Sectors
Education
Escalating delays hit £2bn school building programme
Launch of contracts likely to be put back after scheme is swamped with high volume of bids for funding
Ramboll joins chorus of disapproval over schools BREEAM cut plan
Secretary of state for schools receives third letter of outrage this week
Gove has 'ulterior motive' for scrapping BREEAM
Move to scrap green standards for schools driven by the free schools agenda, public procurement chief says
Infrastructure
Higgins waives £340k bonus
AGM postponed as Network Rail chief executive pledges money to level crossing safety fund
Balfour and Thales bag £335m Danish rail contract
Balfour Beatty and Thales have won a £335m contract to transform Denmark’s rail signalling system
Four shortlisted for MoD's £950m training estate contract
Babcock and Serco on shortlist for contract for the management of MoD training areas, camps and weapons ranges
Morgan Sindall bags £28m waste-to-energy deal
Contract for Yorkshire Water in joint venture with consultant Grontmij
Housing
Spurs let off the hook on affordable homes
Council report wipes £16m in payments from Tottenham and deletes requirement to provide affordable homes as part of stadium redevelopment
Green light for Sheppard Robson's £750m Fitzrovia scheme
Developer offers council extra £2m for affordable housing
Berkeley and DSDHA housing scheme approved
Luxury £60m residential scheme in Westminster is architect’s biggest ever project
Council pension fund invests £25m in housing
Manchester council hopes to put in place a pipeline of institutional investment
Office and commercial
Francis Salway to step down from Land Secs
Long-standing chief executive to be replaced by Robert Noel
Mitie wins £10.5m Derwent London office job
Scheme at Clerkenwell Green will redevelop 7,500m2 office as Mitie points to ‘buoyant’ work pipeline
AHMM's Blackfriars scheme to go ahead
Construction to commence this month after Building publisher UBM signs lease
Hotels
Eco hotel planned near Bangalore unveiled
Architect Mohsin Cooper and engineer Hurleypalmerflatt behind 9,450m2 scheme
Berkeley buys up 52-storey Beetham tower site
Housebuilder poaches site of Ian Simpson-designed scheme from administrator
BuildingTV: Europe's tallest living wall springs into life
Bennett’s Associates use 180,000 plants to create 11th-storey green wall at the Mint Hotel in London
Retail
Retail gloom leaves ISG facing £100m shortfall
Firm blames disappointing Christmas retail market for shortfall in projected revenue
Portas calls for curbs on out-of-town developments
Retail guru suggests secretary of state for communities should get sign-off powers
Cost models
Cost model: Small projects
With low availability of space and pressure to reduce costs, more small projects are being built - especially with high demand for affordable housing, care homes and office fit-out. Peter Fordham, Simon Hughes and Paul Donlen of Davis Langdon, an Aecom company, cost it up
Cost model: Residential
Office-to-residential conversions may become increasingly popular, so what does it cost to turn a commercial space into a home? Ben de Waal and Chris Amesbury of Davis Langdon, an Aecom company, look at the conditions needed for success and the key financial considerations
Cost update: Q2 2011
Everything’s on the up - input costs, inflation and, more positively, building operatives’ wages and construction earnings. Peter Fordham of Davis Langdon, an Aecom company, reports
