21st November 2015 One of the big obstacles to the uptake of electric vehicles by the masses is the cost of batteries. They need to be big enough to store enough energy for hundreds of miles of driving between charges, yet light enough to not be a drain on the
An oil consortium led by ExxonMobil has been fined about $76bn by a court in Chad in a dispute over alleged unpaid royalties, in a sign of a breakdown in the company’s relations with the country. The court in N’Djamena, Chad’s capital, awarded the country’s finance ministry 480bn CFA francs
Polyurethane (PU) market size analysis pegs demand at USD 51.5 billion in 2015 and forecasts global industry revenue of over USD 77 billion by 2023.Polyurethane (PU) Market Size By Product, By Application, Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook, Biobased PU Application Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2016 –
Breedon has today completed its acquisition of Hope Construction Materials for £336m. Hope Construction Materials was created in 2012 when Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal bought UK assets that competition regulators required Lafarge and Tarmac to sell as a condition of their merger. Under the deal agreed in November 2015,
Ivor Sheppard, who has worked in Qatar with CH2M on the country’s World Cup programme and in the United Arab Emirates as bid manager with Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation, joined Horizon in September. He was also previously a director at Turner & Townsend, covering Heathrow Terminals 5 and 3, the London
If you have workers on the books with temporary visas or restricted rights to work in the UK, your business is exposed to additional immigration compliance risks, as immigration solicitor Anne Morris explains. To comply with your duties to prevent illegal working, every employee should be onboarded in line with
Safety is one of the most important aspects to maintain in any construction project. There are regulations governing how health and safety must be handled, including the right safety measures to put in place and HSE policies to follow. Despite the extensive regulations, health and safety risks must also be
A mix of metal and mineral systems from Armstrong Ceilings has helped to transform a tired office block opposite Victoria station in London into a stunning mixed-use building. First-time Armstrong specifiers MAX architects specified them to differentiate from the more traditional Category A fit-outs elsewhere in the Victoria regeneration area,
Open ECX was called upon by NMBS, the most successful Buying Society in the UK for independent builders, plumbers, hardware and timber merchants, to help manage its current e-Invoicing processes. NMBS has over 600 suppliers and 280,000 invoices to process monthly; therefore the company needed an efficient solution to help
A new research by Heriot-Watt University discovered that the UK has a backlog of 3.9 million homes, its biggest housing shortfall on record; meaning that 340,000 new homes need to be built each year until 2031. Central Bedfordshire alone needs to build 360 affordable homes each year until 2021 under
21st November 2015 One of the big obstacles to the uptake of electric vehicles by the masses is the cost of batteries. They need to be big enough to store enough energy for hundreds of miles of driving between charges, yet light enough to not be a drain on the cars carrying them. “For an electric car, the cost of a battery is crudely the same as the cost of the rest. That is quite the wrong proportion for it to take off. So people are desperate to find ways to supply cheaper batteries,” says Chris Wright, chairman of Faradion, the technology company researching low-cost energy storage solutions. In an interview with the Guardian, Wright explains that the motor industry needs to find a way to produce batteries that doesn’t rely on lithium, the base element of rechargeable batteries. His company’s answer is sodium – far cheaper to source and with similar energy-storing properties. It means electric vehicles could soon be a more viable option for many, including commuters and drivers who have just passed their test who are looking for an easy-to-use and affordable vehicle to put their skills to use with. “We set out to make sodium materials that worked in a simple electrochemical [battery] cell that behaved as well as if not better than some of the lithium systems,” Wright says in the interview. “We were able to produce material which outperformed lithium-ion phosphate, which has until recently been the workhorse in automotive batteries.” Although the sale of electric vehicles has risen sharply over the last year, traditionally-aspirated vehicle sales still far outweigh them. But as the cost of producing electric vehicles’ power plant drops, those savings will be passed onto the marketplace. Range anxiety – the fear of running out of power and being stranded in the middle of nowhere – is receding. Now motorists are realising how much cheaper it could be to run an electric vehicle, not to mention how much greener it is. Charging a car for a 250-mile journey could cost as little as £5. Bjӧrn Nykvist and Måns Nilsson, Swedish scientists at the Stockholm Environment Institute, predict a ‘potential paradigm shit in vehicle technology’ if the price of powering electric vehicles continues to fall at the same rate. A report on TechnologyReview.com highlights that the pair’s analysis suggests that battery pack prices are falling by about 8 per cent every year. That decline in cost could be accelerated if large-scale electric vehicle manufacturers such as Toyota, Tesla and Nissan follow through with their plans to ramp up battery pack production in the near future. In the same article, Luis Munuera, an International Energy Agency analyst, advised a note of caution with Nykvist and Nilsson’s research. The cost reductions predicted should be ‘taken with care’ he wrote in an email to TechnologyReview.com. This is because battery costs from different sources may not be directly comparable, and it is unclear exactly how far into the future such price predicting is accurate to. But he does admit: “We have seen events moving quicker than expected in lithium-ion battery technology.” Source link
An oil consortium led by ExxonMobil has been fined about $76bn by a court in Chad in a dispute over alleged unpaid royalties, in a sign of a breakdown in the company’s relations with the country. The court in N’Djamena, Chad’s capital, awarded the country’s finance ministry 480bn CFA francs ($816m) in royalties, and levied a record additional penalty of about $75bn. The fine is larger than the total cost to BP of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, which has reached about $62bn. It is also almost seven times Chad’s 2015 gross domestic product of $10.9bn. Exxon said it disagreed with the court’s ruling and was “evaluating next steps”. It said that the dispute was over “commitments made by the government to the consortium, not the government’s ability to impose taxes”. Exxon added that it was vital for all sides to “abide by applicable law in order to achieve the desired long-term benefits envisioned when projects begin”. In Chad there was scepticism that the fine could be collected. The mood in N’Djamena has been tense at a time of increasing financial pressure on the government following the drop in oil prices since 2014. Civil servants’ salaries and student grants have not been paid since August or earlier, provoking strikes including essential health services and schools. In parts of the capital, youths have been throwing stones at cars this week. Chad produced 120,000 barrels of oil per day last year, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Exxon’s Chad/Cameroon project includes wells in Chad and a pipeline to take the oil from the landlocked central African country to a terminal on the Atlantic coast of Cameroon. The company said last year that since it came into production in 2003, it had contributed $12bn in revenues for Chad. Leading a consortium that included Chevron and Malaysia’s Petronas, Exxon supervised construction of the 650-mile pipeline starting in 2000. Chevron sold its 25 per cent stake to the government of Chad for $1.3bn in 2014, but Petronas remains an investor. The World Bank funded the Chadian and Cameroonian governments’ share in the development. Its involvement was condemned by human rights and environmental groups and local communities, which tried to halt the deal. Related article Financial watchdog investigates reserves and accounting for climate change After construction was finished and oil was flowing, Idriss Déby, Chad’s president, reneged on the terms of the deal, which included a law pledging 80 per cent of oil revenues for social spending. Despite its oil income, the central African country remains one of the world’s poorest. Like its neighbour, Nigeria, Chad is in economic crisis because of collapsed oil revenues amid the running costs of waging war against Boko Haram. Students have been striking this year over lost scholarships and other budget cuts. From 2000 to 2009, Chad boosted its military spending by more than 600 per cent, as the government fought internal battles and in Sudan’s war in the neighbouring Darfur region. Mr Déby came to power in a coup in 1990 and has weathered several military attempts to oust him. He won a fifth term in multi-party elections earlier this year. He is currently president of the African Union, and Chad’s army — one of the most capable in Africa — is playing a key role in the regional fight against both the Boko Haram insurgency and al-Qaeda-linked militants. Sample the FT’s top stories for a week You select the topic, we deliver the news. Source link
Polyurethane (PU) market size analysis pegs demand at USD 51.5 billion in 2015 and forecasts global industry revenue of over USD 77 billion by 2023.Polyurethane (PU) Market Size By Product, By Application, Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook, Biobased PU Application Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2016 – 2023 Polyurethane (PU) Market size is expected to reach USD 77.27 billion by 2023; according to the latest research report published by Global Market Insights, Inc. Increasing energy conservation importance owing to rising costs and growing concerns regarding GHG emissions have been major factors driving global polyurethane market size. Government support to boost infrastructure in India, Brazil, and Mexico should promote PU market growth in construction application. APAC, driven by India & China PU market size, dominated the regional industry demand and may generate over USD 33.5 billion revenue by 2023. Electronics & appliances application in APAC may observe highest gains over the forecast timeframe. Increasing importance for encapsulation of electronic components such as circuits and sensors is a major factor driving PU demand in electronics & appliances segment. Request For Sample Report@https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/387 Flexible polyurethane foam market size was dominant and industry expects gains at 4.7% CAGR by 2023. Increasing disposable income and changing lifestyle in BRICS nations has led to furniture industry growth and accounts to increasing flexible foam application in mattresses and automotive seating. The automotive industry has been experiencing a significant change over the years and has observed a trend towards automobile weight reduction in order to improve fuel efficiency and curb emissions. Polyurethane, along with other plastics, is a vital part of the new trend as it is capable of providing substantial weight reduction. Moreover, rubber components are increasingly being replaced by polymers in automobile applications which may provide boost to thermoplastic elastomers market size, including thermoplastic polyurethanes. Strong application outlook in automobiles such as seating, engine encapsulation, exterior panels, instrument panels, and cables & wires as an alternative to metals should drive PU market size. Tight supply and correction in crude oil index may hamper availability of key raw materials, MDI & TDI. This factor may affect PU market price trend over the forecast timeframe and hamper manufacturer profitability index. Inquire for Buying industry Analysis Report@https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/387 Key insights from the report include: North America, with construction industry somewhat rebounding in the U.S., may observe below average growth rates. Rigid foam was majorly used product in the U.S. in 2015. U.S. polyurethane rigid foams market size is set to grow at 4.9% CAGR in revenue terms. They are used as insulation purpose to increase buildings energy efficiency and decrease thermal energy losses. Europe, driven by Germany, UK and Italy PU market share, is poised to exceed USD 21 billion revenue by 2023. Increasing thermal insulation application post EU legislations regarding energy efficiency of households may drive product demand in construction industry. Germany automotive application is set to grow at 3.7% CAGR by 2023. Presence of large scale automobile manufacturers may favor product demand. China footwear application may witness average gains at 5.4% CAGR and surpass USD 1.2 billion revenue by 2023. Growing demand for sports shoes and hiking boots with excellent grip may drive footwear application demand. Presence of footwear companies in the region along with increasing outsourced footwear production in countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, Bangladesh and Indonesia should drive PU market size. Global PU market share is highly consolidated and is dominated by MNCs having presence across the value chain. Covestro (formely Bayer MaterialScience), BASF, Huntsman Corporation and Dow are among notable industry players. Other participants include British Vita Unlimited, Foamex Innovations, Mitsui Chemicals, Nippon, Recticel and Woodbridge Foam Corp. Source link
Breedon has today completed its acquisition of Hope Construction Materials for £336m. Hope Construction Materials was created in 2012 when Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal bought UK assets that competition regulators required Lafarge and Tarmac to sell as a condition of their merger. Under the deal agreed in November 2015, Breedon pay £202m in cash to Cortolina Investments, a Mittal family vehicle, and handed £134m in shares to Abicad Holding, an associate company of the vendor. Hope’s chairman, Amit Bhatia, Lakshmi Mittal’s London-born 36-year-old son-in-law, has joined the Breedon board of directors as a non-executive director. He is the only member of Hope’s management board to be retained by Breedon. Breedon has also changed its full company name, from Breedon Aggregates Ltd to Breedon Group plc. At this stage it appears that Hope will be retained as a brand name for Breedon’s cement products. Although the name is still new to the industry, under Indian ownership there has been heavy investment in brand promotion to create a clear identity. Hope was named after the Derbyshire village that was, and remains, the company’s main cement source. This article was published on 1 Aug 2016 (last updated on 1 Aug 2016). Source link
Ivor Sheppard, who has worked in Qatar with CH2M on the country’s World Cup programme and in the United Arab Emirates as bid manager with Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation, joined Horizon in September. He was also previously a director at Turner & Townsend, covering Heathrow Terminals 5 and 3, the London 2012 Olympics, and the Shard, according to his LinkedIn profile. Programme director Carl Devlin confirmed Mr Sheppard’s appointment at the CN Summit 2016, where he outlined Horizon’s plan for delivering Wylfa Newydd, a £10bn new nuclear project in North Wales. The delivery team for the project was confirmed in May, with engineers Bechtel and Japanese energy specialists JGC and Hitachi forming a consortium with client Menter Newydd. Mr Devlin said the scheme will bring £20bn of investment into the UK, 60 per cent of which “can be delivered by UK businesses”. He described the project as “a very, very complex jigsaw that we need to put together”, and said “at least 95 per cent” of the design will be completed before construction of the scheme begins. “People can be too keen to get started and it’s a mistake that costs you,” he said. The project’s timeline points to a final investment decision in 2019 with major earthworks getting underway in the same year, and the first nuclear concrete being poured on site in 2020. However, in July this year, the Welsh affairs committee said the project should be built only “if the strike price is below that agreed for Hinkley Point C and competitive with renewable sources”. Horizon is yet to decide a strike price with the government for the Wylfa Newydd project. However, Mr Devlin said the project’s focus would be “all about predictability” in terms of cost, particularly during the construction phase. He added that the firm would be “structuring EPC contracts that are incentivised to perform,” and that contracts would be “incentivised around the same objectives all from tier two supply chain downwards”. “We’ve built this plant four times before and we need to keep as true to our references points as we can to keep costs at an acceptable level,” he said. Source link
If you have workers on the books with temporary visas or restricted rights to work in the UK, your business is exposed to additional immigration compliance risks, as immigration solicitor Anne Morris explains. To comply with your duties to prevent illegal working, every employee should be onboarded in line with Home Office requirements to ‘Obtain, Check and Record’ appropriate Right to Work documents. This means checking and keeping copies of original, acceptable documents before someone starts working for you and – something which many employers are not always fully aware of – carrying out repeat checks if a person has a time limit on their work permission. If you’re found to be in breach of these duties, you could be liable for a hefty civil penalty of up to £20,000 per illegal worker, and could potentially face criminal prosecution. Ensuring compliance across a sizeable workforce and multiple sites is challenging in itself, but when your employees hold varying immigration status, requiring document checks to be run at different intervals – the risk to your business multiplies. But the legislation is clear – you must at any one time be able to accurately confirm the working status of every employee in your organisation. Your duties when employing immigration-restricted workers The Home Office sets out two definitive lists of ‘acceptable’ documents that individuals are to present to employers to prove their right to work in the UK. An individual’s immigration status determines which list they need to refer to and which documentation they must present to you to verify they have the relevant permission to carry out the work on offer. List A applies to those with permanent right to work, such as UK nationals or those with Indefinite Leave to Remain. Production of a valid, original List A document is sufficient to establish you as an employer have met your duty for checking an employee’s right to work for the duration of their employment with you. No further right to work checks will be needed for this employee. Employees with limited leave to remain or enter the UK, restricting the duration or type of activity permitted, are required to produce items from List B to evidence their identity and their employment authorisation. You will need to conduct compliance checks at least every 12 months on employees relying on List B documentation. The potential for List B employees’ working status to change during the course of employment creates an area of risk for employers, requiring close and careful management. A follow-up right to work check should result in one of the following: The employee presents items from List B confirming continued, limited right to work: the 12-month cycle starts again. Where an individual’s leave expires during the period of 12 months after the last check, you should carry out a check at the point of expiry to verify their continued right to work. If further List B documentation is provided, a repeat check will be required at 12 months. If you are presented with a List A document, you have met your duty for the duration of the person’s employment with you and you are no longer required to carry out annual checks on that employee. Employer Checking Service If an employee presents documents from ‘List B Group 2’, or the individual is unable to present any acceptable document from List 2 – because the individual is awaiting an application decision by the Home Office – contact the Employer Checking Service to receive a Positive Verification Notice from the Home Office, confirming the continued eligibility of the individual to work for the duration that their application is outstanding and until their visa is approved. Loss of right to work If you establish that an employee no longer has the right to work in the UK and you continue to employ that person, you become liable for a civil penalty and the criminal offence of knowingly employing an illegal worker. It is best to seek advice as soon as you become aware of an employee’s loss of permission before taking action. Instant dismissal of an employee who no longer has the right to work can in some cases give rise to employment law issues, such as unfair dismissal or discrimination claims, which will require navigation. Managing compliance business risks What can employers do to effectively manage their List B employees, and reduce the risk of non-compliance and threat of civil penalty without onerous drain on resource? Automate your systems The most effective approach to managing List B documents is through an automated solution to prompts for HR teams to check on the progress of employees’ outstanding application. Compliant record keeping Repeat checks on List B personnel should be recorded as per UKVI guidelines and synced with the original record. An effective solution will sync the data into your HR or payroll system immediately. Personnel training Ensuring those in your organisation responsible for recruiting and onboarding understand, follow process. Through training can be effective to ensure Be clear on employees’ duties Ensure your employees are aware of their duty to notify you of any change in their circumstances or working status, and the wider requirements on them to manage their status appropriately. 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.
Safety is one of the most important aspects to maintain in any construction project. There are regulations governing how health and safety must be handled, including the right safety measures to put in place and HSE policies to follow. Despite the extensive regulations, health and safety risks must also be mitigated from the planning stage. Anticipating risks and making plans on how to deal with them isn’t as complicated as you think. Many of the risks faced by construction projects are actually risks that can be foreseen. To help you plan better for potential health and safety risks, we are going to take a look at the common risks to mitigate in this article. Crowded Work Environment Crowds gathering in certain areas of the work environment is considered a serious safety risk that needs to be handled properly. When workers gather in one particular area of the site, the risks of a workplace accident causing harm to more people gets significantly higher. There are other situations that are completely avoidable. When heavy machinery is used to perform certain tasks, it is not uncommon for workers to gather around the work area and watch. Their presence is a serious risk; the workers are exposing themselves to serious risks of injury. A good way to mitigate these risks is by creating clear policies and setting up boundaries around the work areas, especially when machinery is in use. This way, you can limit the number of people present in these areas to a minimum; only authorised and essential personnel must be allowed near the work area. Machine Loading Another high-risk point in a construction project is when heavy equipment is being loaded and unloaded. There are a lot of risks to think about, from the machinery rolling off the transport truck and harming people around the area, to the trailer or truck not having enough room to reach the unloading and loading area. Similar to crowded work areas, risks associated with getting heavy machinery in and out of the site can be reduced with a series of tight health and safety policies. Making sure that only essential workers are present is a must. You can also use additional tools to help keep these processes as safe as they can be. Lights are essential when the work is done at night. Safety strips, lines limiting the work areas, and other safety tools can also help manage the work area better, all while keeping that area safer for workers and the equipment you are loading and unloading. Uneven Terrain Slopes are among the most dangerous things you can face on a work site. When building on uneven terrain, extra precautions must be taken to ensure sufficient attention to health and safety. Working on slopes also requires special handling in most cases. When moving trucks and other machinery up a slope, for example, the process should be straightforward. As long as the machinery has enough power to get to the top of the slope – or the work area – you have fewer risks to worry about. Going down the slope, on the other hand, is actually riskier than you realise. Many workers on the site will take going down a slope as an easy thing to do, causing them to focus less on safety and the safety measures put in place to prevent accidents. Machinery rolling down the slope can damage property in the work area and harm workers too. Machinery Issues When talking about machinery issues in a construction project, you know you have a lot of risks to mitigate. Bigger risks like heavy machinery tipping over due to uneven terrain or excessive load are usually easier to manage. They are serious risks that require special handling from the beginning. Smaller risks, on the other hand, are trickier to handle. Issues like a piece of nail getting caught in a circular saw are seemingly small issues that are often overlooked, but they are issues that can also cause serious harm to workers near the work area. The best way to mitigate these risks is by making safety equipment and protective gear a necessity. The level of protection can also be set above the required limit so that workers remain safer while working around the project site. Safety training is just as important. Employees must complete the necessary health and safety courses; taking it a step further and getting your staff through all the important courses – rather than the bare minimum – is also greatly recommended. The fact that finding good health and safety training is easy in the UK makes it even better; you can browse around this site for health and safety courses in your area led by trained experts. Combined with other risk mitigation tips we covered in this article, you now have enough to cover the health and safety basics for your next construction project.
A mix of metal and mineral systems from Armstrong Ceilings has helped to transform a tired office block opposite Victoria station in London into a stunning mixed-use building. First-time Armstrong specifiers MAX architects specified them to differentiate from the more traditional Category A fit-outs elsewhere in the Victoria regeneration area, as well as for their high quality and flexibility. Armstrong’s perforated metal D-Clip island or floating ceilings in RAL 9022 (pearl light grey), a modern and modular absorber solution for exposed concrete ceilings, feature on all six office floors (11,000m2), while white mineral Ultima+ 600mm x 600mm boards in an exposed 24mm grid were used in the back-of-house areas. The redevelopment of 25 Wilton Road for client Royal London Asset Management has raised the bar by delivering a refurbishment project that performs both commercially and functionally in the same way as a prime commercial new-build. At the same time as retaining the post-tensioned concrete frame of the structure, the project incorporates three new lightweight steel floors of 14 high-quality rental apartments (4,000m2) into a building previously used exclusively for commercial purposes, leading to social and environmental benefits for the area. What was then Parnell House was completed in 1995 but while structurally sound it was underperforming at £35/ft2 and with leases coming up, MAX were asked to take a look at the building. Once fully let it will have increased in capital value threefold or by 271% once the £38 million project costs have been taken into account. While the existing concrete structure has been retained, bold new articulated facades transform the building’s relationship with its strategic location. It appears to subtly transform as one moves around it, revealing a depth of facade through striking cobalt-blue folds. The ‘fanned’ bays, along with the infill of the six floors of existing atria, considerably increase the lettable area and the light levels within a new set of highly-flexible and efficient office floor plates. Ground-level retail, café and lobby spaces enliven the streetscape. MAX architect Ashley Gilbert said: “The scheme set out to provide prime grade flexible office space designed to appeal to a wide range of user profiles. The idea was to differentiate the space from the more traditional Category A fit-outs being delivered elsewhere within the wider Victoria regeneration area. The high quality and flexibility of the Armstrong metal D-Clip island ceiling allowed us to accomplish this. “The office floorplates employ an innovative hybrid system, running conventional services around a perimeter racetrack of perforated aluminium suspended ceiling tiles. At the same time, the approach carefully reveals a select palette of visible services in areas of exposed ceiling, where the original post-tensioned slabs are exposed and used to provide 3.3m floor-to-ceiling heights.” The Armstrong ceilings were installed for main contractor Kier, who replaced all of the M&E systems in the building, by specialist sub-contractor Roskel Contracts who had a team of up to 20 operatives on site for 11 months. The Ultima+ board tiles are Cradle to Cradle™ certified and perform to Sound Absorption Class A with 87% light reflectance. The Armstrong galvanised metal D-Clip system, which features sound absorption levels of up to 0.45αw through an acoustic fleece inlay, was a new one to them. Armstrong solution design manager Nick Harper explained: “The original design intent from the architect was to create multiple metal rafts which would span across the whole ceiling within the office spaces to help cover up the exposed soffit and any M&E services. “Numerous discussions and design proposals had been put forward with the ceiling options swaying towards either F-H 600 panels, D-H 700 hook-on metal rafts or D-Clip clip-in metal rafts. Due to the number of services behind the rafts, which required regular access, it was decided that the D-Clip system would be best suited for this application. This was due to the fact that the panels can swing down on the grid without having to fully remove the panels and bring them down to the ground. “Another advantage to this system is that the grid is almost completely hidden behind the ceiling panels. The only visible grid would be the threaded rods to the soffit” Roskel Contracts’ managing director Tony Partridge said: “It was easy to construct once you understood the system. The tiles were very durable considering the amount of times they were removed for the M&E works. 95% of them had to be removed immediately after fixing and reinstalled some months later, then approximately 25% were taken out again and reinstalled.” Ashley Gilbert added: “The design team was initially tasked with creating initiatives to add value to the building through improvements to the landlord areas. Accordingly, the project started out as a circa £5 million light-touch refurbishment. However, we soon recognised the potential for increasing the volume and height of the building and adding a new residential use. “The value created by introducing three floors of rental apartments on top of the existing structure fundamentally changed the development appraisal and enabled a comprehensive cut-and-carve of the existing office and commercial areas. The brief therefore evolved to include the creation of a prime office development and high-end apartments, as well as mixed-use space at street level, all to be delivered in a highly sustainable way. Leveraging a shift in attitudes to holding residential assets for the longer term, we created a horizontally-layered mixed-use building with residential above office and retail.” Matt Bird of Royal London Asset Management said: “Our vision and collaborative approach with our architect, consultants and contractors has enabled us to deliver considerable added value and excellent returns on investment for our customers from a tired office building on a tight central London site. 25 Wilton Road adds another strong asset to RLAM’s growing property portfolio. “By re-using the existing structure, adding a new mix of uses and taking a creative architectural approach we have created a unique product in a thriving area of London, giving the building a new lease of life. At the same time, we have demonstrated our
Open ECX was called upon by NMBS, the most successful Buying Society in the UK for independent builders, plumbers, hardware and timber merchants, to help manage its current e-Invoicing processes. NMBS has over 600 suppliers and 280,000 invoices to process monthly; therefore the company needed an efficient solution to help make complex, time-consuming processes more automated. The reasons behind the decision to choose Open ECX are explained by Andy Hextall, Commercial Director at NMBS: “We chose Open ECX as we were extremely impressed with its concepts. In order to save time and resources we needed to find a solution to guarantee performance efficiency and automation for the least amount of effort to our suppliers. This meant we had to get the maximum number of suppliers to make the change to e-Invoicing. This is where ECX’s unique PDF to XML service came in.” “We were extremely satisfied with the speedy supplier on-boarding process. With Open ECX’s assistance, the number of EDI transactions has dramatically increased, seeing a positive decrease in the amount of manual transactions. Open ECX has essentially become an extension of our back office, helping us operate more efficiently. In total, 94% of our transactions are now electronic and hopefully this will increase in time,” Andy continued. The business benefits brought by e-Invoicing include being time and cost-efficient, which expedites the payment process so payments can be made without complication and staff can focus on more strategic tasks, as well as minimizing costly paper waste and time-consuming manual invoicing. Moreover, Open ECX offers complete support and assurance during the eInvoicing on-boarding process, making the switch easy for both your business and your suppliers. NMBS also utilized Open ECX’s e-Ordering solution, which allows the company to send orders directly to suppliers, creating a whole new opportunity by allowing members access to new and existing suppliers via EDI ordering, providing a more efficient service and increasing the NMBS network for the better.
A new research by Heriot-Watt University discovered that the UK has a backlog of 3.9 million homes, its biggest housing shortfall on record; meaning that 340,000 new homes need to be built each year until 2031. Central Bedfordshire alone needs to build 360 affordable homes each year until 2021 under the Strategic Housing Market Assessment. To make a start Central Bedfordshire College and a private developer have chosen ZEDPods, ready-made, quality starter-homes for a new development of 23 homes on college land. The one and two-bedroom houses, a break-through development in low cost, low carbon and high-quality homes, are fabricated off site. Their modular construction allows them to be rapidly erected on pieces of land not generally considered suitable for housing. With a variety of design options covering single or multi-occupancy sites, ZEDPod homes can be tailored for a range of accommodation needs, offering a viable, affordable solution to the keyworker housing crisis. “We are delighted that Central Bedfordshire College is able to support the local area needs and ZEDPods with the creation of environmentally friendly housing solutions. We look forward to working with ZEDPods to develop new courses teaching on modern forms of construction utilising the most cutting edge, eco-friendly construction techniques to our learners and to seeing the benefits that this innovation will have on our community,” said Ali Hadawi, Principal of Central Bedfordshire College. The ZEDPods are designed and developed by RIBA award-winning architect Bill Dunster, who will take advantage of existing city centre car park locations and hard standings across the UK. The homes are built to higher standards than conventional houses, being super insulated, triple glazed, with heat recovery ventilation, low carbon technology and lots of daylight. “As the pods are constructed from quality fireproof, durable and robust materials, they are designed to last as long as a traditionally built homes, The pods’ solar roofs generate more energy than the houses consume, so they will also have the lowest possible running costs,” explained Bill Dunster. ZEDPod owners will have their own balcony and front door, a kitchen and dining table, a bathroom, a lounge with stairs leading to a mezzanine floor bedspace, with home office desk, double bed, wardrobe and storage. ZEDPods will be sold with a ‘Q Assure’ mortgageable warranty.
