Digital Builder Ep 17: 3 Key Takeaways on Collaboration Best Practices in Construction

In the AEC industry, it’s not uncommon to have several different companies — sometimes 20 or more — working on the same project. Dozens of people, each with their own priorities and agendas, are involved in decision-making. Because of this, working together can get complicated — even heated, in some cases.

That’s why communication and collaboration are crucial in AEC. When everyone involved in a project is on the same page, the entire process runs smoothly and you’ll see better outcomes all around.

On Episode 17 of Digital Builder, Eddie Campbell, COO at ABSI (Accelerated Building Solutions, Inc.) and Tyler Campbell, Vice President, also at ABSI, join us to discuss how construction pros can increase cooperation within projects. They’re also co-hosts of the Construction Brothers Podcast, a show that delivers fresh ideas that industry professionals can use to improve their careers, projects, and people.

As a construction company that provides modeling and detailing services, Eddie and Tyler often sit ‘down the chain’ in the projects they work on. This gives them a unique perspective on the interactions between stakeholders and how collaboration can be improved.

The topics we touched on include:

Ways to improve the bidding process
Effective management styles
Where subcontractors are empowered to improve collaboration
Tips for successfully navigating contract disputes

“The thing that has gotten me out of the most trouble during my career whenever things get heated is going and talking with the other person; looking somebody in the eye is always helpful.” — Tyler Campbell

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Digital Builder is hosted by me, Eric Thomas. Remember, new episodes of Digital Builder go live every two weeks. You can hear more episodes like this one by subscribing to Digital Builder on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can also subscribe to our email list with the form below so you’re the first to hear when new episodes are released:

3 Takeaways on Collaboration Best Practices in Construction

Here are three best practices that construction pro’s should consider implementing to ensure smooth communication and collaboration in their projects.

1. Reduce barriers to accessing important information

Teams that lack easy access to key project info will struggle to articulate their needs due to a lack of confidence in next steps. With risk mitigation as a top priority in any construction project, confidence in decision-making is key. This is why owners should encourage and enable more transparency throughout a project. This is especially important during the design phase. When stakeholders have more visibility into design progress, they can provide meaningful input earlier in the process, which saves time and improves project outcomes.

“After having spoken with a group of owners recently, I think the number one thing that we need to work on as an industry is transparency. That’s one thing that owners desire, particularly in design,” says Eddie.

To truly open up lines of communication, you need to instill a sense of trust and collaboration. Many construction professionals focus on protecting themselves first when getting into new projects. This needs to shift into a collaborative mindset if teams want more transparency.

As Tyler puts it, “It’s the [self-first mindset] that has caused us to really have this brokenness in the industry that I see.”

“I feel like the trade aspect of things is that we’re pushing these designers and we’re giving them great tools. But the designers still don’t quite know how a building goes together in a lot of ways,” says Tyler.

“I think a big push for us is saying, ‘Alright, let’s get passionate about preaching that this is how we build now.’ The only thing that will drive better design is a better understanding of how the systems work.”

What this boils down to that is teams and individuals should help designers and stakeholders understand what truly goes into constructing a building. This is the “rising tide lifts all boats” mentality, and it’s a good one.

2. Leadership should empathize with processes that aren’t working

Empathy and humility go a long way in collaboration. This is especially important when leading by example. By taking time to understand where other stakeholders are coming from, you’ll come up with better solutions on the same timeline, if not faster, and reduce the stress caused by lack of alignment.

If a process isn’t working, for example, it’s on leaders to recognize and correct the course.

“Being humble enough to change our processes is something that, I think, we’re going to continue to have to go through over the coming years as we find new ways of delivering projects under these demanding schedules,” says Eddie.

Regular check-ins can also help teams better understand each other and ultimately be more collaborative. In fact, initiating one-on-one conversations with stakeholders can be incredibly valuable.

As Tyler puts it, “the best teams are the ones that do check-ins. They don’t need to be like, ‘Big meeting, big everything.’ Just pick up the phone and talk to somebody. Ask them how it’s going and what you can help them with. Let them know that you’re there when they need you. It’s not complicated, but slowing down to do that is sometimes pretty hard.”

3. Invite feedback from more people early in the process

Give more contributors a seat at the table. This doesn’t mean making everyone a key stakeholder. Rather, it’s about inviting contributions from others up and down the chain. Doing so will give you a more holistic understanding of what needs to be done.

Getting everyone on board early ensures that stakeholders have a clear idea of project scope, timelines, and deliverables. That group knowledge helps reduce miscommunication and delays down the road.

“The best projects that I’ve gotten the chance to be a part of had project managers, senior project managers, superintendents that were seeking to understand the problems,” shares Eddie.

According to him, these projects were a refreshing experience because he and his team sit down the chain, and typically don’t get a seat at the table.

Eddie continues, “Those have been the best experiences for me, where people are invited to the table, and then problems are solved, rather than fended off.”

His sentiment is clear. Whenever project teams invite feedback from more stakeholders, they tend to be more collaborative and effective in achieving their goals.

Listen to the full episode for more AEC insights

In addition to collaboration best practices, we explored other topics with Eddie and Tyler, including how to improve the bidding process and what management styles work best in construction projects. Check out the full episode on your favorite podcast platform.

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or wherever you listen to podcasts

The post Digital Builder Ep 17: 3 Key Takeaways on Collaboration Best Practices in Construction appeared first on Digital Builder.

Behind the Build: Interview with Jacob Freitas, Senior Project Manager, Level 10 Construction

October 26, 2021

Find the people that are going to support you, help answer questions, and mentor you. Those are the teams you want to be on and the type of team you want to build.

To see the greatest results from technical solutions, you’ll need to get all users and stakeholders on board. While there are many factors that play into successful technology adoption, there’s one component that every initiative must have: a fearless champion. Enthusiastic, committed champions help drive the buy-in you need from stakeholders while getting support from the people who will use the new technology. Building internal advocacy ensures full-scale adoption.

As a Senior Project Manager, Jacob Freitas is one of those fearless champions, pushing innovation and productivity forward at Level 10 Construction. We recently spoke with Jacob about his experience with planning and construction, how the project manager role is evolving, and how Level 10 leverages technology to solve challenges. Read his story below.

Tell us a little bit about Level 10 and what you specialize in.

We’re headquartered in Sunnyvale, California with a few more offices in San Francisco, San Diego, and Austin, Texas. Level 10 Construction was actually founded in 2011 by industry veterans with this shared vision of delivering construction projects at the highest level. And we’ve been able to deliver successful projects across several market sectors thanks to our different regional offices. Our projects have run the gambit—advanced technology, corporate, education, housing & mixed use, biotechnology, entertainment, healthcare and gaming & hospitality.

Walk us through your career. What led you to become Senior Project Manager?

I started back at Cal Poly in the summer of 2005 studying city-regional planning. My first summer after Cal Poly, I had an internship with a home builder, which was when I realized I wanted to go into construction.

So, I pursued internships in the field and worked with Rudolph and Sletten for six months doing co-op. That was all around 2008 when the economic downturn happened and new construction opportunities dried up. I ended up getting more work experience related to my planning background. From 2009 to 2011 I worked on energy management and greenhouse gas mitigation for Mazzetti, an engineering firm out of San Francisco.

A lot of what I focused on during those three years were energy-related projects such as efficiency upgrades, solar installation and fuel cells. The primary client I supported was Kaiser Permanente, with the goal of reducing their environmental footprint, primarily focused on the greenhouse gas emissions associated from their facility operations.

In 2011, a former boss of mine reached out to me to see if I was still interested in the construction space. This November will be nine years for me here at Level 10 Construction.

As construction evolves, how do you see the role of Project Manager changing?

Today, I see a lot of the same mistakes being repeated, and it’s due to a lack of knowledge sharing. Hopefully, in the next decade, sharing lessons learned will become easier with the advent of new technology.

Looking forward, I’m excited to see how our industry shares information, not only internally in organizations but peer-to-peer, and how we can try to be more effective at it.

In terms of existing work products, I want to leverage that existing work product. I don’t want to reinvent the bid package or the spec section or this or that detail. There’s no reason to reinvent it if it’s already been figured out; however, many times it comes down to not knowing where that information resides.

Looking forward, I’m excited to see how our industry shares information, not only internally in organizations but peer-to-peer, and how we can try to be more effective at it.

What project are you most proud of working on in your career?

I would say the Facebook west campus job we worked on from 2012 to 2014. At that time, we were still relatively small as an organization. That was around a $400 million project. As a senior engineer, I was managing all the MEPF trades, which was a $100 million dollar scope. That project felt like the equivalent of two or three projects rolled into one, and we delivered.

The project was super cool, especially considering its size, scope, and complexity. That’s part of the reason I’m here doing what I’m doing today is because of that experience. Not everyone has the opportunity to manage mechanical, electrical, plumbing, food service, fire protection trades early in their careers. The project allowed me to advance faster.

What are the biggest challenges you face in your role? How does technology help you meet these challenges?

Having a centralized platform that the whole team can be on. That has always been a challenge. Recently there’s been a number of platforms that check that box.

Autodesk Build is taking the right approach with getting the whole project on board. I think that model is what we’ll continue to see moving forward.

At Level 10, we also don’t print many drawing updates anymore. The only drawing sets we have are pretty much just the permit sets. It’s key to have the most recent version of all the information on hand, whether it’s an RFI or submittal or drawing. I can carry it around on my iPad and in my safety vest.

You just couldn’t do that 20 years ago, right? Instead, everyone would just be working with incomplete information. Now, one person can basically manage to keep the whole set current for the entire team—for 100 or 200 people.

The concept of reality capture from 360 video walks has also become really beneficial. Companies like OpenSpace, StructionSite, and DroneDeploy allow users to quickly capture current site conditions and share project information with various stakeholders for coordination. Think Google Street View for the jobsite.

Aside from just doing reality capture, some of these companies use photogrammetry to create 3D models of the site conditions. These can be used for things like soil stockpile quantity tracking and, more recently with OpenSpace, progress tracking of TI trades such as framing and drywalls. At a high level, eventually, you’ll be able to walk through the project and capture 360 video then upload it. The software will take that walk-through video and generate a point cloud, which is a geometrically accurate digital version of the built environment you’re looking at in real life. That point cloud then gets compared to your BIM models and schedule. This will give you percent complete by trade, trade-specific scope items, and how the completion of those items are tracking against the project schedule. That’s something that’s always hard to do on larger projects.

When you think about the future, what are your plans to advance innovation and productivity at Level 10?

Internally, everyone’s definitely supportive of these things, but part of it is my own internal quest to be better at things because I see it could be better. The owners of our company are all very knowledgeable, and they’ve been doing this for 30, 40 or more years. So, sometimes it’s scary to face questions like, “We’re going to do what? How? We never did it like that. How are you going to do this?”

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. I constantly ask questions. Don’t be afraid to be the idiot in the room. Raise your hand…understand why you’re doing things. Don’t just do things because someone told you to.

Right now we’re tracking layout with a Dusty Robotics Field Printer robot, using all of our coordinated BIM models and shop drawings. The framers are going to do a Level of Detail (LOD) 350 model in Revit and coordinate with all the MEPs. The grand plan is to export all that information into a single layout file. Each trade will still be responsible for their own layouts, but the bulk of the layout will be exported by trade, given to Dusty, consolidated into a single layout file and multi-trade layout completed through Dusty Robotics Field Printer.

For example, rough openings in walls, bottom track locations, drops for lights, etc., you stack it all in the system and it lays it out. Some of the framers are already enjoying it and some of the MEPs are already seeing the value in it. It should greatly improve the speed at which a project can complete layout and provide additional opportunities to spot problems before things are built out. We had a demo of it out in the field and it seemed effective.

What advice would you give to the next generation of men and women entering and preparing for the future of the industry?

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. I constantly ask questions. Don’t be afraid to be the idiot in the room. Raise your hand and ask questions a lot. You need to understand why you’re doing things. Don’t just do things because someone told you to do them. Figure out why you’re doing it because there’s usually a reason why you’re doing it. If you don’t understand the “why”, it’s not going to click a lot of times. That’s true with anything in life, but you have to ask questions and figure it out. Find the people that are going to support you, help answer those questions, and mentor you. Those are the teams you want to be on and the type of team you want to build.

The post Behind the Build: Interview with Jacob Freitas, Senior Project Manager, Level 10 Construction appeared first on Digital Builder.

6 Steps to Building Safer Construction Sites

October 26, 2021

Construction sites are dangerous places. Safety hazards lurk around every corner. This is evident by the high rate of occupational fatalities and injuries that occur each year in construction. Falls, electrocutions, heavy equipment rollovers, and collapsing scaffolding are just a small number of ways workers can be seriously injured or killed on a construction site.

Digital Builder Ep 21: Bringing a Construction Data Strategy to Life

October 26, 2021

As the speed of decision-making in our industry continues to increase, data can help us not only make faster decisions, but better decisions too. Research shows that incredible opportunities exist for those who build a strong strategy for managing their data. Plus, with a well-designed data strategy, you’ll be setting yourself up to leverage more advanced technologies further down the line.

Listen to the episode now

You can also listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and anywhere else you get your podcasts.

On this podcast episode

Jay Bowman, Managing Director of Research & Analytics at FMI, and Andy Leek, Vice President – Technology & Innovation at PARIC Corporation, join the show to discuss the many benefits of having a strong data strategy in construction.

What we discuss:

The state of construction data today
How to make sure you’re capturing useful data
How a baseline of data strategy leads to more advanced technologies
Improving data literacy in construction
The future of data in construction

“Data strategy may seem optional today, but it’s really going to be a requirement tomorrow.” — Jay Bowman, Managing Director of Research & Analytics, FMI

Podcast highlights from Episode 21

In recent years, many perceived the construction industry as being behind the curve with technology adoption. And while there once was some truth to that, it’s clear that builders are now embracing technology at an incredible pace.

In fact, the AEC industry has done a tremendous job in closing the technology gap. JLL’s State of Construction Tech 2020 report found that in the past year, the construction industry compressed three years of technology adoption and growth into just nine months. And as Jay points out, venture capital investment “has grown ten-fold in the construction industry over the last decade.”

“I don’t know if there’s another industry where there’s really that much innovation going on. It’s actually a pretty exciting time for us,” he remarks.

In line with all this progress is a rise in the amount of data that we capture. Our research with FMI revealed that construction data has actually doubled in the last three years. So it’s not that we don’t have data—we do. We just need to make sure that we can trust the data and we’re able to put it to good use.

“What it’s coming down to now is the fact that we already have the technology,” says Andy.

“We are developing the data, and now it’s coming to a point where people need to know whether or not they can trust it. Is the cadence high enough that they can get information in a reasonable amount of time?”

This is where having a data strategy comes in.

A good data strategy enables teams to access reliable and trustworthy data so they’re empowered to work more productively, make smarter project decisions, and improve profitability. Having a data strategy in place also puts more time back into people’s lives, so they can focus on things that matter outside their primary responsibilities—both professionally and personally.

“I would like to think we get to a point where we are focused on the human side of things, in terms of helping people do a better job, to rest easier, and make sure they can go home on time and watch their kids play baseball,” remarks Andy.

“That way, they can truly have a life. People work to live, they don’t live to work.”

Four steps to building a data strategy

The conversation we had with Jay and Andy amplifies the most important takeaways from the data report we recently published, with FMI as our partner. This resource shares the findings we discovered from surveying nearly 4,000 AEC professionals on their data practices.

The report also sheds light on the actionable steps that construction firms are strongly encouraged to take when building their own data strategy.

Below is a quick summary of those steps, along with insights from Andy and Jay.

Step 1: Select a single point of focus

Companies with good data strategies have one thing in common: they all began by selecting just one area to focus on.

“In the case studies that we did, this was the common thread through everybody,” explains Jay. “No one tried to solve everything at one time, they chose one area of the organization where they could apply a solution.”

There are different ways to figure out the best point of focus. Andy recommends concentrating on places within the business where you already have measurable data.

“For us, we started in two basic areas—one was financial and the other was safety. And those were the two simplest places in our situation. We just decided to zero in on those particular areas and grow from there.”

You could also identify areas that would benefit most from data. Ask yourself, which component or department of the business would generate the most value if it had a data strategy in place?

Taking these steps narrows down the focus of your data strategy, so you can prevent being overwhelmed and get started quickly.

Step 2: Get employee buy-in to reduce hesitancy

You can’t have a data strategy without the support and commitment of other stakeholders. That’s why before rolling out your plans, ensure that you have buy-in from the right people.

According to Andy, the best way to do this is to “meet people where they’re at.”

“You’ve got to get them comfortable with the terminology. When you start throwing acronyms at people, they turn off immediately,” he adds.

When educating teams about data, make sure you’re doing it in a way that they can understand. You can do this by starting with the basics to create a foundational education.

Jay likens it to teaching someone how to drive.

“If I’m trying to teach someone to drive a car, I’m not going to tell them how an internal combustion engine works and how the metal comes together. I’m going to explain to them the gas pedal and the steering. I’m going to teach them how to use the brake.”

The same thing applies to your data strategy, he says. “We have to start at that ground level.”

You can also improve data literacy by making it easy and intuitive for teams to view and interpret data.

Over at PARIC, Andy says they did this by creating curated dashboards for their teams.

“We curated them based on their role or their phase in the project. That way, there are no endless bar graphs and pie graphs for them to try and noodle all the way through. They can easily see key insights relevant to them.”

Step 3: Standardize your data capture across all projects

The outputs or results of your data strategy will only be as good as the inputs entered into the system.

According to Jay, one of the killers of data integrity is having “multiple project inputs.”

“You would not realize that there are 30 different ways to spell the name of one supplier. Sometimes you can use all capital letters and sometimes you use just the regular capital at the beginning of the sentence… Those things, although they seem minor, actually add up and can complicate your project inputs.”

Having multiple processes is another problem, says Jay. When your data capture and QA processes aren’t uniform, you are hindering your ability to collect high-quality data and prevent your teams from gaining useful insights.

This is why standardization is so important. Before capturing and analyzing information, everyone in the organization must first agree on the formats, systems, and processes to use.

Step 4: Keep project data in a common environment

Using disconnected software and hardware isone of the top reasons for having bad data, says Jay.

In order for your strategy to be successful, you must ensure that all your data lives in one, centralized location that can be accessed by the right people. In other words, you need a common data environment (CDE).

As Jay puts it, “Standardization and creating a common data environment stood out more than anything in terms of what firms could do to address data integrity issues and limit the amount of bad data.”

If you haven’t already, decide on a single platform on which to host and analyze your data. Adopting a CDE not only ensures that teams have access to the right information, it also guarantees that they’re all working from the same data. With a CDE, project stakeholders can remain well-informed and they have the ability to collaborate more effectively.

The bottom line with data strategy

A formal data strategy gives companies a competitive advantage in today’s AEC landscape.

So, don’t wait too long to roll out a strategy in your firm. Bets are your competitors are already making progress. Start by identifying a specific area to focus on and getting buy-in from your team. From there, make sure you establish standardized data processes and adopt a CDE to keep everyone on the same page.

New podcast episode every two weeks

Digital Builder is hosted by me, Eric Thomas. New episodes of the Digital Builder podcast go live every two weeks.

If you can’t get enough of construction tech and data strategies, catch the full podcast episode of Digital Builder to hear more from Andy and Jay.

Listen to the Digital Builder Podcast on:

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or wherever you listen to podcasts

The post Digital Builder Ep 21: Bringing a Construction Data Strategy to Life appeared first on Digital Builder.

£1.7bn Blue Eden project refloats Swansea tidal energy plan

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A £1.7bn project placing Wales at the forefront of renewable energy innovation has been revealed by an international consortium.

The ambitious project proposed for Swansea’s waterfront refloats stalled tidal lagoon renewable energy plans, featuring underwater turbines generating 320 megawatts from a 9.5km structure.

Blue Eden will be sited along an extensive area of land and water, south of the Prince of Wales Dock

It will also feature 1,500 waterfront homes as well as 150 floating homes in the bay, a major floating solar array and major battery storage facility.

The revived lagoon plan is part of the larger proposed Blue Eden project that’s being led by Bridgend-based DST Innovations and a number of business partners, with support from Swansea Council and Associated British Ports.

Made possible by funding from the private sector, the innovative and economy-boosting Blue Eden will be delivered in three phases over 12 years.

Blue Eden project

A 60,000 sq m manufacturing plant to make high-tech batteries for renewable energy storage
A battery facility to store the renewable energy produced at Blue Eden and power the site. If constructed now, it would be the world’s largest facility of its kind
A 72,000 sq m floating solar array anchored in the Queen’s dock area
A 94,000 sq m data centre storing, processing and providing network capabilities for the critical services
An oceanic and climate change research centre
Floating dome structures that will become cultural and scientific centres to be enjoyed by all
Residential waterfront homes for 5,000 people
Around 150 floating, highly energy-efficient eco-homes anchored in the water

All the project’s buildings and facilities, including the eco-homes, will be situated alongside the lagoon.

Renewable energy produced on site will power the entire Blue Eden development, including businesses and homes.

Due to the innovation on-site, each home will have up to 20 years’ renewable energy and heat provision included with the sale of the properties.

Tony Miles, Co-founder and Chief Executive of DST Innovations, said: “Blue Eden is an opportunity to create a template for the world to follow – utilising renewable energy and maximising new technologies and thinking to develop not only a place to live and work, but also to thrive.”

The project has been developed following discussions based on a vision put forward by a regional task force led by Swansea Council.

Cllr Rob Stewart, Swansea Council Leader, said: “Blue Eden will put Swansea and Wales at the cutting-edge of global renewable energy innovation, helping create thousands of well-paid jobs, significantly cut our carbon footprint and further raise Swansea’s profile across the world as a place to invest.

“I’m delighted that an international consortium led by a Welsh company has developed our Dragon Energy Island vision into a ground-breaking project that delivers so many benefits and builds on the council’s ambition to become a net zero city by 2050.

“This project truly is a game-changer for Swansea, its economy and renewable energy in the UK, and crucially it can be delivered without the need for government subsidies.”

Andrew Harston, Director of Wales and Short Sea Ports for ABP, said: “We are engaged in discussions around the Blue Eden project which could deliver renewable energy, new homes and skilled jobs. This innovative prototype has the potential to be a first for the UK and bring Britain closer to our net zero target.”

Subject to planning consent, Blue Eden work on site could start by early 2023.

Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.clarkeconstructioncreations.com/?p=1146

Cladding panels “dislodged” from McAlpine hotel job

Roads around a Hilton hotel being built by Sir Robert McAlpine in Woking were closed last week when cladding panels became “dislodged”.

Following the incident at the £540m Victoria Square development Cllr Ayesha Azad, Leader of Woking Borough Council, said on Friday: “I can confirm that following Wednesday’s incident, which saw a small number of exterior panels dislodged from the hotel development, senior officers from Woking Borough Council met with representatives of Victoria Square Woking Ltd and its contractor, Sir Robert McAlpine (SRM).

“Yesterday, a detailed inspection of the area of concern was undertaken by SRM’s sub-contractor, with further checks carried out today. As with any incident of this nature, SRM has mobilised their incident investigation team which includes independent advisers to fully scrutinise how and why this incident happened. With these investigations ongoing, it is inappropriate to speculate on the reasons why and how the panels became displaced.

“On the grounds of public safety, Sir Robert McAlpine took the decision to close Victoria Way on Wednesday afternoon in agreement with Surrey Police. Victoria Way will remain closed to traffic between the junctions with Goldsworth Road and Lockfield Drive until SRM is fully satisfied that there is no further risk to the public and construction site.

“Safety is my utmost concern and I would like to reassure members of the public that all partners involved fully understand the seriousness of the situation and are working collaboratively and expediently to resolve the matter.”

Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.clarkeconstructioncreations.com/?p=1141

Chancellor to detail £7bn spending pledge for local transport

Chancellor Rishi Sunak is planning to detail plans in the Autumn spending review on Wednesday to pump £7bn in local transport improvements in Midlands and Northern cities.

The pledge will amount to around £1.5bn or 20% of actual extra new cash to supplement previous spending commitments on infrastructure in the regions over the next five years.

It will be directed at areas outside of London to level up transport with new train and station upgrades and the expansion of trams, with £1.2bn also allocated to improve bus services.

Its forms part of a £26bn raft of spending commitments trialed over the weekend ahead of the Autumn spending review.

Local transport infrastructure commitments will see West Yorkshire given £830m while South Yorkshire receives £570m.

Around £1.05bn will be freshly committed in the West Midlands, £710m for the Liverpool City Region, £310m in Tees Valley and £540m to the West of England.

Rishi Sunak confirmed previously the Government had announced £4.2bn in allocation for regional transport, adding the Government would now top that up with £1.5bn while giving out the allocation for where the cash will go within the oveall local transport infrastructure cash envelope

“Greate cities need great transport and that is why we’re investing billions to improve connections in our city regions as we level up opportunities across the country.

“This transport revolution will help redress that imbalance as we modernise our local transport networks so they are fit for our great cities and those people who live and work in them,” he said in briefing mover the weekend.

Weston Homes plans £100m London flats scheme

Volume house builder Weston Homes has bought part of a former textiles dyeing factory complex in south east London for a £100m multi-storey flats scheme.

The 4.6 acre Dylon factory site will be transformed with a 254 apartments scheme with, undercroft basement parking, and children’s play space within landscaped gardens.

The site already benefits from full planning consent, granted last Spring, allowing construction to start in late 2022 with a 20 month build programme.

It forms the second phase of the redevelopment of the Dylon works following on from 223 built to Crest Nicholson undertaken in 2017.

The contemporary buildings are designed for first time buyers and will have full height windows, balconies and tiered roofscapes complete with feature London Yellow Stock brickwork, providing a connection to nearby residential buildings.

Bob Weston, Chairman and Manging Director at Weston Homes said: “This new outer London development is part of our ongoing major growth and expansion. The business has a highly diverse range of developments, including a series of major landmark schemes commencing and many others in the pipeline.”

Over the last five years, Weston Homes has purchased land sites for over £2 bn worth of residential and mixed use development across outer London and the South East.

This includes 20 current active sites and over 7,500 new homes in the pipeline including traditional housing and large scale urban regeneration projects.

Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.clarkeconstructioncreations.com/?p=1128

Liverpool student block developer goes under

October 23, 2021