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Advanced hardware and software employee management systems are starting to become mission-critical solutions for companies in the construction sector that struggle to manage their skilled employees in a proficient manner. Managing one’s employees in a very clear, efficient and productive manner is particularly important nowadays, as the construction industry is facing significant skills shortages, according to the latest Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) UK Construction Market Survey (Q2 2014).

Advanced workforce management and time and attendance systems are becoming a “must-have” for more and more companies across the UK, as their level of confidence and optimism regarding future profits and investment opportunities is reaching unprecedented levels and they’re hiring new staff at a very rapid pace.

One of the UK’s largest supermarkets has revealed plans to significantly cut its workforce across its chain of stores in a bid to make the whole business more cost-effective and in-tune with the increased level of demand in online shopping. ASDA has announced that its restructure plans will affect all of its 578 stores, with up to 1,360 workers in danger of being made redundant in the next few weeks.

Millions of pounds will be invested to boost the supply of new houses in all areas of the UK, Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has recently revealed in a statement. In excess of £53m will be used to speed up the construction of more than 7,000 homes on large developments in Manchester, Medway, Swindon and Kettering, while a new £3m fund will also help planning authorities tackle barriers to work staring on site. Over £49 million will sup

The Mayor of London’s office has approved plans to transform the site of an abandoned former psychiatric hospital, owned by the Greater London Authority (GLA), into 675 homes, a news report on the matter could recently reveal. The Cane Hill Hospital in Coulsdon as been unused since 1991. In 2010, large parts of the building were destroyed by a fire.

One of the world’s best-known fast food chains has revealed plans to create no less than 8,000 new jobs across the UK market over the next three years, a business media news report was able to reveal.

Small and medium enterprises across the UK are set to spend £8 billion more on technology this year than they did during 2013, a survey of more than 2,000 businesses by GE Capital was able to reveal. SMEs will spend £22.8bn on technology in 2014, up 54% on their collective tech expenditure last year according to the report. As a result, sales in IT hardware, software and office equipment are poised for growth.

Cornwall residents will be given a chance to design their own homes as the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), Carillion-igloo and Coastline Housing have signed a legal agreement that lays the groundwork for up to 150 new and affordable homes to be built beside the Heartlands regeneration project at Trevenson Park, Pool.

Housing Delivery Partners, a consortium made up of private housing developer Redrow Homes, affordable housing provider Liverpool Mutual Homes (LMH) and its building contractor Willmott Dixon, are set to embark on a very ambitious house building and regeneration scheme in the area, all worth a whopping £200m.

The Government’s Help to Buy scheme has helped over 27,000 people across the country move into new homes and it’s likely to lead to 200,000 new homes being built until 2020. The Help to Buy Equity Loan enables people to buy a newly-built home with a deposit of at least 5% of the property price, while the government offers a loan of up to 20%, while the rest is covered by a mortgage, a news report tackling this topic explains.

Plans to fully regenerate a housing estate in Hackney and build more than 3,000 new homes in the process received a seal of approval from the Mayor of London as part of the the Woodberry Down ‘Masterplan’. Back in 2005, developer Berkeley Homes began to regenerate the Woodberry Down Estate in Hackney, comprising 1,980 properties that date back to the 1940s. To this date, the company has built 862 new homes, with a further 180 currently under construction, a news source could reveal.

A total of £1.5bn has been set aside for several regeneration schemes targeting Liverpool, a news report in the local business media could reveal. The initiatives could lead to the creation of 12,000 construction jobs and 4,000 permanent jobs while a further existing 3,000 jobs will be safeguarded.