Legal

Two firms have been fined a combined total of £324,000, after an 18-year-old worker was crushed by a van. P&R Plant Hire and D Brown received fines for breaching health and safety laws, after teenager Josh Disdel died four years ago. Construction managers employed by both firms have also been…

Construction firm Mulalley must pay £10.8m in damages and costs to a housing association over defective cladding. Martlet Homes, a subsidiary of Hyde Housing Group, won a case in July regarding five tower blocks in Gosport, Hampshire. At the time, Judge Stephen Davies awarded £8m to Martlet, ruling that Mulalley…

A timber company has been fined £80,000 after a worker fell through a stairwell and fractured two vertebrae. On 14 May 2018, a 49-year-old driver and warehouse operative was working on a barn conversion project in a village near Okehampton, Devon, which was being converted for rental use. The worker,…

Contractors must take steps to protect themselves legally against unpredictable inflation-driven cost increases in labour and materials, lawyers have warned. Andrew Boccoli, a director in the commercial property department at Edinburgh law firm Lindsays, said the days of fixed-price contracts could be over as firms sought to protect themselves against…

A rail maintenance operative suffered “life changing” injuries when a stationary mobile elevating work platform (MEWP) was hit by a crane in the second such incident involving the same subcontractors, the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) has found. According to a report released by the RAIB yesterday, Network Rail had…

Insurers and the government have developed a new insurance approach that could speed up removals of unsafe cladding, such as that involved in the Grenfell Tower disaster. The International Underwriting Association (IUA) said it hoped to resolve what had been a “difficult” market for firms seeking cover. It worked with…

Major infrastructure projects across the country are set to be fast-tracked through a new planning system, the government has announced. Projects to build infrastructure deemed “nationally significant” could be given shorter deadlines to pass through the planning process, levelling-up secretary Greg Clark said. Infrastructure works that could be affected by…

Administrators for contractor Midas have written to the Insolvency Service regarding concerns over business practices in the lead-up to the firm’s collapse earlier this year. Teneo Financial Advisory has contacted the government agency, calling for creditors of Midas to come forward with any concerns they have over events in the…

London mayor Sadiq Khan has chosen not to intervene in £400m plans to redevelop ITV’s former South Bank studios at 72 Upper Ground, despite the government having halted work. The proposals from developer Mitsubishi Estate and development manager CO—RE set out a landmark redevelopment of a 2.5-acre site into a…

The government has given the green light to a £500m redevelopment of Manston Airport near Margate, ignoring advice from the Planning Inspectorate. The Department for Transport (DfT) has approved a redetermined Development Consent Order (DCO) for the airport, which was originally submitted in August 2018. The DCO, which was approved…