The initial stage of a £19.95m project to construct a Newmains and St Brigid’s Community Hub and Family Learning Centre involving North Lanarkshire Council (NLC), BAM Construction and hub SouthWest, the public-private partnership of local authorities, and leading Tier 1 building contractors, was marked last week (Tuesday 6 July 2021) with a formal sod-cutting ceremony. The project, the first of three North Lanarkshire Council initiatives with a cumulative value of £60m, will create a comfortable and stimulating school environment, purpose built for a shared campus serving both denominational and non-denominational primary, and early years education. It is designed to be conducive to learning for 484 pupils, 88 three-to five-year-olds and 15 two-year-olds. Councillor Frank McNally, Convener of Education & Families, said: “This exciting new project will soon be a brand-new home for Newmains and St Brigid’s Primary schools and also the Newmains Family Learning Centre. “Our focus on health and wellbeing and the outdoor facilities will provide enhanced leisure and recreational facilities for all members of the community to enjoy. Children and young people, staff, parents and the local community have all played a considerable role in developing the design for the new community hub, which takes into account both the requirements of the local community and the natural heritage and architecture of the area. “It’s a shining example of our drive to make North Lanarkshire the place to Live, Learn, Work, Invest and Visit providing children and residents with the benefits of first-class learning environments which will meet the needs of the community for generations to come.” Michael Ross, project director with hub South West, said: “Good design during the procurement and construction process reflects the high value North Lanarkshire Council places on learning, communities and the environment, as well as representing a sound investment in the future. “hub South West has worked closely with the council over the years to develop the robust processes which have permitted the commencement of this and other exciting educational initiatives. “We also welcome this, our first contractual relationship with BAM Construction since it joined our supply chain last year and note with pleasure our shared commitment both to this project and our long-term relationship with North Lanarkshire Council. “Our model of development and delivery prioritises People, Place and Planet and is aimed at creating well-designed places that instil a sense of pride in the community, tackle energy poverty and drive sustainability”. Jim Ward, Regional Director of BAM Ltd added: “We are delighted following the 18-month pre-construction period to be commencing construction works on Newmains and St Brigid’s Community Hub. We have been so impressed with the commitment from the design team, hub South West and in particular North Lanarkshire Councils’ drive to make this project happen.   “We are totally committed to delivering a quality facility along with delivering meaningful social value to the local community and leaving a lasting legacy that the community will be proud of while inspiring the next generation of young learners.”

The Supply Chain Sustainability School, a multi-award-winning initiative which represents a common approach to addressing sustainability within supply chains, has today released its Fairness, Inclusion & Respect (FIR) Annual Culture Survey Report. The School surveyed over 800 of its members across the country, to get their thoughts on the FIR Programme and how the FIR agenda is progressing within the built environment. Mark Lomas, Head of EDI at HS2 Ltd, said: “It’s great to see organisations responding to the FIR survey, giving great insight into EDI across the sector.” The report offered insights into how the School has continued to positively impact organisations and supply chains, reinforcing the School’s mission to be the world-class collaboration enabling a sustainable and fair built environment. With over fifty thousand registered users, the School provides free practical learning and support for the UK built environment, through sustainability training, networking, e-learning modules, tailored assessments, and online resources. The FIR resources are becoming increasingly popular as FIR sits higher on the agenda for many organisations in the industry. Members of the School anonymously stated that the FIR Programme offered “huge benefits for [their] business and life in general” and enabled companies to easily introduce initiatives such as “inclusion moments […] largely due to the influence of FIR ambassadors within the company pushing the initiative.” COVID-19 forced the Supply Chain Sustainability School to move all learning online, resulting in the FIR Programme seeing an increase of 66% of members completing e-learning modules over the past year, and many members accessing FIR online workshops and webinars. Organisations are becoming more conscious of FIR and its benefits to people, profit and enabling a sustainable business model. The School has been identified as a powerful tool to help organisations embed sustainability into their business practices. The FIR survey showed that 55% of businesses felt the FIR Programme helped them win new business, and 58% believe it enabled an improvement in productivity. Furthermore, 62% of respondents feel that the FIR Programme supported their business to retain talent, and 73% felt FIR helps to improve stakeholder engagement. Lucie Wright, Careers Strategy Manager at CITB, said:“More and more construction employers are seeing the benefits in productivity and winning new business that the Fairness, Inclusion and Respect training brings. A workplace that works for everyone will also help retain employees into the future, particularly important during a period of labour shortage, and I would encourage employers to visit the Supply Chain School website to see what free training is available.” The quality of training provided by the FIR Programme has been higher than ever this year. An average of 96% of respondents rated the workshops and materials as “excellent” or “good”, compared with last year’s figure of 91%. There was also a strong impact on individuals, as exhibited by the 89% of respondents who felt they were empowered to deal with FIR issues more effectively as a result of the FIR Programme. A massive 82% of members also felt they had the confidence to challenge poor behaviors in the workplace. Paul Aldridge, Director at WJ Group, said:“This year’s survey demonstrates how people want, need even, to work for organisations with good Fairness, Inclusion and Respect credentials. It shows areas we need to improve and that to be high performing organisations, we need to nurture all our people and allow them to thrive in a psychologically safe, inclusive space. By doing so, we can harvest the business benefits FIR will accrue; improved productivity, safety and collaboration, new business, better staff retention, stakeholder and community engagement.” The School is part-funded by CITB and industry Partners, with the direction of the School being led by over 125 Partners – working in collaboration, they share knowledge and free resources to inspire the UK built environment to drive positive change. The full report can be found on the Supply Chain Sustainability School’s website here.

Construction of state-of-the-art industry standard facilities at The Manchester College’s Openshaw campus has reached an exciting milestone in the build process as Caddick Construction completed the fit of the1,650 sq metre roof on the centrepiece sports hall. The indoor sport facility will host a six-court multi-discipline sports hall with viewing gallery together with a media suite with match analysis capability. The build – which is part of a new £25M investment in redeveloping the Openshaw campus – remains on schedule to open to students in the College’s Centre of Excellence for Sport in September 2021. The sports centre is at the heart of the development which broke ground in July 2020. The expansive roof over the state-of-the-art facility took five weeks of precision work to successfully lower and secure into place. Alongside the sports facilities will be the Industry Excellence Academies which include: a state of the art hospital suite including a mock hospital ward with infectious disease area for Health and Social Care students; specialist facilities for carpentry, joinery, brickwork and plastering for students in Construction and Engineering and a mock nursery setting for students studying Childhood Studies plus a motor vehicle learning facility. The construction project has, so far, created jobs on site for forklift drivers, labourers, apprentice engineers, cleaners and gatemen. It has also provided critical hands-on training opportunities for students from The Manchester College studying on the ACE-accredited Build Environment BTEC course. The construction is part of LTE Group’s £140M long-term investment strategy in response to an increase in demand for regional training and skills. The investment in the construction training facilities is proving to be particularly timely as the North West construction and logistics sectors enjoy a boom fuelled by national and international inward investment to the region. Managing Director of Caddick Construction’s North West office, Ian Threadgold said: “The roof going on smoothly was a major milestone for the team and it was completed on schedule, despite the Manchester climate pretty much throwing everything at us. The facility is really starting to take shape now and it will offer the very latest training and educational opportunities for students arriving back in September.”  Lisa O’Loughlin, Principal at The Manchester College commented: “We are delighted that the construction is on schedule and are looking forward to welcoming our first students into these brand new facilities this September, to study on our childcare, healthcare and construction Industry Excellence Academies and in our Centre of Excellence for Sport.” John Thornhill, CEO of LTE Group, commented: “Investing in our Openshaw Campus is just one element of a broader £140M investment into new facilities, which includes the brand new five storey city centre campus currently under construction next to the AO Arena in Manchester city centre which will open to students September 2022. Investment at this level across multiple locations provides valuable opportunities for future students, ultimately providing a skilled workforce for the Greater Manchester region.” The Manchester College is one of the largest Further Education colleges in the UK and largest single provider of 16-19, adult and higher education in Greater Manchester. More than 25% of Greater Manchester’s learning provision is undertaken by the college.

Midlands contractor G F Tomlinson has handed over construction works for the £3.9m expansion and renovation of King Edward VI School in Lichfield, Staffordshire. Delivered on behalf of Staffordshire County Council, under the Staffordshire Construction framework, the works comprised of an extension to an existing building and the construction of a new modular building for the school. Construction works at the co-educational comprehensive began in May 2020, and the extension and refurbishment will now allow the school, which takes on pupils aged 11 to 18, to increase its intake by 30 places a year, providing an additional 150 places in total. The new three-storey extension, which was phase one of the works, was constructed on the site of a former swimming pool that had been closed for over ten years. It now houses enhanced teaching and auxiliary spaces, as well as an administration area on the lower ground floor that features a new student services area. Phase two, which completed in October last year, involved the installation of a brand new standalone modern modular structure to provide enhanced science laboratory teaching facilities, which replaced existing accommodation and obsolete prefabricated buildings at the site. Due to the scheme being completed by the contractor on time and to budget, G F Tomlinson was awarded further refurbishment works at the school, which included window replacements in the main hall, as well as new windows, ceilings, floors and interactive whiteboards in a number of classrooms. The contractor also provided external works as an add on to the original scheme which included new railings, fencing, outdoor steps and re-surfacing works. This is the second scheme G F Tomlinson has completed through the Staffordshire Construction framework for Staffordshire County Council, with current projects including works at Anker Valley Primary School in Tamworth, and Greenwood Healthcare Centre in Burntwood. Chris Flint, director at G F Tomlinson, said: “Completed on time and to budget, the team have been phenomenal throughout the works at King Edward VI School and have done the G F Tomlinson name proud. This has been proven through the awarding of further works at the school, which were delivered to an excellent standard. “It’s been amazing to form a strong new relationship with the school and further build on our existing relationships with Staffordshire County Council, Arc Partnership and Entrust Property Services. We’re pleased to be handing over the expansion works ahead of the new school year to allow for essential education places.” Dan Maher, managing director at Arc Partnership, commented: “The collaboration between Staffordshire County Council, G F Tomlinson, Entrust Property Services and Arc Partnership is testament to the successful delivery of the extension and new modular building at King Edward VI School.” Helen Riley, deputy CXO and director for Families and Communities at Staffordshire County Council, said: “This work has enabled King Edward VI School to expand, meaning it can meet the increase in demand in the area for secondary school places. As well as creating extra space for staff and pupils, the construction has really transformed the school, making it a bright and welcoming place for present and future pupils.” Jane Rutherford, headteacher at King Edward VI School, said: “We are absolutely delighted with the new and refurbished accommodation, the students and staff are already seeing the benefits of improved learning environments.  “It has been a complex project, but at every stage we have worked together to find the most effective way to secure the best outcome for the school. It has been an absolute pleasure to work with G F Tomlinson; the attention to detail and the consideration for the needs of the school has helped secure best value and high quality. The project team from Staffordshire County Council, Entrust and G F Tomlinson have brought long-held ambitions to life and we now have accommodation that matches the high standards of achievement at King Edward VI School.”                         Arc Partnership provided architectural and engineering services and Entrust Property Services provided project management services. Ideal Modular, part of G F Tomlinson’s existing supply chain, delivered the modular element of this project.

Proposals for a new research and development campus in Birmingham have secured the green light. The scheme is expected to create thousands of jobs upon completion and will provide a hub for healthcare and technology innovators. The hybrid application for the Birmingham Health Innovation Campus (BHIC) was brought forward by a long-term collaboration between the University of Birmingham, as landowner, and investor-developers Bruntwood SciTech. The application site comprises approximately 10.6 acres of brownfield land and is located adjacent to the district centre of Selly Oak, in close proximity to the University of Birmingham and Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham. Full planning permission was sought for phase one, which consists of a seven-storey office and research development building (building one), with an ancillary café, a temporary surface car park, as well as associated infrastructure and landscaping. Three floors of building one will be home to the Precision Health Technologies Accelerator (PHTA). This facility will be occupied by the University of Birmingham and will focus on enabling the classification of patients and their treatments. Building one has a gross internal floor area of approximately 171,000 sq ft and, in addition to being occupied by the university, will provide a hub for businesses working in medtech, biopharma, precision medicine, healthcare AI and genomics. Supporting facilities will also be provided, including meetings spaces, and a café on the ground floor. The temporary surface car park, providing 258 spaces, including six accessible spaces, five motorbike spaces, and 68 bicycle spaces, will provide parking for occupiers of building one, as well as accommodate occupiers of the second phase of development. Outline planning permission was also sought for the remainder of the application site to bring forward up to a further five office and research development buildings and a multi-storey car park. A gym is also proposed in one of the buildings. The maximum provision for the multi-storey car park is 1,333 car parking spaces. The 10-year masterplan is expected to support the creation of more than 10,000 jobs and contribute £400m of GVA to the regional economy by 2030. “The proposed hybrid application will deliver a health and innovation campus that will have substantial economic benefits for the locality. In terms of both the full and outline elements, no concerns are raised in relation to highway safety, character, ecology, amenity, drainage, contamination or flood risk. The proposal constitutes sustainable development and is therefore in accordance with the aims and objectives of both local and national planning policy and should be approved,” said a Birmingham City Council document.

Midlands contractor G F Tomlinson is progressing with multi-million expansion works at Cardinal Newman Catholic School in Coventry, for Coventry City Council. The project involves the construction of a new dining hall and the refurbishment of existing buildings for optimised teaching spaces, which will allow for an additional 200 places at the school, in line with a government drive to provide extra student spaces in Coventry. Procured through Pagabo’s National Framework for Medium Works, this is the first scheme G F Tomlinson has been awarded through the framework in its allocated region, which covers projects between the value of £1m-£5m in the West Midlands.  “This will be the first project to be completed under Pagabo’s National Framework for Medium Works, and we are delighted to be partnering with this framework partner and Coventry City Council, to deliver the expansion works and essential refurbishment for the school, to cater to the government’s vision of providing extra student spaces in the city,” said Andy Sewards, managing director of G F Tomlinson. “This is a very high-quality design and build, and once complete it will bring upgraded facilities to the school, allowing optimised teaching spaces and the space for a considerable increase of student places. We look forward to handing over the project ahead of the new school year in 2021.” Expected for completion in summer 2021, the scheme involves the recently completed refurbishment of the DaVinci Building – including science rooms fitted with new laboratory furniture, a technology room, storage rooms and the relocation of the IT technician’s office to an adjacent space. The main scope of works, which is the construction of a new 400-student capacity dining hall, includes a new, fully fitted catering kitchen and toilet facilities, as well as a mezzanine upper floor to be used by the school’s sixth form students, accessed via an internal floating staircase or accessible lift. The new dining hall will overlook the existing playing field and will also feature an outdoor dining area which will consist of a new external terrace and elevated tiered seating built into an existing grass bank. Internally, there will be high-finish feature concrete columns and the ceiling will be fitted with domed roof lighting to allow natural light into the building. The current dining halls, located in the Lindisfarne and Canterbury blocks will be refurbished and transformed into three teaching blocks and a seminar room, with a new accessible entrance formed to access the existing Teaching and Learning Centre to the rear of the blocks. “It’s fantastic to see work progressing well for G F Tomlinson on what is their first appointment through our Medium Works Framework. Despite the obvious challenges presented by the coronavirus pandemic, G F Tomlinson has continued to operate in a safe and secure manner, ensuring the school’s extension is ready for its summer 2021 opening,” added Emma Hesbrook, regional relationship manager at Pagabo.