Author Archives: Ben Vogel

There are still insufficient funds to pay creditors for Michael J Lonsdale, administrators for the collapsed mechanical and electrical (M&E) specialist said. In their third progress report since being appointed in October 2023, Jamie Taylor and Dominik Thiel-Czerwinke from Begbies Traynor said they had clawed back £672,578 from Lonsdale’s debtors…

A major carbon capture pipeline job saw utilities and property services contractor United Living top the latest Construction News monthly league table. Data from Glenigan showed that the £627m-turnover firm picked up a £250m contract from  Liverpool Bay CCS Ltd, a subsidiary of global energy firm Eni, to help deliver…

Construction sector output decreased for the fourth consecutive month amid “heightened business uncertainty” in April, according to newly released data. The latest S&P Global UK Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data, released on Wednesday (7 May), showed an activity index of 46.6. This was up slightly from the March figure…

A window manufacturing firm in Sheffield has been fined after a 19-year-old worker lost parts of two fingers in a cross-cut saw incident. Ford Windows Ltd was ordered to pay a £100,000 fine plus costs following a hearing at Sheffield Magistrates Court on 28 April, according to the Health and…

A construction company has been fined after a kitchen fitter was crushed to death by concrete blocks at a site in Gloucestershire. Martin Dunford, 33, was killed on 23 January 2020 while working on a Piper Homes Construction Ltd housing development at Ebrington Rise, near Chipping Campden. An investigation by…

A builder who was disqualified as a company director for Covid loan abuse has agreed to repay four-fifths of the money. Ioan Marcu, of Lindfield Road, Romford, signed an agreement committing him to repay £38,549 in monthly instalments, the Insolvency Service said in a statement today (29 April). Marcu inflated…

Administrators for a collapsed modular contractor have said there are “insufficient funds” to distribute to supply chain creditors, while the firm’s secured creditor has only received a fifth what it was owed. Sheffield-based IDMH, trading as Lighthouse, went into administration in April last year with the loss of 113 jobs…

Four people, including three former Keltbray site managers, have been jailed for bribery in relation to the awarding of demolition contracts. Arben Hysa, 56, was found guilty in February of bribing the trio to secure contracts worth more than £15m through his company Tony Demolition Workers Ltd. He was sentenced…

Sir Robert McAlpine (SRM) has rebounded into the black in its latest accounts, with the tier one contractor recovering from last year's severe loss. The firm generated a pre-tax profit of £10.4m in the year to 31 October 2024 after suffering a £104.6m pre-tax loss the year before. At the…

Main contractor Wates may have posted record turnover in 2024 – plus a pre-tax profit for the 25th consecutive year – but its chief executive isn’t resting on his laurels. Speaking to Construction News on 8 April after Wates released its financial results for the 2024 calendar year, Eoghan O’Lionaird…