Zoopla’s latest forecast that the house hunting surge will be ‘short-lived’ should not dampen the spirits of estate agents and developers across the UK and they should instead focus on the rising level of confidence returning to the property market, says Hilltop Credit Partners, a specialist funding partner for SME and
Bentley Systems Incorporated, a leading global provider of comprehensive software and digital twins services for advancing the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure, announced it has opened up its LEGION Simulator and OpenBuildings Station Designer software, including waiving new subscription fees through September 30, 2020, for facilities managers to incorporate pedestrian simulation methodologies across their
A life sciences super-cluster across the Golden Triangle between Oxford, Cambridge and London could help power Britain’s economic recovery from Covid-19 says a major report from New London Architecture (NLA) published. The Chancellor’s forthcoming emergency budget should look to speed up the delivery of vital lab space, housing and other
Kubota, a leading manufacturer of construction machinery, has announced the launch of the KX042-4α excavator, an update to the existing KX042-4 model. The machine has been designed to be more sustainable and is now the most environmentally friendly excavator in its class. The launch of the updated excavator comes at
A new series of free interactive webinars is launched this month by 2N – global market leader in internet-enabled intercoms and access control systems. 2N On Air aims to help owners of residential and commercial property, architects, designers, security firms and building managers to identify and apply touchless technology which protects buildings
Sustainability champion and green hero, The Used Kitchen Company, is offering homeowners, who have become a little less certain about their kitchen renovation vision and budget, some food for thought that could beat any blues that have set in during lockdown. The UK was expecting to see a 6-7% growth
One of the UK’s most respected sheet piling suppliers, Sheet Piling (UK) Ltd, is ready to assist the country’s economic recovery as the construction industry emerges from total lockdown and as Tier-1 contractors earnestly seek security in their supply lines. Sheet Piling UK has all bases covered when it comes
A survey of recruitment firms by the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) has revealed that 79% are reviewing their need for office space with almost a third (31%) stating that they will definitely downsize and almost half (48%) saying that they will not go ahead with office expansion plans.
The property website www.localsurveyorsdirect.co.uk reports that it has seen a sharp increase in activity in the UK housing market in the past fortnight following the slump due to the Coronavirus lockdown. JJ Heath-Caldwell, managing director of the business, says: “After a very buoyant start to the year, in mid-March to mid-April the number
The Association for Project Management (APM) Awards, sponsored by RPC UK Ltd, are back for 2020, a celebration of the very best individuals, projects and programmes the profession has to offer. APM, the profession’s only chartered body, is calling on the project profession to put themselves, colleague and their projects forward for
Zoopla’s latest forecast that the house hunting surge will be ‘short-lived’ should not dampen the spirits of estate agents and developers across the UK and they should instead focus on the rising level of confidence returning to the property market, says Hilltop Credit Partners, a specialist funding partner for SME and mid-sized residential developers and housebuilders in the UK. Commenting on the report, Paul Oberschneider, Founder and CEO of Hilltop Credit Partners, said: “In a big vote of confidence, Zoopla’s latest data showed there has been a spike in demand in online property searches — up by 88 percent following the reopening of the market, which is 20 per cent higher than at the beginning of March. Demand has risen by 40 per cent from pre-coronavirus levels in Portsmouth and Southampton. It also increased strongly in Newcastle, Oxford and Leeds. “The report does say that this spike in demand is only temporary with four in ten buyers shelving their plans because of market uncertainty and loss of income, but I’m a bit of an optimist here. The economic issues we’re experiencing right now are the cause of a virus, unlike deep rooted problems in the housing sector which lead to the 2008-09 crisis. The two fundamental drivers still remain in place: the supply-demand imbalance across the country, which isn’t going to change overnight, and the large addressable market in funding. “I also believe that buying property is not just a financial transaction, it’s a lifestyle changer and has an immense aspirational value. People will always need and want homes and no lockdown or recession is going to change that. Better living, better lifestyle and affordable homes should be the wave that developers should follow.” “At Hilltop, we see a lot of opportunity in the coming months and we continue to see an uptick of demand for property development finance from established, quality developers working on attractive projects. That’s demand for both debt and equity. Our fund remains focused on cautiously funding high-quality assets and developers, and disbursing over £75 million in the coming months.” Tiger Craft, Partner and CFO, adds: “For SME developers, securing funding has been needlessly time-consuming and expensive for too long. To address this problem, we at Hilltop are focused on helping developers move quickly so they can secure sites, build homes, and sell them in a fast, cost-efficient manner. Unlike traditional lenders, we operate like a private equity house and effectively back the management team. Our interests are always aligned with the development team as the focus is on a successful exit.”
Bentley Systems Incorporated, a leading global provider of comprehensive software and digital twins services for advancing the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure, announced it has opened up its LEGION Simulator and OpenBuildings Station Designer software, including waiving new subscription fees through September 30, 2020, for facilities managers to incorporate pedestrian simulation methodologies across their planning, design, and operations teams. With social distancing and crowd management at the forefront of global concerns, OpenBuildings Station Designer and LEGION Simulator software can help station owners, planning and design firms, and facilities operators to develop models, simulate crowd movement, analyze foot traffic, and optimize space utilization of infrastructure assets such as rail and metro stations, airports, retail and commercial complexes, hospitals, and stadiums. OpenBuildings Station Designer’s BIM environment provides 3D context for LEGION’s included pedestrian simulation to create an operational digital twin to improve safety, efficiency, and security, while mitigating risk. LEGION Simulator helps users solve new planning and operations challenges in: validating social distancing plans while helping to ensure safe operations; ensuring space maximization, activities distribution and controlled egress/ingress; modeling safe and comfortable wayfinding strategies and evacuation plans; and providing virtual, collaborative planning, design and operations reviews. Further, LEGION Simulator and OpenBuildings Station Designer offer the continued long-term benefits of a BIM collaboration environment that avoids data silos, coordination delays, and other limitations that result from the separation of planning and design workflows. “We are going through extraordinary times and change will be a constant reality in the months and years ahead. Bentley’s OpenBuildings Station Designer and LEGION Simulator enable planners, architects, engineers, and operators to apply digital twin approaches to solve today’s design and operation challenges more quickly, efficiently, and safely across rail and metro stations, airports, and other public buildings and amenities,” said Ken Adamson, Vice President, Design Integration for Bentley. “Atkins has collaborated successfully with LEGION for over 20 years, and we look forward to building upon our own thought leadership on Covid-19 and for the Transport Sector by applying LEGION’s simulations for social distancing in response to requests by our metro clients in Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, and Saudi Arabia,” said Cameron MacDonald, Technical Director, Operations Advisory, Atkins, a member of the SNC-Lavalin Group.
A life sciences super-cluster across the Golden Triangle between Oxford, Cambridge and London could help power Britain’s economic recovery from Covid-19 says a major report from New London Architecture (NLA) published. The Chancellor’s forthcoming emergency budget should look to speed up the delivery of vital lab space, housing and other infrastructure that can attract talent and ensure fast-growing spinouts can remain in Britain rather than relocate to Boston or other major science hubs. The UK’s life sciences sector has a critical mass in the knowledge economies of London, Oxford and Cambridge. But rising house prices and rents are threatening to price out talent and the businesses who spin-out of the UK’s leading higher education institutes that reside in the region. NLA’s report, Knowledge Networks: London and the Ox-Cam Arc, calls for the government to streamline planning to speed up development in the region and enable the creation of a U.S-style supercluster in the Golden Triangle. The UK’s life sciences sector, which contributes £74 billion to the UK economy annually and supports 250,000 jobs, has played a central role in the UK’s economic response to Covid-19. Its ability to preserve and create employment, export innovation globally and lead on the development of a vaccine has meant it has come under the spotlight more than ever – all for the right reasons. British universities are now more open to partnerships with the commercial world than in previous decades, aware as they are of the need to commercialise their research discoveries. The Golden Triangle is home to the UK’s leading research institutions at Imperial College London, University College London, King’s College, University of Oxford and Cambridge University. In addition, the UK government is increasing its current level of research and development expenditure from 1.7 percent of GDP to 2.4 percent over the next five years, equivalent to £22bn. Private sector investment will be crucial in leveraging this. Supply and demand imbalances, both in terms of housing and workspace, have seen prices rapidly rise in the UK’s hub of biomedical, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. London, Oxford and Cambridge are three of the least affordable cities to live in in the UK, with average house prices well over 100 percent more than the national average. High levels of commercial take up has also left companies in the Golden Triangle vying for limited space, helping to drive up rents. In the last five years, commercial rents in Oxford and Cambridge have skyrocketed by 32 percent and 28 percent respectively. In order to future-proof the success of this region, the NLA, alongside Bidwells, a property consultancy focused on the Golden Triangle, architects Perkins and Will and Penoyre & Prasad, and mixed-used developer Stanhope, are calling for more integrated city–regional planning, and a stronger emphasis on presenting the Golden Triangle as a coordinated international brand on the world-stage and viewing it ‘in system terms’. In spatial terms this means providing the right balance and mix of housing, start-up, grow-on, industrial and corporate space across the region as a whole, so that researchers and entrepreneurs can easily identify their next opportunity and continue to attract top-tier talent. Ensuring suitable housing, workspace and infrastructure is delivered in the region, where economic output rose by 5.4 percent over the five years to 2018 according to Bidwells, will help future-proof the UK economy.
Kubota, a leading manufacturer of construction machinery, has announced the launch of the KX042-4α excavator, an update to the existing KX042-4 model. The machine has been designed to be more sustainable and is now the most environmentally friendly excavator in its class. The launch of the updated excavator comes at a time when the construction sector is under increasing pressure to become more sustainable, with statistics showing that approximately 39% of the world’s carbon emissions are a result of building and construction. The machine comes fully Stage-V compliant and incorporates an updated Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) which incorporates both the Particulate Filter and Diesel Oxidation Catalyst (DOC) and now enables increased intervals between regeneration and longer service life. The improved DPF system also ensures clean exhaust emissions and reduces maintenance by increasing the service intervals for both the regeneration filter and ash cleaner. Using an auto idling system, the KX042-4α helps the users save fuel. When the control levers are in neutral for more than 4 seconds, the engine RPM automatically idles. When any control lever is moved, the engine RPM immediately returns. This innovative feature reduces noise and exhaust emissions while reducing operating costs, making the updated machine an ideal choice for jobs in built-up urban environments. The KX042-4α also has the power and versatility to handle the toughest jobs with ease and efficiency, thanks to digging and lifting performance, AUX oil flow with proportional flow control, auto-shift and float position – making ground-finishing work fast and easy. Other enhancements include a deluxe suspension seat, designed and engineered to fit better and keep users working for longer comfortably and reducing strain. It also comes with a spacious cab and wide entrance, developed again to optimise operator comfort and give generous legroom to minimise fatigue. Those using the excavator are also able to leave the machine with ease. Glen Hampson, Business Development Manager for Construction at Kubota UK, said: “Our focus at Kubota is to help our customers overcome many of the barriers they face in today’s complicated industry. The KX042-4α will do just this, with a powerful and reliable engine and the versatility you need for every job on the worksite. What’s more, the Stage-V compliant engine and improved DPF will reduce emissions and increase the overall sustainability of the machine, which is a key priority across the industry.”
A new series of free interactive webinars is launched this month by 2N – global market leader in internet-enabled intercoms and access control systems. 2N On Air aims to help owners of residential and commercial property, architects, designers, security firms and building managers to identify and apply touchless technology which protects buildings and their occupants. The webinar series, beginning on 11 June, will profile the latest products for door controls in residential and commercial property. It will also include interactive question and answer sessions for those seeking to understand how to address the needs of their proposed or existing buildings. Coronavirus has already presented many challenges to business. Lockdown in the UK and many European countries has imposed fundamental short term changes on business as well as individuals. Some companies have suffered dramatic drops in demand, with many employees furloughed and many factories, offices and shops empty or with skeleton staffing. Other businesses have been able to adapt in the face of continuing or even increased demand. Production lines have been redesigned to meet new hygiene and distancing regulations. Business processes have had to be adapted rapidly to remote working. Retailers and B2B suppliers have pivoted to an online model, resulting in extraordinary pressures on the infrastructure and capacity of distribution and delivery companies. There have been some clear winners; Joe Wicks, Ocado, Zoom, DHL and the makers of home-baking products, for example. All will hope to carry their lockdown successes forward. Which businesses are best equipped to emerge from lockdown into the new socially distanced normal, by adapting to new public attitudes? For premises, 2N have products to help make them fit for 2020 and beyond. CEO Michal Kratochvíl explained 2N’s motivation for the 2N On Air initiative. He said: “After this great upheaval in our lives, our attitudes towards hygiene and security may have changed. More than before, we may want to avoid touching surfaces such as keypads which we are not sure are clean. We may want to avoid unnecessary face-to-face meetings with strangers, especially at our own front door. “In the workplace, there may be greater spacing between employees, including receptionists and security staff who may feel nervous about direct exposure to employees and visitors as they enter and exit buildings. Apartment buildings equipped with intercom or mobile-enabled access control systems offer reassuring security without exposing residents, guests and tradespeople to unwanted face-to-face exposure or unhygienic keypads. “The 2N On Air series offers seminars on the leading products in the market – offering resilient security while maintaining social distancing and good hygiene – and advice to those who are considering whether and how they might future proof their buildings. Commercial property managers can integrate Internet Protocol intercoms and remote door-controls with other software such as employee time recording systems. “Effective high quality video and mobile-enabled door access controls are already recognised as a competitive advantage for forward thinking building designers and operators. In the new post-coronavirus environment, the wellbeing of building occupants has an even greater value.”
Sustainability champion and green hero, The Used Kitchen Company, is offering homeowners, who have become a little less certain about their kitchen renovation vision and budget, some food for thought that could beat any blues that have set in during lockdown. The UK was expecting to see a 6-7% growth rate in home renovations over the next few years, but this is now projected to shrink. Those who had already started work on their refurbishment or build, could now be facing a budget dilemma, wondering whether or not to cut back on their original fixtures and fittings’ budget. From May 14, builders have been allowed to continue or start working on home extension projects and other home improvement plans, with many of these having ground to a halt during the pandemic. Whilst the shell of an extension is probably an inflexible element of the plan for those now seeking to save money, what goes inside it, if the plan was to fit a new kitchen, need not be as expensive as the homeowner imagined. Kitchen seekers may now feel they will have to compromise on the quality of kitchen they buy. New homeowners, typically spend 30% more on renovations than existing property owners and a new kitchen is often part of that. Anyone disheartened and thinking they will have to ‘make do’ with a kitchen in a lower price bracket, could find a fairy godmother in The Used Kitchen Company. TUKC is a kitchen lover’s dream portal, not just because it features fabulous designer kitchens but also because it offers this type of kitchen at many different price points, to suit a wide variety of budgets and at prices all 50-70% lower than the kitchen’s original RRP, (from as little as 18 months ago). What is available to view online is an array of kitchens that are either second-hand and from a private home, or displays on sale from kitchen showrooms. The used kitchens have often been lovingly cared for, high-quality kitchens when new. Occasionally some are purchases that were never unboxed. The ex-display kitchens are usually still current, allowing a purchaser to buy extra units to go with their TUKC purchase, if needs be. Currently, a £7000 budget would give the buyer the opportunity to size up an ex-display grey and sand gloss Lago kitchen with glass worktops, or an ex-display Kuhlman kitchen with Dekton worktops and appliances. Other brands in their price range currently include Pronorm, Second Nature, Nolte, Alno, Schroder and, for £500 more, Nobilia, Schuller and Warendorf. Many TUKC kitchens even include appliances. Looeeze Grossman, CEO at The Used Kitchen Company, says: “There is no need for anyone midway through a home extension or renovation project to feel they have to compromise and not go for the quality of kitchen they had seen as being integral to their vision for their space. For a lower budget, they could get an even better kitchen – that’s how our model works. At the same time, we throw in something else for free – the feelgood factor that comes with knowing you have also assisted the environment, by buying a kitchen that would otherwise potentially just have been put in a skip and sent to landfill. That happens all the time, but TUKC buyers can prevent it. “Hopefully, our message is a blues-buster for those believing they have to downgrade their plans. We’ve already started to see signs of this amongst those who know about our brilliant sustainability focused service, so we need to spread the word to other home renovators, self-builders and improvers. We must also not forget that homeowners, who now have a disinclination to move home, can give a new lease of life to their space with a nearly new designer kitchen.”
One of the UK’s most respected sheet piling suppliers, Sheet Piling (UK) Ltd, is ready to assist the country’s economic recovery as the construction industry emerges from total lockdown and as Tier-1 contractors earnestly seek security in their supply lines. Sheet Piling UK has all bases covered when it comes to the assurances that the procurement managers of the UK’s Tier-1 contractors require, in order to safeguard their own financial security. Thanks to working with numerous Tier-1 contractors and decades of experience in the construction sector, Sheet Piling UK has an enviable amount of stock at its disposal, with 8000 Te of new sheet piles and 3000 Te of temporary sheet piles in store and a further 5000 Te of steel sheet pile orders already placed for June and July. Additionally, it has an exclusive agreement with Emirates Steel which will enable it to reliably fulfil forward orders, with planned quarterly shipments of sheet piles. This means the Sheet Piling UK team, already operating at 95% capacity, can fully commit to the safe, timely delivery of stock and human resource to Tier-1 contractor projects. Sheet Piling (UK) Ltd’s managing director, Andrew Cotton, says: “We understand the critical nature of secure supply, on time and on budget, for our valued Tier-1 contractor clients and have ensured that every element of our operation has been geared up for a rapid recovery post UK lockdown. We can tick the box of every deliverable required and play our part in getting the construction sector back up and running once again. “Whilst we are painfully aware that some suppliers will not be robust enough to survive the coronavirus crisis, creating delays and additional costs in the supply chain, our stock, resources and liquidity mean we can allay fears and offer full support to any procurement manager. We understand that a strong construction sector is vital, if the UK is to enjoy a strong and resilient future. We are doing everything possible to support our sector as it seeks to get back up and running.” Sheet Piling UK has worked on some emergency projects throughout the lockdown and will be resuming work on smart motorway and HS2 infrastructure projects, using its unique £1.2m long-reach rig, the TM 12/15 LR. A sign of its stability and forward-looking approach lies in the commissioning of a second long-reach rig, with the same 8.1m arm but other capabilities. This rig is due for delivery in a few months’ time, to offer extensive and often unanticipated savings, to projects seeking to not just resume a schedule of works but alto catch up on time lost, by not having to suffer delays around the creation of temporary platforms on which the sheet piling rig can operate.
A survey of recruitment firms by the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) has revealed that 79% are reviewing their need for office space with almost a third (31%) stating that they will definitely downsize and almost half (48%) saying that they will not go ahead with office expansion plans. Over half of the 112 respondents had offices in central London. With almost 40,000 recruitment firms in the UK, the research could make worrying reading for commercial landlords. “We will not be returning as we had previously,” said one respondent, a life sciences recruitment firm with over 50 staff and offices in central London and the south east. “In fact, our productivity has spiked with remote working so we will be operating offices in the future with a rota of teams in attendance that will support social distancing. However, with a more productive remote work practice, we will look for smaller offices and rotas in the future.” Over half of the survey respondents (53%) expected to be back in the office within three months, over a third (37%) within six months and 10% next year. When asked about forward planning just over 30% said they were in the process of reading the Government guidance, almost half (48%) had read the guidance and were actively carrying out risk assessments and just over 20% felt that it was too early to plan anything. However, with recent announcements from companies such as Shopify, Facebook and Twitter saying that staff can work from home indefinitely, it is clear that those looking to return are contemplating a different way of working in the future: “We rent our office but I think the way we rent and use office space needs to change”, commented another respondent a technology recruiter with an office in central London. “We need a base in London for meeting with clients and candidates once it is safe to do so and somewhere to meet as a team once or twice a month. Landlords will need to look at how they rent out space.” The recruitment sector has been hit hard by the Covid-19 crisis and despite government support packages such as the Job Retention Scheme, 46% of respondents are still planning redundancies. Commenting on the results of the survey, Ann Swain, Chief Executive of APSCo said: “The biggest two cost bases to recruitment firms are people and premises and so it is not surprising that companies are looking to reduce those costs against a backdrop of a significant fall in business and I hope that once we have some clarity on the Job Retention scheme post June, the percentage looking at redundancies will fall. However, what this research clearly shows us is that the age of the majority of staff being in the office five days a week is probably well and truly behind us.”
The property website www.localsurveyorsdirect.co.uk reports that it has seen a sharp increase in activity in the UK housing market in the past fortnight following the slump due to the Coronavirus lockdown. JJ Heath-Caldwell, managing director of the business, says: “After a very buoyant start to the year, in mid-March to mid-April the number of enquiries quickly dropped by 80% with the lowest activity recorded on the 14 April. Since then, the activity has been steadily rising and is now around 57% down (instead of 80% down). This is still low but we are seeing steady progress in response to some of the Government’s initiatives to get the property market moving again. “Across our sites, we have seen a strong increase in activity, which is promising after everything was closed during the lockdown period. My expectation is that the number of enquiries will continue to rise as we go through this year. We won’t see the levels that we saw back in January and February, but things are definitely looking up.” Since lockdown restrictions were implemented in the UK in March 2020, more than 450,000 people have been unable to progress their plans to move house. Now, following a Government initiative, all buyers and renters will now be able to complete purchases and view properties in person, while estate agents, conveyancers and removals firms can return to work while following social distancing guidelines. Additionally, in another move to unlock the housing market, the Housing Secretary has announced a series of measures to get the country building homes for the future, including more flexible construction site working hours for builders, the use of social media to publicise planning applications and support for smaller developers with deferred payments to local councils. A new Charter has also been launched by the government and the Home Builders Federation, helping construction sites reopen in line with latest health and safety guidance. Local Surveyors Direct, which offers a property services price comparison engine, helps people source local property professionals, connecting home owners and home buyers with surveyors, architects, estate agents, conveyancers, domestic energy assessors, drainage contractors and other property-related professionals. These services are provided over the whole of the United Kingdom by a comprehensive network of suppliers which has been steadily built up since the website first started operating in 2005.
The Association for Project Management (APM) Awards, sponsored by RPC UK Ltd, are back for 2020, a celebration of the very best individuals, projects and programmes the profession has to offer. APM, the profession’s only chartered body, is calling on the project profession to put themselves, colleague and their projects forward for an award across 16 categories. The deadline for award entries is Monday 15 June via APM’s online portal. From aspiring young project managers to complex and transformational projects and programmes, both in the UK and internationally, last year’s Awards saw a record number of projects entering with the standard getting higher year on year. The 2019 Overall Project of the Year Award went to North Cumbria University Hospitals Trust & Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, for its new maternity information system – BadgerNet electronic personal health records (ePHR). Since the coronavirus outbreak the BadgerNet Maternity and Neonatal platform (supplied by ClevermedLtd) has provided help and support to new parents, families and clinicians, through secure clinical communication between clinical colleagues, risk alerting to mum and baby, as well as BadgerNet Baby Diary function that allows parents and families secure, real time access to photos of their baby while in hospital care over the internet through their PC, tablet device, or mobile phone – while neo natal units are in lockdown. Project of the Year Award 2019 winners also included Heathrow Airport (Technology Project of the Year), Rolls-Royce (Transformation Project of the Year) and Sellafield Ltd. (Engineering, Construction and Infrastructure Project of the Year). APM’s 2020 Award categories include: Overall Project of the Year Awards (chosen from the winners of the four Project of the Year Awards) PMO of the Year Award The Mike Nichols Award for Inspiration Contribution to the Profession Award: Company Contribution to the Profession Award: Consultancy Contribution to the Profession Award: Charity/Not-for-profit Shell Health, Safety, Security and Environment (HSSE) Award Innovation in Projects Award Programme of the Year Award Technology Project of the Year Award Social Project of the Year Award Transformation Project of the Year Award Engineering, Construction & Infrastructure Project of the Year Award Young Project Professional of the Year Award Project Professional of the Year Award APM Outstanding Achievement Award Hilary Trahair, events manager at APM, said: “Our awards are a true reflection of the talent working in the project management profession across all sectors. Being recognised as a finalist or award winner is a fantastic achievement and one that can bring many benefits and opportunities. The award entry process is very simple and we hope people will take the opportunity to enter not only themselves but also their projects and their colleagues. We look forward to seeing many great entries being submitted this year that will help promote the power of the project profession for good.”