The Week That Was - 28 February 2025

Welcome to the week that was, a round-up of key events in the construction sector over the last seven days.

Wembley Park development delayed by Building Safety Regulatory sign-off rules

Quintain, developer for the Wembley Park neighbourhood development in London, has stated it has been waiting nine months to obtain safety sign-off by the Building Safety Regulator (BSR), which has delayed the occupation of completed new-build homes.  Three new safety checks, known as "gateways", were introduced for buildings above 18 metres and the BSR is obliged to provide a decision on the second gateway within twelve weeks for new-build schemes. 

The delays are due to a lack of inspectors, and whilst the BSR has stated it is working to clear the backlog, Quintain now suspects that the whole development will be completed before permission is granted for occupation.  

The construction of a large student accommodation development in Bristol has also been pushed back as a result of second gateway delays. 

Last week, the Government announced an extra £2m in funding to help clear the backlog.

You can read more here and here.

Springfield to sell nearly 2,500 plots of land and focus on new housing built for green energy workers in Scotland

As a result of the Government-financed green infrastructure development in northern Scotland, there is now a significant demand for new housing for an increasing population and expected economic growth in the region.  Springfield Properties is selling off 2,480 plots of undeveloped land across six sites to Barratt Redrow for £64.2m, with the sale expected to complete by the end of May 2025.  The proceeds from this sale will not only help Springfield to cut its debts, but also enable the developer to make a significant strategy change to build new homes in northern Scotland for the 'army' of energy construction workers that are expected to work on the green infrastructure developments over the next ten years.  Springfield already has "significant land holdings across the Highlands and Moray and an established presence" in the region so they are capable and advantageously placed to seize this opportunity.

You can read more here and here.

Everton's new home, built by Laing O'Roure, hosts first test event

After 178 weeks of construction, with handover occurring 6 days prior to Christmas 2024, the first test event at Everton's new football stadium, Bramley Moore Dock, occurred on Monday 17 February as the club prepares to start next season in its new home. 

Laing O'Rourke transformed a dockyard dating back to 1848 into a 53,000-capacity football stadium. As the stadium was to be constructed on top of water, Laing had to bring in 480,000 cubic metres of sand from the Irish Sea by boat to infill the dockyard. This prevented the need to take thousands of trips up and down the motorway by HGVs. 

The majority of the construction was carried out by subsidiaries of Laing, such as Expanded, Explore Manufacturing, Vetter, Select and Crown House, with the stadium itself having been designed by US architect Dan Meis and Pattern.

You can read more here.

Co-living pipeline booms with planning submissions up 87 per cent

Planning data revealed that planning was sought on 9,000 new co-living units in the UK in 2024 and 6,200 were granted planning permission. This compares with only 4,800 applications in 2023. 5,500 already approved co-living units are also currently under construction. Delivery of the units is expected to accelerate in the coming months due to increased investor confidence resulting from lower inflation and stabilised build costs.

Co-living is generally driven by graduate employment and thus coalesces around cities with strong retention rates – London, Manchester and Birmingham among them. Factors such as reduced rent, the increase in international net migration and a growing student population increase the attraction of co-living in comparison to the private rented sector.

While the sector is growing, attitudes towards co-living continue to develop and policies being adopted at the local authority level may have an impact on the pipeline of co-living units.

You can read more here and here.

Work to final stretches of HS2 into London delayed

Parts of the tunnelling work required to complete the final 4.5 mile stretch of HS2 into London Euston station are being rescheduled, with some delays lasting up to two years. 

Sub-contractors were informed of the impending delays last week, despite two giant tunnelling machines having been assembled and being ready to dig the necessary tunnels between Old Oak Common and London Euston following confirmation of funding for the project in the Government's budget last year.  Digging is instead due to commence within the next 12 months, with the works estimated to take a further 18 months to reach Euston. 

The costs said to have been saved from the delays to the final stretch of HS2 into London are being diverted to finalising the route from Birmingham's new Curzon Street station to Old Oak Common, just outside London, with this section of the route being HS2's current focus. 

For more information, please see here. 

Manufacturer of cavity barriers used in Grenfell challenges ban imposed by the Council for Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC)

The manufacturer of some of the cavity barriers used in the 2015-2016 renovation of Grenfell Tower, Siderise, was one of several contractors involved in that renovation which had been banned by RBKC in late-2024 from future council contracts.  

Siderise has now sought judicial review of that ban, claiming that RBKC's decision was "without foundation or justification" as it did not satisfy RBKC's criteria for that ban, being to ban contractors whose products contributed to the fire or its spread, or who were not candid before the Grenfell Tower Inquiry.  Siderise claims that it does not fit those criteria, as the report of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry is clear that Siderise' products did not contribute to the fire or its spread and there is no suggestion that Siderise did not act candidly before the Inquiry.  RBKC has confirmed that it stands by its decision.

For more information, please see here and here. 

With thanks to: Harry Langford-Collins, Arthur Prideaux, and Shannon Walker.

Disclaimer: The information in this publication is for guidance purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.  We attempt to ensure that the content is current as at the date of publication, but we do not guarantee that it remains up to date.  You should seek legal or other professional advice before acting or relying on any of the content.