£100,000 • Erection of 2 no.self-contained flats on existing flat roof (Third Floor Level)

£100,000 • Creation of one pair of two bed semi-detached houses, with a car parking space to the front of each property.

£200,000 • Change of use of the basement floor from office (Class B1a) and ground floor from Financial and professional services (Class A2) to retail shop (Class A1), and first and second floors from office (class B1A) to create 2X1 bed flats (Class C3), alterations

£100,000 • Demolition of part of existing rustic building retaining an existing row of 8no. hoppers ovens for inclusion within replacement single storey mono pitched roof building for employment use B1(A)

£300,000 • Refurbishment and front/side and rear extension to the upper parts of an existing building to form 4no new residential units.

£100,000 • Householder application for replacement pool house with pergola (alternative scheme to p/p 13/08092/FUL)

£1,400,000 • Demolition of club and erection of office building

£1,800,000 • Outline application for proposed residential development on approx 0.70 ha of land (Approval being sought for access)

£200,000 • Conversion of B1 offices to C3 residential. (5 apartments).

£100,000 • Planning permission for the extension and alteration of existing public house and formation of beer garden to the rear

£100,000 • Change of use of ground floor from hostel and restaurant to 3 no. 2-bedroom self-contained flats (Use Class C3) and associated external alterations.

£200,000 • Construction of single storey extension and access ramp to form new assessment unit linked to Maple Ward and relocation of existing refuse/cycle stores and gates

£100,000 • Change of use from offices to form 2 No residential flats

£100,000 • Alterations and extension to shop

£100,000 • Conversion of existing dwelling to 3 self contained flats.

£400,000 • Residential development (planning permission in principle)

£100,000 • Erection of 2 No. Houses In Garden

£100,000 • Conversion of existing redundant agricultural buildings into three individual residential units

£14,000,000 • Submission of reserved matters pursuant to outline planning permission 09/50035/TTGOUT for the creation of 185 no. two and three bedroom houses and apartments, plus associated roads, paths, drives, car parking, ancillary structures and landscaping.

£900,000 • Erection of three additional floors to the building to provide 12 extra flats (1x one-bedroom and 11x two-bedroom)

£200,000 • Conversion of barns to four dwellings (Revised design)

The Building Research Establishment (BRE) is developing a sustainability standard for new homes that it hopes developers will adopt as a marketing tool.

BRE says the voluntary standard would give house-builders the opportunity to differentiate their product by recognising performance beyond minimum regulation and provide increased choice for consumers.

It is inviting all those involved with building houses as well as consumers to have their say on what should be included in the standard.

The announcement comes in the wake of the recent Department for Communities & Local Government housing standards review (HSR) and subsequent proposed changes to the regulatory landscape. These include the dissolution of the Code for Sustainable Homes and the incorporation of some of its elements into the building regulations.

Gavin Dunn, director of BRE Environmental Assessment Methodology (BREAM) said: “We have our own ideas on the critical issues we need to address in future housing delivery – things like resilience to adverse and extreme weather: flooding, wind, overheating; mental and physical health & wellbeing of occupants, resource efficiency, increased biodiversity, low energy, water and maintenance costs and  improved connectivity. It is essential that the industry and homeowners engage with us so we can develop a tool that people and the industry want to use because it provides increased quality and choice for the consumer, and drives innovation and improvements across the housing supply chain.”

The standard will be developed for the UK and can be adapted for specific local circumstances. It will use an easy to understand, consumer-focused rating system, Mr Dunn said.

He added: “Our remit at BRE has always been to catalyse positive change in the built environment for the benefit of people, the environment and the economy. In the UK we spend a large proportion of our lives in buildings – we must continue to push for better sustainability and quality in our homes. Look at any other sector – automotive, IT, communications – these sectors are continuously improving their products – why should housing be any different?”

The consultation process is open until 25th July 2014. The standard will be ready for roll out next spring, BRE said.

While the construction of tram networks has brought expensive headaches for some UK cities, Manchester Metrolink’s new airport extension is set to open a year early, the contractors have announced.

The MPT consortium, comprising VolkerRail, Laing O’Rourke and Thales, said that the new Metrolink line to Wythenshawe and Manchester Airport will open before the end of 2014.

First trams will start to run along part of the route from Monday 23rd June as the first stages of testing and commissioning.

The 14.5km line has seen the construction of several major new structures, including a viaduct over the Mersey Valley, two new bridges over the M60 and M56, and the Ringway Road dual carriageway and underpass at Manchester Airport.

All of the existing highway and street lighting and road signs along the entire route have been renewed and significant urban realm improvements have been made around each of the line’s 15 new stops. Services will initially run between Manchester Airport and Cornbrook, every 12 minutes. They will start to run through the city centre once the Second City Crossing is complete in 2017.

Councillor Andrew Fender, chair of the Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) committee, said: “The sheer scale of the challenges this project presented make its early completion a truly phenomenal achievement. To be so far ahead is down to several marginal gains adding up to a significant result: the early delivery of a number of lines allowed us to move resources onto the line earlier; lessons learnt during the early phases of the expansion drove efficiencies across work areas; creating a desktop simulator cut the timescales for driver training in half. These are just a few examples of how, by working closely with local authorities, utility firms, our principal contractor MPT, stakeholders and the operator MRDL, we’ve become an ultra-efficient machine – and this is our collective reward.”

MPT project director Bryan Glass said: “Our team has demonstrated the skills, professionalism and dedication that are increasingly required in British engineering and major project delivery. A planned and strategic approach, applying the latest methodology such as offsite manufacturing of major components, allowed us to make significant savings without compromising safety or quality. There’s a huge amount of pride in us all, knowing the first trams will shortly commence testing, eventually forming this new transport artery for Manchester.”

The airport line will bring the size of the Metrolink network to 92.5km (57.5 miles), serving 92 stops.

Plans for a £200m expansion of Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire have been approved by the secretary of state on appeal.

South Bucks District Council rejected the 100,000-square-metre scheme last year on the grounds that it damaged the green belt and impacted too much on local residents.

Communities secretary Eric Pickles accepted that the development was harmful to the green belt but said that economic growth was more important on this occasion.

“Overall, the secretary of state concludes very special circumstances exist to warrant allowing the inappropriate development, overriding the identified conflict with the development plan,” said the official letter announcing the decision.

Ivan Dunleavy, chief executive of Pinewood Shepperton plc welcomed the result. He said: “Our project builds on the success of the government’s policy for the creative industries and addresses the shortage of stage space in the UK.  As a result of today’s green light from the secretary of state, thousands of much needed new jobs will be created in this growing sector of the economy.  We want to begin construction as soon as possible.”

The expansion project, known as the Pinewood Studios Development Framework (PSDF), will double the existing studios by adding 100,000 square metres of new facilities, including 12 large stages, workshops and production offices.

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) was also glad to see the plan approved. Matthew Fell, CBI director for competitive markets said: “Pinewood has showcased the best of British film talent on and off screen for decades, so this chance to expand can help boost investment and jobs in the industry. The UK’s creative industries are already world-beaters and make a huge contribution to our economy. Now we need to build on this potential to help them achieve even greater global success.”

The secretary of state for Wales, David Jones, has called on the Welsh regional government to drop its requirement for all new homes to have sprinklers.

When Steve Morgan, chairman of house-builder Redrow, made the same call three years ago, he was accused of putting profit before lives. But Mr Jones has now placed himself firmly in Morgan’s corner.

In a speech to the annual Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) conference yesterday Mr Jones called for an overhaul of the planning system in Wales, which he said was being bogged down by bureaucracy that had caused a fall in the number of houses being built.

Since September 2013 every new home in Wales has to have a sprinkler system. An analysis by BRE Global calculated that this would save 36 lives and prevent 800 injuries by 2022.

But, as we reported here back in 2011, Mr Morgan warned that the extra cost – £3,500 for a three-bedroom house – would be the difference between a house being commercially viable or not for a builder.

“In areas where house prices are not that high, and I’m talking about areas where we build now, such as in the south Wales valleys, we can’t even look at the valleys anymore. What will happen is that the poorer areas of Wales will see no new development, the very places that need it the most will see no new development,” he said.

Labour Assembly Member Ann Jones, who introduced the new legislation, said he was “choosing threats over facts”.

The secretary of state said that Mr Morgan’s warning had proved accurate. Over the last year, new house-building decreased by 6.7% in Wales while growth of 33.6% was recorded across Great Britain.  Statistics from the National House Building Council show that registrations fell in Wales from January to March 2014 but not around the rest of the UK. Some 882 new homes were registered this year, compared with 1,055 in that period in 2013.

Persimmon Homes has also pulled out parts of the south Wales valleys, blaming planning rules and the cost of regulation.

Mr Jones also said that Wales should also drop its planned new requirements for home improvement works, the so-called ‘conservatory tax’.  He said that the policy, set to start next month in Wales, was rejected by the UK government in England after research showed it would discourage nearly 40% of households from undertaking home improvements in the first place.

Mr Jones said last night: “Through our red tape challenge, almost half the housing and construction regulations considered will be scrapped or improved – changes which are estimated to save businesses nearly £90m a year. However, all too often the Welsh government seems intent on increasing the regulatory burdens on councils, businesses and households rather than reducing them.

“By imposing more and more onerous building regulations in Wales, the Welsh government is increasing costs to house-builders of constructing the starter homes so many families desperately need and putting up the price of those homes, so that more people will struggle to get onto the property ladder.

“I urge the Welsh government to take forward, as a matter of priority, effective reforms to the planning system to enable Wales to develop a truly modern economy.”

However, the Welsh government’s economy minister, Edwina Hart, claimed back in January that Wales was outperforming the UK in construction output. [See that report here.]

Materials testing specialist Testconsult has been taken over by engineering group James Fisher for £8m.

James Fisher provides a range of technical services to the oil & gas and marine sectors worldwide. Group companies include Strainstall, which supplies strain gauges and load measurement sensors to provide structural monitoring and dynamic load testing of bridges and other structures.

Testconsult, which has offices in Warrington and Harlow, is a market leading provider of monitoring, instrumentation and testing services for both construction materials and structures. It also designs and produces specialist testing equipment that is used worldwide. 

James Fisher said that the acquisition of Testconsult would extend and complement the range of services provided by Strainstall.

Testconsult’s earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was £1.4m for the year ended 31 March 2014.  Net assets at 31 March 2014 were £2.9m.

James Fisher chief executive Nick Henry said: “We are delighted to welcome Testconsult into the James Fisher group and we look forward to benefitting from the enlarged opportunity which the combination of Strainstall Monitoring and Testconsult will present, expanding our activities in testing and monitoring with complementary skills, products and services.  We intend to build on our combined strengths, particularly in international markets.”

A lorry loader crane operator must pay £10,000 in fines and costs after botching a lift and crushing a construction worker.

50-year-old Mark Fowell from Poole was attempting to load out a portable building onto the back of his lorry. However, he was not set up close enough to it and instead of the load coming cleanly off the ground, it was dragged towards the vehicle.

At the same time, 54-year-old Adrian Hoyland, also from Poole, had crawled under the cabin to recover materials. He suffered a fractured pelvis and fractured ribcage, and was unable to work for three months.

The incident took place on a site in Blandford Road, Hamworthy on 9th May 2011.

An investigation by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) established that Mark Fowell had failed to put a lift plan or any other planning measures in place.

Bournemouth magistrates fined Mark Fowell, of Hythe Road, Oakdale, Poole, £4,000 and ordered him to pay £6,000 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching Regulation 8(1) of the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Martin Lee said: “This incident was completely avoidable and was a direct result of a lack of any planning for a simple lifting operation. Mr Hoyland suffered significant injuries and the situation would have been far worse had it not been witnessed and the alarm immediately raised.

“All lifting operations, no matter how simple or routine, have the potential to cause serious harm and it is vital that they are always properly planned by suitably competent people. Clear lines of communication are needed to ensure that everyone in the area knows what is to happen and what is expected of them.”

The Institute of Demolition Engineers (IDE) has become a full member of the Construction Industry Council (CIC).

The CIC serves to provide a stronger lobbying voice for the myriad professional bodies across the construction industry. More than 40 organisations are associated with it and the IDE is now its 32nd full member.

IDE board member Michael Ulyatt said: “By getting a seat at the CIC table, the IDE now has the opportunity for its professionalism to be heard. As the focus of true sustainable construction begins to turn towards design for deconstruction, we welcome this opportunity to bring coherence to a subject that, so far, has been addressed only in a fragmented way.”

CIC chief executive Graham Watts said: “As the voice for the professions, CIC’s focus is on the whole life cycle of the built environment, from concept, planning, design, construction through to occupancy and management.  Demolition engineering is vital at both ends of this whole-life spectrum and a key profession in terms of sustainability, recycling and carbon reduction.  It is important that all the construction professions have a voice within our network and I am therefore delighted to welcome the Institute of Demolition Engineers as a full member of the CIC family of professional institutions.”

All local authorities that applied for pothole funding from the government will get a share, but those who have been good will get more.

The Department for Transport has a pot of £168m allocated for local authority highway repairs and invited councils to pitch for it.

In total 148 authorities applied for funding and all will receive a share. The council getting the largest share is Devon, with £9.1m.

A greater share is being provided to those councils that were able to demonstrate best practice in highway maintenance, DfT said. These councils have invested in new technology and initiatives. They have brought in specialist machinery or set up dedicated crews, to help fix potholes or prevent them from appearing in the first place.

Those authorities that have demonstrated good practice include:

• Northamptonshire – which has set up systems to track pothole repairs in real time, allowing it to co-ordinate work more effectively and make sure teams are deployed efficiently.
• Hampshire – which has extra pothole fixing equipment to make speedy repairs. This equipment can also be converted to salt icy roads in winter.
• Lancashire – which has forged links with other highways authorities, suppliers and contractors to allow it to tackle potholes more effectively and improve its wider programme of highways maintenance.

All repair works have to be completed by end March 2015. Councils are also required to publish quarterly updates so that local residents can see how many potholes or miles or resurfacing has been undertaken in their area.

Labour peer and former transport minister Lord Adonis has lambasted the government for introducing a bill into parliament that is being written ‘on the hoof’.

At second reading of the bill in the House of Lords yesterday, Baroness Kramer for the government admitted that part of the legislation, the section relating to fracking, was “still being developed and will be made available at the earliest opportunity”.

Lord Adonis, Labour spokesman in the Lords, responded: “The government are legislating on the hoof — or perhaps I should say on the future hoof, as we do not even know what hoof they are going to be legislating on hereafter.”

It was, he said, “no way to treat parliament”.

Lord Adonis also said that the government had yet to make the case for changing the status of the Highways Agency. “The key issue is greater certainty over medium-term and long-term funding but there is no need to create a new company to give greater certainty over future funding. The government could simply announce a detailed five-year settlement for strategic roads in any event,” he said.

He added: “The reason there has been stop/start over the past four years is that the government stopped and then they started again. They did not have to do that. They could have announced and stuck to a longer-term funding plan, and it is entirely within their prerogative to do so. However, if the simple act of setting up this company constrains the ability of governments to stop and start in respect of roads investment, it will none the less be worthwhile. But until we see the detailed five-year settlement for 2015-20 we are not in a position to judge.”

Lord Adonis also warned of unintended consequences. Decisions over road construction and expansion were by nature political and distancing politicians from the process is likely to lead to bad governance and bad democracy, he suggested.

He said: “Under the bill, there is to be a Passengers’ Council, which is a reform of the existing quango Passenger Focus, but it is hard to see how it will have the credibility and clout that Ministers currently exercise. Furthermore, as I understand it, the Passengers’ Council will be mandated only to promote and protect the interests of users of highways for which the highways company or companies are responsible. The Passengers’ Council will not represent the interests of communities along the road or the natural environment. That is a very important point. Who will represent their interests and take account of them?”

Contractor Osborne has reported a 27% rise in turnover and a return to profit.

The family-owned business saw its turnover climb to £325m for the year to 31 March 2014, up from £256m the previous year.

Profit before tax was £5.2m, which is a new record high for the company. The previous year saw a loss of £2.6m.

As at April 2014, the secured forward order book was £443m, 63% higher than the £272m booked a year before. Secured orders plus work under negotiation totals £663m compared with £351 a year before – an 80% increase.

The end-of-year cash balance stood at £25.6m, slightly down on the £27.8m of sa year earlier but this is after Osborne invested £5.5m in buying 40,000sqft of office space in Cambridge.

A Carlisle scaffolding firm has been fined £15,000 after a young employee was badly hurt when he fell more than six metres through a roof light.

Contract Scaffolding Services Ltd was prosecuted by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) following the incident at a factory in Dalston, Cumbria, on 22nd February 2013.

Carlisle magistrates heard that the company had been subcontracted to fit edge protection around the roof of a building, to prepare for its removal ahead of the building’s demolition.

The 23-year-old trainee scaffolder from Carlisle was part of a four-strong team carrying out the work. He was wearing a harness, but this was not clipped onto anything at the time of the incident.

He was working on the roof and as he tried to walk past one of his colleagues, he stepped onto a roof light which gave way, causing him to fall through it.

As he fell, he struck parts of the internal steel structure of the building, causing severe cuts to his face and head, before hitting the concrete floor more than six and a half metres below and shattering his knee cap into 12 pieces. As a result of his injuries, he is no longer able to carry out manual work.

The court was told that although Contract Scaffolding Services Ltd had prepared a scaffolding plan, method statement and risk assessment prior to starting the work, it did not mention the presence of the fragile roof lights.

The scaffolding plan stated that workers would initially work from a cherry picker or scissor lift and that once a single handrail was installed they would gain access onto the roof.

This would prevent falls from the edge but offered no protection from a fall through the roof lights, which ran at four metre intervals and left less than half a metre of usable space where the scaffolders were working.

The plan made no mention of the need to wear a harness when working on the roof and the court heard that although the injured worker was issued with a harness, at five feet the lanyard was so long that even if it had been clipped onto the scaffolding it would not have stopped him falling through the roof lights due to their position.

Contract Scaffolding Services Ltd, of Carleton Depot, London Road, Carlisle, was fined £15,000 and ordered to pay £920 costs after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and Regulation 9(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 on 18 June 2014.