Capita thwarted in move to buy Cyril Sweett
Consultant hunts for alternatives as Sweett’s £5.4m Chinese deal wrecks takeover talks
In absentia: Jean Shaw vs James Scott Builders
This case is all about missing persons, missing contracts, missing drawings and missing deadlines. So no surprise when eventually it all turned around a missing email
Procurement refurbishment
When budgets are tight, refurb can seem the ideal solution. But how do clients and contractors allocate risk and manage outcomes? Simon Rawlinson of Davis Langdon looks at the options
Comment & analysis
Who’s afraid of the locals?
Most housebuilders are running like hell from the government’s plan to make them build local homes for local people. But others believe the upcoming reforms will be to their - and the locals’ - advantage
Highbury Gardens by Porphyrios Architects: Home Base
Developer First Base marked the topping out of its £29m Highbury Gardens scheme in north London this week
Contracts
Barratt wins bid to build 250 Plymouth homes
Publicly owned land for the North Prospect development was provided by the HCA Delivery Partner Panel
ISG wins £3.5m schools remodelling job in Dudley
Improvements at Hawbush Primary School will see new single-storey classrooms and the refurbishment of existing facilities
Balfour Beatty wins £80m Stevenage schools deal
Hertfordshire County Council names contractor as preferred bidder on schools PPP
Farrans and Heron bag £85m Merseyside hospitals deal
Two Northern Irish firms have picked up a contract to build five mental health hospitals on Merseyside.
Trouble at the top
We’ve wandered off site for this week’s picture, which is of civil engineering interacting with a diverted bus on the Portobello Road in west London. Our thanks to Nabil Hanafi for snapping it
Building TV
Rachel Shaw: 'This is not the end of exciting education buildings'
Cuts to BSF have meant a sea change for architects working in the education sector and the focus is on making existing buildings work better
Brickonomics
A double-dip in house prices isn’t really the problem
The fall in transactions is going to hit the housebuilding industry much harder
Global news
Capita thwarted in move to buy Cyril Sweett
Consultant hunts for alternatives as Sweett’s £5.4m Chinese deal wrecks takeover talks
Great sprawl of China
PRP Architects has completed a masterplan for the centre of Chongqing city in western China
UAE's Sharjah in mega regeneration scheme
Emirate follows neighbouring Dubai and Abu Dhabi with 25-year construction project
Tony Bingham
New Construction Act: Got a pen and paper handy?
A party can wriggle out of adjudication today by claiming there is no contract in writing. But once the new Construction Act comes into force, that excuse will no longer run
Visit the Passivhaus group on the Building Network
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Passivhaus refurb
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Don't forget that Housing Now launches tomorrow at 9am
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The Road to Zero Carbon - A major one day conference on low & zero carbon buildings
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Calling all Passiv-hausers
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I am a Student
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Passivhaus: What's in a name?
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One step change at a time
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Would the Passivhaus Standard be appropriate to adopt as the primary construction method in the UK?
Cost model
Cost model: Part L
The upcoming changes to Part L will crank up the low-carbon agenda. The authors consider the costs and their influence on design










