The Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) has recently completed commissioning of the new £38m National Biologics Manufacturing Centre in Darlington, Co. Durham, which features a state-of-the-art effluent treatment facility suitable for Containment Level 2 wastes, supplied by Suncombe’s Biowaste Solutions arm. The new Centre provides companies with open access facilities and expertise to help them develop, prove and commercialise new and improved processes and technologies for biologics manufacture. The facility has a limit of Category II containment. So the waste liquid needs to be collected and thermally denatured prior to discharge to the drain. The flagship National Biologics Centre is part of the UK Governments Strategy for Life Science, helping UK companies to develop a competitive foothold in the growing global biopharmaceutical market. Biological medicines already account for around 10 – 15% of the current pharmaceutical market and the sector is outperforming the market as a whole. More than one-fifth of new medicines launched on the world market each year are now biotechnology-derived.   The Suncombe equipment is based on its EDS+ Effluent Decontamination System range, with additional features developed to suit the client’s specific requirements. This included Suncombe engineers being part of a team which constructed a 3D model of the proposed Centre, which integrated with the sites overall layout, to allow visualisation of the precise location and position of the treatment facility.   Steve Overton, technical director at Suncombe, commented, “We were delighted to be part of this project which is developing new, high-tech manufacturing businesses for the UK. As British manufacturers ourselves it is also important to be able to show off the expertise in biowaste engineering which is available in this country.”   “The team we were a part of, particularly the CPI staff, made this a very rewarding and exciting project to work on. Everyone came together very quickly to deliver a highly complex facility on schedule and to specification,” added Steve.   The project scope included the connection of user points (sinks) and a collection sump to the collection pipework, plus the design and modelling of this pipework, in stainless steel from the laboratories to the EDS+ system. It included a number of technical advances, including different user-level login facilities, variable treatment temperatures and times, anti-foam control, pH neutralisation, out-of-hours cooling methodology and 100 per cent positive release for treated waste. Another feature was emergency discharge to a road tanker. Extensive pre-delivery tests were carried out to ensure that, on delivery to site, the system could be reconnected and ready for operation without any hitches. Factory Acceptance Tests (FATs) included system documentation and certifications reviews, as well as full testing, including automation and dry run simulations, wet testing and system thermal inactivation cycles.   Fergal O’Brien, Director of the National Biologics Manufacturing Centre said, “The new facility will support the development of new innovative process technologies and manufacturing routes. We will provide both large and small companies with open access facilities to prove and scale up their process, therefore reducing risk associated with product development.”   “Given the open access and variety of biologics on test it is vitally important that the effluent treatment facilities are able to cope with a range of products and remain fully compliant with the Category II containment requirements. The Suncombe system met our challenging specifications and is working well,” he added.   EDS+ Effluent Decontamination System Operator Interface

Transport for London’s plans to develop some 75 sites will make it one of the capital’s biggest developers. Here it names the partners for its £3.6bn development framework. Tweeting disgust and frustration about commuting woes could soon become a career-threatening move for the capital’s many construction professionals. The reason is that Transport for London (TfL) is gearing up to become the capital’s most significant development patron. A fortnight ago, the mayor of London’s transport quango unveiled a list of 13 property development companies and consortiums that will be eligible to bid for around 75 development sites across the capital. The baker’s dozen (see list below) of housebuilders, contractors, housing associations and developers have been appointed to TfL’s Property Partnership Framework. The sites, two-thirds of which are located in central Zones 1 and 2, cover 300 acres of TfL land, and are capable of delivering 10,000 new homes and around 10 million ft2 of commercial space, transport bosses claim. The whole initiative is part of TfL’s plan to gear up for the withdrawal of its central government subsidy, currently worth around £700m a year, by generating £3.4bn in non-fares revenue by 2023. So what kind of opportunity does this massive investment from the transport client hold out for the construction industry? What’s TfL building? TfL’s development programme will see the company, hitherto chiefly of interest in construction circles as an engineering client, expand its sway across the capital’s development scene. The sites themselves are a “complete mixed bag”, according to Mathew Evans-Pollard, head of the Deloitte Real Estate team that helped TfL draw up the framework list. Many involve building over existing depots, stations and tracks. Other sites being lined up include bus stations, large roundabouts and redundant operational transport land. They are as diverse as Old Street roundabout and the bus interchange at south London’s Vauxhall station. Some of the sites on the list have been mooted for years, like Victoria coach station, or are the fields of past planning battles, like South Kensington underground station. All have been chosen, though, on the basis that their development can start within the 10 years covered by TfL’s current business plan, explains Evans-Pollard. TfL has submitted planning applications for three so far, the mixed-use development of a former Underground depot at Parsons Green and schemes on top of the new tube stations planned at Northwood and Nine Elms. Each piece of land will be developed as a joint venture. Crucially, instead of selling the sites before a brick has been laid, TfL will take a stake in each development, which will vary between 10% and 90%, but typically just under half. It will then recoup its investment either in the form of a capital receipt when the development is sold or preferably by taking a share of rents generated by leasing out the flats and commercial space that have been built. Design quality This patient approach has been welcomed on the grounds that it should result in higher quality development. TfL and London Underground have a fine track record of architectural patronage, from the iconic tube stations of the 1930s to the Jubilee line extension of the 1990s. However its austerity-era Crossrail stations have received a lukewarm reception. Matthew Carmona, professor of planning and urban design at the University of London’s Bartlett School, says: “If you look across London a lot of development is rather short-termist and not necessarily delivering high-quality places. However, a partnership approach has all of the potential to deliver high-quality places.” David Birkbeck, director of Design for Homes, is even more gushing: “The record to date has been patchy but the possibilities going forward are amazing.” This is because, he explains, companies involved in the JVs won’t have to borrow as much at the outset of the scheme, meaning they are under less pressure to maximise returns by over-developing sites. The JV arrangement also suits the nature of the “over the station” sites that TfL is bringing forward, explains Farrells partner Neil Bennett, who has worked closely on London transport projects dating back to the PwC offices on top of Charing Cross in the late 1980s. “Ownership and maintenance arrangements are going to be so complex that you will never be able to achieve a clean sell,” he says. An example is the problems transport operators often face when negotiating access to maintain track once it is encased in development. In the long term too, TfL will achieve better value for the public purse by delaying its payday, argues Carmona. “This partnership approach is the right way to go because there are opportunities for the public sector to benefit from rising values.” To ensure the bar is raised, Brian Waters, partner at consultant BWCP, argues that TfL should bolster its JV arrangements by appointing a design panel to oversee the briefs coming forward for sites. While masterplans may not be needed for those plots which will only deliver one or two buildings, they will be appropriate on larger sites that have to be knitted into surrounding neighbourhoods. Carmona says: “We need to establish a very clear vision rather than go for the lowest common denominator, ‘stack ‘em high and sell ‘em cheap’ response. Every site will be different and need a very carefully tailored response.” Graeme Craig, director of commercial development at TfL, suggested that masterplans will “sometimes be the right approach”. Whatever comes forward, though, the wave of development that TfL is about to unleash should prove a bonanza for the construction industry. Craig estimates that the projects will create work for “thousands” of engineers, architects and quantity surveyors. Deloitte’s Evans-Pollard agrees: “There are huge opportunities for a whole breadth of organisations to get involved. Each site represents a unique challenge, developing in and around transport hubs in central London, which is where a lot of people want to be.” In particular, there will be “plenty to get the blood flowing” for architects and engineers, he predicts, due to the highly complex nature of many of

Intelligent data capture software could yield significant advantages in the construction sector and lead to more proactive practice, according to new research carried out by an independent consultant and the World Economic Forum (WEF). The report, carried out in colloboration with Project MainStream, suggests that pairing circular economy ideas with the data generated by intelligent software contributes to a fertile platform from which to innovate that would result in a built environment that is more “flexible and modifiable”. It continues that, in such a circular economy, all roads, bridges, public areas, sports amenities, office buildings and private properties would be linked to “a digital library” that could provide up-to-date information on the assets’ components. This data would not just allow predictive upkeep and performance models, but would additionally be “a platform for a secondary materials market”. According to the report, “The connectivity of constructions could pave the way for closing the material loops for the largest source of waste in modern society.” It goes on: “A key reason for the value degradation of building material is the lack of knowledge of material composition or value. In addition, the utilisation of buildings is poor, resulting in inefficient resource use.” The introduction of new, advanced technologies might then provide industries with the lead they need to manage waste more effectively and, as result, make considerable savings.

Despite construction union UCATT claiming there was a rise in prosecution delays and fall in convictions following construction deaths last week, the HSE has responded to highlight that prosecutions have actually risen from 92% in 2010/2011 to 94% in 2014/15. UCATT had cited data that was included in a current Parliamentary Question response by HSE to Jarrow MP Stephen Hepburn. The reduction referred to within the UCATT claim pertains to the numbers of fatalities in development for which prosecutions have been accepted.  The share of fatalities resulting in a call to prosecute in the same year will likely be lower in more recent years as a variety of complex investigations will nonetheless be on-going or are progressing by way of the courts. The variety of prosecution approvals also needs to be seen towards an overall reduction in building fatalities from over 100 in 2000/01 to 39 in 2014/15. All workplace fatalities should be investigated completely to forestall a recurrence and so that where breaches of health and safety requirements are identified then those that have failed are held to account which can include instances before the courts in England and Wales, or recommending prosecution in Scotland.  HSE doesn’t prosecute in each case and can take account of the evidential stage and the related public interest elements set down by the Code for Crown Prosecutors. In Scotland the Procurator Fiscal decides whether or not to deliver a prosecution. Quite a few discrete levels will have an effect on the tempo at which a work-related fatality is investigated and legal proceedings pursued.  The police assume primacy for investigations initially and retain the case until negligent offences have been recognised or eradicated. In complicated instances it may be a number of months before HSE is handed primacy.  Until HSE brings a prosecution it’s usually essential to await the result of a Coroner’s inquest.  Once a defendant has been charged it will possibly take a while for the case to return to trial, significantly where it’s defended and heard within the Crown Court. Nevertheless, HSE and the other agencies concerned in investigating workplace fatalities recognise the significance to victims of guaranteeing all levels of the investigation and prosecution process are concluded rapidly.  The Work Related Deaths Protocol (WRDP) National Liaison Committee not too long ago agreed that any choice to prosecute must be made inside three years of the date of death, apart from in exceptional circumstances. Recently, the drive to scale back investigation time and conclude lengthy operating investigations, HSE has in recent times concluded a number of advanced investigations. This has meant average time taken between an incident and a prosecution approval has increased in the latest years, however different information supplied in response to Parliamentary Questions shows that during the last 10-years, 23% of instances had been accepted for prosecution inside a year of a fatality, 27% within the second year, and 30%  within the third.  Therefore 80% of HSE prosecutions have been authorised throughout the WRDP three-year interval.  This proportion is still rising. Note that there’s an error within the UCATT data as it states that 30% of instances didn’t reach the prosecution stage until between three to four years after an employee’s demise.  The PQ responses confirmed that only 15% of circumstances took between three and four years to reach this stage. The data UCATT has used to incorrectly suggest the “fall in convictions” is above.  This pertains to prosecutions authorised following fatalities in any given 12 months.  The quantity within the third column pertains to the quantity within the second column, and not to fatals in earlier years.  Therefore, in 2014/15 of the 39 fatals, approved prosecutions in seven of these circumstances within the same 12 months.  Therefore the observed percentage reduction in recent times is due to on-going (ie longer than one year) investigations.

Savills UK and Europe has, for the eighth year, been ranked as the top real estate superbrand by the Business Superbrands survey. Administered by The Centre for Brand Analysis, the survey brings together a council of experts and 2500 enterprise professionals to determine the UK’s strongest B2B brands. To be chosen as a superbrand a company must offer customers useful extra services over its competitors as well as having a reputation that is well established within its area of expertise. In reducing the list down from the starting number of 1500, voters are asked to consider distinction, quality and reliability. Mark Ridley, CEO of Savills UK and Europe, comments: “That Savills has once again been ranked as the top UK real estate Superbrand is testament to the consistent world class service we offer and that the values voters look for – quality, reliability and distinction – are second nature throughout our business. As a company expands it can be all too easy to lose sight of the values that have made you a success, but the fact that both our clients and peers continue to recognise Savills as the best of the best is proof we have successfully embedded these qualities at the core of everything we do.” Savills is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a top global real estate service supplier. Established in 1855, Savills has a considerable history and over 700 offices and associates all through the Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa and the Middle East, employing more than 30,000 people.