Auction House declares ‘business as usual’ post Brexit Auction House says that uncertainty surrounding the EU referendum had very little impact on sales, and is reporting a performance level close to last year. The group’s June figures were similar to those in 2015, with 252 lots sold (only 8 fewer
Watson wants to focus on smaller projects, but backed $37bn Kazakhstan oilfield expansion ©Getty Speaking to analysts in New York in March, John Watson promised a change of strategic direction for Chevron. Since before he took over as chairman and chief executive in 2010, the company had been working through
A new construction training centre in the North East of England is nearing completion. The purpose built facility has been created at Burnt House Farm in Bedlington, South Northumberland. Tony Rutherford is a Northumberland-based entrepreneur who is part of WPR Farms as well as having established Trainbase Ltd. Rutherford has
Novus, the refurbishment and new build contractor has been a part of the successful launch of a banking project taking place at a secondary school located in Stoke-on-Trent. Novus Property Solutions was an instrumental part of the work that has taken place at Thistley Hough Academy. With their help, the
Keyline, the UK civils, heavy building materials and drainage solutions supplier, donated £10,000 of tickets for 200 veterans to attend the tribute show for Dame Vera Lynne. In order to honour the Forces’ Sweetheart Dame Vera Lynn, a tribute show was put on. Dame Lynn turned 100 this week and
Novus Property Solutions, the national maintenance new build and refurbishment contractor has revealed their development of a block of departments located in Liverpool’s Albert Dock. The redevelopment consists of 200 apartments that will look out at the Albert Dock area. The existing building that has been transformed was finished in
Passengers of Bolton Station will witness platform improvements starting next week. This is part of the Railway Upgrade Plan set out by Network Rail. There will be plans to provide Bolton Station with the capacity to provide their passenger with faster, electric train services. These new train services are expected
The Government has announced that in order to meet demand, 250,000 affordable homes are needed every year. In order to deal with this high demand for housing, some local authorities are looking at new and innovative ways that will allow them to restore and renovate existing properties. It has been
Auction House declares ‘business as usual’ post Brexit Auction House says that uncertainty surrounding the EU referendum had very little impact on sales, and is reporting a performance level close to last year. The group’s June figures were similar to those in 2015, with 252 lots sold (only 8 fewer than last year) but at a noticeably better success rate of 81% (a 4% increase on last year’s result). The statistics for the first six months of 2016 indicate a rise across the board compared to the same period last year, with 1,513 lots sold out of 1,959 lots offered (a success rate of 77.2%), raising a total of £208.6m. Roger Lake, Auction House Founding Director, said: “Despite economic uncertainties brought about by the forthcoming referendum vote, the June auction market was ‘business as usual’ in most areas. In fact, a total of five of our sales that month reported a 100% success rate. We are a results-based business and our level of performance continues to impress. Our key strength lies in affordable volume stock in the regions, where people tend to buy for a purpose rather than a profit. So we predict that these areas will be least affected by any fall-out from Brexit that may follow.” Roger Lake accepted that challenging times lay ahead, but suggested that any negative impact could be short-lived, provided that availability of mortgages remains and interest rates stay stable. He explained: “Auction House entries for July are steady, with the total projected to be only 5% down on last year. We are now trading in a climate of opportunity and I expect the repercussions of Brexit to be quickly accommodated. “No doubt there are uncertainties on the horizon, which means that we will witness a period of reflection. Top end residential and high ticket commercial lots are likely to be hit hardest, with London set to find conditions the most challenging of all. “Nevertheless, in the auction sector, any rebalancing tends to happen rather quickly – so we would expect Auction House numbers to regain their previous level by the Autumn.” Source link
Watson wants to focus on smaller projects, but backed $37bn Kazakhstan oilfield expansion ©Getty Speaking to analysts in New York in March, John Watson promised a change of strategic direction for Chevron. Since before he took over as chairman and chief executive in 2010, the company had been working through a wave of large projects such as Gorgon, the liquefied natural gas plant in Australia that lived up to its monstrous name by coming into production two years late and $17bn over its original $37bn budget. Chevron’s capital spending had soared to a peak of just under $42bn in 2013, and its return on capital was falling steadily even before the oil price collapse of 2014. Mr Watson said that from now on that would change. Chevron would spend less of its money on those grandiose plans, he said, and more on smaller, more humdrum projects that would be quicker to bring into production. There was one big exception to that new policy: the costly expansion of the Tengiz oilfield in Kazakhstan, run by a consortium in which Chevron has a 50 per cent stake. This week the consortium confirmed that it was going ahead with a $36.8bn investment to raise production at the field by 260,000 barrels of crude per day. It is the largest oil and gas project to be given the go-ahead by private sector companies this decade. Tengiz is a particularly valuable asset, however, and Chevron’s overall strategy of focusing on improving shorter-term returns remains in place. More On this topic Week in Review At a time when Chevron, like the rest of the industry, is under financial strain, Mr Watson is taking the unsentimental approach to improving its performance that you would expect from his background. Tall, silver-haired and bespectacled, the 59-year-old Mr Watson looks more like a doctor or a lawyer than an oilman, and he rose up through the company on the finance rather than the engineering side. Unlike some of his peers, he was never an engineer or geologist out in the field, and he is not prone to waxing lyrically about the romance of the industry. As one former colleague puts it: “John is a very smart analytical data-driven type of guy who doesn’t flap.” The words “very smart” come up often when you ask about Mr Watson. Raised in California, he studied agricultural economics at the University of California, Davis, and then quickly went on to an MBA at the University of Chicago. When he graduated there in 1980 he immediately joined Chevron as a financial analyst. From a long way back he was groomed to be the chief executive, according to Robin West of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The key moment in Mr Watson’s career came in 1998, when he was appointed vice-president with strategic responsibility for mergers and acquisitions, just as the mega-merger wave was hitting the oil industry. As Exxon paired with Mobil, Chevron failed to agree a merger with Texaco in 1999, but succeeded in its second attempt a year later, and Mr Watson was put in charge of the integration effort. He then became chief financial officer, and was successful in achieving cost savings from the merger. That deal and the subsequent $17bn Unocal acquisition in 2005 “turned out to be much better than most people understood at the time”, says Mr West. Today, with Chevron’s credit rating deteriorating as it borrows to pay its dividends, there is a greater challenge ahead in terms of cutting costs and raising profitability. But Mr Watson’s record suggests he is exactly the type of executive investors would want to take on that task. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2016. You may share using our article tools. Please don’t cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web. Source link
A new construction training centre in the North East of England is nearing completion. The purpose built facility has been created at Burnt House Farm in Bedlington, South Northumberland. Tony Rutherford is a Northumberland-based entrepreneur who is part of WPR Farms as well as having established Trainbase Ltd. Rutherford has invested £350,000 in to building the new centre for construction training. When the facility id finished it will be opened to provide accredited training and testing across several different awards bodies in order to offer the widest opportunities for the users of the center. Ther will be a large range of CPCS, NPORS training as well as other short courses, street works and Level 2 Plant NVQ’s. Rutherford’s new business has already created four new jobs before it is open for business. There are two training administrators as well as a tester and assessor already hired for the training center. However, this number will increase when the center is finished. Tony Rutherford identified the opportunity to build the construction training centre after discovering that many businesses in this sector send their employees out of the region in order to gain the necessary qualifications that will soon be on offer in this facility. The gap in the market will soon be filled by Rutherford’s facility that aims to offer high quality training across a wide variety of professional courses. It is believed that Trainbase will be the largest facility of its kind in the North East region of the country. It is also expected to be the only facility that will offer a full range of courses all from one location. The training centre will be located at Burnt House Farm which is a 20-acre site that incorporates a 15-acre all weather digging area. The facility will include an outdoor training area, as well as office accommodation with more space for training, testing and conference rooms.
Novus, the refurbishment and new build contractor has been a part of the successful launch of a banking project taking place at a secondary school located in Stoke-on-Trent. Novus Property Solutions was an instrumental part of the work that has taken place at Thistley Hough Academy. With their help, the school has opened its own bank by constructing the new on facility for the school. The project also received help from The Hanley Economic Building Society. The facility will aim to teach students life skills by helping them manage their money. Novus Property Solutions employs 1000 people and aims to provide maintenance, refurbishment and building services across the leisure, commercial, housing, retail, education and healthcare sectors. The Bank was built on the site of the school in just five days. The new building is located in an area of the school premises that was not being used. The pupils at the school will be able to open their own Thistley Dollars accounts, and they will also be able to manage these accounts online. The Novus Chairman has donated £1 to every student that opens an account with the new bank. This is not the first project taken on between Thistley Hough and Novus. There has been a number of collaborations as part of the academy’s Business Class. This national and education focused initiative is being driven by Business in the Community, a Price of Wales’ Charity. This new facility offers the opportunity to students to open a bank account and also learn how to manage their money, a very important life skill. This scheme is vital to arm children with real life applicable finance skills that are crucial in later life and long after they have left school. The banking project is turning out to be very popular, with more than 200 students already signed up and more students opening their accounts every day.
Keyline, the UK civils, heavy building materials and drainage solutions supplier, donated £10,000 of tickets for 200 veterans to attend the tribute show for Dame Vera Lynne. In order to honour the Forces’ Sweetheart Dame Vera Lynn, a tribute show was put on. Dame Lynn turned 100 this week and the tribute was to celebrate her contributions as well as an opportunity to raise money for her legacy charity. The business donated the tickets that allowed the veterans to attend an all-star variety concert. The event took place on Saturday the 18th March at the London Palladium. A collection of celebrities came together in order to celebrate Dame Vera Lynn’s career. The celebrities who performed included Aled Jones, Bradley Walsh, Russell Watson, Alexander Armstrong, Anthony Andrews, Simon Callow, Wayne Sleep and Brian Blessed OBE. The tickets that were donated by Keyline were distributed amongst veterans, many of which have suffered with disabilities as a result of their service to their country. This donation was made through two charities: The Taxi Charity for Military Veterans and The Not Forgotten Association. One of the veterans that benefited from the donation is Harry Joel MBE. Joel is the 92-year-old founding member of The Taxi Charity for Military Veterans. Harry Joel MBE was too young to join the armed forces at the outbreak of WWII, so joined the Home Guard as a bicycle messenger. He was then called up to join the Royal Navy, serving on HMS Dittany. Keyline thought that they needed to support the event because of the men and women who served the country and the support Dame Vera showed during WWII. The Dame Vera Lynn Children’s Charity works on behalf of children with Cerebral Palsy. It is a great charity to support while also treating veterans to a Night To Remember as well as celebrating the 100th birthday of such an iconic figure.
Novus Property Solutions, the national maintenance new build and refurbishment contractor has revealed their development of a block of departments located in Liverpool’s Albert Dock. The redevelopment consists of 200 apartments that will look out at the Albert Dock area. The existing building that has been transformed was finished in 2003. However, it was in a poor condition due to its exposed location. It required a great deal of work to restore the building to the desired standard. The projects were managed by Premier Estates, who has been involved in the development for the past two years. Premier undertook the challenging tender process. Novus were tasked to bring the Dock area building back to its best. Preparations for the project started in July 2016. The team working on the building were adhering to the strict Swedish Standards that will help with protecting the steelwork on the building from the weather and water. The Novus team working on the building from the Liverpool office started to prepare all of the surfaces of the building which included jet washing the exterior of the building as well as preparing all the steelwork using needle guns, hand grinders and rotary wire brushes. The operatives at Novus Property Solutions had to uplift and relay a waterproof membrane on the penthouse balcony flooring as well as sealing the external windows. This waterproofing was undertaken because of the issues that were found with water ingress in some of the apartments. The work on the exterior was completed in December 2016, and now fits in with its surroundings on the Liverpool waterfront. The project took five months and included a great deal of coordination with the client as well as the buildings residents. There were also challenges faced to bring equipment in, the building is designed to sit on stilts and have space for a car park underneath. Therefore, the residents had to move their cars during the works to avoid damage by the work.
Passengers of Bolton Station will witness platform improvements starting next week. This is part of the Railway Upgrade Plan set out by Network Rail. There will be plans to provide Bolton Station with the capacity to provide their passenger with faster, electric train services. These new train services are expected to be running from December 2017. This work forms a part of the larger Network Rail Plan that will see over £1 billion invested in to the Great North Rail Project. The project will see improvements made to the railway between Manchester and Preston. This work will be entering the next phase of the upgrade starting from Sunday 26th March. However, there are not expected to be any impacts on the train services. As part of the Railway Upgrade Plan, Network Rail are focused on investing in Bolton to try and provide passengers with the railway that should meet their needs for many years to come. Hopefully the improvements to the railway will also help in boosting the economy across the North of England. The work at Bolton will also see the renovation of platform 5, which hasn’t been use since the 1990s. This extra platform will allow an increased number of trains to run between Manchester and Preston. The projects will help modernise the railway in order to create more, better and quicker railway journeys for passengers using Bolton railway. Passenger will see parts of the platforms being worked on fenced off, and Network Rail advise their service users to allocate extra time in their journey for manoeuvring on the platforms and to take care while being on them. In order to keep the station open, the improvements to the platforms are occurring a section at a time, which means there will be construction at varying parts of the platform while the work is taking place.
The Government has announced that in order to meet demand, 250,000 affordable homes are needed every year. In order to deal with this high demand for housing, some local authorities are looking at new and innovative ways that will allow them to restore and renovate existing properties. It has been revealed that over the last 12 months, approximately £120 million has been invested in to the renovation of social housing. This is on top of the £30 million regeneration project in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire. This investment is proving successful in maintaining the Council’s housing stock at a very high standard. The five-year scheme is intended to provide the 6,800 properties that are part of the Ashfield District Council’s housing stock with the improvements that they need. The work that is taking place in this area is set to be carried out by J Tomlinson Limited, a construction services company which is based in Beeston, near Nottingham. Since the contract was awarded about 2,500 homes and tenants have been able to benefit from the various works needed. These works included replacement Kitchens, Bathrooms, central heating systems, windows, external doors and roofing. All these will make the tenants lives so much better as it will improve the overall comfort of the homes. These improvements could also lead to a reduction in fuel bills, especially work to improve the window, external doors and roofs of properties. The roofing work was carried out by Russell Roof Tiles. The tile company worked closely with J Tomlinson and their contractor Avonside Group in order to fit tiles that matched the original roof and yet are sustainable. The tiles used were concrete which means that they should last a long time as well as provide a consistency of colour and style. Using these tiles will be a cost effective, hard wearing option that are also sustainable.
