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Construction 2006
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The information below comes from the UK Activity Report.
Click here for further details

Amec is looking to sell businesses involved in building and facilities services, in order to focus on core areas such as oil, gas, minerals, metals, nuclear and wind energy. 15-Dec-2006 Knight Frank, the property services firm, is to relocate its London headquarters from Hanover Square to a 55,000 sq ft office at 55 Baker Street. 15-Dec-2006 Northern Bear is to raise £2.4m in a flotation on Aim to fund acquisitions for its County Durham-based construction services business. 14-Dec-2006 Akeler and Arlington Securities are planning to relocate their London-based property development staff to a 20,000 sq ft office in Old Burlington Street in 2007. 13-Dec-2006 Castle Cement is planning to build a £10m cement mill at its Padeswood production plant in North Wales by 2008. 11-Dec-2006 Hall & Partners is to relocate its building consultancy and up to 35 staff from West Road in Newcastle to a new £2m 15,000 sq ft site at the Gosforth Business Park at the end of 2007. 05-Dec-2006 Ikea is to sell prefabricated timber-framed houses in the UK, under the name of BoKloks, with the first being built in Gateshead and Glasgow from early 2007. 04-Dec-2006 Shoreline Housing Partnership has shed 31 jobs at its Shoreline Property Services division in North East Lincolnshire. 01-Dec-2006 Wrekin Construction is to shed up to 26 jobs at its Shropshire-based building business. 29-Nov-2006 Robison & Davidson is planning to shed 36 jobs at its Dumfries-based building business, affecting bricklayers, joiners, scaffolders and labourers. 28-Nov-2006 AmeyLafarge is to shed up to 50 jobs from its £350m Hertfordshire Highways contract, following a reduction in funds allocated by Hertfordshire County Council. 27-Nov-2006 Canary Wharf Contractors is planning to expand its 150-strong workforce in London with 70 additional staff, including planners, cost managers and project managers. 27-Nov-2006 Wilson Bowden, the housebuilder valued at more than £1.7bn, is in preliminary discussions with a number of companies about the possible sale of the business. 27-Nov-2006 Speedy Hire is planning to support the growth of its tool hire business by setting up a training academy and increasing its IT spending by £11m. 23-Nov-2006 Tees Valley Regeneration has signed a development agreement with BioRegional Quintain for the £200m redevelopment of the Middlehaven site in Middlesbrough, including offices, shops, homes and a hotel. 23-Nov-2006 Peterborough Regional College has secured funding of £10m to build a new campus in partnership with Anglian Ruskin University over the next three years. 22-Nov-2006 George Wimpey is to relocate its South Yorkshire headquarters and up to 50 staff from Rotherham to a new building due for completion at Sheffield Business Park by the end of the year. 21-Nov-2006 Waveney District Council is planning to set up a new £40m headquarters in Lowestoft by 2009, which will force the relocation of companies currently housed on five plots of land in Riverside Road. 20-Nov-2006 Lafarge Roofing is to close its tile factory near Tiverton with the loss of up to 19 of the 25 jobs. 20-Nov-2006 Foxtons, the London-based estate agency with 1,200 staff in the UK, is considering plans for a £400m flotation, in order to fund its expansion programme in the US. 20-Nov-2006 Slough Estates is looking to sell its industrial property business in the US for about £1bn, as part of its transformation into a real estate investment trust. 20-Nov-2006 LSL Property Services, the chain of 322 Your Move estate agencies, is planning a £211m flotation to fund further acquisitions. 20-Nov-2006 UK Coal is planning to sell thousands of acres of land with a value of up to £800m for housing and commercial development over the next six years. 08-Nov-2006 Dartington College of Arts is looking into the possibility of relocating to Cornwall in 2009 or later, in order to merge with University College Falmouth. 08-Nov-2006 GD Contract Services is planning to expand the 75-strong workforce at its North Tyneside-based cleaning business with 35 new jobs by the end of 2007. 07-Nov-2006 Hanson Building Products is to submit plans to centralise its sales and administration operations at its Stewartby brickworks in Bedfordshire by 2009, with the relocation of up to 200 jobs. 03-Nov-2006 Ennstone Johnston has acquired the remaining 49% of Telford-based Berwyn Granite Quarries from Tarmac for £18m. 03-Nov-2006 South Cheshire College has unveiled proposals for the £47m redevelopment of its campus in Crewe, including a new "eco-friendly learning base". 02-Nov-2006 Pyeroy is planning to expand the 900-strong workforce at its Gateshead-based contract painting business to 1,050 over the next three years. 02-Nov-2006 Cambridge University is to set up a £6m Kavli Institute for Cosmology to study the origins of the universe, but its Intel Research Lab will close. 02-Nov-2006 Lafarge is to invest about £2m at its Cauldon cement works in Staffordshire by the end of next year, including new packing and storage facilities. 31-Oct-2006 Stockland, the Australian property trust, is to set up a headquarters in London with about six staff, in order to handle its European expansion programme. 30-Oct-2006 Simons Construction is to close its offices in Hull and Grimsby by the end of the year with the loss of up to 33 jobs. 26-Oct-2006 Strutt & Parker is to expand its London head office at 13 Hill Street into an adjacent site, in order to create a combined 34,000 sq ft office. 25-Oct-2006 Fenland District Council has approved plans from the East of England Development Agency for the £47m Nene Waterfront Regeneration Project in Wisbech, including housing and business units. 23-Oct-2006 Wren Homes is planning to raise £3m in a flotation on Aim to fund the expansion of its housing development business. 23-Oct-2006 Elmondstone Construction, the Willenhall-based contractor with more than 100 staff, is planning to double the size of its business over the next 12 months. 23-Oct-2006 GVA Grimley is in the process of relocating its Leeds-based property consultancy and 75 staff to a new 10,250 sq ft office at City Point. 19-Oct-2006 Simpson (York) is to relocate the headquarters of its construction business from Osbaldwick to Chessingham Park in Dunnington over the next few years. 19-Oct-2006 Stonemartin has agreed to acquire a 100,000 sq ft office at Hanro's planned £55m scheme in the centre of Newcastle upon Tyne, in order to set up a regional office for the Institute of Directors. 18-Oct-2006 Burnley College is to build a new £70m campus on the site of a former mill in Princess Way by September 2009. 16-Oct-2006 Southwark Council is seeking a suitable site to set up a new 300,000 sq ft headquarters. 16-Oct-2006 Hertfordshire County Council is considering plans to relocate 1,500 staff to a 155,000 sq ft Norwich Union office in Stevenage by 2008, and Norwich Union will relocate its staff to an adjacent site. 16-Oct-2006 Stag Security Services of Harrogate is setting up an office in Gateshead, and expects to create up to 200 security and facilities management jobs in the region. 13-Oct-2006 Cemex is planning to restructure its cement and concrete business with the closure of up to 15 offices and the loss of a number of sales and administration jobs, in order to consolidate the work at seven remaining sites. 09-Oct-2006 Wright Group is planning to expand the 66-strong workforce at its Hull-based house-building and commercial property business with up to ten new sales and construction staff this year. 05-Oct-2006 Colliers CRE is to raise £16m in a rights issue to fund the expansion of its property agency. 05-Oct-2006 The Heath Business & Technical Park in Runcorn is planning a £20m expansion, as owner SOG is seeking permission for the development of an additional 200,000 sq ft of office space. 28-Sep-2006 Cemex is planning to build a £27m cement processing plant at Tilbury Docks in Essex by 2008. 27-Sep-2006 Multiplex is to disband its UK construction division with the loss of an unspecified number of jobs, in order to focus on development and fund management. 25-Sep-2006 Evans Easyspace is planning to expand its network of 37 workspace centres from 37 to 66 by 2008 by opening up to three new sites a month, and is particularly interested in the south of England. 18-Sep-2006 The Metropolitan Police Authority is to set up a 17,000 sq ft training facility at the new Telegraph headquarters in London's Victoria Central over the next few months. 18-Sep-2006 Jewson, the builders' merchant, is to shed up to 60 jobs in Huddersfield, in order to outsource part of its central accounts department. 12-Sep-2006 Regus is to invest up to £100m a year in acquisitions and setting up new serviced office centres, and is particularly interested in Asia. 12-Sep-2006 Heijmans is looking to acquire building contractors in the Midlands and the North, in order to expand its Leadbitter subsidiary. 11-Sep-2006 Stewart Milne is planning to establish a housebuilding business in England by the end of the year, either through the acquisition of an unnamed company or by setting up its own operation. 07-Sep-2006 Balfour Beatty is expanding its new project management division at Wynyard Park on Teesside, and the workforce is expected to rise from 18 to 100 over the next year. 06-Sep-2006 Jackson Lloyd, the building maintenance firm, has launched a new apprentice training programme, and is also about to relocate its head office from Wigan to Skelmersdale. 05-Sep-2006 Linden Homes, the Surrey-based regional housebuilder, is seeking a buyer with an asking price of £300m. 05-Sep-2006 Faber Maunsell, the building engineering consultancy, is to relocate its London headquarters to a 37,000 sq ft office at the Johnson Building in Hatton Garden. 04-Sep-2006 Keystone Lintels Group is considering plans to shed a significant number of the 100 jobs at its recently-acquired IG business in Cwmbran. 29-Aug-2006 Cardiff County Council has approved plans from Macob Exchange for the £20m restoration of the Coal Exchange in Cardiff Bay, including the creation of 116 apartments, offices, restaurants, bars and shops. 24-Aug-2006 Mears Construction (Northern) has gone into liquidation with the loss of 39 jobs in Morpeth. 24-Aug-2006 Land Registry is to shed more than 100 of the 559 jobs at its offices in Birkenhead over the next six years, but there are not expected to be any compulsory redundancies. 21-Aug-2006 Staffordshire Fire & Rescue Service has unveiled plant to rebuild seven fire stations, and is seeking a £45m government private finance initiative grant. 16-Aug-2006 Whitehead Building Services is planning to create more than 30 new jobs in Swansea. 14-Aug-2006 Edwin Hill, the firm of chartered surveyors, is to relocate 16 staff from Dartford to a new 3,000 sq ft office at the Crossways Business Park in Kent. 14-Aug-2006 The Health & Safety Executive is planning to shed between 250 and 350 jobs by April 2008, but hopes to avoid compulsory redundancies. 14-Aug-2006 Cunnington Clark is to relocate its Peterborough-based building design services business and up to 20 staff to a new 29,000 sq ft site in Priestgate by the end of the year. 07-Aug-2006 SIG, the insulation supplier, is to set up an 80,000 sq ft warehouse, factory and office at the Knowsley Industrial Park in Liverpool. 07-Aug-2006 Woods Bagot, the architectural firm, is relocating its London headquarters to a 7,000 sq ft office on Oxford Street, which will house up to 65 staff. 04-Aug-2006 Canary Wharf in London has agreed a series of deals to let more than 130,000 sq ft of office space to Barclays, Saxo, Alvarez & Marsal, CFA Institute and Diligence. 10-Jul-2006 Termrim Construction is to relocate its Huddersfield headquarters to a 6,000 sq ft office being built at Bradley Business Park next spring. 07-Jul-2006 Renfrewshire Council has sold its Paisley headquarters to developers Westpoint Homes, and about 1,200 staff will relocate to an adjacent office block. 06-Jul-2006 Basildon Council has unveiled proposals for the £900m redevelopment of the town centre, including 3,600 new homes, shops and restaurants, and will seek investment from the private sector. 04-Jul-2006 Regus is planning to double its serviced office space to 6m sq ft over the next three years, having appointed Jones Lang LaSalle to find 108 centres. 03-Jul-2006 Winchester City Council has announced plans for the £40m modernisation and refit of its Ashburton Court headquarters, which currently houses 550 staff. 30-Jun-2006 Quarmby Construction has won a £4m contract to fit out the new 95,000 sq ft Leeds headquarters of the Government Office of Yorkshire & Humberside, and the site will be completed by February 2007. 29-Jun-2006 The University of Strathclyde has confirmed plans to relocate its teacher training centre and 300 staff to a new £50m building in Glasgow city centre in 2010. 29-Jun-2006 Dumfries & Galloway College has secured £22m from the Scottish Funding Council to relocate from Heathhall to the Crichton campus in Dumfries in 2008. 29-Jun-2006 The United Kingdom Hydrographic Office is looking to set up a new 130,000 sq ft headquarters building in Taunton to house its 850 staff, and is currently seeking a development partner. 29-Jun-2006 MWB Business Exchange is looking to open six serviced office centres in London, Bristol and Newcastle this summer. 26-Jun-2006 West Lindsey District Council is to build a new £4.3m four-storey headquarters in Gainsborough. 22-Jun-2006 Cushman & Wakefield, the property agency, is planning to open an office in Birmingham, which could eventually employ up to 50 staff. 22-Jun-2006 Lambert Smith Hampton is to conduct a strategic review of Buckinghamshire County Council's £600m property portfolio, which will lead to disposals and efficiency improvements. 22-Jun-2006 The Central College of Commerce, Glasgow Metropolitan College, Glasgow College of Nautical Studies and Stow College are planning to share a new £200m campus in the city centre by 2012. 16-Jun-2006 Rok Property Solutions is planning to open new offices in Birmingham, Leeds and Edinburgh for its Rok Development division over the next two years. 15-Jun-2006 Birmingham City Council is seeking a developer for the £300m Eastside Technology Park scheme, including offices, flats, hotels and restaurants. 07-Jun-2006 MJ Gleeson is to relocate its head office from Cheam to Fleet in Hampshire with the loss of about 70 jobs. 05-Jun-2006 Crest Nicholson is setting up a new 23,000 sq ft headquarters at Cranmer House in Chertsey. 05-Jun-2006 McCarthy & Stone, the retirement homes builder valued at about £900m, has received a number of takeover approaches. 05-Jun-2006 Northbrook College in Worthing is to shed up to 95 jobs from its lecture and support staff, while its site is being rebuilt at a cost of £36m over the next three years. 01-Jun-2006 Land Registry is to close its office in Harrow in 2010, but some of the 246 staff are expected to transfer to Stevenage and Croydon. 01-Jun-2006 Wolseley is to rebrand its Hire Center branches under the recently-acquired Brandon Hire name, creating a combined network of 270 sites. 31-May-2006 BSS, the builders' merchant, is looking to open up to 100 new branches over the next three years, and is particularly interested in the south-east. 31-May-2006 Rugby Estates is to relocate its London headquarters from Covent Garden to a 5,560 sq ft office at Farm Street in Mayfair. 29-May-2006 Caterpillar is to set up a 132,000 sq ft industrial equipment distribution centre at RD Park in Hinckley. 22-May-2006 Montagu Evans, the property consultancy, is to relocate its London headquarters and 150 staff to a 34,000 sq ft office in Clarges Street in September. 22-May-2006 Knight Frank, the property agency, is in negotiations to set up a 55,000 sq ft office at Berkeley Square House in London. 22-May-2006 Nottingham Regeneration is to invest £18m in a number of new industrial development schemes this year, which could lead to the creation of up to 200 jobs. 18-May-2006 Hanson is to close the Waingroves Brickworks in Ripley in June with the loss of 63 jobs. 16-May-2006 May Gurney is planning to raise about £10m in a flotation on Aim to fund the expansion of its Norfolk-based construction services business. 15-May-2006 Jones Lang LaSalle, the property services company, is to relocate about 350 London-based staff from Hanover Square to a 40,000 sq ft office at Canary Wharf. 12-May-2006 Caradon District Council is considering plans to build a new £8m headquarters, having identified a suitable site on the outskirts of Liskeard. 12-May-2006 Minster Insulation & Dry Lining is planning to open eight new outlets nationwide this year, having just opened a 24,000 sq ft distribution hub in Exeter. 11-May-2006 Clark Contracts is creating 75 jobs in Paisley and Edinburgh, with vacancies for contract managers, joiners, quantity surveyors, tilers and decorators. 05-May-2006 Hanson is in talks with unions over the future of 300 jobs at its Stewartby brickworks in Bedfordshire, having been given an ultimatum by the Environment Agency to reduce emissions by 2008. 27-Apr-2006 Swindon Borough Council is planning to transfer up to 300 staff to private companies, having shortlisted Vertex, Capita and Fujitsu to run its frontline services. 25-Apr-2006 Blackburn with Darwen Council is to consider plans from Blackburn Cathedral Developments for the £45m redevelopment of the area around Blackburn Cathedral, including offices, 100 new homes and a library. 24-Apr-2006 Macalloy, the supplier of architectural tensioning rod systems to the construction industry, is to relocate from Sheffield to Rotherham. 19-Apr-2006 Cardiff County Council is to consider plans from Macob Exchange for the £20m transformation of the historic Coal Exchange building, including 200,000 sq ft of offices, shops, apartments, bars and restaurants. 18-Apr-2006 English Heritage is to vacate its London headquarters in Savile Row in June, in order to relocate staff to offices in Bunhill Row, Waterhouse Square and the regions. 14-Apr-2006 Reading Borough Council is considering five bids for the development of a new 124,000 sq ft headquarters, and aims to relocate its 1,000 staff to the new site in 2010. 14-Apr-2006 Brighton & Hove Council is to consider plans from Cathedral Group for the £100m redevelopment of the former market in Circus Street, including 180 homes, shops, offices, industrial units and dance studios. 11-Apr-2006 University of Warwick has unveiled proposals to expand the size of its campus by 40%, in a 15-year plan that would provide accommodation for an extra 2,000 students. 10-Apr-2006 Carillion has won a £12bn contract from the Ministry of Defence to redevelop barracks accommodation at Aldershot and Salisbury Plain, in partnership with Kellogg Brown & Root. 10-Apr-2006 Styles & Wood, the store refurbishment and fit-out company, is considering plans for a flotation over the next 12 months, in order to raise funds for acquisitions. 30-Mar-2006 MKM Building Supplies of Hull is planning to expand its branch network from 19 to 40 over the next three years, having secured a £21m investment from venture capital firm 3i. 28-Mar-2006 Lafarge is to build a plasterboard factory next to the Ferrybridge power station near Castleford. 27-Mar-2006 Jaguar has sold its Browns Lane headquarters in Coventry to Delamar Construction, and the 88-acre site will be used to assemble pre-fabricated buildings. 23-Mar-2006 JCB is seeking permission for the £2.5m expansion of its Cab Systems factory in Rugeley, with the creation of up to 75 jobs. 23-Mar-2006 Land Securities is seeking a suitable site in central London for a new 75,000 sq ft headquarters, as the lease expires on its Strand office in 2009. 23-Mar-2006 Donaldsons is searching for a 160,000 sq ft office site within 25 miles of the M25 motorway for an unnamed government department. 23-Mar-2006 East of England Development Agency is to award a £12m grant for the development of a new university on Ipswich Waterfront by September 2007, under the name of University Campus Suffolk. 22-Mar-2006 Cemex is considering plans to cut production at its Cumbria-based cement plants in Shap and Penrith, casting doubt on the future of 42 jobs. 21-Mar-2006 The UK Building Research Establishment is forming a Watford-based joint venture with Trevor Baylis Brands to promote innovative ideas for the construction industry. 21-Mar-2006 Omar Homes is to close its Modular Construction Solutions factory at Holbrook, near Sheffield, by the end of June with the loss of 140 jobs. 20-Mar-2006 Costain is planning to reduce its number of operating divisions from 15 to seven, in order to focus on activities such as road building and water industry construction contracts. 16-Mar-2006 Evans Property Group is planning to increase its net asset value from £325m to £600m over the next five years, and could invest £100m in continental Europe over the next 12 months. 15-Mar-2006 Waveney Asphalt is planning to open a new £1.3m headquarters and asphalt plant for its 43-strong workforce at Ellough, near Beccles, this spring. 13-Mar-2006 Nottingham Trent University is considering plans to invest £70m in new buildings for its campus, including a large glass structure to link the Newton Building with the Victorian Arkwright Building. 13-Mar-2006 The Ministry of Defence is to announce plans to set up a new military academy to provide training for 10,000 non-commissioned officers, and is considering sites at St Athan in South Wales and Cosford in the West Midlands. 13-Mar-2006 Brandon Tool Hire is planning to expand its nationwide branch network from 143 to more than 250 over the next four years. 10-Mar-2006 Beers is to relocate it Liverpool-based timber merchants and 40 staff to a new £2m site in Boundary Street this summer. 09-Mar-2006 The Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen is planning to invest £115m in new teaching and research facilities at its Garthdee campus by 2015. 09-Mar-2006 Mapeley is expected to win a Home Office contract to set up a new network of 69 passport offices, which will be used for the introduction of combined identity cards and passports. 08-Mar-2006 Aberdeen City Council is planning to relocate its headquarters to the Marischal College site by 2008, and the estimated cost of bringing the historic building back into use is £40m. 28-Feb-2006 Carillion is looking to sell Environmental Sciences Group, the recently-acquired Mowlem division that has 900 staff in 16 offices. 27-Feb-2006 Finning UK, the construction equipment importer, is cutting an unspecified number of jobs at its Cannock headquarters, and is planning to relocate its MAK engines business from London to Poole. 27-Feb-2006 Torbay Council is considering plans to transfer its 200-strong labour force into a public-private partnership later this year. 24-Feb-2006 McLaughlan Construction of Ayrshire has gone into provisional liquidation through Martin Aitken & Co. 24-Feb-2006 Aberdeen City Council is to consider plans from Scottish Enterprise Grampian for the expansion of the 72-acre Aberdeen Science & Energy Park by a further 36 acres, in order to support inward investment by technology-based businesses. 22-Feb-2006 Kennedy Construction is planning to create up to 100 jobs at a new manufacturing unit at the former Fullarton factory in Prestwick, in order to expand its housebuilding business. 13-Feb-2006 Faithful & Gould is planning to create 90 jobs at its Teesside-based project and cost management consultancy over the next five years, and a further 40 jobs will be created at its Tyneside office. 10-Feb-2006 Glasgow City Council is planning to transfer its £200m building services department, which employs 3,000 people, to a council-owned limited company. 08-Feb-2006 The London Development Agency is looking to attract more inward investment from China by opening offices in Beijing and Shanghai. 08-Feb-2006 Barhale Construction is restructuring its Walsall-based civil engineering business with the loss of 30 jobs. 06-Feb-2006 Samuel Walker & Sons, the crane hire company, has gone into liquidation through PKF, with the loss of 68 jobs in Glasgow and Manchester. 03-Feb-2006 Highland Council is considering plans to outsource the management of its 3,850 public buildings to a private company, which could involve the transfer of 180 Inverness-based staff. 31-Jan-2006 Knight Frank, the property agency, is to relocate its City of London headquarters from King Street to a 5,130 sq ft site in Coleman Street, EC2, in March. 30-Jan-2006 Lafarge Cement UK is to relocate its headquarters and up to 100 staff from Oxfordshire to a new 60,000 sq ft office at the NEC in Birmingham by the end of 2007. 27-Jan-2006 The University of Strathclyde in Glasgow is planning to sell its Jordanhill campus and transfer about 2,900 students to a new building at the John Anderson campus over the next four years. 26-Jan-2006 The Heritage Lottery Fund is to contribute to a £2.3m project to train 154 apprentices in the traditional skill of masonry conservation, with the rest of the funding coming from Historic Scotland, Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish Lime Centre Trust. 19-Jan-2006 Essex Fire & Rescue Service is looking into the possibility of relocating its headquarters and 300 staff from Brentwood to Kelvedon. 18-Jan-2006 Slough Estates is planning to shed about 45 construction jobs by May, and its property work will be outsourced. 18-Jan-2006 Land Securities Trillium is forming a joint venture with Mill Group to participate in the building of up to £2bn of new schools over the next five years, and the partnership will employ about 55 staff. 11-Jan-2006 GAP Group is planning to open four more plant and tool hire depots this year, taking the total to 60. 11-Jan-2006 Brandon Hire, the chain of 146 tool hire outlets, is considering plans for a management buy-out. 11-Jan-2006 The information below comes from the UK Activity Report. Click here for further details Copyright UK Business Park 1995-2007