Beard Construction’s Guildford office has delivered a key £6.3m refurbishment and rebuild project at St Andrew’s Catholic secondary school in Leatherhead. Started in March 2022 and handed over April, the work saw the comprehensive conversion of existing classrooms into science labs, ICT rooms, a drama studio and design and tech
As the UK’s leading specialist in the repair and replication of metal window systems, Associated Steel Window Services (ASWS) was brought in by a long term client to carefully dismantle, catalogue and store all of the components to the listed façade of the Former Daily Express Building. This was done
Winvic has successfully delivered the first hands-on training sessions to Northampton College engineering students as part of the new Winvic Enrichment Programme. The initiative provides students with up to five days of construction industry insights, gives them practical experience related to their studies and develops their soft skills. It also helps Winvic,
NEW developments in Preston and Salford have been named among a shortlist of sites in England and Wales to win an award for high standards of construction and site management. Miller Roadand Blandford Road are being built by Seddon and have both been awarded The Bricks Site Recognition Award by
Cruden Building, part of the Cruden Group, has secured a position on a £500 million construction framework for the next four years. The Wheatley Group has appointed Cruden Building, together with seven other contractors to deliver the provision of housing construction work. The framework covers the central belt and Dumfries
Keltbray has commenced work on the complex sub and superstructure packages on the Salisbury Square Development for main client The City of London Corporation, on behalf of Mace. The delivery of the contract, valued at £73 million, follows on from the successful completion of the £10 million demolition and enabling
Leading construction and fit-out company Gilbert-Ash has been appointed main contractor for a £26million redevelopment at Barnfield College in Luton, part of the West Herts College Group. The works, which are due to begin in late May, will mark the second phase of a major project to transform the existing
GMI Construction Group has secured a place on the £1billion Pagabo Medium Works Framework. Securing a place on the framework, which runs until 2027, enables GMI to be considered for medium-sized public sector construction projects valued up to £10million. It is the second instalment to the original framework that was
Wirral glazing firm set to hit £17m in their 20th year in business. Local specialist glazing company, RED Systems are celebrating 20 years in business this month. Founded by Manging Director, Michael Green back in 2003, the firm has grown to become one the most respected and successful specialist glazing
Jo Gilroy, Group Sustainability Director at Balfour Beatty, shares an update on the company’s ongoing journey towards the Zero Carbon Construction Site of the future at the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh We have some exciting news to share. For the first time on a live Balfour Beatty site, we’ve gone
Beard Construction’s Guildford office has delivered a key £6.3m refurbishment and rebuild project at St Andrew’s Catholic secondary school in Leatherhead. Started in March 2022 and handed over April, the work saw the comprehensive conversion of existing classrooms into science labs, ICT rooms, a drama studio and design and tech classrooms, the construction of a two-storey extension to create new classrooms and offices and the construction of a new two-storey building to house food technology, ICT, business studies work rooms and a new drama studio. Phases one and two of the work at the 1500 pupil school were carried out to a tight deadline during the summer holidays and saw existing 1950s classrooms stripped back and converted to a suite of state-of-the-art and pupil-ready science laboratories, ICT classrooms, music and drama studio. The finished labs included gas infrastructure and mobile fume-cupboards, while the new drama studio incorporated a new system of lighting rigs and speakers. Phase three saw a standalone classroom block converted to provide new construction, design and technology teaching spaces. For phase four, a new-build extension added two 400m2 floors consisting of nine new English and History classrooms, two offices and two new sets of toilets to the school’s existing Earl Building. Finished in black and gold brickwork, the classrooms are flooded with light by new five-metre windows. Finally, phase five of the project saw the demolition of the school’s Woodlands Building and the construction of a new two-storey block, faced with Bath stone blocks and zinc cladding – which continues upwards to form a zinc roof. The ground floor of this new 1000m2 building houses two huge food technology teaching and preparations areas, alongside a massive drama studio with a 6m-high ceiling including lighting and speaker rigs. Upstairs, the building provides four fully fitted ICT/business studies teaching rooms. The building also includes office spaces and two sets of toilets. All the new and refurbished classrooms include interactive whiteboards. Apart from the initial refurbishment, all of the work has been carried out while pupils used the rest of the school. Beard traffic marshalls and banksmen ensured the safe delivery of materials across a specially constructed track-matting road on the school playing field. Beard Guildford director Pat Hughes said: “Beard has special expertise in the education sector and we are more than aware of the importance of creating spaces which both inspire pupils to learn as well as being great places for teachers to work. This project has transformed the learning experience for the pupils and staff at St Andrew’s School.” St Andrew’s headteacher Alan Mitchell said: “The ambition at St Andrew’s is simple – to be the best school in the country. We set the highest goals and expectations for every pupil and these new classrooms and teaching facilities provide the infrastructure to help us deliver on that ethos. “Not only has the Beard team delivered a quality product on time, but it has done so with no disruption to the school’s day-to-day operation. ” Beard worked in close collaboration throughout the project with architect Hamson Barron Smith. This is the third school project in as many years where the two companies have collaborated – having previously worked together at Chart Wood School, now called Unified Academy, in Dorking and St Paul’s Catholic college in Sunbury-on-Thames. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
As the UK’s leading specialist in the repair and replication of metal window systems, Associated Steel Window Services (ASWS) was brought in by a long term client to carefully dismantle, catalogue and store all of the components to the listed façade of the Former Daily Express Building. This was done in order to facilitate the demolition of its later extension, together with the much wider redevelopment of the landmark London site. The contract on 120 Fleet Street is the latest in series of high-profile projects where ASWS has provided its unique enablement service on behalf of demolition specialist, Erith. Previous collaborations have included the nearby 11 Pilgrim Street, 25 Lavington Street, and Olympia, as well as the famous Whiteleys department store. The City of London Corporation, in October 2021, approved the plans for a new 21-storey office-led development and rejuvenation of the Grade II listed former newspaper headquarters at 120 Fleet Street, being led by CO-RE. The art deco Daily Express building will be transformed into a publicly accessible cultural destination with social and educational outreach. The Operations Director for ASWS, Kris Bennell, explained some of the stages involved in overcoming multiple challenges at 120 Fleet Street, saying: “Once we got the call from Erith our survey team not only photographed the entire 200m2 façade of black Vitrolite glass panelling, but also took precise measurements from a datum before compiling very detailed CAD drawings which will allow us to precisely re-assemble the bracketry and frontage when the new structural work is complete.” “It is one of the most famous art deco buildings in London – dating from 1932 – where the Vitrolite panels – basically pigmented structural glass – are glazed into aluminium frames in units some two metres tall and 3.5 metres wide. We removed all of the cappings as well as the transom and mullion cover plates so the Vitrolite could be lifted out and the main frames dismantled.” Kris continues, “This was complicated by the varying contours across the building and variations in the original manufacture. As well as our having the Heritage Asset Register and secure storage facilities, we were also able to bring all of our experience in such forensic type work to bear: so that the façade can be exactly rebuilt in some 18 months’ time.” The Lead Site Manager for Erith, Sean Morris, commented: “We have worked with ASWS on a number of projects in recent years and they have done an outstanding job again on the Express building, enabling our work to proceed on schedule.” Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Winvic has successfully delivered the first hands-on training sessions to Northampton College engineering students as part of the new Winvic Enrichment Programme. The initiative provides students with up to five days of construction industry insights, gives them practical experience related to their studies and develops their soft skills. It also helps Winvic, suppliers and clients to meet strategic social value goals, while it supports further education establishments to meet their enrichment activity targets. The first Winvic Enrichment Programme is being delivered over a number of weeks in collaboration with client Prologis UK at The Hub at DIRFT, which is a new training, meeting and café facility on the Logistics Park available for occupiers and local businesses to use. A typical programme includes a site tour, an overview of contractor, subcontractor and developer roles and health and safety awareness training, and teaches CV writing, interview and presentation techniques. The first programme has been tailored with Northampton College to meet the needs of the 16 BTEC Engineering students who are in their first and second years of study; therefore sessions include hands-on setting out equipment training, a practical lesson on concrete mixes and a demonstration of concrete slab pouring inside an industrial warehouse. A number of Winvic’s subcontractors are involved to help get the students work ready across a variety of our planned programmes, including Stanford Flooring, Sitecrete and Collins Earthworks, who provided minibus transport for the students’ first day at The Hub at DIRFT and will be delivering a practical session about on-site plant using their machines later in the programme. Winvic delivered the DIRFT III Rail Infrastructure extension project and is currently constructing two large industrial units for Prologis at the site – the 327,000 sq ft DC327 and 628,000 sq ft DC628. Enquiries to training@winvic.co.uk about the Winvic Enrichment Programme are welcome from further education providers across the country; developed to be flexible and delivered over one week or day release, programmes are tailored to the college course or courses. Recent changes to the T-Level pathway mean one third of the required placement hours can now be undertaken as enrichment sessions. Kayleigh Merritt, Winvic’s Talent Development Manager, said: “We have been working to shape the Winvic Enrichment Programme for some time with subcontractors, clients and colleges, so it’s exciting to see it coming to life with students already giving wonderful feedback. Collaboration is at the heart of everything we do at Winvic and our experience in delivering social value activities illustrates that you can always do more and benefit more people when you work together. The Winvic Enrichment Programme supports the objectives of our clients and building occupiers, further education providers – offering numerous qualifications – and students who want to be work ready, armed with practical experience and accomplished soft skills. I’d like to thank everyone who has been involved so far and I’m looking forward to rolling the five-day initiative out to many more projects in the future.” David Mellor, Director – Development Management, Prologis UK, commented: “Early engagement with students from Northampton College has been great fun and we’re delighted to have been able to support Winvic with their initiative here at The Hub at DIRFT. Students have come away from their days with us enthused about the engineering opportunities we presented – whilst developing key skills to support their employment application process.” Paul Bailey, Teacher in Construction and the Built Environment at Northampton College, added: “Thank you to everyone at Winvic, Prologis and other subcontract firms for the time and effort that they have put into the impressive Enrichment Programme. We very much appreciate all of your effort in enabling this to happen for the benefit of the students, to allow them to meet with a range of professionals from the construction industry in an excellent training environment, as well as experience a live construction site and concrete batching plant. This programme has certainly broadened the student’s knowledge and understanding, which has enhanced their teaching experience, as well as providing Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for teaching staff – they all clearly enjoyed the day, as did l.” Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
NEW developments in Preston and Salford have been named among a shortlist of sites in England and Wales to win an award for high standards of construction and site management. Miller Roadand Blandford Road are being built by Seddon and have both been awarded The Bricks Site Recognition Award by LABC Warranty, for their standards of workmanship and overall management of the site, including health and safety matters and general tidiness. The Bricks Site Recognition Award winners are chosen every month and are then further shortlisted at the end of the year, where only the best of those sites will be rewarded with The Bricks annual award trophy, one of the construction industry’s most prestigious awards given to outstanding sites from England and Wales. LABC Warranty is one of the largest providers of structural warranties in the UK. Working in partnership with Local Authority Building Control (LABC), its combined team of more than 3,700 surveyors work with house builders, contractors and housing associations. Sites are scored by LABC Warranty risk management surveyors during their inspection visits, which take place regularly through construction. Those sites that score consistently high for general co-operation with inspectors, health and safety, site tidiness, standard of site management and standard of workmanship are nominated for a Site Recognition Award. Miller Road’s Extra Care side comprises 61 apartments. Offsite production methods have been maximised on this scheme, with the use of a PCC driven piling solution, PCC floor planks, a light gauge steel frame and timer trussed roof. The site at Blandford Road, Salford has 45 units comprising 21 houses. These houses are two and three story, ranging from two to four bedrooms. Blandford Road also offers 24 one and two-bedroom apartments. The whole development is designed to Passivhaus standard with MVHR units (Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery), making the dwellings extremely energy efficient and sustainable. Peter Jackson, Managing Director, from Seddon Housing Partnerships said: “We’re delighted to receive The Bricks Site Recognition Award from LABC Warranty. I’m especially pleased for our staff working on the site as this reward is a recognition of their hard work, professionalism and expertise.” Stephen Galbraith, Development manager at Community Gateway, added: “We are thrilled that Seddon Construction has been recognised for this prestigious award. The Atrium is our new Extra Care Facility for over 55’s on Miller Road, Preston, which will include 61 one and two-bed apartments, plus a bistro, hairdressers, beauty salon, wellness room, activity room, communal lounge, and landscaped garden areas open to both residents and the community. Each apartment benefits from either outdoor garden space or a balcony. The site is currently forecast to complete in December 2023.” Sarah Sheppard, Technical Director at LABC Warranty, said: “It takes skill, commitment and a dedication to quality of construction for a site to receive The Bricks Site Recognition Award. Nothing pleases my team and I more than to see developments meet and maintain such high standards.” For more information about the awards, visit: www.labcwarranty.co.uk/awards Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Cruden Building, part of the Cruden Group, has secured a position on a £500 million construction framework for the next four years. The Wheatley Group has appointed Cruden Building, together with seven other contractors to deliver the provision of housing construction work. The framework covers the central belt and Dumfries and Galloway, and the contract will deliver a range of new build homes at affordable lease terms for the housing provider. It is expected that up to 1,000 units per year could be delivered under the new agreement, with a firm focus on providing low-carbon housing solutions. Steven Simpson, Managing Director of the Cruden Group said: “We are pleased to be appointed to this major housing framework which could deliver a number of opportunities over the next four years. We work very successfully with The Wheatley Group, and this framework will allow us to continue our positive relationship and supports our combined ambitions to delivering more sustainable and zero carbon homes throughout Scotland.” Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Keltbray has commenced work on the complex sub and superstructure packages on the Salisbury Square Development for main client The City of London Corporation, on behalf of Mace. The delivery of the contract, valued at £73 million, follows on from the successful completion of the £10 million demolition and enabling works package by Keltbray, where sustainable circular economy techniques are being deployed to minimise waste and reduce the overall environmental impact of the scheme. Work will include the installation of over 500 king post piles, secant piles, contig piles and bearing piles, construction of a new basement slab, core base and box, as well as four new cores, the formation of a reinforced concrete superstructure for the court building and a ‘listed building’ soft strip using ‘cut and carve’ techniques to retain key elements of the heritage structure. The Salisbury Square Development will principally deliver a new, purpose-built 18-courtroom legal facility called the City of London Law Courts and an industry leading City of London police headquarters equipped to combat amongst other things, fraud and economic crime across the UK. Chief Executive Officer, Darren James commented: “Keltbray is very pleased to announce we have secured the contract to deliver the major structural elements on Salisbury Square. The contract is a significant step forward for Keltbray in extending our service offering further along the value chain, where clients are recognising the value in our integrated approach to self-delivery.” Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Leading construction and fit-out company Gilbert-Ash has been appointed main contractor for a £26million redevelopment at Barnfield College in Luton, part of the West Herts College Group. The works, which are due to begin in late May, will mark the second phase of a major project to transform the existing Barnfield College into one campus, with scope for future growth. Gilbert-Ash’s contract includes the design and build of a four-storey concrete frame specialist teaching block, providing teaching spaces, staff spaces and break-out areas. In addition, the project will include landscaping, car parking and external walkways. The new building will provide state-of-the-art facilities for the College’s construction and engineering students. It is also set to create employment opportunities with student numbers expected to rise significantly as a result of the new campus. Gilbert-Ash Managing Director, Ray Hutchinson said the company was delighted to be working on a project which will deliver a stand-out teaching resource for Barnfield College for generations to come. He said: “Gilbert-Ash has a reputation for delivering world class teaching facilities with a growing portfolio of excellent projects in the education sector. “We view projects like this as not only delivering new buildings but instead creating opportunities for young people to receive the best training so they can build rewarding careers through securing high value jobs. “It is also particularly pleasing that the new Barnfield College campus will cater for the next generation joining the construction and engineering industries. At Gilbert-Ash we are committed to attracting people into our industry and one way we can do this is by constructing buildings which help inspire them.” Gilbert-Ash has a unique approach to construction, fit-out and refurbishment based on the belief that great buildings come about through hard work, inspired innovation and genuine collaboration. Sustainability is a key focus for Gilbert-Ash with a number of initiatives underway to help the company to drive down its carbon footprint. To find out more about Gilbert-Ash visit www.gilbert-ash.com.
GMI Construction Group has secured a place on the £1billion Pagabo Medium Works Framework. Securing a place on the framework, which runs until 2027, enables GMI to be considered for medium-sized public sector construction projects valued up to £10million. It is the second instalment to the original framework that was launched in 2019. GMI is one of 94 contractors to be selected by Pagabo, which works closely with public sector organisations by providing EU compliant framework agreements. With a strong track record of delivering projects for the public sector, GMI, which operates in the North West, North East, Yorkshire and the Midlands, has delivered a range of schemes for clients including the Department of Work and Pensions. Lee Powell, Group CEO of GMI Construction, said: “We are very proud to be named on this framework, which is a testament to the high standards of construction, project engagement, and value for money we deliver at GMI. It will also contribute to our commitment to levelling up in the economy by supporting the public investment in new buildings in the regions we operate, generating and sustaining employment and the use of local supply chains.” Jason Stapley, Chief Procurement Officer at The 55 Group, Pagabo’s parent organisation, said: “Our latest announcement sees the return of our popular Medium Works Framework – one of our most active construction offerings, which has seen more than 160 projects procured through it to date. This time, we’ve increased the total number of suppliers by 50 and are expecting to see the results from the old framework improved upon.” Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Wirral glazing firm set to hit £17m in their 20th year in business. Local specialist glazing company, RED Systems are celebrating 20 years in business this month. Founded by Manging Director, Michael Green back in 2003, the firm has grown to become one the most respected and successful specialist glazing contractors in the region. With offices in both Neston and central London, RED Systems work with most of the UK’s leading Tier 1 contractors and national housing developers as well as forging a strong foothold in the MMC sector with leading off-site specialist FP McCann. This partnership has allowed RED to install windows off-site, enabling faster build times and increased efficiencies across the board. As well as this, innovative approaches such as RED’s industry-leading ‘rapid dry envelope’ solution, with windows, SFS and weatherboarding all wrapped up into 1 package to help accelerate traditional programmes have been embraced by major clients. Speaking about the milestone, RED System’s Managing Director Michael Green said: “Since taking our first order by fax 20 years ago, we have remained focused on providing excellence in terms of customer service and invested heavily in ongoing innovation and the development of our team. Our ethos is to ‘create lifetime customers through service delivery excellence’ and we couldn’t do this without our incredible team.” “Marking our 20th Anniversary has also given us the chance to reflect on our key achievements over the years and the clients, colleagues and mentors who helped us on our journey.” Committed to innovation and modern working practices, safety is also very much a key factor for team RED, and the company have been instrumental in developing a number of initiatives to ensure their on-site operations and product quality remain at the very highest levels. Their revolutionary QR code technology has transformed their approach to managing defects and delivering post-installation customer service. Their commitment to embracing digital technology has set a blueprint for the industry. “Here at RED, we have channelled a considerable amount of resource into enhanced CPD provision around the Building Safety Act and are committed to ongoing digital transformation in terms of managing quality, safety, and customer care”, commented Green. “The construction industry is an ever-changing landscape, so whether you have been established for 20, 40 or 100 years, developing is all about adapting, learning, and reacting to market conditions.” With a buoyant forward order book and several landmark projects in the pipeline, RED Systems look set to maintain their growth and continue to make waves in the industry for many years to come. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Jo Gilroy, Group Sustainability Director at Balfour Beatty, shares an update on the company’s ongoing journey towards the Zero Carbon Construction Site of the future at the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh We have some exciting news to share. For the first time on a live Balfour Beatty site, we’ve gone all electric. For a duration of six weeks, our team working to deliver our Edinburgh Biomes project at the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh recently trialled a fleet of all electric plant, pushing the boundaries of what is possible and familiarising ourselves with the next generation of telehandlers, excavators, dumpers and wackers. One of the key challenges that we have faced revolves around electric vehicle charging infrastructure and availability of viable charging stations. As you can imagine, most battery-powered plant is considerably smaller than diesel plant and therefore only offers enough power for around four-to-six hours of work before it needs recharging. In addition, as with electric cars and vans, electric plant is far more expensive to hire or purchase than traditional diesel machinery. However, reduced fuel costs and maintenance requirements can make it considerably more cost-effective in the long run. We must also consider that upfront costs are only going to reduce as the industry climbs aboard the electric bandwagon! There is no doubt that the switch to electric will require changes to the way in which we plan and manage our sites on day-to-day basis. We’ll need to take action and ensure that we’re charging our electric plant overnight and utilising our Power Profiler tool – which recommends the most cost and carbon efficient site compound set up, wherever possible. So undoubtedly, there are compromises and hurdles to overcome. However, clearly, one of the main advantages of electric over diesel plant is that they produce zero emissions. This is not only a clear step in the right direction for the construction sector, but it also means that they can operate in enclosed spaces or on smaller sites without additional ventilation and carbon monoxide monitoring. We have also noticed a clear difference in terms of air quality, and noise pollution too. In fact, the machinery is so quiet during standard operations, our operating procedures and safety training will need to be updated to keep our workforce safe! However, in spite of all these benefits, all-electric plant isn’t yet a realistic option for our bigger sites, or for heavy plant. The required infrastructure does not currently exist to accommodate a fully electric fleet on a large scale, without a mains grid connection. That’s why our view is that, for heavy plant, the priority for the industry has to be to accelerate the energy transition to hydrogen rather than rely on electric providing the solution. We are leading the way in making combustion engines work with hydrogen fuel for medium-sized plant such as telehandlers and traditional diggers, through our partnership with JCB and Sunbelt Rentals. We are also working with GeoPura and Siemens Energy on hydrogen fuel cells to generate power without an electrical connection. The potential of this work is huge. Replacing diesel generators with hydrogen would see a significant reduction to our carbon footprint, given that 46% of our sites sampled use diesel generators to power temporary accommodation units on site. Decarbonising the plant used on construction sites is an area that is moving quickly. The giant leap of faith we have just taken at the Zero Carbon Construction Site is one that has been challenging but more than worthwhile. Using smaller and medium sized electric plant is definitely something we will continue to pursue, utilising a mix-and-match approach to help determine the best possible solutions for the future. Read the latest diary entry in full here Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
