Lendlease and Multiplex have entered the race to bid for Google ’s £600m HQ in London, alongside Mace and Sir Robert McAlpine. Bids were submitted last Friday for the mammoth project, ahead of an announcement by the internet giant this week that it was committing to building the scheme. Construction
A date has been given for the reopening of Marlow Bridge. Closed to traffic since September 24, it is hoped it will open on Friday November 25, weather permitting. The decision follows the outcome this week of structural engineering tests, which have been carried out since a 37-tonne lorry tried
Mr Galloway has joined Triflex with responsibility for the development of business in the education sector, where the company has delivered a significant number of successful roofing and walkway projects over the last few years. Having been directly involved in the roofing sector for some 23 years, he has an
A couple of years of boundless optimism about the Internet of Things has been tempered by the recent DynDNS attacks. Suddenly thought pieces are proclaiming that the IoT might be set for an early death, with consumers, businesses and facility managers fearful of the potential security risks to their data
Energy customers could see their bills rise by up to £183 as nine dual fuel energy tariffs expire at the end of this month. Eight of the nine tariffs expiring will result in higher energy bills for the consumer after 31 August with an average increase of
The joint venture is Keepmoat’s first deal in the build to rent sector with more deals expected. The partnership will deliver homes in the North-west, Yorkshire, the Midlands and north London, with 1,000 construction starts expected over the next 12 months. The homes will be delivered largely on land owned
©PA Lakehouse maintains council properties You know the parable of the wise man whose house was built on rock and withstood the rain and wind, but “great was the fall” of the foolish man’s house built on sand? There is an equivalent parable for wannabe public market companies built on
China’s independent refineries are becoming more assertive in global oil trading, procuring larger volumes of crude and buying it directly from the market. The country’s so-called “teapot” refineries received some of the first import licenses last year as Beijing looked to boost investment in the energy industry, which has long
A cargo handling company based in Aberdeen has been fined after a worker suffered serious injury. Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard that North East Stevedoring Company Limited (NESC), a cargo handling company was working at Clipper Quay, Aberdeen Harbour. On the morning of 13 June 2013, stows (containers) holding loose pipes
Government figures show that 190,000 homes were added to the housing stock in England in the last financial year, up 11% on 2014-2015. Of these, 163,940 were new build homes, up 6%. The Home Builders Federation has welcomed the figures saying that they confirm that the government’s plan to deliver
Lendlease and Multiplex have entered the race to bid for Google ’s £600m HQ in London, alongside Mace and Sir Robert McAlpine. Bids were submitted last Friday for the mammoth project, ahead of an announcement by the internet giant this week that it was committing to building the scheme. Construction News reported in June that Mace and Sir Robert McAlpine were among those interested in the project. Google chief executive Sundar Pichai told the BBC: “We see big opportunities here. “This is a big commitment from us – we have some of the best talent in the world in the UK and to be able to build great products from here sets us up well for the long term.” Google said it planned to invest more than £1bn in the new King’s Cross building, designed by BIG and Heatherwick Studios, and hire thousands more staff. The scheme was put on hold in November 2013 after Google called for it to be redesigned. Bam Construct had been appointed as main contractor for the original scheme in March 2013, in a deal worth £300m. Plans for the new London HQ have an estimated construction value of more than £600m: £400m for the shell and core, and around £200m for the fit-out. Google’s staff are currently spread across offices in Covent Garden and Victoria, with the new offices bringing them together under one roof. The tech giant already has a presence at the King’s Cross redevelopment site, having taken 6 Pancras Square (pictured). It is also developing a 280,000 sq ft office block known as S2 on the site, which was given the green light by Camden Council in March. The 27 ha King’s Cross site is one of the largest redevelopments in London, with the masterplan including 50 buildings and 1,900 homes. It is being developed by the King’s Cross Central Limited Partnership, which includes Argent, DHL and London & Continental Railways and was formed in 2008. Argent declined to comment. One of the key ways Google brings in revenue is through ‘adwords’. Because this service is so important to many companies, you must make sure you use the best google adword agencies.
A date has been given for the reopening of Marlow Bridge. Closed to traffic since September 24, it is hoped it will open on Friday November 25, weather permitting. The decision follows the outcome this week of structural engineering tests, which have been carried out since a 37-tonne lorry tried to cross the bridge. Engineers’ rigorous inspection, ultrasound and magnetic particle testing revealed no serious damage. In the coming week, they will restore sections exposed for weld testing with three coats of paint, remove scaffolding surrounding the bridge’s two towers, and reinstate timber work removed for inspection. Mark Shaw, Buckinghamshire County Council’s transport cabinet member, said: “We needed to make sure the bridge was safe and secure for all to use before opening it, and I’m pleased the engineers’ go-ahead has come ahead of the Christmas trading period.” Engineers have been examining every part of the structure since the lorry, owned by the Lithuanian haulage company Girteka, tried to cross the bridge. A special inspection platform and a river barge were commissioned to enable testing above and below the road deck. The 19th century bridge has been open to pedestrians and cyclists. County Councillor Richard Scott said: “Christmas is a very important time for the town’s retailers, so this will come as a great relief to them. “Residents, visitors and commuters will also be pleased that traffic congestion on the Marlow bypass will be considerably reduced.”
Mr Galloway has joined Triflex with responsibility for the development of business in the education sector, where the company has delivered a significant number of successful roofing and walkway projects over the last few years. Having been directly involved in the roofing sector for some 23 years, he has an appreciation of the benefits to be derived from building robust working relationships with property and asset management companies, fundamental to the continued growth and development of Triflex. Speaking of his new appointment Mr Galloway commented: “I am delighted to have joined Europe’s leading manufacturer and supplier of cold applied liquid waterproofing systems at such an exciting time in the development of the company. The product offering continues to evolve and strengthen and I look forward to working closely with the UK team promoting the trusted Triflex brand.” Prior to joining Triflex UK, Mr Galloway’s time was spent at IKO. His role as business development director involved assisting with the growth and development of a wide range of waterproofing products and systems for the roofing sector, within specification, education and commercial distribution sectors. Triflex UK national sales manager Craig Smith commented: “Alan brings with him a high level of professionalism, expertise and knowledge of the roof waterproofing sector which will be key to our future key account development strategy in the UK.”
A couple of years of boundless optimism about the Internet of Things has been tempered by the recent DynDNS attacks. Suddenly thought pieces are proclaiming that the IoT might be set for an early death, with consumers, businesses and facility managers fearful of the potential security risks to their data and environmental controls. While we should all be more vigilant about the security of our digital data, this sort of prophesying is jumping the gun. Like disasters in other parts of our infrastructure, these attacks ultimately serve as a lesson that should inform the creation and use of IoT devices going forward. Consumers are a likelier target When you think of IoT in the home, you think fridges and washing machines. These devices are built to massively varying standards and would be expected to last half a decade or more. Microsoft has ended software support for operating systems used by tens of millions of people after less than a decade. The influx of Smart TVs was an early indicator of this problem. Early adopters will have found that many of the included apps don’t even exist anymore. This is not to mention the litany of smaller devices that are indulgently being connected to the internet, from the more reasonable – heating and baby monitors – to ‘smart’ toothbrushes and piggy banks. So many models are created with such different specifications that it simply isn’t cost effective for manufacturers to keep them all up-to-date through their entire lifecycle. Combine this with a propensity to leave routers insecure for convenience or through a lack of technical knowledge, and consumers make a far bigger target for access and appropriation than security conscious businesses. DDoS =/= data breach The devices in this distributed denial of service attack (DDoS) were hijacked with the intention of harnessing their power to send data, not to access it. These volumetric attacks bombard data with the aim of shutting a website or network down, but this is purely disruptive. With the tools they used to auto-locate and access vulnerable devices across the internet, it would be obstructively difficult to figure out what belonged to who. With a large enough shield it is possible to deflect even the biggest attacks. Cloudflare is an example of a DNS company which also provides businesses with the capability to ward off attacks of this magnitude. In Layman’s terms, this kind of attack is rarely deployed to steal data, only to soften up a website and stop people from accessing it. The more destructive effects of hacking are generally harder and involve fewer devices, which makes them easier to trace. You can protect against it While consumers tend to ignore updates, you definitely shouldn’t. Integrate updates as part of your security strategy, and make sure you only allow internal access to IoT devices. The Internet of Things connected to a BMS can be more like an Intranet of Things, with devices only reporting to an internal hub with its own stronger protection. Increasingly cloud solutions are allowing DNS enabled IoT devices to update themselves, and learn from others across the manufacturers’ network (you may have seen Tesla’s cars doing this to improve their self-driving capabilities). In this case a large portion of security responsibility is ceded to bigger companies who are better equipped to deal with it. And if someone gains access to one device that doesn’t necessarily mean they can do anything to the wider network, or even do much with that device, depending on what the backend is capable of. Indeed, many of the same tools hackers use can also be wielded against them. Services like Shodan, which allows you to search the web for unprotected IoT devices, also allow you to check your own systems for weaknesses. AIl developments are improving network security Deep learning is allowing systems to be reactive and adapt to threats, and means of protecting against these kinds of attacks are improving. Innovative solutions like Netflix’s Chaos Monkey randomly stress-tests their colossal network, while multiple DNS providers allow them to mitigate risk by spreading the damage. And as algorithms and better mobile processors boost the capabilities of smart devices, they will stop simply carrying out orders given to them and reporting in on it and start making more decisions for themselves. This has the potential to bar certain dangerous inputs against human interference, based on their readings of the surrounding environment. Much of the talk around regulating the dangers of AI is about so-called Guardian AI – machines keeping tabs on machines. This may well be the future of network security; ‘stupid’ networks of sensors with a more intelligent and capable overseer, reacting to attacks in the same way an onboard computer might dodge lasers on a sci-fi spaceship. LiveScience already describes a ‘code jam’ event where a system was breached and patched its own vulnerability in under 15 mins. In a DDoS attack the weight of numbers will always be a difficult barrier, but in more substantive hacks a smart enough system could fight off bigger forces with relative ease. Attacks will bolster the IoT Security experts have long warned that the IoT could open up vulnerabilities in networks. Following an attack of this scale, it’s fair to say governments and businesses will be pushing for greater safeguards. Several manufacturers of devices used in the attacks have already owned up and issued updates, encouraging users to install them, including one major manufacturer in China. Given the size of the country, its manufacturing output and the growing demand for consumer goods, this is a vital area for IoT expansion and security. The ability to use botnets should scare China as much as anyone else, as should the ability to compromise networks in a country that values its Great Firewall and the integrity of its national network. Devices will improve their storage/processing power, utilising stronger security protocols and better checks on access attempts. They will be sent out with unique admin passwords much as
Energy customers could see their bills rise by up to £183 as nine dual fuel energy tariffs expire at the end of this month. Eight of the nine tariffs expiring will result in higher energy bills for the consumer after 31 August with an average increase of £135.17 per year for those automatically enrolled onto the standard variable tariff. British Gas is the only supplier whose customers will see their annual energy bill drop by around £78.35 when their current tariff expires. The highest increase will be for Scottish Power customers who will see an average rise of £183.10 per year. Go Compare energy spokesperson Ben Wilson said: “While it’s easy to take our eye off the thermostat in the summer months, for those on expiring tariffs, it’s really taking your eye off the ball as well. “With autumn approaching households should be looking ahead to ensure they’re not stung by a price rise as their usage begins to creep up.” Avro Energy currently offers the cheapest dual fuel tariff, whilst SSE, GB Energy Supply and Npower are within the top ten cheapest, according to the price comparison site, Go Compare. Source link
The joint venture is Keepmoat’s first deal in the build to rent sector with more deals expected. The partnership will deliver homes in the North-west, Yorkshire, the Midlands and north London, with 1,000 construction starts expected over the next 12 months. The homes will be delivered largely on land owned and acquired by Keepmoat. The housebuilder will also design, plan and build the projects. Sigma will lead on the lettings and investment management. Keepmoat chief executive Dave Sheridan said: “Sigma came to us because of our national capability, our great quality product and our efficient supply chain that delivers great value for money. “In 2015 we built over 4,000 homes and our aim is to increase our housing growth by 25 per cent year on year going forwards.” Sigma is also working in partnership Countryside Properties to deliver homes for rent in the West Midlands. Source link
©PA Lakehouse maintains council properties You know the parable of the wise man whose house was built on rock and withstood the rain and wind, but “great was the fall” of the foolish man’s house built on sand? There is an equivalent parable for wannabe public market companies built on water: Lakehouse. Shares in the Romford-based fixer upper of council houses, which floated at 89p in March last year, fell nearly 30 per cent to 34.5p last week. That was after new chairman Ric Piper warned investors to cut their full-year profit expectations by a quarter. More On this topic Small Talk The company has barely been quoted a year and this was its second profit warning. The first one in January triggered a bruising fight between its executive chairman and top shareholders over governance. Lakehouse emerged from that battle with three new board directors including Mr Piper and Steven Rawlings, the 62-year-old ex-roofer who founded the group in 1988. Mr Piper wants to put all that behind him and move Lakehouse on. But it will take more than a lick of paint. The company’s woes have been a long time in the making and are in its footings. A lot of the blame can be laid at the door of Stuart Black, Lakehouse’s executive chairman since 2008 until he left last month. The group grew fast during his tenure. But cracks began to appear once the company floated. As Mr Piper says ruefully: “When a company is public, the good and bad news is played out in public. The clue is in the name.” Mr Black is the man who abruptly quit as chief executive of rival Mears in 2007. Bob Holt, the plain-speaking founder-chairman who replaced Mr Black, says: “The job was too big for him. He rubbed people up the wrong way. That may be all right in a private company but you can’t get away with things in the public arena. A lot of people want to run a public company but many just aren’t up to it.” After the first profit warning, Mark Slater of Slater Investments, which holds about 6 per cent, and Mr Rawlings, with 15.5 per cent, called for change. Mr Black quit Lakehouse last month. He refutes criticisms of his governance or strategy, blaming the group’s problems on external factors. It is true that the company is in an industry teeming with rivals competing for work from councils, housing associations and schools whose budgets have been slashed. These are not high-tech contracts. Lakehouse’s 2,400 staff paint railings, mend roofs, read meters, service boilers, renovate kitchens and advise tenants on how to cut their energy bills. Some of Lakehouse’s problems are out of its control. The company is at the mercy of government policy whether on carbon credits or rent caps — what Mr Piper calls “headwinds”. But the company has also mismanaged projects. Roofing projects cost the business £2m in earnings at the half year, and operating profits, excluding acquisitions and other nasties, fell 80 per cent to £1.7m. Lakehouse spread itself too thinly, acquiring 10 businesses in five years. When one area of its business dipped, it moved into others, such as roofing. There were clues in the prospectus. Advisers drew neon lights round Lakehouse’s “adjusted ebita”, earnings before negatives such as interest, exceptional costs and amortisation of acquisitions. On that basis, profits doubled in two years from £5.4m to £10.8m in the year to September 2014. But warts-and-all profits before tax fell from £4.1m to £104,000 in those two years and cash levels halved. International accounting regulators are rightly launching a crusade to stop companies and stock market analysts thrusting glossy ebitda numbers in investors’ faces to distract attention from less flattering statutory pre-tax profits. But it is too late for Lakehouse’s backers. One investor says as a rule he does not back initial public offerings: “It is a challenge at the IPO when a company hasn’t got much of a public history and there are lots of things you can’t see.” Lakehouse was an exception but his experience there will not make him less wary. The group was valued at £140m or eight times projected earnings at the float. At 35p, it is four times earnings. That is only cheap if the company does not hose down shareholder expectations again. But that is unlikely given Lakehouse’s proximity to water. kate.burgess@ft.com 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
China’s independent refineries are becoming more assertive in global oil trading, procuring larger volumes of crude and buying it directly from the market. The country’s so-called “teapot” refineries received some of the first import licenses last year as Beijing looked to boost investment in the energy industry, which has long been dominated by state oil companies Sinopec and PetroChina. More On this topic IN Commodities The teapots — which despite their nickname can be substantial buyers, together representing about a third of China’s total oil refining capacity — have moved quickly to strike deals with some of the world’s largest crude exporters and are finding ways to procure oil that bypass international trading houses. Last month Shandong Chambroad Petrochemicals Company bought a spot cargo of crude oil directly from Saudi Aramco — the state oil company of Opec’s de facto leader and the world’s largest exporter of crude. Now, the company, one of eleven independent refineries permitted to import crude itself, will be the first teapot to start trading on the Dubai Mercantile Exchange as it looks to hedge its imports and buy physical cargoes from Oman. This approach by Shandong Chambroad, say some industry participants, suggests a shift away from the use of middlemen, whether it is big international oil traders or China’s domestic oil industry giants. The DME said the exchange will be approaching more independent Chinese refineries in the coming weeks and plans to hold a roundtable in the country in mid-May “to assist other local participants”. The world’s biggest trading companies, which include Trafigura, Glencore and Vitol, have aggressively sought buyers among China’s 20 independent refineries that are able to use imported crude in their plants. “Some of the teapot refiners have only recently been granted the licenses so they are still learning, said David Wech at consultancy JBC Energy. “They will buy from whomever they can and they will try to buy directly from sources, but it is still early days.” Oil analysts say that just as China’s state-backed energy companies built their own trading divisions to reduce their reliance on western commodity houses, the teapots are following a similar path. They say it is another illustration of China’s growing influence on world oil markets. Owain Johnson, managing director at the DME, said western trading houses still hoped China’s independent refiners would become firm customers even as some of the bigger teapots become more self-sufficient in trading. “It’s hard to overstate the level of interest from suppliers and traders in developing relationships with these guys,” said Mr Johnson. The majority of China’s refineries are very small, local enterprises that will be dependent on bigger players domestically and internationally for crude procurement. Before teapots were granted licenses, only the largest state-owned oil companies were permitted to import crude. Teapots had to reprocess fuel oil or rely on supply from larger rivals. Rapidly increasing energy demand led to China overtaking the US as the world’s largest oil importer in 2014. 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
A cargo handling company based in Aberdeen has been fined after a worker suffered serious injury. Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard that North East Stevedoring Company Limited (NESC), a cargo handling company was working at Clipper Quay, Aberdeen Harbour. On the morning of 13 June 2013, stows (containers) holding loose pipes were being transported by a forklift truck (operated by an NESC employee) from Clipper Quay to within reach of a crane on the quayside. Christopher Smith, who was employed by Euroline Shipping Company Limited as a ships agent to oversee loading operations, was making his way to the vessel the pipes were to be loaded onto when he was struck on the lower back by the cargo being transported. He suffered a fracture of the left elbow and fractures of several vertebrae. He has not returned to work since the incident. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into the incident found that NESC failed to ensure sufficient separation between vehicles and pedestrians. They did not exclude pedestrians from the work area or provide pedestrian routes. There was no safe system of work in place at Clipper Quay. The court was told NESC was ultimately responsible for the arrangement of their work site and the safety of those using it. North East Stevedoring Company Limited, of Streamline Terminal, Blaikies Quay, Aberdeen, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 17(1) of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 and was fined £12,000. After the hearing, HSE inspector Sarah Liversidge said: “The law states duty holders must ensure the workplace is organised in such a way that pedestrians and vehicles can circulate in a safe manner. “NESC failed in that undertaking, there was insufficient separation between vehicles and pedestrians within the loading area at the Quay that resulted in Mr Smith sustaining serious injury that has prevented him from returning to work.” For further information on vehicles at work visit: http://www.hse.gov.uk/workplacetransport/ Notes to Editors: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice, promoting training; new or revised regulations and codes of practice, and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. www.hse.gov.uk More about the legislation referred to in this case can be found at: www.legislation.gov.uk/ HSE news releases are available at http://press.hse.gov.uk Journalists should approach HSE press office with any queries on regional press releases. Source link
Government figures show that 190,000 homes were added to the housing stock in England in the last financial year, up 11% on 2014-2015. Of these, 163,940 were new build homes, up 6%. The Home Builders Federation has welcomed the figures saying that they confirm that the government’s plan to deliver 1 million homes in this parliament is on track and that the housebuilding industry is responding to government policies aimed at stimulating supply. “To achieve the government’s ‘1 million homes in this parliament’ target, output needs to average 200,000 homes a year,” said HBF. “The new figures, that effectively cover the first year of the parliament, show that recent increases in housing delivery have been sustained and built on, with all indicators suggesting that further increases will occur.” The figures show that overall housing supply from April 2015 to April 2016 did actually reach 200,000 (200,070), up 10% on the year before, but once demolitions are taken off there were 189,650 net additions to the housing stock, up 11%. They also show there has been a 52% increase in housing supply over the past three years. Stewart Baseley, executive chairman of the Home Builders Federation, said: “These figures provide the best evidence to date as to how much housebuilders have ramped up housing supply. The government’s ambitious target to build 1 million homes over the course of this parliament is now within reach. “In response to the positive measures introduced by government in recent years, such as Help to Buy, huge increases in output have been delivered. Providing government continues to create an environment within which the industry can operate and grow, housebuilders will continue to increase delivery of new homes. “Moving forward, the housebuilding industry will play a key role in building a new Britain and driving our post Brexit economy.” Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the FMB, said: “(These) figures showing that 189,000 additional homes were created in 2015/2016 is positive progress towards solving the housing crisis. “However, the total created still falls below the number needed each year to deliver the Government’s stated aim of building one million new homes by 2020. The current figures also show a strong reliance on the conversion of existing buildings to residential use, which is a trend that can’t be sustained indefinitely. Recent Government policies to boost house building are helping, but there is still plenty of room for more radical solutions to meet the one million target. “The Government needs to turbo-charge the SME house building sector. Smaller firms, once the main drivers of house building in this country, have become only marginal players in the market, which has hampered the capacity of the industry. “The Government has already recognised the importance of revitalising SMEs through its attempts to improve the availability of finance for smaller firms, but much more can be done. In particular, we need to see a renewed focus on enabling planning permission for more small sites, which are the bread and butter of SME builders. “We’re hopeful that the Government will listen to the voice of SME builders in its forthcoming Housing White Paper and put measures to enable more small scale development at the heart of the country’s house building strategy.”