Floods clean-up bonanza, SUDS downgrade & builders big pay rise

Howard Chapman, Buildingtalk Editor, reviews What’s New in Building including flood clean-up boost for UK construction, how SUDS downgrade impacted the floods, builders best pay rises in 2015, why Virgin to fly from new UK Spaceport, and Liverpool FC new stadium by night.

Flood clean-up boosts work for UK construction

Britain’s wettest December in a century means brighter prospects for UK engineering and infrastructure stocks this year as companies bid for contracts to repair storm damage and boost the nation’s flood defences.

Link for more details

Did SUDS downgrade impact recent flooding?

Interesting Q&A on tackling flooding with Sue Illman, the new Construction Industry Council champion for flood mitigation and resilience. She comments on the impact of ‘watering down’ SuDS proposals in the 2010 Flood and Water Management Act, and was asked if not fully implementing SuDS had made the recent floods worse.

Link to full interview in CM

Construction workers got best pay rises

New research comparing annual salaries of 2014 and 2015 across all job sectors reveals that construction workers got the best pay rise in 2015 with construction managers and house builders seeing over 10% salary growth.

Link to full details

UK Green Building Council launches energy performance project

UK Green Building Council (UK-GBC) new research will explore how building performance can be improved, including energy consumption, water use and other aspects which impact the environment. This follows on from a previous project which looked at how the building sector could deliver a zero carbon policy for non-domestic buildings by 2019.

Link to more details

Virgin Galactic to fly from new UK Spaceport

Virgin Galactic will not build the new UK Spaceport but does plan to fly from it when it opens for business. Richard Branson also said: ‘We will not allow people to feel guilty travelling with us – we will show them we can pioneer clean energy’ The UK Spaceport will help the UK to take advantage of emerging demand for commercial human spaceflight, small satellite launch, microgravity research, parabolic flights, near-space balloon tourism, and eventually high-speed point-to-point travel – delivering £2.5bn and 8,000 jobs to the UK economy over 10 years.

Link to more details

Liverpool FC’s new stadium by night

Great new photos show Anfield’s new Main Stand illuminated at night, as construction work on the building continues with cranes towering over the new stand, which will hold more than 20,000 fans. Liverpool FC also unveil street food and sports bar theme for the new stand

Link to more details and more photos