The University of Manchester is going out to tender for the first phase of a £245m campus accommodation development. The university first called for bids for its Fallowfield Student Village project back in June 2015 but scrapped the process in May 2016. “The final tenders received were substantially in excess
The ambitious £500 million plan for the construction of six new towers in the regeneration scheme of South London’s Elephant and Castle, known as ‘Toblerone Towers’ has been approved by planners. The project is so called because of its triangular shape which bears a likeness to the famous chocolate bar,
Bam Construction has secured a deal worth £40 million for the construction of a retirement village in Worcestershire. The Richard Care Villages are owned by Bupa and is the construction firm’s second project for the care company. The project will develop 46 suites, 48 flats and a 60 bed care
FK Group, a building contractor based in Cheshire, saw both its turnover and profits rise by over 50% last year. The company reported a turnover increase of £70.5 million for the year up to March 31, 2016, which is an increase in turnover of 52% from last year’s figure of
The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) has announced the latest round of successful applicants for the Skills and Training Fund. The fund is part of CITB’s ‘Flexible Fund’ and will grant up to £5000 for levy payers with less than 50 employers, to provide their workforce with training and skills.
The latest data from international real estate adviser Savills has revealed that prime regional housing markets have sustained positive growth year on year and since December 2014’s autumn statement. This is in contrast to the results of prime London which has suffered a significant impact from the increase on stamp
The ‘Gas Transportation Company’ (GTC), a utilities infrastructure provider, has signed a deal to provide fibre networks, electricity and has to a Bovis Homes development in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire. The Stanton Cross site is a £900 million development of 144,000 m2 of commercial space and almost 4,000 homes. GTC will make
Choosing the Right Paint for Your Business Properties When it comes to running a business, there’s plenty to keep you occupied. Keeping your workforce happy, winning new customers and balancing the books all take up lots of time and energy, but it’s important to remember that maintaining your business building
The University of Manchester is going out to tender for the first phase of a £245m campus accommodation development. The university first called for bids for its Fallowfield Student Village project back in June 2015 but scrapped the process in May 2016. “The final tenders received were substantially in excess of the budget and made the project unaffordable in its current form,” the university estates department said in May. It is now rebidding the work with the deal restructured into three phases. Existing properties including the Owens Park Tower will be demolished and replaced by 3,000 new student accommodation units. The existing accommodation at Ashburne Hall, Sheavyn House, Richmond Park and Woolton Hall will be retained. The project will also see construction of a new student hub and improved sports facilities. The university secured a finance deal with Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala Development Company for the project in 2014. Mubadala is also partially funding the development of the Manchester Graphene Engineering & Innovation Centre, through its Masdar subsidiary, and is establishing joint graphene application research and fellowship programmes with the university. In phase one, which has an estimated contract value of £75m, eight housing blocks will be built, with 1,122 rooms. Completion is expected by June 2019. Demolition and replacement of the existing Oak House buildings and The Limes will then follow on as phase two, valued at £92m. The £65m third phase should start in April 2021; this involves the demolition of existing Owens Park buildings and building 896 cluster flat study bedrooms. The university already has a construction framework agreement with Balfour Beatty, Laing O’Rourke and Sir Robert McAlpine to deliver most of its larger projects over the next eight years but the Fallowfield project is now deemed outside the scope of this. Further contract information is available via in-tendhost.co.uk/universityofmanchester This article was published on 6 Oct 2016 (last updated on 6 Oct 2016). Source link
The ambitious £500 million plan for the construction of six new towers in the regeneration scheme of South London’s Elephant and Castle, known as ‘Toblerone Towers’ has been approved by planners. The project is so called because of its triangular shape which bears a likeness to the famous chocolate bar, with the main blocks ranging from eight to 40 floors in height. The buildings were designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill and will provide 400 homes and 500,000 sq ft of office space. However, first of all, the scheme’s developer London & Regional Properties must demolish the offices of the Department of Health which were constructed in 1993, along with the Keyworth Street Hostel for the homeless, London South Bank University’s Perry Library and Skipton House. London & Regional Properties has also pledged to build affordable housing on various sites close to Toblerone towers with a value up to £16.8 million. Norman Disney & Young will deliver the M&E design, while the primary structural and façade engineer will be Arup. The London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, will have the final say on the construction of the towers due to the large scale of the proposed scheme. London & Regional’s Head of Development, Geoffrey Springer, said that the developer is proposing a considerable investment in the Elephant and Castle regeneration scheme, which will celebrate the cultural heritage of the area. Springer added: “This will be an iconic development, providing new cultural and community space and, most importantly, new jobs and homes. “The development will also deliver new open space and a vastly improved public realm, strengthening the ongoing regeneration of Elephant and Castle.” The new scheme is located across the road from the Elephant and Castle shopping centre, which is currently at the heart of a huge regeneration project in South London. Other development in the area include the 486ft Strata tower and a 41ft skyscraper.
Bam Construction has secured a deal worth £40 million for the construction of a retirement village in Worcestershire. The Richard Care Villages are owned by Bupa and is the construction firm’s second project for the care company. The project will develop 46 suites, 48 flats and a 60 bed care home that will provide nursing and dementia care, while there will also be a garden bar, restaurant, terrace café, library, lounges and a wellness spa. The demolition work on the old BBC Residential Training Centre has involved the removal of roof tiles and asbestos clearance to allow bats to escape. It is expected that the construction will be finished by September 2018, while groundworks are currently being undertaken on a 26,000 m cut basement excavation. Midlands Regional Director of Bam Construction, Rod Stiles, said that this is a considerable high quality private development in a specialist industry and the company is highly appreciative that the client has trusted the company to do the work once again. He added: “Together with our major office scheme at Three Snowhill, and major education schemes for universities and the EFA in Birmingham, Coventry and Solihull, we have a diverse portfolio based on good partnerships, modern approaches and high-quality workmanship.” Paddy Brice, Managing Director at Richmond Care Villages, said that they are happy to be working once again with the Bam group on such a prestigious new retirement village in Worcestershire. Brice commented: “Richmond Wood Norton is an extremely complex development with a main village care centre of 100,000 sq ft, but I am confident that Bam has the expertise to deliver a fantastic building for us to provide the very best in retirement living and care.” Earlier in the month, Bam announced that its managing director Richard Bailey is to step down on August 1 after his 60 year career in the industry.
FK Group, a building contractor based in Cheshire, saw both its turnover and profits rise by over 50% last year. The company reported a turnover increase of £70.5 million for the year up to March 31, 2016, which is an increase in turnover of 52% from last year’s figure of £45.8 million. Profit before tax went up from £2.08 million in 2015 to £3.3 million this year, which is an increase of 59%, while gross profits increased by 46% to £15.1 million. The company opened its sixth UK office in Newport, South Wales, in the last year and now has 80 more staff across its offices compared with two years ago, with the number now standing at 140. The company’s office in Dubai recently signed up to £7 million’s worth of new work, which includes the £5 million project at the Al Maktoum International Airport. Francis Keenan, Chief Executive, said that the firm has continued to show its capabilities in the provision of the complete building envelope solution. Keenan commented: “Clients’ confidence in our services and delivery has ensured we have been continually considered for major projects nationwide. We continue to invest significantly in new services and training. “With confidence back and projects moving forward, the last 12 months have seen significant growth and we were prepared accordingly, ensuring we had the skills to deliver.” The FK Group has worked with established construction firms including Bowmer & Kirkland, McLaren, Laing O’Rourke and Carillion. The company has headquarters in Altrincham and also has offices in the UK in Romford, Newport, London, Doncaster and Birmingham. Keenan added: “We are preparing ourselves for challenging conditions after the recent referendum, but we are fortunate to have developed and maintained relationships with some of the industry’s biggest names, with whom we have a strong forward order book and defined long term pipeline.”
The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) has announced the latest round of successful applicants for the Skills and Training Fund. The fund is part of CITB’s ‘Flexible Fund’ and will grant up to £5000 for levy payers with less than 50 employers, to provide their workforce with training and skills. So far, over 100 applicants have been successful in securing £442,268 in funding between them. In this round of successful applicants, all 60 of the small and micro construction companies who were eligible for funding had their bids approved. Four of the bids that were granted in this round were previously rejected but the funding team at CITB gave these firms direct support to help them in building a stronger case for their bid. Meanwhile, seven of the successful applicants were applying for funding for the first time having only recently registered with CITB. Newly registered firms can apply for apprenticeships and for the Skills and Training Fund as soon as they register with the group without any delay. Despite being levy payers for a considerable amount of time, three firms claimed funding from CITB for the first time, these were: R J H Homes, R J Cadman and Skippy Construction. Fourply Construction, a property maintenance company based in Glasgow, was one of the successful bidders and is now set to receive £5000 in funding from CITB which will be used as part of a business improvement training programme for 16 of its staff members. Fourply Constructions Director, Alan Morris, said that his firm was extremely grateful to CITB for the simple application process along with the great support from its staff. He added: “They helped me and updated me every step of the way. The money will make a huge difference to the business.” Among the other successful companies was Northumberland based company, W L Straughan and Son, which will receive £4633.
The latest data from international real estate adviser Savills has revealed that prime regional housing markets have sustained positive growth year on year and since December 2014’s autumn statement. This is in contrast to the results of prime London which has suffered a significant impact from the increase on stamp duty rates on high value properties, however the economic uncertainty prior to the EU referendum all but stalled price growth in all regions in the second quarter of this year. In terms of regions, the outer commuting zone of London, areas around 30-60 minutes from the centre of the capital, have stayed at the strongest level, rising by 3.5% on last year and 0.8% in the quarter. In comparison, London’s prime suburban markets fell by 0.4% in the period between April and June. Associate Director of Savills research team, Sophie Chick, said: “Prime regional markets are at a different stage in their cycle, having been slower to recover since the 2007 peak, and therefore appear to have been slightly less affected by pre referendum uncertainty.” However, she added that while prime regional markets are still offering more value in comparison to London, the numbers indicate that the ripple in growth of house prices away from the capital was put on hold prior to the Brexit vote. Larger properties are also being outperformed by smaller, lower value properties and across the index, homes priced below £500,000 saw the strongest growth, up by 4.6% annually and up by 0.9% from April to June. Properties valued above £2 million saw a fall in value of 0.2% in the quarter, with prices over the past year remaining fairly flat (up 0.6%). Cottages also saw a similar growth in price of 3.7% annually and 0.9% in the quarter, in comparison with country houses which fell by 0.6% over the last year.
The ‘Gas Transportation Company’ (GTC), a utilities infrastructure provider, has signed a deal to provide fibre networks, electricity and has to a Bovis Homes development in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire. The Stanton Cross site is a £900 million development of 144,000 m2 of commercial space and almost 4,000 homes. GTC will make the connection of electricity from the main substation which is expected to serve all the planned commercial properties and homes. The company will also install a second duct which will allow them to install a new, GTC owned, primary substation on site in order to provide for more homes if they were to go ahead. Every home will be equipped with fibre optic cabling, with unlimited upload and download speeds, with no television aerial or satellite dish required. GTC will also install FIRS, a fibre integrated reception system, which will allow digital and satellite television to be received through an aerial and community dish, while the television signal will be transmitted via the ‘fibre to the home’ network. John Lougher, Land Director at Bovis Homes Group, said that technology is playing a more and more important role in our lives, in particular in our businesses and homes where super-fast internet connection and high speed fibre is in very high demand. Lougher added: “We are delighted that future businesses and residents of Stanton Cross will benefit from this very latest technology by GTC.” Meanwhile, Tom Brough, GTC Sales and Marketing Director, said: “It is crucial for GTC to be able to offer multi-utility solutions that will stand the test of time in order to benefit new communities for future decades. He added: “It also makes a great deal of sense for house builders to be able to obtain all essential utilities through one reliable provider in order to ensure new home completions are delivered on time and on budget.”
Choosing the Right Paint for Your Business Properties When it comes to running a business, there’s plenty to keep you occupied. Keeping your workforce happy, winning new customers and balancing the books all take up lots of time and energy, but it’s important to remember that maintaining your business building is essential too! Why? Well, it’s simple: first impressions count, and the condition of your business premises says a lot about who you are as a company, what your values are and how you’re going to treat your customers. So, if your business property is needing a little bit of TLC, here’s everything you need to know about the different types of paint available, so that you can choose the right type… Metal paints A number of business premises are primarily constructed of metal because it’s a durable and cost effective material. It’s perfect for larger buildings, such as gyms, car repair shops, welding shops and gyms, as metal can be used for creating spacious structures, as well as being fire resistant too. So, if you’re going to touch up the paintwork on a metal building, you’ll need specialist paint to ensure that it doesn’t peel or flake from the surface. Check out Rawlins Paints if you want to find some online. There are many metal paints that can be directly applied without the need for a primer – suitable for painting over patches of rust – and they’ll be weather resistant and long-lasting too. Cladding paints Cladding is often added to buildings to improve their appearance and provide an extra layer of protection against the weather. So, if the paint on your cladding is beginning to peel, you’ll need to buy specialist cladding paint rather than generic exterior paint. Cladding paint is specifically designed to maintain and rejuvenate cladding and increase its lifespan (which is good news as it means you won’t have to shell out to replace worn or damaged cladding in its entirety), but it’s worth adding a polyurethane topcoat to preserve the paint-work further. Fire protection paints Make sure that you’re protecting your business property by using fire retardant paints. In fact, if your business happens to be a café, a hotel or an office suite for instance, it might well be the case that the law demands that you use such fire-control methods to comply with safety legislation, making the welfare of your employees and customers your chief priority. So, consider using fire retardant paints, coatings and treatments inside and outside of your property, particularly if your business premises consist of flammable materials or contains lots of flammable equipment. Safety and security paints Just as you want to protect your home, its occupants and your possessions, your business property demands just as much consideration. Due to the equipment, materials and contents that you have on site, it’s not unlikely that your premises will be targeted by trespassers or burglars. So, opt for anti-climb coatings when you’re updating your business premises’ exterior, making it far harder for intruders to walk away with ill-gotten gains! And, consider applying anti-graffiti coatings if your business is in an area that suffers with graffiti and vandalism, and remember that safety paints (such as luminous paints for glowing in the dark and fluorescent paint to make equipment highly visible) are worth investing in too. There are plenty more types of paint that you need to consider for your business premises, including anti-slip floor paints, roof paints and preparatory coatings, so figure out what your needs are to make sure you’re using the right products.
