Weekly rents in capital cities in Australia fell by 0.4% in June and annually they are now 0.6% lower, the latest rented property index shows. However, while a majority of capitals saw a drop in rental rates over the month, on an annual basis, half of Australia’s capital cities actually
Residential property prices in the UK saw modest growth in May but central London experienced a fall in values, according to the latest market survey report. UK house prices are now expected to experience a short term drop for the first time since 2012, according to the monthly report from
Oxford City Council has approved a planning application for the construction of a parents’ accommodation block at John Radcliffe Hospital. Above: CGI of the planned Ronald McDonald House The development is a partnership between Oxford University Hospitals and Ronald McDonald House Charities, which provides free rooms to families with hospitalised
Dulux Academy in Slough as well as at Leeds College will be offering free courses in decoration to some 50 young lucky potential apprentices in March, from the 7th to the 9th of the next coming month. This spattering of generosity comes from the academy’s commitment and support to the
ExCel London will be hosting a Contamination Expo Series this year on the 27-28th of the month of September. So what? You might ask. Well, the real reason for excitement is that this special event aims to draw awareness to members of the building and construction industry the various pitfalls
The area of Rotherham, which is undergoing a major refurbishment plan to improve the economy and infrastructure of the region over the next few years to come, has benefited from a program in business acceleration that will enable it to increase the development deals that it is currently conducting. This
Future Energy Solutions has intimated that there is currently a great deal of unnecessary confusion and uncertainty about the various things that can be done to use renewable resources of energy in the households of British people. It is evident that what the Tory government has been doing is simply
A human factors, safety and risk consultancy that provides services to safety critical industries has been awarded an R&D grant worth almost £70,000 which will see the company make a significant contribution towards improving the safety and operations of civil nuclear power plants. With the grant plus some internal funding,
The largest initiative in a numerous number of years to improve the railway routes in the West Midlands, HS2, is set to be given the royal seal of approval of the queen. This project is eagerly awaited by building and development leaders who want to begin plans to implement the
Weekly rents in capital cities in Australia fell by 0.4% in June and annually they are now 0.6% lower, the latest rented property index shows. However, while a majority of capitals saw a drop in rental rates over the month, on an annual basis, half of Australia’s capital cities actually recorded a rise in rents. These included Sydney up 0.4%, Melbourne up 1.7%, Hobart up 4.6% and Canberra up 1.9%. This takes the combined capital city rental rates to $487 a week for houses and $469 a week for units, the data from the CoreLogic June Rent Review report shows. According to CoreLogic research analyst Cameron Kusher, the large rental falls in Perth of 8.6% and Darwin at 16.2% have pulled the combined capital average lower, with rents also down by 0.3% in Brisbane and by 0.4% in Adelaide. ‘It is anticipated that the weakness in the rental market will persist and where on an annual basis, we will see rents fall even further over coming months,’ he said. At a combined capital city level, gross rental yields were recorded at 3.2% for houses in June 2016 and at 4.1% for units, each of which are sitting at record low levels. ‘A year ago, gross rental yields were recorded at 3.5% for houses and 4.4% for units across the combined capitals, indicating a fairly sharp compression of yields over the year,’ Kusher pointed out. ‘It’s also likely that we’ll see yields compress further over the coming months. However, this will be dependent on growth in home values as well as the direction of rental rates. As a result, capital growth, which has slowed from its peak, will continue to be a much more important factor for property investors than rental returns,’ he added. He explained that changes to rental market may have repercussions for older stock, particularly units as tenants look to move into newer dwellings and making it harder for owners of older units with fewer amenities to compete with better located and facilitated new unit stock, particularly if there is little pricing differential. The factors forcing rental rates lower include the lowest wages growth on record, relatively high levels of housing investment following record highs recently, historically high levels of new construction, most of which are units which are more than twice as likely to be rented, and the slowing of population growth which creates less overall demand for housing. ‘The combination of all these factors means that landlords have little scope to increase rents. There are reports that some landlords are having to reduce rents in certain areas in order to maintain their renters,’ Kusher added. Source link
Residential property prices in the UK saw modest growth in May but central London experienced a fall in values, according to the latest market survey report. UK house prices are now expected to experience a short term drop for the first time since 2012, according to the monthly report from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). House prices in central London are already falling, according to the survey with 35% more property professionals reporting that prices had fallen rather than risen over the past month. While prices are continuing to climb modestly across the rest of the UK, this trend looks set to fade, with 10% more respondents predicting that prices would fall rather than rise over the coming three months. This is the first time that a fall in prices has been predicted since 2012. London and East Anglia are expected to be worst hit with 43% and 33% of respondents saying that prices will fall over the next quarter. ‘Sadly, for the many young people looking to enter the property market, it is unlikely that we are seeing the emergence of a more affordable market,’ said Simon Rubinsohn, RICS chief economist. ‘Instead, it appears to me that what we are looking at is a short term drop caused by the uncertainty resulting from the EU referendum coupled by a slowdown following the rush to get into the market ahead of the tax change on the purchase of investment properties,’ he explained. ‘Certainly, that’s the story we are hearing from our members. There is not at this point a sense that a fundamental shift is taking place in the market,’ he added. The market report also shows that buyer demand fell across the UK for the second consecutive month and at the fastest pace since 2008, with 33% more property professionals saying that demand decreased last month. The survey revealed that in the longer term, while house prices are thought likely to regain momentum, rents look set to outpace them, with UK rents predicted to increase by 4.7% year on year for the next five years, compared to house price increases of 4.1%. The number of agreed sales also fell for the second consecutive month with a net balance of 22% of respondents reporting a fall rather than a rise in activity. Source link
Oxford City Council has approved a planning application for the construction of a parents’ accommodation block at John Radcliffe Hospital. Above: CGI of the planned Ronald McDonald House The development is a partnership between Oxford University Hospitals and Ronald McDonald House Charities, which provides free rooms to families with hospitalised children. The charity already provides 17 bedrooms in the Oxford Children’s Hospital for parents and families. The new 60-room development would extend services to include Newborn Intensive Care. The building will be constructed in the hospital grounds next to Woodlands Road. Funding of around £9m will now need to be raised over the next couple of years before the expansion and relocation of the Oxford Ronald McDonald House can move to the next stage, said Oxford University Hospitals. Further Images This article was published on 8 Jul 2016 (last updated on 8 Jul 2016). Source link
Dulux Academy in Slough as well as at Leeds College will be offering free courses in decoration to some 50 young lucky potential apprentices in March, from the 7th to the 9th of the next coming month. This spattering of generosity comes from the academy’s commitment and support to the ethos predicated by the National Apprenticeship Week, which every year celebrates the range (or lack of) of options that are currently available to the working people of today. With the amount of activities that will be available in order to show potential new employees the various (or lack of) options that are open (or closed) to them, it is important that companies like the Dulux Academy get on board with them and demonstrate the courses that they can provide to people wanting to start off in the decorating industry. National Apprenticeship Week has been going on for a decade: the Dulux Academy for a year. Therefore, it seems that some form of celebration of some kind is in order and the company will be offering a wide range of courses in decorating for free, where expert advice will be given on appliance, method and maintenance techniques in order to indicate what it is that makes the decorating industry what it is today. With the reported shortage of skilled workers in this country becoming an ever important issue that will need to be resolved at some point in the future by providing young people starting off in the life of work having more opportunities, it is evident that enterprises like the Dulux Academy are at least trying to encourage more people to see the benefits and realities of working in the decorating sector of the building and construction industry. Through this, it is clear that the Dulux Academy is doing its best to try and solve this problem by offering more free opportunities to 50 young people, something which other enterprises and companies ought to be doing in honor of National Apprenticeship Week.
ExCel London will be hosting a Contamination Expo Series this year on the 27-28th of the month of September. So what? You might ask. Well, the real reason for excitement is that this special event aims to draw awareness to members of the building and construction industry the various pitfalls and dangers of various substances and methods of working that are currently topical in and around the United Kingdom. Such things as contamination risks and waste hazards are discussed and presented to attendants, indicating that the overall event is an extremely useful way of ensuring that members of the workforce are made fully aware of the dangers that they face in the workplace. Far more instructive than any annual asbestos training day, the conference is an ideal way of giving people the chance to find out the various issues that need to be dealt with in the building and construction industry. What is even more exciting about this event is the actual presence of ARCA, a company that specifically specialize in the removal of asbestos from homes in the United Kingdom. Whilst many might think that issues of asbestos are issues of the past and of gangster Mafia movies, this is certainly not the case and many properties that were built around the 1980s may contain asbestos within the wall fibers of the home. It is therefore essential to all that companies like ARCA have their voices heard in order so that they can educate site managers and builders on how to deal with this very real issue in the building and construction industry that has been a real danger to individuals for decades and yet still has not gone away. Steve Sadley the CEO of ARCA is pleased that the company will be able to, as was the case last year, attend the event and therefore will be given an excellent opportunity to raise awareness to builders and property owners on the legal peccadilloes of asbestos and the services that ARCA actually provide to tackle the issue.
The area of Rotherham, which is undergoing a major refurbishment plan to improve the economy and infrastructure of the region over the next few years to come, has benefited from a program in business acceleration that will enable it to increase the development deals that it is currently conducting. This was a clear example of collaboration between businesses in order to set up various enterprises that would help to speed up the growth prospects in a region that is looking forward to a lot of change and socio-economic improvement. This enterprise, known as the UKSE Y-Accelerator, was a collaboration between various bodies in operation that ranged from the UK Steel Enterprise to the University of Sheffield itself. Through this, it is greatly hoped that the region will be able to benefit from this and that this will encourage more and more enterprises to develop themselves in the area of Rotherham as the year progresses. Ten lucky squads in total were selected to receive an intense and stimulating business-oriented support crash course over the course of 12 weeks, culminating in a Dragons Den-style pitching session at the prestigious campus of Sheffield Hallam University. After deliberation, the judges ruled that Research Retold, who are originally set up in Sheffield itself, could win the £25 thousand prize. On the other hand, members of the judging committee of UK Steel Enterprise as well as the Sheffield City Region Growth Hub emphasized the excellence and high quality of all of the entries and it is hoped that none will be deterred even if they did not win from carrying on to develop plans and ideas that will ensure the growth and success of the Rotherham region as a whole. Indeed, without ideas and innovation, the kind of which were in full flow at Sheffield Hallam University, such regeneration of the local area would not be possible.
Future Energy Solutions has intimated that there is currently a great deal of unnecessary confusion and uncertainty about the various things that can be done to use renewable resources of energy in the households of British people. It is evident that what the Tory government has been doing is simply not enough in trying to encourage people to use more varied forms of renewable energy in their daily activities. If anything, their support for the nuclear power station in Sellafield at the upcoming local election is evidence enough that they are not putting renewable sources of energy at the top of their priorities and are instead trying to gain as much popularity as they can at a time when Labor’s opinion polls are unexpectedly low. The MD of Future Energy Solutions Joel Tetlow has emphasized that there simply is not enough awareness with what can actually be done in order to help us secure ourselves a sustainable and environmentally stable future. This will undoubtedly have some kind of impact on all of us at some point or another and it is therefore vital that these legitimate concerns are listened to and acted upon. The fact that the country as a whole is actually on track to missing its target for renewable energy sources by quite a large margin suggests that we have actually been going backwards and that not enough is being done to find out the alternative renewable resources that we can use to supply energy all over the National Grid. It is also evident that whilst Future Energy is doing what it can to inform the public of what simple things can be done to reduce our impact on the environment, this is just not enough and some special form of government backing and legislation needs to be implemented in order to make a change. Reusing bags to avoid the 5p charge is simply not enough of an advancement.
A human factors, safety and risk consultancy that provides services to safety critical industries has been awarded an R&D grant worth almost £70,000 which will see the company make a significant contribution towards improving the safety and operations of civil nuclear power plants. With the grant plus some internal funding, UK based Corporate Risk Associates (CRA) will be conducting a comprehensive research project which will significantly enhance the industry’s understanding of potential system failures in nuclear power plants, aiding both plant safety and the uninterrupted supply of electricity. Awarded by Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency which works with people, companies and partner organisations to find and drive the science and technology innovations that will grow the UK economy, the research will be completed throughout the course of this year. Speaking about the grant, Jasbir Sidhu, CEO and Founder of CRA said: “We are delighted to have been awarded this grant which will see CRA develop a process to generate realistic reliability estimates of SMART Control and Instrumentation (SC&I) to increase the safety within nuclear power plants.” SC&I are intelligent control devices that employ programmable electronic components to collect and process data to enhance performance. According to Jasbir, the industry uses assessments of the reliability of engineered systems to understand safety margins. The reliability of SC&I technology is difficult to substantiate due to the inclusion of software, and this leads to an assumption that it performs much worse than indicated by operational experience. “Current methods adopted in the industry involve using high confidence values based on Safety Integrity Levels (SILs), as stipulated in standards such as IEC 61508/IEC 61513. We firmly believe this current method does not give a good indication of the ‘true’ reliability, as SIL figures are considered to be highly conservative. “As such, we are extremely passionate about this project and developing a process that can ensure future decisions are based on realistic reliability estimates. “It is great that we have received this grant from Innovate UK in recognition of the significant impact this project will have on the nuclear, process, transportation, and other high hazard industries where safety is, of course, of paramount importance. Looking ahead this research will have a major impact on the understanding of risks from emerging and growing fields e.g. Data Centres.” The project will be led by experts at CRA, including the company’s Principal Consultant Ashraf El-Shanawany and Consultants Francesca Brandford-Adams and Garth Rowlands who will be researching the approach of Structured Expert Judgement (SEJ). Established in 2000, CRA boasts a team of 40 technical consultants. The company prides itself on managing safety, reliability and risk across the nuclear, rail, defence and process industries, where delivering a robust risk analysis is part of the licensing processes.. The company has recently been awarded work with major organisations, including the Office of Nuclear Regulation, EDF Energy and Babcock International.
The largest initiative in a numerous number of years to improve the railway routes in the West Midlands, HS2, is set to be given the royal seal of approval of the queen. This project is eagerly awaited by building and development leaders who want to begin plans to implement the high-speed link from London to Birmingham. Valued to inject an extra £14 billion into the country’s economy as a whole, it means that access from the capital to the West Midlands will be quicker than ever and it is certainly undoubtedly the case that the project is an ambitious one. It is said that the enterprise will result in the creation of 104,000 employment opportunities for individuals in the area as well as 2,000 apprenticeship schemes that will help to set up the new generations of workers along British railways. Indeed, a huge amount of land in between is set to be cleared and it is clear that a number of villages between the two locations will probably be bulldozed or have a lot of land by them that will be taken up by the HS2 project. But that is clearly of no concern to the HS2 initiators and the Queen (who probably still needs to be reminded that Birmingham is a city and not a… biscuit), who will very probably have signed away the fate of those villagers by the time this press release gets launched into cyberspace. It is quite evident that a great deal has been said about the advantages that the HS2 will have (such as how it will improve the transport journeys of two million individuals who have to travel regularly between the two cities). It is also clear that a great deal of money has been put aside for this enterprise and that it will undoubtedly improve the economic infrastructure. But city slickers, I beg you: spare a thought for those who might see things a little differently.
