Balfour and Mabey bridge gap and PPE campaign award | The best images of October 2026

Our pick of the standout construction pictures from the past month.

Balfour Beatty brought in temporary works specialist Mabey Hire to construct a temporary bridge near Weston-on-Trent in Derbyshire to facilitate critical electricity infrastructure repairs, on the back of major flooding. With a total clear span of 39 metres for the main span, the temporary bridge featured 13 bays, in addition to five bays (15 metres) for the adjacent span and down ramp. 

Regional contractor Stepnell has completed a £4.2m lace-inspired bridge in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, as part of a wider town regeneration programme. It replaces a 113-year-old crossing that connected Long Eaton’s town centre with West Park, the borough’s largest park. The bridge will provide a route over the Erewash Canal for walkers and cyclists.

Bouygues UK has completed the super structures of the Advanced Technology Centre scheme for client Cardiff and Vale College (CAVC). The project is part of CAVC’s £119m investment in two new campuses in the Vale of Glamorgan located at Cardiff Airport.
The new facility will include classrooms and workshops, a business centre, an advanced composites manufacturing hub, robotics and mechatronics labs, and a dedicated “green skills house”.

A council-commissioned housing scheme in South London designed by Mary Duggan Architects with RUFF Architects and built by contractor CField has won the RIBA Stirling Prize 2026. The Lion Green Road development in Coulsdon comprises five blocks with 157 dwellings combining privately owned and socially rented homes built for Croydon Council.

J Coffey Construction has successfully completed the first structural concrete pour at a riverside office on London’s South Bank. Completing in 2029 for client Mitsubish Estate London and CO-RE, the scheme will feature a 25-storey south tower, a 13-storey north tower and a six-storey podium. The project is designed by Make Architects. Multiplex is the main contractor.

The #PPEthatfits campaign, led by CIOB and supported by Construction Management, has won Best Lobbying Campaign at the 2026 MemCom Excellence Awards. The award, presented at the MemCom Awards ceremony in London in September, recognises the campaign’s progress from raising awareness of ill-fitting PPE to influencing standards, political debate and industry practice.