Accountant Alix Partners, which was appointed to handle the administration, blamed pressure from creditors and an increasingly competitive market for EIC’s collapse. Administrator Kevin Coates told Construction News that EIC has “ceased to trade and we are seeking novation of contracts where possible”. He said 398 EIC employees had been made redundant
2 September 2016 | Martin Read PHS Group has announced the sale of its data solutions business, comprising PHS Datashred, PHS Records Management and Capital Capture businesses. Restore plc, an AIM-listed provider of document management and relocation services, has acquired the business as part of its expansion plans. Trading
Mace Cost Consultancy has revised its forecasts in the wake of the EU Referendum result and now expects tender prices to fall next year. Above: Mace Cost Consultancy managing director Chris Goldthorpe Six months ago, Mace Cost Consultancy was forecasting tender prices to rise 4% in 2017 and 3.5% in
The National Eisteddfod architecture gold medal winner this year are working with a well-known international practice in order to create a new centre for excellence at Cardiff University. This new facility is expected to cost £23 million and will lead to the construction of a joint home for the School
Tragedies like the Grenfell Tower Fire are horrendous, and with the enquiry into the causes and events it seems to be too little too late for those who lost everything that lessons and changes will be made. However, it is thought that one of the issues that will be discussed
FunkyHeat has launched their latest product last week.The award-winning company has released their Bathroom Mirror Heater, the latest product in their range of innovative line of heating products. FunkyHeat Ltd creates their products to be used for specifiers, architects, interior designers and customers to browse and select from. FunkyHeat delivers
A construction company based in Ashbourne has successfully raised £6,700 for the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre, or the DNRC. Whitehouse Construction has been supporting the Armed Forces Community for a number of years and because of this took the decision to raise funding at their recent 40th Anniversary Gala
Accountant Alix Partners, which was appointed to handle the administration, blamed pressure from creditors and an increasingly competitive market for EIC’s collapse. Administrator Kevin Coates told Construction News that EIC has “ceased to trade and we are seeking novation of contracts where possible”. He said 398 EIC employees had been made redundant and 10 retained to assist administrators. EIC’s website referred to it having “over 1,000 men in vans throughout the UK”. A statement by Alix Partners said: “[EIC’s] financial distress was driven by increasing pressure from its creditors as a result of a poor recent trading performance, underpinned by an ever-increasing competitive market.” It added that cash pressures on the company were too great, leaving no alternative but to place the company in administration. EIC was founded in 1971 and worked in the facilities management, building services, energy and sustainability and retail sectors. It has a turnover of £80m. It works with major contractors including Bam Construct, Carillion and Morgan Sindall. EIC’s latest accounts for the six months ended 31 December 2014 showed a pre-tax profit of £1.43m, up from £1.07m in the previous six months. As recently as 19 May it secured a contract for electrical installation for a new four-storey office facility for retailer Aldi and earlier that month won a 27,000 sq ft NHS project in Swindon with Rydon Construction. The company said in its last accounts that its order book and pipeline were strong, its liquidity position “robust” and it expected its “vastly improved” financial performance in 2014 would continue. A source familiar with the company said it had not been involved in ‘suicide bidding’ but had recently changed strategy to chase work only from clients well known to it. EIC had also been expanding in the south west region. It was owned by a management buyout dating from 2008 from which investor MML was understood to be seeking an exit strategy. MML declined to comment. Source link
2 September 2016 | Martin Read PHS Group has announced the sale of its data solutions business, comprising PHS Datashred, PHS Records Management and Capital Capture businesses. Restore plc, an AIM-listed provider of document management and relocation services, has acquired the business as part of its expansion plans. Trading as Mavinwood plc when first AIM-listed in 2004, the company changed its name to Restore plc in 2010 and has been developing its services across mainland Britain since then. With the acquisition of PHS Data Solutions, the company will now be expanding its shredding services provision in to Northern Ireland. Restore’s services include IT relocation, specialist project scanning and IT consumables reuse and recycling. Source link
Mace Cost Consultancy has revised its forecasts in the wake of the EU Referendum result and now expects tender prices to fall next year. Above: Mace Cost Consultancy managing director Chris Goldthorpe Six months ago, Mace Cost Consultancy was forecasting tender prices to rise 4% in 2017 and 3.5% in 2018. By April 2016 it was slightly less optimistic, predicting 3.5% growth next year and 3% for 2018. But this was based on the assumption of the UK staying in the European Union. Now that the UK has voted to leave the EU, everything has changed, even if no one is yet quite sure how. Mace now says that tender prices will fall 1% in 2017 and remain flat in 2018 because of a slowdown in the demand for construction in the medium term. Brexit might make construction cheaper for clients, therefore, but only at the expense of contractors cutting each other’s throats – and perhaps their own. In London, Mace expects the ongoing pipeline of work to lead to stable prices in 2017 with the softening of demand coming in 2018, leading to a fall of about 1%. Mace’s July 2016 Tender Cost Update UK report says: “For an industry that was already experiencing a levelling off in demand, the Brexit vote will not help construction, at least in the short to medium term. Many contractors have been expanding and recruiting over the last three years and if order books start becoming harder to fill, competition will increase for the available workload and downward pressure will be put on profit margins and tender prices. “The extent to which tender prices will be affected is very difficult to predict as there is no precedent for the current situation. We know from past recessions that if the economy slows significantly, or even shrinks as predicted by some commentators, tender prices will fall. We take the view that the UK economy is reasonably robust since the recovery from the last recession, and that there is likely to be a slowing of growth over the medium term but not one that will turn into a major recession. This slowdown will reduce construction workloads, leading to increased competition which will reduce, or even reverse tender price inflation over the forecast period.” Mace Cost Consultancy managing director Chris Goldthorpe said: “Although we have seen a handful of projects affected by the referendum result due to occupiers reviewing their risks and appraisals, the vast majority of our workload is currently unaffected and contractors and supply chain companies remain busy, particularly in London and the southeast. “Despite this, we feel that the resulting slowdown in demand will lead to tender prices softening, leading us to revise our forecasts downwards. We believe there’s a strong role for industry to promote opportunities across the country and support mobility of goods, services and labour between the regions. With support from the government and clear local engagement targets for major projects and programmes, this could help bring communities together.” This article was published on 29 Jul 2016 (last updated on 29 Jul 2016). Source link
The National Eisteddfod architecture gold medal winner this year are working with a well-known international practice in order to create a new centre for excellence at Cardiff University. This new facility is expected to cost £23 million and will lead to the construction of a joint home for the School of Mathematics and School of Computer Science & Informatics. Collaborating on the project is Stride Treglown Architects and Adjaye Associates, founded by Sir David Adjaye OBE. In April Sir David was named the world’s most influential architect by Time magazine as well as being featured in their 100 most influential people of 2017 list. Cardiff University is recognised as one of the leading teaching and research universities in Britain in independent government assessments. At the moment, the two school departments are in separate locations, with the proposed facility bringing them together. It has not been decided yet exactly where this new School of Mathematics and School of Computer Science & Informatics will be located. Arcadis, the design and consultancy company has been selected to lead the design and the construction of the 10,000 square meter facility. The new facility is expected to be completed in 2021. The new centre is being constructed as a part of the largest campus upgrade of Cardiff University for a generation. The University is thought to be investing £600 million in order to secure the future of the university. Part of this investment will see the creation of a £300 million Innovation Campus, £260 million will be spent on improving their student experience and £40 million will be put into a number of different incentives that will promote growth in the economy and the industry. Building the new home for the School of Mathematics and School of Computer Science & Informatics will deliver an amazing new home for the two disciplines in the middle of the University campus. Putting the two schools in the same building will create an academic environment that will benefit innovative teaching as well; as improve high-impact interdisciplinary research.
Tragedies like the Grenfell Tower Fire are horrendous, and with the enquiry into the causes and events it seems to be too little too late for those who lost everything that lessons and changes will be made. However, it is thought that one of the issues that will be discussed yet again as part of this enquiry will be the mandatory installation of sprinklers in residential accommodation. In Scotland, sprinklers are required by regulation in all high rise residential buildings, this is any building over 18m in height which equates to between 6 and 7 storeys. Despite this, the Scottish Government has launched a further consultation that will explore fire and building safety in order to ensure the protection of all homes, both new-build, privately or socially rented or owner occupied. Research has shown that approximately three quarters of all fire-related death occur in the home, and the horrendous incident in West London took place at a time where that had been an increase in the numbers of fire-related deaths, by 21% between 2014 and 2015. With a lot of discussion as to why this number of deaths has increased, with suggestions such as an ageing population and possible building budget cuts, one fact in relation to this figure is that fire response times are increasing as well, particularly in the largest cities around the UK. It is thought that social housing tenants are at a greater risk from fire because a large number of group includes an ageing population. It has been found that the majority of deaths from fire occur among those who are over the age of 65, with these people finding evacuating the building more difficult. It is thought that those with a disability are vulnerable for the same reason. In 2005 it was stated by the UK Government’s Department for Communities and Local Government that they had research to suggest that installing sprinklers in new homes would not be cost effective, but it would be reasonable to provide them in a building such as a block of flats that stood at more than 30 meters in height as well as in some care homes. Hopefully, following the tragedy at Grenfell Tower, the Government will decide that 1% of the total build cost is in fact cost-effective to make sure such a horrid incident doesn’t happen again.
FunkyHeat has launched their latest product last week.The award-winning company has released their Bathroom Mirror Heater, the latest product in their range of innovative line of heating products. FunkyHeat Ltd creates their products to be used for specifiers, architects, interior designers and customers to browse and select from. FunkyHeat delivers a wide range of smart efficient and style led FAR infrared heating solutions for homes. The company is known for their award winning heaters that look great and are also available for customers to personalise with photos and logos if desired. The company’s high quality infrared heaters are manufactured in Italy using a premium quality of venetian glass. The heaters manufactured by the company were first produced in order to create a heating solution that merged functional and economical heating systems with exceptional aesthetics. The FunkyHeat heaters are considered to be an economical way to heat any space. Their latest product, the Bathroom Mirror Heater is made by hand and offers their customers a guarantee of quality by being made by hand and with the highest possible quality of components throughout. The controls of the mirror have been designed with the customer and end user in mind, a programmable wireless controller as well as a touchscreen pad on the mirror. The crystal clear mirror is also fitted with an integrated Bluetooth® speaker. The heated mirror will reduce heating costs, condensation and black spot mould in the bathroom as well as removing the necessity for constant mirror cleaning. The amazingly designed infrared heater not only functions to demist the mirror can also be used to heat up the entire bathroom in a design that combines style with functionality. FunkyHeat is a Yorkshire-based company that have won the Innovations in Sustainability award at the Designer Kitchen and Bathroom awards 2016. The company has developed their infrared heaters from a large amount of experience in heating and interior design. The company aims to combine the latest technology with modern design trends.
A construction company based in Ashbourne has successfully raised £6,700 for the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre, or the DNRC. Whitehouse Construction has been supporting the Armed Forces Community for a number of years and because of this took the decision to raise funding at their recent 40th Anniversary Gala Dinner. At the event, the construction company encouraged everyone in attendance to make whatever donation they could to the cause. The construction company is located on Blenheim Road in Ashbourne and received a Defence Employer Recognition Scheme Silver Award last year. Whitehouse Construction has also signed the Armed Forces covenant, which pledges to support the members of the workforce that are either veterans or service reservists. The DNRC is based at Stratford on Sour, close to Loughborough. This Centre is a clinical rehabilitation facility for the Armed Forces as well as members of the public. The DNRC is an initiative that was first set up by the Duke of Westminster in order to deliver 21st century rehabilitation services. Whitehouse Construction wanted to raise money for the rehabilitation centre following the awarding of their Silver Award for employing a range of ex-Service personnel as well as signing the Armed Forces Covenant. There are a number of similarities between the Forces and the construction industry therefore the company felt that it was important to support the DNRC and in doing so, the Armed Forces. Whitehouse Construction is focused on leading the way on the civil engineering sector, and the DNRC at Stamford Hall are delivering a range of cutting edge rehabilitation treatments both in the UK and around the world. It is great to see a company like Whitehouse Construction going above and beyond in their commitment to supporting the Armed Forces, and exceeding what they pledged in the Armed Forces Covenant. The large sum of money that has been raised by the company will be invested into the development of a new rehabilitation centre.
