Supply Chain

An appeal court judge has thrown out an “opportunistic” and “cynical” challenge by a payroll firm over its eligibility for Construction Industry Training Board grant payments. Hudson Contract Services (now known as Knot Builders) had challenged a February 2024 High Court ruling that found it was not eligible for the…

Subcontractor Seventynine Lighting, which went down in October, owed more than £2m, administrators have confirmed. Insolvency professionals at Forvis Mazars said the £11m-turnover firm, based in Gloucestershire, owed £2.1m to creditors when it collapsed last year following ISG’s fall into administration. Its statement-of-affairs form posted at Companies House on 13…

A legal battle in which Balfour Beatty was claiming damages from truck manufacturers operating a cartel has drawn to a close, Construction News understands. The UK’s biggest contractor launched legal action against 14 firms – including Fiat Chrysler, Volvo, Renault and Daimler (see full list below) – in 2020, alleging they…

The facilities management (FM) arms of tier one contractors Galliford Try, Kier, Morgan Sindall, Vinci and Wates are among 27 firms with places on a new Pagabo framework. The Total Facilities Management Framework will run until January 2029 with a total estimated value of £814m, Pagabo announced yesterday (15 January).…

John F Hunt’s pre-tax profit declined after inflationary pressures saw the group's margin narrow from 6 to 4.4 per cent. The second-largest demolition specialist in the UK reported a £7.9m pre-tax profit in the year to 31 March 2024, which was down on the £9.5m profit from the previous year.…

Facade and curtain walling specialist Permasteelisa UK has cut its pre-tax loss by 40 per cent after “resolving issues around legacy projects”, according to its latest annual accounts. The Italian contractor’s UK arm reported a pre-tax loss of £6.8m in the year to 31 March 2024, marking an improvement on…

Diligent subcontractors are being undercut and losing work thanks to a lack of client knowledge about the post-Grenfell building safety regime, according to a leading trade body. Trade body the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) said clients are still subjecting contractors to aggressive and sub-economic pricing due to a lack…

M&E firm Enerveo has reported an 83 per cent narrowing of its pre-tax losses, shortly after being bought back by its former parent company. According to accounts covering the year ending 31 March 2024, nine days after the firm was repurchased by its former parent, energy company SSE, Enerveo shrunk…

Keltbray has to pay £18m for its role in demolition’s cover bidding scandal after it its appeal against the penalty issued by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) failed on two out of three counts. The contractor appealed against the £20m financial penalty imposed by the Competitions and Markets Authority…

By Thames Menteth A property developer has lost a legal case for £7.5M of damages against two engineering firms whose ground investigations failed to identify a ground hazard at a proposed development site near Reading. Property development company Darcliffe had claimed the damages for negligence and breach of contract from…