The new president of the Association of Plumbing and Heating Contractors (APHC) has focussed on lobbying activities and building regulations in his first speech. In his inaugural address as APHC national president, Brian Silvester discussed the two key activities that he believes will improve trade conditions for the quality heating
The UK’s move to set a target to limit the amount of carbon dioxide emissions now faces a challenge after the country’s decision to leave the European Union. Earlier in the week the UK agreed to set a legally binding aim of cutting the country’s carbon dioxide emissions to help
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
The new president of the Association of Plumbing and Heating Contractors (APHC) has focussed on lobbying activities and building regulations in his first speech. In his inaugural address as APHC national president, Brian Silvester discussed the two key activities that he believes will improve trade conditions for the quality heating and plumbing contractor. Silvester commented: “Over the next year I would like to promote and support the lobbying work that we are engaged in; which I am quite passionate about, and personally believe will bring about much needed change for the betterment of our industry.” Speaking at last Saturday’s annual APHC President’s Dinner, Silvester started his speech by discussing the independent research which is currently being carried out into the lack of enforcement of Building Regulations in the heating and plumbing industry. The new APHC boss also spoke about how the research hopes to both qualify the experiences of heating and plumbing contractors in this area around on site workmanship standards and the issues they face when applying regulations and competing for work and quantify levels of enforcement activity taking place with relation to Building Regulations work. Silvester emphasised that the principal aim of the research is to quantify the implications of the existing enforcement strategies on the heating and plumbing industry and he explained that the findings, which are set to be publicised by the APHC next month, will form the basis of new solutions in the industry which will be presented later in the year to the government. He added that the group will aim to lobby the government for the much needed regulatory change in this area, along with fellow industry bodies. The new president also touched on the work of APHC in collaboration with several partners in the industry and bigger gas contracting firms, in refining the ACS gas reassessment requirements.
The UK’s move to set a target to limit the amount of carbon dioxide emissions now faces a challenge after the country’s decision to leave the European Union. Earlier in the week the UK agreed to set a legally binding aim of cutting the country’s carbon dioxide emissions to help with the climate change prevention effort. However, a think tank led by Nigel Lawson, the former Tory Chancellor and strategy committee member of the Leave campaign, has dismissed the move as “unlawful”, which is indicative of the uncertainty triggered by the Brexit vote. The Global Warming Policy Foundation fronted by Lord Lawson said the government was wrong to make a fifth ‘carbon budget’ a legally binding agreement that would see the UK commit to reducing emissions by 57% by 2032 compared with the levels of 1990. The foundation said that the target was based on the false assumption that the country will still be in the EU in 2030. Furthermore, they said that it also assumed that the UK would stay part of the EU emissions trading scheme, the biggest carbon market in the world, and would be “covered by the terms of the EU Paris agreement.” Collectively, the EU has agreed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 40% by 2030 as part of December’s Paris agreement. In a statement the foundation explained that it believes the government has behaved unreasonably and should have delayed the approval of the budget as well as reassessing the potential impact of a vote to leave the European Union. They said that the government had “hastily rubber stamped” a budget that was only designed to work in one set of circumstances and as such it is “unlawful” and something that the incoming Prime Minister should review as a priority. The UK’s 2008 Climate Change Act means that the government must set a budget every five years for the amount of CO2 that is to be emitted.
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.