Housebuiler Crest Nicholson has sponsored a selection of upgraded outdoor seating at St Pancras Catholic Primary School in Ipswich. The brightly coloured new benches are made of hard-wearing recycled plastic, replacing the old wooden benches that were in need of an upgrade. Not only will their durable material mean they
Sainsbury’s has put forward plans to build a new store in Arborfield Green as part of a development plan for the Berkshire village. The proposal has been made as part of the development of the new district centre in Arborfield Green. The supermarket has said it plans to open a
A public consultation has launched over proposals outlining investment plans in and around Gorton District Centre. Manchester City Council has developed an initial strategy for the areas in Gorton and Belle Vue that highlights potential new public spaces, homes and employment opportunities. It is these early ideas that are open
Galliford Try has teamed up with Siemens to accelerate the integration of digital technologies across the lifecycle of water and wastewater projects. The new model brings together the companies’ complementary solutions and expertise in the water sector to help water companies meet the regulatory, environmental and operational pressures in modernising
Plans to develop a new secondary school fin the Burgess Hill area have been approved. West Sussex County Council and co-applicant Homes England’s plans to create a zero-carbon school were approval by Mid Sussex District Council’s planning committee on 15 December 2022. Committee members praised the ‘excellent’ and ‘unique’ designs
Story Homes has partnered with Anderton Concrete to utilise its unique Stepoc concrete shuttering technology to construct retaining walls as part of the development of 40 residential dwellings in Greystoke, West of Penrith. As the ground across the site was uneven in places, retaining walls of up to 1.8metres were
Anglian Water is set to upgrade Ashton’s Water Recycling Centre (WRC), near Northampton. The firm is to install new equipment which will remove phosphorous from wastewater, improving river water quality nearby. Work began on site at Ashton WRC this month and is expected to finish by March 2023. As the
Wates, one of the largest privately-owned construction, development and property services companies in the UK, has started construction work on a new gigafactory in Sunderland, for Envision AESC. The project the largest by single value in Wates’ 125-year history is AESC’s second Sunderland battery plant. It will have capacity of
Morgan Sindall has started construction work on a new, highly specialist radiotherapy centre at Milton Keynes University Hospital (MKUH). Guests from the project’s key stakeholders, including MKUH, Oxford University Hospitals, Morgan Sindall Construction and Milton Keynes Council, visited the site of the new radiotherapy centre. During the event, attendees heard
Central Bedfordshire Council has announced that Milestone Infrastructure has been awarded its highways maintenance services under a term service contract starting from 1 April 2023. The council’s partnership with Milestone Infrastructure will involve maintaining and improving roads, pavements, rights of way, drainage, bridges and other structures. In addition, the project
Housebuiler Crest Nicholson has sponsored a selection of upgraded outdoor seating at St Pancras Catholic Primary School in Ipswich. The brightly coloured new benches are made of hard-wearing recycled plastic, replacing the old wooden benches that were in need of an upgrade. Not only will their durable material mean they will stand the test of time and will be well suited for the British weather, but they will be a perfect addition for children to use during the school day and for the range of events held at the school, including ice cream sales, cake sales, summer fayres, sports days and more. “We’re thrilled with the generous donation from Crest Nicholson, which arrived in time for many of our outdoor school activities and events this year and has been used by students and their families alike. Since the start of the academic year, the children have loved using them for lunchtime, eating snacks outside, socialising, and making friends. Crest Nicholson have been instrumental in our fundraising plans to install benches for our students,” said Kerry Marsh, from St Pancras Catholic Primary School PTA group. To support the surrounding community, the benches sponsored by Crest Nicholson were sourced from a local supplier, Realise Futures Disability and Support Service, in Ipswich, making the contribution a real community effort. “At Crest Nicholson, we’re not only committed to building homes but supporting the wider community and so we were really pleased to be able to support the St Pancras Catholic Primary School with upgrading their outdoor seating areas and are delighted to hear these have already been enjoyed by students and their families,” commented Karen Coulson, Sales and Marketing Director at Crest Nicholson Eastern. Building, Design and Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Sainsbury’s has put forward plans to build a new store in Arborfield Green as part of a development plan for the Berkshire village. The proposal has been made as part of the development of the new district centre in Arborfield Green. The supermarket has said it plans to open a ‘neighbourhood hub’ store, which would be a larger version of its convenience stores. It will create 40 jobs in the area and offer a click-and-collect service for customers. “The store would form part of the district centre off Nine Mile Ride Extension, which we’ve awarded outline planning permission and are now awaiting a more detailed submission from developer Crest Nicholson. The development is required to include this, which we imposed to ensure residents are served by high-quality infrastructure alongside new housing which the Government requires us to take,” said the Wokingham Borough Council. “We welcome Sainsbury’s news as it shows the financial uncertainty caused by coronavirus and Brexit, which is why the district centre has been delayed, is improving. Further details will come through a separate planning application.” Crest Nicholson exhibited revised plans for Arborfield Green’s district centre and is now seeking people’s feedback before it submits a planning application to the council. The plans include a supermarket, smaller shops, a square, a community centre, a pub and green space and allotments. Since the plans were first put forward the developer has proposed a different layout and new pedestrian areas. The plan is running behind schedule due to the coronavirus pandemic. The council has apologised to residents for the delay. It said: “We know there’s been frustration at how long this has taken, so we’ve met Crest to discuss these delays and will be pressing them to move as quickly as possible. This project fell behind schedule, in part, due to reasons beyond the developer’s control. The coronavirus pandemic made retailers reluctant to open stores so it was very hard to attract interest from supermarkets. “Without an ‘anchor’ tenant to attract others, which was also partly down to Brexit, the scheme was unviable for a while. Government guidelines require us to be fair so we didn’t take any further action. However, as time moves on and the national situation improves, we’ll stay in touch with Crest to ensure there are no unnecessary delays.” Building, Design and Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
A public consultation has launched over proposals outlining investment plans in and around Gorton District Centre. Manchester City Council has developed an initial strategy for the areas in Gorton and Belle Vue that highlights potential new public spaces, homes and employment opportunities. It is these early ideas that are open to consultation to gather vital feedback from the people who live, work and use the areas daily. “Gorton has seen some really exciting investment in recent years from the Belle Vue Sports Village, the recent opening of the Gorton Hub and the new Coop Academy school that will open soon. We have an opportunity to capitalise on this momentum and develop an ambitious plan for the local area – creating a district centre that can help the area to meet its potential,” said Cllr Gavin White, Manchester City Council’s executive member for housing and development. “This consultation gives local people a general flavour of the kind of investment we want to make in their community – but the feedback we get from local people will help us guide the development as plans progress. As ever, I would urge as many people as possible who live in, work at or shop in the district centre to give us your thoughts. As someone who uses the area daily your insight is invaluable.” What the proposals want to achieve: • Make the centre greener, including quality green space and tree planting Create a more attractive local area that is comfortable and attractive to spend time in • Support new events and activities to attract people to visit in the evenings and weekendsCreate a new heart of the community, delivering a new civic square and public realm • Deliver new mixed tenures homes to match local housing demand (including affordable housing such as Social Rent and Shared Ownership) • Make the centre more accessible by safe walking and cycling • Encourage a broader mix of uses that will attract different communities and age groups. There has been some high-quality investment in the Gorton neighbourhood in recent years and the intention is to ensure that the District Centre is a destination of choice for local people, which is also well-connected to the wider area. • Improve the transport links to fantastic community facilities, including Gorton Hub, Belle Vue Sports Village, Gorton Youth Zone, and the New Co-op Academy • Better walking and cycling routes to local green spaces, including Debdale Park, Gore Brook Valley and Fallowfield Loop. • Focusing on key locations for improvement that cover (from west to east) Belle Vue Station, Gorton Hub, Garratt Way (including market and former library), Wellington Street crossroad and Chapman Street crossroad • Particular focus on Garratt Way as the focal point for the district centre Building, Design and Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Galliford Try has teamed up with Siemens to accelerate the integration of digital technologies across the lifecycle of water and wastewater projects. The new model brings together the companies’ complementary solutions and expertise in the water sector to help water companies meet the regulatory, environmental and operational pressures in modernising their infrastructure while reducing time, cost, risk and carbon. The joint digital tools and sector experience will help water companies solve a range of challenges, such as the ability to identify potential blockages in sewer networks, improve operational efficiency of treatment works and become a net zero industry by 2030. Due to the early collaboration between Siemens and Galliford Try in advance of future projects, the partnership is estimated to speed up delivery of new tech enabled infrastructure developments significantly. The partnership will focus on three use cases. Firstly, it will enable optimisation of the wastewater treatment process using mechanistic digital twin technology. The solution optimises energy by up to 20%. It operates in real-time with integration of the control system, or offline and the solution can be offered to support a specific project or offered as a service integrated with sensor and model management. The second use case reduces storm overflows and pollution incidents. The end-to-end solution, from sensor installation to an application, uses artificial intelligence (AI) to find nine in 10 blockages and automates reporting of overflows in real-time. This is coupled with the opportunity for a UK company to be the first to deploy a proven solution, already operational globally, for catchment level integrated control that reduces overflow volumes from existing infrastructure by 80% in light rain and 19% in heavy rain. The third use case focuses on reducing the risk and maintenance of sewage pumping stations. This retrofit solution for pumping stations reduces pump blockages by 80% and improves pump performance and risk. Building, Design and Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Plans to develop a new secondary school fin the Burgess Hill area have been approved. West Sussex County Council and co-applicant Homes England’s plans to create a zero-carbon school were approval by Mid Sussex District Council’s planning committee on 15 December 2022. Committee members praised the ‘excellent’ and ‘unique’ designs before voting unanimously in favour. The ambitious design will allow the school to generate its own renewable energy on site without using any fossil fuels. It aims to be the first school in West Sussex to achieve Passivhaus certification, the highest standard of energy efficiency a building can reach, and offer excellent educational facilities to 900 local children. The school will be created at Homes England’s new Brookleigh development near Burgess Hill to provide a high-quality education to families of the 3,500 homes and the surrounding area. “Planning approval marks a major milestone in our ambition to create an environmentally-friendly and high-quality new secondary school in Mid Sussex. It is uniquely designed to achieve Passivhaus certification and lead the way in energy efficiency. In addition, Brookleigh families will be able to walk or cycle to their new place of education, again demonstrating the County Council’s commitment to significantly reducing carbon emissions as part of our Climate Change Strategy. By creating this modern and high standard school, we are investing in our children’s future and in the long-term future of our county,” said Nigel Jupp, West Sussex County Council Cabinet Member for Learning and Skills. West Sussex County Council has approved capital funding of £57.060m to build the secondary school, making it the largest capital project the council has delivered. This includes a £18.159m contribution from Homes England as part of the overall development. The new secondary school is being delivered through the County Council’s multi-disciplinary consultancy partnership with Faithful+Gould, with Atkins and Cundalls leading on the design. The school will include a Special Support Centre enabling children with special educational needs and disabilities to be supported to learn in a mainstream school. Net-zero in operation, the building has energy efficiency at the heart of every area of its design. Its position will provide maximum sunlight to nearly 1,000 solar photovoltaic panels generating an estimated 296,000 kWh of energy a year. The LED lighting will be controlled automatically by daylight and movement detection. The main building will have fresh air ventilation, keeping the school a comfortable temperature, even in extreme heat. “This is a really positive step forward for the proposed school which has been designed to promote well-being and educational attainment for all learners who use the building and create a project with a low environmental impact,” concluded Richard Christmas, lead designer at Atkins. Building, Design and Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Story Homes has partnered with Anderton Concrete to utilise its unique Stepoc concrete shuttering technology to construct retaining walls as part of the development of 40 residential dwellings in Greystoke, West of Penrith. As the ground across the site was uneven in places, retaining walls of up to 1.8metres were required to ensure an optimal construction was achieved. However, once ground was broken, an unexpected incline of almost 2.5metres between three pairs of gardens was uncovered. This left the developers with a new challenge to ensure the difference in height was addressed by retaining the ground safely and quickly to minimise any potential disruption to the build and maximise on site efficiencies. Story Homes considered several retaining wall possibilities but specified Anderton Concrete’s Stepoc shuttering system because of its quick installation traits and ability to retain ground up to 4.0metres in height. “The initial design details for the scheme were based on a series of smaller garden retaining walls to create back to back terraced gardens, the details employed at this stage were in line with our internal standard suite of retaining wall designs. In order to bring improvements to these garden areas whilst balancing cost, buildability and space on site we decided to utilise the Anderton Concrete Stepoc system,” explains Scott Bradshaw, Engineering Manager, Cumbria and Scotland, Story Homes. “The slenderness of the Stepoc wall meant that with restricted space on the site, the overall amount of slope that had to be cut back could be reduced, saving precious time. This was the same with the overall speed of installation, which was swift and primarily enabled by the lack of steel fixing required in the stem.” Stepoc’s precast concrete block technology is unique in its versatility to facilitate the construction of retaining walls for multiple applications. Story Homes had previously specified the technology, but it was a first for the company’s Site Manager, Paul Woodruff, who was impressed with its wholesale benefits and adaptability. Stepoc’s ability to solve the problem of a considerable incline between gardens was achieved because of its flexible construction and ease of installation. As the wall can be laid dry, it saves valuable time, whilst the concrete pour cascades inside the wall, meaning minimal mess and maintenance. It can also be installed in various weather conditions, meaning no lengthy delays to overall construction times. Building, Design and Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Anglian Water is set to upgrade Ashton’s Water Recycling Centre (WRC), near Northampton. The firm is to install new equipment which will remove phosphorous from wastewater, improving river water quality nearby. Work began on site at Ashton WRC this month and is expected to finish by March 2023. As the upgrades are taking place on site at the WRC, Anglian Water customers in the Ashton area should not experience any disruption during the scheme. Phosphorous is widely used in soaps and cleaning products but can be harmful to wildlife when it reaches rivers and other watercourses. The investment at Ashton WRC, which is worth £4 million, includes new equipment to strengthen the current water recycling process and remove even more phosphorous from wastewater. “We’re really pleased that these upgrades to Ashton’s Water Recycling Centre will help to protect nearby rivers and increase our resilience to climate change, by helping us make sure the wastewater is treated to an even higher standard than usual before it’s returned to the natural environment,” said Polly Garrod, Regional Treatment Manager. “We know how important rivers and the wider environment are to our customers and local communities. That’s why we’ve committed through our Get River Positive programme that our water recycling processes will not harm rivers.” Anglian Water’s team has used detailed modelling of the local system to design a robust engineering scheme which will help to protect local watercourses in Ashton now and in the future. This investment means the water entering the River Tove from Ashton WRC will be even cleaner, protecting wildlife and water quality in the river, as well as other downstream watercourses. Building, Design and Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Wates, one of the largest privately-owned construction, development and property services companies in the UK, has started construction work on a new gigafactory in Sunderland, for Envision AESC. The project the largest by single value in Wates’ 125-year history is AESC’s second Sunderland battery plant. It will have capacity of 12 GWh and will employ more than a 1,000 people when operational in 2025. It will be powered by 100% Net Zero Carbon energy, aligning with the company’s global commitment to sustainability. Moreover, the state-of-the-art facility will produce AESC’s latest generation batteries, with 30% more energy density to improve range and efficiency, and manufacture enough batteries to power 100,000 electric vehicles annually. The gigafactory Wates is building forms part of a wider £1bn partnership with Nissan and Sunderland City Council to create EV36Zero, an electric vehicle hub supporting next generation EV production and accelerating the transition to net zero carbon mobility. A traditional Japanese first pillar ceremony marked the first phase of work on Friday 9th December, with AESC CEO Shoichi Matsumoto tightening the bolt on the building’s ‘first pillar’ – a traditional Japanese custom on construction projects. The ceremony also marked a decade of EV battery production on Wearside with the first electric vehicle battery built back in 2012, to support production of the first-generation Nissan LEAF. “Envision AESC is the largest single project by value in our 125-year history. We are integrating years of expertise from across our business and supply partners to deliver this immensely complex scheme. This gigafactory represents the future of green, automotive manufacturing – not only in the North East, but nationally – and like all our projects, we’re committed to building it sustainably and for the long-term benefit of the region. It was an honour to celebrate this first phase with AESC and we look forward to our next milestone being completed,” said Sir James Wates CBE, Chairman of Wates Group. The company has doubled in size since production began and today employs more than 470 people in Sunderland. Globally AESC batteries are found in 800,000 electric vehicles operating with zero critical incidents. The footprint of the new building will be the equivalent of 23 football pitches and use 14000 km of mains cables. When complete the 360m long building will be longer than the nearby Northern Spire bridge across the River Wear. The latest integrated Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) smart technology will be deployed to monitor and optimise energy consumption, manufacturing and maintenance at the gigafactory. Construction of the new building on the IAMP business park – which spans land in South Tyneside and Sunderland will pave the way for potential future investment that could eventually see the site generate 35GWh capacity and 4,500 new high value green jobs. Wates Group, alongside its specialist engineering services arm, SES Engineering Services, is leading the design and delivery of the build, working alongside Turner & Townsend who will act as the project manager and cost manager. Building, Design and Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Morgan Sindall has started construction work on a new, highly specialist radiotherapy centre at Milton Keynes University Hospital (MKUH). Guests from the project’s key stakeholders, including MKUH, Oxford University Hospitals, Morgan Sindall Construction and Milton Keynes Council, visited the site of the new radiotherapy centre. During the event, attendees heard presentations from Sally Burnie, MKUH’s Head of Cancer Services and Carol Scott, Lead Therapeutic Radiographer & Deputy Clinical Director at Oxford University Hospitals, explaining how the new facility will improve the treatment that patients receive locally. Morgan Sindall’s Northern Home Counties business was selected by MKUH to oversee the construction of the multi-million project, which will adjoin with the hospital Cancer Centre which opened in 2020. The project was procured via the Pagabo national framework for major construction works and it is expected to be completed by spring 2024. The new facility will improve access to radiotherapy for patients who currently have to travel to other hospitals in the region to receive the specialist treatment. When complete, the radiotherapy centre will house two state-of-the-art medical linear accelerator (Linac) bunkers and will include a main reception, consultation rooms and a CT scanner area. The specialised nature of the project presented several unique construction challenges, for which the tier one contractor devised tailored solutions in line with its Intelligent Solutions approach to construction. This included the need to create 2.6m thick concrete walls to prevent radiation leakage from the onsite radiotherapy equipment. Due to the size of the walls and complexity of applying this quantity of concrete, a schedule of long pours has been designed so that the thickness will be achieved without compromising the quality of the concrete structure. To guarantee a smooth building process, Morgan Sindall has also accounted for several logistical factors. This has included extensive material delivery preparations to avoid undue inconvenience to the hospital’s patients and staff. Materials will be brought through the rear of the building, bypassing the front of the hospital where the new unit will be located, as this is an important access point for the adjoining cancer centre, its drop off-point, car park and nearby energy facilities. Building, Design and Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Central Bedfordshire Council has announced that Milestone Infrastructure has been awarded its highways maintenance services under a term service contract starting from 1 April 2023. The council’s partnership with Milestone Infrastructure will involve maintaining and improving roads, pavements, rights of way, drainage, bridges and other structures. In addition, the project team will also provide design, traffic management, winter services, street lighting services and emergency response services such as handling flooding and removing fallen trees. “As our current highways maintenance contract comes to an end in March 2023, we took the opportunity to go back to the market to procure the best possible deal, one that offers exceptional value and, most importantly, a first-class service for our residents. We engaged with over 30 companies and there was strong interest from potential bidders who wanted to work with us and shared our ambition,” said Cllr Ian Dalgarno, Executive Member for Community Services. “We were impressed with Milestone Infrastructure as they provided a strong and good value tender, and we look forward to working with them from April 2023. We are confident this new relationship will enable us to deliver more schemes on the network. The partnership is an opportunity to work collaboratively to provide quality highways maintenance work for the benefit of our residents.” Following a thorough procurement exercise, the council has awarded Milestone Infrastructure a, up to, £250 million contract with an initial term of seven years plus the option of a further three years extension. Milestone Infrastructure will take over from Ringway Jacobs whose contract ends on 31 March 2023. Building, Design and Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
