Leeds announces launch of new 10 year fix Leeds Building Society has announced today that it has launched a new 10 year fixed rate mortgage at 2.75%, with no early redemption charges after five years. The deal is available up to 65% LTV (Loan to Value) and has tapered ERCs
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Kent based Gallagher Group has bought a new Rapidmix 400CW mobile continuous mixing plant. Above: The Rapidmix 400CW at Hermitage Lane quarry The Rapidmix machine is operated primarily at the group’s Hermitage Lane Quarry site in Maidstone, although it can also be used on location if haulage presents an issue.
A majority of the celebrities globally have had a very tough past, be it in the field of acting, music or sports. Oprah Winfrey profoundly says “Turn your wounds into wisdom”, this quote stands perfectly true in the lives of a number of celebrities who are extremely popular today. Here
If your business is found to be employing illegal immigrants, you face significant civil and potentially criminal sanctions. Immigration solicitor Anne Morris shares insight into the steps construction businesses can take to avoid falling foul of UK immigration law. Over £11.5million in fines were issued to UK businesses for illegal
It is widely acknowledged that more homes need to be built in the UK. The government has been issuing (and revising) targets since 2015, and although numbers have increased during that period, the fact is the industry is still not building as many new houses as it did ten years
Makita, the UK’s number one professional power tool manufacturer, has introduced two new 18V LXT 5-piece brushless kits which represent a substantial saving by comparison with individual purchases. The new DLX5042PT kit contains a combi drill, impact driver, angle grinder, rotary hammer and a handy LED flashlight and is packaged
Leeds announces launch of new 10 year fix Leeds Building Society has announced today that it has launched a new 10 year fixed rate mortgage at 2.75%, with no early redemption charges after five years. The deal is available up to 65% LTV (Loan to Value) and has tapered ERCs for the first five years. Jaedon Green, Leeds Building Society’s Director of Product and Distribution, had this to say: “We’ve had feedback from lots of customers looking for long term stability but reluctant to tie in for a full 10 year period so they choose a five year deal instead. This deal is a good compromise – being able to redeem without penalty after five years gives these borrowers the security of a 10 year fix if they want to stick with it, but the flexibility to switch or pay off their mortgage after five years if they wish. The potential cost of remortgaging is something borrowers don’t always take into account, which is another reason why longer term deals will suit some people.” The Society has also cut the rate on its conventional 10 year fixed rate mortgage to 2.55% and reduced the fee to £999. This is available up to 65% LTV. All Society fixed rate mortgages are portable, subject to the borrower meeting affordability requirements at the time of porting. Join our mailing list: Source link
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Kent based Gallagher Group has bought a new Rapidmix 400CW mobile continuous mixing plant. Above: The Rapidmix 400CW at Hermitage Lane quarry The Rapidmix machine is operated primarily at the group’s Hermitage Lane Quarry site in Maidstone, although it can also be used on location if haulage presents an issue. The plant is used in the production of the company’s Gallapave range of hydraulically bound material (HBM) and roller compacted concrete (RCC). Gallagher Group said: “With the Rapidmix 400CW we are using the waste fines from our fixed primary crushing plant for our HBM products, saving dump trucks moving fines and space in our landfill. The Rapidmix 400CW is a well-built piece of equipment but as with every piece of new equipment there is always minor initial teething problems. The customer service that Rapid International gave was second to none. Most queries were resolved over the phone with the remote login access from head office in Northern Ireland.” HBM is used as sub-base and base course to replace traditional capping layer, type 1 sub-base and tarmacadam base course in road construction, and so reduce road digging and avoid the need for a geotextile membrane. RCC is a semi dry concrete product that is a wearing surface used where strong pavement is required to stand up to massive loads and specialised equipment. With its high flexural strength, it does not require forms or finishing and is fast and economical to produce. RCC is typically used for ports, airports and warehouses. Semi dry mixes, such as HBM and RCC, are typically less economical to produce in a conventional static batch plant. The Rapidmix mobile continuous mixing plant solves this problem as it is specifically designed for semi dry mixes, ensuring a high output of high quality homogenous material at all times, the manufacturer says. The on board high speed Rapid Twin Shaft mixer contains chill cast steel mixing paddles which are phased to optimise mixing action while maximising throughput. The recently updated Rapidmix 400 CW incorporates full weighing options for all materials – aggregates, cement and water – with automatic data logging for record keeping. This article was published on 11 Mar 2016 (last updated on 11 Mar 2016). Source link
A majority of the celebrities globally have had a very tough past, be it in the field of acting, music or sports. Oprah Winfrey profoundly says “Turn your wounds into wisdom”, this quote stands perfectly true in the lives of a number of celebrities who are extremely popular today. Here is a list of celebrities who have strived extremely hard to make their place in the world today. Arnold Schwarzenegger Popular for his role in the movie Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger was laying bricks while he was trying to become a renown bodybuilder. Along with his close friend, Arnold started his own construction business in the year 1968 which was known as ‘Speciality European Bricklayers’. Although Arnold failed to keep up with his goal, he was successful in making his place in the Hollywood industry with his great acting skills. Ozzy Osbourne Ozzy Osbourne is an English singer, songwriter and an actor. He became popular in the 1970s and appeared in numerous reality television shows like The Osbournes, with his wife Sharon and two of his children Kelly and Jack. After leaving school at the age of 15, Ozzy did numerous jobs such as a car factory horn-tuner, apprentice toolmaker, trainee plumber and construction site labourer. Whoopi Goldberg An American actress, comedienne, author, and a television host, Whoopi Goldberg also worked as a bricklayer in an construction industry. She was invited to join the bricklayer’s union because of her exceptional quality of work. Whoopi also helped to build the wall around San Diego Zoo. Sean Connery Having perfectly played the role of James Bond in different movies, Sean Connery was a labourer who was laying bricks and also polishing the coffins. It was solely due to his hard work and determination that he was successful in becoming one of the famous actors in the Hollywood industry. This is what happens when luck stands with you! When they turned out to be celebrities, yours could be some real money if luck favours. Try playing at Sparkle Slots casino and check your luck online in winning some amazing! Joe Manganiello Joe Manganiello is well-known for his different acting roles. He became quite famous by playing the role of Alcide Herveaux in the movie True Blood. Before his career in acting, Joe was shovelling sand and gravel in order to meet his daily expenditure. This phase undoubtedly paid off as this phase helped him to keep his physique fit and healthy. Noel Gallagher Noel Gallagher is a famous British singer, songwriter and a guitarist. Before entering the industry, it was Noel’s older brother who got him a job at Kennedy’s Civil Engineering on building sites in Manchester. It was during this period that Noel composed songs which later led him to become a popular musician. Ian Wright A former England footballer and Arsenal legend, Ian Wright had a very tough start. After leaving school at the age of 16, Ian was trained as a bricklayer and plasterer. On being asked as to what he would have become if not a footballer, he replied that he must become successful in the construction industry because of his excellent work ethics and put his heart and soul to earn his living. Winston Churchill once said, “Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm”. These celebrities kept up to what they believed in, struggled hard and did reach their goals.
If your business is found to be employing illegal immigrants, you face significant civil and potentially criminal sanctions. Immigration solicitor Anne Morris shares insight into the steps construction businesses can take to avoid falling foul of UK immigration law. Over £11.5million in fines were issued to UK businesses for illegal working between October and December 2017. 624 UK businesses were fined and 990 illegal workers were identified. These figures suggest employers are falling foul of their immigration compliance duties in their droves, and in doing so are creating a healthy income stream in fines for the Home Office. Construction companies in particular attract Home Office attention due to the high numbers of foreign workers; 7% of the sector’s workforce are EU27 nationals and 3% are non-EU. Immigration non-compliance remains an issue at both ends of the market. Smaller firms can struggle because of a lack of resource or lack of knowledge of the legislation. Whereas larger companies may have the resources, systems and policies in place to manage the immigration risks, but ensuring these are consistently implemented across all sites, employees and areas of their operations is challenging. What does the law say? Under the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 you may be liable for a civil penalty if you employ someone who does not have permission to be in the UK or undertake the work on offer. If you are found to be employing illegal immigrants, you may incur a fine of up to £20,000 per illegal worker. Employers could also face a custodial sentence if they knew, or had reasonable cause to believe, that an employee was disqualified from employment by reason of their immigration status. The term illegal immigrant applies to anyone who does not hold valid leave to enter or remain in the UK – regardless of how or when they entered, and if they had previously held lawful status. This may be due to visa curtailment, revocation, cancellation or expiry. It may also be because of a restriction preventing the person from performing the work in question. How to avoid employing illegal immigrants As an employer, you can take measures to avoid a Home Office fine by carrying out right to work document checks on all prospective and, where necessary, existing employees. By doing this correctly and on a consistent basis, you will be able to challenge Home Office allegations of non-compliance. A compliant approach to right to work requires you to: Obtain an original document, or combination of documents, in accordance with the Home Office approved list before an applicant can start work with you. Check the validity of the documentation in the presence of the applicant. If you are provided with a false document you will only face a penalty if it is reasonably apparent that the documentation checked was not genuine, did not rightfully belong to the holder or the work was not permitted. Copy the documentation electronically or in hardcopy. This should be in a format that cannot be manually altered, such as a jpeg/pdf document or photocopy. Make a contemporaneous record of the date you conducted the check. You should also keep a record of when any repeat checks will need to be made. Retain your copies and records for the duration of the individual’s employment, and for a further two years after they leave. In some cases you may also need to verify the employee’s right to work with the Home Office Employer Checking Service. For example, where an employee has an immigration appeal pending a decision. The Home Office will provide you with a Positive Verification Notice to confirm that the applicant has permission to work. Correct, consistent, compliant For full compliance, document checks are expected to be an integral part of your business’s recruitment and onboarding processes to help avoid illegal working fines – and adding to the Home Office coffers. Anne Morris is an immigration solicitor and Managing Director at UK immigration law firm DavidsonMorris. specialists in all areas of business immigration including right to work compliance, PBS licences and challenging civil penalties.
It is widely acknowledged that more homes need to be built in the UK. The government has been issuing (and revising) targets since 2015, and although numbers have increased during that period, the fact is the industry is still not building as many new houses as it did ten years ago. West Midlands based housing constructor Totally Modular believes it has the helping answer, or at least a major part of the puzzle solved. Volumetric modular construction of houses essentially enables homes to be built on a production line, in a factory, with all the inherent advantages of being an engineered product built in a controlled environment. Repeatability helps to speed up construction, while also allowing for the very latest construction methods and materials to be used. The materials are supplied to the production line as they are needed, ensuring everything is in place for a just in time (JIT) build process. Trained engineers and tradesmen work side-by-side to assemble the pre-fabricated steel structure, attach all the internal wall panels, insulation and external finishing’s such as bricks, renders or cladding and fully fit out the internal areas incorporating the necessary kitchen, bathrooms and central heating with all utilities connected ready for site erection. The whole process is fast, efficient and precise while also being compliant with the company’s ISO 9001, 18001, 14001 and 1090 CE certifications. All work is carried out in line with internally developed QA plans and controlled by QC inspectors who certify compliance at specific hold points. They liaise with both customers and third parties to witness and approve the key build stages as would a building inspector during a traditional development. As the build process is not subject to the outside elements it can carry on all year round, while lean manufacturing and purchasing procedures ensure minimal waste is created. In scaling up the process to the company’s planned levels of operation, a standard two-bedroom house can be manufactured in just 96 hours at either of the company’s West Midlands factory locations, resulting in the delivery of up to 900 homes per year at full capacity for the two sites. A scalable and repeatable solution The plan doesn’t end there though, the business model is infinitely scalable and according to company director Mick Pettitt, the company’s plans could help start modular building factories all over the UK, using vacant industrial units, creating local jobs, pulling-in education centres and developing new communities with a vested interest in where they live, having played a part in its construction. “This model is not only efficient, it is productive and sustainable. It is working extremely well in the West Midlands and so there is no reason why it wouldn’t work in any other industrial town in the UK and Ireland. We have done the hard work in developing the housing modules and the construction techniques, along with the management systems and even the marketing process. It’s a housing solution in-a-box and it is ready to go – we are also actively interested in supporting organisations and individuals that want to set-up their own Totally Modular community and factory.” Housing associations, according to the company are very much on-side, frustrated by the need for developers to maximise profitability, affordable housing is proving very difficult to create in anywhere near the numbers needed. Volumetric modular house building on the other hand lends itself to building affordable housing, with compact, high-quality living accommodation built to a modern optimised design being economically repeatable, in volume supported by an approved CML warranty. Once a factory is set-up and the necessary skills and training are put in place the plan is for the process to be self-fulfilling as it will generate local employment, wealth and much needed affordable housing, benefiting the community and society as a whole. The model has been established in the West Midlands where two factories are being fully converted into lean dynamic cellular manufacturing facilities specifically laid out for the production of housing modules. Both sites can build a wide range of housing solutions based on single modules or multiple units which simply lock together onsite and can be occupied within 4 days of positioning. The designs have been developed and refined over the last ten years so are tried and tested and offer a range of layouts. Training and communities The community aspect becomes far stronger when local education institutions are involved. In the West Midlands Totally Modular is currently working with Dudley College (DCFE), regarded as one of the country’s leading BIM, CAD and Volumetric educational facilities. The Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET), the Institute for Apprenticeships and the new National Housing Academy are also involved and committed to creating an ‘Apprenticeship in Volumetric Engineering’ in order to provide the necessary workforce the industry will need to ensure sustainability of growth in the modular process going forwards. Totally Modular and its local supporters believe volumetrically engineered housing will enable the creation of a new skilled workforce to produce the houses required at an affordable cost in factories located near the places of demand. This reduces nuisance construction traffic in urban areas and the carbon footprint of the house build. Using the Totally Modular model, the scalability of the opportunity is easy to appreciate with a 40,000 sq. ft factory being able to produce 1200 modules annually resulting in the supply of 45,000 sqm of living space which equates to the equivalent of 600 houses being delivered per year. With a national requirement for an increase of an extra 120,000 homes per year (National Housing Federation and the homeless charity Crisis recent statistics) from what is being built now, no-one in the trade will be out of a job as a result. It will require 200 new factories and a newly trained semi and skilled workforce of 40,000 to meet this demand alone, alongside the increased jobs created within the supply chain to produce an estimated 250,000 tonnes of steel, 30,000,000 square metres of wooden panels, plaster board, insulation
Makita, the UK’s number one professional power tool manufacturer, has introduced two new 18V LXT 5-piece brushless kits which represent a substantial saving by comparison with individual purchases. The new DLX5042PT kit contains a combi drill, impact driver, angle grinder, rotary hammer and a handy LED flashlight and is packaged as the 5-piece construction kit. The Makita DHP484 combi drill will run up to 2,000rpm in high mode, 500rpm in low mode, with an impact performance of 30,000ipm in high and 7,500ipm in low modes, with a maximum torque of 54Nm with 21 settings and drill mode. This combi drill will punch a 13mm hole in masonry, and with all-metal gear box and aluminium gear housing is ideal for rugged site operations. The compact DTD153 single-speed impact driver produces 170 Nm of torque, 3,600ipm, with a no load speed up to 3,400 rpm. This model has a ¼” hex; one-touch chuck, an electric brake, variable speed control trigger, and as with all power tools in this kit, the DTD153 features a brushless motor for longer runtime, less friction and more torque. Also contained in this comprehensive kit is the DGA456 115mm angle grinder which will run up to 8,500 rpm with a maximum 6mm wheel thickness. It features Automatic Speed Control which changes the cutting speed according to the load condition. The powerful DHR242 SDS+ rotary hammer will punch a 24mm hole into concrete, 13mm in steel and 27mm in wood. It will run up to 950rpm and generates up to 4,700 blows per minute with 2.0 Joules of impact energy. The second kit is the DLX5043PT more suited to woodworking applications. This kit features the combi drill, impact driver and flashlight contained in the DLX5042PT kit together with a circular saw and jigsaw. The Makita DHS680 cordless circular saw produces 680 watts of motor power that will run the 165mm blade up to 5,000rpm without load and also features Automatic Speed Control. Maximum cutting depth at 0° is 57mm; 41mm at 45° and 37mm at 50°. A large lock-off lever fixes the cutting angle. In operation a blower function blows sawdust off the cutting line for a clear view of the blade path, and Makita recommends that a rear dust port should be connected to use a dust extraction system. The DJV182 jigsaw will run from 800 up to 3,500 strokes per minute with a 26mm stroke length giving a maximum cut in wood of 135mm, 10mm in steel and 20mm in aluminium. The rigid aluminium base bevels 0-45°, both left and right. For safety, after the trigger is released, the machine will lock automatically if the lock-on button is not pressed within 10 seconds. Both new Makita kits provide a financial saving over buying the products individually and are supplied complete with three 18V 5.0Ah Lithium-ion batteries and a twin-port fast charger. The tools are packaged in a rugged, flexible tool bag that has a shoulder strap, handgrip and very useful trolley wheels and an extendable handle for ease of transport of your tools whilst keeping them safe. For more news and product information about Makita UK please visit www.makitauk.com. Follow us on Twitter @MakitaUK, Facebook.com/makitauk and google.com/+makitauk
