Experts Say Announcement Could Mean More False Hope For Leaseholders Developers have been given an early March deadline to create a fully funded plan of action to help the cladding crisis, with further measures to be put in place by the Government. The announcement from Michael Gove MP at the
Ecocem, Europe’s leading provider of low carbon solutions for the cement and construction industries, and Taylor Woodrow, a leading player in the delivery of complex UK infrastructure projects, have conducted their first pour of Exegy® ultra-low carbon concrete in the UK. Developed over four years by Ecocem and VINCI Construction,
Changing lifestyle requirements will continue to re shape the new home market through 2022, predict housebuilders in the WhatHouse? Predictions Report 2022, as demand for luxury new homes in more rural locations continues to trend. 70% of house builders asked to forecast whether the ‘race for space’ will keep the market
Successful closing: binderholz Group completes the acquisition of the largest British sawmill group, making it Europe’s largest company in the sawmill and solid wood processing industry On 05.01.2022, the acquisition of the British BSW Timber Ltd, based in Earlston, Scotland, by Binderholz UK Holding GmbH, a subsidiary of the Austrian
Practical advice on achieving COP26 objectives The built environment has been given twelve months to turn climate pledges into significant action to limit temperature rises to 1.5°C. To encourage transformational change, Futurebuild, the sustainable built environment event, has announced its 2022 conference programme. Now that COP26 has established what we
Oxford architecture practice Gray, Baynes & Shew has overhauled its IT infrastructure with a suite of technologies from OGL, to boost business productivity and protect its business while maintaining its position as an award-winning architectural partner. Based at St Thomas House on Becket Street in Oxford, Gray, Baynes & Shew (“GBS”) took advantage
A local headteacher was the special guest invited to officially open a new housing development in Hatton. Mark Whyman, of Heath Fields Primary School, unveiled the sales office and two showhomes at Bellway’s Hatton Court on Saturday 20 November. The event was the first opportunity for members of the public
Property developers and intermediaries will collectively waste over 14,500 days searching and applying for loans in 2022, predicts development finance comparison site, Brickflow. Brickflow co-founder and head of lending, Ian Humphreys, says while it traditionally takes around 70 hours to search for lenders and complete a development finance application, his
Continuous improvement is the mantra of some of the most successful business organizations. Even in supply chain management, where it seems that a business has already perfected its systems and processes, there’s always room for further improvement. This will help you provide better service and customer satisfaction for your primary
Experts Say Announcement Could Mean More False Hope For Leaseholders Developers have been given an early March deadline to create a fully funded plan of action to help the cladding crisis, with further measures to be put in place by the Government. The announcement from Michael Gove MP at the House of Commons on the afternoon of Monday 10th of January said he is giving developers the chance to ‘do the right thing’ or he would ‘impose in law’ ways to make them pay for the cladding crisis. So far residents in blocks 11-18m high haven’t been eligible for government support to remove unsafe cladding, instead being offered loans to shoulder the often eye-watering cost – but this scheme is now scrapped, along with further measures to ease the standstill for leaseholders affected by surveys, insurers and market uncertainty as a result of the crisis. Residential property experts at Irwin Mitchell say the announcement shows the Government has shut the door on providing its own funding to help leaseholders, instead relying on developers to pay for the cladding crisis. Jeremy Raj, national head of Residential Property at Irwin Mitchell said: “The sentiments and ambition of Mr Gove’s statement today were praiseworthy and long overdue. The realities of his proposals are, however, as yet of questionable efficacy and breadth. “The truth is that the fifth anniversary of Building Safety reaching its current level of crisis for leaseholders in taller blocks of flats in particular is fast approaching. The acknowledgement today that reaction to date has been slow and ineffective will be cold comfort, particularly in relation to those with non-cladding issues. Government must indeed accept when its own performance has not been acceptable and ensure a rapid improvement. “The cladding on Grenfell had nothing to do with current or historic developers of new build homes, having been retro-fitted many years after the original build, using materials that were clearly dangerous that seem to have been ignored or waved through by the regulatory authorities. “The idea that responsibility for resolving the cladding scandal – which has now widened to become a general building safety scandal – should be laid solely at the doors of developers asked to voluntarily cough up more cash, is likely to lead only to further delay and heartbreak for leaseholders caught in dangerous or un-sellable properties. “Many developers will be puzzled as to how and to what extent they can justify such expenditure on a ‘voluntary’ basis in the context of their obligations to shareholders, and a lack of direct responsibility, particularly given clear evidence of contributory negligence by others. “As Irwin Mitchell have been saying from the outset, fixing dangerous buildings (of whatever height) should be dealt with as a priority using up-front Government money, with clawback provisions activated as soon as the extent and identity of all liable parties has been established under due legal process.” Large housebuilding developers are already facing the Residential Property Developer Tax, which targets companies with annual profits of over £25m with a 4% tax to go towards cladding. Legal experts point out that laying the blame at one person’s door doesn’t help the situation for affected leaseholders – or help with the long-term housing crisis the UK is currently facing. Jeremy continued: “In the context of an acute national shortage of safe, suitable and environmentally sound housing stock, it will not help to demonise and threaten all developers if they can clearly see that the manufacturers and suppliers of those dangerous materials, the poorly resourced regulators and the industry as a whole, seem to be being let off the hook. “It now seems clear that the Treasury has firmly shut the door to further funds being made available and that, along with Planning reform, a full upgrade and proper funding of Building Control remains a distant hope for the future. “Nobody wants the leaseholders caught up in the post-Grenfell nightmare to continue to suffer, and it is right that they should be absolved of financial responsibility for making their buildings safe. “However, significant issues relating to building safety remain in addition to the cladding problems and many of our clients do not appear to be helped by today’s announcement in resolving the problems with the homes they bought in good faith, expecting them to be safe to live in and easy to sell on.”
Ecocem, Europe’s leading provider of low carbon solutions for the cement and construction industries, and Taylor Woodrow, a leading player in the delivery of complex UK infrastructure projects, have conducted their first pour of Exegy® ultra-low carbon concrete in the UK. Developed over four years by Ecocem and VINCI Construction, a world leader in buildings, civil works and infrastructure, the technology – Ecocem Ultra – forms part of VINCI Construction’s Exegy® ultra-low carbon concrete range, and is already being used on a pilot site of the Grand Paris Express and in the construction of the Athletes’ Village in Paris for summer 2024. Significantly reducing the CO2 footprint of any project on which it is used, Ecocem Ultra provides an alternative to the traditional cement manufacturing process. The pour took place on EcoPark South, the first phase in North London Waste Authority’s plans to create a £1.2 billion sustainable waste management hub and Energy Recovery Facility at the existing Edmonton EcoPark. The mix used on the project reduces the carbon footprint by up to 70 per cent when compared to traditional concrete. Taylor Woodrow is building a new flagship Resource Recovery Facility, public Reuse and Recycling Centre, temporary bulky waste facility and new visitor, community, and education facility as part of the project. Ecocem has always been a first mover. For more than 20 years, the company has led the development of technology that reduces the carbon footprint of the traditional cement manufacturing process by half. Its pipeline of technology continues to be industry leading, and the company was recently backed by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a coalition of private investors led by Bill Gates, supporting innovations that will lead the world to net zero emissions. VINCI Construction launched the global Exegy® brand in 2020 to position itself as a pioneer in the development, use, and deployment of low carbon concrete solutions worldwide. VINCI Construction has developed, jointly with Ecocem, the Exegy® ultra-low carbon concrete solutions, bringing its construction know-how and innovative mindset to support the Ecocem Ultra’s European Technical Evaluation granted on October 2021. Exegy® and Ecocem rely on a network of partner plants, such as the global building materials supplier, CEMEX, which produced the Exegy® Ultra-Low Carbon concrete for the pour. Micheál McKittrick, Managing Director, Northern Europe, Ecocem, said: “Our Ecocem Ultra technology is already being used at scale in France, and we’re excited to now see it being adopted in the UK. “The cement and construction industries are developing and deploying a range of emission reduction technologies to help the UK Government reduce emissions by 78 per cent by 2035, and reach net zero by 2050, and Ecocem will add a further dimension to these efforts.” Nerissa Patel and Alex Mitchell, Project Managers for Taylor Woodrow, said: “We are proud to have led the first use of Exegy® ultra-low carbon concrete in the UK. Ultra-low carbon concrete is a key factor in our journey towards carbon neutrality and this marks an exciting step towards achieving it.” Steve Crompton, Director of Quality and Product Technology for Materials West Europe, CEMEX, said: “CEMEX is committed to reducing the embodied carbon in our range of cementitious products and we have ambitious targets to lower CO2 levels in concrete, including a global commitment to produce net zero concrete for all our customers by 2050. “We have been working with VINCI and Ecocem in France to investigate how alternative cement technologies can accelerate the reduction in CO2 in readymix concrete and are delighted to be involved with the project at Edmonton EcoPark to demonstrate how this new technology can contribute to ultra-low carbon emissions in concrete.”
Changing lifestyle requirements will continue to re shape the new home market through 2022, predict housebuilders in the WhatHouse? Predictions Report 2022, as demand for luxury new homes in more rural locations continues to trend. 70% of house builders asked to forecast whether the ‘race for space’ will keep the market buoyant felt confident that we are yet to reach the ceiling in requirement for larger properties with home office, flexible family space, and access to high-quality green areas. Overall, 71% of housebuilders reported feeling ‘cautiously optimistic’ about the year ahead 60% forecast that new build house prices would swap price peaks for continued steady growth 62% said that transaction levels would return to pre-pandemic levels 60% of housebuilders are concerned by the impact of an interest rate rise. However, those asked agree, continued economic recovery and a high percentage of fixed rate mortgages will help secure the new build housing market’s strong position Daniel Hill, Managing Director, WhatHouse? said: “It’s still early days. We are yet to see the full impact of the pandemic on home buyers’ behaviour. Hybrid and home-based working continues to be trial and error for many businesses, once a seismic and more permanent shift takes place we will once again experience a surge in people considering relocation and hunting for more inside and outside space.” Jamie Barrington, Sales Operations Manager, Beal Homes said: “We continue to see a large proportion of customers working from home and employers embracing home or hybrid working. This means demand for flexible space and design options, including for working space, will remain high as home working becomes the new normal and no longer a temporary novelty. It also means buyers will prioritise areas with fast internet speeds and good mobile signals.” “The 2022 housing market should be supported by what are expected to be continuing high levels of job vacancies, feeding through to wage growth. A rising market will be driven by these factors, as well as housebuilders adjusting prices to account for increasing materials costs beyond their control, alongside changes in inflation.”
Successful closing: binderholz Group completes the acquisition of the largest British sawmill group, making it Europe’s largest company in the sawmill and solid wood processing industry On 05.01.2022, the acquisition of the British BSW Timber Ltd, based in Earlston, Scotland, by Binderholz UK Holding GmbH, a subsidiary of the Austrian binderholz Group, was successfully concluded with the closing of the transaction. BSW Timber Ltd. is the largest sawmill group in the UK in 2021, with a turnover of around £700 million and a production capacity of over 1.2 million m3 of sawn timber per year. In 2022, binderholz will become Europe’s largest group in the sawmill and solid wood processing industry segment, with a cumulative annual turnover of €2.6 billion and around 5,000 employees. The brand name BSW will be retained after integration into the binderholz Group, and the current management will continue to lead the company. Strong partnership with a focus on sustainability “With a strong focus on sustainability, binderholz and BSW pursue a forward-looking and at the same time, tradition-conscious corporate philosophy. The purchase of BSW is an essential component of our long-term expansion and sustainability strategy. BSW is active along the entire value chain of the sawmill industry, from sustainable forest management and maintenance – with capacity to plant up to 50 million high quality seedlings per year – to timber harvesting, sawmill operations, timber processing and distribution as well as biomass energy,” says Reinhard Binder, owner and CEO of binderholz. “This step strengthens binderholz’s positioning in the growing British market, which is characterised by high demand for sawn timber, solid wood, timber construction and DIY products. The Green Economy ideal is being actively lived in Great Britain, which has been reflected in the constant growth rates in CO2-neutral timber construction over the years. With our products, we optimally cover these market needs and plan investments that go further into depth of the value-added chain.”
Practical advice on achieving COP26 objectives The built environment has been given twelve months to turn climate pledges into significant action to limit temperature rises to 1.5°C. To encourage transformational change, Futurebuild, the sustainable built environment event, has announced its 2022 conference programme. Now that COP26 has established what we need to do, the sessions at the conference will explore how to make the necessary changes at scale to take the industry from ambition to net zero. From March 1 to 3 at ExCeL London, the Futurebuild 2022 conference, sponsored by the Construction Innovation Hub, will explore some of the key questions and issues to close the gap between net zero ambition and delivery. It invites panels of industry experts to share their experience and put forward proposals on eleven selected topics, including an action programme beyond COP26, the regulation of embodied carbon, resource efficiency, financial considerations, levelling up and retrofitting. The first session on day one focuses on action plans — Beyond COP 26: our action programme.The physical impacts of climate change that we are already experiencing highlight the need for developing long-term resilience at the same time as reducing emissions, restoring natural resources and biodiversity, ensuring a sustainable food supply and recognising the impacts of climate change on human health and wellbeing. This session will focus on the actions that the UK construction industry will be taking – starting now. “There is no simple, off the shelf solution to reaching net zero, but there is a growing understanding of what needs to be done,” explained Shaun Spiers, executive director at Green Alliance and chair of the Beyond COP26 arena session. “There is an almost universal recognition that we must aim to limit global heating. The next year will give us a much clearer idea of whether the outcomes of COP26 can shift the course of the world’s economy or whether it was ‘blah blah blah’.” “We have had a difficult and uncertain time since Futurebuild 2020 and the impact of the pandemic and the opportunities and urgencies for COP26 have been explored in a number of webinars during this time,” explained Sue James, Edge member, “As our thoughts turn to COP27, we have clearly established what we need to do and must now focus on how to do it at scale’. The opportunities to change are here, do we have the courage to act on them? On days two and three, the 2022 conference programme topics include raising aspirations — leading by example to make change happen, resolving energy supply and demand and living in a sustainable relationship with nature. In each session a panel of experts will explore the key questions and issues to help the built environment sector take the action needed for us to achieve 100 per cent net zero emissions by 2050. The programme will conclude with a conversation between architect, Peter Clegg and engineer, Hanif Kara, and Hattie Hartman of the Architects’ Journal on the future of building design in our climate and ecologically challenged world. To find out the full conference programme and list of speakers for Futurebuild 2022, visit www.futurebuild.co.uk/conference-programme-overview/. Don’t forget to register for the event here.
Oxford architecture practice Gray, Baynes & Shew has overhauled its IT infrastructure with a suite of technologies from OGL, to boost business productivity and protect its business while maintaining its position as an award-winning architectural partner. Based at St Thomas House on Becket Street in Oxford, Gray, Baynes & Shew (“GBS”) took advantage of a free network appraisal which uncovered some concerning weaknesses and cyber threats. The firm works across a range of business sectors including education and healthcare to create buildings for learning, healing, resting, playing or for worshiping. It is on Oxford University’s Capital Projects Framework and has completed projects at a number of colleges including Corpus Christi and Lady Margaret Hall. Poor IT is the last thing any business wants, but it’s especially true of architects that use high-intensity CAD software (computer aided design) for their design work, which demands a powerful, well-managed and well-maintained infrastructure. Realising that its incumbent supplier was not proactive or delivering the level of IT service the practice required, GBS asked OGL to conduct a free network appraisal. This audit is used to establish a company’s baseline security and identify where gaps lie, which is how OGL uncovered some concerning weaknesses and cyber threats. The network appraisal examined every one of the firm’s network assets, from physical servers, virtual servers, network-attached storage (NAS), to firewalls, workstations, printers and much more. The result was an extremely detailed and valuable third-party perspective for the firm’s IT team. Tony Stewart, IT Project Manager at Gray, Baynes & Shew explains: “I knew our infrastructure needed work following the shift to more home-working during and since the pandemic, but I was shocked to be shown the extent of its weaknesses and gaps. To hear that a relatively simple check by OGL uncovered our login credentials and passwords had been compromised and were on the Dark Web was a huge eye opener.” GBS appointed OGL as its IT partner after discovering that its legacy IT infrastructure needed an overhaul and recommended a suite of technology products and services that included server configuration, Synology storage and cloud sync, firewall security, anti-virus, SaaS backup, remote monitoring and patch management. The patch management service is now the firm’s first line of defence. It blocks unwanted traffic [is this true – is it Patch Management that does this – I would have thought it was AV?], whether that’s protection from emails with very large file sizes or executable files which autorun. While Synology storage helps GBS to manage, secure and protect its data. Matt Thorneycroft, Business Development Manager at OGL, concluded: “IT and cyber security is so important these days, it must be resourced and financed accordingly. Tony was realistic about the work needed to get the network to a good, robust place, following years with an IT provider that didn’t appear to be pulling their weight any longer.”
A local headteacher was the special guest invited to officially open a new housing development in Hatton. Mark Whyman, of Heath Fields Primary School, unveiled the sales office and two showhomes at Bellway’s Hatton Court on Saturday 20 November. The event was the first opportunity for members of the public to visit the development off Derby Road, where construction work began in April. The sales office and showhomes are now open seven days a week. Bellway is building 128 homesat Hatton Court, including a mix of two, three, four and five-bedroom properties. The development is part of a wider 385-home scheme being delivered in partnership with Ashberry Homes, also part of the Bellway group, and which will also include public open space and two play areas. Marie Richards, Sales Director for Bellway West Midlands, said: “It was a pleasure to welcome Mark as our VIP guest for the official opening of the sales office and showhomes at Hatton Court. Launching a new development to the public is always a momentous occasion, so we were delighted that such a prominent figure in the local community was able to join us for the event. “Hatton Court will deliver much-needed new homes for the area with a mix of properties to suit a variety of buyers. Hatton is already a popular and thriving village and we see our development as an extension to the existing community. “The two showhomes at Hatton Court will give prospective buyers a chance to explore a completed property at the development for the first time and we are confident they will like what they see. We had a very good turn-out for Saturday’s launch and the comments we received from visitors were extremely complimentary. “The first homes have already been reserved off plan, and we are already looking forward to welcoming the first residents into their homes early next year.” Mark Whyman, Headteacher of Heath Fields Primary School, said: “It was a pleasure to be invited to open the showhome at Bellway’s Hatton Court development. “Heath Fields Primary School is looking forward to welcoming new families and their children to the school when they move into their new Bellway home.” The two showhomes at Hatton Court feature the two-bedroom Almond and three-bedroom Hawthorn house designs. A selection of two, three, four and five-bedroom homes are currently available, with prices starting from £196,500.
Property developers and intermediaries will collectively waste over 14,500 days searching and applying for loans in 2022, predicts development finance comparison site, Brickflow. Brickflow co-founder and head of lending, Ian Humphreys, says while it traditionally takes around 70 hours to search for lenders and complete a development finance application, his tech platform helps users perform the same task in 20 hours or less. Ian estimates developers and intermediaries spend nearly a third of their time searching for development finance; Brickflow uses algorithms, searching over 120 data points across 36 lenders, presenting finance options within two minutes. Developers are able to choose their preferable lending options, use online onboarding tools and access expert help, where necessary, to complete applications which can be sent to up to five lenders in the deal forum’ (similar to a competitive tender). Conversion rate from Heads of Terms to completion is over 90%. Ian comments: “Development finance lending topped £9.3 billion in 2020 and if we assume an average loan figure is £4 million, it equates to 2,325 development finance applications taking 50 hours longer than necessary. When you divide this by an 8 hour day, it’s a staggering loss of time. “Add to this the frustration of nearly one in three SME house builders citing a lack of finance as one of the biggest barriers to progressing projects and it’s clear Brickflow is a no-brainer.” He concludes: “According to YouGov research, saving money and spending more time with the family are popular New Year’s resolutions for Brits so I’m pleased we can help people achieve this.”
Continuous improvement is the mantra of some of the most successful business organizations. Even in supply chain management, where it seems that a business has already perfected its systems and processes, there’s always room for further improvement. This will help you provide better service and customer satisfaction for your primary client. Your main objective in continuous improvement is to identify gaps and opportunities for further improving the service you provide to your clients. If you’re looking for ways to improve your supply chain management capabilities, you might want to look into integrated supply chain services. Here are a few other suggestions on how you can offer better services to your client. 1. Do An End-To-End Analysis One of the first few things you can do if you’re looking to deliver better service for your supply chain management (SCM) clients is an end-to-end analysis. Gather people from all departments or units involved in the SCM process. You can task them with reviewing the entire SCM system and process. This will allow them to identify any gaps or inefficiencies. You can also use data analytics technology to help in the review. By doing an end-to-end analysis, you’ll be able to identify specific gaps or opportunities for improvement, as well as see the overall system and how everything comes together. It doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll find something wrong with the SCM setup; you might just see a few gaps or flaws here and there. In looking to deliver better client service, you should try to identify ways to reduce time spent on certain tasks, as well as ways to bring down expenses. These two are the easiest to quantify and measure, though they’re not the only areas of opportunity for improvement. You can also review your client’s SCM process for possible redundancies or roundabout processes that can be further simplified or streamlined. 2. Focus On Client’s Core Objectives You should make sure to focus your efforts on your client’s core objectives. If you provide services for the whole SCM process of your client, this gives you the room to make changes where they’re needed. But even if you’re providing services or solutions for only a portion of the SCM process, you can still find ways to improve. For example, if you provide logistics solutions and transporting services to a food processing company, you can offer to review the schedule and routing of the pickup, transportation, delivery, and unloading of their products. If you pick up from several hubs, plants, or processing centers, you can propose to do a review. The review should be focused on how to optimize the whole schedule and routing system. There might be ways to reduce the number of trips made or to use the backload as an opportunity to deliver other items or transport to nearby delivery points. 3. Train The Front Lines To Enhance The Customer Experience Of The End User If you have some level of interaction with the client or end user, that’s another opportunity to create value-added service for your client. You can, for instance, focus on enhancing customer experience if you’re the service provider for the customer support hotline or the portal for the monitoring and tracking of deliveries. As a service provider for the customer support operations of your client, you can also conduct a review of the whole process of customer service engagement and operations. Your objective here would be to look for further opportunities to improve the experience of your client’s users or customers whenever they contact customer support. 4. Integrate Order Entry And Customer Service Systems If you’re the service provider for both your client’s supply chain order entry and fulfillment systems, as well as the customer service systems, you have the opportunity to propose that their order entry system be integrated with the customer service systems. This will give their customers a seamless experience, which would greatly contribute to customer satisfaction. An example is if you provide the order entry and fulfillment platform as well as the customer service portal for your client and they’re separate systems. The end users would have to interact with one platform for order entry and then another for customer service. They might not know this if you don’t say outright that a separate entity handles the customer support operations. However, this doesn’t mean they won’t experience the separation of your order entry and customer support systems. They might have an idea if the customer support frontliners admit or disclose that they can’t answer some of the customers’ queries because they don’t have access to certain tools in the order entry platform. This may negatively affect customer satisfaction because their issue won’t be easily resolved and they’re being made to wait due to the divide in the order entry and customer support systems. Conclusion You should conduct an end-to-end analysis of your client’s SCM system and process so you can get both the big-picture view and the details of what needs to be improved. With the information you get from the review, you can identify specific gaps and opportunities for improvement. You can suggest intelligent pickup and delivery scheduling and routing systems, train frontline customer service support, and also integrate customer service portals and order entry systems.
