Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic progress on M-Sport’s state-of-the-art Evaluation Centre continues at pace. Following an initial 6-week closure of the site, works recommenced in a COVID-Secure environment at the beginning of May. Currently the multi-million-pound facility at the firm’s Dovenby Hall Estate in Cumbria remains on course
PLANNING permission has been granted by Nottingham City Council for the highly anticipated multi-million-pound development of Nottingham’s Guildhall, which brings the currently vacant building into its next lifetime and will create more than 250 jobs for the city. The planning application was submitted by a joint venture between Locksley Hotels
IN ORDER to stand any chance of meeting the UK government’s targets, 100 per cent of all new buildings must be designed to be zero-carbon within the next five years, and 100 per cent of all new buildings constructed must be zero-carbon within the next decade. Procuring new developments through
Marco Verdonkschot, Managing Director at IronmongeryDirect & ElectricalDirect, has commented on the latest furlough figures for the construction industry: “This morning, the Office for National Statistics released the latest figures for the government’s job retention scheme and it’s natural for them to be a bit concerning. “The number of construction
PROPERTY investment firm Castleforge Partners announced its entrance into the hospitality sector today (20th August) with the major new hire of Matt Lederer from Marriott International. Lederer joins Castleforge as the company’s Hotels Acquisitions Director, broadening the firm’s portfolio from investment in residential and office property to hotels. With Castleforge
Jim Hodkinson, former CEO of B&Q, has become a major investor and the first Chairman of London-based start-up Genius IP, maker of Quadsaw, the world’s first drill for square holes. Hodkinson’s appointment follows the completion of the company’s latest ‘Angel’ funding round, which increases the multi-million pound investments in the
Comment by Paula Broadbent, retirement solutions director at ENGIE. “The best way to predict the future is to create it” – Abraham Lincoln I have always found this quote inspirational, and it has particularly influenced my personal ambition to provide better choices for older people in the UK. LIFEstyle by
With the country on the receiving end of unrelenting bad news since the Coronavirus began to wreak global havoc in March, reports that the construction industry has seen a sharp upturn in business provides a much welcome shard of positivity. As reported in online trade magazine, Construction Enquirer, the index
The UK government has recently published a draft landmark bill which is designed to improve residents’ safety in their homes. The Building Safety Bill, which marks one of the biggest changes to building safety in 40 years, will introduce a new era of accountability, making it clear where the responsibility
INDUSTRY-LEADING home staging company Lemon and Lime Interiors has announced the launch of its brand-new app – Stageflow – which offers estate agents, property developers and home stagers the ability to evidence the benefits and return on investment when using a home staging service. The real-time data and reporting platform provides users
Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic progress on M-Sport’s state-of-the-art Evaluation Centre continues at pace. Following an initial 6-week closure of the site, works recommenced in a COVID-Secure environment at the beginning of May. Currently the multi-million-pound facility at the firm’s Dovenby Hall Estate in Cumbria remains on course for completion towards the end of the year. The first phase of works comprised the design and construction of a 2.5km test track. This civils works to facilitate this involved moving 200,000 Tonnes of earth, whilst ensuring a cut and fill balance to ensure that no materials needed to be removed from site. Sustainable drainage to the track included 6.5km drainage and a number of balancing ponds to ensure no negative impact on the local watercourse. The second and current phase is the associated 111,000ft2 production facility which commenced in May 2019. The facility is considered integral to the future of the Cockermouth-based business and once complete will safeguard existing jobs as well as creating new skills in the area. Northern Developments’ team have worked hard over the summer to mitigate the 6-week delay and address supply chain challenges caused by COVID-19 closures and restrictions. The building is now fully clad and watertight. All internal pre-cast concrete walls have been installed, and initial partitions to separate the 10,723m2 workshop from its various departments are starting to take shape alongside mechanical and electrical installations. The external concrete road has been laid, and the structural glazing that will form the front of an impressive showroom at the front of the development is now being installed. The project was made possible with investment from the UK Government’s Regional Growth Fund (RGF) as well as Growth Fund investment provided by Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership (CLEP) and will allow M-Sport to develop a one-of-a-kind facility in the UK. Offering a unique centre of engineering excellence, the M-Sport Evaluation Centre was designed to boost Cumbrian economy, skills and innovation in the Northern Powerhouse – the importance of which has only increased given the current climate. M-Sport Managing Director, Malcolm Wilson OBE, said: “I’m extremely proud of what we are creating here at Dovenby Hall, and it’s important that we move forward with an operational facility to attract new business and protect existing jobs as well as new skills in the area. These are particularly challenging times for so many businesses, but once the Evaluation Centre is up and running, I’m confident that we can come out the other side and continue to provide for Cumbria.” Commercial Manager for Northern Developments, Eddie Ward, said: “In spite of the impact of the global pandemic, the team on site have worked tirelessly to overcome various challenges, striving to deliver this impressive project on time. The client’s commitment to the local economy is unwavering and we are proud to be able to facilitate such ambitious aspirations in challenging times.” Established in 1985 Northern Developments work throughout the UK, recently completing more than £16million worth of purpose-built student accommodation developments through new build and refurbishment. Currently, Northern are evaluating several large scale private rented sector schemes. Their M-Sport Project has been shortlisted by the National Building & Construction Awards 2020 for Project of the Year in the £10 million to £25 million category. Managing Director Martyn Boak commented: “We continually look for development opportunities, the depth of our experience allows us to look at all sectors and our proven track record of delivering consistently for over 3 decades counts for an awful lot today, the current political backdrop is certainly adversely affecting the real estate sector and Business’s as a whole which none of the Politicians even begin to understand, however we’re agile, opportunistic and open for Business”.
PLANNING permission has been granted by Nottingham City Council for the highly anticipated multi-million-pound development of Nottingham’s Guildhall, which brings the currently vacant building into its next lifetime and will create more than 250 jobs for the city. The planning application was submitted by a joint venture between Locksley Hotels Ltd and hotel group Ascena in May 2020, detailing plans for a 162-bed, four-star hotel, which will include a rooftop fine dining restaurant, spa and wedding and conference facilities. The hotel will house luxury rooms and existing courtrooms in the building will be converted into bar and restaurant facilities, retaining the original listed features. The modern extension to the northern elevation of the existing building will also utilise high-grade materials to give a nod to Nottingham’s lace heritage in its design. John Wilby, project lead for Ascena, said: “Having most recently housed the city council’s offices, Nottingham’s Guildhall is an iconic building in the city centre, which has hosted a magistrates’ court, police station and fire station since it was built in 1887. After it has sat vacant for the best part of a decade, we’re pleased to have hit this significant milestone in breathing new life into it. The development will not only bring jobs to the area but will also help elevate the city as a tourist destination.” The Guildhall building itself will house the hotel following a sensitive restoration of the Grade II listed building and Fire Station House, while more modern extensions at the back of the building will be demolished and rebuilt. Jack Turton, director of Ascena, said: “We have been working closely with our heritage consultant Turley and Historic England to ensure that this iconic building is brought back to its former glory. As well as this, an existing latter-day extension to the northern elevation of the Guildhall will be demolished and rebuilt. “We’re thrilled to have been working in close collaboration with the city council to help bring its former home to life, and now that planning consent has been granted we hope to begin work on site in the coming months.” Councillor David Mellen, leader of Nottingham City Council, said: “I’m very pleased that these exciting proposals to turn Nottingham’s Guildhall into a high-quality hotel have been given the go ahead. It’s something we have been keen to happen for a long time and our planning officers have worked with the developers to help them shape a development which respects the history of this grand old building and bring it back into use. “The mixture of uses on the rest of the site will help to reinvigorate this part of the city centre at a time when new developments and the jobs they bring are very welcome indeed. “This investment in the city shows ongoing confidence in Nottingham and will complement other schemes that are transforming the city centre into a new destination for residents, businesses and visitors.” Ascena owns and runs a number of luxury hotel and restaurant facilities around the UK, one of which is the Birmingham restaurant Opheem – one of only ten Indian restaurants in the UK to achieve a Michelin star – which is run by Ascena business partner Aktar Islam. Aktar, who is a former winner of The Great British Menu and The F Word, will be running the rooftop restaurant of the Guildhall development.
IN ORDER to stand any chance of meeting the UK government’s targets, 100 per cent of all new buildings must be designed to be zero-carbon within the next five years, and 100 per cent of all new buildings constructed must be zero-carbon within the next decade. Procuring new developments through effective framework agreements is one way of moving more swiftly to a zero-carbon circular economy, so says Jason Stapley, managing director at Pagabo. Over the next 40 years, the world is expected to build 230 billion square metres of new construction, adding the equivalent of Paris to the planet every single week. This means that we must act now to meet the challenge of building net zero developments not just to meet government targets in the UK, but also to create a better future for every person on the planet. The first challenge is the understanding of what the move to carbon neutrality means from a construction point of view. The London Energy Transformation Initiative’s (LETI) Climate Emergency Design Guide revealed that 49 per cent of annual carbon emissions in the UK are attributable to buildings, that all new buildings must operate at net zero-carbon by 2030, and all buildings must do the same by 2050. However, when discussing carbon neutrality in construction more education is still needed. Achieving net zero is not simply about the construction phase, it is about whole life carbon effect. The carbon footprint of any building is made up of a combination of embodied and operational carbon – i.e. producing a building’s materials, their transport and installation on site, as well as their disposal at the end of life, and how the building is run operationally following occupation, including maintenance, repair and replacement. Whole life cost is the second big challenge. It’s imperative that that people understand that building something now doesn’t mean building something for themselves. While they may use the building in the short term, they are really constructing something that will be there for several decades at least – so they are building for future generations. So, it’s not about a race to the bottom and building the cheapest now. We must examine how we don’t just ‘hit’ targets but exceed them for the future benefit. Simply put, if we invest our money into better quality materials, processes and techniques now, there will be greater benefit down the line. We must remember that end of life can provide a significant input into the level of embodied carbon of a building as well, whether it be a mechanical refit, refurbishment or demolition. Timber construction is an area we are seeing develop quite rapidly – for example planning was granted late in 2019 for the world’s first wooden football stadium for Forest Green Rovers. Using timber for developments where possible can reduce carbon emissions related to practical completion but would also result in a drop of operational emissions as well. The lifespan of any building is several decades before any major maintenance work will need to be done, and – not surprisingly – evidence shows that carbon emissions jump during the lifespan of any building when major regeneration works needs to be done. If we design and build to the best achievable levels right now, we could eliminate the need for major replacement and maintenance before a building’s end of life. Many organisations are calling for the coronavirus recovery to be a green one, providing a springboard for longer term change. The Committee for Climate Change published its 2020 progress report to Parliament in June on the efforts to reduce carbon emissions in the last year, highlighting key investment priorities for the coming months including the strengthening of the energy network, improved infrastructure for walking, cycling and remote working, low carbon retrofits and a rapid move towards a circular economy. As well as this, the Committee also identified opportunities to support the transition and recovery by investing in the UK’s workforce and in lower carbon behaviours and innovation through reskilling and retraining programmes, and targeted science and innovation funding. With less than five years to be designing at a fully net zero-carbon level, it’s crucial that we do all we can to not just change attitudes, but behaviours as well. However, for all the conversation around zero-carbon builds, we must examine the fact that operational carbon levels are likely to be higher than embodied levels over the lifespan of a building. Changing attitudes and introducing energy efficiency will be a gamechanger. Many people are already waking up to the global crisis we are facing – and the coronavirus pandemic has helped with some of this general climate change education as we saw global air pollution fall during lockdowns. Research conducted by Energy UK with PwC showed that there was a 15 to 20 per cent reduction of energy demand during the UK’s lockdown period when compared to the same period in 2019, and evidence has shown that 30 per cent of consumers are paying closer attention to their energy usage since working remotely. Home working has also seen a flattening in daily peaks of energy usage in the domestic market. The government is working hard towards its election promises to build at least a million new homes by 2025, and with the workforce expecting greater flexibility in home working options post-COVID, the housing market is an important area for driving towards better energy efficiency for tenants and lowering carbon contributions. Energy UK’s report showed that the reduced energy demand during lockdown meant that 40 per cent of energy supply came from variable renewable generation in April 2020. If we design our buildings in the most effective way now, these are the kinds of benefits we will be able to continually reap in the near future. One major area of work identified by LETI that will need to be done in the UK specifically is our use of heat in the winter – and as summer heatwaves increase in frequency, we will see increased
Marco Verdonkschot, Managing Director at IronmongeryDirect & ElectricalDirect, has commented on the latest furlough figures for the construction industry: “This morning, the Office for National Statistics released the latest figures for the government’s job retention scheme and it’s natural for them to be a bit concerning. “The number of construction workers that have been furloughed has risen to 769,300, up by 17,300 from July. Three in five (60%) employees in the industry are now being paid by the scheme. “The number of employers having to sign up also rose, with 174,000 now enrolled (up from 171,400). This means that over three-quarters (76%) of construction companies are now furloughing at least some of their workforce. “As a result, the value of claims for furlough payments increased too. In August, construction employers claimed £2,931m to help pay their staff, up £324m from the previous month. “Some areas of the country are having to rely on the scheme more than others. The South West of England has furloughed the highest percentage of its construction workers (63%). The least affected is the South East of England (55%), although it experienced the UK’s equal highest rise between July and August (2%), with 2,500 more employees furloughed. “However, Scotland remains the worst hit, with a staggering 73% of its construction workforce (89,200 out of 121,500) being paid by the government. Northern Ireland is a close second, with 71% currently furloughed, with Wales and England a little behind (62% and 58% respectively). “It is positive that so many construction workers are receiving income during these difficult times, rather than companies simply making them redundant. However, when the furlough scheme ends at the end of October, we need to hope that the demand for work is great enough that employers don’t need to let staff go. “Thankfully, there are some positive signs that this might be the case, as while construction output remains around a quarter (24.8%) lower than it was pre-lockdown, it increased by 23.5% between May and June – the greatest rise since records began.” For more information about IronmongeryDirect, visit: www.ironmongerydirect.co.uk/.
PROPERTY investment firm Castleforge Partners announced its entrance into the hospitality sector today (20th August) with the major new hire of Matt Lederer from Marriott International. Lederer joins Castleforge as the company’s Hotels Acquisitions Director, broadening the firm’s portfolio from investment in residential and office property to hotels. With Castleforge looking to invest in the hospitality sector in the next year, Lederer will form a key part of Castleforge’s decision making team on hotel acquisition across the UK and Europe. Lederer joins from Marriott International, the world’s biggest hotel operator, where he was UK Development Director responsible for the growth of the company’s select service brands including Moxy, Residence Inn, and Courtyard by Marriott. With 14 years of industry experience, including stints at commercial real estate firm JLL, Lederer brings with him an excellent hotel real estate network which he will draw on at Castleforge to evaluate the market and finalise deals. The firm has invested approximately £1 billion throughout the UK and Europe since its formation in 2010 and has gained a reputation for investing in cities outside London, including Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield. Matt Lederer, Hotels Acquisitions Director at Castleforge Partners commented: “I was really impressed by the vision the Castleforge team have for investment into the hospitality sector.” “The company takes a long-term strategic view, and they can see that the hotel industry will rebound from its current setback. The appetite for leisure travel, in particular, is already growing again and fast. Working together with Castleforge’s diligent research team, I look forward to some really exciting projects across the UK and Europe as we begin to invest significantly in the sector.” Brandon Hollihan, Founding Partner of Castleforge Partners said: “We are thrilled to have Matt join us. We are focusing on a sector we believe will become increasingly attractive, guided by an expert in the field who shares our values. Matt is the perfect person to help our firm execute this strategy and grow our expertise.”
Jim Hodkinson, former CEO of B&Q, has become a major investor and the first Chairman of London-based start-up Genius IP, maker of Quadsaw, the world’s first drill for square holes. Hodkinson’s appointment follows the completion of the company’s latest ‘Angel’ funding round, which increases the multi-million pound investments in the start-up. The latest seven-figure round was helped by the UK government’s enhanced EIS scheme, which has encouraged individuals to invest funds at a level that was previously only reserved for Venture Capital firms. Manufactured in the UK, Quadsaw is a seamless attachment to a power drill that uses patented technology to convert rotary motion into linear motion in four planes at once, enabling users to cut square holes with minimal dust and absolute precision. Almost all construction projects require square holes for electrical sockets and other boxes but electricians currently create them with pencils, rulers and other tools that are not specifically designed for the task, which can be time consuming and inaccurate. Quadsaw solves this problem by enabling square holes to be cut in seconds rather than minutes, saving the construction industry millions of hours of labour annually. The appointment of Hodkinson as Chairman further strengthens the company as it aims to expand production globally. Hodkinson will utilise his extensive business experience and international network to help accelerate this expansion. As well as his roles at B&Q and Kingfisher he was previously CEO of fashion chain New Look and Chairman of Wyevale Garden Centres. He is currently Chairman of Furniture Village. Hodkinson said: “Quadsaw is the most exciting new product to arrive on the tools market for many years and it has the potential to be used worldwide. Wherever a square hole is needed Quadsaw will be there and I’m looking forward to helping the company achieve this global expansion.” Ean Brown, CEO of Genius IP, said: “We are delighted to have someone with Jim’s knowledge and experience to help steer the ship as we enter international waters. While 2020 started with sales momentum, when COVID-19 hit, the company was hurt much like most businesses in the world. But we used the time to recruit new engineers, invest in infrastructure for growth, including a design update of the Quadsaw and a bigger production facility. “We are glad to say that we’re now ready to meet global demand and the new design will be able to cut sockets to electrical standards in different markets that were not possible before.” The new design enables the user more flexibility to change the position of the blades to account for different-sized square and rectangular holes. As such, the Quadsaw will be sold around the world, including in the USA, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Australia, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Middle East, Italy, Brazil, Israel and more.
Comment by Paula Broadbent, retirement solutions director at ENGIE. “The best way to predict the future is to create it” – Abraham Lincoln I have always found this quote inspirational, and it has particularly influenced my personal ambition to provide better choices for older people in the UK. LIFEstyle by ENGIE, which launched in 2018, is a result of this ambition. It allows customers to have more control over their environment and their own futures in later life. To empower people, is to engage with them – so at LIFEstyle we have invested heavily in research and development through two-way communication. Our best advisors and advocates are our customers, and we have given people over 55, a voice right from the start of the LIFEstyle vision. We aim to ensure we understand what people aspire to in later life, and what the challenges are that they face – this is essential to creating a future that meets expectation, as well as need. When Spring of 2020 brought unprecedented times due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a major impact was felt across the world; creating fear, dismay and devastation for many, especially the older generation. Our LIFEstyle customers have not been immune to the ravaging effects, however, the sense of community, safe environment and individualised support available on our development has made the world of difference. This along with carefully designed lifelong homes offering indoor and outdoor independent space has helped people to remain safe and independent. I am very proud of our business model, LIFEstyle is weathering the pandemic – a storm no one could predict. We’re lucky to be working with a model that has proved successful in some of the toughest conditions the UK has faced for generations. However, we are not sitting on our laurels as we review the lessons learnt by scientists in relation to the spread of the virus. We’re constantly looking to identify preventative measures that we can build into our products and services in readiness for a spike or repeat of such a pandemic. The demand for our first LIFEstyle development in Walton Wakefield has increased two-fold since the lockdown eased and customer comments give a clear indication the approach at LIFEstyle by ENGIE is the right way forward. This is only strengthened by our commitment to delivering zero carbon communities. Climate change is the pandemic we will not be able to develop a vaccine for, but we can slow it down and prevent it. The implications of doing nothing are far reaching and the devastation will not discriminate. My ambition is to build on the success of LIFEstyle, to create community based zero carbon solutions that decarbonise the environment and decentralise services. The impact of us doing something about climate change will be massive for future generations and can empower us all to create our own future. As a senior leader within ENGIE, I make no apologies for being ambitious in my drive to deliver a business model that will change the horizon for future generations of older people in the UK. I aim to drive a way forward for a healthy future, for an environment that allows older generations to have aspirations in later life and a vision to support people to age well and live well, whilst protecting our planet. We will connect communities, health, housing and social care across all tenure groups. I am proud to work for a business with a clear mission, to place the planet and its population at the heart of its thinking when it comes to creating place, shaping and delivering infrastructure and services, to meet the need for a sustainable future. And I remain determined, to give the older generation a voice through education and engagement with younger creators, to ensure they are rightfully empowered to create their own futures. LIFEstyle by ENGIE is not simply about building suitable, lifelong homes to address short term aspirational needs of people over 55 or about providing a lovely home in a great location. LIFEstyle by ENGIE made a commitment to customers to provide long term sustainability and enable customers to influence, shape and control their own future; a future focused on remaining independent and well for longer. LIFEstyle by ENGIE, allows people to future proof their lives and not just their home – promoting better long-term outcomes in later life. A home is not simply about an energy efficient building in the right location, it’s the support network of friends, family and interaction within the community that all contribute towards creating the perfect lifelong home. We understand this, and are committed to creating communities that focus on essential infrastructure like; location, accessibility to essential services, efficient green energy infrastructure, digital network and community facilities. We want to enable people to engage with others in meaningful activities, bringing all generations closer together. The community hub is a key feature of all our LIFEstyle developments, along with cost effective pay as you go services and property adaptations when people need them. We ensure affordability of services and facilities which support wellbeing and make this all available on the doorstep. We are also working on innovations to compliment LIFEstyle by ENGIE, which we hope to launch later this year including; Electric Car share, ENGIE Digital Assistant and Modular Lifelong homes. Ultimately, when it comes to happiness at any age, there are three homes we must take care of. Our body, our mind and our planet. At LIFEstyle we ensure our flexible and dynamic offering takes care of all three without compromise.
With the country on the receiving end of unrelenting bad news since the Coronavirus began to wreak global havoc in March, reports that the construction industry has seen a sharp upturn in business provides a much welcome shard of positivity. As reported in online trade magazine, Construction Enquirer, the index which measures annual business expectations for the building sector climbed to its highest level since February. June figures recorded by the bellwether HIS Markit/CIPS UK Construction Total Activity Index showed 46% of its survey panel anticipated a rise in building trade business, compared to 28.9% in May. Residential work is said to have fuelled the majority of the building resurge, with commercial work and civil engineering activity also helping the return to growth. Tim Moore, Economics Director at IHS Markit, which complies the survey told Construction Enquirer that the building trade’s post-lockdown rebound gave ‘hope’ to other sectors which had suffered as a result of the Coronavirus crisis. “Looking ahead, construction firms are more confident than at any time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said. Investment boost In other good news, the government this week announced UK industry would receive around £350m to reduce carbon emissions as part of its overall target for the country to become net-zero by 2050. It’s reported that the construction industry will receive a £26m slice of the funding to support ‘advanced new building techniques’ in order to cut the sector’s build costs and resulting pollution levels. Although the sum being pledged isn’t enormous in the grand scheme of things, it shows the government hasn’t lost sight of its environmental commitment despite the monumental challenge posed by COVID-19. As a company founded by the desire to innovate building products which facilitate healthy, sustainable living and work spaces, we at Baumit welcome this latest financial investment. Crucial phase As our politicians and health experts remind us daily: ‘we are not out of the woods yet’. The following months will be crucial, not only to determining whether we are to suffer a second wave of the virus, but whether the recession is likely to cut as deep as predicted. As with any financial downturn, it will fall to the construction industry to inspire recovery. Initial signs indicate that the sector has once again not been found wanting. Speaking of IHS Markit’s sunnier-looking business forecast, Duncan Brock, Group Director at the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply, told Construction Enquirer: “Builders were the stars of the UK economy in June.” We couldn’t agree more.
The UK government has recently published a draft landmark bill which is designed to improve residents’ safety in their homes. The Building Safety Bill, which marks one of the biggest changes to building safety in 40 years, will introduce a new era of accountability, making it clear where the responsibility for managing risks lies throughout the design, construction and occupation of buildings. Ambar Kelly welcomes the new set of rules, which will apply to buildings over 18m. Yet are there any loopholes? Whilst the bill provides a framework for accountability and safety, what does it say about risk? The Building Safety Bill gives residents greater agency when it comes to assuring their security. It will enable them to have access to safety information and give them the opportunity to develop safety proposals if they feel their security is being compromised. As such, the bill will introduce tougher sanctions for building owners who fail to meet their obligations. Central to ensuring the regime is effective will be a powerful new Building Safety Regulator housed within the Health and Safety Executive. It will have responsibility for implementing and enforcing a more stringent regime for higher-risk buildings and will oversee the safety and performance of all buildings. What of product testing? Although the bill is an important framework which will hopefully provide greater accountability and safety when it comes to building design, there are some ambiguities. The first and foremost is in regards to testing. Under clause 92 of the Construction Products section of the draft bill, it highlights: “The bill provides powers so that all construction products marketed in the UK fall under a regulatory regime, allowing them to be withdrawn from the market if they present a risk.” Whilst this is important as it will ensure unfit products are not used on building schemes, there is little to no mention of the testing which is needed to ensure these products fit the bill. How are they going to determine which products are a potential risk? In the public inquiry for the fire which tore its way through King’s Cross underground station in 1987 it was stipulated that going forward, combustible and flammable materials cannot be used on a development. The inquiry came to this conclusion as the cause of the fire was said to be a discarded match which had caught on the wooden escalators that had been in use for over 76 years. We all know that wood is a highly flammable material, so it beggar’s belief how that was deemed appropriate for all those years. But risky materials are continually put into use when it comes to riser shaft design. GRP grating is regularly installed within riser shaft design, as it is a cheap product that is widely accepted as preventing falls from height. Its effectiveness is questionable, however. When installed in a riser’s chimney-style environment, GRP grating with an Iso resin is found to be extremely flammable. It is an oil-based product which readily burns. This makes the BS 476-7 classification unsuitable for its use within a riser shaft. With safety at stake, why is this material used in high-rise construction? Why aren’t Phenolic GRP (identifiable, as it is red/brown in colour) or steel modular riser flooring units used? In my opinion it is because the testing is not rigorous enough. Iso resin GRP grating is said to meet BS 476-7, the regulation relating to the measure of the surface spread of flame, but only in flat sheet form, tested vertically (so grating cannot meet that test). Although Iso resin meets these tests on paper, when installed in its real-time environment the reality is far different. The bill must therefore, place greater emphasis on improving product testing as the current framework contains too many loopholes which compromise safety. Ambar Kelly has undertaken evidence-based, independent fire tests in the environment in which our product, RiserSafe® will be employed. Our tests were carried out in the Building Research Establishment (BRE) fire hall in Watford. It was found that when RiserSafe® is used in combination with a fire compound, two hours of horizontal fire protection is achieved. We can make factory-based load tests of up to 2.5 kN/m2, to ensure that our product works as a barrier to the spread of smoke and flame. It must be said that the draft Building Safety Bill represents a monumental step-change for the construction industry in terms of safety. It will go some way to inciting change for the better. My main concern however, is in terms of product testing, an area which the bill has evaded. Testing is of primal importance to ensure construction products hit the mark on safety. If it isn’t made an essential consideration, where does that leave the industry?
INDUSTRY-LEADING home staging company Lemon and Lime Interiors has announced the launch of its brand-new app – Stageflow – which offers estate agents, property developers and home stagers the ability to evidence the benefits and return on investment when using a home staging service. The real-time data and reporting platform provides users with the ability to log and access home staging insights, enabling them to demonstrate the positive impact home staging has on property sales and ultimately encouraging sellers to use the service to speed up the sales process. Estate agents, developers and home stagers can use the app to download real-time text and visual reports that are filtered by date, location, property type and sale price – these reports can then be used to inform marketing materials, sent to potential clients and shared on social media. Elaine Penhaul, owner and director of Lemon and Lime Interiors and creator of Stageflow, said: “There has been a gap in the market for something like this for quite some time now. The benefits of home staging are often incredibly undervalued and without a tool to evidence the fantastic results home staging can achieve, the industry struggles to prove the return on investment of staging a property before sale. “With estate agents, property developers and other home staging companies experiencing the same challenges, we decided to create a data-driven platform to house the statistics and reports needed to show the benefits of staging to potential clientele, while also ensuring that the industry is supported by tangible data recording its success.” The app offers two levels of subscription, both of which allow an unlimited number of users for each account. The ‘insights’ subscription package, aimed at estate agents and developers, grants instant access to national property staging statistics and demonstrates the return on investment when using home staging services for just £10 a month. The more advanced ‘professional’ subscription package, designed with home staging businesses in mind and priced at £50 a month, allows access to all the ‘insight’ features, as well as the tools to manage staging projects, access stager level visual reporting and log resource hours and inventory. The ‘professional’ subscription also provides home stagers with a platform to manage home staging projects digitally, allowing them to create unlimited property records, assign properties to consultants, update each project as it progresses, gain insights about their business along the way and use filters to source the information they need quickly and efficiently. Elaine continued: “Not only does Stageflow enable users to pull reports about the effectiveness of home staging, but it can also act as a project management tool for home staging businesses. By logging projects digitally, stagers can easily monitor the progress of each property and use the platform to maximise output by keeping track of activity within the business.” The app, which is available for use in desktop, tablet or mobile use,will be available to sign up from 10th August. For more information about Stageflow and to sign up for your subscription visit https://stageflow.io/.