CITB is piloting changes across a series of plant training standards and grants, implemented from 31 July to help standardise plant training and testing requirements across the construction industry. The first set of new standards have been developed in collaboration with industry working groups, made up of employers, providers, and
Canmoor has appointed Muir Construction as the main contractor to deliver the £25m brand new speculative development at Westway, next to Glasgow Airport. Works have now commenced on the 13-acre site, which will consist of two high-quality industrial/ warehouse units of 86,630 sq ft and 202,230 sq ft, to be
EXTENDING its delivery of pan public sector services, leading multi-disciplinary consultancy Pick Everard has been appointed to NHS Shared Business Services new £1.6bn framework agreement. Operating across a four-year term, the move will see the firm deliver each of its core services and more across ten lots of the NHS
An opening ceremony has been held for Belfast Grand Central Station’s new Busway bridge, which was constructed by civil engineering specialist GRAHAM. Designed by ARUP and fabricated by Thompson’s Project Management, the 51-metre weathered steel bridge will enable buses from Broadway Roundabout to access new facilities at Belfast Grand Central
The latest data release from Searchland, the development site sourcing specialists, has revealed that brownfield sites across England could house almost 1.5m homes, with Greater London, the West Midlands and Greater Manchester home to the largest proportion of brownfield land in the current market. Searchland maintains a comprehensive record of
The latest analysis by specialist property lending experts, Octane Capital, estimates that total mortgage repayments are set to fall in 2023. However, a jump in the level of regular and lump sum payments made is also expected, as increasing interest rates and the highest cost of borrowing push homeowners to
CITB is piloting changes across a series of plant training standards and grants, implemented from 31 July to help standardise plant training and testing requirements across the construction industry. The first set of new standards have been developed in collaboration with industry working groups, made up of employers, providers, and federations. These new standards represent a real change in the way that plant training and testing is delivered, streamlining the system, and making grants more accessible. With plant operators in high demand, these changes will have a wide-reaching impact. They will ensure employers see a return on their investment by producing competent, work-ready plant operators, who have received training from experts, including learning on new technologies and the eco operation of plant. The first phase of the changes will see new standards introduced for the following: Alongside the new standards, the grant rates for plant training and tests will also be changed and improved. Currently, three smaller grants are available for practical test, theory test and short course training, which employers can apply in different ways. Under the new changes a single grant will be available for all CITB registered employers. A transition period is in place for two months, allowing employers to still receive grant for either the old or new standards while the process is embedded. After September, grants will only be available against the new requirements for the training and testing of the eight categories under review. To ensure grant eligibility, they will have to: Going forward, employers will need to provide their CITB registration number to an ATO, who will apply for the grant on their behalf. Any other plant training that is separate from the new standards will remain eligible for grant and employers can apply for this in the same way they currently do. A separate, higher “novice” grant rate will be available for employers who are putting staff through plant training, who have never had experience in the type of machinery they are being trained in. This is to help respond specifically to the industry’s need for more people to become highly skilled and competent plant operators. Peter Brown, PSRO Secretariat, said: “The Plant Sector Representative Organisation (PSRO) – consisting of seven major construction plant-user federations – was set up by employers and their representative bodies to drive consistency for operational standards and certification through card schemes. Through its competency framework, the PSRO recognises the importance of the introduction of these CITB training standards and their role in ensuring high-quality and consistency of learning, coupled with robust quality assurance processes, that is required for the skills and knowledge for the safe operation of plant. “The PSRO is pleased to have been given the opportunity to provide CITB with overarching delivery advice and guidance through its Technical Review Group and supports the use of the standards within the construction sector.” Tim Brownbridge, Academy Manager at BAM Nuttall Ltd., said: “Since early in 2022 I have been involved in a voluntary industry group developing the CITB Plant Training Standards. The various plant and activity categories have been reviewed and developed by specialists with both experience and expertise relevant to the training required. The groups have been representative of all stakeholders in the use of plant from employers to trainers, owners, and operators, and I believe the end result will be of great value to industry providing a current, balanced and robust standard for training. “I am confident our ongoing investment by industry stakeholders will be well received and the standards will define the required training and assessment requirements for many years to come.” Christopher Simpson, Head of Quality and Standards at CITB, said: “I’m delighted we have introduced these new standards, which will improve plant operations throughout England, Scotland, and Wales. These changes will help standardise and improve the quality and consistency of plant training; increase the amount of plant training that takes place before testing; and increase the number of people trained in plant operations, particularly new entrants to construction. “I’d like to thank everyone involved in the changes made, who are helping to make a real difference in this area. By responding to the changing needs of the sector, we continue to focus on our priority of supporting the construction industry to have a skilled, competent, and inclusive workforce now and in the future.”For further information, visit CITB’s Grants and Funding page. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Canmoor has appointed Muir Construction as the main contractor to deliver the £25m brand new speculative development at Westway, next to Glasgow Airport. Works have now commenced on the 13-acre site, which will consist of two high-quality industrial/ warehouse units of 86,630 sq ft and 202,230 sq ft, to be known as “Westway 90” and “Westway 200” respectively. The larger unit will be capable of being split into two units of 91,110 sq ft and 118,140 sq ft. The construction process will take between twelve and fifteen months, with completion of Westway 90 scheduled in Q3 of 2024 and in Q4 for Westway 200. Gregor King, Canmoor’s Asset Manager at Westway said: “We are pleased to see Muir Construction start works here at Westway. We look forward to bringing this “best in class” sustainable development opportunity to the market over the next year or so. We anticipate strong demand for the space due to the quality of the buildings being developed and the continued strength of the industrial and logistics market in the west coast of Scotland.” Alan Muir, Managing Director of Muir Construction added: “We are delighted to be able to start construction on site at Westway. We have extensive experience of industrial developments and look forward to delivering a high quality end product, to meet market demand.” The units will be of steel portal frame construction, with eaves heights of 12.5m. Each will feature ample dock leveller loading bays and also provide high quality offices. There will be dedicated car parking, generous HGV parking and extensive yards space, up to 50 metres deep. Each unit is designed as all electric, targeting BREEAM “Excellent” and EPC ratings of “A”. Further green credentials include electric car charging points, provision for PV panels and air source heat pumps. This all combines well with further ESG initiatives across the entire estate. The development will provide quick and direct access from Westway to Junction 28 of the M8, via the recently opened Barnwell Street Bridge, as well as to Glasgow Airport and the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District Scotland (AMIDS). It will be adjacent to the recently opened Filshill distribution centre and has the potential to attract further new businesses and bring employment opportunities to the area. Andrew McCracken, Director of JLL said: “The industrial and logistics sector in Scotland continues to perform well, with demand from a range of occupiers. This development at Westway offers opportunities for occupiers to acquire brand new, high specification units with good yard provision, strong environmental credentials and great connectivity to Glasgow Airport and the M8 motorway.” Canmoor’s joint leasing agents are JLL and Colliers, with management by Knight Frank. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
EXTENDING its delivery of pan public sector services, leading multi-disciplinary consultancy Pick Everard has been appointed to NHS Shared Business Services new £1.6bn framework agreement. Operating across a four-year term, the move will see the firm deliver each of its core services and more across ten lots of the NHS Shared Business Services (NHS SBS) Healthcare Planning, Construction Consultancy & Ancillary Services Framework Agreement, spanning architectural and project management services to net zero environmental consultancy. Open to local authorities, emergency services, higher education, NHS and the wider public sector, the new agreement builds on the previous NHS SBS Framework Agreement and a nine-year working relationship Pick Everard has held with the organisation on the NHS SBS framework agreement. Alex Hamilton-Jordan, associate director at Pick Everard, said: “This agreement provides an efficient route to market to procure our services, and offers flexibility for organisations to adapt to meet their requirements. “Collaboratively, we aim to deliver better, together. Nothing can be achieved in isolation, and key to our continued success on this framework will be to engage and work with a full range of partners throughout the supply chain, including local SMEs that can offer valued, local insight. “We’re excited and open to the opportunities this will bring to appoint our professional services, engaging public bodies through the framework agreement.” Pick Everard has successfully delivered a wide range of projects through the existing NHS SBS framework agreement, including the relocation of congenital heart services for the Leicester Children’s Hospital in 2021 – which had been threatened with closure until campaigning efforts ensured the centre received part of a £450m pot of government funding. The firm also designed and managed a £250m+ schools expansion programme for the London Borough of Hounslow, which delivered more than 1,000 new school places. Alastair Hamilton, partner at Pick Everard, said: “Our strength as a business is being able to create a positive impact for local communities, that scale regionally and nationally. We’ve made huge strides in growing our operation over the past five years, and part of this owes to our framework appointments, which have a real focus on quality, a broad range of service delivery and technical excellence. “We’re hugely proud to be able to continue our journey with NHS SBS and the success the framework agreement delivers – ensuring the best possible outcomes for clients and end-users.” Melissa King, senior category manager – construction and infrastructure at NHS SBS, said: “We’re excited to launch our Healthcare Planning, Construction Consultancy and Ancillary Services framework agreement, which replaces our successful Construction Consultancy Services 2 framework agreement. “It is designed to support the NHS and wider public sector by providing high-quality, innovative and cost-effective solutions through UK-wide coverage, a unique depth of expertise and a broad range of suppliers.” For more information on Pick Everard and its services, visit: https://www.pickeverard.co.uk/ Further details on NHS SBS can be found at: https://www.sbs.nhs.uk/ Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
An opening ceremony has been held for Belfast Grand Central Station’s new Busway bridge, which was constructed by civil engineering specialist GRAHAM. Designed by ARUP and fabricated by Thompson’s Project Management, the 51-metre weathered steel bridge will enable buses from Broadway Roundabout to access new facilities at Belfast Grand Central Station by passing over the new rail tracks. Team members from GRAHAM (which was awarded the contract in 2022), ARUP, and Translink crossed the new bridge on a bus as part of the opening ceremony, celebrating the completion of this key stage in the multi-million-pound Belfast Transport Hub regeneration project. The 1500-tonne bridge will enable GRAHAM’s client, Translink, to deliver the next phase of its transformative project, creating a modern, high-quality integrated transport hub in central Belfast (and at the heart of a new city neighbourhood, ‘Weavers Cross’). Once complete, the hub will dramatically improve local and international connectivity, enhancing bus, coach, and rail links across Northern Ireland and beyond. As well as social and economic benefits, it is expected to have a positive environmental impact, reducing air pollution and congestion by encouraging more people to use public transport in the region. Commenting on the completion of the Belfast Transport Hub Busway Bridge & Ramps Project, Andrew Henry, GRAHAM’s Contracts Director, said: “We’re pleased to have completed this package of works, safely and efficiently delivering a sustainable new bridge which provides a gateway to the new station and will facilitate the construction of the wider transport hub. “Like the other projects we have collaborated on with our valued client, Translink, the hub will have significant social, environmental, and economic benefits for the communities it serves. Our team is proud to have played a part in shaping transport in the region, and to have been among the first passengers to cross the bridge.” Philip Brown, Head of Major Projects, Translink, says around 400 bus services will travel across it on a daily basis when the new hub opens: “This busway bridge is an integral part of the bus infrastructure planned for the world class Belfast Grand Central Station. Its development has been visible to anyone arriving into Belfast Great Victoria Street Station by train or using the Westlink over the past number of months and we are delighted to officially mark its opening and the return of this bus passenger priority lane through the site. “From today, passengers will see around ten-minute reductions on journey times when travelling on services that use this direct bus lane and busway bridge to and from Europa Buscentre. We’d like to thank them for their patience and flexibility while we worked to complete this part of the construction programme. “Its completion also enables wider station construction works to progress efficiently. I would also like to thank and congratulate the entire project and operations teams for their hard work to deliver this milestone and also acknowledge the Department for Infrastructure for their essential funding to deliver this project,” said Philip. Crossing the newly realigned railway lines, the bridge comprises two 150-tonne steel girders, which were transported to site and lifted into place in October 2022. It is the first bridge on Northern Ireland’s transport network to be fabricated from weathering steel, a corrosion-resistant material that does not need to be painted. As a result, the sustainable structure has a 120-year design life, while requiring nominal maintenance. Social value was also a priority for the GRAHAM team, and over 300 weeks of apprenticeships were supported during the project alongside local suppliers and businesses. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
The latest data release from Searchland, the development site sourcing specialists, has revealed that brownfield sites across England could house almost 1.5m homes, with Greater London, the West Midlands and Greater Manchester home to the largest proportion of brownfield land in the current market. Searchland maintains a comprehensive record of available land sites across England which shows that currently, there are an estimated 26,670 brownfield plots located across the nation. According to the CPRE, the average brownfield site can hold an estimated 53.6 housing units, meaning that the nation’s current brownfield land is enough to facilitate the construction of 1.43m new homes. Brownfield building isn’t without its complications and can often require a substantial budget to remediate a site before work can even begin, if for example, the land is contaminated. But rather than build on the green belt, the Government recently announced it would be bowing to pressure from NIMBYs and turning its focus to the redevelopment of commercial brownfield sites into residential homes. When it comes to the greatest degree of all available brownfield land, London ranks top. The capital’s 4,392 brownfield sites account for 16.5% of the national total which, if completely redeveloped, could deliver over 235,000 new housing units to the London market. The West Midlands sits in second with 2,522 brownfield sites accounting for 9.5% of the national total with the potential to deliver more than 135,000 new homes. With 1,971 sites in Greater Manchester, brownfield building could also bring over 100,000 new homes to market (105,646). Other counties boasting some of the largest levels of brownfield include South Yorkshire (4%), West Yorkshire (3.8%), Surrey (3.6%), Essex (3.4%), Dorset (2.9%) and Hampshire (2.8%). The City of London (0.01%), Rutland (0.02%) and the Isle of Wight (0.3%) are home to the smallest proportion of brownfield sites in England. Co-founder and CEO of Searchland, Mitchell Fasanya, commented: “Despite the Government’s best efforts to encourage brownfield building in recent years, it remains a complicated and expensive process and one that is unlikely to address the housing crisis in a meaningful manner. However, rather than tackle the controversial subject of green belt development head on, the Government has decided to take the easy way out and pursue a half baked plan on converting previously developed land that is no longer being used, such as abandoned or underutilised industrial areas and obsolete commercial units. Unfortunately, as our figures show, brownfield development could benefit many major cities, but its availability is also far too lopsided towards certain counties to help address the issue of housing supply on a national scale.” Data tables Data tables and sources can be viewed online, here. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
The latest analysis by specialist property lending experts, Octane Capital, estimates that total mortgage repayments are set to fall in 2023. However, a jump in the level of regular and lump sum payments made is also expected, as increasing interest rates and the highest cost of borrowing push homeowners to utilise spare cash and overpay on their instalments in order bring down their mortgage. Octane Capital analysed historic mortgage repayment data from the BSA looking at the breakdown of mortgage repayments made and how the market is expected to perform come the end of the year. The research shows that the total sum repaid on a monthly basis across the mortgage space hit £254.4bn last year, a 7% increase versus the previous year and yet further positive movement on the 19% increase during the pandemic boom period of 2020 and 2021. However, so far this year (Jan to Jun – latest available), total mortgage repayments have fallen at an average rate of -1.2% per month, currently sitting at £18.9bn in June versus £21.4bn at the start of the year. Based on current market performance, Octane Capital estimates that come the end of the year, the total sum of mortgage repayments made in 2023 could sit some 12.1% below that of 2022, totalling £223.7bn. This decline is expected to be driven by an estimated 21.3% annual drop in repayments on redemption, or those who are making a final payment on their mortgage. However, Octane Capital also estimates that there will be a jump in both ‘other lump sum’ payments, as well as ‘regular’ repayments. The analysis shows that regular remortgage repayments are expected to climb 5.4% come the end of the year to hit £60.7bn in 2023. At the same time, other lump payments, extra payments made to reduce both a mortgage balance and the interest owed, are forecast to increase by a notable 13.6% – totalling £26.4bn. These spikes are expected as a result of higher interest rates which have pushed up the cost of borrowing in recent years, causing borrowers to dig deeper and use their disposable income to increase their mortgage repayments in order to bring down their mortgage. CEO of Octane Capital, Jonathan Samuels, commented: “Although overall mortgage repayments may be forecast to fall this year, this top line reduction certainly masks the changing face of the sector following fourteen consecutive interest rate hikes. While repayments on redemption are expected to fall, regular repayments are expected to climb, highlighting the higher monthly cost facing many homeowners when it comes to repaying their mortgage. We also expect that there will be a far more noticeable spike in lump sum repayments, as those who have the ability to, look to reduce their outstanding mortgage as swiftly as possible while rates remain high.” Data tables Data tables and sources can be viewed online, here. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
