NAPIT has created a new publication which helps Landlords and Electrical Inspectors understand the new Legislation governing electrical safety checks within dwellings in England, which will be introduced from 1st June 2020, coming into force for new tenancies on the 1st July 2020. This new Legislation is a welcomed approach
Having recently released their highly successful back to work guide, workplace consultants and office fit-out specialists Blueprint Interiors is advancing towards its next phase of company growth following the appointment of Mike McKeown as Client Services Director. Mike will join Rob Day, Chloe Sproston and Rachel Biddles on the management
Independent consulting engineer Dougall Baillie Associates (DBA) has secured a significant contract at a major development site near Ayr which, in its initial phase, could provide 750 new homes for the fast-growing area. DBA has been instructed by Allanvale Land Investments to provide key transportation, road and bridge engineering design
Bentley Systems Incorporated, a leading global provider of comprehensive software and digital twins services for advancing the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure, announced it has opened up its LEGION Simulator and OpenBuildings Station Designer software, including waiving new subscription fees through September 30, 2020, for facilities managers to incorporate pedestrian simulation methodologies across their
A life sciences super-cluster across the Golden Triangle between Oxford, Cambridge and London could help power Britain’s economic recovery from Covid-19 says a major report from New London Architecture (NLA) published. The Chancellor’s forthcoming emergency budget should look to speed up the delivery of vital lab space, housing and other
Do you own a property that you’re not planning to sell anytime soon? Property buying experts Housebuyers4u have revealed a number of different things you can do to add value to your house and increase its appeal. There are large projects that can increase the value of your house, but
NAPIT has created a new publication which helps Landlords and Electrical Inspectors understand the new Legislation governing electrical safety checks within dwellings in England, which will be introduced from 1st June 2020, coming into force for new tenancies on the 1st July 2020. This new Legislation is a welcomed approach by the UK Government to increase the safety of private residential tenants. Complex and in-depth, it requires a fresh take on Electrical Inspections from Inspectors, and a new level of understanding from Landlords, to reduce the likelihood of failing to meet their obligations which can result in landlords receiving fines of up to £30,000. The guide will help understanding of the new Legislation and covers: •Legislation Requirements •Consequences of not complying •What is required for an electrical safety check? •Different Electrical forms, and where they are used •Coding of safety checks •Frequencies of Inspections •Competence requirements of Inspectors •Remedial works requirements •Record keeping •Assessing risk The National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) have worked in cooperation with NAPIT on the production of the guide. Meera Chindooroy, NRLA deputy director for campaigns, public affairs & policy said: “The new electrical safety regulations coming into force in England in July will impact all landlords, and we were happy to work with NAPIT to ensure guidance to help them navigate the new rules is accurate and consistent.” Compliance with regulations is critically important is all aspects, but particularly when it comes to electrical safety. Electricians working in the UK must have a full and thorough understanding of the British Standards BS 7671:2018 Requirements for Electrical Installations, IET Wiring Regulations, known as the 18th edition for short. It is therefore important that electricians keep up to date through 18th edition courses. Mike Andrews, NAPIT Group Chief Executive, commented: “Our latest guidance book on the new Electrical Safety Regulations will go a long way to helping the electrical industry and Landlords understand and comply with their obligations to keep private residential tenants safe in their homes. As the National Association of Professional Inspectors and Testers, we are well placed to provide accurate and consistent guidance for the industry to follow. Electrical Safety is at the forefront of everything we do, and with the introduction of this new Legislation, we have made it easy for the industry to access the correct information and ensure electrical safety standards are met.” NAPIT members can pre-order their copy of the guide for £14.99; for non-members, it’s £16.99. Full RRP is £19.99.* FurtherInformation: Topre-order your copy visit www.napitdirect.co.uk/p/landlords-and-electrical-inspectors-guidance-for-the-private-rented-sector-electrical-safety-checks TheElectrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations2020: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2020/9780111191934
Having recently released their highly successful back to work guide, workplace consultants and office fit-out specialists Blueprint Interiors is advancing towards its next phase of company growth following the appointment of Mike McKeown as Client Services Director. Mike will join Rob Day, Chloe Sproston and Rachel Biddles on the management team to strengthen the Board of Directors as part of an ongoing strategic focus on winning more workplace consultancy projects. Although the appointment was agreed prior to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the quality of projects already in the pipeline meant that Blueprint Interiors had the confidence to invest in this additional expertise and influence at a time when companies will need expert advice to prepare their workplaces for the future. Commenting on Mike’s appointment, Blueprint Interiors Founder and CEO Rob Day said, “Even before the pandemic hit, we’d set out to prove that office design comprising rows and rows of desks was an outdated concept. We firmly believe that these environments are as toxic as those in which battery farmed chickens are kept. There is a growing realisation that people can work more effectively and are far happier, healthier and more productive when given the choice to work from home with options to visit agile office spaces when they need to meet people or innovate and share ideas. The pandemic has merely accelerated this change in attitude and our theory that ‘free range’ employees are a greater asset because they are healthier and more motivated has become much more widely accepted. Having Mike on board will strengthen our reputation and ensure we are well placed to advise companies who want to transform their workplace to be fit for the future.” As a former board director of Paragon Group between 1999 and 2017 Mike was responsible for sales growth and key account management during Paragon’s successful period of growth. More recently he has been working in London as a Project Director for a leading interior Design and Build business. Mike, who is married with two children has also worked in Dubai and Japan and recently re-located to Stanton by Dale in Derbyshire. In his new role he will oversee a sales and marketing programme that is intended to position Blueprint Interiors as thought leaders in office design. He will also help Blueprint Interiors capitalise on the increased demand from companies who want to create better environments for their employees as well as offering leadership and coaching to the existing sales team. Mike added, “Blueprint Interiors is on a journey of phased transition to becoming the region’s leading consultative led office interior design company. The aims and goals of the business are very aligned to my personal style and approach to transforming office spaces. I am really looking forward to identifying new clients who could benefit from this consultative approach to creating people centric workplaces. My aim is to ensure that both existing and new clients receive an exemplary level of service in all the interactions they have with our business.”
Independent consulting engineer Dougall Baillie Associates (DBA) has secured a significant contract at a major development site near Ayr which, in its initial phase, could provide 750 new homes for the fast-growing area. DBA has been instructed by Allanvale Land Investments to provide key transportation, road and bridge engineering design services at Corton, in the Southeast Ayr strategic expansion site. The site has been undeveloped for some years and has passed through different ownerships, but necessary consents are in place and the current developer now plans to be on site by summer this year. As well as the residential element, the development, on the east side of the A77 near Ayr Hospital, will include retail, employment and local community uses and will help bring to fruition part of South Ayrshire Council’s local development plan. It is the latest in a series of contract wins within residential developments which have seen DBA being asked by developers to provide professional services for schemes in Scotland with values of up to £200 million, adding over 2000 new homes to the housing stock. Stuart Harrow, Transportation Director at DBA, said: “Corton is a transformative development, representing the first phase of a larger, long term Strategic Expansion Site which could eventually feature up to 2700 new homes. “Major residential developers have expressed keen interest in being part of the project and the current developers have identified great potential in what is a vibrant area in which to live and work.” DBA has prepared a major Transport Assessment for the development Masterplan, considering the sustainability and integration of transport solutions and roads infrastructure interventions on both the local and trunk networks. It will work with Transport Scotland, Ayrshire Roads Alliance and the council on internal roads at the site and junction and capacity improvement as well as delivering a footbridge across the A77 to allow pedestrian access to the site. DBA’s Managing Director Fergus Adams said that ongoing work inflows had increased turnover by over 15% to £3.5 million in the financial year to April and, subject to coronavirus effects, he was forecasting further growth to April 2021. While residential homes work now comprises some 80% of the DBA portfolio, the firm has also marked up a number of significant scores in transport infrastructure, such as its involvement in the recently-opened £14.1 million M8/A8 interchange at Bishopton in Renfrewshire in consultation with Renfrewshire Council, SEPA, Transport Scotland and BAA. The firm has also been concerned in projects in mega shopping centres such as Braehead and Silverburn in Glasgow and the Union Square development in Aberdeen.
Bentley Systems Incorporated, a leading global provider of comprehensive software and digital twins services for advancing the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure, announced it has opened up its LEGION Simulator and OpenBuildings Station Designer software, including waiving new subscription fees through September 30, 2020, for facilities managers to incorporate pedestrian simulation methodologies across their planning, design, and operations teams. With social distancing and crowd management at the forefront of global concerns, OpenBuildings Station Designer and LEGION Simulator software can help station owners, planning and design firms, and facilities operators to develop models, simulate crowd movement, analyze foot traffic, and optimize space utilization of infrastructure assets such as rail and metro stations, airports, retail and commercial complexes, hospitals, and stadiums. OpenBuildings Station Designer’s BIM environment provides 3D context for LEGION’s included pedestrian simulation to create an operational digital twin to improve safety, efficiency, and security, while mitigating risk. LEGION Simulator helps users solve new planning and operations challenges in: validating social distancing plans while helping to ensure safe operations; ensuring space maximization, activities distribution and controlled egress/ingress; modeling safe and comfortable wayfinding strategies and evacuation plans; and providing virtual, collaborative planning, design and operations reviews. Further, LEGION Simulator and OpenBuildings Station Designer offer the continued long-term benefits of a BIM collaboration environment that avoids data silos, coordination delays, and other limitations that result from the separation of planning and design workflows. “We are going through extraordinary times and change will be a constant reality in the months and years ahead. Bentley’s OpenBuildings Station Designer and LEGION Simulator enable planners, architects, engineers, and operators to apply digital twin approaches to solve today’s design and operation challenges more quickly, efficiently, and safely across rail and metro stations, airports, and other public buildings and amenities,” said Ken Adamson, Vice President, Design Integration for Bentley. “Atkins has collaborated successfully with LEGION for over 20 years, and we look forward to building upon our own thought leadership on Covid-19 and for the Transport Sector by applying LEGION’s simulations for social distancing in response to requests by our metro clients in Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, and Saudi Arabia,” said Cameron MacDonald, Technical Director, Operations Advisory, Atkins, a member of the SNC-Lavalin Group.
A life sciences super-cluster across the Golden Triangle between Oxford, Cambridge and London could help power Britain’s economic recovery from Covid-19 says a major report from New London Architecture (NLA) published. The Chancellor’s forthcoming emergency budget should look to speed up the delivery of vital lab space, housing and other infrastructure that can attract talent and ensure fast-growing spinouts can remain in Britain rather than relocate to Boston or other major science hubs. The UK’s life sciences sector has a critical mass in the knowledge economies of London, Oxford and Cambridge. But rising house prices and rents are threatening to price out talent and the businesses who spin-out of the UK’s leading higher education institutes that reside in the region. NLA’s report, Knowledge Networks: London and the Ox-Cam Arc, calls for the government to streamline planning to speed up development in the region and enable the creation of a U.S-style supercluster in the Golden Triangle. The UK’s life sciences sector, which contributes £74 billion to the UK economy annually and supports 250,000 jobs, has played a central role in the UK’s economic response to Covid-19. Its ability to preserve and create employment, export innovation globally and lead on the development of a vaccine has meant it has come under the spotlight more than ever – all for the right reasons. British universities are now more open to partnerships with the commercial world than in previous decades, aware as they are of the need to commercialise their research discoveries. The Golden Triangle is home to the UK’s leading research institutions at Imperial College London, University College London, King’s College, University of Oxford and Cambridge University. In addition, the UK government is increasing its current level of research and development expenditure from 1.7 percent of GDP to 2.4 percent over the next five years, equivalent to £22bn. Private sector investment will be crucial in leveraging this. Supply and demand imbalances, both in terms of housing and workspace, have seen prices rapidly rise in the UK’s hub of biomedical, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. London, Oxford and Cambridge are three of the least affordable cities to live in in the UK, with average house prices well over 100 percent more than the national average. High levels of commercial take up has also left companies in the Golden Triangle vying for limited space, helping to drive up rents. In the last five years, commercial rents in Oxford and Cambridge have skyrocketed by 32 percent and 28 percent respectively. In order to future-proof the success of this region, the NLA, alongside Bidwells, a property consultancy focused on the Golden Triangle, architects Perkins and Will and Penoyre & Prasad, and mixed-used developer Stanhope, are calling for more integrated city–regional planning, and a stronger emphasis on presenting the Golden Triangle as a coordinated international brand on the world-stage and viewing it ‘in system terms’. In spatial terms this means providing the right balance and mix of housing, start-up, grow-on, industrial and corporate space across the region as a whole, so that researchers and entrepreneurs can easily identify their next opportunity and continue to attract top-tier talent. Ensuring suitable housing, workspace and infrastructure is delivered in the region, where economic output rose by 5.4 percent over the five years to 2018 according to Bidwells, will help future-proof the UK economy.
Do you own a property that you’re not planning to sell anytime soon? Property buying experts Housebuyers4u have revealed a number of different things you can do to add value to your house and increase its appeal. There are large projects that can increase the value of your house, but also small fixes and repairs that can also add to it. In this article, we’ll tell you about different property investments that you can make to increase the value of your house. So, let’s begin! Fix Structural Issues Structural issues like caving and corrosion of the structure can have a massive impact on the value of the house. If you want to improve the value of your house, this is the first issue that you need to address. If your house does not look good and the structure has subsidence issues, then making an investment in the kitchen and bathroom can become difficult. Below are some structural defects that you need to address which may increase the value of your property: Leaking or a sagging roof. Cracks in the walls or ceiling. Bowing walls. Broken and missing roof tiles. Unstable chimney. Installation of a New Central Heating System If you want to boost the value of your house, a new central heating system will do wonders as many houses still only have a traditional heating systems. Updating or adding a new central heating system will add value to your house. At the same time it will also improve the general efficiency of your house. Others ways you can improve efficiency & save on energy include: Sealing the drafts around windows and doors. Add insulation where required. Replace windows that are beyond any repair. Rewire and Redo plumbing if you have an Old House Rewiring and plumbing are one of the few jobs that require a complete makeover of your property. These jobs are troublesome because they involve chasing out plaster walls and sometimes digging through floors. Rewiring and plumbing will add to the value of your house. Here are some more specific upgrades: Update the electrics if your house has a meter with the an old box. Replace the old meter with a modern residual circuit device. Add extra sockets and modern more energy efficient lights in your entire house. Install exhaust fans (extractor fans) in the bathroom. If the bathroom already has exhaust fans, replace them with modern, more energy efficient designs available in the market. Replace old pipes with news pipes because old pipes get furred up and lead to poor water flow. Decorate the House Decorating your house is one of the easier tasks that will increase the value of your property. Small defects generally don’t affect the value of your property but they do put off prospective buyers so it may result in a lower offer. The following are the small defects that can put off the potential buyers, but are also easily fixable: Peeling paint never looks good. Non-functional door latches should be replaced. Squeaking windows and doors. Dripping taps. Loose tiles in the house. Broken or damaged doors and windows. Cracks in the ceiling. Bad Gutters. Clogged drains. Invest in Remodeling Jobs One of the best ways to enhance the value of your house is to change the layout of your entire house or update the existing plan. You can add more worth to your house by investing your money in the places where people spend time together. For example, the living space, dining area, kitchen, and living area. Below are a few ideas that you can use to increase the worth of your house: Draw a floor plan, add and subtract the walls of your house until you achieve an ideal layout. Make use of the circulation spaces in your house like halls and corridors. Make multi-functional spaces like combining the kitchen and living area. Such multi-functional spaces increase the value of the house. Conclusion The property investments mentioned above can add to the value of your house. Completely renovating your house can be tough because it requires a lot of investment. If you can’t afford large investments focus on repairing and fixing the smaller issues that add value to the house as well as redecorating, We hope our article has given you some good ideas on how to increase the value of your house!
