Author: James Anderson, FRSA, CMgr MCMI

The family-run business – which opened its first store in Darlington back in 1997 –  launched its new location at 2 Cleveland Gate Retail Park on Saturday.  Frank’s The Flooring Store remains the largest independent flooring store in the North East, and is instantly recognisable for its decades-old catchphrase “I love carpets me.” It has a network of 31 stores offering up selections of carpets, flooring and artificial grass, with the new location set to “bring greater choice and value to the people of Guisborough.” Wayne Jones director and Dom and Joyce Appleton from Guisborough. (Image: FRANK’S THE FLOORING STORE) Wayne Jones, director and well-known face and voice…

Kunisch The construction industry’s era of incremental change is over. The conversations about “digital transformation” have grown stale. The future isn’t about digitizing old processes; but about building a new operating model from the ground up. By 2026, the decisive gap will be between organizations that rely on experience alone and those that fuse experience with data-driven intelligence. The leaders will be those who treat data as their most valuable asset, not as a byproduct. Here are the five trends that will define this new landscape in 2026:Industry Cloud Becomes the Default Operating SystemThe days of fragmented, disconnected point solutions are numbered.…

The private equity-backed maintenance specialist saw off 14 bidders to secure both contracts, covering roofing work across a combined housing stock of around 6,700 homes. The long-term deal runs from April 2026 to September 2030, with scope to extend to 2035, taking the programme to nine and a half years. Quality and price were weighted 50/50 in the open-procedure assessment. Sussex councils roofing programme • Lot 1 – Lewes District Council – Roofing Works: £24m• Lot 2 – Eastbourne Borough Council – Roofing Works: £28m Contracts are expected to be signed by 31 January 2026 following…

Tom Rutland, the Member of Parliament for East Worthing and Shoreham, voted in support of the Government’s Railways Bill, which will establish a new publicly owned company, Great British Railways (GBR). GBR will run and manage the tracks and trains used by passengers every day. Worthing MP Tom Rutland has backed the Government’s Railways Bill. (Image: Supplied) The transition to a publicly owned railway is expected to drive up reliability and clamp down on unacceptable levels of delays, cancellations and waste seen under decades of failing franchise contracts. Mr Rutland said: “This is very welcome news for residents in Adur…

Norwich-based Bubblegum Bathrooms recently submitted plans to convert an empty industrial unit at the Bowthorpe Employment Area in Robberds Way. The company, currently based at Turnpike Close in Hellesdon, is a husband and wife team boasting “more than 30 years of experience in the bathroom industry”. It sells a range of bathroom appliances and accessories such as showers, baths, taps and lights. The site plan shows the business wants to open a new showroom (Image: Planning Portal) READ MORE: Pictures reveal progress to bring famous city work of art back to its former glory The plan, submitted to Broadland District and South Norfolk…

The mother of the 24-year-old unemployed bricklayer behind the Bondi Beach terror attack has recalled the elaborate excuse he told family ahead of the massacre. Naveed Akram, 24, and his father, 50, opened fire on a Jewish Hanukkah event shortly before 7pm on Sunday, killing at least 16 people and injuring a further 40. Akram was apprehended at the scene of the shooting and taken to hospital under police guard in critical but stable condition. His father died at the scene. Speaking from her police-surrounded Bonnyrigg home, in Sydney’s west, Akram’s mother Verena said the 24-year-old had told family he had gone to…

The Kinks.  What does that band name mean to you? How did it all begin?  Who were they? How on earth did a bunch of working-class lads from Muswell Hill become one of the most influential bands of the 60s and 70s?  These questions and many more are answered in this exhilarating and unexpectedly moving celebration of the music, lives of the band members and those around them. Whether you are a die-hard fan, familiar with their rapid rise to fame in early 1960s and their subsequent huge catalogue of hits, or like me you really feel you really ought…

A new long-term strategy for the construction professions has been revealed at the same  time as the government published a new prospectus for the single construction regulator.The government promised to reveal the strategy along with reforms to building regulations and construction products to boost building safety, quality and productivity.On Wednesday (17 December), the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) said it would publish a strategy for “the building professions, including wider trades and occupations, which sets out a clear, unified plan for regulatory and non-regulatory reform at a government, industry and individual level”.That will sit alongside “parallel reforms…

Farmers fear an agreement with the trade bloc known as Mercosur will undercut their livelihoods, and there are broader political concerns it is driving support for the far-right. The farmers brought potatoes and eggs to throw – along with sausages and beer for nourishment – and waged a furious back-and-forth with police. “We are fighting to defend our jobs across all European countries against Mercosur,” said Armand Chevron, a 23-year-old French farmer. Police in riot gear staffed barriers just outside the European Parliament, which evacuated some staff due to damage caused by protesters. In the Belgian capital, protesters burned tyres…

Belfast High CourtA convicted child sex offender used an alias to work as a handyman at homes in Northern Ireland for up to a year, the High Court heard today.Daniel Patrick Blaney, 52, did not inform his designated risk manager about the odd-job duties carried out under a false identity, prosecutors said. Read more here: Click Here