18 March 2016 | Jamie Harris The BIFM has announced two more speakers for this year’s ThinkFM conference in London. The ThinkFM: Think Productivity conference, held on 18 May at Milton Court, London and online, will focus on the role of facilities management in unlocking organisational productivity. The BIFM has
ODVA, the organization that manages the EtherNet/IP technology, is bringing its training course, EtherNet/IP: Industrial Ethernet for the Internet of Things, to Spain this year. Held concurrently with the IOT Solutions World Congress, the course will be held on Tuesday 25 October at Fira Gran Via in Barcelona.
SME house builders struggling to find land New research from the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) has found that two thirds of SME house builders are struggling to identify land for development. For the second year in a row, the FMB’s annual House Builders’ Survey has shown a lack of
Award-winning developer Crest Nicholson has submitted a Reserved Matters Application for 192 homes and landscaped public open space at Alconbury Weald, Cambridgeshire. Located on the former airfield to the north west of Huntingdon, Crest Nicholson will become the fifth housebuilder to join the growing development of over 5,000 homes.
Every industry faces its own challenges when it comes to grappling with emerging innovations & technologies, even the construction sector. Although many whom work in the industry would say the construction world embraces change, inevitably, there are more pressing realities which can disrupt this idyll; including financial cost, ‘value engineering’
Organisers of Facilities Scotland, the only free-to-attend b2b exhibition dedicated to Scotland’s FM and workplace sector, have announced leading FM companies who will be exhibiting at the event which returns to the SEC, Glasgow on the 12 – 13 September 2018. Stannah Lifts, Viridor, Clockwork IT, Harrowgreen, Work Pal and
Simons Group has been awarded the contract for building the second phase of the new Circle Health private hospital in Birmingham’s medical quarter in Edgbaston. The Lincoln-based contractor is currently on site at the former BBC Pebble Mill studio location, working on phase 1 of the build. This new award
JLL’s H1 2018 UK Big Box Industrial & Logistics research has been published, revealing that over 12 million square feet of logistics properties were let in the first half of 2018. Logistics companies were the most active source of take-up in H1 2018, at 38% of the total whilst the
The Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey found that the total carriageway maintenance expenditure across England and Wales in 2017-2018 was around £1.93 billion — an increase on the previous year’s £1.66 billion. The rising cost of highway repair and maintenance could be reduced by local authorities with the
A new Specification Sales Executive has been appointed by tile distributor Ceramique Internationale for the Northern region. Michelle Foreman joins the senior sales team with a specific remit to work with housebuilders and developers across the region. She will be responsible for building Ceramique Internationale’s sales, nurturing the company’s existing
18 March 2016 | Jamie Harris The BIFM has announced two more speakers for this year’s ThinkFM conference in London. The ThinkFM: Think Productivity conference, held on 18 May at Milton Court, London and online, will focus on the role of facilities management in unlocking organisational productivity. The BIFM has announced that Dr Jill Miller of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and Eugenio Proto of the University of Warwick are to speak at the conference. Dr Miller is to address delegates about setting an aspirational agenda for wellbeing. Dr Miller said: “A healthy workplace is vital for a sustainable productive business. HR and facilities management have pivotal roles to play in making this a reality, along with leadership and management buy-in to the shared value that investing in wellbeing delivers.” Proto is to explore the effect of happiness on productivity, citing guidance for organisations striving to make their workplaces emotionally healthy for their workforce. For those wishing to attend this year’s conference, today is the final day to take advantage of early-bird savings. For more information and to book, go to www.thinkfm.com. Source link
ODVA, the organization that manages the EtherNet/IP technology, is bringing its training course, EtherNet/IP: Industrial Ethernet for the Internet of Things, to Spain this year. Held concurrently with the IOT Solutions World Congress, the course will be held on Tuesday 25 October at Fira Gran Via in Barcelona. The one-day course will outline the business and technical value of EtherNet/IP, highlighting how its network services, peer-to-peer architecture and standards-based approach ease integration of data between the plant floor to the enterprise. Distinctive services for functional safety, distributed motion, time synchronisation, energy management, and cybersecurity will also be covered. The course sessions will be presented by experts from leading industrial companies such as Cisco, Endress+Hauser, Harting, Omron, Rockwell Automation and Schneider Electric. “Through its reliance on standard Internet and Ethernet standards, EtherNet/IP is the only industrial Ethernet network that is proven, complete, and ready for the Industrial Internet of Things,” said Katherine Voss, ODVA president and executive director. “We invite users and equipment manufacturers to join ODVA at this important event in order to learn how EtherNet/IP will solve automation challenges, now and in the future.” There is no charge for attendees, but space is limited and registration is required. Visit https://www.odva.org/Happenings/Events to learn more. Source link
SME house builders struggling to find land New research from the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) has found that two thirds of SME house builders are struggling to identify land for development. For the second year in a row, the FMB’s annual House Builders’ Survey has shown a lack of available and viable land as the biggest barrier to SMEs delivering more new homes. Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the FMB, said: “The biggest challenge facing SME house builders is the planning process. Councils need to find a way of allocating and granting planning permission for more small sites. The current focus on large sites is squeezing out smaller developers, which is reducing competition in the housing market at a time when we need more, not less, choice. The limited supply of opportunities for small scale development is one of a number of key structural constraints that has seen the number of homes built by SMEs decline from around two thirds in the late 1980s to less than a quarter today.” It is absurd that the planning system treats a 300 home application in largely the same way it treats a three home application. While the Government has attempted to remove red tape in its drive to increase the number of homes being built, it would appear that its reforms have yet to make a difference. 95% of SME house builders report that the information demands being placed on them during the planning application process have either increased or remain as bad as they were before. Our survey shows that the primary cause of unnecessary delays is the planning process, with the under-resourcing of planning departments being the most important concern.” Berry concluded: “SME house builders must be seen as a key component of the Government’s housing strategy. This means a renewed focus on granting planning permission to small sites. At the same time, the Government needs to press ahead with its proposed planning reforms, including a presumption in favour of small scale development. Planning departments also need to be adequately resourced so that they have the capacity to engage more closely with SME house builders and ensure planning applications are processed through the system as speedily and efficiently as they can be.” Source link
Award-winning developer Crest Nicholson has submitted a Reserved Matters Application for 192 homes and landscaped public open space at Alconbury Weald, Cambridgeshire. Located on the former airfield to the north west of Huntingdon, Crest Nicholson will become the fifth housebuilder to join the growing development of over 5,000 homes. The application comes forward under the Planning Framework and Design Code set in place by the Outline application for Alconbury Weald. The Crest Nicholson team is working closely with the master developer behind Alconbury Weald, Urban&Civic. Benefitting from a prominent location on the central hub of the first phase, the new homes have been carefully designed to reflect the character of the local area. The green spaces around the homes will be connected by safe cycle and walking routes, while a number of public amenities will be delivered along the Linear Park, including orchards, outdoor table tennis and other games. Crest Nicholson aims to deliver a mixture of house types at Alconbury Weald, including one & two-bedroom apartments and four-bedroom townhouses along the green Boulevard. Townhouses with balconies will surround the cricket pitch and semi-detached and mews properties frame the Linear Park, which follows the line of one of the former airfield’s taxi-ways creating a safe walk and scoot to school route. A mix of two, three and four-bedroom houses characterise the remainder of the development, arranged around a central green park. Contemporary buff-coloured brick and red brick are used to denote distinct character areas within the development and are complemented by blue brick and render detailing. Internally, the homes will be light and spacious, and finished to a high specification. Toby Lambert, Development Director at Crest Nicholson Chiltern: “We are excited to have secured the opportunity to become the latest housebuilder to join the growing Alconbury Weald community. With over 5,000 homes, an enterprise zone and a variety of public amenities – including new schools, sports pitches and a health centre – this is truly a visionary project for the wider Cambridgeshire area. Our plans are to deliver a mix of 192 high-quality homes and we look forward to working with Urban&Civic bringing this vision to fruition.” Tim Leathes, Development Director for Urban&Civic, said: “With 475 homes currently under construction, 130 families moved in, and families moving in each week, it is great to be able to open up the next parcel for development. Our approach ensures that housebuilders coming on site bring forward the variety of sizes, types and prices people need, but there is also a consistency in the overall quality and nature of design and in the way homes connect to community facilities and green space. “As the first housebuilders start to finish their work on the early areas around the school, we will be announcing more housebuilders coming on over the next few months. There are nearly 70 house types on sale at Alconbury Weald, offering a great place to live and set down roots.”
Every industry faces its own challenges when it comes to grappling with emerging innovations & technologies, even the construction sector. Although many whom work in the industry would say the construction world embraces change, inevitably, there are more pressing realities which can disrupt this idyll; including financial cost, ‘value engineering’ and tight timescales. At large, the construction world steady, both in terms of commercial and residential builds. To ensure the sector doesn’t swamp itself in its own projects, new technologies (aka methods and products) are becoming more necessary in order to lighten workloads. One of the biggest challenges in the construction industry is miscommunication, where new innovations are a potential solution to reducing this issue. Not just exclusive to construction, miscommunication draws out projects and can cause problems to arise. Some examples of miscommunication in construction include: the wrong product is ordered as a contractor misread an illegible hand, or the product information might be completely at odds with what was specified originally. Building Information Modelling (BIM) is doing a great job tackling these examples. With BIM, different contractors working on a single project can share and access product information all through a 3D model of the construction. Whilst mistakes do happen, it is high time that technologies such as BIM are implemented across the board to prevent the likelihood of mistakes occurring through miscommunication. Necessitating these approaches is all well and good, providing the technologies are cost-efficient. Contractors are more than happy to adopt the new advancements as long as they are a worthwhile investment. This means that the products themselves should be made to ensure longevity, sophistication, and cost-effectiveness in equal measure. Contractors are more likely to use new products if they meet the above criteria. Should contractors be expected to pay a little more for a product, then the benefits must be recognisable. For instance, if a contractor has to choose between a cheap, slow application process or a more expensive, weather-resilient and faster application process, , then they will go for the latter, particularly as the more refined adhesive will save time and labour costs. To an extent, it is important to look at the larger picture when buying new products. Products including Sika-Trocal® Spray Adhesives cost a little more than traditional methods but save time on labour, balancing out project costs. That means contractors get the more premium product for the job whilst still saving hours. Sika-Trocal® Spray Adhesives, including C-400, are less labour-intensive and reduce wear-and-tear on the operative, making for an easy and less time-consuming application. Using new products and technologies for the first time can be alienating. In order for clients to get the best out of their products, Sika-Trocal® provides comprehensive training courses at site and management levels. For the construction industry to keep pace with exponential building demands, quick-drying but cost-effective products are a complete priority. Sika-Trocal® ensures all angles are covered when creating new technologies, ensuring clients have a full understanding of how to maximise the potential of great products.
Organisers of Facilities Scotland, the only free-to-attend b2b exhibition dedicated to Scotland’s FM and workplace sector, have announced leading FM companies who will be exhibiting at the event which returns to the SEC, Glasgow on the 12 – 13 September 2018. Stannah Lifts, Viridor, Clockwork IT, Harrowgreen, Work Pal and Nurture Landscapes are just a handful of the UK’s leading facilities manufacturers and suppliers that are attending this year’s event. They join safety and fire safety companies who will also be exhibiting at the co-located events Health & Safety Scotland and Facilities Scotland. All three events are part of the Scotland Works series, which provides a unique opportunity for professionals to access 150+ exhibiting companies and four streams of professional content dedicated to helping them maintain a safe, secure and cost-effective business – all with one free visitor badge. In addition to the plethora of exhibiting companies, visitors to Facilities Scotland will gain access to a free-to-attend CPD accredited professional seminar programme under the theme ‘Building the Scottish FM powerhouse’. The programme features a series of talks from prominent voices from Scotland’s facilities industry who will discuss and debate latest trends shaping the FM market in the region. Tim Else, Director from event organiser Western Business Exhibitions comments, “We are delighted at the quality of exhibiting companies that are taking part in this year’s event.” “Visitors will be able to meet these brands face-to-face and get bespoke advice for their business. It is the ideal platform for FM’s to combine a year’s worth of education and supplier sourcing into just two days.” Free visitor registration is now open at www.facilitiesevents.com
Simons Group has been awarded the contract for building the second phase of the new Circle Health private hospital in Birmingham’s medical quarter in Edgbaston. The Lincoln-based contractor is currently on site at the former BBC Pebble Mill studio location, working on phase 1 of the build. This new award brings the total contract to £33.5m and, when complete, will be the second largest private hospital in the UK. The hospital is based on an expandable model which can be adapted and expanded to meet clinical demand now and in the future. Phase 1, which includes three operating theatres (expandable to six), an endoscopy procedure room, and 18 in-patient bedrooms, is due to complete in March 2019. Work is already underway on Phase 2, a dedicated rehabilitation centre, which is expected to be complete in July next year. “We are delighted that our relationship with Medical Properties Trust and Circle Health is going from strength to strength,” said Simons Chief Executive Tom Robinson. “Being awarded with the next stage in this fantastic project is testament to the progress and quality of the work already undertaken on Phase 1. The hospital is going to be a great addition to Birmingham’s renowned Medical Quarter and a project of which we will all be exceptionally proud.” Paolo Pieri, CEO of Circle Health, said: “This rehabilitation facility is a game-changer in UK healthcare, bringing the latest technology and the proven European methodology for accelerating the care of neurological patients, and also for those who have undergone surgery on bones and joints. “When Circle Birmingham Hospital opens next year, it will deliver a truly state-of-the-art experience, combining leading doctors with the most advanced equipment, and rapidly become the must-go location for planned surgery. No one will be in any doubt that Birmingham is a global centre of excellence for healthcare.”
JLL’s H1 2018 UK Big Box Industrial & Logistics research has been published, revealing that over 12 million square feet of logistics properties were let in the first half of 2018. Logistics companies were the most active source of take-up in H1 2018, at 38% of the total whilst the growth of online retail has continued to generate new demand for warehousing with retailers accounting for 34% of demand. Moreover, Grade A availability increased over the first six months of 2018 to 20.2 million sq ft, following a pick-up in both new and good quality second hand supply. Nationally, the vacancy rate rose from 6% at the end of 2017 to 7% at mid-2018. Distribution rents are also forecast to grow by 3.4% this year throughout the UK. “Take up in the occupational market was exceptionally strong in the first six months of this year, indeed it was one of the strongest half yearly levels on record and 27% higher than the five-year half yearly average, H2 2013 – H1 2018 (9.7 million sq ft). The sharp rise is partly attributable to a number of large transactions, that had initially been expected to complete last year, rolling over into 2018. Of the 12.3 million sq ft taken up in H1 2018, around 9 million sq ft comprised new units, with the remaining 3.2 million sq ft consisting of good quality second hand space,” said Richard Evans, director Industrial & Logistics. Regionally, the research revealed that the East Midlands accounted for the largest share of take-up of new floorspace in H1 2018 at 45% of the total. This was followed by the Greater South East (South East, East and London) which took a 16% share and the West Midlands, which accounted for 15% of total demand. “Despite the likelihood of slow economic growth this year and continued uncertainty over Brexit, we remain positive about the logistics market in 2018. With over 4 million sq ft of logistics space currently either under offer or expected to complete in the short-term we expect a robust level of take-up this year, potentially around the 20 million sq ft mark which would be above the five-year annual average,” said Jon Sleeman, director Industrial & Logistics research. “With more speculative development taking place nationally we also expect to see a change in the take-up of new space with speculative product eating into the dominant built to suit (BTS) share. Based on our monitoring of the supply pipeline, we expect speculative development to continue to rise, including larger units,” Jon concluded.
The Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey found that the total carriageway maintenance expenditure across England and Wales in 2017-2018 was around £1.93 billion — an increase on the previous year’s £1.66 billion. The rising cost of highway repair and maintenance could be reduced by local authorities with the employment of simple preventative solutions. The survey, published by the Asphalt Industry Alliance, also highlighted a gap of £3.3 million between the funds that local authority highways teams in England and Wales received in the last 12 months and the amount needed to keep the carriageway in ‘reasonable order’. One in five of local roads in the UK is now deemed to be structurally poor, meaning it has less than five years of life remaining. “Anything that represents a more permanent repair — rather than patching — is a good thing: the taxpayer benefits, the local authority can spend money on more road maintenance or infrastructure projects, motorists face fewer repairs to their cars, and the total economic impact is ultimately reduced,” said Jochen Bromen, Application Technology Manager, Asphalt Systems, at pavement reinforcement specialist Tensar. Following a winter of severe weather conditions, the Local Government Association claims that funding “will provide just over 1% of what is needed to tackle our current £9.3 billion local roads repair backlog”. With these results, it becomes clearer and clearer that innovative approaches are increasingly needed to further safeguard the UK’s highways. “The technology combines the reinforcing function of a grid with the stress-relief and interlayer barrier function of a paving fabric,” Bromen explained. “This type of maintenance solution is simple and economical and can extend the operating life of a road, reducing whole-life costs.” Moreover, the survey also found a huge disparity between recommended frequency of road resurfacing work and the current reality. It is advised that resurfacing should occur every 10 to 20 years. However, the reporting of such activity has plummeted to once every 92 years in England. “By taking a whole-life approach to road maintenance and investing in the correct technology to extend their lifespan, local authorities will realise huge long-term savings,” concluded Bromen.
A new Specification Sales Executive has been appointed by tile distributor Ceramique Internationale for the Northern region. Michelle Foreman joins the senior sales team with a specific remit to work with housebuilders and developers across the region. She will be responsible for building Ceramique Internationale’s sales, nurturing the company’s existing accounts and furthering relationships in the housebuilding sector. Originally from Leeds and currently living in Bradford, Michelle joins the Ceramique Internationale team from PID systems where she dealt exclusively with housebuilders across the North on their onsite security systems. She is an experienced professional with over 20 years of experience in sales, having had established a successful history of new business wins and consistently maintains fantastic customer retention levels. Although new to the tile industry, Michelle has spent time at leading European tile shows Cevisama in Valencia and Cersaie in Bologna, where she has established strong connections with leading figures in the industry. “We are delighted to welcome Michelle to our team. With her extensive sales experience and outstanding customer network we believe that she represents a perfect fit for the company, enabling us to continue our growth and ensure our products reach an even wider audience,” said Director of Ceramique Internationale, Cameron Fraser. Ceramique Internationale employs 18 people, six of whom have been with the company for more than 20 years. The Leeds warehouse holds 100,000 square metres of tiles in stock at any one time, comprising hundreds of styles of floor and wall tiles, mosaics and associated products. The company started as a tile fixing company in Bradford in 1974 as part of the Ibmac Group, owned by Robert J Ibbitson, who quickly recognised greater profitability in importing and selling tiles and so joined forces with two factories in France. The company grew quickly, opening showrooms in Bradford and on the affluent Kings Road in London, plus an export office in Singapore and architectural office in Northern Ireland.
