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Regus is to secure an equity injection of up to £57m from Alchemy Investment Plan, in order to restructure its serviced offices business in the US. 23-Dec-2002 The Home Office is to spend £20m modernising police stations across England and Wales, in order to update their technology and improve working environments. 23-Dec-2002 Hanson has raised £79m from the sale of its 50% stake in North Texas Cement Company of the US to joint venture partner Ash Grove Cement. 19-Dec-2002 The Scottish Executive is looking to relocate more departments away from Edinburgh, and decisions will be taken next year concerning NHS Education, Inquiry Reporters Unit, the Accountant in Bankruptcy and VisitScotland. 13-Dec-2002 Begbies Traynor, the insolvency specialist, has announced that Devon-based construction company GS Holdings is expected to cease trading, as a buyer has not been found. 11-Dec-2002 Birmingham City Council is considering plans to create 35 community-based housing organisations to manage and maintain its housing stock. 11-Dec-2002 East of England Development Agency has agreed plans with the Wharfside Regeneration consortium for a £36m arts, business and residential development at the Cranfields flour mill site on the Ipswich waterfront. 10-Dec-2002 Anchor Trust, the housing association, is to close its Kidlington headquarters with the loss of about 100 jobs, as part of a nationwide reorganisation involving the transfer of jobs to Newcastle. 09-Dec-2002 Lafarge Aggregates is to relocate up to 400 staff to a new headquarters at the Watermead Business Park near Leicester by spring 2003. 09-Dec-2002 Mentmore is looking to sell its £250m Serviced Business Space division, in order to reduce debt and expand its self-storage operations. 09-Dec-2002 Sheffield City Council is to shed up to 140 jobs in its construction and building services arm, as Keir Group takes control of the department in February. 05-Dec-2002 Exeter College is planning a £15m expansion project, involving the sale of four buildings and the relocation of courses to two of the remaining sites in Hele Road and Queen Street. 05-Dec-2002 Pennine Home Improvements is looking to recruit up to 50 additional staff on Tyneside, including plumbers, electricians, bricklayers, fabricators, surveyors, and inspectors. 04-Dec-2002 Belle Group is planning to restructure its construction equipment production facilities, which is expected to involve the closure of its Chesterfield plant and the relocation of assembly lines. 04-Dec-2002 Leadbitter, the construction company with more than 300 staff at offices in Abingdon, Bristol and Bracknell, has received a takeover approach from Heijmans of the Netherlands. 03-Dec-2002 Bovis Homes has confirmed plans to set up a new regional office in Cambourne, Cambridge, to expand its operations in East Anglia. 29-Nov-2002 Balfour Beatty is to combine its John Kennedy and Kentons subsidiaries into a new gas and water operating company called Balfour Beatty Utilities. 29-Nov-2002 Connaught is seeking acquisitions to expand its support services business into Scotland. 28-Nov-2002 Mid Suffolk District Council is working with Lichfield Planning on proposals for the redevelopment of the former Blue Circle works in Great Blakenham, and possibilities include a £11m rail link, leisure facilities, housing and industrial space. 27-Nov-2002 Newcastle City Council is considering plans to transfer its housing stock to an Arms Length Management Organisation. 27-Nov-2002 Graham Group, the builders' merchant, is to close a distribution centre in Huddersfield with the loss of 38 jobs. 22-Nov-2002 Country & Metropolitan is looking to spend up to £20m on the acquisition of housebuilding companies in the Midlands and south-east. 21-Nov-2002 Amey has selected John Laing as preferred bidder for its portfolio of PFI investments, and negotiations are taking place for the development of a strategic partnership between the two companies. 20-Nov-2002 Keller and Terratest Tecnicas Especiales are forming a construction joint venture called Keller-Terra, in order to provide geotechnical services in Spain. 19-Nov-2002 Cardiff County Council and construction company JR Smart have announced plans for the development of a £100m business park at a 74-acre site in Wentloog, including up to 1m sq ft of office and industrial space. 14-Nov-2002 Group 4 Falck GSL is to start recruiting 80 staff to manage the new Met Office headquarters in Exeter, and its responsibilities include maintenance, IT, catering, cleaning, logistics and leisure activities. 14-Nov-2002 Saint Gobain is to invest £15m in a new magnetron coating facility at its float glass plant in Eggborough, with the creation of 60 jobs. 14-Nov-2002 WS Atkins is expected to receive proposals for a management buy-out at its Lambert Smith Hampton surveying advisory business, which has 33 offices and 1,200 staff. 13-Nov-2002 Robertson Timber Products is building a £5m timber frame manufacturing facility at Seaham in County Durham, which is expected to lead to the creation of 40 jobs. 07-Nov-2002 St Austell College is planning to relocate its five campuses to a single site at John Keay House, which is expected to lead to other developments in the town. 07-Nov-2002 Bison has won outline planning permission to demolish its concrete factory in Lichfield, in order to build homes on the site and relocate production to a new plant in Swadlincote. 06-Nov-2002 The Ministry of Defence is set to announce plans for a multi-million pound overhaul of the Woodbridge Airfield in Suffolk, in order to locate two regiments at the site. 06-Nov-2002 Prismo Product Services, the manufacturer of anti-skid road surfacing, is creating 40 jobs at a new £3.5m factory in Chorley. 05-Nov-2002 Darlington Borough Council is considering plans from Darlington College of Technology for the creation of a £27m "learning park" at a new site in Morton Park. 01-Nov-2002 Westbury is planning to increase production at its Space4 prefabricated homes factory in Castle Bromwich from 700 to 2,000 panels by 2003, with the creation of 20 jobs. 31-Oct-2002 The Ministry of Defence is preparing a major investment programme for its London sites, including the development of RAF Northolt and Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich and the relocation of RAF Bentley's operations. 30-Oct-2002 Jarvis is to shed 35 of the 2,500 jobs in its accommodation services division, which will affect sites across the country. 30-Oct-2002 Wattinsulation is to create 100 new jobs at its domestic insulation call centre in Manchester, in preparation for a launch into markets in the south. 28-Oct-2002 Walsall Council is to consider a report from consultants GVA Grimley for the £30m regeneration of Darlaston's derelict factory sites over the next ten years. 24-Oct-2002 Associated British Ports is to close its Grosvenor Waterside property development division, and eight of the ten staff will be offered alternative employment. 23-Oct-2002 Scott Wilson, the civil engineering consultancy, is to recruit up to 50 highway and traffic engineers over the next few months, to work at offices in Matlock, Chesterfield and Mansfield. 23-Oct-2002 Telford College is planning to build a new £60m campus for 20,000 students and 600 staff at the former Granton gasworks site on the shores of the Firth of Forth, replacing its four existing sites in Edinburgh. 22-Oct-2002 Staffordshire County Council has identified 84 industrial sites, covering 700 acres, that could be brought back to life as part of its economic regeneration programme. 22-Oct-2002 Lafarge is closing its sales office in Worksop, and up to 95 jobs will be relocated to its main office at Syston in Leicestershire. 22-Oct-2002 Citybuild has announced plans for a new £12m waterfront office complex in Hull, which could be used as a new headquarters for Northern Foods. 21-Oct-2002 Chelsfield and Stanhope are jointly planning a £3.5bn urban regeneration project at Stratford in east London, and a planning application for the 150-acre site is expected next spring. 21-Oct-2002 Liverpool City Council is looking to spend £12m restoring about 40 historic buildings across the city, in partnership with English Heritage and the North West Development Agency. 18-Oct-2002 Sheffield City Council has selected Kier as preferred bidder for a £640m contract to repair and maintain up to 60,000 buildings. 17-Oct-2002 Hochtief, the German construction company, is to relocate its UK headquarters from Melksham to a larger site in Swindon in February. 17-Oct-2002 Ballast is planning to double the size of its Wiltshier FM facilities management business, starting with new offices in Reading and Bristol. 17-Oct-2002 Robertson of Elgin is seeking acquisitions to expand its housebuilding business into England. 17-Oct-2002 Rok Property Solutions is to shed up to 150 jobs at Llewellyn Group, its recently-acquired Eastbourne-based building company. 16-Oct-2002 Halcrow is to create up to 100 engineering jobs at its international consulting business in the North-East over the next five years, to handle a number of transport, environment and construction projects. 15-Oct-2002 Esh Group has started work on the development of a new £2m corporate headquarters for its construction business at Bowburn in County Durham. 14-Oct-2002 Stewart Milne Group is planning to double the size of its Scottish housebuilding business over the next five to eight years, while a further 90 jobs will be created at its timber frames factory in Oxfordshire next year. 10-Oct-2002 The Construction Confederation is considering plans to relocate from its premises in east London to a smaller site, as part of a cost-cutting programme. 10-Oct-2002 Speedy Hire is looking to expand its new lifting equipment hire division from an initial 24 outlets to a nationwide chain of between 55 and 100 sites. 10-Oct-2002 Syncro is to expand its building services customer support centre in Newcastle, with the number of engineers linked up to the centre rising to more than 100. 09-Oct-2002 Costain is to close its regional offices in Peterborough and Chandlers Ford, with the Peterborough staff relocating to a new regional base in Birmingham and the Chandlers Ford staff relocating to the head office in Maidenhead. 09-Oct-2002 Hanson Building Products is to acquire a soft mud brick factory at Measham in Leicestershire from Red Bank Manufacturing for undisclosed terms. 09-Oct-2002 St George and Argent have announced plans for a £3bn development behind King's Cross station in London, including offices, shops and restaurants. 04-Oct-2002 Certex UK, the lifting gear company, is planning to expand its network of sales and service centres from 18 to 50 over the next three years. 03-Oct-2002 Balfour Beatty has paid £7m for a 49% stake in Romec, the property management company that manages 3,000 buildings for Consignia. 01-Oct-2002 Alfred McAlpine has won a £350m contract from Transco to provide utility services in Scotland, Yorkshire and the North West. 30-Sep-2002 Leicester University has unveiled plans for a £300m expansion programme, creating an enlarged campus and increasing student numbers from 18,500 to 25,000 within a decade. 27-Sep-2002 Fountains, the forestry and landscaping company, is looking to recruit about 80 new staff nationwide, including managers, administrative staff and field staff. 27-Sep-2002 Whetley Mills is planning to create a £4m business and leisure complex at its site in Bradford with the creation of up to 500 jobs, and Yorkshire Cottage Bakeries will take one of the units. 24-Sep-2002 Portakabin is to shed up to 20 jobs in its York-based commercial sales department, following a reorganisation of working practices at its portable buildings business. 23-Sep-2002 Parkfield Projects is relocating its construction business and 30 staff from Langley Mill to new premises at the Turnpike Business Park in Swanwick at the end of September. 23-Sep-2002 Ashtead, the plant hire company, is to open a new head office in Warrington to replace sites in Haydock, Bootle, Leatherhead and Walsall Wood, as part of a cost-cutting programme. 23-Sep-2002 Kier is planning to more than double the size of its support services division over the next two years, by setting up a stand-alone business unit and increasing turnover to £150m. 19-Sep-2002 Cambridge City Council is in discussions with the Ashwell Group about plans for the £250m revamp of the area around Cambridge Station, including 400 luxury apartments, shops and offices. 16-Sep-2002 Denbighshire County Council has won approval from the Welsh Assembly to build a new £12m civic complex in Ruthin, in order to house 300 staff, a new council chamber and other facilities. 13-Sep-2002 Taylor Woodrow is to relocate its headquarters from Staines to the Bryant Homes office in Solihull, as part of a reorganisation that will also involve 180 job losses and the Edinburgh and Glasgow offices being replaced by one in Livingston. 11-Sep-2002 Amey is planning a £10m restructuring programme in order to reduce costs and shed 300 jobs, and has also announced plans to raise up to £150m from the sale of its equity investments. 11-Sep-2002 Grantchester, the retail warehouse property group, has received a £252m takeover approach from Hammerson, which beats a management buy-out proposal from Dundonald. 10-Sep-2002 Travis Perkins is planning to expand its chain of builders' merchants from 575 to 800 by 2006. 10-Sep-2002 Wraith Accommodation, the supplier of portable accommodation units, is planning to raise £3m in a flotation on Aim. 09-Sep-2002 Bovis Lend Lease is set to win a £1bn Ministry of Defence contract to refurbish British Army barracks over the next ten years. 05-Sep-2002 Sanctuary Housing Association is to relocate its headquarters from Hertford to Worcester, with the creation of more than 70 jobs. 03-Sep-2002 Amec has won a £460m seven-year contract to provide maintenance services at 400 Ministry of Defence properties in Scotland. 03-Sep-2002 Highlands & Islands Enterprise is to shed 100 of its 660 staff by the end of 2003. 02-Sep-2002 Travis Perkins has acquired the former FW Aylott site in Canvey for £1.4m, and will create 30 jobs and a new base for its south-eastern timber operations. 13-Aug-2002 RMC has acquired the Barbary Plains concrete block plant in Penrith from Hanson Concrete Products. 08-Aug-2002 Falkirk Council is to consider plans from Morston Assets for the development of a new £150m village near Linlithgow, including new homes, shops, offices and industrial units. 05-Aug-2002 The University of Essex and Carisbrooke Alliance are planning to build a 40-acre research park on the Wivenhoe Park campus in Colchester, including offices and laboratories. 05-Aug-2002 Altro Walls, the supplier of hygienic PVC wall-cladding, is to double the size of its Lowestoft site with new processing and warehousing facilities, and the 27-strong workforce is likely to rise. 26-Jul-2002 Unite Group is to raise £57m in a share placing to fund the expansion of its student accommodation business. 25-Jul-2002 GVA Grimley and Donaldsons are in preliminary merger negotiations, which could lead to the creation of a combined commercial property agency with 1,500 staff. 19-Jul-2002 British Waterways is forming an alliance with Amec and the Igloo Regeneration Fund to develop canal and riverside properties across the country. 19-Jul-2002 Caithness Slate Products is forming a £2m joint venture with International Slate Industries of Italy to open up new global markets, which will create almost 40 jobs. 18-Jul-2002 Redrow and Corus Building Systems have formed a £6m joint venture to produce lightweight steel frames for houses, and the stand-alone company is expected to manufacture 1,000 frames in the first year. 12-Jul-2002 Allied Surveyors, the firm of independent chartered surveyors, is planning to open new satellite offices in Derby and Nottingham later this year. 12-Jul-2002 Halladale is planning to raise up to £20m in a share placing, as part of a strategy to quadruple the size of its Glasgow-based property business over the next 18 months. 11-Jul-2002 Carillion is planning to reduce its preferred list of suppliers and subcontractors from 10,000 to 4,000 over the next three years. 11-Jul-2002 Aarsleff Piling and Stent Foundations are to combine their concrete pile manufacturing operations, forming a Newark-based joint venture called Centrum Pile. 11-Jul-2002 Seeda, the South East of England Development Agency has submitted plans to Gosport Borough Council for the development of a business park on a 7.2-acre site at Frater Gate, which could create up to 300 jobs. 08-Jul-2002 East Sussex County Council is said to be looking at the possibility of relocating its headquarters from Lewes to a new site in Hailsham, Polegate or Eastbourne, which would affect 1,500 jobs. 05-Jul-2002 English Partnerships has reached agreement with Miller Developments about plans for the construction of the country's largest business park on the 558-acre Omega site near Warrington, which could generate up to 12,000 jobs. 04-Jul-2002 Ballast, the Dutch-owned construction and dredging group, is planning to withdraw from the UK, and more than 1,200 jobs could be lost if no buyer is found. 04-Jul-2002 Workspace, the provider of industrial and office space to small businesses, is to spend at least £50m acquiring new properties over the next 12 months. 25-Jun-2002 The National Federation of Builders has announced proposals to train former Corus steel plant workers to help relieve the skills shortage affecting construction sites across Wales. 20-Jun-2002 Timber Frame Solutions is planning to expand its timber-frame buildings business in Northumberland, with the creation of up to 25 jobs over the next two years. 19-Jun-2002 GAP, the Glasgow-based plant hirer, is spending £3m on three new depots in Cardiff, Bristol and Reading, taking its network to 45, and is now looking to open more depots to the east and west of London. 19-Jun-2002 The Welsh Development Agency has announced plans for the creation of the £200m Port Tawe Innovation Village in Swansea, which will involve the development of housing, offices, retail and leisure facilities on a 100-acre site around the Prince of Wales dock. 17-Jun-2002 Bewes Construction of Sidmouth has ceased trading with the loss of more than 40 jobs. 14-Jun-2002 Crosby Homes, the housebuilder, is opening a new regional headquarters in the centre of Bristol, with the relocation of 50 staff from Chipping Sodbury. 13-Jun-2002 Wright Window Systems is relocating its sales staff and showroom from Lincoln's Allenby Industrial Estate to North Hykeham. 13-Jun-2002 Swallow Construction is looking to open an office in the Birmingham area later this year, and has just opened an office in Weybridge. 13-Jun-2002 Wirral Council has approved plans from Felton Construction and Mersey Docks & Harbour for two business park developments that will create up to 200 jobs, with Wallasey's Maritime park aimed at engineering companies and Birkenhead's Woodside park aimed at distribution companies. 10-Jun-2002 Liberty Properties has announced plans to build a £26m office complex on a 12-acre site at the Enterprise Park in Swansea, which could provide up to 2,000 jobs. 10-Jun-2002 Carmarthenshire County Council and the Welsh Development Agency are planning to transform a 30-acre site at Llanelli's North Dock with new housing, leisure facilities, hotel and offices. 10-Jun-2002 AWG is looking to raise up to £50m from the sale of Morrison Homes, the housebuilding business acquired two years ago. 10-Jun-2002 Aerials for Industry is planning to expand its chain of four powered access depots into new locations, and aims to increase the size of its fleet five-fold over the next five years. 10-Jun-2002 Everwhite has announced plans to invest a further £2.1m at its plastic building products factory in Aberdare, with the creation of 40 jobs. 28-May-2002 Morrison Construction is opening new bases in Leeds, Swansea and Scotland, in order to increase the number of regional business units from six to nine. 23-May-2002 Mouchel is planning to raise £20m in a flotation this summer in order to reduce debt and finance bids for infrastructure management contracts in the public sector. 21-May-2002 John Laing is planning to focus on its infrastructure investment business, prompting speculation that its housebuilding division could be sold for about £300m. 16-May-2002 The Home Office has announced plans to build three accommodation centres for asylum seekers at Bicester, RAF Newton in Nottinghamshire and Throckmorton in Worcestershire. 15-May-2002 George Wimpey is to set up a new headquarters for its City Living operation at Yarm near Middlesbrough, where about 10 staff will co-ordinate the conversion of apartments in urban locations throughout the country. 14-May-2002 North Tyne Glass is planning to create about 30 new jobs at its Longbenton-based glazing business, taking the total workforce to 50. 13-May-2002 Cala is to expand its housebuilding activities in England through a £50m joint venture with Bank of Scotland, which will enable it to bid for larger plots of land. 13-May-2002 Caterpillar UK is to shed about 100 of the 450 jobs at its heavy plant manufacturing site at Stockton on Teesside. 10-May-2002 FG Skerritt is creating 35 new jobs at its Nottingham-based building services business, following a rise in orders. 10-May-2002 Bison has shortlisted four contractors - Galliford, Norwest Holst, Birse and Bowmer & Kirkland - to build a £15m precast concrete plant at Swadlincote in Derbyshire. 09-May-2002 Bluestone is relocating the head office of its regional construction business, including a five-strong management team, from Tamworth to parent company Morgan Sindall's office in London. 09-May-2002 Lafarge Gyvlon has acquired the remaining 51% of Isocrete Gyvlon from Sandbach-based Flowcrete, and will invest in the expansion of the company's synthetic anhydrite binder production and distribution. 07-May-2002 Water UK is to propose plans for the £500m development of Europe's largest man-made reservoir at Craig Goch in central Wales over the next 30 years, in order to ease anticipated water shortages. 06-May-2002 Case New Holland is to close its construction equipment site in Doncaster, with the sales team relocating to a new office nearby and technical support moving to Basildon. 01-May-2002 Ashfield District Council has set up a housing services company, or Arms Length Management Organisation, and will appoint construction partners to provide renovation services for the stock of 8,400 homes. 01-May-2002 Lafarge Cement UK and Geodur International of Switzerland are forming a joint venture called Glacier ARM to supply environmentally-friendly cement-making materials, based at the Cauldon works near Ashbourne. 30-Apr-2002 Prowting, the housebuilder, is to close its Midlands division to raise up to £25m of capital to invest in the south. 30-Apr-2002 Birmingham City Council has unveiled plans for a £220m urban village at the Masshouse Circus junction, including homes, offices, a hotel, cafes and bars, and David McLean Developments has been selected as developer. 29-Apr-2002 Eurocell is creating 12 new jobs in Alfreton, following a £2m expansion at its conservatory roofing factory. 25-Apr-2002 Hills Electrical is planning to create 200 new jobs in its West Midlands-based mechanical and electrical contracting business this year. 25-Apr-2002 James R Knowles, the construction consultancy, is closing offices in Liverpool, Manchester and Knutsford, in order to consolidate staff in Daresbury. 18-Apr-2002 De Montfort University in Leicester has unveiled a £105m 10-year plan to revive its campus, which will involve the replacement of existing university buildings, new offices, shops, riverside flats and public squares. 17-Apr-2002 Gleeson Homes is to shed 30 jobs in the restructuring of its house-building business, with the closure of the Sheffield office and the merger of the two southern regional offices. 17-Apr-2002 Charcon is opening a new £7m paving stones factory at Barton-under-Needwood, and the workforce will rise from 12 to 18 later this year. 16-Apr-2002 Bethell is to create a further 170 jobs at its Bolton-based construction business, having won another £30m contract to replace overhead power lines and sub-stations for United Utilities. 15-Apr-2002 Bellway Homes is planning to invest £120m in two waterfront apartment schemes in Wales - at Cardiff Bay and on the banks of the River Usk in Newport. 12-Apr-2002 Stafford Borough Council is to consider plans from Totty Developments for the construction of three call centres, each creating up to 400 jobs, and a health and fitness club on a 13-acre site at Creswell. 12-Apr-2002 Van Elle is planning to create up to 40 new jobs at its construction engineering business in Pinxton over the next year. 12-Apr-2002 The South West Regional Development Agency and English Partnerships have acquired the former RAF Locking base in Weston-super-Mare in a £10m deal, and plan to redevelop the 210-acre site with residential and commercial space and the creation of up to 3,000 jobs. 11-Apr-2002 Dew Pitchmastic is planning to demerge its Pinelog leisure buildings and lodge holidays business from its specialist construction and waterproofing operations. 10-Apr-2002 Tyneside Economic Development Company has drawn up plans for the construction of a small business centre at the Boldon Business Park, which would include about 50 offices and create up to 150 jobs. 09-Apr-2002 Koppers UK is to shed 22 jobs at its tar distilling plant in North Lincolnshire. 08-Apr-2002 Unite Group has announced plans to set up a 180,000 sq ft pre-fabricated bedrooms and bathrooms factory at Stonehouse near Stroud, with the creation of 100 jobs. 05-Apr-2002 Ensor Holdings, the building materials company, is planning to move from a full listing to AIM to make it easier to acquire other companies. 04-Apr-2002 Alfred McAlpine has won a £200m Highways Agency contract to provide road infrastructure services in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire. 03-Apr-2002 Jarvis has been selected as preferred bidder to provide and maintain accommodation for 4,350 students at Lancaster University. 03-Apr-2002 The Welsh Development Agency has announced a £43m factory-building programme in partnership with Royal Bank of Scotland, in order to build 750,000 sq ft of manufacturing space across the Objective One areas of Wales over the next five years. 28-Mar-2002 Marylebone Warwick Balfour, the property company, is planning to dispose of all its assets by 2005 and return cash to shareholders, and most of its 100 staff will transfer to a new company called ServeCo. 28-Mar-2002 Bouygues has won a £311m contract to build and maintain a new headquarters for the Home Office and Prison Service on the site of the old Department of the Environment in London's Westminster. 27-Mar-2002 GH Groundworks, the Maidstone-based contractor with 120 staff, has gone into liquidation. 27-Mar-2002 Spectrum Projects has launched a 24-hour office crisis management service in London, providing emergency repairs and fit-outs, and the mobile workforce will rise from 14 to 75 if the trial is successful. 27-Mar-2002 Bank of Scotland and Close Brothers are to support plans from Start Operations to develop a £20m chain of six innovation centres based on the St John's Innovation Centre in Cambridge. 25-Mar-2002 Waterman is seeking acquisitions in western Europe and east Asia to expand its structural and mechanical engineering consultancy. 25-Mar-2002 Sandwell Council is considering plans to privatise a number of functions, which could involve the transfer of housing stock to the private sector and setting up a trust for social services and leisure. 21-Mar-2002 Belfast International Airport has won planning permission to develop the £30m Genesis Business Park next to the airport over the next five years. 20-Mar-2002 Wolseley is looking to spend up to £300m on acquisitions to expand its builders' merchants business over the coming months. 20-Mar-2002 Gainsborough is planning to invest £125m opening 32 serviced office centres in the US and UK over the next two years. 19-Mar-2002 Unite Group is raising £285m by refinancing its nationwide network of student accommodation properties, and aims to increase the number of beds from 23,192 at the end of last year to 60,000 by the end of next year. 15-Mar-2002 Davis Langdon & Everest, the cost consultancy, is to relocate its central services department and up to 60 staff from London to new premises in Birmingham later this year. 14-Mar-2002 Moray Council is considering plans from James Jones & Sons for the £1m expansion of its timber construction components facility in Forres, which could lead to the creation of about 20 jobs over the next three years. 12-Mar-2002 Bovis Homes is planning to open an eastern office later this year, as part of a strategy to benefit from high demand for housing by expanding its nationwide coverage. 12-Mar-2002 Travis Perkins is planning to expand its chain of 502 builders' merchants by investing up to £30m in the acquisition of about 40 independent businesses a year. 12-Mar-2002 Imerys is to shed up to 300 jobs at its kaolin mining operations in Cornwall and Devon, in order to transfer some production to Brazil. 08-Mar-2002 Castle Cement has won approval from the Welsh Assembly to build a £48m cement kiln in Mold, securing the future of 200 jobs. 07-Mar-2002 Novar, the diversified building materials company, has announced plans to shed a further 800 jobs. 07-Mar-2002 Serco is planning to raise £120m in a share placing, in order to reduce debt in its facilities management business. 05-Mar-2002 Derby City Council is to unveil plans from the Building Design Partnership for the £225m transformation of the city centre over the next 20 years, including a park, a visual arts and media centre and housing. 27-Feb-2002 Cendant has received about 10 bids for its National Car Parks business, which is expected to fetch about £700m. 27-Feb-2002 Ellesmere Port & Neston Borough Council has secured £8m of European funding to go towards the £48m transformation of about 70 acres of brownfield land into business parks. 22-Feb-2002 The Highways Agency is working on government plans for the possible privatisation of England's main road network, which would involve private companies taking over planning and maintenance work for 30 years. 22-Feb-2002 Beaver Utility Services of Newport may be forced to close with the loss of 80 jobs, having lost a contract to provide tree clearance services for Western Power Distribution. 21-Feb-2002 Scottish Coal has announced plans to build a £35m urban village on the site of a former mine near Tranent in East Lothian, including 1,500 houses, a hotel, golf course and enterprise park. 20-Feb-2002 Midas Homes is forming a partnership with Restormel Borough Council to build an urban village with 140 homes, shops and offices on a 10-acre site near the centre of St Austell. 20-Feb-2002 Oxford City Council is planning to sell off a further nine prime city centre properties, as part of a £10m property disposal programme. 15-Feb-2002 Birse is to restructure its building, civil and process engineering operations into three separate subsidiary companies called Birse Build, Birse CL and Birse Process. 14-Feb-2002 Concrete Company is seeking permission to build a £0.5m concrete storage and loading plant in Dereham, with the creation of 10 jobs. 13-Feb-2002 Wirral Metropolitan College has submitted plans to build a new £14m campus at Morpeth Dock in Birkenhead, which will house facilities for technology, engineering, construction, media and arts when open in 2004. 11-Feb-2002 Lambert Smith Hampton is opening an office in Newcastle upon Tyne this month to handle property work in the North East that was previously co-ordinated by the Leeds office. 07-Feb-2002 Advantica Technologies, the energy pipeline company, is planning to sell off its Loughborough head office and lease back a section of the property for 600 research staff. 07-Feb-2002 Crest Nicholson is said to be looking to sell off its CH Pearce contracting business. 07-Feb-2002 The Welsh Development Agency and BP have submitted outline plans for the development of a mixed commercial and residential scheme on a five hectare site at Llandarcy near Neath. 06-Feb-2002 Amey is to set up a new Shared Resources Centre in Portsmouth, which will involve the relocation of up to 400 staff involved in accounts, payroll, procurement, human resources and IT. 06-Feb-2002 Liverpool City Council is considering plans for a multi-million expansion of the Municipal Buildings, in order to centralise council services onto one site. 30-Jan-2002 Advantica, the Loughborough-based pipeline company, is planning to shed about 120 jobs across its 14 UK offices, due to a review of operations at its leading customer Transco. 28-Jan-2002 Derby College is looking into the possibility of setting up a £30m campus in the city centre, and a number of possible sites are being considered. 28-Jan-2002 Cheshire County Council is to terminate a buildings maintenance contract with SGI Service Group International in March, with the loss of about 80 jobs at the Chester-based company. 25-Jan-2002 Blue Circle is to close the Weardale cement works in County Durham with the loss of 150 jobs, and the region will now be supplied from plants in Scotland and Derbyshire. 24-Jan-2002 Berkeley has raised £47m in a share placing to fund the development of upmarket flats, offices and shops on brownfield sites. 24-Jan-2002 Castle Cement has warned that its cement plant near Mold may close in 2005 with the loss of 200 jobs, unless it wins final approval to build a £48m kiln at the site. 22-Jan-2002 Rugby College has announced plans to build a new £10m site on the town's cattle market by September 2004. 22-Jan-2002 Halladale has formed a joint venture company with Bank of Scotland to invest £35m in property schemes. 17-Jan-2002 Liverpool City Council has commissioned a report that predicts a total of 50,000 jobs will be created in the city over the next four years, with £3bn worth of construction work creating 40,000 temporary jobs. 15-Jan-2002 Mentmore Abbey has sold its serviced business space operation in the Netherlands for £4.2m and the remaining part of the Homewares business in the UK for £0.7m, and the proceeds will be invested in its UK business space operation. 14-Jan-2002 Featherstone Builders, the Ipswich-based contractor, has gone into liquidation with the loss of 35 jobs. 14-Jan-2002 Brandon Hire has expanded its tool hire branch network with two further acquisitions in Braintree and Saltash. 08-Jan-2002 Molins is setting up a property subsidiary to develop 300,000 sq ft of offices on 17 acres of land at its Saunderton site near High Wycombe. 08-Jan-2002
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