The original Japanese Knotweed Solutions Company (JKSL), based in Radcliffe, is hosting a special all-day seminar next month to examine the myths and legends of what is arguably the most damaging invasive species found on UK shores.

‘Invasive Plants – Myths and Legends’, to be held on 22 May 2013 at Manchester’s Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI), will feature a number of discussions, question and answer sessions and presentations from guest speakers including, the founder and Chief Executive of JKSL, Mike Clough, Professor John Moverley OBE from the Amenity Forum, Richard Shaw of CABI, Rob Simpson of BASIS, and Derek Smith of Ragwort UK.

The UK Timber Frame Association (UKTFA) has been awarded a Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) Growth Recognition Award, for the work carried out to improve business skills and knowledge within the erector community.

The training, run in association with CITB, involves fifteen UKTFA erector members. It is designed to prepare businesses for an upturn in the country’s economic outlook, ensuring they are in the best position to capitalise on increased demand for their services.

Chesterfield’s commercial property offering has been brought to the attention of national investors after the town’s Waterside development was announced as one of the UK’s largest Regeneration and Renewal projects in a prestigious list of major schemes issued for 2013.

The £340m development, has moved four places since 2012 to be ranked at number 47 in the top 100 list of the UK's largest regeneration projects, published this week in the sectors leading publications, Planning Magazine, and Regeneration & Renewal.

Calderford Training Services were delighted today to pass Joanna Lamb and her colleague David Taylor, for Lorry Loader Clamp, A36C. Joanna is the first female operator that has approached Calderford Training to take the test.

Calderford Training Services are aware that changes in technology made such careers more accessible to all, quite a number of years ago. With the current changes in the labour market people who previously would not have considered this line of work find it both financially rewarding and enjoyable.

Measures relating to the use of head protection on construction sites are among a raft of changes to health and safety legislation which came into force on 6 April, subject to Parliamentary Approval. The Health and Safety (Miscellaneous Repeals, Revocations and Amendments) Regulations 2013 repeal one Act and revoke 12 instruments, plus a related provision in the Factories Act 1961. The measures are being removed because they have either been overtaken by more up-to-date regulations, are redundant or do not deliver the intended benefits.

There’s a country house taking shape in deepest Wiltshire that showcases both the steely determination of its creator and the very best in British innovation!

It’s a template for an approach that could contribute towards solving London’s housing crisis. Build up and reach for the sky!

A UK-wide sealant specialist has appointed a new Glasgow-based Sales Manager in order to cement the company’s expansion into Scotland.

Davie Graham, who is originally from Cumbernauld, has been taken on by S&D Sealants, who specialise in the supply and fit of sealants and mastics to the construction trade across Scotland, Wales and England.

Planning applications for the first phases of one of the most ambitious housing regeneration projects seen on Tyneside in decades have been submitted to Gateshead Council.

Plans for 472 new homes on sites in Saltwell & Bensham, Deckham and Birtley in Gateshead have been submitted by Gateshead Regeneration Partnership (GRP).

The race to find Scotland’s most environmentally-aware construction firms begins as the Vision in Business for the Environment of Scotland Awards (VIBES) opens for the fourteenth year.

VIBES is Scotland’s leading environmental awards scheme. It aims to recognise businesses of all sizes and sectors employing environmental best practice in their day-to-day activity to cut down on resource use, increase sustainability, improve reputation and benefit the company’s bottom-line.

The Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB) is delighted to announce that Shirley Watson has joined its board of directors as an independent Non-Executive Director and Chair of its Audit Committee.

Shirley is a Chartered Civil Engineer with over 30 years of diverse management and technical experience gained with contractors, consultants and regulators including executive positions at WSP Group, Wimpey and NHBC. In recent years she has designed and delivered transformational business change projects within the construction industry and she brings this experience of strategy development and project implementation to the ECITB.