Freedom Finance has announced today that it has agreed a deal to acquire Sensible Home Finance which will be rebranded as Freedom Mortgages. Freedom Mortgages will continue to be run by Andrew Fisher, the owner of Sensible Home Finance. A new Bridging and Commercial arm has also been created in
Construction services company J Tomlinson has moved its West Midlands office from Birmingham to larger premises near Sutton Coldfield. Above: Left to right are: contracts manager Andy Morris; office manager Toni Baker; business development manager Andrea Jones; construction MD Martin Gallagher; and operations director Pete Woods The move follows expansion
Boiler sales increase is positive news for the industry, says HHIC Published: 26 April, 2016 Figures released by HHIC show that the number of gas boilers sold in the UK, in the first quarter of 2016, grew by 1.9%. Boiler sales increased for this period from 427,533 in 2015 to
27 September 2016 | Herpreet Kaur Grewal Wakefield Council has appointed built asset consultancy firm Arcadis to deliver its property and facilities services. The deal is worth an expected £3 million per year over seven years, with the option of a three-year extension. Arcadis is a part of Wakefield Council’s
HMOs outperforming all other types of rental property The latest report from Mortgages for Businesses has revealed that although Vanilla BTL and HMO property offer fairly consistent yields, for the more experienced investor, HMOs are outperforming all other types of rental property averaging just below 10% since 2011. Buy to
A company known as Goodman Group, which specializes in the development and running of logistics in the real estate trade, is very happy to announce its commitment to the building of a current new development in the Port of Hamburg. This ambitious new building development will be used as a
The much anticipated MyBuilder Job of the Year contest is an award that is a testament to the hard building and construction work that goes on in this country as well as a testament to the collaborative and friendly relationship maintenance between client and worker. Every year, MyBuilder works hard
One of the leading development businesses in the building world in Britain that seeks to build more and more residences for people around the country, SSM Holding AB, has recently won a competition that will enable it to oversee the work on a grand total of 270 brand new residential
Hammersmith & Fulham Council have unanimously approved planning permission for Chelsea to redevelop Stamford Bridge. The proposed rebuild to increase capacity to 60,000 was presented in model form at a hearing at Hammersmith Town Hall on Wednesday. The council had already initially recommended that the application be approved and, after a three-hour
Despite headwinds in the global economy, internationalisation will continue to drive the growth of companies in the engineering consultancy sector as infrastructure demand remains strong globally. Meinhardt Group, a leading global engineering, planning and management firm, is working closely with International Enterprise (IE) Singapore, the government agency partnering Singapore companies
Freedom Finance has announced today that it has agreed a deal to acquire Sensible Home Finance which will be rebranded as Freedom Mortgages. Freedom Mortgages will continue to be run by Andrew Fisher, the owner of Sensible Home Finance. A new Bridging and Commercial arm has also been created in a bid to bolster the company’s offering in these areas. Brian Brodie, CEO of Freedom Finance, said: “From the moment we started looking for a mortgage & loan broker to join the Freedom Group, we knew that we needed to find an organisation that shared our values and ambition. I believe in SHF we have found a highly respected team with a great business and they will be a hugely valuable addition to Freedom. This deal enables Freedom to broaden the product range on its platform while becoming a more significant player in the second charge market. We are very excited about the future and believe that together Freedom Finance and Sensible Home Finance will make a significant impact on the consumer finance market.” Andrew Fisher, Owner of Sensible Home Finance, added: “This opportunity represents an exciting new chapter for Sensible Home Finance. We know that by joining the Freedom family we can take our business to the next level. Our customers will benefit from Freedom Finance’s online capabilities, loan platform and unrivalled breadth of finance options. We are confident that we can now help many more customers satisfy their lending needs easily and safely.” Source link
Construction services company J Tomlinson has moved its West Midlands office from Birmingham to larger premises near Sutton Coldfield. Above: Left to right are: contracts manager Andy Morris; office manager Toni Baker; business development manager Andrea Jones; construction MD Martin Gallagher; and operations director Pete Woods The move follows expansion in the region on the back of several significant contract wins. “J Tomlinson has worked in the West Midlands for many years, and on the back of a growing portfolio of projects and an increasing reputation in the region, opened an initial base in Birmingham last year,” said J Tomlinson chief executive Mark Davis. “Since then, as a result of further expansion, the company has outgrown the space and we are delighted to have opened a new headquarters at Canwell near Sutton Coldfield, which will allow us to continue to serve our existing clients and to work with additional public and private clients in the West Midlands as we continue to broaden our portfolio.” The new office is headed by J Tomlinson construction managing director Martin Gallagher. J Tomlinson is based in Nottingham and works across the West Midlands, East Midlands and Yorkshire. It increased its turnover from £54m in 2014 to £84m in 2016 and now employs more than 400 people. J Tomlinson is working on a number of on-going contracts in the West Midlands, including being appointed to a four-year framework contract by Warwickshire Police and West Mercia Police which is now part of a joint property vehicle with four other public sector bodies known as Place Partnerships, covering servicing, maintenance, reactive repairs and minor building works. Last year, the firm won a five-year contract to replace kitchens and bathrooms in around 1,600 properties in Birmingham, Coventry, Stoke, Walsall and Wolverhampton for housing organisation Midland Heart, and has a gas servicing and repair contract with housing provider and social organisation Bromford, providing services to over 10,000 properties. The firm is also constructing a new 65-bed care home for Hamberley Development and a new building for Sutton Coldfield Conservative Club on the same site in Sutton Coldfield. This article was published on 1 Sep 2016 (last updated on 1 Sep 2016). Source link
Boiler sales increase is positive news for the industry, says HHIC Published: 26 April, 2016 Figures released by HHIC show that the number of gas boilers sold in the UK, in the first quarter of 2016, grew by 1.9%. Boiler sales increased for this period from 427,533 in 2015 to 435,612 in 2016. “The increase may only be small, but it is positive news for the industry,” said Stewart Clements, director at the Heating and Hotwater Industry Council, HHIC. “Sales in January and February were very similar to 2015. The rise occurred in March, and whilst the fundamental drivers which impact on boiler sales have remained stable, the data available to date for ECO suggests that volumes have begun to pick up and so may help explain the increase.” Source link
27 September 2016 | Herpreet Kaur Grewal Wakefield Council has appointed built asset consultancy firm Arcadis to deliver its property and facilities services. The deal is worth an expected £3 million per year over seven years, with the option of a three-year extension. Arcadis is a part of Wakefield Council’s strategic partnership team to deliver its property and facilities management services. It will work alongside Engie, the council’s recently appointed external partner to deliver its property and facilities services. It will also deliver project and professional services. Wakefield sought a partnership “which will help secure jobs for local people and enable staff, customers and services to benefit from private sector expertise and investment”. Arcadis will be supporting the council in its drive to generate up to £27 million in savings this year. It is hoped the appointment will help support economic growth in the area as well as helping the Council to improve infrastructure, create new jobs for the people of Wakefield, according to Arcadis. Bill Green, Arcadis head of strategic partnerships, said: “Councils are under more pressure than ever before to deliver better outcomes using fewer resources, and that looks set to continue. “With less money available, public sector organisations are turning to long term partners to optimise the benefits from combining public and private sector capabilities.” Source link
HMOs outperforming all other types of rental property The latest report from Mortgages for Businesses has revealed that although Vanilla BTL and HMO property offer fairly consistent yields, for the more experienced investor, HMOs are outperforming all other types of rental property averaging just below 10% since 2011. Buy to let product numbers grew more slowly in the second quarter of 2016 compared to Q1. Products increased by an average of just 75 in Q2 compared to an increase of 142 in Q1. Much of the rise in Q2 was due to lenders creating separate offerings with differing stress test calculations for personal and limited company borrowers. The trend for remortgaging continued whereas purchase activity fell back to pre-Q1 levels when investors surged to get purchases completed ahead of the introduction of the SDLT surcharge. The average loan to value of HMOs increased from just 62% in Q1 to 75% in Q2 suggesting that investors are keen to stretch borrowing on this asset class due to the consistently high returns on offer. However, looking at the data over the last five years, LTVs on HMOs have remained fairly steady, averaging 69%. LTVs on vanilla BTL property have also remained steady, averaging 67% since the index began in 2011. LTVs for multi-units and semi-commercial property have travelled a more uneven path and, as might be expected with these more commercially underwritten properties, average LTVs are lower. The average LTV of a multi-unit stood at just 56% in Q2 compared to an average of 64% over the last five years. Average LTVs for semi-commercial property was 60% in Q2 2016 – the same as the five-year average. David Whittaker, managing director of Mortgages for Business said: “We now have five years’ worth of data against which investors can benchmark their portfolios. Both Vanilla BTL and HMO property offer fairly consistent yields. For the more cautious investor and for those who like a mix of risk within their portfolio, 6.1% average yield on a standard BTL still represents a good return. And for the more experienced investor, HMOs certainly perform better than all other types of rental property averaging just below 10% since 2011.” Average yields on multi-units grew to a very positive 9.5%, well above the five year average of 7.4% demonstrating that landlords can often achieve greater yields by taking on more complex property types. Semi-commercial property performed less well than expected considering these buildings are not subject to the residential stamp duty surcharge. Going forward it will be interesting to see whether any trends develop as more investors are expected to move into this niche. Source link
A company known as Goodman Group, which specializes in the development and running of logistics in the real estate trade, is very happy to announce its commitment to the building of a current new development in the Port of Hamburg. This ambitious new building development will be used as a vital brand new logistics hub for those that use Goodman’s services and is precisely to be located in the bustling Altenwerder Freight Village. This location, with its proximity to the Port of Hamburg, is ideal for the freight industry and precisely the reason for Goodman’s strategic decision to go forward with its building plans to expand itself throughout the rest of the European continent. Indeed, Goodman Group will own the 12, 700 square-metered logistics space in the bustling freight vehicle area, but will also devote itself to the building of 7,100 square meters designed to be used by Symrise. This other company, which specializes in providing all kinds of different and exotic flavors to its clients around the countries, is pleased that Goodman Group are going ahead with these plans to build space for them and will certainly be able to use it once the necessary building and construction work is finished. In addition to this, Goodman Group are confident that they will also be able to increase their annual revenue through devoting funds to building work which will be used to build an extra 5,600 meters of potential logistics area. This space they will lease out to the branches and companies that contact them for it and it is hoped that the space will be in popular demand because of its coastal location and because of the popularity of the Altenwerder Freight Village as a whole with industries in Germany and the rest of Europe. Indeed, with this particular project due to be finalized by the summer months of this very year, members of Goodman Group are undoubtedly very excited that they will not have to wait too long before the construction of this new building is finalized.
The much anticipated MyBuilder Job of the Year contest is an award that is a testament to the hard building and construction work that goes on in this country as well as a testament to the collaborative and friendly relationship maintenance between client and worker. Every year, MyBuilder works hard to ensure that the cash prize that it awards is split between the winning contractor and the client who nominated them. With 34,000 votes and 12 entrants for the judging panel to choose from, the competition is not quite as divisive as the EU referendum but is nevertheless just as intense and important for the building design and construction industries that operate all over this country. This year’s prize has been granted to a business known as MJO Limited based in Sleaford, whose star tradesman was known other than the great Martin Robinson, who has been awarded a £5,000 cash prize for his efforts by the MyBuilder online service. Mr Robinson was nominated by house owning client Ellouise Hampstead, who was delighted to put him forward due to his consistent hard work, determination and personal kindness towards her: indeed, he even went so far as to furnish building materials for the project that she employed him for free of charge. Thanks to this, she was able to complete her project within the budget that she had set herself, and her nomination of him for Job of the Year can be seen as a heartfelt reminder that the work that builders conduct all over the country is very much appreciated by Brits everywhere. For Mister Robinson, his share of the winnings will probably go towards his own property, as his partner has vetoed his desires to buy a Harley Davidson bike. Whilst his days as a would-be Hells Angel of Lincolnshire or Sleaford mod are missed, his work as a builder for Ellouise Hampstead continues and he will work tirelessly once more to ensure that she is able to move into her repaired home by Christmas time.
One of the leading development businesses in the building world in Britain that seeks to build more and more residences for people around the country, SSM Holding AB, has recently won a competition that will enable it to oversee the work on a grand total of 270 brand new residential and storage apartments in Sweden. In total, no less than 180 of these apartments will be used for rent and customers are expected to be able to move into this brand new location in 2020. The works themselves beginning two years earlier is excellent news for the Taby Park area located in Stockholm, the capital city of the Scandinavian country. It has been said that the Taby Park area overall will, by the time work and development is complete, be home to a minimum of 6,000 residential apartments as well as 4 to 5,000 office spaces and workshops for employment. What is evidently clear from this is that Taby Park will be a business hub for the country by the end of the next few years provided that the building and construction goes as planned, and SSM are already working hard to work through the development and planning stages to make sure that they are able to achieve these ambitious aims. Indeed, the competition itself means that SSM will be involved in the building and construction of 450 houses and area for commerce and retail, and Mattias Roos the Chief Executive Officer of the company is confident that Taby Park’s location is ideal to the kind of clientele that companies like SSM cater towards, who tend to be individuals wanting to be within close range of the bustling city metropolis. Indeed, it would seem that Taby Park is an ideal location for a development of this kind to occur, since its proximity to Galoppfaltet station makes it an ideal location for those wanting to commute in and around Stockholm.
Hammersmith & Fulham Council have unanimously approved planning permission for Chelsea to redevelop Stamford Bridge. The proposed rebuild to increase capacity to 60,000 was presented in model form at a hearing at Hammersmith Town Hall on Wednesday. The council had already initially recommended that the application be approved and, after a three-hour meeting attended by Blues chairman Bruce Buck and director Eugene Tenenbaum, permission was granted for the development. The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan now has 14 days to call in the verdict, should he wish to, on a stadium expected to cost more than £500m and take three years to build. We are grateful that planning permission was granted for the re development of our historic home. In a statement, Chelsea said: “We are grateful that planning permission was granted for the redevelopment of our historic home. “The committee decision does not mean that work can begin on site. This is just the latest step, although a significant one, that we have to take before we can commence work, including obtaining various other permissions.” Stamford Bridge’s current capacity is 41,600+, making it the ninth largest club ground in England behind Manchester United, Arsenal, West Ham, Manchester City, Liverpool, Sunderland, Newcastle United and Aston Villa. Rather than move site and build from scratch, though, the club have decided that redeveloping Stamford Bridge is their preferred option. he main point of discussion is likely to be the ground’s proximity to transport, with the new prospective capacity of 60,000 making the distance of underground and railway lines paramount and the main challenge facing the project. The project will also mean that the club will need to find a temporary home due to the complex nature of the build, with a lowering of the arena and excavation likely to achieve the desired capacity on the 12-acre site.
Despite headwinds in the global economy, internationalisation will continue to drive the growth of companies in the engineering consultancy sector as infrastructure demand remains strong globally. Meinhardt Group, a leading global engineering, planning and management firm, is working closely with International Enterprise (IE) Singapore, the government agency partnering Singapore companies in going global, on its expansion strategy to Africa and the Middle East. This includes the company’s recent acquisition of African engineering consultancy to gain in-roads into East Africa. Acquisition & Expansion in Africa According to the United Nations, several African cities are expected to grow by 50% or more by 2030, causing severe stress on the availability of water, transport, housing and power. An additional US$93 billion a year will be required to meet the demands of Africa’s urbanisation. With this in mind, Meinhardt recently acquired a prominent engineering consultancy, Bhundia Associates2 (BA), in Kenya, East Africa in late 2016. IE Singapore has been sharing on-ground developments as well as connecting the company to key business partners in Kenya, eventually leading to the acquisition. By tapping the existing established networks of BA, Meinhardt is able to jumpstart its entry into Kenya and East Africa. East Africa is the fastest growing sub-region in Africa, consisting of high growth economies including Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Rwanda. Acquisitions have been a key part of Meinhardt’s business strategy to amplify its global presence. Meinhardt’s new office positions the firm strategically within the region to offer its engineering expertise. Under the leadership of Meinhardt’s headquarters in Singapore, this will bring a total workforce of 450 employees in over 11 offices across the Middle East and Africa, making it one of the largest international and infrastructure consulting firms in the region. “We recognise that in a time of rapid technological advancement and greater competition from regional and global economies, expansion and innovation are essential elements to increase our relevance to the world. Being one of the first Singapore engineering companies to acquire and set up its operations in the East and North Africa is a testament to our reputation and capabilities. While we stay committed to our core markets in Southeast Asia, we would also take advantage of Kenya’s established financial system and investor-friendly outlook to scale up our business in this continent, using it as a gateway into Africa.” Mr Omar Shahzad, Group CEO of Meinhardt Group said. Said Mr Chua Taik Him, Deputy CEO, IE Singapore, “Engineering services is a specialised business which requires deep knowledge, proven experiences and a sound understanding of markets to be globally competitive. Companies with these conditions are in high demand, and they need to scale quickly into global markets to sustain competitiveness. IE Singapore is happy to be able to work closely with one of such companies, Meinhardt, to apply its expertise in water and environment field in the fast-growing East Africa region. This is in line with our charter to help Singapore companies scale internationally to achieve first mover advantage and to advance competitiveness.” This acquisition builds on BA’s 40 years of indigenous experience to provide innovative engineering solutions, Meinhardt said, adding that it will open its second office in Kigali, Rwanda in the first quarter of 2017. Expansion in Middle East and Egypt To diversify and capture new growth, Meinhardt is also targeting the Middle East, given the booming real estate and infrastructure development opportunities. Meinhardt worked with IE Singapore to refine its strategy and broaden its business networks, having identified it as a potential market. Currently, the Group’s office in Cairo is staffed with a team of 35 technical staff with plans to expand to 100 by 2020. This Cairo office will act as a resource centre for its projects in the Middle East. Meinhardt is expanding its footprints steadily in these continents. It recently signed a cooperation agreement with Sharjah’s Electricity & Water Authority (SEWA) to modernise the water storage infrastructure in Sharjah, the United Arab Emirates.