With the construction industry at a crossroads when it comes to tackling big ticket issues such as net zero, it is clear that old methods of working are no longer passing muster. Kriston Harvey, director at national engineering consultancy Rodgers Leask, believes that the best way to put projects in
GRAHAM has reported “strong and sustainable” financial growth in its latest published accounts for the financial year (up to 31st March 2022) as revenue reached £948m. This marks a £141.9m (17.6%) increase in the leading contractor’s turnover from the 2021 reporting period (2021 – £808.1m). In the same period, profit
Every company has a duty to comply with environmental regulations and requirements. They need to adhere to the local or national environmental regulatory requirements in all aspects of their business, including their operational activities, and the products or services that they offer. Many organizations choose to work alongside environmental compliance
The exterior of a house forms part of its curb appeal. It’s the first thing people and potential buyers will notice before getting to your living space. However, the exterior of a property has to withstand the everyday stresses of the weather conditions. These weather conditions and other factors can
Partnership between Siemens Digital Industries and Smart Infrastructure businesses accelerates factory towards net zero Sustainability milestone paves way for UK manufacturing sector Siemens’ Congleton factory is on track to achieve carbon neutrality this year – eight years ahead of its original target. The operation, which manufactures more than 1.2m controls
ROCKWOOL has entered a research partnership with Swansea University to develop CCUS technology ROCKWOOL has announced it is partnering with the Energy Safety Research Institute (ESRI) at Swansea University to research the capture of carbon dioxide. Researchers are aiming to develop new carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) technologies that
HS2 Ltd recently celebrated innovations to improve health and safety at works sites across Britain’s largest construction project. HS2’s health and safety campaign, Safe at Heart 2022 Inspiration Awards, chose three winners after receiving over 100 submissions from across the project, which now supports more than 25,000 jobs. Entries were
Prologis UK, one of the UK’s leading developers of logistics property, has added two new hires to its Capital Deployment and Leasing team, as it looks to further grow its UK team and drive ambitious growth plans. Jason Pickering has joined as a director in the Capital Deployment and Leasing
Deal gives OSiT 100% ownership of portfolio and supports ambitions to grow value to £1billion by 2029 Leading London office provider Office Space in Town (OSiT) has today announced that it has successfully acquired Brightbay Real Estate Partners’ 80% share in their London Serviced Office portfolio. The joint venture between Brightbay
Accounting is a complicated subject, let alone construction accounting. There are challenges in the construction industry that others don’t have to face. Just imagine what a headache it can be to account for changing construction materials prices, or differences in labor computations according to location. That’s only two of what
With the construction industry at a crossroads when it comes to tackling big ticket issues such as net zero, it is clear that old methods of working are no longer passing muster. Kriston Harvey, director at national engineering consultancy Rodgers Leask, believes that the best way to put projects in a place to succeed is through a collaborative approach, both with clients and throughout the supply chain. The idea of taking a more collaborative approach to construction is not exactly revolutionary – Sir John Egan’s Rethinking Construction white paper laid a blueprint for it nearly a quarter of a century ago – but in an industry with deeply entrenched behaviours, old habits die hard. For the industry to get into a scenario where collaboration is truly valued in achievement of issues such as net zero, there needs to be a seismic shift away from a “lowest price wins” mindset. While it is understandable for clients to sway towards the cost factor, it can permeate throughout the supply chain, so it is the responsibility of all within the supply chain to rethink our approach of how we work together – once one supplier starts putting price before progress, the domino effect begins. Key to this is valuing relationships between supply chain partners and holding each other to a high standard. For Rodgers Leask, the strength of our relationship with a certain partner is valued significantly higher than the cost of working with them, and it’s the same with clients we work for. This is proven through 90 per cent of our work now being repeat business and our level of service proving that there is an alternative framework for success achieved by offering quality over lowest cost. Whether it is an old or new client, forming strong relationships is an absolute cornerstone of working in a collaborative way, and that starts with early engagement. Key engineering constraints can be missed unless picked up right from the start, so having that early conversation can save clients significant amounts of time and money by preventing them from being led down the garden path. It’s fairly common practice for multi-disciplinary consultancies to be asked for high-level advice at the very start of a scheme, so having that open and trusting relationship means that clients quickly understand all the things they need to be thinking about and make informed decisions moving forward. It really comes down to a simple case of earlier engagement creating a better result all round. A MULTI-DISCIPLINARY APPROACH Collaboration from a supply chain perspective is especially important when you are dealing with projects that span the whole breadth of engineering disciplines. The vast majority of projects Rodgers Leask works on – such as the Becketwell regeneration in Derby city centre and our continuing work with Rolls-Royce Submarines – have multiple disciplines involved, and this is where clients can unlock some value in terms of collaboration by bringing everything under one roof. From a client’s perspective, this minimises the external points of contact and brings an ease of communication that can help projects run more succinctly. Meanwhile, the consultant can leverage economies of scale, meaning that a multi-disciplinary firm can give clients more bang for their buck while overseeing a collaborative approach in the supply chain. This is particularly pertinent with private sector clients, where the absence of more formal procurement routes mean that relationships are forged more strongly and repeat work is more common. TOGETHER, EVERYONE ACHIEVES MORE While collaboration in the supply chain may be easier to achieve with private sector clients, it is arguably more important to achieve in the public sector, where every penny is monitored and every process is scrutinised. With public sector procurement routes dictating how projects are awarded, there is often a significant weighting towards cost when it comes to consultant appointments via a traditional tendering process. However, there are ways in which consultants can work collaboratively before entering the procurement process to ensure that local authority clients are getting the best of both worlds. Consortiums are becoming increasingly popular, and Rodgers Leask has recently found success on the ESPO 2664 Property, Building and Infrastructure Advice and Management Services framework by leading a cross-disciplinary group of four consultants. Working as one collaborative group – featuring project manager and cost consultant Bentley Project Management, architect Whittam Cox and mechanical and electrical engineers CPW – will mean that that public sector bodies can rapidly access all four practices’, bringing better value for money, fewer contact points and – crucially – a more efficient way of working. With the Construction Playbook and Mosey Report pointing firmly towards more collaborative approaches being the construction industry’s future, the time has never been more right for consultants to look at their attitudes towards working with both clients and the supply chain. Only by doing this can we look to not only tackle the big challenges of the day, but also deliver best value for clients looking forward. For more information on Rodgers Leask, please visit https://rodgersleask.com/.
GRAHAM has reported “strong and sustainable” financial growth in its latest published accounts for the financial year (up to 31st March 2022) as revenue reached £948m. This marks a £141.9m (17.6%) increase in the leading contractor’s turnover from the 2021 reporting period (2021 – £808.1m). In the same period, profit before tax was recorded at £19m – a 54% increase from 2021 (2021 – £12.33m) – while the corresponding profit before tax margin rose by half a percent to 2% (2021 – 1.5%). Cash at bank and in hand also increased to £127m (2020 – £118.9m). This figure has enabled GRAHAM to further improve its supplier payment statistics and to continue to invest in the training and development of its 2,200+ staff cohort. Each business unit, comprising of building, civil engineering, interior fit-out, facilities management and investment projects, remained profitable throughout this latest financial year. Looking forward, GRAHAM has also secured a record work pipeline of £1.9bn, expanding its portfolio of major projects across the UK and Ireland, and earning selection to a number of leading national frameworks. The strong financial performance has been achieved despite the very many challenges faced by the construction industry as a whole, not least the reorientation of market conditions resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic and rising inflationary pressures. Concerted efforts Commenting on the latest figures, Andrew Bill, GRAHAM Group Chief Executive Officer, emphasised the disciplined approach to work winning, the continued cultivation of long-term client relationships and the concerted efforts of the workforce as instrumental to the Group’s performance. He said: “GRAHAM is pleased with these latest published accounts, which demonstrate our commitment to strong and sustainable financial growth in the face of considerable economic challenges for the construction industry and wider society. We have adopted a pragmatic, sensible and selective approach to winning work, coupled with a focus on risk management. Real collaboration with our clients and partners, based on trust and transparency, has also been central to realising our Group objectives. It goes without saying that the immense efforts of our staff, supply chain and subcontractors, who continue to innovate and strive for excellence, is the platform that underpins our continued high performance.” For more information on GRAHAM, please visit: www.graham.co.uk
Every company has a duty to comply with environmental regulations and requirements. They need to adhere to the local or national environmental regulatory requirements in all aspects of their business, including their operational activities, and the products or services that they offer. Many organizations choose to work alongside environmental compliance and consulting services to ensure they comply with the legal regulations. Since environmental compliance can be complicated, gaining help from an expert company can be helpful. Who Defines Environmental Compliance Regulations? Ultimately, environmental compliance lays out a set of rules that every company must follow to reduce the negative impacts that their operations might have on the environment. These rules are determined by regulatory bodies, such as: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) enforces many federal environmental laws and regulations for environmental and community benefits. Department of the Interior implements federal laws that are associated with public lands management, conservation regulations, mining, and natural resources. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration regulates the transportation of hazardous materials, such as radioactive substances, oil, and natural gas. There are many more regulatory bodies, all of which are involved in creating the laws around environmental compliance. Creating an Environmental Compliance Report Larger organizations can hire a team of staff dedicated to generating environment compliance reports. Smaller companies may outsource their environmental compliance reports to a third-party company or an environmental regulator. The following information may be included in an environmental compliance report: The overall impact of the business on the environment Strategies and policies that the business plans to implement to reduce or eliminate their environmental impact Any relevant permits or licenses Details of when and where the business has handled hazardous materials Details of how the business disposes of hazardous waste materials Why is Environmental Compliance Important? Companies have both legal and ethical responsibilities to protect the environment in as many ways as possible. By implementing policies to be compliant with environmental regulations, businesses can also gain a positive reputation and widen their customer base. More customers are now searching for organizations and brands that are making a conscious effort to protect the environment. Consumers are now choosing to support brands that are trying to mitigate harm to the environment over companies that aren’t making the same efforts. There are several additional benefits of environmental compliance. It enables a company to: Identify the environmental issues that are impacting business operations or stunting business growth Identify where their current business operations might be negatively impacting the environment Create and implement strategies or policies to mitigate any negative environmental impacts and reduce the environmental footprint associated with their daily operations Mitigate the risks of non-compliance Recognize the required environmental permits and licenses, and apply for them if necessary Identify the most cost-efficient and resource-efficient ways of maintaining environmental compliance Define the process of getting rid of hazardous waste materials or substances
The exterior of a house forms part of its curb appeal. It’s the first thing people and potential buyers will notice before getting to your living space. However, the exterior of a property has to withstand the everyday stresses of the weather conditions. These weather conditions and other factors can accelerate how fast they deteriorate. Although the property’s location can affect how quickly its exterior will deteriorate, it’s essential to understand that weather conditions can cause significant damage. For this reason, it’s crucial to identify ways to buffer and protect your house from weather conditions. Hence, the need for rendering services. The following article discusses what you need to know about rendering. You’ll learn what rendering is, why you should consider outsourcing these services, and more. Read on. What Is Rendering? As mentioned above, having a buffer zone between your home exterior and weather conditions is crucial. Rendering involves installing protective material over your property’s building bricks and blocks. Thus, the exterior won’t be in direct contact with the extreme weather, saving it from deterioration and other risks. Apart from protecting your exterior, rendering will significantly improve your home appearance, which could boost your home value. Why Should You Hire Rendering Services? Although you might prefer to render the house by yourself, it’s advisable to outsource the services from a reputable vendor. However, getting a reputable service provider can be challenging due to the many options you can choose from. For this reason, it’s crucial to conduct enough background checks to gauge the reputation of a service provider, ensuring you get quality services at affordable prices. In choosing a service provider, Rock cote specialist say you must opt for one that can deliver quality and personalized services to their customers. That said, you should take your time when gauging a service provider and ensure that they will meet your needs and expectations, giving you the value of your hard-earned bucks. The following are the benefits of hiring rendering services. They include: Access To Quality Services This is one of the reasons why you should consider outsourcing your rendering services. A reputable service provider has enough skills and know-how to ensure they deliver quality services. If you decide to do the rendering project by yourself, you might not have enough tools and know-how to finish the project, and you might lose your investment. Apart from experience, reputable service providers are certified to undertake such projects. Thus, they’ll ensure you comply with the building codes in your locality. This doesn’t only save you from non-compliance fines and penalties; it’ll also ensure quality results, giving you value for your money. Stay In A Budget An expert will make it easier for you to stay within the budget. An expert with market knowledge will ensure you access affordable materials within your budget. They’ll also deliver quality services, ensuring you get the most out of the service fees charged. On the other hand, doing everything by yourself might make it hard for you to stay within the budget. You might pay more for materials if you don’t have the skills and market knowledge. This may affect your saving margins, and you find yourself with insufficient funds to finish the project. Insurance Coverage Rendering is not a cheap investment and might leave a huge dent in your hard-earned savings. For this reason, it’s essential to ensure it’s protected and insured in case it happens to it. If you undertake the project and anything happens to it, you risk losing your entire investment. On the other hand, a service provider will provide a liability coverage policy. The policy will ensure the project is safe in case anything happens. However, it’s essential to go through the provided coverage to understand what is covered and what is not. With such information, you can consider including add-ons to guarantee you’ll be fully compensated in case of anything. What To Consider When Looking For A Rendering Service Provider? It would be best to consider the following factors to ensure you get a reputable service provider to cater to your rendering needs. They include: Experience This is one of the things you should look out for before hiring a vendor. An experienced vendor will have enough skills to undertake the project. Additionally, they must have undertaken a similar project; thus, avoiding mistakes will be easier, ensuring you get an outstanding result. Price The cost of rendering services will vary from one vendor to another. Paying a high amount of money doesn’t guarantee you get quality services. On the other hand, ridiculously low prices aren’t the best idea either. That said, it’s important to visit more than one service to know the average price in your area. This ensures you get quality services at pocket-friendly prices, improving your return on investment (ROI). Wrapping Up As mentioned above, weather conditions might accelerate the deterioration of your property’s exterior. However, you can outsource rendering services to protect the exterior, improving their outlook and shelf life. Conduct extensive research to ensure you choose a reputable vendor in your locality, giving you value for your money.
Partnership between Siemens Digital Industries and Smart Infrastructure businesses accelerates factory towards net zero Sustainability milestone paves way for UK manufacturing sector Siemens’ Congleton factory is on track to achieve carbon neutrality this year – eight years ahead of its original target. The operation, which manufactures more than 1.2m controls and drives each year, is inching its way to the major milestone after deploying a range of sustainable solutions for energy generation and demand with support from Siemens’ energy and performance services business, Smart Infrastructure. These include generating 75kw of renewable energy through a hydro-electric plant at Havannah Weir on the river Dane and using carbon neutral, certified biogas to power its on-site gas engine. These measures alone saved over £250,000 pounds a year and took the 80% power-independent factory off the grid. Beyond these innovations, Siemens Congleton adopted a building management system which automatically adjusts to drive energy efficiency improvements, while modern windows and LED lighting have reduced the total energy bill by 13% and 30% respectively. Combined with reducing waste to landfill to zero and EV charging for staff and visitors, the Cheshire site is eight years ahead of Siemens’ original 2015 commitment to ensure carbon neutral operations by 2030. Commenting on the achievement, Andrew Peters, Managing Director of Siemens Digital Industries Congleton, said: “Siemens believes that sustainability is a force for good and can deliver value for all its stakeholders. We want to help customers achieve sustainable growth and to transform their industries through decarbonisation. The first step of that is for us to achieve these ambitions in our own operations. “I am delighted that by leveraging a culture of continuous improvement and sustainability – the vital components to Siemens’ Congleton’s long-term success – we have achieved carbon neutrality, a major milestone in our ambitions to reach net zero emissions by 2030.” The 50-year-old Siemens Congleton factory began its sustainability journey in 1990 when it began manufacturing drives to meet the demands of industry. In 2018 the factory became fully digital by embracing lean manufacturing methods to achieve continuous improvement and by adopting leading-edge Industry 4.0 processes. Using advanced manufacturing methods include Virtual Reality, Digital Twin, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), Advanced Robotics, Cloud Technology and Additive Manufacturing, it has mastered producing up to 50,000 variations of its products to fulfil the shifting demands of its customers and markets, increased productivity by driving down costs, and improved efficiency. In 1990, 400 workers made 50,000 variable speed drives and controls a year. Today, a similar number of workers produce 1.2 million electrical devices – including 600,000 variable speed drives (VSDs). What is more is that it has been achieved within the same physical footprint. The factory is bounded by industrial units and housing estates, with no room to expand, meaning Congleton has one of the highest productivity rates per m2 of any Siemens’ sites. Faye Bowser, Head of Siemens’ Energy & Performance Services GB&I, said: “The climate emergency puts the demand on businesses of all sizes and sectors to really accelerate their efforts for decarbonisation. But a challenge is that often decarbonisation isn’t their core business. So, at Energy and Performance Services we make it our business to use our skills, our knowledge and our tools to help our customers transition to net zero in a way that contributes to their business priorities. “Despite us being from the Siemens family, we have approached working with Congleton the same we do with any organisation. It has been fantastic. In Andrew Peters you have a leader in a business which has put continuous improvement and sustainability at the heart of their long-term success. Our job was to apply those components to their energy system and their energy strategy. What we ended up with is an engineered roadmaps to net zero that considers timelines, finance, digital services, all there to safeguard business continuity, and to have a method to continuously identify more opportunities to reduce carbon on site.” The Congleton factory is leading the way for Siemens which has committed, as a global organisation, to ensure all its operations are carbon neutral by 2030 and for all production facilities and buildings to achieve net zero-carbon footprint by 2030. In the UK Siemens’ progress has been recognised by The Carbon Trust, an expert partner for supporting organisations to achieve science-based targets. In June it awarded Siemens its Route to Net Zero Standard tier one certification for ‘Taking Action’. Commenting on this milestone achievement, Olivia Whitlam, Head of Sustainability, Siemens Plc said: “Siemens is taking a holistic approach to achieving net zero and we are pleased to be guided by the Carbon Trust who helps us monitor our progress each year. “We have 8,600 people spread across offices and 11 manufacturing sites across the UK and we are creating innovation up and down the country with sustainability at the core of our operations and services. Our Congleton factory is paving the way for sustainability whilst setting a great example on how manufacturers can join this amazing journey to net zero.” Congleton’s trailblazing story will be shared at Siemens’ two-day conference and exhibition, Transform 2022 at Manchester Central on July 12 and 13. The event will bring together hundreds of industry leaders, influencers and regulators from across the UK and Ireland to collaborate and solve some of the most pressing organisational challenges. To register for Transform 2022 visit: https://new.siemens.com/uk/en/company/fairs-events/events/transform-2022.html
ROCKWOOL has entered a research partnership with Swansea University to develop CCUS technology ROCKWOOL has announced it is partnering with the Energy Safety Research Institute (ESRI) at Swansea University to research the capture of carbon dioxide. Researchers are aiming to develop new carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) technologies that can assist the UK in achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Researchers at ESRI have been working on a process called Pressure Swing Adsorption to separate carbon dioxide from a mixture of gases. To date, this has been shown to work under laboratory conditions and so the next step is to investigate how it works in a real-life industrial process. Over the next 12 months, researchers will be experimenting with different adsorbent materials and operating conditions to determine the most effective method for removing carbon dioxide. Isolating carbon dioxide from a mixed gas stream is an important step in developing opportunities for use or long-term storage. Darryl Matthews, Managing Director of ROCKWOOL UK, said: “Alongside ROCKWOOL membership of the South Wales Industrial Cluster, I am delighted we’re partnering with Swansea University to pilot new technology designed to capture CO2 emissions and are excited about its potential in supporting the drive to net zero.” The demonstration unit is being developed as part of the £11.5m Reducing Industrial Carbon Emissions (RICE) project which has been part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Welsh Government and is aimed at the deployment of industrial scale demonstrations of new technology. Darryl continued: “Taking these important steps to understand how we can develop CCUS technology further is another important piece of the decarbonisation puzzle for us as a business. ROCKWOOL has long been committed to operating sustainably and, in December 2020, announced commitments to accelerate the decarbonisation of our business, with specific long-term targets verified and approved by the Science Based Targets initiative.” Professor Andrew Barron the Principal Investigator of the RICE project summarised the achievement: “With 2050 arriving fast, the time for research is over, it is imperative to get new technology onto industrial sites in order to demonstrate viability. Partners such as Rockwool are vital in achieving this goal.” In 2020 the ROCKWOOL Group announced ambitious, science based global decarbonisation targets that have been verified and approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). The targets, which supplement existing sustainability goals, amount to an ambitious one third reduction of the ROCKWOOL lifecycle (Scope 1, 2 and 3) greenhouse gas emissions by 2034 while at the same time continuing the reduce the carbon intensity of production. These commitments build on the manufacturer’s existing status as a net carbon negative company, in that over the lifetime of its use, the building insulation ROCKWOOL sold in 2021 will save 100 times the carbon emitted in its production.
HS2 Ltd recently celebrated innovations to improve health and safety at works sites across Britain’s largest construction project. HS2’s health and safety campaign, Safe at Heart 2022 Inspiration Awards, chose three winners after receiving over 100 submissions from across the project, which now supports more than 25,000 jobs. Entries were submitted under Safe at Heart’s three categories: I Care; You Count; and We Matter. A simple innovation introduced by the occupational health team of HS2 contractor EKFB won in the I Care category. Ahead of building the 80km central section of Britain’s new high speed railway between London and the West Midlands, main civil works contractor EKFB needed to install a series of batching plants along the route to supply concrete to work sites beside the line. Each of the four plants arrived as giant kits to be assembled on site. Fixing together all the parts of each batching plant involved tightening over 2000 bolts with spanners and powered torque wrenches. Eagle-eyed Tim Callow and Bill Strachan of EKFB’s safety, health & welfare team saw an opportunity to boost the health and safety of workers building the plants by radically reducing their exposure to handheld power-tool vibrations. Insulating the tool with a rubberised sleeve reduced by 95% the vibration transmitted from tool to hand. In a UK-first, HS2’s Chilterns Tunnel contractor, Align, won in the We Matter category by deploying robotic technology that has boosted worker safety, quality and efficiency on the production line making the tunnel’s concrete ring segments. The segment production line’s health and safety has been enhanced through the automation of two stages of manufacture. The first sees a robot deployed to clean and oil the segment moulds before wet concrete is poured into them. By automating this role workers’ exposure to the dust during the cleaning process is eliminated. A second robot smooths the top surface of the mould, boosting product quality and homogeneity as well as freeing up worker time to add the human touch to the finishing process that automation might miss. Elsewhere on the HS2 project, the introduction of innovative hearing protection at London work sites; and creation of HAZID* which gives workers a simple and easy-to-follow framework to create higher-quality risk assessments was recognised in the You Count category. Technical Services Delivery Director, Emma Head said: “We received over 100 entries for our Health & Safety awards, which is impressive and shows how much great work is already happening across HS2 to embed Safe at Heart into everything we do. “We’ll take the improvement in practices from this year’s entries and winners, and look at how we can implement them elsewhere on the project. “As a massive and long-term programme that is forecast to support around 34,000 jobs at peak construction, there’s an opportunity not just to see these innovations and initiatives implemented route wide on HS2, but also to affect long term change across the construction industry.”
Prologis UK, one of the UK’s leading developers of logistics property, has added two new hires to its Capital Deployment and Leasing team, as it looks to further grow its UK team and drive ambitious growth plans. Jason Pickering has joined as a director in the Capital Deployment and Leasing team, following six years at Cushman & Wakefield. With extensive experience in industrial and logistics capital markets, and a specific focus on South East and national developments, he will be helping Prologis to continue expansion plans in London and development of urban logistics offering. Ryan Gordon also joins the company as a Capital Deployment and Leasing director, after working for Stripe Street for eight years. There, his role as an agent for Aldi Stores UK aided in the supermarket’s expansion, with a particular focus on site acquisitions in London and the South East. Alongside his experience as an agent, Ryan is a chartered surveyor, and has an in-depth knowledge of the land acquisition and property development process from start to finish. In their new roles, both Jason and Ryan will focus on land and investment acquisitions in Prologis’ strategic priority regions within London and the South East, using their complimentary skills and 14 years of combined experience to support the firm’s ambitious growth plans. Paul Weston, Regional Head of Prologis UK, said: “It’s great to have Jason and Ryan join our business, both highly qualified to drive forward our significant growth ambitions for London and the wider South East of the UK. In 2022 we have announced six new hires who will focus on the region and will soon be moving into new London offices to provide the team with an exciting new collaborative hub. “I’m looking forward to working with Jason and Ryan and supporting their career aspirations here at Prologis”. Both Ryan and Jason will be based in Prologis’ London office. RE: IMAGE Left -Right / Jason Pickering, Ryan Gordon. Prologis UK
Deal gives OSiT 100% ownership of portfolio and supports ambitions to grow value to £1billion by 2029 Leading London office provider Office Space in Town (OSiT) has today announced that it has successfully acquired Brightbay Real Estate Partners’ 80% share in their London Serviced Office portfolio. The joint venture between Brightbay (previously RDI REIT P.L.C.) and OSiT was established in 2018. The portfolio is now owned fully by OSiT. The buyout marks a major milestone for the future trajectory of the business, unleashing OSiT’s plans to increase the portfolio value to £500m in the next four years and to £1billion by 2029. OSiT is actively seeking new buildings in prime London locations to purchase to meet rising demand for flexible workspace, as well as partners to support its ambitious growth plans. The deal follows a period of exponential growth for the sector following the COVID-19 pandemic, which has seen demand for flexible office space up 82% on pre-pandemic levels.[1] In fact, as workers return to offices, 41% of occupiers are expected to increase use of flexible workspace as part of a post-COVID work strategy.[2] In light of this, defining an industry-wide valuation standard for flexible offices remains a major priority for the company in the next six months, with talks ongoing between OSiT and leading academics Professor Neil Dunse and Professor Michael White. RDI REIT acquired an 80% stake in the portfolio of four central London OSiT assets in 2018 from Forum Partners, Kailong Group and OSiT. The deal marked a continued move by mainstream institutional investors into the flexible office market. OSiT was advised by lawyers at leading City law firm RPC, led by Tom Purton. Giles Fuchs, Chairman of Office Space in Town, said: “This deal marks the beginning of an incredibly exciting chapter in OSiT’s growth. This new phase will enable the OSiT team to deliver on our ambitious vision for the future, including our active search to acquire new buildings and plans to grow the portfolio value to £1billion. “Our partnership with Brightbay showcased just how much value and potential institutional investors see within our rapidly growing sector and in OSiT as a business. I would like to thank the entire team, including Stephen Oakenfull and Adrian Horsburgh, for such an exciting journey.” Simon Eastlake, Managing Director of Office Space in Town, commented: “Full ownership of the OSiT portfolio marks an important milestone that now sets us on track for a new phase of exciting growth. “We are actively seeking new buildings and partners that share our vision and enthusiasm for the sector. We’re incredibly excited about what the future holds next for OSiT.” Tom Purton, Head of Commercial Team at RPC, commented: “We were delighted to act for OSiT on what is a very significant and transformational deal for them. I have known and acted for OSiT for a number of years, but this was the first deal we have done for them since my move to City law firm, RPC in 2021. “OSiT is a great business, has a very strong management team, a unique culture which inspires huge loyalty amongst its workforce with market leading serviced offices. I have no doubt this deal will help take the business to the next level”.
Accounting is a complicated subject, let alone construction accounting. There are challenges in the construction industry that others don’t have to face. Just imagine what a headache it can be to account for changing construction materials prices, or differences in labor computations according to location. That’s only two of what it covers. If you don’t know some industry secrets to staying organized with your accounting, you may just be setting up your construction business to doom. This statement may sound overly dramatic, but there’s so much truth in it. Big and small businesses depend on a steady and robust financial situation. An efficient accounting system can then run the possibility of having erroneous financial reports, hurting your construction business’ operations. There’s much more to learn about construction accounting, and this article walks you through a quick guide. Hire Professional Tax Preparers To Help You Nobody ever said, ‘Accounting is simple.’ Even the most seasoned entrepreneurs recognize they need the help of those who have spent years studying accounting and tax-related matters. And, in between the busy day-to-day operations of your construction site and the time-consuming demands of taxation and accounting, your construction site’s smooth flow of operations may suffer. This is why you need to leave those highly technical job functions to the experts in the industry, like accountants and tax preparers. The latter are professionals who have to register with the IRS to submit returns using professional tax software. This page gives you more information about this matter. Open A Separate Bank Account For Construction Business Finances This tip goes without saying if you’ve been in business for so long and you’ve grown your construction business quite extensively. However, for newcomers, it’s worth remembering to open a separate bank account for construction-related inflow and outflow and a separate one for your finances. Ideally, never mix the two. No matter how small your business may be at the moment, it’s never worth mixing business and personal funds. Doing so will only make the job of your accountant even more cumbersome. Even seasoned accountants can make mistakes, and you’re simply increasing the likelihood of this happening. It’s easier to track the inflow and outflow of money when you know for sure which belongs to your construction business and which belongs to your funds. Moreover, this practice is what you need for long-term business stability, so you don’t wind up spending business funds for personal purposes. Open Multiple Bank Accounts Now you’ll have a separate account for business and personal purposes. Don’t stop there. You can go even deeper and more specifically by opening multiple bank accounts for your business. This strategy is one of the easiest ways to track revenue and expenses, both of which are the core focus of accounting. For example, you may want to have a separate account for payroll purposes, construction materials’ procurement, and for receiving payments. The account you use to accept payments from clients can also be where you’ll transfer money to the other accounts as needed. Practice The Job Costing Method The job costing method means the cash inflow and outflow are properly attributed to each construction site or job. Even if all income from those construction sites technically still goes to your company’s earnings, it can streamline the accounting process when you know what belongs to this site and what doesn’t. This system is critical, so you can monitor the income earned for each site. Otherwise, if you mix different job projects, you may use the funds from one location site to pay for the labor expenses on another. This considerably misleads your books, as you may have a higher income on another site than it generates. Practice The Cash Basis Method There are generally two accounting methods that businesses can choose from cash basis or accrual basis of accounting. The most straightforward approach is cash basis, so this is what you should use for your construction business. You’re already operating a complicated business as it is. If there’s any system or process you can use to help simplify those complexities, that would be the better choice. With the cash basis of accounting, you record the income and expenses as you receive and pay cash for them. Conclusion The construction industry is, by itself, a very complex business. Unlike other types of businesses, there are many variables to account for in construction. And those variables can be regularly changed as to values as well. With that, it’s almost unsurprising to note that construction accounting may not be that straightforward. It’s difficult, but there’s no excuse not to learn it, as every penny counts. Hopefully, the guide above has shed more light on you about construction accounting, so moving forward, you’ll be less confused about how to go about it.
