The owner of a business that manufactures specialist adhesive tape for industrial applications has been fined after a young apprentice lost his finger on a rotary die press. Nuneaton Magistrates’ Court heard how the 16-year-old apprentice was adjusting guides on a laminating head which is part of a rotary die press. Whilst making the adjustment he tripped, put his hands forward and his index finger got caught in the drive gear at the rear of the laminating unit. His finger needed to be amputated as a result. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into the incident which occurred on 9 September 2014 found that the machine did not have appropriate measures, namely guards, in place to prevent access to dangerous parts of the rotary press. James Fussell (trading as Tecman Speciality Materials), of Berrington Road, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 11(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 and was fined £6,000 with £1,754 costs. After the hearing, HSE Inspector Michelle Morrison said ‘If the company had ensured that access to the dangerous moving parts of the rotary die press had been prevented,  then this young man would not have lost the top of one of his fingers. This was an entirely preventable incident. For further information on safe working on machinery visit: http://www.hse.gov.uk/work-equipment-machinery/ 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

Monika Slowikowska, founder and managing director of Golden Houses Development, has won the ‘Inspirational Individual Award 2018’ in the National Federation of Builders (NFB) Awards 2018, which took place at the Belfry Hotel and Resort in Sutton Coldfield on the 27th of March. “Monika is clearly a driven businesswoman who has shown what is possible and has worked out solutions for some of the industry’s more intractable problems. With her drive for quality, honesty and performance in business she is clearly an inspirational leader,” said the judges about the winner. The NFB Awards celebrate the high standards of workmanship and application achieved by NFB members throughout England and Wales, being a reflection of the dynamic nature of the construction industry and the excellent levels that have been achieved. Golden Houses Development was also recently nominated for two Constructing Excellence Awards 2018: the ‘Building Project of the Year’ award for project of £10 million and below and for the ‘SME of the Year’. The results of these awards will be announced at the Gala Dinner and Awards ceremony on the 29th of June 2018. Monika Slowikowska is one of the most respected and creative female business leaders in the construction industry. She founded Golden Houses Development in 2012 and it specialises in general building works within the high-end residential market in London and has worked on a variety of high-profile projects. All projects are completed to the highest standards of design, construction and finish, which Monika recognises are important to her clients. She recently spoke at the Women in Construction Summit held on the 6th of March, where she talked about the lack of women working in the construction industry and the pay gap between same jobs. Golden Houses Development Ltd is a real success story and the business has grown at a phenomenal rate, in 2016 it achieved turnover that was six times higher than in its launch year.

According to Savills latest Big Shed Briefing report, total take-up of UK warehouse space (units 100,000 sq ft +) exceeded 14.62 million sq ft (1.35 million sq m) in the first half of the year, 29% above the long term average of 11.3 million sq ft (1.049 million sq m), driven by the continued demand from high street and online retailers. Examining demand by occupier type, Savills figures show that online retailers and parcel delivery companies now account for 25% of the market in 2016, up from last year’s previous record of 17%. Savills notes that so far, 2016 has seen strong levels of take-up for units over 500,000 sq ft (46,451 sq m), with five deals already completed this year, compared to a yearly average of seven. This includes Amazon taking 1.3m sq ft (120,773 sq m) at Bardon and L&G homes taking The Big 555 in Sherburn In Elmet. However, Savills anticipates that occupiers will have to turn to the build-to-suit (BTS) market to satisfy larger requirements in the future, especially as the rate of speculative announcements continue to slow. Already in 2016, 48% of the space transacted has been for bespoke BTS units. This is due to the fact that Grade A and large unit supply continues to fall, with only one shed of this standard over 400,000 sq ft (37,161 sq m) currently available to pre-let at Magna Park in Lutterworth. On a smaller scale, the supply of existing units of over 100,000 sq ft (9,290 sq m) stands at only 29 million sq ft (2.69 million sq m), across 170 separate units, which has  already fallen by 14% since the start of the year. Kevin Mofid, head of industrial research at Savills, comments: “The supply of good quality large units remains at critically low levels, meaning that the increased prevalence of the build-to-suit segment within the market is here to stay for the foreseeable future.” Regionally, the South West is continuing its record year, transacting 3.6 million sq ft (334,450 sq m) in the first half of the year, which is 2.1 million sq ft (195,096 sq m) more than the annual average. One of the largest local deals in the region, and country, has seen The Range take 1.158m sq ft (107,581 sq m) at Central Park. On the other hand, Savills highlights that the South East has seen significant recovery in the second quarter with 1.3 million sq ft (120,773 sq m) of deals compared to a record low in the first quarter of just 262,000 sq ft (24,340 sq m). Richard Sullivan, national head industrial and logistics at Savills, adds: “Despite the current market uncertainty, we expect the manufacturing and distribution sectors to remain robust. Whilst it is likely that speculative development will slow, we do not anticipate that take-up levels will drop significantly as there are still a number of live large unsatisfied requirements across the country including Lidl in the North West and Amazon who are continuing to roll out its Prime and Fresh services. “Overall, we are operating in a very different landscape to 2008/9 when almost 100 million sq ft of space was actively being marketing. Even accounting for the current development pipeline, supply remains at historic lows, in contrast to strong take-up levels.” Furthermore, Savills notes that the investment market for logistics units continues to attract investors. In the first half of 2016 £1.2 billion of stock was transacted, which is £350 million above the long term average. Key to this has been the increased prevalence of overseas investors in the market, combined with the increased levels of take-up from the likes of  Amazon creating a supply of prime investment stock. As a result, Q2 saw two of the three keenest net initial yields paid this year for Amazon units, with a 4.5% yield at Bardon and 4.66% at Airport City, Manchester respectively. Acting for the vendor, Savills also advised on one of the largest deals of the quarter with Tritax Big Box REIT’s purchase of the DSG unit in Newark for £77.3 million, reflecting a net initial yield of 5.76%. James Williams, head of industrial and logistics investment at Savills, adds: “‘Whilst there has been a great deal of uncertainty in the investment market since the Referendum, indicators from some completed sales and bids are that investors are still keen to acquire good quality logistics opportunities.’ Source link

A survey released by international real estate advisor Savills and the British Council for Offices (BCO) has revealed that Cambridgeshire workers place greater priority on their office having a strong internet connection than their equivalents across the rest of the UK. The report, What Workers Want, highlights that having good quality wireless access is the second most important factor for workers across Cambridgeshire, coming second only  to length of commute, with 81% of respondents ranking this as ‘very important’ or important’. This compares to 74% of office workers nationwide. As ongoing debates regarding the city’s problematic infrastructure continue, it is no surprise that workers care about the length of their commute. Despite this, there appears to be less concern about the creation of good public transport connections with just over half of Cambridgeshire workers citing this as important, compared to 71% across the UK. As a direct result of these issues, Cambridge has one of the highest percentages of cycle-commutes in the country, therefore it makes sense that 34% of the city’s workers rank bicycle storage as important, the second highest ranking in the UK after Bristol. Although it did not make the top ten list of factors most important to Cambridgeshire, it still surpassed the wider UK ranking of 27%. Click here to see the top 10 factors most important to Cambridgeshire office workers. The What Workers Want poll of 1,132 office workers across the UK looks to investigate the factors that are important to employees in the workplace and how much they believe that their current environment satisfies those requirements. There seems to be a significant mismatch between what Cambridgeshire office workers deem important, when compared to current levels of satisfaction. Upon closer inspection of these facts it is possible to identify the size of the ‘frustration factor’ and in turn identify what organisations need to address in order to attract and retain staff. Click here to see the top 10 factors Cambridgeshire office workers are most dissatisfied with. Steve Lang, director of research at Savills, comments: “Length of commute is a common concern across the whole of the UK, but it is interesting to see that access to good quality wireless is more important in Cambridgeshire than anywhere else in the UK. The city itself has one of the highest volume of knowledge intensive firms in the country, so quiet space and a strong internet connection are going to play a large role in the day to day running of these businesses. “Furthermore, this could also be attributed to changes in the workplace, with open plan layouts and a culture of hot-desking adding to employees frustration. Essentially, if organisations fail to get office design and infrastructure right, they can risk a decline in overall productivity.” William Clarke, associate director of business space at Savills Cambridge, adds: “With a vast number of Cambridgeshire’s occupiers specialising in technology and R&D, good quality wireless is an essential. A lot of these business rely on an environment that encourages ideas and collaboration and it is interesting to see that in some cases this still remains unsatisfied. Workers are a fundamental of any company and this research is a fantastic tool to help guide requirements going forward.” Danny Parmar, British Council for Offices East Anglia committee chair, says: “ When it comes to staff satisfaction and retention, employees are now looking far beyond salary and how many days holiday they have. A new, more digitally engaged workforce has resulted in a shift of needs. As this research has shown, facilities such as good wi-fi and a quiet working environment are key to keeping staff happy.” Source link