Sheffield’s new Chamber President has backed the ‘truly inspirational’ Olympic Legacy Park (OLP). During one of his first visits to the OLP, the recently appointed President of Sheffield Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Darren Pearce, recognised the big potential of the multi-million London 2012 legacy scheme. Once fully operational, the
Carillion’s joint venture with US engineering giant KBR has secured a £1.1 billion construction and facilities management contract to re-base troops coming back from Germany by 2019. The Aspire Defence Capital Works joint venture will design and build 130 buildings, along with extensions and alterations to the current buildings and
Property management company Cycas Hospitality has acquired sought after hotel Staybridge Suites Newcastle. This is the 5th Staybridge Hotel to come under the Cycas umbrella. The hotel will continue to operate under the Staybridge Suites Newcastle name. Cycas Hospitality is already responsible for the property management of two hotels in the North West.
Waste and construction services firm NWH Group has secured a £7 million finance facility from Royal Bank of Scotland to help the business fund future acquisitions. Following on from the purchase of the business and assets of DJ Laing’s waste management operations in Dundee for an undisclosed sum last year, the Dalkeith business said it has
With over 400,000 reported burglaries from April of 2015 to March of 2016, it’s still very important for those who live in the UK to protect their homes from these criminals. A single burglary can cost you a lot of money as well as your sense of safety, making it
An innovative hybrid air conditioning system will be used for a new 250-bedroom hotel project in Birmingham. Mitsubishi Electric’s Hybrid Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) technology has been chosen for the 18-storey KKA Architecture-designed Holiday Inn Express Birmingham City Centre project, which is set to open in April next year. The
A £320 million fund has been launched to help boost the development of the self-sustaining heat network sector throughout the UK. The funding is being provided by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), a new department created by Prime Minister Theresa May earlier this year. The Heat
A £320 million fund has been launched to help boost the development of the self-sustaining heat network sector throughout the UK. The funding is being provided by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), a new department created by Prime Minister Theresa May earlier this year. The Heat
Funding from Isos Housing has helped save a rural job club from closure. The local housing provider stepped in with a £10,000 grant after hearing that the Haltwhistle Unemployment Support Group in Northumberland was in danger of closing because of a lack of cash. The grant, one of two recently
Manchester Airports Group (MAG) has signed a new multi million pound deal with facilities management (FM) firm Mitie. Building on their existing seven year relationship, the new five year contract will see Mitie consolidate its FM services across three airports into one integrated contract. The firm has provided FM services
Sheffield’s new Chamber President has backed the ‘truly inspirational’ Olympic Legacy Park (OLP). During one of his first visits to the OLP, the recently appointed President of Sheffield Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Darren Pearce, recognised the big potential of the multi-million London 2012 legacy scheme. Once fully operational, the 35 acre OLP is due to become the world’s leading location for innovation in wellbeing, health and sport. Pearce, who is also centre director at Meadowhall shopping centre, said that the Olympic Legacy Park is a truly inspiring project. He continued: “With the recent announcement of plans to regenerate the Attercliffe area, the Olympic Legacy Park is already leading by example and embracing the huge potential for the sports, health and wellbeing agenda in our region. “The UTC Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park and Oasis Academy Don Valley are both excellent facilities, providing innovative learning environments where young people across the region can recognise their full potential. “It was great to have the opportunity to see first-hand how the site is developing and how the Olympic Legacy Park is already putting Sheffield on the map. From a Meadowhall perspective, the Olympic Legacy Park very much aligns with the corporate wellbeing objectives of our owners British Land.” Meanwhile, the boss of the London Stadium has resigned after an inquiry was opened into the soaring costs to the taxpayer to run the venue. David Edmonds, the chairman of the London Legacy Development Corporation which is responsible for the running of the city’s Olympic Park and how the facilities are used following the 2012 Games, has quit his post. The announcement comes after London mayor Sadiq Khan announced on Tuesday evening that he had ordered an investigation into the rising bill for converting the London Stadium for use by West Ham amid concerns that taxpayers will be saddled with the costs for years to come.
Carillion’s joint venture with US engineering giant KBR has secured a £1.1 billion construction and facilities management contract to re-base troops coming back from Germany by 2019. The Aspire Defence Capital Works joint venture will design and build 130 buildings, along with extensions and alterations to the current buildings and associated infrastructure. The construction works throughout Aldershot and the Salisbury Plain Training Area are set to begin straight away. They are worth £680 million, which will be shared equally between the partners. The facilities management and maintenance of the new camps and garrisons will be provided by a separate joint venture between both companies, known as Aspire Defence Services. The Project Allenby/Connaught PFI contract was let to Aspire in 2006. Together this will generate £430 million of support services revenue over the remaining 25 year contract. The additional service provision will begin as soon as construction of the first asset is completed, which is expected to be in May 2017, and will run until 2041. ‘We are delighted’ Carillion chief executive Richard Howson said: “We are delighted that Aspire Defence Limited and its sub-contractors Aspire Defence Capital Works and Aspire Defence Services have been selected by the Ministry of Defence to deliver this major element of the Army Basing Programme. “I believe this reflects in the successful delivery of new living and working accommodation along with associated assets for Project Allenby/Connaught, together with the high-quality, value for money services that will continue to be provided for this project.” Last month, Carillion secured a £350 million contract to continue its support of Nationwide Building Society. With the new deal, the buildings and maintenance firm will maintain its management facilities at Nationwide’s Swindon headquarters, its 15 corporate offices, its data centres and its 700 high street outlets throughout the UK. It is a seven-year contract with the potential to be increased to ten, and renews the existing nine-year partnership between the two companies. Shares in Carillion jumped 1.53pc early on Tuesday morning to 255p. Image: MoD/Crown copyright 2016. Photographer Ian Griffiths
Property management company Cycas Hospitality has acquired sought after hotel Staybridge Suites Newcastle. This is the 5th Staybridge Hotel to come under the Cycas umbrella. The hotel will continue to operate under the Staybridge Suites Newcastle name. Cycas Hospitality is already responsible for the property management of two hotels in the North West. It acquired Staybridge Suites Liverpool in February of this year with a hotel set to open in Manchester in 2017. Completing the Staybridge Suites portfolio are the London based Vauxhall and Stratford City hotels. Staybridge Suites Newcastle has been operating from its Buxton Street location since it opened in 2009. It currently ranks 2nd out of 81 hotels in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and also achieved 20th place in TripAdvisor’s Top Hotel of 2015. The property boasts 128 suites comprised of 95 studios and 33 one bedroom apartments. ‘A natural fit’ Speaking following the deal Managing Partner of Cycas Hospitality Eduard Elias said: “Newcastle is one of the most culturally and commercially dynamic cities in the UK. It has invested over £250m in transforming its cultural infrastructure. The city is well positioned on the high-speed East Coast mainline so most of the UK’s city hubs are just a short train ride away. New intercity trains are also due to run between Liverpool and Newcastle by December 2017. Newcastle’s accessibility, its skilled workforce and the presence of strong international companies makes it a natural fit for the extended-stay hotel market.” Cycas’ full portfolio extends even further. The company recently announced a deal with Starwood Capital Group for managing extended stay hotels in London Bridge, Tower Bridge, Bermondsey and Earls Court / Kensington. This makes Cycas the 2nd biggest operator of serviced apartment/apart-hotels in the UK’s capital. Jeremy Jones, Head of Brokerage – Hotels at specialist business property adviser Christie & Co added: “Strong interest was received for the Staybridge Suites Newcastle from a wide range of domestic and international parties.”
Waste and construction services firm NWH Group has secured a £7 million finance facility from Royal Bank of Scotland to help the business fund future acquisitions. Following on from the purchase of the business and assets of DJ Laing’s waste management operations in Dundee for an undisclosed sum last year, the Dalkeith business said it has found itself “on a very stable financial footing.” Since making that purchase, NWH’s business has gone from strength to strength with the firm projecting turnover to increase in its latest financial year (year ending September 30, 2016) from £22 million to £28 million, along with a significant rise in profits. With the company’s haulage roots stretching back to 1953, providing lime-spreading services to local farmers, NWH Group shifted its focus towards waste management and construction services, to become one of the industry’s market leaders in Scotland. The firm now employs around 240 people at its Midlothian head office and across three additional sites in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee. Since putting its banking requirements out to tender this year, NWH made the decision to carry on its banking relationship with the RBS. Mark Williams, managing director at NWH Group, commented: “This new financing package which RBS has put in place underlines its understanding of the company and is the right solution to help support further growth and expansion of our business across Scotland. “Following last year’s purchase of DJ Laing, we are growing our business and find ourselves on a very stable financial footing. We see opportunities on the back of recent environmental legislation to grow both organically and through further acquisitions. We are currently looking at a number of potential companies which complement our existing lines of business.” David McIntosh, relationship director at RBS, added: “NWH has successfully traded and diversified its operations over six decades. The current financial performance underlines the strength of the existing management team and its plans.”
With over 400,000 reported burglaries from April of 2015 to March of 2016, it’s still very important for those who live in the UK to protect their homes from these criminals. A single burglary can cost you a lot of money as well as your sense of safety, making it crucial for you to take the necessary measures to keep your home as safe and secure as possible. While most people believe that they are perfectly safe in their own homes, many of them are more vulnerable to burglars than they think. Any home that does not have a comprehensive security system is at extreme risk for being broken into. And while there may be places throughout the UK that are safer than others, it is still necessary to make a point of protecting yourself. Sometimes owning a large dog is enough to deter a burglar from breaking into your home, though it’s always a good idea to take other precautions. These days there are many homes in the UK that are outfitted with CCTV surveillance cameras as well as motion sensor lights and alarms. You will find that all of these things can be highly effective in deterring criminals from breaking in. If you want to have peace of mind when you are at home, it is important to do everything in your power to deter these criminals. Home security technology is still evolving by leaps and bounds, so you will need to find out what your options are right away. Infographic provided by Ironmongerydirect.co.uk
An innovative hybrid air conditioning system will be used for a new 250-bedroom hotel project in Birmingham. Mitsubishi Electric’s Hybrid Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) technology has been chosen for the 18-storey KKA Architecture-designed Holiday Inn Express Birmingham City Centre project, which is set to open in April next year. The VRF technology removes the need to install leak detection equipment in occupied rooms. It is designed to ensure guests are comfortable in a controllable, energy efficient way, while still offering the full flexibility of design and installation that VRF air conditioning is known for. Mark Foster, Managing Director of Centre Island, who will manage the hotel, explained: “We needed reliable and effective air conditioning that is easy to use from the guest’s perspective but which is also more cost effective for the hotel moving forward as it removes the annual maintenance costs associated with a leak detection system. “The added advantage of using Mitsubishi Electric equipment is that we can control the whole system centrally, which minimises energy use for the business whilst still allowing guests to have individual control within their rooms. This also ensures we can stop rooms being heated or cooled when they are empty.” The design for the air conditioning system was put together by SISK Design and Build Contractors who worked in conjunction with Building Services Consultancy DW Pointer. Together, the firms committed to providing a VRF system that did not require the significant cost of adding leak detection units in all of the bedrooms. Brian Inett of John Sisk & Son added: “We proposed Hybrid VRF as it completely removes leak detection in occupied spaces whilst still offering the flexibility of a VRF system. “We were already aware of the Hybrid system and had been looking for a suitable project to use it on, so this was an ideal solution for the client, especially as it does away with the annual costs of leak detection maintenance.”
A £320 million fund has been launched to help boost the development of the self-sustaining heat network sector throughout the UK. The funding is being provided by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), a new department created by Prime Minister Theresa May earlier this year. The Heat Networks Investment Project (HNIP) aims to provide a financial incentive for developers to deliver heat network projects for towns and cities throughout the UK. According to the BEIS, the ‘central heating for cities’ scheme has the potential to reduce heating costs by more than 30 per cent. Overall, the networks will allow cities to recycle wasted heat produced from places such as factories, power stations and even the London Underground to pump back into homes and businesses. Energy minister Baroness Neville-Rolfe said: “Heat networks can significantly improve the efficiency with which heat is provided to our towns and cities, as well as helping to develop local infrastructure and reduce carbon. “The new scheme will help us to develop viable reforms to make the most of the heat we produce and use it effectively to bring bills down for people across the country.” In the pilot phase £39m is available to local authorities and public sector bodies who will submit applications for their projects by the end of November. Further funding rounds are planned to 2020. Mike Reynolds, SSE’s director of heat, welcomed the creation of the new fund and said: “The launch of the HNIP fund is well timed and comes at a crucial juncture in the development of UK heat networks where the market is predicted to grow between £2bn and £3.5bn in the next five years. In much of Europe heat networks are common place but they have all been developed with strong policy support and government investment so this bold position from BEIS is good to see.”
A £320 million fund has been launched to help boost the development of the self-sustaining heat network sector throughout the UK. The funding is being provided by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), a new department created by Prime Minister Theresa May earlier this year. The Heat Networks Investment Project (HNIP) aims to provide a financial incentive for developers to deliver heat network projects for towns and cities throughout the UK. According to the BEIS, the ‘central heating for cities’ scheme has the potential to reduce heating costs by more than 30%. Overall, the networks will allow cities to recycle wasted heat produced from places such as factories, power stations and even the London Underground to pump back into homes and businesses. Energy Minister Baroness Neville-Rolfe said: “Heat networks can significantly improve the efficiency with which heat is provided to our towns and cities, as well as helping to develop local infrastructure and reduce carbon. “The new scheme will help us to develop viable reforms to make the most of the heat we produce and use it effectively to bring bills down for people across the country.” In the pilot phase £39m is available to local authorities and public sector bodies who will submit applications for their projects by the end of November. Further funding rounds are planned to 2020. Mike Reynolds, SSE’s Director of Heat, welcomed the creation of the new fund and said: “The launch of the HNIP fund is well timed and comes at a crucial juncture in the development of UK heat networks where the market is predicted to grow between £2bn and £3.5bn in the next five years. In much of Europe heat networks are common place but they have all been developed with strong policy support and government investment so this bold position from BEIS is good to see. “The funding from BEIS is an important step in creating the right conditions for further heat networks to come to market and by bridging financial gaps and increasing the number of economically feasible projects. We now believe more needs to be done in parallel to encourage sustained growth in the sector and bring appropriate quality assurance to customers.” SSE has recently been selected as the preferred bidder for one of the UK’s largest regeneration projects, Barking Riverside. The development will consist of over 10,000 new homes built on a 443-acre brownfield site along 2km of the River Thames.
Funding from Isos Housing has helped save a rural job club from closure. The local housing provider stepped in with a £10,000 grant after hearing that the Haltwhistle Unemployment Support Group in Northumberland was in danger of closing because of a lack of cash. The grant, one of two recently awarded by Isos in the South Tyne community, will help to make sure that the group will be able to continue for one more year at least. Based at the town’s swimming and leisure centre, the support group – a Community Action Northumberland project – runs drop-in sessions every week for local unemployed people, helping them to brush up on their job search and interview skills. Group training on finding work is also provided, along with with careers advice and support for people setting up their own businesses, while informal group activities help develop life skills, such as managing money, reducing domestic fuel bills, healthy eating and exercise. Having now secured the new funding, along with cash from the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, the support group is also hoping to extend the services it provides. This could include sessions for young mums who are contemplating a return to work, as well as further volunteering opportunities. Isos community involvement officer, John Temple, commented: “Within the project there is a big focus on volunteering and that points people towards becoming work ready, particularly if someone hasn’t got a lot of practical work experience. “Support groups like this have the potential to make a big difference to someone’s life – not just by helping them secure a job, or training, or a volunteering opportunity, but by building their confidence and self-esteem and helping them become part of the wider community.” A second grant of £5,000 has also been awarded to Haltwhistle’s Young and Sweet youth club, to help pay for a new gardening club for young people aged between nine to 19 years.
Manchester Airports Group (MAG) has signed a new multi million pound deal with facilities management (FM) firm Mitie. Building on their existing seven year relationship, the new five year contract will see Mitie consolidate its FM services across three airports into one integrated contract. The firm has provided FM services such as cleaning, waste management, gritting and snow clearance at Manchester Airport since 2008. The new contract, estimated to be worth £60 million over its duration, will see Bristol-headquartered Mitie expanding its services at Manchester Airport to include pest control and landscaping. In addition, the company will for the first time offer soft services at MAG’s Stansted and East Midlands airports, as well as hard services such as mechanical and electrical maintenance, fixed wire testing, life safety systems and plumbing. London Stansted Airport CEO, Andrew Cowan, a sponsor of the contract, commented: “We have been working with Mitie for over seven years and it is a great credit to their team that we are developing our long-standing relationship with this new contract. “Mitie was awarded the work after a rigorous and technical tender process.” He continued: “Mitie has extensive experience in the sector, and an ability to provide national 24/7 coverage underpinned by advanced technology.” Mitie MD Phil Holland said: “We are proud to be building upon our relationship with MAG through this new and consolidated contract. “Our long running relationship is a testament to our market leading airport experience and we are confident that our expansive technology-led service capability will assist MAG in providing a world-class experience for its passengers and airline partners.” Last month it was revealed that MAG contributes £6.2 billion to the economy, with the main drivers behind the expanded ‘economic footprint’ of the airports include a higher number of employment opportunities and the associated economic value generated by their operations.