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Last updateFri, 06 Mar 2026 9am

Building cost effective schools for the future

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At the close of 2016, the BBC reported that 944 local authority schools and 113 academy trusts in England are now in debt. In response to a parliamentary question, ministers revealed that 5 percent of council schools and 4 percent of academy trusts have budget deficits. Going further, Kevin Courtney, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, estimates that 92 percent of schools in England could face real terms budget cuts over the next four years.

On top of budget cuts, research by the Department for Education determined that a large part of the school estate in England was in poor condition or insufficiently maintained. In fact, 44 percent were rated as ‘unsatisfactory’, 23 percent were rated as ‘extremely poor’ or ‘very poor’ with more than two-thirds in need of refurbishment or renewal. It was established that about half of the schools were deemed ‘in need of improvement’.

Launch of FIS Skills flagship #iBuiltThis2017 social media campaign

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FIS Skills, the specialist skills delivery capability of Finishes and Interiors Sector (FIS) are pleased to announce the launch of our flagship #iBuiltThis2017 campaign. A visual campaign, image led and run completely on social media utilising the Instagram and Twitter platforms for a period of three weeks, with the submissions opening from the 04th Sept and closing on 24th Sept and winners announced at the UK Construction Week Exhibition between 10th – 12th October 2017.

The campaign is designed to get young people, the construction industry and the public to participate and show how proud they are of their contribution to the UK built environment in a fun, exciting and light-hearted way. We would like to showcase construction as the exciting and diverse sector it is with its huge breadth of disciplines and career opportunities to help attract new entrants.

Treatment is better than cure, prescribed by Mick George Ltd

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Projects, developments, or refurbishments, call it what you will, one thing that inherently results from such upgrades, is incurred costs. By nature, things are likely to improve, so it is an expenditure viewed more as an investment, rather than a cost.

Although, just when you think you’ve accumulated all the fees associated with said works’, the ‘bitter pill to swallow’ follows, when unwanted charges persist at the point of disposal, especially in the case of Hazardous Waste that emerge from the majority of construction based projects.

Graduate lays the foundations for success in construction

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A University of Wolverhampton graduate is laying the foundations for success in the construction industry.

Rachel Toor, 26 from Bilston in Wolverhampton, is graduating with a first class honours degree in Construction Management from the University’s Faculty of Architecture and Built Environment in September.

Rachel began her career by studying for an Apprenticeship with Walsall Housing Group where she learned the trades as a plumber and gas engineer.

Half a century of steel manhole cover production in the UK

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Despite decades of seeing other firms send their steel manhole cover production overseas, Clark-Drain has remained committed to in-house manufacturing in the UK.

The company’s origins are very much in innovation and when it formed in 1965 as Clarksteel Ltd the first product was also the UK’s first steel manhole cover. The company has since built a reputation for product quality and customer service, maintaining several customer relationships dating back to those early years.

A rebrand to Clark-Drain in 1998 reflected an increasingly broad product range using various materials. Steel manufacturing has remained strong in the business, which operates impressive production facilities such as fabrication, galvanising and powder coating at its base in Cambridgeshire.