a great teaching and learning environment.”

Wates Living Space has started work on the £18 million site of the former Guest Hospital on Tipton Road in Dudley, where it is set to build 157 new homes in partnership with the Homes & Communities Agency (HCA).

Wates Living Space will create a combination of 127 new build homes and 30 refurbished properties, including restoration of the locally listed former porter’s lodge, which sits on the site and is under ownership of the HCA.

Designed by architect, Armstrong Burton, 118 homes will be sold on the open market and 39 will be available for rent through Dudley MBC, following completion in summer 2019.

In an effort to positively impact the area Wates Living Space has committed to employing local suppliers and contractors on the project whilst also creating employment and training opportunities for local people.

Cllr Gaye Partridge, cabinet member for housing at Dudley Council, said: “This is an extremely welcome and exciting regeneration project. It will enable the provision of more affordable housing for our residents and bring an historic building back into use offering luxury apartments.

“This development compliments the regeneration of the area offering a significant economic and social boost to the local community.”

HS2 is the biggest infrastructure project to be built in Britain for decades and is a vital part of the UK government’s long term economic plan.

The scheme presents an excellent opportunity for Scottish businesses large and small to compete for over £10bn worth of contracts on offer.

Scotland’s engineering base is well placed to benefit from the construction phase of the project when it begins in 2017.

Over 160 firms working in a range of sectors from across the country have now signed up to find out more about getting HS2 ready, including companies from Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee and Inverness.

HS2 Ltd Chief Executive, Simon Kirby, said:“Britain’s high speed rail network is a major, long-term project offering a huge opportunity for Scottish companies to develop the necessary staff and skills base that will position them to bid for the billions of pounds worth of contracts available throughout the supply chain during construction.”

UK Transport Minister for HS2 Robert Goodwill, said: “The UK government’s ground-breaking HS2 programme provides a fantastic opportunity for businesses across the UK, including those here in Scotland.

“It will create some of the largest value contracts in UK construction history, creating job opportunities throughout the supply chain.”

The London Borough of Camden has appointed Graham Construction as preferred contractor to build the second stage of works to expand Kingsgate Primary School in West Hampstead.

The project, valued at £18 million, includes the construction of a new two-storey building for students aged four to seven years, a new nursery for children aged three to four years, and a community centre.

The school expansion forms part of a two-phase redevelopment vision for a previous light industrial site on Liddell Road. Phase two of the project is expected to complete at the end of next year to enable the new educational facilities to open for the beginning of the new school year.

Phase one involved the site preparation and construction of the new school buildings, access road and landscaping required for the expansion. The main school is located on Kingsgate Road.

Cllr Angela Mason CBE, Camden Council’s Cabinet Member for Children, said: “This is a positive step forward in the development of the Liddell Road site, made possible by Camden’s Community Investment Programme (CIP), our 15 year plan to invest money in schools, homes and community facilities.”

Graham Construction’s London office director, Rob Joyce added: “The expansion of the school will see the creation of new facilities to address the pressing need for more student places within the north-west of Camden.

“This project offers us the opportunity to bring to the fore, once more, our wealth of experience and knowledge of building and renovating schools and universities as we start work on Kingsgate Primary School.

“The site will pose a number of challenges as it is tightly constrained by the nearby homes and rail network, but we are used to working in these kind of conditions and coming up with solutions to minimise disruption without compromising delivery.”

Bradford Metropolitan District Council has given the go-ahead to plans to build a £150 million urban village between Bradford and Shipley.

New Bolton Woods development will see the building of up to 1,000 homes over 10 years on more than 30 hectares of land along with a new local centre comprising shopping facilities, a primary school and health centre as well as sports facilities.

The first 50 homes have already been delivered and are fully occupied and earlier this year planning consent was granted for a new Aldi food store at the development.

Work to deliver the next major residential phase will start as soon as house builder delivery partners are identified.

The granting of planning permission for the complete New Bolton Woods development is the culmination of three years of extensive urban design work and public consultation carried out by Canal Road Urban Village Ltd (CRUVL).

Peter Swallow, a director of Urbo and CRUVL said: “The granting of planning permission is a major milestone in the delivery of the residential phase of New Bolton Woods.

“We are now in a position to start talking to housebuilders and identify the right partners to deliver the scheme. We anticipate great demand given the excellent location of the development, its proximity to public transport and the demand for private housing in the area.”

Willmott Dixon was chosen by Coventry University to build a new £14 million campus for the recently opened Coventry University Scarborough Campus.

It’s the latest major campus project for Willmott Dixon in the higher education sector, following similar facilities for universities that include Warwick, Kent, Cambridge, Bournemouth, Birmingham City, West London and Brighton with a combined value of over £250 million.

Willmott Dixon’s team of higher education construction specialists will create a purpose built campus that includes a library, IT suites, café, mock law court, engineering and science labs, plus a careers team.

The creation of Coventry University Scarborough Campus also brings a new era of higher education to the region. Professor John Latham, vice-chancellor of Coventry University said: “This is a massively important project for Coventry University, Scarborough and the regional economy.”

Coventry University Scarborough Campus will be a key part of the £45 million sports and education facility on the town’s old Weaponness Park and Ride site.

Anthony Dillon, managing director for Willmott Dixon in Yorkshire, said: “We have a proud track record in Yorkshire, which is evident in nearby Beverley where our mixed-use development in the town centre is creating jobs and encouraging inward investment.

“We are delighted to be continuing this in Scarborough by creating the new Coventry University Scarborough Campus and like all our projects, the focus will be on how we support the local economy by using companies from around Scarborough as much as possible to carry out work packages.”

Morgan Sindall has been appointed to design and build a £9.7 million care home in North East Enfield.

The project for Enfield Council is already underway and will provide a new home at Old Road for 70 older people living in residential care.

The Enfield Care Home development will include 70 bedrooms, 17 community rooms, a landscaped garden, hairdressing salon and a modern kitchen and will be equipped to the highest regulation standards with hoists, various aids, lifts and safe storage for medication.

The ambitious new development will replace Coppice Wood Lodge and Bridge House, and residents from these two neighbouring care homes will be the first to be welcomed into the new building in October 2016.

Councillor Alev Cazimoglu, Enfield Council’s Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care said: “Our decision to build a new care home in the borough allows us to respond to the shortages of nursing care capacity in Enfield.

“Our building contractor, Morgan Sindall, started on site in August and work on the construction of the new care home is making good progress.

“Residents will begin to move in to the new premises at the end of 2016. However, I do want to reassure families that until the new home is ready and fully operational Coppice Wood Lodge and Bridge House will continue to provide excellent services for as long as necessary.”

Neil Franklin, area director for Morgan Sindall said: “We are delighted to be starting work on this development which is going to provide 70 older people with a brand new, bright and modern home.”

A planning framework which will deliver more than 25,500 new homes and create up to 65,000 jobs at Old Oak and Park Royal has been approved by the Mayor of London.

Old Oak in West London is set to become a new home to a world-class High Speed 2 (HS2) and Crossrail Station by 2026, handling 250,000 passengers a day and acting as a super hub between London and the rest of the UK, Europe and the world.

Mayor Boris Johnson believes this presents the opportunity to create tens of thousands of new homes and could provide almost 14 per cent of Greater London’s employment needs up to 2031, with early estimates of a £7 billion annual contribution to the UK economy.

The Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation was launched by the Mayor in April and will drive the planning and regeneration of the site that straddles the London boroughs of Hammersmith & Fulham, Brent and Ealing.

Earlier this year, the Mayor published an Opportunity Area Planning Framework for consultation, which sets out his long-term vision for the area. Following the conclusion of that consultation, the Mayor has now approved the document which sets the strategic planning direction for the area.

Sir Edward Lister, Deputy Mayor for Planning and Chairman of the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation, said: “London urgently needs new homes and commercial space to meet its ever growing population and there can be no doubt that the regeneration of Old Oak represents a real opportunity to meet those needs.

“This strategy will mean we can plan for the future of this vast site as we work to create a new, thriving and sustainable part of the capital, where people will love to live, work, play and visit.”

Wates Construction and the Education Funding Agency (EFA) have reached contract close on the £16.7 million Eastbury School in Barking.

This is the second school in the Barking, Dagenham and Newham batch of the Priority School Building Programme (PSBP).

The project will comprise a new 420 capacity primary school with 26 nursery places and a 1,800-place secondary school that will replace the ageing accommodation.

Designed by CPMG, the new buildings will feature state-of-the art classrooms, with the secondary school also including modern science laboratories. Following completion, some of the former school buildings will be demolished and replaced with landscaped grounds and new sports facilities.

Hand over and occupation of the primary school is due for September 2016 and for the secondary school early 2017.

The schools have been designed utilising Wates’ Adapt Schools Solutions model, a standardised solution that facilitates the time and cost efficient delivery of new school buildings.

The Eastbury contract forms part of the EFA’s Barking, Dagenham and Newham batch being delivered through the PSBP, which also includes Little Ilford School in Newham and Eastbrook School in Dagenham.

Ian Vickers, Regional Managing Director for Wates Construction, Home Counties & the East, said: “We’re delighted to once again be utilising our experience to deliver a further school in partnership with the EFA.

“We’ve worked closely with the EFA to create a cost efficient and inspiring learning environment for staff and pupils to utilise as a platform for success for many years to come.”

Salmon Harvester Opportunity Fund (SHOF) has taken a major step forward with its £20 million redevelopment of Cathedral Square shopping centre in Worcester.

SHOF has appointed Speller Metcalfe as main contractor to the scheme, with work commencing in November and completion scheduled for Spring 2017.

Des O’Neill, Managing Director at Speller Metcalfe said: “This is a fantastic scheme for Worcester, which will regenerate the existing Cathedral Plaza shopping centre and draw visitors into the local area.

“Speller Metcalfe is delighted to be a part of such an important scheme, and as a local contractor it is important to us that the project will provide opportunities for local employment.”

The work focuses on redeveloping the southern end of the shopping centre, creating a new terrace level overlooking the Cathedral with eight new restaurants, a reconfigured Travelodge hotel, additional retail space, gym, coffee shop and new public square.

The public square is being jointly funded with Worcestershire County Council and Worcester City Council.

It will provide a new space for public events and for residents, visitors and shoppers to dine and relax, overlooking Worcester Cathedral.

Nick Webb of Salmon Harvester Opportunity Fund said: “We have been consulting and working on these plans for some time and are delighted to have appointed local contractor Speller Metcalfe.”