The French ski property market is recovering with new build apartments, rather than chalets, are leading the way and interest boosted by new infrastructure projects, new research shows. Those choosing to buy in key Alpine resorts will also find far more facilities available such as the €36 million mini-resort Mille8 in Les Arcs, a family friendly resort within a resort with new nursery slopes, tobogganing runs, a swimming pool, spa, gym and Courchevel’s €63 million waterpark and spa Aquamotion. La Compagnie du Mont Blanc announced recently that it would spend €477 million over 40 years on new lifts and pistes in Chamonix while Val d’Isère has just spent €16 million renewing lifts, pistes and restaurants on La Tête de Solaise, immediately above the town. Rock bottom Euro mortgage rates are another key factors behind the recovery, according to the French Alps Property Report from Erna Low Property. It points out that it is now possible to get a 15 year fixed rate repayment mortgage with the interest set at just 1.4%. However, it is easier to get a small mortgage than a large one at the moment. Indeed, according to Stephane Briere of French mortgage brokers CAFPI International banks would rather approve 10 €100,000 mortgages than a single €1 million one. The report suggests that activities and facilities in the summer are as important for buyers in the Alps as the winter sports. Road cycling, mountain biking and trail running have all made the summer fashionable again in the mountains, and buyers want to know what a mountain resort offers in July and August as well as winter. In part, that’s because some are keen runners and cyclists themselves: but also because they’re looking for better rental returns. Also leaseback schemes, which allow buyers to reclaim the VAT on their property purchase provided they put their apartment into a rental pool are becoming more flexible. In the past, most leasebacks gave owners just three or four weeks’ annual use of their property. But now some allow owners 26 weeks of use along with the full 20% VAT refund. The report also says that a new wave of developments is giving buyers who are keen skiers the chance to buy back door entry to the world’s most famous ski areas and make big savings in the process. Buying in Les Menuires, for example, will give the owner the whole of the Three Valleys. Meanwhile, an apartment in Tignes-les-Brevières gives access to the slopes of Val d’Isère. According to Francois Marchand, Erna Low property director, sales volumes are up, revenues are up, and so too is the average price of each property sold and British buyers are returning but they are more realistic about what buying a second home in the mountains means. ‘These days, our clients see their property purchase as bricks and mortar with benefits, a long term investment whose primary purpose is to improve their quality of life. We’re noticing more and more buyers asking about the summer,’ he said. ‘Suddenly, July and August in the Alps are fashionable again, and it’s beginning to change the balance of power between the high altitude ski areas, and their lower, lusher neighbours,’ he explained, adding that both trends bode well for the long term health of the market. BOOKMARK THIS PAGE (What is this?)      Source link

25 May 2016 | James Richards Serco has reported a stronger-than-expected financial performance in the first four months of 2016. But, it warned that this upturn comes “from items that will not reoccur.”  In a financial performance update released yesterday (26 May), the international service company said it now expects revenue for 2016 to be £2.9 billion and underlying profit of not less than £65 million.  Previous estimations had predicted that revenue would be around £2.8 billion, with an underlying trading profit of £50 million. Serco does not expect these revised figures to affect its estimation for 2017.  According to the statement, the stronger-than-predicted performance was because of a number of factors. Among them was the successful outcome of a number of commercial negotiations, and several contracts in the US that “were anticipated to end early have run on longer”, for example, those with Virginia Transport and the US Army. Also, a contract with Northern Rail in the UK involved a “more favourable” final settlement than originally budgeted.  Rupert Soames, Serco Group chief executive, said: “It is encouraging that we are able to announce an upgrade to our guidance for the year, albeit that much of this improvement comes from items that will not reoccur.  “There remains much to do in order to complete our transformation this year and next, but we are continuing to make good progress on the roadmap we have set out through to 2020.”  Source link

Category: Construction Industry Today | Subscribe to Construction Industry Today Feed Published Fri, Oct 7th 2016 Europe’s leading manufacturer of gypsum fibreboard has published a new brochure specifically for the education sector. Posted via Industry Today. Follow us on Twitter @IndustryToday A brochure highlighting the fact that with fermacell gypsum fibreboard all that education specifiers have to choose between is six systems, compared to dozens when using conventional plasterboards, has been launched by the leading European manufacturer. The new 24-page A4 “Solutions for educational buildings” brochure details the reasons why fermacell should be used for educational buildings, ranging from impact resistance (for which fermacell now offers a 20-year warranty) to its hanging strength which negates the need for most pattressing and helps to makes walls and rooms easier for architects to design. The guide explains how fermacell meets the requirements for highly demanding educational buildings in terms of impact resistance (all are tested to BS 5234-2 – severe-duty), sound insulation (five levels of acoustic performance as per BB93) and fire safety (from 30 to 120 minutes fire resistance). It also shows, with illustrations and tables, how just six systems and four basic constructions using fermacell satisfy all the requirements for sound, fire and impact resistance as specified in the SSLD Standard Specifications, Layout and Dimensions) published by the Department of Education. Diagrams also help to illustrate wall linings and wall constructions using fermacell and the brochure also contains information on finishes and maintenance.   Deliberately designed with simplicity to reflect how simple it is to specify with fermacell, the brochure PDF is available to download from http://www.fermacell.co.uk/1038.php. ENDS  Source link

Investors assumed oil would be more valuable in the future, but all bets are off if demand falls ©AP Timing is everything when it comes to investing in commodities. It seems difficult to believe now but in 2014 oil was considered one of the safest bets around. The reasoning among large financial investors was straightforward. Regulation and technology might well crimp demand in the industrialised west but as more of the developing world’s poor moved into the middle class oil demand and prices would remain strong. More On this topic Markets Insight Fast forward to 2016, and many analysts, including those in strategic planning departments of large oil companies, are starting to warm to the idea of peak oil demand globally, not just in the OECD. In part, the exercise has been driven by shareholders and activists who say the companies are ignoring the risks to their business from a global climate accord. A number of organisations, notably the International Energy Agency, but also including oil companies such as Statoil, Shell, BP, Total and ConocoPhillips, are modelling outcomes based on a breakthrough in battery technology or that global temperatures rise by no more than 2 degrees Celsius. These scenarios include rising solar energy and natural gas use, cheaper car batteries, urbanisation supported by millennial ride sharing and public transportation, and a plethora of advanced, digital energy saving technologies. Many of these studies project a significant fall in oil demand to 75m barrels per day by 2040, down from about 95m b/d today. At the University of California, Davis, we have tested oil demand sensitivities and found that a combination of factors — including slower than expected growth in the developing world, improved logistics, and advances in vehicle efficiency — could, perhaps with a push from policy, see demand for oil peak, at least for a decade or two. The implications are bigger than they might seem given the number of ifs that surround the idea that oil demand could peak. For the past three decades, investors have assumed that oil under the ground today would be more valuable in the future. That led them to seek companies best positioned to deliver growth. But if the rise in oil demand is uncertain, all bets might be off. That means investors don’t simply want “exposure” to crude. They will need to select a management team that will be smart, nimble and adaptive, no matter whether demand rises, falls or remains flat. Moreover, in a more competitive world where producers might have fewer opportunities to sell its product, all investable oil assets will not be equal. Investors will have to know what the production cost basis is for a company’s reserves or how well positioned their refinery network is to beat global competitors. Location of assets will matter. Owning a refining and marketing network in California or Germany where demand will almost certainly fall off might be less attractive than in India or Malaysia. The use of automation and other emerging technologies to drive returns will also matter. US shale darling Pioneer Natural Resources’ chief executive Scott Sheffield told an audience recently in Houston that technology advancements had lowered the company’s production costs, excluding taxes, to $2.25 a barrel for horizontal completions in the prolific Permian Basin of Texas, low enough to compete with Saudi Arabia — one of the world’s lowest-cost producers. By contrast, operating costs in Canada’s harder to develop oil sands are estimated at $37 a barrel. For 30 years, the oil industry has operated under the principle that it will have difficulty meeting future demand. Against that backdrop, adding reserves to the balance sheet was an end unto itself, sometimes more important to management than if those reserves could be profitably produced. The thesis was that oil would become increasingly scarce as easy to reach reserves were depleted; the value of booked, warehoused reserves would appreciate with global prices and eventually a day would come that even ridiculously expensive assets would be profitable to produce. But if global oil demand declines before those expensive reserves are needed, then mindlessly booking reserves is not a strategy Wall Street will want to reward in the future. Instead, investors might ask more critically what a company’s revenues outlook will be this quarter or next quarter, like most other ventures. Understanding which companies can pivot best to these new realities will be key to smart investing in oil from now on. Amy Myers Jaffe is executive director of energy and sustainability at University of California, Davis. She served as chair to the World Economic Forum (Davos) Global Agenda Council on the Future of Oil and Gas, which recently published a study on the Implications of Peak Oil Demand. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2016. You may share using our article tools. Please don’t cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web. Source link

Levring House by Jamie Fobert Architects, a sophisticated contemporary house on a tight corner site in a central London mews, and Maghera by Mcgonigle McGrath , anexemplary family house in County Down, are the latest homes to be shortlisted for the 2015 RIBA House of the Year award (announced 18 Nov at 10pm), sponsored by specialist insurer, Hiscox. The annual award is run by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). The projects in the running for the UK’s most prestigious award for a new house are being revealed in a special four part TV series for Channel 4, Grand Designs: House of the Year. During the course of the series which began on Wednesday 4 November 2015, the seven homes shortlisted for the 2015 RIBA House of the Year award will be announced; the winner will be revealed on screen on Wednesday 25 November. Levring House and House at Maghera join the following four houses on the RIBA House of the Year shortlist, with another yet to be announced: Flint House, Buckinghamshire by Skene Catling De La Pena Kew House, London by Piercy&Company Sussex House, West Sussexby Wilkinson King Architects Vaulted House, London by vPPR Architects -ends- Notes to editors For further press information contact RIBA Press Office pressoffice@riba.org 020 7580 5533 The RIBA House of the Year award (formerly the Manser Medal) is awarded every year to the best new house designed by an architect in the UK. It was created in 2001 to celebrate excellence in housing design. The judges for the 2015 RIBA House of the Year award, sponsored by Hiscox, are Jonathan Manser, Chair of the jury; James Standen of Hiscox; award-winning architect, Mary Duggan; Chris Loyn, the recipient of the 2014 award and Tony Chapman, RIBA Head of Awards.  Hiscox, the international specialist insurer, is headquartered in Bermuda and listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE:HSX). There are three main underwriting divisions in the Group – Hiscox London Market, Hiscox Re and Hiscox Retail (which includes Hiscox UK and Europe, Hiscox Guernsey, Hiscox USA and subsidiary brand, DirectAsia). Hiscox underwrites internationally traded, bigger ticket business and reinsurance through Hiscox Re and Hiscox London Market. Through its retail businesses in the UK, Europe and the US Hiscox offers a range of specialist insurance for professionals and business customers, as well as homeowners.  For further information visit www.hiscoxgroup.com The Architects’ Journal is media partner for the 2015 RIBA special awards, including the RIBA House of the Year www.architectsjournal.co.uk The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) champions better buildings, communities and the environment through architecture and our members. Visit www.architecture.com and follow us on Twitter. Grand Designs: House of the Year is produced by Boundless, producers of Grand Designs. The judges’ full citation and image links follow: Levring House, London by Jamie Fobert Architects  – shortlisted for the RIBA House of the Year The spacious and luxurious house fills a corner plot of a typical London mews in Bloomsbury with a heady mix of free-flowing space, light filled voids, fastidious detailing and a brilliant regard for the surrounding context. Externally the building is finished with an elegant palette of Danish hand-made bricks, bronze panels and plenty of glazing to draw natural light into the heart of the house. Great care has been taken to respect the massing of adjacent buildings and sensitively turn the corner from Roger Street into Doughty Mews. A combination of alignments, setbacks and a sunken basement belie the true volume of the house, which includes a garage, extensive plant rooms housing the machinery for deep-bore ground source heat pumps and a delightful 14-m long marble lined lap pool in the basement. The house is arranged as a series of volumes, which step around a central light-well, which climbs from the basement and is surrounded by full-height sliding glazing. The ground floor includes the entrance, an office, guest accommodation and the garage. The first floor combines a glorious double-height kitchen and dining space, which open onto a hidden terrace to the north, with a more intimate master bedroom overlooking the mews. On the top floor the building steps back out of view from the street with a more formal sitting room opening onto a south facing terrace. Internally the architecture is imbued with high quality materials and elegant detailing, which absorb light, are sensuous to the touch and beguiling to the eye. The concrete frame of the house is exposed in ceilings and columns and offset with timber floors, crafted joinery and plastered walls. This is architecture of sophistication and delight, crafted out of a tight and complex urban site with skill and panache. Complex volumes are rendered simple with a consistency of design approach to provide contemporary living space of the very highest calibre.   House at Maghera, County Down by Mcgonigle McGrath  – shortlisted for the RIBA House of the Year This family house is on the edge of a clachan, a small grouping of farmsteads, on the leeward side of the stunning Mourne Mountains in County Down and is composed of two linear traditional building forms that continue the existing settlement pattern; each discrete form being displaced and slightly rotated in relation to its neighbour. The two forms are welded together by the extension of roof slopes. The resulting silhouette anchors the house to the ground and fixes it in the landscape. There is real talent and judgment at work here and a deftness of hand that goes far beyond a reimagined vernacular. The front entrance yard has a cool tension reminiscent of the Mexican architect Luis Barragan, albeit without the colour, and is authentic in its context and meaning. The entrance hall leads to a music room, a trapezoidal volume complete with piano, and enclosed by a pair of folding and sliding barn doors. A guest bedroom to the east occupies the end gable of the shorter building form – a wonderful cavernous volume with a large singular window