• Brett Paving has opened its £6.7m block paving factory at Cliffe, in Kent. The company says the 2520 m2 facility is the largest of its type in Europe, and will increase the company's output by up to 60%. The company says the extra capacity is enabling it to launch several new products.

  • Arup Fire has been commissioned by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to investigate the effects of changes made in 2000 to Part B of the Building Regulations, which relates to fire safety . The work will be used to compare the predictions in the ODPM's Regulatory Impact Assessment with actual building costs, and to obtain feedback from the industry on the impact of the changes. Arup Fire is consulting a wide cross section of the industry and is calling for feedback. Anyone who wants to help should contact Anthony Ferguson on 020-7755 3644 or by email at anthony.ferguson@arup.com.

  • Ready-mix concrete and aggregates supplier RMC has struck a deal with the Health and Safety Executive in a bid to further improve RMC's safety record. The HSE will concentrate future visits to RMC sites where further health and safety improvements could be made, in addition to the HSE's random visits to all RMC's sites.

  • Paint maker Sadolin has signed an agreement with climate change business Future Forests. The deal means that Sadolin will pay for trees to be planted in Staffordshire to neutralise the carbon dioxide emissions created during paint manufacture and distribution.

  • Italian boiler manufacturer SIME has set up a wholly owned subsidiary in the UK to supply and service its boilers. The company will unveil a range of boilers in the coming months and will carry a full range of spare parts. It will also offer service support.

  • Hanson Brick has created 12 jobs at its Claughton Manor factory near Lancaster. The company said the move was to meet rising demand from housebuilders in Scotland, the Borders and northern England. The jobs will be on the production side of the business and the workers will help lift the company's production from 31 to 44 million bricks a year.