Hayfield has commenced construction at its first scheme in Cambridgeshire. It is the third new development where work has got underway during the past four weeks, signalling a £70 million investment from the UK’s Best Small Housebuilder. The new 4.4-acre development site is in the historic village of Great Gransden.
Polypipe Civils & Green Urbanisation’s inaugural Realising Resilience e-Roadshow event on Wednesday 17th June, which attracted over 80 delegates, shone a light on Greater Manchester and the great strides it is taking towards embedding green infrastructure throughout the region. “One of the strong messages to emerge from the diverse line-up
Over the last two years, huge investments in infrastructure and machinery have enabled FGF Limited to restructure and focus on improving quality control, efficiency and communication. Recognising the value and importance of promoting Women in Construction, Kristy Driver-Gray was appointed Managing Director (The first female MD in 65 years). Along
Plans for a prominent apartment development in Derby have been voted through despite council officers recommending it for refusal. Derby City Council’s planning committee met virtually and approved the proposals for The Landmark which will include more than 200 flats. Applicant Godwin Developments had previously warned that the city would lost out
Will the aviation industry survive the Coronavirus outbreak? What will the sector look like in a post-COVID-19 world? What’s going to stay the same and what will be different after the pandemic is over? This article offers possible post-COVID-19 scenarios for the Aviation industry. No other industry was as affected
Hayfield has commenced construction at its first scheme in Cambridgeshire. It is the third new development where work has got underway during the past four weeks, signalling a £70 million investment from the UK’s Best Small Housebuilder. The new 4.4-acre development site is in the historic village of Great Gransden. Located off Sand Road, a stunning linear route through the development area will be created, which has inspired its name – Hayfield Avenue. Detailed Planning Approval has recently been secured from Huntingdonshire District Council for the £13.8m development, which will feature 40 luxury homes, 16 of which have been designated for affordable housing. Mark Booth, Managing Director of Hayfield said: “Our Hayfield Avenue scheme in Great Gransden is a prime residential site in a beautiful sought-after village which has seen very little new development. We have actively targeted Cambridgeshire and are thrilled this will be our first project in the county. “This scheme completes our hat-trick of new development starts since the Covid-19 lockdown has eased. While the global impact of this pandemic is unprecedented, the basic macroeconomics of housebuilding have not altered. With strong financial backing, we have made this £70m investment in order to secure and create new jobs in both Hayfield and the construction supply chain. I am proud to report that we now have a total of eight live development sites, where 554 homes are currently being delivered.” Hayfield worked with Architect and Planning Consultant Woods Hardwick on the design of the scheme. Following thorough analysis of the existing high-quality architectural vernacular of Great Gransden, the blueprint for the new houses has been inspired by the Arts and Crafts era, taking specific design cues from properties in the village. A total of 12 house types will feature across the development, giving a wide choice of two, three, four and five-bedroom homes. ‘Play Streets’ will be incorporated within the centre of the scheme, which will see the road surface designated as an area for cars and pedestrians to share. Great Gransden lies 15 miles west of Cambridge and within easy reach of the plethora of science and innovation parks located across the county. St Neots Train Station is a 20-minute drive away. Hayfield’s other live sites include the flagship Hayfields scheme in Southmoor, Oxfordshire, which comprises 74 luxury houses. Also under construction in Oxfordshire is Hayfield Green, where 66 luxury houses and bungalows are being developed on a 21-acre former RAF WWII Airfield in this historic village of Stanton Harcourt. In the small market town of Southam in Warwickshire, the final phase of Hayfield Grange is selling ahead of the build programme. The popular development comprises 51 family houses and bungalows. In Bedfordshire, Hayfield is under construction with 105 luxury houses and bungalows close to English Heritage’s Grade I listed Wrest Park Estate, which is in the sought-after village of Silsoe. Seven miles away, in the traditional village of Clifton, the Hayfield Gate development – comprising 95 luxury homes – has launched on an off-plan basis. Hayfield has recently started construction work at a prestigious eight-acre residential site in the historic small town of Woburn Sands, Buckinghamshire, where 53 luxury family homes will be delivered. While in the picturesque and historic Wiltshire village of Blunsdon, Hayfield is underway developing 70 luxury homes, a new community shop and café.
Polypipe Civils & Green Urbanisation’s inaugural Realising Resilience e-Roadshow event on Wednesday 17th June, which attracted over 80 delegates, shone a light on Greater Manchester and the great strides it is taking towards embedding green infrastructure throughout the region. “One of the strong messages to emerge from the diverse line-up of speakers was the importance of collaboration between a wide range of stakeholders in delivering green urbanisation. One simply can’t just look to ecologists, landscape architects and designers; utility companies, private investors and data analysts are all part of a successful mix,” explained Sean Robinson, Specification Director, who hosted the event. Nicholas Wright, Specification Manager, City & Landscape Polypipe Civils & Green Urbanisation, opened the event with a look back at Manchester’s Angel Gardens. Completed in 2019, this project boasts a large Permavoid, shallow invert attenuation tank situated on the podium which limited the impact to the surrounding drainage infrastructure. He also explained how if this project was designed today the addition of more green assets and smart systems – like the ones installed on Polypipe’s own award-winning, blue/green roof in Aylesford – could have boosted this development’s resilience further. Sophie Tucker, United Utilities’ Sustainable Drainage System Manager, spoke of her organisation’s role in encouraging the installation of blue/green roofs in the North West, with retrofit a particular focus. United Utilities is incentivising this with significant reductions in sewage charges to non-household customers who deploy SuDS such as blue/green roofs. John Roberts, Principal Civil Engineer at specialist consultancy Environmental Protection Group provided an insight into the design of cascade blue roof systems. Such set-ups add even more resilience by reducing discharge into sewers and reducing the need for potable water by allowing the movement of water between roof areas and attenuation zones, and making this water available for passive irrigation to support green assets. Samuel Evans, Head of Environment Policy, at the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, outlined how the authority is working to encourage private investment in natural capital. Exciting plans are already afoot to form a portfolio of retrofit projects, where the savings in sewer charges offered by United Utilities could provide a return on investment for would-be funders. The final speaker, Francis Hesketh, director at the Environmental Partnership, explained the value of ecosystem services. Both he and Evans referenced Greater Manchester’s impressive mappinggm.org.uk resource which now contains an overlay providing a colour-coded Ecosystem Services score which will help inform planning and biodiversity net gain goals. Polypipe’s next e-roadshow, which will tell the story of Wales’ SuDS journey, is on 23 June and features speakers from Cardiff City Council, Kew Planning and Noel Isherwood Architects. Realising Resilience events centred on Birmingham and London follow on 30 June and 7 July respectively. For information on the full programme and details of how to register visit: – https://www.polypipe.com/roadshow-2020 Pic caption: The move to a shallow invert Permavoid attenuation solution on Angel Gardens, Manchester, allowed the creation of a two storey, 146 space basement car park.
Over the last two years, huge investments in infrastructure and machinery have enabled FGF Limited to restructure and focus on improving quality control, efficiency and communication. Recognising the value and importance of promoting Women in Construction, Kristy Driver-Gray was appointed Managing Director (The first female MD in 65 years). Along with the experienced senior management team, Kristy has implemented numerous progressive changes across the business, including relocating the North West operation to new, much larger premises. Kristy said “We play an important role in the construction and engineering industries, manufacturing and supplying products across the UK. Customer service is at the forefront of our organisation and our diverse knowledge on sectors and products makes FGF a unique business” With over 65 years servicing the industry, FGF manufactures and supplies products including facades, insulation and fire protection along with a vast range of bespoke cut, machined and bonded products. A fleet of FORS accredited and Moffett vehicles provide a nationwide distribution service straight to site. One of the owners, Gerard Abbott Drake says “In the current climate, we have the opportunity to prepare and plan for the future. Sustainable, profitable growth can only be accomplished by constantly evolving and improving our quality and customer service. I am confident the team we now have in place will deliver that”. FGF Limited supplies non-combustible cladding, insulation and fire protection products, and provides value added services such as manufacturing, CNC machining and fabrication services to the construction and engineering industries.
Plans for a prominent apartment development in Derby have been voted through despite council officers recommending it for refusal. Derby City Council’s planning committee met virtually and approved the proposals for The Landmark which will include more than 200 flats. Applicant Godwin Developments had previously warned that the city would lost out on £68 million in investment if the apartment plans were turned down. In February 2019, in a close-run vote, the council’s planning committee gave The Landmark outline planning approval. But final approval for the apartment development is still pending because of a report submitted on behalf of UNESCO which stated potential effects on Derby’s heritage. The decision, which was supported by the majority of councillors, will also see the creation of 900 temporary construction jobs over a two-year period and around 10 to15 permanent roles once complete. Stephen Pratt, group land director at Godwin Developments, said: “We are absolutely delighted that Derby City Council approved once again our proposals for The Landmark – in a huge vote of confidence for the city and its ambition for the future. “We are passionate promoters of Derby and its potential to reinvent itself through attracting additional employment and strengthening its city centre. Our scheme – The Landmark – will be a fantastic extension to Derby’s Future High Street bid and will bring additional investment, jobs and desirable city living into the heart of Derby, while also improving the public realm and flood defences. “We would like to thank the members of the planning committee for recognising and affirming once again the substantial economic, social and environmental benefits this scheme will bring to the city. “We are also extremely grateful to the support and encouragement we received in the planning process by a number of local stakeholders – businesses, the local community, local heritage experts Lathams, and many more.” John Forkin, managing director of Marketing Derby, added: “Marketing Derby is delighted that councillors have voted to support the development of The Landmark in Derby. “As an organisation, we have supported the developer and their plans every step of the way. Derby will now get the investment and profile it deserves with this ambitious and high-quality development.” A document published ahead of the meeting by a council officer said: “I believe that there would be a negative visual impact and consequently harm. “Assessment of potential impacts of the development is…incomplete, its methodology inconsistent, it does not address the magnitude of impact, fails to contribute to a holistic assessment of impact and does not provide a solid verifiable base for assessment of the impact of the proposal on the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the World Heritage Site (WHS).”
Will the aviation industry survive the Coronavirus outbreak? What will the sector look like in a post-COVID-19 world? What’s going to stay the same and what will be different after the pandemic is over? This article offers possible post-COVID-19 scenarios for the Aviation industry. No other industry was as affected by the COVID-19 pandemic as the airlines, travel companies, and the tourism sector. And, although lockdowns have eased in some parts of the world, travel and tourism may be disrupted by the ongoing pandemic for longer. As of April, this year, 90% of the global population was living in countries with active Covid-19 cases, where the governments have imposed travel restrictions on people coming from abroad to stop the virus from spreading. And, according to Reuters, this resulted in over 25 million aviation jobs being at risk. Plus, according to the World Tourism Organization, between five- and seven-years’ worth of industry growth will most likely be lost due to all these recent events. But social distancing and travel restrictions weren’t the only challenges the industry faced because of the Coronavirus outbreak. The sector is also struggling with a decreased willingness to travel as people fear that they might get the virus. According to a survey from Mower, only 16% of people in the US would be willing to travel abroad with a commercial airliner on the first day after the restrictions and health warnings are removed. Moreover, only 56% of Americans claim that they would feel comfortable to travel abroad by plane after 60 days the authorities give the “all clear” signal. Plus, according to a Dollar Flight Club survey, out of the 20.000 people surveyed, 80% of them have cancelled their trips scheduled for April and May. Now, it’s no doubt that people will eventually travel again, and the aviation industry isn’t going anywhere no matter how difficult things seem to be right now. However, there will be some significant changes both in consumer travel demand and the global airline industry as a whole. A new world of airline economics Remember only half a year ago, before the Coronavirus outbreak, when you could travel internationally with only a few dollars’ worth plane tickets? Well, unfortunately, it seems that these will remain memories because, in the post-COVID-19 world, plane tickets will be a lot more expensive. According to the director-general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), if governments force airlines to introduce physical distancing measures on planes, the ticket prices will most likely see a 50% increase. The explanation for this warning is pretty simple: physical distancing measures imply people to stay 1.5-2 m away from each other, meaning that at least third of seats on a plane would remain empty so airlines would lose a lot of money. Moreover, it seems that raising ticket prices is an old practice of the industry following a significant event. The same Dollar Flight Club survey analyzed data from the 9/11 and the Great Recession, two big events in the past, to see how they influenced the airline industry. The result? Plane ticket prices go down in the short term but then gradually increase in the long term. Following the 9/11 event, plane ticket prices dropped by 18% for the remainder of the year but then increased by 25% by 2003. As for the period after the Great Recession, airfare prices saw a 21% decrease in 2008 and a 24% increase in 2012. So, the survey predicts that the same pattern from above will happen after the COVID-19 outbreak as well. The Dollar Flight Club predicts a 35% decrease in plane ticket prices in 2021 and a 27% increase by 2025. An even bigger step towards digital The Coronavirus outbreak challenged all industries to take a shift to digital more seriously as most businesses were forced to close their doors and customers were forced to stay inside to prevent the virus from spreading. Employees worked from home, kids learned from home, food was ordered online, and even film festivals were moved online. Every industry had to take a bigger step into the digital environment if they wanted to survive the Coronavirus ongoing pandemic. And, the aviation industry is no exception to this rule. Now, digital technologies can’t replace the travel services offered by airlines, but they can reshape the way these services are provided. To be more precise, they can help airlines offer a touchless travel experience to travelers, which might be imperative since more and more of them fear traveling because they fear they might get the virus. The airline sector has already embraced technology in some processes such as online check-ins or plane ticket buying online. Yet, now the industry needs to offer a touchless travel experience to convince travelers that it is safe to fly with them. And, even with strict cleaning protocols, without technology, this is pretty difficult as people are still exchanging travel documents and touching surfaces as they check-in go through security or border control. Thus, the sector will most likely embrace automation as the new norm. Airlines can use technology for, let’s say, identity verification with iris and face recognition technologies. We might also see other touchless technologies for data entry, such as gesture control, touchless document scanning or voice commands. But protecting aviation employees is just as crucial as protecting travelers. Thus, aircraft maintenance management software solutions, such as those from Aviation InterTec, might also become more critical over the next few months or years. These software solutions empower aviation employees to perform tasks such as managing fleets, schedule maintenance work, and track records exclusively digitally. More electric planes It seems like the COVID-19 crisis might be the catalyst for greening the global airline sector. Over the past few months, as many parts of the world were in lockdown, and thousands of airplanes were grounded, several voices were pretty vocal about the climate risks posed by the aviation industry. Many environmentalists argue that airlines aren’t precisely the sector that governments should focus on to rescue, especially since this sector had a free
