Congrid, the Finnish construction quality and safety software company, announced its expansion into the UK and the appointment of Daniel Hunt as UK territory manager. The Congrid mobile app introduces new levels of transparency and communication for safety and quality on construction projects and helps deliver zero-defect buildings to clients.
12 construction sites located across the length and breadth of the UK have triumphed as winners of the Considerate Constructors Scheme’s 2019 Ivor Goodsite Hoarding Competition. Now in its seventh year, Scheme-registered construction sites and companies invite local schools and community groups to participate in decorating their site hoardings to
Kuflink has announced a new commercial partnership with Southampton FC. The Premier League club’s first ever official peer-to-peer investment partner is set to become a familiar face at St Mary’s Stadium as matchday sponsors, appearing on the LED advertising boards during the Saint’s home games and featuring across social media
Design Council welcomes the interim report from the government’s Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission. The interim report saw Commissioners present a summary of key findings. Design Council is pleased the report reflects many of the positions submitted in its evidence to the government earlier this year. In particular the emphasis
Despite living in our the incredibly digital world, some people prefer to stick with working methods that they’re used to. This isn’t always a bad thing—tradition goes well with consistency, making it easy to estimate and predict how successful certain projects will be. When you calculate construction costs using cost estimating
Congrid, the Finnish construction quality and safety software company, announced its expansion into the UK and the appointment of Daniel Hunt as UK territory manager. The Congrid mobile app introduces new levels of transparency and communication for safety and quality on construction projects and helps deliver zero-defect buildings to clients. Already the market leader in Finland, with 60% annual revenue growth and all of the country’s major construction firms using its platform, including WSP, YIT, NCC, and PEAB, Congrid is now targeting the UK. Congrid’s cloud-based app is aimed at project managers and quality managers at construction companies involved in various projects, including housing, offices, hospitals and schools. Designed to reduce the industry’s reliance on manual, paper-based workflows by digitising on-site project management and documentation, workers use the Finnish app on smartphones or tablets, to manage safety and quality inspections, document defects and faults and monitor the progress of each work stage in real time, all in the same app. This approach enables construction companies to involve their contractor network in the quality assurance and safety management process without any additional costs. Everything is recorded using detailed site plans allowing for the accurate resolution of any issues and subsequent monitoring to ensure all faults are fixed. Benefits include increased transparency and better communication between construction companies and their contractors, improved safety levels, reduced quality costs, zero-defect property deliveries and more efficient ways of working on site. The data collected allows detailed monitoring and reporting on any issues in need of attention. Future product developments include new data visualisation tools to expand what users can learn from their quality and safety data. “We aim to bring our expertise and knowledge to the UK market and introduce new, smarter ways of working relating to safety and quality in construction. Our approach offers the UK construction industry a better understanding of what has been built and how,” explained Timo Makkonen, CEO of Congrid. “The entire industry needs to change its mindset towards quality – quality is everyone’s business. Our software enables all stakeholders involved to participate and take responsibility for quality and safety. What we’ve experienced is that quality has become far more of a priority and users are looking for peace of mind, to better manage how a building is built and have a record to demonstrate this.” Congrid’s first UK appointment sees Daniel Hunt become UK territory manager, responsible for spearheading customer acquisition and hiring further staff in 2019. Already established in Finland and Sweden, the UK is the first country the Finnish company is moving into outside of the Nordic region.
12 construction sites located across the length and breadth of the UK have triumphed as winners of the Considerate Constructors Scheme’s 2019 Ivor Goodsite Hoarding Competition. Now in its seventh year, Scheme-registered construction sites and companies invite local schools and community groups to participate in decorating their site hoardings to create local masterpieces of colourful, attractive designs – many of which offer important messages such as: protecting the environment, the importance of education and children’s mental health. This year’s winners are: BAM Construction UK Ltd With the help of: Lourdes Secondary School Theme: BAM 150 Years Celebration Berkeley Homes With the help of: Ursuline Girls High School Theme: Ecology – Our Home Fox Building & Civil Engineering Ltd With the help of: Knocknagoney Primary School Theme: The Careful Rabbit Stays Safe in the City Hart Builders (Edinburgh) Ltd With the help of: Seven Local Primary Schools Theme: Why you love living on the Scottish Borders Hobson & Porter Ltd With the help of: 500 Children aged 5-12 from the local community. Theme: Pride in your Town & #loveconstruction Kier Construction – Western & Wales With the help of: Keynsham Youth Group & Salford School Theme: The Gruffalo and World War Remembrance Lovell Partnerships Ltd With the help of: Heronsgate Primary School Theme: Lend a Hand to Improve our Land MID Contracting & Consulting Ltd With the help of: Robert Clack School Theme: Community & Importance of Education Mulalley & Company Ltd With the help of: All Saints Primary School Theme: Our Fragile Land and Sea Environment United Living (South) Ltd With the help of: Long Mead Community Primary School Theme: What can you do for the environment? VINCI Joint Venture With the help of: Norton Knatchbull School Theme: A Message from Ashford Willmott Dixon Construction With the help of: The MacIntyre Charity Theme: Love Makes the World Go Round In addition to these winners, a further six competition entries were given recognition for their inspirational efforts, receiving the ‘Ivor’s Choice Award’. The winners of this award are: Berkeley Homes West Thames With the help of: Blair Peach Primary School Theme: Careers & Aspirations in Construction Lovell Partnerships Ltd With the help of: Abronhill Primary School Theme: Be Yourself Midas Construction Ltd With the help of: Watermore School Theme: Respect, Responsibility, Perseverance, Friendship, Caring and Honesty. Quintain Estates Ltd With the help of: Place2Be Charity and 11 Local Schools Theme: Children’s Mental Health: Staying Healthy Inside & Out Solmaz Ltd With the help of: Fulham Cross Girls School Theme: Knife Crime Willmott Dixon Construction With the help of: St. Mary’s Primary School Theme: Save Our Planet The Scheme’s Chief Executive Edward Hardy commented: “Massive congratulations to all winners and runners-up of this year’s Ivor Goodsite Hoarding Competition. This competition offers a tremendous opportunity for those registered with the Scheme to collaborate with local schools and community groups to provide colourful and creative works of art across hoardings. Construction site hoardings are the ‘shop window’ of the industry, and it is excellent to see, through this competition, so many hoardings being used to communicate really important messages across our communities. “Thank you to all the Scheme-registered sites and companies for participating and making a real difference to the local communities impacted by construction activity. These efforts continue to help improve the image of construction, and we look forward to even more sites entering the competition in 2020 and beyond.” All entries receive congratulatory medals, certificates and fun packs as well as trophy and banner. There is also a special Ivor Goodsite Hoarding Competition brochure displaying all of the entries.
Kuflink has announced a new commercial partnership with Southampton FC. The Premier League club’s first ever official peer-to-peer investment partner is set to become a familiar face at St Mary’s Stadium as matchday sponsors, appearing on the LED advertising boards during the Saint’s home games and featuring across social media and more. “As an ambitious fintech, we’re continually exploring new ways to spread the word about our fantastic products and look forward to building strong ties with the club, its supporters and local community. Kuflink and Southampton FC share similar values and aspirations, making this partnership opportunity the ideal fit,” said Narinder Khattoare, Kuflink CEO. The Kent-based investment platform will also be launching exciting initiatives for the club’s supporters and working closely to roll out exclusive benefits for their community throughout the coming months. “We are extremely pleased to welcome Kuflink on board as our Official Peer to Peer Investment Partner. Like us, they are a challenger brand and through the partnerships we can help them with their growth in a developing industry. They are an innovative company that have enjoyed tremendous success and we look forward to working closely with them on some exciting projects,” added David Thomas, Commercial Director at Southampton FC.
Design Council welcomes the interim report from the government’s Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission. The interim report saw Commissioners present a summary of key findings. Design Council is pleased the report reflects many of the positions submitted in its evidence to the government earlier this year. In particular the emphasis on: – place making over house building – community empowerment – the importance of sustainability and green infrastructure – the importance of design skills amongst planners and decision makers – the move towards a more inclusive approach involving the public earlier in in the planning process – the importance of national quality standards Sarah Weir OBE, Design Council CEO: “There is much to welcome in the Commission’s really bold and imaginative interim report. I am especially pleased to see a strong focus on true collaboration and much earlier community engagement, the emphasis on the value of holistic placemaking and the recognition that sustainability and green infrastructure needs to be at the heart of planning and design. The call for a greater emphasis on design skills in local authorities is particularly important and reflects our evidence to the Commission. Design Council is also ready and eager to play our role as national advisory body for Government, working closely with the Commission to help ensure consistently high standards of design nationally. This interim report has the clear potential to ensure an even wider impact can be felt across the country in the final report. We look forward to being a part of it.” As government’s advisor on design, Design Council provides independent, practical and direct support to local authorities, property developers and their consultant teams to help enhance the quality of the built environment. This comes in the form of design advice and guidance and includes design reviews and a design approach that enable a cross sector, systems approach to supporting better places to live. As an authority in this field, Design Council have long argued that many new homes and neighbourhoods fail to meet the needs of their communities because design is not prioritised by planners and developers. In Design Council’s submitted evidence to the government’s Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission, we argued that design must be recognised as a golden thread running through the development and planning process, rather than being an afterthought.
Despite living in our the incredibly digital world, some people prefer to stick with working methods that they’re used to. This isn’t always a bad thing—tradition goes well with consistency, making it easy to estimate and predict how successful certain projects will be. When you calculate construction costs using cost estimating software, you can help to ensure a successful and productive project. However, what if we were to tell you that there’s actually a lot of modern technology that prides itself on accuracy? This is where cost estimating software comes in. Cost estimating software that allows you to input numbers, measurements and other variables to give accurate estimates for your construction clients. Despite the programs being new technology, they are designed for accuracy. This accuracy can help bridge the gap between tradition and the future, giving you programs that will assist your company in the long run. To show you exactly why this type of application is beneficial, we’ve created a list of 4 Reasons Every Contractor Should Invest in Cost Estimating Software: 1. Calculate Construction Costs without Human Error One of the biggest mistakes companies can make when calculating estimates on their own is simply that: calculating estimates on their own. Though there are many skilled individuals who are experts at making estimates for companies, even experts can experience human error. This is why estimating programs can be helpful, as algorithms and equations are more reliable overall. 2. Programs Can Decide What is Essential When you’re working with an estimation program, you have to understand that the program itself is typically advanced enough to make personal decisions on which parts of a project are necessary. When you input certain tasks into the program, it will be able to strip options and aspects of a project that aren’t absolutely necessary, allowing you to have tighter estimates that are more in favor of the client. Because there are so many different factors to consider when building a property, it’s also good to have flexibility. By having more accurate estimates, you can ensure that clients will want to come back for more work and your company’s overall success rate will stay consistent. Though it might seem easy to simply keep track of which things are necessary, it can also be easy to apply similar settings to different projects when making multiple estimates at once, making estimate programs necessary allies. 3. Save Time In traditional scenarios, a customer changing their mind or having to adjust their request at any time can lead to many different recalculations. If you use an estimation program, this is not necessarily the case—instead of having to recalculate, you can simply adjust certain values and see the entire estimate change almost immediately! 4. Save Money At the end of the day, the most important thing about estimation software is that it will save you money. Through giving you more options, efficiency and less error, you will be able to make sure your estimates are effective and affordable. By having estimates that are leaner and more on the side of the customer, you can also drive up your engagement and gain more consistent clients. What do you think of our list? Are you a contractor who doesn’t yet use estimating software? We hope our list has been helpful so you can understand the benefits of using software to calculate construction costs!
