©Bloomberg Gold has been having one of its moments since the beginning of the year; the dollar price is up over 15 per cent, compared with 1.9 per cent for the S&P 500. At these levels, the metal is overpriced and well worth it. By “overpriced” I mean that market
Alex McKinlay has joined the Savills UK Public Sector team as head of Public Sector Land, working with the existing public sector and development teams across the Savills business. Alex has worked in the sector for 20 years, most recently as a director at Deloitte Real Estate. His experience includes
Scottish energy independence is crucial to ensuring the future of the renewables industry north of the border, according to the SNP. Speaking today at the SNP party conference in Glasgow, the party’s business, energy and industrial strategy Westminster spokesperson Callum McCaig said a separate energy system would
Oldham Leisure Centre’s cutting-edge facilities are built to the high standard demanded to attract major sporting competitions to the town, helping to put Oldham on the national sporting map. Heradesign wall panels from Knauf AMF have played their part in ensuring the success of the project by providing the highest
“Cinema is truth 24 times a second, and every cut is a lie,” wrote the director Jean-Luc Godard. Hollywood’s record with movies “based on real events” makes clear what he meant, and Deepwater Horizon, the new film telling the story of BP’s disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010,
A roofing firm from Malton was fined today for safety breaches after a worker fractured his skull following a fall from height. Mitchell Roofing Ltd, was contracted to replace existing rooflights at Monk Bridge Construction Co Ltd, Elvington, York. The injured worker slipped and fell some seven metres through the
The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) has teamed up with iconic BBC television show Blue Peter to offer children the chance to design and engineer aspects of their very own music video for British pop-rock band New Hope Club. Winners will get to meet the band, as well as actively participate
It is some time now since the vacuum cleaner was invented but it triggered a revolution in how chores were done in the homes, and how much time those chores took. Everytime some new appliance or technology appeared in the home it made such a huge difference to how we
An initiative which started late last year to repair more than 40 miles of drought damaged roads in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough will enter its final stages this month, with multiple locations set for improvements. Having completed many of the routes, especially within the Peterborough area, attention has now switched to
Tests on aluminium cladding panels, of the type used on the Grenfell Tower, have shown that the presence of water may cause violent chemical reactions and accelerate flames. University of Portsmouth civil engineering student Laurence Casey carried out experiments in a specialist fire laboratory to find out why the panels
©Bloomberg Gold has been having one of its moments since the beginning of the year; the dollar price is up over 15 per cent, compared with 1.9 per cent for the S&P 500. At these levels, the metal is overpriced and well worth it. By “overpriced” I mean that market sentiment is measurably too bullish. More On this story On this topic View from the US Perhaps, though, Mr Market is on to something. In the olden days, when Deutsche Bank was a cornerstone of German stability, you could count on the dealers on its gold desk, along with their friends working for the other big banks, to step in and make sure that the market was liquid and continuous. On Thursday, though, Deutsche sent a letter to a federal judge in New York agreeing to settle a lawsuit that accused it of conspiring with other big banks to manipulate the gold and silver markets. As part of the settlement, Deutsche agreed to provide “valuable monetary consideration to be paid into a settlement fund” as well as “co-operation in pursuing claims against the remaining defendants.” Those defendants include Scotiabank, Barclays, HSBC and Société Générale. This cannot make it easy for the remaining members of the Old Boys Club to have a friendly conference call about reducing the magnitude of swings and roundabouts in the bullion price. Back in March of last year, the twice-daily, phone-based London gold fix was turned into a more compliance- and algorithm-friendly electronic system. At the same time, capital and cash liquidity requirements were forcing the global systemically important banks to reduce their commitments to high-volume, low-margin enterprises such as precious-metals trading. The combination of reduced transparency and the scarcity of dealer capital has, arguably, led to even lower bid/ask spreads and higher volatility. Also, the higher compliance burden seems to have driven more gold trading into the shadows. As one Swiss gold refiner I know puts it: “For the parallel markets [black markets], this is party time. The parallel markets are now faster and more flexible. This is very, very dangerous, because the liquidity for these markets comes from sources that are illegal. But I cannot take a small customer, such as somebody who is doing 15 to 20 kilos a week, because my compliance costs are too high.” Think about that: a “small customer” who refines only $30m of gold annually, and who is now gravitating to the “parallel market”. Since after a couple of refining runs, at most, it is virtually impossible to tell the origin of one piece of gold from another, you get an idea of how much gold is moving from one compliance-unfriendly owner to another. Especially since the developed world’s tax and banking systems are ever less open to bleaching soiled money. This hidden demand dynamic can explain part of the increased investor interest in gold. Also, one of the classic arguments against gold, its nonexistent yield, is rather less compelling in a negative rate world. Even so, while it would seem that the gold price is in a multiyear uptrend, many people like to be paid to wait, even if they are not paid much. That explains the increasing popularity of the gold “streaming” equities, which effectively pay dividends out of their income from secured lending to gold mining companies. Among the best managed of the gold streamers is Franco-Nevada, which has a dividend yield of about 1.25 per cent. This is not an undiscovered story. Since the start of the year, Franco-Nevada’s stock has risen nearly 47 per cent. Franco-Nevada’s chairman, Pierre Lassonde, spoke at the spring investor conference run by Jim Grant, the US writer, last week. Mr Lassonde made the case (or preached to the choir, if you will) about the opportunity clueless central bankers are handing to gold investors. “We think the ECB’s negative interest rate policy has the potential to double the size of the gold-bar market in Europe,” he said. That sounds rather expansive, but my Swiss refiner already sees it in his business. “Europeans are buying bars and coins as a personal hedge to protect themselves against the currency war.” Recently, there seems to have been an undeclared truce declared among central-bank combatants in this undeclared war, but truces have a way of falling apart. Consider the possibility that one of the systemically significant banks should need a co-ordinated bailout due to its inability to control the risks of its derivatives book. Could this lead to even more heroic quantitative easing than we have seen so far? As Mr Grant says: “Radical policy begets more radical policy.” Maybe gold is not overpriced enough. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2016. You may share using our article tools. Please don’t cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web. Source link
Alex McKinlay has joined the Savills UK Public Sector team as head of Public Sector Land, working with the existing public sector and development teams across the Savills business. Alex has worked in the sector for 20 years, most recently as a director at Deloitte Real Estate. His experience includes advising the MoD on high profile sales across the UK, including the record breaking Chelsea Barracks, and leading the procurement of development partners for first two phases of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park for the London Legacy Development Corporation. Of his appointment, Alex says: “With the spotlight on housing delivery in London and across the country there is an increased focus on public sector land. I look forward to working alongside the existing Savills teams to grow the public sector development business.” Alex Dawson, head of Public Sector Consultancy says; “Alex has extensive knowledge of public sector sales, having acted for land owners including the MoD, NHS, local authorities and education bodies. Alex brings skills in land agency and procurement and will boost the offering for our public sector clients”. Richard Rees, head of Savills UK Development says: “We are delighted to welcome Alex to Savills. His knowledge and experience will complement the existing team and we look forward to working with him”. Source link
Scottish energy independence is crucial to ensuring the future of the renewables industry north of the border, according to the SNP. Speaking today at the SNP party conference in Glasgow, the party’s business, energy and industrial strategy Westminster spokesperson Callum McCaig said a separate energy system would help Scotland “realise its potential”. He told delegates that the UK government “took a hatchet to Scotland’s renewable energy” by introducing cuts to onshore wind, solar and biomass subsidies. McCaig also said the UK government was “unable or unwilling” to change the transmission charging regime, which he said was responsible for the closure of the coal-fired Longannet power station. “If we have our own energy system we can build a system that not only works for people but also for the climate, with wind solar offshore wind biomass and hydro along with storage and some back up gas. “What is something we must strive to achieve. Westminster will not do it for us, we must do it for ourselves.” Source link
Oldham Leisure Centre’s cutting-edge facilities are built to the high standard demanded to attract major sporting competitions to the town, helping to put Oldham on the national sporting map. Heradesign wall panels from Knauf AMF have played their part in ensuring the success of the project by providing the highest acoustic and durability specifications required for the centre’s eight-court 1 Posted via Industry Today. Follow us on Twitter @IndustryToday Source link
“Cinema is truth 24 times a second, and every cut is a lie,” wrote the director Jean-Luc Godard. Hollywood’s record with movies “based on real events” makes clear what he meant, and Deepwater Horizon, the new film telling the story of BP’s disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, is no exception. The film does a terrific job of recreating the look and feel of the offshore oil industry, and of showing the challenges of working in isolated and hostile conditions. Yet it also fumbles some key details. It tells only a partial version of the story, setting up a simplistic opposition between the heroes of Transocean, which owned and operated the Deepwater Horizon rig, and the villains of BP. In reality, employees of both companies were at fault. Mistakes were made by some of the 11 men who were killed when BP’s Macondo well blew out and caused the rig to explode in flames. Hollywood is always uncomfortable with shades of grey, and they are sprayed over with primary colours here. The screenplay sticks pretty closely to its source, a New York Times article on the rig’s final hours. Some of the events that seem most like dramatic inventions, such as a courageous dash across the burning rig to try to start a generator, are documented facts. But each time the film deviates from the record, it is to show Transocean in a better light and BP in a worse one. Mark Wahlberg, who stars and co-produced, plays Mike Williams, an electronics technician with Transocean who is given a fictitious act of heroism, saving the life of his colleague Andrea Fleytas. Jimmy Harrell, one of Transocean’s two senior employees on the rig, played by Kurt Russell, is similarly a sympathetic figure, depicted as well-liked by his crew. That is authentic, but the script glosses over official criticism of the rig’s command structure. As the fire rages, peppered with fragments of glass, we see Mr Harrell fighting his way up to the rig’s bridge to activate the emergency disconnect system and shut off the well. What is barely shown is the “command confusion at a critical point in the emergency”, possibly delaying the disconnection, which was highlighted by the US Coast Guard’s report on the accident. Related article Mark Wahlberg and John Malkovich star in this story of good guys and bad Other criticisms of Transocean levelled by the Coast Guard are also skated over or ignored. BP, meanwhile, is represented principally by the reliably sinister John Malkovich as Donald Vidrine, one of the “well site leaders” supervising the drilling. A key scene depicting the “negative pressure test” — a way of telling whether the well had been properly sealed with cement — is characteristic of the film’s determination to believe the worst of BP. Mr Vidrine is shown citing a spurious phenomenon called the “bladder effect” to explain why the test is good, even though some of the pressure readings are worrying. That scene is an invention: none of the inquiries into the disaster was able to identify who had put forward the idea. One BP employee said it came from a Transocean supervisor who was killed in the subsequent explosion. John Malkovich plays Donald Vidrine of BP in the movie To find out what really happened, as best we know it, you have to read the reports from the Presidential Commission or the US Coast Guard’s Marine Board of Investigation, or the findings of fact from Judge Carl Barbier in the main court case over the disaster. What audiences can take away from the film, though, is a vivid sense of the extraordinary engineering feat that is deepwater drilling, and renewed respect for the men and women who contend with its difficulties and dangers every day. In that respect, at least, Deepwater Horizon has to be judged a success. Sample the FT’s top stories for a week You select the topic, we deliver the news. Source link
A roofing firm from Malton was fined today for safety breaches after a worker fractured his skull following a fall from height. Mitchell Roofing Ltd, was contracted to replace existing rooflights at Monk Bridge Construction Co Ltd, Elvington, York. The injured worker slipped and fell some seven metres through the inner roof sheet sustaining severe injuries. During its investigation, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) l learned that there was no risk assessment in place for the job, and no precautions had been taken to prevent falls from the edge of the roof or through various fragile elements. The defendant had previously clad a new building on the site without incident, using appropriate precautions, but the minor work of replacing the panels in an existing roof was not planned, and no precautions were followed. Mitchell Roofing Ltd of Derwent Road, Malton was found guilty to breaching Sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £10,000 with £1,355 costs by York Magistrates Court. After the hearing, HSE inspector Julian Franklin commented: “Basic precautions for roof work and better planning of the job should have been applied. Even short duration work on fragile roofs should be properly assessed and managed.” 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. More about the legislation referred to in this case can be found at: www.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
The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) has teamed up with iconic BBC television show Blue Peter to offer children the chance to design and engineer aspects of their very own music video for British pop-rock band New Hope Club. Winners will get to meet the band, as well as actively participate in engineering the music video; from designing the storyboard for one of its key scenes to receiving mentorship from industry experts to perform the roles of lighting, video and production engineers on set. New Hope Club has been one of the UK’s most hotly-tipped bands since releasing their debut EP Welcome to the Club in May 2017. Fresh from headlining this summer’s CBBC Summer Social and supporting The Vamps on their recent world tour, eager fans will now get to join their idols, Blake, George and Reece, on set as they shoot the music video for a special exclusive festive song. Despite the breadth of sectors that the engineering industry supports, research by the IET[1] has shown that children view engineers in ‘Bob the Builder’ form, donning hard hats (44%), high vis jackets (40%), using protective eyewear and carrying a toolbox (37%). In reality, this couldn’t be further from the image of a 21st century engineer, working in sectors from aerospace to computing and music production to motorsports. This incredible competition is set to break down these stereotypes and misconceptions of engineering roles and show children just how thrilling the industry can be. Children aged 6-15 can enter the competition by submitting a storyboard for a short scene for the upcoming video where New Hope Club will be seen decorating their Christmas tree, and describing the key camera, lighting and design elements involved. Entrants are also asked to write about their favourite engineer and the impact they have had on the world. Elements of the winning storyboard will be incorporated into the final video, with the winner and two runners’ up joining New Hope Club on-set to receive mentorship and perform key roles in its production. Reece Bibby from New Hope Club said, “We’re incredibly excited and proud to be working with Blue Peter and the IET to offer children the chance to design and engineer our surprise Christmas song. Engineers play a key role when it comes to developing a music video and this is an incredible opportunity for fans to learn more about what these ingenious people do when on-set. We can’t wait to see what they come up with!” It is well documented that the UK faces a nationwide skills shortage. 203,000 people with engineering skills will be required each year to meet demand through to 2024, but it’s estimated that there will be an annual shortfall of 59,000 engineers and technicians to fill these roles[2]. Through initiatives like this competition, the Institution of Engineering and Technology is continuously working to excite and motivate young people about the industry and to inspire a new generation of engineering enthusiasts. Orla Murphy, former IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for young people to see the variation that the engineering industry offers and to educate them about the impact and influence that engineers have on the world today. As an engineer and musician, I combined my two passions into a rewarding career at Jaguar Land Rover. Engineers support many of the world’s biggest industries, from computing and construction to sports and entertainment.” “Music video sets are usually reserved for artists and industry professionals only, so it is an enormous privilege to be able to offer young people this unrivalled access to help design, engineer and direct New Hope Club to bring their fantastic new Christmas track to life. I hope it inspires young minds to consider studying Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths and the exciting possibilities engineering careers present.” The competition, ‘Lights, Camera, Action’, is open for entry from now until 12 noon on 3 October. The prize for the winning entry is the inclusion of the winning storyboard in the final music video, attendance at the video shoot with New Hope Club and mentorship and coaching from industry professionals to perform key engineering roles on-set. The winner will be joined by two runners’ up at the video shoot who will also experience and carry-out the roles of engineering professionals during the shoot. For more information on how to enter, please visit www.bbc.co.uk/bluepeter. New Hope Club will perform the song exclusively for the first time live on Blue Peter on 20 December 2018.
It is some time now since the vacuum cleaner was invented but it triggered a revolution in how chores were done in the homes, and how much time those chores took. Everytime some new appliance or technology appeared in the home it made such a huge difference to how we live our lives. Well now we are seeing another home revolution with the introduction of the robot vacuum cleaner. It is so much more efficient to have help around the home We are so busy these days, we do not seem to stop moving. Keeping a clean and tidy home can seem such a burden when trying to keep on top of everything, and while hiring some help would be such a help, the cost soon makes it unsuitable for many households. A robot vacuum cleaner can pick up the slack for you. Especially if you have pets and children in your home which means the floors can be covered in dust and hair and crumbs within 5 minutes flat of the family being home. Simply set up the robot to go when you leave the house in the morning and by the time you are home it will have finished its job and you will have wonderfully clean floors when you walk through the door. It can even reach places you cannot, under beds and tables sweeping up the mess. The technology is smarter than you think Robot vacuum cleaners have been around a little while now, but the recent new developments are amazing. Take for example the iRobot Roomba, the world standard benchmark in robot vacuum cleaners. The new 800 and 900 series range have some fantastic features. It has iAdapt technology that helps the iRobot Roomba to learn about your home so it can work out the shortest and most efficient cleaning time. It also has cutting edge extractor brushes that can easily adapt to all types of floors, whether it is wood, parquet, pottery, rugs and carpets. It will carry out the best cleaning but without damaging more sensitive materials, and will even boost power on carpets to make sure it can pull up the dust. It can also be programmable 24/7 to suit your schedule, or even controlled via WiFi through a mobile phone app. And as you would expect the robot recognises your furniture to avoid crashes and damage to your belonging. The 895/896 model is particularly good for homes with pets, with excellent power from the lithium battery and central brush extractors are able to retain the smallest particles without getting blocked like a normal filter. The more recent models also include the ability to set up designated protection areas to avoid, for example if you have pet water bowls on the floor or a shoe area by your door. And of course the iRobot Roomba battery is well known for getting the best number of cleaning cycles before recharging so that you can be energy efficient as well as time efficient. There are robots for all budgets The great part about the robot vacuum cleaners available, is there are different types available to suit all home types and budgets. The 600 series for example has been around since 2012, and is more affordable than some of the latest models. And yet is has still seen many new improvements over the years. The new Roomba 696 for example also has a WiFi connection to be controlled by the iRobot Home mobile app, and also boasts a lithium battery. And you lose none of the efficiency and quality of cleaning. Do more of what you love instead Technology is making such a different to our lives, and the robot vacuum cleaner can do the same for you . Be sure to choose a company that will not only give you the best quality, but are also able to provide maintenance and parts for your new household appliance. Mirtux provide the best level of service for their customers, renowned for the best in parts, quality and service so be sure to choose your robot vacuum cleaner from a company that will truly look after you as a valued customer.
An initiative which started late last year to repair more than 40 miles of drought damaged roads in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough will enter its final stages this month, with multiple locations set for improvements. Having completed many of the routes, especially within the Peterborough area, attention has now switched to finishing the remaining routes in Cambridgeshire, with local business Mick George Ltd permitting enabling at six separate locations on behalf of the principal contractor, Skanska. The locations include: B1104 Prickwillow Road, Isleham A1123 Stretham Road, Wicken B1040 Ramsey Road, Whittlesey B1096 Benwick Road, Ramsey A1123 Hill Row Causeway, Haddenham B1040 St Marys Road, Ramsey In its entirety, the scheme includes 21 sections of road affected by severe weather conditions and owes largely to an investment of £6.25million made up of £3.5m secured funding from the Department for Transport and the surplus £2.75m provided by Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough County Council respectively. The major road reconstruction will include repairs down to foundation layers, and will also consist of maintenance to vegetation, drainage, signage and road markings along the specified routes. Cambridgeshire County Council, Peterborough City Council and its contractor Skanska are working together to minimise disruption to local residents and those who use the road networks. It is anticipated that the long-term approach to the maintenance of the roads included within the scheduled upgrades will prevent any need for repeated costly repairs and any extra disruption for drivers, in the future. Michael George, Director of Contractor at Mick George Ltd commented: ‘’As a business who operates on the counties roads daily, we are all the more aware of the importance of the conditioning of road infrastructure from a practical and safety perspective.’’
Tests on aluminium cladding panels, of the type used on the Grenfell Tower, have shown that the presence of water may cause violent chemical reactions and accelerate flames. University of Portsmouth civil engineering student Laurence Casey carried out experiments in a specialist fire laboratory to find out why the panels could be a fire risk, despite having initially passed safety tests. His investigation looked at the role water, in the form of steam, might have played in the spread of flames at the North Kensington tower block after the fire broke out on 14 June last year. Mr Casey’s research stemmed from initial experiments conducted by Professor Laurence Harwood, of the University of Reading, for the BBC’s Inside Out programme. Professor Harwood found that a violent reaction occurred when he directed a fine spray of water onto aluminium cladding sheets that had been heated to 300 C. Mr Casey developed Professor Harwood’s experiments with his own research to gather quantifiable data. Mr Casey said: “Prior to the laboratory tests, I had doubts about the reaction between the aluminium and steam occurring. Although aluminium is a highly reactive metal, the chemical reaction does not always develop when steam meets aluminium because of the protective oxide layers present on the surface. Once I had completed the tests, my doubts were lifted and I was confident the reaction took place. The results were shocking and to put things into perspective, the panels exposed to additional water produced more heat energy than burning petrol.” Using a cone calorimeter, which measures heat release, Mr Casey found that when water was applied to hot aluminium composite panels, a vast increase in the rate of heat release and heat of combustion occurred. This is thought to be a result of a chemical reaction producing hydrogen, a highly flammable gas, which subsequently burned, generating more heat and contributing to the acceleration of fire. The increase of heat energy released could pose a further risk to the ignition of flammable materials nearby, and could increase the rate at which the fire spreads across the façade. He believes in the case of Grenfell Tower, this phenomenon would have then entered a chain reaction, with more steam being released from the burning polyethylene core within the panels, which impinged on nearby aluminium panels, triggering another chemical reaction and repeating the process whilst accumulating additional heat. This would have caused an out of control and ferocious fire Professor Harwood has considered if weathering of the cladding could allow more water absorption in the insulating foam over time. The theory would be a possible explanation for the cladding passing initial tests but failing later ones. He also says that water from the fire brigade would not be a factor as the volume would quench the flames. Laurence Casey says that without speculation, the source of the water vapour and the process of how it reaches the aluminium surface is unknown. Therefore, future research will investigate the effect of inherent water in polyethylene layer cladding systems, absorbed rain water and water from the initial quenching of flames. The cladding used on the Grenfell Tower failed tests undertaken by BRE (British Research Establishment) during a fire safety programme launched after the tragedy. It has been concluded that this is primarily due to the use of a polyethylene inner core. Mr Casey said: “This research raises the question whether some tests used to achieve compliance with certain building regulations are fit for purpose, and if they present the true fire performance of materials used in façade systems. There are several factors that need to be taken into account regarding the fire performance of a façade system; such as the type of insulation used, the presence of a cavity causing a chimney effect and we now know in the case of aluminium panels, the presence of water. These need to be tested in combination before any system is approved by regulatory authorities”. Graduate Mr Casey carried out the tests for his dissertation under the supervision of Dr Laurie Clough, a teaching fellow in the School of Civil Engineering and Surveying at the University of Portsmouth. Professor Harwood was also involved providing advice as an external expert. Professor Harwood has written to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry with his initial findings. He said: “This may explain why cladding removed from a number of buildings may have failed fire retardancy testing following the Grenfell Tower fire, despite the individual components having been found to be compliant with requisite fire regulations by the manufacturers.” This was a preliminary study and Mr Casey is hoping to continue investigating his results with more thorough studies. He said: “We need more concrete evidence and consistent testing methods to really understand the behaviour of aluminium during a building fire. But for a preliminary investigation, this is quite a significant result. There is clearly a knowledge gap in this area and Grenfell Tower is an example of the potential consequences of getting these things wrong.”