The first phase of the design and construction of the new £45 million Northstowe Education Campus in Cambridgeshire will be carried our by Kier. The teaching facilities will be a part of the new sustainable Cambridgeshire town Northstowe and address the lack of school places in the county. The 133,203
Premier Inn has been announced by Rockwell Property as the occupier of a new 400-bedroom hotel in Westferry, East London. Whitbread, Premier Inn’s parent company, will take a 30-year lease of the hotel and restaurant within the 30-storey mixed-use scheme which is at the gateway to Canary Wharf, next to
Countryside Properties has started construction work on the Royal National Institute of Blind People’s (RNIB) residential site in Redhill, Surrey. The redevelopment project will provide RNIB with specialised accommodation for up to 50 residents as well as 77 luxury new homes for sale on the open market. The completed development
As the level of housing completions continues to head in the right direction according to statistics published today, the country’s home building industry urged the Scottish Government to build on this positive news to enable it to deliver more of the homes Scotland’s growing population needs. Nicola Barclay, Chief Executive
MIKE TYLER, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT WSP, JOINS THE BOARD – After seeking a new national board member to fulfil the role of North West Regional Director, networking group the Forum for the Built Environment (FBE) have appointed Mike Tyler of global construction consultants WSP. Tyler returns to the FBE
The STA has conducted a fresh assessment of large-scale solar costs which was explored with leading energy analysts & BEIS at an expert workshop today. The STA’s last assessment of solar’s Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCOE), published in November 2014, had anticipated costs of around £80MWh in 2019. The updated
BDC 319 : Aug 2024
The first phase of the design and construction of the new £45 million Northstowe Education Campus in Cambridgeshire will be carried our by Kier. The teaching facilities will be a part of the new sustainable Cambridgeshire town Northstowe and address the lack of school places in the county. The 133,203 sq ft Northstowe Education Campus will become Cambridgeshire’s largest education campus once completed. It will comprise a nursery, a 3FE primary school, a secondary school, Special Educational Needs (SEN) school and sixth form college. 3,000 students aged 0-19 years within the sustainable new development will benefit from teaching and learning facilities at Northstowe, which is expected to have a population of 24,000. A new secondary school, the seventh owned by Cambridge Meridian Academies Trust (CMAT), will be delivered by Kier, providing places for up to 600 pupils aged 11-16. The project will then be extended in two subsequent phases to allow for 1,800 pupils. It will feature a multi-purpose school hall/theatre space and drama studios, a large sports hall, a gym, two dance studios and all-weather floodlit football and hockey pitches. In addition, Kier will create a 110-place Special Education Needs (SEN) school. “Having previously constructed Pathfinder, Northstowe’s first primary school, we are delighted to now be delivering the next phase of education provision for the emerging Northstowe community. This addition to the school development further builds on our position as a leading UK provider of educational buildings and we are looking forward to starting the first phase of works on this project,” commented Mark Dady, managing director at Kier Eastern. Kier started enabling works on site in September with the first cohort of students starting in September 2019.
Premier Inn has been announced by Rockwell Property as the occupier of a new 400-bedroom hotel in Westferry, East London. Whitbread, Premier Inn’s parent company, will take a 30-year lease of the hotel and restaurant within the 30-storey mixed-use scheme which is at the gateway to Canary Wharf, next to Westferry DLR station. “I’m delighted that Rockwell have secured Premier Inn as the operator for our new hotel-led development at the Westferry gateway to Canary Wharf. Premier Inn’s emphasis on being a force for good aligns perfectly with our aspiration to deliver exceptional schemes which make a positive and lasting difference. It is an exciting time for Rockwell and this agreement further expands our growing hotel portfolio as well as illustrating our proven track-record. The desirability of this scheme is a testament to Rockwell’s expertise. We are eager not only to deliver it to our high standards but to continue building upon this with similar projects in the future,” commented Donal Mulryan, Founder of Rockwell. The development includes private and affordable residential accommodation, community space, and retail units, as well as a ground floor Whitbread-branded restaurant all set in a landscaped public realm. Rockwell Property was granted planning permission on the site by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in October. On completion, the hotel will be the tallest Premier Inn in the UK and Whitbread’s largest hotel in London (outside of airport hotels). Construction work is due to commence in summer 2019.
Countryside Properties has started construction work on the Royal National Institute of Blind People’s (RNIB) residential site in Redhill, Surrey. The redevelopment project will provide RNIB with specialised accommodation for up to 50 residents as well as 77 luxury new homes for sale on the open market. The completed development will include the refurbishment of the Grade II Listed Tudor House and Garden Cottage. At the heart of the scheme is a Sensory Trail which uses sounds, smells and textures to aid navigation around the site. “We are proud to be working with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) on redeveloping their Redhill site. Central to the new site are innovations such as the Sensory Trail, which highlights the role that hearing, touch and smell can play in assisting people with sight loss to navigate around the site. We hope that this will also inspire other property developers to pursue more partnerships in the charity sector that benefit social care and help connect local communities,” said Iain McPherson, Managing Director of Countryside’s New Homes & Communities South Region. In November 2015 planning permission for the redevelopment was granted and after a complex demolition and infrastructure programme, the first RNIB accommodation and private homes are now under construction. The first specialised accommodation is expected to be completed by Spring 2019, along with the occupation of the first open market homes. Meanwhile, Countryside will be launching a show home in January 2019 to demonstrate the quality of their homes.
As the level of housing completions continues to head in the right direction according to statistics published today, the country’s home building industry urged the Scottish Government to build on this positive news to enable it to deliver more of the homes Scotland’s growing population needs. Nicola Barclay, Chief Executive of trade body Homes for Scotland, said: “It’s great to see ongoing growth in the overall number of homes being built, but just under seven hundred extra homes over the last year is not going to solve our housing crisis. In order to return to the levels of a decade ago, we would need to see ten times this number on an annual basis. “Scotland’s housing market remains amongst the most affordable places to live in the UK, and huge social and economic opportunities exist for the Scottish Government to attract further housing investment from both within Scotland and elsewhere – if it can create and maintain the favourable conditions this requires. “Ways in which this can be achieved include ensuring the Planning Bill currently going through the Scottish Parliament meets the original objective of delivering more homes; encouraging more entrants into the industry; supporting those SMEs who want to develop more homes; preserving a regulatory environment that promotes investment and ensuring policies like Help to Buy are continued until such times that the mortgage market fully supports First Time Buyers. “Ultimately, it needs joined-up thinking across portfolios, therefore we look forward to seeing how tomorrow’s Budget supports sustainable housing growth so builders can contribute even more to Scotland’s social wellbeing and economic success.”
MIKE TYLER, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT WSP, JOINS THE BOARD – After seeking a new national board member to fulfil the role of North West Regional Director, networking group the Forum for the Built Environment (FBE) have appointed Mike Tyler of global construction consultants WSP. Tyler returns to the FBE following a brief spell away to focus on his family commitments. He was previously involved with the FBE Manchester group, utilising his extensive experience of dealing with the Public Sector. As Regional Director, Tyler will be supporting and advising the Lancashire, Liverpool and Manchester FBE branches, as well as giving North West members a voice on the larger, national stage by feeding back to the wider group. One of his key aims will be to engage with potential speakers, and drive attendance to the FBE’s fantastic range of events in the North West. Of his appointment, Tyler said: “I am thrilled to be asked to join the board, particularly at such an exciting time for the region with businesses thriving and expanding in the North West. I can’t wait to work alongside the existing board members to help the FBE keep moving forward and cement our status as the go-to national networking group for the construction industry.” David Jones, National Chairman of the FBE, added: “Mike is a fantastic addition to the FBE Board. His experience in the sector as well as his knowledge of Manchester and the North West made him an obvious choice for the appointment.” The Liverpool and Manchester branches are already collaborating on upcoming events, including a breakfast celebrating the achievements of the whole North West region to be held in Chester on the 9th January.
The STA has conducted a fresh assessment of large-scale solar costs which was explored with leading energy analysts & BEIS at an expert workshop today. The STA’s last assessment of solar’s Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCOE), published in November 2014, had anticipated costs of around £80MWh in 2019. The updated analysis for 2019 shows that solar has gone beyond the STA’s earlier expectations with LCOE costs of around £50-60MWh in 2019, a figure which is also significantly below BEIS’s 2016 Central Estimate of Electricity Generation Costs. Although costs vary significantly on a site by site basis, the findings confirm that under a long-term power purchase contract, solar could soon be the cheapest electricity generation technology in the UK. STA Policy Analyst Nicholas Gall, who undertook the study working with STA members over the past six months, said; “This is yet another example of the fast-moving solar power market outpacing official costs analyses. Our aim here is to provide an accurate assessment of where large-scale solar costs stand as we enter 2019, when we hope to see some revival of the UK large-scale solar market. We urge all organisations conducting low-carbon or energy cost analyses to make use of this up-to-date industry data, which comes directly from our members’ own experience of the UK market. We also urge decision-makers to understand how effective policy frameworks enable the lowest possible costs for solar, which will greatly benefit consumers.” Large-scale solar has been excluded from clean energy auctions in the UK since 2015, and the Renewables Obligation was closed in March 2017. This has left the sector to develop its own commercial routes-to-market, within a complex energy market heavily distorted by Government support for other technologies and facing significant policy uncertainties. The STA analysis presented today shows that solar can now deploy at around £50-60/MWh, making it highly competitive with CCGT and onshore wind, and attractive for commercial and industrial consumers under long-term Power Purchase Agreements. The analysis also underscores the high potential for UK content in large-scale solar and its contribution to GDP, with imported modules likely to form just 10% of total lifetime costs by 2030. A significant solar pipeline is widely expected to re-start in the UK in 2019, assisted in the short term by developer needs to build out previously stalled projects, and by a global module surplus. In the medium to longer term, the market outlook is supported by improved manufacturing efficiencies, higher gas price projections, and the UK’s growing need for clean generation capacity. However, the outlook is clouded by policy uncertainties such as Ofgem’s latest proposed changes to network charging, the future of carbon pricing given uncertainties over post-Brexit arrangements with the EU Emissions Trading System, and ongoing grid constraint challenges. Accompanying the cost figures released today, the STA sets out three targeted policy measures to facilitate growth of the large-scale solar market: Introducing a technology-neutral floor-price Contract for Difference auction; Enacting network access and charging reforms to enable storage + PV to realise its full potential; and providing a Climate Change Levy exemption for newly built zero-carbon generation procured through corporate renewable power purchase agreements (PPAs). Chris Hewett, Chief Executive of the Solar Trade Association said; “We have a clear message for Government and corporate energy buyers today: UK solar electricity is now cost competitive with fossil fuels. By establishing the right policy framework for solar and storage, including expediting a smart, flexible energy system, government can enable this technology to realise its full potential in delivering an affordable, low-carbon future energy system.”
