Construction News

Average salaries in the UK construction industry fell by 2% in 2020 according to an analysis by a recruitment firm, which is harder for some than for others.

The construction industry and all related trades have been told by the government that they can and must continue working during the third national lockdown. But with the virus still spreading, this does not mean there is nothing to worry about.

In the wake of the third national lockdown coming into force in the UK this week, site operating procedures for the construction industry have been revised.

There has been a broad welcome from the construction industry that 2021 began with the UK having secured some sort of trading agreement with the European Union, its largest trade partner.

The government has extended its trade credit insurance scheme by six months to 30th June 2021.

2020 Review of the Year

A roofing contractor has been fined after a health and safety inspector came across two workers jet washing a steeply pitched roof on a house without adequate protection.

New episode: Bishop & Taylor Flexible Working Special

Unhappy with the quality of the official guidance, the Unite union has produced its own comprehensive guide to help ensure the safety of construction workers during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Earnings for self-employed tradespeople have recovered to pre-Covid levels, according to the industry’s biggest payer of subcontractors.

JCB has added new features to its LiveLink telematics portal that are designed to help customers increase uptime, reduce admin and make better decisions.

Covid -19 has left businesses across the globe facing unique operating challenges and filled with a sense of deep uncertainty. If this was not enough, let’s add in a recession to top things off for 2020.

With Christmas events cancelled across the country, the Lighthouse Construction Industry Charity has just the thing to lift the spirits of your employees, suppliers and sub-contractors.

London’s oldest independent building contractor, Sykes & Son, is leaving Essex Street after 261 years.

Four and a half years after a fatal wall collapse at a Birmingham recycling plant, the Health & Safety Executive has decided to prosecute.

Self-employed workers will likely have welcomed the recent extension of government support to see them through the Covid-19 crisis, but many construction bosses are apparently not so keen.

The UK construction sector received nearly £3.7bn in furlough payments from the government by the end of September, latest government figures show.

Kingfisher, the parent company of retailers Screwfix and B&Q has paid €10m for a website that connects consumers with home improvement service providers.

Plant owners in Scotland want cards taken off machinery operators who fail drug or alcohol tests.

Wolverhampton-based Thermal Recycling has opened what is claimed to be “the world’s first socially and environmentally responsible alternative to asbestos disposal”.

After seeing their sales collapse in the spring, builders’ merchants came back strongly in the summer as bored Britons took to their gardens.

The Unite union is pressing for the official Covid-19 site operating procedures to be revised to make masks mandatory for construction workers operating indoors.

JCB has further strengthened its commitment to exploring alternative fuels with the launch of two new all-electric machines and a universal fast-charger for its emerging E-Tech range. David Taylor reports.

The government’s voucher scheme to encourage home improvements has been extended to the end of March 2022.

Business secretary Alok Sharma has written an open letter addressed “to everyone working in the construction sector” to express his gratitude for the work being done.

YourSolution is an interactive design tool aimed at saving customers the time and effort involved in obtaining temporary works designs for standard solutions.

A supplier of software to house-builders is offering building sites a free app to sign in visitors and workers without spreading germs.

Equipment hire chain Speedy has calculated that one of its biggest customers has saved £100,000 over the past two years by only booking online.

SiteZone Safety, which makes proximity warning systems, is supplying a new smaller version of its wearable personal bleepers to an equipment hire company.

Construction industry pay in England increased by an average of 1.7% in October and most of the workforce was kept active.