Interserve, the international support services and construction group, has delivered the UK’s first NHS high-energy Proton Beam Therapy (PBT) Centre in the North West in collaboration with their supply chain partners Mace, Arup & HKS on time and under budget. The state of the art technology uses an advanced form
More than 100 guests donned their hard hats and gathered on site at the new £33.5m Circle Birmingham Hospital in Edgbaston for a ceremony to mark the project’s progress. Guests of honour attending the event at the former Pebble Mill site included the Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Councillor Yvonne Mosquito
Ballymore continues to be celebrated for its pioneering approach to creating places where people live and thrive. Putting quality of life and a rooted connection to arts and culture at the core of the business, Ballymore take great seriousness in their role as a place maker. Standing proudly as one
One of the UK’s most successful regional theatre companies lifted the curtains on a brand-new era in its 90-year history tonight (Sep 26) following a £7.5m refurbishment project. Mayflower Theatre took a ‘dramatic pause’ as it turned off the lights for the multi-million pound project back in June. Tonight it
Healthcare consultancy, Essentia Trading, has announced the winning contractors for two new energy saving frameworks that offer unique savings guarantees for NHS Trusts and other public sector organisations. They are the Essentia LED Lighting Framework and the Essentia Battery Storage Framework. NHS Trusts and other public sector organisations will now
Official statistics have been released regarding Scotland’s home builders, showing a 3% increase in new house building for 2017-18 (17,731) compared with the previous year (17,293) but highlighted a mixed picture in the detail of the figures, with 16% fewer (532) private sector-led homes completed in Q1 2018 compared with
When your e-commerce business makes a sale, the last thing you want is to have to deal with a return. You’ll lose the sale and incur additional costs. To accommodate a return, the product must reverses its way through your supply chain. All activity associated with accepting the return of
In the standard retail market, arguably the single, biggest difference between buying from a business and buying from an individual is that you have a much higher degree of legal protection in the former situation. Goods sold by companies have to be “fit for purpose” whereas goods sold by private
Although flyers are a communication tool that exist for some time, even today they are still being successful thanks to their ease of use and the advantages and benefits they offer to a company. Successful flyers only need one thing to work: an attractive design. When it comes to publicizing
Regional contractor G F Tomlinson has started work on three new alternative provision Free School academies in Lincolnshire. The Springwell Alternative Academies project is being delivered in partnership with Wellspring Academy Trust and will create more than 180 places for students aged 4-16. The three academies consist of two brand
Interserve, the international support services and construction group, has delivered the UK’s first NHS high-energy Proton Beam Therapy (PBT) Centre in the North West in collaboration with their supply chain partners Mace, Arup & HKS on time and under budget. The state of the art technology uses an advanced form of radiotherapy for the treatment of complex and hard-to-treat cancers in children and adults. The Christie, who worked in partnership with Interserve, was selected by the Department of Health as one of two providers of the service, together with University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Although procured at the same time, The Christie chose to deliver the construction phase through the Procure 21 framework. This speed to site procurement route means that from 2018, patients will benefit from local access to this advanced treatment at The Christie. The state of the art 15,000 m2 five storey building will provide: 4 treatment rooms; a patient reception; consultation rooms and public space. The building is designed to be future proof with additional space for the Trust to grow into. The building will begin treating patients in the autumn and, once fully operational, will treat around 750 people a year. This life-changing facility will not only save lives, but also prevent families from enduring expensive and stressful travel abroad for treatment. PBT uses a high-energy beam of protons rather than high-energy X-rays to deliver a dose of radiotherapy. It directs the radiation treatment to precisely where it is needed with minimal damage to surrounding tissue. As this unique project was the first being built in the UK, Interserve had no blueprint to follow so they travelled extensively around the globe to bring the benefit of international expertise and learning to the UK, overcoming many challenges to deliver this world class facility and become experts in delivering this type of facility. The building’s list of technical features is almost as extraordinary as proton beam treatment itself: To contain the radiation, the concrete walls are up to six metres thick. The building incorporates 20,000m³ of concrete & 1,700 tonnes of reinforcement, including steel bars up to 100mm diameter. Through this, 10km of services pipework has been carefully threaded. The concrete itself weighs 48,000 tonnes, the equivalent of two aircraft carriers. To meet the building’s demanding energy needs, a new sub-station has been built, which provides an equivalent amount of power to that needed to run the nearby Trafford Industrial Park. The building is the first PBT Centre to target BREEAM excellent. Reclaiming heat from the Proton Beam equipment will make a significant contribution to the BREEAM scoring. Jason Dawson, Director of Capital, Estates and Facilities of The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are delighted to be able to offer this life changing treatment to patients. The delivery of this facility has been one of the most complex and precise projects within the NHS. “We identified very early in the project that we needed a construction partner that could work alongside our team. The partnership approach integrated with Interserve’s technical expertise and energy to solve problems is one of the key reasons we completed on time. George Franks, Managing Director of Interserve Construction said: “We are proud to have delivered this life-changing facility which built on our long-term relationship with The Christie with whom we have been construction partners for more than 10 years. The Interserve team’s knowledge, experience, innovation and expertise as well as the extensive field research undertaken at the start of the project has contributed to delivery on time and on budget. The completion of this project is another substantial milestone in our long-term relationship with The Christie and one that we hope continues long in to the future with many more successes along the way.”
More than 100 guests donned their hard hats and gathered on site at the new £33.5m Circle Birmingham Hospital in Edgbaston for a ceremony to mark the project’s progress. Guests of honour attending the event at the former Pebble Mill site included the Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Councillor Yvonne Mosquito and Councillor Dierdre Alden. The ceremony included the unveiling of a plaque to mark the ‘topping out’ stage of the build. The hospital, which is being built by Simons Group, will be complete in Summer 2019 and will be the second largest private hospital in the UK. It will be an addition to Circle Health’s other hospitals in Bath, Nottingham and Reading. Guests including surgeons and other health professionals, along with all site workers who were invited to down tools especially for the event, watched the ceremonial unveiling.
Ballymore continues to be celebrated for its pioneering approach to creating places where people live and thrive. Putting quality of life and a rooted connection to arts and culture at the core of the business, Ballymore take great seriousness in their role as a place maker. Standing proudly as one London and Dublin’s most active property developers, Ballymore have over 5,500 people engages with them on every level throughout current projects. Current projects include that of new headquarters for the English National Ballet and London Film School, on London City Island. Previous work has seen the business work alongside the US Government, moving their embassy from Grosvenor Square to Embassy Garden, Nine Elms, a project which established a new riverside cultural district for the city. Recently, Royal Wharf has been presented with the Seal of Excellence at the NHBC Awards. An honour presented to Joe Cashman, Director, after the joined the top 450 UK Site Managers to win a Quality Award for the projects Phase 2B Development. Joe Cashman is now part of an elite and recognised group of site managers who have showcased dedication and commitment, leading to a representation of the top 100 site managers in the country. An initial 16,000 enter the NHBC Awards in the hope of being granted the honour of Seal of Excellence. The award stands as a testament to Ballymore’s continuous commitment to the creation of homes of outstanding quality, that are built with the benefits of the client in mind. The NHBC judge Site Managers on six key areas: attention to detail, leadership, consistency, technical expertise, interpretation of drawings and specifications, and health and safety measures. The Pride in the Job Award has been presented by the NHBC since its launch in 1980 and has since helped businesses to showcase their ability and performance, driving the standards that new builds should meet a certain criteria to be the very best they can be. NHBC standards are integrated into the culture and heart of Ballymore, which stands as a company that is forever looking to improve and innovate, to offer the very best in modern home design and construction. Joe Cashman has expressed his pride in being awarded the esteemed honour and is happy to have received recognition on behalf of the Royal Wharf project and Ballymore. Despite the award being granted to individuals, it is an overall representation of the company and every individual involved in a recognised project. “For the company, the awards from the NHBC mean we’re doing something right,” remarks Joe. “For me at Royal Wharf, it is the result of all the team’s efforts. We’ve been here on site as principal contractor for the last three and a half years, and the award represents the successful accumulation of a lot of hard work.” Ballymore offer an ability to not only continuously deliver homes to the highest of standards but have build an established reputation that show a willingness to constantly seek improvements through constant dedication.
One of the UK’s most successful regional theatre companies lifted the curtains on a brand-new era in its 90-year history tonight (Sep 26) following a £7.5m refurbishment project. Mayflower Theatre took a ‘dramatic pause’ as it turned off the lights for the multi-million pound project back in June. Tonight it reopened its doors to the public for the first time to reveal the results of its biggest transformation of the last 30 years. The iconic Southampton venue has been completely repainted with a dramatic new red and gold colour scheme. All of the seats in the stall and circle have been removed and replaced with 1,659 brand-new, wider seats while the seats in the balcony have been reupholstered. The theatre has gained an extra seat, taking its total seat capacity to 2,274. New environmentally-friendly LED lighting has been installed, the orchestra pit has been moved beneath the stage and accessibility has been improved, with better facilities for people with disabilities. The multi-million pound project will ensure the theatre remains best in class and continues to draw in hundreds of thousands of people to the city. Every year more than 500,000 people visit Mayflower Theatre and the venue contributes an estimated £75m to the economy. Michael Ockwell, chief executive of Mayflower Theatre, said: “This is without doubt the most significant refurbishment project that the theatre has seen in the last three decades and we were thrilled to lift the curtains on the new look tonight. For us, this project is very much about ensuring Mayflower Theatre remains best in class not just for now, but long into the future.” The £7.5m investment has been welcomed by representatives from the public as well as the private sector. Southampton Cultural Development Trust Chairman Brad Roynon said: “Mayflower Theatre doesn’t just bring in huge shows and hundreds of thousands of visitors to the city every year. It also plays an important part in connecting new audiences with theatre and inspiring young people to get involved in the arts. It’s therefore absolutely vital that we preserve this historic and culturally important venue to ensure it remains, and develops further, as a catalyst for the growth of arts and culture.” Cabinet Member for Homes and Culture at Southampton City Council, Councillor Satvir Kaur said: “It’s fantastic to see the Mayflower theatre opening its doors again. This iconic building is an integral part of the extensive entertainment offering that can be found in Southampton. The theatre is one of the biggest outside of London and attracts people from a huge area. This essential refurbishment ensures that the venue itself lives up to the reputation that it has.” Mayflower Theatre is the biggest regional theatre outside of London and has seen the likes of Julie Andrews, Laurel and Hardy, Michael McIntyre, Take That and even The Beatles tread its boards over its 90-year history. The venue opened on December 22, 1928 as the Empire Theatre, becoming The Gaumont in 1950 and eventually Mayflower Theatre in 1987. It remains the largest theatre in the south of England and employs 230 staff. Its reopening was celebrated with a gala evening of music and entertainment, commemorating the theatre’s past and celebrating the future with some of the next generation of stage performers. The first official performance will be Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, which runs from September 28 and 29. Tickets can be booked online at www.mayflower.org.uk or by visiting the box office.
Healthcare consultancy, Essentia Trading, has announced the winning contractors for two new energy saving frameworks that offer unique savings guarantees for NHS Trusts and other public sector organisations. They are the Essentia LED Lighting Framework and the Essentia Battery Storage Framework. NHS Trusts and other public sector organisations will now be able to use the frameworks to procure public sector compliant suppliers for their energy saving projects. Both frameworks guarantee that if the expected cost savings are not reached within the contract period, then the supplier will have to pay the difference. Suppliers have been appointed for up to four years after a rigorous selection process. Details of the frameworks and the winning contractors are as follows: Essentia LED Lighting Framework A free-to-use, UK-wide lighting framework that helps public sector clients to deliver cost, carbon and ongoing maintenance savings, as well as improve environments and lighting services. Flexible in its approach, contracts can be awarded via both direct award or mini-competition. This is the only lighting-specific framework to offer a savings guarantee. There are seven winning suppliers on this framework: E.ON Ecolite Thorlux Lighting Blackbourne Gamma Group Energy Saving Lighting (ESL) Energys Group Essentia Battery Storage Framework A free-to-access battery storage framework that supports public sector clients in procuring battery storage solutions to reduce fixed and variable charges. The framework has several suppliers on it that can implement computer-controlled battery storage solutions enabling organisations to reduce Triad charges, DUoS charges, Capacity Market Charges and utilise grid incentives such as Firm Frequency Response. There are six winning suppliers on this framework: Bouygues Energies and Services red T Energy Storage Centrica Business Solutions Powerstar EDF Energy Veolia Trusts and public sector bodies that choose to use the framework will be helped through the selection and contracts process by Essentia’s award-winning sustainability team. Since 2014, Essentia has helped deliver over £18m of energy savings for 19 NHS Trusts, 27 Acute Hospitals and over 30 community-based sites. Alexandra Hammond, Sustainability Director at Essentia, commented: “The NHS currently spends more than £540 million on energy every year, but could be making significant savings by installing technologies such as LED lighting and smart energy management systems”. “The major benefit of using an Essentia framework is that all projects come with a savings guarantee and built-in business case. We take away the complexity of energy saving procurement and provide a fast route to market and provide advice and guidance throughout the procurement process to ensure clients secure the best partners for their projects.” For further information on either of the Frameworks, contact sustainability@essentia.uk.com or call 0207188 6000. For more information on Essentia’s sustainability work visit: https://www.essentia.uk.com/
Official statistics have been released regarding Scotland’s home builders, showing a 3% increase in new house building for 2017-18 (17,731) compared with the previous year (17,293) but highlighted a mixed picture in the detail of the figures, with 16% fewer (532) private sector-led homes completed in Q1 2018 compared with the same quarter in 2017. With the private sector playing a key role in assisting the Scottish Government to meet its ambitious affordable housing targets, Chief Executive at representative body Homes for Scotland (HFS) Nicola Barclay commented: “We are encouraged to note these latest statistics indicate a positive overall picture for affordable housing approvals as well as the wider sector. Whilst the extreme weather conditions earlier in the year made delivery challenging, it is essential that we are not complacent when it comes to our efforts to increase supply across all tenures. “As well as enabling increased activity from smaller builders, sustained confidence from investors is essential to support growth from medium to larger builders within a competitive UK environment. It is also crucial that the labour market is geared up across the sector, with skills shortages already creating challenges on sites across Scotland. “In addition to the above, the Planning (Scotland) Bill represents a key opportunity to recalibrate our planning system so it can deliver what the people of Scotland need: enough high-quality homes in the right places to meet need and demand. HFS is working hard to persuade politicians and communities that a good system is one in which we collaborate effectively in order that precious time, resource and funds can be channeled into the development of vibrant places and the delivery of more homes.”
When your e-commerce business makes a sale, the last thing you want is to have to deal with a return. You’ll lose the sale and incur additional costs. To accommodate a return, the product must reverses its way through your supply chain. All activity associated with accepting the return of a product is known as reverse logistics. The assoicated costs are always higher than just the price of shipping. According to Supply Chain Dive, reverse logistics cost companies upwards of $260 billion annually. Here are five hidden costs in the reverse logistics process many e-tailers overlook. Labor Costs in Return Process Labor is one of the most commonly overlooked because it’s felt indirectly. When a product comes back, employees need to receive, inspect and possibly restock the item—depending upon its condition. This usually involves multiple workers across various departments. Time that could be spent growing the business is consumed handling returned product. Reselling Returned Products at a Discounted Price Product condition can play a huge factor in determining price. In some cases you’ll have to resell at a discount or discard it all together. On top of losing the profit from the original sale and incurring the cost of labor to get the product back into your inventory, selling the product for a discount or discarding it all together adds even more salt into the wound. Returned Product Can Lead to Inventory Mismanagement Product returns can throw a monkeywrench into your inventory tracking process. Resources are redirected toward returned product, which takes away from the inventory control operating procedures. E-retailers have the option to outsource their inventory management to a third-party logistics company (3PL), but others who chose to handle inventory in-house could benefit from a cloud e-commerce platform. Cloud-based platforms can help with inventory management because of their speed, security and scalability. Offering Free Return Shipping A growing trend in return processes for e-commerce companies is free return shipping. This usually has a positive impact on how the customers perceive an organization because it shows them that the company is taking care of the extra expense instead of putting it on the customer. Around 49 percent of online retailers offer the service While this goes a long way toward engendering customer satisfaction, it’s detrimental to the bottom line. On average, about 30 percent of e-commerce orders are returned, so these costs add up very quickly. Customer Frustration Can Lead to Higher Customer Churn While positive return experience can drive loyalty, a bad one is likely to lead a customer to shop your competitors. Per the Narvar Consumer Report, customers who return product are likely to be the best customers. Eighty-two percent of customers who previously returned products were repeat shoppers, and 95 percent of customers satisfied with the returns process said they’d purchase from the retailer again. A key report takeaway — high value customers are also the most likely to utilize the returns process. E-retailers need to implement or update their reverse logistics strategy in order to become as efficient with their returned product as possible. E-commerce companies who do not pay attention to this process could be losing upwards of 10-20 percent of their profits, and possibly, a devoted chunk of their customer base. Running an e-commerce store demands attention from every angle, but by focusing on these five hidden costs in the reverse logistics process you’ll recover more of your margins and better satisfy the needs of your customers.
In the standard retail market, arguably the single, biggest difference between buying from a business and buying from an individual is that you have a much higher degree of legal protection in the former situation. Goods sold by companies have to be “fit for purpose” whereas goods sold by private sellers only have to be “as described”. The residential property market, however, is a bit of an exception to his rule of thumb. Even private sellers are legally obligated to disclose any facts about their property which might negatively impact the sale and buyers can take legal action against them if the seller misrepresents the property. The same holds true of the new-build property market, in theory, in practice the situation can be a little more complicated. New-build and the dangers of having to use your imagination When you buy an existing house, it is standard practice to visit the property yourself in order to assess it firsthand. Astute sellers will, of course, do everything they can to make their home look as attractive as possible, but they can only work within the constraints of what the building actually allows, which provides a built-in safeguard against active misrepresentation. When you buy a new-build property investment in the UK, however, the situation can be rather different, especially if you buy it before it is even completed, in which case you have to rely on visual and textual descriptions of very fundamental characteristics such as dimensions and the nature of fixtures and fittings. Even if you buy a new-build after completion, you may not be in a great position to appreciate its real-world characteristics. If it has been staged as a show-home then there is a distinct possibility the furniture may have been scaled-down in size to make rooms seem bigger than they are and if it’s an empty shell then, again, the openness of the space may trick your mind into thinking that it is bigger than the written dimensions suggest. You may also be under pressure to use companies recommended by the developer for financing and/or conveyancing. For the sake of clarity, there are many good reasons why developers may wish you to do this and most revolve around the fact that, while you are only buying one property, they may well be selling many properties and it is therefore easier and more efficient for them to deal with one company so that, for example, they only have to answer any given question once. At the same time, however, it has to be said that this situation can lead to buyers not fully understanding the terms of the legally-binding agreement they are signing and then later discovering nasty surprises in the terms of their leasehold. Resolving complaints about new-build property can be a complex process Generally speaking, any complaints about a new-build property should be addressed to the developer in first instance, but if the developer fails to offer an acceptable resolution, buyers may be left struggling to decide how to proceed or, indeed, if it is emotionally and financially worthwhile for them to proceed. Although the UK has two property-related redress services (the Property Ombudsman and the Property Redress Scheme) neither of these has the authority to address complaints against the developers of new-build properties. This means that buyers of new-build homes have no recourse to an independent, free-to-use ombudsman services, even though such services have proved very successful in other areas (such as finance and energy). The Property Ombudsman has therefore called for the government to address this situation and to bring new-build homes under the remit of a competent ombudsman service.
Although flyers are a communication tool that exist for some time, even today they are still being successful thanks to their ease of use and the advantages and benefits they offer to a company. Successful flyers only need one thing to work: an attractive design. When it comes to publicizing your business or building project, you have to use advertising methods to reach a wider audience. Flyers are a great and relatively cheap tool. Creating an attractive flyer is not always easy, but luckily there are a number of keys you can take into account to make a successful design. A design that, with a single glance, shows the user what you want to transmit. And wakes the curiosity of the client, who then wants to learn more about your company or project. Communicate one message on the flyer Before you start to design your flyer it is important to have a clear idea of the message you want to communicate. Do you want to invite people to the opening of a new building? Do you want them to come to the presentation of a new building project? Or do you have another special occasion you would like to invite them to? Make sure the purpose of your flyer is directly clear and you have a simple message to communicate. The same as when writing or reading a headline for the newspaper, basic questions should be directly answered like, what, why and when. This way, when your audience takes one glance at the flyer, they know directly what you have to offer. How to design an attractive flyer When you start with the design for the flyer you should first choose the measures of it. It doesn´t matter if you want a horizontal or vertical design, just look at what fits your needs. Since hopefully a lot of people will see your flyer, it´s important to choose the right size that suits your message and company. Once you know what shape your flyer will get and you have your message clear, you can start with the design. Don´t overload the flyer with too much information, so the main message isn´t clear any more. The title, in combination with the photo or image you are going to use, can be considered the protagonist in your creation. The title needs to be an attractive phase and the image should be of enough quality that is stays sharp after printing. The colours you use can be seen as a binding method to create a perfect harmony on the flyer between all the elements. And of course, don´t forget to put the specific date on the flyer so people know when the event is happening. Also contact details are essential for people who would like to receive more information. Spend some time on a great design for the flyer and it will tip the balance in your favour in your marketing campaign to communicate your message in an attractive way to a wide target group!
Regional contractor G F Tomlinson has started work on three new alternative provision Free School academies in Lincolnshire. The Springwell Alternative Academies project is being delivered in partnership with Wellspring Academy Trust and will create more than 180 places for students aged 4-16. The three academies consist of two brand new facilities; on New Beacon Road, Grantham and Macauley Drive, Lincoln. The third is located in Mablethorpe at the former Monks Dyke Tennyson secondary school where three existing small teaching blocks are being refurbished, remodelled and extended to create the new Academy. The academies will provide learning opportunities for children and young people who are unable to attend mainstream schools for a variety of reasons ranging from mental or physical health difficulties to behavioural, emotional and social difficulties. Each academy will accommodate around 60 pupils and, in addition to specialised teaching spaces, will feature an assembly hall, SEN (Special Educational Needs) therapy room, sensory room, hygiene room, fitness suite, parents’ room and multiple use games area. Ian Dalby, framework manager at G F Tomlinson said: “G F Tomlinson has an outstanding track record in delivering educational projects for local communities under the ESFA Framework. “We are thrilled to have started on site and are looking forward to working with Wellspring Academy Trust over the coming months to deliver these new academies, giving students the chance to reach their full potential in an environment which suits their individual needs.” Josh Greaves, chief operating officer from Wellspring Academy Trust, said: “We are hugely excited that work is now underway across the three sites under G F Tomlinson’s curation, whose reputation speaks for itself. “These will be transformational facilities for the children of Lincolnshire, supporting the Wellspring’s aspiration to make a difference to the lives and life chances of all those within our care.” All three schools are expected to complete in summer 2019.
