BioSITE is new venture, recently established, to further develop BIOSITE, a biometric access control and workforce management ssystem, which has been deployed to over 60 construction sites in the UK, under the trading name D.C.S.

Launched in November 2008, development, BioSITE's flagship product BIOSITE helps many construction sites to comply with Health & safety regulations, maintain site security as well as reducing labour costs through efficient workforce time and attendance monitoring.

DEVELOPERS of a proposed £110 million retail scheme are supporting plans for a project to combat St Austell's "higher than average" unemployment.

Mercian Developments Ltd and Metric Properties St Austell Ltd, behind the Coyte Farm scheme, and Cornwall College have signed an agreement to help students and local people into work.

The controversial planning application for Coyte Farm outlines a 160,000sq ft retail park including a Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury's with green credentials, hotel, pub, and care village with assisted living units, all on 98 acres of green land.

Social housing contractor United House and partner Keepmoat have won a £150m repairs and maintenance contract to refurbish 14,000 properties in the South-east of England.

The contract awarded by housing group Circle covers Merton Priory in south west London, Mole Valley in the Dorking and Leatherhead area of Surrey and Russet Homes in the Tonbridge area of Kent.

For the construction industry, vehicle-diagnostic monitoring and fleet-tracking software is helping to reduce the amount of fuel spent on a job. Imagine the possibilities when an entire state department uses this technology for fleet management.

The state of Arkansas is one such example. With roughly 2,400 state vehicles used in highway maintenance, transportation, administration, construction, and law enforcement, the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Dept., www.arkansashighways.com, Little Rock, Ark., was looking for a way to improve the efficiency of its fleet.

Oldham Council has issued an OJEU notice seeking a contractor for its £10m town hall redevelopment.

Planning permission was given in September 2012 to transform the derelict building to incorporate an 8-screen cinema with restaurant and retail use.

The new product will feature no height limit, and interest-free instalments.

ECIC chief underwriting officer Richard Forrest Smith said that the cover was developed specifically for the roofing trade, with policy wordings factoring in the needs of the profession.

"This type of work requires contractors to have a real understanding of all the risks involved and ensure they have the right cover for the work they will be carrying out," he added.

The talk of RFID (radio-frequency identification) at the construction jobsite has been circling the industry for years, but has only recently begun to take hold and be implemented more widely among large construction sites. Still, there are a number of questions regarding adoption of this type of technology, which a recent case study looks to address, taking contractors step-by-step through the decisionmaking process.

The applications of RFID at the construction jobsite can range from material tracking to workforce monitoring. The use gaining considerable momentum as of late is tech for access control at the jobsite. For example, Holder Construction www.holderconstruction.com, Dallas, Texas, WS Bellows Construction, www.wsbellows.com, Houston, Texas, Turner Construction, www.turnerconstruction.com, New York, N.Y., and Grunley Construction, www.grunley.com, Rockville, Md., are just a handful of companies using technology for workforce monitoring.

Galliford Try, ISG, Kier, Lovell and Willmott Dixon are among the winners on a lucrative framework with Network Housing Group to deliver 1,500 affordable homes in inner London over the next two years.

The group, made up of six housing associations, is aiming to construct 1,500 low-cost and affordable rent homes, as well as for private sale and mixed tenure by March 2015.

The framework also includes major refurbishment and regeneration.

Giles Insurance Brokers has been chosen as the exclusive broker for members of the Confederation of Roofing Contractors (CORC).

The broker is currently working to create tailored policies for CORC members, which it intends to add to its wider construction insurance portfolio.

CORC membership coordinator Allan Buchan said Giles was chosen over other brokers because it offered cover for more complex risks such as asbestos, which was a typical exclusion under many standard construction policies.

The worker, John Higgins, was 59 years old. He was killed at the Bishops Hall Lane station in Chelmsford in May 2008, when a transformer tap charger he was working on exploded.

The firm supplies power to the East of England, as well as London and the South East.