Fires at homes, commercial and industrial buildings are on the rise and spreading more frequently, says QBE.

The Masonry Association of Great Britain (MAGB) is calling for the fire safety performance of cavity barriers to be considered over the full life of a building, not just at the point of laboratory tests.

Homeowners are being warned of the dangers of hiring disreputable installers for solar panels, following a series of fires linked to the renewable energy source over the last year.

A robot that can self-locate, self-position and self-tie up to 1,100 rebar intersections an hour is being used on a major civils project in Florida.