Savills latest research reveals an active farmland market in Scotland, both in terms of the level of land being launched to the market and healthy level of buyer interest.  There has been a 43% increase in the amount of land being offered for sale on the Scottish market compared to a modest drop south of the border, and viewer numbers in Scotland are up compared with the same period last year.   Evelyn Channing of Savills Farm Agency team said there are several reasons why the Scottish market is bucking the UK trend, despite challenges facing the sector.  These include referendum fatigue, improved bank lending, value for money and the desire to diversify farming income.  She said:  “Although it is early days for many farms launched on the open market across the length and breadth of Scotland, viewer requests and pre-emptive offers paint an unexpectedly positive picture in an industry beset with concerns. In addition there is a strong appetite from farmers who are looking for purchasing advice in this uncertain market. “The  farming industry is largely dependent on subsidies, and as such we anticipated a pause in market on the run up to the EU vote, but this has not been the case.  Coming hot on the heels of the Scottish Referendum and local elections, a level of fatigue has set in and the EU debate has had minimal impact north of the border as a result.  Our advice to sellers has not been to hold back until after the vote, but to launch their farms;  albeit with delayed closing dates to accommodate any pre-referendum nerves.   “In terms of buyers, we are seeing those who wish to stay in farming for the long term gearing up to expand in order to weather any storms that may lie ahead.  Again, this strategy is operating regardless of the EU vote.  Banks are increasingly supportive of such expanding farms and lending is on the increase. According to Savills the commercial need to secure value for money has been a greater driver than politics in the current market.  The gap in values between what is available in Scotland and prices in England and Ireland is therefore attracting a growing number of viewers to Scotland. Evelyn said:  “Demonstrating outstanding value for money has been key to generating interest.”   Crofthead in Dumfriesshire, an attractive mixed agricultural, forestry and sporting estate at a total of 1,258 acres,  and Falahill in Midlothian, an extensive arable and stock farm in the Scottish borders at 1,500 acres are both attracting English viewers. “Overlaw, a small dairy farm of around 311 acres in Kirkcudbright, Dumfries & Galloway, has been inundated with viewers from far and wide despite challenges within the dairy sector.  Buyers from Northern Ireland, where land values have risen once again, are back in the market and we are also seeing those driven by the desire to relocate beef units from areas blighted with TB. A unit such as Overlaw in a particularly attractive part of the UK is highly appealing in this regard.  “Scale will be the key to attracting interest in Cowford, a 777 acre unit north of Perth which includes an established forestry plantation adjoining the principal equipped lot (417 acres) and a secondary bare land lot of 95 acres. Meanwhile in Stirlingshire Alton of Bandeath, a 499 acre arable and stock holding on the Carse of Stirling, offers those developers and strategic land buyers the opportunity to acquire a well located unit with zoning for 75 houses in the Stirling Local Development plan and further land allocated for business use.  “Recent launches demonstrate buyers are keen to secure a diversified income, which potentially can deliver a secondary income in more challenging times.”  Parknowe Farm near Cupar, Fife extends to about 250 acres and for the past 11 years has slowly evolved to become an established livery business, delivering an income in farming terms that would equate to £250 per tonne of grain produce across ever acre.  Strong interest in Falside Farm south east of St Andrews is anticipated as a satellite unit to run in conjunction with a main holding given its reputation of comprising a compact block of arable land of quality. Source link

22 June 2016 | Herpreet Kaur Grewal Geoff Prudence told attendees at the Facilities Show this week that he is intending on producing BIM retrofit guidance.   Prudence, who is chairman of CIBSE’s facilities management division, said: “I am aiming to put together a group of proactive people who are directly involved in using retrofitting and using BIM and bringing it to life in reality… a group that can help promote best practice and case studies.   “BIM is not often used in retrofitting, but therein lies a great opportunity. You can still use the same philosophy. If the group comes together, we can put out a short guidance publication.”   He also said that in general the industry has “a long way to go when it comes to producing a good maintenance strategy in retrofits and design”.   Prudence said he was looking to produce the guidance over the remainder of 2016. Source link

Four businesses associated with heritage construction company William Anelay, which went under this month, have been bought by the Szerelmey Group. Source link

©Bloomberg The F1 racetrack in New Delhi, built by Jaypee Group India’s Jaiprakash Associates has agreed to sell its cement plants to UltraTech Cement, part of the Aditya Birla group, for the equivalent of $2.4bn in the latest deal by an indebted corporation to cut its borrowings by offloading assets. UltraTech, consolidating its position as India’s biggest cement maker, said on Sunday that it had signed a binding memorandum of understanding with Jaiprakash to buy plants with a capacity of 22.4m tonnes per year in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. More On this topic IN Industrial Goods The Rs165bn deal, which includes debt, would increase UltraTech’s total annual capacity by a third to 90.7m tonnes and give the company access to some new markets — in eastern Uttar Pradesh, for example — just as the government of prime minister Narendra Modi is poised to announce increased infrastructure spending in the national budget on Monday. The heavy and often unserviced debts of Indian infrastructure and industrial groups such as Jaiprakash have left the country’s banks with alarming levels of stressed assets, a problem that in turn has constrained new lending and crimped private investment. Public sector banks, which account for most of India’s lending, classified 14 per cent of their assets as “stressed” — bad and restructured loans — at the end of September, and the government is obliged to recapitalise them regularly. According to Credit Suisse, Jaiprakash has accumulated debts of Rs753bn ($10.9bn), had interest cover of zero in the latest quarter, and has failed for 11 consecutive quarters to earn enough to service its debts. Only Tata Steel and Vedanta Resources have bigger debt loads. Jaiprakash is the flagship company of patriarch Jaiprakash Gaur and his Jaypee Group, which built hydropower dams in north India and the Yamuna Expressway from New Delhi to Agra, as well as the little-used Formula One racing track and a vast suburb of residential apartment blocks in Noida outside the capital. Kumar Birla and his Aditya Birla group are among the few large conglomerates with a healthy appetite for new investments. Both the Reserve Bank of India and the finance ministry are struggling to find ways to relieve the commercial banks of their bad assets and so promote new lending and investment, without allowing wealthy tycoons to walk away from their debts. Metals, including steel, and infrastructure account for most of the stressed assets. Arvind Subramanian, the government’s chief economic adviser, said on Friday that India’s previous two-pronged problem of its budget and current account deficits had now been replaced by a “twin balance sheet challenge” affecting banks and the large corporations that have borrowed from them. “Corporate profits are low while debts are rising, forcing firms to cut investment to preserve cash flow,” reported India’s latest annual economic survey. “This situation is not sustainable.” 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

HiB welcomes bathroom renovation popularity Published:  25 May, 2016 Bathroom brand HiB has welcomed new market research which reveals that the bathroom is the most popular room for home improvements. According to a new study by The Tile Depot, UK bathrooms are now the most popular choice of home improvement, with nearly half (44%) of people choosing to renovate their bathroom. In comparison, the kitchen comes a close second with 42%, followed by the garden with 17%. Notably, the study showed the bathroom to be a more affordable renovation option – equating to an average spend of £4,900, compared to £9,600 on kitchens and £19,750 on extensions. Steve Kaye, marketing director at HiB, commented: “From what we’ve seen as a business specialising in the KBB sector for a quarter of a century, it’s no surprise that the bathroom is taking centre stage when it comes to home improvements. In addition to being one of the most important rooms in the home, offering a personal retreat from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, the bathroom is one of easiest ways to add value when selling your home. “For those who aren’t able to afford a new bathroom suite, however, it’s important to remember than smaller adjustments can still make a big impact. A well-placed mirror or cabinet, new lighting and some new accessories, for example, can instantly inject a new lease of life into a tired bathroom setting.” Source link

Date and location Tuesday 13 September 2016NEW VENUE: Garstang Country Hotel and Golf Club, off Preston Lancaster New Road, PR3 1YE Event overview Conference targeting Occupational Health Issues with the aim of reminding delegates not to lose sight of the basic fundamentals of Health & Safety Subjects covered will be Accident Investigation, Competency & Training, Stress, Slips, Trips & Falls, Work Equipment, Risk Assessments, Electrical Testing, Face Fit Testing of RPE and Security A mini exhibition will be run in conjunction with the Conference attended by leading suppliers to the industry. Who should attend? Anyone involved in Occupational Health and Safety that is keen to learn/be reminded about the basics and for small companies to learn about the essentials of good practice Further information and booking Full programme and booking details and are available to download on the NWRA website or by email to Cathy Nixon or tel: 0161 485 8102. Source link

Homes in the vicinity of the top performing independent schools command a 25 per cent over the average for their region, while the clamour for homes close to the best non-selective state schools pushes their values up 20 per cent over the average for the regions they are in. New analysis of GCSE results by real estate adviser, Savills, puts the average value of a home close to one of the country’s top 10 per cent of state schools, where points per pupil average over 450 according to the Department of Education, at £348,000.  This equates to a 12 per cent premium above the average for their regions. Unsurprisingly perhaps, this rises to £414,000 in the postcode sector of the top independent schools, an average premium of £83,000. Non selective state schools, which usually offer places on the basis of proximity to the gate, push house prices up to an average of around £400,000, a punchy £66,000 (20%) above their regional average.  By contrast, homes close to high performing selective state schools which are dominated by grammar schools, offer much better value at an average of just under £290,000, a marginal 2 per cent premium above their regional average. Homes close to the worst performing schools (under 300 points per pupil) cost only £220,000 on average, a discount of 19 per cent. Graph showing relationship with house prices London and the South East have the highest concentration of top performing schools, with over a quarter of all pupils attending such a school, whether state or independent, and in both outer London and the South East almost one in six (17%) pupils are in schools achieving over 450 points per pupil.  By contrast, across the Midlands and the North that figure is between 6 and 7 per cent. The regional pattern of house price premiums reflect this.  The average cost of a home close to a high performing state school is £1million in inner London, £500,000 in outer London and £400,000 in the South East.  In the South East, it costs on average £80,000 more to live close to a top non selective state school, where the catchment area is critical,  than a selective state school. In the West Midlands, where just 7 per cent of schools are in this bracket, parents should expect to pay a 49 per cent premium over the regional average, or £97,000 more for their home. This is followed by Yorkshire and the Humber and the North East, at 44 and 38 per cent respectively.  Table showing regional variations for top performing schools At a local level, West Dorset tops the list in terms of choice of high performing schools, with 79 per cent of pupils in top state and independent schools.  It also offers relative value, with the weighted average house price around such schools at just £290,795, well below second and third ranked Tunbridge Wells and Epson and Ewell, at £403,592 and £464,748 respectively. Other locations with over half of all GCSE students in top performing schools include Cambridge, Hertsmere and Richmond, all with average prices over £500,000, rising to over £1.1 million in Hammersmith & Fulham. Lucian Cook, head of Savills UK residential research comments: “This analysis tells us that many families will compromise on most things, but will do everything in their power to ensure best education for their children, including paying top dollar for their homes.  While it is perhaps no surprise that some of the most expensive homes are in the proximity of top independent schools, parents opting for the private school route face the double whammy of high house prices and school fees.” Source link