The Week That Was - 7 February 2025

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

McLaren appoints new commercial director for construction management division

On 27 January 2025, McLaren Construction Group announced the appointment of Glen Harding as its new Commercial Director, responsible for its new Construction Management and Specialist Projects division with a view to divisional expansion, with a particular interest in high-value real estate and public sector projects.

Mr Harding is a qualified chartered surveyor and has 38 years' experience in the construction industry.

You can read more here

FM Conway boss departs after VINCI deal completes

FM Conway Chair and CEO, Joanne Conway, has left the business after VINCI Construction formally completed its acquisition last week. She resigned as a director on 31 January, along with her mother Kim.

FM Conway was founded in 1961 by Frank Conway and has been family-owned since.

Andrew Hansen, who has been with FM Conway since 1998, became the Managing Director of FM Conway following Ms Conway's departure from the business.

While FM Conway is now a part of VINCI Construction, it will continue to operate as an independent business within the VINCI corporate structure. 

You can read more here.

Payor entitled to serve payless notice upon receipt of interim payment application (Placefirst v CAR)

In proceedings arising out of CAR's application to enforce an adjudicator's decision by summary judgment (Placefirst Construction Ltd v CAR Construction [2025] EWHC 100 (TCC)), Placefirst successfully argued that the adjudicator had been wrong to conclude their payless notice had been invalid under section 111(5)(b) Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 by virtue of having been served prior to a valid payment notice.

This was because the nature of payment application required by clause 4.6 of the contract (which was amended from the standard form JCT Design and Build 2016 subcontract) brought the interim payment application on which CAR relied in compliance with the requirements for a valid payment notice under s110A(3)(a) of the Act, and thus Placefirst's payless notice had not been served prior to a payment notice.

You can read more here.

Begbies Traynor report shows particular pain for construction industry

Amid a picture of general economic malaise, Begbies Traynor's quarterly 'red alert' report showed particular weakness in the construction industry, finding it to be the single most vulnerable industry in the UK with 97,603 firms in significant financial distress, of which 6,830 were in a critical position. This reflects a quarterly leap of construction firms at imminent risk of almost 58%, the sector now representing approximately one-in-six businesses in such a position.

With an increased employer's NI contribution rate and increased national minimum wage due to commence in April, Ric Traynor, executive chairman, commented that for many businesses, this "could be the last straw".

You can read more here.

Contract Natural Gas Ltd v ZOG Energy Ltd [2025] EWHC 86 (Ch)

The High Court has confirmed (for the first time following the changes effected by the Enterprise Act 2002 ("EA 2002")) that, for the purpose of limitation, time does not stop running on claims against a company when it goes into administration.

While it was previously well established that under the Insolvency Act 1986 ("IA 1986"), prior to its amendment by the EA 2002, the administration of a company did not stop time running on claims against it, the EA 2002 introduced new powers by which administrators were given the power to make distributions to creditors, akin to the situation in which a company enters liquidation.

Parties with claims against companies that enter administration must therefore be alive to the risk of claims becoming time barred.

You can read more here.

Seven jailed for £22m construction tax fraud

The defendants have been handed sentences of between two years' imprisonment (suspended) and nine years' imprisonment.

The fraud resulted in more than £22m being stolen from taxpayers. Under the scheme, a fake payroll company was created and operated by four of the defendants. Construction companies would permit these payroll companies to make VAT and Construction Industry Scheme contributions to HMRC on behalf of their sub-contractors. Instead, the defendants pocketed the money. Other defendants owned the construction firm involved in the fraud, or the bank accounts through which they allowed the money to be laundered.

You can read more here.

With thanks to: Zack Gould-Wilson, Charlie Underwood and Joe Towse

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.