The ‘Private Development of the Year – Medium’ accolade at the annual Homes for Scotland awards has been handed to David Wilson Homes’ flagship development in the west end of Glasgow. The luxury development beat off competition from across the industry to be crowned as the winner. The ‘Private Development
The construction of a district heating scheme at the Clyde Gateway regeneration project in Glasgow will be supported by a funding deal, agreed by SHARC Energy Systems. The UK green energy firm will use its innovative wastewater heat recovery technology to generate the heating and cooling services for the site’s
When a serious power-outage threatened the Data Centre of one of the UK’s major travel companies, PPS Power’s engineers were the first ones called. An ‘almighty bang’ was heard as one of the two back-up generators at the site failed when switching back to mains power. The site has two
A new research from myjobquote.co.uk looked into the situation faced by those trying to purchase property for the first time in the UK, revealing how much aspiring homeowners from different regions have managed to save over the last three years. Residents from the North East and Scotland have saved the
The ‘Private Development of the Year – Medium’ accolade at the annual Homes for Scotland awards has been handed to David Wilson Homes’ flagship development in the west end of Glasgow. The luxury development beat off competition from across the industry to be crowned as the winner. The ‘Private Development of the Year – Medium’ category rewards a private development that hosts between 26 and 99 units and receives the best marks from the judges in regards to the placemaking elements of the development, architectural design quality, commercial success, the impact the development has had on key stakeholders, the supply chain and the industry itself. “The Botanics is the flagship development for David Wilson Homes and to see it celebrated and applauded as the best in the luxury market reflects the hard work of the team at The Botanics who worked tirelessly to bring a luxury vision to life,” said David Scott, Managing Director at David Wilson Homes. “It is exemplary in design, management and build quality which is why we considered it a worth entry for the ‘Private Development of the Year award and we are thrilled that it has been crowned the winner. The finishing of the homes, apartments and the development itself is of the highest quality. This has been recognised previously with the site management team being recognised with two national award wins at the NHBC Pride in the Job awards,” he added. The awards took place on the 25th of May at The EICC, Edinburgh, and it saw 1,100 firms from the property industry come together and celebrate the innovative, design-led work that is currently happening in the sector, while also battling it out to take home the coveted awards of the day.
The construction of a district heating scheme at the Clyde Gateway regeneration project in Glasgow will be supported by a funding deal, agreed by SHARC Energy Systems. The UK green energy firm will use its innovative wastewater heat recovery technology to generate the heating and cooling services for the site’s future occupiers, providing an initial 2MW of capacity, with room to expand further as the development grows. “We are delighted that we have achieved this significant milestone, enabling us to move confidently to construction over the next few weeks,” said Russ Burton, the Chief Operating Officer of SHARC Energy Systems. “It means we are now in a position to get going with the installation of our wastewater recovery systems at what is Scotland’s biggest regeneration project. It is a very exciting moment for all of the team at SHARC.” ““This project will enable us to further demonstrate our contribution to the Scottish Government’s ambitious and exciting energy decarbonisation and transition strategy, aimed at developing a low carbon economy for Scotland,” he added. SHARC has closed the initial funding of £3.7 million with repayable assistance from the Scottish Government’s Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition programme (LCITP), supported by the 2014-2020 European Regional Development Fund programmes. Moreover, the scheme is also supported with commercial loans and investments from the Energy Saving Trust, Clyde Gateway and SHARC International. “We are pleased to be supporting this innovative project in the heart of Glasgow,” said Anthony Kyriakides, Head of Renewables at Energy Saving Trust. “The project, part funded by the district heating loan fund that we manage on behalf of the Scottish Government will reduce carbon emissions, improve local air quality by utilising waste water heat recovery systems and support local jobs.” SHARC’s technology extracts the natural warmth contained within this water and transfers the heat to the clean side of the heating system via a heat exchange mechanism. The recovered heat is then amplified via heat pumps to generate the appropriate temperatures for use in all types of buildings. SHARC provides heating and cooling to customers through a heat supply agreement.
When a serious power-outage threatened the Data Centre of one of the UK’s major travel companies, PPS Power’s engineers were the first ones called. An ‘almighty bang’ was heard as one of the two back-up generators at the site failed when switching back to mains power. The site has two generators that are synced together to provide power to the whole building in cases when mains power is unavailable PPS Power’s engineers arrived on-site at 9pm and discovered that the generator day tank had run out of fuel. Due to the fact that the fuel transfer system is electrically driven, the automatic fuel transfer between bulk tank and day tank was not possible with any mains power available. Moreover, the on-site uninterruptible power supply (UPS), which would provide emergency power during input power source or mains power failures, had only five per cent of autonomy time, equating to just five minutes of available power supply. “When we are called out to work like this we do what is necessary for the client. I wouldn’t describe it as a Mission Impossible but there was obviously a race against the clock and some challenges to restore power and reinstate the fuel transfer system and the generators. As the UPS would only supply power for five minutes, it meant that engineers had to work safely but at speed to beat the clock,” said Ian Townson, Technical Manager for PPS Power. With data at risk, PPS Power engineers arranged a temporary supply from the UPS in order to connect to the fuel transfer system, managing to transfer enough fuel to allow the main generator to be brought back up and running. It also supplied the building’s power needs and then manually transferred fuel during the night to ensure a reliable power supply. Because the source of the original generator’s fault had not yet been identified, during the course of the essential repair work, the data centre was powered by only the back-up generators. PPS Power’s engineers carried out repairs to the fuel transfer system, discovering a defective flow switch, and electrical components. PPS Power’s work ensured that no data was lost as a result of the initial power outage, with engineers working through the night to deliver an outstanding service, and that this major travel company can now be confident that their critical systems will operate as expected.
A new research from myjobquote.co.uk looked into the situation faced by those trying to purchase property for the first time in the UK, revealing how much aspiring homeowners from different regions have managed to save over the last three years. Residents from the North East and Scotland have saved the most, while those in the South East have the smallest sum saved in their accounts. As part of the poll, there were 2,746 people, all aged 18 or over and representing each region in an even selection. All respondents stated that they had been saving towards a deposit for approximately three to four years. When asked how much they have managed to save for a house deposit, the respondents from the North East answered, on average, £9,875; Scotland – £8,327; Yorkshire – £7,939; Ireland – £6,875; South West – £6,328; Wales – £5,374; London – £5,106; North West – £3,879; East Midlands – £3,506; East of England – £2,485; South East – £1,560; and West Midlands – £1,357. After that, they were asked whether or not they will receive any financial help, outside of a mortgage, to which 64% answered with ‘yes’. Parents came out top as being the most likely to be asked for help, with 51% of the vote, followed by grandparents with 29% and extended family members with 16%. Out of all the savers, 54% confessed that they had previously taken money from the deposit savings for other purposes, but only 26% of them said the money was for an emergency. The most likely purchases made with money previously set aside to go towards a deposit on a property were holidays (33%) and nights out/socialising (28%). “It’s not easy to put money aside. Although house prices tend to be more expensive in the south, and in London in particular, this isn’t reflected in the amount that first time buyers are able to save; meaning their journey will be both longer and slower than someone looking to purchase in the north,” said Lisa Evans from www.myjobquote.co.uk.
