February 25, 2022

LEVELLING UP WHITEPAPER: A WELCOME SIGHT – BUT IT MUST DELIVER

THE government’s long-awaited levelling up whitepaper has been unveiled in full at long last. The document outlines the government’s commitments to rebalancing the UK’s services and economies, which is segmented into 12 key mission statements. Gerard Toplass, executive chairman of The 55 Group, which heads a collective of businesses operating

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RLB appointed to leading transport operator First Group £150 Million framework

Leading infrastructure, construction and management consultancy, Rider Levett Bucknall UK (RLB UK) has been appointed to key transport operator First Group’s Property Projects Consultancy Framework on its Project Management and Principal Designer lots. The Framework contract, which lasts for two years with a one year option, covers England and Wales

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Housing Pattern Books set to transform affordable homes delivery

Advanced Industrialised Methods for the Construction of Homes (AIMCH), the three-year project to support the sector to tackle the UK housing crisis, has arrived at an answer to the UK’s chronic housing shortage.  Following 18 months of intense collaboration and research, AIMCH partners Stewart Milne Group (SMG) and L&Q have

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United Living Welcomes New Group CFO

United Living Group has announced that Ole Pugholm has been appointed as Group Chief Financial Officer. He joins the leadership team following the recent acquisition of Great British Telecoms, which boosted the United Living Group’s turnover to in excess of GBP 0.5 billion annually. The business has also won some

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Latest Issue
Issue 323 : Dec 2024

February 25, 2022

LEVELLING UP WHITEPAPER: A WELCOME SIGHT – BUT IT MUST DELIVER

THE government’s long-awaited levelling up whitepaper has been unveiled in full at long last. The document outlines the government’s commitments to rebalancing the UK’s services and economies, which is segmented into 12 key mission statements. Gerard Toplass, executive chairman of The 55 Group, which heads a collective of businesses operating within the construction sector – including national framework provider Pagabo, along with risk, compliance and contract management software company Sypro, social value specialists Loop, and digital-first training platform Tequ – has a positive outlook on the whitepaper. He said: “The levelling up whitepaper has been long-awaited by us all, and it’s great to see it has finally been published in full. While generally speaking, the 12 missions outlined by the government cover pretty much every aspect of daily life, we’re especially pleased to see a number of aims that align with our values. “Our businesses operate nationally but are headquartered in central Hull, which is a city that understands the value that comes from investment – something that we have supported by investing in the transformation of 55 Whitefriargate to bring it back into use. “We are really encouraged by the approach to devolved administrations, decentralising the power from Whitehall and putting it in the hands of people in the areas it is needed. It’s really pleasing that our region is one of the first areas to be able to open negotiations on this topic and we look forward to seeing how this develops in time.” A number of mission statements within the whitepaper focus on improving infrastructure and huge regeneration projects, which will need to be led by local authorities and public sector bodies. Jason Stapley, managing director of national framework provider Pagabo, believes that construction professionals and their expertise will be the key in taking these schemes beyond promises and into reality. He said: “The whitepaper puts great emphasis on restoring local pride, detailing how the government will support 20 towns and city centres with the undertaking of ambitious regeneration projects. It’s a proven fact that positive environments and delivering the infrastructure communities need will elevate an area or region in terms of jobs, productivity and economic boost. “Such large-scale ambition for regeneration is met with the detail of dozens of local authorities set to be supported by the High Streets Task Force to transform town centres. For built environment specialists, our support of public sector bodies for the delivery of such schemes will be key – and ensuring the gold standard of procurement will make sure that true value can be delivered to communities in a way that creates maximum positive impact, while streamlining processes and budgets. “Equally, there is a focus on levelling up infrastructure and transport connections. With net zero carbon targets also set in place by government, it is these large-scale projects that provide huge opportunity for decarbonisation, along with an approach to refurbishment and retrofit to make sure existing building stock also minimises impact on our environment. “Our frameworks are placed to support with all of these aims, with the ability to track all-important KPIs around a scheme as required, such as social return on investment, carbon reduction and local impact. We are set to go live with our civils and infrastructure framework in the coming weeks, which has been designed with these kinds of schemes in mind – so we look forward to working with clients on their projects that will work towards the levelling up agenda.” Social value is a hot topic within the industry, and one that will extend into every reach of life. One of The 55 Group’s businesses is social value calculation specialist, Loop. With several of the mission statements outlined by the government focussing on social-led topics, making sure that organisations are able to identify the actual positive impact of their work on communities will become a big operation. Angus Townsend, group social value lead, said: “Some of the missions outlined within the whitepaper may appear to some as ‘softer elements’, such as improving life expectancy. However, these elements are all interlinked and very much tied to social value and the types of outcomes we help our clients demonstrate from their operations. “It’s likely that generating social value and delivering the levelling up agenda will become synonymous with each other – but the responsibility on doing both will be on all of us. It will be important to make sure we can examine the impact of everything we do and how that plays into the core mission statements from the whitepaper. As ‘the social value people’, we are primed and ready to work with our clients to help demonstrate both quantitative and qualitative evidence to show how they are helping to work towards these outcomes.” Gerard concluded: “There has been a mixed reaction to the whitepaper so far, but we are hopeful that it will mark a moment where direction changes towards making actionable change to rebalance the country. The key will be ensuring it delivers what it promises – and it will be up to us all to keep momentum and hold leadership accountable to making process. “Of course, a lot of our operations are within the construction industry so there are ample ways our work will be able to support the aims around regeneration and infrastructure. However, our work stretches far beyond this, working on key areas including social return on investment and seeking to modernise skills and training to make it fit for the modern world. “Seeing a focus on research and development and improving education standards is hopeful – but will largely rely on adequate funding. Part of levelling up is putting the power into the hands that need it, so making sure that we are working towards practises fit for the future will be a huge part of the journey. For example, in the construction sector there is an ongoing shortage of skills that training courses are simply not fit for purpose in tackling due to relevance, complexity or overall length.

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RLB appointed to leading transport operator First Group £150 Million framework

Leading infrastructure, construction and management consultancy, Rider Levett Bucknall UK (RLB UK) has been appointed to key transport operator First Group’s Property Projects Consultancy Framework on its Project Management and Principal Designer lots. The Framework contract, which lasts for two years with a one year option, covers England and Wales and spans all First Group’s existing railway property including more than 400 stations managed across the UK network.  RLB was awarded the framework based on the extensive experience of its team on project managing works and maintenance across the railway infrastructure. This team experience includes projects such as Crossrail, High Speed 2, Midland Metro Alliance, East West Rail, Network Rail Infrastructure Projects, Network Rail platform extension programme and the Manchester Piccadilly station. As well as their reputation within the industry, RLB’s award-winning team is spread across 12 national offices combining global best practice and innovation with local knowledge and complementing the First Group’s regional footprint. Stuart Parker from First Group commented, “We wanted to work with partners who not only understood the transportation and property sectors but also had an in-depth knowledge of best practice across the built environment, and a complementary added value attitude to provide better rail services, keep people moving and communities prospering across the country.  RLB’s breadth of service delivery and range of sector experience as Project Managers and Principal Designers, alongside the outstanding technical expertise of their proposed team, made them an obvious choice to be involved in the framework.” Simon Pledger, RLB Project Management lead for Infrastructure and National Framework Project Management Account Manager for First Group comments, “Transportation infrastructure is more than a way of getting people from A to B. It works towards driving social equality, boosting the economy and bringing accessibility to all. We are delighted to be supporting First Group in ensuring it provides optimised facilities across its railway estate, in retaining a leading position in the thriving UK rail market, and in improving their customer experience offering.”

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Clade opens new factory in boost to green heating production and jobs

Leading industrial engineering firm, Clade, has opened its newly expanded Technology Centre in Morley, Leeds, boosting production of heat pumps and creating over 300 new jobs in the area. Andrea Jenkyns, MP for Morley, formally opened the factory in a ceremony on 11 February 2022.  For over 30 years, Clade has been leading energy transformation in heating and cooling using cutting-edge natural refrigerants. In order to furthersupport the UK’s transition to a greener economy, the new 29,000 sq foot factory will be dedicated to the production of Clade’s range of industry-leading CO2 heat pumps.  Demand for Clade’s range of natural refrigerant heat pumps has grown across, commercial and industrial sectors. The expansion will enable Clade to significantly increase production by 400%. In addition, the company is creating over 300 new jobs over the next four years, split between factory floor and office roles.  As a sustainable company, Clade ensures that its production processes are as green as possible. This includes the installation of solar PV to help generate clean energy, fitting electric vehicle charging points, using LED lighting and implementing waste reduction strategies. Alongside this, the company maintains its operation-wide policy for offsetting carbon generation through tree planting, with over 1000 trees planted, removing CO2 from the atmosphere and creating space for wildlife.  On the factory opening, Dean Frost, Managing Director at Clade, said: “Opening this new technology centre is an important step for us to take. The last few years have been challenging for everyone, so it is fantastic to be able to share this celebration of success with our valued stakeholders, staff, customers and suppliers who have been with us on this journey, and will be for many years to come.  “We are committed to tackling the challenges of climate change and our new facility will enable us to increase production, develop innovative new products and support the local community through job creation and subsequent impact on the supply chain” Dean added. Tim Rook, Chief Markets Officer at Clade, said the new facility will enable the company to  accelerate the adoption of green heating technologies:“As the importance of tackling the climate emergency has become more urgent, Clade have developed high-performance heat pumps which will decarbonise heat in buildings and industrial processes throughout the UK and beyond. Heat makes up 40% of the UKs carbon footprint and heat pumps are the only viable solution, readily available and able to be deployed at scale quickly enough to make a difference.” “We are passionate about making our products work in the real world, supporting customers to get the very best long-term value from them and are looking forward to being able to expand our production, enabling more people to benefit from the carbon savings heat pumps create,” Tim concluded. For more information visit www.clade-es.com

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Housing Pattern Books set to transform affordable homes delivery

Advanced Industrialised Methods for the Construction of Homes (AIMCH), the three-year project to support the sector to tackle the UK housing crisis, has arrived at an answer to the UK’s chronic housing shortage.  Following 18 months of intense collaboration and research, AIMCH partners Stewart Milne Group (SMG) and L&Q have developed housing blueprints for developers, housing associations and SMEs to bring affordable homes to market quickly and cost effectively. The affordable housing pattern books, featuring 24 designs, have been created to facilitate the construction of cottage flats, bungalows, semi-detached and terraced houses, all of which offer the flexibility to meet planners needs, and to fit in with local character. Designs from the pattern book can also be pieced together to accommodate a range of elevations and streetscapes. A central element of the type approved housing collections is their use of closed panel MMC timber technology, optimised to meet 55% PMV (Premanufactured Value), a requirement of Homes England grant funding. Their 0.20 U-Value provides a fit-and-forget, fabric first approach to energy efficient building envelope, set to comply with new Jun 22 Part L building regulations. Both gas and ASHP heating options are factored into the designs, and the layout and fabric efficiency of the building envelope ensures that homes in the pattern books are heat pump ready as we move towards zero gas developing, making it easy to use the technology now or retrofit in the future. In creating the pattern books, the developers have leveraged learnings from Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DFMA), Design Standardisation and Product Families (Kit of Parts) and BIM (3D modelling) outputs. AIMCH developers plan to exploit the standard house type pattern books on their own sites, or through strategic partnerships with other developers and clients. Through Stewart Milne Timber Systems, some of the homes will be available under free of charge license agreement, for other developers to use, as a whole house MMC supply chain solution. This novel approach, means SMEs, smaller HA/developers and new entrants, have immediate access to a range of fully considered, efficient and technically robust affordable homes, for use on their site, reducing development costs and fast-tracking appraisals and planning consents. Pattern books feature: L&Q range – 6 designs ●     Two and three bedrooms ●     Two storey accommodation, suitable for terracing ●     All homes 100% compliant with NDSS ●     Beyond the AIMCH R&D project, further L&Q typologies are planned. SMG House Range – 18 designs ●     Wide mix of one to four bedroom homes ●     Two storey accommodation, suitable for terracing ●     Broad range of typologies including bungalows and cottage flats ●     Homes offer 85% and 100% NDSS compliance Stewart Milne Group (SMG) and L&Q are confident that the pattern book route will guarantee fast delivery of high quality homes at reasonable cost and plan to deploy the designs in their own development portfolio from Spring 2022. In the case of Stewart Milne Homes, current affordable housing developments are being remixed or designed from scratch, using the new range of homes. L&Q are similarly rolling out their range on all new sites, as these come through their production pipeline. Stewart Dalgarno, Director of Innovation and Sustainability at Stewart Milne Group, and AIMCH Project Director said, “Typically, in the affordable homes sector, design and housing procurement are done on an isolated project-by-project basis, which potentially leads to higher costs, inefficiencies and variability in quality. Because of this, AIMCH sees enormous potential for accelerated use of pattern books in the sector. “Homes England affordable housing funding is already encouraging a more diverse mix of affordable home providers – SMEs and new entrant developers. This group is unlikely to have in-house technical teams to develop house type designs and associated collateral, so being able to reach for pre-configured, pre-approved housing designs, that can be deployed at pace, to accelerate and increase overall housing output is going to be an attractive option. “Furthermore, through endorsement from regulators, funders, and insurers, AIMCH believes that housing pattern books and standardised products will become commonplace in the affordable housing sector.” Wayne Hill, Production Strategy Director at L&Q said, “L&Q is proud to be leading the way in the adoption of off site technologies in the affordable housing sector. These developed approaches offer a clear way for housebuilders, housing associations and local authorities to adopt MMC methods, and the efficiencies which come with them, to build homes for those who need them the most. We have an ambitious roadmap which is seeing us roll out MMC across our development programme, and look forward to utilising the great learning of this project in our portfolio this year.” AIMCH see pattern books, together with the use of standardised product families, DFMA and BIM, developed in an earlier part of their research, as key ingredients in transitioning residential construction towards, industrialisation and off-site manufacturing, transforming how homes are delivered.

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United Living Welcomes New Group CFO

United Living Group has announced that Ole Pugholm has been appointed as Group Chief Financial Officer. He joins the leadership team following the recent acquisition of Great British Telecoms, which boosted the United Living Group’s turnover to in excess of GBP 0.5 billion annually. The business has also won some major contracts over the last few months including a 10-year £160 million partnership with Lewisham Homes, delivering major refurbishment works to its existing housing stock, a 432 new home development in Cardiff, worth £55 million and a £1.6 million deal on a district heating project at the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District Scotland (AMIDS) – which has a total project value of £150 million. In addition, it has secured places on the £750 million Fusion 21 Decarbonisation framework and the £5 billion SCF Residential framework. Ole’s extensive experience, spanning more than 15 years in CFO level roles, includes working with private equity and Global Fortune 500 multinationals, most recently working as CFO for the Marine Division of Survitec Group Limited, a global organisation with a presence in 96 countries. He has a significant background in turnaround management, acquisition and growth – supporting both the commercial and operational aspects of business – and an impressive track record of building strong performing finance teams, whilst creating business value through both buy and build, and organic growth. Neil Armstrong, Chair and CEO, United Living Group commented: “I am delighted to welcome Ole to the team.  His exceptional track record and experiences will bring significant value to the business and support our further development plans, helping to set us up for future success.” Ole Pugholm added: “I am pleased to be joining United Living Group at an exciting point in the company’s development.  I very much look forward to working with Neil and the wider Executive Team on developing its growth potential and building on the considerable success the group has achieved so far.”

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