£320 million is to be pumped into the UK’s heat network schemes over the next five year period in order to supply homes and businesses with low carbon heat. Currently, the government is consulting on the best ways to deploy the £320 million fund which was allocated to heat network investment in the Spending Review. Labelled as ‘central heating for cities’, heat networks are already being used throughout cities in Scandinavia to heat homes in winter. The government believes that heat networks could reduce heating costs by over 30% in some households, with the investment being dubbed as “exciting news for towns and cities throughout the country” by the Department for Energy & Climate Change (DECC). Instead of each building having individual heaters, a heat network will comprise of one big central heat source (or more than one central source) of which heat is then piped into several buildings. A number of sources can take the heat such as large heat pumps, combines with power and heat plants and geothermal plants, which take heat from underground rocks miles below the earth’s surface. Then, it is pumped around businesses and homes, which will potentially bring down energy bill costs while also helping to cut carbon emissions. DECC thinks that the heat produced by waste incinerator plants can also be used in this way and distributed to nearby businesses and homes. Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Amber Rudd MP, said that this is a crucial next step in the development of more home grown energy, which is a key part of the government’s plan to ensure affordable energy and long term security for the country’s business and families. She added that the funding under consultation at the moment will allow these schemes to provide thousands of businesses and homes throughout the country with affordable low carbon energy.

The Builders’ Conference Trade Association has reported steady progress for the construction industry for the last month, a continuation of the previous month’s figures. The group’s Contracts League table for May this year collaborated data on nearly 700 new contract awards with a combined value of just under £4 billion won by almost 400 contractors, a figure that maintains the norm after the recession. However, if we look at the data in more detail it is now clear that the industry is in a holding pattern as it is now usual for each of the top 10 firms in the Contracts League table to top the £100 million mark in the award of new contracts every month. Although in May only the top seven companies in the table passed that figure. Laing O’Rourke claimed top spot, while Galliford Try came in second, with a combined 28 contracts between them. This relatively big amount of modestly valued contracts throws into some relief the absence of major landmark contracts in the current environment. In terms of work being put out to tender, the statistics show a £4.5 billion fall on the monthly average from May 2015 to just £1.8 billion this year. This has had a sizeable impact on the Contracts League table for the yearly rolling total, as the figure has decreased from the high of £56.6 billion at the end of December last year to £50.41 billion last month, which is a fall of more than 12%. Despite this general trend, Laing O’Rourke emerged as the most successful contractor in last month’s table as the firm secured no fewer than nine contracts worth £207.7 million between them. Among the nine contracts, one of the most crucial was the £76.2 million contract to construct a new 192 unit residential tower for London’s Imperial College in the White City Campus in North London.

The heats for the 2016 Skill Electric competition have got off to a flying start with three of the most talented electricians in the country taking the top spots in England and Wales. In a test of the competitors’ full range of electrical abilities, the following three electricians came out on top of the challenging five hour mock installation test: Ben Brookes (24) English Midlands – Stoke on Trent College/Hanning, Garin Long (19) Wales – Coleg Gwent/CTE Electrical, Michael Pemberton (22) Southern England  – Petroc Tiverton Campus. After the completion of all the regional heats, the competitors who score the highest throughout the UK will progress to the grand final at ‘The Skills Show’ at the Birmingham NEC from November 16-19. The event will see competitors take on a gruelling three day challenge as they all bid to be crowned Skill Electric UK Champion. Industry charity NET are an official competition partner of World Skills 2016 and their Chief Executive Officer, Iain Macdonald said that the Skills Electric scheme gives a great chance for the industry’s top performers to show off their abilities and technical skill levels needed to work as an electrician. He commented that this is even more important at a time when the industry needs fresh blood and more young people to consider the vocational route when they finish school, adding his congratulations to Michael, Garin and Ben for their brilliant work so far in winning their regional heats and wished them well in their future careers in the industry. Dr Neil Bentley spoke on behalf of the World Skills UK Competitions and also congratulated Michael, Garin and Ben for their top work thus far and he too wished them the best for the future. He added that it has been proven that the World Skills UK Competitions can enhance the training scheme or apprenticeship for a young person by helping them develop crucial employability skills and character traits.

A joint venture between leading door, window and safety control systems manufacturer, GEZE UK, and leading architectural aluminium systems supplier, Kawneer, has resulted in a partnership that will deliver superior automated ventilation for a variety of projects. The deal sees Kawneer’s AA720 parallel opening window combine with GEZE’s award winning Slimchain window drive system, providing effective ventilation throughout the entire perimeter of the window without compromising safety or security in all sectors, including retail and leisure, commercial, education, healthcare and residential. The AA720 window system has already proved is thermal performance by achieving U values of 1.5 W/m2K for a CEN sized window with a warm edge spacer, which offers the very best natural ventilation levels and air exchange, with a clear 86mm opening restriction fitted as standard. Now, the innovative and new CE Marked assisted operating system has been tested to the full remit of the PAS 24: 2012 enhanced standard of security performance as well as BS 6375 Part 2 (strength) and Part 1 (weather). Slimchain is part of the range of window drives manufactured by GEZE, which share a discreet, uniform design with an innovative Smart fix installation system. It can adapt to fulfil a fully diverse range of requirements relating to the wides range of installation types, opening widths up to 2400mm high and 1500mm wide, upstroke lengths of up to 800mm and a range of load types. This new system for refurbishment and new build projects will offer more versatile options for design in comparison with other solutions as the Slimchain system can be used on windows up to 400kg, which is a considerable weight handling advantage over the products of its competitors. Individual speeds and continuously adjustable drive strokes are permitted thanks to its intellingent electronics system. The Slimchain and AA720 window is fully backed by GEZE and Kawneer’s design, estimating and technical teams.

The UK’s decision to leave the European Union is bad news for the proposed transition to smarter grids, warns a leading academic. Phil Taylor, Siemen’s professor of energy systems at Newcastle University, has said that the UK has made it harder to de-carbonise our energy system by “diminishing its ability to use inter connectors” for balancing systems. Taylor commented that the decision to leave the EU will reduce the UK’s ability to negotiate prices of goods, while our use of inter connectors will be more expensive and less flexible. He added that the decision is bad for system balancing and prices, while the UK is moving towards an energy system with less capacity margin and less spinning reserve which is carbon rich and expensive by replacing it with flexibility of all kinds. He continued that we have nearly diminished our ability to use inter connectors to aid the act of balancing. The National Grid’s head of strategy, markets and regulation, European business development, told the Energy and Climate Change Committee earlier in the year that the UK must try even harder to be more influential, but that it is possible to achieve looking at the example of the non-EU country Norway. Taylor also commented that it has been proved that smaller power systems and island power systems are more difficult to de-carbonise while maintaining the stability of the grid. He also said that he anticipates the out vote to result in a reduction of the incomes of academic institutions by up to 20%, while access to the vibrant European research community will be more difficult. Newcastle University is one of 13 universities around the world which has ‘global principle partner status’ with multinational firm Siemens. Taylor also warned that the UK is now in a less strong position that it was prior to the vote to convince such organisations that it is a good place to invest in development and energy research.