The Geberit Awards are back for 2016 Published:  13 October, 2016 The Geberit Awards 2016 is in its third year, and installers from throughout the bathroom, plumbing and heating industries will battle it out to be crowned the best in the business. The Awards honour the cream of the installer crop in four categories – best installer team, best supply systems installer, best domestic bathroom installer and best apprentice. As well as the prestige of being a Geberit Award winner, those taking the top spots will also have their hard work and dedication recognised with prizes, including £1,000 for the overall winner of each category, plus Makita Drill Sets and Radios for the runners up. Entrants are required to demonstrate how their Geberit product installations stand out from the crowd, perhaps by overcoming tricky challenges, or by going that extra mile to ensure a quality end result. The Geberit Awards 2016 also sets out to recognise fledgling installer talent with the Best Apprentice award, with judges keen to hear from apprentices themselves, or their colleagues. In this category, nominees who are quick learners, are team players and work on their own initiative to master the latest technology will be likely contenders for the top spot. Each nomination requires 150 words about why the entry deserves to win the award, which can be supported by photography. Entries opened on 1 October, with installers having two months to make their nominations count, before the final deadline on 30 November, when the judges will have their say. For more details and to enter, visit www.geberit.co.uk/awards. Source link

The Scottish government’s £745m Aberdeen bypass project is providing plenty of work for construction companies but not so much for Scottish ones. Infrastructure secretary Keith Brown has revealed that only a third of the £350m subcontracts have been awarded to Scottish firms by the English contracting joint venture of Balfour Beatty, Carillion and Galliford Try. However, Mr Brown seemed to think that was plenty. He said: “Over £115m has been awarded to subcontractors based in Scotland, and with around an estimated £60m subcontracts still to advertised during the construction phase through the Public Contracts Scotland website, there are still many upcoming opportunities for Scottish-based companies. “As part of these sub-contracts, £55 million has been awarded to Breedon Aggregates and Whitemountain, long-established businesses in Scotland, to supply and lay asphalt across the project. “These subcontracts are just one example of how this £745m investment in the north east is stimulating the local economy during the construction phase, with many more significant benefits for road users, businesses, communities and industry on the way.” Mr Brown said that construction of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route/Balmedie to Tipperty project (AWPR/B-T) is now “well underway” he said “and remains on schedule to open in winter 2017”.     This article was published on 11 Mar 2016 (last updated on 11 Mar 2016). Source link

©FT Graphic Filaret Galchev, the Russian billionaire who controls Eurocement Filaret Galchev, the Russian businessman with extensive construction interests, has become the latest tycoon to suffer the effect of collapsing commodity prices and financial market volatility. According to people familiar with the matter, the billionaire’s decision to sell his $1.5bn holding in LafargeHolcim last month was spurred by requests to post more collateral from lenders at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. More On this topic IN Construction Eurocement — the building materials group that Mr Galchev controls — had been asked for this collateral by the US bank to cover loans it had used to build the stake, the people said. Its stakebuilding had made it LafargeHolcim’s third-biggest shareholder. Following the collateral request, Eurocement struck a deal two weeks ago to sell its 6.12 per cent stake to Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender — a deal that came with an agreement to buy it back at a later date. One person close to the matter and another close to LafargeHolcim said Sberbank had stepped in to take on Mr Galchev’s position in the Swiss cement company and its obligation to the US bank. This agreement, dated January 22, was reached after global growth fears triggered turmoil across markets, and a sharp drop in LafargeHolcim’s share price, which is now down more than 40 per cent in the past six months. In a further twist, this week the Russian bank sold the entire $1.5bn position in a share placement handled by UBS. When Sberbank took on the stake, shares in LafargeHolcim were trading around SFr41, but the 37.2m shares were placed by UBS at SFr36.25. Since Switzerland’s Holcim took over Lafarge of France last June, the merged company has suffered from weak sales in many key markets, and underperformed competitors in terms of profitability. In November, the company said it was forced to slash spending to combat a global capacity glut. Shares in LafargeHolcim were trading about SFr39 ($39) on Friday. Bankers have warned in recent weeks that the rout in commodity prices and global equities was likely to lead to a jump in requests for collateral against loans to wealthy clients. Using borrowings, or margin, allows investors to obtain additional investment capital provided it is backed by some form of collateral — usually in the form of cash or securities. This form of investing is popular among wealthy clients in the Middle East and Russia, one adviser at a major global bank pointed out. Russia’s economy has been hit hard by global sanctions following its conflict with Ukraine, as well as falling oil and commodity prices. Since the beginning of 2015, the rouble has almost halved in value against the dollar, and inflation is in double digits. Mr Galchev made his fortune from the cement and construction industry in Russia. Eurocement, in which he owns a controlling stake, is Russia’s largest crushed-rock and aggregates business. He was also a shareholder in Uralkali, one of Russia’s largest fertiliser groups. He began to build a stake in Holcim in 2008, eventually owning 12 per cent of the company. After the deal with Sberbank last month, Mr Galchev said Eurocement and the Russian lender “enjoy a long-term partnership”. He added: “This deal clearly demonstrates that we can count on receiving support from our financial partner when carrying out the holding’s strategic initiatives.” Eurocement’s holding had originated from its investment in Switzerland’s Holcim, which completed an industry-transforming deal last year with France’s Lafarge. At the time, Eurocement used its position to hold out from supporting a deal between Holcim and Lafarge until the terms of the deal were renegotiated — something that eventually did take place. LafargeHolcim, Bank of America and Sberbank declined to comment. Eurocement did not respond to a request for comment sent on Thursday. 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

Home prices are continuing to rise in the United States with the median value for a single family home reaching more than $1 million in a metro location for the first time. The record prices was reached in San Jose, California, while the vast majority of metro areas seeing prices rise in the second quarter of 2016, the data from the National Association of Realtors shows. Overall the median existing single family home price increased in 83% of measured markets, with 148 out of 178 metropolitan statistical areas showing gains based on closed sales in the second quarter compared with the second quarter of 2015. Just 29 metros recorded lower median prices from a year earlier and 25 saw double digit increases. According to Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, a faster pace of home sales amidst languishing inventory levels has pushed home prices higher in most metro areas during the second quarter. ‘Steadily improving local job markets and mortgage rates teetering close to all-time lows brought buyers out in force in many large and middle tier cities,’ he said. ‘However, with homebuilding activity still failing to keep up with demand and not enough current homeowners putting their home up for sale, prices continued their strong ascent and in many markets at a rate well above income growth,’ he added. The national median existing single family home price in the second quarter was $240,700, up 4.9% from the second quarter of 2015, which was previously the peak quarterly median sales price. The median price during the first quarter of this year increased 6.1% from the first quarter of 2015.   Total existing home sales, including single family and condos, rose 3.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.5 million in the second quarter from 5.3 million in the first quarter of this year and are 4.2% higher than the 5.28 million pace during the second quarter of 2015.  ‘Primarily from repeat buyers moving up or trading down, existing sales increased each month last quarter and could’ve been even higher if not for a few speedbumps. Closings were slowed a bit by meagre supply levels and home prices in many areas that are still rising too fast,’ Yun explained. At the end of the second quarter, there were 2.12 million existing homes available for sale, which was below the 2.25 million homes for sale at the end of the second quarter in 2015. The average supply during the second quarter was 4.7 months, down from 5.1 months a year ago. According to Yun, without enough new construction being built, existing inventory seriously failed to keep up with the growing demand for buying. As a result, homes typically stayed on the market for around a month throughout the second quarter and over 40% of listings sold at or above list price, with June being the highest share since NAR began tracking in December 2012.Yun pointed out that many listings in a majority of market, and especially those in lower price ranges, had multiple offers and went under contract quickly because of severely inadequate supply. ‘This in turn dented affordability and without a doubt priced out a segment of buyers attempting to seek relief from fast-growing rents,’ he said. Despite falling mortgage rates and a small increase in the national family median income, swiftly rising home prices caused affordability to decline in the second quarter compared to a year ago, the data also shows. To purchase a single family home at the national median price, a buyer making a 5% down payment would need an income of $52,255, a 10% down payment would require an income of $49,504, and $44,004 would be needed for a 20% down payment. The five most expensive housing markets in the second quarter were the San Jose, California, metro area, where the median existing single family price was $1,085,000, San Francisco at $885,600, Anaheim-Santa Ana in California at $742,200, urban Honolulu at $725,200 and San Diego at $589,900. The five lowest-cost metro areas in the second quarter were Youngstown-Warren-Boardman in Ohio at $85,400, Cumberland in Maryland at $94,900, Decatur in Illinois at $95,600, Binghamton in New York at $105,500, and Rockford in Illinois at $109,000. The national median existing condo price was $227,200 in the second quarter, up 4.8% from the second quarter of 2015 and 44, or 75%, showed gains in their median condo price from a year ago while 14 areas had declines. According to NAR President Tom Salomone, the further decline in mortgage rates in recent months is bringing new buyers into the mix on top of the pool of those who have yet to close on a home because of insufficient supply. A breakdown of the figures shows that total existing home sales in the Northeast jumped 7.6% in the second quarter and are 11.3% above the second quarter of 2015. The median existing single family home price was $273,600 in the second quarter, up 1.6% from a year ago. In the Midwest, existing home sales leaped 10.4% in the second quarter and are 6.6% higher than a year ago. The median existing single family home price increased 5.1% to $191,300 in the second quarter from the same quarter a year ago. Existing home sales in the South inched forward 0.3% and are 4.2% higher than the second quarter of 2015. The median existing single family home price was $214,900, some 5.9% above a year earlier. In the West existing home sales were up 1.4% but are 2.2% below a year ago. The median existing single family home price increased 6.5% to $346,500 year on year.   Source link

Category: Construction Industry Today | Subscribe to Construction Industry Today Feed Published Mon, Jul 18th 2016 Natural slate manufacturer Welsh Slate is supporting roofing apprentices at Leeds College of Building. Posted via Industry Today. Follow us on Twitter @IndustryToday Welsh Slate has taken its commitment to training and apprenticeships one step further by supporting a second college with materials and mentoring. The North Wales-based manufacturer, part of the Lagan Group, had already donated more than eight pallets of roofing slates to South Lanarkshire College, sponsored a regional apprentice “craft” award there, and presented two CPD seminars to block release students on the four-year roof slating and tiling course to SCQF Level 7. Now 10 apprentices and lecturers Chris Messenger and Tim Donegon from the roof training division of Leeds College of Building (and Andrew Rowlands and Paul Jenkins from the Wales National Roofing Training Group) have toured the company’s largest quarry and production facilities at Penrhyn in Bethesda. Some of the apprentices even tried their hand at splitting slates under the watchful eye of production supervisor Martin Beattie. The visit hosted by Welsh Slate north-west sales representative Colin Falconer and commercial director (roofing) Michael Halle follows the donation of two crates of roofing slates (as at South Lanarkshire College), with Colin also presenting a CPD seminar to 70 Level 3 students. The day after the site tour the group visited the Welsh Slate Museum, with their overnight accommodation paid for by the Yorkshire Independent Roof Training Group. Colin said: “It’s important to Welsh Slate that we contribute to ensuring the supply of the next generation of roofing apprentices and that we maintain traditional roofing skills for the roofing industry. We are delighted to support Leeds College of Building’s roof training division.” The 10 apprentices from Leeds College of Building were Luke Bann, Will Emerson, Andrew Emerson, Michael Bermingham, Dan Norfolk, Gary McGowan, Liam Stewart, Harry Hillam-Thompson, Babar Kahn and George Wood. ENDS Caption : Leeds College of Building lecturer Chris Messenger (centre) with some of his apprentices in Welsh Slate’s Penrhyn Quarry.   Source link