Leading plant hire provider Selwood has played a key role in the construction of a state-of-the-art sports pavilion for one of the UK’s first “green” towns. The new Bordon and Oakhanger Sports Club Pavilion is finally complete following a major build project led by Mildren Construction, one of Selwood Plant
The ballot of members on the BIFM’s proposed name change to the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management has taken place, with those who voted deciding in favour of the proposal by a margin of three to one.The vote, which took place at the BIFM’s annual general meeting in Manchester’s
When your e-commerce business makes a sale, the last thing you want is to have to deal with a return. You’ll lose the sale and incur additional costs. To accommodate a return, the product must reverses its way through your supply chain. All activity associated with accepting the return of
A Midlands-based property group has made two strategic appointments as it plans for significant growth. The Deeley Group, which is based at the Coventry Business Park, has drafted in Anthony Holt as the company’s new Group Development Director and Jane Fradgley as Senior Development Manager. It marks a step-change in
Arvill Plant and Tool Hire, the Airdrie-based family firm which has been servicing building and engineering companies large and small across Scotland since 1985, has taken on two young local men as apprentice mechanics. Euan Wilson, 16 from Greengairs and Andrew Peden, 17, from Plains, both Airdrie, have secured apprentice
Two construction companies are making history by conquering the delicate job of restoring a 600-year-old castle ruin. Seymour Civil Engineering has been brought in by principal contractor William Birch to help carry out the painstaking work of transforming Hylton Castle in Sunderland into a visitor and learning centre. The £4.5
R-Alvarez is a company that can transform your apartment into a real home, that suits you and your family. With excellent quality, personalized attention and punctuality as their core values, it is the best option when choosing who you will trust to renovate your home. It is perfectly normal to
DHF (Door & Hardware Federation) has announced the creation of a new Commercial Department, established to support the organisation’s on-going growth, and in particular, its training offering. Marketing Manager, Patricia Sowsbery-Stevens, has been promoted to the post of Commercial Manager, and will oversee the new department’s development, with an emphasis
It’s been the best ever start to a year for East Midlands demolition firm AR Demolition, with record turnover and profits in the first half of 2018. In the six month period to July the company saw turnover rise by 54% compared to the same period in 2017, with year-on-year
Continuing to transform the London skyline, Aggregate Industries has returned to the capital, this time for the £250m redevelopment of 100 Liverpool Street, where once again Lytag has proved the go-to concrete solution for high-end refurbishments and new builds. As part of the wider Broadgate campus adjacent to Liverpool Street
Leading plant hire provider Selwood has played a key role in the construction of a state-of-the-art sports pavilion for one of the UK’s first “green” towns. The new Bordon and Oakhanger Sports Club Pavilion is finally complete following a major build project led by Mildren Construction, one of Selwood Plant Hire’s longest-established customers. The project has been supported throughout with equipment from Selwood and, in just over a year, site manager Mark Hornibrook and his team at Mildren Construction have transformed the site in Hampshire to create a multi-purpose community facility. Selwood has supplied equipment from its extensive plant hire range, including three-tonne, eight-tonne and 14-tonne excavators and a six-tonne dumper. A 12-metre telehandler and 120 roller have also provided solutions for the construction team over the past year. The development of Bordon and Oakhanger Sports Club Pavilion will be one of the key facilities in the new Whitehill & Bordon development. The £1bn multi-partner regeneration project will see 3,350 new homes and a range of new facilities built on the former Prince Philip Barracks over the next 15 years. The site, transforming the garrison town into a ‘green’ town, will be one of four such towns in the UK with an emphasis on sustainability. The two-storey replacement building provides a larger sports pavilion, improved tennis courts, boules courts and a bowling green, alongside reseeded sports pitches as well as a series of community spaces for functions of varying sizes. Jason Boxall, a plant hire specialist for Selwood, said: “This was a complex construction but Mark and his team have done a fantastic job at every stage of the build and I think the result speaks for itself. They have produced a world-class building that the whole community can be proud of. “We were delighted to meet the specific needs of our long-standing client Mildren Construction and were pleased they benefitted from our extensive range and technical know-how.” Selwood has an extensive fleet of plant available for hire from its network of regional branches across England and Wales. Its teams pride themselves on an unrivalled depth of technical expertise, exceptional customer service and product knowledge.
The ballot of members on the BIFM’s proposed name change to the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management has taken place, with those who voted deciding in favour of the proposal by a margin of three to one.The vote, which took place at the BIFM’s annual general meeting in Manchester’s Friends’ Meeting House, was taken as a special resolution; 75 per cent of those who voted opted to support the institute’s manifesto for change, comprising the name change and the move to pursue chartered status. BIFM has called the name change a “springboard” to help “reposition FM and raise the profile of the profession”. During the four-month campaign in support of the proposals, the institute made clear that it would continue to understand and share its members’ pride in their work and status as facilities managers – “and your unwillingness to throw away the history of professional endeavour which that evokes”. Taking advantage of the ‘workplace differentiator’ would, it said, help to “improve your status as a facilities manager”. The chairman of BIFM has responded to members voting at July’s AGM in favour of a special resolution to become the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management. Stephen Roots told members that in voting for the new name, “you have also approved the direction we have set out for the next phase of our proud and progressive professional body”. The institute’s chief executive, Linda Hausmanis, (right) said that the IWFM “will be the professional body for the facilities and workplace profession – working to advance the profession representing those who contribute to workplace productivity and to operating and optimising our built environment”. During the campaign, BIFM had outlined its vision as being “the pioneering facilities and workplace management institution; the catalyst driving change for the future workforce; and the definitive voice enabling people to transform their organisations and their environments, inspiring and creating productivity and performance”. Commenting immediately after the vote at Manchester’s Friends Meeting House, Roots said: “This Special Resolution, quite rightly, required a high level of support to succeed. I want to say to everybody, whether you supported the name change proposal or not, that the board and I are absolutely committed to shaping an inclusive organisation that is fully committed to advancing the FM profession. “The Institute has a role in helping to reset expectations and forge ahead with making workplace and facilities management a career of choice for the coming generation. This mandate means we can really grasp the opportunity presented by the leading-edge associations of workplace to reposition what FMs do. “What we will now do, both in name and in deed, is to reframe expectations of the FM role, adding to it without taking anything away – and that includes our Britishness. “We are changing our name, not our geographical focus, but we do acknowledge that many of our members, including those overseas, have broader outlooks and we will continue to work closely with them as we have done for many years. “We have been preparing the ground for some time to strengthen our foundations and fit ourselves for a future of sustained development. “Our plans to refresh our brand and systems are already in progress and now that you have decided, we will adopt our new name and our new look before the end of the year.”It is expected that the new institute title will be adopted in November of this year. 1. How does all of this affect me? In summary, we aim to reposition FM as a workplace ‘interconnector’ enabling high-performing workplaces, and underlining the value, rather than the cost, of the function. By raising BIFM’s profile and the contribution of its members, we will start to produce information and tools to help members improve their personal status and skills and raise the profile of Workplace and FM more generally. During a period of transition, there will be no change to a member’s post-nominals: ABIFM, MBIFM, CBIFM or FBIFM will remain in use. We will communicate a timeline for the transition to IWFM and after that time a member’s post-nominals will change to e.g. AIWFM, MIWFM, CIWFM and FIWFM. We will communicate new post-nominals to each member at the appropriate time. In line with our pledge to minimise cost, we will send out new certificates as members renew their membership. For those working towards a BIFM qualification the title of their award will depend on the timing of their achievement in relation to the name change. The content and status of the qualification will not change, but once we become the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management on 12 November, qualifications will be named and certificates presented in the new company livery. For example, if you achieve your qualification before 12 November a BIFM Level 4 Diploma in Facilities Management certificate will be issued by BIFM; if you achieve after that date both the qualification and the certificate will be IWFM Level 4 Diploma in Facilities Management. Over time we’ll work to include essential workplace elements within the FM professional standards and they will become The Workplace and FM Professional Standards. Qualifications will be reviewed in 2019, which may result in a revised qualifications suite, but the structures and formats of the existing ones remain valid. Learners who complete their BIFM qualification before November will receive a BIFM-branded certificate. Learners who complete their qualification after November will receive an IWFM-branded certificate. We will announce a detailed timetable of any changes in due course. 2. When will the name actually change? We will become the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management on 12 November 2018. 3. How else will the institute change because of this vote? Things have already changed; we’ve upped our game on policy and research, improved our governance structure and strengthened the team; we’ve process engineered our internal systems to become more customer-focused and are working to develop new member benefits. This is helping us create a framework for ever greater support for FM professionals, not only in terms
When your e-commerce business makes a sale, the last thing you want is to have to deal with a return. You’ll lose the sale and incur additional costs. To accommodate a return, the product must reverses its way through your supply chain. All activity associated with accepting the return of a product is known as reverse logistics. The assoicated costs are always higher than just the price of shipping. According to Supply Chain Dive, reverse logistics cost companies upwards of $260 billion annually. Here are five hidden costs in the reverse logistics process many e-tailers overlook. Labor Costs in Return Process Labor is one of the most commonly overlooked because it’s felt indirectly. When a product comes back, employees need to receive, inspect and possibly restock the item—depending upon its condition. This usually involves multiple workers across various departments. Time that could be spent growing the business is consumed handling returned product. Reselling Returned Products at a Discounted Price Product condition can play a huge factor in determining price. In some cases you’ll have to resell at a discount or discard it all together. On top of losing the profit from the original sale and incurring the cost of labor to get the product back into your inventory, selling the product for a discount or discarding it all together adds even more salt into the wound. Returned Product Can Lead to Inventory Mismanagement Product returns can throw a monkeywrench into your inventory tracking process. Resources are redirected toward returned product, which takes away from the inventory control operating procedures. E-retailers have the option to outsource their inventory management to a third-party logistics company (3PL), but others who chose to handle inventory in-house could benefit from a cloud e-commerce platform. Cloud-based platforms can help with inventory management because of their speed, security and scalability. Offering Free Return Shipping A growing trend in return processes for e-commerce companies is free return shipping. This usually has a positive impact on how the customers perceive an organization because it shows them that the company is taking care of the extra expense instead of putting it on the customer. Around 49 percent of online retailers offer the service While this goes a long way toward engendering customer satisfaction, it’s detrimental to the bottom line. On average, about 30 percent of e-commerce orders are returned, so these costs add up very quickly. Customer Frustration Can Lead to Higher Customer Churn While positive return experience can drive loyalty, a bad one is likely to lead a customer to shop your competitors. Per the Narvar Consumer Report, customers who return product are likely to be the best customers. Eighty-two percent of customers who previously returned products were repeat shoppers, and 95 percent of customers satisfied with the returns process said they’d purchase from the retailer again. A key report takeaway — high value customers are also the most likely to utilize the returns process. E-retailers need to implement or update their reverse logistics strategy in order to become as efficient with their returned product as possible. E-commerce companies who do not pay attention to this process could be losing upwards of 10-20 percent of their profits, and possibly, a devoted chunk of their customer base. Running an e-commerce store demands attention from every angle, but by focusing on these five hidden costs in the reverse logistics process you’ll recover more of your margins and better satisfy the needs of your customers.
A Midlands-based property group has made two strategic appointments as it plans for significant growth. The Deeley Group, which is based at the Coventry Business Park, has drafted in Anthony Holt as the company’s new Group Development Director and Jane Fradgley as Senior Development Manager. It marks a step-change in the company’s ambitions to grow its Construction, Homes, Development and Investment divisions as well as introducing a new Affordable Living division where it works in partnership with social housing companies. Peter Deeley, Managing Director of the Deeley Group, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Anthony Holt and Jane Fradgley to the Group as two very senior appointments. It’s part of our plan to grow the Group over the coming years. “The Deeley Group has a very strong reputation across the region as a company that people want to do business with and wants to work in partnership with because of our integrity and agility in delivering projects that bring lasting benefits to their communities. “Our aim, now, is to build on that and invest in our future growth. “Our individual divisions will work even closer together on projects, which will enhance how we operate as a company on developments of all sizes and all types as well as bringing added value to the work we do. “We believe there is a fantastic opportunity for the business to grow even further and that these are exciting times for our region.” Anthony has more than 25 years of experience in the property industry in the Midlands taking in land purchase, the planning process, development, sales and leading multi-disciplined teams. He said: “I am delighted to join the Deeley Group at such an exciting time for the business. I have been involved with sourcing, obtaining planning and developing out residential development and mixed use opportunities in the Midlands for over 25 years. “I worked at Crosby Homes, part of the Berkeley Group, when they first ventured into city centre living in the Midlands, developing out schemes including Symphony Court in Birmingham. “I went on to work with other housing developers in the retirement and open market sectors. Latterly, I was the Regional Development Director for Orbit Homes in the Midlands, overseeing land, build and sales for the region. “I believe that experience can help support the growth ambitions of the Deeley Group.” Jane has joined from Orbit Homes and has 20 years of experience in property. She said: “This is a great time to join the company as it looks to grow at a fast pace. “I started working with a housing association on the management side but quickly moved into housing development where I have stayed, and have since gained an MBA which I studied for while working full time. “To date, I have worked mainly for housing associations, both local and national, although I also worked for a consultancy firm for a period, which involved many major plc developers. “Throughout my career, I’ve delivered various complex schemes that have required working with a range of parties to help bring developments forward and I believe that will help me in this exciting new role.”
Arvill Plant and Tool Hire, the Airdrie-based family firm which has been servicing building and engineering companies large and small across Scotland since 1985, has taken on two young local men as apprentice mechanics. Euan Wilson, 16 from Greengairs and Andrew Peden, 17, from Plains, both Airdrie, have secured apprentice mechanic roles with one of Scotland’s most successful and forward-looking plant and tool hire companies. Amy Monaghan, Administrative Director at Arvill, said: “We are looking to expand our business and hiring apprentices like Euan and Andrew assists that process. By developing their enthusiasm and hard work into highly-regarded skills we secure both their careers and our company’s future success.” Both apprentices left school this summer; Euan approached Arvill through his father, Andrew, who is one of the company’s customers. Having developed his interest in mechanics and motorbikes doing casual work for a local garage, he is now putting those skills to good use in the Arvill workshops. Andrew, the youngest of six siblings, wanted to learn more about the operation of large plant and had been doing volunteer work with a local waste management company. He approached Arvill directly and has been supplementing his operating experience with training in Health and Safety procedures taught by the company. Amy said: “Good apprentices are hard to find, and I’m very impressed with the eagerness to learn both Euan and Andrew are showing. Unlike most teenagers, Andrew was eager to start work earlier than our opening time of 8.00 am.” “Both young men are hard-working, enthusiastic, and diligent. I can see them having a long and successful career within our growing Arvill family. They’ll finish their training programme with qualifications, experience and a good job ahead of them.” Euan and Andrew are participants in a Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) programme and are undergoing a 3-year Modern Apprenticeship course with three 6-week attachments to the National Construction College in Glasgow, with the first due to get under way in October. For further information, contact Hayley Shevill, Arvill Plant & Tool Hire, 48-60 Flowerhill Street, Flowerhill Industrial Estate, Airdrie ML6 6BH. T: 01236 760070. M: 01236 760070. E: hayley.shevill@arvill.co.uk. W: www.arvillplantandtoolhire.co.uk
Two construction companies are making history by conquering the delicate job of restoring a 600-year-old castle ruin. Seymour Civil Engineering has been brought in by principal contractor William Birch to help carry out the painstaking work of transforming Hylton Castle in Sunderland into a visitor and learning centre. The £4.5 million project is a partnership between local community group Castle in the Community and Sunderland City Council and is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. The site is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and the castle itself is a Grade I Listed Building in the guardianship of English Heritage. The project will rejuvenate the site for locals and visitors alike. Once open, it will be managed with and for young people and offer training and internship opportunities. Andy Mountford, Site Manager at Seymour Civil Engineering, said: “Hylton Castle is a magnificent building and we’re really proud to be working alongside William Birch to bring it back to life as both an historic attraction and a hub for the community. “Due to the nature of the project, the work has been far from run-of-the-mill, largely because of the archaeological significance of the site and the effect this has had on our work programme as we carry out all the groundworks. “Working closely with a team of archaeologists has certainly brought with it a fair few challenges, as you don’t know what you’re going to uncover as you go. “However, this has made working on the project really exciting and the team on site has adapted incredibly well to the situation, showing lots of ingenuity and professionalism when overcoming changes in circumstance and planning for what comes next.” Brought in as the civil engineering contractor for the project, Seymour Civil Engineering has completed the groundworks for the restoration, laying the surface trenches in the grounds of the castle for the electricity, water and the ground source heat pumps for the castle’s geothermal energy, as well as the car park and footpaths. Inside the castle Seymour has facilitated the installation of ground beams and will cast the concrete floors for all three levels, as well as the roof and a mezzanine floor. The main contractor for the project, William Birch, is a building and restoration company based in York, specialising in heritage projects. Simon Hills, William Birch’s Site Manager for the project, said: “Transforming the 14th century castle to a living, working building that benefits the local community and visitors has so far been an invigorating experience. “The interest from the local community has been incredible and we have been proud to show many of them the project as it develops. They have waited a long time to see the castle come back to life and we are looking forward to unveiling the completed project in 2019. “Working on buildings that are as nationally significant as Hylton Castle brings an abundance of challenges, challenges that the project team have had to really pull together to overcome. “Seymour has had a tall order with this project, as it has been predominately the groundworks which has been affected by the need for close archaeological monitoring. “The team are real specialists at what they do and they’re great engineers who are brilliant at their job and have acted really professionally throughout the bumps and halts of the project.” Andy added: “Working with William Birch has been a real pleasure and the two teams have gelled incredibly well. “Working hand-in-hand on a difficult job like this is of the upmost importance and having an effective working partnership means we’ve been able to sit down and quickly find solutions to any changes that come about.” As one of the North East’s leading civil engineering contractors, Seymour Civil Engineering is no stranger to projects of this nature. In partnership with Hartlepool Borough Council, Seymour Civil Engineering worked on the strengthening of the historic 14th century Hartlepool Headland Town Wall. The firm worked closely with archaeologists to excavate original wall cladding and developed the craftsmanship to ensure the new wall carefully matched to the original.
R-Alvarez is a company that can transform your apartment into a real home, that suits you and your family. With excellent quality, personalized attention and punctuality as their core values, it is the best option when choosing who you will trust to renovate your home. It is perfectly normal to want to improve your home, even though you may already love it, there is always something you will want to change, especially as your needs change. For example, you can redesign your bathroom to add more space, add additional storage or get better use out of the storage you already have. You could add a whirlpool bath, or maybe add a new spacious shower. You can remodel your kitchen to improve the design and functionality. Or perhaps it is just time for modernisation or an overhaul. Whatever work you decide to carry out, you can create the home of your dreams. What is important is that you choose a professional company with many years of experience and highly trained staff. Remodelling your home can be complicated and expensive. It is important to get it right, and important that the team you hire to do this for you works to the highest standards to avoid a poor quality or disappointing finish. If you are thinking of renovating your home, R-Alvarez is the perfect choice. What type of renovation do you want to do? Transforming the ideas you have for home improvement into reality can be tough. You might not know how to articulate it, or the right terminology to use to the contractor you have hired. How can you be sure the work will be carried out how you expected? Having confidence in your chosen company is vital to the success of the renovation project. R-Alvarez has a team of professionals ready to help, with expertise in a wide range of disciplines and skills that will be able to bring your plans to fruition. All parts of the home can be part of your dream project, whether you are converting to an open plan layout, designing an American style kitchen or adding built in furniture such as wardrobes to improve the use of wasted space. R-Alvarez can adapt and modify any room to suit your requirements. Take advantage of the wide range of services available? No matter what room you decide to carry out improvements, or redistribution of space, you will feel more relaxed and confident if you can rely on one company, with specialists all working together to create your vision. With quality finishes and a transparent costing that with be within an agreed budget, you can get that American kitchen you have always dreamed, complete with the best finishes and use of space. They can also source the best accessories and reliable stylish appliances from all around the world to get the look that you want. But without all the stress that comes with having to coordinate this type of work yourself. Imagine trying to install a modern and elegant bathroom in which to relax without professional help. It could easily turn into a nightmare with so many different tasks and skills required. With R-Alvarez they take full responsibility for delivery of your project, so you can have a headache free renovation. They will even ensure full cleaning at the end and legally dispose of any waste resulting from the work. You will be left with a luxurious and gorgeous new space with none of the worries. Why choose R-Alvarez for your apartment renovation? A single floor dwelling renovation is no small feat. Large-scale projects like this can drag on for a long time, disrupting daily life and preventing you from enjoying your home. Even more frustrating is when delivery dates are agreed and then note met. R-Alvarez pride themselves on being a responsible and professional company, always striving to do it’s best for its clients. They are adaptable and experienced and work hard to ensure that you can return to your home as quickly as possible. And they do not compromise on quality to do this, and so making sure that the renovations will stand the test of time. If you are looking for a company with excellent customer care, who will deliver to your needs and provide the highest level of quality in the redesign of your home, the R-Alvarez is who you are looking for.
DHF (Door & Hardware Federation) has announced the creation of a new Commercial Department, established to support the organisation’s on-going growth, and in particular, its training offering. Marketing Manager, Patricia Sowsbery-Stevens, has been promoted to the post of Commercial Manager, and will oversee the new department’s development, with an emphasis on streamlining training course booking processes and delivering the very best service and value to its members. With responsibility for overseeing both marketing and training functions, Patricia, who has worked at DHF for three years, will be tasked with taking the trade association’s training department ‘to the next level’, including offering online booking facilities for all training courses and ensuring that new entrants into the industry are presented with the opportunity to become proficient with the necessary accreditations, qualifications, such as NVQ, and CSCS cards. DHF, established in 1897 and committed to raising standards, is renowned industry-wide as the ‘go to’ place for technical advice and training. Regarded as a ‘centre of excellence’ with an expert team of professionals that can provide help and support across all sectors, DHF’s distinguished training programmes provide delegates with a deeper understanding of legislation affecting supply, installation, maintenance and repair. To date, more than 2300 delegates have successfully completed one of its four training courses and earlier this month, DHF moved its head office premises to ‘The Barn’ at ‘Shuttington Fields Farm’, a larger office space with a state-of-the-art Training Academy, demonstrating its continued commitment to training. “Training remains one of DHF’s biggest growth areas,” says Patricia. “The creation of a new Commercial Department will enable us to co-ordinate and restructure our training offering to ensure our programmes continue to provide both members and non-members with the support, technical expertise, information and knowledge they need to operate in their chosen sector, successfully and compliantly. Currently, DHF has four training courses on offer: the well-established two-day Diploma courses for Automated Gates and Industrial & Garage Doors, the one-day Industrial & Garage Door Certificate course, and now the recently-launched one-day Automated Gate Safety certificate course. Additionally, DHF will continue to work with BRE on the Fire Door Inspection training courses. I am delighted to have been given the opportunity to develop this department and look forward to a new and exciting chapter in DHF’s continuing expansion.” “Patricia has more than proved her value as a key member of DHF’s senior management team; she was therefore the logical choice for taking the association’s training provision forward,” said DHF’s CEO, Bob Perry. “In a year that has seen tremendous growth and a move to improved office facilities, we look forward to the next stage for DHF and congratulate Patricia on her new position.” For further information about DHF’s training provision, please visit: https://www.dhfonline.org.uk/training.htm
It’s been the best ever start to a year for East Midlands demolition firm AR Demolition, with record turnover and profits in the first half of 2018. In the six month period to July the company saw turnover rise by 54% compared to the same period in 2017, with year-on-year gross profit increasing by 18%. The figures follow significant investment in new plant and machinery, including £1.5m spent on three new cutting-edge high reach Kiesel machines last year after previous investment of £1m in 2016. Following a period of restructuring and stabilisation, AR Demolition’s managing director Richard Dolman said he was happy with the direction in which the company, based in Carlton near Nuneaton, is now moving. “We didn’t perform as well as I’d have liked in 2017,” he said, “so we’ve worked hard to improve all areas of the business. I’m delighted with how quickly we’ve noticed such a dramatic improvement in financial performance. “Earlier this year we appointed a new board, including a financial director and a commercial director, and we’re currently looking for an operations director to join the team. “We’re introducing some new processes and procedures across all our departments, including some cutting-edge improvements in communications and reporting, as well as strong governance and controls. “It’s all had a dramatic impact on our bottom line. We have seen record turnover and profit for the first half of this year and in turn we have seen strong growth in our forward order book, with much of the custom being repeat business.” In May, AR Demolition was named in the prestigious ‘1000 Companies To Inspire Britain’ report, released annually by the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG). The report celebrates the UK’s fastest-growing and most dynamic small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). To qualify, company’s revenue between £6 million and £250 million, be operating for at least three years and be among the fastest-growing in their industry sector. Mr Dolman said that he and the leadership team at AR Demolition were keen to develop the company into a new type of demolition contractor, one where quality, safety and innovation – particularly in terms of sustainability and recruitment – were placed at the forefront. He said: “This improved financial performance opens up many opportunities for growth in terms of diversification, new customers, and the continued implementation of innovative techniques. “By helping to advise on and implement better methods of recycling, our industry can make dramatic improvements in the construction sector’s reduction of its carbon footprint. “We’re pioneering the first ever master’s degree in demolition at the University of Wolverhampton and we’re working closely with local schools and colleges to offer work experience and placements so we can find and retain the best talent out there. “And by investing in the Kiesel machines, which provides our clients with the benefits of massive operational efficiencies, as well as helping with carbon reduction, we are implementing innovative technology which showcases the future of AR Demolition and the industry as a whole.”
Continuing to transform the London skyline, Aggregate Industries has returned to the capital, this time for the £250m redevelopment of 100 Liverpool Street, where once again Lytag has proved the go-to concrete solution for high-end refurbishments and new builds. As part of the wider Broadgate campus adjacent to Liverpool Street station, the high-profile redevelopment strips the original building back to its structural frame, demolishing 50% of it and rebuilding new infills in structural steel with the addition of three new floors to create modern, mixed-use space. Once complete, it will provide 520,000 sq ft of office and retail space and a new rooftop terrace offering outstanding views over the city. For main contractor, Sir Robert McAlpine, a key requirement of the project was to source a concrete solution which would enable more floors to be cast without compromising the dead load of the overall structure. The obvious choice, then, was to use Lytag from Aggregate Industries’ highly innovative lightweight aggregate solution, which can effectively reduce the composite deck concrete slab load by approximately 25% over normal weight control while offering the same level structural performance – enabling 100 Liverpool Street to – literally — reach new heights. Made from secondary aggregate, Lytag also offers a much more environmentally friendly alternative to standard concrete as thanks to its unique properties, it can help to significantly reduce the amount of material required on a project, along with the associated carbon emission produced in delivery. In total, Aggregate Industries, working with its specialist London Concrete unit, has supplied 5000m3 of Lytag to the project, with the building featuring an array of sustainable features that complement the significantly reduced carbon footprint. As a result, 100 Liverpool Street is expected to receive an Excellent rating in BREEAM. Barry Mellor, Commercial and Technical Manager for Lytag, comments: “The redevelopment of 100 Liverpool Street is a major milestone in Broadgate’s evolution into a world-class, mixed-use destination for London. This project wouldn’t have been structurally or architecturally possible without Lytag and its unrivalled capabilities. Not only did it enable us to take the project from conception to construction, and create a superior sustainable high rise structure but it was also instrumental in helping the building to achieve an Excellent rating in BREEAM.” Peter Watts, Project Manager 100 Liverpool Street at Sir Robert McAlpine, said: “Lytag is a fantastic product which has enabled us to realise our vision for the refurbishment of 100 Liverpool Street and create something architecturally and sustainably outstanding.” For more information on Lytag call 01904 727922 or visit www.lytag.com