This month Andrea Fawell, Sales & Marketing Director of award-winning property developers Kebbell, gives us a very honest account of the market factors that are likely to affect house buyers and housebuilders in 2022. What are the biggest factors impacting the property market at the moment? The long term impacts
By partner Simon Lewis, managing associate Michelle Essen and socilitor Ryan Lavers What a year it’s been for building safety The construction sector has seen a significant amount of progress in this area over the last 12 months. To give some perspective on how things have changed, we’ve looked at the
Gloucestershire Airport runway refurbishments to begin in January 2022, with completion expected in the summer VolkerFitzpatrick awarded contract to deliver works Delivery will be project managed by Ridge & Partners LLP Phased delivery will enable airport to remain operational throughout Gloucestershire Airport has appointed VolkerFitzpatrick, one of the UK’s leading
Introduced to Parliament in June 2021, the Building Safety Bill establishes a new regime that will overhaul the building safety system in England and Wales. It brings in a stringent framework for high-rise buildings, which will strengthen regulatory requirement before building work commences, through construction and before occupation. The Bill,
How can building design create wellbeing for people and the planet? The sustainable buildings and communities concept Build for Life addresses multiple challenges in the building industry, based on a new way of thinking about our new and existing living places. What if we could live more sustainably, connected and
Almost a third (30%) of credit managers ‘guess’ their bad debt reserve requirement Less than one in ten (9%) are given any steer/model by their auditors Construction businesses seeking to take the guesswork out of bad debt provision at Financial Year End could benefit from a new free service being
A derelict former industrial site is set to be transformed following the appointment of a contractor. South Tyneside Council has appointed John F Hunt Regeneration Ltd to carry out civil engineering works on disused docks and former brownfield land at Holborn, South Shields. The remediation works will prepare the nine-hectare
Great Britain’s workplace regulator is asking demolition and construction firms to double-down on thorough planning, management and control of demolition and refurbishment work. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is asking that businesses properly plan, organise, manage, and monitor their work and use competent people to avoid incidents and ill
Following a difficult year for the construction industry caused by overnight price-hikes, material shortages and Covid-19 – a Suffolk construction boss is hopeful for a better new year. SEH French, based in Ipswich and working across East Anglia, is among the countless companies impacted by the challenges of 2021. Director of the
Contractors can create estimates up to 10x faster with Houzz Pro Takeoffs Houzz Inc., the leading platform for home renovation and design, today announced the acquisition of ConX, a SaaS takeoff and estimation tool. The ConX software, which enables contractors to do on-screen takeoffs from construction plans and turn them
This month Andrea Fawell, Sales & Marketing Director of award-winning property developers Kebbell, gives us a very honest account of the market factors that are likely to affect house buyers and housebuilders in 2022. What are the biggest factors impacting the property market at the moment? The long term impacts of problems with the global supply chain and the availability of materials and labour means it is increasingly difficult to build to a normal time scale and I can’t see that changing for a while. Brexit has meant the loss of many European site workers in particular, there is a huge HGV driver shortage and the costs of container ships bringing materials and finished items in has dramatically increased. Procurement departments are desperately trying to get materials to finish off homes. There is also not enough stock on the secondhand market. We are hoping that people can have the Christmas they didn’t have last year and will then put their house on the market because until there is more secondhand stock there is almost an over demand for new homes which is a funny thing for a housebuilder to be saying! Prices are not currently changing but developer’s margins are being squeezed with a 15-40% increase in costs of materials. There are roughly six month delays at some of our developments, but for some developers I understand there are delays of 12-18 months. Supply is simply not able to meet demand, even more so having had such a buoyant market post lockdown. All these factors are having a huge impact on deliverability and the cost of building. Timescales are stretching beyond what can be programmed for, so it comes down to managing expectations of the delivery of new homes. How is the current market for new home-buyers? It is a very difficult time for home-buyers. I have been in the industry for 36 years and I have never seen anything like it. People are committed to buying and to moving home, intensified by the pandemic, but developers simply can’t deliver to normal timelines or even promise when they will definitely be able to deliver because of all of the shortages. Homebuyers are still reserving anyway! Purchasers are frustrated but grateful that we are being so transparent and up front about the market problems. We are constantly looking for solutions and alternatives and we are keeping buyers in the picture with what is happening. Last week we had tiles stuck in a Liverpool port and further supplies stuck in Felixstowe. Neither port had the staff to get the tiles off the containers and there weren’t any lorry drivers to get those materials to site. We sent a van to Liverpool to retrieve the tiles and when they arrived, they were all broken. The purchasers had to choose a different tile that was available. We are in this together. By having a collaborative approach homebuyers trust and work with us but it is a huge upheaval in their lives with many having to go into temporary accommodation whilst developers wait for the right parts to come in. Once they put their own homes on the market, in their heads they have already moved out. Are there any landmark trends or announcements coming up in the industry in 2022? The new Deposit Unlock scheme which has piloted for over a year will start to be a consideration, especially as this will be the last year of the Help to Buy scheme which ends in March 2023. I think part exchange will be increasingly attractive as it means you can stay in your house until the new home is ready for you which is the solution to the delays being seen across the industry. Assisted Move, will continue to help new home buyers sell their property and developers pay the agents fees if they want to sell their house in the shortest time possible. How are housebuilders tackling sustainability? In preparation for my trek across the North Pole in April 2022, I recently went on a trip to stand on Europe’s biggest glacier in Iceland and I was blown away by the impact of climate change. We need to be all over this as an industry and championing sustainability, heightening awareness and being mindful of green credentials and what we need to do to play our part. Small changes add up. We don’t put in wood-burning stoves because it has an unnecessary carbon footprint. We work very closely with sustainability consultants across all disciplines from looking at what is going into our skips to sourcing the best ground source heat pumps, but it is hugely complex, there are no easy solutions and there is a lot of work to still be done as an industry. We face a lot of difficult conundrums about sustainability. For example, will existing homeowners be able to afford and physically put in air source and ground source pumps in their current homes? It is easier for new builds to have these planned in but whilst we are trying to future proof, the technology is moving so fast it is hard to keep up. Our commitment is everyone will have a car charging point or an ability to fit a car charger but in Norway wireless chargers are being piloted so in say two years’ time will we charge our cars wirelessly in which case will car charger ports be obsolete? Or is the future actually hydrogen powered cars? The industry can and must do better, but it is far from easy. Are off-plan sales growing? The nature of our developments next year means we are able to offer off-plan sales for our new developments; Milestones, an 18 luxury apartment development in Ascot and Meadow Court in Iver which comprises 39 two and three bedroom apartments. As a result, we are prioritising sophisticated online marketing tools such as html experiences, interactive screens for colour choices, and many more. We are investing in the online experience that we think will
By partner Simon Lewis, managing associate Michelle Essen and socilitor Ryan Lavers What a year it’s been for building safety The construction sector has seen a significant amount of progress in this area over the last 12 months. To give some perspective on how things have changed, we’ve looked at the biggest leaps forward in 2021; and have also cast an eye towards 2022 to consider what we can expect next. Building Safety Bill The most talked about legislative development in 2021 was the steady progress of the Building Safety Bill, which was officially laid before Parliament in July. While it was based in large part on the draft that was circulated for comment in 2020 and was therefore in many respects already familiar, its provisions are being increasingly scrutinised in its passage through Parliament. The Bill’s proposed changes are considerable, and include: more-than-doubling the limitation period for bringing a claim for breach of s.1 Defective Premises Act 1972 (DPA). This requires residential buildings to be habitable and built in a professional or workmanlike manner with proper materials. The Bill increases that limitation period from 6 to 15 years – and it would apply prospectively (going forward) and also retrospectively, meaning that claims that are currently time-barred would become an option again, inserting a brand new s.2A into the DPA, which would extend the DPA to cover subsequent building works (as s.1 only covers the original construction of the building), with a limitation period of 15 years prospectively, bringing s.38 Building Act 1984 into force, to allow claims for damage caused by breach of Building Regulations, with a limitation period of 15 years prospectively, establishing a new Building Safety Regulator (BSR), and creating a new “duty-holders” regime – where duty-holders would have greater responsibility to explain how they are managing safety risks and to show the BSR that a building is safe for occupation. Duty-holders would include existing duty-holders under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, such as (Principal) Contractors, (Principal) Designers, and the Client. As we have said before, we are still just at the start of our journey with the Building Safety Bill. The effects of the changes it will bring and its impact on industry, including around risk and insurance, are hot topics of discussion which we explored with industry leaders recently. In the meantime, the Bill continues to make its way through Parliament, and is expected to receive Royal Assent in 2022. It is worth reiterating though that the Bill when it becomes law will have a more limited effect in Scotland, which has its own building and fire safety regime. Fire Safety Act 2021 The Fire Safety Bill, which we have considered before, was given Royal Assent in April, becoming the Fire Safety Act 2021. It was not smooth progress into law for the Bill, as the House of Lords requested leaseholder protection on three separate occasions because it wanted building owners to be responsible for the costs of remedial works, or a system of government grants or loans in place if leaseholders were to bear the cost of repairs themselves. In the end, the Act did not take this leaseholder protection into account, and instead it is possible for building owners to pass the costs of fire safety works onto leaseholders via increased service charges or similar. Again, the position in Scotland is different, as the Fire Safety Act only applies to England and Wales. Cladding Remediation – Government Funds The Building Safety Fund (BSF) of £1bn, which was set up in 2020, has continued to provide support in 2021 to help landlords who own residential buildings of 18m or more in height to remove unsafe non-aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding. The aim of this fund is to protect leaseholders from the cost of these remediation works through increased rent payments or service charges. 2021 also saw a brand new fund created – the Waking Watch Relief Fund – to provide an additional £30m for applicants to the BSF to fund waking watch (i.e. building patrols to detect fire), since the cost of fire alarms are not covered by the BSF funding. This fund was announced in December 2020 and opened for applications in January 2021. £22m of the £30m available was to be spent in cities where private-sector buildings were deemed most at risk due to their prevalence of built-up areas (namely Greater London, Greater Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Liverpool, Newcastle and Bristol), with the remaining £8m planned for other private-sector buildings in England plus all social-sector housing over 18m . The fund closed in April, reopened in May to distribute unused funding, and then closed again in June. It is also worth noting that in the Autumn Budget, the Chancellor said “we’re also confirming £5bn to remove unsafe cladding from the highest risk buildings partly funded by the Residential Property Developers Tax”. We know about that Tax but details about what constitutes the rest of that funding is still awaited. Changes to Planning Permission Requirements The Hackitt Report’s recommendations included the addition of several “Gateways” to check that newly designed buildings are safe for residents to live in. In August 2021, Gateway One came into force, in the form of new planning requirements. Now high-rise developers must consider fire safety in new developments at the planning permission stage, to be evidenced as a part of the planning permission process through the submission of a fire statement. Local authorities are expected to engage with the Health and Safety Executive when reviewing the fire statements provided by developers, but this role is expected to be taken over by the new BSR when it is operational. Gateways Two and Three under the Building Safety Bill will be before the building works start and when the building works are completed respectively, and are anticipated to come into force around late 2023. What to look out for in 2022 We anticipate a number of other significant developments in building safety in 2022: Phase 2 Grenfell
Gloucestershire Airport runway refurbishments to begin in January 2022, with completion expected in the summer VolkerFitzpatrick awarded contract to deliver works Delivery will be project managed by Ridge & Partners LLP Phased delivery will enable airport to remain operational throughout Gloucestershire Airport has appointed VolkerFitzpatrick, one of the UK’s leading engineering and construction companies, to deliver a Civil Aviation Authority (CCA) approved upgrade to Gloucestershire Airport in 2022. The work will be carried out in four phases, with the primary focus being the resurfacing of the crosswind (04-22) and main (09-27) runways. There will also be new runway lighting and upgrades to signage and drainage, as well as the installation of below ground infrastructure in readiness for a new radar system. One of the airport’s three runways will remain open while works are carried out, albeit operating at reduced capacity. When all work is complete, the airport’s existing ‘north/south’ runway will permanently close to make way for the development of the new business park, CGX Connect. Phase one works, starting in January 2022, will see the crosswind runway resurfaced. The aim is for this work to take place throughout the night, after airport closure, to minimise any potential impact to operations. Phases two and three will follow in Spring 2022, with work taking place during the day and throughout the night to ensure work is completed as quickly as possible. This phase will see the resurfacing of the main runway, new runway lighting installed, upgrades to signage and draining, and the installation of below ground infrastructure. Phase four will be the testing and commissioning phase of the project in readiness for anticipated completion and resumption of normal operations by Summer 2022. Kevin Berry, VolkerFitzpatrick Operations Director, comments: “We’re well versed in working on projects like this, having completed similar works at Glasgow, Birmingham and Gatwick Airports. These upgrades will place Gloucestershire Airport firmly at the top end of aviation standards and technology, which will help unlock numerous opportunities and benefits for the airport and surrounding area.” “These are transformational times for Gloucestershire Airport,” continues Karen Taylor, Gloucestershire Airport Managing Director. “These upgrades are essential to the continued smooth running of operations and, along with CGX Connect, will really elevate the quality and status of the airport, along with its profile as a ‘gateway for growth’ for all those significant developments being brought forward across the region. “Keeping two runways open at all times is a challenge but ensuring as little impact as possible to airport operations and the surrounding area is key. The appointment of VolkerFitzpatrick and Ridge & Partners LLP, both of whom have vast experience of working on projects just like this, will help ensure these upgrades are completed smoothly and on time.” Ridge & Partners LLP will work alongside VolkerFitzpatrick, providing project and commercial management services for the runway upgrade. Justin Wright, Senior Project Manager at Ridge & Partners LLP explained how the work will be carried out. “To reduce disruption during phase one, we plan to work on the crosswind runway at night – the longer winter nights will help with our progress. Work on the main runway will then take place on both days and nights to accelerate progress and ensure a swift completion. “We are looking forward to engaging with local businesses and residents to make sure that this transformational project is delivered as smoothly as possible and realises significant benefits for the region.”
Introduced to Parliament in June 2021, the Building Safety Bill establishes a new regime that will overhaul the building safety system in England and Wales. It brings in a stringent framework for high-rise buildings, which will strengthen regulatory requirement before building work commences, through construction and before occupation. The Bill, which has been welcomed by leading building control and regulation expert, Bureau Veritas, includes a range of new measures – including competence requirements, duty holder accountability, a ‘golden thread’ of building information and mandatory reporting to a newly-appointed Building Safety Regulator. Crucially, it also includes a three-stage ‘gateway’ process. Gateway One regulations were enforced on 1 August 2021, whilst it is anticipated that the remaining two gateway regulations will come into force by 2023 as the Bill passes through Parliament. It is hoped that the new process – when fully enforced – will provide the home-building industry with the necessary framework it requires to deliver safe homes, along with clear accountability on those undertaking design and construction work. Andy Lowe, Technical & Training Director for Building Control at Bureau Veritas, said: “The Building Safety Bill is an absolutely crucial requirement for the construction industry. However, with mandatory regulations being introduced at different times, there is a very real risk of developers waiting for legislation to be introduced before making the necessary changes needed to ensure a smooth process to regulatory compliance – risking delays and increased costs at various approval points.” The requirements of Gateway three are a prime example of this. Gateway three will occur at the completion stage of a building and will be considered – like Gateway two – as a stop/go point. If requirements of the Gateway are not met at this stage, the Building Safety Regulator will not provide final certification; resulting in the developer needing to retrospectively correct noncompliant or defective work, risking lengthy delays to occupation and unbudgeted costs. Andy continued: “There is a slight misconception that Gateway three and the registration process for a new building are the same thing. It’s important for developers to fully understand the requirements of each stage of the gateway process ahead of planning and development to ensure they are not met with costly delays – whether they are mandatory now, or not. “Gateway three will take place when a building has been completed, and approval from the Building Safety Regulator must be obtained before it is formerly registered for occupation. Whilst it seems simple enough, there is a lot to consider at this stage with the application requiring plans and documents that reflect the ‘as built’ building, with paperwork demonstrating how the building works comply with the various new regulations. This is part of the ‘golden thread’ approach. “Only when the Regulator is satisfied a building meets all the requirements is it eligible for registration – and this must be done by the Duty Holder (or Principal Accountable Person), who identifies with having overall responsibility for the building safety risks. “Overall, the Gateway process will provide a very clear framework that will require regulation compliance at every stage of the build. It’s a necessary change for the industry, however construction companies are going to need to evolve quickly to meet the changes; particularly those working on large and longer-term projects. We’d therefore urge the industry to plan for these important changes now, irrespective of when the various Gateways are set to be introduced, or risk potential delays and increased costs further down the line.” Bureau Veritas works with developers as an independent third party throughout the building lifecycle to help reduce risk and to achieve compliance. This includes supporting on the ‘golden thread’ approach, and meeting the gateway requirements. For more information on the detail of the Building Safety Bill, download Bureau Veritas’ free ‘Understanding the Building Safety Bill’ webinar. To find out more about Bureau Veritas’ services or to discuss individual requirements with a member of the team, call 0345 600 1828 or visit www.bureauveritas.co.uk.
How can building design create wellbeing for people and the planet? The sustainable buildings and communities concept Build for Life addresses multiple challenges in the building industry, based on a new way of thinking about our new and existing living places. What if we could live more sustainably, connected and healthy? This is one of several fundamental questions addressed in the Build for Life concept, developed by VELUX who launched the Build for Life conference and rooted in a strong commitment to show how it is possible to build sustainably and enable happier and healthier living places. Build for Life is founded on the understanding that the way we build today has an enormous impact on people, as well as the ecosystems that sustain us. It provides a compass for designers, city planners and building professionals along with suggestions for how to meet some of the most pressing dilemmas we face: Environment: Buildings alone are responsible for around 39% of global CO2 emissions and 40% of the world population need new homes (UNEP, 2015), meanwhile we need to reach net zero emissions before 2050 to curb the climate crisis. By using low impact materials and focusing on the LCA of a building we could meet the demand for increased housing without depleting the Earth’s resources. Healthy: We spend up to 90% of our time indoors but fail to build for a healthy indoor climate by applying a one-size-fits-all logic to our buildings and compromising on the quality of construction materials. By designing with healthy indoor principles and healthy materials we can create buildings that don’t just make you less sick but actually make you healthier. Affordability: 2.5 billion more people are expected to live in cities by 2050. At the same time most places worldwide have seen a substantial and steady increase in housing prices, making our built environment unaffordable for the people who would benefit from them the most. By designing a built environment that focuses on affordability by design, shared living, and new business cases we could unlock housing for the people that will benefit from it the most. Community: Even though we live closer, and are more connected than ever we feel more lonely, anxious and stressed. One in five people in Denmark, for instance, long for community and a sense of belonging. By designing a built environment that enables community through sharing, participation, identity, and safety we could increase wellbeing and improve overall health whilst reducing anxiety, loneliness, and stress. “Homes and communities should be centred around healthy and regenerative design principles to be designed for both people and planet. Build for Life is more than a design concept, it is a way of thinking and living”, explains Lone Feifer, Director of Sustainable Buildings, the VELUX Group. Build for Life is a regenerative approach for our future built environment VELUX launches Build for Life as part of its wider sustainability strategy and as a contribution to the UN’s SDG11 (Sustainable Cities And Communities), taking its +18 years of best practices in sustainable buildings to a new, next level. The concept is expanded in a Compass Model, outlining seven strategic drivers – flexibility, quality, environmental, healthy, community, local, affordability – to guide the building and development process. These drivers enable collaborators across sectors to follow an easy, open-source framework for developing and transforming buildings for the future. Build for Life goes above and beyond the design level by shaping a new common language and way of thinking aimed at the entire industry, fuelled by the strong belief that only by working together across the industry we will be able to achieve healthier and more sustainable living places for all. The Compass Model had been created in partnership with EFFEKT architects, MOE engineers, LeaderLab and the VELUX Group. The Compass is intended as a partnership platform and invites more partners with likeminded visions to lead the change within the built environment. Leading by example: Principles for Living Places To show how to build sustainably, the VELUX Group has, together with partners EFFEKT architects and MOE engineers developed five principles for practice examples. The principles take a point of departure in the typical market benchmark, and describe the different improvement and reduction as compared to that. The principles address healthy, scalable, shared, simple and adaptive.
Almost a third (30%) of credit managers ‘guess’ their bad debt reserve requirement Less than one in ten (9%) are given any steer/model by their auditors Construction businesses seeking to take the guesswork out of bad debt provision at Financial Year End could benefit from a new free service being provided by Debt Register, a global payment accelerator. Or, businesses can use an individual involuntary arrangement to help them seek financial stability and freedom. Loading a company’s five largest outstanding debts onto the automated Debt Register collections platform, with a very high chance of collecting those debts, could significantly improve the accuracy of bad debt provision. This will in turn improve the visibility and accuracy of a company’s true financial position and its bottom line, with all the inherent advantages this brings in terms of access to future lending and credit. The proposal follows research that suggests that almost a third (30%) of credit management professionals guess at a figure when assessing the level of bad debt reserve they require at Year End, while less than one in ten (9%) are able to look to any financial model provided by their auditors. More than a third (35%) opt for generic, age-based percentages to arrive at a figure while a quarter (26%) look to their experience of similar debt. Gary Brown, Founder of Debt Register, believes the survey proves what he has long thought: that the current process of providing for bad debts is invariably guesswork: “Speaking to firms and accountants, many companies have no clear picture of how collectable or otherwise certain debts are, and make provision simply by taking a best guess,” he says. “By passing the five oldest or longest-standing debts through our platform, however, there is a very real chance that those debts will be settled. This means the actual bad debt figure being provided for will be more accurate. because there would be no need to reserve for those invoices at all. “Indeed, even if the money is not collected, then that also helps takes the guesswork out of the process and gives the company and the auditor something more tangible to refer to than a vague model. Either way, Debt Register gives companies a tool that supports a more accurate financial position.” Real case scenarios with current Debt Register clients have already proven the point and the age of the debt appears not to be a barrier to its collectability. One customer uploaded a debt that was 888 days overdue, and the debt was settled in 27 hours. In a more remarkable example, an uploaded debt that was 1499 days overdue was paid within 45 minutes. Debt Register is, first and foremost, a global payment accelerator that enables a business to identify late invoices on their ledger and allow the platform to do the rest. This includes validating the customer contact’s email against a database of some 90 billion addresses to a 93% degree of accuracy. The platform contacts the debtor automatically and in the appropriate language, requesting that the payment is settled, and ensuring the invoice is correct and not in dispute. By leveraging its relationships with leading credit reference agencies (CRAs) to report unpaid and overdue debts, debtors are encouraged to settle any overdues promptly to avoid their credit scores being negatively impacted. In short – there is now a tangible and direct consequence for those companies should they continue not to pay an undisputed, overdue invoice. Along with shortening the timeframe of remittance, Debt Register provides a series of tools to credit managers including auto-translation for use within multiple territories. The system is intelligent, recognising different time zones, working days and cultural nuances including national holidays or religious festivals, and schedules the dispatch of any communications accordingly. To date it has successfully recovered debts in 71 different countries and six out of the seven continents “Using the free service means a business has nothing to lose and everything to gain,” Gary concludes, “and converts a guess into something closer to the truth.” For a free trial, go to: https://debtregister.com/freetrial/
A derelict former industrial site is set to be transformed following the appointment of a contractor. South Tyneside Council has appointed John F Hunt Regeneration Ltd to carry out civil engineering works on disused docks and former brownfield land at Holborn, South Shields. The remediation works will prepare the nine-hectare site for its transformation into a thriving riverside quarter for living and working, with high quality new public space. The plans will see a failing quay edge wall replaced with a new one and the raising of the former dry docks to overcome serious flooding issues. Three of the docks will be restored to preserve the area’s industrial heritage. John F Hunt Regeneration will focus on overcoming existing site constraints, including contamination, flood risks and an obsolete retaining wall, to ensure it is suitable for follow-on residential and commercial development. The site, which is currently split level, will be reprofiled to create a gentle slope from Commercial Road to the Tyne, making it more suitable for development. ‘Ballast hills’ and an existing eight-metre-high concrete retaining wall will be removed. Earlier this year, the scheme secured £1.85m from the government’s Brownfield Land Release Fund to help deliver 250 of the new dwellings. It also benefits from £9.4 million of funding to support delivery of new office space in the Enterprise Zone opposite Commercial Road. Councillor Tracey Dixon Leader of South Tyneside Council said: “We’re delighted to welcome John F Hunt to join us on this exciting project. “This area has been largely derelict for many years and bears the hallmarks of its former heavy industrial use, which are currently constraints to development. “The civil engineering works are needed to overcome these significant site issues and make it suitable to bring forward a mixed-use development that will deliver family homes and office space, creating hundreds of new jobs. “This scheme will bring brownfield land back into use and transform it into a vibrant riverside quarter that people will be proud to call home.” The project delivers on the council’s key priorities of creating the conditions for recovery and investment and invest in the natural and built environment. Work is expected to start on site early in the new year and will be carried out in phases, with the ground and maritime improvements being completed in autumn 2023. Steve Johnson, Director of John F Hunt Regeneration said: “This brownfield site poses some very complex and challenging problems associated with its historical use. “We are thrilled to be selected by South Tyneside Council as their delivery partner, to bring the site back from its derelict state into a sustainable place for forward development.” Mott MacDonald Limited are acting as the Principal Designer for the civil engineering element of the scheme, whilst the contract will be administered by Driver Project Services. Last year, Keepmoat, working in partnership with Cussins, were appointed as the development partner to deliver around 350 high-quality family houses and apartments and the associated infrastructure, including a new riverside promenade. The scheme, which builds on the considerable investment that has already gone into regenerating South Shields, has secured £9.4million from the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) for the delivery of a future phase of office accommodation.
Great Britain’s workplace regulator is asking demolition and construction firms to double-down on thorough planning, management and control of demolition and refurbishment work. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is asking that businesses properly plan, organise, manage, and monitor their work and use competent people to avoid incidents and ill health amongst their workers and the public. It is reminding companies that the safer they are, the more efficient they are. Good health and safety management increases the likelihood of contracts coming in on time and within budget with fewer added costs, and often to a higher quality. In the past year HSE has dealt with prosecutions involving severe injuries and fatalities as a result of poorly planned demolition work. This has included: A contractor who suffered serious injuries when a single-story roof he was demolishing by hand, collapsed at a construction site in Cobham, Surrey. A 64-year-old man who was killed when a garage wall at a garden in Hampshire collapsed on him during demolition, after a contractor who was operating a digger failed to put an exclusion zone in place whilst carrying out the work. A 21-year-old employee who was killed whilst dismantling a redundant grain drying tunnel at a farm in Kent when a farming partnership failed to ensure the integrity of the structure during the dismantling process. An employee who sustained injuries to his shoulder, and a fractured heel and ankle when he was hit by falling debris from a garage wall in Clitheroe that was being demolished in an unsafe manner. A contractor who was prosecuted for disturbing asbestos and damaging underground cables during demolition works at a site in Blackburn, causing severe disruption to services. The operator of a cherry picker who sustained life-changing injuries when he became trapped during a demolition operation at a site in Greater Manchester. A HSE investigation found the vehicle he was operating was not suitable for the task and had not been fitted with propriety devices to avoid the likelihood of operators being crushed. HSE is reminding contractors that it is crucial to complete a survey ahead of demolition work including structural investigation and appraisal, which considers the age of the structure, type of construction, history of the building including alterations and design codes used to avoid an uncontrolled collapse. Specific consideration should also be given to the effect of additional weight of demolition machinery and debris on suspended floors; and the risks to nearby buildings and structures. HSE’s head of construction Sarah Jardine said: “Structural instability can be a problem in buildings that are old, decayed, poorly maintained, and in newer buildings that have been badly designed and constructed or abused in use. “Even sound structures can become unstable because of a lack of planning of construction and demolition work.” She added: “It is easy to get it wrong even on small, straightforward structures, which makes it even more important to put the planning in place when it comes to demolishing large, complex structures. Demolishing these types of structures is a particularly hazardous activity and doing it safely is highly complicated and technical, so relevant expertise is vital. These jobs require careful planning and execution by contractors who are competent in the full range of demolition techniques and have access to designers and engineers with the right knowledge, skills, and experience in this area.” A systematic approach to demolition projects should be a team effort. Clients must appoint professionals who have the relevant skills, knowledge, experience, organisational capability, and who are adequately resourced. Clients, with the help of the principal designer must provide essential pre-construction information to the relevant designers and engineers. This should include a range of surveys and reports to check for presence of asbestos, structural stability, and the location of above and below ground live services. It is the principal designer’s responsibility to plan, manage, monitor, and coordinate health and safety issues in the pre-construction phase to ensure principal contractors are provided with relevant information to enable them to put safety measures in place. Once the demolition work has begun it is the principal contractor’s responsibility to plan, manage and monitor the demolition activities and coordinate work to ensure that it is carried out without risks to health and safety. While site managers must ensure workers are supervised and are following safe working practice. Sarah Jardine added: “Incidents caused by poor planning and risk management can have substantial human costs that are felt for many years by the victims and their families. “In addition to the impact on people’s lives, incidents can also lead to substantial remediation costs, higher insurance premiums, and, if HSE investigates, court fines and prison sentences, which will inevitably impact reputations. “As well as being morally right, it is simply common sense and good business to ensure rigorous planning, organising, managing and monitoring of the whole project.”
Following a difficult year for the construction industry caused by overnight price-hikes, material shortages and Covid-19 – a Suffolk construction boss is hopeful for a better new year. SEH French, based in Ipswich and working across East Anglia, is among the countless companies impacted by the challenges of 2021. Director of the company, Simon Girling, said: “This year has been extremely challenging for the industry. There’s been issues with the supply chain, it’s still hard to find good-quality people in the industry and obviously there’s been a vast materials shortage. “With the cost situation, I’ve never seen anything like it in my 30 years in construction. The volatile state of the industry and material supply is unprecedented. While price increases and changes have always been there, they’ve always been planned so we could be prepared. Now it’s a case of finding out there’s a price increase and it’s happening on Monday, for example.” While this year was not all plain sailing for SEH French, Mr Girling was happy with how the company rose to the challenge, even taking on more staff including three apprentices. He continued: “It’s a testament to everyone’s efforts at SEH French and One Group Construction, our parent company, that we are able to continue to grow in such an environment. I’m very keen on taking on apprentices when we can, to get new people into the industry. There is a shortage of good-qualified people in construction, so bringing in new people allows us to train them to the high standard we work to.” Although businesses in the UK, including SEH French, source materials locally wherever possible to be sustainable and support other local businesses, some clients specifically request materials from the EU. From 1st January 2022, all goods imported from the EU will need a full customs declaration, including import and VAT payments, completed on arrival to enter the country. It’s due to the end of Brexit transitional measures, which allowed customs declarations to be delayed by 175 days. Mr Girling expects this could lead to delays in the delivery of a small amount of materials if preparations are not made. Despite the ongoing issue to the supply chain, he is hopeful 2022 will be smoother than this year, as companies are now used to a “new normal” for the delivery of materials. Simon added: “There is a want and a will for all industries to continue to invest and grow, which will directly or indirectly benefit the construction industry due to the need for new offices, warehouses, housing and more. “We’re seeing the supply chain is still there with workloads and opportunities coming through. Obviously, we’ve still got to deal with working through a pandemic, alongside material and labour shortages, but I can only see that improving. “I don’t think it [shortages] will be as volatile in 2022 compared to 2021, as I’d like to think people have now adapted to the new normal of how they work and the costs of how they work. I think there will be smaller increment increases in costs. “The same goes for material availability, they will no doubt have got used to how they can produce things and the time it takes, and the new normal will be something taking eight weeks to get hold of instead of four weeks. Therefore, the industry will be able to work to their new timeline to deliver projects.” SEH French remains keen to grow and to create more vacancies during 2022 to help those looking to start a career in construction or people who’ve been out of work for some time. To find out more about SEH French, please visit www.sehfrench.co.uk.
Contractors can create estimates up to 10x faster with Houzz Pro Takeoffs Houzz Inc., the leading platform for home renovation and design, today announced the acquisition of ConX, a SaaS takeoff and estimation tool. The ConX software, which enables contractors to do on-screen takeoffs from construction plans and turn them into professional estimates up to 10 times faster, is now fully integrated and available in Houzz Pro, the all-in-one marketing and business management software. Contractors can streamline the estimation process and turn bids around faster with Houzz Pro Takeoffs, helping them save time and win more jobs. In addition, takeoffs created in Houzz Pro can be directly converted into estimates, as part of the Houzz Pro project management workflow. “We’re excited to bring the power of ConX’s takeoff tool to contractors using Houzz Pro, and to welcome ConX’s customers around the world to the Houzz community,” said Alon Cohen, Houzz co-founder and president. “Creating estimates can be incredibly time intensive for contractors. By providing fully integrated, easy-to-use Houzz Pro Takeoffs, we’re helping pros to efficiently manage and grow their businesses, and spend less time on back-office work.” “We are thrilled to join forces with Houzz in their mission to create the best software for construction and design,” said Annie Slattery, ConX co-founder and CEO. “It is incredibly exciting to see ConX’s tools built into the end-to-end Houzz Pro offering, helping contractors around the world run efficient, profitable businesses.” Houzz Pro Takeoffs is applicable to builders, renovators and speciality contractors across the construction industry from carpenters to roofers, electricians, plumbers and concrete contractors. Pros can upload plans and start measuring instantly. Houzz Pro Takeoffs can auto-calculate total material costs, based on prices added by the pro. The tool is available to Houzz Pro Essential and Ultimate subscribers. Houzz Pro helps residential construction and design professionals to run an efficient, profitable business and makes it easy for them to reach new customers, all while delivering a standout client experience. The software is available in more than 10 countries across North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Subscription packages, priced to fit any budget or team, also include estimates, invoicing, lead management and business management tools. Pros can learn more and get started at houzz.co.uk/pro. The Houzz Pro app is available on iOS and Android devices. The Houzz community includes more than 65 million homeowner and home design enthusiasts and over 2.7 million home renovation and design professionals around the world in more than 100 categories, including architects, interior designers, contractors and landscape professionals.