Network Rail has awarded the North Doncaster Chord project which comprises the construction of a new 3.2km twin-track railway and a six-span viaduct to add extra capacity and remove a critical bottleneck from the East Coast Main Line.

The proposed development will include the construction of a permanent highway overbridge over the ECML and associated track and signalling connections.

The works also involve replacing an existing level crossing with a highway bridge which will reduce the height of the new railway link, or ‘chord’, and provide road users with a safer crossing of the ECML.

A consortium of Kier Project Investments, Galliford Try Investments, John Graham and Equitix Holdings has signed financial close on the south west Scotland hub initiative.

The deal will unlock a £600m pipeline of work in the region during the next 10 years for 14 councils and other public bodies.

It is the last of the Scottish Futures Trust’s five Scottish hubCos agreements to be signed off, which together are expected to deliver £1.5bn worth of infrastructure projects over the decade.

Bam Nuttall has won a significant Network Rail deal for an Acton diveunder which has been valued at between £20m and £30m, it has been reported.

The company beat off competition from three rivals for the project, which is being built at the Acton Freight Yard, Construction News reports.

It was awarded the contract over Carillion, Laing O'Rourke and Skanska.

Contracts have now been signed on a major affordable housing scheme on the edge of Northampton which means the town will soon benefit from over 100 houses and apartments.

Loughborough-based contractor and developer, William Davis will start work on the £11.2m Booth Rise scheme in December. Booth Rise, off Lumbertubs Way, is a scheme the developer has secured through the Homes and Communities Agency’s (HCA) Delivery Partner Panel and is also the first of its kind in Northampton.

London highways contracts potentially worth £2.6 billion have been awarded to four firms, with Balfour Beatty, Costain and Skanska among those to miss out.

Transport for London and London boroughs have awarded four new area-based joint highways contracts, which will be worth up to £1.2bn during the next eight years and will apply to all new TfL Road Network highway contracts from April 2013.

Lend Lease has won planning permission for a 37-storey residential tower and a £20 million leisure centre at its £1.5 billion Elephant & Castle regeneration scheme.

Southwark Council gave permission for 284 homes at St Mary’s Residential and a state-of-the-art community leisure centre to the west of the site.

Phelan’s has been awarded a fit-out contract for the 10,000 sq ft restaurant on the 32nd floor of the Shard skyscraper.

The Japanese Zuma and Roka restaurant at the top of the 308m tower, Europe’s tallest skyscraper, is due to open in 2014. It will be accessed by an express lift and offer views across London.

Shepherd Construction has landed two retail contracts worth £13 million in London and the South-east.

The contractor will build a £9m mixed-use development on behalf of the Cooperative Insurance Society on Oxford Street and a £4m expansion of the Clarendon Centre in Oxford’s Cornmarket Street on behalf of Lothbury Investment Management.

The London contract will see the development of 149-151 Oxford Street and 59 Berwick Street into retail, office and residential space.

Up to six contractors are being sought for a London police framework deal which could be worth up to £220 million.

The three-year framework has been published by the mayor’s office for policing and crime and would see contractors appointed across two lots: general works and mechanical and electrical works.

Lot 1 for general works includes internal refurbishment and fit-out for offices; estate refurbishment and demolition and asbestos removal.

The trio are shortlisted to carry out works including detailed design, enabling works, manufacture, supply, construction, installation, testing, commissioning and hand over of railway depot facilities at the Ilford Yard Stabling facility.

VolkerFitzpatrick was awarded a contract for surveying the site in September 2011.

The site is located adjacent to the Great Eastern Main Line between Ilford and SevenKings. The depot covers an area of approximately 12 hectares. Network Rail owns the freehold to the site.