7 April 2016 | Herpreet Kaur Grewal NHS Property Services has announced the appointment of the following companies to carry out some of its ‘soft FM’ contracts across England as a part of the second phase of its national procurement exercise to streamline its FM works. The successful bidders for
Student accommodation specialist Unite Group has secured planning permission for a new £70m development in Liverpool. Unite bought the site in central Liverpool, near Lime Street Station, in April 2016. It now has planning consent for a development of 1,085 student bedrooms. It is anticipated that the new development will
The ability of policymakers in Beijing to roil global commodity markets has been underlined by a breathtaking rally in a key steelmaking ingredient that has caught consumers cold, but promises a profit windfall for the struggling mining industry. The price of premium hard coking coal has more than doubled in
National property growth in the United States increased by a moderate 0.6% quarter on quarter but values are barely rising with variations according to location. The home data index from Clear Capital shows that in the Northeast and Midwest regional quarterly growth rates were sluggish at only 0.2% while the
14 May 2016 – by Alexander Peace The UK’s largest housebuilder can no longer find development opportunities in central London that meet its required rate of return. Barratt Developments will now focus on schemes in Zones 3-6, because Zones 1 and 2 cannot satisfy its minimum hurdle rates. Chief
Electric cars could make up a quarter of the world’s automobiles by 2040. How will it affect oil demand? ©FT Graphic / Chris Tosic Rarely a day passes without at least one mention of a product that was not even easy to buy in its current form seven years ago:
Carlton Power was served with a termination notice by National Grid earlier this week after it missed a deadline to secure investment by 2 July. But energy secretary Amber Rudd has given the developer until 16 December to ensure the project has more time to find financial backers. In 2014,
Category: Construction Industry Today | Subscribe to Construction Industry Today Feed Published Wed, Jun 29th 2016 Roofing, walling and flooring from Welsh Slate feature on the redeveloped Cardigan Castle. Posted via Industry Today. Follow us on Twitter @IndustryToday A three-pronged helping hand from Welsh Slate has contributed towards giving a
Iceni Homes and housing developer Lovell start construction work this month on a £6.75m regeneration project for charitable housing association Hundred Houses Society in Cambridge. The programme will regenerate Hundred Houses’s first ever neighbourhood – Eastfield in Chesterton, Cambridge. Hundred Houses is replacing 26 existing homes with 50 new-build properties.
24 June 2016 | Jamie Harris The BIFM is calling for employers to have their say on an FM supervisor apprenticeship, set up as part of the government’s trailblazer initiative. The initiative sees employer groups join in designing apprenticeship schemes. The BIFM and a number of employers have developed a facilities
7 April 2016 | Herpreet Kaur Grewal NHS Property Services has announced the appointment of the following companies to carry out some of its ‘soft FM’ contracts across England as a part of the second phase of its national procurement exercise to streamline its FM works. The successful bidders for soft FM contracts are: Cleaning services – Ideal Cleaning Services Ltd and OCS Ltd Feminine hygiene – PHS Group PLC Grounds and gardens – Burleys Ltd and Mitie Pest control – Mitie Pest Management Services Limited and Vermtech Pest Control Limited Security – Mitie Security Services Limited Window cleaning – Walkers CS Ltd and Cinderella Support Services This will not only save approximately 20 per cent on the £200 million contracts that are currently outsourced, but will ensure consistency in quality of facilities management services across the country and put an end to the historic wide disparity in costs charged to occupiers of the company’s properties. A final phase of awards for ‘specialist services’ will include catering, car parking, waste, asbestos surveys, hot and cold water surveys, and medical gases. These contracts will be awarded in April. The appointment follows a nine-month rationalisation process of facilities management services across the entire NHS Property Services estate. Mitie was appointed to contract last month, which sees the business supplying hard FM services across the NHS property estate. Source link
Student accommodation specialist Unite Group has secured planning permission for a new £70m development in Liverpool. Unite bought the site in central Liverpool, near Lime Street Station, in April 2016. It now has planning consent for a development of 1,085 student bedrooms. It is anticipated that the new development will be completed by September 2019. The total development cost, including the cost of the land, is expected to be approximately £70m, the company said. Unite Students now has a total development pipeline, to be delivered in the next three years, of more than 5,000 beds. This article was published on 17 Oct 2016 (last updated on 17 Oct 2016). Source link
The ability of policymakers in Beijing to roil global commodity markets has been underlined by a breathtaking rally in a key steelmaking ingredient that has caught consumers cold, but promises a profit windfall for the struggling mining industry. The price of premium hard coking coal has more than doubled in the past six weeks to more than $200 a tonne as supplies have dwindled and buyers have scrambled to find cargoes in the spot market. Behind the surge — or ‘met coal mania’ as it has been dubbed by one bank — are production curbs in China where the government is restricting the number of working days at domestic coal mines to 276 a year, down from 330. This policy is mainly aimed at improving the profitability of its bloated and heavily indebted coal industry so it can repay loans to domestic banks. But it has also reduced output and tightened the global coking coal market. Its impact has been magnified by a string of disruptions in Australia, a leading supplier to the seaborne or export market. If the price spike is sustained it could add billions of dollars to the bottom lines of the industry’s biggest producers, which include Anglo American, BHP Billiton, South 32 and Canada’s Teck. Coking coal is an important raw material used in blast furnace steel production. “It’s been a perfect storm on the supply side,” said Christopher LaFemina, analyst at Jefferies. Caught between an oversupplied Chinese market and faltering demand for steel, 2016 was supposed to bring more pain for the coking coal industry. But things have not worked out that way. Instead of adding to last year’s 30 per cent drop, coking coal has staged a dramatic recovery, rising 164 per cent which has made it the best performing commodity of 2016. “In bulk and base commodities if you get Chinese policy right you are a long way towards getting the market right,” said Colin Hamilton, head of commodities research at Macquarie. China sprang its first surprise this year when policymakers, alarmed by slowing economic growth and capital flight, injected a huge amount of cash into the banking system. This boosted construction activity and demand for steelmaking materials such as iron ore and coking coal. The credit surge was followed by the 276-day policy, which first lifted the price of thermal coal, used to generate electricity in power stations. Coking coal did not start its vertiginous ascent until July when heavy rain and flooding reduced supply from Shanxi province. This forced Chinese buyers into the seaborne market, which was then hit by a number of unexpected outages at mines in Australia that further crimped supplies. While about 300m tonnes of seaborne coking coal is produced each year most of it is traded on a contractual basis and priced off the spot market or monthly or quarterly averages. The amount of material readily available to buy — even when the market is not grappling with supply side issues, is very small — less than 10m tonnes according to Mr Hamilton. “We have basically gone from $100 to $200 a tonne on the back of a few deals,” he said of the recent rally. According to Ernie Thrasher, chief executive of US coking coal producer Xcoal, most of the recent buying in the spot market has come from steel mills in Europe and India. “They realised they needed coal but the market had started to run away from them,” he said. “Buyers tend to be much more reactive when the price goes against them.” Industry watchers do not think the price surge can continue for much longer. Knowing that contract prices will rise in the fourth quarter — possibly to $170 a tonne — steel mills will have been buying as much as they can under existing arrangements. Many of these contract have options to buy an extra 10 per cent of agreed volumes, say traders. Tom Price, analyst at Morgan Stanley said that road conditions in Shanxi had started to improve while China’s National Development and Reform Commission has requested a short-term lift in coal supply primarily to cap thermal coal prices. Prices above $200 a tonne will also trigger a supply response, particularly from producers in North America. Mr Thrasher said Xcoal would increase its exports and expected others to follow although they might take a bit longer — between three and six months. This is because many US mines were mothballed in 2015 while others were placed under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. “What you will see at this price level is that anyone who can produce will produce,” he said. However, few people expect prices to fall sharply unless Beijing performs a policy U-turn, something that seems unlikely in the near term. “We expect supply increases to put some downward pressure on the coking coal prices in the very near future,” said Mr LaFemina. “But we do not expect a collapse to the levels of earlier this year as the government clearly wants to avoid financial stress in the domestic coal industry.” Sample the FT’s top stories for a week You select the topic, we deliver the news. Source link
National property growth in the United States increased by a moderate 0.6% quarter on quarter but values are barely rising with variations according to location. The home data index from Clear Capital shows that in the Northeast and Midwest regional quarterly growth rates were sluggish at only 0.2% while the South saw a 0.7% rise. These rates come with little to no change from the previously reported quarterly growth rates, all within 0.1% of the figures from the previous month. The firm believes that the current picture is being led by the West where sales have increased 0.3% from 0.9% to 1.2% in a month and it says that this momentum shift is setting the pattern for another strong summer growth season as the region begins to dominate regional performance once again. The continued dominance of the West is easy to see on the firm’s list of Highest Performing Major Metro Markets, where nine of the current top 15 are in the West. Seattle continues to lead the nation with 2% growth over the last quarter, an increase of 0.2% since the previous index, while quarterly growth in Sacramento increased 0.3% to 1.5% quarter on quarter and the rest of the Western top markets all reported at least 1.2% growth over the last quarter. However, the condition of each individual market in the region is varied. Portland, San Jose, and Denver have all surpassed their previous peak market values from before the crash, with Seattle fast approaching its own benchmark. However, homes in Las Vegas are fetching just over half of peak market values from 10 years ago. The index report also points out that the current distressed property saturation rates in cities like Sacramento and San Diego have improved by 50% or more, illustrating a drastic improvement in the overall health of the market, and yet both markets have quite a way to go to recovering all market value lost during the crash. ‘Real estate market headlines have repeatedly documented the strong, potentially bubble like recovery of the West over the past couple years, and this continued trend of performance doesn’t appear to be going away just yet,’ said Alex Villacorta, vice president for research and analytics at Clear Capital. ‘However, it’s important to remember just how varied the standing of each of these Western metro’s recoveries remains. While the West as a whole has seen incredible performance since the lows of 2011, comparisons between individual markets like Denver and Las Vegas can be a sobering reminder of the devastating effects of the crash and that some markets still have a long way to go in terms of regaining lost value,’ he explained. ‘Conversely, those markets that are reaching new market highs are worth keeping a close eye on since the speed at which those recoveries have occurred is clearly unsustainable in the long term,’ he added. BOOKMARK THIS PAGE (What is this?) Source link
14 May 2016 – by Alexander Peace The UK’s largest housebuilder can no longer find development opportunities in central London that meet its required rate of return. Barratt Developments will now focus on schemes in Zones 3-6, because Zones 1 and 2 cannot satisfy its minimum hurdle rates. Chief executive David Thomas said that Barratt had not been successful on a bid in central London since September 2014, when it bought the Kidderpore Avenue site in Hampstead, NW3. All the content from this weekís magazine, including this article, is available in the new app. “In London we are competing against commercial developers and people investing money into the London markets with different objectives to a housebuilder,” he said. “That is the reality of the market, and in that situation you can do one of two things: drop your hurdle rates, or go elsewhere. “Our focus over the past 12 months has been about Zones 3-6 and we have secured a number of opportunities in outer boroughs.” Thomas blamed the situation on high land values, less demand from overseas buyers and reduced rates of sale caused by an increase in stamp duty. Click here to read the full story Source link
Electric cars could make up a quarter of the world’s automobiles by 2040. How will it affect oil demand? ©FT Graphic / Chris Tosic Rarely a day passes without at least one mention of a product that was not even easy to buy in its current form seven years ago: the electric car. But behind the headlines about new electric models from the world’s largest carmakers, the spread of charging stations and Tesla’s car battery “gigafactory” in Nevada, a more profound question emerges. Could electric cars ever cut the world’s thirst for oil enough to depress crude prices significantly? Even the most ardent environmental campaigner might have hesitated to entertain such a prospect in 2009, when International Energy Agency data showed there were fewer than 6,000 electric cars on the road across 40 countries. But that figure shot up to 1.2m last year, capturing interest well beyond the green movement. “Everybody is paying attention,” says Michael Wojciechowski, a Houston-based oil analyst at the energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie. “This thing has the potential to really start to take off.” One energy expert in Houston who believes electric cars will remain a niche industry for a long time says some oil producers, including Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter, are nonetheless concerned. “I think they are scared to death,” says Vikas Dwivedi, global energy strategist at the Macquarie Group. “Electric vehicles are a massive enemy and I think they are worried to the point that this has been one of the motivations, among others, for the Aramco IPO.” The kingdom revealed this year that it plans an initial public offering to sell up to 5 per cent of Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil producer, as it moves to cut its economy’s reliance on crude. Outwardly, the oil industry is less bothered. Opec, the producers’ cartel, predicted last year that by 2040 only 6 per cent of the world’s passenger cars will be running on non-oil fuels. Just 0.1 per cent of the nearly 1bn passenger cars on the road last year had a plug, according to the IEA. “Without a technology breakthrough, battery electric vehicles are not expected to gain significant market share in the foreseeable future,” Opec said, citing high purchase prices, driving range limitations and poor battery performance in very high or low temperatures. ExxonMobil, the world’s largest listed oil company by market value, also thinks electric cars will only make small strides, accounting for fewer than 10 per cent of new car sales globally by 2040. Sales last year were less than 1 per cent of the 80m passenger cars and light trucks sold worldwide, according to EV Volumes, a Swedish electric car consultancy. Engines of demand The oil industry’s views do not seem outlandish considering the vehicles are so novel there is still some confusion about how they work. There are two main types of electric car: battery-only ones like Tesla’s models and the Nissan Leaf that have an electric motor but no petrol engine, and plug-in hybrids such as the Mitsubishi Outlander that have a petrol engine and a battery that can be recharged, unlike older hybrid models. Annual sales of both have increased faster than expected, from 48,000 in 2011 to 550,000 last year, especially the battery-only cars that have been showered with incentives by governments trying to tackle climate change. Sales of the two types should reach 850,000 this year, says EV-Volumes. The questions are, will the industry keep growing as quickly as it has and, if it does, how long will it take before it starts to make an appreciable dent in oil demand? Passenger cars use 18m barrels a day of oil products, 18.7 per cent of the 96m barrels consumed daily, according to the IEA. Crude prices crashed from $115 a barrel in mid-2014 to less than $30 in the early part of this year, when supply exceeded demand at a rate of about 1m b/d, the IEA says. Some analysts say this shows how vulnerable prices are to a relatively small shift in demand — a change that could become permanent if electric cars can eat into the global car market in big enough numbers. ©Getty A Tesla Model X at the Geneva motor show this year But it is not quite that simple, says IEA chief economist Laszlo Varro, pointing out oil prices are affected by supply as well as demand. So even if electric car sales keep booming, the industry’s effect on crude prices will struggle to match the impact of the natural depletion of existing oilfields, he says. Considering demand alone, it would take 50m-100m electric cars to displace 1m barrels a day of oil, he adds, depending on future driving habits, That is a far cry from today’s fleet of 1.2m plug-in vehicles on the road. Then there is the question of how long the government subsidies that are powering much of the electric car market will last. Last year, electric cars had more than 1 per cent of the market in six countries, led by Norway with 23 per cent. But the vehicles received an average subsidy of $4,000 to $5,000, says Mr Varro, and that is clearly unsustainable. “You can subsidise 10,000 cars but you cannot subsidise 10m,” he says. Disruptive power Still, Mr Varro thinks technical advances and consumer excitement about electric cars point to their potential to be highly disruptive for the oil industry. “Electric cars are roughly where solar power was 10 years ago in terms of their impact on commodity markets,” he says. “Today, solar is a multibillion-dollar business which has a significant impact.” The solar industry’s breakthrough followed dramatic falls in the price of photovoltaic panels and some improvements in their efficiency. One factor holding back electric car sales is the price of the vehicles, which is strongly determined by the batteries that power them. These can account for about one-third of overall costs. Many of the subsidies that bridge part of the pricing gap between conventional and
Carlton Power was served with a termination notice by National Grid earlier this week after it missed a deadline to secure investment by 2 July. But energy secretary Amber Rudd has given the developer until 16 December to ensure the project has more time to find financial backers. In 2014, the plant was given a £30m-a-year subsidy for the next 15 years as part of the government’s first capacity market auction, which was subject to it getting a financial investment decision by 2 July. The developer had already been given an extension until 26 September to find the backers after missing the 2 July deadline. But the government has now extended this to 16 December. Failure to find backers for the scheme will result in an £8.3m fine and the cancellation of its subsidy contract. If the contract is cancelled the company would have to wait to enter the next available capacity market auction in December 2017, which could delay the scheme by years or cause it to be scrapped entirely. Last month, Construction News reported that Carlton Power was in a race against time to secure financial backers for the 1.9 GW plant. At the time, Carlton Power engineering manager Mark Pankhurst said the firm was still trying to “nail down” investors, but was “confident” of securing investment before the 2 July deadline. Carlton Power told Construction News this week that negotiations were still “ongoing” with potential backers. The Trafford plant is a crucial part of the government’s plans to build enough energy plants to power UK homes. If built, the £800m plant would be one of the largest energy developments in the UK and could power more than 2.2m homes. GE, Tecnicas Reunidas and Ferrovial Agroman were selected as the EPC contractors for the project in September 2014. Construction was intended to start on the project last summer, but this was delayed after the developer struggled to find investors. Mr Pankhurst said last month that the firm was still hopeful of the plant producing energy by October 2018. Source link
Category: Construction Industry Today | Subscribe to Construction Industry Today Feed Published Wed, Jun 29th 2016 Roofing, walling and flooring from Welsh Slate feature on the redeveloped Cardigan Castle. Posted via Industry Today. Follow us on Twitter @IndustryToday A three-pronged helping hand from Welsh Slate has contributed towards giving a medieval castle a new lease of life. The manufacturer’s roof slates, walling and floor tiles feature on multiple aspects of the £12.5 million redevelopment of Cardigan Castle which had been in danger of being lost to the nation forever. Penrhyn Heather Blue slates from Welsh Slate’s quarry at Bethesda have been used to re-roof Castle Green House, Ty Castell and The Stables while 200m2 of dark blue grey cleaved walling from the company’s Cwt-y-Bugail quarry clads the interior and exterior walls of “1176” – a new 70-cover contemporary restaurant which cantilevers over the castle walls. Here the coursed walling is complemented by Welsh Slate’s Cwt-y-Bugail Dark Blue Grey floor tiles which are echoed in a total of nine new bathrooms in the East Wing guest accommodation and Green Street Cottages visitor centre. The new Welsh Slate flooring was laid by main contractor Andrew Scott of Port Talbot. The Welsh Slate materials were specified by Purcell architects who worked for 10 years to repair and regenerate the 13th Century site, albeit with a few modern money-making twists.Project architect Izaak Hudson said: “Cardigan Castle is one of the most significant historic building projects recently completed in Wales and all of the project team were very keen to be able to use local materials where we could. “We specified Welsh Slate to match the existing slate on site, with WEFO*1 funding targeted at Welsh materials and contractors, but also because it was historically appropriate and good quality.” “Castle Green House, the main dwelling within the castle walls, has a large-format, wet-laid diminishing course roof. This was expertly re-laid by skilled roofers from Tree and Sons of Milford Haven. The wet laying took some time as due to the weight of the huge Penrhyn slates we had to wait for the lime mortar of lower courses to carbonate before laying more, but it was a key existing feature and Cadw were very keen to reinstate it.” Home to the first recorded Eisteddfod in 1176 (hence the restaurant’s name), the castle was partly dismantled by Cromwell’s forces after the Civil War, then enjoyed a brief renaissance in the early 19th Century as a Romantic site for a new mansion. By the end of the 20th Century the site was derelict and ruinous, its buildings collapsing and roofs open to the weather. Most noticeably, the castle curtain walls were propped up with great raking shores to prevent their collapse onto the town’s main road. This was despite the castle’s designation as a Scheduled Ancient Monument and the six buildings within its walls being listed Grade II or Grade II*. So under public pressure, Ceredigion County Council acquired the site from the elderly owner while a group of local people set up the Cadwgan Trust to help. Purcell architects were commissioned in 2005 to carry out an options appraisal to identify future potential uses which were agreed as heritage interpretation, a restaurant, holiday accommodation, restored gardens and space for open air events. Phase I of its redevelopment was the £1 million repair of the castle’s curtain walls; Phase II was the conservation and upgrading of the six buildings within the castle walls and restoration of the Regency gardens. The conservation works covered all aspects of traditional building skills, ranging from structural carpentry repairs, to slate roofing, leadwork, masonry repairs, external joinery repairs and lime rendering. Purcell carried out careful research, along with trials and testing of materials and finishes, to inform its conservation decisions and ensure the building would be an exemplar for innovative conservation practice. The project brief required new accommodation to house the restaurant and catering facilities and the decision was taken to locate the new building above a section of the castle walls which had collapsed in the 1970s. The position provides views across the Teifi quayside and the river below and inwards across the castle Regency gardens. Purcell’s design cantilevers out above the castle walls, its strong visual presence indicating to visitors there is something special inside. The new restaurant is uncompromisingly contemporary with large glazed elevations taking advantage of the views and giving it a transparency which helps minimise its impact on the site. Where solid, the external and internal walls were constructed of coursed Welsh Slate laid by Coe Stone of Carmarthen, specialist stonemasons concentrating on the conservation and repair of historic buildings and monuments, echoing the Cilgerran slate garden walls that form the backdrop to the site. “It was a very challenging and interesting project and we learned a lot about slate,” said Izaak. *1 The Welsh Government organisation distributing funds from the European Union for economic and social development. ENDS Photo: Phil Boorman Source link
Iceni Homes and housing developer Lovell start construction work this month on a £6.75m regeneration project for charitable housing association Hundred Houses Society in Cambridge. The programme will regenerate Hundred Houses’s first ever neighbourhood – Eastfield in Chesterton, Cambridge. Hundred Houses is replacing 26 existing homes with 50 new-build properties. Partly funded by the Homes & Communities Agency, work is due to be completed in March 2018. Houses in the Eastfield neighbourhood, developed by Hundred Houses Society in 1935, need major upgrades to insulation and energy efficiency. While the original site only included three-bedroom homes with large gardens, the regeneration has a mix of property sizes, all designed to the ‘Lifetime Homes Standard’, which meets the needs of those with mobility issues. Hundred Houses Society chief executive Mary Gibbons said: “We are pleased to be able to regenerate this neighbourhood in a way which reflects the needs of the customers both now and in the future. This is an exciting development which delivers more truly affordable homes for Cambridge.” Iceni Homes interim managing director Phil Murton said: “We are delighted to be starting the work on site for this exciting project that we have been working with Hundred Houses on for the last couple of years. A true example of partnership working, the completed scheme will provide high-quality new homes in a modern setting, and is one of a number of projects we are currently delivering for Hundred Houses in Cambridgeshire.” Lovell regional director Simon Medler added: “This important regeneration project will create much-needed brand-new affordable properties, built to modern standards, with a strong focus on energy efficiency.” This article was published on 7 Oct 2016 (last updated on 7 Oct 2016). Source link
24 June 2016 | Jamie Harris The BIFM is calling for employers to have their say on an FM supervisor apprenticeship, set up as part of the government’s trailblazer initiative. The initiative sees employer groups join in designing apprenticeship schemes. The BIFM and a number of employers have developed a facilities management apprenticeship aimed at FM supervisors. The consultation, which was opened to responses last month, has been extended until 8 July to get as many views from employers in the sector as possible. Fraser Talbot, professional standards and education manager at BIFM, said: “Developing a trailblazer FM supervisors apprenticeship is the only way in which FM companies will be able to take full advantage of the funding from the Apprenticeship Levy when it is introduced next year. “Therefore we have extended the initial consultation deadline to ensure we have developed a framework that is suitable for industry needs. “It is crucial that employers of all sizes contribute to this process to ensure the new frameworks provide the skilled workforce the industry needs.” The new apprenticeship for FM supervisors aims to prepare an individual for managing a facilities management service, or a group of services, which can be labelled as ‘hard’ (estate/building management) or soft (catering/cleaning/administration/security). All apprentices would be required to supervise others, to understand the contractual requirements and service delivery targets between their employing organisation and the client/customer to achieve service targets. The apprentice will have to provide customer service skills and be proactive in finding solutions to problems. To participate in the employers’ consultation, visit: www.bifm.org.uk/TrailblazerFMSconsultation Download the documents here: Source link