A solar energy park is due to be developed by Audi in partnership with energy firm E.ON on the roofs of two logistics centres of its plant in Győr in Hungary, which covers about 160,000 square meters. The construction of the roof system will start in August 2019, while the renewable
Entries are now open for the 43rd BALI National Landscape Awards supported by Headline Sponsor Green-tech. The largest landscape industry awards in Europe returns on Friday 6 December at the JW Marriott, Grosvenor House, Park Lane London and BALI Registered members can now download the 2019 Entry Guidelines at baliawards.co.uk
Level 3 Construction students at Cambridge Regional College (CRC) have been offered an opportunity to gain valuable work experience with a major local employer. Willmott Dixon, one of the UK’s largest construction companies with a regional office in Cambridge, spent the day at CRC interviewing students on a Construction Management
Housing associations and tenants are due to build stronger relationships between each other with the help of a new programme. The National Housing Federation (NHF) is to introduce the project called Together with Tenants, which will set out a plan of action to ensure boards are always properly connected and
Building work on new council homes in Manchester has been completed by Willmott Dixon. A total of 40 new council homes in north Manchester have been handed over to tenants, while a further 20 new shared ownership homes were bought by the City Council to help residents on to the
Following on from the inaugural exhibition in October 2018, the Bristol Housing Festival’s (BHF) first two projects are now underway. Demonstrating innovation in technology, community building and land use, these projects are being made possible by the multiple partner collaborations on each scheme. Jez Sweetland, Project Director of BHF “I
SDL Surveying, part of Nottinghamshire-based property services company SDL Group, started the year in style by hosting a 007-themed charity ball on Friday 1st February, which raised over £12,000 for its chosen charity, The Donna Louise Hospice. The glamorous black-tie event held at a local venue, The Carriage Hall, was
When it comes to restoring an old building, you need to make sure that you are being very careful. These buildings have been standing for a long time and so any attempt at repair can lead to more problems if things are not approached in the right way. To help
A solar energy park is due to be developed by Audi in partnership with energy firm E.ON on the roofs of two logistics centres of its plant in Győr in Hungary, which covers about 160,000 square meters. The construction of the roof system will start in August 2019, while the renewable energy generation will start at the beginning of next year. “We are committed to the economical use of resources and therefore want to keep the environmental impact of our production as low as possible. Approximately 70 percent of Audi Hungaria’s heat requirements are already covered by climate-neutral, geothermal energy. Our goal is to have completely CO2-neutral plant operation in the future. With the construction of the solar-cell park, we are now taking a further step to achieve this in terms of power supply,” said Achim Heinfling, Chairman of the Board of Management of Audi Hungaria. Audi will be providing the roof areas of the two 80,000 square meters logistics centers for the construction of the solar energy park, as part of the joint project with E.ON Hungaria. From its part E.ON will build and put the park into operation, consisting of 35,000 solar cells, and will continue to operate it, with an annual output of more than 9.5 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity. This corresponds to the annual energy requirements of 5,000 households. Thanks to green electricity from regenerative sources, about 6,000 tons less carbon dioxide will be released into the air. “Our company is committed to solutions supporting a sustainable future. The widespread use of solar energy is an integral part of this endeavor. We are pleased that E.ON has gained Audi Hungaria’s trust and a new, nearly 25-year partnership has started between the two companies,” added Zsolt Jamniczky, E.ON Hungaria’s Board member.
Entries are now open for the 43rd BALI National Landscape Awards supported by Headline Sponsor Green-tech. The largest landscape industry awards in Europe returns on Friday 6 December at the JW Marriott, Grosvenor House, Park Lane London and BALI Registered members can now download the 2019 Entry Guidelines at baliawards.co.uk and enter their scheme(s). BALI Registered members can take advantage of this year’s Early Bird discounted rates, with the first deadline for Registered Contractor, Registered Designer and Group members set for 24 April 2019. The Early Bird deadline for International, Affiliate Exceptional Service and Employer Excellence categories is 5 June 2019. For 2019, one new category has been introduced, International Award – UK-Based Registered Member, which is for BALI Registered members who are registered in the UK but have delivered a landscaping scheme overseas. Along with a number of band changes in other pre-existing categories, the exciting introduction and revisions were based on feedback from members and the BALI Awards adjudication panel. The 2019 BALI National Landscape Awards is expected to be as big and as grand as previous years with over 1,000 members, guests and VIPs attending the 2017 and 2018 ceremonies. Adjudicators, led by the Chair of the Adjudication Panel John Melmoe, will be visiting eligible schemes between June and August and the 2019 BALI National Landscape Award winners will be announced in September. Final adjudication to determine this year’s Principal, Special and Grand Awards will take place at BALI Landscape House at the end of August. Commenting on this year’s Awards, former Managing Director of six-time Grand Award winner Willerby Landscapes, John Melmoe, said; “The BALI Awards ceremony in 2018 was a runaway success and now the team at BALI Landscape House are turning their focus to 2019. It is credit to the members of BALI who have made the Awards into the most prestigious event in the industry calendar. A key way to showcase your company’s capabilities is to submit an entry into this year’s Awards. The entrants should be fully focused on submitting flawless projects, highlighting the significant contribution of your staff and the underlying desire for your company to excel. It would give me and my fellow adjudicators great pleasure to see you at this year’s Awards in December. Good luck with your entries.” BALI Chief Executive Wayne Grills is also looking forward to seeing if the high bar already set on quality can be raised even higher in 2019; “Ever since the Awards were first launched over 40 years ago the standard of entry has improved tenfold. This is testament to the quality of work delivered by our BALI Registered members, and, the overall quality of judging which helps BALI identify which individual or company is deserving of a prestigious BALI National Landscape Award.” BALI would like to thank those sponsors who have already committed to this year’s Awards: Green-tech Bourne Amenity British Sugar TOPSOIL CED Stone Group Crowders Nurseries Derbyshire Aggregates Easigrass Europlants UK Fresh Horticultural Careers Green-tree Topsoil Ground Control ICL Group idverde Johnsons of Whixley Landscape Institute MCM (SE) Provender Nurseries Ransomes Jacobsen Reesink Turfcare Van Den Berk Nurseries To view and/or download this year’s Entry Guidelines, check all Early Bird deadlines and enter a scheme visit baliawards.co.uk.
Level 3 Construction students at Cambridge Regional College (CRC) have been offered an opportunity to gain valuable work experience with a major local employer. Willmott Dixon, one of the UK’s largest construction companies with a regional office in Cambridge, spent the day at CRC interviewing students on a Construction Management course in preparation for them taking part in the company’s work experience programme. The ten students made such a good impression during interview that they have all been offered a place on the programme. Natalie Sidey, Wilmott Dixons Regional community engagement officer, said “We were really impressed by the attitude of the students and how engaged they are in their course. They said it was the best decision to enrol at the college and spoke really positively about the course, expressing very clear ideas about what roles they wanted to pursue in Construction, Site Management, Surveying and Design in particular.” Phillip Grimshaw, Lecturer in Design & Construction at the College, was clearly delighted for his students, saying “Employer engagement is very important and the students really value this kind of exercise. Willmott Dixon staged a series of interviews with our learners giving them the opportunity to gain vital experience and help prepare them for the work environment”. Cambridge Regional College has some of the best construction facilities in the region with professionally-qualified and experienced tutors. Past students have gone on to study architectural technology, project management, quantity surveying and building surveying at universities including Anglia Ruskin University, Westminster, Plymouth and Leeds. Students can also go straight into work in the busy construction sector or choose to become an apprentice, for instance on a civil engineering apprenticeship.
Housing associations and tenants are due to build stronger relationships between each other with the help of a new programme. The National Housing Federation (NHF) is to introduce the project called Together with Tenants, which will set out a plan of action to ensure boards are always properly connected and accountable to the people they house, whilst also giving tenants and residents a strong role in scrutiny. At the heart of the proposal are the housing association residents are firmly at the heart of the proposal, with the NHF asking tenants and residents from across the country to share their thoughts on it. Tenants and residents are being asked to join a new independent Tenant Advisory Panel and complete a questionnaire on the plan. The programme proposes four actions: • A new requirement in the National Housing Federation Code of Governance for boards to be accountable to their tenants and residents. • A new ‘Together with Tenants’ Charter setting out what tenants and residents can expect from their housing association landlord. • Tenant and resident oversight and scrutiny of the Charter with a report on how their landlord is doing against the Charter commitments. •A closer link with regulation. In total, 43 housing associations have already signed up to be early adopters of the proposals. “I am proud to launch Together with Tenants today. It is a demonstration of the fact that as a sector we are addressing one of the most pressing challenges facing the country. How we rebuild trust between people and institutions. This is a challenge that is of course particularly pertinent for our sector, after the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower exposed feelings of powerlessness, distrust and disconnection,” said Kate Henderson, Chief Executive of the NHF. “This plan builds on good practice in the sector, and must also be the first steps towards meaningful change. I am delighted that as of today 43 housing associations have already signed up to test the commitments and I hope that many more will follow suit. We know that for this plan to work we need to design it with tenants and residents. This is why we’ve been working closely with them throughout the process, and are now urging tenants to share their thoughts on these proposals,” she concluded.
Building work on new council homes in Manchester has been completed by Willmott Dixon. A total of 40 new council homes in north Manchester have been handed over to tenants, while a further 20 new shared ownership homes were bought by the City Council to help residents on to the property ladder. Northwards Housing, the council’s housing management organisation, will be managing the 40, two-bed homes located across six sites in north Manchester. Developed by Willmott Dixon with support from Homes England of a £1.4 million grant funding, the rental properties will all be affordable. “The positivity and community spirit surrounding the delivery of these highly-anticipated homes is inspiring. This project represents a truly positive legacy far beyond just bricks and mortar. Throughout this project we have been focused on helping to raise the aspirations and opportunities available to the north Manchester community, providing a range of jobs and training on our sites, and we are delighted to be able to see the fantastic reactions of those moving into their new homes,” said Anthony Dillon, Managing Director of Willmott Dixon in the North. The City Council has also purchased 20 new, high-quality family homes in partnership with Taylor Wimpey at Booth Hall in Charlestown, north Manchester, that will be re-purposed to support its people onto the property ladder through affordable shared-ownership. The next phase of the North Manchester new homes project is due to be announced later this year and it will include a further 150 new homes. The affordable homes projects represent the first phase of an ambitious affordable housing investment programme that will see 6,400 genuinely affordable homes built up to 2025.
Following on from the inaugural exhibition in October 2018, the Bristol Housing Festival’s (BHF) first two projects are now underway. Demonstrating innovation in technology, community building and land use, these projects are being made possible by the multiple partner collaborations on each scheme. Jez Sweetland, Project Director of BHF “I am delighted that these first two projects of the Bristol Housing Festival demonstrate our commitment to innovation, collaboration and learning together. These projects show how we can create prototypes that we believe will help us learn how we build healthy communities and contribute solutions that may help start to tackle the challenges of our housing crisis.” ZEDPods in St. George This ZEDPods development proposes 11 homes over the Chalks Road carpark, adjacent to St George Park. It pioneers a way to create an 100% affordable and low carbon housing development over an existing land use, a car park in this case. A ZEDPod is a new concept in high-quality, rapid build, modular low energy homes that can use air rights above existing land within city centres, such as car parks. The ZEDPod apartments can be raised above existing car parking spaces, which continue to be available for public parking. The homes have been optimised for energy efficiency and the lowest possible running costs, with solar panels to generate renewable electricity in the day, quiet running heat pumps for low energy heating, controlled ventilation which recovers usable heat from inside the building whilst bringing in fresh air, triple glazing, LED lighting and energy efficient appliances. This environmental and socially focused development will deliver much needed affordable housing in the area for young professionals and others at risk of housing crisis. By creating a mixture of tenures, a new community model will be created to ensure that the support networks are in place for the tenants. The scheme will offer something truly innovative, a first for the city and of its kind in the UK. The development rethinks existing land use, often in central locations, demonstrating a new possibility in helping solve the housing crisis, whilst at the same time providing beautiful, low carbon housing. This project is a collaboration between Bristol Housing Festival, ZED Pods Ltd, a Bristol based Housing Association, the YMCA, Bristol and Bath Regional Capital and Bristol City Council. A public consultation for the scheme will be held on the 1st March 2019 at the Beehive Centre, BS5 7AW between 3pm – 8pm. There will be a chance to meet members of the project team and learn more about the proposals. Dr Rehan Khodabuccus, Operations Director of ZED Pods Ltd. “We are excited to have started the planning process and hope to be working with Bristol City Council to deliver 11 Pods to help key workers, and young people with affordable new homes” Bill Dunster OBE, Design Director at ZED Pods Ltd said “I’m very pleased that after designing these new homes we can, if planning is agreed, make a real difference to people in this community, with no loss of car parking space” LaunchPad The LaunchPad development is an innovative modular accommodation solution for young independent adults, ready for a new start in life and will be located on the car park at the bottom of Alexandra Park, Fishponds BS16. The Project will be for young people moving on from supported housing as well as students from Bristol University. Together, they will be making use of their shared skills to self-manage the scheme. The 31 new homes will create a mixed community which supports the young residents’ journey to independent living. It will also bring students together with other young people to create a better sense of community amongst those who are passionate about connecting with others and proactively building a new community. LaunchPad has been made possible through collaboration between 1625 Independent People, University of Bristol Students Union, The University of Bristol and United Communities. Oona Goldsworthy from United Communities says; “By investing in LaunchPad, United Communities and our partners are saying, ‘there is a different way to provide homes’, quickly, on land that otherwise wouldn’t be used. These modular homes will create a brand-new mixed community, which after 10 years can be moved to another location”
SDL Surveying, part of Nottinghamshire-based property services company SDL Group, started the year in style by hosting a 007-themed charity ball on Friday 1st February, which raised over £12,000 for its chosen charity, The Donna Louise Hospice. The glamorous black-tie event held at a local venue, The Carriage Hall, was the perfect setting for an action-packed night of entertainment, reception drinks and dinner. The headline feature of the event was its charity auction, led by SDL Auctions’ managing director and auctioneer, Andrew Parker. The charity lots auctioned were generously donated by SDL Surveying’s network of surveyors and included; two tickets to the Henley Regatta, a themed helicopter ride and four tickets to a rugby league game. The evening was rounded off with a live band and a casino, with guests using ‘funny money’ in a bid to win a new iPad, which had been donated for the event. SDL Surveying’s chief operating officer, Simon Jackson, commented:” It was a fantastic night in which we managed to celebrate the strong results we achieved with our key partners in 2018. It is their hard work, alongside the power of our people, which has enabled us to continue to be successful for 30 years. “Most importantly the night provided a platform for our chosen charity, The Donna Louise, to shine and raise more money for the fantastic work that they do for children and young adults with life-limiting conditions and their families.” Donations are still welcome and can be made via the fundraising link – https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/Team/SDLCharityDinner/
When it comes to restoring an old building, you need to make sure that you are being very careful. These buildings have been standing for a long time and so any attempt at repair can lead to more problems if things are not approached in the right way. To help you with this, we have put together some tips on how to restore an old building. Keep reading to find out more. Look For Water Damage Before you get started on your project, you need to make sure that you are looking out for any sort of water damage. Water damage can be a warning of serious structural issues and it can easily appear around the floors, windows and ceilings. Make sure to double check the sill plate as this is an important structural part of the building. Choose Good Materials When you are investing in some materials and products to help with your building restoration project, you need to make sure that you are choosing the right ones. You want products that are built to last and aren’t just going to lead to more problems down the line. If you choose a trusted provider, you’ll be safe in the knowledge that their products can be trusted also. For example, there’s the company W.R. Meadows who ensure every product they create meets EPA standards. Having operated in the industry since 1926, they have extensive experience in creating construction materials that are of the highest quality for their customers. Get A Good Team A building restoration project can be very complicated and so you need to make sure that you have a team of people that you can trust to work on the project. Every member of the team should be trained to deal with this sort of old building to ensure the structure remains and that everything is approached in the right way. Train your team carefully and make sure that everyone knows how important this project is. Start With The Practical Elements Our next tip for those about to embark on a building restoration project is to start on the practical elements rather than the aesthetic. Think about starting off with the roof, the windows and the masonry in the building. Once you have completed these then you can move on with things like the aesthetic. You should also think about taking a look at the mortar in any fireplaces or chimneys in the building. Non-Threatening Quirks Our final tip is to make sure that you take advantage of any sort of non-threatening quirks. If the old building has some design quirks that have changed over the years, it is often a good idea to embrace these rather than change them. As long as the building will be structurally sound with these quirks in place, you should be able to embrace them. Final Verdict If you are planning a building restoration project this year, make sure that you take on board all of the advice that we have given you in this article. Think about choosing the right materials for the project and embracing any sort of quirks that the building has. This should help you to have a successful project and a structurally sound building.
