An extensive refurbishment project is currently taking place at the Saint-Gobain Weber HQ which is located in Flitwick, Bedfordshire. As part of this refurbishment and used extensively throughout the building is weberfloor. Saint-Gobain designs, manufactures and distributes materials and solutions vital to ensuring the wellbeing of all, whether that’s for
The expanding foam range from Everbuild – a Sika company – is growing once again with the addition of Constructa-Pro; a high strength adhesive foam designed for use in a multitude of applications. Developed to be fast curing, Constructa-Pro is ideal for small jobs which require a quick fix, as
Bell Flow Systems, a company that first started operating in 1997 in order to provide flow measurement solutions to their customers in the industry, has announced the launch of a new product. Alongside their sister company Cortex Displays Ltd, the business has been able to develop in order to meet
Cable Services are the UK’s number one specialist electrical equipment and component distributor. We supply a wide range of cable and cable accessories to the domestic housing, commercial and industrial sectors from our UK locations based in Wrexham, Liverpool, Stone, Swindon and Glasgow. CablEx 2017, organised and managed by EA
At the Home & Hearth Awards this year, Specflue has been recognised as a Finalist for the Pellet or Wood Chip (Non-Boiler) Appliance category. Specflue is a leading company in the UK working to deliver flue, chimney and renewable heat solutions. Specflue has been operating since 1992 and has sites
The doom and gloom decrying that not enough companies within the field of construction has been lifted by the latest findings of a survey conducted by Tata Steel back in 2016, which reveals that of the firms that replied and accepted the survey, more than 80 per cent of them
Konstructa Hire, the construction site accommodation specialist and member of the Portakabin Group, has announced a £1.4 million investment programme to expand three of its hire centres. Established in 2006, Konstructa Hire is celebrating its 10th anniversary. The business has one of the newest construction hire fleets in the UK
The York Handmade Brick Company has completed its role in the building of a brand-new building for Highgate Junior School in North London. York Handmade, based at Alne, near Easingwold, supplied 150,000 bricks for Highgate Junior School in North London. The contract was worth £225,000. David Armitage, chairman of York
Leading insulation and interior building products distributor CCF is working closely with Celotex in partnership with local construction firm, Colmore Tang to help renovate the home of three year old cancer patient, Emily Cassidy, in the West Midlands. Emily’s house was in a dire state of disrepair and needed desperate
Leading procurement organisation, Scape Group is upping the value of its national construction framework from £5.5bn to a whopping £7bn, a boost which will see the body’s framework become the country’s most valuable procurement framework. The rise has been planned for a while; notice was published by Scape in the
An extensive refurbishment project is currently taking place at the Saint-Gobain Weber HQ which is located in Flitwick, Bedfordshire. As part of this refurbishment and used extensively throughout the building is weberfloor. Saint-Gobain designs, manufactures and distributes materials and solutions vital to ensuring the wellbeing of all, whether that’s for buildings, transportation, infrastructure and a range of other industrial applications. As part of this, Saint-Gobain Weber is the provider of flooring solutions that are innovative and easy to apply. Refurbishments are being carried out in the 240 ㎡ industrial and commercial floor space of the HQ in Flitwick. The project entails demolishing the old training workshop on the Bedfordshire site in order to transform the area into a new product storage area. The floor of this new storage areas will be pre-treated and primed with the weberfloor 41716 primer, which is ideal for this floor and suitable for all substrates prior to the application of other weberfloor products. Following this weberfloor 4310 fibre flow will then be applied on to the mesh as a high performing pumpable and levelling floor screed. This product has an enhanced level on durability because of the fibre reinforcing in the screed. It was important that Weber worked fast to get the following applied in order to allow more trades to access the site and continue with the work. The facilities that are being renovated are used often by a range of staff and overseas visitor, therefore it is vital that the work is carried out in the shortest time possible. Weber’s extensive collection of floor screeds are all manufactured in the UK and have been developed so that they can deliver optimum speed, durability, strength and smoothness in the finishing product. The product range is known for being one of the most technically advanced available, and therefore an ideal solution for the new Saint-Gobain Storage area.
The expanding foam range from Everbuild – a Sika company – is growing once again with the addition of Constructa-Pro; a high strength adhesive foam designed for use in a multitude of applications. Developed to be fast curing, Constructa-Pro is ideal for small jobs which require a quick fix, as well as large applications including fixing plasterboard and insulations board, fixing skirting boards or as a mortar substitute for building rough garden walls. Once cured, it is also rot-proof and moisture and temperature resistant from -40˚C to +80˚C. Gun-applied and available in 750ml tins, Constructa-Pro can be used on stone, brick, concrete blocks, wood, plasterboard, metal and much more, making it a truly multi-purpose adhesive foam for the trade. For more information on Constructa-Pro or any other product within the Everbuild and Sika ranges, contact your local sales representative. Call the sales office on 0113 240 2424 or visit www.everbuild.co.uk Everbuild Sika expanding foam Constructa-Pro Constructa-Pro is a high strength adhesive foam designed for use in a multitude of building applications. Constructa-Pro adheres well to most common building materials including stone, concrete blocks, brick, wood, plasterboard, insulation board, metal and much more! Once cured, it’s also rot-proof, and moisture and temperature resistant from -40°C to +80°C. Constructa-Pro is suitable to use for a wide range of applications, e.g. as an adhesive for fixing plasterboard and insulation board, fixing skirting boards or a mortar substitute for building rough garden walls, planters etc, making this a truly multi purpose adhesive foam for the trade.
Bell Flow Systems, a company that first started operating in 1997 in order to provide flow measurement solutions to their customers in the industry, has announced the launch of a new product. Alongside their sister company Cortex Displays Ltd, the business has been able to develop in order to meet the changing demands and challenges in the industry. The company now operate by constructing systems and display instrumentation that are appropriate for the renewables and the environmental market. Recently Bell Flow Systems were contacted a customer who was looking for a solution that was reliable and could monitor a fire hydrant remotely in order to oversee flow detection and leakage. The site requiring the solution needed a clamp-on form of flow measurement that would work without having to break into the pipeline. Information that will be gathered from the site needed to be accessed by the customer remotely as well as also having the function of visual alarms for the operators and the site office. In order to tackle this challenge, Bell Flow Systems delivered the TFX Ultra flow meter. As well as this, a Modbus output was also delivered in order to be incorporated into a third party telemetry system. Through the products that have been supplied by Bell Flow Systems, the data that has been taken from the telemetry system then gets stored onto a web portal that is then able to offer the customer a visual representation of the range of liquids running through the systems as well as the small amounts of suspended solids or aeration. The TFX Ultra Flow system has a bi-directional flow measurement as well as a variety of different methods of communication including the Modbus RTU over RS485 communications. The Meters such as this that are available from Bell Flow Systems include large and easy to read digital displays that are set into an aluminium enclosure for protection, meaning the displays can be placed in a harsh environment.
Cable Services are the UK’s number one specialist electrical equipment and component distributor. We supply a wide range of cable and cable accessories to the domestic housing, commercial and industrial sectors from our UK locations based in Wrexham, Liverpool, Stone, Swindon and Glasgow. CablEx 2017, organised and managed by EA Technology, was held at Chester Racecourse on Wednesday 7th June, 2017. The first event of its kind, CABLEx2017 aimed to bring together the Electricity Utility Industry, including (but not limited to); Distribution Network Operators, Transmission Network Operators, Private Network Operators, Contractors, Manufacturers, Distributors and Suppliers to showcase the latest Power Cable developments, share knowledge, techniques, innovations and equipment. “We recognised straight away how CablEx would be the perfect opportunity for us to speak and target those key decision makers in the Utilities market. Both the conference and the BBQ networking event proved hugely successful and put our brand and service capabilities at the forefront of people’s minds in the Utility Sector” Jason Bostock, Managing Director at Cable Services Group. “EA Technology are pleased to announce that this year’s CABLEx 2017 event was a magnificent success. With over 80 exhibitors, and close to 700 participants enjoying the two day Chester based event., EA Technology were pleased to see an increase on attendance numbers from last year. With the participation of major players from the European Cable industry, this can be classed as a truly significant industry event. Next year EA Technology will be hosting the third expo/ conference in the series which will focus on Plant & Automation within the electricity supply sector“ Rob Hill, Business Development Manager at EA Technology.
At the Home & Hearth Awards this year, Specflue has been recognised as a Finalist for the Pellet or Wood Chip (Non-Boiler) Appliance category. Specflue is a leading company in the UK working to deliver flue, chimney and renewable heat solutions. Specflue has been operating since 1992 and has sites in Castleford, Sudbury and Honiton. The company works to offer their customers an excellent service with their wealth of experience and knowledge of the industry. As one of the leading UK providers of flues, chimneys and renewable heating solutions, it is an accolade to be recognised as a part of the competitive Hearth & Home Awards. The 2017 edition of these Awards took place at the Hearth & Home Exhibition in Harrogate. The Exhibition ran between the 11th and the 13th of June, with Specflue being recognised for their MCZ Curve. The model of stove mentioned has been designed to comply with the Ecodesign directive, not expected to be enforced until 2022. The different features of the MCZ Curve includes a ceramic spark plug that is expected to cut ignition times by 40% leading to a reduction in electricity use. The stove als has a 5 litre ash drawer, with the compartments offering a further 8 litres meaning that there is the capacity for a week of ash before emptying is required. The Comfort Air version ofthe Curve model has fans that can be controlled remotely and carry the warmth of the fire into other rooms. The No air feature of the MCZ allows for silent operation of the stove and remove forced ventilation from the MCZ Curve. The Hearth & Home Finalist stove can also be controlled by remote control, including weekly and daily programming. There is also an app that allows the user the ability to manage the stove via a smartphone or tablet.
The doom and gloom decrying that not enough companies within the field of construction has been lifted by the latest findings of a survey conducted by Tata Steel back in 2016, which reveals that of the firms that replied and accepted the survey, more than 80 per cent of them certified that they either were or would commit themselves to greater contributions to the ethics of sustainability. The tests and results gathered by Tata Steel over the course of a few months were completed by all manner and form of members in the building industry. This varied from planners and architects to development experts, who were required to respond to such subjects surrounding sustainable plans as diverse as ways of investing and educating businesses. As Barry Rust of Tata Steel intimates, the subject of a sustainable business is the hot topic and the primary objectives and goals of numerous building enterprises. Tata Steel itself has the good fortune and insight of being able to create materials that are approved by BES 6001 standards, but not every building company has the foresight to be this conscientious. Yet even those companies tested that did not yet have an appropriate action plan for a sustainable future still indicated in the survey that they would consider introducing sustainability into their plans. Other leaders in the building industry such as Rory Bergin of HTA Design LLP and John Hutton of BAM Nuttall both emphasized the need for concerns about sustainability to be consistently raised so that other issues such as those of eye and noise pollution could be explored and rectified as well. Much needs to be done to also ensure that the buildings maintain the levels of sustainability that they were initially built on, and a great deal of this clearly involves the use of all aspects of education to ensure that building contractors as well as clients are knowledgeable of the ways in which sustainability for all can progress further into the 21st Century.
Konstructa Hire, the construction site accommodation specialist and member of the Portakabin Group, has announced a £1.4 million investment programme to expand three of its hire centres. Established in 2006, Konstructa Hire is celebrating its 10th anniversary. The business has one of the newest construction hire fleets in the UK and has expanded from one to 10 hire centres in the last decade – from Glasgow in Scotland down to Hampshire in the south. It is now investing in three of its hire centres to increase capacity and meet the rising demand for its site accommodation buildings available for hire: The hire centre in Cobham is relocating to Borden in Hampshire which will treble capacity and increase production space from a single to a multi-bay area The Dunstable hire centre is moving to Aylesbury to double capacity The hire centre in Warrington is being expanded by an additional acre and benefiting from more workshop space for site accommodation maintenance. Plans are also in place to expand two further hire centres for the business in 2017. David Griffiths, Director and General Manager of Konstructa Hire, said, “We started the business from scratch 10 years ago to supply site accommodation of unrivalled quality to the construction industry, supported by outstanding service levels from our experienced teams based at our hire centre network across the UK.” “In that time, we have increased market share year-on-year and have continued to invest in the development of a range of building types and options which are specifically designed to meet the needs of the construction industry.” “We have increased our hire fleet by a third in the last three years and continue to add to our product range to meet demand from the UK’s leading national and regional building contractors and housebuilders.” “This latest investment in three of our hire centres will significantly increase our fleet storage space and production facilities to further improve lead times and customer service locally. We have ambitious plans to grow the business and our continued investment in our hire centre network is central to that.” Achievements in the 10 years since the Konstructa Hire business was launched by the Portakabin Group have included: A high level of repeat business – more than 75 per cent The development and launch of Konstructa Modular – multi-storey accommodation which features five new patents for advanced site safety to avoid working at height The launch of the UK’s first energy-saving site office building to have A-rated energy performance. The Konstructa fleet of eco site buildings is now larger than its standard range of buildings, illustrating how more contractors are looking to minimise energy consumption on construction sites The only site accommodation business to offer a pioneering Customer Charter and a week’s free hire if a project is not delivered on time Innovative new additions to the range of options have been developed since the launch of Konstructa Hire to meet the site requirements of building contractors and for ease of procurement, including boot washing units and smoking shelters Accreditation from safecontractor for the business’ commitment to achieving health and safety excellence. The range of construction buildings available from Konstructa Hire now includes single and multi-storey site accommodation; anti-vandal buildings for additional security; fire-rated buildings; and low energy site buildings. All the building types can be suited together to meet any construction site requirement – offices; canteens and mess rooms; toilets; shower, changing and drying rooms, and storage units. Konstructa Hire can also supply all furniture, staircases, and effluent tanks and the site accommodation can be branded to reflect a contractor’s corporate image.
The York Handmade Brick Company has completed its role in the building of a brand-new building for Highgate Junior School in North London. York Handmade, based at Alne, near Easingwold, supplied 150,000 bricks for Highgate Junior School in North London. The contract was worth £225,000. David Armitage, chairman of York Handmade, explained: “This was an absolutely fascinating commission, not least because the new Junior School building had to reflect its historic architectural context as well as being a first-class environment for learning. “The brand new 4,320 sq m building is for 350 pupils aged seven to 11 years. Features include teaching spaces and a main school hall to replace an old library and teaching block, which were demolished as part of the project. “The project also included extensive refurbishment and re-roofing works to Highgate Junior School’s Ingleholme Building, one of only a few remaining 19th century ‘villa’ houses in Highgate. Mr Armitage continued: “Whilst we will never forget our Yorkshire roots, and we continue to work extensively in the county, this commission underlines our growing presence in the capital. Recent London projects include the Shard, London Bridge Place, Highbury Stadium and Carmelite House on the Victoria Embankment.” Bob Hayes of architects Architype, which designed the new Junior School, commented: “The brickwork and stone were selected as the main cladding materials to reflect Highgate’s historic context. The York Handmade bricks give a wonderful texture and softness to the brickwork. “The same brick and stone specification has been used internally, in the common areas and the classrooms, both for their robust and tactile qualities and to create a cohesive theme through the external and internal elevational treatment. “York Handmade were able to manufacture 150,000 bricks and specials within the agreed timescales and within the agreed budget. The finished building reflects the quality of the bricks and the bricklaying and achieves the qualities that the challenging design and specification required.”
Leading insulation and interior building products distributor CCF is working closely with Celotex in partnership with local construction firm, Colmore Tang to help renovate the home of three year old cancer patient, Emily Cassidy, in the West Midlands. Emily’s house was in a dire state of disrepair and needed desperate attention in order to transform it into a safe and comfortable home for her whole family. As the interior structure of the building was in need of a complete makeover, CCF was approached by Colmore Tang to help jointly coordinate the efforts of all involved, in an attempt to upgrade the property. The scheme was initiated by Georgie Moseley, the founder of local charity, Help Harry Help Others. After a visit to Emily’s home, Georgie put a call out on Facebook to help her carry out the renovation work since the house had been left in a bad state by previous contractors, with wires hanging from the ceilings and a new-build extension that was deemed unsafe. Nick Whittaker, Framework Development Manager at CCF, commented: “We are always happy to get involved with such worthwhile causes like this one. Georgie Moseley has done a fantastic job in spearheading the renovation project and it’s been great to see local businesses working together to create such an impressive end result. We wish Emily a very speedy recovery.” The initiative received an overwhelming response from 40 firms, which meant that the work could be carried out while Emily and her family travelled to America, where she received life-saving proton beam therapy. CCF is one of the UK’s leading distributors of interior building products to the construction industry, supplying ceilings, dry lining, flooring, insulation, partitioning and fire protection materials. Our service and support, combined with a nationwide branch network and extensive fleet of vehicles ensure that the customer gets the materials they require, where and when they need them.
Leading procurement organisation, Scape Group is upping the value of its national construction framework from £5.5bn to a whopping £7bn, a boost which will see the body’s framework become the country’s most valuable procurement framework. The rise has been planned for a while; notice was published by Scape in the Official Journal of the European Community (OJEU) Scape. The organisation said that it has increased the value of its main procurement framework following feedback from clients, gathered during the many market consultation sessions it has held and continues to hold. Scape went on to say that the £1.5bn boost is indicative of growing demand amongst clients for effective, efficient project delivery, programme certainty and financial security. The framework is divided into five, according to geographical region and nature of works. It appears below: A greater number of lead contractors are expected to be awarded the new framework – unlike Scape’s previous procurement framework which was overwhelming dominated by big name contractor, Willmott Dixon. Bidding contractors will have the opportunity to bag up to two of the three regional lots or one of either Major Works UK or Principal Works (UK) thus providing them access to a greater variety of suppliers and service providers within the framework. As always, just one managing contractor take the helm, supported by a broad and all-encompassing local supply chain. Mark Robinson, Chief Executive of Scape Group, is hopeful about the potential of the new £7bn framework and firmly believes that it will match the changing expectations of contractors and clients alike. From public consultations, Mark also suggested that the increased value would enable public sector bodies, in particular, to continue regeneration works and meet demand for housing in a high quality, cost-effective and on time way. Mark Robinson added that the public’s recent decision to leave the EU would not affect the introduction of the new procurement framework and that “it is very much business as usual” for Scape. Successful bidders for the new framework are expected to be announced early next year. By May 2017, it is predicted to have fully fazed out the National Major Works framework that Scape currently offers.