GCR, GMB and Ucatt have all agreed settlements, leaving only Unite members to fight a court case set to start on 9 May. It is understood that 97 Unite members are yet to settle their claims against contractors Balfour Beatty, Carillion, Costain, Kier, Laing O’Rourke, Sir Robert McAlpine, Skanska UK
Find answers to typical questions for growing businesses on health and safety and taking on new employees in this live webinar. Webinar overview As your business starts to grow or you take on more employees you’ll face new issues and concerns. HMRC and the Health and Safety Executive are working
15 September 2016 | Herpreet Kaur Grewal A new Women and Equalities Parliamentary Committee inquiry into the accessibility of buildings, public spaces, and homes for those of reduced mobility is asking how well accessibility is taken into account in the design of a building. In a statement, the committee states
Severn Trent is the latest company to commit to offering paper bills for its customers. The water firm has been awarded a ‘mark of distinction’ by the Keep Me Posted campaign as it commits to offer its eight million customers paper bills and statements, without charge or
Crime Prevention Through Pro-Social Design recognises that the offender is very likely to be part of our community and that enhancing an offender’s emotional or moral attachment to an area through its design may reduce their desire or inclination to commit crimes within the community A UNIVERSITY of Huddersfield professor has investigated
Former England footballer Graeme Le Saux has been announced as this year’s guest speaker at the annual Guild of Architectural Ironmongers (GAI) Education Awards. Graeme will lead the celebrations, which will recognise the outstanding educational achievements of the door hardware industry’s rising stars at the Royal Lancaster hotel in London
A new £160 million retail designer outlet will be brought to Cannock in West Midlands by Bowmer & Kirkland (B&K). McArthurGlen has confirmed site preparation and earth works will begin this month to create a landmark 285,000 sq ft retail destination and community hub for the area. The development of
Pura Facades, the architectural cladding specialist, has become the sole UK distributor of VetaBric, the latest entrant to the fact-growing brick slip panel market.Acting as a lightweight panel alternative to traditional bricks, VetaBric can accurately reproduce the aesthetic of the majority of brick brands. Available in a new, ultra-thin, pre-mortared
Three school projects worth over £33 million in Denbighshire have been given the green light and construction work is underway. A new £5 million school building is being developed for Ysgol Carreg Emlyn, Clocaenog, as well as a new £5.3 million building for Ysgol Llanfair. Elsewhere. In addition, a new
SELECT, the campaigning body for the electro-technical trade in Scotland, has been updating its members on key points from the newly launched 18th Edition of the IET Wiring Regulations. SELECT’s Technical Standards Adviser, Bob Cairney, prepared the guide which is available in an on-line format to assist members to understand
GCR, GMB and Ucatt have all agreed settlements, leaving only Unite members to fight a court case set to start on 9 May. It is understood that 97 Unite members are yet to settle their claims against contractors Balfour Beatty, Carillion, Costain, Kier, Laing O’Rourke, Sir Robert McAlpine, Skanska UK and Vinci. Some of the remaining claimants may yet settle before next month’s High Court case, with offers understood to have been made to all. The companies made a full public apology in October 2015, which the three unions to have settled their claims all accepted on behalf of their members. Now, the unions have accepted “fair and reasonable” financial settlements and agreed on a statement to be read in court. In a statement, the group of defendants said: “These construction companies now wish to draw a line under this matter and continue to work together with the trade unions at national, regional and site level to ensure that the modern UK construction industry provides the highest standards of employment and HR practice for its workforce.” In February, 71 Ucatt members shared £5.6m in compensation for breach of the Data Protection Act, defamation and loss of earnings. In total, around 650 union members are taking or have taken legal action against the eight firms over historic blacklisting. . Source link
Find answers to typical questions for growing businesses on health and safety and taking on new employees in this live webinar. Webinar overview As your business starts to grow or you take on more employees you’ll face new issues and concerns. HMRC and the Health and Safety Executive are working together to deliver a live webinar about the typical situations you are likely to face. It looks at some of the questions you may have and guides you through the answers. Webinar dates Once you have registered the webinar organizer will communicate with you regarding these events. Source link
15 September 2016 | Herpreet Kaur Grewal A new Women and Equalities Parliamentary Committee inquiry into the accessibility of buildings, public spaces, and homes for those of reduced mobility is asking how well accessibility is taken into account in the design of a building. In a statement, the committee states the importance of looking into the accessibility of buildings. It said: “With an ageing population, it is likely that more and more of us will experience reduced mobility in our lifetime. There are also other needs to consider, such as mental health. In this inquiry we explore the extent to which those needs are considered and accommodated in our built environment, and ask whether more could be done to increase the accessibility and inclusivity of both new and existing properties and spaces.” In light of this, our Think Tank is asking the below: Source link
Severn Trent is the latest company to commit to offering paper bills for its customers. The water firm has been awarded a ‘mark of distinction’ by the Keep Me Posted campaign as it commits to offer its eight million customers paper bills and statements, without charge or penalty. Keep Me Posted campaign chair Judith Donovan said: “Severn Trent Water has joined a number of fellow water providers who have been awarded the Keep Me Posted campaign’s ‘Best Practice’ Mark of Distinction. “By ensuring the availability of paper bills and statements Severn Trent Water is listening to its customers’ needs and communicating with them in a way that lets them best manage their finances.” Severn Trent head of customer strategy and experience Leah Fry said: “We’re delighted to be awarded a mark of distinction. We’re committed to providing all of our customers with a great service in a way that suits them, and will continue to provide paper bills to our customers who want them.” Severn Trent joins a number of UK water companies which have received the award including Dee Valley Water, Welsh Water, Yorkshire Water, Bristol Water, Wessex Water and Thames Water. Source link
Crime Prevention Through Pro-Social Design recognises that the offender is very likely to be part of our community and that enhancing an offender’s emotional or moral attachment to an area through its design may reduce their desire or inclination to commit crimes within the community A UNIVERSITY of Huddersfield professor has investigated ways in which the design of dwellings and the layout of residential areas can deter offenders. Now, she aims to discover if better buildings and more sympathetic spaces can prevent people from turning to crime in the first place. It was while conducting research with convicted burglars that she was inspired to take this new direction. Rachel Armitage is Professor of Criminology at the University and one of her key areas has been the field termed Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED), which has established that buildings and the spaces between them will experience varying levels of crime based on their design, build and management. Now, Professor Armitage has made what she describes as a significant change in her research and is focussing on what she terms Crime Prevention Through Pro-Social Design (CPTPSD). She has outlined her new ideas at a major overseas conference and will now edit a special journal exploring the concept. “CPTED treats offenders as external, as ‘outsiders’, so you protect an area by designing them out. But Crime Prevention Through Pro-Social Design recognises that the offender is very likely to be part of our community and that perhaps enhancing an offender’s emotional or moral attachment to an area may reduce their desire or inclination to commit crimes within the community,” said Professor Armitage. Secured by design As part of her designing-out-crime research, she showed a number of convicted burglars a series of photos of houses and streets, in order to discover the features that made properties and neighbourhoods most vulnerable – such as low fences, or footpaths at the back of a house. But two of the images elicited a very different response. “The offenders would say ‘I wouldn’t burgle that house because it reminds me of where I grew up’, or ‘it’s like where my grandma lives’. These were a kind of moral responses to the features of the area, as if the design sparked a feeling that it would be wrong to commit a crime against something personal to them,” said Professor Armitage. This was the trigger for her new direction, and she explored the idea when invited to deliver a keynote address at the 2018 Crime Prevention and Communities conference hosted in Melbourne by the Australian Institute of Criminology and the Victorian Department of Justice and Regulation. Her well-received paper was titled ‘A more reliable glimpse’: Re-positioning the offender in Crime Prevention through Environmental Design. “There is a lot of research on how the design of an environment can impact on someone’s mental health – such as their vulnerability to becoming depressed, anxious or to using drugs,” said Professor Armitage. “All of those factors can increase a person’s risk of becoming an offender, so if we brought the two areas together and designed places which reduced mental illness and which reduced exclusion, then these people may feel less inclined to commit crimes in those areas.” Professor Armitage has now been invited to edit a special edition of the Journal of Social Sciences. Due to appear in 2019, it will be titled Crime Prevention Through Pro-social Design. An international call for contributions has now been made. “I am asking people to submit papers that explore how design can impact on offending from a very different perspective. It is a matter of designing in pro-social behaviour,” said Professor Armitage. “Designing out crime definitely still has a place and we have come a long way towards embedding this into our planning system. I was involved in that. But I think CPTED needs to evolve.”
Former England footballer Graeme Le Saux has been announced as this year’s guest speaker at the annual Guild of Architectural Ironmongers (GAI) Education Awards. Graeme will lead the celebrations, which will recognise the outstanding educational achievements of the door hardware industry’s rising stars at the Royal Lancaster hotel in London on 8 November. As well as his role in the national team, Graeme also played for Chelsea Southampton and Blackburn Rovers, helping the latter win the Premier League in 1995. Since his retirement from football in 2005, Graeme has worked as a pundit for the BBC and frequently undertakes project work with the FA, UEFA, FIFA and the Premier League. The GAI Education Awards include Gold, Silver and Bronze awards for the top students in the Diploma and the Pinnacle Award, sponsored by ASSA ABLOY, for the student with the best aggregate results over the three years of the Diploma programme. The GAI Diploma is designed to give students a high level of product knowledge and the ability to write accurate hardware specifications and quotations. The qualification is particularly suited to those in customer service, contract management, scheduling and estimating, and sales. GAI president, David Stacey, said: “The Education Awards is a great opportunity to recognise students’ hard work over the past three years. It is also a chance for companies to celebrate the individuals within their teams who are going above and beyond to offer architects and contractors high-quality technical knowledge.” The only recognised architectural ironmongery qualification in the world, the Guild’s education programme has been running for more than 50 years, training future generations of architectural ironmongers to British and European standards. This year’s GAI Education Awards is sponsored by dormakaba. To book your tickets to the 2018 GAI Education Awards, visit the GAI website: httZp://www.gai.org.uk/events-117/gai-education-awards2018/book-here?prv=1
A new £160 million retail designer outlet will be brought to Cannock in West Midlands by Bowmer & Kirkland (B&K). McArthurGlen has confirmed site preparation and earth works will begin this month to create a landmark 285,000 sq ft retail destination and community hub for the area. The development of Cannock Designer Outlet has been on the table since December 2017 when McArthurGlen announced a joint venture with Aviva Investors, The Richardson Family and U+I. The first phase of the scheme will feature 80 premium and luxury brands, along with a selection of restaurants and cafes, a children’s play area, bike parking for cyclists and 1,400 car parking spaced. The outlet is expected to be completed by 2020. “We are thrilled to start construction on this milestone development for Cannock. The new centre will generate significant employment for the local area and create a new retail destination for the region, serving 11 million local residents. Cannock Designer Outlet will be built to the highest standards of architectural design and sustainability, reflecting and respecting the the surrounding natural landscape,” said Gary Bond, Joint Managing Director of Development at McArthurGlen. In addition, as part of the investment is also the enhancement and ongoing maintenance of the Mill Green Natural Park, improvements to Cannock Town Centre and the railway station, and support for developing skills and employment prospects for local people. “The reality of creating one of the most significant things to happen in the district in recent memory is definitely here now, with this exciting news. As construction commences we will be working closely with McArthurGlen to ensure that disruption is kept to the minimum for our residents, as we progress to a development we can all be very proud about,” commented Council Leader George Adamson.
Pura Facades, the architectural cladding specialist, has become the sole UK distributor of VetaBric, the latest entrant to the fact-growing brick slip panel market.Acting as a lightweight panel alternative to traditional bricks, VetaBric can accurately reproduce the aesthetic of the majority of brick brands. Available in a new, ultra-thin, pre-mortared joint, VetaBric panels weight just 12.5kg per m2, offering a sleek and modern look to the facade. While architects love the creative possibilities of this product, contractors appreciate the speed at which the panels are hung – up to a third quicker than traditional bricklaying according to Pura’s commercial director James Butler. “Given the dearth of skilled labour and long lead times of bricks in the UK, solutions such as VetaBric are becoming much more popular with developers, architects and contractors. And despite being only 25mm thick, we’re finding the product to be dense and rigid; therefore very robust once installed on site,” commented James Butler. “A project we were recently involved with – a residential development in Thornton Heath, South London – shows how effective brick slip can be. The project was finished on time and within budget, thanks in some measure to the adoption of VetaBric,” he added. VetaBric is manufactured off-site in Lille, northern France, meaning it is supporting the UK’s move toward modular construction methods. It can be fixed onto a wide range of substrates including masonry, lightweight steel or timber frames – all using the extensive range of fixings provided by Pura. VetaBric also provides a joint free solution to facades, as any visible fixings are hidden by mortar applied once the panel is installed.
Three school projects worth over £33 million in Denbighshire have been given the green light and construction work is underway. A new £5 million school building is being developed for Ysgol Carreg Emlyn, Clocaenog, as well as a new £5.3 million building for Ysgol Llanfair. Elsewhere. In addition, a new £23 million 3-16 Catholic school is being built in Rhyl. These are the last three projects to be delivered as part of the first phase of a £90 million investment in Denbighshire’s schools under the 21st Century Schools programme. The contractors working on the projects are Willmott Dixon, Read Construction, Wynne Construction and Kier construction. The first phase of the programme included a new £24 million replacement school of 1,200 places for Rhyl High School and Ysgol Tir Morfa, a £16.5 million extension and refurbishment for Ysgol Glan Clwyd in St Asaph and a new £10.5 million joint site for Rhos Street School and Ysgol Pen Barras in Ruthin. “This investment has radically altered the learning environment for thousands of pupils. They are no longer being taught in outdated classrooms, they are now in state-of-the-art, bright and fit for purpose areas. The evidence is already showing this has changed pupils’ approach to learning and helping them achieve even more at school,” said Councillor Huw Hilditch-Roberts. Also included in the project was a £3.5 million seven-classroom extension and refurbishment with new reception area and hall at Bodnant Community School, Prestatyn, as well as a £1.4 million three-classroom extension and refurbishment at Ysgol Bro Dyfrdwy, Cynwyd. “Making sure young people have the right skills is a key priority under our Corporate Plan and we will continue to invest in the county’s schools as we look towards the next phase of the 21st Century Schools programme with the Welsh Government,” added the Councillor. The second phase of the 21st Century Schools programme is due to start in April 2019.
SELECT, the campaigning body for the electro-technical trade in Scotland, has been updating its members on key points from the newly launched 18th Edition of the IET Wiring Regulations. SELECT’s Technical Standards Adviser, Bob Cairney, prepared the guide which is available in an on-line format to assist members to understand the changes contained in these important regulations. The guide will also feature in the next issue of SELECT’s CableTalk magazine. Bob said: “BS: 7671:2018 (The 18th Edition of the IET Wiring Regulations) contains a number of significant changes which reflect industry best practice. “We have recently been out on the road to highlight the changes during our recent very successful Scotland-wide Toolbox Talks. These were held a few weeks ago and the presentations were well received by the members who attended”. A central theme of the regulations concerns improvements to the level of safety provided in new electrical installations and in particular with regard to fire safety. The 18th Edition introduces new devices called arc fault detection devices (AFDD) and these, where installed can provide an additional level of electrical safety from faults which other protective devices cannot detect specifically arcing faults. These are expected to be widely adopted by the industry. There is also new guidance on types of RCD and arrangement of devices to achieve selectivity between protective devices. Also of interest is informative guidance on energy efficiency. Darrell Mathews, Managing Director of SELECT, said: “These regulations incorporate the latest in technological developments across our sector and, while they do not come into force until 1 January 2019, we want SELECT members, as ever, to be in pole position.”
