contract

Interserve Continues Retail Work Across the UK

A new deal has been signed by Interserve with Land Securities Group Plc to continue work on retail centres across the UK. Worth over £15 million, the one-year extension of the contract will see the firm deliver a range of services at four major retail centres. This extension can be

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Yorkshire Water Contract Secured by Arup & Costain

The joint venture between Arup and Costain has secured a £2 million Yorkshire Water contract under a Health & Safety Assurance consultancy framework. Together they will deliver the work across a four-year contract as part of the utility’s AMP7 capital investment programme, which aims to facilitate the delivery of resilient assets

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Amey Selected to Compete for UK Defence Contracts

After secuting a place on the Crown Commercial Services (CCS) Framework for Defence services, Amey is set to bid for the next round of UK Defence contracts. The firm is one of one of six shortlisted FM providers who will compete for the Future Infrastructure Defence Services (FDIS). The lots

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Galliford Try Wins Water Related Contracts

Two water-related contracts, which will see upgrades completed on a North Lincolnshire pumping station and West Sussex pipeline, have been won by Galliford Try. The firm will upgrade Keadby pumping station near Scunthorpe for the Environment Agency under a £20.5 million contract. This project will be carried out in a

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Legal & General Acquires New Build to Rent Site

A new Build to Rent site has been acquired by Legal & General in Chelmsford City Centre. Contracts were exchanged for the site, which was purchased on behalf of the company’s UK Property Fund (‘The Fund’). The Built to Rent site is also known as Chelmer Waterside, forming part of

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Network Rail Awards CP6 Deals

The first multi-million pound contracts from Network Rail for Control Period 6 (2019-2024), worth a combined £645 million, have been awarded. ‘Lot 2’, which covers renewals and enhancements work in Scotland valued at around £135 million, went to Story Contracting. Meanwhile,  ‘Lot 3’ to deliver work on the London North

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No Contract, No Problem Claims

The binding of an oral contract does not match that of a paper one, but there is hope. Despite best intentions, there are occasions where companies can find themselves caught up in a commercial relationship without a formal written contract. This could be due to the need to get underway

Read More »

Dudley’s Aluminium Confirmed for Gatwick Diamond Project

This year, it has been announced that Dudley’s Aluminium, a leading fabricator of aluminium, will be commencing on a brand new project at Gatwick Diamond for new office space. With the development looking to create revenue for emergency services on the front line, the offices are to be positioned on

Read More »

Gentoo Tolent Confirms £2.5m Housing Project

Recently, Gentoo Tolent, a leading northern construction firm has successfully been able to confirm a £2.5m contract to develop fifteen residential properties in the Alnwick area, as appointed by Lindisfarne Homes. The project effectively looks to convert a site presently used by the former Thomas Percy School, which has been

Read More »

RIBA Contracts Face Harsh Critique From Build UK

One of the UK’s leading trade assocations for the construction industry, Build UK, has urged contractors to take more care before entering into contracts with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). During a review of the RIBA Concise Building Contract and the RIBA Domestic Building Contract, it was highlighted

Read More »
Latest Issue
Issue 325 : Feb 2025

contract

Interserve Continues Retail Work Across the UK

A new deal has been signed by Interserve with Land Securities Group Plc to continue work on retail centres across the UK. Worth over £15 million, the one-year extension of the contract will see the firm deliver a range of services at four major retail centres. This extension can be extended for a further year and it involves approximately 520 employees providing facilities management, customer service and security services at Landsec’s retail centres in Leeds, Cardiff, London and Oxford. “I am delighted Landsec has once again chosen Interserve to deliver facilities management services. Our team is dedicated to the Landsec account and has an intimate knowledge of the four major retail centres that we provide services to. This illustrates our ability to retain leading UK clients, developing long-term strategic relationships with them as we continue to grow our private sector client base,” said Jeff Flanagan, Managing Director, Interserve Business & Industry. Interserve secured the new contract after its success during the initial three-year partnership, in which the firm supported Landsec in the opening of its Westgate retail centre in Oxford, with one hundred Interserve colleagues now dedicated to providing excellent FM services on site. The construction giant was also selected for its integrated capabilities and expertise in providing best-in-class customer solutions to complex national contracts. Landsec is the largest commercial property development and investment company in the UK.

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Yorkshire Water Contract Secured by Arup & Costain

The joint venture between Arup and Costain has secured a £2 million Yorkshire Water contract under a Health & Safety Assurance consultancy framework. Together they will deliver the work across a four-year contract as part of the utility’s AMP7 capital investment programme, which aims to facilitate the delivery of resilient assets and drive exceptional service for the company’s customers. “UK water companies are facing significant challenges in AMP7 around affordability, operational resilience and increasing expectations from regulators, stakeholders and customers. The Costain-Arup partnership is committed to supporting Yorkshire Water and its supply chain in providing exceptional service for its customers by assuring the delivery of safe, reliable and resilient assets,” said Mark Fletcher, Arup Global Water Business Leader. Under the contract, the JV will provide expertise in CDM (Construction, Design and Management) regulation compliance, design phase process and construction site safety to help Yorkshire Water address key affordability challenges in the efficient delivery of its AMP7 investment programme. “Following a twelve-month selection process, we are delighted to be working with Costain and Arup on our new Assurance Framework. The framework supports our enhanced assurance approach which is aimed at providing specialist, targeted assurance to meet the challenging needs of AMP7,” said Paul Robins, Continuous Improvement Manager at Yorkshire Water. “Costain and Arup bring a range of specialists to support our Health and Safety assurance needs, promoting collaborative working, innovation and continual improvement within the Yorkshire Water supply chain,” Paul concluded.

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Amey Selected to Compete for UK Defence Contracts

After secuting a place on the Crown Commercial Services (CCS) Framework for Defence services, Amey is set to bid for the next round of UK Defence contracts. The firm is one of one of six shortlisted FM providers who will compete for the Future Infrastructure Defence Services (FDIS). The lots Amey has been shortlisted for are: • Two housing contracts which will include provision of the full range of occupancy management services including allocation and occupation of MOD housing in the UK and Northern Ireland along with housing maintenance services. • The Defence Facilities Management contract which will provide hard facilities management services to ensure a fit-for-purpose MOD Estate and includes barracks, airfields and other defence facilities in the UK and Northern Ireland. “Securing a place on the CCS Framework has provided us with a great opportunity to build on our existing relationships in the Defence sector. Amey is pleased to focus on the defence sector and our efforts to improve the service we provide to the UK’s Armed Forces and their families. We will now draw on our experience to deliver the key elements of the required framework scope and support our business strategy of becoming the MOD’s most trusted partner,” said Amey’s Chief Executive, Andy Milner. The company will now compete in a series of ‘call-off’ contract competitions with each ‘call-off’ contract being seven years in length with options to extend up to a further three years, subject to satisfactory performance and other considerations.

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Galliford Try Wins Water Related Contracts

Two water-related contracts, which will see upgrades completed on a North Lincolnshire pumping station and West Sussex pipeline, have been won by Galliford Try. The firm will upgrade Keadby pumping station near Scunthorpe for the Environment Agency under a £20.5 million contract. This project will be carried out in a joint venture with Black & Veatch. The station is located at the end of a complex network of rivers and pumping stations within the lowlying Isle of Axholme which spans around 200 square miles across South Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire. The pumps help transfer flood water from the Three Rivers into the River Trent during high tides. The station is nearly 80 years old and has reached the end of its working life. Work involves replacing the existing diesel driven pumps with six electric pumps, constructing electrical equipment buildings within the existing site and rebuilding the outfall headwall where the Three Rivers discharge to the Trent. Work starts this month and full completion is set for June 2021. The other project, worth £14.5 million, involves the laying of a 10km pipeline in Chichester, West Sussex, for Southern Water. The new waste water transfer main with three new pumping stations will run from the west of the city to the Tangmere treatment works in the east. The new infrastructure is necessary to connect three major housing developments of 3,800 homes in the catchment to the sewer network while complying with Environment Agency consents to limit storm discharges from the existing Chichester treatment works into the harbour. Both contracts will be undertaken by the Environment business unit of Galliford Try’s Infrastructure division.

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Legal & General Acquires New Build to Rent Site

A new Build to Rent site has been acquired by Legal & General in Chelmsford City Centre. Contracts were exchanged for the site, which was purchased on behalf of the company’s UK Property Fund (‘The Fund’). The Built to Rent site is also known as Chelmer Waterside, forming part of a major mixed-use development in Chelmsford. This development will provide a landmark urban regeneration scheme for the city, comprising 421 residential apartments, associated landscaping and local retail amenities. Taylor Wimpey will develop the Build to Rent homes, which will consist of 104 studio, one, two and three bedroom apartments in two adjoining Freehold blocks. This acquisition marks the first Build to Rent scheme for The Fund, and will sit alongside recent investments in hotels, healthcare and student accommodation. “This acquisition is in line with our strategy for the UK Property Fund to increase our exposure to alternative operational assets, whilst demonstrating the breadth of our wider fund management platform which has enabled us to collaborate with our well established Build to Rent team. As we continue to actively diversify our holdings into more alternative sectors, Build to Rent will remain a preferred subsector alongside operational hotels, self-storage and student accommodation, giving us real time access to occupational markets with a robust rental growth story,” said Matthew Jarvis, Senior Fund Manager, UK Property Fund, at LGIM Real Assets. “Chelmsford in particular has strong location dynamics, benefitting from a 40% increase in average prices over the last 10 years, according to the UK HPI. With excellent commuter links to London, it is also set to experience notable population growth, placing further demand on housing,” Matthew Jarvis concluded.

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Network Rail Awards CP6 Deals

The first multi-million pound contracts from Network Rail for Control Period 6 (2019-2024), worth a combined £645 million, have been awarded. ‘Lot 2’, which covers renewals and enhancements work in Scotland valued at around £135 million, went to Story Contracting. Meanwhile,  ‘Lot 3’ to deliver work on the London North East route valued at around £190 million was secured by AmcoGiffen. The framework will complete a wide range of projects including replacing and refurbishing structures across the route and delivering improvements at stations. “We are delighted to have been appointed in partnership with Network Rail, delivering this programme of significant rail infrastructure investment. Providing substantial benefits to the travelling public, this framework award is testament to our long-standing relationship. AmcoGiffen’s engineering and project management expertise, coupled with our detailed regional knowledge, means we are ideally placed to support all stakeholders. Delivering added social value in the communities we operate, we’re creating apprenticeship and trainee programmes, developing local supply chain spend and employment opportunities,” commented Andries Liebenberg, Managing Director AmcoGiffen. ‘Lot 1’, which is the most significant work-bank in the Scotland and North East (SNE) renewals and enhancements framework, will be announced later this year and is valued at a further £320 million. In addition to the framework covering renewals and enhancements, SNE is also set to announce the award of its £147 million Geotech framework later this month. “Our CP6 contracts provide suppliers with substantial work-banks and the opportunity to be part of delivering essential improvements that will help shape the future of Britain’s rail network. Work to renew our infrastructure is increasingly important to improve reliability for our passengers and we look forward to working closely with Story and AmcoGiffen to deliver this,” said Kris Kinnear, Deputy Regional Director for SNE. “Significant five-year contracts not only benefit our key supply chain partners, but the thousands of companies who work for them too, providing them with the surety they need to invest in their people, innovation and value for money,” Kris added. The awards are the first of Network Rail’s CP6 contracts to be let following the Office of Rail and Road’s final determination, which confirmed £35 billion of funding for rail maintenance and renewals.

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No Contract, No Problem Claims

The binding of an oral contract does not match that of a paper one, but there is hope. Despite best intentions, there are occasions where companies can find themselves caught up in a commercial relationship without a formal written contract. This could be due to the need to get underway with a job as quickly as possible, leaving a contract till a later date, or due to an administrative error. If this happens, one party may fail to perform their promised part in the agreement, leaving a disappointed and aggravated party to pick up the pieces, and more so, unable to cover any losses suffered from the lack of written communication. There is however, a potential for business who have been unrightfully let down, be it intentional or not, to recover losses. Regardless of Samuel Goldwyn’s famous maxim that a verbal contract “is not worth the paper it is written on,” there could be a chance that an oral agreement will stand up in court, as recent cases have been considering contract establishments that take place in person, rather than on paper. The afflicted party could have the chance to establish their right to claim through the legal system if they can prove a breach of an oral contract has taken place. The aggrieved member must also show that the non-performing party did not follow suit in relation to duty of care systems. Levels of compensation and chances of success in claiming are dependant on the aggrieved parties ability to prove acts of tort from the other party. If a wronged party can establish a contract’s basic terms and intentions, that did not go through as discussed, precise terms and breaches can be considered without the official paperwork in place. A duty of care in the tort of negligence can be proven by undergoing two tests that will need to satisfy a court of wrongdoings. The first is the Threefold Test, in which the court will obtain knowledge of whether the loss was reasonably foreseeable, if there was a sufficient relationship of proximity between both parties and if the circumstance was/is fair/reasonable. The next text is titled the Assumption of Responsibility, in which it is determined whether the non-performing party has undertaken any form of responsibility towards the other party to exercise any reasonable care. If it comes to light that the non participating party did not provide a duty of care service, and this can be established as fact, the afflicted party will, in principle, be able to claim. Professional negligence is being taken seriously, with a no contract, no fee, no problem, type of attitude coming forth. A recent example of a successful court win from no contract sufferings comes from a duty of care in tort case between Burgess & Anor vs Lejonvarn. Mr & Mrs Burgess were made a promise by an Architect friend, who agreed to provide them with free architectural services with no need for a contract in place. The project failed which has lead to the Burgess’s claiming £265,000 for economic loss from the Architect. The claim was successful due to the Architect owing the Burgess’s a duty to exercise reasonable skill and care in tort but failing to do so, a duty of care has been imposed on the Architect despite the problems being arguably foreseeable. Various other examples of no contract, no problem claims are coming forth which means that there is hope for aggrieved parties. Samuel Goldwyn was partly right in his speech and a written contract is the best way to ensure business can run smoothly, with legal, documented plans that will ensure courts know the facts much easier than with an oral contract. The binding of an oral contract does not match that of a paper one, but if you have suffered negligence from a party who didn’t deliver the services you were assured, you can pursue a claim if you are able to prove your case.  

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Dudley’s Aluminium Confirmed for Gatwick Diamond Project

This year, it has been announced that Dudley’s Aluminium, a leading fabricator of aluminium, will be commencing on a brand new project at Gatwick Diamond for new office space. With the development looking to create revenue for emergency services on the front line, the offices are to be positioned on brownfield land, effectively allowing for the land to create new streams of revenue for important emergency operations and to effectively minimise the impact of budget cuts on the provision of service. With the Gatwick Diamond possessing what may be some of the strongest commercial prospects of any local economy in the UK, the area plays host to around forty five thousand organisations already, with the new office space looking to create a further influx in employment opportunity for the local community. As such, the development is greatly anticipated as, not only supporting core essential public services, but also in expanding the commercial traffic through the area. As for the project, the organisation has been able to confirm a £670k contract where it will see the provision of much-needed facade and glazing across the development, working alongside Metal Technology to develop curtain walling solutions for the property. These solutions are then to be integrated alongside automatic smoke vents and sliding entrance doors, providing not only a pleasant, but also efficient office environment for those working there. The project itself is expected to reach completion at a later point in the year and also serves as one of the most integral projects for Dudley’s Aluminium in the area this year. In addition to this project, however, it will also be continuing to work on its £300k project in support of the upcoming Acorn Retail Park which will, once again look to create vast amounts of employment and jobs in the area; leading retailers such as M&S and Aldi also playing a role in the development.

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Gentoo Tolent Confirms £2.5m Housing Project

Recently, Gentoo Tolent, a leading northern construction firm has successfully been able to confirm a £2.5m contract to develop fifteen residential properties in the Alnwick area, as appointed by Lindisfarne Homes. The project effectively looks to convert a site presently used by the former Thomas Percy School, which has been out-of-use for a number of years now, and develop it into a combination of 2 and 3 storey properties, each with 3 and 4 bedrooms. Of those to be developed, one of the properties is to be developed using brick, primarily to sit in line with the existing aesthetics of the Blakelaw Road area, whilst the other fourteen will be developed utilising stone as the primary building material. As the first property development contract in the area for Lindisfarne Homes, expectations and hopes are expectedly high, with the organisation greatly anticipating working alongside Gentoo Tolent over the period in a bid to deliver a range of quality, high-standard properties suitable for residential family usage. Gentoo Tolent’s Managing Director, Paul Webster, also made comment, stating the contract to be a victory for the company and a good signal for the success it hopes to achieve this year, then adding that, with regard to working with new client, Lindisfarne: “We’re delighted to be working with them on this scheme.” As the project manager for the project, Silverstone Building Consultancy has been appointed and, as such, the organisation will be helping to arrange the various aspects of the project and its delivery, with the goal of then finishing the project at some point in November this year. Having already engaged in multiple meetings with Lindisfarne to discuss the arrangement of the project, Silverstone Building Consultancy is firmly prepared and ready to deliver on the project, with a keen eye on ensuring it is completed in time, and within the allocated budget.

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RIBA Contracts Face Harsh Critique From Build UK

One of the UK’s leading trade assocations for the construction industry, Build UK, has urged contractors to take more care before entering into contracts with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). During a review of the RIBA Concise Building Contract and the RIBA Domestic Building Contract, it was highlighted that contractors were setting themselves up to take a large proportion of the financial risk. The small print means contractors are subject to potentially costly implications, including forfeiting the right to an EOT/additional payment if changes are made without the contract administrator being made aware within 10 days of the change instruction. Details of both time and cost implications must be forwarded by contractors under the two RIBA contracts. Greater awareness of the accompanying responsibilities and obligations is therefore required and, if in doubt, contractors should seek appropriate legal advice. The research was carried out by legislation expert and industry body, the Contractors Legal Group (CLG), of which Build UK is a member. The Concise Building Contract is designed for small-scale commercial building projects while the Domestic Building Contract covers the breadth of non-commercial work, including: new builds, extensions, renovations and maintenance. Following CLG’s review, Build UK also pointed out the lack of standard sub-contracts to go hand-in-hand with the RIBA contracts. For contractors reliant on their supply chain, RIBA’s contracts could therefore prove a costly learning curve. The trade association insisted that any and all sub-contracts should be clear and need to adhere with RIBA’s specific requirements. RIBA has since been made aware of the issues raised by CLG and Build UK. The organisation is currently reviewing the two contracts though its is not expected to published the revised versions until later this year. It is hoped the revisions will take into account the disproportionate risk contractors currently face and present a more financially viable alternative from which all parties can benefit.

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