U+I to masterplan new £3.5bn Cambridge quarter

Developer U+I has been appointed masterplanner and promoter to transform a water recycling centre site in north Cambridge into a new £3.5bn northern quarter for the city.

Landowners Anglian Water and Cambridge City Council are also working with development partner TOWN and a design team led by Urbed on the scheme.

U+I will prepare a masterplan and design code, secure planning permission, deliver enabling infrastructure and sell development-ready land parcels to third parties on the 120-acre site.

Regeneration work is expected to take 10-15 years to construct 5,200 homes and one million sq ft of office space.

The site will also include a mix of retail, community and leisure space – providing north Cambridge with a new neighbourhood.

The first stage will involve the preparation of a business plan to secure £193m of funding from the Housing Infrastructure Fund to relocate the current water recycling centre and remediate the site.

The project was shortlisted for funding by Homes England earlier in 2018.

 Matthew Weiner, Chief Executive of U+I, said: “We are hugely excited to have the opportunity to work with Anglian Water and Cambridge City Council on this prestigious site, which deepens our pipeline of PPP projects in the London City Region where we are focused, alongside Manchester and Dublin.

 “We see enormous potential in the site, and our passion for placemaking will help us to transform this quarter of Cambridge into a vibrant place, providing much-needed housing to this currently undersupplied market.”

from Construction Enquirer http://www.constructionenquirer.com/2018/07/02/ui-to-masterplan-new-3-5bn-cambridge-quarter/

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M&E specialist Lorne Stewart suffers £8.5m loss

Building services specialist Lorne Stewart has counted the cost of problem contracts suffering a £8.5m loss last year.

Latest results for 2017 show turnover at the firm rose 3% to £140m, although average headcount for the year fell 7% to 728 staff as management streamlined the business.

Group chief executive officer Puliyelethu Mathai Matthew said: “Profitability in the year was adversely affected by the resolution of several old contracts, write off of certain aged debtor balances and cost of restructuring the business.”

He added: “Margins remain a challenge at all levels of the supply chain, making insolvency a high risk at client level as well as subcontractor and supplier level.

“The company is therefore vigorously maintaining compliance with its stringent credit criteria both up and down line.”

Shareholders funds fell 27% to £13m as a result of the losses, partially offset by a reduced pension deficit.

Group company secretary Inbaraj Rajakumar added: “The board remains confident in the company’s prospects for 2018, having entered the year with a solid backlog of contracted work and a promising pipeline of opportunities which are being vigorously pursued.

“The company continues to streamline its internal processes and control, building on projects delivered in the last year to reduce direct cost and overheads.

Last October, Lorne Steward transferred the ownership of its prefabrication business, MDSL, and £40m-plus revenue Rotary Building Services to a newly-formed parent holding company known as LSRM.

from Construction Enquirer http://www.constructionenquirer.com/2018/07/02/me-specialist-lorne-stewart-suffers-8-5m-loss/

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Kier offloads heating specialist Wheldons for £0.4m

Kier has offloaded heating contractor Wheldon Contracts and Services acquired as part of the takeover of McNicholas Construction a year ago.

The heating services business was bought by Eighty Seven Holdings, a newly-formed company controlled by Rusilip-based M&E contractor Optimum Group chairman and chief executive John Crehan and Jim Moore.

The directors paid £400,000 cash for the £14m revenue contractor, which employs around 100 staff.

Wheldon provides heating services in the housing and commercial sectors for registered providers and contractors. It ran up a £2m loss in 2017 and is expected to make a £600,000 loss for the financial year-ending June 2018.

Crehan founded Optimum Air Conditioning in 1989 and has grown the company into a leading provider of hard FM services, including data centres

Now called Optimum Group Services the £40m revenue firm employs around 300 staff.

from Construction Enquirer http://www.constructionenquirer.com/2018/07/02/kier-offloads-heating-specialist-wheldons-for-0-4m/

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£85m Stockport Interchange plan gets thumbs up

Plans to build a bus station below a new park in Stockport have been cleared by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

As well as a two-acre public park above the interchange, the proposals include a 15-storey private rented block of flats and upgrading a section of the Trans Pennine Trail alongside the River Mersey.

Details of the project are now out to consultation ahead of a planning application being submitted to Stockport Council later this year.

Covered passenger concourse in the interchange with seated waiting areas

If approved, enabling works are set to start by autumn next year with a main construction contract awarded in early 2020.

Around £45m has been earmarked for the interchange, with the residential block expected to cost a further £40m.

Funded by Transport for Greater Manchester, Stockport Council and the GMCA, the development is planned for the site of the existing Stockport bus station alongside the A6 and Mersey Square in the town centre. and will continue the radical £1bn transformation under way in Stockport town centre.

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said: “Plans for a modern transport interchange, residential development and large public park demonstrate a clear ambition for Stockport to become a key urban centre in South Manchester.

“It’s also a fantastic example of integrated town centre planning, with TfGM and Stockport Council working together to build something that will benefit an entire community. This is a key part of my Town Centre Challenge.

New town centre park with level access directly from the A6 and residential block

“Stockport is already an exciting place to live, work and socialise in and this new development will play an important role in making travel easier and supporting further regeneration.

“I’m now calling on train operators to free up land around rail stations across Greater Manchester so these areas can also be used for regeneration and redevelopment purposes, providing huge benefits for towns and districts.”

 

from Construction Enquirer http://www.constructionenquirer.com/2018/07/02/85m-stockport-interchange-plan-gets-thumbs-up/

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Low-cost prosthetic foot mimics natural walking

Engineers have developed a simple, low-cost, passive prosthetic foot that they can tailor to an individual. Given a user’s body weight and size, the researchers can tune the shape and stiffness of the prosthetic foot, such that the user’s walk is similar to an able-bodied gait. They estimate that the foot, if manufactured on a wide scale, could cost an order of magnitude less than existing products.

from Engineering and Construction News – ScienceDaily https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180628120030.htm

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Liverpool developers to face police checks

Developers in Liverpool could soon face police checks when they submit schemes to the city’s planning authority.

The voluntary scheme has been drawn up by the Mayor of Liverpool in partnership with Merseyside Police.

It will complement Liverpool City Council’s own Due Diligence process and will start in the autumn.

Mayor Joe Anderson said: “We want people to have confidence that the schemes taking place in our city are going to be delivered.

“We already work very hard with any developer or investor who comes to the city and wants to talk to us.

“However, most private sector schemes have absolutely no involvement from the council, except to grant planning permission.

“So, we want to ask developers to put themselves forward voluntarily for a police check in order to give both their investors, and the city, confidence in the strength of their scheme.

“The fact this scheme would be voluntary reflects the weakness of Government Policy in this area.

“Government legislation very tightly controls what our planning system can and cannot do and practically reduces the Council to a bystander with very little ability to shape and control our city.

“I think this is a good way of collecting more information about developers behind schemes so that their investors can make a more informed choice.

“I also think this will attract good developers to Liverpool because they know we are a council which is willing to work with them and take seriously our responsibility to grow and enhance the city.”

Liverpool’s New Chinatown site has been the highest-profile recent scheme to be stalled after the developers failed to deliver.

from Construction Enquirer http://www.constructionenquirer.com/2018/07/01/liverpool-developers-to-face-police-checks/

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Tax cheat builder made bogus VAT claims to fund gambling habit

A former builder who falsely claimed £750,000 of VAT repayments to pay for gambling and high living expenses has been jailed for two years and eight months.

Peter Howes, 58, of Waterlooville, Hampshire, submitted fraudulent VAT returns to HMRC between June 2011 and October 2017.

He claimed he was working as a builder and entitled to VAT repayments on his taxable purchases.

But investigators found Howes hadn’t been working and had simply made up the figures on his VAT returns.

Richard Wilkinson, Assistant Director, Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC, said: “Howes committed VAT fraud to fund his gambling habit, and is now in jail for his crime.

“He stopped working as a builder and used the tax system as his personal bank account. It is simply not acceptable to steal from UK taxpayers and the public services we all rely upon.

Howes fraudulently claimed £750,602 under his former trading name of P D Howes Building and Development.

He received around £9,500 each month, and spent the money on gambling and his general lifestyle. HMRC withheld £19,875 of the money claimed while investigations took place.

At Portsmouth Crown Court, Howes pleaded guilty to the fraudulent evasion of VAT and was jailed for two years and eight months.

from Construction Enquirer http://www.constructionenquirer.com/2018/07/01/tax-cheat-builder-made-bogus-vat-claims-to-fund-gambling-habit/

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