So far the Department for Communities and Local Government has released enough land for 8,580 homes, the NAO said. In the first 10 months since the new land disposal programme was launched, DCLG has only met five per cent of its commitment. It released an additional 3 per cent of
2016 is a landmark year in terms of the UK’s devolution agenda. The Cities and Local Government Devolution Act received Royal Assent and came into force as law in the UK on 28 January 2016. The law allows for ‘combined authorities’ to take on greater powers than under previous legislation,
The Mayor of Huntingdon, Cllr Jay Dyne, was on hand last month to officially open the new Forklift Truck Training Centre at Cambridge Regional College’s Huntingdon Campus, designed to be used by apprentices, local companies and jobseekers. A welcome addition to the Huntingdon Campus range of facilities, the training centre
Rope and Sling Specialists Ltd. (RSS) is raising the capacity and diversity of its rigging stock, whilst equipping itself to respond to increasing demand for complex below-the-hook solutions, to more efficiently serve the heavy-lift sector. RSS attends to a myriad of industries from six UK locations but its most recently
Following a strong first quarter, premier regional developer Mulberry Homes has continued its strategic expansion with nine current developments and several more launching soon, in prime locations cross Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, Buckinghamshire, Oxford, and recently branching into Bedfordshire, to meet local demand for quality new homes. Following the launch of six
National building and engineering company, Britcon has announced that it is taking part in the Stop. Make a Change campaign across its 400-strong workforce in the UK. The initiative, driven by the Civil Engineering & Contractors Association (CECA), is a national stand down which aims to raise better awareness about
Offsite construction specialist, The McAvoy Group, has handed over a new school building at West Hill School in Leatherhead, bringing the number of education projects now completed by McAvoy for Surrey County Council to more than 40. The project at West Hill – an Ofsted outstanding special school – featured
Fusion Building Systems, the offsite designer, engineer, manufacturer and installer of light gauge steel superstructures can now provide its clients with ‘as manufactured’ digital models of their completed structures, thanks to its integration of MWF Pro Metal software from StrucSoft Solutions. Running as an add-on to the widely-used Revit design
The Tiverton branch of animal rehoming charity Blue Cross has been voted as a winner of RGB Building Supplies’ Well Built Community Fund and now has £1,000 to spend on building materials. Following a public poll, where Blue Cross was up against St Kew Ace Academy Pre-School in Bodmin and
This very useful two-piece wood chisel set from Kamasa (part number 56119) is suitable for softwood, plywood and hardwood. Designed for both detailed hand use and hammer impact, the metal striking head is integral with the chisel blade for precise work and long life. There are two chisels in the
So far the Department for Communities and Local Government has released enough land for 8,580 homes, the NAO said. In the first 10 months since the new land disposal programme was launched, DCLG has only met five per cent of its commitment. It released an additional 3 per cent of land, although the Homes and Communities Agency – which is responsible for collecting information from government departments – has yet to find sufficient evidence to prove this additional land will be used for housing. The NAO said DCLG must dispose of more sites in each of the next four months than the best performing year in any of the previous land disposal programmes. The 160,000-home target was laid out in the 2015 Spending Review to help the government deliver one million homes by the end of this parliament. The government’s first land disposal programme was set up in June 2011 and ran until March 2015. It had a target to release enough land for 100,000 homes by 2015. In June 2015, an NAO report found the government disposed of land with enough capacity to build 109,590 new homes over 942 sites. However, the target measured the notional number of expected homes, not actual homes built. According to the latest report, government departments have so far identified additional land with capacity for a further 104,461 houses, or 65 per cent of the programme. However, a little over half of the housing capacity is on high risk sites. High risk sites, by the DCLG’s definition, have at least on issue preventing the exchange of contracts before 2020. The NAO said this included operational sites. The head of the NAO Amyas Morse said: “While progress has been made, DCLG still has a lot to do to meet the government’s commitment to dispose of land for 160,000 homes by 2020. “The current programme has had a relatively slow start.” She added: “At most, 8 per cent of the overall commitment has been achieved in the first full ten months of the programme, meaning departments must now dispose of more land in each of the remaining four years than they achieved in any year of the previous land disposals programme.” Source link
2016 is a landmark year in terms of the UK’s devolution agenda. The Cities and Local Government Devolution Act received Royal Assent and came into force as law in the UK on 28 January 2016. The law allows for ‘combined authorities’ to take on greater powers than under previous legislation, provided they have an elected metro mayor in place. As a result, seven UK cities/areas are planning to elect mayors in May 2017, according to Centre for Cities. Metro mayors will have the authority to manage their area with a far more localised approach than was previously possible. Their powers exceed those of regular councillors and they can thus have a wider impact. Ray Withers, CEO of Property Frontiers, offers investment properties such as The Divine Collection in cities like Birmingham, which will fall under the leadership of the West Midlands metro mayor when elected next year. He comments: “The appointment of metro mayors could mean a significant boost to the property sectors in certain areas of the UK. The correlation between those areas electing mayors and the property hotspots of 2017 definitely bears watching. London is a prime example. We’ve seen mayors in the capital push through housing programmes that other cities could definitely benefit from. Sadiq Khan’s affordable housing programme is precisely the kind of move that can stimulate a local property market and it’s exciting that Birmingham and other large cities will soon be able to benefit from similar measures.” As such, Birmingham is one property hotspot to watch in 2017. Liverpool, which will also be benefitting from an elected mayor, is another. Metro mayors will be able to set the strategic direction of their city/area in a way that knits together local housing, transport and skills. Managing Director Jonathan Stephens, of Surrenden Invest, is excited about Liverpool’s potential under such an arrangement, with developments such as Strand Plaza looking to reap the benefits. He explains: “The election of a metro mayor for the Liverpool City Region is excellent news. We’re anticipating a strong local impact, particularly as the mayor will be able to make joined up decisions about housing. Rather than relying solely on national decision makers or the whims of individual local authorities, Liverpool will be able to take a strategic approach to its own future. It will be a great time to be part of the property sector there – we’re definitely hoping for a mayor-inspired boom in this region.” Stephens’ comments are echoed by those of Jean Liggett, CEO of visionary property investment consultancy, Properties of the World. With investment properties available in cities including Sunderland, Hartlepool and Manchester, all of which will fall under the remit of directly elected mayors come 2017, she is keen to see the impact that the new metro mayors will have. Liggett comments, The devolution of power to metro mayors could spell excellent news for local UK property markets. I’ll be watching all of the metro mayor regions closely during the latter half of 2017 to see what the mayors there can achieve in terms of creating local property hotspots. Ultimately, metro mayors should be able to make their cities more powerful and better cities are a good choice for housing investment. Smart investors will certainly be buying with metro mayor regions in mind as we head towards the elections in May.” Source link
The Mayor of Huntingdon, Cllr Jay Dyne, was on hand last month to officially open the new Forklift Truck Training Centre at Cambridge Regional College’s Huntingdon Campus, designed to be used by apprentices, local companies and jobseekers. A welcome addition to the Huntingdon Campus range of facilities, the training centre will allow Cambridge Regional College to offer RTITB accredited training and licencing, an in-demand skill for businesses across the county and region. In attendance on opening day were a number of local businesses, jobcentre representatives and recruitment professionals, along with members of the college staff who have played a part in the creation process, including Forklift Instructor Simon Hunt. Cambridge Regional College Principal and Chief Executive Mark Robertson introduced the Mayor and took a moment to thank those who had helped make the opening possible. Mayor Jay Dyne then took centre stage, and expressed his delight at opening a key new resource for the region, “It is great to be back at the Campus to see the developments, investments and improvements that the leadership team at Cambridge Regional College have been implementing over these last few months” he said. “Our region needs a variety of skills and this college offers a great range of specialist training and vocational courses. These industry specific licences are an essential part of what local employers are looking for new recruits to hold, making this a hugely useful new service for the local community”. Cambridge Regional College Head of Employment Services, Maureen Horan, was also present for the opening celebrations, she said, “When we embarked on the journey to merge Cambridge Regional College with Huntingdonshire Regional College into one college with two great campuses, we knew it would require investment and new thinking. I would like to say a huge thank you to the staff that worked very hard and collaboratively to get the facility ready for accreditation, which we received first time with no actions”. After a ribbon cutting ceremony set to a round of applause, the Forklift Truck Training Centre was officially open to the public. The Mayor then took a tour of the facility and the rest of the Huntingdon campus. Cambridge Regional College offers a wide range of full-time, part-time and Higher Education courses from Construction and Engineering to Media and Computing Technologies, with campuses in Huntingdon and Cambridge. It is one of the top 10 colleges in the country and the largest Apprenticeship provider in the Eastern Region, with many opportunities to join great companies. The opening of the centre represents the latest in a line of successes the college has achieved in recent times. Key performance figures released recently place it first in the country (out of 198 colleges) in 19+ GCSE Maths A* – C pass rates. A centre of vocational excellence, Cambridge Regional College continues to grow and expand its role as a major seat of learning in the East of England.
Rope and Sling Specialists Ltd. (RSS) is raising the capacity and diversity of its rigging stock, whilst equipping itself to respond to increasing demand for complex below-the-hook solutions, to more efficiently serve the heavy-lift sector. RSS attends to a myriad of industries from six UK locations but its most recently opened site is in Warrington, close to the heavy-lift depot of Ainscough Crane Hire, which named RSS a preferred supplier of lifting and rigging equipment at the end of 2016. And the partnership, combined with market conditions, is yielding demand for heavier and often specialised rigging gear. Steve Hutin, managing director at RSS, said: “Our heavy-lift initiative is two-pronged in that we want to ensure we have the product and expertise to respond to demand, but we must also continue to raise our profile in the sector so more industry professionals view us as a company capable of delivering below-the-hook solutions at the higher end of the marketplace.” He continued: “In the first instance, we are looking at our stock levels and manufacturing capabilities, but we are also repositioning the image of the company in certain areas to capitalise on the growth we detect where heavy lifting equipment is concerned; we recently signed off on promotional materials that focused on our capability to supply heavy lifting and crane accessories. There is also a good tie-in with our inspection, repair, and other divisions of the company.” Hutin was reluctant to state a capacity at which he feels the heavy-lift market begins. He said: “Some might say anything over 250t is a heavy lift but we have equipment suppliers with the engineering capability to go into the thousands of tonnes. Taking into account the super- or mega-heavy end of the market, the lines are blurred further. That’s why we look at the sector not only in terms of capacity but also in the context of complexity, where a spreader beam, slings, and other rigging gear might be required beneath the hook of a single crane.” Hutin was actually keen not to highlight Warrington as the fulcrum for this renewed heavy-lift focus. “Demand [for heavy lifting equipment] is nationwide,” he said. “In fact, at the forefront of our marketing endeavours is the message that we can provide rigging products and services across the UK. Further, we’re not limiting our growth strategy to supply of product—hire, sales, and inspection services are collectively important.” RSS does not want to enter the contract crane market, whereby it would source a crane and deliver a complete lifting package to clients. This exclusive focus on rigging equipment has swelled the potential of the Ainscough partnership, but has also opened doors with other major and regional crane rental firms. Sarens recently sourced a significant order for a project within the heavy-lift sector, Hutin confirmed. Picture: ainscough crawler.jpg Caption: RSS provided a variety of rigging equipment, including spreader beams, wire rope slings, and wire rope bobbins, for use beneath the hook of this Ainscough crawler crane. Contact for editorial enquiries: Steve Hutin, steve@rssgroup.co.uk
Following a strong first quarter, premier regional developer Mulberry Homes has continued its strategic expansion with nine current developments and several more launching soon, in prime locations cross Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, Buckinghamshire, Oxford, and recently branching into Bedfordshire, to meet local demand for quality new homes. Following the launch of six new developments in 2017 and a positive start to 2018, the housebuilder is seeing strong footfall to its sites, with robust sales across its current portfolio from buyers across the region. Mulberry Homes, the residential arm of Mulberry Developments, originally formed in 2004, has quickly established a strong reputation for its design and delivery of striking new home developments in sought-after locations. To date, following the financial year end, Mulberry has built 130 homes in highly desirable premium locations including Bicester, Great Easton and Appleby Magna, with over 200 new homes in the pipeline for the current financial year. Renowned for its high-quality niche properties, Mulberry Homes builds a broad range of individually designed homes including traditional two storey spacious family homes, well designed starter homes and single storey bungalows commanding a strong brand reputation for themselves and their homes alike. The properties are sympathetically designed to suit all buying profiles, from downsizers, families, young professionals and first-time buyers. All homes combine a meticulous attention to detail, with a design-led approach, offering superb kerb appeal, and outstanding interior and exterior specification. Adding to its growing development portfolio, Mulberry is launched the exclusive Hursley Park development in Great Bowden this month. Recently crowned one of the best places to live in the Midlands and commended as the best address in the area by The Sunday Times, Great Bowden is a highly sought-after postcode less than a mile from the thriving town of Market Harborough, offering direct trains to London. This niche development will offer 50 new homes, situated within stunning landscaped gardens and 22 acres of country park. Work is well-underway on site and a number of plots have already been reserved. Providing an aspirational home for everyone, Mulberry currently has a range of properties available. Recently launched, Winchelsea Gate is set in the popular village of Weldon, Northamptonshire and has already proven extremely popular with buyers, with 50 per cent of phase one reserved. Stokes Rise in Great Easton is an exclusive development of exceptional four-bedroom family homes, designed to replicate the lasting character of the surrounding area. Meanwhile, a flourishing community is coming to life at Oakview in Appleby Magna, having sold to families and savvy commuters, benefitting from excellent road links. Known as the ‘Best Kept Village’ in Buckinghamshire, Hanslope is home to an Ofsted Outstanding Primary School and an exclusive new collection of just 12 three and four-bedroom homes. Now 75 per cent sold, the sales success of the development continues as St James’ Manor occupies the perfect family location, with top local amenities as well as great commuter links. Houghton Fields offers a stunning collection of family homes ranging from three to four-bedroom properties in Houghton Conquest, Bedfordshire. As Mulberry’s first Bedfordshire development, Houghton Fields is meeting demand as one of the few housebuilders to provide traditionally built new build bungalows. These properties have been snapped up by local buyers, with just one bungalow remaining. As one of Mulberry’s flagship developments, Harcourt Gardens offers a variety of 60 homes, ranging from one to four-bedroom properties. Located in Kibworth Harcourt in Leicestershire, this extremely popular and vibrant village offers its residents the best of both worlds with nearby open countryside, a fantastic choice of schools and top transport links into the city. Families will be perfectly suited to this prime location. Steeped in rich history Earls Barton, located nine miles from lively country town Northampton, is the home of Earls Place. Benefiting from Northampton’s frequent rail services into London, from Wellingborough this development is ideal for commuters who wish to move further from the city in order to get more for their money. The remaining four-bedroom homes are available to purchase with Help to Buy, meaning a deposit of less than £13,000.is this figure correct? Oak View is a luxury development that is well suited to all buyer types, with a range of homes including three, four and five-bedroom properties and easy access to the major Midland Cities, Birmingham, Coventry, Nottingham, Derby and Leicester. The thriving village location of Appleby Magna offers residents Ofsted ‘outstanding’ rated schools and day to day amenities within close range of the development. Meeting further demand for commuters, Stokes Rise is perfectly located to benefit from fast rail links to London St Pancras from neighbouring Market Harborough and Corby. Whilst easily connected to the capital, the homes are set within the picturesque village of Great Easton, known as one of the most attractive Welland Valley villages, living up to Mulberry’s promise of delivering homes in the best locations across their region. Finally, Stratton Park, an exclusive development featuring one to four-bedroom properties is down to the last remaining homes. These properties continue Mulberry’s outstanding quality specification throughout their open-plan designs. Perfectly designed to suit the needs of modern living, the local amenities include the popular designer shopping outlet, Bicester Village. City professionals from Birmingham or London can enjoy fast and easy access, with frequent services taking just 50 minutes into London. Ian Sadler Managing Director of Mulberry Homes, commented: “This year has got off to an exceptional start for Mulberry Homes with a record number of live sites and development launches including the eagerly anticipated new homes at Houghton Fields, our very first Bedfordshire development. Over the next year, we plan to continue to grow the business by seeking out the most desirable sites in prime residential locations across our heartland in Midlands as well as strengthening our regional presence and product offering throughout Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire.” For more information on Mulberry Homes, please visit www.mulberryhomes.co.uk.
National building and engineering company, Britcon has announced that it is taking part in the Stop. Make a Change campaign across its 400-strong workforce in the UK. The initiative, driven by the Civil Engineering & Contractors Association (CECA), is a national stand down which aims to raise better awareness about construction industry health and safety and mental health. In April 2017 the campaign was launched for organisations from across the UK infrastructure sector to take part. Sites, offices and production facilities stopped current works to focus on working together to build a healthier and safer industry. In 2018, the campaign expanded to the wider industry. The campaign focuses primarily on two key priorities, Mental Health and Plant Safety. Currently, one in four people will suffer from mental health issues each year, with more than 400,000 days being lost to work-related stress, anxiety and depression in construction. Construction relies heavily on the use of mobile plant to support delivery on site and with 217 people killed in the industry over the last five years and around 10 per cent hit by moving vehicles, awareness and training needs to happen continually. Paul Clarkson, Managing Director at Britcon said, “By taking part in Stop. Make a Change, we have committed heavily by signing up to cross-industry initiatives and leading our own change programmes within the company. “Through planning and organisation our Health & Safety team has developed a bespoke training programme and visited all of our current and live sites to conduct a training programme on both mental wellbeing and plant safety. Staff welfare is paramount at Britcon. CECA chief executive Alasdair Reisner commented “We are delighted by the impact that Stop. Make a Change has had in 2018. Across the country more than 80,000 people at companies like Britcon have joined forces to commit themselves to make a better, safer industry for everyone that works in it.” Britcon is committed to continue this training year-round and has also been awarded funds from the CITB to support further training which will starting in May 2018. Established for more than 26 years, Britcon is £50 million turnover business headquartered in Scunthorpe and directly employs over 100 people and more than 300 through subcontractors on its project sites across the UK. Key contracts includes a £13.5 million contract to deliver a new anaerobic digestion (AD) plant in Dagenham for food waste recycler ReFood (UK) Ltd, a series of new developments, extensions and refurbishment projects valued over £10 million for Lidl, and contracts worth over £4 million for global chemicals business Kemira for which it won ‘Contract of the Year 2017 from CECA. Britcon is listed by the London Stock Exchange in its report of ‘1000 Companies to Inspire Europe’. @Britcon_Limited
Offsite construction specialist, The McAvoy Group, has handed over a new school building at West Hill School in Leatherhead, bringing the number of education projects now completed by McAvoy for Surrey County Council to more than 40. The project at West Hill – an Ofsted outstanding special school – featured extensive use of BIM to help address the complexities of the site. It was manufactured offsite to reduce disruption and was ready for occupation on time and after less than eight months on site. The scheme links the traditionally-constructed main building and an existing modular classroom block on a highly constrained, fully operational school site. The new building expands the teaching spaces for children with learning and additional needs. These are to accommodate West Hill School’s conversion from secondary education provision to a 2FE primary school. An offsite solution was developed to build a teacher training centre on the upper floor as West Hill is also a Teaching School and National Support School. McAvoy has now completed over 40 education building projects for Surrey County Council – ranging from single classroom buildings to a £5m nursery, infant and junior school extension at Danetree Primary School near Epsom. Both of the existing school buildings at West Hill remained in use throughout McAvoy’s construction of the new facilities. The offsite solution avoided any disruption to teaching and the children despite the site constraints. 28 steel-framed modules were installed in just four days and McAvoy restricted working times to maintain access and accommodate the children’s arrival at and departure from school. Commenting on the project, Judy Nettleton, Head Teacher at West Hill School, said, “The offsite solution generated massive time savings which were invaluable from an educational perspective. The McAvoy team had outstanding communications throughout, and their work was well planned and highly respectful of the challenges we were facing, both as a special needs school and in the transition from secondary to primary education.” “McAvoy was able to accommodate an urgent requirement for an extra floor and our new teacher training facility is a brilliant resource. This space could easily be converted into three additional classrooms if we need to expand capacity in the future. The building has a high level of acoustics which is key for a special school to avoid disruption to children’s education, and the size of the hygiene rooms, the wider corridors and breakout spaces for individual and small group learning are all invaluable features.” Giorgia diSarno, Project Manager at Surrey County Council, said, “We had a very positive experience working with McAvoy on this scheme. Their site management was excellent and they communicated brilliantly with the school which was so important in enabling the teachers to prepare the children. This is vital when carrying out construction works at an SEN school. The finished building is great and was designed according to the special needs nature of the school. Classrooms are light, airy and welcoming.” “On this project, offsite construction allowed us to develop a bespoke building with the benefits of better quality control in a factory environment. It was essential to reduce time on site to avoid disruption to the school. A shorter construction period on site is hugely beneficial to any school but particularly to special needs children. McAvoy was also able to add value to the project and inform its design by being involved at the project’s inception. This allowed the addition of a further storey.” McAvoy made extensive use of BIM for the West Hill project to engineer an offsite solution that would accommodate a height difference of 870mm between the main school and the existing modular teaching block. Gradient differences were incorporated within corridors to avoid steps, using a specially-engineered double floor beam design which also maximised offsite construction. Challenging ground conditions required complex piled foundations and a supporting steel frame. Here 3D modelling was invaluable to better inform the groundworks and module installation phases. BIM also facilitated decision making with stakeholders, with the use of 3D models and virtual reality, rather than traditional 2D line drawings. The school was able to see each room and experience the space. It allowed teaching staff to assess how the training centre could work located as a second storey to the new classroom block rather than as a freestanding building which was originally envisaged. In recognition of its industry-leading application of BIM technology for the West Hill School project, McAvoy won the RICS BIM4SME Award for Best Virtual Reality BIM. As West Hill is a school for children with special educational needs and located near the M25 motorway network and under a flight path, the building specification demanded outstanding acoustics. McAvoy developed a twin modular wall system and a specially-designed offsite roof solution to achieve the enhanced acoustic performance. The building was also required to be mechanically ventilated and this equipment had to meet the noise sensitivities of the children. Other design features of the building to address the needs of learning and additional needs included: Wider corridors to help children who have mobility or balance issues Break-out rooms to allow different learning needs and styles to be accommodated for smaller numbers of children Hygiene rooms equipped with a hoist to assist children in wheelchairs Provision for hoists in two classrooms and for further hoists to be installed in other areas around the building Ease of access between the new building and the existing facilities, and to the external play areas A high level of acoustics to avoid disruption to children’s learning. The new facilities accommodate a food technology classroom, an open plan library, group rooms and classrooms with direct access to the outdoors. The building has created a covered and controlled link between the main building and the existing teaching block, and a new courtyard provides a secure play area where a sensory garden will be developed. McAvoy was also responsible for some alterations to the school’s existing facilities to accommodate the change from secondary to primary education. For further information about offsite solutions
Fusion Building Systems, the offsite designer, engineer, manufacturer and installer of light gauge steel superstructures can now provide its clients with ‘as manufactured’ digital models of their completed structures, thanks to its integration of MWF Pro Metal software from StrucSoft Solutions. Running as an add-on to the widely-used Revit design platform, Fusion has invested in MWF Pro Metal to help its construction clients achieve the highest possible degree of accuracy in their projects and have a clear understanding of the finished structure before the offsite manufacturing process begins. By using MWF Pro Metal, just about every element of the design for consideration can be reviewed in detail prior to sign off, then directly instructed to Fusion’s roll-forming equipment at its Northampton manufacturing facility, producing structures which are precise according to design. Robert Clark, Fusion head of business development, said: “For offsite methods to become widely adopted by the construction industry we need to shift from a project by project approach, to one which is led by the product. BIM is the enabler for this. “By integrating StrucSoft Solutions’ MWF Pro Metal into our design, engineering and manufacturing processes, we’re encouraging our clients to focus their attention on the overall product and in doing so, moving closer to the future of MMC.” Fusion had previously been running a bespoke software solution called FusionSoft, which was ahead of its time when first developed. Now outdated and not BIM-ready, StrucSoft Solutions’ MWF Pro was chosen as Fusion’s new platform for integration with Revit and to enable the Company to work to an enviable degree of technical accuracy. Used day to day in Fusion’s design and manufacturing processes, StrucSoft Solutions’ MWF Pro Metal will enable the automated creation of walls and floors, the accurate design of cutbacks and openings around thousands of M&E locations, structural intersections and accessories, as well as allowing Fusion’s engineers to specify directly into the Revit model. Byron Starnes, StrucSoft Solutions’ EMEA business development manager, added: “We created Fusion’s software solution just for them, tailored to the way they build and allowing them to take advantage of the most modern and up to date software solutions for their digital engineering requirements. Their investment in our product marks a revolutionary overhaul of their existing ICT solution, having an emphasis on greater design efficiencies, accuracy and collaboration – especially as it pertains to the design and manufacturing of the bespoke and patented Fusion system.” MWF Pro Metal utilises the built-in intelligence of Revit to automate the creation of light gauge steel framing across virtually any construction project. Developed in conjunction with industry experts, MWF Pro Metal’s automated tools allow users to easily frame entire projects while simultaneously creating schedules, material cut lists, framing elevations and fully dimensioned 2D shop drawings. The tool of choice for professionals framing everything from bathroom pods, right up to billion-dollar healthcare projects. StrucSoft Solutions provided Fusion with initial training on MWF Pro Metal at their Liverpool office and will continue to provide ongoing review work and updates as the solution matures. For further information visit www.fusionbuild.com and www.strucsoftsolutions.com
The Tiverton branch of animal rehoming charity Blue Cross has been voted as a winner of RGB Building Supplies’ Well Built Community Fund and now has £1,000 to spend on building materials. Following a public poll, where Blue Cross was up against St Kew Ace Academy Pre-School in Bodmin and Company Disability in Taunton, the charity received the most number of votes and was recently visited by Paul Condick, Assistant Branch Manager at RGB Tiverton. Blue Cross will be using the money to develop a large paddock at its Tiverton pet rehoming centre so it can be used to hold community fundraising events. A pathway and shelter will be added enabling the paddock to be used in all weather. Additionally, new play equipment will be built to provide additional stimulation and interest for dogs during their daily exercise and training. Louise Thomson, Animal Welfare Assistant at Blue Cross in Tiverton, commented: “Last year we saw more than 700 cats, dogs and small animals come to the centre for rehoming. We rely on donations to enable us to provide the care, veterinary attention and behaviour training needed before the animals go to their new homes, so being able to develop our paddock and use it to hold events will be extremely beneficial in helping us to raise vital funds. “A huge thank you to everyone that voted for us and to RGB Building Supplies for the generous donation of the materials.” Paul Condick added: “The aim of our Well Built Community Fund is to give local groups and charities the chance to complete projects they wouldn’t otherwise be able to do. I was delighted to visit Blue Cross and see how the donation of materials will be used; I wish them every success with the project and I look forward to returning to see the transformation.” Every other month RGB will be donating £1,000 worth of building materials to help and support groups in the region. More information about how groups can nominate themselves is available on RGB’s website – www.rgbltd.co.uk.
This very useful two-piece wood chisel set from Kamasa (part number 56119) is suitable for softwood, plywood and hardwood. Designed for both detailed hand use and hammer impact, the metal striking head is integral with the chisel blade for precise work and long life. There are two chisels in the set, 15 and 25mm wide, both with finely ground blades. The chisels have soft grip thermoplastic rubber handles and the shafts and bits are manufactured from strong chrome vanadium steel, hardened and tempered to HRC 56-62. Beautifully balanced, you’ll find them a pleasure to use. This chisel set is available now from your Kamasa stockist, and very good value, typically priced at just £17.52 for the set (price includes VAT). Further details from www.kamasa.co.uk