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NEWS INDUSTRY UPDATES

Each month PSBJ rounds up the latest public sector construction updates, from new contracts to industry awards.

‘People architecture’ wins the day as GT3 picks up major award

GT3 Architects has seen its focus on team development recognised with a prestigious national award. The firm – which has studios in Nottingham and Newcastle – has received the ‘People Development’ award at Constructing Excellence’s national ceremony, beating nominees from across the UK. The award recognises organisations that value their workforce and ensure they maximise their team’s contribution to the business, something which GT3 Architects has nurtured through its ‘people architecture’ approach. Alongside a new operations and flexible working policy introduced to mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the practice appointed a designated ‘people champion’ to lead its focus on personal and professional development. Liz Clarke, Associate Director and ‘people champion’ at GT3 Architects, said: “For a practice with a fundamental goal to place people – not buildings – at the heart of our projects, processes and practice-life, COVID-19 offered us an unparalleled opportunity to prove ‘people architecture’ to be more than just a strapline.”

Ambitious plans for Caerphilly County Borough Council to develop new homes on two sites have been endorsed by its Housing and Regeneration Scrutiny Committee, during a remote meeting held in February. Scrutiny members endorsed, in principle, proposals to create a flagship mixed-tenure development on the site of the former Oakdale Comprehensive School and an innovative later living scheme on the former Ty Darran care home site in Risca. The council has already carried out feasibility studies to assess the suitability of the brownfield site in Oakdale and an outline planning application has been submitted. If approved, the development would be the first of its kind for the council in offering open market sales, alongside affordable and social housing. An outline planning application has also been submitted for the former Ty Darran site. The proposed new ‘later living’ building will be designed with high levels of energy efficiency to reduce tenants’ bills, whilst also reducing carbon emissions. It will also boast spacious apartments, with lift access to all floors. Engineering specialist SES Engineering Services (SES) has been appointed to undertake another blue light project – a new stateof-the-art district headquarters for Kirklees, West Yorkshire. The appointment sees SES working again with lead contractor, Willmott Dixon and on this occasion, with West Yorkshire Police. The project is scheduled for completion in late 2024. Located on the former Kirklees College site on Halifax Road, Dewsbury, the new-build state-of-the-art custody suite, office accommodation and adjacent car park will be a flagship project for West Yorkshire Police, and will provide face-to-face support for members of the public, as well as community accessible meeting rooms. SES was appointed following a competitive tender and interview against a Stage 3 design with the decision based on cost, capability, experience and added social value. It is the eighth blue light project SES has worked on with Willmott Dixon under the Scape framework since 2015 with two similar schemes currently on site at Nottingham and Humberside.

DBR, one of the UK’s leading heritage construction contractors, has won the contract to undertake restoration works on the historic Crystal Palace Subway. This follows a recent decision by the London Borough of Bromley’s Executive to award the work to the conservation specialist, with valued partners, Historic England and the Friends of Crystal Palace Subway, also sitting on the panel that assess the applicants. Commencing soon, the restoration works, estimated at £3.2m, on the Grade II* Listed subway will include rebuilding existing walls and the construction of a new roof over the courtyard. Significantly, the project will see the repair of the Victorian subway, including the rebuilding of existing walls, construction of new parapet walls, and a roof structure. The proposed new roof will be visible from Crystal Palace Parade, with the subway exterior being made from glass and stainless steel, and the gable enclosed with Corten steel.

Ambitious council home building plans endorsed SES Engineering Services secures eighth blue light project with Willmott Dixon

DBR awarded Crystal Palace Subway restoration contract

Stepnell completes first-class Brio retirement community in Gloucestershire

National contractor Stepnell has completed works on behalf of Brio Retirement Living to design and build the £29m Beechwood Park – a 106-dwelling retirement living community in Stow-on-theWold, Gloucestershire. The completed Beechwood Park retirement home boasts a range of one-, two- and three-bedroomed bungalows and apartments, each cladded in Cotswold Stone, and set against a quintessential countryside backdrop within one of UK’s most desirable market towns. Sustainable living solutions have been incorporated into the design and build to include district heating, combined heat and power generation, and full home automation. As a result, this project has been awarded BREEAM ‘Very Good’ standard rating and BRE HQM (Home Quality Mark) Level 3. Designed with a wide range of community facilities and communal areas, the retirement home is home to beautiful landscaped gardens, and includes an exercise trail, raised bed gardens and Brio’s brasserie and bar Slate & Grain. Furthermore, there is a purpose-built social space for recreational activities, club fitness suite, spa and lounge. A shuttle bus is also available for shopping trips and excursions.

RPS has announced its successful appointment by Crown Commercial Services (CCS) onto the Urban Regeneration Lot of the Construction Professional Services Framework (CPS). Making it easier for clients to work with RPS, the CPS framework is the UK’s largest public sector procurement route. CCS supports the public sector to achieve maximum commercial value when procuring common goods and services. In 2020/21, CCS helped the public sector to achieve commercial benefits equal to £2.04bn – supporting world-class public services that offer the best value for taxpayers. Chris Lavery – Director of Programme Management at RPS – comments: “We’re delighted our expertise and industry-leading knowledge has been recognised for the Urban Regeneration Lot of the CCS’s Construction Professional Services Framework. It recognises the multi-disciplinary services RPS offers for the delivery of a wide range of urban regeneration projects and enables us to provide even more value to both existing and new clients. Public sector organisations have a duty to ensure their projects are delivered to the best standard, whilst benefitting the wider community and providing the highest value. The CPS is widely considered to be the ‘gold standard’ in public sector procurement. We look forward to bringing our expertise to support a wide range of public sector bodies to deliver major and minor building, and civil engineering projects throughout the UK.”

RPS wins a place on CCS’ Construction Professional Services Framework Report calls for new pan-regional strategy to deliver much-needed new homes for Black Country

The West Midlands has successfully delivered housing across its urban areas over the last few years, utilising brownfield land supported by the targeted release of Green Belt land to assist in meeting the shortfall in new housing that arose from Birmingham up to 2031. Despite these best efforts however, in the Black Country Authorities Black Country Plan Review consultation in 2021, it was confirmed that there is now a significant shortfall in housing land for the period up to 2039 arising from the Black Country, with nearly 29,000 dwellings needing to be delivered elsewhere. The report calls for local authorities across the West Midlands to reconsider their contributions to sustainably allocate land where housing development can take place to meet these needs. Lichfields, which compiled its report using publicly-available data and mapping, says the region has suffered for too long with an ad-hoc approach to planning and the time is right to have a pan-regional, evidencebased functional relationship approach to solving the regions unmet housing needs. The report argues that this should include a more evidence-based strategy and a formal mechanism for allocating and distributing housing development. The outcome from the report identifies those local authorities including Bromsgrove, Lichfield, Shropshire, Solihull, Stafford, Stratford-on-Avon, Telford and Wrekin, could accommodate between 1 and 13% each of the estimated almost 29,000 new homes that need to be built over the next two decades beyond the Black Country if the region’s chronic housing shortage is to be tackled.

Fully-accessible houses being built at St. Modwen Homes’ Handley Place development

Local housebuilder, St. Modwen Homes, has collaborated with affordable housing provider, Alliance Homes, to build accessible quality homes for those in need in Locking. Located at St. Modwen Homes’ Handley Place development, the housebuilder is constructing three fully-accessible and wheelchair-friendly homes, designed for comfort and practicality and adhering to local requirements within Weston-super-Mare. The three brand-new additions will consist of two semi-detached and one detached home, all built with features that make movement around the home and independent living much easier than in a standard home. These homes will feature floor lifts and adjustable worktops in the kitchen, plus wetrooms and bedrooms that all function so they can be used without difficulty. Every aspect has been considered to ensure these accessible features are carefully integrated, and the entire property can be utilised with ease and comfort. What’s more, the same approach extends to furnishings and fittings, with additional provisions such as extra loading to the roofs, should a hoist be required in the future. And finally, extra consideration to switch and socket positions have been accounted for to enable residents to access them and position their appliances with ease. St. Modwen Homes is keen to provide a community with quality houses of a unique and high standard. The national and award-winning housebuilder prides itself on going above and beyond to assist its local authority and nominated affordable housing provider, Alliance Homes, with their requirements.