A new grade of membership launched by the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) is already giving specialist construction workers a platform to boost their careers whilst increasing professionalism across the sector. Historically, individuals who excel in one certain area – a site supervisor, fire safety officer, rail technician, utility technician
A Yorkshire based commercial interiors specialist, with a strong market presence in the North of England, has been acquired in a management buyout by six members of its senior team. Ultimate (Commercial Interiors) Ltd specialises in fit-out, furniture, design and consultancy, with a particular focus on office spaces and hotels.
Independent Builders Merchant Group (IBMG) has acquired the Colchester and Bury St Edmunds builders merchant operations of Kent Blaxill. The builders merchant operation, that provides a comprehensive range of building products, has been acquired by IBMG from PaintWell, the owners of Kent Blaxill. It will now operate as Kent Blaxill
Workman, the UK’s largest independent commercial property management and building consultancy firm, today announced further investment in its ESG team. The new hires reflect continued growth in demand for Workman’s ESG services and for specialist solutions to support the breadth of clients’ ever-increasing sustainability requirements. To date, the Workman ESG
The Thermal Insulation Contractors Association (TICA) has welcomed the long-awaited publication of BS 5422:2023 which updates the standards for thermal insulating materials for pipes, tanks, vessels, ductwork and equipment operating between -40ºc and +700ºc. It says the revision by the British Standards Institute (BSI) brings much needed clarity regarding the
A new grade of membership launched by the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) is already giving specialist construction workers a platform to boost their careers whilst increasing professionalism across the sector. Historically, individuals who excel in one certain area – a site supervisor, fire safety officer, rail technician, utility technician or site manager for example – have struggled to find a suitable place within a professional body and in turn gain recognition for their talent. CIOB’s brand-new Technical Membership, TechCIOB, aims to empower those specialists to promote their achievements and successes and demonstrate their competence and professionalism while improving their chances of promotion and higher salaries – as well as benefitting from access to unique training programmes and hundreds of exclusive CIOB events. Other technical specialists including CAD designers, building control technicians and BIM modellers would also be suitable for apply for TechCIOB membership with CIOB. As well as people who work in technical construction roles, TechCIOB membership is also available for those working in off-site manufacturing, digital technologies and robotics. Caroline Gumble, Chief Executive of CIOB, said: “I am delighted that our TechCIOB membership is now open for applications, as this is a significant development for us and for the wider industry. “The new TechCIOB grade allows CIOB to extend our support to even more professionals working in this important industry by recognising and awarding post-nominals to technical specialists, who have become experienced professionals and are often thought leaders in their area of expertise, sometimes having spent decades honing their craft. “I am pleased CIOB is now able to offer membership to some of the most talented individuals within the construction industry and welcome them into the CIOB community.” CIOB has been working with its members and stakeholders throughout the industry to develop the new membership grade for technical specialists and launched a pilot programme in early 2023 and sign-ups are already in full flow. Ian Gregory, who oversees the Integrated Track Team at Transport for London, took part in the pilot because he felt TechCIOB membership will help him progress his career. He said: “The TechCIOB grade is a mark of excellence that I can carry with me regardless of where I work and it is a grade that reflects my years’ worth of experience earned outside of degree-level education. “I believe it will demonstrate to any future employers that I have met the required standard as a technical professional within the construction industry.” More applications are being encouraged and you can find out more by visiting CIOB’s website: www.ciob.org/membership/become-a-member Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
A Yorkshire based commercial interiors specialist, with a strong market presence in the North of England, has been acquired in a management buyout by six members of its senior team. Ultimate (Commercial Interiors) Ltd specialises in fit-out, furniture, design and consultancy, with a particular focus on office spaces and hotels. The company is headquartered in Cross Hills near Skipton, where it has a vast 16,000 sq ft workplace experience showroom, known as ‘The Hive’. This unique and vibrant facility, which opened in 2020, is one of the largest resources of its kind in the UK. The MBO team comprises of long-standing co-owner Dan Platt who now takes up the role of CEO, along with Vici Plunkett as finance director, Steve Broadbent as pre-construction director, Steve Cowley as director, Bobby Murriero as contracts director and Paul Alexander as sales and brand director. The team have taken over the running of the company from Mark Hickey and Mark Naisbitt who founded Ultimate in 2002 and who are now stepping down. However, the pair will maintain a minority shareholding in the business. In addition to its Yorkshire headquarters and showroom, Ultimate has offices in Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle, and employs more than 40 people, as well as working with dozens of consultants, specialist contractors and a wide-spanning supply chain. The buyers were advised by Susan Clark and Steven Silver, from the Leeds office of Yorkshire law firm, LCF Law and KM Business Advisory provided accountancy and financial advice. The sellers were advised by Christian Hunt and Nick Thackray from Bevan Brittan and Victoria Court Private Clients. In addition, Claritas Tax provided specialist tax advice to both parties and Paul Dolyniuk, of SME Capital, provided the funding facility. In its latest financial year, Ultimate grew turnover by 15% to more than £23million and plans to grow its pre-construction and delivery teams further this year. In addition, the firm is currently looking to recruit a new estimator and contracts manager. Dan Platt, who joined Ultimate in 2007 as joint owner and director, said: “For the past 21 years Mark and Mark have worked hard to build a resilient and formidable business, which is highly respected in the market by clients, suppliers and competitors alike. During that time, Ultimate has enjoyed steady, progressive growth and has earned vast amounts of trust with clients, which means we enjoy a high volume of repeat business and recommendation and have lots of clients that have been with us since day one. “In recent years we’ve all worked extremely hard to take the business to the next level. Our state-of-the-art showroom is a must visit for any business looking to relocate or refurbish their premises. The Hive’s launch has also coincided with lots of businesses remodelling and investing in their premises following the pandemic. Their desire to create attractive and productive workspaces, where people want to work, is exactly why they come in.” Dan added: “This MBO comes on the back of another record year, we’re currently working on a wide range of exciting projects throughout the UK, ranging from single office units to 20,000 sq ft schemes. All this combines to make it a very exciting time for the Ultimate team, our clients, and our supply chain.” Susan Clark, partner at LCF Law, added: “Ultimate is an ambitious business and a leading player in the commercial interiors market, with a vast portfolio of innovative and impressive projects throughout the UK. “Crucially the previous owners had focussed on creating an experienced and accomplished management team who were ideally placed to take the business over when the time was right. It’s been a pleasure to guide Dan and his fellow directors through this MBO and we look forward to seeing them continuing to build on Ultimate’s name and superb reputation.” SME Capital regional director, Paul Dolyniuk, added: “We are delighted to have supported Dan and the very impressive senior management team at Ultimate with their MBO. This is a long-standing, high-quality business with a loyal customer base underpinning the quality of its service proposition. We’ve spent a good deal of time with the team and are thrilled to be backing the next stage of their growth journey.” Ultimate has a large and impressive customer portfolio that includes lots of well recognised brands. They have completed many projects for clients such as Quorn, Bettys & Taylors Group, BET365, Stoke Football Club, Spa Medica, Savills, PepsiCo, Skipton Building Society, National Trust, Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet, CEG, the NHS and Arup. Ultimate has also delivered thousands of hotel bedrooms, alongside communal and front of house areas, for leading hotel groups such as Holiday Inn, Mercure and Marriot, as well as numerous independent establishments. This year Ultimate was awarded the ‘Platinum Partner’ certificate of excellence from global office furniture giant Steelcase. You can find out more about Ultimate and the team at www.ultimategroup.uk.com Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Independent Builders Merchant Group (IBMG) has acquired the Colchester and Bury St Edmunds builders merchant operations of Kent Blaxill. The builders merchant operation, that provides a comprehensive range of building products, has been acquired by IBMG from PaintWell, the owners of Kent Blaxill. It will now operate as Kent Blaxill Builders Merchants. Trading from two sites – in Suffolk and Essex – the acquisition expands IBMG’s builders merchant network into East Anglia for the first time, and provides a strong platform for further growth in the region. Mark Ward, branch director, will remain with the business and will be working with Allun Pittingale, IBMG’s Group Managing Director South East and IBMG’s leadership team to integrate the two businesses and realise the potential that this partnership brings. Martin Stables CEO, IBMG said “Independent Builders Merchant Group is essentially carving out the builders merchant operations of the PaintWell-owed Kent Blaxill network. The acquisition makes perfect business sense for the builders merchanting side of Kent Blaxill who will benefit from our expertise in supplying the small and medium sized builder, backed by our best in class builders merchanting infrastructure and systems. “For IBMG, the Colchester and Bury St Edmunds branches are highly complementary in terms of product offering and will merge seamlessly into our network of branches. It’s also very exciting to extend our presence in East Anglia with locations in Suffolk and Essex marking virgin geographical territory for the Builders Merchant arm of the Group. “Keith Reville CEO of PaintWell said: “Our shared values, vision and commitment to our builder customers make this an obvious partnership. IBMG is leading the way in customer service and provides endless opportunities for growth and innovation – adding immense value to our offering. As a result, we are confident that our integration will be smooth and that our staff and customers will benefit hugely from being part of IBMG. “ Kent Blaxill’s painting & decorating business will continue to operate under the leadership of PaintWell. IBMG now owns 174 merchant branches throughout the South of England. With this latest acquisition this includes 86 builders merchant branches, that now, for the first time, extend into East Anglia. More than 100,000 trade customers rely on IBMG branches every week. For further information, please contact info@independentbm.com Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Workman, the UK’s largest independent commercial property management and building consultancy firm, today announced further investment in its ESG team. The new hires reflect continued growth in demand for Workman’s ESG services and for specialist solutions to support the breadth of clients’ ever-increasing sustainability requirements. To date, the Workman ESG team has delivered Net Zero Asset Plans for more than 5msq. ft of commercial real estate. Meanwhile, the ESG Project Advisor service is going from strength to strength, with more than 3m sq. ft of developments under action, £230m of which involves the refurbishment of existing assets. Jan-Hendrik Hoehnk, ESG Project Surveyor Bringing his architectural and project management skills, alongside an MSc in Sustainable Urban Development, Jan will help Workman to drive enhanced asset and project performance, specialising in the interface between the E, S and G. Understanding how the myriad of ESG requirements can be simplified into clear deliverable strategies is a key part of helping our clients achieve better-performing assets. Danielle Dinneen, Sustainability Consultant Danielle’s architectural background has enabled a thorough understanding of the role of whole-life carbon assessment within development projects. With her MSc in Green Building, Danielle will be leading on modelling whole-life carbon impacts as well as operational energy modelling, both of which are fundamental as part of decision-making through project delivery. Having Danielle’s expertise in-house will help inform carbon discussions at a much earlier project stage, enabling decision-making beyond just aesthetics and cost, while using modelling as a design tool rather than a simple tick-box exercise. Hedley Jones, Head of ESG, Refurbishment & Development, said: “We are investing in growing our team to ensure we’re able to support our clients to achieve their elevated sustainability goals. As investor requirements have extended beyond just meeting minimum sustainability standards, so the breadth of specialist services and creative solutions required has expanded. I look forward to working with our new team members Jan and Danielle as we deliver the next-generation ESG agenda for our clients.” Vicky Cotton, ESG Director at Workman LLP, said: “With the UK Net Zero Carbon Standard on the near horizon, today’s investors are looking for detailed energy modelling and whole-life carbon assessment, along with effective MEES planning to ensure competitive EPC ratings across their portfolios. The biggest driver is the requirement for evidence and disclosure, which requires us to understand and track energy intensity baselines, and then track performance against targets.” Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
The Thermal Insulation Contractors Association (TICA) has welcomed the long-awaited publication of BS 5422:2023 which updates the standards for thermal insulating materials for pipes, tanks, vessels, ductwork and equipment operating between -40ºc and +700ºc. It says the revision by the British Standards Institute (BSI) brings much needed clarity regarding the minimum reaction to fire standards for pipe and duct insulation following the adoption of Euroclass standards and a departure from ‘Class O’ declarations. BS 5422:2023 also includes tables of minimum insulation thickness for pipe and duct insulation applications including refrigeration, air conditioning, heating and domestic hot and cold applications. A large number of tables covering enhanced insulation thickness and district heating thicknesses have also been added to the standard. Chris Ridge, TICA’s Technical Policy Manager, said: “The updated standards provide more clarity, and the additional tables will provide greater optionality for the specifier. “While the number of tables has increased, there has been an attempt to simplify the reading of the tables. For example, higher thermal conductivity values for materials no longer supplied or rarely used, have been removed. “Reaction to Fire is now defined within this publication in terms of Euroclass, which gives a more comprehensive and clear definition of the behaviour of materials exposed to fire. It also states a minimum performance of Euroclass C-s3, d2 in dwelling applications and B-s3, d2 in non-dwelling applications, and this will hopefully serve to reinforce good practice.” However, he has called for a rethink on the sheer number of low temperature heating and domestic hot water tables included in the new standard – with ten separate tables for low temperature heating services alone. He added: “This could well prove a challenge for those interpretating specifications. We should also consider that whilst the ‘base standard’ tables for heating and hot water services are still included in the new version of the standard, they no longer represent best practice from a thermal insulation specification point of view.” The new standard is available to purchase from BSI, the UK’s national standards body and is also available to TICA contracting members via its standards portal. TICA will be announcing a webinar focusing on the key changes in BS 5422: 2023 via its website and social media in the coming days. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
