Independent suppliers must grow fast and hit a critical mass of customers to survive the current market or risk going bust. GB Energy Supply managing director Luke Watson Small suppliers’ face difficult challenges amid current volatile wholesale prices and political uncertainty, says GB Energy Supply managing director Luke
The UK’s Certification Authority for Reinforcing Steels (CARES) has joined BRE’s scheme for responsible sourcing. CARES has become the most recent licensee under the responsible sourcing framework standard for construction products, which is operated by BRE. BES 6001 was first published over seven years ago and seeks to give assurance
Amongst all the differing property arenas, and even through the recessionary periods, student property has proven to be a key area of success for investors, with high yields reported on average. This is unlikely to change any time soon, with the UK presently being positioned at the second most popular
The complete timetable for delivering four stations in London and Birmingham has recently been released by HS2, providing optimism and a sense of anticipation for the works to begin in the coming years. It is expected that the contracts for the construction of the stations will go out to tender
As has been previously highlighted, concerns are abound as to the affordability of property in the London areas, and most specifically for those looking to break into the property market. Highlighting this concern yet further, it has been shown in a recent research report by My Home Move that the
Awarded by the UK Ministry of Defence’s Defence DIO, Interserve has recently been awarded the contract for a five year project which will see it serving the U.S Air Force with facilities services for across its UK estates. Set to begin in November this year, the prime contract serves as
Independent suppliers must grow fast and hit a critical mass of customers to survive the current market or risk going bust. GB Energy Supply managing director Luke Watson Small suppliers’ face difficult challenges amid current volatile wholesale prices and political uncertainty, says GB Energy Supply managing director Luke Watson. “Challengers just coming out of control market entry have got a lot to learn and they’ve got to hit that critical mass quickly. “What you may well find is that some will succeed and hit critical numbers and grow the brand, I think others will be merged with some of the larger players, bought out, or even just fall away,” he said. Watson told Utility Week that new supplier’s success could rely on whether they have a hedging strategy for buying energy in place. He also highlighted the difficulty for small independents to “get to grips” with all the “moving parts in the industry”. “One of the figures banded around is 20,000. That’s the number of customers you have to hit in two years to break even. That is anecdotal but it gives you an indication of the numbers. “Bearing in mind we can’t all be the cheapest, I think there is a bit of uncertainty ahead. I think we are going to see more and more new entrants into the market place, and we might end up with regional companies that look to be the cheapest in their particular area. “Will there be the same number of suppliers in the market in five years’ time? I don’t know is the honest answer.” Earlier this year Watson said that it was “too late” for new entrants to the market due to challenges such as the expense of the smart meter rollout and a spike in wholesale prices. Source link
The UK’s Certification Authority for Reinforcing Steels (CARES) has joined BRE’s scheme for responsible sourcing. CARES has become the most recent licensee under the responsible sourcing framework standard for construction products, which is operated by BRE. BES 6001 was first published over seven years ago and seeks to give assurance about the governance and provenance of the constituents of the construction product as well as the environmental and social management and reporting of the organisation itself. BRE head of responsible sourcing Dr Shamir Ghumra said: “This is a great step forward for responsible sourcing. CARES will join our other licensees (BSI, Lucideon, Intertek and CPC) in offering BES 6001 certification to the market. CARES are becoming a licensee at a time of growth for the standard and in 2016 we will be producing an update to the current version of the standard to better reflect the evolving landscape for construction products with changes in legislation such as the Modern Slavery Act.” CARES also operates a separate sustainability scheme based on BS 8902 called the Sustainable Constructional Steel (SCS) scheme. Lee Brankley, CEO of CARES said: “We are delighted to become a licensee for BES 6001 which broadens our service offering to constructional steel suppliers. We believe that our ability to offer BES 6001 alongside CARES SCS scheme certification will serve the needs of suppliers and users of constructional steel products.” The BES 6001 standard has grown significantly over the past seven years; certification now covers over 90 organisations and more than 20 different product groups in many countries. This article was published on 3 Mar 2016 (last updated on 3 Mar 2016). Source link
Amongst all the differing property arenas, and even through the recessionary periods, student property has proven to be a key area of success for investors, with high yields reported on average. This is unlikely to change any time soon, with the UK presently being positioned at the second most popular location for international students, coming in only after the U.S. Perhaps due to the reputation of British universities, and also the opportunities presently available here, the number of international students reported to be in attendance at British universities has seen a somewhat drastic increase over the course of the last ten years, which has reportedly also been a driving factor in the surging of overarching student numbers at universities across the country. Most specifically, it has been reported that the number of international students at “elite” universities across the country has increased almost twofold, with the predicted figures for international student mobility expected to total in at a value of 8m per year by the year 2025. Whilst this does indeed paint a very competitive picture for other students, and an issue of capacity for some universities, the surge in interest at British universities, especially from international students, does indeed paint a very bright picture for the continued success of the student property arena; effectively, a combination of highly profitable returns and surging demand offer a very inviting position for potential investors. Of course, as to how and where in the UK we will see the most potential for growth in the market, logic dictates that those universities reporting the greatest improvements, highest standards of education and the best worldwide renown for their courses, will also be those to enjoy the most prosperous localised student property markets, with international (and UK-based) students naturally feeling the allure to come study. As such, for those property investors looking into where they may wish to invest geographically, it is to various university ranking tables which may prove to be the best source of insider information.
The complete timetable for delivering four stations in London and Birmingham has recently been released by HS2, providing optimism and a sense of anticipation for the works to begin in the coming years. It is expected that the contracts for the construction of the stations will go out to tender during Q1 of 2018, with preferred bidders set to then be announced in the early stages of 2019. Works across the stations will incorporate the development of the Euston station, in addition to the building of a new station in West London, as well as two in the city of Birmingham. The works have a predicted costing of greater than £6bn in total, with the schedule for completion on the three new stations to be built pencilled in for 2026 – a date we can be sure to view with much anticipation, yet also at a date with more than enough opportunity for further development or changes in the meantime. Not everything is scheduled to be completed by 2026 however, with HS2 highlighting just over half of the eleven platforms at Euston to be finished by the same date, with five more to follow in the times coming up to 2033. Of course, it’s great to see HS2 getting the ball rolling regardless, and it is expected that HS2 will be looking to start its procurement process for the phase one stations by this Christmas, with Simon Kirby, Chief Executive of HS2 hoping for a procurement strategy to be ready for announcement by the end of this year for all four areas. As such, HS2 is expected to begin communication with prospective partners for both the desgn and build at supplier events coming over the course of the year. In fact, it is expected that the design packages for the aforementioned stations is to be sent out to tender further into 2016.
As has been previously highlighted, concerns are abound as to the affordability of property in the London areas, and most specifically for those looking to break into the property market. Highlighting this concern yet further, it has been shown in a recent research report by My Home Move that the average deposit for a property in Greater London is presently at a value almost three times that perceived around the rest of the UK. Totalling in at a staggering £127,000, the average deposit for a property in the area has been reported to have increased by almost a third over the course of the past three years, with an increase of £30,000 reported. Yet, the average deposit as a proportion of price has actually fallen by 1.8% since 2013. Effectively, the evolution of the marketplace means that buyers are still able to get the same level of optimism when purchasing a property in Greater London, if not one marginally higher due to the reduced proportion of property price required for a deposit. Yet, on the other hand, the stark increase in the actual value of a deposit required does indeed paint a worrying picture as to just how many “average” people will be able to stretch to this new “average” deposit for the area. Regarding the situation as becoming somewhat “extreme”, My Home Move’s Chief Executive, Doug Crawford nodded towards the typically price-demanding nature of the London property market, yet inspired a sense of urgency as to just how far this seems to be progressing. “This situation is unsustainable and has been driven by rising house prices. For some, their deposit will come from the equity in the property they are selling,” he commented. “However, for many, they will still need to save tens of thousands of pounds to make the move onto and up the property ladder.”
Awarded by the UK Ministry of Defence’s Defence DIO, Interserve has recently been awarded the contract for a five year project which will see it serving the U.S Air Force with facilities services for across its UK estates. Set to begin in November this year, the prime contract serves as the culmination of four facilities support contracts, effectively covering the main bases of the U.S Air Force across the UK as well as the relative satellite sites. As part of this, Interserve will provide a mixture of services, including TFM, engineering and maintenance services for three of the operational wings of the United States Forces Prime. Although this is not the first time that the contract for support services has been outsourced to an organisation like Interserve, this year serves as a first in the United States Forces Prime estate being taken care of by a singular contractor, with the consolidation of originally separate contracts aiming to reduce costings and improve overall efficiencies. As Adrian Ringrose, Chief Executive of Interserve explained: “We have a long-standing and highly successful relationship with the Ministry of Defence and the armed forces.” And of course, this contract will see Interserve tested in its capacity to up the scale of its involvement in military estates and prove its capacity to deliver – something which, thus far, Adrian Ringrose attests that Interserve has: “Proven our ability to deliver integrated support services efficiently and cost-effectively across a diverse military estate.” Of course, the contract will build upon Interserve’s already-established expertise in the sector, with the company already offering FM services for a variety of UK military estates, including Royal Naval bases, Ministry of Defence locations, joint operating bases and the Defence Sixth Form College. Although the new contract is perceived as a considerable undertaking, evidence does point to the fact that Interserve will have the capacity to deliver on the estates.
