12 construction sites located across the length and breadth of the UK have triumphed as winners of the Considerate Constructors Scheme’s 2019 Ivor Goodsite Hoarding Competition. Now in its seventh year, Scheme-registered construction sites and companies invite local schools and community groups to participate in decorating their site hoardings to
Kuflink has announced a new commercial partnership with Southampton FC. The Premier League club’s first ever official peer-to-peer investment partner is set to become a familiar face at St Mary’s Stadium as matchday sponsors, appearing on the LED advertising boards during the Saint’s home games and featuring across social media
Design Council welcomes the interim report from the government’s Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission. The interim report saw Commissioners present a summary of key findings. Design Council is pleased the report reflects many of the positions submitted in its evidence to the government earlier this year. In particular the emphasis
BLACKBX, the smart Wi-Fi and marketing analytics start-up, today announced the launch of its brand new “Wi-Fi Stories” feature – initially available on a free trial period. The Instagram-style stories feature is a unique digital channel for venue owners to display promotions, deals and events to customers, including links to
The Wellington Orbit centre has been completely transformed with the help of Ferco Seating. The site now provides an arthouse cinema, eatery and arts centre for the whole community. Wellington Town Council chose to use its £150,000 Telford 50 Legacy Fund grant to support this worthy project. Work began in
Plans to redevelop a 1960’s estate in east London have a taken a major step forward with a key contractor appointment. Wates Residential has been selected to deliver the £55 million project, which will see a part of the estate transformed into 200 new homes. Around 40% of the new
A pilot project has been introduced to help fast-track the training of new bricklayers in the construction industry. This Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) scheme is part of a drive to address a national shortage of bricklayers. Brickwork Academy is working with students at Wirral Metropolitan College and Hugh Baird
Westcountry homebuilder Cavanna Homes is celebrating a hat-trick after being shortlisted for three awards in the 2019 national Housebuilder Awards. Two of the firm’s developments; Primrose Hill in Torquay and Yarners Mill in Dartington, have been shortlisted in the ‘Best Design for Three Storeys or Fewer’ category, alongside eight other
Duncan Firth, 46, has been promoted to managing director of Walker Sime, the large regional property consultancy with offices in Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds. Founders Des Walker and Jon Sime have assumed new roles focusing on quality, governance and client relationships. Firth joined the business in 2015 tasked with establishing
The UK’s original tenancy deposit alternative provider Reposit, announces its latest partnership with X1 Lettings, a prominent provider of student and residential lets across the North of England. X1 is a privately held, award-winning residential accommodation provider operating in the North of England with properties in Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds.
12 construction sites located across the length and breadth of the UK have triumphed as winners of the Considerate Constructors Scheme’s 2019 Ivor Goodsite Hoarding Competition. Now in its seventh year, Scheme-registered construction sites and companies invite local schools and community groups to participate in decorating their site hoardings to create local masterpieces of colourful, attractive designs – many of which offer important messages such as: protecting the environment, the importance of education and children’s mental health. This year’s winners are: BAM Construction UK Ltd With the help of: Lourdes Secondary School Theme: BAM 150 Years Celebration Berkeley Homes With the help of: Ursuline Girls High School Theme: Ecology – Our Home Fox Building & Civil Engineering Ltd With the help of: Knocknagoney Primary School Theme: The Careful Rabbit Stays Safe in the City Hart Builders (Edinburgh) Ltd With the help of: Seven Local Primary Schools Theme: Why you love living on the Scottish Borders Hobson & Porter Ltd With the help of: 500 Children aged 5-12 from the local community. Theme: Pride in your Town & #loveconstruction Kier Construction – Western & Wales With the help of: Keynsham Youth Group & Salford School Theme: The Gruffalo and World War Remembrance Lovell Partnerships Ltd With the help of: Heronsgate Primary School Theme: Lend a Hand to Improve our Land MID Contracting & Consulting Ltd With the help of: Robert Clack School Theme: Community & Importance of Education Mulalley & Company Ltd With the help of: All Saints Primary School Theme: Our Fragile Land and Sea Environment United Living (South) Ltd With the help of: Long Mead Community Primary School Theme: What can you do for the environment? VINCI Joint Venture With the help of: Norton Knatchbull School Theme: A Message from Ashford Willmott Dixon Construction With the help of: The MacIntyre Charity Theme: Love Makes the World Go Round In addition to these winners, a further six competition entries were given recognition for their inspirational efforts, receiving the ‘Ivor’s Choice Award’. The winners of this award are: Berkeley Homes West Thames With the help of: Blair Peach Primary School Theme: Careers & Aspirations in Construction Lovell Partnerships Ltd With the help of: Abronhill Primary School Theme: Be Yourself Midas Construction Ltd With the help of: Watermore School Theme: Respect, Responsibility, Perseverance, Friendship, Caring and Honesty. Quintain Estates Ltd With the help of: Place2Be Charity and 11 Local Schools Theme: Children’s Mental Health: Staying Healthy Inside & Out Solmaz Ltd With the help of: Fulham Cross Girls School Theme: Knife Crime Willmott Dixon Construction With the help of: St. Mary’s Primary School Theme: Save Our Planet The Scheme’s Chief Executive Edward Hardy commented: “Massive congratulations to all winners and runners-up of this year’s Ivor Goodsite Hoarding Competition. This competition offers a tremendous opportunity for those registered with the Scheme to collaborate with local schools and community groups to provide colourful and creative works of art across hoardings. Construction site hoardings are the ‘shop window’ of the industry, and it is excellent to see, through this competition, so many hoardings being used to communicate really important messages across our communities. “Thank you to all the Scheme-registered sites and companies for participating and making a real difference to the local communities impacted by construction activity. These efforts continue to help improve the image of construction, and we look forward to even more sites entering the competition in 2020 and beyond.” All entries receive congratulatory medals, certificates and fun packs as well as trophy and banner. There is also a special Ivor Goodsite Hoarding Competition brochure displaying all of the entries.
Kuflink has announced a new commercial partnership with Southampton FC. The Premier League club’s first ever official peer-to-peer investment partner is set to become a familiar face at St Mary’s Stadium as matchday sponsors, appearing on the LED advertising boards during the Saint’s home games and featuring across social media and more. “As an ambitious fintech, we’re continually exploring new ways to spread the word about our fantastic products and look forward to building strong ties with the club, its supporters and local community. Kuflink and Southampton FC share similar values and aspirations, making this partnership opportunity the ideal fit,” said Narinder Khattoare, Kuflink CEO. The Kent-based investment platform will also be launching exciting initiatives for the club’s supporters and working closely to roll out exclusive benefits for their community throughout the coming months. “We are extremely pleased to welcome Kuflink on board as our Official Peer to Peer Investment Partner. Like us, they are a challenger brand and through the partnerships we can help them with their growth in a developing industry. They are an innovative company that have enjoyed tremendous success and we look forward to working closely with them on some exciting projects,” added David Thomas, Commercial Director at Southampton FC.
Design Council welcomes the interim report from the government’s Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission. The interim report saw Commissioners present a summary of key findings. Design Council is pleased the report reflects many of the positions submitted in its evidence to the government earlier this year. In particular the emphasis on: – place making over house building – community empowerment – the importance of sustainability and green infrastructure – the importance of design skills amongst planners and decision makers – the move towards a more inclusive approach involving the public earlier in in the planning process – the importance of national quality standards Sarah Weir OBE, Design Council CEO: “There is much to welcome in the Commission’s really bold and imaginative interim report. I am especially pleased to see a strong focus on true collaboration and much earlier community engagement, the emphasis on the value of holistic placemaking and the recognition that sustainability and green infrastructure needs to be at the heart of planning and design. The call for a greater emphasis on design skills in local authorities is particularly important and reflects our evidence to the Commission. Design Council is also ready and eager to play our role as national advisory body for Government, working closely with the Commission to help ensure consistently high standards of design nationally. This interim report has the clear potential to ensure an even wider impact can be felt across the country in the final report. We look forward to being a part of it.” As government’s advisor on design, Design Council provides independent, practical and direct support to local authorities, property developers and their consultant teams to help enhance the quality of the built environment. This comes in the form of design advice and guidance and includes design reviews and a design approach that enable a cross sector, systems approach to supporting better places to live. As an authority in this field, Design Council have long argued that many new homes and neighbourhoods fail to meet the needs of their communities because design is not prioritised by planners and developers. In Design Council’s submitted evidence to the government’s Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission, we argued that design must be recognised as a golden thread running through the development and planning process, rather than being an afterthought.
BLACKBX, the smart Wi-Fi and marketing analytics start-up, today announced the launch of its brand new “Wi-Fi Stories” feature – initially available on a free trial period. The Instagram-style stories feature is a unique digital channel for venue owners to display promotions, deals and events to customers, including links to encourage TripAdvisor and Google reviews. It is important market your brand right, finding good instagram advertising agencies is a key step to take. These short five second videos and landing pages, which are immediately displayed to returning customers when they go online, eliminate the need for wasteful and time-consuming paper promotions. This allows venues to create new promotions on the fly and, since detailed conversion analytics are available for all promoted Stories, lets venues experiment with different displays and track their success. Stories gives venue owners more value from their Wi-Fi, which has historically been given away for free, while also keeping customers up-to-date on relevant deals in real-time such as Happy Hour promotions, today’s specials and upcoming live music. Stories is now available on BLACKBX’s Wi-Fi and data analytics platform, which is an alternative log in option for secure guest Wi-Fi that doesn’t require a password. The launch also follows BLACKBX market research in May 2019 revealing that the majority of British food and drink venues put little or no effort promoting new deals or attracting new customers, and that only 38% of people have left an online review for their favourite restaurant – see more in notes for editors. “Like paying for dinner by cheque or smoking at the bar, I think that physical food & drink promos and Wi-Fi passwords scrawled on blackboards will be alien concepts in the next five years,” said BLACKBX founder and CEO, Patrick Clover. “We’re on a mission to make Wi-Fi better for everyone and give physical venues the digital tools they need to reach their customers. Physical promotions are easily ignored, they take time to design, must be re-printed for every change and, let’s face it, paper is a poor environmental choice. For businesses that want more value from Wi-Fi or don’t know how to get started with digital marketing, our Stories feature is the ultimate in-venue promotional tool and the perfect replacement for boring paper promotions.” Core features of Stories include: Stories can promote anything chosen by the venue eg. a new menu, an upcoming event, a TripAdvisor review page, or a daily promotion to help increase transactions (eg. buy-one-get-one-free cocktails, happy hour events, the weekly pub quiz) Venues see detailed conversion analytics for all their Stories (eg. how many customers left a review, how many saw their latest cocktail promotion), letting them experiment with different promotions and track their success No other guest Wi-Fi / captive portal provider has a solution of this kind “High street shops and the hospitality sector at large is struggling, it can’t compete with the likes of Amazon, Airbnb and JustEat, and things are getting worse not better,” continued Clover. “We want to empower these venues with the digital tools and customer understanding that have made digital businesses so successful – helping them know their customers better, showcase everything they have to offer and be a bit more agile when it comes to communicating with customers.”
The Wellington Orbit centre has been completely transformed with the help of Ferco Seating. The site now provides an arthouse cinema, eatery and arts centre for the whole community. Wellington Town Council chose to use its £150,000 Telford 50 Legacy Fund grant to support this worthy project. Work began in 2018, with local building firm McPhillips taking on the two phase project. The first phase created the cinema and eatery on the ground floor and phase two will add an art gallery space, a dance/drama studio and meeting rooms for events and art courses on the upper floors. Following a piece in the Shropshire Star featuring their latest seating projects, Ferco was engaged to design, manufacture and install 63 new seats in the cinema. “This is perhaps the most exciting community led project in Wellington’s recent history and will benefit generations to come – a great legacy of Telford’s 50th anniversary,” commented Councillor Cindy Mason-Morris, mayor of Wellington. Ferco’s Managing Director, Michael Burnett remarked that the Atcham based company is “delighted to be involved in another Shropshire-based project”. He added: “We are used to providing luxury seating for iconic buildings all over the world but there is something really special about getting involved in a project in your own community.” The Wellington Orbit project leaders chose the versatile 588 from Ferco’s Paragon range. Supremely comfortable, with bespoke stitching, it has a drinks table on each armrest perfect for a glass of prosecco or a cup of tea served from the café, which is licensed. Ferco also provided seating for Shrewsbury’s Theatre Severn, Wrekin College, RAF Cosford and last summer installed the popular RailSeat in Shrewsbury Town’s ‘safe standing’ area. Moreover, the company has provided seats for projects as diverse as the London 2012 Olympic Aquatic Centre, all seating at Arsenal’s Emirates stadium, VIP seats at Headingley Cricket Ground, theatres in the Marina Bay Sands hotel in Singapore, corporate auditoriums at the headquarters of IBM and Lenovo and lecture theatres in high profile Universities all over the world. Ferco Seating designs, manufactures and installs bespoke fixed seating solutions for cinemas, auditoriums, stadiums and arenas and educational institutions.
Plans to redevelop a 1960’s estate in east London have a taken a major step forward with a key contractor appointment. Wates Residential has been selected to deliver the £55 million project, which will see a part of the estate transformed into 200 new homes. Around 40% of the new properties will be affordable. This work forms part of Phase One of the Gascoigne Estate West project in Barking. Wates secured the contract through the pioneering £1 billion Be First Development Framework which is designed to accelerate development and growth in the borough, and deliver thousands of affordable homes for local people. The contractor will also deliver a significant investment in education, skills and training through the project. The team will include a minimum of 20% of local people, creating at least 20 jobs and addressing the skills shortage with a wider education programme that will run through local schools from year 6 upwards. They will also promote job vacancies to those who currently face barriers to employment, in addition to providing work experience placements and careers advice sessions, as well as a number of apprenticeships in key traditional areas including bricklaying, and carpentry, as well as in business administration. The developer will also upskill the workforce by helping staff gain qualifications including NVQs and industry certificates. Work is expected to start on Phase One of the Gascoigne Estate West project in February 2020.
A pilot project has been introduced to help fast-track the training of new bricklayers in the construction industry. This Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) scheme is part of a drive to address a national shortage of bricklayers. Brickwork Academy is working with students at Wirral Metropolitan College and Hugh Baird College in the Liverpool city region, and Warwickshire College in the West Midlands, to give them the work experience they need to take up jobs in construction. The students have been chosen in partnership with participating local employers and will complete an additional seven weeks of practical skills training at their college, along with work experience days on local construction sites. After this they will spend the next 24 weeks working onsite with their employer, to achieve their NVQ Level 2 brickwork qualification. In addition to developing their practical trowel skills, the extra college training supports students to be better prepared for the construction sector, covering topics such as employability skills and self-employment. CITB will evaluate the pilot project and if successful, it could be rolled out to more colleges across the country, and to other construction trades. This comes after CITB research showed 70% of construction employers regard work experience as of significant value when recruiting, twice as many as those who value academic qualifications. They also found 29% of college graduates poorly prepared for work, due in part to a lack of practical, on-site experience. “We know that construction employers are struggling to recruit skilled bricklayers, while too many students on construction-related courses lack the onsite experience and employability skills that will get them their first job in construction. We’re really encouraged by the enthusiasm shown by the colleges and employers involved in the Brickwork Academy. We hope that its results will make the case for expanding the Academy approach with more employers and into other trades, to join together with other CITB initiatives to help more learners become site-ready for employment,” commented Steve Radley, CITB Strategy and Policy Director.
Westcountry homebuilder Cavanna Homes is celebrating a hat-trick after being shortlisted for three awards in the 2019 national Housebuilder Awards. Two of the firm’s developments; Primrose Hill in Torquay and Yarners Mill in Dartington, have been shortlisted in the ‘Best Design for Three Storeys or Fewer’ category, alongside eight other national developments. Cavanna Homes’ successful apprenticeship scheme has also been shortlisted for ‘Best Training or Recruitment Initiative’, alongside six others. The Housebuilder Awards, in partnership with the National House Building Council (NHBC) and the Home Builders Federations (HBF), recognise innovation and excellence in the housebuilding industry. Michael Newman, Head of Design at Cavanna Homes said: “These prestigious awards shine a light on the best developments and initiatives in our industry. To be shortlisted, not once but three times is something to be really proud of! “This is a brilliant reflection of our teams’ passion and commitment to building high-quality beautiful new homes, and the firm’s investment in the next generation joining our exciting industry. We have our fingers crossed for the awards ceremony in October”. Primrose Hill in the seaside town of Torquay is a development of 155 new 2, 3 and 4-bedroom properties set on a hilltop site within green, landscaped areas that form an impressive gateway to Torquay. Primrose Hill has only two homes remaining for sale; a two-bedroom bungalow with a master en-suite, and a four-bedroom family home with an open plan kitchen / dining room, a garage and parking. Cavanna Homes’ Yarners Mill development transformed a redundant work space into a vibrant community of 30 open market and affordable new homes, complementing the small Devon village of Dartington, near Totnes. As part of the homebuilder’s commitment to nurturing up-and-coming talent in construction, Cavanna Homes has welcomed its largest intake of apprentices to date, which has been reinforced with the appointment of Managing Director, Keith Miller. Keith Miller added: “We’re major supporters of apprentices, and have been for years. Each year we’re keen to increase the number of apprentices we support, and it’s really rewarding to see our apprenticeship initiative recognised in the Housebuilder Awards, as well as two of our outstanding developments. “We’re thrilled to be shortlisted in the awards, and we’re looking forward to the finals in October!”. The awards ceremony will be taking place on 24th October 2019 at the InterContinental in London – The O2.
Duncan Firth, 46, has been promoted to managing director of Walker Sime, the large regional property consultancy with offices in Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds. Founders Des Walker and Jon Sime have assumed new roles focusing on quality, governance and client relationships. Firth joined the business in 2015 tasked with establishing its project management division. This followed a successful consultancy career which included delivering the City of Manchester Stadium in time for the Commonwealth Games and a period as a director of Deloitte where he delivered a number of key pieces of infrastructure for the London Olympics. “We have a unique culture here that places our clients and our staff front and centre and it will be more of the same,” says Firth of his early priorities. Walker Sime has 85 employees and a turnover approaching £8m per annum. The company offers quantity surveying, project management, construction design management, bills of quantities and commercial consultancy services. Current projects include Walker Sime’s role as project managers on Peel’s giant Liverpool Waters scheme; as advisors on Ask Real Estate’s emerging Medlock Street mixed use scheme in Manchester and as cost consultants on Leeds Bradford Airport in Yorkshire. Mark Parker has been promoted internally to fill Mr Firth’s previous role as director of the company’s project management division.
The UK’s original tenancy deposit alternative provider Reposit, announces its latest partnership with X1 Lettings, a prominent provider of student and residential lets across the North of England. X1 is a privately held, award-winning residential accommodation provider operating in the North of England with properties in Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds. Family-founded in 2012, it has grown from one 92-unit building in Liverpool to a 19 building, 4000+ tenant-strong operation. X1 focuses on providing The Northern Powerhouse’s students and young professionals with reasonably priced luxury housing continuing to prove a success. Reposit is currently offered to all new X1 Lettings tenants. At the firm’s latest development, Media City Tower Two in Manchester, Reposit has been chosen by 43 percent of its 237 tenants since being given the choice alongside traditional deposits a month ago. X1 has filled approximately 80 per cent its available units at the site in Salford, Manchester. Jude Greer, CEO and Co-Founder, Reposit: “We are really pleased that our latest partnership with X1 Lettings allows us to further grow our reach in the North of England. Reposit has always been designed to improve the affordability of moving home for tenants across the UK. It is important for us to empower young people in major cities in the North of England to be able to choose from a more diverse pool of properties. We are excited to see what the takeup is and how tenants and landlords enjoy our service.” Lorna McCracken, Branch Manager, X1 Lettings said: “Working with Reposit has been a really smooth process, from the initial discussion stage right through to integrating as part of our booking process. Many tenants have decided to opt to use Reposit rather than a traditional deposit since we offered this at the end of May. The team are really enjoying using Reposit, it is very easy to explain how it works to our tenants and is quick and easy to process.” Jaimie Crowther, Marketing Manager, X1 Lettings said: “The residential lettings market is changing and at X1 we are always looking at new offerings for our tenants. Reposit is a solution that we felt would grow our offering to tenants whilst keeping all parties protected. What stood out to us was the clean and safe approach that Reposit offers and the team were really open and knowledgeable about the lettings industry. Having explored the other alternatives, we are 100 percent confident in having made the right choice, not least thanks to the attention to detail in its offering and the fact that they are FCA regulated and provide FSCS cover.” X1’s Head of Operations, Mellissa Green added: “X1 started with relatively humble beginnings in a small office on Duke Street in Liverpool. Previously consisting of only three staff members and one student accommodation block, X1 has transformed into an award winning property management agency with thousands of tenants and landlords spanning across three cities. One of the reasons our expansion has been so successful is due to the family ethos that remains at the core of the company. Our tenants and landlords remain loyal to us, and this is down to us abstaining from a more corporate approach as we endeavour to stay authentic and relatable, no matter how big we get.” Following a successful launch of Reposit to new tenants, X1 plans to introduce the InsurTech offering to existing tenants in the coming months. X1 also plans to use Reposit through its integration with UK Tenant Data’s pre-tenancy software. Fully regulated by the FCA and covered by FSCS, Reposit gives tenants the possibility to switch safely from traditional five-week deposits to a non-refundable insurance product worth one week’s rent, one that provides eight-weeks of cover to tenants and landlords, covering them for all things covered by traditional deposits. Eight weeks of complete cover is the joint highest available from deposit alternative suppliers in the market. Reposit landlords are individually named on an insurance policy with Lloyds of London top – five underwriter Canopius. As the founding deposit alternative option in the UK, Reposit has been on the market for four years and has steadily expanded its services across the UK.