Pick Everard, the leading property, construction and infrastructure consultancy, has secured a four-year appointment to deliver a range of services to the healthcare and wider public sector through the NHS SBS Consult 18 framework. The NHS Shared Business Services framework provides business support services to the NHS and public sector
One of the UK’s hallowed university sites benefited from Sika’s waterproof liquid-applied seal that helps preserve the roofing detail. The roof refurbishment at Central Building – part of Cambridge University’s Fitzwilliam College campus – was one of the first projects to apply a pioneering approach. The approach included combining Sikalastic®-621,
Open ECX was called upon by NMBS, the most successful Buying Society in the UK for independent builders, plumbers, hardware and timber merchants, to help manage its current e-Invoicing processes. NMBS has over 600 suppliers and 280,000 invoices to process monthly; therefore the company needed an efficient solution to help
A new research by Heriot-Watt University discovered that the UK has a backlog of 3.9 million homes, its biggest housing shortfall on record; meaning that 340,000 new homes need to be built each year until 2031. Central Bedfordshire alone needs to build 360 affordable homes each year until 2021 under
The contract to build a new UK headquarters in Tolworth for Lidl has been secured by main multidisciplinary contractor Winvic Construction Ltd. The 250,000 sq. ft. building will be just five miles from Lidl’s current HQ in Wimbledon and is expected to take two years to complete. “Securing the Lidl
A £29.3 million contract for the construction of a new teaching and research building for Leeds Beckett University has been won by Galliford Try. The facility will see a new home created for the Carnegie School of Sport on the University’s Headingley campus. “This £45 million world-class facility will underline
Bristol City Council revealed that the plans to build a new 12,000-capacity concert arena in Bristol have been scrapped due to fears over rising costs and the huge sums of the money that would need to be borrowed in order to build the arena on Temple Island. With the Arena
Garbe Industrial Real Estate GmbH, together with the Aachen-based logistics company Hammer GmbH & Co. KG and numerous guests from politics and business celebrated the roofing ceremony for the new logistics centre in Eschweiler, Germany. The new facility, which is being built on a 186,000-square-metre site in the intermunicipal business
Plans to give local firms a chance to secure work on a £500 million housing programme have been revealed by Liverpool City Council. Foundations, a new ethical housing company established by Mayor Joe Anderson, aims to create 10,000 new homes and refurbish dilapidated housing stock in Liverpool. “Foundations has the
The contractors chosen to deliver work as part of the new £500 million Medium Schemes Framework (MSF3) have been revealed by The Midlands Highway Alliance (MHA). Balfour Beatty, Eurovia, Galliford Try and Morgan Sindall have all secured a space on the programme, which will cover highways improvements, maintenance and infrastructure
Pick Everard, the leading property, construction and infrastructure consultancy, has secured a four-year appointment to deliver a range of services to the healthcare and wider public sector through the NHS SBS Consult 18 framework. The NHS Shared Business Services framework provides business support services to the NHS and public sector across the country and it will see Pick Everard building on its expertise in the management consultancy market, providing advisory and consultancy services. “The NHS is a treasured British institution celebrating its 70th anniversary this year and we’re extremely proud and excited to have been appointed to its new Shared Business Services framework. Under the NHS banner, clients in the healthcare and public sectors can be assured of a robust procurement solution from trusted suppliers,” said Dr Nicola Thompson, national director at Pick Everard. Valued at between £20 million and £50 million, the Consult 18 framework has been divided into 10 lots that cover a range of consultancy services to support healthcare and public sector organisations, from GP practices to major public authorities. Pick Everard will be delivering a number of services for three different lots, with services such as strategy development, management support, capital asset delivery, complex projects and change management. “The rapid, sustainable growth Pick Everard has experienced over the past five years – along with our focus on quality, high levels of service and technical excellence – has been delivered on the back of major appointments such as this one,” said Rod Burton, partner at Pick Everard. “Being a multi-disciplinary consultancy allows us to deliver a wide variety of services across a range of different sectors and I’m looking forward to seeing our management consultancy services offering growing over the next four years and beyond. The Pick Everard team has worked hard to develop tailor-made delivery approaches for each contract, which has put us in the best position possible to meet the complex needs of different organisations,” he continued. Pick Everard employs more than 450 staff across its 11 UK offices, providing a range of project, cost and design consultancy services.
One of the UK’s hallowed university sites benefited from Sika’s waterproof liquid-applied seal that helps preserve the roofing detail. The roof refurbishment at Central Building – part of Cambridge University’s Fitzwilliam College campus – was one of the first projects to apply a pioneering approach. The approach included combining Sikalastic®-621, a highly-durable and elastic liquid polyurethane system, designed for areas with complex detailing, with Sika Sarnafil’s single-ply waterproof membrane. Working closely with architect Cullinan Studio, contractors Gunite (Eastern) and Roofing Contractors Cambridge (RCC), and the college, Sika’s challenge was to create an appropriate waterproofing solution for the roof’s intricate design. Constructed in 1963 by renowned architect Denys Lasdun, the original Central Building features protruding ‘scalloped’ detailing, hence the contractor’s potentially challenging requirement: waterproof the flat roof – which itself had plenty of challenging details – and the scalloped areas, whilst maintaining the look and integrity of the roof and the building as a whole. Concrete repairs were carried out to the underside of the protruding scallops. Initially, this involved applying Sika® MonoTop®-610, a high performance, polymer-modified primer, in lieu of high-build concrete repair mortar: Sika® MonoTop®-615. The steel reinforcement was protected with Sika® FerroGard®-903+. This penetrates the concrete and forms a protective monomolecular layer on the surface of the reinforcing steel, to prevent its corrosion. The concrete was finished with Sikagard®-550W, a high-performance anti-carbonation coating, with crack-bridging capabilities, that protects the concrete, whilst meeting the aesthetic requirements of the structure. “Due to the unusual shape of the scallops, it wasn’t aesthetically practical to install sheet membrane on them, so many, many discussions took place to decide how best to tackle this. The Sikalastic® product ensured these unique details would be protected without altering their shape. It’s not unusual for a project to incorporate small amounts of Sikalastic, but this is one of the first projects where the Sarnafil membrane and Sikalastic®-621TC have been used over large areas together,” said Save Stewart, RCC Managing Director. It was thanks to the collaborative relationship between Sika Sarnafil’s technical experts, RCC’s highly experienced fitters and concrete repair contractor Gunite (Eastern), that the finished roof met the strict requirements of the architect and client.
Open ECX was called upon by NMBS, the most successful Buying Society in the UK for independent builders, plumbers, hardware and timber merchants, to help manage its current e-Invoicing processes. NMBS has over 600 suppliers and 280,000 invoices to process monthly; therefore the company needed an efficient solution to help make complex, time-consuming processes more automated. The reasons behind the decision to choose Open ECX are explained by Andy Hextall, Commercial Director at NMBS: “We chose Open ECX as we were extremely impressed with its concepts. In order to save time and resources we needed to find a solution to guarantee performance efficiency and automation for the least amount of effort to our suppliers. This meant we had to get the maximum number of suppliers to make the change to e-Invoicing. This is where ECX’s unique PDF to XML service came in.” “We were extremely satisfied with the speedy supplier on-boarding process. With Open ECX’s assistance, the number of EDI transactions has dramatically increased, seeing a positive decrease in the amount of manual transactions. Open ECX has essentially become an extension of our back office, helping us operate more efficiently. In total, 94% of our transactions are now electronic and hopefully this will increase in time,” Andy continued. The business benefits brought by e-Invoicing include being time and cost-efficient, which expedites the payment process so payments can be made without complication and staff can focus on more strategic tasks, as well as minimizing costly paper waste and time-consuming manual invoicing. Moreover, Open ECX offers complete support and assurance during the eInvoicing on-boarding process, making the switch easy for both your business and your suppliers. NMBS also utilized Open ECX’s e-Ordering solution, which allows the company to send orders directly to suppliers, creating a whole new opportunity by allowing members access to new and existing suppliers via EDI ordering, providing a more efficient service and increasing the NMBS network for the better.
A new research by Heriot-Watt University discovered that the UK has a backlog of 3.9 million homes, its biggest housing shortfall on record; meaning that 340,000 new homes need to be built each year until 2031. Central Bedfordshire alone needs to build 360 affordable homes each year until 2021 under the Strategic Housing Market Assessment. To make a start Central Bedfordshire College and a private developer have chosen ZEDPods, ready-made, quality starter-homes for a new development of 23 homes on college land. The one and two-bedroom houses, a break-through development in low cost, low carbon and high-quality homes, are fabricated off site. Their modular construction allows them to be rapidly erected on pieces of land not generally considered suitable for housing. With a variety of design options covering single or multi-occupancy sites, ZEDPod homes can be tailored for a range of accommodation needs, offering a viable, affordable solution to the keyworker housing crisis. “We are delighted that Central Bedfordshire College is able to support the local area needs and ZEDPods with the creation of environmentally friendly housing solutions. We look forward to working with ZEDPods to develop new courses teaching on modern forms of construction utilising the most cutting edge, eco-friendly construction techniques to our learners and to seeing the benefits that this innovation will have on our community,” said Ali Hadawi, Principal of Central Bedfordshire College. The ZEDPods are designed and developed by RIBA award-winning architect Bill Dunster, who will take advantage of existing city centre car park locations and hard standings across the UK. The homes are built to higher standards than conventional houses, being super insulated, triple glazed, with heat recovery ventilation, low carbon technology and lots of daylight. “As the pods are constructed from quality fireproof, durable and robust materials, they are designed to last as long as a traditionally built homes, The pods’ solar roofs generate more energy than the houses consume, so they will also have the lowest possible running costs,” explained Bill Dunster. ZEDPod owners will have their own balcony and front door, a kitchen and dining table, a bathroom, a lounge with stairs leading to a mezzanine floor bedspace, with home office desk, double bed, wardrobe and storage. ZEDPods will be sold with a ‘Q Assure’ mortgageable warranty.
The contract to build a new UK headquarters in Tolworth for Lidl has been secured by main multidisciplinary contractor Winvic Construction Ltd. The 250,000 sq. ft. building will be just five miles from Lidl’s current HQ in Wimbledon and is expected to take two years to complete. “Securing the Lidl Headquarters contract is in part testament to Winvic’s ability to exceed client expectations. We are delighted that the supermarket giant wants to now benefit from our commercial project expertise, following Winvic’s completion of its Exeter distribution warehouse in 2017. The larger office space that will allow Lidl to grow its business even further, will be ready for occupation in two years,” said Winvic Director, Danny Nelson. Winvic has been appointed due to their extensive experience across a wide range of sectors, its 100% record of on-schedule delivery and their successful completion of Lidl’s UK Distribution Centre in Exeter. Distribution Centres are also underway in Motherwell and Doncaster. While the main contractor has made its reputation as the UK’s leading ‘shed specialist’, it has enjoyed sustained growth in the retail, PRS and civils sectors as well as constructing individual large commercial offices and whole business parks. “We are delighted to confirm the appointment of Winvic, to construct our new headquarters. It is a company much like Lidl, with ambitions of continued growth and exacting standards; we have every confidence that the building will be delivered with the same passion as the other Lidl developments Winvic has completed and is currently undertaking,” commented Ingo Fischer, Lidl UK Board Director for Expansion and Development. Lidl’s UK growth and future predicted market success has led them to outgrow their current site and a greater need for space to support its employees; the new facility will generate further jobs, a boost to the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and will help to support the supermarket’s expansion across the country.
A £29.3 million contract for the construction of a new teaching and research building for Leeds Beckett University has been won by Galliford Try. The facility will see a new home created for the Carnegie School of Sport on the University’s Headingley campus. “This £45 million world-class facility will underline our global reputation for delivering high-impact sports teaching and research. It is part of a wider £200 million programme of investment across our campuses which will further increase the positive contribution we make to our city region and beyond,” explained Professor Peter Slee, Vice-chancellor of Leeds Beckett University. The new building will feature dedicated research laboratories, hypoxic laboratory, health and wellbeing studio, an indoor rooftop sprint track for performance training and analysis, a roof walking track and terrace, enhanced strength and conditioning space and changing and recovery facilities. In addition, there will also be networking spaces for students, staff and visitors, a café, informal teaching space and learning support that will foster interdisciplinary collaboration and knowledge sharing. “We are delighted to be working with Leeds Beckett on such a prestigious project. We have a proven track record in providing high-quality buildings for higher education and we look forward to working with the University to ensure that their students and staff have the world-class sports science facilities they demand,” said Cliff Wheatley, Managing Director for Galliford Try North East and Yorkshire.
Bristol City Council revealed that the plans to build a new 12,000-capacity concert arena in Bristol have been scrapped due to fears over rising costs and the huge sums of the money that would need to be borrowed in order to build the arena on Temple Island. With the Arena plans now being shelved, the council has started exploring options for delivering a mixed-use development on the Temple Island site, which would include a bespoke conference centre and a four or five star hotel, commercial spaces with supporting retail and residential homes for city centre living, and affordable homes on the site next to Bristol Temple Meads. “It is the council’s duty to seek the best possible value for public money and the greatest economic benefit for Bristol and this has been central to the decision. We cannot ignore the evidence which shows that a mixed use scheme on Temple Island would bring an extra £500 million in economic benefit to our city and create three times the number of jobs for the people of Bristol,” said Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol. “We are committed to developing and sustaining a thriving city centre and the emerging options for the alternative scheme offer the lasting economic and social benefit we desperately need in Bristol. We now have the opportunity to deliver a development that raises the bar in terms of quality, sustainability and economic impact,” he continued. In 2016, Bouygues UK was tasked to build the project but failed to agree on terms with the local authority and walked away as costs rose to £90 million from the £80 million sum first agreed. A pre-construction services deal was then handed to Buckingham Group Contracting. However, the plans could not be delivered despite an increased budget of £123.5 million. In November last year, KPMG was commissioned to review the project and by January 2018, spending had topped £10 million including KPMG’s fees. Currently, work is underway to explore the alternative mixed use scheme with potential partners, Legal & General.
Garbe Industrial Real Estate GmbH, together with the Aachen-based logistics company Hammer GmbH & Co. KG and numerous guests from politics and business celebrated the roofing ceremony for the new logistics centre in Eschweiler, Germany. The new facility, which is being built on a 186,000-square-metre site in the intermunicipal business park of Inden/Weisweiler “Am Grachtweg,” is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year. The facility will be home to a logistics property almost 94,000 square metres in size, which will provide 105,000 square metres of floor space, including an additional mezzanine, offices, and social rooms. A total of around 60 million euros have been invested in the project and it will be occupied by Hammer. “As a multi-user location, the logistics centre Eschweiler is unique in the region and an important building block for further growth for us,” said managing director Wolfgang “Tim” Hammer. Moreover, in order to succeed in integrating new businesses, Hammer is also investing in the technical equipment of the logistics centre, in which an automated small parts storage system will speed up the flow of goods. Among the long-standing customers for whom Hammer performs comprehensive storage and logistics services in Eschweiler is QCG Computer GmbH, a company that assembles and tests complete systems for large data centre operators. “In close coordination with all those involved in the logistics centre, we have integrated a 10,000-square-metre production hall for QCG for server assembly,” explained Christopher Garbe. The 217-metre-wide and 385-metre-long logistics property with 80 gates will be equipped for trouble-free loading and unloading of trucks. The design of the exterior area includes 25 parking spaces for trucks and 200 for cars. An additional advantage is the central location in the Rhineland with excellent connections to transport infrastructure. The location in the intermunicipal business park offers direct access to the A 4; distance to the A 44 motorway is only 12 kilometres, and the economic regions of Aachen and Cologne are also only 24 and 40 kilometres away, respectively. “In addition, the close proximity allows for a close exchange with Aachen University, good cooperation with local partners, and last but not least, the opportunity to meet the latest ecological standards with the new building,” said Hammer’s managing director, emphasizing these further advantages.
Plans to give local firms a chance to secure work on a £500 million housing programme have been revealed by Liverpool City Council. Foundations, a new ethical housing company established by Mayor Joe Anderson, aims to create 10,000 new homes and refurbish dilapidated housing stock in Liverpool. “Foundations has the potential to be absolutely transformational in so many ways, such as by creating the right housing mix that the city needs and generating new council tax income which we can reinvest in services,” said Mayor Joe Anderson. “But crucially it is also vital that as part of the construction programme that we give as many local businesses as possible the chance to bid for work from Foundations. We’ve already got a good track record of doing that with our schools investment programme, with 74% of the spending going to Merseyside firms helping create 2,000 jobs and 200 apprenticeships – and we want to replicate that with Foundations,” he continued. The project aims to rebalance the city’s social housing stock, revolutionise the rent to buy sector and drive up council tax receipts for the council. Designed specifically for Liverpool- and Merseyside-based businesses, the framework will enable businesses to pitch for work as part of the derelict refurbishment and new build programmes. “The sheer scale of the work that Foundations will be doing over the next few years offers a tremendous opportunity to local firms, ranging from the supply of materials or fitting out properties,” commented Chair of Foundations, Frank Hont. “The procurement framework aims to recycle as much of the spending as possible locally through the city region economy, into the coffers of local businesses and ultimately the pockets of local workers, benefiting households across the city region. It is an example of how the work that Foundations will be doing will have far reaching benefits that stretches far beyond just building new homes,” Frank Hont added.
The contractors chosen to deliver work as part of the new £500 million Medium Schemes Framework (MSF3) have been revealed by The Midlands Highway Alliance (MHA). Balfour Beatty, Eurovia, Galliford Try and Morgan Sindall have all secured a space on the programme, which will cover highways improvements, maintenance and infrastructure works for the next four years. “We received high quality submissions from all the contractors, which, together with increased levels of investment by local authorities, will drive further successful delivery of infrastructure projects across the region,” commented Mark Kemp, Chair of MSF3 Steering Group. Replacing the Midlands Highways Alliance’s MSF2 framework, which ran for four years to June 2018, and is available to 21 member authorities in and around the Midlands including Leicestershire County Council and Nottinghamshire County Council, The MSF3 framework is expected to exceed the £200 million of works delivered through the previous framework as regional investment in infrastructure is programmed to significantly increase. “With regional investment in infrastructure set to increase over the coming years, it is a great privilege to be appointed to the MSF3 framework,” said Thomas Edgcumbe, Balfour Beatty Managing Director for its North and Midlands regional business. “Following a successful partnership on the Midlands Highway Alliance’s MSF2 framework, we are looking forward to continuing this momentum and delivering further transport infrastructure in the Midlands for our customers and communities alike,” Thomas added.