The team at Kite Packaging were delighted to show Mr Street around their day-to-day operations and give him a deeper insight into the Kite brand. The organisation, which has expanded its Coventry operation and earned a place on the Coventry and Warwickshire Growth Barometer earlier this year, is set for
The players at London Irish faced their biggest challenge yet when their principal sponsor, waste management company Powerday, brought a selection of skips, some healthy competition and just one question to the pitch: who would come out on top in the Rugby Kick Challenge? On a sunny July day at
TrustMark, the Government Endorsed Quality Scheme for tradespeople, is celebrating after TrustMark Registered Business, SEH BAC, an award-winning home improvement specialist, recently won the prestigious ‘Consumer Confidence’ award at the National Home Improvement Council Annual Awards (NHIC). The award, which was sponsored by TrustMark, recognised SEH BAC’s commitment to delivering
Vital Energi will deliver a £2.3m energy scheme for The West Works, Redrow’s latest development in Southall. Vital will be taking a phased installation approach to grow the solution in line with Redrow’s construction plans. Vital will be providing the design, supply and installation services for the scheme, which consists
PERFECT Circle, the consortium comprising Pick Everard, Gleeds and AECOM, has appointed Victoria Brambini as its managing director. Brambini, who has headed Scape Procure for the past two years, will take the helm of Perfect Circle from 1 January – leading the organisation to further success and developing its ambitious
Several high-value London properties are part of a major new national contract won by Principle Estate Management. Principle will be looking after a development of apartments each worth more than £1.5 million on America Street, just off Southwark Bridge Road – near the famous Borough Market, Tate Modern art gallery
Since the official turf cutting back in September 2018, significant progress is being made on the Triton Knoll offshore wind farm project managed by lead shareholder, Innogy. Construction specialist Mick George Ltd has now been appointed on behalf of J. Murphy and Sons Ltd to complete Earthworks at the main
As the level of housing completions continues to head in the right direction according to statistics published today, the country’s home building industry urged the Scottish Government to build on this positive news to enable it to deliver more of the homes Scotland’s growing population needs. Nicola Barclay, Chief Executive
MIKE TYLER, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT WSP, JOINS THE BOARD – After seeking a new national board member to fulfil the role of North West Regional Director, networking group the Forum for the Built Environment (FBE) have appointed Mike Tyler of global construction consultants WSP. Tyler returns to the FBE
The STA has conducted a fresh assessment of large-scale solar costs which was explored with leading energy analysts & BEIS at an expert workshop today. The STA’s last assessment of solar’s Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCOE), published in November 2014, had anticipated costs of around £80MWh in 2019. The updated
The team at Kite Packaging were delighted to show Mr Street around their day-to-day operations and give him a deeper insight into the Kite brand. The organisation, which has expanded its Coventry operation and earned a place on the Coventry and Warwickshire Growth Barometer earlier this year, is set for continued growth as it goes in to 2019. With a regional branch network across the UK this Coventry-based business also has sites in Rotherham, Swindon, Letchworth, Sittingbourne Portsmouth and Gateshead, as well as an Environmental Compliance business and a leading ecommerce offering. Coventry and Warwickshire’s Growth Hub’s Strategic Account Manager, Phil Peak, joined them as Mr Street explored Kite’s Coventry base and met with some of its employees. Kite’s key founding principle of a sense of partnership being at the heart of every good long term relationship has laid solid foundations as the Kite brand has grown over its 18 year history. Kite’s hard work and dedication to its sector did not go amiss, with Mr Street describing it as “a hidden gem in the Coventry economy.” Managing Partner, Gavin Ashe said: “On behalf of all the staff and partners at Kite Packaging, we’d like to thank Andy Street for the time he gave us. It was great to be able to talk about the opportunities and difficulties that we all face.” If you would like find out any more information about Kite Packaging or the services they offer please visit kitepackaging.co.uk.
The players at London Irish faced their biggest challenge yet when their principal sponsor, waste management company Powerday, brought a selection of skips, some healthy competition and just one question to the pitch: who would come out on top in the Rugby Kick Challenge? On a sunny July day at Hazelwood, the Exiles stepped up to an out-of-the ordinary training challenge to see who could earn the highest score by kicking rugby balls into different sized skips and bins. The rules were simple: each player had three shots to get the ball in one of six targets. The smaller the skip, the higher the score; so would they risk it all to hit that magic 100-pointer wheelie bin, or play it safe by aiming for larger, less valuable goals? One by one, the boys attempted to dropkick their way to the top of the leaderboards. Curious to see who was the most accurate on the day? Follow the action one kick at a time in the full competition video here – https://www.powerday.co.uk/news/london-irish-rugby-kick-challenge/ After the final scores were tallied, Powerday took the challenge online, asking fans if they could beat the pros at their own game with the official Rugby Kick Challenge game! Whether you’re on your phone, tablet, laptop or PC, you can choose your favourite London Irish stars to see how well you can do with just ten kicks of the ball and three targets to aim for. Shoot for the golden skip for maximum points, then share your top score for ultimate bragging rights. Will you be able to kick the perfect game? Visit the Powerday website and Play the Rugby Kick Challenge today to find out. See here – https://www.powerday.co.uk/rugby-kick-challenge/
TrustMark, the Government Endorsed Quality Scheme for tradespeople, is celebrating after TrustMark Registered Business, SEH BAC, an award-winning home improvement specialist, recently won the prestigious ‘Consumer Confidence’ award at the National Home Improvement Council Annual Awards (NHIC). The award, which was sponsored by TrustMark, recognised SEH BAC’s commitment to delivering Consumer Confidence. The business also demonstrated how it provided an exemplary level of service and care by offering availability of choice, consumer comfort, protection and overall satisfaction to its customers. Delivering the keynote speech at the awards, TrustMark Chairman, Ranil Jayawardena, commented: “Consumer confidence is not something that only benefits the consumer, for in a confident marketplace, the businesses that deliver trust and quality will be the ones that thrive. SEH BAC exemplifies excellence in consumer confidence and is why they are well-deserved winners of this award. The championing of trustworthy, competent businesses, alongside the enhancement of consumer protection has always been a driving force at TrustMark, and the recent changes to the scheme allow us to build on this legacy. SEH BAC is an excellent example of a TrustMark Registered Business and we are thrilled they have been recognised as being among the very best in the industry. Congratulations.” “We are absolutely delighted and incredibly proud to win this fantastic award from the NHIC,” added John Savage, Managing Director of SEH BAC. “Our commitment has always been to deliver a superior quality of service that customers can trust and ultimately recommend to others. It’s an ethos embodied by our entire team from reception, through to our sales team, installers, after-care team and senior management. It’s an immense honour to receive this high recognition from TrustMark, which is such a respected body within the home improvement industry.” The winners were announced at the 44th Prestigious NHIC Annual Awards on 22 November at a distinguished gala presentation evening in Westminster. SEH BAC has been a TrustMark-registered firm since 2009 through the Glass and Glazing Federation, a TrustMark Scheme Provider. For further information about TrustMark or to find a local quality TrustMark tradesperson, visit www.trustmark.org.uk
Vital Energi will deliver a £2.3m energy scheme for The West Works, Redrow’s latest development in Southall. Vital will be taking a phased installation approach to grow the solution in line with Redrow’s construction plans. Vital will be providing the design, supply and installation services for the scheme, which consists of a 185kW CHP engine, three 533kW gas boilers, two 8,000 litre thermal stores, low temperature hot water system and 280m of district heating. Vital will also be responsible for supplying the heat interface units for the development which consists of 313 new homes, alongside commercial units. Vital adapted the design presented by Redrow’s consultants to provide a more financially beneficial and efficient solution. This was achieved by reducing the number of CHP engines from four with a thermal storage of 20m³, to one CHP with a thermal storage of 16m³ which not only reduces the cost of plant and maintenance, but also provides a more accurate size solution for the development’s energy demand. The energy scheme will be installed alongside the development’s construction, with the CHP engine being switched on later in the development process when there is the required demand. The project will also see Vital provide the additional infrastructure to futureproof the network by installing capped pipework to allow for the additional connections. The original intention was to install a capped district heating link from the energy centre to provide the ability to connect to the nearby Southall West Energy Centre in the future. However, this design was reassessed and adapted by Vital to supply the development and the capped link from a single district heating main which reduced the length of pipe required. Rob Callagahan, Regional Director for the South for Vital Energi, commented, “After working with Redrow on previous projects such as their Padcroft and 500 Chiswick Road developments, we are pleased that we have been selected to provide the energy scheme for this new development. We have carried out a detailed design to ensure the most financially beneficial and efficient solution has been provided and look forward to seeing the project implemented.” The West Works development comprises one, two and three bedroom luxury apartments and is due for completion late 2019.
PERFECT Circle, the consortium comprising Pick Everard, Gleeds and AECOM, has appointed Victoria Brambini as its managing director. Brambini, who has headed Scape Procure for the past two years, will take the helm of Perfect Circle from 1 January – leading the organisation to further success and developing its ambitious plans for growth. Perfect Circle was formed in 2016 to deliver the four-year £350 million National Built Environment Consultancy Services (BECS) framework for Scape Group, the public sector owned built environment specialist. To date, Perfect Circle has delivered more than 750 projects to over 220 clients. Brambini said: “I’m excited about joining Perfect Circle, and delighted to be leading the next stage of progressing the joint venture into an even higher performing and sustainable organisation. “It’s a great opportunity for me to be able to add value to the business, drawing on my knowledge and experience of working in the public sector, to ensure our clients continue to receive outstanding levels of service through the Scape BECS framework.” Brambini, who joined Scape in 2014 as head of national frameworks and later taking up the role of MD of Scape Procure in 2016, had worked ‘client side’ prior to that as director for places at Rutland County Council. Richard Whitehead, chairman of Perfect Circle, said: “This is a significant appointment for Perfect Circle. Victoria joins us at a pivotal time in our evolution, as we make plans for further expansion and continued initiatives on achieving the best value for clients. “There are tremendously exciting times ahead as we continue to build upon our excellent relationship with Scape and deliver a comprehensive suite of services. “Perfect Circle has gone from strength to strength in its success of delivering for Scape over the past two years. Victoria will assist to reinforce the Perfect Circle brand, ensure the delivery of the framework and explore new opportunities for being the trusted partner for clients.” Whitehead added: “Having worked in a local authority prior to Scape, Victoria has seen the direct benefit of framework delivery to clients – having been a client herself. “Her five years of engagement in the delivery marketplace has given her a unique look at operational delivery, as well as the benefit and huge value the BECS framework has for clients.” Perfect Circle is a consortium of leading, innovative firms with expert industry knowledge and expertise working closely with a wealth of local supply chain providers. Together it delivers the very best high quality, value for money services for clients. Whitehead said: “A regional presence across the UK has enabled Perfect Circle to engage with the local supply chain more effectively, supporting local economies and targeting more than 25% work to be undertaken by SMEs. In its first two years, the delivery teams have contributed to more than 12,000 hours in community engagement and charity work.” The services available under the BECS framework include, but are not limited to: project management, quantity surveying, building surveying, commercial surveying, architecture and design services, civil and structural engineering, highways consultancy and engineering services and strategic asset management. Perfect Circle understands public sector procurement and is able to work with any public body via the BECS framework. Through the consortium’s breadth and depth of expertise across many built environment disciplines and services, it offers the fastest route to market in public sector project procurement, delivering value for money to UK taxpayers. Through its global reach and networks, Perfect Circle also ensures UK public sector built environment projects delivered overseas are procured seamlessly.
Several high-value London properties are part of a major new national contract won by Principle Estate Management. Principle will be looking after a development of apartments each worth more than £1.5 million on America Street, just off Southwark Bridge Road – near the famous Borough Market, Tate Modern art gallery and Shakespeare’s Globe theatre. Other properties in the portfolio is a mixed use development comprising a restaurant and with apartments above on Poland Street, off Oxford Street in trendy Soho; and another mixed use development with including offices and apartments in Hamond Square, near Hackney’s renowned Hoxton Street market. Principle will also look after a further mixed use building including retail and apartments on the Old Brompton Road, in the prestigious Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea. Outside of Central London, the contract includes another developments in South Croydon, Crawley, Portsmouth, Slough, Wickford and Godalming. Principle’s appointment comes after the Wallace Group purchased Gray’s Inn Holdings Limited which owns 20,000 leasehold properties. The management arm of the Wallace Group, Simarc Property Management Limited, then moved to change some of the managing agents in order to ensure standards complied with their internal code for agents’ conduct. Brett Williams, managing director of Principle, said: “Mixed use buildings require a specialist management approach to ensure the needs of all users are catered for and properly balanced, and it’s this expertise that Simarc was impressed with. “I’ve known senior people at Simarc for many years and they were aware that I’d recently set Principle up. They’d also seen me attending high-level meetings following the government’s various consultations into leasehold reform.” Natalie Chambers, director of Simarc, said: “Principle has a reputation for managing properties on behalf of freeholders who need to be comfortable that their agent is on top of health & safety compliance, finance and maintenance. “We also want an agent that provides outstanding service to our customers, and we know Principle has been built to deliver that.” Principle was launched earlier this year by Mr Williams, the former head of residential property management at CPBigwood in Birmingham and an experienced chartered surveyor. Although based in Birmingham, Principle offers a national property management service and has already won a series of contracts across the UK. Mr Williams said: “This contract includes our first instructions in the capital, although we have plenty of experience of managing a national portfolio and are in London every week. We have another South East portfolio going live next year. “As for the other areas, the Surrey and Sussex properties are very close to where I grew up, while Slough is near other properties we have and Portsmouth has previously been one of our core areas. “We are experienced in managing portfolios at distance, treating them all as if they are five minutes-walk from our office and ensuring we have regular site inspections and are very contactable. “We’ve already been working on a few maintenance matters at a couple of properties ahead of our commencement as we’d rather get things moving than wait until we take over, and residents have appreciated this.” Mr Williams added: “It’s fantastic to have clients instructing us on new properties on a weekly basis. We are well set up to deal with handovers from other agents and to proactively manage properties from the outset.”
Since the official turf cutting back in September 2018, significant progress is being made on the Triton Knoll offshore wind farm project managed by lead shareholder, Innogy. Construction specialist Mick George Ltd has now been appointed on behalf of J. Murphy and Sons Ltd to complete Earthworks at the main onshore cable site off the A16 near Stickney. The firm will be stripping the easement where the cables will be placed for this 860MW project and will have the capability to transmit renewable electricity from the wind farm to more than 800,000 UK homes per year. This estimated £2bn renewable energy scheme will not be without its engineering challenges. It involves the installation of more than 57km of underground high-voltage electrical export cable in Lincolnshire. The route starts at the landfall location north of Anderby Creek, where the onshore and offshore cables connect. It runs to a new substation being constructed near Bicker, and then to the existing National Grid Bicker Fen Substation where the electricity from the offshore wind farm will ultimately connect into the grid. Both are on the outskirts of Boston More than 300 individual directional drills – a record for a UK infrastructure project – will ensure the onshore cables can be installed without obstructing any roads, highways, rivers or drains. Although the two-year onshore construction programme is underway, offshore activities are not expected to begin until late 2019. First energy generation could be as early as 2021. At the peak of the development, the project is anticipating upward of 3,000 employment opportunities. Michael George, Managing Director at Mick George Ltd commented: ‘’As a business that is well experienced in providing sustainable solutions through our waste management division, we recognise the importance of projects such as this and are excited to be involved.’’
As the level of housing completions continues to head in the right direction according to statistics published today, the country’s home building industry urged the Scottish Government to build on this positive news to enable it to deliver more of the homes Scotland’s growing population needs. Nicola Barclay, Chief Executive of trade body Homes for Scotland, said: “It’s great to see ongoing growth in the overall number of homes being built, but just under seven hundred extra homes over the last year is not going to solve our housing crisis. In order to return to the levels of a decade ago, we would need to see ten times this number on an annual basis. “Scotland’s housing market remains amongst the most affordable places to live in the UK, and huge social and economic opportunities exist for the Scottish Government to attract further housing investment from both within Scotland and elsewhere – if it can create and maintain the favourable conditions this requires. “Ways in which this can be achieved include ensuring the Planning Bill currently going through the Scottish Parliament meets the original objective of delivering more homes; encouraging more entrants into the industry; supporting those SMEs who want to develop more homes; preserving a regulatory environment that promotes investment and ensuring policies like Help to Buy are continued until such times that the mortgage market fully supports First Time Buyers. “Ultimately, it needs joined-up thinking across portfolios, therefore we look forward to seeing how tomorrow’s Budget supports sustainable housing growth so builders can contribute even more to Scotland’s social wellbeing and economic success.”
MIKE TYLER, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT WSP, JOINS THE BOARD – After seeking a new national board member to fulfil the role of North West Regional Director, networking group the Forum for the Built Environment (FBE) have appointed Mike Tyler of global construction consultants WSP. Tyler returns to the FBE following a brief spell away to focus on his family commitments. He was previously involved with the FBE Manchester group, utilising his extensive experience of dealing with the Public Sector. As Regional Director, Tyler will be supporting and advising the Lancashire, Liverpool and Manchester FBE branches, as well as giving North West members a voice on the larger, national stage by feeding back to the wider group. One of his key aims will be to engage with potential speakers, and drive attendance to the FBE’s fantastic range of events in the North West. Of his appointment, Tyler said: “I am thrilled to be asked to join the board, particularly at such an exciting time for the region with businesses thriving and expanding in the North West. I can’t wait to work alongside the existing board members to help the FBE keep moving forward and cement our status as the go-to national networking group for the construction industry.” David Jones, National Chairman of the FBE, added: “Mike is a fantastic addition to the FBE Board. His experience in the sector as well as his knowledge of Manchester and the North West made him an obvious choice for the appointment.” The Liverpool and Manchester branches are already collaborating on upcoming events, including a breakfast celebrating the achievements of the whole North West region to be held in Chester on the 9th January.
The STA has conducted a fresh assessment of large-scale solar costs which was explored with leading energy analysts & BEIS at an expert workshop today. The STA’s last assessment of solar’s Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCOE), published in November 2014, had anticipated costs of around £80MWh in 2019. The updated analysis for 2019 shows that solar has gone beyond the STA’s earlier expectations with LCOE costs of around £50-60MWh in 2019, a figure which is also significantly below BEIS’s 2016 Central Estimate of Electricity Generation Costs. Although costs vary significantly on a site by site basis, the findings confirm that under a long-term power purchase contract, solar could soon be the cheapest electricity generation technology in the UK. STA Policy Analyst Nicholas Gall, who undertook the study working with STA members over the past six months, said; “This is yet another example of the fast-moving solar power market outpacing official costs analyses. Our aim here is to provide an accurate assessment of where large-scale solar costs stand as we enter 2019, when we hope to see some revival of the UK large-scale solar market. We urge all organisations conducting low-carbon or energy cost analyses to make use of this up-to-date industry data, which comes directly from our members’ own experience of the UK market. We also urge decision-makers to understand how effective policy frameworks enable the lowest possible costs for solar, which will greatly benefit consumers.” Large-scale solar has been excluded from clean energy auctions in the UK since 2015, and the Renewables Obligation was closed in March 2017. This has left the sector to develop its own commercial routes-to-market, within a complex energy market heavily distorted by Government support for other technologies and facing significant policy uncertainties. The STA analysis presented today shows that solar can now deploy at around £50-60/MWh, making it highly competitive with CCGT and onshore wind, and attractive for commercial and industrial consumers under long-term Power Purchase Agreements. The analysis also underscores the high potential for UK content in large-scale solar and its contribution to GDP, with imported modules likely to form just 10% of total lifetime costs by 2030. A significant solar pipeline is widely expected to re-start in the UK in 2019, assisted in the short term by developer needs to build out previously stalled projects, and by a global module surplus. In the medium to longer term, the market outlook is supported by improved manufacturing efficiencies, higher gas price projections, and the UK’s growing need for clean generation capacity. However, the outlook is clouded by policy uncertainties such as Ofgem’s latest proposed changes to network charging, the future of carbon pricing given uncertainties over post-Brexit arrangements with the EU Emissions Trading System, and ongoing grid constraint challenges. Accompanying the cost figures released today, the STA sets out three targeted policy measures to facilitate growth of the large-scale solar market: Introducing a technology-neutral floor-price Contract for Difference auction; Enacting network access and charging reforms to enable storage + PV to realise its full potential; and providing a Climate Change Levy exemption for newly built zero-carbon generation procured through corporate renewable power purchase agreements (PPAs). Chris Hewett, Chief Executive of the Solar Trade Association said; “We have a clear message for Government and corporate energy buyers today: UK solar electricity is now cost competitive with fossil fuels. By establishing the right policy framework for solar and storage, including expediting a smart, flexible energy system, government can enable this technology to realise its full potential in delivering an affordable, low-carbon future energy system.”