July 29, 2020

Wheatley named UK’s largest social home builder

Glasgow-based housing association the Wheatley Group has been named the UK’s largest builder of social-rented homes. In a newly-released annual new build survey by Inside Housing Magazine, the organisation came first for the fourth consecutive year. The housing, care and property-management group built 601 homes for social rent between April 2019, and March this year. It

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SALE OF PHOENIX 66 COMPLETED BY ONWARD HOLDINGS

West Yorkshire based developer and commercial property company Onward Holdings Ltd has sold its newly completed 66,000sq ft speculative warehouse in Featherstone (branded Phoenix 66) to a confidential party. The new owner has now taken delivery of the keys to the high bay state-of-the-art logistics facility situated on the Green

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Regeneration Projects Provide City Boost

Esh Construction, the contractor of seven Sunderland regeneration projects, has released figures that show the projects provided a £12.4m boost the the city’s economy since the start of work. The economic impact of works on council-led projects – Sunderland Strategic Transport Corridor (SSTC3); the International Advanced Manufacturing Park (IAMP); Port

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Programme to Raise Professional Competence

BSI, in its role as the UK National Standards Body, announce a new National Standards programme to raise professional competence in the built environment sector. The standards aim to tackle the competence shortcomings identified in the Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety, Building a Safer Future, conducted by Dame Judith Hackitt. They

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Top Tips to Run Warehouse Business

We all know about the warehouse business, and how it works for you. There is no point for you to think that it is something very difficult because when you learn how to do it, you become very sure that it is very simple to handle and work on. All

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Latest Issue
Issue 323 : Dec 2024

July 29, 2020

Wheatley named UK’s largest social home builder

Glasgow-based housing association the Wheatley Group has been named the UK’s largest builder of social-rented homes. In a newly-released annual new build survey by Inside Housing Magazine, the organisation came first for the fourth consecutive year. The housing, care and property-management group built 601 homes for social rent between April 2019, and March this year. It built a total of 802 affordable homes in this period, including 197 mid-market houses and flats, taking the number of new affordable homes completed in the past five years to 3,578. Wheatley’s ambitious new-build programme has been funded by over £1 billion of private and public investment raised over the past six years. Alistair MacNish, group chairman, said: “We view the title of ‘the UK’s largest builder of social-rented homes’ as a badge of honour. To retain the title for four years in a row is proof of our total commitment to Scottish Government’s More Homes Scotland agenda. It is testimony also to our ongoing commitment to build fuel-efficient, attractive homes across some of Scotland’s most disadvantaged areas. We are proud our award-winning homes match what the private sector has to offer.” Work is underway or about to start on 30 Wheatley sites across Scotland, from West Dunbartonshire and Glasgow to West Lothian and Edinburgh and from Dumfries to Stranraer under plans to build 5500 affordable homes between now and 2026. Martin Armstrong, Wheatley chief executive, added: “Our quality, energy-efficient homes are changing people’s lives and transforming communities within an ambitious house-building programme that is making a significant contribution to the Scottish economy. As everyone knows, there is ongoing acute need for affordable homes and we are doing our bit and more to tackle this. “The arrival earlier this year of Dumfries and Galloway Housing Partnership – Scotland’s second largest housing association – into the Wheatley family has enabled us to extend our extensive house-building programme across the south of Scotland. “Now that house building has resumed in Dumfries and Galloway and our sites across the central belt, we are keen to make up for the lost ground caused by the coronavirus crisis.”

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SALE OF PHOENIX 66 COMPLETED BY ONWARD HOLDINGS

West Yorkshire based developer and commercial property company Onward Holdings Ltd has sold its newly completed 66,000sq ft speculative warehouse in Featherstone (branded Phoenix 66) to a confidential party. The new owner has now taken delivery of the keys to the high bay state-of-the-art logistics facility situated on the Green Lane Industrial Estate in Featherstone off Junction 31 of the M62, which will be the maintenance hub for its fleet of HGV vehicles. Acquiring the warehouse will allow the new owner to relocate and upgrade its operations from its existing long-standing operational site located near the centre of Wakefield. This detached unit extends to around 66,923sq ft, including first floor offices and allows the occupier the flexibility to extend into a further 3,207sq ft of additional second floor accommodation in due course. Other vital statistics include: generous concrete service yard, 13.1m eaves height, floor loading of 50 kNm2, six loading doors (including 4 docks), PV roof panels and electric car charging. Phoenix 66, a ‘best in class’ warehouse facility, forms part of the significant investment by Onward Holdings in the Green Lane Industrial Estate over the past few years, bringing a much-needed jobs boost and business to the local area. Neil Storey, director of Onward Holdings, said: “We are thrilled to have helped the occupier find the right property for its operational needs. Phoenix 66 is a quality unit in a prime location that offers excellent facilities and transport links. We are looking to acquire other sites that will help address the current shortage of quality logistics facilities in the region.” Iain McPhail, Partner at Knight Frank and Andrew Miller of Andrew Miller Chartered Surveyors advised Onward Holdings. Iain commented: “We are proud to have been involved as part of the team on this exciting project from start to finish.  It just shows the importance of getting the specification right on a new build unit and Phoenix 66 delivered a truly institutional opportunity to the market.  We are also encouraged that the Yorkshire industrial and logistics market continues to perform, even during these unprecedented times.” Onward Holdings offers a range of logistics options to suit most budgets, together with additional value-added warehouse services. The different facilities that the company can supply will help businesses gain a vital foothold in the northern supply chain.

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Regeneration Projects Provide City Boost

Esh Construction, the contractor of seven Sunderland regeneration projects, has released figures that show the projects provided a £12.4m boost the the city’s economy since the start of work. The economic impact of works on council-led projects – Sunderland Strategic Transport Corridor (SSTC3); the International Advanced Manufacturing Park (IAMP); Port of Sunderland; Greenwells Quay, the city’s new football hubs; Potter’s Hill and the Minster Quarter – has been calculated based on the money spent with local suppliers and sub-contractors who have supported Esh on the schemes to date. Sunderland residents make up 15 per cent of Esh’s workforce and the contractor has also recently opened an office in the city. “The importance of protecting the ‘local pound’ is paramount in the current climate – as a local contractor we strive to deliver economic benefit for our clients and their communities. Across these seven regeneration schemes, we have re-invested 16.5 per cent of the total project spend back into Sunderland’s economy through responsibly procuring local suppliers and sub-contractors,” said Ross Markwell, director of business development at Esh Construction. Sunderland City Council has worked with Esh on projects worth an estimated £75m since 2018. “With every project we deliver in the city, we explore the potential to gain added value through local commissioning and supply opportunities, and in particular, we are keen to see them deliver job opportunities for our people, both during the construction phase and when they are completed,” added Cllr Paul Stewart, cabinet secretary at the city council. “Projects like those we have commissioned Esh to undertake bring about major benefits for our people, delivering the maximum possible return for every pound spent, and offering sustainable employment opportunities for our young people.” Esh was appointed to SSTC3 project – a £35m contract as part of a £70.8m programme to improve connectivity in the city – which is due to complete in autumn 2021. The company has also won a number of competitive tenders to support with infrastructure works at IAMP and Potter’s Hill – a housing scheme close to Chapelgarth – as well as work at Port of Sunderland, the city’s new football hubs, and the High Street West area of the city.

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Programme to Raise Professional Competence

BSI, in its role as the UK National Standards Body, announce a new National Standards programme to raise professional competence in the built environment sector. The standards aim to tackle the competence shortcomings identified in the Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety, Building a Safer Future, conducted by Dame Judith Hackitt. They are a part of the package of measures recommended by the Steering Group on Competence for Building a Safer Future (CSG) which were set out in Raising the Bar. The government-funded programme is designed to support the delivery of regulatory policy and the new regulated roles responsible for building safety set out in the forthcoming Building Safety Bill, while also enabling the large-scale industry-led programme to raise competency across the sector. It includes an overarching competence framework standard for everyone working on a building. This is intended to be used by key professions and trades including designers, contractors, fire risk assessors, building managers and others in specialist technical or corporate roles. The framework will provide a set of core principles of competence, including leading and managing safety, communicating safety, delivering safety, risk management, regulations and processes, building systems, ethics, and fire/life safety. The framework will be developed and made available for use from this Autumn. After three periods of public consultation and refinement, it will then be published as a British Standard. It will also include a set of competence requirements for the three newly-regulated roles: Principal Designer, Principal Contractor and Building Safety Manager. A set of fast track PAS standards will be produced to meet the urgent need for competent individuals to fulfil these roles set out in the government’s new Bill, to ensure the safety of residents. These key roles have overarching responsibility for the main activities affecting building and life safety at each stage of a building’s life-cycle: design, construction and operation. They require enhanced competences in addition to any discipline-related competences, relating to their overarching role to ensure that the design intent of the building is maintained and that workers employed and used in design, construction, refurbishment, maintenance and operation are suitably competent. Scott Steedman, Director of Standards at BSI said: “Dame Judith Hackitt’s report asked the Built Environment industry to change its culture to safeguard people and their properties. In response to the call to put clear responsibility at the heart of the system, BSI as the UK’s National Standards Body, has launched the Professional Competence standards programme. The new industry-led standards will support the Building Safety Bill by ‘raising the bar’ across workforce competence.” Dame Judith Hackitt, Author of Building a Safer Future: Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety said: “The work of the Competence Steering Group has been a “tour de force” and all of those who have been involved thus far are to be congratulated. As the baton is handed over to BSI to lead us through the standards development process, the whole industry needs to keep up the pace – not just to agree on the new standards, but to make them a reality in practice. That will require collaboration and cooperation, and demolition of silos – part of the culture change that is so urgently needed.” Since the standardization programme began in April 2020, it has been overseen by a newly established BSI Built Environment Competence Standards (BECS) Strategy Group. The group consists of strategic, senior-level technical and policy experts from a broad range of organizations involved in the design, construction and management of higher risk buildings. The programme will run until 2022.

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Top Tips to Run Warehouse Business

We all know about the warehouse business, and how it works for you. There is no point for you to think that it is something very difficult because when you learn how to do it, you become very sure that it is very simple to handle and work on. All you need is to show dedication for learning, and then your confidence in its implementation. These things work best for all the good service providers all over the world. Try to keep that in your mind, and then have the ability to be able to run it like a professional. This article is all about the warehouse business which is more than useful for someone who knows how to run such kind of business units. Let us get started with the tips that can help us start such kind of business. 1.      Gather Start-Up Information You should start by gathering information about the warehouse business, and then start working on it. It is very important to keep all of this in your mind because without it, there is no such option as a success for you in this business. You have to make sure that you know how to run this business, you should make a plan for it, hire the required staff, train them like they should be trained t run the activities and many more things like this. 2.      Licensing, and Equipment If you want to start a credible business, and you look for quality warehouse mezzanine flooring for that, or any other type of it which you would like to introduce through your business, then you have to keep in mind that it should have the license to run in the business. You cannot just bring something from somewhere in the world and start operating it in your business. You have to have the permission for that to be done Also, any equipment that you like to buy, a law which you want to follow, and all such things that need licenses from you, then make sure that you get them. 3.      Find Your Customers Your customers are your biggest advantage in the warehouse business because if they are not there, who will you be able to sell the products of your business? Never underestimate the power of customers because they can make or break a brand. It is very important that when there is anything which needs to be done in the business or anything which you want to introduce, keep the customers and their demands in mind. If they have the demand and need for it, then you must be sure that it will work out for you, and bring loads of profit for you. Conclusion All of us now that the warehouse business needs a person to be very dedicated to daily tasks. Before entering into it, learn the various tips like those mentioned above for running this business like a professional who can handle every emergency as well as the ones that come across you under normal conditions.

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