£3.7bn public health works contract supplier day
The Government is hosting a supplier day on 20 September in Birmingham on the New Hospital Programme to encourage contractors and suppliers to get involved in the upcoming £3.7bn project from the beginning.
The project will deliver 48 new hospitals across England by 2030.
Network Rail £3.74bn supplier spend
Credit roman-fox–via unsplashNetwork rail has released a list of its top 20 suppliers. Energy company EDF is top of that charts followed by Siemens which provides signalling. Largest civil engineering contractors were Balfour Beatty, Bam Nuttall and Murphy.
All supplier spends are up significantly on 2021. Network Rail has just reported an 80% drop in profit on last year whilst reporting similar revenue. It says the drop is due to ‘inflation.’
View the full list here
Government sells off £1.5bn of public assets
The Government has announced the sale of a further £1.5bn of public assets to private companies stating ‘efficiency’ reasons. Apparently, police stations have been closed with staff moved into TfL offices and unrelated departments are being crammed into uncomfortable working environments that are unfit for purpose across the country.
The most obvious question being where is the money going, it has stated that it makes departments closer to the communities they serve but that is not the lived experience with residents wondering where their local police station has disappeared to.
Tarmac solar fuelled asphalt
Tarmac has installed solar panels at its Birmingham asphalt plant which will power up to 10% of its energy bill.
Custom Solar installed 430 solar roof panels which will generate up to 194kwh of energy for the plant.
Tarmac already consumes 100% carbon free energy in its operations with renewable energy used across all its sites.
Tarmac leads the way in sustainability, a few weeks ago we wrote about Tarmac running the UK’s first electric cement mixer – the company has a whole web section dedicated to sustainability and solutions implemented in different business areas.
Balfour Beatty to restore listed palm houses
Credit Wikimedia commons
Balfour Beatty has won the contract to restore the historic Edinburgh Botanic Garden Tropical and Temperate Palm Houses.
The palm houses are Grade A listed heritage buildings that were built in the 1800’s and house and includes a range of rare and important plants including the oldest plant in the collection, the 200-year-old rare Bermudian fan palm, Sabal Bermudan which was transported 4,000 from Bermuda to Germany then to Leith. It had to face the chop a few years ago as it outgrew the 50 foot high roof.
Work is expected to complete in 2024.
440 new Brentford flats
Developer L&Q & builder Hill have started work on 440 flats beside Brentford FC & London Irish stadium. The site is the former Citroen garage site.
The development will include five towers up to 18 stories high including 50% affordable homes. It will include a public square.
Construction is expected to complete in 2026.
JV cyber security guide
The National Cyber Security Centre has published a guide for joint ventures in the construction industry on cyber security best practice and covers topics such as understanding risks, sharing information, roles & responsibilities, regulation, strategy, planning, hardware, disaster recovery, training, supply chain, checklists and policies. It concludes by advising contractors to complete the Government certification Cyber Essentials course priced from £300+VAT for micro enterprises upwards.
JVs are particularly at risk due to the size and significance of projects, it says.
It was developed in collaboration between The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI).
Download your free copy here