Coriant acquires Intech Environmental to expand industrial services

Daniel Norton
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Coriant acquires Intech Environmental to expand industrial services

Coriant has acquired Intech Environmental, adding industrial cleaning, confined-space rescue and rope access capabilities to the group behind Rainham, Zenith and SCA.

The H.I.G. Capital-backed industrial and infrastructure maintenance group announced the acquisition on 2 November. It said the deal would establish industrial cleaning as a dedicated service line alongside its existing operations.

Financial terms were not disclosed in the announcement.

Intech Environmental operates across the UK, working in energy from waste, steel, water treatment, utilities and other industrial sectors. Its services include high-pressure water jetting, specialist vacuum work and cleaning tanks, silos and vessels.

The business supports planned maintenance, shutdowns and outages, as well as more complex cleaning projects. Coriant said bringing those capabilities into the group would allow it to offer customers a wider range of services through one supplier.

The acquisition follows the formation of Coriant around Rainham, Zenith and TEi, and subsequent additions including Control Valve Services, SCA and Wescott SGS.

Scaffolding and specialist access are already part of that mix. Coriant announced its acquisition of SCA in April, adding access scaffolding, temporary containment and industrial support services for the marine, defence and infrastructure markets.

Maxine Mayhew, chief executive of Coriant, said: “Bringing Intech into Coriant is another important step in building a leading, increasingly full-service industrial services group.”

She said Intech’s specialist cleaning capabilities would strengthen the group’s service offering as it continued to expand.

Brian Kilminster, managing director of Intech Environmental, said joining Coriant would enable the business to combine its expertise with the group’s other operations.

“We have built our business on specialist expertise, a strong focus on safety and quality, and a commitment to delivering reliable solutions in demanding industrial environments,” he said.

The announcement did not disclose Intech’s turnover or workforce size, or set out changes to its management or branding.

Ibstock issues profit warning as brick demand weakens

Alex Mercer
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Ibstock issues profit warning as brick demand weakens

Ibstock has warned that its second-half performance will fall materially short of previous expectations after third-quarter brick sales came in 22% below forecast, according to Construction Enquirer.

The UK building products manufacturer is cutting production to limit stock levels and continuing to reduce costs, the publication reported on 2 November.

The sales shortfall is measured against expectations, rather than the same period last year.

Chief executive Joe Hudson was quoted as saying: “Trading conditions deteriorated sharply during the third quarter, with weakness continuing into October.”

Hudson said reducing output would put further pressure on earnings in the near term, but was necessary to bring production into line with demand.

The warning follows a difficult first half. In its interim results published on 5 August, Ibstock reported revenue of £164m, down from £193m a year earlier. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation fell from £36m to £26m.

At that stage, the company still expected a stronger second half, although full-year earnings were forecast towards the bottom of market expectations.

Ibstock said private housebuilding and repair, maintenance and improvement activity remained subdued. Its brick business was increasingly weighted towards new-build residential demand.

NASC highlights gambling harms in workplace safety guidance

Daniel Norton
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NASC highlights gambling harms in workplace safety guidance

NASC is urging scaffolding employers to address gambling harms in their safety and wellbeing arrangements, warning that fatigue, stress and lost concentration can affect work on site.

The confederation outlined its recommendations in a bulletin announced on 19 October, produced with assistance from Betknowmore UK.

Its public summary links those effects to potential risks during scaffold erection and material handling, as well as pressure on colleagues when workers are absent.

NASC recommends a workplace gambling policy, questions within risk assessments and consideration of blocking software on work devices. It also calls for awareness training across businesses, with more detailed training for senior leaders and tools to help managers discuss concerns and direct staff to support.

The bulletin, Safety, health and wellbeing risks of gambling in the workplace, is available to NASC members under reference NASC/2026/006.

Betknowmore UK’s wider workplace guidance emphasises a supportive approach to policy. In a March 2023 article, the charity said fear of losing a job can discourage employees from seeking help, and urged employers to make support information readily available.

The charity describes gambling harms as effects that can extend beyond the person gambling to families, employers and communities. These may include damaged relationships, financial difficulties and poorer performance at work or in education.

Free, confidential help for people concerned about their own or someone else’s gambling is available through GamCare. Its National Gambling Helpline, 0808 8020 133, operates 24 hours a day, alongside online support.

PHD Access joins £190m Dungeness A decommissioning team

Alex Mercer
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PHD Access joins £190m Dungeness A decommissioning team

PHD Access has been named as the scaffolding partner for a Dungeness A decommissioning programme worth up to £190m.

Principal contractor Aureos confirmed the firm’s involvement in an announcement on 28 October. The £190m figure covers Aureos’ overall contract, not PHD’s scaffolding package. No separate value was disclosed.

Nuclear Restoration Services awarded the contract to remove eight boilers from the former Kent power station, along with associated plant and infrastructure. Each boiler weighs around 800 tonnes.

PHD joins a specialist team which includes Keltbray on demolition and asbestos removal, EDF Cyclife on radioactive de-planting and component preparation, and Mammoet and Nxgen on heavy lifting.

Aureos said surrounding buildings and plant would be removed before the boilers could be extracted. Sections of the concrete boiler cells will be cut and lifted out to make room.

A jack-and-slide system will then move the boilers out of their cells before they are taken to a storage area.

The programme includes work in a Radiological Controlled Area. Aureos said controls would address residual radiation and asbestos hazards alongside demolition, lifting and construction risks.

NRS said the award followed four years of enabling work. Aureos was selected through a competition covering technical capability, delivery certainty, innovation, social value and cost.

Once complete, the programme will have removed around a third of Dungeness A’s above-ground structures, reducing the site’s footprint and future maintenance needs.

Contractor injured in fall during Port Kembla scaffold erection

Daniel Norton
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Contractor injured in fall during Port Kembla scaffold erection

A contractor was taken to hospital after falling more than four metres while erecting scaffolding at BlueScope’s Port Kembla steelworks in Australia, ABC News reports.

The 23-year-old was working on the Number Six Blast Furnace Reline project on 29 October.

BlueScope told ABC he fell into a pipe early that morning.

Emergency crews used a crane to bring him down before he was taken to Wollongong Hospital with a hip injury, according to the broadcaster.

SafeWork NSW told ABC its inspectors had visited the site following notification of the incident.

ABC’s report does not identify the contractor’s employer or establish what caused the fall.

Hong Kong plans safety overhaul after Wang Fuk Court fire report

Daniel Norton
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Hong Kong plans safety overhaul after Wang Fuk Court fire report

Hong Kong plans to overhaul building-renovation controls after the Wang Fuk Court fire inquiry called for 120 changes.

The report was released on 29 October, a week after it was submitted to the government. Sections remain redacted to protect ongoing criminal prosecutions.

The November 2025 fire killed 168 people. It spread through seven residential towers undergoing renovation, with scaffold and dust netting covering their exteriors.

According to the government’s summary, the inquiry identified the suspected replacement of fire-retardant scaffold netting with non-fire-retardant material, combustible foam boards and openings made in escape staircases as factors in the disaster.

Regulatory overhaul

The government plans to restructure oversight, centralise building-works data and change how complaints are handled. It also intends to legislate against bid-rigging and establish a Building Maintenance Support & Services Council.

A steering committee led by the Chief Secretary will oversee the recommendations and proposed changes to six pieces of legislation. These are announced reforms, rather than a completed set of new rules.

Reuters reported that the inquiry heard from 80 witnesses over 30 hearings and examined more than one million files and submissions. Witnesses included residents, renovation personnel, engineers, fire experts and regulators.

Scaffmag reported the submission of the inquiry’s findings on 22 October, when they had yet to be made public.

The redacted report is now available in two volumes. The government says it will release the full version once the relevant criminal proceedings have concluded.

Shield tackles hilltop access challenge in 19-day scaffold build

Daniel Norton
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Shield tackles hilltop access challenge in 19-day scaffold build

Shield Scaffolding Services erected access around Wiltshire’s 38-metre Lansdowne Monument in 19 days despite a steep, rutted approach that prevented vans and lorries from reaching the hilltop site.

The scaffolding division of Shield Services Group designed and installed the structure for Cliveden Conservation to support restoration of the Grade II* listed obelisk at Cherhill.

Even four-wheel-drive access depended on ground conditions, according to Shield.

The contractor worked with the project team and a local farmer to move materials up to the exposed site.

Jamie Angell, Shield’s scaffolding managing director, said:

“This was a project where the planning and preparation were just as important as the installation itself. The location meant we had to think carefully about how we would get the materials to the monument and keep everything moving efficiently once we were on site.”

Shield said the monument’s prominent position in the downland landscape also called for a sensitive approach to erecting the scaffold.

Angell added: “The team worked extremely well together, adapting to the access conditions and working closely with Cliveden to overcome the logistical challenges.”

The completed structure provides working access for Cliveden and its specialist conservation teams.

The 19-day programme covered scaffold installation. Conservation work was still ongoing when Shield’s representatives supplied a project update to Scaffmag on 20 October.

Historic England’s listing dates the obelisk to 1845, when it was erected to Sir Charles Barry’s design for the third Marquess of Lansdowne.

It commemorates Sir William Petty, the statistician and economist who was an ancestor of the Petty-Fitzmaurice family.

The rubble-stone monument, with ashlar dressings, stands on Cherhill Down alongside the chalk White Horse and Oldbury Castle’s Iron Age earthworks, as described by the National Trust.

Self-employment reforms could shift proof burden onto contractors

Daniel Norton
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Self-employment reforms could shift proof burden onto contractors

Scaffolding contractors could have to prove that individuals are genuinely self-employed in tribunal disputes under government proposals to strengthen workers’ rights.

A government options assessment published on 29 October examines plans for a presumption of worker status at employment tribunals and changes to the weight given to personal service.

The preferred option carries an estimated equivalent annual net direct cost to business of £167.8m.

That is an economy-wide estimate for the proposals, not a charge on scaffolding firms or a forecast of this sector’s costs.

The assessment also identifies benefits that have not been given a monetary value, including worker wellbeing and a more level playing field for businesses already providing employment protections.

The proposals have not become law. The Make Work Pay consultation, launched on 14 October, seeks views on tackling bogus self-employment and strengthening protections for genuinely self-employed people.

The consultation covers England, Wales and Scotland and closes at 11.55pm on 8 January 2027. Employment law is devolved to Northern Ireland.

Worker status and substitution

One proposal would give less weight to personal service when deciding whether someone is a worker.

A contractual right to send a substitute would count for less where other features of the relationship point towards worker status.

A proposed presumption of worker status would put the burden of proving genuine self-employment on the business engaging the individual.

The consultation also seeks views on enforcement and a possible role for the Fair Work Agency.

For scaffolding firms using self-employed labour, the issue reaches beyond contract wording to how work is organised and who controls it.

Blacklisting and safety protections

Construction is singled out in the consultation document as an industry where blacklisting has historically been a particular problem.

The government asks whether protections should cover more self-employed people.

Other proposals explore protection against detrimental treatment for self-employed people taking appropriate action over serious and imminent workplace danger.

The consultation also considers a wider role for self-employed trade union members as safety representatives.

A proposed right to written statements would give genuinely self-employed people clearer information about their individual contracts.

The plans concern employment rights, not tax. The government announcement contains no proposals to change tax status or tax frameworks.

Businesses, workers, unions and representative bodies can respond before the January deadline. The government will consider submissions before publishing its response.

Scaffolding firms face tighter harassment duties from 30 October

Alex Mercer
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Scaffolding firms face tighter harassment duties from 30 October

Scaffolding employers face tighter harassment duties and new trade-union access rules from Friday 30 October, including responsibilities for staff working on client-controlled sites.

The Employment Rights Act 2025 changes cover England, Wales and Scotland, not Northern Ireland, under commencement regulations made on 1 October.

The measures affect how contractors prevent harassment by clients and other trades, handle complaints and respond to union requests.

Stronger harassment duties

From 30 October, employers must take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment, strengthening the existing reasonable-steps duty.

They can also be liable for harassment of employees by third parties in the course of employment if they failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent it. That separate provision is not limited to sexual harassment.

Acas guidance lists clients, customers, self-employed contractors and tradespeople among the third parties to consider. Liability is not automatic simply because someone from another business behaves badly.

Acas advises employers to assess risks, review policies and relevant contract terms, train staff and provide clear reporting routes.

What is reasonable depends on factors including the organisation’s size, sector and the work involved.

For scaffolding firms, that includes arrangements for employees on client-controlled sites as well as conduct in the yard or office.

Union access is not unrestricted site entry

Trade unions will have a route to seek physical or digital workplace access through agreements or Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) decisions.

The framework does not give unions unrestricted entry to construction sites.

Under the access regulations, the employer’s response period ends on the 15th working day after receiving a request.

The negotiation period then ends on the 25th working day after the response notice.

The CAC must consider workplace safety and steps taken to secure necessary third-party co-operation, relevant where the scaffolding employer does not control the site.

The CAC must refuse access where the employer and associated employers together have fewer than 21 workers both when the request arrives and on average over the preceding 13 weeks.

The threshold applies across those employers, not to the headcount on an individual site.

The harassment duties and union-access process are separate. Employers should check the detailed guidance against their working arrangements.

ImageDeep targets site security with solar-powered Houndlight camera

Alex Mercer
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0
ImageDeep targets site security with solar-powered Houndlight camera

ImageDeep is targeting construction sites and storage yards without mains power or Wi-Fi with Houndlight, a solar-powered 4G camera system designed to detect intruders and trigger warnings.

The company says the unit combines a camera, solar panel and battery with on-device AI detection. When it detects a person or vehicle, it can activate a light, siren and voice warning and send an alert to a phone.

For scaffolding contractors, the potential application is monitoring yard entrances, compounds and temporary site access points outside working hours. The functions described concern security monitoring, rather than checking the condition or structural safety of a scaffold.

Houndlight can be mounted on a pole, wall or temporary post and moved as a site changes, according to ImageDeep. The company says it is available in the UK alongside markets including Ireland, North America and Australia.

Optional human-verified monitoring is offered through ImageDeep’s operators. Its product information distinguishes the local warning functions from services such as remote verification and dispatch to nominated keyholders, which require a network connection.

Founder Niall Dorr said the product was intended to bring the company’s AI technology to gates, yards and fields without the infrastructure needed for conventional connected systems.

In a release sent to Scaffmag on 28 October, ImageDeep said units were available to order from its current production run. The company has offices in Dublin and Hong Kong.

Detailed specifications are confirmed for each site at the order or pilot stage, according to the product page. Contractors considering the system will therefore need site-specific information on power sizing, mobile connectivity and detection range rather than assuming a single operating specification applies everywhere.

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