4 June 2016 – by Karl Tomusk Imagine a world where countries have disappeared, their borders purged from a globe glistening with grids zigzagging from city to city. Cables and pipelines, railways and highways connect mass urban clusters that light up whole continents no longer strangled by hostile geopolitics. It
Although older people in Scotland aged 60-plus make up 18% of the population, they account for 37% of the casualties and fatalities involving electricity. And with the vast majority of fires in Scottish homes caused by electricity – and the country’s ageing population – it’s a problem that needs to
In a bid to improve its sustainability credentials, Willmott Dixon was switched more than a dozen of its offices around the UK to renewable energy. Above: A Willmott Dixon office Willmott Dixon is aiming to halve the carbon it emits by 2020 compared to 2010. As part of this drive,
20 October 2016 | Herpreet Kaur Grewal Ireland’s FM industry has a lot to gain after Brexit, says the managing director of an FM firm. Denis Egan, MD of Weston Facilities Services and BIFM Ireland committee member said: “Predictions signal increased investment in Ireland as a number of British-domiciled companies consider
Savills, on behalf of a private client, has brought to the market Blackthorn Farm in Anglesey, North Wales. The property is being sold from a guide price of £1.695 million. Set in circa 17 acres (7 hectares) of land, Blackthorn Farm is a family-operated leisure business with a 4-star Wales
Pamela Chan reports on the recent case of Jawaby Property Investment Limited v The Interiors Group Limited [2016] EWHC 577 (TCC). This decision provides some useful guidance on what constitutes a valid payment application and reflects the rather strict approach taken by the Technology & Construction Court. Consistent with other
Bank of England Chief Economist, Andy Haldane has said that property is a better investment for retirement than a pension. Speaking to the Sunday Times, Haldane said: “It ought to be pension but it’s almost certainly property. “As long as we continue not to build anything like as many houses
The JV was up against Berkeley Homes and a Balfour Beatty-led team, which joined up with Hong Kong-based developer Pacific Century Premium Development, as revealed by Construction News in February. Meridian Water represents one of the largest housing developments in London. Once finished, it will provide 10,000 homes as well as
ECA publishes new checklist to follow government BIM Level 2 commencement Source link
The value of remortgage lending in the UK has increased 48% year on year and is the largest amount recorded since November 2008, the latest data shows. The figures from LMS also show that the number of borrowers remortgaging exceeded 39,300 and is the highest since July 2009 while affordably
4 June 2016 – by Karl Tomusk Imagine a world where countries have disappeared, their borders purged from a globe glistening with grids zigzagging from city to city. Cables and pipelines, railways and highways connect mass urban clusters that light up whole continents no longer strangled by hostile geopolitics. It will be the age of the master builder. Their designs will either help usher in an era of peacemaking or will let the globe descend into uncontrollable slums steeped in conflict. This is the world Parag Khanna, an international relations analyst and best-selling author, predicts in his new book Connectography: Mapping the Future of Global Civilization. “A century ago, people believed that trade interdependence between countries would lead to more stable relations, and yet the first world war did break out,” he says. All the content from this weekís magazine, including this article, is available in the new app. The difference now is that on top of trade interdependence, we have more financial and supply connectivity from nation to nation, even between rivals. Hundreds of US companies from Apple to General Electric manufacture products in China, while about 40% of Taiwan’s exports go to the Asian superpower. The two nations once torn apart by the Chinese civil war now have hundreds of direct flights every week, where only 13 years ago not a single commercial plane flew between them. In short, the wind is changing. And masterplanning and urban design have never been more powerful. Click here to visit Global Real Estate Insight and read the full feature Source link
Although older people in Scotland aged 60-plus make up 18% of the population, they account for 37% of the casualties and fatalities involving electricity. And with the vast majority of fires in Scottish homes caused by electricity – and the country’s ageing population – it’s a problem that needs to be urgently addressed. Clare Adamson MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw, is helping leading safety charity, Electrical Safety First, to raise awareness of the dangers of electricity to Scotland’s ageing population. Adamson recently put forward a Motion in Holyrood to highlight a report – Age Safe Scotland: Electrical Safety in an Ageing Society – produced by the charity. The report – which has been distributed to all MSPs – shows that older people tend to be owner-occupiers (72%), often living in homes lacking important electrical safety features. Critically, Scotland’s quality standards for social housing and the private rented sector don’t apply to people who live in, and own, their home. But even if they don’t remain under their own roof, older people are still at risk, as Scottish care homes are not legally required to carry out mandatory electrical safety checks. Yet in 2014-2015, there were 81 fires with an electrical source in Scotland’s care homes and the number of fires in the sector has increased over the last five years. The personal cost of electrical accidents can’t be calculated but Electrical Safety First found injuries caused by an electrical fault costs Scottish tax-payers around £8.9m each year. However, a third of this (£3m) is spent on older adults – who only represent 18% of the total population. To put this in perspective, the average cost of a hospital admission for someone over 65 is comparable to the weekly cost of 28 people living in a care home. The vast majority of older people want to remain in their own homes but as this report makes clear, unsafe electrics can make that a very risky business”, explained Adamson. “Our ageing population will see a significant increase in age-related illness and frailty with, for example, growing numbers suffering from dementia – and this report also found that electrical safety is a key issue for carers when leaving a person with dementia on their own. We have a duty of care to our older people and I applaud Electrical Safety First for highlighting this issue.” The charity’s report makes a series of recommendations to the Scottish government, including a call for free, five yearly electrical safety checks for all households with one person of pensionable age. It has also recommended mandatory checks in the social housing and care sectors and argued for the installation of Residual current devices (RCDs) – which rapidly cuts the current to reduce the risk of electric shock – in all PRS homes. “Over the last 6 years we have made over £90K available to Care and Repair Agencies in Scotland, to improve electrical safety in older people’s homes”, explained Phil Buckle, director general of Electrical Safety First. “But as this report makes clear, there is much more that needs to be done to protect Scotland’s ageing population. We hope the Scottish government will take note and act on its recommendations.” Source link
In a bid to improve its sustainability credentials, Willmott Dixon was switched more than a dozen of its offices around the UK to renewable energy. Above: A Willmott Dixon office Willmott Dixon is aiming to halve the carbon it emits by 2020 compared to 2010. As part of this drive, it has signed up with renewable energy supplier SmartestEnergy. The company said that the price was competitive against current standard energy contracts. It aims to eventually use renewable energy to power construction site offices. Group chief executive Rick Willmott said: “Climate change is a major threat to our planet and I believe every company is responsible for limiting its own impact on the environment to reduce global warming. It’s been a key priority for us and over the past five years we’ve reduced our emissions relative to turnover by over 30%. We are now committed to halving emissions by 2020 (compared with 2010) and better energy labelling has helped us make the right decision when it comes to electricity purchase.” This article was published on 24 Mar 2016 (last updated on 24 Mar 2016). Source link
20 October 2016 | Herpreet Kaur Grewal Ireland’s FM industry has a lot to gain after Brexit, says the managing director of an FM firm. Denis Egan, MD of Weston Facilities Services and BIFM Ireland committee member said: “Predictions signal increased investment in Ireland as a number of British-domiciled companies consider relocation here, translating into a higher demand for office space availability bringing an initial upswing to the growing construction and fit-out sector as well as long-term sustenance for both hard and soft FM services.” But he added that this is not to say that FM is immune to the Brexit-born barriers and potential legal restrictions that could arise from the decision. Enterprises that currently operate across borders might find it becomes more difficult to recruit, retain or move employees from the UK to the EU and vice versa, which could give rise to skills gaps, an inability to service customers in relevant countries and a loss of talent. It is highly unlikely that legislation regarding health and safety, and energy performance will change significantly. Egan added: “We can’t conclude that Brexit will bring about positive outcomes in Ireland for all sectors in which FM operates. “The Irish manufacturing industry, and the food sector in particular, which exports heavily to the UK, is likely to incur significant losses considering 40 per cent of indigenous manufacturing export is to the UK. The weaker sterling will also likely have a knock-on effect to the hotel and leisure industry as tourists look for better value for their euro or dollar, so the challenge for the FM teams in those sectors is quite different to those working in other industries that may benefit from Brexit. “Combined with the release of the UK and Irish budgets, all industries, FM included, are poised in wait-and-see position post-Brexit.” The BIFM Ireland FM Summit – ‘Workplace partnerships – Rethinking FM’ is due to take place on Friday 25 November at Croke Park. Source link
Savills, on behalf of a private client, has brought to the market Blackthorn Farm in Anglesey, North Wales. The property is being sold from a guide price of £1.695 million. Set in circa 17 acres (7 hectares) of land, Blackthorn Farm is a family-operated leisure business with a 4-star Wales Tourist Board rating. The property is located north west of Trearddur Bay on Holy Island, Anglesey, in an elevated rural setting with a south-westerly aspect overlooking the Irish Sea in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Accessed from the main A55 North Wales coast road, site facilities include 44 touring caravan pitches, a bed and breakfast farmhouse with eight-bedrooms, a two-bedroom holiday cottage and a two-bedroom owner’s accommodation with a private garden and an additional two-bedroom annexe. Richard Prestwich, associate director of leisure and trading at Savills, comments: “Blackthorn Farm presents an exceptional opportunity to purchase a well-established upmarket leisure retreat in a beautiful location. The business income is multi-faceted, deriving from the bed and breakfast accommodation, holiday cottage, caravan and camping pitches as well as catering and events, and offers potential for further growth.” Source link
Pamela Chan reports on the recent case of Jawaby Property Investment Limited v The Interiors Group Limited [2016] EWHC 577 (TCC). This decision provides some useful guidance on what constitutes a valid payment application and reflects the rather strict approach taken by the Technology & Construction Court. Consistent with other recent authorities[1], the court recognised that ‘draconian consequences’ that may arise from the employer’s failure to comply with the contractual payment mechanism and therefore required a contractor’s payment application to be clear and unambiguous in substance, form and intent. In this case, a contract was originally entered into between Tekxel Limited and the Interiors Group Ltd (‘TIG’) for refurbishment works carried out under a JCT Design & Build Contract, 2011 edition with amendments. Subsequently, the contract was novated to Jawaby Investments Ltd (‘Jawaby’), which became the new employer. Jawaby sought declarations from the court concerning payment obligations under the contract and a related escrow agreement. Under the contract, the payment mechanism was out as follows: TIG was to make monthly an interim application for payment (on the 8th day of each month) The due date for payment was the later of the monthly ‘specified date’ (on the 8th day of each month) or the actual date of receipt of the interim application The final date for payment was 30 days after the due date Not later than five days after the due date, Jawaby was required to give a Payment Notice stating the sum that TIG considered to be due A pay less notice was to be given by Jawaby not later than five days before the final date for payment. TIG’s interim applications 1 to 6 were made under the following procedure. TIG would submit a valuation to Jawaby by email with detailed back-up sheets followed by a statement of the final sum applied for (or total work done) at the conclusion. From Valuation 5, TIG submitted a summary sheet followed by detailed back-up sheets. Each of these valuations 1 to 6 valued TIG’s works up to the due date of the 8th of each month and stated that the valuation was for ‘approval’ or ‘consideration’. Jawaby’s agent would ‘walk the job’ with TIG and issue a certificate of payment accompanied by detailed spreadsheets showing how the assessment had been made. Upon issue of a certificate of payment, TIG would proceed to issue an invoice for the relevant sum. The main issue in this case related to Interim Application 7. The presentation of the 7th valuation did not follow the usual pattern and was materially different to that adopted on previous occasions. On 7th January 2016, TIG submitted the 7th valuation in the sum of £2.35m under cover of an email which stated ‘Please see our initial assessment for Valuation 007, this is based upon progress update and onsite review carried out earlier this week.’ On 11th January 2016, Jawaby visited the site and proceeded to issue a certificate of payment on 15th January 2016 with a negative value of £124,604 based on a total gross valuation of £1,634,540. This time, there was no breakdown of the figure, nor any accompanying back-up documentation. On 18th January 2016, further mark-up documentation explaining their valuation was submitted by Jawaby. Jawaby argued that the valuation was not a valid interim application as the email did not comply with requirements for service prescribed by the contract and the terms of the email were insufficient to constitute an interim payment application. On the other hand, TIG submitted that there was no requirement for particular labelling to be an interim application. The court adopted a strict approach and held that TIG did not make a valid interim application within the meaning of the contract. Consequently, no default event had occurred under the escrow agreement. Importantly, the court found that the valuation was described only as TIG’s initial assessment, which merely stated the sum that it considered might be due, subject to further consideration. Such a statement by TIG, if construed objectively by a reasonable recipient, would not have been regarded as unambiguously notifying what was considered to be due, to comply with Clause 4.8.1 of the contract. Further, this was not a situation which had arisen previously and the course of dealings between the parties did not extend to acceptance of an ‘initial’ assessment as a valid interim application. The valuation summary sheet was also incorrectly marked as Valuation 6 and unlike all previous applications, did not include valuation of the works up to the due date of 8th January. However, the court found that email notification was permitted as Jawaby had waived any requirement for hard copy documents when it accepted email communication for all previous interim applications. While the court noted that this outcome may appear harsh for a contractor, there was ‘little scope for latitude’. This case, therefore, serves as a reminder that if a contractor wishes to have the benefit of the interim payment regime such as that contained in the contract, its application for interim payment must be clear and free from ambiguity. The case also highlights that parties’ conduct throughout the course of the contract will be taken into account when assessing whether the strict contractual requirements have been waived. If the parties choose to depart from the contractual procedure, the contractor is still required to act consistently with the procedure that the parties have adopted. [1] Carr J referred to the judgment of Caledonian Modular Ltd v Mar City Developments Ltd [2015] EWHC 1855 (TCC) and Henia Investments Inc v Beck Interiors Ltd [2015] EWHC 2433 (TCC). About the author: Pamela Chan is a solicitor at Irwin Mitchell This article was published on 6 Oct 2016 (last updated on 7 Oct 2016). Source link
Bank of England Chief Economist, Andy Haldane has said that property is a better investment for retirement than a pension. Speaking to the Sunday Times, Haldane said: “It ought to be pension but it’s almost certainly property. “As long as we continue not to build anything like as many houses in this country as we need to… we will see what we’ve had for the better part of a generation, which is house prices relentlessly heading north.” Haldane has previously come under fire for stating that he can’t make “the remotest sense of pensions” and that experts and IFAs “have no clue either”. Former pensions minister Ros Altmann has described the remarks as “irresponsible” and “divorced from reality”. Tom McPhail, head of retirement policy at Hargreaves Lansdown, commented: “It’s probably quite easy for someone with a gold-plated final salary pension to dismiss the importance of saving in a pension for retirement. Andy Haldane’s pension benefits are estimated to be worth in excess of £3 million, which is not bad going for someone who professes not to even know how pensions work. Perhaps we should take away his final salary pension and just give him another house instead. “After his previous comments, we wrote to Mr Haldane, offering to explain how pensions work. After these latest revelations from him, we suggest his employers make a pension training course compulsory, given he has so much influence over the savings and investments of millions of ordinary savers and home-owners and so little apparent understanding of how they work.” McPhail stressed the benefits of saving into a pension, including tax relief and workplace pension top ups. He added that pensions are cheap to run, typically costing around 0.75% a year compared to the running costs of a property which “can easily be as much as 10% of the value”. He also highlighted that retirees can diversify their investments, spreading tax-free savings across a range of funds, stocks, asset classes and “even properties”. Source link
The JV was up against Berkeley Homes and a Balfour Beatty-led team, which joined up with Hong Kong-based developer Pacific Century Premium Development, as revealed by Construction News in February. Meridian Water represents one of the largest housing developments in London. Once finished, it will provide 10,000 homes as well as supporting infrastructure, a railway station and retail space. It is also expected to create 6,000 construction jobs. Enfield Council cabinet member for housing and regeneration Ahmet Oykener said: “Now we can start getting boots on the ground and proceed with this transformational project for Edmonton and the wider area and create a truly world-class development which will improve the quality of life for tens of thousands of people.” Source link
ECA publishes new checklist to follow government BIM Level 2 commencement Source link
The value of remortgage lending in the UK has increased 48% year on year and is the largest amount recorded since November 2008, the latest data shows. The figures from LMS also show that the number of borrowers remortgaging exceeded 39,300 and is the highest since July 2009 while affordably improved markedly with typical remortgage repayments falling to a record low. This represents a 36% increase from the £4.7 billion n recorded in March and a 48% uplift from April 2015’s figure of £4.3 billion. The number of remortgage loans also increased by 41% from 28,000 in March to 39,353 in April. This is 47% more than April 2015 when 26,700 borrowers remortgaged. This is the greatest number since July 2009 when 39,500 remortgaged. Low interest rate has resulted in mortgage affordability improving sharply. Now remortgage payments as a percentage of income are at 16.79%, a record low, down from 18.4% the previous month. Andy Knee, chief executive of LMS, pointed out that March saw the market overwhelmed by second home owners and buy to let investors looking to push through transactions before changes to stamp duty came in, but as April arrived, existing home owners were able to remortgage and capitalise on the great rates currently available. ‘The average amount people are withdrawing through remortgaging fell to a 13 month low, suggesting household budgets are not as constrained as previously. Home owners can also celebrate that as a result of such low mortgage rates and rising incomes repayments as a percentage of income have fallen to a record low, boosting family finances,’ he said. But he also pointed out that the forthcoming referendum on the UK’s place in the European Union will continue to dominate headlines until the vote on 23 June which could have an impact on the mortgage rates that banks offer as well as household finances if the result is to leave. The data also shows that mortgage interest rates fell to 2.49% in March, down from 2.51% in February and the sum of annual remortgage repayments fell from £8,593 in February to £8,344 in March as a result of lower interest rates, while average household income rose by 7% from £46,605 to £50,000 in the same period. This meant that annual remortgage repayments as a percentage of income fell from 18.4% to 16.7% month on month, a record low. Average mortgage payments as a percentage of income also fell, from 21.2% to 19.7% between February and March, but this remains 3% more than remortgage costs. BOOKMARK THIS PAGE (What is this?) Source link