The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, the Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP has taken a strong stance on the issue of cladding and forcing the removal and reinstatement of a safer product. For months James Brokenshire has been warning landlords of at-risk properties to get on
Managing the logistics of your construction site is integral to ensuring time and budget constraints are met. Dan Casey, Marketing Manager at award-winning lifting equipment manufacturer Penny Hyrdraulics, shares four tips to help you do this. When managing a construction site, ensuring the whole operation runs smoothly is of paramount
Cube Glass, the fast-growing Scottish glass and aluminium specialist installer, has won another six-figure order, this time for Park’s Motor Group and its prestigious new McLaren dealership in Leeds. As part of a substantial project, it will supply aluminium curtain walling at a purpose built, 12,000 square feet showroom at
Work has just begun on the installation of architectural glazing systems by leading manufacturer Kawneer on the second of three buildings at Bournemouth University. Approved dealer Leay is installing Kawneer’s AA®100 zone-drained capped curtain walling, along with AA®541 fixed light windows and two types of doors on the 5,000m2 Fusion
SELECT, the electricians’ trade body in Scotland, has added to the extensive portfolio of services it offers to its members with a new tool to assist with producing vital risk assessment information and guidance. The organisation has entered into an arrangement with the Building Safety Group (BSG) to provide Member
The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, the Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP has taken a strong stance on the issue of cladding and forcing the removal and reinstatement of a safer product. For months James Brokenshire has been warning landlords of at-risk properties to get on and remove dangerous cladding. Yesterday Brokenshire announced a change to the housing health and safety regulations to force the landlords to make good these works with no apparent financial risk to the leaseholders. The Association for Residential Managing Agents (ARMA) welcomes the move as it has been lobbying for Government intervention ever since the Grenfell Tower tragedy. Immediately after the tragic fire, ARMA flagged to Government the problem under leasehold as to who would likely pay for the cost of fire safety remedial works and that this could seriously delay remedial works. ARMA has publicly asked for Government loans to be make available and for remediation to be taken into a national programme to avoid such delays as the safety of residents must always be the uppermost concern. Dr Nigel Glen, Chief Executive Office of the Association of Residential Managing Agents (ARMA), comments: “We congratulate the Government for taking this strong approach to ensure remedial works on affected buildings can get under way immediately. People need to know they are safe and able to live their lives. We have always said time is of essence here and work should be completed first and then worry about who pays later. The costs to cladding removal has given many residents grave anxieties and now some headway should start to be made more quickly. “The Secretary of State has said that ‘leaseholders must not pay’. We keenly await details of how that will work in practice given the structure of leasehold. For example, in the case of Citiscape in Croydon, the First tier Tribunal Property determined that the leaseholders were liable for the costs under the terms of their lease. That may well be the case across all the buildings under discussion, depending upon their leases. And where Landlords are not the guilty party re installing the cladding is it fair that they will be expected to pay? Clearly there is more work to be done but this is a welcome and significant step.”
Managing the logistics of your construction site is integral to ensuring time and budget constraints are met. Dan Casey, Marketing Manager at award-winning lifting equipment manufacturer Penny Hyrdraulics, shares four tips to help you do this. When managing a construction site, ensuring the whole operation runs smoothly is of paramount importance. Logistics management is key to this, helping to keep the project on time and on budget but, if you want to minimize inefficiency, you’re going to need a strategy. In this article, I will discuss four ways you can improve the logistics of your construction site to ensure that materials are delivered on schedule, you have the right tools and equipment for every job, and all your workers are fully trained and briefed on what they need to do. Start with a plan Projects of all kinds suffer due to unnecessary and wasteful activities. While this can never be fully avoided, creating a logistics plan at the start of your project is key to determining how everything will turn out. The purpose of creating a detailed plan is to increase efficiency and maximise profits, while also preparing as best you can for unforeseen circumstances. Ideally, you want to create a process map and a list of all the materials you’re going to use, which you can keep track of and update each day. Your plan must take into account the various logistical factors of the construction site, such as material transportation, workforce management, and control of equipment and machinery. This will help to avoid any wasted time and energy, and ultimately determine whether or not the project can be delivered on time and on budget. Communicate with your team An integral part of construction logistics is maintaining open communication channels with your workers, suppliers, and higher-ups. You should always be looking for new ways to improve communication, as this will allow you to get on top of problems early and nip them in the bud before they snowball into something bigger. Little things left unchecked can lead to workflow inefficiencies, so it’ll pay dividends to stay on top of things. As construction is a constantly-evolving industry with new practices and requirements being implemented all the time, it is important to maintain open channels of communication. This is especially true for experienced workers who will be able to help spot holes in your plan, so it’s a good idea to get them involved early and stay in contact with them on a regular basis. While a lot of this can be streamlined and done from afar, the site should still be visited regularly so you can chat to workers on the ground. Have the right tools for the job Even the simplest jobs can take far longer than they should without the correct equipment, leaving workers to struggle through at reduced efficiency. This can be something as simple having the correct shovel for the job but, when it comes to larger equipment and machinery, entire processes can be slowed down, and days can be lost. Providing your workers with the tools they need to do the job effectively is a key part of ensuring the logistics of your site are running smoothly. At Penny Hydraulics, we aim to help improve workflow efficiencies with our vehicle-mounted hydraulic crane and SwingLift products, which are used to move and load materials in a safe and efficient manner. Trying to manually load such items can be laborious and time consuming, so having a handy and easy-to-use solution on-site can massively improve efficiency. Jobs that would have previously required two or more people, such as filling a van with material, can now easily be done by one. Use software to your advantage Improving your own workflow will allow you to spend more time on important tasks, such as focusing on the logistics of your construction site. Implementing automated systems will allow you to save time by cutting down the time it takes for you to send out progress reports, manage ongoing budgets, and keep track of day-to-day changes that affect the site. By using reporting and budget management software, you’ll be able to make sure the right people know what’s happening at all times, allowing you to focus on the more important day-to-day logistics management. There are all kinds of other tools you might find beneficial as well, such as health and safety management software, which can help to prevent hazards and keep track of incidents. There will always be unforeseen circumstances that you have to deal with on your construction site but, with careful planning, open channels of communication, and the right tools to help you do the job, you’ll be best placed to tackle them head on.
Cube Glass, the fast-growing Scottish glass and aluminium specialist installer, has won another six-figure order, this time for Park’s Motor Group and its prestigious new McLaren dealership in Leeds. As part of a substantial project, it will supply aluminium curtain walling at a purpose built, 12,000 square feet showroom at Aire Valley Drive, featuring the latest McLaren brand identity. The company will cover 370 sq metres with a special product from the German-based global giant Schueco Group, the industry leader in window, door and façade technology and service. The new contract for a top-end client is the latest in a string of successes for Cube Glass, which focuses on curtain walling, doors, windows, glass roofing systems and shop fronts as well as bullet, bomb and blast resistant glass. It is set to secure record sales this year of around £2.75 million. “We have carried out work for Park’s Motor Group in the past, but this is a particularly exciting project at its fantastic new space in Leeds, which is only the eighth McLaren retail partner in the UK,” said Gary Thorn, Cube Glass founder and Managing Director. “Park’s is a leading name in the luxury car market. The work, which will be carried out by APP Construction, takes us into new areas and expands our portfolio as well as continuing our association with some very prestigious brands,” Gary added. The company currently has 14 direct employees and 12 sub-contractors and expects this number to increase in the new year. Around 80 per cent of the company’s sales are made to major companies including Hilton Hotels, the Ministry of Defence, Morris and Spottiswood and Clark Contracts.
Work has just begun on the installation of architectural glazing systems by leading manufacturer Kawneer on the second of three buildings at Bournemouth University. Approved dealer Leay is installing Kawneer’s AA®100 zone-drained capped curtain walling, along with AA®541 fixed light windows and two types of doors on the 5,000m2 Fusion 2/Poole Gateway Building (pictured) designed by Atkins architects. Leay’s team of up to 10 operatives, who are also installing AA®720 and series 190 heavy-duty entrance doors, is expected to be on site until January while the overall project is scheduled for completion by Willmott Dixon in September 2019. The new £27 million landmark building will target BREEAM “Excellent” and provide specialist facilities for two of the university’s internationally renowned faculties – Media and Communication and Science and Technology. The building will house state-of-the-art facilities on a series of tiered floors. This will include many multi-media areas, each with acoustically and visually sensitive areas, including TV and film studios, audio editing, media production spaces, green screen and motion capture suites, and animation studios. Leay’s business development manager Mike Watts said: “The project is in essence large triangular curtain wall screens to the front and rear elevations. These screens are 25m wide and 15m high at the tallest point and are located within the atrium. “The client was keen to see clean sightlines and minimal steelwork so we worked alongside the structural engineer to ensure the intermediate steels to tie the screen back to were kept to a minimum in quantity and also a minimum in size by calculating the screen to transfer and deadload itself down on to the ground-bearing slab. “We proposed the use of Kawneer products to the architect and Willmott Dixon from day one on this scheme as we knew they would provide the aesthetics the architect was requiring and also the structural integrity required for the spans of curtain wall.” Designed to form a new visual gateway to the university’s Talbot Campus and its parkland setting, it forms part of a wider £100 million programme to expand the university’s facilities. Work has also started on installing Kawneer systems on a third building at the university – a £40 million new home for the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences. Again designed by Atkins but this time with main contractor Kier, the Fusion 3/Bournemouth Gateway Building will feature Kawneer’s AA®100 zone/mullion drained curtain walling with feature face caps on tall atrium screens along with AA®720 window vents and entrance doors and series 190 doors. Kawneer approved dealer Aluminium Sashes will have a team of up to eight operatives on site until April 2019. Kawneer systems were also used in 2017 on the original £22 million Fusion building at the university which fuses education, research and professional practice through a mix of flexible informal study and social collaborative spaces including 27 seminar rooms, three lecture theatres, research space and a 24-station PC laboratory. Kawneer’s AA®100 zone-drained curtain walling, AA®541 top-hung casement windows, AA®545 low/medium duty swing doors and series 190 doors were installed by approved dealer AB Glass for Willmott Dixon to a BDP design. This 5,800m2* BREEAM “Excellent” building is topped with a glass dome, allowing maximum natural light into the building. Feature cladding bands were fixed to the Kawneer curtain walling by aluminium fins.
SELECT, the electricians’ trade body in Scotland, has added to the extensive portfolio of services it offers to its members with a new tool to assist with producing vital risk assessment information and guidance. The organisation has entered into an arrangement with the Building Safety Group (BSG) to provide Member companies with online risk assessment software which will also help them to remain compliant with their regulatory obligations. BSG is a not-for-profit organisation which specialises in providing health, safety and environmental advice for the construction industry. With more than 800 members, it is recognised as the UK’s leading expert. Under the agreement, SELECT member companies will be able to log in to BSG’s system, where they will be able to access more than 70 different types of risk assessment template. Dave Forrester, Head of Technical Services at SELECT, said: “Conducting regular risk assessments is essential for managing the health, safety and environmental welfare of everyone affected by a business. This includes site operatives, sub-contractors, office staff and in-house maintenance teams as well as the general public. “This new alliance with BSG will open up to our Members a tried and tested means not only of ensuring workplace and public safety but also of meeting the legal requirements enshrined in health and safety provision.” Under the current regime, employers are required to make an assessment of the health and safety risks to which employees and others are exposed on construction sites. Significant findings must be recorded where five or more people are employed. Certain regulations require risk assessments for specific hazards such as working at height and dealing with hazardous substances, as well as manual handling, noise, vibration and lead. Each BSG template is pre-configured with its own set of unique control measures relevant to the hazard. Users apply a risk rating for each hazard appraised, using BSG’s 5 x 5 risk evaluation matrix. The matrix will automatically calculate scores based on risk severity and likelihood. Users can then apply a residual risk rating once the control measures have been considered. After an assessment has been completed, it can be saved as a PDF before being emailed to the site location where the construction work is taking place. Member companies can register for the new service using their SELECT contact details. SELECT’s 1250 member companies account for around 90% of all electrical installation work carried out in Scotland. They have a collective turnover of around £1 billion and provide employment for 15,000 people. For more information please contact Alan Wilson, Acting Managing Director at SELECT, the Electrical Contractors’ Association of Scotland, The Walled Garden, Bush Estate, Midlothian, EH26 0SB. T: 0131 445 5577. F: 0131 445 5548. E: admin@select.org.uk. W: www.select.org.uk
