Our pick of the biggest news stories in construction this year, and how they made an impact on the national news agenda

 

Prime minister to champion industry鈥檚 work to global VIPs during Games 鈥

DC

 

好色先生TV says:

The London 2012 Olympics provided the backdrop to 好色先生TV鈥檚 first splash of the year. This story exclusively revealed construction鈥檚 key role in the forthcoming British Business Embassy and highlighted the first appeals to relax onerous 2012 marketing rules, something which became a major theme of .

Government predicts 93% fall in loft insulation work, putting carbon targets at risk 鈥

Green Deal

 

好色先生TV says:

This story on the government鈥檚 flagship green policy had a huge impact, prompting questions to minister Greg Barker on Channel 4 好色先生TV and a follow up story in The Guardian.

Contractor puts all staff in its construction services division on notice in major restructure 鈥 click here to read more

Balfour Beatty

 

好色先生TV says:

好色先生TV was the first to break the news of Balfour Beatty鈥檚 major UK restructure and the risk to 12,000 jobs in the firm鈥檚 construction services division. The story was picked up by Reuters and then made all the major national daily papers.

Exclusive: 拢55bn school building programme was improving pupil performance until it was scrapped by Gove 鈥 click here to read more

Deptford Green BSF School, Watkins Gray design

Source: Watkins Gray

 

好色先生TV says:

This story - the result of a Freedom of Information request - revealed an previously unpublished report showing that schools built under the previous Labour government improved learning and attendance. It was picked up by The Guardian.

Exclusive: 好色先生TV鈥檚 analysis of accounts reveals CLM achieved 33% margin on turnover of 拢495m 鈥

Olympic

Olympic stadium and Orbit

 

好色先生TV says:

We carried out exclusive analysis of the accounts of Olympic delivery partner CLM which showed it had achieved an extraordinary 33% margin and made a 拢162 pre-tax profit, raising questions of public value-for-money. The story, along with an earlier exclusive on CLM payments, became a splash in the Sunday Times鈥 business section.

Exclusive: Contractor launches High Court claim to recover unpaid fees for work on stalled 拢1bn Pinnacle tower 鈥 click here to read more

pinnacle

好色先生TV says:

This exclusive revealed that contractor Brookfield was suing the owners of the stalled 拢1bn Pinnacle tower in the High Court for breach of contract, claiming 拢16m in unpaid fees. The story was picked up by the Financial Times, City AM and the Sunday Times.

Exclusive: Consultant makes new round of redundancies, with a host of directors leaving 鈥 click here to read more

Bob Pell

Bob Pell, Davis Langdon boss

 

好色先生TV says:

This story exposed a new round of redundancies among directors and staff at consultant Davis Langdon, a year after the firm made almost a fifth of its directors redundant.

Renzo Piano set to embark on third high profile London project with major Oxford Street store extension 鈥

Selfridges

 

好色先生TV says:

Our scoop on how The Shard architect Renzo Piano was set to be appointed to design a major extension to Selfridges鈥 historic Oxford Street store was picked up by The Times and the Evening Standard. The luxury retailer later confirmed the appointment and told the media the project would set its agenda for the 鈥渘ext century鈥.

Exclusive: Subcontractor MPG says dispute with Galliford Try has forced it to seek a company voluntary arrangement 鈥

Olympic village

 

好色先生TV says:

This exclusive revealed that a 拢2m payment dispute between the main contractor on the 2012 Athletes鈥 Village, Galliford Try, and subcontractor MPG had forced the specialist to the brink of insolvency.

Former chief officer of the Consulting Association was to be key witness in civil claim against Sir Robert McAlpine 鈥

blacklisting

Ian Kerr giving evidence to MPs

 

好色先生TV says:

The shock news in December that former blacklisting boss Ian Kerr had died quickly became one of 好色先生TV鈥檚 top read stories of the year. The exclusive, which was picked up by the Evening Standard, also revealed that Kerr had been due to act as a key witness in the civil claim made by blacklist victims against contractor Sir Robert McAlpine.