Weekly round-up - 20 July 2015

Crossrail 2 builds momentum, LafargeHolcim launch, plea for increase in skilled migrant cap and Japanese ditch Zaha Hadid Olympic stadium design.

Jackie Whitelaw
20 July 2015

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1. London Mayor Boris Johnson has set up a new Crossrail 2 Growth Commission to promote and progress the £20bn scheme between Chelsea and Hackney. It will be headed by former local leader of London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Sir Merrick Cockell. The move came as business leaders also pushed to get the scheme moving, signing an open letter to national newspapers with signatories being the chief executives of Mace, Turner & Townsend and Morgan Sindall. 

2. The new group of LafargeHolcim has now been officially launched following the successful completion of the merger between the two companies. In the UK, Aggregate Industries, a leader in the construction products market, employing around 3500 people, has been retained as part of the new LafargeHolcim group. Responding to the launch of LafargeHolcim from a UK perspective, Aggregate Industries CEO, Pat Ward, said:   "We're very proud to be part of the new LafargeHolcim group and look forward to making the most of the opportunities this presents to us in the UK."

3. CBI is urging the government to increase the skilled migration cap to help business fill vacancies in the skills crisis.  “The Government’s current direction on non-EU immigration is causing some headaches for businesses. Growth in the UK economy is stronger than in other countries, businesses are facing skill shortages and international students want to learn at the best universities in the world. These are factors which draw people to the UK – people who are more likely to be employed, earning and paying taxes. We want the Government to scrap the net migration target and to increase the skilled migration cap to protect the UK’s reputation as being open for dealing,” said director general John Cridland in the organisations verdict on the new Government’s progress. 

4. The Japanese have cancelled plans to build the $2bn Olympic Stadium designed by Zaha Hadid for the Games in 2020. Hadid’s scheme won an international competition to design the stadium, which was scheduled to be completed in time to host the Rugby World Cup in 2019, and the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020. But the public and local architects thought the design was too big for the site and following public pressure Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has announced, following a meeting with the chairman of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic committee, that plans for the stadium will “start over from zero.”

5. Subsidies for new wind farms including offshore wind farms, and solar power plants are set to be cut as official figures reveal that schemes will need £1.5bn more in subsidies than anticipated, the Daily Telegraph reports. The decision is expected to be announced this week.

6. The government has launched a £20M competitive fund for collaborative research and development into driverless vehicles, along with a code of practice for testing with the intention of putting the UK at the forefront of the intelligent mobility market, expected to be worth £900bn by 2025. The government wants bidders to put forward proposals in areas such as safety, reliability, how vehicles can communicate with each other and the environment around them and how driverless vehicles can help give an ageing population greater independence. Successful bidders will match fund projects with their own money.

7. Osborne has been awarded the contract to redevelop the existing theatre at the Royal Academy of Music in including alterations and refurbishment of the existing theatre together with the addition of a new Recital Hall and glazed lobby at roof level above the theatre. 

8. THE SNP’s 56 MPs are to get involved with more English issues and policies in a bid to extend the party’s influence elsewhere in the UK. Transport links between Scotland and the north of England, including the HS2 train, are among the areas the SNP intends to try to influence, The Scotsman said.