Continuing to raise the bar on building standards across the UK, Bureau Veritas building control services proved invaluable during the recent construction of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries at Westminster Abbey. Due to open its doors on 11 June, the new £22.9m gallery and museum will display over 300 treasures
Leading independent construction, property and management consultant, Rider Levett Bucknall UK (RLB UK), has announced today the appointment of two new senior appointments further bolstering its Facilities Management (FM) Consultancy offer. Dr Rachel Dick, has been appointed as Associate Facilities Management consultant and joins RLB in London from the RICS
Wheatcroft Land was initially established by Clinton Bourke in 1989 after he worked as a civil engineer and managing director at Wilson Bowden Plc. Unfortunately, recently ill health has meant that Clinton has been unable to continue running the development company. Coming forward to take over is his daughter Catherine
Fast Lean Smart (FLS) is working with Royal Mail Property & Facilities Solutions (RMPFS) to implement a new scheduling software system to increase productivity and establish a site ownership model. Royal Mail Property & Facilities Solutions (RMPFS) provides facilities management services to 2,600 Royal Mail sites across the U.K. and wanted
OCS has been awarded a five-year multi-service contract with The Ministry of Justice (MoJ). The contract is part of the government department’s integrator service delivery model, and will service the MoJ, Crown Prosecution Service, Department for Education, Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government and the Department for International Trade.
LONDONERS are turning their backs on the bright lights of the city in favour of the dark skies of Northumberland. Leading North East holiday lettings agency, Cottages in Northumberland – which lets out more than 180 coastal, countryside and city properties in the region – has recorded a rise in
You’ll be forgiven for thinking that giving your bathroom a makeover requires a complete remodel with a new bathroom suite, a change of tiles and a lot of expense. It’s the reason why so many household bathrooms gradually fall into a sorry state. If your bathroom is looking like it
Catering trade association ceda have offered their support to foodservice sector companies affected by the liquidation of construction giant Carillion, announced on Monday. The news sent shockwaves through the construction industry, its supply chain and the nation. Build UK, the leading representative organisation for the UK construction industry, has thrown
TEOCO, the leading provider of analytics, assurance, and engineering solutions, has announced the launch of a new indoor wireless planning tool, ASSET Indoor, created in partnership with UK based technology company Ranplan Wireless. The product is an all in one solution for coordinated HetNet planning, optimisation, and simulation, which allows
The largest trade association in Scotland, SELECT, demands lower threshold on Project Bank Accounts in the wake of the Carillion collapse. The disaster that rocked the construction industry has led to renewed calls for increased regulation regarding payment security from SELECT. The Scottish association is not the only one voicing
Continuing to raise the bar on building standards across the UK, Bureau Veritas building control services proved invaluable during the recent construction of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries at Westminster Abbey. Due to open its doors on 11 June, the new £22.9m gallery and museum will display over 300 treasures charting the Abbey’s thousand-year history. It has been built in the medieval triforium – a 50ft stretch of gallery previously hidden from the public – which offers spectacular views of the Palace of Westminster and across Parliament Square. The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries will be accessed via the newly-built Weston Tower – the first major addition to the Abbey Church since 1745 – which includes an intricately designed staircase and lift. During the construction, a key challenge for Abbey staff, heritage architects, the fire service and the main contractor was to preserve the historic building’s Grade I-listed features while maintaining the highest fire safety standards for the public gallery’s vast collection of artefacts and exhibits. As such Bureau Veritas, a global leader in Testing, Inspection and Certification (TIC), was called upon to provide Approved Inspector Building Control Services to the project. Using its extensive experience in fire safety, the firm’s dedicated team was able to provide sound regulatory and legislative advice, which proved instrumental in developing a robust fire safety solution essential to meeting the Abbey’s complex design needs. Core to this was taking a holistic approach to fire safety, where Bureau Veritas assessed travel distance aspects, reviewed complex evacuation modelling, as well as reviewing lighting, exit signage and fire alarms so that they met safety regulations while being in keeping with the surroundings. For instance, during the construction of Weston Tower, the team work tirelessly to confirm that the tower’s lift was well equipped with firefighting measures such as a dry riser, without compromising the building’s historic façade. Throughout the project, Bureau Veritas also held numerous workshops for the client, designers, architects and other contractors in order to help manage risk throughout the building lifecycle and subsequently reduce costs. From early involvement during the design stages through to site inspections and final certification, the company was able to give designers confidence that the project will comply with Building Regulations and all relevant legislation. As a result, the team succeeded in making sure The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries met its building control obligations in time for opening. Andy Lowe, director of building control at Bureau Veritas, comments: “We are absolutely delighted to have delivered a solution that not only ensures Westminster Abbey maintains the highest standards in accordance with building regulations for the two million people who visit the iconic church each year, but one that is also in keeping with the building’s magnificent historic features.” Ptolemy Dean, Surveyor of the Fabric at Westminster Abbey, said: “We were incredibly impressed by Bureau Veritas’ building control services during this project. The firm worked meticulously with the Abbey team, contractors and the fire service to certify the striking new tower and museum achieved building compliance. We’d like to pass on our thanks to Bureau Veritas for the invaluable part they played in helping to achieve our vision for The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries.” For further information, call 0345 600 1828 or visit www.bureauveritas.co.uk
Leading independent construction, property and management consultant, Rider Levett Bucknall UK (RLB UK), has announced today the appointment of two new senior appointments further bolstering its Facilities Management (FM) Consultancy offer. Dr Rachel Dick, has been appointed as Associate Facilities Management consultant and joins RLB in London from the RICS where she was Senior Consultant, Data Services. Karl Redmond, also joins as Associate Facilities Management consultant and will be based at RLB in Manchester. Karl is a specialist in smart asset management and was most recently with the architectural and planning consultancy, Enable By Design. Chris Jeffers, Head of FM Consultancy and Partner at RLB, said: “I am delighted to welcome Rachel and Karl to RLB. Their combined knowledge and experience of digital construction and data services across the sectors will bring an extra dimension to our growing team. “Rachel and Karl are joining RLB at a very exciting time. Over the last twelve months we have continued to invest in our FM Consultancy service offering to provide the best solutions to clients. Earlier this year we were also joined by public sector specialist, Indu Wijayatunga, and the team has grown the service line significantly, particularly within the Healthcare, Defence and Education sectors.” Rachel has previously worked for a number of FM organisations including Mace Macro, GB Partnerships, EC Harris LLP and IBM Global Business Services. She has been a Fellow of the RICS since 2013. Karl has been a Fellow of the Leeds Sustainability Institute since 2013 and is a member of BIM4HEALTH. In addition to his consultancy positions he has held a number of senior roles within the Leeds Sustainability Institute, Anglo Irish Bank and HBoS.
Wheatcroft Land was initially established by Clinton Bourke in 1989 after he worked as a civil engineer and managing director at Wilson Bowden Plc. Unfortunately, recently ill health has meant that Clinton has been unable to continue running the development company. Coming forward to take over is his daughter Catherine Haward, who will be following her father’s footsteps and ensuring that his legacy is maintained. Catherine is currently in her final year of a degree in real estate alongside running Wheatcroft Land by herself and being a mum to two teenage children. Catherine wanted to make sure that her father’s legacy continued but also wanted to take over the Leicester-based development company and ensure that it thrives going forward. Before making this decision, Catherine was working as a member of the Leicestershire Police force as an Inspector. Her diverse knowledge base will no doubt allow Catherine to drive the company forward, supported by her incredible work ethic which is demonstrated with her wide ranging responsibilities. While in charge of Wheatcroft Land, Catherine intends on building the company and expanding into new markets. At the moment people are finding themselves priced out of the housing market in and close to London, which means more people are looking to commute. Also on top of this the Midlands has a range of development opportunities as the north/south divide narrows. Catherine is looking to expand Wheatcroft’s commercial property portfolio while also entering new markets such as residential property. The company’s new projects have been progressing well and Catherine is sure that she will be able to re-establish and expand the business in order to meet her own ambitions as well as contribute to the development of the region and make sure that her father’s hard work and commitment to the company is continued.
Fast Lean Smart (FLS) is working with Royal Mail Property & Facilities Solutions (RMPFS) to implement a new scheduling software system to increase productivity and establish a site ownership model. Royal Mail Property & Facilities Solutions (RMPFS) provides facilities management services to 2,600 Royal Mail sites across the U.K. and wanted to upgrade its current scheduling and route planning software to achieve new levels of efficiency and productivity from its service operations. The company’s existing system is over 10 years old and no longer meets its needs. “We looked at several scheduling and route planning systems providers, FLS being one of them,” says Scott Maddocks, project manager for RMPFS. “After the initial demonstration, we carried out a number of FLS customer site visits to see the software in action. We engaged our management teams, our engineers and our unions because we wanted them all to be happy that the software would work.” In the end, FLS came out on top. “We chose FLS for a number of reasons,” says Scott. “The user front end was better than the other products we looked at and FLS gave us confidence that their software could be integrated with our existing service management system. We also thought that FLS would be good to work with, more agile and better able to deliver what we wanted than the other suppliers.” One of RMPFS’ goals was to plan jobs more efficiently. FLS’ ability to plan optimised routes in real time will help it do this. FLS software takes into account specific business priorities, traffic-based driving times and countless other variables for both planned and reactive work. RMPFS also wants to reduce the number of return visits its engineers have to do. FLS will give them a portal where they can see four weeks of planned work in advance and allocate the necessary resources to each job. Engineers will be able to request job assists and equipment hire in advance of the job using the new portal. Another key requirement for RMPFS was the establishment of a site ownership model, i.e., the allocation of tasks to preferred engineers according to a set of criteria to ensure that the right skills are in the right place at the right time. “We wanted software that could navigate several tiers of engineer choices, to allow them to build their site knowledge and relationships and reduce their travel time,” says Scott. “FLS proved that its system was up to the challenge and could enable our engineers to work at preferred sites in preferred regions based on an extensive and complex series of rules.”
OCS has been awarded a five-year multi-service contract with The Ministry of Justice (MoJ). The contract is part of the government department’s integrator service delivery model, and will service the MoJ, Crown Prosecution Service, Department for Education, Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government and the Department for International Trade. Under the contract, which has an estimated value of £17.5 million a year, OCS will provide security, catering and cleaning, as well as concierge, and mail room and reprographics services. The contract, which has an optional two-year extension, covers service delivery across four regions including London and the South East, the South West, Wales and the Midlands, and the Westminster Campus. The contract will cover more than 200 buildings including the MoJ headquarters and QE11 Conference Centre in Westminster. OCS UK, Ireland and Middle East chief executive Bob Taylor, said: “We pride ourselves on the quality of our public sector offering.”
LONDONERS are turning their backs on the bright lights of the city in favour of the dark skies of Northumberland. Leading North East holiday lettings agency, Cottages in Northumberland – which lets out more than 180 coastal, countryside and city properties in the region – has recorded a rise in the number of bookings from London-based leisure and corporate guests. And some are so impressed with the region that they are snapping up properties of their own with a view to renting them out. Figures revealed by Cottages in Northumberland show a 19% per cent increase in London bookings from last year, giving the capital an 11.5 per cent share of the agency’s current client base. These figures are borne out by Northumberland Tourism’s findings which indicate that during 2016, around 40% of people visiting the region came from the midlands and south of England areas. Cottages in Northumberland’s Director of Operations, Angela Mazingham, believes the increase can be attributed to a number of factors, but particularly our county’s wide open spaces, tranquil, natural beauty and the sense of freedom you can feel from just being here. “In many ways Northumberland is the perfect antidote to life in the capital and the feedback we’re receiving from visitors bears that out,” she said. “Obviously the clean air, the beaches and the combination of good countryside and interesting heritage sites, play a huge part in the county’s appeal to city dwellers. “But what many are also commenting on is the quality of the restaurants and local produce here. When they come on holiday they want to enjoy the same lifestyle standards as they do at home – and Northumberland provides them. “We have also been approached by several London visitors who are now keen to invest in properties in the North East with a view to letting them out to other holidaymakers Jude Leitch, Director of Northumberland Tourism, said: “We are seeing an increase in the number of visitors from the south and even more encouragingly, all year round. The dark skies of the International Dark Skies Park and throughout the whole of Northumberland, means that people visiting from city areas can experience the joys of the night skies that our lucky residents enjoy every night.” Further details about Cottages in Northumberland’s properties can be found at www.cottagesinnorthumberland.co.uk or by calling 0191 231 3020. Read more at http://neconnected.co.uk/londoners-head-north/
You’ll be forgiven for thinking that giving your bathroom a makeover requires a complete remodel with a new bathroom suite, a change of tiles and a lot of expense. It’s the reason why so many household bathrooms gradually fall into a sorry state. If your bathroom is looking like it could do with freshening up, but you can’t afford the luxury of a complete remodel with an expensive bathroom designer on board, read on for some brilliant tips. With just a few simple changes, you could breathe new life into your bathroom for years to come. Here are 11 little extras that will give your bathroom a new look: The deep clean The bathroom, along with the kitchen, is probably one of the few rooms in the home that gets more than its fair share of cleaning. As a result of regular cleaning, a deep clean in the bathroom often gets overlooked. It’s easy for limescale to build slowly around the base of taps, for grouting to become blighted by unsightly mould, and for blinds to become tainted with grubby marks. Begin your bathroom refresh with a deep clean. It’s a great way to make some small but effective changes. Here are a few tips to get you started: Use a limescale remover or try a natural alternative if you prefer to get your basin, bath, tiles and taps shining like new. Use a fabric cleaner to give your blinds a new lease of life. Soak your showerhead in white vinegar overnight. Wash your shower curtain in the washing machine. Clean grout with bleach and a grout brush (an old toothbrush will do, but dispose of afterwards!), or if you want to avoid using bleach try a natural alternative. Wipe down paintwork, tiles and woodwork with anti-bacterial cleaner. Thoroughly clean windows. Wash floor with gusto. Vigorously clean the toilet; use a cup of baking soda to remove stains. A lick of paint Most bathrooms aren’t particularly large in size so can easily be redecorated in a short space of time. Be sure to prep wood carefully. With a little bit of effort, a coat of paint can lift your bathroom from tired to fresh in little more than a day or two. A treat for the windows If cleaning hasn’t breathed new life into your bathroom blind, consider a replacement. You can change up the colour scheme for a modern funky splash, or stay neutral if you’re going for a more elegant theme. New fluffy towels and a sumptuous bath mat This is such an easy trick. Tired, threadbare, washed-out towels make any bathroom look sad. Whether you go for luxury towels exuding understated elegance, or you choose bright towels to match your colour scheme, new bath linens are an easy and relatively inexpensive way to change the bathroom’s landscape. Indulgent spa-style bath and body products It’s time to splash out and upgrade your bathroom products. Invest in a luxury handwash and handcream set, a refined French soap and an expensive scented candle. Whatever luxury brand is your favourite, go for it. A modern sleek shower curtain If your bathroom has an over-the-bath shower or a separate shower cubicle with a shower curtain, a new curtain is a great way to shake up the the style of your bathroom. Whether you want to make an artistic statement, or just bring simple, clean style to your bathroom, replacing your old shower curtain will transform your bathroom space in an instant. Re-grout the bathroom tiles It’s a job most of us shy away from, but regrouting your bathroom tiles really can lift your bathroom from ‘uncared for’ to ‘clean and fresh.’ New taps You will be surprised at how much difference new bath taps can make to the look and feel of your bath and basin, and to the overall ambience of the bathroom. Modernising taps or adding a vintage twist can really lift your bathroom and change the style of the room. A new piece of art It goes without saying that a new piece of art can add interest to your bathroom. Pick something that makes you smile and you’ll love your new-look bathroom all the more. Upgrade your towel rail and toilet roll holder Fixed accessories are something we rarely get around to changing. If your towel rail and toilet roll holder look out of date, upgrade them to bring a more modern feel to your bathroom. Add or update your bathroom storage When we lose sight of the bathroom aesthetic, and our eye for detail slips, we let half used bathroom products pile up on every vacant surface. Use up or get rid of old products and give your bathroom storage a revamp. Add a bathroom cabinet or a storage tower, and replace tired accessories. Your uncluttered bathroom will look all the better for it.
Catering trade association ceda have offered their support to foodservice sector companies affected by the liquidation of construction giant Carillion, announced on Monday. The news sent shockwaves through the construction industry, its supply chain and the nation. Build UK, the leading representative organisation for the UK construction industry, has thrown its weight behind the Carillion supply chain and is representing their needs in on-going talks directly with Government, attending a meeting with the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on Monday. As a founding member of Build UK, and the only Association member specific to the foodservice industry, ceda are able to feed into these discussions and represent those companies in the foodservice sector affected by Carillion’s collapse. In pledging his organisation’s assistance, ceda Director General Adam Mason said, “As the fallout from the Carillion collapse dominates the political agenda, our unique position within the Build UK membership, places us at the forefront for any foodservice business now facing uncertain times. We are a direct route to help and support and this week to date we have been in regular communication with Members, but we call on any business in the sector, ceda Members or not, who are, or feel they may be, affected by the Carillion crisis, to get in touch. “The immediate concerns and actions are with those businesses in our sector directly affected by the Carillion liquidation, but beyond that we will continue to work with Build UK to highlight that the construction business model needs to change as current conditions, payment terms and operating margins are not sustainable.”
TEOCO, the leading provider of analytics, assurance, and engineering solutions, has announced the launch of a new indoor wireless planning tool, ASSET Indoor, created in partnership with UK based technology company Ranplan Wireless. The product is an all in one solution for coordinated HetNet planning, optimisation, and simulation, which allows communication service providers (CSPs) to design better mobile connectivity in and around buildings. “We are very excited to partner with Ranplan, leveraging their innovative indoor wireless expertise that offers significant benefits to the market while solving a number of historical issues,” said Aloke Paskar, Executive Vice President. “As technology has developed, in-building connectivity has become a crucial part of day-to-day life, whether that is at home, in an office or even at a stadium. Users want better connectivity, good quality service and high data rates – and ASSET Indoor will allow our customers to plan for just that.” ASSET Indoor comes with a few unique capabilities, including the Smart CAD (Computer Aided Design) extract tool that helps reduce design planning and optimisation time by up to 50% by automatically recognising and extracting features in a CAD drawing to create a 3D building environment in minutes; a true HetNet design tool that can model simultaneously the indoor and outdoor environments; accurate coverage predictions given by 3D multi-path ray tracing algorithms, which result in precise high performing designs and ensure systems are future proofed; and capacity planning and simulation to UE level that considers user density, distribution, and application or service types when planning network capacity requirements. “ASSET Indoor solves a number of in-building planning pain points including the length of the planning process, inability to analyse both interior and exterior network coverage, and accurately predicting network coverage and simulating capacity,” said Alastair Williamson, CEO of Ranplan. “As we continue to commercialize our suite of tools and having won a significant number of customers globally, our partnership with TEOCO provides an excellent platform where we can expand our footprint globally. This is a significant step for the market.” The ASSET Indoor offering includes ASSET Indoor for detailed planning and design optimization, ASSET Indoor tablet for site surveys and simple designs and ASSET Indoor Manager for in-building system workflow and project management.
The largest trade association in Scotland, SELECT, demands lower threshold on Project Bank Accounts in the wake of the Carillion collapse. The disaster that rocked the construction industry has led to renewed calls for increased regulation regarding payment security from SELECT. The Scottish association is not the only one voicing its opinion. Others, such as the Specialist Engineering Contractors (SEC) Group, are also calling for the dropping of the threshold at which Project Bank Accounts (PBAs) become mandatory and for PBAs to be universally required. “The crisis which has surrounded the construction industry since the collapse of Carillion illustrates perfectly why payment protection is required,” mentioned Newell McGuiness, Managing Director of SELECT. “The Scottish Government had the foresight to introduce Project Bank Accounts 2 years ago and now is the time for them to reinforce that foresight with a proactive, forward-looking legislative agenda and to provide a safety net for the SMEs which are building Scotland’s future infrastructure,” he added. All Scottish Government bodies are required to include a PBA for all building projects that are over £4.1 million. A PBA is a retained account earmarked for the payment of contractors and ring fenced from spending. However, what SELECT and SEC would like to see is a lowering in the threshold of applicability to projects valued at £2 million. Newell explained that the advantages of having a PBA in place are that it “would provide peace of mind, not just for our members, but for all of Scotland’s SMEs, who work in the construction industry in Scotland. This legislation could arrest the ‘domino effect’ that can devastate an industry in the event of another collapse like Carillion”. SELECT is the largest trade association in Scotland, with 1,250 member companies that account for around 90% of all electrical installation work carried out in Scotland. Its collective turnover is around £1 billion and it provides employment for 15,000 people.