One of Scotland’s largest independent firms for chartered surveyors has appointed a new female director. Allied Surveyors Scotland announced the appointment of Catherine Clarke on the 9th March. Clarke will be the director of land and development, a specialist division that will focus on the central belt of Scotland. Catherine
NEBOSH is the leading examination board for health, safety, and environmental management. The company is currently reaping the benefits of completing the ISO14001:2015 accreditation process. This new accreditation process has reduced the environmental impact of its Leicester headquarters. NEBOSH is the provider of health, safety and environmental qualifications that are
A new Managing Director was announced at the Water Treatment company Lubron UK. Mark Hadaway will replace Joe Austin who was founder and head of the company for more than 20 years. Hadaway joined the company in January 2016 in the role of UK Sales Manager. After graduating from the
Now nearing the final months of completion it shows the inside of the steel-framed structure taking shape at Dudley College. The building work is set to be completed by June and has already secured 80 apprentices. It will be the first of its kind specialising in the latest construction techniques,
Logistics firm W H Bowker Ltd has revealed plans to acquire the warehousing and transport operations at five sites belonging to Potter Logistics Ltd. The deal, completed for an undisclosed sum, will see Preston- and Hull-based W H Bowker purchase Potter’s operations in Knowsley, Droitwich, Selby, Ripon and York. Moving
The building design and construction industries in this country will need to put up with the evidence that more people than ever before are committing to buying a property for the first time in 2017. The Connells Survey and Valuation data has shown that despite the difficulties faced by many
Durham-headquartered Banks Renewables has secured a £210m investment package to support the construction of its next three onshore wind farm projects. The company, which is the renewable energy division of North East property and energy business The Banks Group, will build wind farms at Moor House near Darlington in County Durham and at
Buying a home is usually the largest investment of any family. The prices can be high, sometimes higher than than the home and property is truly worth. We spoke with from Richard from strawhomes.com, who are first time buying experts, gave us some invaluable advice. Richard told us that when
A highly-complex floor refurbishment has transformed a derelict warehouse into highly-marketable business premises, thanks to global product supplier, Sika. Concrete flooring at the former Matalan distribution centre in Skelmersdale, west Lancashire, had fallen into disrepair and required urgent attention to enable the building’s owner to re-let the site. Flooring which
6 Preventative Maintenance Tips For Commercial Plumbing People often underestimate the importance of plumbing in their commercial business, but think about it; you can work hard to create the best business in the world, but something as understated as a water leak could cause thousand of pounds worth of damage
One of Scotland’s largest independent firms for chartered surveyors has appointed a new female director. Allied Surveyors Scotland announced the appointment of Catherine Clarke on the 9th March. Clarke will be the director of land and development, a specialist division that will focus on the central belt of Scotland. Catherine Clarke will be the head of a soon to be expanding division in reaction to the increased demand in the Scottish property market. The division will aim to offer funding and development advice that will be applicable to the for-sale, and rent, private and social housing market. This appointment occurs after a positive change for the Scottish property market. Hopefully Catherine Clarke will be able to continue to push the business forward and as a result improve the Scottish market further upwards. The first female director has had more than 18 years’ experience within the international surveying industry and has a detailed knowledge of the industry on an international scale. Catherine Clarke will work alongside the existing team looking at a variety of different areas including residential land and development valuations, investment and red book valuations, pricing study reports and market commentary. These different areas are looked at across a wide market of developers as well as private landowners and local authorities. Before working at Allied Surveyors, Catherine Clarke worked as part of Colliers International, located in Dubai. In this previous role Clarke was in charge of a team of 12 and focused on the launce of the Colliers International House Price Index. Catherine has a Bachelor of Science with Honors in Estate Management. He graduated from Napier University and is also a qualified APC Assessor and Chairperson. Catherine Clarke started her career with Allied Surveyors in 2004 before moving to her role in Dubai. Catherine will provide Allied Surveyors Scotland will expertise that will hopefully enhance the company’s capabilities and allow for expansion.
NEBOSH is the leading examination board for health, safety, and environmental management. The company is currently reaping the benefits of completing the ISO14001:2015 accreditation process. This new accreditation process has reduced the environmental impact of its Leicester headquarters. NEBOSH is the provider of health, safety and environmental qualifications that are recognised around the world. The NEBOSH Green Team were the leaders in the work to get the company to the right standard for the accreditation. The team led research to identify and implement the behavioural changes required to deliver a substantial environmental improvement. Although these behaviors were relatively simple things to change, the affect has led to a reduced gas usage of 13% at the NEBOSH head office and cut the amount of water used by the company. NEBOSH now also recycles 78% of its waste. Other ways of gaining the accreditation have been improving business practices so that they are carried out in a more sustainable way. Practices such as double sided printing has reduced paper use by 18%. Staff are also encouraged to take laptops in to meetings to further reduce paper usage. A key part of the ISO14001:2015 accreditation scheme is continuous improvement. Therefore, the NEBOSH has been set quarterly KPIs as targets for the employees to aim for. 2017s focuses will focus on reducing the company’s miles traveled and change NEBOSH’s attitude towards travel. Reducing the miles covered by the team includes holding webinars in order to reduce travel to meetings. The ISO14001:2015 accreditation expects organization to consider any and all environmental issues that could be relevant to their operations. These aspects of environmental sustainability can include air pollution, water, sewage and waste management. Other factors include soil contamination, mitigating climate change and adaptation and resource and efficiency. These requirements are above and beyond current and future statutory and regulatory requirements.
A new Managing Director was announced at the Water Treatment company Lubron UK. Mark Hadaway will replace Joe Austin who was founder and head of the company for more than 20 years. Hadaway joined the company in January 2016 in the role of UK Sales Manager. After graduating from the University of Leeds with a degree in Chemical Engineering, Mark Hadaway has gained industry experience from time working at a variety of different companies inculding Veolia Water, BAC Balticare and Clearwater Technology. Joe Austin was the original founder of the water technology company Aquaflow Systems, which he ran from his garden shed in Colchester. Several years later a European company offered to purchase the company and a short time later Lubron UK was born as part of the larger Lubron Europe name. Although being a large European company spread across four culturally different countries the people at Lubron aim to provide the best service. The new rebranding and solid ethos of the company has brought the companies from the different countries closer together. As one of the Market Leaders, Lubron claims to mix scientists, engineers and administrators in order to provide the best service for their customers. Lubron Europe was founded in 1978 and was managed by Luc Braams. The company now works in The UK, Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium. The turnover of company on a whole is €14 million. The current CEO of Lubron Europe is Rob Braams, who became a part of the company his father created in the 1980s and focuses of high standards of customer service and sustaining customer relations. Although Joe Austin has no intention of completely retiring just yet, Mark Hadaway will take the lead and management side of the company. Austin intends on stepping back from the management side of the company and focusing more on the chemistry.
Now nearing the final months of completion it shows the inside of the steel-framed structure taking shape at Dudley College. The building work is set to be completed by June and has already secured 80 apprentices. It will be the first of its kind specialising in the latest construction techniques, technology and off-site fabrication. College principal Lowell Williams said: “This is ground-breaking innovation that we are at the forefront of. “We need to train people who are working in construction as if they are digital engineers. “We will be the first building in the country offering that on a large scale using brand new apprentice standards. “It is also the biggest skills project that the Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership have funded.” The new 37,000 square feet building will include workshops, classrooms and support facilities around a four-storey building called The Hanger. Read more at http://www.expressandstar.com/education/2017/03/03/first-glimpse-inside-12m-dudley-college-block/
Logistics firm W H Bowker Ltd has revealed plans to acquire the warehousing and transport operations at five sites belonging to Potter Logistics Ltd. The deal, completed for an undisclosed sum, will see Preston- and Hull-based W H Bowker purchase Potter’s operations in Knowsley, Droitwich, Selby, Ripon and York. Moving forward as one of the biggest players in the UK’s chemicals logistics, healthcare and food warehousing and distribution sectors, W H Bowker will now operate a road transport fleet comprising over 200 trucks, 450 trailers and 1,000,000 sq ft of warehousing space. Further, W H Bowker’s staff count has risen to 750. For Potter Group (Holdings) Plc, the company is moving into a new era as a property investment business to focus on developing its land assets. Commenting on the acquisition, W H Bowker Ltd’s director, Bill Bowker, said of the acquisition: “Potter Logistics is a highly successful family-owned business with a reputation for quality and excellence in service across a range of specialist road transport and warehousing sectors, evidenced by the numerous awards it has won in recent years. “Derrick Potter, his management team and staff have built industry-wide respect for their logistics expertise and the company provides an excellent fit with our expansion strategy.” He continued: “Both businesses are committed to a long term working relationship supporting and growing customer operations, while ensuring a smooth transition for all customers to the new commercial arrangement.” Speaking for Potter Logistics, chairman Derrick Potter commented: “As a well-recognised, family logistics business of 51 years standing, a key priority in recent years has been to look to the future of our excellent staff, as well as that of our customers, not simply at the legacy that we have built. “We are confident that the Bowker family shares the same cultural ethos that will continue to deliver the same quality of care and to grow the business for the benefit of all concerned.”
The building design and construction industries in this country will need to put up with the evidence that more people than ever before are committing to buying a property for the first time in 2017. The Connells Survey and Valuation data has shown that despite the difficulties faced by many people today and the fluctuations of the housing market, the fact of the matter is that more and more people are deciding to buy a home for the first time this year than they did in 2016. For example, it has been demonstrated that 34 per cent of the activity on the housing market is due to the bustling of first-time buyers, as compared to the previous year when it was only leveled at 25 per cent in 2016. Similarly, more have been shown to sell property this year: the figures indicate a 5 per cent increase in this compared to the previous year which was found to be at 21 per cent overall. What this indicates to someone like John Bagshaw of Connells Survey and Valuation is that more and more people are committing to buying up property for their private selves than in the previous year. Mister Bagshaw puts this down to greater job opportunities being offered to people that enable them to consider the private housing market, whilst another cause of this is claimed to be the fact that the rise in wages to 3 per cent overall is an incentive for making people want to buy property for the first time. In any case, this is clearly signaled to be a wake-up call to the building, design and construction industries to build more homes and develop on greater areas of land than ever before in order to cope with the increasing demands of first-time buyers. Indeed, many of these tend to be in the younger age range and are desirous of starting families in their new homes: greater amounts of bedrooms and investment therefore need to be considered.
Durham-headquartered Banks Renewables has secured a £210m investment package to support the construction of its next three onshore wind farm projects. The company, which is the renewable energy division of North East property and energy business The Banks Group, will build wind farms at Moor House near Darlington in County Durham and at the Middle Muir and Kype Muir schemes in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. Around 250 jobs will be created during construction which, when complete, will see Banks Renewables’ generation capacity from onshore wind rise from 74MW today to 224MW. The business has worked with lenders Macquarie Infrastructure Debt Investment Solutions (MIDIS), Santander, ING, National Australia Bank and Rabobank to secure the funding. The three wind farms were all successful in the UK government’s first competitive Contracts for Difference (CfD) programme for onshore and offshore projects in 2015, since when Banks Renewables has been working towards putting the commercial structures in place to take them forward. Manufacturer Senvion has been contracted to supply and install the turbines for all three projects, with Kype Muir, Middle Muir and Moor House each comprising 26, 15 and six turbines respectively. Richard Dunkley, managing director at Banks Renewables, said: “This investment package is a real expression of confidence in both Banks Renewables and the wider UK onshore wind sector, and it’s exciting to now be accelerating the process of taking these three wind farms forward. “The Kype Muir, Middle Muir and Moor House wind farms have all taken many years of challenging development to get to this stage, and being successful in the government’s first ever CfD auction against stiff competition was critical to the projects’ success. “Onshore wind in general and these projects in particular represent the best value for money to consumers as the government seeks to deliver on its climate change obligations. We believe onshore wind will continue to play a key role in delivering lowest cost carbon free energy for the UK.“ Read more at https://bdaily.co.uk/environment/02-03-2017/210m-investment-to-help-durham-energy-firm-create-3-onshore-wind-farms-and-250-jobs/
Buying a home is usually the largest investment of any family. The prices can be high, sometimes higher than than the home and property is truly worth. We spoke with from Richard from strawhomes.com, who are first time buying experts, gave us some invaluable advice. Richard told us that when considering the purchase of any one home, the following are steps that should be followed before you sign for the mortgage. 1. Consider whether you should be buying a house at all. There is an attitude that a Canadian family should by all means own their own home. Home ownership means stability and pride. However, make sure you can afford the mortgage with your current salary. 2. Research the Neighbourhood. When you find you are interested in a particular home, it’s time to play detective. Walk through the neighbourhood, visiting pubs, parks, school yards and homes at different times of day. Check that homes are well-maintained, that cars are kept up and there aren’t any derelicts lining the streets. 3. Check Out the Area with the Neighbours. Many neighbours can give you valuable information on the particular home or the neighbourhood. Check with those who are not next door, but some distance away. They are likely to be more honest about the area and won’t be either friends or enemies with the sellers. You will also have the advantage of meeting the people you will be living with. 4. What Is the Potential for Resale? It is possible you wish to live in your new home until you die and then leave the property to children. If this is not the case, then you must take measure of the resale value of the property. You may need to put some work in on the house. If the home has been on the market for quite a while, you had better figure out why, because it will affect your ability to sell the home in the future. 5. Bump Up Your Credit Scores. Make very sure that your credit scores are as error-free and up to the demands of your preferred lender. Little mistakes that are easily overlooked can take your out of the running. Check the free websites that can give you the current credit rating. 6. Arrange with Your Lender a Mortgage in Principle. You probably won’t be able to arrange a mortgage unless you have a particular property in place. Instead, lenders offer what is called a “mortgage in principle (MIP).” This is very helpful in that it lets you know how much the lender is willing to allow you to borrow, as long as you find a suitable property within a specified time. However, the MIP is not a guarantee. 7. What Is the Actual Cost of Buying the Home? Owning a home costs more than just the monthly mortgage payment. Remember fees can add up to thousands of pounds. From the Mortgage Arrangement Fee to the cost of removal and new furnishings, the cost of the home will likely be thousands more than the “sticker price.” 8. Typical Home Buying Timeline. The time it takes to find your new home and arrange for its purchase will likely be longer than you think. It will take you time to find a property you want. It will be wise to narrow your search to two or three neighbourhoods, but don’t be too certain you must be located in only one particular place. Once you have found your desired home, put in an offer. This lets the seller know how much you are willing to pay, plus any other conditions. Once your final offer has been accepted, you will need to arrange for a survey of the property and your solicitor should research any legal issues. At the time of the exchange of your money for the deeds and keys, it will take just a few weeks until the sale is complete. Then, congratulations — you will be a real homeowner!
A highly-complex floor refurbishment has transformed a derelict warehouse into highly-marketable business premises, thanks to global product supplier, Sika. Concrete flooring at the former Matalan distribution centre in Skelmersdale, west Lancashire, had fallen into disrepair and required urgent attention to enable the building’s owner to re-let the site. Flooring which offered durability, a seamless, aesthetically-pleasing finish and a five-year warranty was a prerequisite of the refurbishment. Sikafloor®-264, was the only system to offer such guarantees. A high-performance, two-part, economic epoxy resin, Sikafloor®-264, provides a roller and seal coat for concrete and cement screeds which need to withstand heavy wear in environments such as car parks, garages and production plants. In total, 30,000m2 of product was applied to two units at the distribution centre. Before the Sika system could be applied, contractors IRL Group Ltd had to repair sections of the original concrete substrate where racking had been removed. Temporary heating was also installed. The ideal substrate temperature for the application of Sikafloor®-264 is between 10°C and 30°C. With the distribution centre having remained empty for a considerable time, warmer internal conditions were required to maximise the new flooring’s performance. Members of Sika’s technical team were on site during the project to assist contractors and ensure manufacturing methods were properly applied as a condition of the warranty. Once the surface had been smoothed, a coat of Sikafloor®-264 was installed. This was followed by Sikafloor®-264 Thixo, a two-part, epoxy resin. The coloured roller coat is textured, an ideal constituent for the provision of a hard-wearing, non-slip, easy-apply, high-gloss finish. Mark Ollerenshaw, Managing Director at IRL Group Ltd, said: “The client was over the moon with the new floor. Installation standards and the finish itself had to be of the highest quality as the owners were essentially showcasing the distribution centre to new tenants. It was a highly-complex project, made all the easier by using a flooring system we knew and trusted – and performed precisely as we’d hoped.” The distribution centre refurbishment was carried out in two phases over a five-month period. The second phase is due to be completed in March 2017. The badly-damaged, unsafe flooring has been replaced by a smooth, uniform, light-grey surface which will stand the test of time – whatever the nature of the business of the site’s new occupants. Read more at http://specificationonline.co.uk/articles/2017-03-01/sikafloor-creates-high-performance-base-for-new-look-warehouse
6 Preventative Maintenance Tips For Commercial Plumbing People often underestimate the importance of plumbing in their commercial business, but think about it; you can work hard to create the best business in the world, but something as understated as a water leak could cause thousand of pounds worth of damage or even closure. For businesses, such as restaurants and hotels, the quality of your plumbing is pivotal for cleaning of utensils and guest use. The problem is; when things go wrong they are expensive to fix. Getting the help of a professional plumber is not the most cost effective solution when you’re trying to run a business – luckily there are actions you can take to prevent ever needing to call in a professional. Here are some of the ways in which you can keep on top of your plumbing before it becomes a problem. Unclog drains If the drainage speed of your sinks is a little on the slow side you should act before it gets any worse. This can be solved easily using a mixture of hot water and vinegar to pour down your drains and dislodge any unwanted debris. This should be done routinely every three months just to keep on top of the situation – you never know what might have accumulated down there! Check the pressure There really is nothing worse than a limp shower, so if you own a hotel and your showers are lacking water pressure then your guests aren’t likely to return – and could leave a bad review in the process! Using a pressure gauge can help you test the pressure in your water circulation system. Investing in top of the line shower pumps will prevent any issues in low water pressure. Stop the leaks If you ignore a leaking tap or showerhead, it’s not going to get any better – drips are far more likely to get worse over time if left unchecked. These drips may seem harmless right now, but they are actually adding a substantial amount to your water bills, as well as potentially causing other problems. Check the handles of the taps/showerheads to make sure that you don’t have a drip when they are turned off and inspect under the sinks for any potential water damage. Protect your toilets Leaks or clogging in toilets can spell disaster for your business – if your toilets go bust, your reputation could soon follow. Making sure you have a respected manufacturer of your toilets that offer toilet plumbing for the commercial sector will make sure you are ready to cope with the heavy demands. Flush only what’s necessary When it comes to toilets, the only thing you should be flushing is toilet paper and human waste – anything else can cause clogging and spell disaster. For a commercial business this may be difficult to enforce as you don’t have total control, but putting up signs reminding people of this fact could be your best bet to avoiding potential trouble. Inspect your appliances Sometimes the leaks can come from something you wouldn’t normally expect, like a refrigerator or washing machine, and can cause mould/mildew if you don’t notice before it’s too late. Unexplained puddles are an obvious giveaway, but you would be best served checking underneath every so often just to be safe.
