Nearly Half of Builders Report Job Delays Amid Worsening Skills Drought, Reveals Survey
The Federation of Master Builders and the Chartered Institute of Building report that 49% of UK small‑and‑medium builders are experiencing project delays because of a deepening skilled‑labour shortage, up from 61% earlier in the year. One in five firms have cancelled jobs outright, while rising material costs are being passed to homeowners. Carpenters, bricklayers and plumbers are the hardest trades to recruit, intensifying the pressure on renovation and home‑improvement projects.
Dowds Group Takes Aim at Talent Crisis with Landmark Benefits Package
UK engineering firm Dowds Group has unveiled a comprehensive employee benefits package designed to combat the construction talent shortage. The scheme offers 41 days of annual leave, enhanced parental and carers’ leave, six months of enhanced sick pay, private healthcare...
Members Invited to Go Behind the Build at Rugby School
The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) is offering members a guided tour of the Houlton Primary School in Rugby, a £12 million (~$15 million) Passivhaus‑certified project built with cross‑laminated timber (CLT). The school’s timber frame is nearing completion and features high‑performance windows,...
Government Streamlines Major Projects Portfolio
The UK Government will cut its Major Projects Portfolio from 200 to 80 projects on 1 April, aiming to simplify governance and boost accountability. The move is presented as a way to deliver better value for taxpayers by concentrating specialist support...
Warm Homes Plan: Can Housing Retrofit Meet Future Demands?
The episode breaks down the UK Government’s Warm Homes Plan—a £15 billion initiative to retrofit up to five million homes, provide zero‑interest loans for solar and heat‑pump installations, and tighten landlord duties to lift half a million families out of fuel...
‘It’s Time for a National Campaign to Highlight Construction Careers’
The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) surveyed 2,000 UK youths aged 16‑24 and 2,001 parents, finding that two‑thirds of young people view construction positively but only 30% would actually consider a career. While three‑quarters of parents say they would support...
The Next Step in Smart Plant: Excavators that Record and Analyse Near Misses
Sumitomo Heavy Industries and NEC are creating an AI‑driven system that automatically extracts near‑miss video clips from hydraulic excavators and generates detailed safety reports. The extraction model, trained on SHI’s excavator data, identifies risk scenes, which NEC’s generative‑AI engine then...
New Boss for Gleeds Amid Crew Change Targeting Key Markets
Gleeds announced that chief operating officer David Johnson will assume the chief executive role on 6 April, succeeding long‑time leader Graham Harle, who will become a non‑executive director. Brian McArdle will step into the COO position while Andy Ellis moves to UK managing...
‘No More Energy Bills’: Housebuilder Adopts Finnish Timber System Touted as Better than Passivhaus
Oakmont Contracting has partnered with Finnish firm Talo to adopt its four‑decade‑old panellised timber system for new UK homes. The off‑site method promises to cut construction time by roughly half and eliminates traditional concrete foundations. Talo’s dry‑kilned Nordic timber delivers...
Morgan Sindall Starts Passivhaus Scheme at Cambridge University
Morgan Sindall Construction has broken ground on the Owlstone Croft Passivhaus student housing scheme at Queens’ College, Cambridge. The £34.4 million (~$44 million) project will deliver 13 new homes with 60 bedrooms and refurbish existing Blocks A and B to add 87...
Digital Piling Map Set to Improve Foundation Design and Circularity
The Federation of Piling Specialists (FPS) has unveiled a nationwide digital geotechnical data map that visualises completed piling projects via ArcGIS. By aggregating member‑submitted datasets, the tool lets designers compare past schemes, assess ground conditions and curb design uncertainty. It...
Ex-Offenders to Help Build Affordable Homes in Cheshire Initiative
A new partnership between Cheshire Police, Crime Commissioner Dan Price and the Prisoners Building Homes (PBH) programme will employ probationers on community orders to construct affordable, low‑carbon housing. The initiative expands PBH beyond incarcerated individuals, targeting the county’s roughly 3,000...
Contractors that Ignore Psychosocial Risks Will Feel It in the Bottom Line
Construction firms are facing a hidden financial drain as psychosocial risks drive absenteeism and turnover. In the UK, a quarter of the 40 million lost workdays last year were mental‑health related, while Australia’s mental‑health claims cost the economy $10.9 bn. Studies show...
Rail Workers Struck by Wagon Let Down by Comms Failure, Investigation Finds
The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) concluded that a communication breakdown caused two track workers to be struck by a rail‑mounted wagon near Port Glasgow station on 15 March 2025. The crane operator relied on a radio instruction that never...
Late Payment Reform Toughest in over 25 Years, Government Says
Britain's government has introduced the toughest late‑payment reforms in the G7, tightening rules for large firms dealing with small suppliers. A new 60‑day payment cap and a statutory interest rate of 8 % above the Bank of England base rate will...
Future Homes Standard Launched with Solar Mandate
The UK government has unveiled the Future Homes Standard, mandating solar panels and clean heating for most new homes in England, with implementation slated for 2028. The policy promises up to £830 (approximately $1,050) annual energy‑bill savings per household and...
BSI Publishes PAS 1958 and Digital Twin Standards
The British Standards Institution (BSI) has released two new standards for the built environment. PAS 1958 provides a consolidated framework that maps existing data and information standards, stemming from the government‑backed BridgeAI programme aimed at accelerating AI adoption among SMEs....
Midlands College Builds Retrofit Training Houses
South & City College Birmingham has opened two purpose‑built retrofit training houses, funded by the West Midlands and Warwickshire Local Skills Improvement Plan and the WMCA. One house replicates a typical 1930s terraced home, while the other showcases modern, energy‑efficient...
Quin Wins Digital Innovation in Health, Safety and Wellbeing at the Digital Construction Awards
Quintessential Design’s Quin system – comprising the Quin Pod, Quin Within App, and Quin Tag – won the Digital Innovation in Health, Safety and Wellbeing award at the 2026 Digital Construction Awards. The solution embeds motion and impact sensors in...
BYLOR JV Wins Digital Innovation in Productivity at the Digital Construction Awards
BYLOR JV, a partnership between Bouygues Travaux Publics and Laing O’Rourke, captured the Digital Innovation in Productivity award at the 2026 Digital Construction Awards. The joint venture tackled the complex material‑management demands of Hinkley Point C’s heat‑sink pump house by...
RLB Digital Wins Information Management Best Practice at the Digital Construction Awards
RLB Digital’s Project Colin won the Information Management Best Practice award at the 2026 Digital Construction Awards. The solution tackles the chronic problem of fragmented construction documents by treating individual data pieces as the primary building blocks. It creates a...
Trimble Announces Tekla 2026 Updates
Trimble introduced the Tekla 2026 software suite, embedding AI-driven drawing generation, cloud‑based project settings, and tighter integration with Trimble Connect. The update adds simultaneous model and drawing editing, an out‑of‑tolerance layout manager, and a natural‑language drawing assistant preview. Tekla Structural...
Willmott Dixon Continues with Sypro Contract Management
Willmott Dixon has renewed its contract with Sypro for another five years, extending a 14‑year relationship. The Sypro platform, used on 244 projects, digitises risk management, communication and governance across NEC, JCT and bespoke contracts. The renewal underscores the contractor’s...
19650 Review: Have Your Say on the Future of Information Management Standards
The British Standards Institution and NIMA have released draft revisions of ISO 19650 Parts 1, 2 and 3 for public consultation, with a deadline of 3 May. The updates remove the traditional delivery‑vs‑operational phase distinction, unifying the asset information management process across the entire lifecycle...
Amey Deploys FYLD’s AI-Enabled Risk Assessment Tool
Amey is rolling out FYLD’s AI‑enabled risk assessment platform to more than 2,500 field workers after a three‑month pilot that covered over 500 jobs. The pilot showed 95% of tasks used AI‑driven risk assessments and 85% of users stayed consistently...
Building Supplier Pledges Support for Ex-Military Construction Careers
Building supplier Marshalls has entered a partnership with the charity Building Heroes to create pathways for service leavers, veterans, reservists and military families into civilian construction roles. As a silver‑sponsoring partner, Marshalls will fund local fundraising and may later provide...
What Tougher English Rules Mean for Construction Employers
From 8 January 2026 the UK will raise the English language threshold for skilled‑worker, scale‑up and high‑potential visas from CEFR B1 to B2. The change aligns the requirement with an A‑level standard, demanding greater fluency and precision. Construction firms, which...
Video | HS2 Slides 1,620t Bridge over Grand Union Canal
HS2 engineers have successfully launched a 130‑metre, 1,620‑ton steel bridge (Longhole Viaduct) over the Grand Union Canal near Ufton, Warwickshire, completing the slide operation in two days and reopening a 1.5‑mile section a week ahead of schedule. The bridge was...
Developer Targets Key-Worker Housing Shortage with German Prefab System
Prime, a health‑care property developer, has partnered with German industrialised‑construction firm Goldbeck to deliver Oak House, a 79‑unit apartment block for key workers in Dorchester. The scheme will use Goldbeck’s prefabricated concrete frame, hollow‑core floors and modular walls, marking the...
Women in BIM: Driving Global Change Through Structured Mentorship
Women in BIM’s global Mentor Scheme, now in its 2026 intake, offers a structured six‑to‑nine month one‑to‑one program that pairs experienced BIM professionals with women at various career stages. The initiative tackles the persistent gender gap in senior technical and...
Can AI Use Alerts to Proactively Reschedule a Project?
Researchers at the University of East London propose an AI‑driven architecture that links risk detection directly to project scheduling. The system translates safety alerts, design clashes, and supply delays into machine‑readable constraints, automatically reshaping the construction timetable. A "risk‑to‑constraint translation...
‘Shed Specialist’ Winvic Is Getting Into Data Centres: We Asked How
Winvic Construction, known for industrial sheds, is expanding into data centre construction as its fourth core sector. Over the past 18 months the firm has mapped client demand, retooled its supply chain, and secured MEP partners to meet the technical...
AtkinsRéalis and T&T Join Heathrow Expansion Project
AtkinsRéalis and Turner & Townsend have been appointed by Heathrow as portfolio management office consultants for its £33bn expansion, including the government‑backed third runway. The PMO framework is set for an initial five‑year term with an option to extend another...
Video | Home Built in 10 Days Using ‘Factory-in-a-Box’ System
University of Sheffield researchers, together with Seismic Group, have showcased a ‘factory‑in‑a‑box’ modular system that can construct a complete home in just ten days. The approach deploys a rapidly assembled, weather‑shielded manufacturing unit directly on the building site, eliminating traditional...
Circular Construction Hub Unveiled in London
London’s Royal Docks have launched the UK’s first circular construction hub, the opening phase of a broader Circular Economy Village in Newham. The facility, created with Tipping Point East, Newham Council and mayoral support, will recycle demolition waste, aiming to...
Causeway’s Paul Devlin Joins Evercam to Grow Reality-Driven Intelligence
Evercam has appointed former Causeway Technologies CEO Paul Devlin as chief commercial officer to accelerate its shift from camera‑led workflows to a reality‑driven intelligence platform. In his new role Devlin will lead global sales, marketing and commercial operations, targeting developers,...
Norwich Event Explores Relationship Between Materials and Performance
The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) is hosting a one‑day event in Norwich on 25 March to examine whether low‑impact materials can deliver high‑performance buildings. Attendees will explore sustainable design approaches, material selection criteria, and modern performance requirements through expert panels...
The Contract Is the Project – It’s Time We Treated It that Way
NEC Contracts argues that the contract should be treated as the project itself, highlighting how NEC4’s collaborative framework embeds early warnings, programme management and compulsory compensation events. The firm notes that over £100 billion of work has been delivered under NEC3...
Client Survey – Project Monitoring Popular Among Digital Tools
Construction clients are rapidly adopting digital tools to monitor project progress, with 63% using dedicated project‑monitoring platforms and 49% employing BIM for design coordination. On‑site technologies such as drones are used by 41% of respondents, reflecting a shift toward real‑time...
Willmott Dixon Showcases New University Residence in Fortnite
Willmott Dixon has partnered with University of Staffordshire students to recreate its new student residence on a Fortnite island, letting prospective occupants explore the development virtually via island code 7421‑1052‑8692. The real‑world village will deliver 700 rooms, a refurbished Clarice Cliff Court...
Accreditation Places OryxAlign on Tier-One Assurance Platform
OryxAlign has secured the BuildingConfidence Gold accreditation from Achilles, a tier‑one supplier assurance platform used by major construction contractors. The Gold status, awarded in January, applies across the company’s UK operations and signals compliance with rigorous governance, compliance, and operational...
Trimble Sponsors the Digital Construction Awards 2026
Trimble announced its sponsorship of the Digital Construction Project of the Year category at the 2026 Digital Construction Awards. The awards, organized by Digital Construction Week and industry bodies, recognize excellence in BIM, information management, and digital technology across the built...
AC Whyte Tests AI Tool that Cuts BoQ Processing Time by 65%
Glasgow‑based contractor AC Whyte piloted Erand’s AI‑enabled procurement tool, slashing Bill of Quantities (BoQ) processing time by 65% – from roughly 13 hours to 4.5 hours per BoQ. The hybrid system combines natural language processing, rule‑based trade classification and human‑in‑the‑loop...
CIOB Innovation Vice-Chair Mordue Appointed to APS Board
Stefan Mordue, CIOB innovation panel vice‑chair and senior manager at Bentley Systems, has been appointed to the board of the Association for Project Safety (APS). He joins fellow appointee Stewart McArthur, a veteran construction assessor from Bureau Veritas, bringing digital construction...
Trimble Makes Project Management Platform Available in UK and Ireland
Trimble has launched its cloud‑based ProjectSight platform in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Benelux region, extending a tool that is already entrenched in the U.S. market. The solution offers real‑time capture and sharing of drawings, RFIs, submittals and site...
Zutec’s AI Layer Turns Building Information Into Intelligence
Zutec has launched Building AI, an AI‑enhanced layer for its Building Document Management platform, now in beta. The tool lets asset owners query documents, asset registers and warranties, delivering instant, citation‑backed answers while keeping data within a secure, governed environment....
Keltbray Targets AI and Data Skills with Multiverse
Keltbray has partnered with upskilling platform Multiverse to enroll 25 employees in Level 3 AI‑Powered Productivity and Data & Insights courses. The training focuses on generative AI tools such as Microsoft 365 Copilot and on turning raw data into actionable business insights. Keltbray...
Video | CGI Maps Out London’s Changing Skyline
The City of London Corporation unveiled a CGI rendering that visualises the Square Mile’s skyline in six years, incorporating every building granted planning permission or already under construction. The visual reflects a record year of approvals in 2025, with more...
