An injured war hero from Colchester has swapped camouflage for shirt and tie, as leading house builder Persimmon Homes continues its recruitment drive to bring hundreds of ex-military personnel into the business.

Ex-Para Terry Byrne, 30, started at Persimmon Homes Essex recently as assistant site manager. He is currently working at the builder’s Tudor Park development in Saffron Walden.

Housebuilder Redrow has welcomed news that starts* on new homes last year were at their highest annual total since 2007 and 10% higher than in 2013. 

However, it says the “slow and tedious” planning process is still preventing developers from providing the volume of new homes required.

The HSE have now issued their final version of the new Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015. These new Regulations are due to be placed before Parliament in the coming weeks, with a view to implementing them on 6th April 2015. If Parliament approves the final version, the Guild of Builders & Contractors predicts a 'disaster' for the construction industry in terms of fatal and serious injuries to building workers. Director Ted Goddard puts the Guild's case:

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994 were introduced as a result of the European Directive 92/57/EEC to implement a minimum standard of safety and health on temporary and mobile construction sites.

In a standout project by leading national roofing company Briggs Amasco, as part of refurbishment works at West Kirby Railway Station, the main platform now includes 900sq m of Sika Liquid Plastics roofing system.

The proposed amendments to the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations CDM2015 are set to come into force in April bringing additional costs to builders and with a knock on effect to property owners. 

From April, it will be compulsory for designers and builders working on domestic premises, to develop a Construction Phase Plan (CPP) for all building work being carried out. This will apply to everything from a contractor who is tiling a bathroom, to having a major extension built. 

Failure to link the importance of leadership to sustainability in the construction industry has been laid bare by a new book by an expert at London South Bank University (LSBU).

Dr Alex Opoku in LSBU’s School of the Built Environment and Architecture asserts in his new book - Leadership and Sustainability in the Built Environment – that the real impact of legislation and guidelines designed to promote sustainability within the construction industry is closely linked to the leadership behind it.

British Sugar TOPSOIL, the UK’s largest supplier of topsoil to the construction, landscaping and amenity sectors, is the first, and only, topsoil manufacturer to have its product accepted as a BIM (Building Information Modelling) Object within the NBS National BIM Library. Planners, architects and construction professionals now have direct and immediate online access to the product’s data, which they can import into their project’s BIM-enabled software.

Leeds College of Building has successfully completed an extensive review by The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) that continually highlights the College’s success in preparing its students for employment. 

The QAA is an independent body entrusted with monitoring standards and quality in higher education establishments throughout the UK. Its review team, which consisted of staff and students from other higher education establishments throughout the UK, spent several weeks scrutinising all aspects of the College including academic standards and the quality of student learning opportunities. 

Leading scaffolding contractor, XERVON Palmers, are in the middle of a contract for Northumberland County Council and the Department for Transport (DfT) providing access for the £3 million refurbishment of the historic Ovingham Bridge over the River Tyne, in the North East.

Top scaffolding contractors, XERVON Palmers have been praised for their scaffolding and access solutions at Heathrow Airport again – picking up a “Suppliers” award and an “Individual Achievement” award for the contracted work.

XERVON Palmers’ team of a dozen operatives have been working night shifts providing a 70m long and 35m wide tube and fitting scaffolding with a system and Kedar clad temporary roof on this highly technical job renovating the airport’s CIP Lounge over a 10 month period.