Follow London Construction Magazine on Google Get London construction news first in Top Stories FREE · Choose LCM as a preferred source in Google Search Add as a preferred source on Google

About the Author: Mihai Chelmus

LCM Author Profile · Founder and Editor
Mihai Chelmus, Founder and Editor of London Construction Magazine
Mihai Chelmus
Founder and Editor, London Construction Magazine · Associate Director, Swantest
Mihai Chelmus is the Founder and Editor of London Construction Magazine, a London-based construction journalist and construction professional specialising in construction intelligence, building safety, structural risk, compliance and project delivery.

16+ years
international construction-sector experience
NVQ Level 7
Construction Senior Management
TWC
CITB Temporary Works Coordinator, valid until November 2029
Founder & Editor
London Construction Magazine

Mihai has more than 16 years of international construction-sector experience across structural investigations, construction testing, site operations, technical reporting, compliance, temporary works interfaces, remedial works and specialist project delivery. That practical background sits behind his journalism and gives him a direct understanding of the gap that can exist between an announcement, a regulatory milestone and what has actually happened on a construction project.

Through London Construction Magazine, he reports on major projects, procurement, Building Safety Regulation, temporary works, structural risk, compliance evidence, contractor activity and market pressure across London and the wider UK construction sector. His reporting is built around primary records, exact project stages and the practical consequences of decisions for the people responsible for delivering construction.

Alongside his editorial work, Mihai is Associate Director at Swantest, where his responsibilities span operational, technical and commercial delivery across structural testing, site investigation, remedial works and specialist construction support.

Founder and Editor of London Construction Magazine

Mihai founded London Construction Magazine to build an independent construction publication centred on evidence, technical understanding and real project delivery. As Founder and Editor, he sets the publication's editorial direction, develops its construction intelligence work and writes and commissions reporting across projects, regulation, procurement, safety and market conditions.

A central part of his editorial approach is establishing exactly what has happened before interpreting what it means. Planning permission is different from construction commencement, a Gateway application is different from approval, a framework appointment is different from an awarded contract, and a PCSA is different from a main construction contract. Those distinctions can materially change the position of a project.

LCM reporting therefore starts with the strongest available evidence, including procurement notices, planning records, council decisions, regulatory registers, public-body records, company filings and primary announcements from clients, contractors and consultants. Trade-press coverage can identify a lead, but the underlying record is where the reporting is tested.

The editorial question behind much of LCM's reporting is simple: what fact became publicly knowable now that was not publicly knowable before, and what does that fact change for the delivery of the project?

London Construction Magazine is published at constructionmagazine.uk by London Construction Magazine Limited and covers construction news and intelligence across London and the wider UK market.

Construction and professional background

Mihai's construction career has involved direct work across structural investigations, site testing, verification, technical reporting, quality assurance, temporary works interfaces and compliance-led project delivery. His experience combines site operations with project coordination, commercial responsibility and the production of technical evidence used by clients, engineers and contractors.

His practical work has included intrusive investigations, anchor and load testing, concrete investigation, plate bearing and DCP testing, GPR and structural scanning, hydraulic jacking, bolt stressing, structural preloading, remedial works, runway beam testing and other specialist verification activities carried out in live construction and operational environments.

His wider project background includes work connected with major UK and European infrastructure, industrial and high-risk environments, including the Elizabeth Line, HS2, Thames Tideway Tunnel, Battersea Power Station, Silvertown Tunnel, Dungeness nuclear power station, RAF facilities, oil and gas sites, chemical plants, paper mills and heavy industrial modernisation projects.

That experience shapes the way he reads construction records. Programme dates, access, sequencing, temporary works, testing requirements, evidence control, dutyholder responsibilities and commercial constraints are treated as project-delivery issues rather than abstract technical subjects.

Current role at Swantest

As Associate Director at Swantest, Mihai supports the strategic, operational and commercial development of the business while remaining involved in specialist construction testing, structural investigation and remedial work.

His responsibilities include project planning, technical scope development, tender review, pricing, client coordination, resource planning, quality assurance, site delivery and the preparation of technical evidence used to support engineering and compliance decisions.

He works with contractors, consultants, engineers and clients to develop investigation and testing scopes, manage operational and technical risk, resolve delivery constraints and improve the quality of project records and reporting.

Remaining professionally active in construction keeps his editorial work connected to the realities of site delivery, including access restrictions, programme dependencies, cost pressure, testing requirements, quality control and the practical application of standards.

Professional qualifications and training

Mihai's professional development covers construction management, temporary works, health and safety, quality assurance, structural strengthening, lifting operations and energy systems.

  • NVQ Level 7 in Construction Senior Management
    ProQual Awarding Body, issued November 2023
  • Temporary Works Coordinator (TWC)
    CITB, issued November 2024 and valid until November 2029
  • SMSTS
    CITB
  • Director's Role for Health and Safety
    CITB, issued October 2023
  • CDM Regulations Course
    Praxis42, issued March 2026
  • Face Fit Approved Tester
    IIRSM
  • LOLER Management & Inspection for Duty Holders
    Human Focus Technologies
  • Structural Strengthening & Bonding Course
    Sika
  • ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System
    Asean Online Education AOE, issued February 2022
  • Incorporating Renewable Energy in Electricity Grids
    Imperial College London, issued February 2023
  • First Aid
    British Red Cross
  • Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering
    Vasile Alecsandri University of Bacău

Technical and editorial focus

Mihai's professional and editorial work is concentrated in areas where technical evidence, regulation and project delivery overlap.

  • Structural investigations and intrusive construction surveys
  • Construction testing, site verification and technical evidence
  • Anchor testing and BS 8539-related evidence
  • Temporary works and BS 5975 control processes
  • Concrete investigation and structural defects
  • Load testing and structural capacity verification
  • Plate bearing and DCP testing
  • GPR and structural scanning
  • Hydraulic jacking, bolt stressing and structural preloading
  • Building Safety Act and Building Safety Regulator processes
  • Gateway 2 and Gateway 3
  • Golden Thread evidence and dutyholder responsibility
  • Construction procurement and contract stages
  • London project delivery and viability
  • Contractor and supply-chain pressure

Editorial method

Mihai's reporting starts with evidence. A company announcement, planning submission or competitor story may provide the initial lead, but material facts are checked against the strongest available primary record wherever possible.

The method is to establish the exact project stage, identify the decision or document behind the news, separate confirmed facts from forecasts and claims, and then explain what the evidence changes for construction delivery.

That approach is particularly important in Building Safety, procurement and major-project reporting, where a small difference in terminology can materially change the story. LCM therefore distinguishes between regulatory applications and decisions, framework positions and contract awards, enabling works and main construction, and announced programmes and verified delivery.

London Construction Magazine also develops its own construction intelligence records and reference products so new evidence can be compared with earlier reporting, project stages and regulatory milestones rather than treated as an isolated announcement.

Where relevant, Mihai's reporting draws on legislation, standards, regulatory guidance, planning records, procurement notices, public data, company filings, project documents and practical construction experience. London Construction Magazine provides journalism and construction intelligence, not project-specific engineering, legal or regulatory approval.

What Mihai writes about

Recurring subjects in Mihai's reporting include:

  • Major London construction projects and changes in delivery status
  • Construction contract awards, procurement routes and framework activity
  • Building Safety Regulator decisions and Gateway performance
  • Building Safety Act compliance and Golden Thread evidence
  • Temporary works, competence and BS 5975 control processes
  • Structural testing, BS 8539 and installation evidence
  • Structural risk, remediation and building investigation
  • Planning decisions and movement from consent into physical delivery
  • Contractor insolvency, restructuring and project exposure
  • Construction market pressure, labour, viability and project pipelines
  • Infrastructure constraints affecting development
  • Construction technology and digital systems where they affect project delivery

Professional experience behind the reporting

The connection between Mihai's construction work and editorial work is deliberate. London Construction Magazine's reporting is informed by experience of live sites, structural investigations, temporary works interfaces, testing procedures, quality assurance, client requirements and the technical records needed to support engineering and compliance decisions.

That background allows regulatory, commercial and project developments to be examined from the perspective of delivery: what has actually happened, what evidence exists, what must happen next and where the headline milestone differs from the position on site.

Connect

Mihai uses LinkedIn to share London Construction Magazine reporting and commentary on construction projects, regulation, compliance, procurement and delivery across the UK construction sector.