United Utilities has awarded Barhale three AMP8 contracts under its £3bn Better Rivers programme to boost stormwater storage and cut storm overflow spills by 60% before 2030 across more than 300 miles of northwest waterways. Works include a 500m³ detention tank with a 10.5m-diameter, 13m-deep shaft at Cheadle, a 1,400m³ caisson-built shaft (15m diameter, 13m deep) plus Section 278 access works at Wheatfield Close, and a 14m-diameter, 6m-high stainless steel tank providing 1,000m³ at Thornton. Associated CSO modifications, new wet wells and outfalls are due for completion between March and June 2026.

Construction consultant Rider Levett Bucknall (RLB UK) reports that the chancellor’s recent UK budget statement has had negligible effect on its construction tender price forecasts. Existing projections for 2024–2025 inflation in building and infrastructure costs, driven mainly by labour availability, materials volatility and supply-chain capacity, remain largely unchanged. Contractors and clients should therefore plan on previously signalled cost trajectories rather than expecting short-term budget-driven relief in bid prices.

More than 30 construction workers have been suspended from Johnson Matthey’s £80m, government-backed hydrogen gigafactory site in Hertfordshire after refusing to work under what Unite describes as worsening dangerous conditions. Alleged breaches include no running water or heating, lack of cold-weather PPE, and inadequate ventilation while grinding paint containing carcinogens, with the site already shut for two weeks over health and safety concerns and Unite linking the situation to two suicides. Johnson Matthey, and contractors BGEN and Bilfinger, reject the claims, while Unite is pressing for immediate HSE intervention and site access.