Insights – Page 34

Mind the Gap – the Underground’s about to get connected

London is soon to follow in the footsteps of several other major cities. TfL has announced its plan to provide commuters with WiFi connectivity on the London Underground from 2019. It’s great news for commuters but making the business case work for contractors is going […]

Austerity road – the cracks are showing

For the past few years may local councils have found themselves under pressure to the point where budget cuts and other austerity measures have been implemented to try reduce budget deficits. While financially this may seem to be the most prudent course of action, it […]

What will solve the UK’s infrastructure output headache?

Despite a recent increase in investment and awarding of tenders, infrastructure output in general is still not at the level that it could or should be according to industry experts. The Essential Infrastructure Report by Scape identified that in the 20 year period between 1997 […]

How will the NIC budget proposals impact recruitment?

The recent National Infrastructure Commission report highlighted several issues in the industry. Amongst other things that productivity in terms of the development of infrastructure is below the national average in almost every major city in the UK. To address this the NIC’s recommendation was to […]

Act on late payments before it’s too late

The issue of retentions and late payments has been in the spotlight more recently following the Carrillion collapse. But the reality is that this practice has been ongoing for years and it’s having a major impact on SME’s who make up an important sector of […]

Construction Revolution

On 5 July, business and energy secretary Greg Clark, announced a £420 million construction sector deal promising to revolutionize the industry. It’s an ambitious plan that aims to deliver 1.5 million homes by 2022 as well as supporting infrastructure, and to do this in a […]

Where are the work opportunities?

It was reported in June that construction output and new orders were finally on the up with new projects being awarded hitting a high for 2018. The question was asked, is the construction industry finally climbing out of its slump? 2018 has been a tough […]

Is this the end of Boom & Bust in the rail sector?

Since the privatization of the railways, the main contractors involved in constructing rail infrastructure have been consistently plagued by boom and bust cycles due to funding inconsistencies. Projects typically start out with great momentum but as funding dries up contractors find themselves looking at smaller […]

What will it take to make the Heathrow expansion a success?

Recent news reports highlighted great excitement over the government vote of approval to expand Heathrow Airport by adding an additional runway. When completed it will add much needed capacity for both cargo and passengers. More interesting though is that the construction process may just usher […]

Is the perfect storm building in the UK’s construction industry?

With more than 154 000 construction workers in the UK currently from the EU (According to ONS data for the period 2014 to 2016), and 500 000 senior workers expected to retire from the industry in the next decade, the construction industry will be hard pressed to […]