Leading industry event announces high profile partners
BDC News Team
June 12, 2018
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ECA supporting Smart Building Controls Show Source link
Construction firm Montway Ltd has been fined £144,000 after a worker was seriously injured when he fell off a roof during demolition work. Southwark Crown Court heard that on 25 February 2013 two workers were working on the roof of a two storey detached house at 17 Basing Hill, Golders
Can the use of blockchain help the property, building and construction sectors – Well Yes it can I think. One of the more innovative technology rich projects to be released this year is an operating system called nOs. This is short for the Neo Operating System. The nOS project was
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and LDC, the private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group, have agreed a partnership to support the future growth of RIBA Enterprises Ltd, the commercial arm of the RIBA which trades as NBS. NBS is a market-leading provider of technology, content and data services
Ahead of the International Women in Engineering Day (INWED) 2018, celebrated on the 23rd of June, Emma Cygan, design and development engineer at steering system supplier Pailton Engineering, has decided to crush a few misconceptions about women working as engineers. ‘Women are only good at soft skills’ Due to stereotypical
Unite Students, the UK’s leading manager and developer of student accommodation, has been granted a planning approval to develop a 928-bed student accommodation development in Leeds. The site, located on Merrion Way in the city centre, is close to both the University of Leeds and Leeds Beckett University. The site would
At Snows, our promise to customers is a simple one. We aim to give the trade exactly what they need and inspire trust in our ability to deliver on the promises made. To make this promise a reality, we are making substantial investments to refine and modernise our operations and
The world is growing smaller by the day as technology gets more advanced and widely accessible. As such, consumer property demand is also changing in line with their broadening horizons, and real estate agents who want to truly focus on excellent customer service need to change with the times. How
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ECA supporting Smart Building Controls Show Source link
Construction firm Montway Ltd has been fined £144,000 after a worker was seriously injured when he fell off a roof during demolition work. Southwark Crown Court heard that on 25 February 2013 two workers were working on the roof of a two storey detached house at 17 Basing Hill, Golders Green in London. Romanian labourer Mr. Ioan Vancea fell from the partly demolished roof and suffered serious injuries. No scaffolding had been provided and the work was not being supervised. Mr. Vancea fell some five metres from the roof to the ground and sustained a series of injuries including a fractured spine. He was in an induced coma for two weeks and remained in hospital for three months. The site was inspected by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) two weeks after the incident and unsupervised demolition work was still being carried out. A number of serious matters were identified including asbestos which had been removed from the house and was found in a pile by a neighbouring property’s hedge and in broken pieces mixed in with other debris. Enforcement Notices were immediately served to ensure workers and members of the public were protected. Montway Limited of Batchworth House, Batchworth Place, Church Street, Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, WD3 1JE pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and was fined £144,000 and ordered to pay £43,606.15 in costs. Montway Ltd originally pleaded not guilty, but changed their plea and sought a Newton Hearing to determine numerous issues it disputed. The Newton Hearing took place before District Judge Roscoe between 23-24 May 2016. HSE inspector Andrew Verrall-Withers commented after the hearing: “Mr. Vancea’s injuries were life changing and he could easily have been killed.” “This serious incident would have been avoided if scaffolding had been provided. Montway Ltd’s site documents even identified it was needed.” “Montway Ltd sought a Newton hearing so they could dispute numerous issues in front of a District Judge. They were unsuccessful and the Judge’s ruling confirmed she was satisfied that their approach towards the welfare of their employees was lax and casual, and it was their overall poor management of health and safety that directly led to this incident.” 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. hse.gov.uk More about the legislation referred to in this case can be found at: 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
Can the use of blockchain help the property, building and construction sectors – Well Yes it can I think. One of the more innovative technology rich projects to be released this year is an operating system called nOs. This is short for the Neo Operating System. The nOS project was unveiled by Dean van Dugteren at the NEO loves Amsterdam conference held at the DeLaMar Theatre on April 14th, 2018. nOS is a virtual operating system for NEO that will run on mobile and desktop, and functions like a browser and app store. nOS aims to encourage consumer level adoption of NEO dApps by providing a safer and easier way to use applications. There are so many blockchain projects out at the moment. Some in the early stages like nOs and some that are further along. They can be viewed at Coin Market Cap which has over 1600 current projects dealing with the blockchain technology. In our next review of nOs we will explain its full potential for all sectors. Who is involved: – The core nOS team is comprised of City of Zion developers: Dean van Dugteren, founder of Click.DJ and VDT Network, Jason Perry, creator of NEO Ruby, and Matt Huggins, the maintainer of the Neon Wallet.
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and LDC, the private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group, have agreed a partnership to support the future growth of RIBA Enterprises Ltd, the commercial arm of the RIBA which trades as NBS. NBS is a market-leading provider of technology, content and data services to professionals in the architectural, engineering and construction industries. Headquartered in Newcastle, NBS employs more than 200 people and for the financial year ending December 2017 recorded a turnover of £20.5m. The RIBA is the global professional body for architects and a registered charity with one of the largest and most diverse architectural collections in the world. LDC is investing £31.8m for a significant minority shareholding in NBS. Together the RIBA and LDC are supporting the business, led by the current CEO Richard Waterhouse and existing management team, in delivering its future product development and international growth plans. RIBA Chief Executive Alan Vallance said: “The RIBA is pleased to have secured a fantastic deal on behalf of our members. It is recognition of the success of our commercial activities to date, and the international strength of the brand and products our team has developed. This deal provides welcome investment in NBS and enables the Institute to focus on delivering our ambitious strategy in support of the architecture profession in the UK and internationally. We are delighted to be working in partnership with LDC who we selected based on their extensive pedigree including their experience working in the technology sector.” RIBA President Ben Derbyshire said: “This is an exciting moment for the RIBA and the culmination of a huge amount of work, time and careful consideration by our trustees, executive and expert advisors. We have created a highly attractive market-leading business, and as an Institute prioritising support for our members and the delivery of our wider charitable objectives, the trustees agreed it is the right time to work in partnership with an experienced investor to ramp up its potential. LDC’s investment provides the injection needed to move NBS to the next level, and our members will continue to benefit from our ongoing involvement in the business.” John Garner, head of LDC in Yorkshire & the North East said: “NBS is a market-leading business, renowned for the quality of its products and services. Over its 40-year history, and with a focus on delivering the best service to its customers, it has built an enviable reputation. With a strong management team who have delivered a track-record of growth, the business is well-positioned to embark on the next phase of its growth strategy. We are looking forward to working closely with the RIBA to support Richard and his team, helping the business to deliver further successes at home and overseas.” Richard Waterhouse, NBS CEO, added: “We are delighted to be working with LDC on the next stage of our growth plan that will see NBS strengthen its offering in the UK and overseas, following a recent expansion into Canada and Australia. Bringing in a new partner alongside our long term investor, the RIBA, will create the perfect mix of experience in the market with high growth expertise.” RIBA member services and support are unaffected by this announcement. RIBA was advised by KPMG and Womble Bond Dickinson. LDC was advised by Deloitte and Addleshaw Goddard. NBS was advised by PWC.
Ahead of the International Women in Engineering Day (INWED) 2018, celebrated on the 23rd of June, Emma Cygan, design and development engineer at steering system supplier Pailton Engineering, has decided to crush a few misconceptions about women working as engineers. ‘Women are only good at soft skills’ Due to stereotypical gender roles, some women reach adulthood and have a subconscious idea that they must find a career that uses their communication skills and empathy. However, interaction skills are not gender-exclusive and both men and women should strive for it. If you are particularly affluent in the soft skills department, do not suppress this quality, as they are highly sought by employers and they are often required to enable the harder, more technical skills. ‘Women can’t reach top positions in engineering’ Women should be confident that they have the same potential for career progression as their male equivalents. “So far in my career, I have progressed from an apprentice, to my current role as a Design and Development engineer. In the future, it will continue to be my skills that determine how quickly I will move up the job ladder, not my gender,” said Emma. This point is also validated by the Women in Engineering annual Top 50 Women in Engineering under 35, in which many of the women featured are in senior and managerial roles and at a relatively young age. Statistically, there are more men at the top of the engineering industry, but that’s inevitable, providing there are more men at the bottom. However, initiatives such as INWED will change this and help more women see a career in engineering as a viable and rewarding option. ‘Women aren’t supported by their employers’ At Pailton Engineering, Emma is currently receiving the right support to study for an engineering bachelor’s degree, while keeping her job. “If Pailton Engineering wasn’t invested in me, or didn’t see a future with me as a key decision maker in the company, then this investment wouldn’t have been made,” said Emma. While the INWED 2018 is raising the bar for women in engineering, there are still plenty of myths and misconceptions about working in the industry that must be quashed. “I hope I’ve raised the bar for other women to start an engineering career, even if I did use this bar to obliterate the myths that are currently circulating —someone had to do it,” concluded Emma.
Unite Students, the UK’s leading manager and developer of student accommodation, has been granted a planning approval to develop a 928-bed student accommodation development in Leeds. The site, located on Merrion Way in the city centre, is close to both the University of Leeds and Leeds Beckett University. The site would increase Unite’s Leeds portfolio to 4,376 beds, serving a student population of 58,000, and further enhancing Unite’s operating efficiency in the city. In the last five years, Unite’s occupancy in the city has been 99% with over 1,800 beds subject to nominations agreements with Leeds universities. The development will generate a development yield in line with our target returns and will be funded from internally generated sources. It is expected to be open for the 2020 academic year. The transaction reflects Unite’s strategy of aligning its property portfolio with high-ranking universities where student numbers are growing whilst underpinning further earnings growth. Nick Hayes, Group Property Director, Unite Students said: “Leeds is a strong performing market, with a diverse and growing student population. With two high quality Universities, we expect demand for quality, affordable student accommodation to grow and this development will help to fulfil that need.”
At Snows, our promise to customers is a simple one. We aim to give the trade exactly what they need and inspire trust in our ability to deliver on the promises made. To make this promise a reality, we are making substantial investments to refine and modernise our operations and ultimately, better cater for the customers of tomorrow. One of our biggest investments takes place at our Mansfield Distribution Centre, where a regeneration programme of circa. £0.5million is taking place until the end of July 2018. The site will be reconfigured, which will include demolition of existing offices, erection of 900m2 of warehousing and installation of 1200m2 of hardstanding ground adjacent to the existing site – alongside this, an additional high-speed line will be installed in the mill. The result of these changes will improve efficiencies and productivity across the picking and milling of product and enlarge our geographical area for delivery. Double shift capabilities will be introduced into the Mansfield and Glastonbury Distribution Centres to improve overall capacity of the organisation and improve our already-considerable level of flexibility. These operational changes will result in Snows ability to offer competitive prices and deliver on our original promise to give the trade exactly what they need, due to improving cost efficiencies throughout the business. Have you heard about our new National Sales Office? Our Regional Sales Offices have recently been consolidated into a central location in Towcester, Northamptonshire. Its aim is to provide high quality customer service, which promotes two-way communication between us and our customers. Although customers can (and will) still receive support from our regional locations, the change to one central office will allow us to properly structure and manage every aspect of the customer journey – from enquiry, to quotation, order processing and relationship development. The new office is made up of individuals who have a proven track record in customer service, and have a fresh, forward-thinking attitude that align with the new vision of Snows Timber. Customers can be assured that “communication” is set to be the word of the year at Snows.
The world is growing smaller by the day as technology gets more advanced and widely accessible. As such, consumer property demand is also changing in line with their broadening horizons, and real estate agents who want to truly focus on excellent customer service need to change with the times. How the demands changing and what is the new role for a real estate agent? Keep on reading to find out! There is still a demand for the traditional estate agent who can offer local properties, but, estate agents now also need to cater to an altogether more internationally focussed customer who is looking to buy abroad for any of a number of different reasons. Whether the client is searching for a second home abroad or a holiday home they can rent out, real estate agents should be prepared for customers looking abroad. This is not only the case for big real estate agencies in for example London, but also for the smaller offices who operate local. Say for example a customer has been looking online for a villa for sale in Denia, the beautiful coastal town in Alicante, Spain. They are going to be looking to their estate agent to provide a number of different services, on top of simple offering a variety of properties to consider. This means that estate agents who want to win the trust, and repeated business, of their customers must be prepared to go the extra mile. Offering Comprehensive Service and Customer Understanding Background information is a key point of the service now expected of estate agents – you are offering property for sale in a specific area abroad, it’s up to you to understand the selling points of the region. Its climate, amenities, popularity with tourists and opportunities for investment are all parts of the essential knowledge required. The relevant information depends on understanding the goals of the customer. A customer who wants to buy a villa to retire to, or holiday in, is going to want different information to a customer who is looking to start or grow an investment. The modern, customer focussed estate agent also needs to be well versed in every aspect of the buying process, and both willing and able to offer the customer approachable help and advice through every step of the process. This could take the form of advising on essential documentation necessary to buy abroad, advice on local building code and regulations, as well as an overview of the financial state of the region if the property is for investment. Versatility Is Always the Goal Simply put, the modern real estate agent cannot be content to be tied to their local area if they’re going to appeal to an ever growing part of the population who are seeking to purchase a second property abroad. A good estate agent will be a “one stop shop” for all a potential customer’s needs and advice requirements, offering sound and accessible understanding for what can be a daunting prospect to many. Know the customer, know their needs, know their situation, and know their goals – with this information an attentive estate agent can make the process of buying a second property abroad easy and streamlined, which will guarantee that all important customer satisfaction.