The Pegasus Report 17th of May

Welcome to this week’s Pegasus Report!

This week, lots more positive industry news, six new skyscrapers are in the planning and look set to further change the London skyline, great news, and further proof that the commercial sector is bouncing back!

On with the latest news…

News Round-up

In the South, the preferred bidder has been chosen to deliver a £360m leisure centre at Woolwich in south-east London. Planning permission has been granted for a £22m affordable housing development in Newham designed to Passivhaus standards. Demolition work has commenced and work is officially starting on the £1.3bn redevelopments of the London Olympia Exhibition Centre in West Kensington. Approval for a further 1,200 flats at the Colindale Gardens scheme in northwest London has been given. In central London, the Marble Arch London BID has teamed up with Multivista to launch a live stream, allowing the public to follow every step of the exciting installation process, of the 25m high, grass-covered Marble Arch Mound pop-up platform comes to life.

In the Midlands, work on a new £20m service hub for West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) in Sandwell has started. Highways England has put firms on notice for a £335m bid race to deliver routine and responsive roads maintenance in the West Midlands. The Mace and Dragados team has been chosen to build Birmingham’s new city centre £570m HS2 railway station.

In the North West, work to demolish the vacant Technology House on Lissadel Road has started and the replacement building, for the University of Salford’s £13m North of England Robotics Innovation Centre has been redesigned to better fit the wider £2.5bn Salford Crescent masterplan. Work is set to start to create Manchester’s first major public park in 100 years as part of the £1.4bn Mayfield development.

In Scotland, SSE Thermal and Equinor are joining forces to develop a power station, that could be one of the UK’s first power stations to be equipped with carbon-capture technology. The Scottish government has allocated £120m to Glasgow City Council for the construction of new affordable housing, the council will work in partnership with the city’s registered social landlords to deliver the new homes.

In other news, plans have been unveiled £1.6bn modular rental homes across the UK. Fifteen firms including Aecom, Turner & Townsend and Arcadis have won places on a £40m Homes England consultancy framework. Network Rail Infrastructure has started the tender race for a contractor to re-open passenger services between a new Portishead station and Bristol Temple Meads.

Industry Insights

This week’s Industry insights

Six planned skyscrapers to change London city skyline

Construction continues to expand at record pace

UK economy's catchup period on course to be shorter than after 2008 crisis

Queen's Speech 2021: RICS response

HS2 hits historic milestone as first TBM launches

First trains start running in Crossrail trial

Over 1m homes in England with planning permission not built

Burnham vows to accelerate plans for improved, London-style transport network - About Manchester

Construction sector falling short on COVID testing

Technology News

This week’s technology news

Accelerating towards net-zero requires joining the dots on digital and productivity

Partnership to help transform hospital construction

Green Issues

This week’s green news, starting with the world’s greenest cities.

These 5 global cities are leading the charge to a renewable future

Construction can Pivot Towards Sustainability - UK Construction Online

Millions of bricks to be made from waste

Building's hard problem - making concrete green

Decarbonisation: Let the public sector lead the way

Morgan Sindall to plant 270,000 trees

Construction firms vaunted for trail-blazing race to net zero

Place North West | COMMENT | Peat plays key role in achieving net zero carbon

Sustainable data centers require sustainable construction

International Stories

This week’s global round-up

32 solar trees give power and shade to Shanghai marketplace - News - GCR

Cost to keep Miami dry over next few decades is $4 billion

Canada’s spending on building construction grows

Russia plans up to five floating nuclear power stations for northeast wilderness - News - GCR

Winning designs unveiled for the sustainable redesign of Saratov

China plans to modernise 2km airstrip in centre of Pacific Ocean - News - GCR

Career Items

This week’s career items

Mental health: Can you tell if someone is struggling?

Why do we buy into the 'cult' of overwork?

Post-furlough anxiety - construction sector reaches "peak yoga mat"

How to deal with anxiety about returning to "normal"

Your home life is about to get more complicated. How to manage a hybrid schedule

Hustle culture is burning us out. Here are 3 more productive ways to achieve success

I interviewed 500 happy people. Their habits will transform your day

Until Next week…

Have a great week.

Have you checked out our Pegasus Podcast, the podcast channel dedicated to construction and property professionals. Helping you navigate your career and keep aware of the latest insights in the industry, Find our Podcast on the Pegasus website, Spotify and Apple Podcasts, Become a listener today.

Epsiodes

‎Pegasus Radio on Apple Podcasts