London’s new mayor of London Sadiq Khan has accused his predecessor of letting down Londoners and “leaving the cupboard bare” when it comes to delivering affordable housing in the city. Above: Sadiq Khan Khan also blames Boris Johnson for a construction skills crisis. He said that annual construction apprenticeship starts
FROM RECYCLING FLOORING FOR TRAFFIC CONES TO RE-USING SOLVENTS FOR FUEL, PORTAKABIN ANNOUNCES MORE SUSTAINABILITY INITIATIVES The Portakabin Group, the UK’s leading modular building specialist, has announced more sustainability commitments and initiatives to help its customers further reduce their carbon footprint. Waste streams from the manufacture of its modular buildings
Commercial Marine & Piling has entered administration Above: Past projects include cofferdam work at Canary Wharf The company’s registered address is in Poole in Dorset and it has two principal trading addresses, one at Ringwood in Hampshire and the other at River Thames Wharf in Northfleet
The Lighting Industry Association’s (LIA) new state of the art, 12,500 sq ft purpose built Laboratories have bid successfully and are undertaking testing as part of LightingEurope’s Compliant Lighting Initiative. The objective of the Initiative is to support the placing of compliant lighting products on the European market through effective
– New digital platform is designed to plug the skills gaps of the global construction community at a key time of challenge and change – BRE’s training and education arm, the BRE Academy, has launched a new eLearning platform (bre.ac) designed to meet the changing needs of the construction operatives,
Skilled Craftsmanship Attentive customer service allied to skilled craftsmanship, the use of modern building materials and techniques, and sound business management has made John Weaver an industry leader in Wales (The Following is a Promoted Article) These days, a successful health and safety record is as much a mark of
The CSA (the Commissions Specialists Association) now in it’s 25th year have launched an industry-wide awards programme in support of its 25th Anniversary, configured to bring together the entire commissioning sector in a celebration of the business, innovations and people that are achieving the highest professional standards and helping drive
Mears Group – The Face of Equality (The Following is a Promoted Article) The construction industry continues to be dominated by males at both the top and bottom rungs of business, and females are desperately under-represented across all sub-sectors. That’s something which Jane Nelson, Executive Director of Mears Group is
Cheshire East Council has handed Wates Construction a contract to build a waste recycling centre in Middlewich. The contract with Wates will see the construction and refurbishment of new and existing buildings as part of scheduled works for the development on Cledford Lane. The 10-month project begins on 23rd May
Marks and Spencer’s Energy has launched a second edition of the companies community energy fund offering local energy projects across the UK for up to £350, 000 in funding. The success of the scheme last year saw 51,000 vote on 246 applications for funding from a wide range of groups.,
London’s new mayor of London Sadiq Khan has accused his predecessor of letting down Londoners and “leaving the cupboard bare” when it comes to delivering affordable housing in the city. Above: Sadiq Khan Khan also blames Boris Johnson for a construction skills crisis. He said that annual construction apprenticeship starts in London average just 7% cent of the national total and that a total of 100,000 planned apprenticeships starts were missed during the previous mayor’s second term. Immediately after taking over from Boris Johnson last week, Khan asked officials to produce an urgent audit of City Hall’s preparedness to tackle the housing crisis. Khan said that the audit revealed affordable home delivery at near-standstill. Last year, the previous mayor delivered the lowest number of new affordable homes since current records began back in 1991 – just 4,880 – and left a legacy of just 13% affordable homes coming forward through planning permissions granted under his watch, according to Khan. Khan found a flawed process for identifying public land for homes. The previous mayor’s work to produce a digital ‘Doomsday Book’ of public land ncludes scores of sites that will never be built on, including 10 Downing Street, City Hall and the British Museum, found Khan’s audit. Khan has pledged to build new homes on land owned by City Hall, including Transport for London land, and intends to fast-track scores of sites that are suitable for development. He wants to see 50% of all new homes in London being genuinely affordable, also plans to bid to develop other public sector land across London. He has said that he will work with Government ministers to ensure a far more active role for City Hall in identifying surplus public land that can be used for the construction of the new affordable housing London needs. He said: “London gave me the opportunity to go from the council estate where I grew up to being able to buy a family home we could afford. But today, too many Londoners are being priced out of our city. One of the first things we did when we got to City Hall was open the books and look at what was already in the pipeline and it seems the previous mayor has grossly let down Londoners by leaving the cupboard bare when it comes to delivering affordable housing. “I am determined to fix London’s housing crisis and ensure that all Londoners have the opportunity to rent or buy a decent home at a price they can afford, but the scale of the challenge is now clearer than ever and we’re not going to be able to turn things around overnight. “We will be outlining our plans in the coming months, but one of the first things we can do is work with Transport for London to fast-track their numerous surplus sites for development that have previously just been sat on.”
FROM RECYCLING FLOORING FOR TRAFFIC CONES TO RE-USING SOLVENTS FOR FUEL, PORTAKABIN ANNOUNCES MORE SUSTAINABILITY INITIATIVES The Portakabin Group, the UK’s leading modular building specialist, has announced more sustainability commitments and initiatives to help its customers further reduce their carbon footprint. Waste streams from the manufacture of its modular buildings at its international production centre in York have been increased from 18 to 26 and now include: • Used vinyl flooring recycled for traffic cones and other plastic products • Take-back schemes for batteries, fluorescent bulbs, printer cartridges and new vinyl flooring offcuts • Waste streams for plastics increased from 3 to 5 and mastic tubes are now recycled • 5 metal waste streams for recycling different grades of steel, aluminium and copper • Waste from solvents is re-used as furnace fuel. The Group has invested £100,000 in a new high-tech saw machine which uses advanced technology to optimise material usage, further reducing waste. Derek Carter, Chief Executive of the Portakabin Group said, “Our objective of zero waste to landfill at our York factory was successfully achieved in 2013 – and since then we have won a number of awards for environmental excellence. However, we are firmly committed to continually raising the bar and achieving even more improvements to our waste management processes and sustainability performance.” “Our teams across the business are constantly looking at new ways to increase recycling, reduce waste, further improve the recycled content of our products and the re-use of our buildings when they reach end of life. This is all outstanding work which gives our customers even greater confidence in the sustainability of our approach and in the reduced carbon footprint of all of our buildings.” Other new waste minimisation initiatives: • The Group’s 50 UK Hire and Visitor Centres now separate out paper and cardboard for recycling, and plasterboard on the larger sites • Investment in specially-designed containers to hold and protect components for the modular manufacturing process. These ‘stillages’ are then sent back to suppliers for re-filling, removing the need for packaging • The introduction of a new reporting structure to achieve further reductions in energy consumption and waste, and demonstrating the importance Portakabin places on leadership in this area • Increased use of internal education programmes to continually raise awareness of waste management best practice among staff at every level • An active Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme which instigates and promotes community recycling initiatives across the Group – such as collections for local clothes banks and for the distribution of spectacles to developing countries; the donation of carpet tiles and furniture to local schools and libraries following an office refurbishment, and timber offcuts to help Portakabin volunteers transform an area of wasteland into an allotment for local children • The extension of a programme to segregate and recycle six streams of office waste. This is now being rolled out across the whole of the York headquarters site, following successful trials • Portakabin now has compactors for general waste and bailers at its York manufacturing centre to put cardboard, soft plastics, plastic bottles and plastic strapping into bails. This reduces transportation and carbon emissions by achieving higher tonnage with each truck movement. These latest initiatives follow a host of existing commitments, which include Portakabin sourcing its steel supplies locally. 79 per cent of the steel used in its modular manufacturing process continues to be supplied from within the UK, which is more sustainable, strongly supports British manufacturing, procures steel of the highest quality, and minimises the carbon footprint of Portakabin buildings. www.portakabin-group.co.uk
Commercial Marine & Piling has entered administration Above: Past projects include cofferdam work at Canary Wharf The company’s registered address is in Poole in Dorset and it has two principal trading addresses, one at Ringwood in Hampshire and the other at River Thames Wharf in Northfleet in Kent. Commercial Marine & Piling Ltd (CMP) was founded in 1986, initially specialising purely in piling. Piling remains a core part of the business but the acquisition of Branford Civil & Marine Ltd in 1999 led to expansion and diversification into marine civil engineering and specialist marine piling. The company has said that it has the capacity to act as principal contractor for projects up to £7m, and as a specialist sub-contractor on larger projects. It carries out contracts across the UK, with its River Thames Wharf site used as a base from which to mobilise and co-ordinate marine construction works along the River Thames. The adminstrators are Benjamin Wiles and Geoffrey Bouchier of Duff & Phelps Ltd, based in the Shard in London. This article was published on 16 May 2016 (last updated on 16 May 2016). Source link
The Lighting Industry Association’s (LIA) new state of the art, 12,500 sq ft purpose built Laboratories have bid successfully and are undertaking testing as part of LightingEurope’s Compliant Lighting Initiative. The objective of the Initiative is to support the placing of compliant lighting products on the European market through effective market surveillance, safe and good quality lighting products for consumers in Europe; as well as a level playing field and fair competition for industry players. A significant number of lighting products, including those from LightingEurope members are being tested on behalf of the Initiative by various independent test laboratories in Europe including the LIA Laboratories. Not just a visually impressive build; the LIA’s Laboratories are purposely designed and ready to meet the global lighting industry’s practical testing and certification requirements and will be putting LED lamps from producers, importers or other label owners through their paces covering safety, photometric performance and life testing compliance, as part of this initiative. In the case of non-compliance, affected manufacturers and distributors will be informed of the results with the request to take appropriate action. Product related allegations raised in the LightingEurope initiative will also be communicated if needed to the relevant national market surveillance authorities. “The LIA are proud to be involved with such an important and respected initiative, which is pro-actively striving to protect the reputation and health of the European Lighting Industry and those involved” Steve K Davies, CEO, The LIA www.thelia.org.uk
– New digital platform is designed to plug the skills gaps of the global construction community at a key time of challenge and change – BRE’s training and education arm, the BRE Academy, has launched a new eLearning platform (bre.ac) designed to meet the changing needs of the construction operatives, professionals and leaders in the UK and around the world. With an initial 25 digitally delivered courses ranging from BIM Essentials and BREEAM Associate to Manging Change – Risk in Construction, the aim of bre.ac is to make and deliver quality education and training more accessible to time poor people and organisations needing to upskill. Courses carry recognised qualifications* and CPD certification** and are developed by leading global experts in the field. At a time when the skills shortages and gaps are thought to be significantly hindering progress in the construction sector, 250 modules of the new portal’s BIM Essentials course were sold during the live beta testing stage of the site with multiple sales for staff in world renowned design and engineering consultancy BDP. ‘BDP sees the BIM Essentials online training course as an important step along our BIM journey. By providing a flexible learning platform that addresses the UK BIM Level 2 mandate and associated processes we will raise awareness and knowledge across a wider staff base, moving past software training and ensure job runners have skills necessary to address BIM Level 2 and beyond’. BRE Academy Director Pauline Traetto said ’One of the key issues we identified in our recent skills gap survey was the need for accessible learning via the web and mobile that fits around the people rather than the training providers – bre.ac represents the positive action we decided to take in response to this. The early indications from course sales data are most encouraging with several hundred people accessing learning in their workplace, while commuting on the train and in the comfort of their home. With the global online training market predicted to grow by 18% by 2020, for us this is the future of learning’ To celebrate the launch of the new platform, the BRE Academy is offering 50% discount on courses booked on 16 May only. For further information please contact Linda McKeown, BRE, email linda.mckeown@bre.co.uk or go to www.bre.ac
Skilled Craftsmanship Attentive customer service allied to skilled craftsmanship, the use of modern building materials and techniques, and sound business management has made John Weaver an industry leader in Wales (The Following is a Promoted Article) These days, a successful health and safety record is as much a mark of success as the bottom line. John Weaver Construction certainly recognises this; the welfare of the workforce forming the foundations of its activities. Set-up in Swansea in 1967, the company has successfully grown to offer a suite of services across a range of construction and conservation activities. Strong family values have seen it develop long-running relationships with clients based on an inherent attentiveness to customer service allied to skilled craftsmanship, the use of modern building materials and techniques and a first-rate health and safety record. Its success sees it remain very busy. Much of the construction division’s work derives from running the framework projects for Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University NHS Trust. The company is also widely involved with other healthcare projects as well as work in the residential, commercial, retail, civic and institutional sectors. Indeed, John Weaver has just completed a five-star boutique hotel in Pembrokeshire worth £4.5m. This project involved works to a listed mill alongside the building of a new extension to create a 21-bedroom hotel with restaurant and bar. Its activities are aided by the pedigree of the conservation team which boasts 100 years of traditional skilled craftsmanship and construction expertise. Directly employed labour and the provision of its own bespoke joinery shop alongside a carefully chosen local supply chain has seen this side of the business flourish while complementing its construction endeavours, the result of which is the successful completion of many refurbishment and conservation projects over the past 20 years at contract values up to £8m. It recently completed the refurbishment of a listed building plus construction of a new build at The Glynn Vivian Art Gallery in Swansea in a project valued at £5.4m. Yet, despite an expanding portfolio, Business Development Manager Joan Tamlyn says health and safety remains at the “forefront of what we do”. Indeed, the welfare of the workforce forms a key component of company training. For example, procedural days will cover specific topics for all site employees and staff, while onsite inductions are carried out for every new project. John Weaver also works with external bodies such as South Wales Consultancy and Training to enhance its health and safety practices and ensure it stays abreast of current regulations, topics and policies. This complements its work on site which begins with a thorough risk assessment and continues with weekly assessments to ensure site safety adheres to the protocol and policies of its accreditations such as CHAS. Working with CHAS, and earning its accredited “mark of approval”, has been of great benefit to John Weaver. Tamlyn remarks: “CHAS helps us demonstrate to our clients and suppliers that we operate in accordance with health and safety law and CDM regulations. As an approved CHAS supplier, we are able to work with their buyers, which leads us to a larger network of clients and potential work. “Being CHAS accredited assists us improve as a business in this key area and assists in identifying areas where improvements can be made. During competitive tendering, 95% of our prospective clients score on our policies and procedures. By being CHAS accredited this ensures that we can, and do, comply with the requirements of our prospective clients, which in turn is a good asset for this area of the business.” This obviously extends to those subcontractors that work with John Weaver. All must adhere to rigorous vetting procedures and be willing to accept they will be regularly monitored through routine audits. Ultimately, it’s about ensuring that a project satisfies the client’s needs safely; often exceeding expectation. It’s part of the “hands-on” approach and attention to detail that the company’s reputation is built upon.
The CSA (the Commissions Specialists Association) now in it’s 25th year have launched an industry-wide awards programme in support of its 25th Anniversary, configured to bring together the entire commissioning sector in a celebration of the business, innovations and people that are achieving the highest professional standards and helping drive the industry forward. The 2016 Finalists were selected by the 2016 judging panel who believe that the candidates selected encompass the full scope of success and professionalism needed in the commissioning industry. The awards were designed to promote companies best practice in several key areas of commissioning, energy saving, sales growth, innovation and achievement, customer care and service provision. The awards last year proved to be a success in which the company celebrated business, professionalism and excellence. The feedback from all those involved was positive including those nominated, finalists, sponsors and winners, The programme saw an excellent incentive for excellence and recognition across the board the awards served an interest in healthy entries, and an incredible standard of submissions. 2016 Finalists were picked because of their conduct in the commissioning industry, and the CSA programme hopes that it has captured the full scope of success and professionalism in the industry today. After the success of last years inaugural award the company were pleased to offer the same opportunities this year. The Gala Award Ceremony will be held on the 17th of June 2016 in Copthorne Effinham Park. The evening will provide a celebration of the excellent work and achievements of the commissioning specialists. All CSA members have been encouraged to put an entry forward for one of more of the 7 categories. The entries were provided by corporate, associate and individuals and even eligible companies outside of the CSA Membership. After the panel reviewed the applications over April and created a list of finalists for each categories. The awards up for grabs include; Innovation in Commissioning (sponsored by SAV Systems), Project of the Year (sponsored by Marflow Hydronics), Product Innovation of the Year (sponsored by CSA), Commissioning Provider of the Year (sponsored by Modern Building Services), Investment in Training Award (sponsored by BSRIA Instrument Solutions), Student of the Year (sponsored by CSA), Engineer of the Year (sponsored by Ashford Environmental Services) The full list of finalists can be found on the CSA website.
Mears Group – The Face of Equality (The Following is a Promoted Article) The construction industry continues to be dominated by males at both the top and bottom rungs of business, and females are desperately under-represented across all sub-sectors. That’s something which Jane Nelson, Executive Director of Mears Group is actively looking to challenge and, as a prime example of just how successful women can be within the sector herself, she’s well positioned to do so. Founded in 1988, Mears Group has gone from being a small, local contractor to one the UK’s most competent and respected firms across areas of maintenance, development, facilities and estate management. Following a succession of domiciliary care acquisitions, including Care UK Homecare just last year, the company also boasts a further strand dedicated to providing high quality and integrated support for those who need it most. With such extensive services, Mears Group currently employs over 20,000 peoples in every region of the UK, and works across hundreds of thousands of properties each year. With responsibility at the heart of the company’s every day operations, Nelson has also pushed the importance of maintaining accountability within the business, particularly as it relates to women. With a construction career spanning decades, Jane Nelson has considerably shaken up the industry; her prominence, itself, is a triumph amongst stories which, by and large, centre on male achievements. Beginning as a trainee painter and decorator, Nelson went on to attain a Master of Science degree in Construction Refurbishment Management at University College London, climbing the ranks until leading the operations of large local authority director labour organisation (DLO) in East London. From knowing the industry inside-out also comes a knowledge of the hardships, prejudices and difficulties faced by women in the sector, as well as the fact that females make up as little as 11% of the sector’s workforce and just 1% when it comes to on site works. “Girls are told from a young age that construction isn’t a good career for women,” Nelson asserts. “But I want to show them that it absolutely can be. When I began my career, tradeswomen were commonplace but interest in the profession has waned and fewer young woman are undertaking training or apprenticeships in manual trades. Recent figures calculated by the Office of National Statistics highlight that just 1.76% of trade apprentices are women, the lowest number of women to commence formal training in a manual trade for a decade. Going into schools and enthusing girls about construction is one thing but that level of support and understanding has to endure throughout their schooling and beyond.” Nelson calls upon employers, in particular, to do more in the way of inspiring young women. As well as visiting and delivering talks at schools on a regular basis, Mears Group has established a strong presence at the National Housing Maintenance Forum (NHMF) – largely thanks to Jane’s continued efforts. This year’s conference saw her, alongside Christine Townley, Executive Director for Construction Youth Trust and Billy Park, Head of Major Investment for Guinness Property, address the skills shortages ravaging the sector and propose wider female participation as a critical solution. In fact, the firm held its very own conference dedicated to showcasing both the achievements and future potential of women in the sector at the end of last year which Nelson describes as a major success. “Mears Group is determined to recruit and retain a diverse workforce, so to hear the ideas of nearly 40 of our tradeswomen on how we can do that was brilliant,” says Nelson. “We welcomed a host of female representatives, from apprentices to experienced operations manager, and gave voice to things that mattered most to women in the industry.” In witness to her determined efforts raising the profile of women in construction and encouraging young girls to seek a career in the sector, Jane was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at last month’s 10th anniversary of the Women in Construction Awards. Thanking the hard work of colleagues and drawing attention to the continually undervalued sector of planned maintenance, Nelson stressed that, despite the accolade, her career is far from over and she is to continue to champion both best practice and women for years to come. And Mears Group has given the sector pause for thought in the sheer number of success histories amongst the females within its workforce. Whilst Nelson might exemplify that trend, she’s by no means the only woman to attract the merit of the wider sector; Michaela Walsh, a gas engineer from Manchester Working, part of Mears Group was shortlisted for the Best Female Apprentice at last year’s Women in Housing Awards. The annual awards ceremony is a staple of the calendar year for women and the industry alike, and aims to celebrate the achievements of both. The evening was hosted by Olympian, Diane Modahl and also featured an inspirational talk by philanthropist and TV presenter, Katie Piper. Whilst women are surely a valuable resource on which to draw in order to fill the current skills gaps pervading the sector, they also have much more to offer the sector in the way of difference. Women have an inherently different biological make-up and their drive, compassion and analytic-thinking are strengths without which Mears Group wouldn’t be the same. The company currently provides rapid response and planned maintenance services to local authorities and registered social landlords nationwide, delivering 6,000 quality repairs to over a million homes every day. With an additional arm in domiciliary care, Mears Group is defined by the level of care is able to offer within its portfolio of services. In recognition of the importance of service, as well as end result, the firm prides itself on a highly customer-oriented approach with which it identifies exactly what the client needs and, crucially, delivers. Furthermore, Mears Group has developed a specialist contact centre dedicated to serving the housing maintenance, care and support sectors – the firm’s three core markets. The facility makes use of the
Cheshire East Council has handed Wates Construction a contract to build a waste recycling centre in Middlewich. The contract with Wates will see the construction and refurbishment of new and existing buildings as part of scheduled works for the development on Cledford Lane. The 10-month project begins on 23rd May 2016. The value of the contract was not disclosed. The council is also investing £1m into constructing an air treatment system to minimise the impact of odour from the site. Councillor Don Stockton said: “This project will put our residents first by maximising recycling efforts and reducing landfill to an absolute minimum. Residents local to the site will benefit from the fact that Cheshire East Council has chosen a construction partner that understands the vital role that local community involvement can have.”
Marks and Spencer’s Energy has launched a second edition of the companies community energy fund offering local energy projects across the UK for up to £350, 000 in funding. The success of the scheme last year saw 51,000 vote on 246 applications for funding from a wide range of groups., the not for profit organisations want to provide a renewable energy to communities via these innovative projects. The shortlisted entries faced public votes enabling the public the opportunity to pick which initiative they wanted to get the funding. Jonathan Hazeldine, the head of M&S Energy stated his pleasure at seeing how many inspirational projects had benefit from the scheme in 2015 and how they were excited to start this new project in 2016. The Plan A scheme by Marks and Spencer’s had made the aspirational move to fund as many projects as they could by being a 100% green provider for those hoping for funding from the scheme, colleagues, customers and communities. The fund will award prizes regionally to projects that require a maximum of 12,500 in funding subject to the public vote, but all is not lost for those who lose. Innovative schemes who don’t win the public vote could still stand a chance to win the Judges’ Prize of £20,000. Applications for the scheme close on the 31st of May and entries will be shortlisted internally by a panel including Energyshare, SSE, M&S and an independent judge. Those projects will be evaluated on their social environmental impacts and measurable community benefits. Public votes open on the 5th of September and close on the 9th of October. The scheme hopes to see even more opportunities seized to help local communities and areas that would benefit most, expanding the chunk of funding further and providing the opportunity to win the judges prize are a few ways they’ve expanded on an already wildly successful and popular scheme.
