Willmott Dixon has been appointed to refurbish a building that will house a multi-million pound Intelligent Energy System Demonstrator (IESD) project at University of Chester’s Thornton Science Park. Above: CGI of the refurbed Intelligent Energy System Demonstrator building The IESD, will be part of the Cheshire Science Corridor – an
Conferinvest, represented by Savills, has brought to market Dolce Chantilly in Chantilly, France. The hotel is held on a long leasehold with 64 years remaining. Best known for its 18-hole golf course and 21,530 sq ft (2,000 sq m) of conference facilities, the 4-star property offers 200 bedrooms and event space
HS2 is seeking a development partner to lead phase two of the project through the hybrid bill process, as well as consultants to design three of the main civils packages for the route north of Birmingham. The seven-and-a-half-year £170m development partner’s role mirrors that of the £70m phase one development
The chief executive of Denmark’s Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor (BWSC) has said that he is “crossing his fingers” for the UK to stay in the European Union after the referendum on 23rd June. Above: Anders Heine Jensen on Danish TV programme 21 Søndag In an interview with the Danish
A Bristol based manufacturer of concrete products has been fined after a worker’s arm was torn off when it was pulled into the rotating tail pulley of a conveyor belt. Bristol Crown Court heard the injured man was making adjustments to a misaligned conveyor belt at Concrete Fabrications Ltd plant
A pan-industry initiative is helping construction product manufacturers be ready for the government’s April 2016 BIM mandate. The Construction Products Association (CPA), the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE), National Building Specification (NBS) and BIM4M2* have joined forces to provide product data parameters and templates to enable manufacturers to
Gas Safety Trust supports research into medical awareness of CO poisoning Published: 28 March, 2016 The Gas Safety Trust (GST) will continue to fund a survey being undertaken by the National Poisons Information Service (NPIS), which will help to gauge healthcare professionals’ awareness of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning, following an
There’s no doubt that Brexit negotiations continue to dominate the hearts and minds of Britain’s politicians, particularly as the discussions become increasingly tense and acrimonious. While Brexiteers will no doubt be pleased that the government remains focused on delivering a positive deal for Britain, however, there’s an argument that ministers
John Hill and Sons, a family owned and Hereford based hire firm, has ventured into LED site lightning with the purchase of four Trime X-ECO LED lightning sets. “We purchased just four sets of Trime lighting towers from Trime UK. These were purchased via their sales manager, Andrew Owen. One
Neil Skinner, the owner of building contractor Johnson Bros Ltd, is talking about how he is dealing with the loss of £145,000, owed by collapsed construction giant Carillion. Firstly, he had to dismiss two of his employees as a result of the company’s liquidation and now he is considering remortgaging
Willmott Dixon has been appointed to refurbish a building that will house a multi-million pound Intelligent Energy System Demonstrator (IESD) project at University of Chester’s Thornton Science Park. Above: CGI of the refurbed Intelligent Energy System Demonstrator building The IESD, will be part of the Cheshire Science Corridor – an enterprise zone announced by the government last autumn and developed by Cheshire & Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership. Refurbishment and construction of the facility is being project managed by Aecom and includes input from architect Ryder, engineer Arup and WYG as quantity surveyor. The project is expected to be completed by March 2017, allowing tenants to take occupancy in June 2017. The refurbished building will provide offices and laboratory space for research and development into cost effective and benign sources of energy. Cheshire & Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership is contributing £6.8m to the project. This article was published on 22 Jul 2016 (last updated on 22 Jul 2016). Source link
Conferinvest, represented by Savills, has brought to market Dolce Chantilly in Chantilly, France. The hotel is held on a long leasehold with 64 years remaining. Best known for its 18-hole golf course and 21,530 sq ft (2,000 sq m) of conference facilities, the 4-star property offers 200 bedrooms and event space for up to 300 delegates. The hotel also features several restaurants and bars, a health club, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, two tennis courts and a beach volleyball court. Dolce Chantilly is located just 35 miles (57 kilometres) from Central Paris at the heart of Chantilly Forrest. Both Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport and Beauvais-Tillé Airport are within close proximity. The town of Chantilly, known globally for the handmade bobbin lace produced there, is also a thriving leisure destination with more than 500,000 visitors drawn to its castle, racecourse and the Living Museum of the Horse each year. Rob Mangan, hotels director at Savills, comments: “Dolce Chantilly has traded very well over the last 24 months and generated a total revenue of €13.5 million in 2015. The hotel offers several income streams plus the opportunity to increase long term income by driving occupancy levels even higher and enhancing the conference side of the business.” Source link
HS2 is seeking a development partner to lead phase two of the project through the hybrid bill process, as well as consultants to design three of the main civils packages for the route north of Birmingham. The seven-and-a-half-year £170m development partner’s role mirrors that of the £70m phase one development partner contract won by CH2M Hill in 2012. The successful bidder will join HS2’s in-house team to manage the progress of phase two’s hybrid bill application through parliament, with royal assent slated for 2022. Consultancy firms will also battle it out to design the three main phase two civils packages, covering the route from Birmingham to Leeds and Manchester. The packages will be worth a total of £350m and last more than seven years. Bills will be asked to produce models, plans, drawings, sections, schedules, technical reports and construction cost estimates for each programme of works. The news comes a week after HS2 revealed the nine shortlisted firms for the £11.8bn civils work packages for phase one of the line. Shortlisted consortia include Laing O’Rourke/Murphy /FCC Construcción, Carillion/Kier /Eiffage, Bouygues/Volker/Sir Robert McAlpine, Dragados/Hochtief/Galliford Try and Costain/ Skanska/ Strabag. Ferrovial/Bam Nuttall/Morgan Sindall, Acciona/Sisk/Lagan Construction Group and a sole bid from Bechtel complete the shortlist for the packages worth a total of £11.8bn. Source link
The chief executive of Denmark’s Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor (BWSC) has said that he is “crossing his fingers” for the UK to stay in the European Union after the referendum on 23rd June. Above: Anders Heine Jensen on Danish TV programme 21 Søndag In an interview with the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, BWSC chief executive Anders Heine Jensen said that if the UK leaves the European Union it could mean a reduction in business for his company. BWSC develops, builds, operates and owns high-performance biomass, biogas and diesel power plants. It currently has eight projects in the UK, including the recently completed straw-fuelled Brigg Renewable Energy Plant in Lincolnshire. Many of Britain’s biggest construction companies are in fact subsidiaries of mainland European companies, including Skanska, Amey (Ferrovial), Bouygues, BAM and Vinci. Between January 2015 and April 2016, the UK’s 10 biggest construction companies with EU headquarters outside of Britain, won a combined £7.3bn worth of construction contracts in the UK. Economist Michael Dall from construction intelligence firm Barbour ABI, said: “These 10 companies already have well established UK arms, however an EU referendum could bring about a change in the business environment, which may make these multi-national businesses potentially think about their future construction pipelines in the UK market. “If the referendum is in favour of Brexit, there could be possible ramifications for these 10 companies, alongside other EU based construction firms who work in the UK. It could also cause potential issues for big ticket projects such as HS2, who have EU based companies launching million pound bids to work on the development.” However, Graham Cash, chief executive of BAM in the UK, told the Financial Times back in March that he did not expect his company to be negatively impacted by a vote for Britain to leave the UK. “In our day to day life we’re a British company operating in a British market – so we’d just get on with it,” Mr Cash said. You can see the Danish television interview with BWSC chief executive Anders Heine Jensen here but unless you speak Danish you won’t necessarily understand it. This article was published on 14 Jun 2016 (last updated on 14 Jun 2016). Source link
A Bristol based manufacturer of concrete products has been fined after a worker’s arm was torn off when it was pulled into the rotating tail pulley of a conveyor belt. Bristol Crown Court heard the injured man was making adjustments to a misaligned conveyor belt at Concrete Fabrications Ltd plant in Henbury, Bristol on 18 May 2015. The court heard that to do this, the man who does not wish to be named, had to adjust tensioning rods which were located inside the machine’s guards, in close proximity to the conveyor belt and rotating tail pulley. The worker noticed that aggregate had built up on the tensioning rod and he tried to knock off the material with a hammer so he could use a spanner to adjust the rod. However, the hammer was dragged into the rotating machinery along with the employee’s arm which was severed between the shoulder and the elbow. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), prosecuting told the court that Concrete Fabrications Ltd should have had adequate guards on dangerous parts of machinery. It said clear procedures should exist regarding maintenance and adjustments of machinery and arrangements should be in place to ensure that machinery is not run without the necessary guarding in place, and that clear isolation and lock off procedures exist. An unsafe system of work existed for the maintenance of machinery, in so much that the dangerous moving parts of the machine were exposed during maintenance operations. A sufficient risk assessment would have identified the risks associated with tracking conveyor belts, and identified appropriate control measures. Concrete Fabrications Ltd of Cole Road, St Phillips, Bristol, United Kingdom, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Etc. Act 1974 and was fined £100,000 with £7758 costs awarded to HSE. Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Matthew Tyler said: “Company’s need to ensure the risks associated with maintenance tasks are adequately assessed, and effectively controlled, through adequate guarding of dangerous parts of machinery, and the existence of clear robust procedures in respect of maintenance and adjustments of machinery, including isolation and lock off requirements. The consequences of not doing this are clear to see here today.” 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
A pan-industry initiative is helping construction product manufacturers be ready for the government’s April 2016 BIM mandate. The Construction Products Association (CPA), the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE), National Building Specification (NBS) and BIM4M2* have joined forces to provide product data parameters and templates to enable manufacturers to get their product information ready for Level 2 building information modelling (BIM). The organisations have agreed to align their processes, approach and terminology to enable ‘consistent and transparent’ development of product data templates. The aim is to give manufacturers a common industry-wide standard for product data parameters and templates. By using these templates manufacturers will be able to supply product information in a form that aligns with the UK’s Level 2 BIM requirements. Each template defines the minimum information about a product that is required for UK government BIM projects. BIM Task Group chairman Mark Bew said: “When the BIM Task Group identified the client data requirements which are now provided in the BIM Toolkit, we were looking for other communities to work together to provide their own common data requirements. This initiative from the products and manufacturing sector signals an important collaboration from industry which will add significant value and clarity.” The initiative is expected to lead to the provision of higher quality project data that can be checked and validated by clients, designers and contractors. CPA deputy chief executive Peter Caplehorn said: “We are at a point where clarity and ease of use of product data is vital for everyone to make progress. We are very pleased to be part of the initiative and will be encouraging all manufacturers to take part.” The templates and common product data parameters will be made available on both the CPA and NBS BIM Toolkit websites as well as the CIBSE website. The current product data templates defining the minimum information for Level 2 BIM can be found at toolkit.thenbs.com/articles/pdts * BIM4M2 – BIM for Manufacturers and Manufacturing – is the manufacturers’ BIM working group. This article was published on 11 Dec 2015 (last updated on 11 Dec 2015). Source link
Gas Safety Trust supports research into medical awareness of CO poisoning Published: 28 March, 2016 The Gas Safety Trust (GST) will continue to fund a survey being undertaken by the National Poisons Information Service (NPIS), which will help to gauge healthcare professionals’ awareness of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning, following an initial pilot project. A 2011 All-Party Parliamentary Carbon Monoxide Group (APPCOG) report highlighted the challenges faced by healthcare professionals in diagnosis and treatment. According to the Department of Health, over 200 people go to hospital with suspected CO poisoning every year in the UK. Around 40 people die from CO exposure every year, but the report said relatively little is known about its epidemiology. The NPIS Annual Report 2014/15 reported data from 479 telephone enquiries that related to CO exposure involving a total of 682 patients. This study uses the NPIS’s TOXBASE online resource and its 24-hour telephone advice service to gather information from users, which will be used to understand how diagnosis was made and if cases were confirmed. Data provided to the NPIS by a telephone caller will be collected and then a follow-up questionnaire sent to gain further data. At the same time, enquirers accessing the TOXBASE CO entry will be presented with a simple pop-up box asking whether they were seeing a patient with suspected CO poisoning and for a contact address. A questionnaire will then be sent to these healthcare professionals for additional information. The results of this exercise will be analysed, with the aim of improving how CO poisoning is diagnosed. GST chair Chris Bielby said: “The Gas Safety Trust remains concerned about the challenges for healthcare professionals in diagnosing CO poisoning, given that its symptoms mimic those of other common illnesses. We are hopeful that this study will improve our understanding and help identify better ways to help doctors recognise it when patients present themselves.” Aravindan Veiraiah, consultant clinical toxicologist with the NPIS, added: “The NPIS are excited to be working with the Gas Safety Trust to study the scale of CO poisoning in the UK. As a result of this project we are able to design the best online surveys to capture data from TOXBASE users about CO exposures, including in cases where the only reason for healthcare contact was that a CO alarm had been triggered at the patient’s home. This project has also made it possible for us to follow many more suspected CO exposures. It is expected that our learning about the circumstances of CO exposure, the severity of poisoning, and outcomes of any treatment will inform future measures to reduce harm from CO poisoning in the UK.” Source link
There’s no doubt that Brexit negotiations continue to dominate the hearts and minds of Britain’s politicians, particularly as the discussions become increasingly tense and acrimonious. While Brexiteers will no doubt be pleased that the government remains focused on delivering a positive deal for Britain, however, there’s an argument that ministers may be losing sight of the economic and social issues that continue to plague the UK. Take the current contraction within the construction sector, for example, which has become evident during the first financial quarter and looks set to take hold throughout 2018. In this post, we’ll look at the current performance of the UK construction sector and ask what’s next for this important and increasingly influential market. How has the Construction Industry Stalled in Recent Times? There’s no doubt that Britain’s builders have had a difficult start to the year, with construction activity remaining flat throughout January. This is according to a survey of purchasing managers within the sector, who have released their latest data to the financial markets. More specifically, the IHS Markit construction PMI fell from 52.2 to 50.2 during December, while it is projected to decline further throughout the quarter. This represents a seminal development, as a reading over 50 indicates expansion while anything below this signals the onset of a contraction. The figures are even more concerning given that analysts have forecast a reading of 52, as this highlights the fact that the market is performing far worse than expected. There are two issues that continue to undermine the market, starting with the fact that a number of large commercial and infrastructure projects came to an end during 2017 without being directly replaced. Similarly, house building also contracted due to labour shortages and ongoing economic uncertainly, and both of these challenges have indirect links to the volatility that has been triggered by the ongoing Brexit discussion. What Next for the Construction Industry in the UK? Expert service providers such as DWF Law are well aware of this contraction, particularly given the sudden decline in the number of large-scale commercial and infrastructure projects. Although this has been partially offset by a marginal increase in the number of smaller commercial structures built during the last six months of 2017, this is not enough to assuage concerned stakeholders and construction firms in the UK. Not only this, but additional figures also suggest that the rate of job creation within the sector fell to its lowest level in 18 months towards the end of 2017, and this is arguably of greater concern for those in the sector. After all, this is yet another indicator of contraction within the marketplace, and one that has wider economic connotations given the disproportionately high rate of inflation in relation to earnings. The Last Word This is certainly a space to watch in the near-term, with the construction sector a core foundation of the UK economy. There’s a sense that things could arguably get worse before they get better, with some experts predicting that growth within the construction sector could well be constrained until the Brexit negotiation process is completed.
John Hill and Sons, a family owned and Hereford based hire firm, has ventured into LED site lightning with the purchase of four Trime X-ECO LED lightning sets. “We purchased just four sets of Trime lighting towers from Trime UK. These were purchased via their sales manager, Andrew Owen. One of the main reasons we decided to go with the Trime brand, even though it was a small order, was that Andrew took such a great interest and did his best to get the machines to us as quickly as he could,” commented Lewis Hill on the purchase. The firm was impressed with the X-ECO’s compact, fuel saving properties, and energy conservation attributes. Trime engineers have calculated that the X-ECO uses approximately £336.00 less in fuel each month, when compared to many lighting sets currently available. These savings equate to a reduction in Co2 output by around 888 kg per month. Additionally, thirteen X-ECOs can be loaded on one single truck, which can potentially lead to an increase in the delivery vehicle fleet utilisation. “We were impressed with the complete Trime team and their knowledge designing and manufacturing lighting towers. We now run almost 20 lighting sets. However we anticipate that we will continue to update some of older sets to Trime units later in the year. This is one of the best services we have received when purchasing new machines,” concluded Lewis Hill. Trime UK has been developing and marketing environmentally sustainable lightning sets for the hire industry for over 50 years. The Trime manufacturing plant is based in Cassinetta di Lugagnano, near Milan and Trime UK is situated in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire. John Hill & Sons has been providing a comprehensive range of tools, plant and ground care equipment for private and commercial customers in Hereford and the surrounding areas for over 20 years. They are based in Swainshill, Hereford.
Neil Skinner, the owner of building contractor Johnson Bros Ltd, is talking about how he is dealing with the loss of £145,000, owed by collapsed construction giant Carillion. Firstly, he had to dismiss two of his employees as a result of the company’s liquidation and now he is considering remortgaging his family home and digging into his overdraft to keep the firm afloat. His small business is among more than 100 across Greater Manchester to have been affected by Carillion’s £900 million debt failure. “We have never been in a situation this bad. We are hoping we can pay for materials, outgoings and wages until we can build up our base again,” said Neil. “It will mean borrowing money against my house and I’ll probably have to use my overdraft. If that works, we’ll survive, if it doesn’t we’re finished.” Johnson Bros has started working with Carillion back in 2014 on a £1 million maintenance contract for RBS banks. As the contract went on, the construction giant was paying later and later, and even when Neil chased the money, he still had to wait longer than 60 days. At the time of the collapse, the unpaid invoices were up to a year old. “Carillion finally resorted to using all the familiar late payment tactics from finding fault with an invoice, referral to their India accounts office, statement queries, disputing invoices, and so on,” explained Neil. “By December, all the people we had been dealing with at Carillion had been made redundant.” After that, Neil had to battle to get them to recognise the outstanding invoices, but it was too late because the company went into liquidation. Small businesses like Johnson Bros suffer from late payments on a daily basis: “They know late payment can destroy small businesses but they rely on this tactic so they can be seen to be profitable themselves, although recent events have shown that, in reality, they have overstretched themselves,” said Neil. Debbie Abrahams, MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth, set up a campaign to battle big firms making late payments to smaller sub-contractors. However, the amendments that they tried to push were refused by the Government.