January 20, 2017

Panelised timber frame housing

INTRODUCTION OF STAMA Homes: STAMA Homes, is a supplier of off-site manufactured timber frame houses, which belong to STAMA Group, a Manchester based property development company. STAMA is in a strategic partnership with Property Alliance Group and personally supported and mentored by David Russell. MARKET DEMAND: Construction and housing market

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BREEAM Awards Finally Being Called Out

A celebration of all the different aspects of sustainability in buildings is being set under way as a result of the nominations that have finally been called out. With potential winners of the coveted BREEAM Award to be revealed on the 7th March of this year, the potential entrees range

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Finally, Something for BDC Subscribers Worth Watching!

Finally, something for BDC subscribers worth watching! For anyone with an interest in the progression and evolution of housing across the centuries in Scotland, then a new BBC ALBA series in four parts is the ideal program to watch. The program is hosted by Mister Ewen MacKinnon, who himself has

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Improving on the Health and Safety For Construction Workers

A series of guidelines have been released in order to encourage construction workers to stay safe in the workplace. With the everyday pressures of impending deadlines and the stress of work, it can be very easy to overlook some very important guidelines that ensure the safety and wellbeing of workers.

Read More »

Crown Group Secured New Contract With Warner Bros Studios

The famed building company Crown Group has secured itself a very inviting new contract to work on a 150-acre land in Hertfordshire that is the base of none other than Warner Bros Studios. The film company has employed the Crown Group to get heavily involved in such activities as planting

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New Manager at Health and Safety Supertouch

Mark Spree, a former manager at Tornado Gloves in Great Britain has recently been declared as the new manager at health and safety PPE expert conglomerate Supertouch. This company, which specializes in ensuring that different companies and firms all around the United Kingdom adhere to the rules of safety and

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Latest Issue

BDC 321 : Oct 2024

January 20, 2017

Panelised timber frame housing

INTRODUCTION OF STAMA Homes: STAMA Homes, is a supplier of off-site manufactured timber frame houses, which belong to STAMA Group, a Manchester based property development company. STAMA is in a strategic partnership with Property Alliance Group and personally supported and mentored by David Russell. MARKET DEMAND: Construction and housing market urgently needs modern methods of construction, see quote below (Financial Times, Housing Minister):  Today, as the country faces another severe shortage, the government is turning once again to modular, or off­site, construction in an effort to accelerate housebuilding. “Offsite construction could provide a huge opportunity to increase housing supply,” said Gavin Barwell, housing minister.[1]   NEGATIVE PERCEPTION FROM PAST Negative perception of the prefabricated houses has its roots in 1940s bearing in mind Churchill’s prefabs. Modern off-site solutions has dramatically improved and modern manufacturing has nothing in common with the previously used systems. The latest timber technology and off-site solutions ensure comfortable, cost-effective and energy-efficient living. Panelised timber houses excel with high quality of design and construction with exceptional value for money. To prove it, big players on the market are using offsite systems to fulfil the demand e.g. Legal & General Homes has launched world’s biggest modular housing factory and developers such as Urban Splash started to use this technology for their projects (hoUSe – Ancoats and Irwell Riverside).  While new in the UK, it has been used in Europe for over 60 years, especially Germany, Austria, Sweden… SUITABLE USE Panelised timber system is a perfect solution for different size residential development projects. It is suitable for all types of houses from social housing to individual luxury villas, medium-sized residential and office buildings as well as public use buildings such as schools, health centres or care homes. The technology is flexible and adjustable to any bespoke design. STAMA Homes can adapt houses layout to clients’ requirements, nevertheless we carry wide selection of standardised houses We are confident that we offer the lowest price houses on turnkey basis on today’s market. This system provides customisable, energy efficient, cost and time saving solution for property developers. Within last 48 years we have built over 23,000 houses across the Europe. We have a capacity to provide 1,000 houses per year and within next year STAMA is aiming to build 300 houses using panelised system on the UK’s market.  

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BREEAM Awards Finally Being Called Out

A celebration of all the different aspects of sustainability in buildings is being set under way as a result of the nominations that have finally been called out. With potential winners of the coveted BREEAM Award to be revealed on the 7th March of this year, the potential entrees range from countries ranging all the way from France to China. Covering aspects of all different kinds of sustainability including interior design, customer feedback, as well as areas of health and private tenancies, etc, BREEAM winners could range from an exceptionally well sustained retail outlet to a pristine clean hospital. Mister Gavin Dunn of BRE stresses the inspirational qualities the award engenders within its prizes and nominations in encouraging businesses, companies and enterprises from all around the globe to think about the sustainability and environmental impact of their activities, and how this can be changed for the better. Last year’s winner was an office space environment of 40,000 square meters known as The Edge and Mister Edwin van Eeckhoven mentioned the “invaluable exposure” that such awards as BREEAM can result in. And there are a huge number of awards that businesses can compete for, with BREEAM itself commissioning over 550,000 different certificates of achievement around the globe. In addition to this, a grand total of 2.2 million different sites were noted for investigation by BREEAM, which has been in place for 26 years and is now looking forward to welcoming the new award winners in March in two months’ time. Innovation is clearly the greatest asset that BREEAM targets and it is through the organization of such awards as these that firms can be encouraged to becoming more sustainable both to themselves and to the rest of the world. With a variety of different awards companies are liable to win, as well as long-term advice and resolutions on how to do better for the runners-up, such competitions as the BREEAM Awards ought to be encouraged and sought after by firms around the rest of the world.

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Finally, Something for BDC Subscribers Worth Watching!

Finally, something for BDC subscribers worth watching! For anyone with an interest in the progression and evolution of housing across the centuries in Scotland, then a new BBC ALBA series in four parts is the ideal program to watch. The program is hosted by Mister Ewen MacKinnon, who himself has previously worked in the building industry itself and clearly has an eye for the historical factors that have impacted on building homes over the course of human history. With this plethora of experience, Mister MacKinnon is clearly an individual with knowledge of what it is like to actually build a property using one’s hands, the episodes focus on the history of Scotland through the habitations of its inhabitants. Mister MacKinnon starts his journey in some of the earliest settlements north of the border, exploring such settlements harking to the rustic days of the Iron Age. Such visits to various locations in and around Scotland such as architectural sites on the Isle of Lewis, MacKinnon induces his viewers to imagine what it must have been like to live in such tough times. Furthermore, interest is also added to the program when one considers how attitudes between insiders to the settlements viewed strangers, and how these attitudes may have altered, changed or even possibly reappeared over the course of the last few centuries. The program should also be of interest to workers in construction or individuals wanting to construct new habitations out of 19th Century substances and methods. Furthermore, for anyone who might be interested in going on holiday to Scotland anytime this year, the program explains how a renovated formerly abandoned site on the Isle of Lewis known as Gearrannan Blackhouse Village that has now reemerged into the 21st Century as a new site of overnight stay for holiday seekers and adventurers wanting to brave the weathers of the Scottish Isle.

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Improving on the Health and Safety For Construction Workers

A series of guidelines have been released in order to encourage construction workers to stay safe in the workplace. With the everyday pressures of impending deadlines and the stress of work, it can be very easy to overlook some very important guidelines that ensure the safety and wellbeing of workers. For a start, it is imperative that the correct form of tools and the safest and tested equipment are used on every single job performed. This will require firms and companies to investigate the latest forms of building technology available to ensure that the safety of those employed is not being put at risk merely to save buying costs. Furthermore, frequently renewing equipment on a regular basis will ensure that work output is maximize, resulting in a quicker completion of jobs and greater overall satisfaction all round for both customer and employer. Employers should also make sure that their workers are appropriately trained and wear PPE at all times when necessary, such as when dealing with nefarious solutions such as acids and strong liquid solvents. Assessing the risk factors of the worksite in accordance with the Health and Safety Regulations 1996 and under the guidelines of the Health and Safety Executive are also essential to ensuring that as many potential dangers are averted. It is also extremely good practice for site managers and employers to think objectively of all the accidents that could possibly occur within a single workspace and that steps or measures are taken to reduce the potential risks that could occur before they run the risk of actually occurring. Equally, observing fire procedures and having a good working knowledge of where the exits are in the workplace are additionally of an extremely high importance and it is always imperative to know where such exits are located. Failure to adhere to fire procedures can also result at their most extreme in criminal charges and it is thus important that all know what to do when a fire alarm goes off.

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Crown Group Secured New Contract With Warner Bros Studios

The famed building company Crown Group has secured itself a very inviting new contract to work on a 150-acre land in Hertfordshire that is the base of none other than Warner Bros Studios. The film company has employed the Crown Group to get heavily involved in such activities as planting by various sites such as around the parking area and the tour guide areas. With the project well under way and due to be finished by this very spring, MD Gareth Emberson is delighted that the Crown Group will have a significant role to play in the ambitious refurbishment and extensions of the studios in order to put it in even better stead for its annual visits open to the public totaling over 5 million individuals. It is clear that Mr Emberson is ecstatic that the employees of the Crown Group have contributed to this incredible effort and have been working very hard ever since the project began with even bigger building firms such as Galliford Fry, making valuable contributions and providing manpower to ensure that the project is completed on time. With the hope of expanding across Europe and working with such a famous client as Warner Bros Studios, it is clear that the project was a very well-chosen one that will undoubtedly draw the Crown Group even further into the limelight. Indeed, Mister Gareth Emberson sees their efforts with larger companies to complete the project of time not merely as just another job, but rather as a wonderful opportunity to boost relations between the Crown Group and larger companies. And indeed, who knows what the success of this project could lead to in the years to the come? What is clear at least is that Crown Group has proved their worth and hope to carry on with this very positive attitude towards interesting new projects in the future.

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New Online Device Works Out Where Workers in Construction Can Make a Decent Wage

A recent all-new work analysis device has managed to siphon through 14,236 data entries in order to figure out whether or not the users of this device would be suited to relocation to another area in the country, or whether this would be more detrimental to their profits than they initially might have thought. An online tool created by none other than Web-Blinds lucidly ensures that users are well and properly informed before they make any rash decisions that they might regret. By requesting participants to state their current employment and location, the device then calculates with the use of this data where they would be best suited to go based on the information supplied by the user. For example, the device surveyed that moving to London for various contractors would perhaps result in a greater level of financial income. On the other hand, with the cost of a property in London averaging according to ‘Building Surveyor’ positions in the light of 616,000 pounds, this is not a decision that ought to be taken lightly. Similarly, the device indicated that jobs in the surveying field in London are difficult to find and incredibly competitive, with as few as 38.31 opportunities within the field for every 10, 000 individuals. In addition, a representative of Web-Blinds initiated that the cost of living in a larger urban environment (such as London, for example) could mean that even with a higher annual income a chance to find affordable decent housing is not necessarily a given. Employees within the building industry are therefore highly encouraged to experiment with the tool and calculate whether a move to a different location would necessarily result in a greater remuneration for them. The tool also has the ability to analyze data and work out in as many of 50 different cities within the United Kingdom in order to help the individual user see whether it would be beneficial or detrimental to them to pack up lock stock and barrel to somewhere else.

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New Manager at Health and Safety Supertouch

Mark Spree, a former manager at Tornado Gloves in Great Britain has recently been declared as the new manager at health and safety PPE expert conglomerate Supertouch. This company, which specializes in ensuring that different companies and firms all around the United Kingdom adhere to the rules of safety and protection in the workplace, welcomes its new manager with open arms. Mister Spree is not new to this important business of ensuring that all workers in Britain keep themselves safe and reduce the amount of risk hazards within their prospective working environment: he began working as an on-site sales manager at Totectors and spent an impressive total of 18 years as manager of Ansell Healthcare UK, which directs its services across the stretch of Great Britain as well as Ireland. Now he finally becomes part of Supertouch, which has been providing the appropriate safety measures to their clients since 1996 in the West Midlands. It is hoped by one of the Executive Chairmen, a Mister Parvez Akhtar, that the wealth of knowledge, experience and expertise of Mister Spree in dealing with the various pressures that are undoubtedly encountered on a regular basis at Supertouch will be able to maintain the company’s brilliant progression into the challenges of the New Year ahead. As Parvez Akhtar intimates, Supertouch have had a particularly good few years, and the company professional is confident that the arrival of Mister Spree can only take the company’s greatness to even greater heights. With more than 75 different employees at his disposal, Supertouch are hoping to expect some great advancements and developments through Mister Spree’s leadership skills. It is hoped that Supertouch will continue to emerge as one of the most reliable and customer-friendly health and safety services in Britain, having been awarded many different accolades, one itself being named as one of the 1000 private enterprises to “Inspire Britain.”

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Crest Nicholson announce new 183-unit mixed-use Walthamstow housing development – transforming the former Essex Brewery

Crest Nicholson has announced the purchase of a new 183-unit housing site in Walthamstow, known as Essex Brewery. Work is planned to commence in spring 2017, with the first units of the mixed–use development due for completion in summer 2018. Essex Brewery will comprise 158 private units, 25 shared ownership units and 479 Sq.M of flexible retail space that will suit a variety of retail and culinary ventures. Following a successful strategy aimed at targeting the first time buyer market by Crest Nicholson in 2016, 95% of units at the Essex Brewery will be available on the popular London Help to Buy scheme. The development is ideally situated for access to central London, directly opposite St James Street overground station in Zone 3, which serves Liverpool Street in just 17 minutes. A short walk from Essex Brewery takes commuters to Walthamstow Central station, where the Victoria underground line serves Kings Cross St Pancras in just 14 minutes.  Trevor Selwyn, Managing Director Crest Nicholson, said: “We are pleased to kick off 2017 by announcing plans for the Essex Brewery in Walthamstow, situated in one of greater London’s first time buyer hotspots. “With interest rates at an all-time low, now is an important time to support first time housing buyers by delivering much-needed affordable homes. For the coming year, our focus will remain towards sites in outer London that offer homes which fall within the London Help to Buy price bracket and have strong transport links to the centre of the capital. This focus follows the huge interest and fast sales we experienced at our Dylon Works, Sydenham and Wood’s Road, Peckham, developments.” Metropolitan & Suburban obtained planning permission in April 2016, with the scheme designed by the Kalyvides Partnership. As part of the permission, the council was insistent on early delivery of the scheme and BNP Paribas Real Estate was appointed to market the site. Howard Wright of Metropolitan & Suburban said: “Faced with the unique challenge from Waltham Forest council pushing for early delivery, BNPPRE managed a thorough process resulting in the selection of Crest Nicholson.  Having worked closely with the team at Crest Nicholson now for the last 4 months, we expect them to start onsite in the next few months and are confident that they will meet the expectations of the borough.”  Rich Thomas, Associate Director of BNP Paribas Real Estate, comments: “Despite the political and economic changes encountered in 2016 which undoubtedly created uncertainty in the residential development market, the deal at the Essex Brewery site reconfirms that interest remains for housing sites that have a strong story to tell. Essex Brewery benefits from excellent transport links, thoughtful design and is located in a part of London that is becoming increasingly popular for a wide range of prospective purchasers at affordable levels”.

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