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Construction 2003
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The information below comes from the UK Activity Report.
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The Ministry of Defence has confirmed plans to revamp the Woodbridge airfield site in Suffolk at a cost of up to £100m, including the construction of new barracks. 23-Dec-2003 JR Smart has acquired the 43,000 sq ft Meridian Gate office building in Cardiff from Axa Insurance, and a refurbishment programme will start early next year. 18-Dec-2003 McAvoy Group is to invest £5m in the development of a factory for modular buildings in Lisburn, with the creation of 50 jobs. 15-Dec-2003 Country Houses Association, the charity that converts stately homes into retirement flats, has gone into liquidation with the possible loss of up to 80 jobs. 15-Dec-2003 Redrose Property Services is planning to expand its building restoration business by seeking a new office in Hertfordshire and by recruiting about 15 additional staff. 08-Dec-2003 Armatile is to expand its Armagh-based tile business with the creation of 25 jobs. 08-Dec-2003 GMB Union College in Manchester is to close in February with the possible loss of 60 jobs, and its historic building will be sold for £5m. 05-Dec-2003 Nolan Associates, the Birmingham-based structural engineer, is creating eight jobs at a new office in Leicester. 04-Dec-2003 The North West Development Agency has announced plans for the development of a £5m customer service centre in Barrow-in-Furness, which could create up to 800 jobs. 04-Dec-2003 Richard Edward Construction, the East Lothian-based contractor, has gone into liquidation with the loss of 25 jobs. 04-Dec-2003 Gateway College has announced plans to relocate its Leicester college to a new £18m site near Soar Valley College in north Leicester by 2006. 01-Dec-2003 City Lofts is planning to raise £13m in a flotation on Aim, in order to increase the number of apartment sites under development to about five a year. 01-Dec-2003 Interserve is planning to close its Westpile piling business with the loss of up to 100 jobs in Uxbridge and Nottinghamshire. 28-Nov-2003 Bizspace has acquired seven managed workspace centres in the Manchester area from Ashtenne Holdings for £16m. 28-Nov-2003 Aston University and the University of Central England in Birmingham are discussing plans for a merger, in order to create a combined university with more than 30,000 students. 28-Nov-2003 Leicester Regeneration Company has unveiled plans to develop a £300m science park at Abbey Meadows, in order to add to Leicester's growing reputation for research in genetics and space science. 28-Nov-2003 Speedy Hire is planning to expand its chain of plant hire centres from 279 to 400 over the next four years, at a cost of £10m a year. 27-Nov-2003 Benson, the construction contractor, is looking to open offices in Reading, Bournemouth and Manchester. 27-Nov-2003 Workspace, the London-based provider of space to small businesses, is planning to double the size of its property portfolio to £1bn over the next five years. 25-Nov-2003 Gateshead College has secured £35m of government funding to relocate up to 26,000 students from Low Fell to a new site on the Quayside. 25-Nov-2003 North East Wales Institute is looking to raise £20m to build new schools of business and art and design, as well as a conference centre and art gallery, by 2008. 24-Nov-2003 BPB is to increase its annual capital expenditure from £100m to £150m, in order to expand its plasterboard operations in Europe, North America and a number of emerging markets. 24-Nov-2003 Knight Frank, the property agency, is to transform its Birmingham office into a centralised hub for all land transactions carried out in Central England, the South West and Wales. 21-Nov-2003 Sellar Property has won government permission to build a 66-storey office building next to London Bridge station by 2009, including a hotel, health club and apartments. 20-Nov-2003 Erinaceous is planning to raise £10m in a flotation on Aim to fund the expansion of its facilities management business. 20-Nov-2003 John Laing has raised £20m from the sale of its investments in Adelaide Airport and Northern Territory Airports in Australia. 20-Nov-2003 Chelsfield is in discussions to acquire Stannifer, the retail property developer, for up to £70m. 19-Nov-2003 British Land has bought GUS out of their BL Universal property joint venture, which includes 101 sites, for £120m. 18-Nov-2003 Advantage West Midlands and St Modwen Developments are submitting plans to build a £100m business park on a 40-acre site at the MG Rover plant in Longbridge. 17-Nov-2003 Tulloch is setting up a new headquarters for Corrie Building Services in Inverness, with the creation of 35 jobs, while Tulloch Homes will relocate to the east of the city. 13-Nov-2003 Canford Construction, the Bournemouth-based refurbishment contractor, is going into voluntary liquidation. 13-Nov-2003 Exeter City Council is considering plans from Exeter College for a £23m expansion programme for its arts and construction departments, including new teaching centres and other facilities. 13-Nov-2003 The Conservative Party is planning to sell its Central Office in Westminster and relocate to a new headquarters, in order to raise about £6m. 13-Nov-2003 Interserve is shedding 60 jobs at its scaffolding business in Dartford. 12-Nov-2003 Wraith Accommodation has received a £2.8m investment from NBGI Private Equity to fund the expansion of its Lincolnshire-based portable accommodation business. 12-Nov-2003 Rugby, the cement manufacturer, is to seek permission to extend its Southam quarry in Warwickshire, which will secure work at the site for the next 30 years. 10-Nov-2003 Middlesex University has announced plans for the £100m transformation of its Trent Park Campus over the next five years, in order to increase its student capacity by a third to 6,000. 06-Nov-2003 Mansfield District Council is to announce plans for the £7m redevelopment of part of the town centre, including new entertainment, retail, residential and business facilities. 06-Nov-2003 Coldseal has announced a £2m programme to improve customer service at its replacement windows business, including a new national customer enquiry centre and an increase in the number of regional service centres from seven to 15. 05-Nov-2003 Heywood Williams has announced a £25m restructuring programme involving the loss of 300 jobs and the closure of the DIY window and door operations and a Huddersfield-based fabrication business. 03-Nov-2003 Bizspace, the provider of flexible work space, is to raise £5m in a share placing to fund the acquisition of multi-let properties. 30-Oct-2003 Development Planning Partnership, the town planning consultant, is relocating its Cardiff office to Windsor Place. 30-Oct-2003 PH Jones is planning to expand its plumbing and heating maintenance service across the country, with the creation of up to 100 jobs. 29-Oct-2003 Manhattan Loft Corporation is to transform the former Royal Navy armaments depot at Trecwn near Fishguard into a business park and high-security storage centre, and hopes to attract local and national companies to the 1,000-acre site. 28-Oct-2003 Country & Metropolitan is planning to raise £8.3m in a share placing to fund the acquisition of land for its housebuilding business. 27-Oct-2003 Derby City Council has awarded outline planning permission to Nottingham-based Metro Holst for the £83m Riverlights scheme on the banks of the River Derwent, including bars, offices, apartments and a bus station. 27-Oct-2003 RMC is to restructure its building materials business with the loss of 520 jobs, which will involve the combination of its Readymix Aggregates and Building Products divisions. 22-Oct-2003 Derwent Housing, the housing association, is to relocate its three regional offices to a new site in Pride Park, Derby, in December. 21-Oct-2003 Jarvis has won a £339m contract to build and maintain student accommodation for the University of Lancaster. 20-Oct-2003 Multi Group, the tool hire company, has announced a £1.6m refinancing deal with a West Midlands investor, allowing its shares to resume trading following their suspension in March. 20-Oct-2003 Spring Grove Property Maintenance is considering plans to sell its emergency repairs business. 16-Oct-2003 Ballast could be facing the prospect of more than 1,000 job losses following a decision by the Dutch parent company to withdraw financial support for its UK construction subsidiary. 16-Oct-2003 Land Securities is set to win a 15-year contract from the Department for Work & Pensions to manage 1,882 Jobcentres and administrative buildings. 16-Oct-2003 Wellcome Trust is to help fund the development of a £25m centre in York to improve the teaching of science in schools, in partnership with a consortium of Yorkshire-based universities. 16-Oct-2003 Bellway, the housebuilder, is planning to open new divisions in the Thames Gateway and eastern Scotland. 15-Oct-2003 Alfred McAlpine is to change its name to McAlpine at a cost of £0.35m. 09-Oct-2003 Workspace has acquired seven industrial estates from the London Borough of Lambeth for £15m. 07-Oct-2003 South Devon College is to relocate its campus to the former Nortel site at Vantage Point in Paignton, having bought the property for about £10m. 06-Oct-2003 John Porter is to relocate its joinery business from Newcastle to the former Federal Mogul site in Sunderland by the end of year, with the creation of 40 jobs. 03-Oct-2003 Ballast is considering plans to sell off its £20m Private Finance Initiative division. 02-Oct-2003 The Welsh Development Agency is looking at the possibility of relocating its main headquarters and up to 468 staff away from Cardiff. 29-Sep-2003 Angus Council and Muir Group are planning to jointly develop a £30m 28-hectare business park in Forfar. 25-Sep-2003 Balfour Beatty is to shed 40 of the 900 jobs in its construction division, which will affect offices across the country. 25-Sep-2003 Ceredigion County Council is to consider plans from the Welsh Development Agency to build a new business park on a 35-acre site at Capel Bangor near Aberystwyth. 24-Sep-2003 Morley Fund Management has announced plans to start work on a new £40m business park near Aberdeen Airport in October, and FPD Savills is launching a promotion campaign to sign up tenants. 24-Sep-2003 Ipswich Borough Council has outlined plans for the development of a new £160m university for 7,400 students, and talks are taking place with Essex and East Anglia universities. 19-Sep-2003 ING Real Estate has announced plans for the £65m transformation of three derelict cotton mills in Manchester into a complex of apartments and offices. 19-Sep-2003 Ballast is to close four regional offices and shed 275 jobs, following a decision by its Dutch parent to drop plans to sell its UK business. 18-Sep-2003 The Welsh Development Agency has announced plans to build 27 business units in rural areas across Mid Wales, having received a £8m funding package from the National Assembly and the EU. 16-Sep-2003 Jarvis has won a £270m contract to provide environmental services to Herefordshire County Council, which will involve the transfer of 521 council staff. 12-Sep-2003 Travis Perkins is looking to expand its chain of builders' merchants from 686 to 800 by the end of 2004, as part of an ongoing acquisition and new store opening programme. 11-Sep-2003 Taycon Construction has gone into liquidation with the loss of 70 jobs from the 100-strong Dundee-based workforce. 11-Sep-2003 Fifehead is looking to expand its Welsh contracting business into the Thames Valley, and is prepared to spend £12m on a suitable acquisition. 11-Sep-2003 Carillion is looking to sell Private Finance Initiative equity stakes worth £100m, including investments in 16 projects. 11-Sep-2003 The Scotland Office has announced plans to shed more than 30 jobs, close an office in Glasgow and transfer the work to Edinburgh. 10-Sep-2003 Newcastle College in Staffordshire is planning to spend £25m building a new campus by 2007, in order to sell its existing site to developers and provide improved facilities to students. 09-Sep-2003 Bovis Homes is considering plans to set up a Welsh operation and expand its Midlands and retirement homes divisions. 09-Sep-2003 Congleton Borough Council is considering plans to centralise its various departments onto one site at the Sandbach Business Park. 04-Sep-2003 Peterhouse is to shed about 200 jobs in its infrastructure business, including 40 from Eve Transmission, 60 from Eve Trakway and 30 from the health and safety division. 04-Sep-2003 Birse is planning to shed an unspecified number of jobs at its Tunbridge Wells office, due to a decline in commercial construction work in the south east. 04-Sep-2003 Morgan Sindall is to close its Stansell QVC construction division in Jersey with the loss of 17 jobs. 04-Sep-2003 Dee Water is planning to invest £30m upgrading water treatment plants, reservoirs and pumping stations. 03-Sep-2003 Sefton Council is to relocate more than 50 staff from the planning and rent collection departments at Vernon House to Balliol House in Bootle in 2004. 03-Sep-2003 Dundee City Council is planning to build a new £20m headquarters for 850 staff in North Lindsay Street. 03-Sep-2003 Hull City Council is planning to expand its household waste recycling programme, and is seeking suitable sites for recycling centres. 03-Sep-2003 DTE Midlands is planning to double production at its roof trusses factory in Ilkeston by the end of next year, with the creation of up to 30 jobs. 03-Sep-2003 Speedy Hire has bought the St Vincent Plant chain of seven hire centres in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire from Clugston for £2.2m. 03-Sep-2003 Scottish Water is to proceed with plans for a £1.8bn infrastructure investment over the next four years, having formed a joint venture called Scottish Water Solutions with seven private companies. 03-Sep-2003 Anglian Water is considering plans to raise annual water bills to fund a capital investment programme worth up to £2.7bn. 02-Sep-2003 RMC Concrete Products is to close the sales office at its Stanford-le-Hope plant in November, with the transfer of some of the 15 staff to other sites. 01-Sep-2003 Quarmby Construction has won a £8.7m contract to build a new headquarters and data centre in Knaresborough for Total Systems Services. 01-Sep-2003 Portakabin is to shed about 80 manufacturing and sales jobs from the 800-strong workforce at its modular buildings factory in York. 01-Sep-2003 Liverpool City Council has approved plans from Rumford Investments for a £50m homes, offices and leisure development on the waterfront site of Richmond House, with the creation of 2,000 jobs. 28-Aug-2003 Balfour Beatty has won a £6.5m contract to refurbish the headquarters of Stratford-upon-Avon District Council. 28-Aug-2003 Speedy Space is expanding its chain of accommodation hire depots to 14 with new outlets in London, Scotland and South Wales. 28-Aug-2003 The Home Office has been advised by property consultancy Donaldsons to move some of its London-based staff to Docklands or Southwark, as part of a plan to relocate 4,900 employees currently in temporary offices. 25-Aug-2003 Keller is to shed 80 jobs and close its large-bore piling division, following an increase in competition from larger contractors. 25-Aug-2003 Severn Trent Water has announced plans to invest £9m revamping the sewer system in Kenilworth, with work starting next January. 22-Aug-2003 Murus is planning to open panel house factories in south Wales and Lancashire with the creation of up to 40 jobs. 14-Aug-2003 Rok Property Solutions is looking to open new offices across the country, and is seeking acquisitions to expand into the Midlands and the north. 14-Aug-2003 Balfour Beatty is looking to make a major overseas acquisition over the next six months, in order to reduce its dependency on the UK. 14-Aug-2003 Protector Security of Gateshead is planning to double its workforce to 500 by 2006, and new offices will soon open in Edinburgh and London. 11-Aug-2003 Carmarthenshire County Council is to consider plans from Llandeilo Building Supplies to set up a builders' merchants at the former Betws Colliery, as part of the expected regeneration of the 170-acre site. 07-Aug-2003 Deborah Services is to close its scaffolding depot in Willsden, north London, with the loss of 30 jobs. 24-Jul-2003 Reading Borough Council has unveiled outline plans for the £175m redevelopment of the Chatham Street area, including houses, offices, shops, leisure facilities and a hotel. 17-Jul-2003 Interserve is to close a number of businesses in its industrial services division, including the loss of up to 80 jobs in West Bromwich. 16-Jul-2003 Grampian Fire Brigade is planning to build a new £2m fire station in Aberdeen, and a number of potential sites are being considered. 15-Jul-2003 Rok Property Solutions has agreed to bring forward the sale of its Cabin Hire division so that it can be sold on by the buyer, Cox Plant, to Wernick Hire. 14-Jul-2003 Omar Woodbury is setting up a new £3m log cabins factory in Sheffield with the creation of 100 jobs, having outgrown its existing site in Dronfield. 10-Jul-2003 Serco has acquired the remaining 50% of Premier Custodial Group for £49m, in order to strengthen its position in the market for the management of prisons, secure training centres and immigration centres. 04-Jul-2003 The Scottish Executive is to provide funding of £64m for the development of Business Improvement Districts in Glasgow and Edinburgh, which will include training centres, regeneration schemes and transport improvements. 04-Jul-2003 David McLean has won a contract worth up to £45m from the Department for Work & Pensions to refurbish 35 job centres in the north-east. 03-Jul-2003 Liebherr, the plant manufacturer, has awarded a £11m contract to Kier to build new offices and workshops in Biggleswade. 03-Jul-2003 The National Assembly for Wales has approved plans for work to re-start on the construction of its new £55m headquarters at Cardiff Bay. 02-Jul-2003 Martindales, the Liverpool-based building services group with 300 staff, is considering plans to sell the business in order to secure its future. 30-Jun-2003 Ashwell Property Group is to relocate its Cambridge headquarters and 40 staff to Hills Road in July. 30-Jun-2003 Stafford College is seeking permission to build a new art college on its town centre campus, as part of a £2.5m investment programme. 30-Jun-2003 McInerney Holdings of Ireland is planning a £15m expansion of its UK housebuilding operations this year, including Charlton Homes, Space and Hargreaves Homes. 27-Jun-2003 Bristol Water is looking to sell its Lawrence civil engineering contracting business for about £8m. 27-Jun-2003 Tarmac Precast is to build a concrete partition walling factory in Kirkby-in-Ashfield this year, as part of a £2.5m investment in its Speediwall system. 27-Jun-2003 Hanson is to close its Hanson TiS prefabricated housing factory in Manchester with the loss of 34 jobs. 27-Jun-2003 Wates, the construction company, is in the process of relocating its head office from south London to Leatherhead. 25-Jun-2003 The University of Wales has submitted plans to build a £10m business training centre in Bangor. 23-Jun-2003 South Yorkshire Fire Service is planning to vacate its Sheffield headquarters and is seeking a suitable site for a new regional control centre elsewhere in the Yorkshire and Humber area. 19-Jun-2003 The National Specialist Contractors Council (NSCC) is to relocate its office from east London to a site near the Barbican. 19-Jun-2003 Network Rail is said to be in talks with Mowlem, Laing O'Rourke, Skanska and Amec about civil engineering work for the £400m upgrade of its analogue radio communication system. 19-Jun-2003 McCarthy & Stone, the retirement homes builder valued at £516m, has received a preliminary takeover approach from its founder. 16-Jun-2003 The Department of Trade & Industry is considering plans to consolidate its seven offices in the West End of London into just two, and feasibility studies are being conducted by property agents King Sturge and Donaldsons. 16-Jun-2003 Concept Developments, the airport subcontractor with operations in Guernsey and Swindon, has gone into voluntary liquidation with the loss of at least 80 jobs. 13-Jun-2003 Speedy Hire is planning to expand its chain of 257 hire depots to 400 over the next few years. 12-Jun-2003 Newcastle City Council is planning to close library branches in Dinnington, Montagu, Scotswood and Walkerville, in order to improve services at other sites. 11-Jun-2003 Oxfam is to relocate its headquarters and 700 staff from Summertown, Oxford, to the Oxford Business Park in Cowley in 2005, and work will start on the new building in December. 09-Jun-2003 Canary Wharf, the London-based property developer with a market capitalisation of £1.5bn, is considering plans for a management buy-out backed by Morgan Stanley. 09-Jun-2003 Imerys is to invest up to £80m in new projects over the next two years, in order to ensure the future of the Cornish china clay industry for at least 40 years. 06-Jun-2003 Fife Council has approved plans from Kingdom Park to build a £100m business and leisure park on a 130-acre site in Kirkcaldy, including shops and a hotel, but the project depends on the completion of an open-cast coal development. 05-Jun-2003 Liverpool City Council is set to award a 10-year contract to Parkman Group for the outsourcing of its property, building, highways and traffic divisions, which will involve the transfer of 250 staff to Parkman's new office in Liverpool. 03-Jun-2003 Burks Green is to shed 20 of the 140 jobs at its engineering and architecture business in Newark. 30-May-2003 Mears, the provider of social housing building maintenance repairs, is opening a Stockton branch with the creation of 100 jobs. 30-May-2003 St Modwen has acquired the 212-acre Britannia Zinc site in Avonmouth, and plans to transform it into a £150m industrial estate. 29-May-2003 Persimmon is planning to create 200 jobs at 20 new housebuilding projects from Northumberland to Yorkshire this year. 28-May-2003 Advantage West Midlands has announced that Urban Splash will spend £50m transforming the Fort Dunlop building in Birmingham into offices, shops, flats, leisure facilities and a hotel. 23-May-2003 Acheson & Glover is investing £5m in a new construction materials plant at Belcoo in Co Fermanagh and a further £5m on a paving factory in Fivemiletown. 23-May-2003 MJ Gleeson is to pull out of the Scottish building market and redirect about 60 staff in Aberdeen and Stirling to work on Scottish Water's capital investment programme. 22-May-2003 Knauf Drywall is to invest £20m in the expansion of its plasterboard manufacturing operations in the UK. 22-May-2003 Sunderland Housing Group is seeking 75 additional staff to start work on the construction of 4,000 homes on Wearside. 20-May-2003 Chelsfield, the property group with an estimated value of more than £850m, is considering plans for a management buy-out. 19-May-2003 Hacas Group, the social housing consultancy with a market valuation of £43m, has received a possible takeover approach. 19-May-2003 Advantage West Midlands is planning to invest £64m transforming a 90-hectare site between Wolverhampton and south Staffordshire into a new industrial location for a single major employer. 14-May-2003 London Borough of Newham has received plans from Chelsfield and Stanhope for a £3bn development called Stratford City, including 4,500 homes, office space and shops. 02-May-2003 Galliford Try is to shed 170 jobs in its construction business, and its Try Accord office in Peckham will close. 02-May-2003 Fforest Timber Engineering is to create 20 new jobs following its move to a new £1m factory at the Garngoch Industrial Estate near Swansea. 01-May-2003 Speedy Hire is planning to open four more Speedy Survey depots, including sites in Cardiff, Exeter, East Anglia and the north-east. 01-May-2003 Corus is to expand its fully-fitted housing units manufacturing plant at Shotton in Flintshire, with the creation of up to 200 jobs. 29-Apr-2003 Solitaire is considering plans to open a new property management office on the south coast. 29-Apr-2003 Lafarge Aggregates has won government approval to proceed with plans to build a waste recycling plant at Harrycroft Quarry near Rotherham. 28-Apr-2003 The North West Development Agency is planning to outsource the management of its 60 commercial property sites, most of which are in Merseyside and West Cumbria. 28-Apr-2003 The Home Office is seeking agents to handle the sale of three of its main buildings in central London, in preparation for its move to a new 500,000 sq ft headquarters in Marsham Street in 2005. 28-Apr-2003 South Tyneside Council is to consider outline plans from Branmore Investments for the £200m transformation of the derelict East Holborn site in South Shields, including homes, offices, shops, hotel, leisure facilities and restaurants. 25-Apr-2003 Deceuninck, the supplier of door and window systems, has started work on the £7m expansion of its factory in Calne, Wiltshire. 25-Apr-2003 Sir Robert McAlpine is to relocate its Cardiff office from West Bute Street to a new building at the Cardiff Gate Business Park in July. 25-Apr-2003 Otley College in Suffolk has announced plans to invest £8m in new facilities over the next five years, including new teaching accommodation, a library and an IT centre. 24-Apr-2003 Westbury has raised £150m in a private share placing to fund the expansion of its housebuilding business. 22-Apr-2003 Galliford Try, the Uxbridge-based housebuilder, is considering plans to return to private ownership, possibly involving a management buy-out. 22-Apr-2003 Coventry City Council has revealed plans for the £250m redevelopment of a 50-acre site in lower Foleshill, including new offices, industrial space and up to 1,200 flats and houses. 18-Apr-2003 Alfred McAlpine is to shed 30 jobs at its Inframan infrastructure business, with the 10 regional offices being reduced to two. 17-Apr-2003 The Department for Transport and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister are seeking bids for a £90m facilities management contract to maintain their offices. 17-Apr-2003 Colvin Smith Logistics expects to double its workforce to 80 over the next 12 months, and has just secured funding of £0.5m to expand its pipework fabrication and insulation services into London. 16-Apr-2003 London Remade has opened a new plant in Charlton to recycle waste from the construction industry, and the site will be operated by Day Aggregates and could lead to the creation of 350 jobs over the next few years. 11-Apr-2003 Mouchel is looking to expand its support services business into the management of some of the UK's 25,000 secondary schools. 11-Apr-2003 Mears is seeking small acquisitions to expand its new painting and decorating division across the country. 10-Apr-2003 Cowlin Construction is recruiting staff at offices in Bristol, Plymouth, Exeter and Wincanton following the recent expansion of its tender list. 09-Apr-2003 Lancaster City Council is to consider plans from a consortium of private investors for the construction of a 12-mile bridge between Heysham and Barrow, in order to help regenerate the area and produce power through tide and wind turbines. 08-Apr-2003 David McLean is to create dozens of new jobs at the Deeside Industrial Park, as part of the ongoing expansion of its property development and construction business. 03-Apr-2003 Miller is planning to establish a permanent housebuilding base in the south of England, once an expected £400m deal to acquire land from the NHS is completed in September. 03-Apr-2003 Eaga Partnership is to expand the headquarters of its home heating business in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, with the creation of up to 150 jobs. 01-Apr-2003 Reading Borough Council is considering plans to relocate to an unidentified site elsewhere in the town within four years, and the existing Civic Centre site could be redeveloped for either housing, shops, offices or leisure. 01-Apr-2003 Chesterton is planning to shed 90 jobs in its commercial and residential property business. 31-Mar-2003 The National Assembly for Wales has announced plans for the £30m regeneration of Newport, and has set up a new company called Newport Unlimited to co-ordinate the development of houses, offices and parks. 27-Mar-2003 The Commonwealth Institute is in negotiations to form a joint venture with Cambridge University, which would involve relocating from its existing headquarters in London. 27-Mar-2003 Rockwool is to set up a £5m sandwich panel insulation production facility at its site in Bridgend. 27-Mar-2003 Leicester City Council has unveiled plans from an unnamed bidder for a £45m development scheme at Granby Halls, including a new fire and ambulance station, hotel, student flats and restaurant. 26-Mar-2003 Building Design Partnership is to relocate its London office to Clerkenwell in May, and Crisp Interiors is fitting out the new site. 26-Mar-2003 John Laing is looking to raise up to £60m from the sale of its remaining housebuilding operations, including Beechcroft Developments and Laing Partnership. 20-Mar-2003 Severfield-Rowen is to rationalise its Nottinghamshire-based structural steel subsidiary with the loss of 80 jobs. 19-Mar-2003 McNicholas Construction is facing the prospect of job cuts in its general building business, as part of a corporate restructuring process expected to refocus the group on utilities and telecoms work. 13-Mar-2003 Kelsey, the roofing contractor, is to close its Glasgow office in May and some of the 27 staff will relocate to offices in Yorkshire and Worcestershire. 13-Mar-2003 Sunderland Council is to consider plans from Rivergreen Development for the construction of a £5m industry centre at the Pallion Industrial Estate, which would create eight manufacturing units. 11-Mar-2003 Gwynedd Council is in discussions with the Prison Service about the possibility of building a jail in North Wales, possibly in Blaenau Ffestiniog. 05-Mar-2003 Mapei UK is to relocate its building products business from Brierley Hill to a new £4m factory at the Coombs Wood Business Park in Halesowen, with the creation of 20 jobs. 05-Mar-2003 Aggregate Industries is planning to spend £100m on acquisitions in 2003, in order to expand its building materials business. 04-Mar-2003 Esh Group is planning to create up to 80 new jobs at its construction and property business in County Durham this year. 26-Feb-2003 Blackburn with Darwen Council is to consider plans from Sussex-based Bannertown for the £19m construction of three 50,000 sq ft call centres at the Shadsworth Industrial Estate in Blackburn. 25-Feb-2003 MEPC, the property group, has announced that Hermes Pension Management has agreed to acquire GE Real Estates' 50% stake in MEPC for undisclosed terms. 18-Feb-2003 The Prison Service has awarded a £68m contract to Peterborough Prison Services to build a new private jail in Peterborough for 840 inmates. 17-Feb-2003 Advantage West Midlands and Calthorpe Estates have announced plans to set up a technology and science park at the Pebble Mill studios in Birmingham, in preparation for when the BBC staff vacate the site next year. 17-Feb-2003 Costain has been selected as preferred bidder to build the £60m Diamond Synchrotron Light Source in Oxfordshire. 12-Feb-2003 Henry Boot is looking to sell its housebuilding division, which builds up to 700 units a year. 12-Feb-2003 BCQS Group, the chartered surveyor, is setting up a UK headquarters in Nottingham to offer a range of general practice surveying services to both commercial and residential customers. 12-Feb-2003 WS Atkins, the support services consultancy, has received a takeover approach from an unnamed private equity firm. 11-Feb-2003 Hanson Brick is to close its brick factory in Buckley, North Wales, with the loss of 34 jobs over the next three months. 11-Feb-2003 Amec is expected to win a £20m contract to build a new headquarters for 400 staff of the Government Office for the North East in the centre of Newcastle upon Tyne. 06-Feb-2003 The North West Development Agency is linking up with Liverpool's two universities to transform the former MTL base on Edge Lane into the Liverpool Science Park, in order to develop scientific talent, new businesses and jobs. 05-Feb-2003 Berkeley Group is to close its Thirlstone upmarket homes division, with the loss of 15 jobs at its Byfleet headquarters. 03-Feb-2003 Skanska, the contractor, is to close its Warrington office with the loss of 40 jobs, and a further 30 jobs will go from its Glasgow branch. 30-Jan-2003 City College Coventry is looking at the possibility of setting up a new inner-city educational village in the Swanswell area, at a cost of between £25m and £100m. 29-Jan-2003 Nicholls & Clarke, the Shoreditch-based building materials company, has awarded a £7m contract to Trak to build a new headquarters. 29-Jan-2003 Workspace has acquired Canalot Studios in North Kensington, London, for £11m, in order to offer flexible business accommodation for up to 100 small companies. 28-Jan-2003 Amey is shedding a further 250 jobs in its construction and maintenance business, and a London office is closing. 28-Jan-2003 Aston Science Park is planning a £100m expansion programme to double the size of its Birmingham business park and create hundreds of jobs. 24-Jan-2003 Birmingham City Council has unveiled proposals for the £900m transformation of the Paradise Circus area, in order to provide modern head office facilities for multinational businesses. 22-Jan-2003 Invest NI is looking to centralise its staff at a purpose-built headquarters in the Belfast area, and is expected to invite expressions of interest from developers soon. 22-Jan-2003 Speedy Hire is planning to open 30 hire depots this year, taking its total network to over 280. 22-Jan-2003 The National Assembly for Wales has launched the Llandarcy Urban Village Project, which aims to transform a former oil refinery near Neath into an urban village with the creation of 3,500 jobs over a 25-year period. 13-Jan-2003 GVA Grimley is to consolidate its central London offices at its site in Stratton Street, with the relocation of its building services team from Berkeley Square House. 13-Jan-2003 The Hawkhills Emergency Planning College near York is to undergo a £7m refurbishment, including a modern accommodation block and training centre. 09-Jan-2003 MJ Gleeson is considering plans to separate off its property division, in order to raise about £25m to invest in its housebuilding and construction operations. 09-Jan-2003 British Gypsum is planning a £21m expansion at its plasterboard production facility in Leicestershire. 09-Jan-2003 Sunderland Council has announced proposals to build a £5m science park at St Peter's Riverside, in partnership with Sunderland University and the Business & Innovation Centre. 06-Jan-2003 The information below comes from the UK Activity Report. Click here for further details Copyright UK Business Park 1995-2007