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
RWE and Engie are considering an alliance which would see RWE swap a stake in its renewables and grids spin-off Innogy for a minority interest in Engie, Reuters has reported. The utilities have discussed possible deals with advisors and bankers although there are no active talks between senior executives, according
Targeted support for vulnerable customers is right, says trade body – “The energy industry stands ready to work with the next government to help deliver an energy system that works for everyone,” Energy UK’s chef executive has claimed. Responding to the publication of the Conservative manifesto last week, Lawrence Slade
Vision 2017 is being held on the 6th and 7th of June this year. The event will be held at Olympia London and will is free for those who want to attend. There is a registration point online in order to get tickets for the event. Vision 2017 provides an
In Nepal it has been announced that the training in the scaffolding industry is continuing to show improvements. In Nepal and the Nepalese scaffolders that work across the Middle East is looking promising. The Construction Industry Scaffolders Record Schemes have just finished their annual accreditation audit for the Kathmandu Aecor/Safety
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
RWE and Engie are considering an alliance which would see RWE swap a stake in its renewables and grids spin-off Innogy for a minority interest in Engie, Reuters has reported. The utilities have discussed possible deals with advisors and bankers although there are no active talks between senior executives, according to four unnamed banking sources quoted by the news agency. The sources said a marriage between the European energy giants would not take place before the German elections in September. However, one went on to say that because no plants would be closed as part of a deal, it could otherwise proceed very swiftly. “There are indeed talks ongoing, but that does not mean they will succeed,” said another source from the French government. Innogy debuted on the Frankfurt stock exchange in October 2016, after the grids and renewables business was spun-off from of the rest of RWE. At the time of publication, the new company had a market capitalisation of €19.8 billion. RWE owns a 76.8 per cent stake in Innogy worth €15.2 billion. However, RWE is itself valued at just €10.7 billion, suggesting that the conventional generation operations which it retained following the separation are viewed as a liability by stock market investors, Reuters surmised. One deal being considered would involve RWE trading either some or all its interest in Innogy for a minority stake in Engie. A banker told the news outlet that a share swap could see RWE take ownership of up to one third in the new Franco-German group. The French government owns a 28.65 per cent share in Engie and the company is currently valued at €32.9 billion. Any agreement would need to ensure a balance between of power between the French government and RWE, the sources said. RWE and Engie and Innogy all declined to comment on the story, although a spokesman for Engie reiterated comments made by the company’s chief executive Isabelle Kocher, who in March denied reports from Bloomberg that her company had plans to take shares in Innogy.
Targeted support for vulnerable customers is right, says trade body – “The energy industry stands ready to work with the next government to help deliver an energy system that works for everyone,” Energy UK’s chef executive has claimed. Responding to the publication of the Conservative manifesto last week, Lawrence Slade welcomed wording which suggests the party’s threatened energy price cap will be limited to specific customer groups. “Targeting support for vulnerable customers and making sure the market works fairly for everyone are the right priorities, and the industry is absolutely committed to working with government and the regulator to achieve this,” he said. Prior to the publication of its manifesto, senior Conservative had suggested that price regulation in the domestic energy market would extend to 17 million consumers and result in a £100 annual saving per household. The manifesto commitment was considerably softer however, pledging to “introduce a safeguard tariff cap that will extend the price protection currently in place for some vulnerable customers to more customers on the poorest value”. For other consumers, the Conservatives will “maintain the competitive element of the retail energy market by supporting initiatives to make the switching process easier and more reliable”. Energy UK’s relief at the toning down of threatened market interventions was reflected at many energy supply firms, though one big six executive told Utility Week they were concerned by the implications of plans to extend a price cap to microbusiness customers. With regards to other energy commitments in the manifesto Energy UK urged a Conservative government to be swift in carrying out a promised review of energy costs in order to “provide policy clarity to the investment community”. It also pleaded for “an honest debate around the costs of decarbonisation, tackling fuel poverty, how to target support for the vulnerable and deliver security of supply – and how these are to be paid for.” The trade body acknowledged a willingness in the manifesto to countenance onshore wind development in the Scottish isles, but said it would like to see a Conservative government look “wider and further” to open up onshore wind opportunities. Energy UK has previously lobbied for a change to Tory opposition of onshore wind development, pointing to its strong cost competitveness in comparison to other renewable technolgies.
Vision 2017 is being held on the 6th and 7th of June this year. The event will be held at Olympia London and will is free for those who want to attend. There is a registration point online in order to get tickets for the event. Vision 2017 provides an opportunity for architects and architectural firms to hear about the latest technology in the industry. The event also allows those who attend the opportunity to network. Vison focuses on the cutting edge of technology and what this could mean for the built environment going forward. There will be insights in to how new technology can change how and what architects design. In order to stay on top of the fast paced technology in this industry it is thought that constant education in needed. Pocket Living will look at the different ways to create a more practical future environment, while Archio will look at prefabrication processes and how this could lead to more bespoke constructions such as micro-housing or other one of creations. Bio Buildings will also be at the show and will offer examples of their work with students and academics from other fields including biology and computer science and how these partnerships can lead to the development of new materials. BRE will be holding a BRE Theatre in order to allow those that are attending Vison 2017 to discuss their products and services. BRE is the official BIM Partner for Vision 2017 and there will be the opportunity to hear more about BIM education and how this can connect suppliers and specialists more. At Vision 2017, the focus will be on new products and services in the market and how these impact on the latest tendencies of the market. Vision is known for being an event that is CPD accredited and also proves popular with architects and others in the industry.
In Nepal it has been announced that the training in the scaffolding industry is continuing to show improvements. In Nepal and the Nepalese scaffolders that work across the Middle East is looking promising. The Construction Industry Scaffolders Record Schemes have just finished their annual accreditation audit for the Kathmandu Aecor/Safety and Access Ltd centre. This training centre offers the Overseas Scaffolder Training Scheme, or OSTS. The auditors that visited the training centre were said to be impressed by the work that is being carried out there. The centre has been open for just 12 months and the CISRS scheme Manager that carried out the annual audit was pleased with the progress that the training facility had made. The facilities available to carry out the raining are said to be of an excellent standard. The centre is said to be a credit to Aecor/Safety and Access Ltd as they have managed to construct a great area for the training of scaffolders in Nepal and the Middle East. Over the course of the last 12 months it has been calculated that more than 300 scaffolders have received training at the Kathmandu centre to CISRS Level 1 OSTS. Of these trainees, eight complete a Basic Inspection course and nine have undergone Scaffolding Supervisor courses. Apparently one of the supervisor courses was being carried out when the audit was taking place. It is thought that after completing their training in Nepal, these scaffolders then move in order to work in the Gulf Co-Operation Council states which are Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait. It is thought that in this region there are thousand s of Nepalese people who are working as scaffolding operatives. It is thought that the operatives who have carried out the CISRS training and is therefore linked to CISRS UK and the standards of workers required here make them more in demand when looking for work. Connections to the UK arm of the training certification implies quality, and reassurance of skill to clients.
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.
