THE LONGEST bridge made of recycled plastic in the world was put up in Peebleshire last month. The 90ft crossing over the River Tweed on the Dawyck estate near Stobo is made of more than 50 tonnes of old plastic bottles and car bumpers – and is the first of its kind in the UK. Dawyck Estates’s Robert Balfour said: “I hope we’ve done something that is groundbreaking. There are only four other bridges like it and they are in the US.

A Breakfast Roundtable hosted by PEFC at the Commonwealth Club in central London and attended by some of the country's major contractors, heard Dr Peter Bonfield, Head of Construction Products at the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) and Chief Executive at BRE describe how the 2012 London Olympic Park development is destined to be a future model for timber procurement and its legal and sustainable supply.

ISG has successfully completed an £840K student accommodation project at St Mary’s College in Oscott, near Sutton Coldfield.

The contractor has adopted a painstaking and methodical approach to the sensitive refurbishment and rationalisation of existing space within the Grade II listed college buildings to deliver new residential accommodation for staff and students at the home of the Archdiocese of Birmingham.

Patton Construction has been appointed by Tesco to build a brand new supermarket in Pendleton, near Salford, Manchester.

Construction Enquirer reports that construction on the 130,000 sq ft supermarket is set to begin in the first quarter of 2012, at a cost of approximately £45 million.

Nottingham property company Property Investment Portfolio (PIP), has begun a £20 million construction project in Cornwall to refurbish a former MOD residential site, earmarked for luxury development. The new project, which will see PIP acting in conjunction with private investors to refurbish the exteriors and interiors of 120 former MOD properties, has now begun at St Eval.

BSW Timber, the largest sawmilling business in the UK, has announced a huge expansion of its Fort William site. It ensures the long term future of the 150 workforce and could create knock-on job opportunities in Lochaber.

Vinci Environment UK has been selected to design and build two incinerators in Hertfordshire and North Yorkshire. The projects are worth £330 million and could require the use of contracting software and construction software.

UK based CAS (Construction Access Systems) and The University of Southampton RIFI (Research Institute for Industry) have developed a common mast to accommodate more than one manufacturer's mast climbing products.

A blueprint for the UK construction industry has been launched by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) in “a bid to maintain and replicate the high standards set by the London 2012 project”. Learning Legacy is a collaborative approach between the ODA, contractors, professional institutes, government bodies and academia, and builds on the ethos set by the ODA of setting targets well above the industry benchmarks, meeting the majority of these and, in a number of cases, exceeding expectations.

Chesterfield’s iconic Market Hall is now one step closer to its planned refurbishment after Chesterfield Borough Council’s planning committee approved the planning and listed building application. A construction programme is now being prepared in order that work can start in February 2012.