Ambitious Fifth Carbon Budget welcomed by sustainability industry Published: 01 July, 2016 The UK’s Fifth Carbon Budget, announced in parliament on 30 June by Amber Rudd, Secretary of State for Energy & Climate Change, has set out a new legally binding emissions reduction target for 2030. The Budget aims to cut
Existing home sales in the United States lost momentum in July and decreased year on year for the first time since November 2015 with a fall of 3.2%, the latest index data shows. Total existing home sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.39 million in July from
Despite its imminent £24bn takeover by Japan’s Softbank, UK microchip manufacturer ARM Holdings is pressing ahead with plans to expand its Cambridge headquarters. Above: The new offices Kier has been awarded a £48m contract to add 18,000 m2 of office space and two multi-storey car parks on the ARM campus
The Building Services Research and Information Association (also known as the BSRIA) have made their new report available on how building businesses can benefit from maintenance contracts from all over the rest of the country. The primary objective of the report itself is to aid and facilitate responsible personnel in
Small-to-medium enterprises have expressed their hopes that they will be given a good deal by the government that will help them progress into the future economic years ahead. However, is this a real likelihood or mere wishful thinking guff? What is clear is that the British government in Westminster is
Unite Students, the UK’s leading manager and developer of student accommodation, announces that it has acquired Aston Student Village (“ASV”) for £227 million in a 50:50 joint venture with GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund. ASV, which represents Unite’s first major on-campus acquisition, comprises 3,067 beds across five large, detached property
Sykes Pumps have pumped back some vital enthusiasm into the community of Maidstone, Kent, by contributing to the effort to control water level areas in the vicinity. A special wheel had to be redesigned for location across one of the gateway entrances along the Upper Medway Navigation so that the water
A huge (the biggest in the whole of Europe in fact) Chinese commercial space greeted its anticipated customers for the first time in December 2016. This commercial space, based in the proximity of the Italian city of Milan in Agrate Brianza, is 56,000 square meters large in an area of
Ambitious Fifth Carbon Budget welcomed by sustainability industry Published: 01 July, 2016 The UK’s Fifth Carbon Budget, announced in parliament on 30 June by Amber Rudd, Secretary of State for Energy & Climate Change, has set out a new legally binding emissions reduction target for 2030. The Budget aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 57% compared to 1990 levels during the period 2028 to 2032, and 80% by 2050, as recommended by the Committee on Climate Change. IEMA says this decision gives a clear and positive signal of the UK’s transition to a low carbon and sustainable economy at a critical time for UK environment policy. “This decision comes at a critical time for the UK and provides much needed clarity on the long-term direction of travel towards a low-carbon economy,” said Martin Baxter, IEMA’s chief policy advisor. “Post Brexit, our future prosperity is increasingly dependent on us seizing the opportunity to make the necessary changes to address long-term sustainability challenges. Climate change is a defining issue of our time and significant opportunities exist to create jobs, boost productivity and enhance competitiveness by reducing our carbon emissions,” he continued. “Achieving the 2030 target will require concerted action and investment. The recent referendum vote for the UK to leave the EU makes the job harder but not impossible. The true test of climate leadership is about sustaining the implementation of policies to achieve long-term climate goals. “This decision on the fifth carbon budget provides the basis for giving confidence for investment, innovation, progressive transformation and effective action over the long-term. It must also be reinforced with a clear, post-Brexit, confirmation of the UK’s international commitments and UK ratification of the Paris climate agreement.” Trade association RenewableUK said the announcement underlines a strong UK framework for continued investment in renewables. “This announcement is especially welcome given the uncertainty caused by last week’s referendum. It’s a clear signal that the UK will continue to show bold leadership on carbon reduction. This will allow investment to continue to flow into renewable energy projects throughout the UK,” said RenewableUK’s chief executive, Hugh McNeal. Phil Hurley, managing director at renewable heating manufacturer NIBE, also praised the carbon budget’s long-term commitment to tackling climate change, but has called for more robust action in the wake of the EU referendum. “There’s no denying the uncertainty that’s facing the renewable heating industry following the decision to leave the EU. While we still have a long way to go before stability returns, the long-term goal set out in today’s fifth carbon budget is an important first step,” said My Hurley. “This much-needed injection of confidence shows that the government is still very much committed to building a lower carbon future for the UK. Despite all the unanswered questions about our ongoing relationship with the rest of Europe – and how this will impact a renewable heating industry that’s been largely driven by EU directives – the UK now has a 2030 target that’s significantly more ambitious than the EU’s own. “What we need now is a clear strategy to support deployment of renewable heating technologies on the necessary scale – including meeting the challenge of installing 6.8 million domestic heat pumps by 2030. This means reassurance about the future of current legislative frameworks. Priorities should be the Energy-related Products (ErP) Directive, as well as the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI).” Picture courtesy of Shutterstock/NicoElNino Source link
Existing home sales in the United States lost momentum in July and decreased year on year for the first time since November 2015 with a fall of 3.2%, the latest index data shows. Total existing home sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.39 million in July from 5.57 million in June and are now 1.6% below a year, only the second time in the last 21 months this has happened. The data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) also shows that the median existing home price for all housing types increased by 5.3% in July to $244,100, the 53rd consecutive month of year on year gains. Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said that existing sales fell off track in July after steadily climbing the last four months. ‘Severely restrained inventory and the tightening grip it’s putting on affordability is the primary culprit for the considerable sales slump throughout much of the country last month,’ he explained. He pointed out that real estate agents are reporting diminished buyer traffic because of the scarce number of affordable homes on the market, and the lack of supply is stifling the efforts of many prospective buyers attempting to purchase while mortgage rates hover at historical lows. ‘Furthermore, with new condo construction barely budging and currently making up only a small sliver of multi-family construction, sales suffered last month as condo buyers faced even stiffer supply constraints than those looking to purchase a single family home,’ he added. The report also shows that total housing inventory at the end of July inched 0.9% higher to 2.13 million existing homes available for sale, but is still 5.8% lower than a year ago and has now declined year on year for 14 months in a row. Unsold inventory is at a 4.7 month supply at the current sales pace, which is up from 4.5 months in June. ‘Although home sales are still expected to finish the year at their strongest pace since the downturn, thanks to a very strong spring, the housing market is undershooting its full potential because of inadequate existing inventory combined with new home construction failing to catch up with underlying demand,’ said Yun. ‘As a result, sales in all regions are now flat or below a year ago and price growth isn’t slowing to a healthier and sustainable pace,’ he added. The share of first time buyers was 32% in July which is below last month when it was 33% but up from 28% a year ago. First time buyers represented 30% of sales in all of 2015. All-cash sales were 21% of transactions in July, down from 22% in June, 23% a year ago and the lowest share since November 2009 when it was 19%. Individual investors, who account for many cash sales, purchased 11% of homes in July, unchanged from June and down from 13% a year ago while 70% of investors paid in cash in July. Coming in at the lowest share since NAR began tracking in October 2008, distressed sales were 5%, down from 6% in June and 7% with 4% foreclosures and 1% short sales. Foreclosures sold for an average discount of 18% below market value in July compared to 11% in June and short sales were discounted 16% compared to 18% in June. Properties typically stayed on the market for 36 days in July, up from 34 days in June but down from 42 days a year ago. Short sales were on the market the longest at a median of 95 days in July, while foreclosures sold in 54 days and non-distressed homes took 34 days. Some 47% of homes sold in July were on the market for less than a month. The data also shows that single family home sales decreased 2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.82 million in July from 4.92 million in June and are now 0.8% under the 4.86 million pace a year ago. The median existing single family home price was $246,000 in July, up 5.4% from July 2015. Existing condominium and co-op sales dropped 12.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 570,000 units in July from 650,000 in June and are now 8.1% below July 2015. The median existing condo price was $228,400 in July, which is 4.1% above a year ago. A regional breakdown of the figures shows that existing home sales in the Northeast fell by 13.2% and are now 5.7% below a year ago while the median price in the Northeast was $284,000, which is 3.3% above July 2015. In the Midwest, existing home sales fell 5.2% in July which was unchanged from a year ago and the median price was $194,000, up 5% from a year ago. Source link
Despite its imminent £24bn takeover by Japan’s Softbank, UK microchip manufacturer ARM Holdings is pressing ahead with plans to expand its Cambridge headquarters. Above: The new offices Kier has been awarded a £48m contract to add 18,000 m2 of office space and two multi-storey car parks on the ARM campus at Peterhouse Technology Park in Fulbourn. Ready for occupation in autumn 2017, the scheme will enable ARM to increase its headcount in Cambridge to 3,000 people and double its UK headcount over the next five years. The expansion is fully supported by Softbank, whose takeover offer ARM has recommended shareholders to accept. The new office building will be constructed using a steel frame and curtain walling with bespoke vertical aluminium Brise Soleil solar shading, which will form a six-metre high saw tooth pattern. Kier Construction Eastern managing director Mark Dady said: “We’re pleased to have been awarded the contract to develop ARM’s global headquarters. We have a strong track record in delivering office space across the UK and are looking forward to providing a facility that will help ARM to continue expanding. “This development will give a real boost to the local economy and employment opportunities. At Kier, we recently expanded our Cambridge offices and it’s great to see ARM invest in their offices in the city too, which further demonstrates Cambridge’s status as a hub for global companies.” Mike Muller, chief technology officer and co-founder of ARM, said: “We are making a significant investment at our headquarters in Cambridge to help us deliver the next phase of company growth and Kier is a valuable partner in delivering our new centrepiece building.” “The expanded Cambridge campus will house many of the ARM engineers designing next generation processors and software that will power silicon chips supporting the rise of smart cities, for consumer devices and the communications network. There are 86 billion ARM®-based silicon chips in the world and that number is growing as the built environment, transportation, homes and offices become increasingly connected.” Kier is also currently building a £79m laboratory for the University of Cambridge on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus. This article was published on 25 Aug 2016 (last updated on 25 Aug 2016). Source link
The Building Services Research and Information Association (also known as the BSRIA) have made their new report available on how building businesses can benefit from maintenance contracts from all over the rest of the country. The primary objective of the report itself is to aid and facilitate responsible personnel in the building and construction industries to gain a better understanding to how they can obtain maintenance contracts in the world of today. Indeed, every single step along the ladder to securing such contracts frequently sought out by businesses in the construction industry from all over the United Kingdom is covered with the acute attention to detail and precision that the BSRIA is famed for. No stone has been left unturned in this new report, which highlights different methods such as using different teams of workers and employees that are “in-house” in order to make it easier for businesses in the industry to procure contracts, as well as how to maintain a sense of control and ability to make well-formed decisions on how to proceed when these contracts are acquired. In conjunction with the Building Maintenance Set (or BFM5) the report is set to be the definitive document that businesses can seek out in order to find out more about how they can obtain and what they can do to successfully maintain these kinds of contractual agreements. Mister David Bleicher of BSRIA also explains that the report will help introduce readers to the advantages of these kinds of contractual deals and it is hoped that whatever questions or queries that they may have about these particular forms of contracts will be sufficiently answered by the report. Available online to those members of the public that are already BSRIA members, paper copies of these especially useful guidelines will also be made available to those that request them at the modest price of £30 each.
Small-to-medium enterprises have expressed their hopes that they will be given a good deal by the government that will help them progress into the future economic years ahead. However, is this a real likelihood or mere wishful thinking guff? What is clear is that the British government in Westminster is in total disarray at the current moment in time and it is impossible to tell what the prospects really are for the building design and construction industries at the moment. It is quite clear that a lot of small firms and enterprises have indeed been successful in the acquisition of certain lucrative contracts, such as the announced deal that will enable contractual company Barnwood Construction Limited to build Oxford’s first Grade A structure in the Oxford Science Park. Whilst this puts the company in an excellent current economic position (the contract awarded them is worth an impressive £13 million!) it is uncertain what situation the rest of the country will indeed be in by the time of 2018 when the Oxford Science Park project is due to be finished. Indeed, it is impossible to tell what position we will be in next week, never mind in a year’s time! What is clear however is that businesses and enterprises in the building and construction industry will need to consider very carefully the impact that the combined double-whammy potential disaster of leaving the single market as well as the customs union. The debate and outcomes of the government officials in Westminster will undoubtedly have an impact on the building design and construction enterprises all around the country. Whilst there have been initiatives to try and determine what that outcome will be, there will need to be a clearer strategy to bear in mind, rather than simply thinking that whatever happens will not affect the industry as a whole. Mark these words, dear reader: whether for the better or for the worse, it will.
Unite Students, the UK’s leading manager and developer of student accommodation, announces that it has acquired Aston Student Village (“ASV”) for £227 million in a 50:50 joint venture with GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund. ASV, which represents Unite’s first major on-campus acquisition, comprises 3,067 beds across five large, detached property ‘s on Aston University’s campus in central Birmingham. ASV is currently the only accommodation offered to students at Aston University, which has a student population of 11,000, with no additional accommodation available either under direct ownership or through nominations agreements. This modern property with high quality accommodation is fully occupied. Aston University has consistently achieved strong league table positions and is currently ranked 33rd in The Times’ Good University Guide. The acquisition provides Unite Students and Aston University with the opportunity to establish a long-term strategic partnership, including nominations, in due course. ASV takes Unite’s presence in Birmingham to over 5,000 beds, providing the opportunity to deliver efficiencies across the whole portfolio in the city. Unite is planning to invest in the accommodation over the summer to provide the next intake of students with the Unite customer experience. By enhancing the experience and product for customers and integrating the buildings into our PRISM operating system, we will drive rental growth opportunities as well as cost and operational efficiencies. The acquisition creates an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the benefits of our scale, operational capability and reputation, and open up further opportunities across the sector. The purchase price represents an acquisition yield of 5%, in line with recent transactions in the student property accommodation sector. This yield will grow to over 6% following investment into the portfolio and the implementation of the Unite Students platform. ASV will generate gross annual income of around £17 million for the 2017/18 academic year and will be immediately accretive to earnings and NAV. ASV has been acquired into Unite andGIC’s LSAV 50:50 joint venture. Unite will receive management and acquisition fees and the acquisition is expected to add approximately 1-2p to the Group’s annual EPRA Earnings on a recurring basis. LSAV is funding the acquisition with 40% equity and 60% debt (provided by TH Real Estate under a 10-year facility). Unite will initially fund its share of the acquisition through additional borrowings, with disposals planned for later in the year offsetting this increase in net debt. Following the transaction, LSAV’s LTV ratio is 39% and Unite’s see-through LTV (on a pro-forma basis) is 38%. Birmingham is a thriving metropolitan city with the second largest student population in the UK, with over 70,000 students resident in the city during term time. The city is home to two other leading UK universities: the University of Birmingham and Birmingham City University. Richard Smith, Unite Students Chief Executive Officer, commented: “I am delighted to announce this acquisition, our first on campus. Birmingham is one of the top cities for students and this acquisition demonstrates the value of our strong relationships with Universities and also the benefit of our position as market leader, both by scale and efficiency and the service that we are able to offer to students as a result of our PRISM operating system. “I look forward to strengthening our relationship with Aston University, working within the campus, helping to support their growth and providing their students with great accommodation and a service experience that will support their personal and academic achievements.” Madeleine Cosgrave, Regional Head, Europe, GIC Real Estate, said: “GIC is pleased to strengthen our partnership with Unite, a leading manager and developer of student accommodation property in the UK, through this acquisition. ASV is a high-quality asset uniquely located both on-campus and in the city centre. We are confident in the long-term growth potential of this asset and the student housing sector which we find attractive for its resilient income streams.”
Sykes Pumps have pumped back some vital enthusiasm into the community of Maidstone, Kent, by contributing to the effort to control water level areas in the vicinity. A special wheel had to be redesigned for location across one of the gateway entrances along the Upper Medway Navigation so that the water levels could be measured and controlled accurately and efficiently by the sliding gate. The team enterprise involved the twinned efforts of Hunton Engineering and Sykes Pumps to work together on different areas of the project in order to ensure its overall success in the watery Kent area. The contributions of Sykes Pumps were vital in the sense they were able to design and make the essential component Super Wispaset 150, a device which was at once very efficient with pumping large levels of water whilst at the same time reducing the noise pollution that would normally ensue from such a bustling and frenetic activity. Able to work on limited amounts of fuel energy, the perfect implementation of this product necessitated as well the protection of the engineers and contractors working on the structure: various amounts of scaffolds had to be constructed in order to ensure that they were kept well out of harm’s way during the potentially hazardous activity and that none were swept into the water. The minute the work was done, the Super Wispaset 150 was taken back to dry land by Sykes Pumps once it had served its time at a fantastic efficiency and a reduced pollution cost to individuals in the local area. Indeed, Mister Sean Trow of Hunton Engineering expressed his satisfaction that such a business like Sykes Pump could be dispatched and prove effective as well as reliable in ensuring that the task was completed to the best of every worker’s ability. Through this collaborative work between the two businesses, it is hoped that the sluice gate in Maidstone will once again prove to be as operational and as effective as ever.
A huge (the biggest in the whole of Europe in fact) Chinese commercial space greeted its anticipated customers for the first time in December 2016. This commercial space, based in the proximity of the Italian city of Milan in Agrate Brianza, is 56,000 square meters large in an area of three levels and is the new home of 400 retail outlets that also allow up to 600 cars to park in its designated space. For this of course, the building and construction of decent roof space and air circulation is essential, and it was Mister Gianfranco Gianni’s responsibility to ensure that this was the case. It was decided that, based upon their very good record on air conditioning and roofing, the services of Clivet were called into action and commissioned to ensure that the right amount of air conditioned installation was properly implemented into the large structure of the building. It was evident to Gianfranco Gianni that Clivet was chosen to carry out this ambitious and time-consuming task, because the company has a very good record of offering very good services at reasonable price rates. The fact that they are furthermore able to adapt themselves very well to the different requirements of the companies and businesses that they deal with was also essential, since the Agrate Brianza development is of a particularly rather empty structure. This means of course that the right amount of air needs to be able to circulate freely across all three levels of the development, and it was felt that Clivet were therefore the ideal company to consult in order to make this dream a possibility. Since then, the company has successfully installed the various facilities that needed to be put into place, causing a minimal amount of bother to those involved and also reducing the noise capacity levels that is often a concerning feature of air conditioning systems. Through Clivet, Mister Gianfranco Gianni of GIANNI BENVENUTO SPA was able to satisfy the wishes of the space.
