A UK fish processing company has been fined £500,000 after a 22 year old employee was killed by falling boxes. Interfish Limited, a Plymouth based firm, was found guilty of negligence after Tomas Suchy was clearing up a fallen stack of frozen fish boxes in one of the company’s cold
Evans Property Group and Harworth Estates, the regeneration company wholly owned by Harworth Group plc, has strengthened the agency team at Leeds’ largest commercial development site, Temple Green, with the appointment of CBRE and Gent Visick. The instructions come just ahead of completion of a £7m initial phase of infrastructure
Groundforce managing director Simon Littlewood has left the company to join competitor MGF. Simon Littlewood spent nearly 20 years with Vp Group, and had been in charge of its excavation shoring division, Groundforce, since 2008. He joins MGF as director and managing director designate. Manchester-based MGF manufactures, hires and sells
Former Labour Transport Minister Lord Adonis has been named chair of the Crossrail 2 project. Adonis is already chair of the National Infrastructure Commission and will use his knowledge and reputation to make the £32 billion project a reality. Previously known as the Chelsea-Hackney line, Crossrail 2 plans to tunnel
It has been reported that Stuart Siddall, the present Chief Financial Officer for Thames Water, is set to retire at the close of the year. This will see Stuart Siddall working with the soon to be announced new Chief Executive in the build up to the end of the year
Christian Winter, 32, has been served a sentence for community service after deceiving a landload about gas safety checks. The illegal gas fitter was actually unregistered and trading under CJS Winter Plumbing and Heating Services. Christian the unregistered gas fitter illegally installed a gas boiler at the landlords property and
Good news for industry equality; it has recently been announced that the quantity of women holding positions in the construction sector has recently risen to one of the highest figures since the establishment of records. Heralding a positive step forward in equality and diversity for the construction sector, the news
Ever since the inauguration of the Social Value Act in 2013, the importance of ensuring quantifiable social benefits through all levels of service delivery has been a key consideration for, not solely the third sector, but also for the public sector. As of its originally announcement, the act has been
It has just been announced that Visqueen Building Products, one of the building products sector’s more prominent and reputable suppliers of structural waterproofing products and gas protection systems, has promoted an existing member of the team to be its brand new National Key Account Manager, Laura Guy. Announced by the
On 1st April 2016 the National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Regulations 2016 will come into force, introducing the national living wage. This highly anticipated change in law, announced by the Government last year, aims to help Britain’s lowest paid workers improve their standard of living, bringing direct benefits to 2.7 million
A UK fish processing company has been fined £500,000 after a 22 year old employee was killed by falling boxes. Interfish Limited, a Plymouth based firm, was found guilty of negligence after Tomas Suchy was clearing up a fallen stack of frozen fish boxes in one of the company’s cold store areas when a further fall of stock hit him. The injuries he sustained were severe and multiple, and ultimately proved fatal. The Health and Safety Executive carried out an investigation into the incident, which occurred on October 18, 2013, and found that there were no safe working systems or instructions for staff on how the pallets should be correctly stored. When the incident occurred it was discovered that there was no procedure in place from the company for falling stock. Based in Plymouth’s Wallsend Industrial Estate in the Cattedown Wharves, Interfish Limited submitted a guilty plea to a breach of Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The firm stood trial at Plymouth Crown Court earlier in the week and was fined £500,000 and ordered to pay £24,800 in costs. Emma O’Hara, HSE inspector, commented following the hearing that the safe stacking of stock is a necessity throughout all industries, though it is often overlooked when companies are implementing safe work systems. She added that duty holders must ensure that stock is stacked safely and that plans are in place to deal with any unforeseen circumstances like stock suddenly falling as we have seen in this tragic case. In 2014/15, 142 workers were fatally injured in the UK, which equates to 0.46 worker deaths per 100,000 workers. This figure is a reduction of 9% on the previous five year average (156), while the last 20 year period has seen a steady decline in fatal injury rates, although this trend is becoming less clear.
Evans Property Group and Harworth Estates, the regeneration company wholly owned by Harworth Group plc, has strengthened the agency team at Leeds’ largest commercial development site, Temple Green, with the appointment of CBRE and Gent Visick. The instructions come just ahead of completion of a £7m initial phase of infrastructure works at the 165 acre site. Located at J45 of the M1 in Leeds’ Enterprise Zone, Temple Green is Leeds City Region’s largest advanced manufacturing and logistics base with outline planning permission in place for 2.64m sq ft of employment and roadside uses. CBRE and Gent Visick join existing agent Dove Haigh Phillips in advising on the delivery strategy for Temple Green which, upon imminent completion of the initial infrastructure and groundworks programme, will be ready to accommodate occupiers in the first two phases. These phases incorporate land prepared for direct employment development, a range of roadside uses in addition to Leeds City Council’s 1000 space Park and Ride scheme. James Pitt, Development Director of Evans Property Group, said; “With the initial infrastructure works due to complete in forthcoming weeks, we are now entering into discussions with potential customers about delivery of their occupational requirements within a twelve month delivery programme. As Temple Green is one of the north of England’s most significant commercial developments we felt that CBRE, who act for the some of Europe’s leading manufacturers and logistics companies, were best placed in positioning the scheme at a global level via the firm’s regional and London offices.” Ian Ball, Executive Director of Income Generation at Harworth Estates, continues; “The new appointments provide Temple Green with the skill, expertise and geographic reach we were looking for. Gent Visick have a burgeoning reputation in the region and have performed extremely well on the rest of our Yorkshire portfolio. Their appointment alongside CBRE and Dove Haigh Phillips supports us being able to immediately bring forward Design & Build opportunities for a range of high-value businesses.” Mike Baugh, Senior Director of Industrial Agency at CBRE, comments; “Working as part of our national logistics team we are pleased to be promoting Temple Green, which is one of the largest schemes of its nature in the North of England, to the national and European occupier market. The development can attract significant inward investment into the region, deliver hundreds of jobs and address the present shortage of industrial accommodation and as such is an incredibly exciting project to be involved in.” Rupert Visick, Managing Director at Gent Visick, said; “We’re delighted to have secured such an exciting role. Temple Green should establish itself as one of the UK’s leading commercial developments and Gent Visick will work hard to make this happen. Our immediate focus will be on promoting the development as the leading site in Yorkshire for Design & Build opportunities.”
Groundforce managing director Simon Littlewood has left the company to join competitor MGF. Simon Littlewood spent nearly 20 years with Vp Group, and had been in charge of its excavation shoring division, Groundforce, since 2008. He joins MGF as director and managing director designate. Manchester-based MGF manufactures, hires and sells fully engineered excavation shoring systems, confined space entry equipment and pipe stoppers. “I’m delighted to be joining MGF Ltd at an exciting time for the business,” Mr Littlewood said. “It’s reputation in the UK excavation support systems market is very strong, underpinned by an excellent team of people, versatile product portfolio and a growing network of depots. The business is now planning for further growth in its geographical coverage along with expansion of its specialist product range.” Current managing director Gerald Nowicki said: “Simon has a wealth of experience in our sector and his skills and abilities will be invaluable to us as we take our business to the next stage of its growth. Simon was the outstanding candidate to succeed me and our chairman Michael O’Hara and, along with the team at MGF, we are delighted to have him on board.”
Former Labour Transport Minister Lord Adonis has been named chair of the Crossrail 2 project. Adonis is already chair of the National Infrastructure Commission and will use his knowledge and reputation to make the £32 billion project a reality. Previously known as the Chelsea-Hackney line, Crossrail 2 plans to tunnel beneath London between Tottenham Hale and Wimbledon with the goal of improving connections for outer London commuters. In the same way as Crossrail 1, which is now almost complete, the new project will tie the London Transport network in with the national Network Rail system. Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London who is now responsible for Transport for London, put forward the suggestion of appointing Lord Adonis and was supported by the Treasury and the government Department for Transport. Speaking about his appointment, Lord Andrew Adonis said that the Crossrail 2 scheme is vitally important and without it London will not run properly. He said that the challenge of the overcrowded transport network is the greatest challenge London faces alongside the housing crisis and that this project will play a part in tackling both of those issues. He continued by saying that he is very pleased to be chair of the project and that he looks forward to making it happen, while remaining involved with the National Infrastructure Commission. Meanwhile, Khan emphasised the importance of long-term transport infrastructure as London continues to grow and as such he is pleased to have Lord Adonis at the forefront of this major project. He said that Adonis will ensure Crossrail 2 is delivered sooner rather than later and that his experience will prove vital in getting the project in motion. The Civil Engineering Contractors Association also backed Lord Adonis’ appointment, labelling him an ‘outstanding choice’ that shows collaboration between the Mayor of London and the Government in ensuring delivery of the scheme as soon as possible.
It has been reported that Stuart Siddall, the present Chief Financial Officer for Thames Water, is set to retire at the close of the year. This will see Stuart Siddall working with the soon to be announced new Chief Executive in the build up to the end of the year before moving on. Highlighting Stuart Stuart Siddall as “strong and effective”, Peter Mason, Thames Water’s Chairman commented on his key role in increasing those resources supporting the front line services existing for the benefit of the customer. Stuart Siddall has also been praised as a “strong lead” in improvements made to transparency, making great ground in better displaying company finance. “Stuart has always made it clear that he would want to stand down from full-time roles about now and we wish him well in his retirement,” explained Peter Mason, and with Stuart Siddall having a long running history of supporting Thames Water, it is sure that he will be missed, and the company’s efforts to source a replacement will commence upon the finalisation of the appointment of the company’s new Chief Executive. Most specifically, Stuart Siddall has worked in a number of core roles dating back to 2011, including that of his most current role of Chief Financial Officer, as well as in being on the board as an Executive Director and also a member of the executive team. This forms only a small portion, however, of his extensive 40 year career in the arena of corporate finance, having held five successive appointments in the role of Chief Financial Officer going back to 1990. Also announced has been the addition of Nick Fincham, Strategy and Regulation Director, to the board in the position of executive director, recognising his successful role in the executive team and “leading the way” in the most recent regulatory price review.
Christian Winter, 32, has been served a sentence for community service after deceiving a landload about gas safety checks. The illegal gas fitter was actually unregistered and trading under CJS Winter Plumbing and Heating Services. Christian the unregistered gas fitter illegally installed a gas boiler at the landlords property and undertook a gas safety checks at the property owned by the landlord in Kingskerswell. The gas fitter decieved the landord by working in gas fitting at the property despite him having no competencies in gaswork or even being registered on the Gas Safe Register for gaswork, The case was heard at The Exeter Crown Court and further investigations found the he deceived the landlord using faked Gas Safe Register information including a fake registration number and produced records to this effect. The gaswork was established to be below par and illegal when the boiler Christian had installed and also passed as safe for the three consecutive years was later inspected by a properly and legally registered member of Gas Safe. The engineer later found a range of faults with the work as classified the faults as dangerous. When the landlord was made aware of the defects she challenged CJS Winter Plumbing and Heating Services but Mr Winter continued his deception stating repeatedly that her was legitimately a gas engineer and registered with the appropriate bodies. In court, Mr Winter pleaded guilty to breaching several regulations including Regulation 3(3) and 3(7) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 and another regulation in Section 3(2) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. Mr Winter was convicted to a suspended prison sentence of 1 year, he was told to undertake 200 hrs work unpaid and was ordered to pay £3,327.80 costs.
Good news for industry equality; it has recently been announced that the quantity of women holding positions in the construction sector has recently risen to one of the highest figures since the establishment of records. Heralding a positive step forward in equality and diversity for the construction sector, the news is quite well received from an ethical perspective and, whilst firstly highlighting the increase in female construction workers taken on, yet also showcases the level of interest from women in construction careers. Highlighted in statistics provided by the Office for National Statistics, it can be seen that the quantity of female construction operatives has seen a growth of some 9.9% on a yearly basis, reaching levels of 277,000 at the close of 2015 – this figure being at a high not seen over the course of the last twenty years, when the last record was set in 1996. Surprisingly, it has also been seen that the sheer rate at which female construction workers have been hired has actually been at a more rapid pace than male construction workers, with the total number of male workers only rising by 6.6% in the 12 months up to the close. Most specifically, each quarter of 2015 showed a 1.5% increase in the number of female workers in the sector, with the increase in male workers trailing behind at a 1% increase er quarter. Of course, the sector is far from entirely equal, with these figures, yes, highlighting positive change, but the industry does indeed remain more weighted towards male workers. As of present, the overall proportion of women making up the construction sector’s workforce sits at 19.9%, which is a considerable increase on the figure of 11.9% shown when the records were first initialised. And so, while considerable progress is still hoped for from an equality perspective, these figures highlighted over the course of the year to paint a very positive picture, both from the perspective of interest levels and of the take-up of female construction workers as a whole.
Ever since the inauguration of the Social Value Act in 2013, the importance of ensuring quantifiable social benefits through all levels of service delivery has been a key consideration for, not solely the third sector, but also for the public sector. As of its originally announcement, the act has been requiring for all public bodies (both in England and Wales) to pay heed to the services being procured and assess the social, economic and environmental impacts of all such works – this, in effect going far above and beyond the staple benefit of what a building might bring, but also those consequences throughout the planning and construction cycle. Of course, though it has been in place ever since 2013, change has not instantly been seen, yet it has been reported that there is an increased awareness amongst public bodies now, that social value and the benefits, or consequences of works must be regarded as the utmost import. Yet, at the same time, there is relatively low awareness of the import of this process across procurement, and ensuring that even this stage of the development process must be defined. Lord Young commented that such awareness, “Appears to be relatively low when considered against the number and value of procurements across the public sector.” And yet, whilst the act only enforces social value for the public sector, it has been noted that private companies have also increasingly shown an interest in ensuring the delivery of social value over the course of contracts. With this in mind, the benefits will of course be seen to flow up the supply chain on public sector contracts also, and the growing social responsibility displayed by leading construction contractors is well worthy of praise. For the future, one of the key areas to be encouraged next is facilities management, where there is still plenty of room for development in the arena of ensuring social value. Yet, as the concept remains one quite fresh with regard to facilities management at present, industry professionals have been reported to push the envelope on incorporating facilities management in the agenda also.
It has just been announced that Visqueen Building Products, one of the building products sector’s more prominent and reputable suppliers of structural waterproofing products and gas protection systems, has promoted an existing member of the team to be its brand new National Key Account Manager, Laura Guy. Announced by the company’s Commercial Director himself, Phil Bull, it has been argued that the promotion is due to her performance in her previous role as Business Development Manager. With Laura’s responsibilities and reach to be adapted in line with her new position, Laura is expected to take an increasingly prominent role in the company’s day-to-day operations, playing a role in ensuring the continued commercial performance of the company. Most specifically, Laura will be seen to work alongside many of Visqueen Building Products’ larger, key clients, working to build the relationship and supportive role for such clients. Phil Bull went on to comment that: “Her industry expertise coupled with her strong business acumen will prove to be great assets to the role and we look forward to supporting her in her latest venture at Visqueen.” Having joined the organisation back in 2009, Laura has worked her way up the ranks, all the way from being a customer-focused team leader, with steady, regular promotions through the ranks. Of course, the steady speed at which she has risen through the company’s ranks only goes to highlight her capabilities and her understanding of the sector itself. Of her accomplishments at the company thus far, one of the most prominent has been the launch of the Visqueen Damp Protection Centre, which brought together eighteen different merchants to serve as an approved supply chain for Visqueen’s damp protection product range. This, then, has proven successful through the provision of national distribution through a trusted centre network. For those seeking out any of the branches, a publicly accessible directory of all such centres is available for easy location.
On 1st April 2016 the National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Regulations 2016 will come into force, introducing the national living wage. This highly anticipated change in law, announced by the Government last year, aims to help Britain’s lowest paid workers improve their standard of living, bringing direct benefits to 2.7 million workers over the age of 25. The Government also predicts that the NMW will facilitate the granting of National insurance discounts and help small employers to guarantee their workers a minimum living wage. However, the scheme has come under fire recently, with critics arguing that it is nothing more than a tweak to the minimum wage regulations. From April 1st the new minimum wages will be: Age 25 and over – 7.20ph (now called National Living Wage) Age 21 to 25 – £6.70ph Age 18 to 21 – £5.30ph People younger than 18 – £3.87ph Apprentices – £3.30ph By comparison the Living Wage Foundation (LWF) set the national living wage at £8.25 per hour nationally and at £9.40 for the London area. The Living Wage Foundation base their figures on the public perception of the minimum income required and on detailed budgets. New research every two years enables their living wage to reflect changing social norms and there is an annual update which takes into consideration inflation. Employers who pay the Living Wage Foundation’s wage to all their employees can apply for their accreditation and there are currently more than 700 accredited living wage employers in London. Perhaps the real success story of the Government’s policy is the raised awareness of what constitutes a living wage and this is reflected in the fact that last year alone, 429 employers obtained accreditation from the LWF. The Greater London Authority’s report entitled “A Fairer London: The 2015 Living Wage in London”, showed the encouraging news that 85.5% of full time workers in the capital currently earn more than £9.40 per hour, although 50% of part time workers earn less. Employers whose margins are too tight to permit them to pay the living wage, will no doubt welcome this outcome, as should their employees. Certainly, it is preferable that a company remains operative and its workers in employment than for it to be pushed to breaking point by payments it cannot afford. On the other hand, those employers who are already accredited for paying the living wage, in sectors with broader profit margins, may well continue to reap the benefits of doing so, especially with regard to employee retention. As women still make up the majority of the part-time workforce, the pay discrepancy between part-time and full-time workers is likely to be reconsidered in the future, as part of the gender pay gap work by Government. It is unlikely that the issue of pay will recede as we all try to strike a balance between preventing employee exploitation and maintaining viable businesses. By Jacqueline Kendal, Head of Employment Law, RK LLP