12 May 2016 | Herpreet Kaur Grewal The Association of University Directors of Estates (AUDE) has launched a ‘Green Scorecard’ to help universities make their estates more sustainable. The Green Scorecard is designed in partnership with the Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges (EAUC) and aims
Feeling Fein power tool review: AFMT 18 Cordless MultiMaster Published: 16 May, 2016 The ‘Feeling FEIN’ series of reviews is all about getting FEIN’s products into the hands of professional tradesmen. Each tradesman has been using a specific FEIN power tool and has given their honest feedback on camera. In
A company based in Milton Keynes has been fined for safety failings after a worker suffered serious injuries to his leg. Aylesbury Crown Court heard how workers at GEA Mechanical Engineering Limited (GEA) were attempting to lift a 900kg decanter scroll back into its mobile trailer, following a service in
©Reuters The record R$36.9bn ($10.2bn) loss posted by Petrobras for the fourth quarter of 2015 was humbling enough for Brazil’s state oil company, but the impact on local oilfield service providers could be worse still as the tottering giant threatens to crush its own supply chain. Petrobras, which accounts for
13 August 2016 – by Shekha Vyas The UK property industry has been a major beneficiary of Chinese investment over the past decade. Between 2005 and 2015, the country invested £13.5bn into UK estate, with some £3bn of that arriving in the past year. But has that increasing flow of
Over the past few years, the bridging finance sector in the United Kingdom has expanded and evolved beyond all expectations. Around six years ago, the collective industry was valued somewhere in the region of £750 million. As of 2017, it is now worth more than £4 billion. But despite such
Leeds-based drainage contractor, Jet Aire, has appointed Simon Lawton to its board as non-executive chairman. Jet Aire’s board has been working with Simon since 2014 on various ad hoc projects. In the past six months, he has been closely working with the directors and senior management team to lay the
The outcomes of a joint research project carried out by PCSG, Ordnance Survey and GroupBC will today be unveiled at the GeoBusiness show. The outcome of the research is a cloud-based platform called ‘GeoConnect+’ – a response to PCSG’s call to connect BIM information with geospatial data in a way
The property construction company Barratt Developments are looking to expand their network of sub-contractors. Companies that are based in the area around Fife are asked to get in touch with the housing development company. Barratt Development plc own two separate house construction companies. These companies are Barratt and David Wilson
One of the leading global IT servicing companies has announced that they have created an intelligent software that will mean that cities will be able to get more value out of LED lighting which could lead to a cutting a four or five-year payback period to two or three years.
12 May 2016 | Herpreet Kaur Grewal The Association of University Directors of Estates (AUDE) has launched a ‘Green Scorecard’ to help universities make their estates more sustainable. The Green Scorecard is designed in partnership with the Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges (EAUC) and aims to be a comprehensive tool to help higher education institutions across the UK measure the sustainability work they do, set targets and benchmark. Estate teams at universities must have sector-wide accurate data “to ensure continuing progress and innovation in achieving carbon reduction and other environmental sustainability targets”, says AUDE. The AUDE Green Scorecard has been designed independently by Arup, based on consultation and feedback from both AUDE and EAUC members, to create “a fit-for-purpose benchmarking, management and planning tool”. It has been developed with flexibility to recognise and reflect the size, location and specific individual institutional specialisms. The tool will focus on topics including: energy; transport; water; waste; adaptation; biodiversity and landscape; procurement and management. Online reports in these areas can be produced to aid and inform the development of estates and environmental sustainability strategies. Trevor Humphreys, chair of AUDE said: “The scorecard will give us a very effective and transparent way to set targets, monitor performance, to showcase best practice and to highlight areas where we can improve. We have worked closely with EAUC to create an objective scorecard that will grow year on year and we are excited to develop our partnership further.” Iain Patton, chief executive at EAUC, said: “[The new scorecard] aims to provide the sector with assurance about the significant environmental progress that many universities have made and impetus to do more.” Source link
Feeling Fein power tool review: AFMT 18 Cordless MultiMaster Published: 16 May, 2016 The ‘Feeling FEIN’ series of reviews is all about getting FEIN’s products into the hands of professional tradesmen. Each tradesman has been using a specific FEIN power tool and has given their honest feedback on camera. In this review Dale Cromwell, owner of Crafted Group has been testing the FEIN AFMM18 Cordless MultiMaster. You can keep up to date with the ‘Feeling FEIN’ reviews on twitter using #FeelingFein. Source link
A company based in Milton Keynes has been fined for safety failings after a worker suffered serious injuries to his leg. Aylesbury Crown Court heard how workers at GEA Mechanical Engineering Limited (GEA) were attempting to lift a 900kg decanter scroll back into its mobile trailer, following a service in the workshop. Struggling to manoeuver it far enough into the trailer, they asked an employee from the office staff to assist them. Ralph Jago, aged 47, a technical support supervisor, went to their aid but during an attempt to lift the decanter, it slid forward trapping Mr Jago’s right leg against metal racking and badly breaking it. He was trapped for an hour and a half before fire and rescue services were able to free him. He suffered serious fractures to his right leg requiring metal rods and pins to be inserted. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into the incident which occurred on 29 January 2015 found that the company failed to ensure staff were suitably trained and competent to plan and carry out a lift of this complexity. GEA Mechanical Equipment (UK) Limited, of Westfalia House, Wolverton Road, Old Wolverton, Milton Keynes, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, and was fined £75,000 and ordered to pay costs of £15,831. Notes to Editors: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice, promoting training; new or revised regulations and codes of practice, and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. www.hse.gov.uk More about the legislation referred to in this case can be found at: www.legislation.gov.uk/ HSE news releases are available at http://press.hse.gov.uk Journalists should approach HSE press office with any queries on regional press releases. Source link
©Reuters The record R$36.9bn ($10.2bn) loss posted by Petrobras for the fourth quarter of 2015 was humbling enough for Brazil’s state oil company, but the impact on local oilfield service providers could be worse still as the tottering giant threatens to crush its own supply chain. Petrobras, which accounts for more than 90 per cent of investment in Brazil’s oil industry investment, has slashed capital expenditure by more than a quarter in response to its mounting losses. More On this topic EM Squared As a result, there is no imminent end to the savage shakedown that has transformed the country’s once-booming oil services industry into a scrapyard of partly built assets. FT Confidential Research, an FT research service, found that three overlapping crises have overwhelmed Brazil’s oilfield services industry. The global oil price collapse, the disintegration of Brazil’s public accounts and the Lava Jato (Car Wash) corruption scandal that has engulfed the government are all responsible for the collapse of Petrobras. The state-controlled oil company now has an unsustainable debt mountain of 5.2 times underlying earnings, as of September 30 2015, exacerbated by near-paralysis of its contract supply networks. “In seven years this is the first time we have a global crisis in conjunction with a local crisis,” said José Firmo, president of Abespetro, an industry organisation that represents 80 per cent of Brazil’s offshore supply sector. “Brazil was previously always considered a safe haven.” Since then, Petrobras’s debt has ballooned to among the highest levels of any company in the world. In 2012 it had total debt of R$196bn and a net debt/ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) ratio of 2.8, but two years later the figures had surged to R$351bn and 4.8, respectively. Moreover, as the global oil price has plunged since the middle of 2014, the federal police began arresting executives at key company suppliers in relation to allegations of cartel behaviour, charging inflated prices to Petrobras and paying bribes to executives — who in turn channelled funds to political parties. Brazil’s largest construction companies have also become embroiled. Supply chain companies have been hit hard by Petrobras’s fall. KPMG, the business services group, believes about half the supply chain may already have solvency problems. Capital spending across the offshore sector will slide 22 per cent in 2016, and to keep falling until 2018, according to Rystad Energy, a consultancy. Petrobras accounts for 90 per cent of this capex, so there is no other client to take up the slack. Petrobras’ business plan includes capital expenditure of $98.4bn from 2015-2019, 24 per cent less than the amount it had originally said it would invest over the period and 55 per cent less than planned for 2014-2018. Capex for 2016 has been cut 26 per cent. With fewer rigs and vessels being bought, it has inevitably had to slash its production target for 2020, which is down 33 per cent to 2.8m barrels a day. The company haggled down supplier contracts 13 per cent on average. FTCR has learnt that the company has begun to exercise contractual provisions, such as forcing vessels to accept extra unpaid downtime, and has even blocked foreign supply ships whose permits are up for renewal. Meanwhile, affiliate company Sete Brasil, created as Brazil’s “national champion” service provider, has failed to pay its suppliers, causing some, such as Singapore’s Keppel, to stop construction of six rigs contracted by the Brazilian company and write down $160m of orders. The value of new contracts for the construction and offshore industry has fallen “beyond 75 per cent”, according to industry research from Svein-Harald Oygard of McKinsey, the consultancy. The impact of this is visible in the number of drilling rigs in operation in Brazil, which fell 28 per cent in the year to January, according to data from Baker Hughes, an oilfield services company (see chart). Eduard Claassen, finance director at Farol Apoio Maritimo, a Rio de Janeiro-based company that provides supply vessels to Petrobras, acknowledges that times are grim in the industry. From 2012 onwards it won 10 contracts for diving support, platform support and anchor handling and tug vessels. Of its eight surviving contracts, five will expire in 2016, and Mr Claassen does not expect four of these to be renewed. He anticipates having to cut at least 40 per cent of FAM’s workforce. The total number of contracts in Brazil’s oil and gas sector remained stable between 2014 and 2015, though their total value fell 75 per cent to $257m, according to Dealogic, a data provider, down from a peak of $58.4bn in 2010 (see chart). Much of this fall is related to the weakening of the Brazilian real against the dollar, but it is also indicative of the discounts available. Nevertheless, a number of proactive buyers are already investing in a rebound. “This is a good moment for [supply chain] companies that have little debt and reasonable cash flow,” said Nelson Guitti, managing partner at Maré Investimentos, a private equity firm. “Anything you sell in the market now will sell at a lower price,” he told FTCR. “It’s a buyers’, not a sellers’, market.” Another eager investor is Lampros Vassiliou, chairman and chief executive of Teak Capital, an Asia-based strategic investor. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to acquire companies with all elements of subsea solutions,” he said. Last year, Teak-owned Solina Global acquired the Brazilian piping company Protubo from Japan’s IHI and Dai-Ichi High Frequency and since then it has made two further acquisitions in the piping sector. Richard House is Principal, Latin America at FT Confidential Research Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2016. You may share using our article tools. 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13 August 2016 – by Shekha Vyas The UK property industry has been a major beneficiary of Chinese investment over the past decade. Between 2005 and 2015, the country invested £13.5bn into UK estate, with some £3bn of that arriving in the past year. But has that increasing flow of capital into the sector been jeopardised? Does last week’s change in rhetoric from the new Conservative leadership, with prime minister Theresa May delaying the final approval of EDF’s £18bn Hinkley Point nuclear project in Somerset, have the potential to cut off Chinese investment into UK real estate? There certainly has been a strong backlash against May’s stance. This week, the Chinese ambassador to the UK, Liu Xiaoming, wrote a letter to the Financial Times in which he said the relationship between the two countries was at a “crucial juncture”, and a column by news agency Xinhua, largely seen as the official voice of the Chinese government, claimed that May had jeopardised the “hard-won mutual trust with China”. “If you want to break away from your European neighbours you probably want to get closer to Asia,” said Collin Lau, founder of Bei Capital Partners and former head of real estate at sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation. He added that, when dealing with Chinese investment, consideration should be given to “not just managing your own risk, but also about being considerate for the investor’s risk”. If more projects are delayed, Chinese investors may quickly add up the amount of time wasted and capital lost and reassess their view on UK property and divert their attentions to other global markets. “You can block one project like Hinkley Point, but if you are blocking the majority of projects, it makes no sense. The Chinese will look at that from a very statistical point of view,” said Lau. For UK-based investors with ties to Chinese investors, the Hinkley Point spat has made for awkward conversations and the need for reassurance, especially in the context of having built up trust with relationship-driven players from the Far East. One property investor that has formed a major joint venture with a Chinese firm said the row over Hinkley Point illustrated the ability for capital to be redirected in the longer term. All the content from this weekís magazine, including this article, is available in the new app. He said: “Seeing the response made my blood run cold. With Brexit, China holds enormous power in negotiating a trade deal with us, and at the first sign of a problem there is a major reaction.” To allay these concerns, the government will have to send positive signals in building its relationship with China as well as ensuring that the UK remains an attractive place to invest, particularly in the context of the result of the EU referendum. Negotiating a coherent Brexit strategy would go a long way in ameliorating the fears of Chinese investors, some of which are concerned by prospective instability, said Ted Li, head of Cushman & Wakefield’s EMEA China desk in London. “The currency has dropped by 12% since Brexit, not only against the US dollar but also the Chinese renminbi, and people are concerned it will drop again. State-owned investors think it is too risky,” he said. “In general, the UK needs to look at how to stabilise the economy and the political uncertainty to make the Chinese feel comfortable. In the short term it might be painful, but if in one or two years’ time the economy recovers and we have a good exit agreement with the EU, then the UK is definitely very appealing to Chinese investors in terms of market liquidity and transparency in business.” Making a public statement of intent to ensure there is a strong relationship between the countries is also important to China – as was seen during the state visit by president Xi Jinping to the UK last October and former chancellor George Osborne’s trip to China the month before. According to Lau, May’s best bet to salvage ties and ensure Chinese capital continues to flow into the UK and its property industry might be to book some plane tickets. He said: “If I were Theresa May, I would come and visit as soon as possible and send a message.” Source link
Over the past few years, the bridging finance sector in the United Kingdom has expanded and evolved beyond all expectations. Around six years ago, the collective industry was valued somewhere in the region of £750 million. As of 2017, it is now worth more than £4 billion. But despite such extraordinary growth, misinformation as to what the industry both offers and represents remains widespread. Even among those who could potentially benefit from these kinds of financial services, there are significant holes in Britain’s bridging knowledge. What Is Bridging Finance? As the name suggests, bridging finance refers to a specific type of financial service/product that can be used to ‘bridge’ a temporary gap or shortfall. More specifically, when a relatively large sum in needed as quickly as possible for a variety of purposes, bridging loans can usually help. Though also available in comparatively small sums, as much as £25 million can be offered in the form of bridging finance – always with a repayment period of two years maximum. Once again, the idea being that this kind of financing is turned to when facing a very temporary financial shortfall – hence the loan being paid back in full comparatively quickly. Generally speaking, bridging loans are secured either on business assets or property. As is the case with most other examples of secured loans, the fact that collateral is put on the line means that the application process and qualification criteria are both relatively simple. Not only this, but secured loans also enable bridging loan rates to be brought down to absolute rock-bottoms – typically in the region of 0.5% to 2.0% per month in the case of bridging loans. How Are Bridging Loans Used? The majority of bridging loans are used for business purposes and are popular among property investors and developers. For example, should an investor need a substantial cash injection to cover an urgent property refurbishment, purchase a property at auction for an unmissable price or simply find themselves with shortfalls to cover, a bridging loan can be provided in next to no time at all. In addition, this type of financing is also proving popular in many other areas of business. One example being the new business startup, where it is relatively common to come across unexpected expenses and financial shortfalls while the business is being established. If a business owner in question is confident that the shortfall will be temporary, they can put up the required collateral and receive the financial backing they need. But it’s also becoming more common for domestic borrowers to consider bridging loans. For example, if you find the home of your dreams for an outstanding price though a sale on your current property has not yet been agreed, a bridging loan could be ideal. This would allow for the purchase of the new property to go through, with the balance for the bridging loan then being repaid when the existing property is sold. In the right circumstances, bridging loans excel over and above conventional loans in that they are quicker, simpler and often more affordable. – https://www.bridgingloans.co.uk
Leeds-based drainage contractor, Jet Aire, has appointed Simon Lawton to its board as non-executive chairman. Jet Aire’s board has been working with Simon since 2014 on various ad hoc projects. In the past six months, he has been closely working with the directors and senior management team to lay the foundations for the next phase of the company’s growth in providing professional drainage solutions to commercial, industrial and domestic clients. Simon has an extensive track record as a finance director in rapidly growing entrepreneurial businesses, notably Tribal Group Plc which he helped to grow from a start-up to a £250m+ (sales) business over a 10-year period. He was also a founder trustee of the Tribal Group Foundation – funding health and education projects in Africa, India and Nepal – and spent two years in Sub-Sahara Africa working on various investment projects, including a 5-star island tourist resort in the Indian Ocean off Mozambique. In 2013, Simon helped to co-launch a new start-up support service business, Benula Capital Limited, focusing on the recruitment and HR market. Benula currently holds equity stakes in several companies (UK and International) to help them execute an accelerated growth strategy by providing strategic, financial and development advice and coaching to talented owner managers. Jet Aire managing director, Charlie Kirk, said: “I am delighted that Simon has agreed to accept the role of non-executive chairman. His advice will be invaluable to us as we continue to drive the business forward. Jet Aire continues to enjoy sustained and consistent growth – since 2014 the business has doubled in size, sales and profitability. The company has ambitious growth plans over the next three to five years. We continue to build on solid foundations and have an excellent management team in place.”
The outcomes of a joint research project carried out by PCSG, Ordnance Survey and GroupBC will today be unveiled at the GeoBusiness show. The outcome of the research is a cloud-based platform called ‘GeoConnect+’ – a response to PCSG’s call to connect BIM information with geospatial data in a way that helps large asset owners and operators manage large, disparate estates better. GeoConnect+ hosts and connects asset information with countless geospatial datasets including OS open data, OS mapping data, land and property data, flood, river, road network data and much more. One of the main objectives is to deliver a platform where you can not only discover information about what you are managing, but importantly, where it is located. A major revelation that presents a significant quick win is the platform’s ability to surface home grown geospatial data that is usually locked away in systems only available to GIS professionals. This ensures all users can benefit from such valuable data instantly through a browser. A 2D and 3D browser-based viewer has been developed which allows the federation, navigation and interaction of point clouds, models and geo-spatial data in context with the asset’s surroundings, combining the outside world with data about the inside. In 2015 PCSG’s Technical Director, Adrian Burgess, raised a challenge to connect BIM data with geospatial data. Two years later, Ordnance Survey and GroupBC, for the most part have met this challenge. The starting point for the research for the three organisations to work together was PCSG’s call to: -geo-locate BIM information so, not only can you find out what assets, spaces, systems and components you have in your estate, but where they are; -connect asset data to countless geospatial datasets via a common geo reference so you can understand ground conditions, surrounding natural and built environment constraints, boundaries and social-economic data about the local communities and more; and -securely share the BIM and geospatial data with many supply chain organisations. Over the past fifteen years, Ordnance Survey has embarked on a transformation to become geospatial data and analytics specialists in the UK. This research project was a good test of their new data infrastructure which is set up to allow controlled access to digital mapping information via new Application Programme Interfaces (APIs). GroupBC has, over a similar timescale, developed a business which has enjoyed a high level of success in supporting large portfolio asset owners in the management of asset data. This research project made use of their semantic BIM server to connect asset data with external third party data. PCSG continues to use the research project to test the value of connecting BIM and geospatial data to see if it genuinely resolves the problems faced by asset owner operators. Paul Griffiths from Ordnance Survey explains: “The theory being tested is that connecting data about thousands of geographically dispersed assets with geospatial, environmental and socio-economic data will be a key enabler and lead to significant savings through being better informed and the ability to make more cost-effective decisions.” While understanding the true value of connecting BIM and geospatial data sets together needs a lot more testing, the GeoConnect+ platform is already proving beneficial to some early adopters. Trevor Mossop, Technical Services Manager, J T Mackley & Co Ltd, states: “GeoConnect+ offers that ability to both simplify document access and ensure that all of the available documents, pertinent to a geotagged location, are bound together and returned from any device without reliance on understanding the search criteria. This is critical to our staff and clients and is a massive step forward in the usability of the Common Data Environment, where accessibility and ease of use dictate buy-in by staff on any project.” Our GeoConnect+ tool is directly linked from our Common Data Environment Paul Meredith, Information Manager, Thames Water says: “Our GeoConnect+ tool is directly linked from our Common Data Environment and this gives staff quick and very easy access to verified data and information about the environment. This not only speeds up project delivery, particularly during the options stage, but also means a significant reduction in project risk. We are excited about the possibility of using Geo Connect+ to produce address lists and as a possible interface for site-based and mobile staff to load and access site documentation.” Sanjeev Shah, CEO at GroupBC believes there will be significant demand to connect a vast array of data in the future, and connecting geospatial data is just the start. PCSG is asked all the time about how to connect data from in-house finance and resource systems, building management systems and IoT sensors. This information is extremely valuable in their respective systems but will be even more so if they are connected to assets, helping asset owners to get a better handle on space usage, costs, revenues and maintenance activities, reduce running costs and optimise comfort levels for occupants. The GeoConnect+ project marks the latest initiative by PCSG to drive improved performance across the built environment sector.
The property construction company Barratt Developments are looking to expand their network of sub-contractors. Companies that are based in the area around Fife are asked to get in touch with the housing development company. Barratt Development plc own two separate house construction companies. These companies are Barratt and David Wilson Homes. The Development company are intending on expanding the number of sub-contractors they have on their books as a way of meeting their expansion targets for the year. The constructors of new build properties around the UK are wanting to increase their contacts list while also making sure that the sub-contractors they include are skilled and qualified. They are hoping the new connections they make with companies or persons will help them build more and more houses in an attempt to meet the housing shortage and demand. It is thought that expanding their network the support for the Development company’s existing sub-contractors will be created. A wide range of companies are being called out to in order to be included as a Barratt Developments sub-contractor. This call out applies to larger companies as well as self-employed or sole traders in order to help the house builders expand support their workforce. This expansion also coincides with a number of new contracts that have been awarded to Barratt that will have work begin this year. The appeal in order to expand their workforce applies to any company who already works in the residential property building sector, or those in the commercial sector who are wanting to expand. Any company or sole trader that is able to provide a trade to Barratt Developments has been encouraged to contact them. The specific kind of trades that have been selected as desirable include Scaffolding companies, Mastic Sealant contractors, the painting and decorating trade, joiners, roofers, and pluming and electric skilled workers.
One of the leading global IT servicing companies has announced that they have created an intelligent software that will mean that cities will be able to get more value out of LED lighting which could lead to a cutting a four or five-year payback period to two or three years. Tata Consultancy Services is a consultant and business solutions company and it is hoped that this scheme will help cities invest in costlier schemes like investing in LED lights quicker. This will then lead to an earlier reduction in energy consumption and it should also lead to the improvement of the public safety as the intelligent software has self-learning algorithms that will help to improve public safety by adapting to changes in traffic weather and people movement in real time. The software that has been created by Tata Consultancy Services is the TCS Digital Software & Solutions Group, Intelligent Urban Exchange. The software has been designed in order to enable Streetlight Optimization. It has been said that cities that use this new software solution will receive a boost for their smart city projects, and optimizing the costs spent on lighting schemes will help other areas of a smart city scheme develop at a quicker rate. These smart city programmes and software that has been put in place that will offer intelligent software has just started to be investigated. People in the industry believe that there is more beneath the surface which could lead to better smart city programs and networks created. The new software has been compared to the creation of the internet, as it is a new software that has potential for use in more and more different areas. The Intelligent Urban Exchange software should hopefully allow cities to cut their energy budgets by using more intelligent lighting. It is thought that street lighting uses up between 40% and 50% of the average cities energy budget. By delivering more intelligent street lighting, public safety can be improves as the lighting could be made brighter when crowds gathered or after an accident, and dimmed in order to save money when the weather is bad and no one is on the streets.