Winter is here. The nights are long, the days short. Getting out of bed, going out all seems more of an effort than when the days were long and the nights shorter. Now is the time to make your home as cosy as possible. Hot drinks in front of the
FirstPort has made senior appointments in two customer-focused areas of its business to continue to drive forward the highest standards of service for customers and clients. Heidi Stephenson (LLB MSc) has joined FirstPort as Director of the Luxury portfolio. She brings with her 20 years’ experience in residential Property Management,
As winter approaches, a national trade body is issuing a timely reminder to property managers to ensure air quality management is on their radar. With the arrival of dark nights and dropping temperatures, moisture levels in buildings start to increase. Air becomes more laden with water, meaning that issues such
7 April 2016 | Herpreet Kaur Grewal NHS Property Services has announced the appointment of the following companies to carry out some of its ‘soft FM’ contracts across England as a part of the second phase of its national procurement exercise to streamline its FM works. The successful bidders for
A JLL annual central London offices seminar has highlighted the strength of the capital’s office market amid political and economic uncertainty, underlining its continued pull to both investors and occupiers. Central London has seen sustained levels of both leasing and investment activity so far in 2018 and corporate property consultant
24 June 2016 | Jamie Harris The BIFM is calling for employers to have their say on an FM supervisor apprenticeship, set up as part of the government’s trailblazer initiative. The initiative sees employer groups join in designing apprenticeship schemes. The BIFM and a number of employers have developed a facilities
Castles & Coasts Housing Association, based in Carlisle, has appointed Horbury Property Services, part of the Horbury Group, to provide fire safety services across its housing portfolio. The contract, which started in September, will see Horbury Property Services providing fire door and fire compartmentation remedials followed detailed fire risk assessments.
OCS has been selected by Community Health Partnerships (CHP) to deliver comprehensive cleaning support under a three-year contract worth £50m. The agreement will see OCS providing the highest standard of cleaning services across 180 sites, supporting CHP tenants throughout England. Petra Moss, Managing Director for OCS Healthcare and Education said:
Force drying specialist ForceDryA has conducted a new study that looked into the installation costs of underfloor heating versus traditional radiators, showing that the underfloor heating option is far more economical than is generally perceived. The study was based on data from leading contractors for installations in a one, two
Winter is here. The nights are long, the days short. Getting out of bed, going out all seems more of an effort than when the days were long and the nights shorter. Now is the time to make your home as cosy as possible. Hot drinks in front of the fire, warm rugs and throws are becoming the order of the day. So let’s look at must have ideas to make your home cosier and more resilient to the cold weather. Fireplaces Although many modern homes do not have a fireplace you may want to install one. There is nothing quite like a naked flame on a cold night. In days of old when families used to huddle around the fireplace, there was a sense of belonging. You can recreate this with a fireplace that compliments your home. Companies such as Barbas Bellfires fireplaces have brought the concept into the 21 century. Many have clean lines and there are plenty of designs to choose from. They are both a centrepiece and yet blend in with the furniture. You no longer need an older house to appreciate the delights a fireplace brings. A hot drink is a must have on cold nights. Textiles Textiles need to feel soft and comfortable for the winter months. They should ooze cosiness. You want to avoid harsh fabrics. What you are aiming for are textiles that make you want to wrap yourself up in them like a duvet. Colour wise you want earthy colours that compliment the colours outside your window. This gives the feeling of being outside but the warmth generated by your home gives you and your family that warm sense of belonging. Lighting Cosiness and warmth is provided by the right lighting. Like fireplaces, the naked flame of candles has a hypnotic quality that when used correctly can help any home feel warm and snug. Think about lighting dark corners using candles and keeping room lighting dimmer to make your rooms feel warmer and welcoming. When choosing lighting, ensure your mood spreads from room to room. There is nothing worse than leaving a warm living room and going into a cold kitchen. Try and keep your lighting consistent for a warmer house. Bath Mats There is nothing quite like getting out of your bath after a long soak and feeling the soft warm bath mat beneath your feet. This is essential for the winter and helps to accentuate the feeling of relaxation and warmth. It also avoids walking on cold bathroom floors. Nothing compliments a relaxing bath like a great bath mat. Make sure you have slippers! A good bat mat will feel soft to the touch and make you appreciate the home and the wonders of modern living. Rugs and Throws As well as enabling you to change your colour scheme when you feel like it, good use of rugs and throws can really make your home feel warm and give a sense of belonging. Choose the right fabrics for them and they will make your whole family feel snug and are a perfect compliment for the hot drinks which are needed on those long winter nights. Rugs and throws can make quite a dramatic impact on how your home feels. They are easy to obtain and so you can do some great things with good rugs and throws. Make sure they feel soft to the touch so they generate the right mood. Books – a Bonus Must Have for you and your Home As it is cold outside here is a bonus must have for your home, books! Reading books by the fireplace is a time honoured tradition in winter, and you can recreate this by ensuring your shelves feature books. Older, hardback books work better but if you only have a selection of paperback books not to worry it all works well. Reading is a great way to pass the long winter nights. If you want a modern take on your reading, use a tablet instead of a dusty novel if you must. The art of making your home feel warm and cosy is how it feels. The lighting should generate mood, the fabrics should be soft and welcoming. Colours should be earthy but at the same time should fit in with your colour scheme. So if you need to use pinks and yellows rather than greens or browns feel free to experiment. Nature has determined some species need to hibernate for the winter and we are not that different. We need to shelter from the cold and ensure that warmth is generated through the home. Why not make this a cosy experience and a rewarding one? Best of all on long winter nights is that feeling of warmth that radiates. It makes you feel together with your family and at peace with the world.
FirstPort has made senior appointments in two customer-focused areas of its business to continue to drive forward the highest standards of service for customers and clients. Heidi Stephenson (LLB MSc) has joined FirstPort as Director of the Luxury portfolio. She brings with her 20 years’ experience in residential Property Management, 15 years of which were spent at one of the UK’s most luxury brands, Harrods. As Associate Director, she was part of the Senior Management Team for Harrods Estates Asset Management/PL Management, looking after some of the most prime, central and luxurious developments. Heidi’s experience spans all aspects of property management, new scheme consultancy and scheme mobilisation covering both customer and client engagement. This experience will be invaluable in assisting FirstPort to enhance its luxury offer. Speaking about her appointment, Heidi said: “Customers living in a luxury development quite rightly demand a truly luxury service, and I am looking forward to using my experience of dealing with the most prestigious customers to define and deliver an exceptional level of service. FirstPort is an extremely customer-focused business and I am keen to work with the team to provide our customers with an exemplary and market leading offer.” Lucinda Walker has been appointed as Director of Build to Rent, with the aim of providing expert focus to FirstPort’s proposition for both clients and customers in this emerging market. Lucinda has over 20 years’ senior operations and project management experience encompassing complex staff management, financial negotiations and strategic oversight, with a strong focus on exceptional customer service. She has delivered facilities and management services at some of the UK’s major sporting events, including the London Olympics 2012, Commonwealth Games 2014, and Wimbledon Championships. She has also held senior positions operationally, financially and strategically for international hotels whilst working for the highly regarded travel company, Mark Warner. Speaking about her appointment, Lucinda said: “My aim is to create a service embedded with the highest and most innovative of standards that will appeal to a wide range of customers, whilst underpinning a financial mode that maximizes the return on investment for our clients. I look forward to using my experience of mobilising and delivering major events to ensure that our Build to Rent operation is slick, efficient and completely focused on the needs of customers as we strive for business excellence. “This exciting new market suits FirstPort’s size and capability and gives us the opportunity to work directly with clients from the early stage of planning to provide viable Build to Rent operational delivery.
As winter approaches, a national trade body is issuing a timely reminder to property managers to ensure air quality management is on their radar. With the arrival of dark nights and dropping temperatures, moisture levels in buildings start to increase. Air becomes more laden with water, meaning that issues such as condensation, and even damp and mould, can take hold. As a result, the Property Care Association (PCA) is urging property managers to ensure appropriate servicing, repairs and checks are made to ventilation fans and air management systems, to tackle the issue. Steve Hodgson, chief executive of the PCA, said: “Ventilation fans and air management systems are at the front line in providing a healthier environment for people to live and work in. “They play an invaluable role at this time of year at addressing the heavy, cold air that can circulate in buildings as temperatures drop. “However, despite the contribution they make to air quality, it’s not uncommon for their service and repair to be overlooked. “Without a structured servicing regime, waste can build up in the system. This can become a breeding ground for bacteria and also reduce efficiency. “It is also not uncommon for systems to be installed which are not the correct specification for their particular environment. “This is unfortunate as effective ventilation is the most effective way to tackle excess moisture in buildings.” The PCA’s membership includes professionals with the skills and expertise to undertake the design and installation of ventilation solutions for commercial and residential areas. More details can be found at www.property-care.org/
7 April 2016 | Herpreet Kaur Grewal NHS Property Services has announced the appointment of the following companies to carry out some of its ‘soft FM’ contracts across England as a part of the second phase of its national procurement exercise to streamline its FM works. The successful bidders for soft FM contracts are: Cleaning services – Ideal Cleaning Services Ltd and OCS Ltd Feminine hygiene – PHS Group PLC Grounds and gardens – Burleys Ltd and Mitie Pest control – Mitie Pest Management Services Limited and Vermtech Pest Control Limited Security – Mitie Security Services Limited Window cleaning – Walkers CS Ltd and Cinderella Support Services This will not only save approximately 20 per cent on the £200 million contracts that are currently outsourced, but will ensure consistency in quality of facilities management services across the country and put an end to the historic wide disparity in costs charged to occupiers of the company’s properties. A final phase of awards for ‘specialist services’ will include catering, car parking, waste, asbestos surveys, hot and cold water surveys, and medical gases. These contracts will be awarded in April. The appointment follows a nine-month rationalisation process of facilities management services across the entire NHS Property Services estate. Mitie was appointed to contract last month, which sees the business supplying hard FM services across the NHS property estate. Source link
A JLL annual central London offices seminar has highlighted the strength of the capital’s office market amid political and economic uncertainty, underlining its continued pull to both investors and occupiers. Central London has seen sustained levels of both leasing and investment activity so far in 2018 and corporate property consultant JLL anticipates that the final numbers will match, if not exceed those recorded in 2017. £12.2 billion of central London offices have been traded in the first three quarters of 2018 following a strong Q3 performance where £4.3 billion of transactions were recorded. These latest year-to-date figures are only 6 per cent down on the corresponding period for 2017, a year that saw record investment volumes of £17.7 billion. Currently, £4 billion of assets are identified as under offer and another £4 billion of stock on the market and although this suggests that activity towards the end of the year will remain strong, it also highlights the lack of investment opportunities compared with the same period of 2017 when £16 billion was available. Take-up of offices across central London reached 8.3 million square feet at the end of Q3 2018, with 3.1 million sq ft leased in the West End and 4.5m sq ft in the City. Active demand remains well above the 10-year average, with over 9 million sq ft of enquiries currently searching for space – with demand spread across the occupier spectrum. Looking towards the transition at Brexit, and especially in the event of ‘no deal’, the leasing market could become relatively subdued as occupiers reconsider embarking on any new commitments in the short term. This will be relatively mild, however, as most demand is driven by unavoidable lease events rather than expansion, says JLL. Julian Sandbach, head of Central London Capital Markets at JLL, said: “At the beginning of the year it seemed unlikely that investment volumes would reach similar levels to the bumper numbers we saw in 2017, and now it looks possible that they could even be surpassed. Despite the degree of uncertainty around the outcome of Brexit, London continues to attract significant levels of overseas capital who continue to target prime assets. “As the record levels of foreign capital demonstrate the majority of international investors feel that whilst London is subject to some short-term uncertainty, the long-term prospects for London as a global gateway city with a secure investment platform, underpinned by the long-term commitments of occupiers, remain unchanged.”
24 June 2016 | Jamie Harris The BIFM is calling for employers to have their say on an FM supervisor apprenticeship, set up as part of the government’s trailblazer initiative. The initiative sees employer groups join in designing apprenticeship schemes. The BIFM and a number of employers have developed a facilities management apprenticeship aimed at FM supervisors. The consultation, which was opened to responses last month, has been extended until 8 July to get as many views from employers in the sector as possible. Fraser Talbot, professional standards and education manager at BIFM, said: “Developing a trailblazer FM supervisors apprenticeship is the only way in which FM companies will be able to take full advantage of the funding from the Apprenticeship Levy when it is introduced next year. “Therefore we have extended the initial consultation deadline to ensure we have developed a framework that is suitable for industry needs. “It is crucial that employers of all sizes contribute to this process to ensure the new frameworks provide the skilled workforce the industry needs.” The new apprenticeship for FM supervisors aims to prepare an individual for managing a facilities management service, or a group of services, which can be labelled as ‘hard’ (estate/building management) or soft (catering/cleaning/administration/security). All apprentices would be required to supervise others, to understand the contractual requirements and service delivery targets between their employing organisation and the client/customer to achieve service targets. The apprentice will have to provide customer service skills and be proactive in finding solutions to problems. To participate in the employers’ consultation, visit: www.bifm.org.uk/TrailblazerFMSconsultation Download the documents here: Source link
Castles & Coasts Housing Association, based in Carlisle, has appointed Horbury Property Services, part of the Horbury Group, to provide fire safety services across its housing portfolio. The contract, which started in September, will see Horbury Property Services providing fire door and fire compartmentation remedials followed detailed fire risk assessments. Horbury Property Services will be working across 250 different residential schemes on behalf of Castles & Coasts Housing Association, including apartments and houses, as well as supported and sheltered accommodation. Richard Sutton, General Manager at Horbury Property Services, said: “This is the latest in a number of fire safety contract wins with social housing providers. As FIRAS-approved contractors we have the experience and skills to be able to deliver fire safety works to the highest standards to ensure compliance to the regulations.” As well as providing passive fire services, Horbury Property Services provides a full range of works, which can form part of planned maintenance programmes. This includes fire alarm and emergency light testing, plus ceiling and dry wall partitioning inspection, installation, repair and maintenance of fire doors, joinery works, flooring installation, portable appliance testing, electrical testing and installation work, building fabric repairs as well as external cladding and render repairs. In addition, the wider Horbury Group provides painting and decorating, flooring refurbishment and installation, amongst others. The company has its head office in South Yorkshire, plus regional offices in London and South Wales, ensuring a national capability. This regional presence enables its teams to successfully deliver responsive repairs or large planned refurbishment and maintenance programmes. Horbury Property Services is FIRAS certified for the following: Fire Rated Partitions & Ceilings; Fire Rated Timber Doorsets; Penetration Sealing Systems; Cavity Barriers and Fire Door Maintenance. Castles & Coasts Housing Association Limited (CCHA) was formed following the merger of Two Castles Housing Association and Derwent & Solway Housing Association. CCHA owns and manages more than 7,000 homes across the North of England. For more details, visit www.horburypropertyservices.com or call 01709 917555.
OCS has been selected by Community Health Partnerships (CHP) to deliver comprehensive cleaning support under a three-year contract worth £50m. The agreement will see OCS providing the highest standard of cleaning services across 180 sites, supporting CHP tenants throughout England. Petra Moss, Managing Director for OCS Healthcare and Education said: “We are proud of the work OCS has already done with CHP but this contract marks a very significant step in that relationship. We share CHP’s desire to ensure the highest possible standards of cleanliness and are excited that the service we provide in its buildings enables clinical excellence to take place. This partnership is a positive milestone in our mission to ‘Improve Lives’.” Mark Day, Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Chief Executive at CHP added: “We’re delighted to be partnering with OCS across the country. Our ambition is to deliver the most effective and best-value space for patients; this contract is an important part of that.” Owned by the Department of Health, CHP is focused on delivering better value to the NHS and its partners against a landscape of unprecedented infrastructure challenges. Starting in September, the partnership between CHP and OCS will ensure that clinicians are able to provide community services within an environment that will speed recovery and prevent infections.
Force drying specialist ForceDryA has conducted a new study that looked into the installation costs of underfloor heating versus traditional radiators, showing that the underfloor heating option is far more economical than is generally perceived. The study was based on data from leading contractors for installations in a one, two and three bedroom property. Three specifications were included: traditional radiators and 75mm sand & cement screed, traditional radiators with a 50mm flowing screed, and a 50mm flowing screed with underfloor heating. The findings showed that, for an 80m2 dwelling, installation costs for the sand and cement approach range from £3,003.72 to £3,483.10; for a 50mm flowing screed with radiators costs start at £3,163.72 to £3,563.10 and for a 50mm flowing screed with underfloor heating costs range from £3,464.63 and £4,082.30. The costs for the underfloor heating approach also includes force drying, which facilitates fast, safe drying of liquid screed floors. This approach reduces drying time typically from around 90 days to as little as 28 days, representing a significant time saving and additional cost saving in the construction process. “There is a perception that underfloor heating is expensive and only practical in commercial terms for installation in higher end properties. However, our study shows that the underfloor heating method is only marginally more expensive to install than radiators, but when combined with force drying with the considerable cost benefits of the time saved factored in, the overall costs could actually be less. This means underfloor heating with a flowing screed can be a viable solution for all kinds of housing, including social and affordable,” said Ross Verity, managing director of ForceDry. Verity also points to the environmental benefits of using liquid gypsum screed flooring, which comprise 98% recycled waste material, require less energy to produce and, because it is thinner, uses less material. These factors result in a carbon footprint over 70% lower than that of sand and cement screeds. “This approach is economical to install, environmentally friendly and performs very efficiently. It can save developers and property owners time and money during build and allows them to offer a superior product specification. Homeowners and tenants then benefit from the comfort, economy and low maintenance this kind of system offers,” he concluded.
