The first turbine foundation that has been designed and constructed by Royal BAM Group has started its journey towards installation as a part of the Blyth Offshore Demonstration Wind Farm project. The turbine foundation has been constructed at the dry dock in Walker, Tyneside and will then be transported up
The second annual report delivered by the Pipeline has showed that the gender diversity of some companies have regressed. The Women Count 2017 report looks at the number of women who hold positions on Executive Committees of companies that feature in the FTSE 350. The figures of the report has
The Glass and Glazing Federation has announced that they have formed a new Government Advisory Panel. This new Advisory Panel has been formed after the horrific event this year regarding the Grenfell Fire as well as the attacks in Manchester and London. The new panel that has been created will
Jet Aire Services has been contracted to carry out refurbishment works on a flood defence facility near Drax. The Leeds Based drainage company has been contracted as part of work to refurbish an essential flood defence for the area. The work was being carried out on Lendall Pump Station, where
The University of Sheffield has teamed up with Sheffield City Council in order to carry out some redevelopment work at the University’s City Centre Campus. The Sheffield City Region Investment Fund will be supplying £2.9 million if investment to the project with the rest supplied by the University. The project
Leading provider of uninterruptible power supplies, MPower UPS, has announced managing director Michael Brooks, will present at the Healthcare Estates Management Conference to be held at The University of Salford, Manchester on 25 July 2017. The conference which is aimed at estate managers in the NHS aims to explore projects
Devonshire Homes has announced that they have appointed a new Managing Director. Tony Lane has been appointed to this position at the award winning West Country property developers after joining from Galliford Try. Devonshire Homes is based in Tiverton and has been operating across the South West of the country
Fire and security specialists Tecserv UK has been appointed to replace all CCTV cameras installed at the McArthurGlen East Midlands Designer Outlet in South Normanton. The £90K CCTV system upgrade was necessary in order to improve security monitoring of the retail outlet and to meet new legal requirements governing the
With work beginning at Horsforth Mill in Leeds, modern methods of construction are being considered as a perfect way of carrying out renovation works on historic buildings. The project in Leeds sees Fusion Building Systems designing and manufacturing a superstructure from light gauge steel as part of a contract from
Planning permission has been granted for the nine storey building at 262 York Road which will take place on the former site of a Shell petrol filling station. This site is the final one located in Battersea Reach to receive the correct permissions as a part of the development that
The first turbine foundation that has been designed and constructed by Royal BAM Group has started its journey towards installation as a part of the Blyth Offshore Demonstration Wind Farm project. The turbine foundation has been constructed at the dry dock in Walker, Tyneside and will then be transported up the River Tyne in order to be installed just off the coast of Blyth. The foundations are being constructed as part of a cutting edge wind farm development operated by EDF Energy Renewables. EDF acquired the project from Narec, now called ORE Catapult in October 2014 and has been working ever since in order to install five turbines that will be powerful enough to generate 41.5MW of power. The wind farm will be located 6.5km away from the coast in Blyth and it has been estimated using the capacity of the turbines that the farm will be able to generate enough low-carbon electricity in order to provide power to 34,000 homes. The concrete gravity based foundations, or GBFs that have been constructed as part of this wind farm project will make up the first part of the construction. The foundations will be installed using the float and submerge method, the first time for an offshore wind turbine construction project. Over the course of the past 12 months BAM Nuttall has been working on creating these foundations at the Neptune dry dock. However, yesterday, the 11th July, it was announced that the first foundation was on its across the River Tyne to the installation site. It is thought that each of the foundations that are being constructed as a part of the project to build an offshore wind farm weighs more than 15,000 tonnes when they are properly installed on the seabed. There will be a distance between the base and the access platform is 60m. Once the foundations have been installed, cables will be buried into the seabed that will then be connected to each of the turbines.
The second annual report delivered by the Pipeline has showed that the gender diversity of some companies have regressed. The Women Count 2017 report looks at the number of women who hold positions on Executive Committees of companies that feature in the FTSE 350. The figures of the report has shown that only 16% of the members of the Executive Committees are women. This is the same percentage as last year, 2016, showing that the promotion of women into the senior roles of big companies has made no more progress. In another disappointing statistic from the Women Count report, more companies than before have no female members of the Executive Committee and no women in profit and loss roles than they were in 2016. The report created and published by The Pipeline has stated that there is a lot of work to be done in order to improve the industrial world for Women. When looking at the construction companies that are featured in the FTSE 350, it was found that a measly 6% of construction companies have Executive Committees that are at least 25% female. This figure is nineteen percentage points below the average. Construction companies also have a below average proportion of women occupying Profit and Liability roles, at 27% as opposed to the FTSE 350 average of 35%. As a slight improvement, the Women Count report did find that the construction sector is slightly above average when it comes to the number of women executives that sit on main plc boards, with 22% of members being female in comparison to the average of 16%. Analysis that has been carried out as part of the Women Count 2017 report shows that there are economic benefits to hiring more women into these positions, with net profits of those with more women in senior roles almost double than those with fewer women.
The Glass and Glazing Federation has announced that they have formed a new Government Advisory Panel. This new Advisory Panel has been formed after the horrific event this year regarding the Grenfell Fire as well as the attacks in Manchester and London. The new panel that has been created will form a part of the Federation’s Political Strategy Committee going forward. It is thought that the creation of this new panel will allow the Glass and Glazing Federation to coordinate their internal resources as well as their members in order to have a quick but considered reaction to any emergency situation in the future. The panel has been designed to be especially useful when the Government, whether that is locally or nationally, need expert advice on the sectors, products and services that are on offer by the members of the Federation. Phil Pluck the Chief Executive of the GGF has emphasised the importance of the GGF being ready to offer the Government solutions as well as support when incidents take place that involve glass or glazing. The specialised panel will help the GGF organise their members more efficiently. Whereas the Advisory Panel will also work to provide the Federation with a group of advisors that can transition easily between the Government and the Federation. The new Government Advisory Panel will consist of the nominated experts from within the GGF’s specialised members in order to make sure that the best advisors are included with the work on the panel. The Panel will act like a collective voice for the industry for when any emergency situation occurs, with the collection of experts called on to give their opinion and advice as needed. The Trade Association will be promoting their creation of the new Government Advisory Panel to all of the Government departments as well as local councils around the country and the media, in order to show that the horrendous events of the past year has spurred action.
Jet Aire Services has been contracted to carry out refurbishment works on a flood defence facility near Drax. The Leeds Based drainage company has been contracted as part of work to refurbish an essential flood defence for the area. The work was being carried out on Lendall Pump Station, where a drainage pipe needed upgrade works carrying out. The project took three weeks and was organised in order to coincide with the twice daily low tides of the nearby River Ouse. The technicians working for Jet Aire had to travel within the 1524mm-diameter pipe in order to carry out work to reinforce the ten internal joint seals of the pipe. The work that has been carried out by the Leeds based drainage company, Jet Aire Services, was the second phase a £20,000 maintenance programme that has been planned by Jet Aire. In 2010, an exploration with CCTV took place as a part of a through upgrade that had been planned in partnership with JBA Consulting, a Skipton based company. The wok is being carried out by Jet Aire and others on behalf of the Selby Area Internal Drainage Board. Lendall Pump Station was first constructed in 1969 and the work that has taken place to refurbish this pump is one of 72 schemes of work taking place to improve the flood defence and alleviation systems in Yorkshire since the funding was announced for the work to be carried out by the Environment Agency in 2013. The contracted works being awarded to Jet Aire is a reflection of the companies abilities to carry out the work required. Jet Aire is considered to be one of only a few drainage contractors located in the north of the country that are able to carry out the work on the Lendall Pump project.
The University of Sheffield has teamed up with Sheffield City Council in order to carry out some redevelopment work at the University’s City Centre Campus. The Sheffield City Region Investment Fund will be supplying £2.9 million if investment to the project with the rest supplied by the University. The project has been valued at around £8 million and will transform the University of Sheffield’s City Campus as well as improve the City Centre. The construction work on the site is being carried out in order to make the City Center Campus safer as well as nicer in terms of appearance. The work being carried out will see safe green spaces introduced to the campus as well as Guardrails installed to further improve pedestrian and cyclist safety on the campus. There will be better pedestrian crossings added to Upper Hanover Street and Wester Bank as well as more cycle routes introduced in the area. By improving the facilities on the campus and the area surrounding it, it is hoped that more people will be encouraged to visit the cafes nearby, Weston Park and the new safe green spaces. The redevelopment is also supposed to encourage others in Sheffield to utilise the facilities on the University’s campus. Alpha Rail has been contracted to this development in order to supply guardrails for the new and existing pedestrian walkways and cycle paths. Alpha Rail were contracted to the site by North Midland Construction. The rails have been installed on uneven terrain on the site, so specific measurement were required in order to provide the correct sections for the construction work. There will also me more trees and shrubs planted on the site in order to improve the green spaces on site. There has also been some architectural artwork installed on location to make the campus more appealing and to provide a point of interest at the location.
Leading provider of uninterruptible power supplies, MPower UPS, has announced managing director Michael Brooks, will present at the Healthcare Estates Management Conference to be held at The University of Salford, Manchester on 25 July 2017. The conference which is aimed at estate managers in the NHS aims to explore projects driving efficiencyhow efficiencies can help save costs and improve clinical outcomes within the healthcare industry. “Eliminating the risks of computer and equipment downtime is essential for those working in critical environments such as the NHS,” confirms Michael Brooks, managing director of MPower UPS. “Uninterruptible power supplies which provide continuous power availability, fault-tolerance and remove single points of failure are necessary to ensure availability. However, energy efficiency also needs to be considered carefully, as this impacts on the overall cost of system implementation. “Therefore, in the presentation: The truth About UPS Energy Efficiency – The Real Cost to the NHS, as well as examining the need for power supply continuity, I will evaluate; optimum system design, efficiency and de-risking in addition to exploring total cost of ownership including ongoing maintenance costs. Delegates will gain an insight into selecting the right system for the job, discovering the importance of the correct ancillary infrastructure and learn about optimising energy efficiency to control costs.” Michael Brooks has worked in the UPS industry for more than 30 years and in 2005 founded MPower UPS Ltd. The Company is now a leading international provider of comprehensive, high quality and reliable uninterruptible power solutions to a diverse client base including healthcare environments, government departments and the NHS. MPower’s head office is in Alton, Hampshire and at the end of 2016 it opened a second office in Stoke to help service its growing client base in the Midlands and the North. As well as presenting at the conference, MPower will have an exhibition stand plus experienced staff on-hand to discuss the efficient use of UPS systems within the NHS. For further information please see: www.mpowerups.co.uk
Devonshire Homes has announced that they have appointed a new Managing Director. Tony Lane has been appointed to this position at the award winning West Country property developers after joining from Galliford Try. Devonshire Homes is based in Tiverton and has been operating across the South West of the country since 1992. The development company has a number of new developments in progress at the moment and works to make sure that they are delivering new homes to the highest standard possible with the award winning experience that they have accumulated of the years. Tony previously worked as a Pre-Construction and Development Director for Galliford Try. In this role Tony helped to deliver a variety of complex projects throughout the residential, commercial and regeneration sectors. Tony Lane worked at Galliford Try for 27 years and was an integral to the expansion of the Group’s Midas and Linden brands. Tony was also a founding director of the Galliford Try Partnerships division during his career at the Group. Other responsibilities included all of the Commercial and Development activities for the PLC. In his new role at Devonshire Homes, Tony will be able to draw on his wealth on knowledge that has come from spending a large section of his career at Galliford Try. Tony will be an asset in is new managing director role at Devonshire Homes and her will be overseeing a wide range of operations within the company. Tony will be required to manage operations spanning from land purchases all the way to customer service for the house building company. After such a long period at Galliford Try, Tony was attracted to the reputation the Devonshire Homes has built for creating a product of high quality. Tony has also expressed his eagerness to join a private company that has shown clear ambitions for growth. The house builders have plans to launch two more sites during this summer and are preparing to deliver high quality homes that are demand across north and mid Devon.
Fire and security specialists Tecserv UK has been appointed to replace all CCTV cameras installed at the McArthurGlen East Midlands Designer Outlet in South Normanton. The £90K CCTV system upgrade was necessary in order to improve security monitoring of the retail outlet and to meet new legal requirements governing the image quality of recording footage. The East Midlands Designer Outlet site spans 25 acres, and is located near Junction 28 of the M1. With 13.7m potential shoppers living within a 90minute drive of the outlet, an ability to revert back to security recordings of the comings and goings on the site is an important aspect of safety and security. In total, 43 new HIK Vision cameras have been installed in various internal and external locations around the Outlet. Eight different models of camera from the HIK Vision range were selected according to location and functionality requirements and includes a DS-2DP1636Z-D 360° panoramic + PTZ camera to the main car park. The new legal requirements for CCTV cameras stipulates that in order for images to be admissible in court, they must be able to record at a rate no lower than 17.5 frames per second. The new cameras will record at 25 frames per second, which means system operators are now able to analyse camera footage recorded in high definition from their monitoring desk in the security control room. Commenting on behalf of East Midland Designer Outlet, Martin Brightmore, Facilities Manager said, “Our old CCTV surveillance equipment comprised a combination of systems with outdated technology that resulted in poor image quality. Tecserv has provided us with an exceptional new CCTV monitoring system which has improved our ability to carry out surveillance of the entire site and enabled our security officers to carry out their job more effectively.” Based in Underwood, Tecserv UK is an expert in providing fire and security solutions to businesses in a variety of sectors and has significant retail experience having installed fire and security systems for Harvey Nichols in London and at M&S Simply Food stores on a nationwide basis. Tecserv has an excellent relationship with the East Midlands Designer Outlet developed over the last five years as a result of its ongoing contract to carry out maintenance on their fire alarm system. Colin Milligan, Sales Director at Tecserv UK added “Communication was key on this particular project as disruption had to be kept to a minimum so as to not disturb shoppers. I’m proud that we were able to install a CCTV surveillance system to meet our client requirements and that the system manufacturer, HIK Vision, now reference our work as one of their flagship installations.”
With work beginning at Horsforth Mill in Leeds, modern methods of construction are being considered as a perfect way of carrying out renovation works on historic buildings. The project in Leeds sees Fusion Building Systems designing and manufacturing a superstructure from light gauge steel as part of a contract from Landstock Developments (Northern) Ltd. The Horsforth Mill development is taking place in order to create 50 luxury apartments in Leeds. The corn mill is a Grade II listed building which has experienced a great deal of neglect over the years. Originally dating back to the 1770s, the building had planning permission for the project granted last year and the building will be transformed from a worn out and run down shell to luxury residential accommodation in Leeds. The development will be carried out to be in keeping with the surrounding area. The work on Horsforth Mill is expected to be carried out by Landstock Development in a partnership with Khalsmith Ltd. Fusion has been working with Landstock before the work began on the site in order to design the light gauge steel superstructure which would hold 50 of the total 89 luxury apartments that are planned for development. There are also plans for a link for the two buildings and the incorporation of the existing stone exterior in the new construction. The light gauge steel system that is being used will allow two buildings, the old and the new, to be linked together in order to regenerate the brownfield Mill site. The design of the superstructure allows for flexibility and alterations that can be made to tailor the structure for the individual project. Delivering the construction project successfully will be another accolade for the use of offsite methods and how adaptable they can be in future construction work and developments.
Planning permission has been granted for the nine storey building at 262 York Road which will take place on the former site of a Shell petrol filling station. This site is the final one located in Battersea Reach to receive the correct permissions as a part of the development that sits on the bank of the River Thames. The Battersea Reach project is a mixed used development that is taking place in the borough of London and includes the iconic power station. The Multi Disciplinary consultancy Meinhardt UK has been involved in the 262 York Road project by utilizing their modern methods of construction and structural engineering in order to bring the architect’s vision of the project to life. The architects have designed a build to rent development, however the project has a range of specific challenges involved in the construction. The clients of this construction project are Angle Property and to begin with the architects TP Bennett and Meinhardt were asked to explore the possibility of a project that could rise above the petrol station. This permission was granted however the client decided to acquire the lease for the petrol station and demolish it instead, which in a revised application has now been approved. The building as a part of this revised design has around 10,000 sq m of floor space. The project will see the creation of a commercial unit on ground floor of the construction with retail space and a lobby. The project will also have ground floor parking access and a one-storey partial basement that will be used for bike storage and back of house space. This is the second of the PRS scheme that uses MMC in London and has been consulted on by Meinhardt during the pre-planning process. The other project that the multi disciplined engineering company has been involved in was the Greenford Green in Ealing which is known for being the largest build to rent scheme that has been purpose built in the UK. The Ealing project will create nearly 2,000 new homes.
