Sheffield City Council has built on the success of its ‘The Building Block’ programme with the launch of a new construction learning hub. The initiative was introduced in the city due its shortage of construction workers, with more than 85 people now successfully moving into full time construction work in
A collection of three office buildings along Bristol’s waterfront have been sold in a deal worth £27.75 million. Legal & General’s UK Property Fund purchased the Quayside Bristol properties from DAS and ERGO. This deal follows the recent acquisition of the Iron self-storage portfolio, its landmark self-storage deal as the
PRIME Minister Boris Johnson has announced a hospital building programme, but it is just as vital to tackle a £6 billion maintenance backlog that is potentially risking the lives of patients, states a University of Huddersfield professor who chaired a national conference that dealt with the issue of healthcare infrastructure.
CHARLOTTE Booth, a chartered environmentalist with more than a decade of consultancy experience, has been appointed as associate director of sustainability and wellbeing at multi-disciplinary architecture and engineering practice, BE Design. Having grown up on an almost autonomous farm in rural Lincolnshire, Charlotte had a keen interest in protecting the
Sheffield City Council has built on the success of its ‘The Building Block’ programme with the launch of a new construction learning hub. The initiative was introduced in the city due its shortage of construction workers, with more than 85 people now successfully moving into full time construction work in six months. Former hairdresser Ellie credits the learning hub for helping her spark a new career in bricklaying. “I wasn’t challenged enough as a hairdresser and I was speaking to my partner one evening who told me about a training course his boss was supporting alongside Sheffield City Council, The Building Block,” she said. “I looked into it and thought immediately how great an opportunity this was to start a new career. “I loved attending the hub; everyone on the course was in the same situation as me, looking to get started in a new career and so we all bonded over that. I was learning new skills every day and I felt a huge sense of satisfaction knowing I was getting closer to my goal of becoming a bricklayer. “I’m now fortunate enough to work as a bricklayer full time! I started with work experience on a new housing development at Manor Boot; my employers were so impressed with my work ethic I was inundated with offers of employment. “I now really enjoy coming to work every day and I can’t envisage myself doing anything else.” This programme forms part of the £22 million Construction Skills Fund (CSF), which has organisations the opportunity to create 26 learning ‘hubs’ across the country, with the aim of training more than 13,000 people to be ready for employment in the construction industry by March 2020. The hubs provide life-changing opportunities to start a career in construction, with particular focus on the long-term unemployed, career changers and unrepresented groups. The Building Block programme aims to train up to 650 people with an expected 250 individuals moving into sustained employment by 31 March 2020. Steve Radley, Policy Director of the Construction Industry Training Board, commented: “Sheffield City Council has an ambitious plan to supply the city with 10,000 new homes over the next 10 years, and to successfully achieve that target it is crucial that new talent is recruited into the local construction industry. “We’ve seen a fantastic response from local employers as they continue to recruit from the Building Block learning hub. We look forward to seeing further trainees placed in full time employment and helping to further regenerate the city of Sheffield.”
A collection of three office buildings along Bristol’s waterfront have been sold in a deal worth £27.75 million. Legal & General’s UK Property Fund purchased the Quayside Bristol properties from DAS and ERGO. This deal follows the recent acquisition of the Iron self-storage portfolio, its landmark self-storage deal as the Fund continues to diversify its holdings and recycle its capital into more operational and alternative assets. Situated in the established office location of Temple Quarter, the Quayside buildings are just a short walk from Temple Meads station, an increasingly important draw to occupiers. “This is an excellent buy for the Fund. The Bristol office market is currently undersupplied and has strong rental growth prospects as a result of this undersupply. The building also benefits from flexible floor plates which are in demand in the City. The combination of these strong property fundamentals and good micro-location will make this a strong performing asset for our investors as we refurbish and upgrade them over time. We have recently undertaken a similar exercise at The Landing in Redcliff Quay and have been very pleased with the level of tenant interest for modern, stylish, well connected assets in attractive city centre settings,” commented Matt Jarvis, Senior Fund Manager of the UK Property Fund at Legal & General.
PRIME Minister Boris Johnson has announced a hospital building programme, but it is just as vital to tackle a £6 billion maintenance backlog that is potentially risking the lives of patients, states a University of Huddersfield professor who chaired a national conference that dealt with the issue of healthcare infrastructure. Professor Mike Kagioglou is Dean of the School of Art, Design and Architecture at the University of Huddersfield and specialises in the importance of infrastructure and building design to healthcare. He was invited to chair the 2019 National NHS Estates Conference that took place in London and featured speakers who included Sir John Naylor, author of an influential review of NHS property and estates. At the close of the conference, Professor Kagioglou – co-editor of a book titled Improving Healthcare through Built Environment Infrastructure – provided a summary of the issues that had been raised and he highlighted the level of chronic under-investment in the NHS estate. “Since 2010, the UK’s capital expenditure on healthcare has gone below the OECD average [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development], so the need for investment in this area is huge. There is a £6 billion of backlog maintenance in the NHS estate, which means lives are potentially put at risk,” said Professor Kagioglou. “About half of the backlog is in critical areas,” he continued. “It can include operating theatre services that have not been maintained and electrical, mechanical and gas systems that have not been updated according to specific schedules. “There are some serious issues there in relation to the healthcare estate. They are resulting in operating on breakdown maintenance schedules rather than preventative ones,” said Professor Kagioglou, who added that many NHS trusts are in deficit, meaning the money is not available to catch up with the maintenance backlog. The Government has announced that it is to fund the building of new hospitals, but it is also vital to fix the backlog maintenance to ensure that the current infrastructure operates properly and safely, argues Professor Kagioglou. In addition to chairing the NHS Estates Conference, he has been invited to speak at the large-scale and long-established Healthcare Estates event taking place over October 9-10 in Manchester and organised by the Institute of Healthcare Engineering and Estate Management. Expected to attract an attendance of 4,500 attendees and more than 250 exhibitors, the programme includes seminars and keynote addresses from experts who include Professor Kagioglou. The title of his talk is ‘Total Delivery’ of Healthcare Infrastructure for Patients, Users and Communities. Professor Kagioglou will cover topics including the contribution the built environment makes to healthcare outcomes; how evidence-based design should be used in creating health infrastructure; and how new technologies such as building information modelling can be utilised. The University of Huddersfield’s Innovative Design Lab, led by Professor Patricia Tzortzopoulos who is co-editor of titled Improving Healthcare through Built Environment Infrastructure, undertakes significant research in healthcare infrastructure and medical devices.
CHARLOTTE Booth, a chartered environmentalist with more than a decade of consultancy experience, has been appointed as associate director of sustainability and wellbeing at multi-disciplinary architecture and engineering practice, BE Design. Having grown up on an almost autonomous farm in rural Lincolnshire, Charlotte had a keen interest in protecting the environment from a young age and has since led on energy and sustainability strategies for some of the UK’s largest urban regeneration projects. “From a young age, I recognised the importance of living sustainably,” said Charlotte. “On my family’s 250-hectare arable farm, we grew the energy crop miscanthus, ran our vehicles on biofuel, designed wetlands and wildflower meadows to encourage biodiversity and heated the farmhouse via a ground source heat pump, solar thermal and PV panels. You could say that a passion for sustainability and wellbeing is in my blood. “After completing my degree in Natural Sciences at Durham University – where I specialised in climate change – I went on to study for an MSc in Building Energy and Environmental Performance Modelling at the Welsh School of Architecture. “This greatly contributed to my understanding as to the impacts of development on the environment and led me to pursue a career in the construction industry. “I’ve advised affordable housing providers, local councils and private developers on the environmental impacts of their construction projects. I’ve worked closely with teams to project manage multi-million-pound masterplanning and regeneration schemes. Seeing low carbon, sustainable and biophilic-focussed designs come to fruition is incredibly rewarding. “I’m now looking forward to putting all of this experience into practice at BE Design.” In her new role, Charlotte will be collaborating closely with the team to provide sustainability management, wellbeing and biophilic design support – through accreditations including the WELL Building Standard – and energy and low carbon strategies to BE Design’s clients. Charlotte added: “We want to embed sustainability and wellbeing practices into the heart of our designs. There’s an incredible team here, who are committed to creating exceptional places to live and work in, which have minimal environmental impact and which are fit for future generations. “This passion for sustainability, along with the collaborative and holistic approach to design, is what attracted me to BE Design. “Climate change is a very real threat, one that isn’t going to go away, so we have to be incorporating sustainable practices into everything we do in terms of building design. Businesses and councils are declaring states of emergency. But now, we have to deliver practical solutions to deliver the net zero carbon aspirations of our clients.” Charlotte’s role will significantly strengthen the Nottinghamshire-based practice’s offer relating to sustainable and wellbeing and bring an elevated service to its national and international clients. Director Anna Tsartsari added: “Sustainability isn’t just a buzz word – it’s a practice, an ethos, a commitment to the future of our planet. ‘Designing sustainably for the future’ has been at the core of our business’ approach to design from day one. At BE Design, we very much subscribe to the idea of sustainable placemaking, creating spaces that people want to live and work in. That’s why we’ve also signed up to Architect’s Declare. “Charlotte will hugely benefit our clients, bringing an incredible amount of sector knowledge to their projects. She has already proven to be a fantastic addition to the team and we’re delighted to have her on board.” Find out more about BE Design at www.bedesign.co.uk or join the conversation on Twitter @B_E_Design #BESustainablePlacemaking.
