As the popularity of working from home continues, so does the need for a separate working environment away from the hustle and bustle of the main house. Garden rooms have been filling this niche for some time, but now these truly habitable spaces are becoming a popular choice for home
Industry bodies address mental health challenge Published: 10 June, 2016 Industry bodies are joining forces with the Samaritans on a campaign to address the growing problem of mental health and workplace stress in the building engineering services industry. This joint initiative between the Building Engineering Services Association (the BESA), the Electrical
The client will instead focus on its Birmingham and London developments, which include the 1.8m sq ft office-led Paradise redevelopment and the high-profile 27 ha King’s Cross transformation. Argent has been heavily involved in Manchester’s development boom in recent years, delivering schemes including the 280,000 sq ft One St Peter’s
Winter power prices have spiked upwards after EDF cut its projection for nuclear output due to safety tests at a number of its reactors in France. The price of baseload contracts for the first quarter of 2017 rose by 7.5 per cent between Tuesday and Wednesday. On
Vinci has been chosen for a £73m student accommodation job at Coventry University. Source link
Worker loses life after fall from roof Published: 05 May, 2016 A Birmingham maintenance company has been fined after a worker died as a result of falling from the roof of a five-storey building. Birmingham Crown Court heard how H20 Plumbing Services were contracted to carry out repairs to two
ECA links up with socially responsible construction body to promote best practice Source link
A postcard from 1909 that rails against the wealthy landlords will be offered on sale by Altea Gallery at the London Map Fair in June. William Bacot Northrop, a social justice campaigner, shows through his design the tentacles of capitalism strangling the poor tenants across Westminster, Mayfair, Belgravia and other
With furore building around the initial findings of the BRE report into the Grenfell Tower fire leaked to the London Evening Standard, Bureau Veritas has reiterated the critical importance of specification, construction methods and adherence to building standards in ensuring buildings are constructed correctly and appropriately going forward. The reported
GFW, the Lancashire-based wholesale furniture supplier, has received a £10 million investment, provided by HSBC, to help with its growth plans. The funding package enabled the company to acquire its trading premises in Eccleshill and secure the site as its permanent home. “We’re delighted to receive financial support from HSBC.
As the popularity of working from home continues, so does the need for a separate working environment away from the hustle and bustle of the main house. Garden rooms have been filling this niche for some time, but now these truly habitable spaces are becoming a popular choice for home owners who want to extend their living space for a multitude of uses including hobby rooms, home studios or even relaxing areas to unwind in their spare time.Why are garden rooms so popular and what are the benefits of owning one? Here garden room specialists Oeco Garden Rooms talk us through some of the advantages of owning a garden room as well as advice on the materials used in their construction. Why choose a garden room? More space – Garden rooms create additional space without taking up any more room within the home or having to build a lengthy and expensive extension. Multiple uses – A garden room can be used for a multitude of things including as an office, hobby or games room, music studio or just a place to relax and unwind away from the distractions of the main house. No planning permission – In the majority of cases, garden rooms do not need planning permission to be built, but it is always important to check with your local authority before starting work. Minimal ground work needed – Specially designed concrete pads and heavy duty steel feet mean that a garden room can be installed just about anywhere in the garden with a minimal amount of ground work, saving money and time during the project. Bespoke customisation – A garden room can be customised to your specific needs and come complete with a comprehensive electrics package and lighting as standard. Some of the customised options include installing sound proofing, adding additional internal walls and doors, or fitting a toilet, sink or shower into the room. You can even choose where external windows and doors are located. Cheaper than the alternatives – Garden rooms can be a lot cheaper than an extension or loft conversion, and because it is situated in the garden, the disruption to the main home is greatly reduced. Quick to build – Even with a range of optional extras, garden rooms can be built in a matter of days compared to loft extensions and conservatories which can take weeks to complete. Use all year round – Superior insulation means that the garden room can be used all year round, staying warm in the winter and cool during the summer months. On-site installation – Due to the modular nature on garden rooms they can be installed just about anywhere without the need for specialised machinery. Garden rooms can also be installed in areas with limited access as all of the building components will fit through a standard door frame. Materials used PVCu windows and doors – Manufactured to the highest levels of security, these windows and doors will keep your belongings safe and secure when not in use. These windows and doors feature a great level of thermal insulation keeping the room warm in the winter and cool in the summer for all year round use. Western Red Cedar external timber cladding – Western Red Cedar is the perfect choice for finishing the outside of the garden room. This cladding is obtained from sustainable sources and features a tongue and groove design which ensures water tightness. Western Red Cedar also has a natural resistance to rot and decay-causing fungi meaning that it does not need any additional chemical preservatives. Timber framed – Each garden room uses heavy duty structural graded timber frames to provide strength and durability to the structure. These timbers are pressure treated to protect against rot and insect attacks to ensure a long life. Thermal insulation panels – Interlocking metal roof panels with a thermal core and Kingspan rigid thermal insulation panels are used for the roof and walls of the garden room. This ensures that the room can be used all year round, is waterproof and is capable of providing a truly habitable space for years to come.Electrics & Lighting – Each garden room comes complete with a comprehensive electrics package which includes a consumer unit, double electrical sockets, lighting and light switches. These electrical components can be placed anywhere in the room to suit your individual needs. Garden rooms are a great choice for those who want to add more living space to their property without the hassle of having to get planning permission and the expense and disruption of building an extension or loft conversion.END Link: http://www.oecogardenrooms.co.uk/ Oeco Garden Rooms is a family run business and have been manufacturing and installing timber framed structures for over 10 years. The company was initially founded to satisfy the growing number of people who work from home and the essential need for more space and a separate working environment away from the main house. However over the years our garden rooms, offices and studios have been purchased by customers from all backgrounds to extend their living space for a multitude of uses. Source link
Industry bodies address mental health challenge Published: 10 June, 2016 Industry bodies are joining forces with the Samaritans on a campaign to address the growing problem of mental health and workplace stress in the building engineering services industry. This joint initiative between the Building Engineering Services Association (the BESA), the Electrical Contractors’ Association (ECA) and the CIBSE Patrons, along with the Samaritans, will begin with a jointly hosted seminar, to be held in central London. BESA chief executive Paul McLaughlin, who will chair the event, said that 80% of engineering services firms believe that workplace mental health will have a serious impact on their businesses over the next five to ten years. This worrying statistic emerged from an occupational health survey carried out by the BESA and the ECA, which also revealed that 31% of companies found on-site mental health issues ‘hard to manage’. “Mental health is the forgotten health and safety issue,” said Mr McLaughlin. “As an industry, we have made impressive progress on workplace safety in the past 20 years, but on health – and mental health in particular – we still have a long way to go.” Samaritans regional partnerships officer Will Skinner, who will lead an interactive session at the seminar, pointed out that the vast majority of calls received by the charity are from people who are not suicidal, but just desperately need to talk to someone about how they feel and why they are struggling to cope. He added that everyone could play a part in helping work colleagues to deal with depression and suicidal feelings. Callers to the Samaritans range from individual tradespeople to senior managers feeling the isolation of leadership. Many small and medium-sized firms are also struggling to cope with stress created by tight deadlines and cash flow issues. CIBSE Patrons chairman David Fitzpatrick pointed out that the impact of stress was apparent throughout the supply chain. “For an industry that already has serious recruitment issues, tackling mental health has to be a priority,” he said. “In order to make construction-related professions more attractive to a wider section of the population – particularly women, ethnic minorities and school leavers – we need to make sure we cover all aspects of worker wellbeing.” ECA director of business Paul Reeve added: “With workplace mental health now an established issue, the sector needs to work together to help contractors manage these issues. “Unlike ensuring protection against physical health hazards, employees who face mental health challenges may be the least able to decide or follow the right course of preventative action, presenting additional challenges to firms.” The mental health seminar will take place at St Matthew’s Conference Centre in London on Thursday 21 July, from 5pm. Attendance is free to members of the BESA, the ECA and the CIBSE Patrons, who may bring a guest. Bookings can be made via a link at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/workplace-mental-health-a-cibse-patrons-besa-seminar-tickets-25716572962. Source link
The client will instead focus on its Birmingham and London developments, which include the 1.8m sq ft office-led Paradise redevelopment and the high-profile 27 ha King’s Cross transformation. Argent has been heavily involved in Manchester’s development boom in recent years, delivering schemes including the 280,000 sq ft One St Peter’s Square office building and the £1bn Airport City Manchester (pictured). But in February, Argent exited its role as development manager on the airport job, while last month it pulled out of the Mayfield Quarter development partner race, on which it was bidding in partnership with US property firm Related. Argent Related was one of three shortlisted bidders for the mixed-used Mayfield Quarter development but was replaced by regeneration specialist U+I after it exited the process. The revised shortlist includes an Carillion, Ask and Patrizia consortium, Urban & Civic, and U+I. Commenting at the time on the decision to exit the Mayfield Quarter race, Argent managing partner David Partridge said: “Given Argent’s longstanding and successful relationship with Manchester, this is not one which has been made lightly. “While we believe that the scheme is an exciting proposition for the city, Argent Related’s immediate focus is on our pipeline projects and other future projects where we are concentrating our resources.” Last February, Argent Related was chosen as preferred development partner for the 7,500-home Brent Cross Cricklewood South scheme for Barnet Council, as revealed by Construction News. Argent declined to comment on the closure of its Manchester office. Source link
Winter power prices have spiked upwards after EDF cut its projection for nuclear output due to safety tests at a number of its reactors in France. The price of baseload contracts for the first quarter of 2017 rose by 7.5 per cent between Tuesday and Wednesday. On the French market there was a 17 per cent increase. “This is the strongest shift in European power market pricing since 2011, and shows how much concern there is over supply in key European markets ahead of this winter,” said Zoe Double, the head of power at price reporting firm ICIS. “Price spikes and large day-on-day movements in contract values are usually seen on contracts delivered over shorter timescales, in the expectation that these supply shortages will be resolved. For the market to revalue power prices delivered over three months or longer is very unusual.” On 23 June the French nuclear regulator ASN ordered EDF to undertake safety tests on a number of its reactors in France to make sure they don’t suffer from a similar manufacturing anomaly to one uncovered at the Flamanville 3 reactor being built in Normandy. ASN said as many as 18 of EDF’s reactors could be affected. Last week, EDF announced that planned outages for refuelling had been extended because of the tests, in particular at its Tricastin 1 and 3 reactors. It said its target for nuclear output in 2016 had been cut from 395–400 TWh to 380–390 TWh and that it expected nuclear output in 2017 to be in the in the range of 390–400 TWh. Power prices shot up on Wedesday, seemingly after details of the safety checks and the resulting added maintenance were published in a French magazine. In France the price of baseload contracts for the first quarter of 2017 averaged €55.90, up from €47.90 on Tuesday. ICIS said it was the biggest day-on-day change for a three-month contract it has witnessed in 15 years monitoring the French power market. UK prices are often affected by developments on the French market due the 2GW interconnector connecting the two countries. The baseload price for the first quarter of 2017 rose from £47.65 to £51.23 between Tuesday and Wednesday, and the price of six-month contracts for the 2016/17 winter season jumped by 7.7 per cent. The last time there was such a big change in the price of three or six-month contracts was in 2008. There was a knock-on effect on the gas market as Britain’s National Balancing Point gas price rose by 5 per cent in anticipation of increased demand for fuel. On Thursday the baseload power price for the first quarter of 2017 fell to €53.85 in France but rose even further to £52.75 in Britain. Source link
Vinci has been chosen for a £73m student accommodation job at Coventry University. Source link
Worker loses life after fall from roof Published: 05 May, 2016 A Birmingham maintenance company has been fined after a worker died as a result of falling from the roof of a five-storey building. Birmingham Crown Court heard how H20 Plumbing Services were contracted to carry out repairs to two motor rooms situated on the roof of a building on Hagley Road, Birmingham. Two workers set up a station immediately outside of a protected area in which to mix some mortar due to lack of space. The mixing station consisted of a tarpaulin sheet placed on top of the roof with a plasterer’s bath placed on top. The corners of the tarpaulin sheet were weighted down with bags of rubble. At the end of the working day, the employees were cleaning up and as they moved the mixing bath, the sheet of tarpaulin blew open due to the wind and landed over the edge of the building. As one of the workers attempted to retrieve the sheet he stepped off the side of the building, falling 14 metres, suffering fatal injuries. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into the incident, which occurred on 10 October 2014, found that H20 Plumbing Services failed to ensure the safety of its employees during the external repair work. After the incident, HSE Inspector Amy Kalay said: “This incident was obviously foreseeable. The employees of H20 working at the site were effectively left to their own devices with equipment and a system that was not wholly suited for the task at hand. “A suitable and sufficient assessment of the risk, suitable planning, implementation of suitable control measures and adequate and effective site supervision would have prevented this incident from occurring.” H20 Plumbing Services of Birmingham pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, and was fined £100,000 and ordered to pay costs of £25,000. Source link
ECA links up with socially responsible construction body to promote best practice Source link
A postcard from 1909 that rails against the wealthy landlords will be offered on sale by Altea Gallery at the London Map Fair in June. William Bacot Northrop, a social justice campaigner, shows through his design the tentacles of capitalism strangling the poor tenants across Westminster, Mayfair, Belgravia and other prosperous parts. The map is accompanied by a legend that reads: “Landlordism causes unemployment. It paralyses the Building Trade; It Pauperises the Peasantry; 12 Landlords ‘own’ London, taking £20,000,000 a year; 500 Peers ‘own’ an entire one-third of England; 4,000 landlords ‘own’ an entire half of England; The Land Octopus Sucks the Lifeblood of the People.” It targeted the Ecclesiastical Commissioners (annual rents £500,000); Lord Portman (270 acres: £1,890,000); Lord Howard de Walden (292 acres: £2,900,000); the Duke of Bedford (250 acres: £2,250,000); Earl Cadogan (200 acres: £1,500,000); the Duke of Westminster (400 acres: £3,000,000); Lord Northampton (260 acres: £1,600,000); and the Duke of Norfolk (The Strand: £1,500,000). Although the postcard dates back to 1909, the situation hasn’t changed that much since. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners are known now as the Church Commissioners and they retain the freehold of Hyde Park Estate north of Bayswater Road, between Lancaster Gate and Marble Arch. Lord Portman, whose Portman Estate remains the basis of the family’s wealth, still owns 110 acres of Marylebone, while the Howard de Walden Estate now covers 92 acres, including property on Marylebone High Street and Harley Street. The Bedford Estates is the largest private landowner in Bloomsbury, including seven large squares. Cadogan Estates owns 93 acres of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, including prime retail and residential areas in Sloane Street, Sloane Square and the King’s Road, while the Grosvenor Estate, headed by the Duke of Westminster, retains 300 acres of Mayfair and Belgravia. The Marquess of Northampton is a major landowner in Canonbury, Islington and Clerkenwell and The Duke of Norfolk still owns around 10 acres around The Strand. Altea Gallery can be found at the London Map Fair, Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, London SW7 2AR, on the 9th and 10th of June.
With furore building around the initial findings of the BRE report into the Grenfell Tower fire leaked to the London Evening Standard, Bureau Veritas has reiterated the critical importance of specification, construction methods and adherence to building standards in ensuring buildings are constructed correctly and appropriately going forward. The reported findings of the leaked interim document focused on five potentially significant breaches of building regulations that contributed to the spread of fire at Grenfell Tower, specifically in relation to a refurbishment carried out between 2014-16. Areas of focus included the building cladding and insulation, as well as the design and installation of the windows and cavity barriers. Andy Lowe, director of building control at Bureau Veritas, comments: “Firstly, it’s important that we wait for the full BRE report to be published to understand the real implications of the findings of the investigation. It’s also crucial that these findings are reviewed in conjunction with the ‘Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety’ by Dame Judith Hackitt and alongside any changes to Government legislation that may arise as a result. “However, it’s always imperative to reiterate just how important it is to construct buildings correctly in accordance with building regulations, including at the specification stage to ensure that materials selected are appropriate and suitable for their intended use. This includes adequate inspection at every stage of the process to not only assess the suitability of the materials used but also that installation has been done correctly. “Benchmarking of key areas and photography of critical components is also recommended as best practise, along with thorough documentation to form part of a fire safety dossier that can be passed on to the fire risk assessor – this should also be made available to the relevant tenants association if applicable. “Any further alteration works should be reviewed against the original strategy for the building and obviously should still comply fully with safety requirements. Only with all these measures in place can we be satisfied that a building has been constructed and maintained to the highest standards. “It is our understanding and continued hope that when both the full BRE findings and the Hackitt Review are published that this approach to best practice is strengthened, to ensure long-term compliance with these vital aspects of fire safety.” Bureau Veritas is a leading testing, inspection and certification company with a vast experience of the building control sector. Bureau Veritas Building Control UK combines technical expertise and market-leading systems with unrivalled industry experience to deliver building control services to some of the biggest names in construction. Through effective teamwork, a consistent approach and commitment to excellence, Bureau Veritas’ solutions go beyond just compliance – they can help to reduce costs and manage risk throughout the building lifecycle, from design stages through to site inspections and final certification – whilst giving designers confidence that the project will comply with Building Regulations and all relevant legislation. For further information, call 0345 600 1828 or visit www.bureauveritas.co.uk
GFW, the Lancashire-based wholesale furniture supplier, has received a £10 million investment, provided by HSBC, to help with its growth plans. The funding package enabled the company to acquire its trading premises in Eccleshill and secure the site as its permanent home. “We’re delighted to receive financial support from HSBC. We operate in a crowded marketplace and our customers demand an ever increasing range of furniture products,” said Jonathan Ponsonby, managing director at GFW. “By owning our premises we now have the platform from which to deliver a greater range and improved customer experience. We’re now expecting our turnover to increase within the next year.” Now, GFW plans to refurbish the premises and expand its warehouse facilities. It is also looking into increasing its product range by 20% by importing from China and other East Asian markets. The forecast after the investment is that the revenues will rise by 15% over the next 12 months, which will lead to extra staff needed as well. “We strive to help SMEs grow across the North West and we are proud to support GFW,” said Richard Beaumont, HSBC’s relationship director for Greater Manchester. “The company is a great example of the type of businesses we support – ambitious and focussed on growth. We look forward to seeing the business flourish in the future.”
