News in Brief February 2021

Scotland-based steelwork contractor AJ Engineering & Construction Services is expanding its premises in a £2.5M investment over the next three years, which it said will allow it to more than double its production capabilities and employ more staff. The development will see its existing buildings in Forres being refurbished and a new automated fabrication facility being installed.

The University of Reading has entered into an agreement with affiliates of Commonwealth Real Estate LP, a film studios investor based in Los Angeles, for a long lease of land at the University’s Thames Valley Science Park campus, Berkshire, which will see the development of a major film studios and creative media campus.

Recycling management firm Binn Group has announced that it has obtained planning consent from Perth & Kinross Council’s Planning and Development Committee for a new energy-from-waste facility. The proposed facility will be located within the Binn Ecopark and is intended to process 84,900 tonnes of residual wastes per annum. It will operate using mass burn rolling grate incinerator technology.

A planning application has been submitted by Muse Developments and South Tyneside Council, to bring forward one of the first near net-zero buildings in the north-east region. The proposals are for a 4,600m² riverside five-storey office block at The Glassworks development in South Shields.

The University of Plymouth has been granted permission to create an iconic new facility that will inspire and educate the next generation of engineers and designers. The Babbage building, on the western edge of the University’s main campus, will be enlarged and enhanced to provide an innovative and sustainable new home for the School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics and additional space for the School of Art, Design and Architecture.