Keltbray expects to save £60,000 a year through a new app that changes how its piling division manages information. Keltbray’s new software application allows engineers on site to complete all piling records via the use of mobile tablets. The tailor-made system allows office and site based staff to share information
Total construction output will reach an all-time high in Greta Britain 2016, according to latest forecasts from research specialist Leading Edge. Above: Leading Edge director Mel Budd The firm’s economists expect GB construction output to grow by 3.3% this year compared to 2015 (at constant 2012 prices). This will take
APHC questions vocational qualification plans Published: 12 October, 2016 The Association of Plumbing and Heating Contractors (APHC)has expressed doubts about the feasibility of plans for the development of vocational qualifications, following a speech made by Phil Beach CBE, in collaboration with Ofqual, last week. Speaking at the GovNet Skills and
Seddon has broken ground on a £23m project at Keele University. Above: Seddon is expaning Keele’s Barnes Hall The project is in two parts. Firstly, Seddon will build new student accommodation on campus; then it will take over an old hall of residence off campus and redevelop it for private
Planning permission has been approved for Select Property Group to construct two residential tower blocks of more than 500 flats for private rent in the city centre of Manchester. The two tower blocks, Riverview and Riverside, will operate under the Affinity Living brand of the Select group and will be
A collapsed wall has killed five workers at a recycling plant in Birmingham. The incident occurred at the Hawkeswood Metal Recycling site in Aston Church Road in Birmingham’s Nechells area. The wall, which comprised of concrete blocks that weighed around 1.5 tonnes each, was four metres high and when the
Horticultural company, William Sinclair Horticulture Limited, has been fined for two separate incidents that occurred at their sites in Lincoln and Ellesmere Port. The Ellesmere Port incident resulted in one of the firm’s workers sustaining serious injuries after he fell from a ladder that was not secured properly. Darren Taylor,
Carillion has won the first contract to construct the first building in the transformation of Birmingham’s Paradise Circus scheme. The firm is already the contractor for the first phase of the contract which has enabled the £450 million development scheme and has now been revealed as the contractor for the
Screwfix has launched a new guide to help tradespeople understand how easy it can be to hire apprentices, in conjunction with Jamie Hepburn, the Scottish Minister for Employability and Training. Earlier in the week, Hepburn visited the Edinburgh Screwfix store to launch the guide, entitled ‘Your Guide to Hiring an
The second biggest housebuilder by output in the UK, Persimmon, says it remains confident in its ability to deliver a long term dividend programme, despite Britain’s vote to leave the European Union sparking worries throughout the sector. However, as investors become more and more pessimistic about the future of property
Keltbray expects to save £60,000 a year through a new app that changes how its piling division manages information. Keltbray’s new software application allows engineers on site to complete all piling records via the use of mobile tablets. The tailor-made system allows office and site based staff to share information from the same database in real time with project details updated live as the work progresses. Previously, Keltbray’s project engineers on site had to fill in forms by hand, leading to double handling of data and reading information which was at times dirty, incomplete and difficult to read. Automation means the company now eliminates the need for repeated data input and reduces scope for human error, it says. The new system provides live feedback to engineers, including real time data on pile positioning, concrete pours and pile verticality while also assisting in the management and quality control of materials on site. Keltbray has invested around £70,000 in the development of the app and estimates that it will save its piling division alone at least £60,000 a year. As part of the second generation, the company is now looking at incorporating additional reporting functions to allow it to become a business management tool as well as providing live data feeds into client databases. Keltbray Piling managing director Stuart Norman said: “Our industry has traditionally been late adopters of new technology, but following last month’s milestone, when Building Information Management (BIM) Level 2 compliance for centrally procured government projects came into force, more companies are starting to realise the potential for electronic data systems to help increase collaboration and to assist in making more informed decisions.” He said: “It is a known fact that a large proportion of the cost of a project is tied up in inefficiencies, delays and wastage. As we learn how best to integrate our data in the wider BIM environment, we can reduce this with the ultimate aim to eradicate it completely.” He concluded: “In the future all of us will eventually not just be engineers or managers, we will all be data harvesters and analysts.” This article was published on 19 May 2016 (last updated on 19 May 2016). Source link
Total construction output will reach an all-time high in Greta Britain 2016, according to latest forecasts from research specialist Leading Edge. Above: Leading Edge director Mel Budd The firm’s economists expect GB construction output to grow by 3.3% this year compared to 2015 (at constant 2012 prices). This will take total output to £135.3bn, beating the previous all-time high of £133.7bn that was reached in 2007. The only sector expected to see a fall in output in 2016 and beyond is the public housing sector, which is likely to be hit by a decline in rental income and by welfare cuts. All other sectors are expected to see growth with the strongest sectors being infrastructure, industrial and private housebuilding. After a small fall in output in 2015, the commercial sector (mainly offices, leisure and retail) will also return to growth. Mel Budd, director at Leading Edge, said: “Total new orders for 2015, a good indicator of what will happen in output in 2016 and 17, showed a 2.8% year on year increase. Although there were sharp falls in public housing and non housing, this was expected, while infrastructure and industrial saw strong growth.” Leading Edge forecasts that total construction output in 2020 will be 17% higher than 2015 after excluding the effects of inflation. Infrastructure will be a key growth area, where spending on energy and transport is set to see sharp increases from an already high base. In addition the industrial and commercial sectors will see steady growth over the next five years. It also expects housebuilding to continue growing, with completions heading for around 200,000 a year by 2019/20. Mr Budd added: “Although the Office of Budget Responsibility has just downgraded its GDP forecasts, the UK economy is still relatively healthy and one of the fastest growing western economies which will help grow output in the construction sector. The potential downside risks are mainly from uncertainty in international markets such as Europe and China. Annual GDP growth until 2020 in the UK is forecast to be 2.0-2.2% per annum while business investment is expected to grow at 2.6–6.1% per annum over the same time period.” This article was published on 18 Mar 2016 (last updated on 18 Mar 2016). Source link
APHC questions vocational qualification plans Published: 12 October, 2016 The Association of Plumbing and Heating Contractors (APHC)has expressed doubts about the feasibility of plans for the development of vocational qualifications, following a speech made by Phil Beach CBE, in collaboration with Ofqual, last week. Speaking at the GovNet Skills and Employability Summit, Mr Beach discussed the development of vocational qualifications and assessments, suggesting how trust in them might be maintained during a period of reform. Mr Beach began his speech by detailing the many changes occurring in the vocational qualifications sector, in particular the Post-16 Skills Plan, which has been designed to provide 16-19 year-olds with valued routes into the workplace and the new Trailblazer apprenticeship standards. Focusing on apprenticeships, Mr Beach spoke positively about the commitment of Trailblazer groups to designing clear and manageable assessments and employers’ clear sense of what they want end point assessments in apprenticeships to achieve. However, he also expressed concern around the fact that few Trailblazer groups have the specific expertise required to develop assessment plans, arguing that assessment experience early in the process enables the assessment plan and related end-point assessment to be developed to test the full range of knowledge, skills and understanding described in the apprenticeship standard. He added that one of the most significant challenges for the wider system would be ensuring that end point assessments are comparable, irrespective of the External Quality Advisor selected. Mr Beach ended his speech by discussing the role of employers in developing Trailblazer apprenticeships, who must be involved in ensuring that qualifications can be trusted and are responsive to their specific industry needs. He stressed that considering the evaluation of qualifications and assessments before they enter the market should be a key consideration in determining the overall regulatory approach moving forwards. Graeme Dryden, technical services manager at APHC, said: “We welcome Mr Beach’s thoughts on the changes occurring in the vocational qualification sector, especially due to the significant support we have provided to employers in the formation of the new plumbing and domestic heating apprenticeship standard. However, while some of Mr Beach’s changes appear innovative, we would stress caution around a development and communication strategy government is using to directly engage with employers. “While such a strategy works in industries with very large employers such as retail and utilities, in traditional industries, asking sole traders or SMEs to give up valuable time and then potentially, directly fund initiatives such as apprenticeships, is unfair and unworkable.” Source link
Seddon has broken ground on a £23m project at Keele University. Above: Seddon is expaning Keele’s Barnes Hall The project is in two parts. Firstly, Seddon will build new student accommodation on campus; then it will take over an old hall of residence off campus and redevelop it for private housing. The first phase of the project sees Seddon building two new accommodation blocks at Barnes hall of residence at the centre of the university’s 600 acre campus. There will be 453 en-suite bedrooms built across the two blocks, with the facility ready for Christmas 2017. This project got underway with turf cutting on 10th August 2016. Once this is complete, Seddon will redevelop the former Hawthorns hall of residence in Keele village, with the redundant site making way for 83 new homes for sale. Managing director Jonathan Seddon said: “This major project builds on what has already been a good year for Seddon in the Midlands and, more importantly, on work we have delivered for our long-standing partner Keele University over many years. “As a local, family business, it’s important that we spend as much as we can in the surrounding area, so the more materials, labour and subcontractor packages we can source locally the better. Not only is it good common sense, but it’s reinvesting the university’s money into the local community.” This is just the latest in a series of projects Seddon has worked on with Keele University. The contractor is due to complete IC5, a £5.3m industrial and office building, later this year as part of the university’s Science & Innovation Park improvements. Seddon has built the shell and core of the IC5 building, along with three separate wings and associated external hard and soft landscaping. In 2012, Seddon completed a £1m project to extend a lecture theatre and provide a new lecture room for the Darwin Management School. Prior to this, the firm was involved in a £1.5m refurbishment project to upgrade the earth and space observatory. This article was published on 12 Aug 2016 (last updated on 12 Aug 2016). Source link
Planning permission has been approved for Select Property Group to construct two residential tower blocks of more than 500 flats for private rent in the city centre of Manchester. The two tower blocks, Riverview and Riverside, will operate under the Affinity Living brand of the Select group and will be built on the banks of the River Irwell next to the Lowry Hotel. The planning approval is the third one given for the company’s Affinity Living residential brand, after last month saw the group given approval for 677 apartments at Circle Square in a joint venture with Bruntwood, along with 684 apartments at Embankment West earlier in the year. Located next to the riverside footpath on New Bailey Street, the 35 storey construction, Affinity Living Riverview, will comprise of 318 apartments, while Affinity Living Riverside, the 17 storey building, will house 188 apartments. Enabling work is due to commence in October with Affinity Living Riverside due to be complete by the end of the first quarter of 2018, while Riverview should be finished by the end of 2019. Select Property Group Chief Executive Officer, Mark Stott, said that Affinity Living Riverview and Riverside promise to bring something “exceptional” to a generation of professional young renters in an area of the city that is highly sought after. Mr Stott says the company is pleased to have been given the planning permission and is very much looking forward to commencing work on the site. Deloitte Real Estate Assistant Director, Niall Alcock, commented: “The proposals will deliver significant new high quality residential accommodation from a proven developer and operator and play a key role in securing the long term success of the region.” He added that it is exciting for the company to have been granted a third application in two months, while the architects working on the project are Denton Corker Marshall.
A collapsed wall has killed five workers at a recycling plant in Birmingham. The incident occurred at the Hawkeswood Metal Recycling site in Aston Church Road in Birmingham’s Nechells area. The wall, which comprised of concrete blocks that weighed around 1.5 tonnes each, was four metres high and when the structure gave way, the men were crushed, according to West Midlands Police Detective Superintendent, Mark Payne. At 8.43am on the morning of Thursday, July 7, the West Midlands Fire Service received a call for assistance from the West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) and reached the scene in less than five minutes. In a statement from the fire service, it stated: “On our arrival it was clear that a large concrete structure containing metal had collapsed, trapping a number of people. “Very sadly, five people were pronounced dead at the scene by a doctor. One other person who was seriously injured was taken to hospital by the ambulance service.” Cutting equipment and cranes were used to recover the bodies, while the Health & Safety Executive was also on the scene with a structural engineer. Gary Taylor, Assistant Chief Fire Officer at the West Midlands Fire Service (WMFS) said that the incident is devastating for everyone involved, adding that their deepest sympathies and thoughts are with the families and colleagues of the victims. He added that once the police have concluded their first examinations of the scene, the priority of the fire service will be to make sure that the bodies of the victims are recovered in the safest and quickest possible way, along with the utmost respect and dignity. Mr Taylor also commented: “The scene is an extremely challenging one, involving significant tonnage of concrete and metal and a structure that is still unstable. We have an assertive recovery plan in place and expect this operation to take several hours.”
Horticultural company, William Sinclair Horticulture Limited, has been fined for two separate incidents that occurred at their sites in Lincoln and Ellesmere Port. The Ellesmere Port incident resulted in one of the firm’s workers sustaining serious injuries after he fell from a ladder that was not secured properly. Darren Taylor, aged 40, was working on a deep clean of conveyor belts on January 8, 2015, and used a ladder to remove guards for access but on his ascent the ladder moved and caused him to fall to the ground from a height of 1.75 metres. The investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the company did not have a safe system of work or risk assessment in place for the work to be carried out, nor for the proper use of ladders. On the day of the incident, none of the other workers who were involved in cleaning the conveyor belts had received adequate training on how to use ladders safely. In February 2014, Bolton Magistrates’ Court heard that William Sinclair Horticulture Limited had previously received two formal warnings from the HSE that were was an issue on the site about work being carried out from an unsafe height, though the firm did not take the action that was required. The court was also told that William Sinclair Horticulture Limited did not listen to the HSE Inspector’s advice by not giving the necessary guarding on machinery at their site in Lincoln. After a proactive visit in January last year by the Inspector, the firm was served with an Improvement Notice to improve the guarding of the conveyors that fed products into the machinery. A further visit in March last year found that another Improvement Notice has been served relating to guarding on the sand line, while a third visit in June last year revealed that the company still had major issues with guarding of machinery, despite formal enforcement action taken previously.
Carillion has won the first contract to construct the first building in the transformation of Birmingham’s Paradise Circus scheme. The firm is already the contractor for the first phase of the contract which has enabled the £450 million development scheme and has now been revealed as the contractor for the seven storey construction to be built at the heart of the project – One Chamberlain Square. Eric Parry is the architect who designed the 172,000 sq ft building which will include a sixth floor roof terrace along with retail units and restaurants at ground level. Simon Dingle, Operations Director at Carillion, commented: “Paradise is a crucial project for the city and Carillion is very proud to be playing such a major role in its delivery. We are looking forward to completing the enabling works on the site and being able to bring our considerable experience to construct One Chamberlain Square.” The Paradise Circus redevelopment will be undertaken through a joint venture firm which was established almopst three years ago between the British Telecom Pension Scheme (BTPS) and Birmingham City Council, which will be managed by Hermes Real Estate Investment Management Ltd (HREIML), while the development manager for the joint venture will be Argent. Rob Groves, Regional Director at Argent, said that Carillion has made significant progress in preparation for the complex site and the surrounding infrastructure and will soon be delivering the basement and foundations for the building’s first phase. He added: “We are very pleased that Carillion will now be able to continue this work and bring One Chamberlain Square to life.” When complete, the new Paradise Circus will have a hotel and eight new office buildings. The first two office buildings – One and Two Chamberlain Square – are set for completion by the end of 2018, with financial services giant PwC signed up as the first tenant.
Screwfix has launched a new guide to help tradespeople understand how easy it can be to hire apprentices, in conjunction with Jamie Hepburn, the Scottish Minister for Employability and Training. Earlier in the week, Hepburn visited the Edinburgh Screwfix store to launch the guide, entitled ‘Your Guide to Hiring an Apprentice’, which is a free booklet and available online as well as in Screwfix stores throughout Scotland. The national skills body, Skills Development Scotland, developed the booklet, and the group also contributed financially towards the cost of training apprentices. The booklet was released by Screwfix in conjunction with the Minister in response to a study that showed tradespeople want more skilled workers through encouraging apprenticeship schemes, along with guidance on how to take apprentices on. The free, easy to use information pack is intended to address a number of the myths associated with apprenticeships and given its small size, the guide will feature bite sized chunks of what employers need to know, from the benefits of apprenticeship schemes, to where they should go to find them. The guide was released by Screwfix in response to trade customer feedback, with a number of carpenters, builders, electricians, plumbers and other tradespeople who took part in the Screwfix poll having little or no experience of taking on apprentices, with just 14% having employed one in the last year. Screwfix Operations Director, Graham Bell, said that as a key trade supplier, the company is always looking at new ways to support tradespeople in growing their businesses, from making sure they get the right products at the right time, to addressing the key issues of the industry. He added: “We understand how vital apprentices are as the future lifeblood of the trade, but it’s clear from what our customers are telling us that more needs to be done to simplify the process of hiring one.”
The second biggest housebuilder by output in the UK, Persimmon, says it remains confident in its ability to deliver a long term dividend programme, despite Britain’s vote to leave the European Union sparking worries throughout the sector. However, as investors become more and more pessimistic about the future of property in the UK, its shares sold off by 7.2% on Tuesday, in line with its peers. In a trading update, the group said: “We remain confident in our ability to deliver the capital return plan to our shareholders,” in reference to a planned 10 year pay-out plan of £2.76 billion having reported a 12% earnings increase in the first six months of this year. Since the referendum, the firm has offered little trading guidance, but chief executive, Jeff Fairburn, said: “The market is still there — people are still buying. Our net sales were in line with the previous few weeks’ trading.” Despite an index earlier in the week showing that UK construction dropped overall in June to its lowest level in seven years (partly because of a decline in housebuilding), Fairburn insisted that the group has not reduced its construction rates. Compared with May and June last year, Persimmon states that private sales are up by 1%, which once again defies a broader slowdown in the housing market in the time prior to the EU referendum. Revenues increased by 12% to £1.5 billion, while new homes being complete rose by 6% from the previous year to 7,238 and selling prices also increased by 6% to £205,500. Now, the group expects its operating margin to be even higher than last year’s 23%, while its share price had outperformed rival firms in 2016 prior to the referendum, partly because of a major increase in its dividend pay-out plan which was announced earlier in the year.
