Countries around the world are setting accelerated targets for decarbonization. In the UK, the government’s latest Carbon Budget features plans to reduce emissions by 78% by 2035 – compared to 1990 levels – taking the nation more than three-quarters of the way to reaching net zero by 2050.[1] Moreover, in
The mental wellbeing of employees is a clear priority for Finning, exclusive dealer of Cat® equipment in the UK and Ireland. To mark this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week (May 9th – 15th) the firm has pledged to double the number of mental health first aiders by the end of
The property division of national law firm Irwin Mitchell has advised land promoter and developer Jaynic on its a land promotion agreement on 279-acres adjacent to the A11 at Barton Mills, Suffolk, with the land offering significant potential for future commercial development. Located on the ‘Cambridge-Norwich A11 Tech Corridor’, this
United Living Group, the provider of infrastructure, housing and property services, is pleased to announce that work is underway on an £8.4 million housing project to create 53 new affordable homes in Walton-on-the-Naze in Essex. Named Wheater’s Meadow, the 100% affordable development is being delivered by United Living New Homes’
Culture Change in Construction Crucial Calls from Industry Experts at Exclusive Event on First Night of UK Construction Week Leading construction industry intelligence provider, Barbour ABI, brought top industry experts together at an exclusive event after the first day of the UK Construction Week exhibition in London to discuss the
This article explains how a pneumatic tube transports goods and people from one place to another fast and efficiently Have you ever wondered how pneumatic tube transport works? Why it’s still used in certain parts of the world? Pneumatic tubes were first used back in the 19th century as a
BDC 319 : Aug 2024
Countries around the world are setting accelerated targets for decarbonization. In the UK, the government’s latest Carbon Budget features plans to reduce emissions by 78% by 2035 – compared to 1990 levels – taking the nation more than three-quarters of the way to reaching net zero by 2050.[1] Moreover, in its ‘Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution’ this administration has highlighted the decarbonization of buildings as a key aspect of its policy towards reaching these targets.[2] Given buildings account for 36% of final energy use, they are a prime target for energy efficiency initiatives and will be a major contributor to climate target attainment.[3] In order to achieve these goals, more attention needs to be paid to the existing commercial and public building stock. In Europe, for instance, roughly 75% of the building stock is energy-inefficient[4]. This means that a large part of the energy consumed is in effect wasted. Renovating existing buildings could reduce the EU’s total energy consumption by 5-6% and lower carbon dioxide emissions by about 5%. Yet, on average, less than 1% of the national building stock is renovated each year. To meet climate and energy objectives, experts state that the current rates of renovation should at least double[5]. To get on track to net-zero carbon building stock by 2050, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that by 2030, direct building CO2 emissions need to fall by 50 percent and indirect building sector emissions by 60 percent. A recent study[6] from Siemens Financial Services estimates the gap between the existing rate of investment in energy-efficient smart buildings and the accelerated rate which experts are saying needs to be reached to achieve sustainability and climate change targets. This gap is where smart finance can step in to enable the investment that should be made but is not yet happening. To bridge the investment gap, building owners and managers are having to look at changing how their buildings operate, their business models and how they are going to finance the required upgrades. Regarding operational technology, commercial and public buildings are going to have to become smarter to cope with these new demands for decarbonization. Smarter buildings allow flexible working – whether from the perspective of hot-desking, agile changes of use, security and safety, greater efficiency and flexibility or adapting to cope with volatile circumstances. While there is wide consensus around the need to make buildings smarter, all countries and sectors need a way of making that conversion financially sustainable. Yet how can this be done in practice? The starting point is to use smart technology to reduce building energy consumption. This produces hard financial savings that – through smart financing arrangements – can be harnessed to significantly subsidize the energy efficiency renovation of existing buildings. In selected cases, the energy savings might even pay for overall conversion. This can be done at an enterprise level, or in small incremental steps, each of which proves its return on investment. Typical building energy efficiency savings are usually at least 20%[7] (often far higher) representing very substantial operating economies. New models for smart financing Smart financing takes a variety of forms, depending on the business processes that need to be enabled. At the technology component level, financing tools are available to help vendors and distributors add value with cash flow capabilities for their buyers. For larger installations or systems, smart financing arrangements can be flexed and tailored to align costs with the rate of benefit gained from the energy-efficient technology. At the most complex level, Smart-Buildings-as-a-Service provides the financing solution, with future expected savings from energy efficiency being harnessed and used to pay for the capital investment and more. Conclusions Renovation projects to decarbonize buildings by transforming them into smart, energy-efficient environments are falling behind governments’ declared climate goals around the world. Many experts have declared that the annual investment rate should scale by three times or more to reach those declared targets. In order to bridge the gap between current investment rates and the required volumes, smart financing methods are being offered by private sector finance. They all seek to make the conversion to decarbonized, energy-efficient, smart buildings affordable for owners. At the least, these financing tools ease cash flow and align costs to the rate of benefits gained. At the best, smart financing makes the transition to decarbonization budget neutral, by harnessing future savings to pay for current investment. [1] Gov.uk, ‘UK enshrines new target in law to slash emissions by 78%’, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-enshrines-new-target-in-law-to-slash-emissions-by-78-by-2035 [2] Gov.uk, ‘The Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution’, 2021 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-ten-point-plan-for-a-green-industrial-revolution/title#point-7-greener-buildings, 2020 [3] GlobalABC, Status Report 2019 [4] European Commission, In focus: Energy efficiency in buildings, 17 Feb 2020 [5] European Commission, In focus: Energy efficiency in buildings, 17 Feb 2020 [6] Siemens Financial Services, Bridging the Investment Gap: Smart Financing for Decarbonization in Buildings, 2021 https://www.siemens.com/financing-decarbonization-manufacturing [7] IPF Research Programme, Costing Energy Efficiency Improvements in Existing Commercial Buildings, Oct 2017
The mental wellbeing of employees is a clear priority for Finning, exclusive dealer of Cat® equipment in the UK and Ireland. To mark this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week (May 9th – 15th) the firm has pledged to double the number of mental health first aiders by the end of 2022. Last year saw the UK construction industry record its fastest rate of growth in seven years. As this surge looks set to continue – the sector is predicted to reach £237 billion by 2024 – a concerning consequence is the impact on the mental health of those working across the industry. Although there is no mandatory requirement for offering this type of support, Finning already has 28 of its staff registered as mental health first aiders. Each has been trained and certified by Mental Health First Aid England and provide confidential face-to-face or by phone support for colleagues suffering with mental health issues. By the end of 2022 Finning is planning to put another 30 employees through the programme to increase support levels for everyone across the company, no matter what their role or where in the UK they are based. Andy Lockett, Contracts Manager, and the company lead on mental health support for employees, explains: “We’ve made sure our mental health first aiders are easily identifiable; we’ve each got a “Talk to me!” email banner, along with a day-glow orange lanyard. We have several contact posters around each branch and have a mental health page on our internal internet site. “Our role is to listen to any concerns or anxieties our colleagues have, and signpost them to the most appropriate support organisation. We’ve also been trained to recognise the signs that someone is going through a mental health issue or struggling, so we can sensitively offer them support and signpost if necessary.” The company currently has 1300 employees working at locations across the UK, including Staffordshire, Chesterfield, Slough, Aberdeen, and Dublin. Andy took on the role of mental health support champion for Finning after going through a personal health scare in 2008. He suffered a bleed on the brain, was subsequently diagnosed with a tumour and signed off work for several months. “As well as being worried sick about my health, I was anxious about my job and my family’s financial situation because of being off work. The support I received from Finning, from my work friends and colleagues, right the way up to the executive team was incredible. They provided reassurance very early on that my position was safe and that the priority was on getting me back to health. “I can’t tell you how relieved this made me feel, and without doubt contributed to my recovery. The tumour is still there, and withregular checks and continued support from Finning, I’m doing OK!” “Having experienced such support first-hand, I wanted to do what I could to ensure anyone else struggling or suffering knew there was a safe and confidential network of support available.” Andy leads a monthly meeting with the mental health first aiders and shares weekly updates in the company’s internal newsletter to ensure they’re front of mind for anyone who needs help. Andy continues; “There’s certainly been an increase in the number of people getting in touch in the last 12 to 18 months and the company allows us the time deal with it which illustrates the importance it has at board level. I’m totally committed to this because of my personal experience and how it helped me, and my family through an incredibly difficult time.” Iain Carpenter, Director of Service Operations at Finning, said: “We work extremely hard to ensure we provide a safe and secure environment for all our employees focused on both physical and phycological wellbeing and are committed to do everything we can to help, when they need it most.” “Increasing the number of mental health first aiders will ensure that all members of the Finning family can access the help and support, or they can call our employee assistance helpline or access on-line support tools provided thanks to our partnership with Mates in Mind charity.” Finning also provides ongoing mental health training, such as Starting the Conversation and Managing the Conversation courses, which began in 2018. These courses aim to break down the negative stigma around talking about mental health and give managers and employees the resources and knowledge to provide real and actionable support to their colleagues.
The property division of national law firm Irwin Mitchell has advised land promoter and developer Jaynic on its a land promotion agreement on 279-acres adjacent to the A11 at Barton Mills, Suffolk, with the land offering significant potential for future commercial development. Located on the ‘Cambridge-Norwich A11 Tech Corridor’, this significant employment opportunity would provide a safe new entrance to Barton Mills via a new roundabout on the A11, and the opportunity to close the staggered A11-Newmarket Road crossroads at Herringswell Road and the A11 access from Newmarket Road at Tuddenham Road, both of which have poor highway safety records. Pedestrian/cycleway connectivity would be improved, and sustainable links created via new and existing routes. Andrew Anderson, Director at Jaynic responsible for the proposal, said: “We hope to achieve a local plan allocation in due course for a significant new business park along this strategic corridor, together with key highway safety improvements, both of which will provide local and district-wide benefits. “The site has not been allocated in the draft local plan but was identified in a recent evidence-based document as a potential opportunity to grow the district’s existing commercial sites,” added Anderson. Jaynic said it looks forward to working with all stakeholders including West Suffolk Council, the local community and businesses to promote the very real economic development and highway benefits that would come from such a development. The scheme would also deliver improvements to the ecological constraint zones within the site, meeting Biological Net Gain requirements and providing wider ecological benefits, with potential to help bring forward other developments in the area with significant ecological constraints. The Irwin Mitchell team was led by property partner Martyn Holland, assisted by senior associate Sarah Swann. Martyn Holland said, “This is a great development opportunity for our client for whom we have been advising for many years on numerous development and promotion deals. We believe this new project will provide significant economic benefits to the local area as well as improved traffic safety and we are excited to have been involved.” Jaynic is an established property company focusing on land promotion and business space development in the south and east of England. At Suffolk Park, Bury St Edmunds, it has developed 1.3m sq ft of warehouse and business space to date and has another 283,000 sq ft under construction. Jaynic is also appointed by Mid-Suffolk Council on its Gateway 14 site at Stowmarket to manage the development of up to 2.36m sq ft of business, logistics and innovation development. The company has a strong track record in the promotion of land through the planning process and, thereafter, the delivery of high quality, sustainable and efficient development.
United Living Group, the provider of infrastructure, housing and property services, is pleased to announce that work is underway on an £8.4 million housing project to create 53 new affordable homes in Walton-on-the-Naze in Essex. Named Wheater’s Meadow, the 100% affordable development is being delivered by United Living New Homes’ subsidiary, Partner Construction, on behalf of leading housing developer, Flagship Homes. It will see a mix of 46 social rent and seven shared ownership homes constructed on the site, on Kirby Road in Walton-on-the-Naze. Built on part of a former caravan park and supported by Homes England funding, all the properties will be available for shared ownership or social rent, ensuring genuine affordability for residents and widening the range of housing options for the local community. The first delivery of new homes is expected in August 2022, and the site is due to be completed in early 2024. At a ground-breaking ceremony to get work underway, Frank Lincoln, Regional Managing Director of Partner Construction, United Living New Homes, said: “We are incredibly pleased to have started building at Wheater’s Meadow, working closely with Flagship Homes to create much-needed new homes that residents will be proud to call home”. Tony Tann, Managing Director with Flagship Homes, added: “We are delighted to have commenced construction on this site in Walton-on-the-Naze with United Living and Partner Construction. It is a beautiful area and these rented and shared ownership homes will be tremendous for the local community. We are thrilled to see this development get underway and couldn’t be happier to work alongside Partner Construction on the development. It will provide a huge housing boost to the area and really shows our shared vision with everyone involved.” Wheater’s Meadow is one of two projects being delivered in close partnership between Partner Construction, United Living New Homes and Flagship Homes. The other, is a £9.7 million scheme that will see the creation of 73 new homes, again, all for shared ownership and affordable rent, in Necton, Norfolk. Partner Construction and United Living New Homes is part of United Living Group. It is currently active on 13 live sites across the country and has plans to deliver circa 500 new homes in the current financial year.
Culture Change in Construction Crucial Calls from Industry Experts at Exclusive Event on First Night of UK Construction Week Leading construction industry intelligence provider, Barbour ABI, brought top industry experts together at an exclusive event after the first day of the UK Construction Week exhibition in London to discuss the need for culture change. Dr David Hancock, Construction Director at Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) highlighted the scale of the issue: “The construction industry has to educate and source locally, teach more trades and skills to improve communities and put the heart back. We have to care what we build and want to do better. That’s the change this industry needs. We measure costs, not benefits, and the concern is that with rising inflation hitting construction projects, that could become worse. Our industry must not revert to the old ways.” Trudi Sully, Impact Director at Construction Innovation Hub said: “I deliberately avoided construction for a long time, because it seemed a scary place to work. The Construction Innovation Hub is all about culture change. Enabling, educating and empowering the industry is what we do. Over the last four years of the hub we have worked with more than 400 construction supply chain companies to support research and innovation. Much of transformation is about partnerships, to mitigate risk, bring about change more quickly and enable better decision-based outcomes. Better manufacturing processes are leading to those processes being adopted in construction too. Advances in other industries are providing construction with a playbook to follow to make improvements.” Rebecca Lovelace, Founder and Chief Dot-Joiner at Building People said: “The built environment is about a world of amazing opportunities, and we need to get out of fragmented silos to realise its potential. We need boarder diversity in construction, not just more women as diversity brings more innovation and helps culture change. We need to enable anyone who is interested to become involved in the built environment. Barbour ABI is one of the sponsors and a major exhibitor at the UK’s largest construction industry event. UKCW is a new exhibition held at London’s ExCel from May 3-5, 2022. It brings together the whole construction supply chain and aims to support the industry’s recovery from COVID.
This article explains how a pneumatic tube transports goods and people from one place to another fast and efficiently Have you ever wondered how pneumatic tube transport works? Why it’s still used in certain parts of the world? Pneumatic tubes were first used back in the 19th century as a way of transporting mail and small packages along narrow underground tubes. Today, they’re used by banks and corporate houses as a secure way of transmitting information or currency over long distances. They can also be found in some locations in hospitals — where they are used to carry lab samples from one building to another. There is even an amusement park that uses pneumatic tubes to transport visitors from one area to another! How does this modern marvel work exactly? Let’s take a closer look! What Is a Pneumatic Tube Transport System? First of all, we need to know what a pneumatic tube transport system is. It’s a type of transportation system that uses pressurized air to move containers from one place to another. You’ve probably seen a pneumatic tube system in action before. It’s the manner of delivery that you’ve likely used to get a receipt from the bank drive-thru window or to send a card or letter to someone across town. Essentially, it’s just a tube through which an item is transported—usually with the use of air pressure. However, modern tube systems do more. They use a T-SEP Assembly system instead of “saddles” or “notching” to separate the object from the tube, reducing the opportunity for crevice corrosion. Let’s learn more about it with this brief explanation of how it works. How Does a Pneumatic Tube Transport Work? In short, the air is pushed through a series of long tubes from one end of an office or building to another with little capsules inside that hold information or documents, or other objects. When the pneumatic transport system begins operating, it sucks the container in by reducing pressure on that side of the container. Once the container has been knocked past its inertia, the decrease in pressure stops and the increase in pressure on the other side propels it forward at speeds up to 70 MPH. That sounds pretty simple, but when we think about how these systems have changed over time, it gets more exciting! History of Pneumatic Tube The concept of transporting objects via air was first envisioned by Leonardo da Vinci in 1502. However, the pneumatic tube system was first introduced in the 19th century for transporting small packages. Although these systems weren’t formally adopted into the industry until the early 1900s, they’ve been integrated into the manufacturing industry ever since their inception. This is due to their unique ability to save time and energy while also increasing efficiency when compared to hand-delivering items from one place to another. Pneumatic Tubes Today Nowadays, pneumatic system applications have become increasingly common in hospitals and factories, along with other industrial settings. If you’ve ever been in a large building like a hospital or skyscraper, there’s a good chance you’ve taken part in the pneumatic tube system (PT) of transport. While it may seem like something out of the technological dark ages, pneumatic tubes are still used today—and they’re still just as awesome. The London Underground uses them to send messages between certain station platforms and ticketing booths; FedEx uses them to send important documents back and forth, and even some hospitals use them to send test results from one floor to another. Pneumatic Tube Transport System in Hospitals Pneumatic transport systems are the basis of several medical procedures, including blood transfusions and endoscopies. They can also be used in surgeries to assist with a wide variety of invasive medical procedures, such as heart surgery, eye surgeries, and brain surgeries. In hospitals, pneumatic transport systems are most used for blood transfusions because it allows for rapid flow and easy delivery of oxygenated blood through the veins in patients’ bodies. Medical tubing is made up of layers that consist of a core tube surrounded by a cover layer designed to protect the core tube from infections. There are some other logistical uses of a pneumatic tube system in a hospital. The pneumatic tube transport system reduces the need for a human-based transport system (patient’s attendants/ward boys) by automating intra-facility logistics and material management. Instead of having to walk each floor of a hospital to deliver information and materials from one area to another, this system allows information and materials to travel from one area to another via pipes that run through each floor. Basically, it connects multiple medical facilities. Problems with Pneumatic Tube System While pneumatic tubes have many benefits in terms of convenience and speed, they are not suitable for all areas within a building—especially small ones where traditional methods may be more effective. Their purpose is just as much about efficiency as it is about security, which means that they can’t be used indoors if there are other options available (in this case—if someone really needs something quickly). That’s why we don’t see much of its use today in buildings and other public facilities. However, the factories and hospitals will continue to use pneumatic tube transport systems until they find a better alternative! Conclusion Pneumatic tube transport has been in existence for hundreds of years. There have been some changes in the way it has been used and has progressed over time, but there are still plenty of examples today that use similar technology. I hope that this blog about how pneumatic tube transport works has provided you with a perspective on how pneumatic tubes can be used to help get things from A to B. Also, hopefully, now you’ll have an idea of what kinds of problems pneumatic tube transport solves and will set you down the road to learning more about them if you are interested.
