Foremans Relocatable Building Systems, part of the Portakabin Group and the UK’s largest supplier of refurbished Portakabin buildings, has started work on a contract worth in the region of £500,000 to construct a much-needed Youth Centre in the Hampshire market town of Romsey. The scheme is Foremans’ fifth project
An invasion of meeting pods are modernising workplaces across Manchester. Manchester offices are changing it’s furniture from the classic table and chairs. Ikon have worked with many organisations installing bespoke & high quality office furniture into offices such as Zuto, Rental Cars, Join The Dots, Liquid Personnel, Gunnercooke,
Garden designer Tom Massey, based in Richmond, Surrey, is celebrating winning the British Sugar TOPSOIL-sponsored Student Designer Commercial award at the 2015 Society of Garden Designers Awards, held in London on 29th January 2016. He also won the Student Designer Domestic award. The award for his design for the Cassel
Why it’s Important to Wrap Responsibly: Stretch wrapping is an extremely important component of the packaging and shipping process. Although it may initially appear to be simply a way of safely unitizing and shipping products it is also a representation of your company, it leaves an impression. When receiving
It was just last year that I found myself on the hiking trail of the Scottish West Highland Way, completely isolated with my teammates along with a heap of snow and cold weather. Our expedition was cancelled and we had to complete a newly arranged one later that year. This
Foremans Relocatable Building Systems, part of the Portakabin Group and the UK’s largest supplier of refurbished Portakabin buildings, has started work on a contract worth in the region of £500,000 to construct a much-needed Youth Centre in the Hampshire market town of Romsey. The scheme is Foremans’ fifth project for Hampshire County Council in the last year. A ground-breaking ceremony was held to mark the start of construction works on the site. The project is jointly funded by Hampshire County Council and Test Valley Borough Council and will provide young people in Romsey with a purpose-designed facility, in an accessible location close to a sports complex, cricket club and skate park. Designed by Hampshire County Council’s Property Services team and built by Foremans, the centre will be all on one level, making it fully accessible, and will offer facilities for wider community use. Foremans is constructing the building from recycled steel modules fitted out with all-new fixtures and fittings – a faster and highly sustainable alternative to site-based construction methods but with no compromise on quality. This innovative approach will reduce work on site to just 10 weeks so the new facilities will be up and running for use by the local community at a much earlier stage – and with a lower carbon footprint. Due for completion in Spring this year, the building will be operated by Youth in Romsey, a charitable organisation offering support and information for young people aged 11 to 25 years. The charity has outgrown its current premises and needed better disabled access and a more suitable location for its activities. Commenting on the project, Ricky Barford, General Manager at Foremans Relocatable Building Systems, said, “We are delighted to be involved in the construction of such a valuable community facility. We are also proud to be working on our fifth project for Hampshire County Council in less than a year.” “The cost, speed and environmental benefits of recycled and refurbished modular solutions are proven and far outweigh site-based construction. The approach will provide young people and the wider community in this part of Hampshire with a high quality, purpose-designed building for generations to come.” Test Valley Borough Council’s Community and Leisure Portfolio Holder, Councillor Tony Ward, said, “I am delighted that work has commenced to deliver the new youth centre, and I am pleased that we have been able to work with Hampshire County Council and Youth in Romsey to help make this happen. We are committed to supporting our communities and this new facility will ensure that Youth in Romsey can continue to offer an incredibly valuable service to young people in the area. I look forward to the completion and opening of the new centre later in the year.” A large activity room, a smaller group room, a consulting room, offices and kitchen will be provided in the centre. Externally, the building will be brick-clad with an integral canopy over the main entrance and solar panels on the roof. The refurbishment of modular buildings is one of the most environmentally-sound methods of construction – helping to reduce carbon emissions, waste sent to landfill, and improving a building’s carbon footprint, with no compromise on quality or design flexibility. For further information about refurbished Portakabin buildings, visit www.foremansbuildings.co.uk, email info@foremansbuildings.co.uk, or call 01964 544344.
An invasion of meeting pods are modernising workplaces across Manchester. Manchester offices are changing it’s furniture from the classic table and chairs. Ikon have worked with many organisations installing bespoke & high quality office furniture into offices such as Zuto, Rental Cars, Join The Dots, Liquid Personnel, Gunnercooke, High Access and Myersons to name a few around Manchester. One product in particular has sparked the interest with them all, the Pod. Pods are becoming the new way for businesses to interact and become more productive in the office either in meetings, interviews or for time out for colleagues. Organisations have said the pod range enhances the meeting experience as they include Pluto Dome which enables connection to devices for power and transfer data to a TV for presentations through a USB port. The TV’s are attached to a particular Pod, the Charlie Pod which High Access have installed in their offices. As well as Ikon personalising them with the organisation’s specific requirements such as the business’s colour themes. Leanne Adcock – Operations Manager, Liquid Personnel, said “The pod in our office is a great space for anyone in the business to utilise during work hours and their lunch break. The main use for the pod is to accommodate non-confidential meetings, head of department meetings and general impromptu meetings that do not require the confidentiality of a closed room. The pod is used daily and often a struggle to get some space as it is a chosen place for those quick meetings. We have a small table in the pod which allows many of us with laptops to plug them in and work through things that require peace and quiet without disrupting the busy room booking calendar.” Standing pods are becoming more popular for organisations which Ikon have recently found. Benefits include the increase of productivity. It’s proven decisions get made quicker and make the meeting more productive by making the employees less comfortable. Standing up also provides focus for employees as they’re more likely to be involved with conversation. A study co-commissioned by Public Health England showed that it’s recommended for office workers to be on their feet for at least two hours of their working day. Ikons design of a standing pod which is found at Join The Dots Manchester, will also “avoid the ill effects of a sedentary lifestyle” – Public Health England Gunnercooke Manchester required a Pod design that’s suitable for single person use. Ikon provided a Personal S Pod. It gives privacy to those wanting to work in a quiet and personal space in the office & home. Like all the other Pods, the S Pod utilises space for organisations such as Gunnercooke to make space for private working space as well as giving privacy for the user. Again hard to get in a busy city centre office. Another piece of furniture that is used to get privacy & utilise space in office space is the Beatnik Chair. Ikon Furniture is the UK distributor for the chair that’s designed and made in Slovenia. It’s a very versatile piece of furniture while being the first chair to have Apple AirPlay technology and also support bluetooth communication for the transmission of high quality sound from mobile devices. People at work can use a laptop or mobile device to listen to music or on a laptop while taking time out of a busy office to work independently. The built-in 2.1 BOSE Sound System and integrated sound system in the tall walls protects the user against unwanted sounds from the environment and at the same time ensures privacy. An exceptional piece of modern technology combined with fabulous design. Ikon Furniture are offering the chance for someone to WIN a fabulous Burrone Chair. All they have to do to enter is to make sure they are following @ikonfurniture and share the image attached on their own Twitter & Instagram page while tagging a friend. The post with the most retweets & likes WINS! Closing date 23:59pm, 29th February 2016. Terms & Conditions available at info@ikonfurniture.co.uk . To find out more information or enquire about any products from Ikon Furniture, visit the website www.ikonfurniture.co.uk or email info@ikonfurniture.co.uk or call 0161 359 3229.
Garden designer Tom Massey, based in Richmond, Surrey, is celebrating winning the British Sugar TOPSOIL-sponsored Student Designer Commercial award at the 2015 Society of Garden Designers Awards, held in London on 29th January 2016. He also won the Student Designer Domestic award. The award for his design for the Cassel Hospital Ecotherapy Garden was presented to Tom by Andy Spetch, National TOPSOIL Manager for the UK’s largest supplier of topsoil to the landscaping, construction and amenity sectors. British Sugar TOPSOIL is a strong supporter of the industry’s Awards schemes and, in addition to supporting the SGD awards, recently sponsored the Design & Build category at the 2015 BALI National Landscape Awards, which the company is planning to repeat in 2016. Tom’s winning design was acknowledged as “a very clean design that deals with the space with confidence, sensitive use of historical landscape and a sophisticated approach to the handling of space” by the judges, who included Sarah Eberle and Cleve West. Commenting on his award Tom said: “I am honoured to have my work singled out by designers such as Sarah Eberle and Cleve West whose opinions I respect enormously. And like all award winners I am grateful to the award sponsors without whose support there would be no awards.” National TOPSOIL Manager Andy Spetch said: “Tom is definitely someone to watch in the industry and British Sugar TOPSOIL is delighted to be associated with this exciting talent. We wish him every success in the future and congratulate him on his achievements at the SGD Awards.” For information on TOPSOIL products visit www.bstopsoil.co.uk or call 0870 240 2314.
Why it’s Important to Wrap Responsibly: Stretch wrapping is an extremely important component of the packaging and shipping process. Although it may initially appear to be simply a way of safely unitizing and shipping products it is also a representation of your company, it leaves an impression. When receiving a large amount of products machine stretch wrapped then that is, of course, the first thing that the customer will notice. If it has been wrapped carelessly, the client will lose faith in the quality of the product, however if it has been packaged appropriately it is yet another reason for a customer to return to the company. This means that you must consider your image when choosing to wrap your products, it must be done neatly and efficiently, the packaging speaks volumes about the company it’s coming from. Today’s Issues: There are a number of problems in the packaging industry, some are issues that come with the field (cost-efficiency) and others have found there footing in modern society (going green). Stretch wrapping, although being the chosen method of wrapping for many years, can offer solutions to both old and new problems. Efficiency: Firstly, all companies will want their product to be cost-efficient. For the protection given, the product itself is one of the cheapest wraps available on the market. The machine stretch-wrap gives you an extremely efficient way of protecting and packaging your products, the machines perform the wrap with minimal wastage meaning that you will get every penny back on the wrap itself. The elasticity of the wrap also gives you more for your money, using the machines can give the user stretch percentages of more than 100%, however if you were to stretch manually you will only get up to around 40%. In conjunction with this, quite often the cost of the stretch-wrap machines will be cheaper than any other form of wrap available. The machine stretch wrap also offers efficiency in other areas, one of the most significant ways that it allows you to be more effective is when taking inventory, by neatly unitizing your products in high-stacked groups you will be able to take stock much faster than if everything is sprawled out everywhere. In general, using a machine will also help to package more efficiently, it will be far quicker and allow you to work through a load easily with minimal wastage. Being Green: One of modern societies biggest issues is a problem that affects almost every company working today – making and keeping your company green. Customers have become aware of the costly effects of not being ‘green’, consumers are becoming more and more concerned with the way that their products are sourced and packaged. It can become an extremely powerful marketing tool when a company goes green. That is why, if you are environmentally conscious, stretch wrapping is one of the best options for packaging your product. You can protect the product with minimal wrapping while still keeping it safe and well-protected, this will also help in the aforementioned issue of efficiency, getting more for your money. As well as this, being plastic, usually the machine stretch wrap is entirely recyclable. The value of being green is not to be underestimated, it is a big issue and notice is taken when a company makes the effort of being environmentally aware. Machine Stretch Wrapping is overall an extremely useful product, it meets the demands of today’s market and also works with today’s societal issues. It is not expensive in comparison to other packaging products and can also do the work efficiently, without wasting time, money or the wrap itself. Machine Stretch Wrapping is a product that has been chosen time after time and it’s altogether unsurprising when you consider the benefits.
It was just last year that I found myself on the hiking trail of the Scottish West Highland Way, completely isolated with my teammates along with a heap of snow and cold weather. Our expedition was cancelled and we had to complete a newly arranged one later that year. This may be an odd way of relating what I have just told you to energy and power, but for many people, a reliance on power and energy is vital. Batteries come in two types; consumer and industrial. The majority of us are mostly familiarised with consumer batteries, the easily replaceable and recognisable small parts needed to power our remote controls and annoying presents on Christmas Day. However, many people will not take in to consideration the industrial style batteries used in the more powerful forms of technology such as Metabo power tools, as well as any wrapping needed to transport these items with products such as machine stretch wrap. My above statement may seem unfair however if you are in an employment sector demanding that you deal with industrial style batteries daily. This article is aimed at those using heavy industrial batteries and the benefits you could reap from investing in a new and innovative type. Lithium Ion batteries are a new form of battery with three key benefits including; no charge memory, a low self-discharge giving them a low maintenance and only one needed regular charge. The specialist cells in the new LiHD model mean that the power within the tool it is used in is given a higher current. Lithium ion came about as an alternative to normal lithium batteries which used metal and gave them a real instability. As well as when their non-rechargeable aspect when first introduced in the 1970s. The scientific aspect of how lithium ion works is by using three aspects as its conductor; a cathode, anode and electrolyte – a metal oxide is used for the cathode and a porous metal for the anode. I make as much effort as I possibly can to stay in touch with my best friend – my granny. Since coming to university this has become a bit of a challenge, but I make sure to phone her at least once a day. We discuss many different issues; including politics, religion and the current state of the economy. I know, you envy how much of a life I have. When I was in search of a job, I asked my granny why it was she thought it was harder to get a job and this lead on to the economic state of the country. I am not condoning this opinion or in fact saying it is correct, but my granny explained to me, in her opinion why employment in Britain currently stands the way it does. She puts it down to a lack of productivity and idleness within a lot of people, and because of this employers become more and more reluctant to dish out jobs and will only hire the best of the best. There are of course websites such as Search which offer a vast range of employment in various and exciting career sectors. So, if you happen to be the employer, you may question how you are able to increase productivity in the workplace. Well, if your company involves the usage of power tools you may be in luck. As I have mentioned before, the lithium ion battery is rechargeable with no memory effect and when you are not using the battery it has a slow loss of charge. SNAPCO is a Scottish based company and a major supplier of Metabo power tools, in particular the Metabo 18 V LiHD battery, a battery including all of the benefits I have noted above. As well as this SNAPCO also offer great packaging, with stretch wrap products – a product often overlooked by most of society when it is something needed to transport most of society’s material needs – maybe even their lithium ion batteries…
