Trades & Services : Property & Facilities Management News

What Sort of Survey Should I Have?

Unless you’re a building professional and can give a property a thorough inspection yourself then it’s vital to get your potential house looked at before you buy it. If you are getting a mortgage, the provider will carry out a property valuation to ensure that the house or apartment is

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Chartered Surveyors Appointed a New female Director

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

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NEBOSH Leading Examination Board for Health and Safety and Environmental Management

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

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Latest Issue
Issue 335 : Dec 2025

Trades : Property & Facilities Management News

Interior design tips: Creating an Illusion of a Bigger Space

A lot of students live with tiny space, littered with personal stuff and educational supplies, wishing for a normal apartment or at least for a bigger room. But if it is not possible, or there is no such opportunity in the nearest future, there is still a hope. Here are some tips on how to make your room bigger, without fully remaking it. Installing a greenhouse can really make you garden look bigger, check out some replacement greenhouse glass, just to be prepared for the worst. Multifunctional furniture Buy such things as ottomans, which can be used as a coffee table, an extra seating or even as a place to keep your personal belongings, if you will choose the one, which comes with a storage inside. Any multi-purpose item is a good investment in a small space. Cleanliness Keep your room clean and tidy and de-clutter from time to time. Get rid of the stuff you don’t use anymore or wouldn’t buy it now. Colour code Colour code everything. Books, clothes or anything else that is visible in your room, this way instead of making a potential clutter, you will make them look organized and will showcase your personality. Mirrors The quickest way to appear room look larger is to use mirrors, preferably large ones. Not only they reflect light, but a cleverly placed mirror can bring more depth or height to the room. Placing a mirror near the window can make it look like there is another window in the room and will create a more spacious or wader look. Or by placing it behind chest or end table, you can make it seem like there is a whole other space behind it. Use of natural light Natural light makes the room seem light and specious. There more light is in the room – the bigger and wider it seems. Leave your windows uncovered, or if you feel like there is not enough privacy, use roman shades or blinds. Curtains only add “stuff”. Keep it minimal, keep it simple. However, if you really want them in your room, choose light coloured ones and mountain them above the window. And don’t let them hit the floor. Leave your curtains or drapes a few inches below, and use a bar that extends far beyond the window frame, so if needed you can fully expose the window. As well as with mirrors, open windows add more depth in the room and make it appear larger. Minimalism Don’t overload your shelves, don’t keep unused stuff in sight, don’t overload your room with colours. Keep it light, bright and airy. Create unity, by using different shades of the same colour. When buying sheets, stay away from loud colours and overloaded patterns. Don’t add unnecessary decorations and details. Following this tips, you will not only make it more visually appealing, but will also make your small room look bigger. Shelving Wall-to-wall or floor-to-ceiling bookcases will trick the eye to see the ceiling higher or walls wider. And it also adds more place for the storage. Just don’t forget that they should be organized and colour-coded if possible. It’s a great way to keep the things together and in place, but it’s extremely easy to mess up by cluttering everything on those shelves. Furniture with legs Furniture which is raised on legs, creates a sense of light and space. By creating a look of openness and movement, you will create and illusion of larger space. But this trick will only work if the area under the furniture will be kept clean and organized. Transparent furniture By placing a glass table top instead of your wooden desk, or pairing your work space with acrylic chair, you will make your room appear not as crowded as it would be with a regular furniture. Lucite items are now totally trendy and while providing a needed function, they don’t take too much visual space. Lightning Ditch the overhead fixtures, that pools all the light in one space. Instead use several lightning elements to draw the eye around the room. The best, easy way is to place lamps on your bedside tables. Be dramatic There is a wrong common opinion, that a small furniture in a small room is the way to go, but a few bigger pieces will fool the eye to perceive a space as a more expansive. Instead of a gallery wall, choose large and bold art pieces. It will create a focal point in the room and will add some structure and depth. Another way of dramatism in the interior design is to pop your ceilings. Dark ceiling creates depth and draws your attention upward creating an illusion of height. To make it even more interesting, you can mimic the night sky with stars, or even a milky way.

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What Sort of Survey Should I Have?

Unless you’re a building professional and can give a property a thorough inspection yourself then it’s vital to get your potential house looked at before you buy it. If you are getting a mortgage, the provider will carry out a property valuation to ensure that the house or apartment is worth its market value, and that it can therefore lend with confidence. However, a mortgage valuation does not go deeply into the structure, or the nitty-gritty detail that could end up costing you a fortune in the long run if a defect is not identified. You may decide you want a more in-depth survey and assessing all options is advisable. The mortgage survey costs around £250-350 and is usually included in your fees. The documentation will be under the legal ownership of the lender so should the valuer fail to spot a costly defect then you will have no claim against them. For an extra £100 or so you can pay for a Homebuyer Survey and Valuation, which comes under the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), so will be a standard report on the condition of the property. Despite the complex RICS language the Homebuyer Survey and Valuation will help you recognise any potential structural problems that could knock value off the property. You will also be given a new valuation that could lower your mortgage. If structural problems are found and you work out it’s going to cost say £3,000 to repair, then you should be able to get this taken off the asking price, thereby lowering your mortgage. Next on the list is a Home Condition Survey, which is similar in price and detail to the RICS Homebuyer Survey and Valuation but will give you a bit more advice on how to deal with some of the more common problems that have been found at the property. Finally, recommended for both new and old properties is the full Building Survey, which can cost anything from £600 to £1,000. This is a comprehensive survey – in fact the most comprehensive available – and could be well worth the extra money, especially if you’re considering purchasing an older property. It won’t actually go as far having a surveyor pulling up floorboards to look at what lies beneath but the surveyor will give an opinion on possible hidden defects. Newer houses will still need a survey – even new builds don’t come with a guarantee of perfect quality and last year saw MPs call for a New Homes Ombudsman in the face of concerns over construction defects. At least new homes come with the 10-year warranty issued by the National House Building Council though; the Financial Times reported that the NHBC ended up paying out £87 million on claims by homeowners in 2015 alone.

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ISG Has Been Named as the Number One Central London Corporate Office Interior Fit Out Contractor

The worldwide construction services company ISG has been named as the number one central London corporate office interior fit out contractor. The construction services company has been given this award for the fifth consecutive year. The report conducted by Metropolis Property Research ranks firms that are involved in ‘Cat B’ projects. There projects involve new space taken by corporate occupiers and covers from 2012 to 2016. This report suggests that ISG has had a dominant share in the ‘Cat B’ office fit outs in London since 2012. The office fit outs count for 33% of business given to the top ten firms. This equates to over 5 million sq. ft. of space. ISG has carried out works for a variety of different clients. The schemes include work for global financial services firms as well as the 700,000 sq. ft. fit out of 5 Broadgate. ISG were part of this project that has been labelled as the biggest office project to take place in central London for the past five years. The company also worked on CMS’ 160,000 sq. ft. headquarters which is located at Cannon Place. ISG has also been involved in the 100,00 sq. ft. scheme in Midtown for Saatchi & Saatchi. The new award is also representative of the continuing high standard of customer service from ISG. The sector has experienced a significant deal of change over the last five years, and ISG has had to adapt to the advances in technology as well as the new products and methods for construction. The construction service has remained popular in a market where it is an advantage to offer more for less. ISG aim to offer the leading technological solutions when working. 57.3 million square feet of office space has been let over the five years that the report was being conducted, and 30.3 million square feet being Cat B projects.

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Carolyn Lee has Been Appointed as a Solicitor in the London Real Estate and Construction Team

Carolyn Lee has been appointed as a solicitor in the London real estate and construction team for DMH Stallard. Carolyn Lee has most recently been part of the team at Linklaters, the construction group. As part of her work at this company, she acted on behalf of major property developers. Kerry Beattie is a Partner in the DMH Stallard, and suggests that Carolyn will help the London construction and real estate company as they aim to work on more substantial projects with developers, funders owners and occupiers. Lee’s experience of drafting and negotiation of all documents that are required in order to procure the developments. These documents include the JCT forms of contract as well as more bespoke agreements with their clients. In her role, Carolyn will also be an advisor for construction obligations in real estate transactions, for example development agreements or agreements for lease. Carolyn started her career working under Kerry, therefore there is already a working relationship established which should lead to a successful combination while they are at DMH Stallard. The team at DMH Stallard works on a variety of different projects, and Carolyn Lee should be a fruitful addition to the team. DMHStallard work in the South of England and have offices in London, Gatwick, Brighton and Guildford. The company employs 300 staff. These staff members include 60 partners. DMH Stallard is an award winning law firm that aims to deliver their client’s objectives. After growing rapidly over the last ten years, DMH Stallard has become one of the most forward thinking law firms in the country in the mid-market sector. The law firm also has a history of working on cross-border transactions, which could involve several different jurisdictions. DMH Stallard are part of Law Europe International, which is a multinational network of law firms with the aim of providing legal assistance to member firms’ clients from around the world.

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TH Real Estate Announced its Ambition to Cut the Energy Intensity by 30% By 2030

TH Real Estate has announced its ambition to cut the energy intensity of its portfolio by 30% by 2030. Based on its 2015 baseline, the affiliate of Nuveen commits to improving the sustainability of its 134 million square foot portfolio worth $68 billion in global equity. Energy Intensity is the assets use of kilowatts per hour, per square foot. Therefore reducing this rating will reduce the amount of energy TH Real Estate’s portfolio uses. This will in turn lower the amount of pollution created by the company. This announcement is an advancement on the company’s previous efforts to increase sustainability and to reduce the risk as well as the impact of climate change. This new announcement comes after the Paris Conference of Parties in September 2015. The 21st annual Conference set ambitious goals for more sustainable real estate. Real estate is estimated to be responsible for 40% of the world’s carbon emissions. Examples for emissions being so high includes fuel usage, for boilers etc., and also electricity and other energy sources. In order to reduce carbon emissions it if vital to start using energy more efficiently. Reducing the amount of energy used I a household will also reduce bills for the consumer, so there are several advantages to TH Real Estate’s plans. TH Real Estate is one of the world’s largest institutional real estate investors. The company has almost 900 office, retail, residential and industrial assets worldwide. Therefore, employing these sustainability measures could make a massive difference to the environment. This could also lead to positive results for the economy as well as benefits for individual tenants. TH Real Estate has a ‘Tomorrow’s World’ philosophy which actively seeks to improve the sustainability of the company. This allows the company to keep preparing for the future, as well as increasing the value of their assets fo their clients by investing in more sustainable products.

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Chartered Institute of Building Aiming to Promote the Science and Practice of Building in New Ways

The Chartered Institute of Building is globally the most influential professional management body for construction. With an aim to promote the science and practice of building in a way that is beneficial to society by was of a Royal Charter. Established in 1834, the members of the Chartered Institute work in order to provide development, conservation and improvement within the built environment. The Institute also accredits degrees as well as other educational courses and training as a seal for competence and professionalism. The widely recognised and respected institute has appointed a new Managing Director. Terry Watts will report to the Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Building Chris Blyth. Terry Watts has a large amount of experience in the skills, construction supply-chain and technology sectors. Watts’ experience also covers small and large business change management. Terry will starts in the newly created position of Managing Director position this month. Terry Watts’ roles will include promoting the Chartered Institute’s influence within the construction sector, as well as promoting the improvement of standards, skills and professionalism within this industry. The Chartered Institute of Building has created this new Managing Director role in order to accommodate the growth of the institute and the increased breadth of the CIOB’s influence within construction as well as improving standards, skills and professionalism within the growing sector. Terry has joined the CIOB as Managing Director following the set up and running of Proskills, of which he was the CEO. Proskills is the Sector Skills Council for the construction supply chain. More recently Terry Watts has had a variety of different roles including Principle of City of Oxford College, the Group International Business Director for a major training company that works in India, Vietnam and Egypt. Terry started his career at IBM and worked for several years with technology start-ups. Watts has a broad range of managing skills from many different roles and will also offer skills to help with CIOB’s change, project and marketing aspects.

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Chartered Surveyors Appointed a New female Director

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.

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NEBOSH Leading Examination Board for Health and Safety and Environmental Management

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.

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New Managing Director Announced at the Water Treatment Company Lubron UK

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.

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