Opus Restructuring was appointed as administrator on 13 June and the sale of HOC (UK) for £50,000 to Coppercast was made two days later, according to a creditors’ report seen by CN. A prepack is a mechanism to allow a company to be sold as a going concern. A sale is agreed in advance of entering administration and conducted by the administrator. An Opus spokesman said Coppercast was negotiating with HOC’s clients on continuing the contracts and “if a supplier is crucial to finishing the work they would be in a better position” than other creditors, who would find it hard to recover money owed. It would be up to clients whether to use Coppercast or another contractor to complete ongoing HOC projects, he added. Opus’s report explained that Coppercast’s director Gary Ellis is also a director and shareholder of GMSL, in turn the shareholder of HOC (UK)’s parent the HOC Group. The spokesman said: “There is a connection but this is not a ‘phoenix’ company, it has not been sold back to the directors.” Mr Ellis could not be contacted. HOC was formed in 2010 by Hugh O’Connor and is described on its website as “a leading independent specialist design and build contractor delivering high-quality results through lean construction”. The Opus report showed that HOC’s turnover had increased sharply from £4m in 2010 to £24m in 2014 then more than trebling to £76m in 2015. It said around 18 months ago the then directors engaged a team to manage the business’s expansion. The report said that according to Martin Boulton, who became an HOC director in May 2016, the company appeared to have been “burdened” with “excessive overheads and fees” as its turnover increased. Mr Boulton had found the financial viability of all the firm’s prospects “increasingly precarious”, it noted. Lender Belvedere Security issued a winding-up order in late May, and between April and June the company was served with 13 statutory demands totalling just over £1m, the report said, adding that administrators have made 61 employees redundant. HOC’s website stated that in March the company won a £20m residential development at Pages Walk, Bermondsey for O’Callaghan Developments and a £25m job to redevelop the Bedford House and Canterbury House office buildings in Croydon into residential units for developer Criterion Capital. It is also shown as working on a seven-storey Westin hotel in the City of London, due for completion next year.     Source link

Homeowners commission valuations of their property for various purposes, from sale, to taxation, to matrimonial separation. Estate agents will offer free property surveys and valuations and that is often the first port of call for homeowners in such situations. However, the standards adhered to in producing these ‘valuations’ can be quite loose, and this may lead to difficulties.  An estate agent’s valuation is technically no more than a recommended asking price, and will typically be produced quite quickly (sometimes, during the course of walking around the property). While a good agent will be familiar with the local market a more in-depth analysis in often required in order to produce an accurate valuation. At worst, agents can be tempted to purposefully inflate their valuations in order to induce the vendor to instruct them to sell the property. Getting an accurate valuation can be very important – if a property is overvalued, the owner might pay too much in tax, for example. If it is undervalued, it might be sold for less than it is worth. Qualified valuers registered with the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) work to much tighter standards. The RICS provides regulations with which its member valuers must comply, including minimum standards for the way valuations are undertaken. When producing a valuation, and RICS member will consider, amongst other matters, the type and age of the property, its accommodation, its location and situation and the condition of the property alongside tenure tenancies and service charges. In producing their valuation, the valuer will collate and consider evidence in the form of comparable sales. Comparable sales are other properties which have been sold in the relatively recent past in the local area which are similar, to a greater or lesser extent, to the property being valued. Valuing property is more complicated than valuing other more liquid assets, such as stock, shares, currencies or bonds, because there is no centralised marketplace, and unlike most other assets, properties are heterogeneous (no two are the same). Consequently, the valuer will need to consider the circumstances of each individual comparable sale, and make adjustments to the sale price to account for differences between the comparables and the property being valued. Ideally the comparables will be very similar to the subject property, but in some cases, particularly when the property in question is unusual, or where the market is slow and there is a lack of evidence, the comparables might be quite different from the subject property. In such cases the valuation process will be as much art as science, with the valuer relying on his own expertise and market knowledge to arrive at an appropriate figure. There are numerous approaches to making adjustments to comparable evidence, but they will all involve either quantitative adjustments (such as making adjustments for size with reference to a price per square foot), or qualitative adjustments (such as making a broader adjustment to price to account for an aspect such as a view). When making quantitative adjustments the valuer must be cautious of taking a purely mathematical approach which does not reflect the realties of the marketplace. When making qualitative adjustments the valuer must be wary of the perils and potential inaccuracies that can result from taking an entirely subjective non-evidence based approach. Typically, the valuer will set out his analysis in a matrix. In the following example, the valuer has made quantitative adjustments for size on a price per square foot basis, and house price inflation with reference to the Land Registry House Price Index. Additionally, the valuer has made a qualitative ‘lump sum’ adjustment of plus 5% to two of the comparables on account of their poorer location. After making his adjustments the valuer arrives at an average value of £525 per square foot, which he can apply to his measurement of the subject property in order to arrive at the valuation. Valuation is a specialist area of practice, and can be complicated. Whilst estate agent’s valuations have their uses (primarily as guidance for those thinking of selling), if an accurate figure is required, for purposes such as taxation, or matrimonial separations a qualified valuer who is a member of the RICS should be employed.

Critics of London’s super sewer, the Thames Tideway Tunnel, have claimed it is an “outdated and expensive folly”, which is not needed to maintain the Tideway’s water quality. The Thames Blue Green Economy (TBGE) group – a coalition of water industry experts, engineers, academics, politicians and environmental representatives – have insisted construction of the tunnel must be stopped and alternatives put in place, “before more damage is done and more time and money is wasted”. It also called for an official review as to how the licenses and contracts for the tunnel were bid and awarded, and an investigation by ministers into the “suspect” financing arrangements for the project. “We believe that the evidence shows that Thames Water’s tax arrangements represent a tangible and significant ethical failing, which, in governance terms, should be of material interest for TW’s corporate owners,” it said. “These actions should, ideally, be taken as a matter of urgency before Macquarie sells off Thames Water.” The group claimed Thames Water was “loading the costs” of construction for tunnel onto water consumers across the whole of its region, and not just the Inner London area that the tunnel is supposed to serve. “Additionally, although the tunnel is supposed to be an entirely private sector venture, the government has agreed to underpin the total costs from public money,” it added. A spokesman for Thames Water said: “Tideway and Thames Water are working together on preparatory works for the Thames Tideway Tunnel. “The tunnel is urgently needed to prevent tens of millions of tonnes of raw sewage polluting the tidal River Thames every year.” However, TBGE said: “Raw sewage is not discharged to the Tideway.” It said the discharges are mainly rainwater with a small proportion of foul water, and that integrated water resource management should be implemented instead to deal with those “rare occasions” when London’s drainage system cannot cope with storm water run-off. “Integrated water resource management packages are now used by cities all over the world to maintain river quality in a sustainable manner,” the group said. “London is the only city pursuing the very disruptive option of building an enormous and unnecessary concrete tunnel underground.” “The Thames Blue Green Economy (TBGE) group is opposed to the [Thames Tideway Tunnel],” it said. “We favour a cheaper, quicker, more effective and environmentally positive set of options to manage water flows in the capital, namely integrated water resources management. “These types of measure, combined with the new sewage treatment works and the Lee Tunnel, will obviate the need for the hugely expensive [Tideway Tunnel], which appears to be little more than a boondoggle project for Thames Water, their executives and shareholders.” Construction on the Thames Tideway Tunnel is due to start later this year and is due to be completed by 2023. However, Tideway – the company in charge of the Tunnel – has said it wants to reduce the delivery timetable by up to two years. Source link

GMB has slammed National Grid as being “naively complacent” over its intention to use demand-side response (DSR) to avoid blackouts, and has called for the company to be stripped of its system operator role. The union for energy workers said a “smart energy revolution”, where an internet of energy allows fridges, washing machines and dishwashers to be automatically run at times of low-energy-demand to help lower peak demand is “fanciful nonsense”. GMB’s national secretary Justin Bowen said such a smart grid is “years away” and what the UK really needs are new power stations and the go-ahead for nuclear power station Hinkley Point C. Bowen said: “The government needs to stop the whispering and come clean with a fully worked strategy that ensures short and long term energy security.” He said there are “too many jockeys on the horse” for responsibility of UK power supplies and it is time for the government to take control. The union added that National Grid’s policy of paying companies to stop working using consumer’s money is a “bonkers policy that only a natural monopoly would dare to implement”. Last month National Grid announced it would not be procuring any demand side balancing reserve for the coming winter after its tender showed minimal volume would be available across the required period. This is despite the company stating only last year that demand side measures would be used to meet “well over 50 per cent” of balancing requirements by 2030. Source link

Property has long been an integral part of the investment market, but should you view it as a short or long term investment? With the property market staying strong and UK house prices rising the fastest since February, either time span will likely provide investors with a healthy return on investment. However, there are pros and cons to each. Whether you looking to purchase luxury property or something more affordable, the same rules apply, so let’s look at the differences between short and long term property investment. Short Term Property Investment With online services such as Airbnb taking over the short term rental market, it makes more sense than ever to use property as a short term investment. Rather than having to find tenants yourself, you will be connected via a third party. This allows for a constant and reliable stream of tenants for your buy to let property. Furthermore, according to data analysis by Inside Airbnb, you could make a year’s worth of rent in just 60 days. This is why many landlords are now using services like this as a short term investment to gain a sizeable profit margin. Even with traditional renting, you should see a return of 7% for a short term property investment. Long Term Property Investment There are, however, a few problems with short term property investment. Firstly, short term markets tend to be volatile, while over the long term they are stable. This means that there is a higher risk involved in short term investments. One in five Brits now believe house prices are set to fall. By investing for the long term, you will not only see a larger pay off (even if you have to wait longer for it) but the risk of losing money is diminished. While there may be a temporary drop in prices, over the long term, houses will always appreciate in value. Private equity investor Jason Sugarman recommends placing your money into long term projects, so that you can guarantee a return on investment and enjoy financial stability in an otherwise potentially volatile market. While property still seems to naturally lend itself to long term investments, you shouldn’t write off the possibility of thinking short term. The market remains strong, despite public perception, and there is the potential to use online holiday letting to make a profit even more quickly.