Deafblind charity Sense has given Stepnell a £9.2m contract to build its new TouchBase Pears centre in Selly Oak, Birmingham. Above: Artist’s impression of the new TouchBase Pears centre, courtesy of Glenn Howells Architects The new 6,500 m2, three-storey centre will provide a base for the charity to deliver specialist
First plumbing and heating trainees graduate from JTL course in Orpington Published: 31 May, 2016 Six young people from Kent recently graduated from the first Traineeship programme run at JTL Training’s Orpington training centre. The young men, all between the ages of 17 and 18, took part in the Traineeship
UK letting agents are continuing to increase their use of floor plans, according to analysis form Metropix. The firm analysed sample listings on Rightmove during the period of last month and found that floor plans could be viewed for 18% of rental properties. This shows a significant increase from June
Affinity Water is to start work on the £2.5 million scheme to extend a storage reservoir in Kent. The company has said it will start the extension very shortly on the project that will help make the supply to customers more secure in the Folkestone area. Situated near Hawkinge, the
Chairman of the Crossrail project, Terry Morgan, has been awarded a knighthood as part of the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2016. As well as the knighthood, the construction industry also received a CBE for property developer and former crane owner Martin Ainscough in the honours list. Sir Terry Morgan started his
High Speed Two (HS2) Limited has invited nine companies to tender for a works package worth £11.8 billion. Initially shortlisted in March this year, the nine firms have all been invited by HS2 officials to tender for the civil engineering package for the first phase of the project, which will
A developer has been chosen for the £480 million project in Sheffield’s Retail Quarter. Queensberry Real Estate has been selected by Sheffield City Council to help in its redevelopment of the city centre. The council hopes that its £480 million regeneration project for the Sheffield Retail Quarter will breathe new
Domestic gas appliances in buildings with low ventilation rates have been linked to potential concentrations of carbon monoxide (CO), according to the latest report. The investigation has been carried out by the Institution of Gas Engineers & Managers and the Gas Safety Trust, undertaken by the Health & Safety Executive’s
One lucky European student will be given the opportunity to study a masters in Architecture at the Southern Californian Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) in Los Angeles thanks to the new European Union 2016 Scholarship that has been launched by the university. The two year Master of Architecture programme (MArch 2)
National social enterprise and procurement organisation Fusion21 has made the shortlist in the Chartered Institute of Procurement (CIPS) Supply Management Awards 2016. Announced as a finalist in the ‘Best Contribution to the Reputation of Procurement’ category, Fusion21 is one of two organisations nominated for the award – which recognises procurement
Deafblind charity Sense has given Stepnell a £9.2m contract to build its new TouchBase Pears centre in Selly Oak, Birmingham. Above: Artist’s impression of the new TouchBase Pears centre, courtesy of Glenn Howells Architects The new 6,500 m2, three-storey centre will provide a base for the charity to deliver specialist services to help people with sensory impairments. TouchBase Pears will also house an arts and performance area, gallery, nursery and public café. Construction work has just started and completion is expected in summer 2017. The overall cost of construction is expected to be £14m, of which the charity has a fundraising target of £5m. The building has been designed by Glenn Howells Architects in consultation with children and adults with a range of disabilities to ensure it meets their needs. For example, differing floor surfaces will help people with visual impairments identify different areas in the building. Sense chief executive Gillian Morbey says: “We are delighted that construction for this major new centre is under way and that we are one step closer to delivering a resource to the Midlands that will not just benefit people with sensory impairments but will also be a hub for the wider community. The TouchBase Pears centre will make a huge difference to many people’s lives and we can’t wait to open the doors next year.” Stepnell construction director Bill Haynes says: “We are extremely pleased to be bringing our construction expertise and extensive experience in delivering high-performance buildings to this landmark project for Sense. TouchBase Pears will provide vital services for disabled people and the wider community in the West Midlands, offering a wide range of fully accessible facilities.” This article was published on 11 Mar 2016 (last updated on 11 Mar 2016). Source link
First plumbing and heating trainees graduate from JTL course in Orpington Published: 31 May, 2016 Six young people from Kent recently graduated from the first Traineeship programme run at JTL Training’s Orpington training centre. The young men, all between the ages of 17 and 18, took part in the Traineeship programme for potential plumbing and heating engineers, sponsored by The Carl Burrows Trust. A traineeship is a relatively new approach by government to raise the employability skills of those leaving school, or currently registered as not in employment, education or training (NEET). Young people aged 16 to 18 complete a 9 to 12 week programme that combines work preparation and associated training alongside up to four weeks of work experience with an employer. Leading the work at Orpington is JTL’s Stella Olufemi who has tirelessly presented the advantages of the scheme to both young people and to local schools and colleges. “Employers can see this as an opportunity for young people to gain valuable work experience in their chosen trades while gaining life skills that will help them progress onto an apprenticeship. This in turn will benefit employers by creating more job-ready apprentices,” said Ms Olufemi. The full programme includes work preparation – such as interview techniques, job search and interpersonal skills; functional skills – work towards achieving acknowledged competence standards in English, Maths and IT, if needed; up to four weeks work experience, either with one employer or a combination of employers; understanding building services engineering and the opportunities it presents; Health & Safety knowledge, including working at height; basic electrical or plumbing and mechanical principles and tool skills, both on site and within a workshop. Overseeing this first Traineeship group was JTL’s Martin Hick: “We are delighted that this first cohort has been successful and already one of the six has an apprenticeship lined up and another has real work experience to go to. It’s early days and we look forward to helping the others into the next stage of their careers.” The six learners – Joel Smith, Ayomide Daniel Ayorinde-Salami, Nyle Taylo, Simon Jezewski, Rory Hopgood and Dion Nayhoe – all undertook work experience of very different kinds, and each one marked their Traineeship experience at eight out of ten or above. JTL plans to continue running Traineeship programmes from its Orpington Centre to add to those it has been running for more than a year from its Birmingham Centre. For more information contact JTL at Orpington on 07825175819 or visit www.jtltraining.com. Pictured: The Traineeship graduates with the JTL team and their employers Source link
UK letting agents are continuing to increase their use of floor plans, according to analysis form Metropix. The firm analysed sample listings on Rightmove during the period of last month and found that floor plans could be viewed for 18% of rental properties. This shows a significant increase from June 2012 when the figure was just 5.7% in the same analysis from Metropix. Metropix is a firm that specialises in supplying floor plan based products to the residential estate agency market. The firm’s Director, Brian Farrell, said that the analysis proves that there is a growing appetite for floor plans, with rising appeal for letting agents trying to stand out from their competitors. He added that their analysis shows floor plans are clear instruction winners and that agents can see how they matter to both tenants and landlords. Mr Farrell also said that in his role of judging one of the upcoming letting agency awards, he is interested to see that many of the entrants use floor plans to make them different from rivals. Rightmove research has supported this assertion, as their study last year showed that one in five tenants and buyers said that any listing without a floor plan would be ignored by them. Furthermore, 37% of landlords said they would not invite an estate agent to come and value their property, if floor plans were not provided as standard. Mr Farrell concluded that there is a continuing turn in the tide as more and more letting agents are seeking a unique selling point for their business. He added that Metropix’s ‘Space Planner Tool’ has seen a significant growth in its popularity as it means agents can offer a more interactive service, allowing potential tenants to plan their home furnishings. He says that this is ideal for people who want to rent a property but already have belongings and do not want to purchase new home furnishings.
Affinity Water is to start work on the £2.5 million scheme to extend a storage reservoir in Kent. The company has said it will start the extension very shortly on the project that will help make the supply to customers more secure in the Folkestone area. Situated near Hawkinge, the Paddlesworth Reservoir will receive another ancillary reservoir cell with a capacity of 3ml adjacent to the current storage reservoir. This increased capacity will help to ensure a safeguard of supplies during disruption or dry spells and will come as part of a wider programme of investment, which will also include the construction of a new pumping station at Lower Standen, along with many mains replacement schemes. The scheme’s primary contractor is Coffey Construction and work on the project is to start soon, with a target completion date of autumn 2017. Situated in the Kent Downs Are of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the water firm says the reservoir extension will be built with care in order to make sure that the visual and environmental impacts are kept to a minimum. Claire Sandhu, project manager, said that Cascade Consulting, their environmental consultants, undertook a series of thorough surveys on ecological issues to help with the designing and planning of the scheme. She added that the extension to the reservoir will be less than half the size of the current one and will be blended into the landscape through grass banks. Ms Sandhu said that some bushes and trees will have to be taken out but they are to be replaced by planting new ones at the south end of the site. Only small roads provide access to the site and construction traffic shall be managed carefully in order to keep any potential disruption for residents down to a minimum, she added. Planning permission for a 4ml extension was approved by Shepway Council almost two years ago, but Affinity Water have decided to scale their plans back to 3ml.
Chairman of the Crossrail project, Terry Morgan, has been awarded a knighthood as part of the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2016. As well as the knighthood, the construction industry also received a CBE for property developer and former crane owner Martin Ainscough in the honours list. Sir Terry Morgan started his career as a craft apprentice for Lucas Girling and was knighted for his service to UK infrastructure, skills and employment. He was appointed as Chairman of Crossrail in 2009 and was last year chosen to be chair of the HS2 College governing body. 2015 also saw him appointed by the Government to head the development of its strategy for transport infrastructure skills. Patrick McLoughlin, Transport Secretary, said that he was pleased to see Mr Morgan receive such a prestigious honour for all his excellent work in helping to develop the Government’s strategy for transport infrastructure skills as well as delivering the Crossrail scheme. He added that by putting the development of engineering skills at the centre of the Crossrail project, he has been able to show that the delivery of major infrastructure projects within budget and on time and skills investment go together. Having been an apprentice at the start of his career, Sir Terry has been able to inspire a new generation of apprentices and encourage more young people and women into this crucial industry, regardless of their aspirations and background. Mr McLoughlin added that Sir Terry has lead his peers throughout the construction sector and an ongoing champion of vocational skills. Mr Ainscough built up the UK’s biggest crane hire firm with his brothers before selling it almost 10 years ago for £255 million. The award of a CBE was given for his charity work through the ‘Martin & Judith Ainscough Charity Trust.’ Stephen Huntington, Chief Executive and Chairman of HR Wallingford, was also awarded an OBE for his services to engineering and environmental hydraulics.
High Speed Two (HS2) Limited has invited nine companies to tender for a works package worth £11.8 billion. Initially shortlisted in March this year, the nine firms have all been invited by HS2 officials to tender for the civil engineering package for the first phase of the project, which will cover Birmingham to London, and is worth up to £8.6 billion. Further on in the tendering process, firms who have been successful will then be eligible to start bidding for a phase 2a, which is worth another £1.8 billion – £3.3 billion of work. This phase will cover Crewe to Birmingham. The companies have each been invited to tender for the work packages, which include Long Itchington Wood Green tunnel to Delta Junction / Birmingham Spur (£900m-£1.5bn) and Chiltern tunnels and Colne Valley viaduct (£800m-£1.3bn). It is expected that the civil engineering contracts that will cover the 225km first phase of the scheme will be signed next year, with work set to begin on site the following year. Overall, phase one of HS2 is expected to create almost 15,000 jobs and apprenticeships in the construction industry. Meanwhile, David Cameron recently said that a Brexit vote would result in both HS2 and HS3 schemes being under threat. He said that if the UK elects to leave the European Union on June 23, this could lead to and end of the proposed investment levels in the rail sector. He added that while the Government would still try to maintain investments in the projects if we leave the EU, this would pose a significantly greater challenger than if we were to remain. Earlier in the year, Chancellor George Osborne said that £60 million would be funded into rail in order to make the connection between Manchester and Leeds faster by 30 minutes. The current budget for HS2 is £55.7 billion and is a major part of the Government’s ‘northern powerhouse’ scheme.
A developer has been chosen for the £480 million project in Sheffield’s Retail Quarter. Queensberry Real Estate has been selected by Sheffield City Council to help in its redevelopment of the city centre. The council hopes that its £480 million regeneration project for the Sheffield Retail Quarter will breathe new life into the city, which many say has always suffered since the opening of the Meadowhall centre three miles out of the city in 1990. Paul Sargent, Chief Executive at Queensberry, said that for the last year and a half their team has been focused on securing the contract for this major construction, insisting that it is a dream come true for the construction firm. He added that it is a project that challenges the company’s creative experienced gained so far and fits in line with their scales of ambition. Deputy Leader of Sheffield City Council, Councillor Leigh Bramall, said they are pleased to announce their preferred bidder as Queensberry Real Estate to become their strategic development partner for the Sheffield Retail Quarter project. He added that the deal is a significant forward step and a key landmark in delivering the scheme, and will provide the heart of the city centre with a transformational redevelopment. Mr Bramall also said that the firm showed a clear desire to further increase the level of the scheme, while sharing the council’s ambition. He said that they will bring a proven track record of delivering the highest results on such projects that respond to the changing environment of the retail sector. Queensberry have also been involved in the delivery of other award-winning schemes in Bath, Manchester and Belfast among various others throughout the country. During work on these schemes, the firm was able to forge strong working connections with a variety of leisure and retail operators whom they will now be hoping to bring to the Sheffield scheme.
Domestic gas appliances in buildings with low ventilation rates have been linked to potential concentrations of carbon monoxide (CO), according to the latest report. The investigation has been carried out by the Institution of Gas Engineers & Managers and the Gas Safety Trust, undertaken by the Health & Safety Executive’s Health and Safety Laboratory. The study tested four different domestic gas appliances: a standard gas fire which requires a flue, a portable cabinet heater, a wall-mounted flueless gas fire and a four ring hob single oven gas cooker. They concluded that there was no increased CO poisoning risk linked directly to low ventilation levels, as long as the appliances were installed correctly to the recommended instructions of the manufacturer and are then maintained correctly. However, the report did outline a number of areas that need further work to be undertaken, for example the impact of poorly maintained appliances, or the dangers of using alternative heating fuels like wood or different solid fuels. Although the investigation primarily focused on CO concentrations, they also found increased emissions of carbon dioxide from gas appliances which may also result in more research being conducted in the area. Chris Bielby, Chairman of GST, said that the report backs up the Gas Safety Trust’s view that customers must make sure their gas appliances are installed properly, serviced regularly and used appropriately in line with the instructions of the manufacturers. He added that they also recommend using audible CO alarms that are tested to the European standard EN 50291 as a further line of defence. Mr Bielby also said that there is a requirement for more investigations to be carried out in the field of fossil fuels and that the Gas Safety Trust is interested in receiving research propositions from applicants who are suitably qualified. IGEM’s Ian McCluskey said that this study once again proves that the correct standards should always be met.
One lucky European student will be given the opportunity to study a masters in Architecture at the Southern Californian Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) in Los Angeles thanks to the new European Union 2016 Scholarship that has been launched by the university. The two year Master of Architecture programme (MArch 2) will have the full cost of tuition fees covered by the European Union 2016 Scholarship during the 2016-2017 academic year for a citizen of the EU, as part of a school-wide effort to bring together talented architects from around the world by financially supporting them with their studies. SCI-Arc are certainly no strangers to taking on students from outside the United States either, with over half of its student population deriving from over 46 different countries from around the world. The new scholarship is aimed at students who already hold an undergraduate degree in architecture but are looking to further their education on the subject, and will give the successful student the opportunity to progress their career opportunities over to the United States, whilst using one of the largest university fabrication facilities in the US. These facilities will include an analogue shop, Robot House and Magic Box, which is a new digital fabrication facility equipped with 17 3D printers, two Computer Numerical Control mills and six laser cutters. The new initiative will be led by Elena Manferdini, who is the chair of the graduate programme, and has been teaching MArch 2 for over 13 years. She said, “I know first-hand how a scholarship and the trust of an institution can change someone’s career. At 22, I came to Los Angeles on a scholarship to pursue a Master of Architecture degree. Twenty years later, I have built a career in this country; now, as graduate chair of one of the most prestigious architectural schools in the USA, I am proud to be able to give back and offer the same opportunity to another talented young architect to realise his or her dreams by receiving a full tuition scholarship to study at SCI-Arc.” Manferdini will be aiming to engage European students with SCI-Arc’s culture of architectural innovation, she will be reviewing all applications for the scholarship alongside SCI-Arc Director Hernan Diaz Alonso and one more guest juror. The successful candidate will be accepted for the fall 2016 semester, with the deadline for submitting all of the materials for the SCI-Arc European Union 2016 Scholarship is 30th June 2016, and the cost of applying priced at £58 (equivalent to $85).
National social enterprise and procurement organisation Fusion21 has made the shortlist in the Chartered Institute of Procurement (CIPS) Supply Management Awards 2016. Announced as a finalist in the ‘Best Contribution to the Reputation of Procurement’ category, Fusion21 is one of two organisations nominated for the award – which recognises procurement activities that contribute to the public good. These prestigious awards are respected as a benchmark for excellence, and honour UK organisations and individuals working within the procurement and supply chain industry. Fusion21 has a sustainable business model which complies with the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 and enables social value through the procurement process. Members include registered providers, local authorities, education providers and the NHS. Dave Neilson, Chief Executive at Fusion21, said: “The CIPS Supply Management Awards recognise best practice in the industry – competition is tough and it’s fantastic to be nominated alongside big brands working within the private and public sectors. “As a national social enterprise we support public sector organisations to deliver efficiencies, and create social value within local communities. Our approach to procurement leads to a variety of positive social outcomes – from job creation and tackling unemployment, to reducing reoffending and supporting wider community regeneration.” Fusion21 has generated around £56 million of community impact across the country, and created more than 2,500 jobs. Earlier this year, the social enterprise won the ‘Driving Value for Money’ category in the first Cabinet Office Social Value Awards. CIPS Supply Management Award finalists will be announced at a ceremony in London on 14 September, 2016.
