The North West and Scotland bared the brunt of the recent slump in mortgage sales. According to research, Northern Ireland was the only region to report sales growth at 2.7%. The research from Equifax Touchstone shows North West sales dropping by 7.7%, with Scotland following closely behind at -7.0%. Buy-to-let
An amendment to the Energy Bill which would have extended the grace period for the early closure of the Renewables Obligation (RO) to onshore wind has been voted down in the Commons. The Lords voted in favour of the amendment in a session last week. It was
Category: Construction Industry Today | Subscribe to Construction Industry Today Feed Published Tue, Apr 26th 2016 Cordant Projects, part of the Cordant Group, recently played a key role in the completion of a new £1.5m Family Attraction Centre on Merseyside, the first of its kind in Europe. The company
Two of the biggest life insurance firms in the UK have sealed investment deals in infrastructure as the sector continues to show its growing desire for physical assets. Insurance firm Legal & General has announced that is is to pump £65 million into Newcastle Science Central, which is a £350
UK engineering firm Mott MacDonald and Swedish planning firm Sweco have been jointly appointed by Transport Scotland as consultants for dualling a 29 mile stretch of the A96. The A96 stretches from Inverness to Aberdeen, with the proposed dualling stretch situated between Fochabers and Hardmuir. The two firms (MMS JV)
Gavin Orson, a star of “Ffasiwn Bildar” has encouraged Welsh youngsters to take part in this year’s ‘Open Doors’ project and consider a career in the construction industry. Open Door is an initiative run in conjunction with Build UK and the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) and is running from
The UK has seen a sharp drop in home lending for the month of April as was expected, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ (CML) latest figures. For the month, lending for home purchases went down by 40% compared with March. However, experts have insisted that this was just
Smart phones are infiltrating every area of our lives. We perform a daily juggling act when managing our private and professional lives through our mobile devices. Recent statistics revealed that on average, people touch their phones every four minutes- equivalent to 253 times a day! According to a recent study
BDC 319 : Aug 2024
The North West and Scotland bared the brunt of the recent slump in mortgage sales. According to research, Northern Ireland was the only region to report sales growth at 2.7%. The research from Equifax Touchstone shows North West sales dropping by 7.7%, with Scotland following closely behind at -7.0%. Buy-to-let mortgage sales dropped by 9.5% (-£276.3m) on March levels and residential mortgage sales were down by 2.8% (-£367.5m). Buy-to-let sales have now dropped by a third (-£1.3bn) from February’s high ahead of the stamp duty changes. Iain Hill, Relationship Manager at Equifax Touchstone, said: “The slump in buy-to-let mortgage sales comes as no surprise given the recent changes in stamp duty, but it will be interesting to see how providers respond. The FCA this week highlighted the need for further improvements in mortgage competition, and the importance of catering for older consumers. We’ve already seen a number of interesting products come to market in recent months, including 100 per cent mortgages and intergenerational offerings. We expect this drive in innovation to continue with more launches ahead.” Source link
An amendment to the Energy Bill which would have extended the grace period for the early closure of the Renewables Obligation (RO) to onshore wind has been voted down in the Commons. The Lords voted in favour of the amendment in a session last week. It was tabled by Lord Grantchester who said it would cover “projects that have achieved democratic local consent for their development at a planning committee on or before 18 June 2015 but received Section 75 in Scotland and Section 106 in England and Wales agreement after that date”. The amendment has now been defeated in the Commons, with 293 members voting to get rid of it and 224 voting to keep it. Speaking ahead of the vote energy minister Andrea Leadsom said 18 June 2015 had been set out as “a clear, bright line” and that “tampering with such an integral part of the early closure policy at such a late stage in its development simply will not do”. She said government had a mandate to cut costs for customers and that in making another 90MW of onshore generation eligible for the RO, the amendment would reduce the savings from early closure “by something in the region of £10 million per annum”. The minister noted that the early closure as a whole was expected to save £20 million a year. Shadow energy minister Alan Whitehead said the amendment highlighted “a particularly egregious inequity in the grace-period scheme”. He said it would aid developers who had “done the right thing” by “determinedly gone through the local process and engaged with it, rather than standing back and waiting to progress through an appeal”. The bill is currently at the ping-pong stage meaning it will now return to the Lords. If they accept the changes made in the Commons the bill will then receive royal assent and become law. Last week the government confirmed that early closure of the RO would not be enforced retroactively after the planned closure date passed before that could happen. Source link
Category: Construction Industry Today | Subscribe to Construction Industry Today Feed Published Tue, Apr 26th 2016 Cordant Projects, part of the Cordant Group, recently played a key role in the completion of a new £1.5m Family Attraction Centre on Merseyside, the first of its kind in Europe. The company carried out the role of Principal Contractor throughout the construction phase of the ‘Mattel Play! Liverpool’ development, which was opened by attraction operator Heritage Great Britain at the Albert Dock in March. Posted via Industry Today. Follow us on Twitter @IndustryToday Cordant Projects, part of the Cordant Group, recently played a key role in the completion of a new £1.5m Family Attraction Centre on Merseyside, the first of its kind in Europe. The company carried out the role of Principal Contractor throughout the construction phase of the ‘Mattel Play! Liverpool’ development, which was opened by attraction operator Heritage Great Britain at the Albert Dock in March. During the five-month scheme, Cordant Projects was responsible for the procurement, installation and management of all Builders Works packages including demolition, plastering, partitioning, decoration, ply decking and soft floor packages. This involved the construction of all internal walls and protective flooring within the 13,000 square foot building to create the main attraction areas, a reception, back offices, toilets, baby changing facilities and a servery area. In addition, Cordant Projects was able to utilise its in-house capabilities to design and install all the Mechanical & Electrical aspects of the project, including heating & cooling, air conditioning, ventilation, background lighting, fire alarms and an intruder alarm with a CCTV system to ensure the site remains secure at all times. As the family entertainment centre is within a Grade II listed building and therefore subject to stringent conservation laws, Cordant Projects worked closely with the relevant local authorities during each stage of the development to ensure all regulations were met. Upon completion of the Builders Work phase, the client instructed Cordant to oversee the project management of the installation of the attraction’s facilities, based on children’s brands including Bob the Builder, Thomas & Friends and Fireman Sam. Finnish-based Lappset Group carried out the installation of the attractions. As Cordant Projects was working alongside an overseas partner that normally adheres to a different set of building regulations, the company had to create new relationships whilst providing a daily management and advisory facility for Lappset to ensure all aspects of the current regulations were achieved. Allen Leech, CEO at Heritage Great Britain, said: “After months of planning and preparation, we are delighted to reveal this new concept which is a first for Liverpool. Everyone’s pulled together to make this happen and we are grateful to all our city partners, along with Lappset and their team from Finland who built the attraction. Throughout the duration of the project we have been impressed with all elements of the work delivered by the team at Cordant Projects. The end result is something we all can be very proud of.” Ian Woods, Managing Director at Cordant Technical, said: “During the construction and development of Mattel Play! Liverpool we have been able to further demonstrate our ability to deliver exceptional levels of service, whilst completing major projects on time and to budget. This continues to be a significant reason behind our growth and ongoing success.” Contact information lizzie woolleyweston partnership29 Kingswood road londonSW2 4JE07881 923 530 Source link
Two of the biggest life insurance firms in the UK have sealed investment deals in infrastructure as the sector continues to show its growing desire for physical assets. Insurance firm Legal & General has announced that is is to pump £65 million into Newcastle Science Central, which is a £350 million science and technology park that will be constructed on a 24 acre site in the city centre. Meanwhile, the Pension Insurance Corporation has said it will inject £100 million into debt secured on the new Thames Tideway Tunnel, or a ‘super sewer’, which is a project costing £4.2 billion and is expected to be complete in 2023. These are the latest in a series of deals secured by insurance companies as they show a growing trend towards investing in bricks and mortar assets. While infrastructure remains a small section of insurance firms’ overall operations, it is a sector that has seen rapid growth. One of the attractions of physical assets is that they offer cash flow in the long term to match the extended liabilities of insurers. This is crucial for firms such as PIC and Legal & General which specialise in pension products and annuity that can last for several decades. Furthermore, because it is often illiquid, there are often better returns offered in infrastructure than those available on other long term assets like corporate bonds of government. Black Rock’s Insurance Asset Management Team Managing Director, Patrick Liedtke, said that infrastructure debt ‘ticks all the boxes’ as it provides investment grade paper that is long dated and allows insurance firms to match their liabilities and assets. He added that the companies are using it to replace some of the more classic papers that they would have otherwise held. Earlier this year, Goldman Sachs Asset Management conducted a survey that found infrastructure equality and infrastructure debt are among insurers’ most popular asset clauses, with a significant majority intending to pledge more money into the assets than take money away.
UK engineering firm Mott MacDonald and Swedish planning firm Sweco have been jointly appointed by Transport Scotland as consultants for dualling a 29 mile stretch of the A96. The A96 stretches from Inverness to Aberdeen, with the proposed dualling stretch situated between Fochabers and Hardmuir. The two firms (MMS JV) will explore potential options for the work before then taking on the detailed design work. Transport Scotland say that the contract was worth up to £50 million and hopes the scheme will significantly reduce driving times between Aberdeen and Inverness. The group is planning to improve the whole 86 miles of the A96 by 2030 and is starting off by targeting the stretches that suffer the worst bottlenecks on a regular basis that result in widespread disruption and traffic congestion. The Fochabers to Hardmuir section of the road is mainly made up of single lane carriageway which passes close to or through various villages and towns. The two firms will start their joint venture this summer with their assessment and design work before embarking on the process of assessing the various possible route options, which is anticipated to take up to two years to complete. Along the full length of the new road there will be numerous grade separated junctions where several communities will see the creation of new bypasses, including Elgin and Forres. The work will also see the construction of new crossings at the River Spey, the River Lossie and the River Findhorn, along with the rail line between Inverness and Aberdeen. Earlier in the month, Transport Scotland announced a five month delay on the construction of the Queensferry Crossing. The original opening date of December 2016 has now been put back to May 2017 due to adverse weather conditions, specifically high winds.
Gavin Orson, a star of “Ffasiwn Bildar” has encouraged Welsh youngsters to take part in this year’s ‘Open Doors’ project and consider a career in the construction industry. Open Door is an initiative run in conjunction with Build UK and the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) and is running from Monday June 13 to Saturday June 18. In the recent S4C television series Ffasiwn Bildar which aims to transform the image of Welsh construction workers, 27 year old Orson won the award of Model Builder. During the show, he took part in a number of different tasks, including carpentry, plastering and bricklaying, which saw him scoop the £3,500 cash prize as well as the opportunity to be a model in the Dickies 2016 catalogue. Now, Orson is getting behind the Open Doors scheme and said that the campaign provides a superb opportunity for young people who are interested in a career in construction. He said that from the age of 13 he used to visit building sites during the summer holidays and believes that doing so gave him a feel for the job. Having recently set up his own plumbing firm, Orson added that working in construction is a great career choice because having a trade behind you means you are set up for life. He concluded that construction work is a ‘safe bet’ when choosing a career as people will always want things building, adding that he has been busy throughout his construction career and that we are now seeing a rising number of opportunities in Wales. CITB says that there is an urgent need for more workers in the industry, with more than 230,000 new jobs in the construction sector forecast to appear in the UK over the course of the next five year period. The Construction Skills Network has produced figures for the next five years that estimate a creation of almost 30,000 construction jobs.
The UK has seen a sharp drop in home lending for the month of April as was expected, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ (CML) latest figures. For the month, lending for home purchases went down by 40% compared with March. However, experts have insisted that this was just a blip caused by abnormally high borrowing levels in March ahead of the change in stamp duty. Borrowing from home owners went down by 4% in comparison to a year ago, with £8.1 billion being borrowed, while 47,300 loans were taken out which is a 31% decrease from March and a 5% fall from April last year. Borrowing from first time buyers went down to £3.9 billion, which is up 15% from April 2015 but down 11% from March 2016. This is equal to 25,100 loans, a 7% year on year increase but a 9% month on month decrease. Activity in re-mortgages was £6 billion in total, which is a 40% increase from last year and up 25% on March. This resulted in a total of 16,100 loans, which is a 64% decrease from March and a 10% fall from last April. Meanwhile, borrowing from landlords totalled £2.5 billion, a 7% year on year decrease and a fall of 65% month on month. This came to a total of just over 16,000 loans, which is a 64% fall from the previous month and a 10% decrease from last year. CML Director General, Paul Smee, insisted that it was not surprising to see an ease back in lending after March’s significant activity rises as borrowers made sure they beat the deadline for second home stamp duty. He added that he is expecting the market to take a number of months before it returns to its former levels after the surge in lending. Meanwhile, LMS Chief Executive, Andy Knee, says that the home loan market is growing thanks to remortgaging.
Smart phones are infiltrating every area of our lives. We perform a daily juggling act when managing our private and professional lives through our mobile devices. Recent statistics revealed that on average, people touch their phones every four minutes- equivalent to 253 times a day! According to a recent study on the preferences and spending habits of Millennials, two in five London millennials are willing to spend up to £125 per month for superfast internet access. What’s apparent is that we are never really switched off. Regarding connectivity and building infrastructure, The Royal Institute of British Architects estimates that twenty hours of our day is spent inside either commercial or residential premises. Yet, what’s concerning here is that, with roughly two billion smartphone customers worldwide, and with around 80 per cent of mobile data sessions beginning or ending indoors, only two percent of commercial properties have specific systems in place for ensuring indoor mobile coverage. A few months ago, CommScope surveyed experts in charge of the architecture and management of buildings to understand their opinions on indoor wireless connectivity. Those surveyed included building executives, facilities overseers, real estate managers and the architects themselves. The results showed that we all need a robust and reliable network and, in order to deliver best performance and provide mobile coverage to users within larger and more complex buildings, businesses require investment in dedicated technology. Leaving financial implications and technical complexities aside, the obligation for businesses to install such a dedicated system is apparent. Nowadays, residents expect to have cellular connectivity inside buildings, in the same way they expect a reliable supply of electricity, water and gas. Interestingly, the study found that cellular mobile coverage indoors could increase a property’s value by 28 per cent – meaning a £2.5 million office building could be worth £700,000 more with a dedicated indoor cellular system. Moreover, 60 per cent of those who participated in the survey admitted that indoor wireless connectivity was “imperative” for workers. The growing demand for connectivity within commercial buildings can be attributed to the fact that offices have now taken on a world of their own, and are not simply a place for us to carry on our daily 9-to-5 grind. Indeed, office spaces now function as sites where colleagues share ideas, connect and innovate around the clock. What’s evident is that companies can no longer rest on their laurels; in order to hire the most talented staff and attract residents, management teams need to provide a state-of-the art working environment that will have lasting positive impacts upon the overall wellbeing and productivity of their employees. To highlight this correlation, those who were surveyed believed that indoor wireless coverage would enable employees to work more productively (77%), support the hiring of more skilled professionals (46%) and may even entice more visitors (39%). Real-time data stream The way we work is constantly evolving. The topic of the ‘workplace of the future’ has certainly been hitting the headlines in recent months. Indeed, buildings of the future must offer a range of options for connecting multiple devices and, due to growing demand, an infrastructure for indoor wireless systems may not be far off and will soon become the norm in the majority of buildings. Yet, while it’s necessary to provide employees with mobile connectivity, companies need to also consider the present state of an environment if they wish to continue making necessary improvements to it and, to do so, they need to be able to track important environmental, special, and energy metrics. With advanced sensor technology woven into a building’s fabric, this data can be taken instantaneously, processed and dealt with accordingly. This user-friendly system will, in turn, enable companies to automatically manage desk or conference areas in a more optimised way. The overall ambience of a room or building, including air conditioning systems, the brightness of overhead lights, or temperature, can be regulated to offer employees a pleasant space more conducive to efficient work and, by optimising energy consumption minute-by-minute, a building’s carbon footprint can be significantly reduced, meaning cost savings and improved CSR credentials. Moreover, this real-time data stream will be linked into Integrated Workplace Management Systems and other, similar, software platforms to enable a resourceful, smart and employee-friendly working environment. Attracting top talent and helping partners and customers successfully transition to the digital economy has never been more important. Indeed, as more and more technology is added to the exploding Internet of Things sphere, and more people connect to the network and each other, more and more data will be generated and accessed in commercial and residential buildings. In order to keep up with, manage and interpret this data appropriately, all businesses need to upgrade to a fully intelligent building to maintain a competitive advantage. By Lewis White, Managing Director for Northern Europe, CommScope
