LINO LAKES, Minn. — For the last 20 years, Minnesota Laborers-Employers Cooperation and Education Trust (LECET), an arm of the Minnesota Laborers Union and the Minnesota Laborers Training Center have paved the way for 1.55 million hours of training for members to ensure they are properly trained, represented and protected on work sites.

To celebrate this commitment to training and safety, Minnesota LECET and the Laborers Training Center host their Fifth Annual Contractor Appreciation open house from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday for many of Minnesota’s biggest union contractors. The event showcases the impressive, 44,000-square-foot Laborers Training Center facility and recognizes 32 Union contractors for their commitment to construction safety.

Peel Ports has named Lend Lease as the main contractor for its £300 million deep-water container terminal at the Port of Liverpool.

Peel Ports launched the search for a principal contractor for Liverpool2 in March.

Bracknell Roofing’s Brownhills branch has completed the roof of the Tesco store extension in Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire.

The 3,875m² extension was commissioned by Tesco to provide additional retail space as well as car parking and vehicle access.

It was doubly satisfying for Bracknell Roofing to be involved in this project as a team from the company had completed the roof of the original store back in 1996.

The main challenge, as with most retail projects, was that the work had to be completed to the highest quality and safety standards, whilst adhering to a strict four week schedule and without disrupting the main store, which remained open during the work.

A 900m² mansard roof was specified for the extension because it matched the existing store. Mansard roofs are used extensively for large format retail stores because it creates the visual impression of a traditional structure around the perimeter, whilst hiding large expanses of flat roof within the main footprint of the building.

The central visual element of the extended Tesco store is a large gable roof midway along the extended building, which also forms the entrance, and stands above the main profile of the roof. A hipped end is used to finish the roof of the extended building.

 A combination of reclaimed Marley Eternit concrete tiles from the original roof of the store, along with new concrete tiles from the same company, was used to ensure the extended roof matched the existing. Bracknell Roofing also ensured a visual match by continuing a banding of lighter coloured grey concrete tiles mid-way between eaves and ridge.

“This was both a technically challenging project as the main store had to remain open and one that had to be completed on a very short schedule,” said Tony Rawlinson, Bracknell Roofing Branch Director – Brownhills. “We managed to finish the roof exactly to schedule, whilst avoiding any disruption to the store.”

He added: “Some of our team who worked on the new extension had completed the roof of the original building in 1996, which just goes to highlight the unbeatable experience we have at Bracknell Roofing!”

The extended roof structure consists of a steel roof frame with timber rafters. The concrete roof tiles are nailed to timber battens.

Bracknell Roofing is the UK’s leading national roofing contractor and provides specialist skills and expertise on all aspects of new and existing structures. It has 10 branches throughout the UK, including a specialist flat roofing division as well as sustainable solutions ranging from green roofs, brown roofs through to photovoltaic and solar powered systems.

The company places paramount importance on the quality of its work as well as all health and safety aspects. It holds ISO 9001, the internationally recognised Quality Management System.

Bracknell Roofing recently achieved the prestigious Gold Award in this year’s Safety in Roofing Awards’ Scheme run by the NFRC (National Federation of Roofing Contractors). The company is a member of the NFRC and British Safety Council and has won many safety awards including British Safety Council National Safety award for 10 consecutive years.

Building Services 2012 - the official CIBSE Conference and exhibition will attract building services professionals from across the globe and provide a superior platform for suppliers to showcase their existing products, launch new technological innovations and network with senior delegates and speakers.

The Centre of Construction Law & Management King's College London is looking to appoint a new Director and Assistant Director within the next 12 months. The Centre established the original MSc course in Construction Law & Dispute Resolution and continues to be involved in other programmes in London and Dubai as well as supervising research degrees.

LEEDS College of Building has seen a 25 per cent increase in the number of students signing up to its Higher Education courses compared to last year as they seek an alternative to university and its tuition fees.
   
In recent years the College, which is the UK's largest specialist construction college, has significantly expanded the number of Higher Education courses it offers meaning students can now achieve HNCs, HNDs and Higher Apprenticeships with both full and part-time provision available.

For the better part of three decades, home remodeling company O’Connor and Sons, www.oconnorandsons.com, Oceanside, Calif., has prided itself on being a master of its craft as a fully licensed and bonded general contractor. Now the company is looking to master another realm, which it hopes in turn will help it take that level of expertise to an even higher level: technology.

Last week the company, which provides such services as new construction, architectural design, interior design and construction, and even commercial work, among others, announced it will begin adding advanced art computer drafting technology for its line of services to clients. The use of this technology will allow the company to produce highly details digital floor plans, 3D elevations, and working drawings.

Construction work has begun on Europe's largest man-made nature reserve, located in Essex.

Wallasea Island is being transformed from farmland into a 670-hectare (1,500-acre) wetland.

The site is using 4.5 million tonnes of earth excavated from the Crossrail project, for which a 21km (13 mile) tunnel is being bored through London.

KUCHING: A construction site security guard lodged a police report Monday night after he was punched in the face and robbed of his necklace.

The 30-something victim told police the incident happened around 9.15pm when six unknown persons showed up at his workplace at Jalan Sungai Periuk, carrying weapons ranging from a stick to an iron rod.

This year, Doosan ADT is celebrating its 40th anniversary: 40 years of permanent 6-wheel drive. The factory in Elnesvagen, Norway, hosted a customer event on 29th August. Over 50 dealers and customers from Germany, Italy, USA, Canada, Saudi-Arabia, Norway and Russia were invited to participate in the celebration of this amazing milestone.

Since the launch of the new DA series last year, and the Doosan take-over, more units have been sold into more countries than ever experienced before.  What a difference from 1972, when the first D15 with permanent 6 wheel drive truck came off the line!