Two more contractors went under this week, both exposed on funding risk that a full order book does not fix. At the other end of the market, public sector frameworks worth billions moved through every stage from first shortlist to signed contract, while four separate planning approvals opened work that will not start for years.

The week in numbers: 24 stories this week, 2 firms gone under (13 this year, tracked on the insolvencies list), and 124 senior roles open right now.

The collapses keep landing in the same corner of the market

Torsion Construction collapsed this week owing £15m to suppliers, a fresh warning for anyone exposed to build-to-rent and PBSA subcontracting chains. Earlier in the week Helix Construct, a 40-staff Berkshire contractor working across affordable housing, education and care schemes, filed to appoint administrators owing £7.6m to creditors.

That is two firms gone under in a week, and 13 so far this year on the insolvencies list. It matters most to commercial managers, QSs and site managers currently on a BTR, PBSA or smaller general contractor's site: get retention schedules and payment positions in writing now, not after an administrator is appointed.

Frameworks are moving at every different speed

Two of the week's biggest public frameworks are still only at the shortlist or procurement-opening stage. Transport Scotland named five firms, Balfour Beatty/Morrison, Graham, Hochtief, Kier and Wills Bros, on the shortlist for its £1.94bn A9 dualling framework, with no award yet. Northern Ireland Water has just opened procurement on a civils, pipelaying and M&E framework that could run to £10.5bn over 12 years, a process, not a contract, for now.

Elsewhere the money is already moving. Kier, Vinci and Wates won first-time places on Birmingham's £3bn Constructing West Midlands framework, live from late September. Fusion21 has named the 80 contractors sharing its £350m repairs framework from October, and Marlborough Highways beat four bigger rivals to a seven-year, £150m highways deal in West Berkshire. In London, Knight Harwood landed a £69m Crown Estate job in Mayfair, and Salford swapped developer Vistry for Seddon on a £40m Ordsall scheme.

Check which of these you are actually on: for QSs, commercial and project managers across the Midlands, Scottish highways, Northern Ireland water or social housing repairs, a shortlist and a signed contract call for very different conversations with your employer.

Planning approvals are stacking up work for the 2030s

Four planning decisions this week point at work that will not need extra hands for years. York Council approved the first phase of McLaren's £2bn York Central regeneration, clearing over 1,000 homes to start on site next year. Lambeth approved a 69-storey residential cluster at Vauxhall Square after a split vote, and City Hall approved the £250m Beckton Riverside clean-up, where the first jobs are remediation, not tower cranes. MCR has also lodged plans for a 400-room hotel inside BT Tower, with the build not starting until 2029.

None of these need a site team yet, but the run-up before BT Tower starts, and the multi-year masterplans at York Central and Vauxhall Square, are worth planning a move around now, for planners, project and site managers in London and Yorkshire regeneration, rather than once the first cranes are up.

Worth your five minutes

  • Clancy's record £2.8bn order book is one of the few genuine hiring signals around, for anyone in water, gas or power networks.
  • The CMA's report on bid-rigging says the way roads and rail are bought, not a shortage of contractors, is holding the market back.
  • Movers, 17 September: Seb Fossey's move from a mid-market London specialist contractor to run global facade group Permasteelisa is the standout appointment of the week.

My take

In the 24 years I have spent recruiting into this market, weeks like this are the ones worth reading twice. Two contractors went under while public bodies opened work worth billions. Both things are true of the same market at once, and the answer for anyone weighing their next move is not to pick a side, it is to work out which stage of that pipeline you would actually be exposed to. A signed contract carries a different risk to a scheme still years from breaking ground, and neither is the safer choice if you do not know your employer's real funding position on the job you are on. The pattern I see most often is people moving towards the biggest headline number rather than the soundest one. Ask where the money for your next role actually sits before you ask what it pays. And tell us what actually got you your last promotion: the answers say more about this market than any framework announcement does. Have your say here.