Construction has started on a £70 million housing development for army families at Tidworth in Wiltshire that could create jobs and boost economic growth.

Working on behalf of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), award winning housebuilder Hill will construct 322 new 3 and 4 bedroom homes for service personnel and their families based at barracks on and around Salisbury Plain.

The homes have been designed to complement existing properties in the area, incorporating red bricks and traditional roof styles that feature in surrounding villages. The development will also include 5 open green spaces.

Neal Walters, DIO Project Manager, said: “This major housing project is one example of how we’re investing in quality accommodation for our armed forces and their families.

“This development also complements our wider plans for the area which will support the return of British troops from Germany in 2019.”

Kieran Larkin, Deputy Chief Executive at Hill, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with the Ministry of Defence (MOD) in what will be our largest single contract to date.

“This is not only a completely new sector for us at Hill, but it’s also our first project in Wiltshire, and is a fantastic opportunity to create homes for service personnel. It is a project that the whole team are very proud to be working on.”

Construction on the homes is due to complete in spring 2018.

Lendlease‘s construction business has been selected for a major refurbishment project at White City Place – formerly known as the BBC’s Media Village – on Wood Lane in West London.

The project is to refurbish three buildings at White City Place – WestWorks, Mediaworks, and Garden House – in order to create state-of-the-art commercial office facilities and help drive regeneration of the local area.

Contracts for the three buildings have now been signed with a total value of £80 million, and further works are currently being finalised for £7 million of landscaping.

The developers are Stanhope – a longstanding client of Lendlease’s construction business – together with Mitsui Fudosan and AIMCo.

Neil Martin, Managing Director of Lendlease’s construction business, said: “We’re excited to be working with our longstanding client Stanhope as well as Mitsui Fudosan and AIMCo on White City Place.”

Stanhope is also transforming Television Centre into a vibrant mixed-use development, featuring a total of 950 new homes, office space for the creative industries, restaurants and cafes, state-of-the-art studios for the BBC and a Soho House members club and hotel.

White City Place sits on 17 acres of land adjacent to the Imperial College campus, and is very close to White City and Wood Lane tube stations.

Plans for the area include up to 2,500 high quality homes, over two million sq ft of offices, new public spaces, an enhanced world-class shopping offer and a hub for academia, innovation and start-ups.

HS2 Ltd, the company responsible for the construction of Britain’s new high speed rail network, has announced dates and locations for its regional Supply Chain Roadshows 2016.

Starting in May, HS2 Ltd will visit 11 regions across Britain to meet businesses large and small, to explain the types of work packages that will be available and to advise firms on how to get in the best position to bid for billions of pounds worth of contracts with HS2.

Beth West, HS2 Ltd Commercial Director, said: “Building on the success of last year’s events, attended by around 250 companies, I am delighted to announce this year’s HS2 Supply Chain Roadshows, where we hope to speak to as many businesses as possible from all over Britain.

“Building HS2 is a massive long-term project, one that offers a huge opportunity for British businesses to bid for billions of pounds worth of contracts.

“To construct HS2 and bring it to life will require a vast range of skills and expertise.

“Put simply, HS2 is an investment in our infrastructure that will create thousands of jobs and drive regional regeneration.”

A massive programme of development of railway stations and surrounding land will deliver thousands of new homes and jobs that will boost local growth.

The agreement between Network Rail and the Homes and Communities Agency will see them working with local councils to kick-start development opportunities across England’s railway stations for housing and businesses.

The ambitious initiative could deliver up to 10,000 new properties on sites around stations in the coming years.

Government wants to hear from at least 20 local authorities to take the scheme forward.

Drawing on the example set by the transformation of Birmingham New Street, Manchester Victoria and London Kings Cross, government will bring together high-calibre technical expertise and local knowledge to increase development opportunities that exist throughout the entire rail estate.

Communities Secretary Greg Clark said: “We’re determined to fire up communities and back local business so they build much needed housing and create thousands of jobs.

“Rail stations are a hub of communities, connectivity and commerce and should be making the most of their unique potential to attract investment and opportunities.

“With record numbers of people travelling by train, it makes sense to bring people closer to stations and develop sites that have space for thousands of new homes and offices.”

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said: “As a one nation government we are determined to ensure further opportunities are grasped to put stations at the heart of wider community regeneration.

“This will help deliver thousands of new homes and jobs and deliver a substantial return to the taxpayer.”

A masterplan has been given the go-ahead for the regeneration of the former Southall Gasworks, paving the way for construction of 3,750 new homes in the London Borough of Ealing.

The Berkeley Group is planning to redevelop the 88-acre brownfield site to build Southall Waterside, which will also include 46,000m² of commercial space, a two form entry primary school, a health centre and substantial green space.

Work is expected to start on site this year and the scheme will be delivered in a number of phases over a 25 year period that will pave the way for new jobs.

The revised masterplan will see more than half the site set aside for open space, including landscaped public parkland, leisure and play spaces, and piazzas.

Berkeley is now preparing a detailed planning application for Phase A of the development. This is expected to include 618 new homes in the northeast corner of the scheme, of which 186 are designated affordable. It also features roads, parking, landscaping and access to public realm.

Subject to approvals, first completions for Phase A are anticipated for mid-2018.

Berkeley Group executive director Sean Ellis said: “These gasworks closed almost 50 years ago, so approval of the Southall Waterside masterplan marks the start of an exciting new future for this 88 acre site. It is the largest regeneration scheme in West London.

“It creates a much more diverse residential and commercial offer for Southall. And when 80% of new homes currently planned for the capital are in just three East London boroughs, this provides some welcome balance.”

Glasgow University has taken possession of the former Western Infirmary site paving the way for its £1 billion expansion of the Gilmorehill site over the next decade.

It is anticipated that 2,500 jobs will be created during the construction period. Work to appoint a construction delivery partner is already underway with a winner due to be selected by early next year.

The planned campus project is one of the biggest education developments in Scotland – higher than the public investment in the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Councillor Frank McAveety, Leader of Glasgow City Council, said: “I know that the University of Glasgow has been engaging strongly with local community groups and businesses in this part of the city and I hope to see a mutually beneficial relationship grow between ‘town and gown’ as this project develops.”

The masterplan for the former Western Infirmary site, which covers 14 acres, includes:

• The creation of a Research and Innovation Hub housing large-scale, inter-disciplinary projects and incubator space for spin-out collaborations with industry, which should support economic development in the West End;

• Public routes and a new central square which will link Byres Road to the up-and-coming cultural quarter for the West End, with new links to Kelvingrove and the newly-refurbished Kelvin Hall. These link will be reinforced by a new-build for the College of Arts;

• New buildings for social sciences, the Institute of Health and Well-being, and the School of Science and Engineering;

• Commercial opportunities, including a hotel, restaurant, bars and cafes which will also ensure that the five listed buildings on the site have a new and valuable use.

Willmott Dixon is planing to build up to half of the 2,000 homes it delivers each year using factory manufactured systems that will boost the housing industry.

The company has signed three-year strategic agreements with leading suppliers of timber frame and light-gauge steel frame systems, which it hopes will reduce reliance on on-site trades as costs continue to rise with demand outstripping supply.

To help provide economics of scale for its nationwide residential building capability, Willmott Dixon has signed agreements with Robertson Timber Engineering as sole supplier of timber frame produces, while Fusion Building Systems will provide light-gauge steel frames.

Willmott Dixon’s residential construction chief operating officer Charlie Scherer said: “This is an important step in our strategy to provide a high quality product that utilises all the benefits of factory-made systems while also reducing our exposure to the labour price escalation we’ve seen in recent years.

“We aim to be building 1,000 homes a year by 2017 using systems provided by Robertson and Fusion, with the consistent quality also aiding our zero defects strategy.”

Tim Carey, product director for Willmott Dixon, said: “If we are to address the significant capacity gap that currently exists in the construction sector, we need to think strategically about our supply chain.

“The selection of Robertson and Fusion will help maximise efficiencies across our projects, enabling us to deliver as many high-quality homes in as short a time frame as possible whilst ensuring they are delivered to the quality our clients deserve.”

Willmott Dixon has built nearly 50,000 homes since the 1974, and operates across the South, Midlands and North, building for developers, housing associations and local authorities.

The mix includes affordable, care residential, retirement villages, housing for sale and private rent, plus student accommodation. Projects vary in scale, from a standalone 90 unit care homes to multi-phase ten year estate regenerations that create a new ‘destination’ for communities.

Three neighbourhoods in Leeds will soon benefit from a major £142 million investment which will deliver in the region of 1000 new homes on brownfield land.

The scheme will pave the way for employment and training opportunities for local people over the next eight years.

Working in partnership with Leeds City Council and Strata, housing and community regeneration specialist, Keepmoat, will redevelop 13 sites in the Seacroft, Halton Moor and Osmandthorpe areas of Leeds.

The scheme will serve to provide much-needed, quality affordable homes and purchasing initiatives such as Help to Buy, which will offer aspiring home owners a real opportunity of getting on the housing ladder.

The scheme will also provide considerable work opportunities including apprenticeships and training placements to address skills shortages and ensure that local people will get the maximum benefit of this investment in these areas.

As a major landowner in the city, the council has committed to ensuring development takes place on brownfield land first. Currently, around 70 per cent of all new homes in Leeds are being delivered on brownfield sites.

Ian Hoad, operations director for Keepmoat in Yorkshire, said: “We are actively expanding our presence in West Yorkshire, where we see a real appetite for new homes. With 95% of our developments built on brownfield land we are perfectly placed to deliver this scheme and we’re thrilled to have been selected as chosen developer alongside Strata.

“Working in partnership with Strata will allow us to accelerate the delivery of these new homes, with the target of achieving 150 properties per annum.”

Plans for building a £90 million Bristol Arena have been granted planning consent, paving the way for the 12,000-seat venue and redevelopment of the wider site.

The new arena would be built on land former diesel depot site on Bath Road and is scheduled to open in 2018. This site is now known as Arena Island and forms part of the Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone.

The 100,000 sq ft building will be split over four floors with the main entrance from a plaza to the north, accessed from a new bridge over the River Avon.

It has been suggested that the venue could hold up to 116 events each year of which about 20 would make use of the full capacity (10,000 seated and a further 2,000 standing). Up to 400 staff would be working at major events.

Proposals for the Arena Island site include 205,000 sq ft of retail, office and leisure space as well as a hotel, student accommodation and affordable housing.

Bouygues UK has been named as preferred bidder to build the arena, which has been designed by London Olympic Stadium architects’ firm Populous with Bath-based architects’ practice Feilden Clegg Bradley and engineering firm BuroHappold.

Bristol mayor, George Ferguson, has previously confirmed that that 65 per cent of the construction workforce will come from the region with at least a third of that coming from Bristol itself.

The agreement demonstrates a commitment from HS2 Ltd to work together with the trade union movement to lead a safe, diverse and inclusive workforce with a strong voice.

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) and many of its member unions support the case for HS2, recognising it as a crucial investment in the country’s economy that at the peak of construction will create a 25,000-strong newly skilled workforce and up to 2,000 apprenticeships.

An ‘initial framework agreement’ sets out how the partners will discuss issues concerning the employment, development, diversity and inclusion of people working throughout the project’s supply chain.

It also provides a platform for future work package agreements to be to be agreed directly between the relevant contractors and unions with support from HS2 Ltd and the TUC.

HS2 Ltd Chief Executive and TUC General Secretary, Frances O’Grady, signed the agreement this week at HS2 Ltd’s community hub in Euston.HS2 Ltd Chief Executive, Simon Kirby, said: “Our mission is to be a high-performing, innovative organisation that delivers value for money by applying the best in worldwide design and construction techniques.

“To accomplish this mission we need to lead a safe, valued and effective workforce. This fundamental agreement underlines our responsibility as a direct employer as well as a commitment to the wider workforce that will deliver HS2 across our supply chain.”