A total of 100 towns across England are to be supported by the government’s new £3.6 billion Towns Fund to build prosperous futures and develop innovative regeneration plans. The 100 places invited to develop proposals for a new generation of multi-million-pound Town Deals have been announced by Local Government Secretary
A new-build development forming part of an existing fruit farm in Cornwall will soon see more than fruit coming out of the ground, it will also be extracting heat. Coastline Housing’s scheme of 26 affordable houses and flats in the small village of Mitchell near Newquay, will be heated by
Nuki, the market-leader in smart locks is proud to announce the launch of the Nuki Opener, a product designed for apartment buildings. The Nuki Opener enables the operation of the front door to apartment buildings simply via the Nuki app, as well as remotely. This retrofit solution is connected to
Two five metre-tall interactive sculptures, designed by multi-award winning British designer, Steuart Padwick will be erected in King’s Cross shortly for this year’s Designjunction event (19-22 Sept) as part of London Design Festival. The giant cuboid figures have been created in support of mental health anti-stigma initiative, Time To Change, and have been skilfully formed using Douglas Fir to
Henry Brothers have been awarded a £9 million contract to construct a new Enterprise Innovation Centre for Trent University. The project is the third undertaken by Henry Brothers Midlands for the university – and the latest in a number of schemes completed in the higher education sector across the East
BAM Construction has secured orders worth more than £120 million from projects across Essex in the last 20 years. BAM, part of the worldwide Royal BAM Group, tracked orders across the region since 1999, but the firm’s work in the county of Essex actually dates back to 1879, just 10
The government has announced an investment of £30 million to ensure the UK’s ports “continue to thrive” after Brexit. Making the announcement Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said that the investment would ensure that trade continues to flow smoothly at UK ports after 31 October 2019. The Department for Transport is
Association for Project Management (APM), the chartered body for the project profession, has announced that it is working with the major projects profession team at Highways England to introduce a scheme for developing its talented project professionals that – once completed – will give early professional recognition and membership of
Kier has been awarded a North West Construction Hub’s Medium Value Construction Framework worth an estimated £250m-1bn. The framework is for projects valued between £2-10m and is split into 5 sub regional and 1 regional lots. Kier has been appointed to each of the four lots it bid for. Lots
Regeneration plans have been unveiled for a site in Leeds City Centre. Hammerson launched the proposal which is located adjacent to Victoria Gate. The plans will see the site, which is currently a temporary surface car park, redeveloped to provide a 14-storey hotel catering for business and leisure guests. The
A total of 100 towns across England are to be supported by the government’s new £3.6 billion Towns Fund to build prosperous futures and develop innovative regeneration plans. The 100 places invited to develop proposals for a new generation of multi-million-pound Town Deals have been announced by Local Government Secretary Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP. The towns eligible for support from the £3.6 billion Towns Fund include places with proud industrial and economic heritage but have not always benefitted from economic growth in the same way as more prosperous areas. Communities, businesses and local leaders will now join forces to draw up ambitious plans to transform their town’s economic growth prospects with a focus on improved transport, broadband connectivity, skills and culture. A total of 45 places across the Northern Powerhouse and 30 places in the Midlands Engine are among the 100 pioneers of new regeneration fund as part of the government’s commitment to level up all regions by boosting productivity, skills and living standards. Local Government Secretary, Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP, said: “Ensuring that prosperity and opportunities are available to everyone in this country, not just those in London or our biggest cities, is at the heart of the mission of this government. “We want to level-up our great towns, raising living standards and ensuring they can thrive with transformative investment in transport, technology, skills and culture. “I will now work with local people from the 100 communities announced today to agree proposals to invest up to £25 million in each place. I hope these deals will provide the investment and the impetus for long-term renewal ensuring each town can look to the future with a new optimism.” Minister for the Northern Powerhouse and Local Growth, Rt Hon Jake Berry MP also said: “In July, the Prime Minister promised to level up 100 towns across the country, and today we’re delivering that promise. “The best answers for local people will come from local people, that’s why we have listened to people living in these towns and will support them with a mega £3.6 billion fund to drive jobs and economic growth. “Five years on from the launch of the Northern Powerhouse, we are reaffirming our commitment to the people of the North so they have the support they need to be at the leading edge of a confident, global Britain when we leave the EU on 31 October.” The announcement on the regeneration fund follows the Prime Minister’s confirmation in July of an additional £1.325 billion to support towns as part of a renewed vision to level up our regions, which took the total value of the Towns Fund to £3.6 billion. The government will soon publish a prospectus to guide towns through the process and set eligibility criteria for funding. Once approved, new Town Deals will improve connectivity, provide vital social and cultural infrastructure and boost growth – with communities having a say on how the money is spent. Decisions on funding any proposals will be made in due course. The Town Deals Fund builds directly on the government’s commitment to decentralising funding and decisions away from Whitehall and investing in the growth of local economies and devolving powers through ambitious City and Growth Deals, providing more than £9 billion of funding to Local Enterprise Partnerships and introducing 8 metro mayors in England.
A new-build development forming part of an existing fruit farm in Cornwall will soon see more than fruit coming out of the ground, it will also be extracting heat. Coastline Housing’s scheme of 26 affordable houses and flats in the small village of Mitchell near Newquay, will be heated by Cornish-manufactured Kensa Shoebox ground source heat pumps and installed by sister-company Kensa Contracting. George Gillow, Business Development Manager for Kensa Contracting says, “it is a pleasure to be involved in a project which will bring affordable, low carbon heating to local families.” Currently under construction, each home will have its own heat pump, which will be connected to a series of shared borehole ground loops. The Kensa Shoebox can provide low cost heating by either underfloor heating or traditional radiators, in this case the efficient houses will be heated by radiators with a 45°C flow temperature. The low carbon, energy efficient heating system will be eligible for the government’s non-domestic renewable heating incentive (RHI), which will give the Redruth based Housing Association valuable extra income over the next 20 years. The homes are being built by South West building company EBC, based in Newton Abbot, which will be offered to local people for affordable rent and shared ownership. The development was made possible thanks to funding of just over £1million from Homes England. Amy Jenkin, Development Manager at Coastline Housing, said: “We’re very happy to be working with Kensa to install ground source heating into one of our new build developments for the first time, giving our customers guaranteed access to a efficient, sustainable heating.” The development that is part of the fruit farm will work in harmony with the continuation of the family run Mitchell Fruit Garden, operating since 1977.
Nuki, the market-leader in smart locks is proud to announce the launch of the Nuki Opener, a product designed for apartment buildings. The Nuki Opener enables the operation of the front door to apartment buildings simply via the Nuki app, as well as remotely. This retrofit solution is connected to the intercom system inside the apartment, allowing it to trigger the entrance buzzer when activated. In combination with the Nuki Smart Lock, the revolutionary Nuki Opener gives residents completely keyless access from the street to their flat! “The Opener is a huge step for us since about 50% of the European population live in apartment buildings”, says Nuki CEO Martin Pansy. “With the addition of the Nuki Opener to our portfolio we can now enable completely keyless access from the road to the living room for renters and owners of flats.” Just like the Nuki Smart Lock, the Opener can simply be retrofitted with the app tutorial and turns intercoms into smart entry systems. The Nuki Opener is connected to the intercom, allowing it to trigger the door buzzer when activated. Users can open the front door directly or remotely through the app – in combination with the Nuki Bridge. There are several features available that make the solution even more handy. When activating the “Ring to Open” feature authorised users don’t even need to get their smartphone out of their pocket, they just open their front door by ringing the bell to their apartment. Experience the Nuki Smart Lock and the new Nuki Opener as well as a wide range of accessories for yourself at IFA this year – Hall 25 Booth 352. Presentation of the ‘Works with Nuki’ programme Up until now Nuki has focused on the retrofit market, but the Austrian-based Smart Home pioneer is introducing its first solution for new builds so that door manufacturers can integrate Nuki technology directly into their products. The “Works with Nuki” system, which will be introduced at IFA 2019 in Berlin, shows that the company is tapping into the new-build market from 2020 and closely collaborating with door and lock manufacturers. By directly integrating the Nuki module into their products, door and lock manufacturers can offer customers the benefits of the Nuki platform as an out-of-the-box solution. To date, Nuki has delivered over 70,000 Nuki Smart Locks to customers, by the end of 2019 the company expects to surpass 100,000 installed locks. “We are incredibly proud of how positively our system has been received by customers and that we are experiencing fast and healthy growth”, says Martin Pansy. “With over 70 million detached houses and 50 million apartment buildings in Europe, our core market, there’s still plenty of room to grow.”
Two five metre-tall interactive sculptures, designed by multi-award winning British designer, Steuart Padwick will be erected in King’s Cross shortly for this year’s Designjunction event (19-22 Sept) as part of London Design Festival. The giant cuboid figures have been created in support of mental health anti-stigma initiative, Time To Change, and have been skilfully formed using Douglas Fir to convey warmth and humanity, using off-site construction technologies. However, it is the imposing, interactive ‘concrete’ blocks – representing their ‘emotional burdens’ – that truly bring these dramatic, public art spectacles to life. These cubes have been manufactured from HI-MACS® natural acrylic stone (in colour G555 Steel Concrete), supplied by main UK distributor, James Latham and fabricated by Preston based, We Are Limitless Limited (WALL). When a visitor approaches one of the figures, a proximity sensor is triggered and the ‘burden’ will appear to crack, releasing a glow of light. Then, because the sculpture’s burden has been reduced by engaging with the visitor approaching them, it begins to talk, emitting poignant, uplifting phrases, which have been written and recorded by an eclectic group of poets, writers and mental health ambassadors – all reminding us that, through communication, the weight so many of us carry can be lessened. As a key sponsor and supporter of the project, James Latham is encouraging people to post images of themselves interacting with the figures across its various social media platforms using (#makeitlathams), with a prize of an exclusive, bespoke HI-MACS® seat, designed by Steuart Padwick, for the best one. Extensively used in architectural projects of all kinds, HI-MACS® solid surfaces offer a robust, smooth, non-porous and visually seamless surface which can be backlit and thermoformed to give a striking appearance. Commenting on his material selection, Steuart Padwick said, “I wanted a quality material that was easy to work with, looked like concrete, could be machined to let light through and was outdoor friendly, and James Latham recommended HI-MACS® which has proved to be the perfect solution.” Stuart Devoil, Group Head of Marketing at James Latham commented, “This has been a unique project to be involved with and one with such a positive message. I can’t wait to see people interacting with these monumental figures. As one of the UK’s most recognised suppliers of cutting-edge materials to designers and architects, this was an ideal platform to showcase this innovative and versatile product.” Mariana Fredes, LG Hausys, commented, “With a long track record of working closely together as distributor and manufacturer, James Latham and LG Hausys are regularly involved in design events across Europe. We are delighted to work together again, this time providing the signature ‘concrete’ blocks, made from our natural acrylic stone HI-MACS®, for Steuart Padwick’s thought provoking installation” For all visitors to the London Design Festival and Designjunction, James Latham is holding a one-day HI-MACS® walk-in workshop on 19th September at their Design Showroom in the Business Design Centre, Islington, just one tube stop away from Kings Cross. Here, visitors can learn more about the product and witness inspirational demonstrations of thermoforming, sublimation and more. For details on HI-MACS®, James Latham’s full product portfolio or the walk-in workshop contact your local James Latham branch or showroom at: www.lathamtimber.co.uk or email info@lathamtimber.co.uk Designjunction, which runs from 19 – 22 September and is part of the annual London Design Festival, which connects the world’s most renowned design brands, with the world’s leading architects, interior designers, specifiers and buyers.
Henry Brothers have been awarded a £9 million contract to construct a new Enterprise Innovation Centre for Trent University. The project is the third undertaken by Henry Brothers Midlands for the university – and the latest in a number of schemes completed in the higher education sector across the East Midlands. The building will be the focal point of NTU’s enterprise activities – from supporting start-up companies to commercialising research, advising on intellectual property and offering services to local businesses. The £9 million, four-storey building will be linked to the University’s existing Dryden Centre at the City Campus in Nottingham and will provide the flexible space needed to accommodate entrepreneurs and businesses. Henry Brothers has recently handed over a new £23 million engineering facility at the Clifton Campus to NTU, and earlier this year started work on a new Medical Technologies Innovation Facility (MTIF), which is also being built at the Clifton Campus. Ian Taylor, Managing Director of Henry Brothers Midlands, said: “As a company, Henry Brothers is proud to support Nottingham Trent University – the Guardian University of the Year 2019 – as it continues to invest in, and develop and create, first class learning and supporting accommodation and facilities. “This is our third construction project for the University, and we are delighted to have now broken ground at the site and started work on Nottingham Trent University’s latest development at its City Campus. The Enterprise Innovation Centre will have a positive impact not just at the university, but also on the wider economy of Nottingham and the East Midlands and it’s great to play a part in creating such a facility.” Nottingham Trent University Vice-Chancellor Edward Peck was joined by a number of guests at the ground-breaking ceremony, including Anna Vinsen from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and internal colleagues in Executive Dean of Enterprise, Mike Carr, and the recently appointed Head of Enterprise Innovation Centre, Megan Powell Vreeswijk. Launching the project Mike Carr said: “What the Enterprise and Innovation Centre gives us is the focal point for our work with enterprising start-ups and established businesses as well as being somewhere a community of entrepreneurial people can come together to exchange knowledge and ideas.” Megan added: “We have developed the centre based on the three Cs of Community, Connectivity and Collaboration. It allows us to bring together a community of entrepreneurs from across Nottingham and the wider region who can learn from each other and development their businesses. In doing so, we aim to further stimulate the local economy in our area.” Henry Brothers is working on the Enterprise Innovation Centre with architect Evans Vettori, engineers Mott MacDonald, Edge as project manager, Robinson Low Francis as quantity surveyor, with Couch Perry Wilkes handling the M&E elements. The centre is planned to open in late 2020 and will become the new home for the Hive, which is currently based in the University’s Maudslay building. The Hive offers mentoring, support, training and networking opportunities for students, graduates, staff and other entrepreneurs launching a business or social enterprise. It has been part funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Sustainable Urban Development Scheme (SUDS), coordinated by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government with the support of the D2N2 LEP and Nottingham City Council.
BAM Construction has secured orders worth more than £120 million from projects across Essex in the last 20 years. BAM, part of the worldwide Royal BAM Group, tracked orders across the region since 1999, but the firm’s work in the county of Essex actually dates back to 1879, just 10 years after it was founded – which also makes them one of the UK’s oldest construction firms. Adam Harding, BAM Construction’s regional director for the South East, said: “This year we completed a multi-storey car park for Stansted Airport, and it made us reflect on what other schemes we might have delivered across Essex. “We’ve dug into the archives and found over 30 schemes dating back to when we built the War Office in Waltham Abbey for the Government in 1879, exactly 140 years ago. “That job was priced at £12,400. Today, that’s something like £2 million. It isn’t just the money that’s changed of course. Our business is unrecognisable now – we are cleaner, safer, and highly technological. “When we began, our materials moved around by horse and cart. Now we have drone pilots and virtual reality engineers. But construction has always been about people – collaborative relationships between designers, engineers, clients and sub-contractors. “And that’s one reason we value the firms with whom we have placed those orders. Our supply chain in Essex has exported its skills across the UK. We score them on every aspect of what they do from quality and sustainability through to their attitude. And we pick the best – because it is how well you work with others that makes the critical difference.” Apart from the War Office, BAM’s track record includes two major bypass roads, shopping centres in Harlow, factories for BOC, and neuroscience research buildings for Merck, Sharp and Dohme – one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. It also created the Sklan factory in Harold Hill, which made miniature furniture. An archive clip of this happening is below from You Tube and British Pathe. It also created the Essex Cardiothoracic Centre and the new HQ for former financial giant Access, both in Basildon. Just a few years ago it handed over Harlow University technical College (UTC), having built more UTC buildings than any other contractor in the UK. Adam Harding added: “We’ve managed to build just about everything in Essex – education, health, industrial, and leisure facilities, plus several supermarkets for Tesco, Asda and Waitrose. The story of 150 years is that you need to be versatile and adaptable to survive, and know how to do more than just create buildings. You need to improve people’s lives along the way.”
The government has announced an investment of £30 million to ensure the UK’s ports “continue to thrive” after Brexit. Making the announcement Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said that the investment would ensure that trade continues to flow smoothly at UK ports after 31 October 2019. The Department for Transport is calling on ports across England to bid for a share of £10 million, as part of the Port Infrastructure Resilience and Connectivity (PIRC) competition, to help deliver upgrades which will enhance capacity and maintain trade flow. On top of this, the government is providing £5 million to 4 key Local Resilience Forums (LRFs) – made up of emergency responders, councils and other public services – in areas with key freight ports. This will help them build infrastructure improvements to minimise any potential traffic disruption at the border. A further £15 million will go towards longer-term projects to boost road and rail links to ports and ensure more freight can get where it needs to be faster. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: “We are leaving the on 31 October and we will be prepared whatever the circumstances. “As the continues to develop as an outward-facing global trading nation ready for a post-Brexit world, the resilience of our trading hubs is more critical than ever before. “This £30 million investment supports our ports in their work to boost capacity and efficiency, ensuring they’re ready for Brexit and a successful future.” The funding comes as part of the government’s £2.1 billion investment to step-up the country’s preparations for leaving the EU. The competition will be open until 6 September, after which successful bidders will be given up to £1 million each to deliver infrastructure improvements. For example, this may include providing more parking and container storage space or developing traffic systems to ensure the free flow of cars and lorries. The £5 million is targeted specifically at delivering infrastructure improvements to manage road traffic around maritime ports with important trade routes. It comes a week after the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government announced a separate £9 million scheme for local councils and to support their overall planning for Brexit in local areas and major air, land or sea ports. This funding could include supporting the hiring of additional staff or implementing regional communications campaigns. The Department for Transport continues to prepare for all circumstances after 31 October and has been implementing a multi-channel information campaign to ensure hauliers have the documents they need to carry goods into the EU.
Association for Project Management (APM), the chartered body for the project profession, has announced that it is working with the major projects profession team at Highways England to introduce a scheme for developing its talented project professionals that – once completed – will give early professional recognition and membership of APM. To make this happen, Highways England is introducing two new certificates for emerging project professionals which will align with APM’s frameworks and standards. Highways England has defined these as Foundation Project Professional and Practising Project Professional. These certificates are effectively the stepping stones to provide a clear ‘line-of-sight’ from the beginning of their careers, through to chartered status if they choose to pursue it. The Foundation Project Professional certificate, as the first step, is awarded for supporting project delivery and embedding learning from the APM Project Fundamentals Qualification (APM PFQ). To achieve this evidence is submitted against six APM competencies – covering technical and behavioural disciplines at level 2 of the APM competence rating scale. The more challenging Project Professional certificate is awarded for taking ownership of delivery tasks within a project team by providing evidence against eight APM competencies covering technical and behavioural skills across level 2 and 3 of the APM competence rating scale, with 12 months of continued professional development (CPD) activity. Highways England has made the commitment to award Associate Membership of APM with the practicing professional, giving staff access to additional APM professional development resources and networks. The Highways England team is promoting these steps to drive a professional development culture through their project delivery community, make it achievable for talented and emerging professionals to target their CPD and career pathway, learn from the wider professional community through APM associate membership to achieve Full Member status within the APM (MAPM) and on through to Chartership earlier in their career. “Project professionals are vital to our success,” said Peter Mumford, major projects executive director at Highways England. “As indicated in The Golden Thread, Association of Project Management’s latest research paper, project professionals generate over £165 billion of gross value added (GVA) to the UK economy every year. That’s £43 billion more than the entire construction sector.” He continued: “We want to attract the best new talent and enable our project professionals to reach their full potential – and that’s why we’re working with APM. Developing recognised project professionals through independent assessment will give our people the support they need to build their experience and meet their career ambitions. Not only will it endorse the progress they are making, but it will provide us with the governance, organisation and controls to deliver our schemes effectively and assure our customers that we’re delivering safely and making the most from every pound we invest. With that in mind, I’m going to lead by example and have set myself the target of achieving APM certification this year!” Speaking about what this means for him, for early talent and for the company, apprentice project manager at Highways England, Owen Adams said: “This news gives me real confidence that I made the right decision to join Highways England as a project management apprentice. I know where I want to get to and I can build my pathway there, right up to Chartered.” Chief executive at Association for Project Management Debbie Dore welcomed Highways England’s commitment to the profession: “Raising the profile of project professionals and the roles they play is pushing the industry forward and encouraging innovation across delivery.By mapping its career paths to the professional qualifications and chartership offered by APM, Highways England will give its employees a great opportunity to develop their career aligned to professionally recognised standards.”
Kier has been awarded a North West Construction Hub’s Medium Value Construction Framework worth an estimated £250m-1bn. The framework is for projects valued between £2-10m and is split into 5 sub regional and 1 regional lots. Kier has been appointed to each of the four lots it bid for. Lots 3, 4 and 5 cover projects in Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire that are worth between £2-5m and Lot 6 covers projects in the North West that are between £5,000,0001-10m. The new framework will run for 3 years, with an option to extend for a further 1 year, and replaces the previous North West Construction Hub Medium Value Construction Framework which covered projects across the North West worth between £2-9m and saw Kier appointed on all 12 Lots. Peter Commins, managing director at Kier Regional Building North West, said: “Frameworks are hugely important for the Kier Regional Building business and I am pleased that we have been appointed to 4 Lots of this integral North West framework. We look forward to continuing to deliver projects under this framework and delivering high quality construction projects for the communities we work in. “The framework provides a great route for procurement for clients in the North West and Kier has previously delivered 31 projects under NWCH frameworks, including Heron House Office refurbishment and FA Parklife, which was recently awarded Project of the Year at this year’s North West Regional Construction Awards.” Under the previous iteration of the North West Construction Hub Medium Value Construction Framework, Kier also delivered Huntington Primary School, a new-build, two-storey, 420-place primary school and 26-place nursery in Chester. The project recently won the sub-regional project of the year award at the North West Regional Construction Awards 2019.
Regeneration plans have been unveiled for a site in Leeds City Centre. Hammerson launched the proposal which is located adjacent to Victoria Gate. The plans will see the site, which is currently a temporary surface car park, redeveloped to provide a 14-storey hotel catering for business and leisure guests. The Victoria Gate Hotel is one of the first schemes Hammerson has brought forward as part of its new City Quarters concept: creating vibrant mixed-use neighbourhoods surrounding Hammerson’s existing flagship destinations, in thriving locations in the UK. The concept will see Hammerson transform many of its city venues beyond pure retail into successful neighbourhoods providing homes, workspace, hotel space and accessible public realm. This announcement follows the recent submission of mixed-use masterplan applications for both Martineau Galleries in Birmingham and the Goodsyard in Shoreditch. The building would sit adjacent to Victoria Gate in Leeds City Centre and see the regeneration of the land between the existing Victoria Gate multi-storey car park and St Peter’s Street (A61). Designed by architects Acme, who delivered Victoria Gate, the façade takes inspiration from the surrounding architecture and the city’s rich merchandising and textile history. The hotel will feature 205 spacious rooms, an on-site gym and conferencing facilities. A new contemporary bar and restaurant on the ground floor will welcome both guests and visitors to the City’s Cultural Quarter. Robin Dobson, UK Director of Development and Project Management at Hammerson commented: “We are pleased to be able to share plans for a new hotel within the Victoria Estate as we continue the roll out of our City Quarters concept in thriving locations around the UK and Ireland. Hammerson has a strong track record of delivery in Leeds City Centre and these plans for a new, contemporary hotel represent the next step in our wider regeneration plans, creating a mixed-use destination where people can live, work and relax, centered around our premium flagship destination, Victoria Leeds.”