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A design and environmental assessment contract for the Picton Bypass in New South Wales has been awarded to MRB Technical Services, advancing plans for a new heavy-vehicle route. The bypass will link Thirlmere and Tahmoor to the Hume Motorway via Picton Road, diverting freight and commuter traffic away from Picton’s existing town centre network. Geometric design, geotechnical investigation and environmental approvals will now define corridor alignment, earthworks volumes and interchange layouts critical for future construction staging.

Geoscience Australia has drilled a 3023‑metre stratigraphic hole in the South Nicholson Basin, pushing national pre‑competitive geoscience to new depths in the hunt for salt and critical minerals. Core and downhole geophysics from the ultra‑deep bore will refine basin architecture, fluid pathways and evaporite distribution models that guide potash, lithium brine and sediment‑hosted base metal exploration. For miners and consultants, the dataset should tighten depth predictions, reduce drilling risk and sharpen targeting in underexplored central Australian basins.

Ramelius Resources has approved an on-market share buyback of up to $250 million to fund an “organic growth strategy” rather than pursue large-scale mergers or acquisitions. The Perth-based gold producer, which operates the Mt Magnet and Edna May operations in Western Australia, is signalling a focus on extending mine life and optimising existing assets through brownfields drilling and incremental plant upgrades. For mining engineers and planners, this points to continued capital allocation towards resource conversion, pit cutbacks and mill debottlenecking rather than step-change expansion projects.

Fenix Resources has set a FY28 target to lift its flagship Mid West iron ore operation to 6Mtpa, underpinned by completing two new mines to feed its existing 1.5Mtpa Iron Ridge hub. The plan centres on staged expansions using road haulage to the Geraldton port, leveraging current crushing and screening infrastructure rather than building a greenfield processing plant. For mine planners and geotechs, the strategy signals sustained pit development, additional waste dump and haul road construction, and longer-term geotechnical monitoring across multiple satellite deposits.

Pipe Tek has unveiled a dedicated inspection trailer for mining slurry and tailings pipelines, integrating in-line inspection tools, data acquisition systems and on-site reporting to reduce downtime on remote assets. The mobile unit is configured to support magnetic flux leakage and calliper tools, with power, lifting gear and climate-controlled workspace packaged on a single road-legal trailer for rapid deployment between sites. For operators managing long-distance HDPE and steel pipelines, the setup enables more frequent condition assessment, faster defect verification and better planning of targeted repairs.

Firebird Metals has reported manganese-iron phosphate (MFP) battery material results that exceed current Chinese industry purity standards, strengthening its case for high-spec cathode precursor supply. The high-purity MFP is targeted at lithium-ion battery applications, positioning Firebird’s planned production as a potential alternative to conventional manganese sulphate routes. For process engineers and metallurgists, the data point to viable upstream integration of manganese ore into value-added MFP with tighter impurity control than typical Chinese benchmark products.

Net Zero Teesside’s £4bn gas-fired power and carbon capture project is expected to award a 10,000‑tonne, £30m structural steelwork package to a Chinese fabricator, prompting a procurement challenge from the British Constructional Steelwork Association. BCSA argues UK plants have immediate capacity to deliver the work, which it says would support about 600 fabrication jobs for a year and avoid roughly 4,000 tonnes of CO₂ from shipping ready-fabricated steel from China. The contract decision sits with Technip Energies, EPC partner with GE Vernova and Balfour Beatty.

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.

Re:Construction podcast Episode 192 delivers a 2025 year-in-review of UK construction, with Bishop & Taylor revisiting major industry stories and project milestones. The episode, released on 10 December 2025 and available to stream online, focuses on sector-wide developments rather than a single scheme, aimed at practitioners who may have missed key announcements during the year. For contractors, consultants and suppliers, it offers a compact recap of regulatory shifts, notable contracts and market signals shaping 2026 planning.

Urban regeneration specialist Ballymore and Slovakian developer Penta Real Estate have formed a 50/50 joint venture to deliver more than 680 homes across two London schemes with a combined GDV exceeding £700m. The Cuba Street project comprises a 52-storey residential tower adjacent to Canary Wharf, while The Capston, the final phase of Ballymore’s Embassy Gardens in Nine Elms, will provide 247 apartments in two blocks of 11 and 22 storeys. Both schemes have planning consent and are already under construction, signalling continued high-rise residential demand despite a tight funding environment.

K-Briq, a masonry unit made from nearly 100% recycled construction and demolition waste, is now sold direct to consumers via B&Q’s diy.com online marketplace. Developed by Heriot-Watt University spin-out Kenoteq, the brick has already been specified by architects for commercial projects and award-winning festival installations, and is now being adopted for domestic renovations and garden walls. Wider retail availability signals growing client pressure for low‑carbon, circular materials in small‑scale builds as well as large commercial schemes.

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.

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.

Scottish Water has signed an advance market commitment to procure almost 20,000m³ of low carbon concrete over five years, equivalent to about 30% of its current annual concrete use. The Innovate UK and Carbon Limiting Technologies-led scheme, funded by the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero, aims to aggregate up to 500,000m³ of demand to de-risk commercialisation of novel low carbon mixes. With Scottish Water investing over £1bn a year in infrastructure, the commitment signals material changes to mix design specifications and supply-chain carbon baselines on upcoming projects.

A cross-party House of Lords Built Environment Committee warns that delays in the Building Safety Regulator’s gateway approval processes are stalling cladding remediation on high‑rise residential blocks. Peers say leaseholders are facing rising interim costs for waking watches, higher insurance premiums and extended scaffolding hire while schemes wait for sign‑off. The committee presses the government and BSR to streamline case handling and resource the regulator adequately so life‑critical façade works can proceed at pace.

Myriad Uranium has increased its interest in the Copper Mountain uranium project in Wyoming to 75% after spending over US$5.5 million in eligible exploration under an option agreement with Rush Rare Metals, which retains 25% subject to underlying NSR royalties. Historic Union Pacific work in the late 1970s outlined six open pits targeting 245 million lb U₃O₈ after spending about US$25 million (around US$100 million today). A new drilling expansion permit obtained in October positions Myriad to test whether Copper Mountain can rank among the largest US uranium projects, in a state already geared for in-situ recovery operations.

Summit Minerals has agreed to acquire 100% of the historic high-grade Keystone polymetallic mine in Nevada, covering 1036 acres of holdings, including 625 acres of patented land. Historic records since 1937 report production of 36,000oz silver and 64oz gold at average grades of 32.2oz/t silver and 0.038oz/t gold (909 g/t Ag, 2.29 g/t Au), with drill core tungsten trioxide grades between 0.5% and 2.25%. The project sits in a skarn and epithermal district that also hosts Coeur’s Rochester mine and the scheelite-bearing Springer (Sutton) operation.

Construction materials distributor GRS Roadstone Group has regained full ownership by buying back Tarmac’s 23.7% stake for an undisclosed sum, following a decade in which GRS expanded ten-fold and reached £480m revenue with £3.0m pre-tax profit to 31 January 2025. The company will retain aggregate supply agreements with Tarmac and continue promoting inert waste disposal in Hertfordshire, signalling continuity for key materials flows. GRS Rail Services remains a 50:50 joint venture, operating railheads at Birmingham, Luton, Northampton, Peterborough and Wellingborough that feed HS2 aggregate supply.

Turner & Townsend has agreed to acquire Johannesburg-based Profica, adding 80 real estate project management and construction specialists to create what it claims will be Africa’s largest real estate project management consultancy. The deal expands Turner & Townsend’s African footprint from 13 to 19 cities and from 11 to 16 countries, growing its regional headcount to about 400 staff. For developers and asset owners, the combined firm signals a single, larger project controls and delivery partner for complex commercial, industrial and mixed-use schemes across the continent.

Case Construction Equipment has appointed HRN Tractors as its Scottish dealer, adding the family-owned group’s depots in Stirling, Insch, Balbeggie and Caithness to the Case UK network. HRN, formerly a John Deere dealer for 40 years and already representing Kubota, Mecalac and sister company Agritrac’s Hyundai Construction Equipment line, plans to use the tie-up to broaden its construction machinery portfolio and target more civil and groundworks contractors. Management is emphasising responsive sales support and parts-backed aftersales as the main lever to win market share.

Brogan Group and Alimak Group have formed a global sales alliance under which Alimak will promote Brogan’s CAS Common Tower and Atlas Gantries through its international contracts and distribution network, integrating them with Alimak hoists and transport platforms into a single vertical access system. The CAS Common Tower, already deployed on complex high-rise schemes such as London’s Wood Wharf and Battersea developments, centralises multiple hoists to one access point to ease logistics, reduce crane reliance and free scarce ground space. Atlas gantries target low-rise industrial and data centre projects, offering a scaffold-free option where tie-in points are limited or large, fragile plant must be installed rapidly.

Construction has begun on GTC’s community heat hub for Taylor Wimpey’s 762-home Swinnow Park estate in Wetherby, using a single large air source heat pump feeding individual heat interface units via underground flow-and-return pipework to eliminate gas boilers. The system, designed to meet the Future Homes Standard, claims 75–80% carbon reduction versus traditional gas and integrates a large thermal water storage tank providing around two hours’ storage in peak winter conditions. Smart control of the hub as a single grid exit point and off-peak charging of the thermal store aim to cut peak electrical demand and limit grid reinforcement.

Berkeley Group reported half-year revenue of £1.18bn and pre-tax profit of £254m to 31 October 2025, both down less than 8%, with net cash at £342m after £132m of share buy-backs and net asset value per share up 5% to £37.63. Chief executive Richard Stearn said highly competitive tendering and subdued housing activity, particularly in London, have kept build costs flat despite National Living Wage and National Insurance increases. He warned that Building Safety Regulator Gateway 2 delays, weak new starts and stalled live projects are straining the supply chain and risk driving experienced trades out of the sector.

Sizewell C will shift from joint leadership to a single chief executive on 1 January 2026, with current co-managing director Nigel Cann becoming CEO as the project passes final investment decision and financial close into its main construction phase. Cann brings 45 years of nuclear experience, including roles as plant manager at Dungeness B and Sizewell B and delivery director for Hinkley Point C until March 2023, which will be critical as major civils, marine works and nuclear-island construction ramp up. Co-managing director CEO Julia Pyke, who helped secure private investor and commercial bank backing for the multi-billion-pound project expected to supply around 7% of UK electricity, will step down at year-end.