Daily briefing
National Construction News briefing: Thursday 8 October 2026
15 stories from the last 24 hours, five dates for the week ahead, new figures from our data trackers and five closing dates from our recent stories.
Stories from the last 24 hours
121 construction tenders close on Find a Tender 9 to 22 October, with £431m in single contracts
Cabinet Office open data shows 99 public-sector buyers have construction works tenders closing in the fortnight, led by a £95.9m Northern Ireland Housing Executive maintenance contract and £50m of Barbican MEP works.
DIO completes £3.5m RAF Marham runway intersection resurfacing three weeks early
VIVO and its sub-contractors resurfaced 28,000 square metres of the RAF Marham runway intersection in five weeks, with the DIO reporting a £3.8m saving from dropping an on-site batching plant.
Kier wins four Thames Water AMP8 wastewater contracts worth nearly £65m
A £53.7m main construction contract at Harpenden sewage treatment works leads a package of four Thames Water awards to Kier, with further work at Princes Risborough and Wisley.
GRAHAM breaks ground on 10,000 sq m Cranbourne School rebuild in Basingstoke
The contractor's third Department for Education framework school will replace seven buildings, some containing RAAC, with a single campus combining teaching space, a sports hall and a swimming pool.
Morgan Sindall hands over £9m Pilgrims' Way Primary School rebuild in Canterbury
The contractor has finished the two-form entry, 420-place replacement school for the Department for Education and Veritas Multi Academy Trust, its first Southern Home Counties job under the latest DfE construction framework.
Island Line to shut in two phases as Network Rail lays 700m of new track at Ryde
Network Rail Wessex and South Western Railway will shut the Isle of Wight line in two phases from 31 October to 29 November for track repairs, realignment and a 700m track renewal between Ryde Pier Head and Ryde St Johns Road.
Pennycook writes to Planning Inspectorate chief on the new NPPF
The minister of state has set out to the Planning Inspectorate's chief executive how the rewritten Framework is meant to support housing supply, after its decision-making policies took effect on 17 August.
FIS takes fit-out, drylining and plastering strand of CITB's Specialist Upskilling Fund
The finishes and interiors trade body is one of 11 organisations CITB has chosen to help employers in specialist trades reach competence training and NVQs, with each sector application capped at £35,000 over 12 months.
Employee-owned Lindum Group marks 70 years with £209m turnover and 224 homes on site
The Lincoln contractor, founded with a £100 loan in 1956, reached its 70th anniversary with more than 600 staff, no borrowing and a pipeline of schools, homes and retail schemes.
Lighthouse Charity North East dinner raises £27,650 as charity marks 70 years
An anonymous donor doubled the money raised at the construction charity's annual North East dinner in Newcastle Gateshead, held in the week of its 70th anniversary, taking the total past £27,650.
CIBSE launches free four-part London event series on who owns the building performance gap
The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers will host four free afternoon sessions at its Saffron Hill headquarters between 5 November and 1 December covering sizing, controls, heat networks, modelling and post-occupancy evaluation.
ECA points electrical contractors to updated New Hospital Programme supplier guide
The trade body has told members where electrical work packages sit in the £9.6bn programme and will run a healthcare sector forum later this year or in early 2027.
AECOM names Laura Jackson Pugh head of North for project and cost management
The chartered project manager joins from Tetra Tech to lead AECOM's project and cost management work across the North of England, months after the firm won nine lots on the GCA's CPS2 framework.
FASET guidance sets out how net riggers close eaves gaps with 100mm limit and tied-off bags
The safety netting trade body's eaves bags bulletin sets out how riggers should close unavoidable gaps at eaves overhangs and core walls, alongside its wider rule that gaps should not exceed 100mm.
Tilbury Douglas completes sealed CL3 robotic lab at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
Contractor's in-house engineering team led M&E design management on a prefabricated, pressure-tested containment level three laboratory built in nine months inside a live research building in Liverpool.
This week
Energy Efficiency Awards
Takes place on Friday 9 October.
World Mental Health Day
Takes place on Saturday 10 October.
British Construction and Infrastructure Awards
Takes place on Wednesday 14 October.
Highways UK
Starts on Wednesday 14 October.
RIBA Stirling Prize
Takes place on Thursday 15 October.
New figures
Construction tenders closing: 9 to 22 October 2026
- Open tenders closing
- 121
- Estimated value
- £431.0 million
- Buyers
- 99
Closing soon
Northern Ireland Housing Executive is seeking tenders for "Response Maintenance and Improvement Works", estimated at £95,931,041 excluding VAT, with a deadline of 15:00 on 12 October 2026.
The consultation closes on Friday 16 October 2026.
Rochdale Boroughwide Housing Limited's ITT for the Provision of Repairs Services Tender, valued at £32,197,500 including VAT, also closes on 16 October at 12:00.
Largest construction works tenders closing 5 to 18 October 2026
That consultation runs until 21 October.
About this briefing
Published on weekday mornings. Every item comes from a story National Construction News has already published and checked against its sources, from dates organisers have published, or from our data trackers. See the events and awards calendar, or get the week's stories by email with the weekly newsletter.