WORKS are continuing at six renovation projects across the north thanks to specialist contractor The Input Group – including Manchester Victoria, Keighley, Ilkley, Alnmouth, Redcar, Mills Hill and Prescot railway stations. The projects, which are being carried out on behalf of Northern, comprise the refurbishment of both public and staff facilities
The UK’s largest sawmiller and manufacturer of sawn timber products has launched an Accredited Installer Scheme that offers an array of exclusive benefits to contractors across the country. BSW’s Accredited Installer Scheme allows landscapers, joiners and builders to benefit from a wide range of services and support that will
Two tech companies have joined forces to create a new turnstile with an in-built software system to improve safety and security on construction sites across the UK and Ireland. Security technology company Envision Intelligent Solutions, which also has offices in Northern Ireland, England and the USA, teamed up with software
Panattoni, the largest industrial real estate developer in Europe, has announced it was working up plans to develop its biggest-ever speculative logistics building in the UK, a 630,000 sq ft facility in Yorkshire. The 630,000 sq ft facility will be built along with a smaller 85,000 sq ft facility by
Multi-award-winning engineering consultancy Will Rudd Davidson has recruited six new team members and promoted three existing team members to service its growth in client work. The six new appointments to bolster the team include Victoria Tinney as senior engineer, Alasdair MacPhee and Jennifer Davies as project engineers, and three new graduate
John Wesley Hyatt succeeded in creating celluloid in 1870 and only two years later also invented injection molding, though it was very limited. It wasn’t until WWII came with unique challenges that James R W Hendry stepped up to deliver the world’s first screw injection machine. With this invention, metal
Over the past few decades, businesses and individuals have been subjected to increased scrutiny by government and regulatory agencies. Over a seemingly typical course of operations, issues may arise that could potentially lead to fraud and abuse allegations. When auditors begin to arrive and investigate, it is best to have
WORKS are continuing at six renovation projects across the north thanks to specialist contractor The Input Group – including Manchester Victoria, Keighley, Ilkley, Alnmouth, Redcar, Mills Hill and Prescot railway stations. The projects, which are being carried out on behalf of Northern, comprise the refurbishment of both public and staff facilities in each build. With construction completed this month (June 2021), the £2.6 million Manchester Victoria reconfiguration included the redesign of its facilities across three phases in order to better suit the day-to-day operations of the station. This comprised an overhaul of the station’s mechanical and electrical systems, relocation of IT infrastructure including security cameras, PA and rail control systems and adaptations to the main Grade II listed building – which were centered around modernising NTL staff accommodation to improve employee experience. Chris Monk, managing director at The Input Group, said: “We’re incredibly excited about working across these projects as they will help to improve infrastructure across the north and contribute towards the reopening of the region’s tourist industry. “After a difficult year it’s great to see the country moving again, so we’re pleased to play our part in preparing these stations for a long-awaited rise in footfall – whether it be for work or leisure – that will help to rebuild the travel sector and support the national economy.” Keighley, Ilkley, Alnmouth and Redcar railway stations, which are due to be complete by July 2021, have all been commissioned as a joint project of works. The programmes include full redecoration with new carpet tiles and non-slip flooring, new kitchenettes for staff, refurbished toilets with updated sanitary facilities and wall coverings across all four projects. Chris continued: “We have a great working relationship with the team at Northern – having worked with them on multiple staff accommodation schemes in the past – and we’re incredibly happy that they have chosen The Input Group to work across these projects. Building strong client relationships is essential to our company ethos, which is why we work hard to deliver our projects on time, on budget and to an incredibly high standard, so we’re really excited to be making progress on these projects.” Mills Hill railway station will also be receiving a £450,000 park and ride refurbishment, which will see its number of parking spaces increase from 24 to 58 – including three fully accessible and three extra-wide spaces. The Input Group team will also be installing new lighting and CCTV cameras, creating motorbike parking and a one-way traffic system, and carrying out resurfacing works. The project is part of a wider initiative to improve accessibility to the station and encourage residents to travel more sustainably. The Input Group team also recently improved accessibility at Prescot railway station, with more than £3 million worth of refurbishment works completed this month (June 2021). The station now features a new lift shaft on each platform, a contemporary ticket office, fully accessible toilet facilities and enhanced lighting and signage throughout. The car park has also been resurfaced and remodelled to include a dedicated drop-off area, as well as having new secure cycle parking installed. These upgrades have made the station fully accessible with step free access between the car park, the station platforms and station facilities. Steve Kilby, senior project manager at Northern, said: “I am delighted that the improvement works at the Prescot station are now complete, especially as they continued despite the pandemic. Through a truly collaborative approach, Northern, Merseytravel, Knowsley Council, Network Rail, Seed Architects and The Input Group have worked so hard to make this happen under challenging circumstances. “The £3.6m project was delivered on time, within budget and with no accidents. The station is now much more welcoming and accessible for people who not only live in the town, but also for people who are visiting Prescot.” To find out more about The Input Group, please visit www.inputgroup.co.uk or contact marketing@inputgroup.co.uk.
The UK’s largest sawmiller and manufacturer of sawn timber products has launched an Accredited Installer Scheme that offers an array of exclusive benefits to contractors across the country. BSW’s Accredited Installer Scheme allows landscapers, joiners and builders to benefit from a wide range of services and support that will help to promote and add value to their business. Benefits include exclusive product training and automatic access to a rewards scheme, whereby installers can earn money just for using BSW products. Installers will also have access to a personalised dashboard on the BSW website, allowing them to promote their specialist services and gain leads for their business. Installers will receive a comprehensive membership pack, which includes BSW product samples, literature and branded merchandise. The scheme is completely free to join and there are no monthly fees involved. By joining installers will gain insider access to BSW’s innovative products and dedicated training for all BSW products, including fencing and landscaping, and the IRO and Alchemy ranges. Ideal for those working within landscaping, contractor and construction roles, the Accredited Installer Scheme will see members listed as approved installers on the BSW website, and members will reap the benefits of an exclusive rewards system – these reward points equate to money off with their local merchants. Alongside their listing as an accredited installer, members can access technical support from the BSW team. They will receive local job referrals, giving them a competitive advantage as a trusted installer, and expertise recommended by BSW. John Roberts, Owner of Greentop Landscapes and Design, was the first member of BSW’s Accredited Installer Scheme. John said: “I’m delighted to be a part of BSW’s Accredited Installer Scheme and it sets the standard for the timber industry. It’s a great opportunity for us landscapers and it’ll help us to secure jobs in the future. The benefits of joining the scheme are endless and I’m chuffed to be a BSW Accredited Installer.” Sian Moreton, AIS Project Manager and National Sales Manager, at BSW said: “We’re absolutely thrilled to be able to launch the new BSW Accredited Installer Scheme. This is something we have been perfecting for a while now and we really believe that by working hand in hand with all our fantastic installers as well as our network of suppliers we can help grow all our businesses together. “The new scheme is an amazing opportunity for landscapers to grow their job opportunities all while gaining an in-depth knowledge and working with some of our award-winning timber products.” The Accredited Installer Scheme is already live on the BSW website, and members can sign up for free today. To sign up to the scheme, or to find out more information, simply visit: www.bsw.co.uk/installers
Two tech companies have joined forces to create a new turnstile with an in-built software system to improve safety and security on construction sites across the UK and Ireland. Security technology company Envision Intelligent Solutions, which also has offices in Northern Ireland, England and the USA, teamed up with software development firm NTD (North Time and Data) to launch the latest development of their bespoke security turnstile that uses facial recognition technology and records temperatures to help ensure a Covid-free workspace. The Gateway Turnstile, which is manufactured by Envision, incorporates a new cloud-based software system that links directly to the company’s payroll and HR systems. The first turnstile with the new cloud-based software has rolled off the production line and has been shipped to a large building site in Chepstow in Wales for construction fit-out company Beacons Business Interiors (Bbi Group). Philip Murdock, Envision IS Managing Director said: “Our clients in the construction industry asked for a bespoke security system that incorporated facial and thermal access readers with a time and attendance system, which is completely cloud networked. During the pandemic, they needed a contactless product that could link back to their head office and provide the data in real time.” Amanda Campbell Envision IS Commercial Director added: “Envision moved quickly to get contactless turnstiles to the marketplace to support construction companies to keep sites open and personnel safe.” Envision partnered with NTD to create the cloud software for the new turnstiles that gave construction companies improved security and communications between the sites and their head offices. NTD adapted its successful NT Pro Workforce Management System to the requirements of the construction industry. NTD Managing Director Stephen Brown explained: “The Biometric Facial Recognition Terminals and NT Pro Software not only record the time and date of an employee coming onto a construction site, but it also takes their temperature and alerts management if an employee has a high temperature. We believe that with this partnership, there will be a well-structured and user-friendly system that makes it easy for smooth operations and overall profit maximization.” The software comes with modules that are particularly useful to construction site security. For example, it allows companies to upload CSR/CSCS qualifications and gives access to personnel training files that can all be viewed from the live dashboard ensuring health and safety qualifications are up to date. Additionally, the software provides full job costing, financial reporting and statistics. The first turnstile was shipped to commercial fit-out specialists Bbi Group, which design, fit-out and refurbish commercial premises across the UK. The company has secured a contract to completely refurbish a 20,000m2 storage warehouse in Chepstow and will have approximately 100 people working on site over the 13-month period. Dave Bastier from Bbi said the company chose the Envision Gateway turnstile as it needed an efficient means to control access to and from site that would not cause an issue with social distancing and contamination of touch surfaces. He said: “The Envision Gateway has been positioned between the car park and the principal entrance to site and provided the perfect solution to that need. Training and backup for our site administrator has also been excellent.” For more information on the Gateway Turnstile go to www.envision-is.co.uk
Panattoni, the largest industrial real estate developer in Europe, has announced it was working up plans to develop its biggest-ever speculative logistics building in the UK, a 630,000 sq ft facility in Yorkshire. The 630,000 sq ft facility will be built along with a smaller 85,000 sq ft facility by junction 1 of the M18 at Rotherham on a 40-acre site, which Panattoni has recently acquired from Stretton Denman. Panattoni is aiming to submit a reserved matters planning application in the next few weeks, with a view to beginning construction in the first quarter of 2022. The 715,000 sq ft development, called Interchange Park, is part of Panattoni’s commitment to a significant speculative development programme in the UK in 2021 in response to strong demand from occupiers for immediately available space. The acquisition of Interchange Park increases the size of Panattoni’s current speculative building development programme to around 4.2 million sq ft across eight locations across the North and Midlands, the largest of which are at South Normanton, Derby, Northampton and Crewe. “Our continued appetite for speculative development reflects the strength of demand from occupiers for immediately available space. In the first quarter of this year half of all take-up in the logistics sector was of speculative developments, driven by demand from e-commerce companies. And in the last 12 months alone, we have let more than 6 million sq ft of space,” said Dan Burn, Development Director for the North West and Yorkshire at Panattoni. “Having let our speculative Wakefield 515 development in May, we are delighted to have acquired this strategic site and look forward to bringing this nationally significant scheme forward over the coming months.” Interchange Park is located in an established distribution location, immediately adjacent to junction 1 of the M18 and just two miles from junction 32 of the M1. Local occupiers include Great Bear, Clipper Logistics, DX and FedEx. Letting agents at Interchange Park are M1 Agency, Legat Owen and Knight Frank.
Multi-award-winning engineering consultancy Will Rudd Davidson has recruited six new team members and promoted three existing team members to service its growth in client work. The six new appointments to bolster the team include Victoria Tinney as senior engineer, Alasdair MacPhee and Jennifer Davies as project engineers, and three new graduate engineers Graeme Thorpe, Amy Lillico and Matthew Pieroni. Three promotions have also been awarded at the consultancy, with Andrew Yule now a senior engineer team leader; Darren Tannock becoming a senior engineer and Lee Guthrie stepping up to project engineer level. The appointments come after Will Rudd Davidson announced a positive start to 2021, in part thanks to contracts from three major projects within Glasgow totalling close to £125 million. “We are really pleased to welcome this new talent on board to our Glasgow team. They all complement our existing work across a diverse range of sectors, and our ambition to expand on our work within the energy sector, particularly in the creation of renewable energy parks in the UK,” said MJ O’Shaughnessy, managing director, Will Rudd Davidson Glasgow. “I am also incredibly proud of our newly promoted team members and all three thoroughly deserve to make the step up. I know they will quickly adapt to their new responsibilities and I look forward to supporting their career development. “The new and promoted team members will begin working on a wide range of challenging projects across the UK, including several tall buildings in London and Scotland, and large scale residential projects across the UK.”
John Wesley Hyatt succeeded in creating celluloid in 1870 and only two years later also invented injection molding, though it was very limited. It wasn’t until WWII came with unique challenges that James R W Hendry stepped up to deliver the world’s first screw injection machine. With this invention, metal components and plastic ones finally melded as one. But it’s not easy to combine molded plastics with metal inserts. Not just any metal insert will do. How can you choose the right one for your project? Keep reading to find out. When to Use Metal Inserts Metal inserts are used on a variety of molded plastics and other soft materials. Other applications for metal inserts are thin-wall products and brittle products. Whenever you have a base material that permanently deforms if overtightened, metal inserts are a good way around the problem. Threaded inserts are the most common form of metal insert used. Threaded Metal Inserts for Molded Plastics Common materials used in metal inserts for molded plastic are brass, aluminum, and stainless steel. They also are ultrasonic, thermal, molded-in, and press-in types. What is remarkable about threaded inserts, aside from their versatility, is the range of sizes, textures, and shapes they can come in to suit almost any need. E-Z LOK threaded inserts for plastic are some of the best quality, size range, type, shape, and material inserts around. What Type of Insert Should I Use? Every project is different, so you should weigh the pros and cons of using particular insert types. They’re made for specific purposes, applications, and plastic materials. Press-in inserts are installed in pre-drilled or cored holes. They’re designed for both thermoplastics and thermoset. This versatility makes them ideal in situations like 3D printing. Aside from molded-in inserts, press-in inserts tend to be a good choice with thermoset. Ultrasonic inserts are installed using a high-frequency vibration tool that causes the plastic to soften. Once it cools, the insert is permanently fixed. Similar to this is “heat staking.” The insert goes into the material using a mounting hole with a thermal press. Like with ultrasonic inserts, when the plastic cools it’s permanently in place. There are pros and cons between the two, despite their similarity in reforming plastic using heat. The Difference Between Thermoset and Thermoplastic Thermoset plastics include polyurethane, melamine, polyester, fiberglass, and other resin-injected materials. Common thermoplastics include acrylic, polypropylene, polyethylene, PVC (polyvinyl chloride), and nylon. For thermoset plastics, press-in, self-tapping, and mold-in metal inserts are best. Heat staking and ultrasonic aren’t suitable for thermoset plastics. On the other hand, they may be the best option for thermoplastic. Thermoset plastic burns rather than melts, which is the main problem between thermal insertion and thermoset plastic. Metal Inserts for Molded Plastics: The Right Choice The world of molded plastics needs metal inserts. Plastic may be one of the most useful inventions of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, but it can’t do everything. Now that you know how to choose the right metal insert for your plastic injection molding project, you may have other questions. Don’t worry, we have you covered with more manufacturing tips. Keep browsing to find more articles to get you through whatever you’re facing in your project.
Over the past few decades, businesses and individuals have been subjected to increased scrutiny by government and regulatory agencies. Over a seemingly typical course of operations, issues may arise that could potentially lead to fraud and abuse allegations. When auditors begin to arrive and investigate, it is best to have a white-collar defense team right by your side. Even if a company has not committed any wrongdoing, news of the investigation can lead to outside scrutiny, potentially causing tremendous obstacles. With an experienced white-collar defense team, a company or individual may be able to mitigate these issues, avoid additional problems, and ensure that any investigation runs as smoothly as possible. What Are Common White Collar Crimes? White-collar crime is an umbrella term used to describe a wide variety of nonviolent crimes generally committed in commercial settings for financial gains. A few examples of white-collar crimes are: Antitrust violations. Antitrust rules and regulations are set in place to protect competition within the marketplace. Examples of antitrust violations include price-fixing and bid-rigging. Bribery. Bribery occurs when there is corrupt solicitation, acceptance, or transfer of any item of value in exchange for a means of influencing the actions of an individual who holds a public or legal duty. Credit card fraud. The United States has the highest rate of credit card fraud out of any other country in the world. Credit card fraud takes place when there is unauthorized utilization of another’s credit card information. Insider trading. Insider trading happens when an individual uses nonpublic or confidential information to trade a company’s stocks or other securities. Insurance fraud. Insurance fraud occurs when a duplicitous act is performed to obtain improper payment from an insurer. Money laundering. Money laundering is a financial transaction scheme that aims to hide the identity, source, and destination of unlawfully obtained funds. One of the most common types of money laundering is tax evasion. Securities fraud. Securities fraud involves theft through market manipulation, theft from securities accounts, and wire fraud. Tax evasion. Tax evasion schemes are used as a means of avoiding tax payments. This typically takes place when an individual or company misrepresents their income to the Internal Revenue Service. Are White Collar Crimes Criminal Or Civil? The potential punishment for committing a white-collar crime is particularly harsh, as it can potentially involve both civil and criminal penalties. Although, the majority of white-collar crimes lead to civil lawsuits. These lawsuits can be brought by the federal government, state government, or the victims of the offense. In addition to civil cases, defendants may find themselves facing criminal charges. After the FBI, SEC, NASD, and other applicable authorities investigate, charges are brought by federal prosecutors against the business or individual. With the stakes high, having a white-collar criminal defense team may help a company or individual avoid hefty fines and extensive prison sentences. In fact, in many cases, regulatory bodies may choose to settle a white-collar case prematurely in an effort to avoid draining financial resources in prosecuting futile actions. This most commonly takes place in non-criminal white-collar proceedings. Bottom line: While white-collar crimes can be both criminal and civil, the majority are civil, and many cases are settled outside of court.
