12 September 2016 | Herpreet Kaur Grewal Support services company Engie has been awarded a five-year total facilities management contract by European defence and space enterprise Airbus Defence and Space.   The contract covers sites in Stevenage, Portsmouth and Newport in the UK. This latest award builds on an existing strategic relationship between Engie and Airbus Group at a European level.   Services to be delivered include mechanical and electrical maintenance, cleaning, catering, lift and grounds maintenance, pest control, mail room, reception and security.   110 employees from the three incumbent providers have transferred to Engie.   Nicola Lovett, Engie’s UK divisional CEO for services, said: “Our team will work closely together with Airbus to develop long-term strategic plans for each site, improving the performance and efficiency of their building portfolio while adding value to their operations.”   Engie, formerly Cofely GDF Suez, also has a number of contracts with Airbus Group in France, through its Engie Cofely and Engie Ineo businesses – providing management and technical maintenance services, electrical installation, energy efficiency services and wider facility management. Source link

©Bloomberg Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin Rosneft is to sell stakes in two major assets to Indian companies in deals that could raise as much as $4bn for the Russian state-controlled oil group, which is struggling under a hefty debt burden and western sanctions. The deals, announced on Wednesday after a visit to New Delhi by Igor Sechin, Rosneft’s chief executive, are the latest sign that the Russian company is willing to sell equity in some of its most prized resources to foreign investors in order to raise money to finance their development. More On this topic IN Oil & Gas Rosneft said on Wednesday it had signed a binding agreement to sell a 29.9 per cent interest in its Taas-Yuriakh subsidiary, which operates one of the largest oil and gasfields in eastern Siberia, to a consortium of three Indian companies: Oil India, Indian Oil and Bharat Petroresources. Separately, Rosneft signed agreements envisaging the possible sale of a 23.9 per cent interest in Vankor, one of its largest oilfields and also in eastern Siberia, to the same group of Indian companies, as well as a possible increase in the stake held by India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation from 15 to 26 per cent. One person close to the Russian company confirmed the valuation of Rosneft’s subsidiaries under the deals outlined on Wednesday would be in line with stake sales agreed last year. In 2015, Rosneft completed a deal to sell 20 per cent of Taas-Yuriakh to BP for about $750m. It also agreed to sell 15 per cent of Vankor to ONGC for about $1.3bn. That implies that latest sale involving Taas-Yuriakh is worth $1.1bn, and that Rosneft could raise an additional $2.9bn if the agreements to sell further stakes in Vankor are completed. Mr Sechin said the sale of equity in Taas-Yuriakh to foreign companies would “allow a significant acceleration of the upstream projects’ implementation” by increasing the “financial potential” of the subsidiary. He added that the Vankor deal marked “the turning of a new leaf in the co-operation between Russia and India in the energy sector”. Vankor is one of the jewels in Rosneft’s crown: it is the company’s third-largest producing subsidiary and its largest oil and gasfield developed in the past 25 years. Analysts at VTB Capital said the deals with India was a positive step for Rosneft. “Attracting a new partner to the company’s upstream projects would ease Rosneft’s financial issues,” he added. The deals with India come after Rosneft last September signed preliminary agreements to sell equity in several projects to Chinese companies. Deals with China have been slower to materialise compared with other countries: the Russian company has held talks with Chinese investors to sell stakes in both Taas-Yuriakh and Vankor in the past, but no agreements were concluded. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2016. You may share using our article tools. Please don’t cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web. Source link

12 August 2016 | Herpreet Kaur Grewal newsdesk@fm-world.co.uk Last month the House of Commons Pubklic Accounts Committee published a report concluding that the Ministry of Defence and its contractor were “badly letting down service families” by providing them with poor accommodation. Herpreet Kaur Grewal reports on the evidence, and speaks to those involved. Last month the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) published a report concluding that the Ministry of Defence and its contractor were “badly letting down service families” by providing them with poor accommodation and often leaving them without basic requirements. The private sector provider with responsibility for maintaining some 50,000 Service Family Accommodation, through the National Housing Prime contract, and for administering the charging system for that accommodation is CarillionAmey. The committee described the firm’s performance as “unacceptable” and agreed that it was right for the MoD to be considering terminating the contract. In some cases, warns the committee, frustration with the failure to carry out repairs “may be driving some highly trained personnel to leave the military, wasting the investment made in them”. Among its recommendations to the government, the committee says the MoD must explain what it will do to improve the way it consults with families “when setting policies and agreeing contracts that will impact upon their lives”. It should also ensure that CarillionAmey or any other contractor “meets or exceeds” its estate maintenance obligations for the life of the contract. Steps must be taken to ensure that contractors are capable of delivering the agreed service at the agreed price, and that an effective penalty/incentive regime should be put in place. It was also recommended that the MoD write to the committee when a decision is made whether or not to continue the deal with CarillionAmey, setting out the evidence on performance supporting this decision.  Soundbites Daniel Easthope, managing director of CarillionAmey, said: “Our housing service is now performing well against key contract indicators following the delivery of an aggressive improvement plan, and we are sustaining that performance. We are also working closely with the Defence Infrastructure Organisation to improve service families’ experience by delivering improvements to the housing stock and through engaging with service families and the family federations to discuss how we can further support their needs.” Bill Mahon, director, RAF Families Federation “The new contract offered excellent customer service. That hasn’t really materialised. For those who have been involved – not everybody needs their house maintained all the time – there is a sense of frustration and anger about the way that some of them have been treated. Some of them have been treated appallingly.” Complaints log Low rank Written evidence from service families highlight the nature and variety of concerns they had about their accommodation: 1 Poor cleanliness when moving in:  A service family described how they had returned from overseas to their allocated house to find that the property was dirty and had been poorly maintained and that the contractor was reluctant and slow to respond to complaints. 2 Poor customer service: The wife of a serviceman complained that despite hours of phone calls, technicians had not solved her housing problems and her family was living in damp and mouldy accommodation. 3 Families left without basic facilities: A service family was left without hot water and heating for several weeks, despite having a seven-week-old baby and a four-year-old. The contractor was slow to repair the boiler, and failed to co-ordinate plumbers and roofers to install the new one. 4 Prolonged disruption to family life: A serviceman told the PAC that a lack of routine maintenance to his family’s home resulted in “significant structural damage that took over a year to repair”, during which time the family did not have adequate facilities to live in and time allowed to conduct a repair was “generally inadequate, and long-winded and inefficient”. 5 Concerns about how properties have been assessed for rent: A service family told the Public Accounts Committee that they received what they considered “an inconsistent banding in comparison to their neighbours and found out through a Freedom of Information request that the Combined Accommodation Assessment System survey was never conducted on their house”, so they were paying more rent for their house, which was in worse condition than others nearby. Source link

Love your radiator, urges the Manufacturers’ Association of Radiators and Convectors Published:  29 September, 2016 Love Your Radiator is the new campaign launched by the Manufacturers’ Association of Radiators and Convectors (MARC). The campaign asks consumers to take a radiator selfie and share their picture on Twitter using the #LoveYourRadiator. The campaign runs ahead of National Radiator Day which takes place each year on 1 November. Isaac Occhipinti of MARC, said: “Radiator design has come a long way; they are now available in practically every colour and in an amazing array of designs and sizes. There are over 190 million radiators fitted in UK homes and as the nation’s favourite type of heat emitter, it isn’t surprising that the aesthetics have undergone a dramatic change.” The 1970’s witnessed the introduction of central heating systems with cast iron and steel radiators becoming common place in UK homes, the radiators of the 1980’s were merely a functional product that had a job to do. The 1990’s saw a boom in TV shows like Changing Rooms that encouraged us to update our homes and the humble radiator was more often than not regulated behind a radiator cover, usually made of MDF. During the 2000’s the radiator has moved from being a simple heat emitter, to an integral part of the overall room design. It is no longer necessary to fit your furniture around your radiator the radiator can now be installed to suit the room, horizontal, vertical or even curved. Over the last few years this has led to an explosion in style and colours. To celebrate this radiator revolution, MARC is trying to get people to think about the radiators in their homes and asking them to post a radiator selfie on Twitter using the hashtag #LoveYourRadiator. Source link

Browser does not support script. Contact us The Royal Institute of British Architects has announced that 68 buildings in the Capital have been shortlisted for the 2016 RIBA London Awards. All shortlisted buildings will now be visited and carefully assessed by one of four regional juries. The winners of this year’s RIBA London Awards will then be announced at a special awards ceremony on Tuesday, 3rd May 2016. The ceremony takes place at the Stirling Prize nominated University of Greenwich, Stockwell Street Building. London Regional winners will then be considered for a highly-coveted RIBA National Award in recognition of their architectural excellence, the results of which will be announced in June. The shortlist for the RIBA Stirling Prize for the UK’s best building of the year will be drawn from the RIBA National Award-winning buildings later in the year. This year’s shortlisted buildings include:   Building Name Architect 240 Blackfriars Road Allford Hall Monaghan Morris ARK All Saints Academy and Highshore School Allford Hall Monaghan Morris Camley Street Allford Hall Monaghan Morris The Royal Hospital Chelsea, Long Wards Peregrine Bryant Architecture and Building   Conservation 8 St James’s Square Eric Parry Architects The London Oratory School Refurbishment IID Architects Brentford Lock West Riches   Hawley Mikhail Architects Sir John Soane’s Museum Julian Harrap Architects LLP Carnaby Court Rolfe Judd Regent High School Walters & Cohen Architects Courtyard Housing Patel Taylor Wilton’s Music Hall Tim Ronalds Architects Mount Pleasant Hostel Peter Barber Architects Royal Road Panter Hudspith Architects Housing at Shepherdess Walk Jaccaud Zein Architects Kingston Ancient Market Place and Stalls Tonkin Liu Turnmill Piercy&Company Graveney School Sixth Form Block Urban Projects Bureau 2 St James’s Street MJP Architects Newport Street Gallery Caruso St John Architects Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and   Behaviour at UCL Ian Ritchie Architects Limited The Tailored House Liddicoat & Goldhill LLP Ravens Enclosure, HM Tower of London Llowarch Llowarch Architects Forest Mews Robert & Jessica Barker Y-Cube Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners King’s Cross Tunnel Allies and Morrison Thornsett Road Allies and Morrison Vaudeville Court Levitt Bernstein Merchant Square Footbridge Knight Architects Waddesdon Bequest Gallery Stanton Williams Gasholder Park Bell Phillips Architects Alphabeta Studio RHE Ltd Institution of Structural Engineers Headquarters Hugh Broughton Architects Trafalgar Place – Elephant and Castle dRMM Architects Greenwich Gateway Pavilions Marks Barfield Architects RCA Battersea Haworth Tompkins Morelands Rooftop Allford Hall Monaghan Morris The Green AOC Architecture Ltd Richmond Adult Community College Duggan Morris Architects Tin House Henning Stummel Architects Pegasus Court, Grahame Park Peter Barber Architects Greenwich Housing Bell Phillips Architects Ely Court, South Kilburn Alison Brooks Architects Ltd Covert House DSDHA Lyndhurst Primary School Cottrell and Vermeulen Architecture Corner House DSDHA Gagosian Gallery, Mayfair Caruso St   John & Tate Hindle Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute Allies and Morrison Godson Street Edgley Design 142 Bermondsey Street Hampson Williams Ltd 19-22 Rodmarton Street Bennetts Associates The Plimsoll Building David Morley Architects Curzon Bloomsbury Takero Shimazaki Architects Camberwell Library John McAslan + Partners Studio McLeod Studio McLeod Harris House Niall McLaughlin Architects 61 Oxford Street Allford Hall Monaghan Morris Cobalt Place Allford Hall Monaghan Morris Prowse Court and Lord Graham Mews HawkinsBrown Wistaston Cottage Simon Gill Architects House of Trace Tsuruta Architects Copper Lane Henley Halebrown Rorrison King’s College Road Thomson Lavers Architects Garden House Hayhurst and Co. The Bath House Children’s Community Centre Lipton Plant Architects Modern Mews Coffey Architects Modern Side Extension Coffey Architects U and I Headquarters Coffey Architects  ENDS Notes to editors: For press enquires, including access to high res press

Coal generation in the UK reached a record low in the first quarter of 2016, falling by around 50 per cent on the same period last year, official figures have shown. Coal-fired plants generated 14.6TWh of electricity in the first three months of this year compared to 29.5TWh in the first quarter of 2015. Coal’s share of overall generation fell from 30.8 per cent to 15.8 per cent. The Department of Energy and Climate Change attributed the “record low” to plant closures and a “market preference” for gas. A number of coal-fired plants have closed or exited the main energy market this year – Longannet, Ferrybridge, Eggborough and Rugeley. Fiddler’s Ferry was granted a last minute reprieve after being awarded a black start contract by National Grid. Gas generation saw a 48 per cent year-on-year increase, rising from 23.7TWh to 35.0TWh. Its share of the generation mix also rose significantly from 24.7 per cent to 37.8 per cent. After a prolonged decline gas prices levelled out at around ten-year lows in the first quarter of this year, according to price reporting firm ICIS. The closure of Wylfa in Wales at the end of December led a slight decrease in nuclear generation, which dropped from 18.2TWh to 17.3TWh. Its share of the generation mix dropped from 19 per cent to 18.7 per cent. Overall electricity generation during the period fell by 3.4 per cent from 95.8TWh to 92.5TWh, with renewables’ share of generation rising to more than a quarter. Source link

Bsria says due time and care should be taken on the delivery and details of the government’s apprenticeship levy.   Employers in any sector will have to pay the levy if they have a pay bill over £3m a year. Firms will have to begin paying the levy from 6 April 2017 and will be able to start claiming funding from the following month. Types of apprenticeship will now come under 15 different funding bands, ranging from £1,500 to £27,000 per apprentice, depending on the complexity of the programme. The government has confirmed industries where a levy is already imposed – including construction through the CITB – will have to pay both levies as required. Julia Evans, chief executive, Bsria, said: “We welcome thegovernment’s emphasis on increasing investment in apprenticeships, and industry is ready to stimulate more training and apprenticeships. However, there is a concern that the Apprenticeship Levy could run the risk of being compromised by hasty deadlines. Government must take time to get this right. What is paramount is the critical importance of closing the industry skills gap. Apprenticeships provide the backbone for a career in engineering for many employees and future employees within the industry and no compromises should be made regarding them. Bsria understands that the CITB has agreed a transition package with firms paying both the CITB levy and the apprenticeship levy next year. Under the plans, employers below the £3m levy-paying threshold will only have to pay 10 per cent contributions towards the cost of training and assessment, meaning most small employers should not end up paying more towards training costs than they currently do. But it is irrelevant that a lot of our members will be not be directly affected since it is the larger companies (with the £3m and higher levy-paying threshold) who are going to have to pay twice. Such companies should also be allowed to lead by example regarding skills, training and industry careers, which this levy will not enable them to do. It is short-sighted of the government.”    Source link