Cristina Diaconu

New industrial automation sector head for Gambica

Gambica, an industry body representing the automation, instrumentation and laboratory technology industries in the UK, has announced the recruitment of Victoria Montag as its new sector lead for the industrial automation sector.  For the next few months Victoria will work alongside Steve Brambley, who had led this sector very successfully

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BSI role for Groundforce director

Tony Gould, technical director of Groundforce, has been appointed chairman of a key British Standards committee for the trenching and shoring sector. Above: Tony Gould Mr Gould, who has been with Groundofrce for 30 years, has been named chairman of BSI committee B/514/29, the UK representation on WG9 – the

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New Burnley Business Park Development Has Sold Out

The first part of the new Burnley business park development has sold out. Four deals for place on the development completed in the last month. This first phase of the development has been valued at £50 million. The business park has been developed at Junction 9 of the M65 and

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Fork Lift Truck Association Has Released the Story of Lisa Ramos

The Fork Lift Truck Association has released the story of Lisa Ramos in order to raise awareness for forklift safety alongside the upcoming September, which is the Fork Lift Truck Association’s National Fork Lift Safety Month. Lisa Ramos had an accident on Friday 24th March 2006 that was avoidable but

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Devonshire Homes Announced a New Managing Director

Devonshire Homes has announced that they have appointed a new Managing Director. Tony Lane has been appointed to this position at the award winning West Country property developers after joining from Galliford Try. Devonshire Homes is based in Tiverton and has been operating across the South West of the country

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Castel Demonstrates Premier League Pedigree

Audio-video intercom from Castel has been installed at the €415 million Parc Olympique in Lyon, a sports stadium that hosted matches at UEFA Euro 2016. The 59,000-capacity venue in central France is the home ground of Olympique Lyonnais, which plays in the country’s top football division. Parc Olympique Lyonnais boasts

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CIPHE student awards dinner

CIPHE student awards dinner Published:  03 June, 2016 An enthusiastic audience of some 220 people attended the Student Awards Dinner organised by the Kent Branch of the Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering (CIPHE). This included students, lecturers, sponsors and branch members. Owen O’Neill, Kent branch president welcomed everyone

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Reliance Industries posts record profits

©Reuters Indian oil products group Reliance Industries reported record profits for the past financial year even as the low price of crude dragged turnover down 24 per cent. Turnover in the year ending March 31 fell to Rs2.96tn ($44bn), the company said after Indian markets closed on Friday, as net

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Latest Issue
Issue 338 : Mar 2026

Cristina Diaconu

MPower to Present at Healthcare Estates Management Conference at University of Salford

Leading provider of uninterruptible power supplies, MPower UPS, has announced managing director Michael Brooks, will present at the Healthcare Estates Management Conference to be held at The University of Salford, Manchester on 25 July 2017.  The conference which is aimed at estate managers in the NHS aims to explore projects driving efficiencyhow efficiencies can help save costs and improve clinical outcomes within the healthcare industry. “Eliminating the risks of computer and equipment downtime is essential for those working in critical environments such as the NHS,” confirms Michael Brooks, managing director of MPower UPS.  “Uninterruptible power supplies which provide continuous power availability, fault-tolerance and remove single points of failure are necessary to ensure availability.  However, energy efficiency also needs to be considered carefully, as this impacts on the overall cost of system implementation. “Therefore, in the presentation: The truth About UPS Energy Efficiency – The Real Cost to the NHS, as well as examining the need for power supply continuity, I will evaluate; optimum system design, efficiency and de-risking in addition to exploring total cost of ownership including ongoing maintenance costs.  Delegates will gain an insight into selecting the right system for the job, discovering the importance of the correct ancillary infrastructure and learn about optimising energy efficiency to control costs.” Michael Brooks has worked in the UPS industry for more than 30 years and in 2005 founded MPower UPS Ltd.  The Company is now a leading international provider of comprehensive, high quality and reliable uninterruptible power solutions to a diverse client base including healthcare environments, government departments and the NHS. MPower’s head office is in Alton, Hampshire and at the end of 2016 it opened a second office in Stoke to help service its growing client base in the Midlands and the North. As well as presenting at the conference, MPower will have an exhibition stand plus experienced staff on-hand to discuss the efficient use of UPS systems within the NHS. For further information please see: www.mpowerups.co.uk

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New industrial automation sector head for Gambica

Gambica, an industry body representing the automation, instrumentation and laboratory technology industries in the UK, has announced the recruitment of Victoria Montag as its new sector lead for the industrial automation sector.  For the next few months Victoria will work alongside Steve Brambley, who had led this sector very successfully over the last 10 years, in a gradual handover process after which he will take on the role of director of public affairs for Gambica.   Montag joins Gambica from the National Physical laboratory (NPL) where she was a senior project manager working with the Engineering Measurement team. As well as continuing the support of Gambica’s existing member companies, Montag will focus on increasing the representation of smaller industrial automation companies in Gambica.  Source link

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BSI role for Groundforce director

Tony Gould, technical director of Groundforce, has been appointed chairman of a key British Standards committee for the trenching and shoring sector. Above: Tony Gould Mr Gould, who has been with Groundofrce for 30 years, has been named chairman of BSI committee B/514/29, the UK representation on WG9 – the CEN (Comité Européen de Normalisation) working group for standardisation of trench lining and hydraulic shoring systems. In this role, he will provide UK input for European and international standardisation documents. BSI head of department Tim Newins said: “A chairman of a BSI committee holds a key position in our standards work and we look forward to a fruitful working relationship during Tony’s term of office.”     This article was published on 18 Mar 2016 (last updated on 18 Mar 2016). Source link

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New Burnley Business Park Development Has Sold Out

The first part of the new Burnley business park development has sold out. Four deals for place on the development completed in the last month. This first phase of the development has been valued at £50 million. The business park has been developed at Junction 9 of the M65 and has been constructed by the property development and investment business Eshton. The Leeds based firm has created the business park at Burnley Bridge in order to make the most of the location and access to the road networks. The site has been under development for some time and the first occupier arrived at Burnley Bridge in 2014 and the established park is home for a range of different companies such as Townsend Music, Equinox, Exertis and Fagan & Whalley, who moved into their new accommodation in June this year. The new Fagan & Whalley accommodation is part of the new development ad is 92,000 sq.ft. Rishton Properties Limited have purchased a unit measuring 6.500 sq. ft. and a private investor has purchased a 6,000 sq. ft. unit.   Other changes at the business park include the sale of a trade counter unit that is at the moment let as part of an 11 year contract to Yesss Electrical and located on Magnesium Court of the Business Park has been sold to Grave Developments. Birchall Foodservice has also bought a two acre site which is near to their 64,100 sq. ft. Cobalt Building base in order to carry out their plans for expanding. The business park has the recieved a great deal of interest since the development was first announced, with the great location and the high quality of the accommodation which is being constructed. It is great news that the first phase of the developments have sold out and now Eshton can focus on continuing their work to construct additional accommodation at the Titanium Par and Burnley Bridge South sites. The further construction plans are expected to increase the size of the business park by another 42 acres.

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Fork Lift Truck Association Has Released the Story of Lisa Ramos

The Fork Lift Truck Association has released the story of Lisa Ramos in order to raise awareness for forklift safety alongside the upcoming September, which is the Fork Lift Truck Association’s National Fork Lift Safety Month. Lisa Ramos had an accident on Friday 24th March 2006 that was avoidable but led to her losing her leg. Lisa worked as an administrator for NYK Logistics, which operates from Findern in Derbyshire. Lisa’s role in the company was to make sure that each pallet was loaded with the correct cargo. Right before the end of her shift on her son’s 13th birthday she was knocked over and her leg was crushed by a 3-ton fork lift truck. Lisa was following the health and safety precautions by walking on the proper walkways that surrounded the container bays. The operator of the fork lift didn’t know that they’d hit her until she screamed, and he moved forward off her, causing more horrific damage. Her co-workers believed that she’d dislocated her knee but after having to go through numerous operations, Lisa has lost almost all of her leg. Lisa was following the correctly set up walkway which is distinguished by tape but was on floor level, which Lisa has always believed does not separate pedestrians enough from the forklifts, equating it to pavements being marked with a line of paint on the floor as opposed to a raised kerb. While working on her physical and mental recovery from the accident, now facing life as an amputee, Lisa has now become a Safety Ambassador for the Fork Lift Truck Association in order to encourage companies to do more to improve workplace safety. The Association has launched the Safetember campaign because of Lisa’s story and many similar accidents that have led to serious injury or death. The safety campaign will hopefully make everyone in the industry think more about how them can advance their safety procedures in order to protect workers and make the workplace safer.

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Devonshire Homes Announced a New Managing Director

Devonshire Homes has announced that they have appointed a new Managing Director. Tony Lane has been appointed to this position at the award winning West Country property developers after joining from Galliford Try. Devonshire Homes is based in Tiverton and has been operating across the South West of the country since 1992. The development company has a number of new developments in progress at the moment and works to make sure that they are delivering new homes to the highest standard possible with the award winning experience that they have accumulated of the years. Tony previously worked as a Pre-Construction and Development Director for Galliford Try. In  this role Tony helped to deliver a variety of complex projects throughout the residential, commercial and regeneration sectors. Tony Lane worked at Galliford Try for 27 years and was an integral to the expansion of the Group’s Midas and Linden brands. Tony was also a founding director of the Galliford Try Partnerships division during his career at the Group. Other responsibilities included all of the Commercial and Development activities  for the PLC. In his new role at Devonshire Homes, Tony will be able to draw on his wealth on knowledge that has come from spending a large section of his career at Galliford Try. Tony will be an asset in is new managing director role at Devonshire Homes and her will be overseeing a wide range of operations within the company. Tony will be required to manage operations spanning from land purchases all the way to customer service for the house building company. After such a long period at Galliford Try, Tony was attracted to the reputation the Devonshire Homes has built for creating a product of high quality. Tony has also expressed his eagerness to join a private company that has shown clear ambitions for growth. The house builders have plans to launch two more sites during this summer and are preparing to deliver high quality homes that are demand across north and mid Devon.

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Castel Demonstrates Premier League Pedigree

Audio-video intercom from Castel has been installed at the €415 million Parc Olympique in Lyon, a sports stadium that hosted matches at UEFA Euro 2016. The 59,000-capacity venue in central France is the home ground of Olympique Lyonnais, which plays in the country’s top football division. Parc Olympique Lyonnais boasts the most interconnected information systems for management and spectators in Europe. French telecom company Orange has built a private Wi-Fi network consisting of 500 routers that allow up to 20,000 people to be connected simultaneously. There are 350 IPTV (internet television) screens, enabling spectators to watch replays and view incidents from different angles. The stadium uses ninety audio-video intercom stations from Castel’s CAP IP suite. These full IP/SIP entry stations with Power over Ethernet (PoE) range from single to 10-button units. They feature colour cameras generating high-quality images with H.264 compression. They also benefit from a vandal-resistant 316 stainless steel fascia. The Wi-Fi intercom stations are at entrances, in the car parks, security zones and refuge areas. The breadth of the CAP IP offering meant that the client was able to choose the ideal model for each location in various parts of the stadium, as well as across the overall complex, which includes office space, a leisure centre, museum and restaurants. Where there is a need for constant access by staff and authorised third parties, the stadium uses stations with built-in proximity readers. Access privileges can be adjusted on match days. Site-wide connectivity Castel responded to the need for connectivity by supplying its XELLIP Server Max, a full SIP intercom server to manage simultaneous audio or audio-video SIP calls. Calls and videos can be recorded and retained on a dedicated 1TB hard-drive partition. Ethernet network connection is achieved using 802.1X protocol (RADIUS) and there is integration with Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). Castel also enables SIP Intercom integration with Skype for Business. The embedded web server allows monitoring and operation from any browser, but in the Lyon application there is centralised management by Security Center, the unified platform from Genetec. Castel and Genetec recently formed a technical alliance that gives security staff enhanced situational awareness, meaning they are able to identify, process and understand the critical elements of information about what is going on around them. Two-way video communication Vital elements of the Castel installation at the stadium are the full IP/SIP master stations. XE Desk-Screen V-P stations are used in central areas, including the security control room. They feature a colour video camera for two-way video communication. This can be invaluable if a visitor calling from an entry station requires assistance in navigating the 50-hectare site or has specific needs. The master stations have 4.3-inch TFT touchscreens with numerical keypads and function keys as well as four programmable keys. Atmane Bensghir is Business Development Manager UK & Ireland at Castel. He said: “The Lyon stadium is a new chapter in sports technology and Castel’s commitment to open systems contributed to the innovations. Current best practice shows that IT and intercom no longer need to be separated. Agile and adaptable vendors achieve convergence for their clients.” Microsoft App for refreshments The structural engineer for the Parc Olympique is VINCI, which is based in Paris, while the architect is the global practice, Populous, which specialises in sports facilities. Sports fans use a Microsoft app to select their seats, review highlights in play or even order food and drink from digitally connected sales outlets. Lyon is prospering at its new home ground and is currently fourth in Ligue 1. The club has also qualified for the current UEFA Champions League.

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Forget smart homes: Low-tech security solutions for the safety-conscious homeowner

Home security technology is more advanced, complex, and widely available than ever. Many “Internet of Things” enabled security devices, notably found in “smart homes”, are making normal homes look more like futuristic security compounds. Smart home security systems now include such elaborate devices as the FakeTV—a box that generates a television-esque flickering light to trick observers into thinking you’re home watching TV when you are actually out. There are also facial recognition cameras, keyless smart padlocks, solar powered electric locks, and AI home hubs that open and close doors by voice command. As impressive as all this technology is, it is mostly a distraction for the decidedly low-tech security solutions that are actually far more important to—and effective at—keeping your home safe. If you really want to make your home safer, you’re much better off saving money on lower budget security tech that will keep you safe. Routine visits from keyholders can be more effective than any technology Involving very little technology on your end, keyholding services involve handing over a copy of your keys to a team of security experts, and relying on them to come to your aid should you experience any problems on your property. Firms like CMS Keyholding have an in-house alarm response team, who can drive straight to your property and investigate any potential incident. If it looks like there’s been a break-in, they can contact the police. If something else has triggered the alarm, such as a leak or natural disaster, they can help alleviate the situation there, too. All keyholders go through a rigorous application process before the government grants them their Security Industry Authority (SIA) license, so you can rest assured that these are people you can trust. It’s not completely low-tech—a keyholder’s job is much easier if they can monitor your property remotely via CCTV—but it’s definitely a lot less technological than AI-enabled homehub that opens and closes doors. Quality locks, doors, and windows are essential Though locks, doors, and windows can all be augmented with modern technological devices, their low-tech, analogue function is the most important factor in your home security. Whether they have to dodge face-recognising cameras, deactivate voice-activated alarms, or duck lethal laser beams (not yet on the market), ultimately burglars still must pick a lock, break down a door, or prise open a window if they want to gain unauthorised access to a property. Because of this, any safety-conscious homeowner should make sure their house’s doors, locks and windows are as strong and secure as possible. With locks, you should settle for nothing less than a 5 lever mortice deadlock on your front and back doors. This guide from Go Compare can help you check what kind of lock you currently have. If your lock doesn’t meet this standard, you should consider getting it replaced with a lock that does. Window-wise, strong locks are just as important. BBC’s Crimewatch recommends adding additional locks to your windows whenever possible. With wooden-framed windows, it is possible to fit mortice locks, but whatever your window is made of, Crimewatch says the locks that come built-in will not be enough. Join a neighbourhood watch to protect yourself and others  Like keyholders, neighbourhood watch schemes rely on your fellow human beings to keep you safe. Rather than respond to specific crimes or specific incidents, neighbourhood watches aim to help keep the local community safe in general. The Merseyside Police reports that statistics show that joining a neighbourhood watch scheme “significantly reduces the possibility of becoming a victim of crime.” Neighbourhood watches involve members of the community working together on a volunteer basis to keep the neighbourhood safe, using their own strengths in different areas, and of course putting up “Neighbourhood Watch” signs to keep criminals in line. Check the OurWatch.org website to see if there is already a neighbourhood watch scheme in your area. If there isn’t, you can set one up of your own. Protect the Exterior Being able to take steps that will help your home is really important, and there are a lot of factors that you need to keep in mind here. One of the biggest factors to think about here is to make sure you look at some of the best ways of being able to protect the exterior of your home. Safety-conscious homeowners should look to come up with ideas and tactics that are going to enhance the safety and security of the home, and this is something you’ve got to make the best of here. Try to do as much as you can to work on this, and take the best steps you can to try to focus on improving the safety of the home’s exterior.  There are a number of things you can do that will play a role in this, and one of the best low-tech ways of being able to improve upon this is to get bollards installed. These are an excellent way of helping protect your property and look after the exterior. This will prevent issues such as vehicles crashing into your property, as well as blocking cars and other vehicles from parking on the premises as well. Bollards are an excellent way of being able to look after the exterior of the home, and this is something to keep in mind right now. 

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CIPHE student awards dinner

CIPHE student awards dinner Published:  03 June, 2016 An enthusiastic audience of some 220 people attended the Student Awards Dinner organised by the Kent Branch of the Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering (CIPHE). This included students, lecturers, sponsors and branch members. Owen O’Neill, Kent branch president welcomed everyone and told the students it was their night: “You have earned the right to be here, we recognise your achievements and salute you.” Other special guests included CIPHE president Terry Stephenson and Richard Soper CBE. Mr Soper delivered an inspiring motivational speech, praised the students’ achievements and told them that anything is possible if they put in the work and seize their opportunities. Mr Stephenson, in his closing address, emphasised the importance of an apprenticeship as a foundation to those entering the industry and a springboard to continual learning as their careers evolved. Source link

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Reliance Industries posts record profits

©Reuters Indian oil products group Reliance Industries reported record profits for the past financial year even as the low price of crude dragged turnover down 24 per cent. Turnover in the year ending March 31 fell to Rs2.96tn ($44bn), the company said after Indian markets closed on Friday, as net profits rose 17 per cent to Rs270.6bn. More On this topic IN Oil & Gas Prices of refined oil products fell less sharply than those in its crude business, helping the division’s profit margin, before interest and tax, to rise 520 basis points from the previous year to 10 per cent. “The refining business is a story of margin expansion, with gasoline as the star performer,” said Alok Agarwal, chief financial officer. The company — India’s second-biggest listed entity by sales after state-controlled Indian Oil Corporation — pointed to a rise in global oil demand of 1.8m barrels per day during the year, led by petrol. It said nearly half the growth in demand came from China and India. But while Reliance’s profit margin on petrol rose strongly to more than $19 a barrel, its margin on diesel products fell by about a fifth. That stemmed in part from a decline in Chinese demand for diesel used to power trucks transporting coal and other freight, as that country’s economic growth slows. Oil refiners are also braced for the impact of a surge in refined products from China — notably by independent “teapot refiners” — that are turning increasingly to overseas markets as domestic demand fails to keep up with Chinese refining capacity. In a possible reflection of that trend, fourth-quarter profit for Reliance’s refining and marketing business — while still 30 per cent higher year on year at Rs63.94bn — slipped 1.5 per cent from the third quarter. Reliance is also in the middle of an ambitious leap into telecoms through its Jio subsidiary, into which it has invested more than $16bn. Jio has acquired more high-speed 4G spectrum than any other Indian telecoms company. It has been testing the service among employees since December but has repeatedly pushed back the date of a commercial launch. Reliance on Friday again declined to shed light on the likely timing. Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani, who has presented in patriotic terms what some in Mumbai view as a gamble, said in the results statement that the business would “propel growth for India”. But analysts at Nomura call the venture a “key headwind”, saying it is unlikely to contribute to earnings for the first three years of operation. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2016. You may share using our article tools. Please don’t cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web. Source link

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