SpecFinish - January 2016

ÂŁ3.50 January 2016

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Creative opportunities for ceilings Page 14

Viewpoint: Calling time on noisy offices p5

Technology: A look at BIM and drywall p16

Health & safety: Assessing manual handling p21

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INSIDE THE JANUARY ISSUE OF SPECFINISH 04 Voice of the industry: A platform for growth.

11 Technical: Innovative tools to reduce risks and raise productivity.

12 Legal: What will the new small business commissioner be doing for you?

14 Ceilings: Where’s the fashion now?

16 Technology: John Butler of London Drywall gives his views on BIM in the drywall sector.

18 FIS annual review: FIS team members look back over 2015.

24 Training: New initiative to help specialist contractors with training.

FRONT COVER: Grand Central Birmingham where SAS International has designed, manufactured and installed 7,000m2 of ceilings.

CONTACT US EDITORIAL Editor: Adrian JG Marsh Email: ajmarsh@campbellmarsh.com SpecFinish, Althorpe Enterprise Hub Althorpe Street, Leamington Spa CV31 2GB Design: Matthew Glover ADVERTISING Advertising enquiries: Adam Turner Tel: 01926 420660 adam.turner@campbellmarsh.com FIS Tel: 0121 707 0077 www.thefis.org Email: info@thefis.org FIS, Unit 4, Olton Bridge, 245 Warwick Rd, Solihull, West Midlands B92 7AH ISNN: 2055-2025 (Print) SpecFinish magazine published on behalf of FIS by Campbell Marsh and the views expressed in this journal are not necessarily those held by FIS or the publishers. The publishers shall not be under any liability in respect of the contents of the contributed articles. The Editor reserves the right to edit, abridge or alter articles for publication. © All editorial contents SpecFinish 2016 SpecFinish is distributed to members of FIS and other selected leading finishes and interiors businesses.

Printer: Emmerson Press

02 Advertising 01926 420660

Construction output growth slows in November

November saw the weakest rise in housing activity since June 2013 and led to the slowest rise in UK construction output since April, according to the latest Markit Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) survey.

The PMI survey registered 55.3 in November, down from 58.8 in October and signalling the slowest expansion of business activity for seven months.

Commercial construction activity topped the growth table, but the latest expansion was less marked than October’s eight-month high. Construction companies mainly commented on supportive economic conditions and rising workloads.

Residential building activity increased at its weakest pace since June 2013.

Meanwhile, civil engineering activity rose at the slowest rate for six months and was the worst performing subcategory.

Tim Moore, senior economist at Markit and author of the PMI survey, said: “The UK construction recovery is down but not out, according to November’s survey data. Aside from a pre-election growth slowdown in April, the latest expansion of construction activity was the weakest for almost two-and-a-half years amid a sharp loss of housebuilding momentum.

“Overall the latest results suggest that construction companies have become a little more cautious towards year-end, especially in terms of job hiring. However, a healthy flow of new tenders from public and private sector clients is expected to provide a tailwind to growth heading into 2016.”

FIND OUT MORE www.constructionproducts.org.uk

Stanmore scoops national training award London-based Stanmore Contractors, one of the country’s largest drylining and facades specialists, has scooped the coveted Sword of Excellence at the annual Plaisterers’ Livery Company Training Awards.

The Sword of Excellence is awarded to the plastering and drywall contractor who, in the opinion of the judges, has shown the greatest commitment to training and, in particular, in-house training. Ben Fitzsimons received the award on behalf of Stanmore.

The judges commented that Stanmore’s training plans have had a very positive effect in developing many individuals in the business at various levels and the judges found some of these success stories to be inspiring. They had no doubt about the company’s genuine training ethos.

The 17th Annual Plaisterers’ Training Awards were held at Plaisterers’ Hall in the City of London on 9 November 2015.

FIND OUT MORE www.plaistererslivery.co.uk

New Apprenticeship Levy puts CITB in spotlight The Comprehensive Spending Review has provided further information about plans to introduce an Apprenticeship Levy and charge large employers 0.5 per cent of their wages bill. Construction employers are now looking at the implication the new levy will have on both the CITB levy and the services it offers construction businesses.

The Chancellor announced that the new levy, which will take effect in April 2017, would be set at 0.5 per cent of an employer’s wage bill and collected monthly through PAYE. Each employer will receive an allowance of £15,000 to offset against their levy payment. In practice, this means that the levy will only be paid by businesses whose annual wage bills exceed £3 million.

Smaller employers will not pay the levy and will continue to access government support for apprenticeships.

The CITB could see its income reduced and the services it offers affected if large employers pay the

new levy and not the CITB levy.

James Wates, chairman of CITB, said: “The Apprenticeship Levy creates a challenging environment for CITB across Great Britain. We will continue to support industry and work with government to ensure the best possible outcome.

“Our next step is to engage in extensive consultation with employers and work out the most effective way to continue providing the construction industry with the skills and training it needs.”

Trade body Build UK said while no announcements have been made, the government acknowledged that responses to the consultation had shown that “industries that already contribute to an existing levy system do not wish to contribute to two levies at once” and that it will have further discussion with CITB and employers.

FIND OUT MORE www.citb.co.uk

www.thefis.org

Refurbishment sites fall short on health and safety The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has released the results of its annual refurbishment initiative, which reveal that poor standards or dangerous practices were found on 46 per cent of construction sites visited.

HSE inspectors targeted nearly 2,000 UK sites over a four-week period where refurbishment work was taking place. They served 692 enforcement notices, 983 notifications of contravention and 260 improvement notices.

Inspectors had to deal with immediate risks, such as work at height, and deal with sites where workers were being exposed to silica dust and asbestos, which cause long-term health problems.

HSE chief inspector of c onstruction Peter Baker said: “It is

disappointing that some small refurbishment sites are still cutting corners and not properly protecting their workers. Falls from height are the most common killer in the industry but we still found workers put at risk to save minutes on the job – believing it wouldn’t happen to them.”

In light of the results, HSE is urging the construction industry to ensure basic health and safety measures are in place on all sites. It has also issued new specialist guidance – Occupational Health Risk Management in Construction – in a bid to improve management of occupational health risks in the industry.

Measom contracted on Stirling Prize-winning project Measom Dryline has installed ceilings and drylining at a multi-award-winning architectural project. Architects Allford Hall Monaghan Morris were awarded the RIBA Stirling Prize – the UK’s most-prestigious architecture award – in October 2015 for Burntwood School in South London. Works carried out by Measom included the installation of 15,000m2 drylined walls, 4,500m2 MF and metal panel Armstrong swing-down ceilings, and CEP acoustic baffles to classrooms.

FIND OUT MORE www.hse.gov.uk

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COMMENT & OPINION www.specfinish.co.uk

Editor’s column

Safety remains a top priority At the end of last year the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) revealed that poor standards or dangerous practices were found on 46 per cent of refurbishment sites it visited during its autumn survey.

It’s been said many times but people are at the centre of this industry and it’s essential that the welfare of all employees remains a number one priority. And at the same time let’s not forget that every individual must also take responsibility for their own safety and welfare.

Hopefully the breaches that HSE identified are a blip because a truly effective health and safety culture can bring immense benefits to any business.

It’s not being wrapped up in seemingly innocuous policies and procedures.

It’s about finding safe and efficient ways of working in advance. If you’re looking for some concise information and useful tips, just turn to page 21 in this issue (health and safety is a regular in SpecFinish).

I don’t see many 50-year-olds on-site these days but it’s pleasing to learn that FIS is working closely with the HSE on a welfare strategy for our sector (see page 18). When you combine this with growing concerns about mental health issues then health and safety has a much wider impact across the sector than ever before.

Over the years businesses active in the finishes and interiors sector have been striving to achieve a stronger safety culture that involves everyone. Surely all accidents and injuries are preventable and it’s for the sector to continue to drive safety as an integral part of every business decision.

Let’s renew an old resolution in this New Year. Make sure all our employees are working in a healthy and safe environment.

Adrian JG Marsh Editor 04 Advertising 01926 420660

A platform for growth It seems we had been waiting for the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement for a very long time. Decisions on government spending were delaying progress on many fronts as we waited to see how big a dose of further austerity we were about to be asked to swallow. In the event, Mr Osborne showed himself to be a master politician by setting us up to expect the worst and then unexpectedly finding £27 billion down the back of the Treasury sofa.

Suddenly, we didn’t have to make such radical cuts, and what cuts there are will not manifest themselves immediately. Besides, responsibility for the biggest cuts have been deftly passed onto local government.

So what does all this mean for our sector? The Office of Budget Responsibility is forecasting 2.4 per cent growth for this year and consistent growth around this figure up to 2020. This consistent sustainable growth should give us the platform for a little planning and investment in the future.

If the big issue is skills and a lack of skilled labour then we need a plan to bring people into the workforce to meet the increased demand, and replace those who leave through injury or retirement. That process would be helped by a consistent funding and qualification process. Following the Autumn Statement, we are not much the wiser. The new Apprenticeship Levy of 0.5 per cent will be paid by those companies who have a payroll over £3 million a year; this is PAYE, so the majority of our specialist subcontractor members will not be directly impacted. There will, however, be an indirect impact as those larger construction companies covered will

reduce the amount they contribute to CITB. We don’t yet know how the vouchers they can claim against training will work. Will they be able to pass them down their supply chain?

At the same time, there is uncertainty with the introduction of ‘trailblazer’ apprenticeships.

Only trailblazers will attract government funding so there’s a rush to develop new apprenticeships for construction. How do you square the requirements of a large commercial drylining contractor with a micro plastering business in the domestic sector into a single apprenticeship?

All difficult questions that we are considering at the moment.

Add to this cocktail the CITB in the midst of project ‘Transform’ as it restructures to make itself fit for purpose. Anyone who has taken part in a change programme knows how disruptive this can be. This situation is unlikely to be fully resolved until the latter half of 2016, as we see CITB staff changes, funding routes altered and a reduction in the levy that goes into the pot.

In this pool of uncertainty, FIS is developing a training plan that will include a trailblazer apprenticeship or two, a simplified process for grant claims and a simpler approach to getting your operatives carded that reflects how the industry operates. It’s a tough ask and we need all the help we can get. So, anyone who currently trains or wants to but is struggling with the current system, get in touch and let us know how we can help.

DAVID FRISE FIS chief executive www.thefis.org

VIEWPOINT

www.thefis.org

Calling time on noisy office spaces One of the biggest trends in workplace design in recent decades has been the rise of open-plan office layouts. These offices account for 54 per cent of UK workspaces, thanks to their flexibility and ability to support collaborative working. Nevertheless, the lack of walls and cubicles, combined with the hard surfaces of furniture and uncarpeted floors, can lead to excessive background noise and sound reverberation, explains John Newbury, British Gypsum’s senior product manager – Acoustic Ceilings.

According to the Department of the Environment, a typical office generates sound levels of more than 54 A-weighted decibels (dB(A)) – well above the recommended 45 dB(A).

This can have a negative impact on employees’ concentration and productivity, as well as their health and emotional wellbeing.

It is clear that, whether selecting

interior construction materials for new offices or renovating existing ones, specifiers must consider the acoustic impact of their solutions on the people using the finished space.

Specifiers should think about each area’s intended function, so that appropriate acoustic systems can be included in walls and ceilings to control the passage of sound.

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For example, zones for group discussions need solutions that minimise reverberation to maintain speech intelligibility while preventing sound from reaching the rest of the room. Whereas, meeting rooms require additional sound insulation for privacy.

At the same time, specifiers must ensure their materials meet other

performance requirements, such as flexibility to allow changes to be made to the space’s layout. Fire resistance should also be taken into account to meet regulations.

To achieve these goals, specifiers should opt for solutions that combine multiple benefits into a single system, such as British Gypsum’s Eurocoustics ceiling tile range. This solution offers class A sound absorption as standard and reduced reverberation times to keep background noise to a minimum, as well as A1 reaction to fire and 30 minutes’ fire resistance.

By using such solutions and keeping acoustics in mind, specifiers can support businesses in creating a quiet, productive work environment that protects both workers’ health and the organisation’s bottom line.

JOHN NEWBURY British Gypsum senior product manager – Acoustic Ceilings www.british-gypsum.com

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PRODUCTS

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Metsec’s steel frame structure raises student living

No supporting grid for new SAS System 320 SAS International has launched its System 320, an acoustic tile lay-in suspended ceiling system without a supporting grid, realising significant cost and time benefits compared with traditional grid systems.

System 320 is designed for use in corridor or plasterboard surround applications and satisfies acoustic demands set out in the Building Regulations, Approved Document E. Non-woven acoustic fleece, acoustic pad and plasterboard options allow for a flexible, cost-effective approach to acoustic control.

Tiles are available in sizes of 250–600mm (width) x 474–3000mm (length) and are available with ultra-micro perforations (≤1mm) offering a brighter ceiling appearance.

Removal of the grid makes it easy to access services without tools, and void depths can also be kept to a minimum. System 320 can be suspended by a range of suitable SAS International trims or any suitable flanges, including linear lights and grilles.

System 320 was one of many systems installed by SAS International as part of the Birmingham New Street refurbishment, known as Grand Central.

Metsec has supported the renovation of Portland House in Exeter city centre as part of a £17 million luxury student accommodation scheme with load-bearing steel frame structure (SFS) system installed by Mansell Finishes for Select Property Group.

The four-storey 1960’s concrete-framed structure has been converted into a 161-flat, seven-storey student accommodation block on the site of Exeter’s former Theatre Royal. Create Construction converted the building using Metsec’s load-bearing SFS, installed by approved subcontractor and FIS member Mansell Finishes. The lightweight design of SFS enabled three additional storeys to be added to the original concrete building without impacting the structure.

Stephen Ginger, managing director of Metsec Purlins & Framing, said: “SFS makes use of the axial capacity of specially designed studs, which are designed as a series of columns to provide complete load-bearing wall panels. These are typically stick-built on-site, ensuring maximum flexibility to suit site requirements.

Dean Johnston, managing director at Mansell Finishes, commented: “Metsec’s SFS was ideal for this development as it offered a high-performance load-bearing solution and ensured the quickest installation process.” www.metsec.com

www.sasintgroup.com

Ecophon introduces one-point fixing for Solo panels

Hilti launches new dust removal product

Ecophon has launched Connect One-point, a discreet fixing solution for its range of Solo suspended ceiling panels.

Made of aluminium, the Connect One-point fixing is used with Ecophon’s Connect Absorber anchor and Connect Adjustable wire hangers, reducing the amount of fixings in the soffit by 65-75% depending on which panel is installed.

Using Ecophon’s Connect One-point fixing also reduces the amount of adjustable wire hangers required and the installation time for the Solo panel itself.

The new fixing is compatible with Solo Square, Solo Rectangle and Solo Circle.

Hilti’s new TE DRS-4-A dust removal system (DRS) has an integrated attachment for the popular TE 4-A22 cordless rotary hammer. At just 1kg, the new product is lightweight making it more comfortable to use overhead for long periods. The attachment is powered entirely by the rotary hammer’s 22V battery – no need for a separate power source.

In addition to the serious health implications presented by dust particles, dust also hurts productivity on-site by clogging up tools and inserts which, in turn, reduces their productivity and shortens their lifespan. The Hilti DRS portfolio ensures a cleaner, healthier and more productive working environment.

The TE DRS-4-A is the latest product in the Hilti range of harmonised DRS systems whereby the tool, consumable, accessory and M-Class vacuum work together to remove the maximum amount of dust at the point of contact.

www.ecophon.co.uk

www.hilti.co.uk

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British Gypsum wraps up Victorian family home British Gypsum Gyproc ThermaLine PIR plasterboard has been used to maximise the thermal performance of a period property in Lewisham, South London. The homeowners wanted to upgrade their cold solid-wall house from its initial E energy rating into an energy-efficient family home.

Specialist installer Ecologistics recommended British Gypsum’s internal wall insulation (IWI) systems on the solid wall Victorian home over external insulation alternatives as they offered significant improvements to the walls’ thermal performance without changing the property’s exterior – a critical requirement.

British Gypsum’s Gyproc ThermaLine PIR 78mm plasterboard solution was specified for the two larger bedrooms, a highly insulating polyisocyanurate (PIR) foam and 12.5mm wallboard combination offering greater thermal performance at a lower thickness than standard laminates, therefore having minimal impact on the room dimensions. Gyproc ThermaLine PIR 38mm was used in the smallest bedroom to balance warmth and useable space.

Following the energy-efficiency upgrades, the house has a B energy rating with changes expected to save the homeowners more than £687 on energy consumption over three years. www.british-gypsum.com

Weber EWI gives Bristol home a warm makeover

Rockfon delivers sound acoustics for Inverness College Rockfon’s acoustic ceiling solutions have been installed throughout the new £50 million, 6,000-student Inverness College.

Good communication was a fundamental requirement in the building design and all teaching spaces were modelled to ensure reverberation times complied with Building Bulletin BB93. Architects BDP specified Rockfon acoustic ceiling products to deliver the required acoustic performance and for their robustness to withstand the building’s demanding wear and tear.

In the college’s atrium, which features glass panels and wood slatted ceilings, Rockfon Sonar A has been fitted to combat the reverberant effect of the hard materials within this open area. In the video conferencing rooms, Rockfon Sonar dB44 was selected to achieve good acoustic performance.

The system provides outstanding sound insulation through two sound absorbing layers of stone wool: the first absorbs sound from the classroom itself and the second absorbs sound in the ceiling void and through the walls.

Rockfon Artic – a smooth, white ceiling tile providing 85 per cent light reflection – has been installed throughout the classrooms and circulation areas, with Rockfon Hygienic A ceilings chosen to withstand humidity levels of up to 100 per cent in the campus kitchen and canteens.

Rockfon will be exhibiting at the Surface Design Show in February. www.rockfon.co.uk

Weber.therm XM external wall insulation (EWI) has been installed on an end-of-terrace property in Bristol. The installation is part of a series of upgrades being carried out by the homeowner, who bought the 1960’s property knowing that a substantial makeover was required to improve aesthetics and energy efficiency.

M P Plastering Limited of Somerset carried out the application of Weber.therm XM EWI and helped to seek Green Deal funding, successfully achieving a 75% contribution towards the £9,000 cost of the EWI project.

The Weber.therm XM EWI system included 90mm expanded polystyrene (EPS) insulation, mechanically fixed to the outer skin of the wall substrate. The render process requires two passes of Weber. rend LAC, a cementitious, robust render embedded with fibreglass reinforcement meshcloth. When dry, the surface is primed with Weber PR310 before a 1.5mm thin coat decorative finish of Weber. plast TF, an acrylic based, pre-mixed, textured finish, is applied.

Oriented Strand Board (OSB) manufacturer SmartPly has launched its SmartPly FR (Flame Retardant) OSB3 for projects where Euroclass Reaction to Fire compliance is required.

Euroclass was introduced in 2000 as the harmonised European classification standard for the Reaction to Fire of building materials manufactured and sold in the EU. With fire prevention a crucial consideration both on- and off-site, SmartPly FR OSB3 meets a growing need for flame-retardant OSB that achieves Euroclass C-s2,d0 for wall, ceiling, roofing and free-standing applications, and Euroclass BFL-s1 for flooring applications.

SmartPly FR OSB3 has flame retardance built into every panel, manufactured using a water-based, eco-friendly fire retardant called Zeroignition Solution.

The addition of Zeroignition during the manufacturing process ensures that the SmartPly FR OSB panels have the same quality and structural strength as all OSB3 manufactured by SmartPly to European Standard EN300.

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The perfect substrate for the perfect finish Knauf advert With no screed to dry, Knauf GIFAfloor makes installation faster and allows floor finishes to be laid within hours, not weeks.

Knauf GIFAfloor panels have an engineered tongue and grooved edge to ensure a strong bond when laid, creating robust monolithic floors with excellent load bearing capacity. Total design freedom is facilitated as Knauf GIFAfloor’s strength and stability make it the ideal substrate for natural stone or porcelain finishes, giving peace of mind in high-end projects applications.

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Build for the world we live in www.specfinish.co.uk 09

PRODUCTS How can you combine the widest range

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Reducing risks and raising productivity

Open any tool catalogue and you’ll see a vast selection of products to help you cut, mix, level, drill, fix and measure things on-site. FIS’s technical manager, Joe Cilia, considers how innovation in this sector means that the new ‘tools’ being made available enable you to carry out these daily site tasks more safely and efficiently.

As the old proverb goes, ‘necessity is the mother of invention’. Where the safety of operatives was not the priority, this need-driven invention resulted in a huge array of tools being produced, many of which would not be allowed on-site in today’s construction world: the noise, vibration, dust and, in some cases, trailing leads associated with these tools could lead to risk of injury or long-term damage.

Ongoing changes in legislation combined with the aim of being more productive and delivering efficiencies on-site have driven manufacturers to innovate with safer products, such as knives with retractable blades for cutting plasterboard and ceiling tiles, and lighter, cable-free and ergonomically designed power tools that can be used for long periods with reduced risk of vibration.

Keeping dust under close control

In the feature on keeping safe in the workplace from November’s SpecFinish, the critical topic of minimising dust was covered. Tools that suppress and collect dust at source have seen huge innovation in recent years. One manufacturer focusing on developing tools with dust-extraction features for safer working practices is Hilti. “By using Hilti’s dust reduction systems (DRS) airborne dust is significantly reduced. It isn’t the visible dust on

on their websites and for downloading as apps (www.hilti.co.uk and www.itwcp.co.uk).

Power tool manufacturers are Safer fixing calculations continually achieving Drills with dust suppression are increased power and especially useful when installing higher performance anchors used for suspended ceilings levels with their cordless to avoid being in the path of dust tools, meaning there’s when drilling overhead. Fixings is an less of a need to revert to the area where FIS has seen the greatest corded option for heavy duty tasks. number of failures due either And multi-battery charging to inferior products or, stations positioned safely more often, a lack of next to their power knowledge resulting supply help avoid in the wrong anchor trailing cables and being installed. A recharge tools quickly couple of recent and efficiently. examples being steel anchors used in Digital tools for swimming pools which efficient working corrode due to the humid and corrosive atmosphere, As highlighted in the and an installation not meeting the ‘Waking up to digitisation’ article in manufacturer’s instructions on drill the November issue of SpecFinish, size, depth or setting. new digital tools are helping FIS has helped to address these companies to be more efficient risks in its ‘Best Practice Guide – on-site. In addition to those Selection and Installation of Top discussed, digital site diaries that Fixings for Suspended Ceilings’, allow documents to be viewed and which is available from annotated, and progress reports with www.thefis.org/publications. photographs that can be produced Manufacturers have always without ever going back to the site provided technical support and office, are on the increase. instructions to help with choosing Construction services company the most suitable fixing for the ISG is just one that’s experiencing job, and more recently this advice efficiencies with digital tools. The has become available digitally with company’s head of BIM Fit Out and both Hilti and ITW now making Engineering Services and chair of digital fixings calculators available BIM4FitOut, Mark Norton, explained: the surface that’s the concern; it’s the dust we can’t see,” explained Richard Gunn, trade manager at Hilti GB.

“Development and use of digital site tools has significantly increased over the past year giving tier 1s and supply chain members greater opportunity not only to work more safely but to increase efficiency and reporting accuracy.

“Tools such as SnagR and Autodesk’s BIM360 all deliver a smoother single-handed process of tracking progress, snagging and reporting, all from the comfort of a tablet or smartphone. The use of robotic total stations has also gathered traction on-site, delivering quick and accurate site dimensioning and marking out.”

Mr Norton added: “Geospatial equipment will revolutionise the way that setting out is done – gone will be tapes and drawings and in will come digital setting out from a mobile tool that uses data from a BIM model and lasers.”

Digital ‘tools’ come in many forms, shapes and sizes, but they have one thing in common: they help to make construction more efficient. Are there any ‘tools’ that you’re finding to be worth their weight in gold when it comes to reducing risks and raising productivity? Let us know by emailing info@thefis.org FIND OUT MORE Joe Cilia joecilia@thefis.org www.specfinish.co.uk 11

LEGAL

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What will the new small business commissioner be doing for you?

Barrister Professor Rudi Klein considers what impact the small business commissioner will have on small businesses working with larger organisations and on the handling of complaints about payment.

There will be a new kid on the block in 2016 – the small business commissioner. The commissioner’s jurisdiction will extend to the whole of the UK and is a creature of the Enterprise Bill, which is due to become an Act during 2016.

Complaints scheme

In legislating for the small business commissioner, the government has trumpeted the power of the commissioner to determine payment complaints against larger businesses. A payment complaint will generally relate to a failure to pay an amount which has been requested or has become due. Larger businesses will include all firms other than small The office of the commissioner businesses – those with 50 or fewer employees.

The commissioner’s boss will be Sajid Javid, the On referring the complaint to the business secretary. The initial term of office will commissioner, the complainant may be invited to be four years; a deputy commissioner may also furnish relevant documents. The commissioner be appointed, and the extent to which the must give the responding party an opportunity to commissioner will be resourced will be make representations. In determining the determined by the business secretary. complaint, the commissioner is required to act impartially; his/her decision must reflect that What will the commissioner do? which is “fair and reasonable in all the The commissioner will have two functions: circumstances of the case”. The commissioner’s 1. To provide general advice and information to determination must be in writing and he/she small firms, and must provide reasons for his/her decision.

2. To consider complaints from small firms Regulations will be issued to set out in more detail relating to payment matters the procedure for making complaints.

A small firm is a business employing less than 50 people.

Provision of general advice and information

The commissioner will issue general guidance to small firms to help them in their supply relationships with larger businesses. The guidance should be aimed at helping small firms to prevent or minimise disputes with larger businesses.

The guidance may relate to matters such as rights, obligations applying to the supply of goods or services, and dispute resolution. Advice may be given about complaints-handling bodies, such as ombudsmen, or about regulations or statutory rights to refer disputes to adjudication (or arbitration). Such guidance may also be given in connection with contracts with public bodies.

The information provided must be given on an impartial basis.

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Will the commissioner make any difference to small firms in construction?

The appointment of the commissioner will, no doubt, give rise to much fanfare. But as far as construction is concerned, his/her presence is likely to go unnoticed. Why is that?

As far as the power to issue guidance is concerned, it is difficult to assess the added value here. Small firms already have access to guidance from a variety of services, not least their trade associations.

With regard to complaints-handling, it is unlikely that small firms in construction will make use of this facility for a number of reasons: 1. The climate of fear that exists in the industry will deter firms from using the service.

2. Industry-bespoke contracts/subcontracts could bar complaints being made to the commissioner (although a small firm could complain to the commissioner about this).

3. The commissioner’s decision can be ignored; it is not legally binding.

4. If the payment complaint can be referred to statutory adjudication, the commissioner cannot deal with it; this is likely to exclude the overwhelming majority of complaints!

Summary

The government will, of course, claim that in introducing the commissioner, it is demonstrating its support for small businesses. But, in truth, the commissioner could end up with little to do.

The government will then, most likely, abolish the role on the basis that it had tried to help but small firms had chosen to refuse such help. In fact, the government could get rid of the role with ease even though it was introduced by primary legislation. The saying ‘all bark and no bite’ comes to mind.

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FEATURE

CEILINGS

www.specfinish.co.uk

Where’s the fashion now?

The humble ceiling is playing its part in projecting the brand profile of many contemporary businesses. Whether it’s a global giant, dotcom start-up or new approach to fine dining, you only have to look up to see a sky of baffles, canopies, rafts, islands and clouds. Adrian JG Marsh reports.

A burst of colours and shapes, together with an earthy dose of industrial design, is taking the ceiling sector into a new and exciting era.

Whether it’s on the high street or in a high-tech media village, creativity is opening up new opportunities.

If you want a slice of the growing market you need to adapt and change, according to Ann Fisher, category director interiors and drywall at SIG. She said: “The traditional tile and grid ceiling market remains strong but a new market’s been evolving where new players are coming in with either niche products or design solutions that play to new trends in interior design.”

Adrian Norman, head of design at Bluu, the specialist interior design and build contractor that’s now part of property consultancy JLL, sees the choice of ceilings as really

depending on who the target market is for tenants: “There’s certainly a trend towards fully exposed or part exposed ceilings.

We’ve just completed a fit-out at One Commercial Street in central London where the entire floor plate has exposed surfaces to make it a cool space that will attract mediaesque tenants.”

Dave Bonner, managing director at Nevill Long, agrees. “The increase in the use of exposed soffits, either through the construction of thermal mass structures or purely because of aesthetics, has seen significant growth in the installation of rafts, baffles, canopies, islands and other sorts of floating ceiling solutions.

But architects are continuing to spec plain white clean aesthetics,” he commented.

There’s a whole new concept in office space, particularly in London, which is now being driven around young dynamic businesses needing a different environment to make sure their staff are comfortable at work.

Introducing hard surfaces creates challenges for the installation teams, as Mr Norman explained: “Rather just having a sea of desks the thing you see is ceilings and light and this creates interest for the occupiers. The big challenge is to deal with acoustics and we’ve used self-adhesive acoustic foam on the ceiling and also looked at horizontal baffling.”

The fit-out at Twitter’s stunning London Headquarters is the most ambitious project that Bluu has delivered to date and the design and ethos of their new space challenges conventional attitudes towards the workplace. “Twitter’s office has a lot of exposed surfaces with extensive ceiling rafts. The theme was carried through into the meeting rooms where we’ve essentially located rafts with hanging lights and exposed services above,” Mr Norman explained.

As tastes change manufacturers have had to respond and extend their ranges. Knauf AMF now offers mineral, metal, wood, soft fibre and grid; Rockfon has soft fibre, grid and acoustic render systems and has just introduced Blanka, its whitest tile; and Armstrong has mineral, metal, soft fibre, wood, grid and aluminium extrusions.

Metal tiles still have a dominant

Grand Central Birmingham where SAS International has designed, manufactured and installed 7,000m2 of ceilings.

14 Advertising 01926 420660

position in ‘landmark’ commercial projects and they’re getting increasingly complicated.

Matt Mills at SAS International said: “Exposed ceilings have definitely increased in popularity within commercial office space, no doubt aided by the likes of Google. Having listened to a number of developers more recently, however, there is some caution as to whether the ‘TMT-style’ office is a passing trend.

They’re also questioning whether this style of space is suitable for all sectors’ needs and all brands. One of the major concerns is the cost of creating a high-quality exposed aesthetic, which can be far in excess of alternative ceiling options.

“There’s no doubt that metal ceilings remain the product of choice for commercial developments due to performance demands and we’re seeing this market holding up strongly. Even within exposed soffit areas, metal systems offer sympathetic aesthetics in areas requiring acoustic treatment.

“The choice of ceiling system must consider how the space is to be used and is far from just an aesthetic preference. This is true of all markets, transport and retail being great examples. At Birmingham’s Grand Central shopping complex above New Street Station we designed and installed over 7,000m² of bespoke metal ceilings specified for the lower retail area within the mall. This project represented a highly complex mix of acoustic and aesthetic demands.

CEILINGS

FEATURE

www.thefis.org

by aask us, the Bicester-based manufacturer of profiles and trims for ceilings and partitions. Anthony Chadley, managing director of aask us, said: “There’s been a trend over the last year where clients want to make a feature out of the ceilings.

This demand led to our investment in the latest machinery where we can cut and fold metal to almost any shape.”

Mark Grocock at installation specialist Bespoke Drywall said: Duty Free Heathrow Terminal 5 where ceilings were installed by “While contemporary bespoke Bespoke Drywall. manufactured ceilings offer an The aim was to create an ideal in Basingstoke, Sherwood Interiors excellent product with a range of meeting place which would serve as a has installed 215 bespoke ceiling solutions for certain environments, gateway to Birmingham. SAS acoustic fins. Darren Killeen from Sherwood this is generally manufacturer panels also replaced plasterboard to said: “The design called for an open specific, time constrained with manage reverberation times where solution where the ceiling was more lead-in issues, and labour intensive. acoustics were an issue. This was one about aesthetics than acoustics.

“There will always be situations of our biggest contracts outside of The installation was critical as where the combination of design London and one we’re very proud of.” everything is seen, and we had to aesthetic, product performance In retail, designs are now much strategically place purpose-made and void maintenance demand a suspension components to more varied and call for either modular or bespoke metal ceiling or bespoke designer ceilings or just plain coordinate with the proposed lighting mineral rafts. The humble MF is still old ‘plastic-faced plasterboard’, such and signage scheme.” an intrinsic, cost effective method The fins and suspension brackets of bringing feature ceilings into the as British Gypsum Satin Spa. At the new John Lewis ‘Home Hub’ for Sherwood were produced work or retail space.

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“Using exactly the same regularised framing components as those for flat ceilings but with skill, flair and innovation, all manner of features can be achieved, particularly with the implementation of the various manufacturers’ feature and performance enhanced boards.

Another advantage is that the products are predominantly ex-stock and the installation can be cost effective compared with manufactured solutions.”

What’s clear is that more occupiers are opening up ceilings.

SIG’s Ann Fisher sees that both office and retail plays in this space and said: “For installers, they’ll need to be confident with taking on a new and exotic ceiling. And for contractors with design flair, they’ll have the ability to bring buildability to contracts and help designers meet their aspirations.”

FIND OUT MORE www.thefis.org

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www.specfinish.co.uk 15

FEATURE

TECHNOLOGY

www.specfinish.co.uk

How are drywall and BIM getting on?

John Butler of specialist contractor London Drywall sets out the status quo of BIM in the building finishes sector, highlighting useful insights and notes of caution.

We often joke that the BIM experience can be compared to assembling flat-pack furniture without instructions: once you’ve sussed it out and built a few items of furniture correctly at the third or fourth attempt, it does eventually become easier!

There is still a common fallacy with company owners, directors and senior managers that BIM is purely a 3D design requirement and a marketing badge to be promoted. In reality, it is more like this: the trade contractor’s designers have been left to write an O&M manual populated with a full NBS specification for each design element at the outset of the design process, combined with a fully managed, accurate and developed 3D design on top.

Overall project costs related to BIM design are likely to be significantly higher than those for traditional 2D design, with multiples of 5 to 10 times normal costings being typical according to the level of detail required. Clients and financial managers don’t always expect to pay for the level of the trade contractor’s resourcing required, and obtaining sufficient financial allowances in competitive tender aren’t always possible, putting additional pressure on trade contractors’ margins.

The industry-leading software, Autodesk’s Revit, is complex to learn and understand and doesn’t automatically link with other

BIM software used in sectors such as M&E, where Autodesk’s CADduct, AutoCAD MEP and Navisworks are often used. These operate on a different level with very limited integration capability, especially for the much-heralded clash-detection capability.

To invest in the equipment, training and staff engagement required for in-house capability, you’re talking hundreds of thousands – not tens of thousands – of pounds. And the timescale for full implementation from an existing in-house AutoCAD / Sketchup design capability to full 3D BIM provision has to be measured in years, not months.

Attendance by a trade contractor’s competent BIM-savvy design manager is pretty much required at weekly design meetings over the life of the pre-construction and construction period, and not just in the early days that would be typical of traditional 2D design input.

The decision to outsource to an outside freelance BIM design agency is not straightforward, incredibly expensive (costing £1,000s per week) and only allows your company to gain, not manage or learn from, the knowledge process required for, and benefits deriving from, BIM.

Whether BIM design is outsourced or not, trade contractor’s in-house design management and reporting systems require an increased level of sophistication. There’s no obvious source of qualified, competent staff that can be brought in to a typical trade contractor’s design department, and many graduate qualified designers and part-qualified architects with 3D / BIM capability don’t automatically consider trade contractors as their career choice, leaving the finishes sector as the lowest level in their career pecking order.

Issues with clients’ BIM managers and principal designers Live BIM models used in commercial office fit-out often suffer inaccuracies because base-build models have been used without as-built ‘cloud survey’ verification later on, which leads to the actual on-site building dimensions being different from the initial model developed at ‘shell and core’ stage. Revised solutions and modifications are then required at the critical construction stage.

Lead architects are not always familiar with BIM software, leaving this element to BIM technicians in their office, and their design details are often developed in 2D CAD, not necessarily then being developed into a 3D model to check they work in practice.

Differing applied finishes such as wall tiling and skirting affect overall wall thicknesses, but need to be added as separate BIM layers, not incorporated into the wall make-up. For example, door frame thicknesses and junction alignment where finishes are local rather than continuous and where wall type specifications vary.

Design management philosophy M&E trades were the early BIM adopters – they’d been designing in 3D for a long time – followed by trade contractors with their own designed system-heavy components such as glazed partitioning.

Drywall manufacturers have been slow in providing any system-usable BIM information other than LOD 200 wall type family make-ups with their own specification written into them, essentially approaching BIM from only a marketing and branding exercise. For projects at LOD 400 and LOD 500, they’ve still not created full 3D model components for accurate detailing, so drywall contractors have had to create their own 3D components with no manufacturer verification of authenticity or accuracy.

Practical implementation The BIM model is never static; it requires constant monitoring for daily changes.

16 Advertising 01926 420660

TECHNOLOGY

FEATURE

www.thefis.org

indicative details due to their late appointment, such as joinery, furniture and AV, which impacts coordination of backing plywood locations within walls, door opening sizes and schedules.

BIM-related issues

Be careful of agreeing to offer BIM to any level of detail above LOD 300 as the complexity of information required to be produced is currently what I deem to be beyond the capability of drywall contractors at this stage without excessive costs being incurred.

Backwards saving of BIM models from Revit version 2016 to, say, Revit version 2014 is not possible, and if the master model is being maintained in Revit 2014 this poses issues with any model loaded as it requires a licensed It’s the trade contractor’s responsibility to version of Revit 2014 (and its functionality) to be update their models in line with the constantly maintained for that project, while other projects changing BIM manager’s local area model and might be standardised on a later version, say master BIM model, and then to feed that updated Revit 2015, which is incompatible. information back to the client’s BIM manager on Despite the effort to fully populate the BIM a weekly basis, while maintaining a full audit trail. model with all the specification information, Delays in updating the master model with this has so far not reduced the requirement to small changes are inevitable as solutions are provide comprehensive hard copy and often still worked out by hand sketches. Some electronic format O&M manuals, creating other trade contractors only provide duplication of effort.

Benefits of BIM

As the design and construction progresses and built drawings and models are developed, the likely costs to produce that information at a later stage reduce. And once the information is loaded into the BIM model, standardisation and automation of design activities such as wall tagging, quantification, and eventually costing will be much faster.

Provision of Revit and IFC models can substantially improve the dependability of information issued to manufacturers of off-site components and systems, for example for LGSF structural drywall panels.

BIM – the future

As alluded to in my opening analogy, the more exposure you have to BIM and its requirements, the more familiar and easy to understand it all becomes. As a sector, we’re getting there, but there are still issues to be aware of and challenges to overcome.

SpecFinish would like to hear your thoughts on BIM. Email info@thefis.org FIND OUT MORE www.thefis.org

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FIS

ANNUAL REVIEW

www.specfinish.co.uk

SKILLS

Jeremy Clayton, training manager

INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT

SUSTAINABILITY

HEALTH, SAFETY AND WELFARE

SKILLS

TECHNICAL COMPETENCE

The FIS strategy in 2015 was based around six pillars.

These pillars drive the association’s work and underpin its day-to-day activities. Here, FIS team members look back on what took place in 2015.

COMMUNITY

FIS Annual Review 2015

FIS STRATEGY

TECHNICAL COMPETENCE AND SUSTAINABILITY Joe Cilia, technical manager

This year training, or rather the ‘skills gap’, has featured as a major “FIS has been extremely influential in helping us issue affecting continuity to develop our BIM and sustainability strategies. and effective business Through our membership, we have been able to development for contractors in FIS. We participate in BIM4FitOut, SKA and the have therefore focused consultation process for BREEAM UK non-domestic on two main activities: increasing skills while refurbishment and fit-out 2014. As a result, we ensuring that appropriate training is available to deliver a site-ready workforce. have gained invaluable knowledge allowing us to We are doing this by building a UK-wide network of accredited training determine the right path to follow.” providers to meet members’ training requirements. As associate members of FIS, these training providers offer on-site assessment of operatives in the Matt Peake, technical director, Komfort workplace – minimising downtime and ensuring continuity on building projects.

Our sector-funding initiative, developed with help from CITB, is providing money for On-Site Assessment and Training (OSAT), new apprenticeships One of the primary roles of FIS is the development of technical and essential health and safety training. This enables operatives to gain standards. Members will be aware that we produce a series of access to site and work safely and effectively, as well as growing the number Best Practice Guides (available at www.thefis.org) which aim to provide a of apprentices in our sector. standard of installation for members to work to. These guides make very useful sales tools. By including the link to the relevant guide in introductory So what have we facilitated this year? emails and quotations, you can confirm that your work will be carried out • 200 part funded NVQ2s for operatives via OSAT in accordance with the FIS guide. This provides a differentiator between • 125 fully funded NVQ2s for operatives via OSAT you and other companies that do not work to such standards.

• 390 part funded health and safety and other short courses The FIS Advisory Service is another useful service for members.

• 20 fully funded FIS sector apprenticeships over two years It provides an independent, professionally indemnified report on the • 50 Special Upskilling Programmes (SUPs) in drylining and cold quality of the workmanship and materials used and can often help formed steel framed systems (in conjunction with DLPTF) provide the impetus to resolve disputes.

Our role is also to look at future developments. BIM4FitOut was set We have engaged with the latest CITB funding initiative and are on course up several years ago to look at the potential impact of Building to provide a further 200 OSAT places for members in the New Year.

Information Modelling (BIM) on our sector. One of the issues identified was the need to provide guidance for specialist contractors to help them demonstrate their BIM competence. To respond to this, FIS developed the BIM ToolBox. This is being used by tier 1 contractors to ensure their supply chain is BIM-ready and, at the same time, promote the use of FIS members’ services.

FIS also keeps a watching brief on sustainability issues. Our presence on the RICS SKA Rating Technical Committee ensures that members are fully informed of developments and that the committee is aware of the strides members are making in developing sustainable products.

The FIS Forums continue to provide a platform for considering a strategy for individual product sectors to work together to address specific issues, such as reducing waste.

18 Advertising 01926 420660

ANNUAL REVIEW

FIS

www.thefis.org

COMMUNITY

Sharon Mason, business development manager Networking and sharing best practice have been key to developing new business relationships within FIS this year. There has been a noticeable growth in attendance at FIS events, which include the Awards, Conference, members’ meetings and working lunches. Events held throughout the year introduced contractor and supplier members and other industry stakeholders to each other, helping to create new opportunities and improve business performance.

We give support to our members by providing them with the knowledge and tools they need to thrive within the finishes and interiors sector.

Information communicated by the association is always current, so members are at the forefront of new developments within the industry.

This year, FIS has introduced a number of forums. These provide members that have shared interests with the opportunity to discuss key issues within a particular speciality. The forums actively meeting at the moment are: • Digital Construction • Drywall Contractors Group • Heritage Plastering Group • Operable Walls Group • The Partitions Group • Scottish Group • Health & Safety Group Steve Coley, FIS president.

• BIM4FitOut

HEALTH, SAFETY AND WELFARE Robert Barker, membership manager

Health and safety involves us all and while lots of processes and actions now exist to avoid accidents, it’s also about considering the long-term physical effects a job in our sector can cause. The recognition of the importance of employee welfare is growing. The show-stopping talk on this topic at this year’s FIS Conference given by Martin Coyd OBE certainly made members sit up and take note.

FIS is working closely with the HSE, which is actively looking to find ways to reduce the physical impact of site work, and has a place on its internal construction working group to allow us to steer the HSE welfare strategy for our sector.

The group, which will include organisations from across the entire supply chain, is tasked with identifying problems and providing achievable solutions. We welcome your participation in this vital work.

Through the Drywall Group, FIS is also in the process of building a case for the need to reduce plasterboard sheet widths to lighten the overall weight of a sheet installed by operatives. Working in partnership with biotechnology company dorsaVi, the group is gathering data to quantify the musculoskeletal effects on drywall fitters of lifting loads of varying weights.

And finally, don’t forget that we also provide free health and safety advice through our helplines, and through the health and safety articles we publish in SpecFinish.

We encourage members to get involved and add value within a forum by helping to bring new ideas and industry knowledge.

Membership of FIS leads to business contacts that can result in new business opportunities, so get involved.

FUTURE INDUSTRY David Frise, chief executive

FIS represents the sector and it is the aim of the association to help develop the market for our members’ goods and services. We do this by raising awareness of the great quality work done by members through FIS Focus, which is circulated with Building magazine, and SpecFinish.

Our annual awards showcase the very best projects, and next year we will hold our first regional awards in Scotland.

In the coming year we want to promote our members even more and are looking for great case studies from you. This is a great way to promote your business and the sector as a whole.

FIND OUT MORE www.thefis.org www.specfinish.co.uk 19

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HEALTH & SAFETY

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Assessing the risks of manual handling Even though most construction firms are aware of their responsibility for carrying out manual handling assessments, what those assessments need to include is not always as well understood.

If you’re looking for some concise information and useful tips on what to include in your manual handling risk assessments, this article will tell you what you need to know.

Handling building materials

Every employee on a construction site will need to handle building materials at some point; the key is to do so safely. One of the fundamental principles of any handling assessment is to decide how to reduce manual handling as much as possible.

Your assessment should: • Consider where mechanical lifting can be employed to reduce manual handling.

• Ensure that mechanical lifting equipment is fit-for-purpose and can be operated safely on-site.

• Identify the employee training required for both lifting machinery operations and manual handling.

Bonus tip: Ensure the risk assessment also covers a safety inspection of the lifting and handling equipment.

•

•

Ensuring that the correct fastenings are used to hold plasterboard in place to avoid accidents in future.

Providing suitable masks or dust-extraction facilities to prevent workers inhaling plaster dust that can cause serious lung damage.

Bonus tip: Think long term with securing your plasterboard – panels could still pose a health and safety risk long into the future if fitted incorrectly.

Framing stud safety

Metal studding is an essential part of every modern building project and can be found on almost every site across the country. But this familiarity may also lead to important safety issues being overlooked. Always remember that your assessment should include: • Safe handling of the tools and fixings required to work with studding, including saws, drills and hammers.

• Awareness of any electrical cabling, water and gas pipes that could be damaged in the process of fitting studding.

• Considerations for any personal protective equipment (PPE) that would better safeguard your workers.

Bonus tip: Don’t forget that transporting metal studding around the site is potentially dangerous. Make sure that your assessment makes provisions for this too.

The dangers of fitting doors

Working with plasterboard

Plasterboard is heavy and unwieldy and presents a risk to employee health and safety when handled incorrectly. Your initial workplace assessment should cover factors including: • Safe handling of plasterboard to avoid injury should it be dropped on-site.

It almost seems stupid to say, but even hanging doors on-site needs at least a cursory assessment to mitigate potential risks to workers. Probably best performed as part of a wider risk assessment, you need to consider: • Will the process of fitting doors obstruct any fire escapes? What is the contingency plan?

• Do you have measures in place to stop people passing through halls and doorways as the doors are being hung?

• Is there any PPE or other specialist equipment required to fit doors safely?

Bonus tip: Are the doors being fitted compliant with building regulations? This should have been sorted as part of the planning stage, but it’s always worth a double check.

Checking suspended ceilings

Suspended ceilings are incredibly common in buildings new and old, and are another easily overlooked aspect of a construction project.

Before beginning work, make sure that you assess: • Whether employees are properly trained for working at heights.

• That your team has adequate ladders and lifting gear for fitting the ceiling.

• Whether there are electrical cables, pipes or other hazards that need to be managed as your employees work in the ceiling space.

Bonus tip: When replacing or renewing a suspended ceiling, make sure your assessment also considers the presence of asbestos dust in the crawlspace.

As you can see, even the most mundane objects present a potential hazard on construction sites and need to be considered as part of your general risk assessments. That’s not to say that these assessments need to be hugely detailed, though, merely that each sector of the site, and each task workers undertake, needs to be checked.

You also need to act on every identified risk to raise the general standards of safety across the site. Still got a few questions? Give the Veritas Consulting team a call and we’ll help you nail down the details of effective manual handling risk assessments.

FIND OUT MORE DAVID CANT Veritas Consulting www.veritas-consulting.co.uk www.specfinish.co.uk 21

MARKET ANALYSIS

AUTUMN 2015 FORECAST

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Construction output growth forecast: 2016 to 2019 Coming from a year of rapid growth in 2014, the construction industry was expecting growth to ease from 2015 onwards.

Despite this, growth rates are still expected to remain relatively strong, according to the Construction Products Association’s (CPA) recent autumn forecast. Amandeep Bahra, an economist at the CPA, looks at how this growth is expected to pan out.

The CPA’s autumn forecast estimated that the construction industry will expand by 3.6 per cent in 2015 and 3.8 per cent in 2016. These forecasts have been marginally downgraded compared to the association’s forecast last summer primarily due to widespread weakness across the industry in the third quarter. But what has fuelled the recent slowdown, and is the construction industry beginning to run out of steam?

After two and a half years of sustained growth, the construction industry reported its first year-on-year decline in output, of 0.1 per cent in the third quarter, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). A breakdown into sectors shows that the industry’s two major engines appear to be displaying signs of weakness. Private housing posted the slowest year-on-year growth in Q3 since 2013 Q1, and on a quarterly basis, output declined 2.6 per cent.

This fall can largely be explained by difficulties in recruiting on-site trades, which has not only added to the overall construction costs faced by house builders but also slowed down the pace of work. Nevertheless, house builders retain an optimistic view looking over the next 12–18 months, and we expect the sector to have grown by 10.0 per cent in 2015 and to grow by 5.0 per cent in 2016.

Public housing, on the contrary, continues to slide with the third quarter reporting an annual decline for the second consecutive quarter. Un22 Advertising 01926 420660

certainty over the future of affordable housing has inevitably impacted on public sector house building confidence. New orders were poor in 2014, and according to more recent data, the weakness in orders continued through 2015.

As a result, public housing starts are forecast to decline 10.0 per cent in 2015 and 5.0 per cent in 2016 with no growth projected over the rest of the decade, largely as we see incentives for building by housing associations and local authorities gradually diminish.

Surprisingly, performance of the largest sector – commercial – has also exhibited signs of a slowdown as the impact of rising construction costs is also felt by developers in the sector. For the first time since the start of 2013, output in the commercial sector fell 2.0 per cent on a yearly basis in Q3 primarily due to declines in the retail and entertainment sub-sectors. Projects are reported to have been delayed as contractors wrangle over costs, which have risen since contracts were won.

Retailers go small for future success In retail, the focus remains on smaller concept stores and so far this year, we have seen several retailers including Asda and the Co-operative announce expansion plans for convenience

stores across London and the South East.

Niche retail chains such as Costa have also set out five-year targets for store expansions across the UK, which will be seen through fit-outs of existing stores. Despite this, retail output is forecast to decline by 7.0 per cent in 2015 before we see a return to growth from 2016 onwards as larger projects such as the £440 million redevelopment of Oxford Westgate and £1 billion Croydon shopping development get underway.

Busy offices sector continues to perform

Offices, the largest commercial sub-sector, continues to perform well and will continue to drive growth over the rest of the forecast period as activity remains robust in London and picks up in cities such as Manchester and Birmingham. Birmingham in particular has attracted some of the largest projects outside of London, including the announcement by HSBC that it will be moving its headquarters to the city and pre-letting 210,000 sq. ft of new-build office space.

Although new orders in offices declined on an annual basis in the second quarter for the first time in two years, this is unlikely to divert the strength we expect to see over the medium-term.

Growth of 8.0 per cent is forecast in 2015 followed by 7.0 per cent in 2016.

Return to growth expected from 2016

Overall, despite the slowdown in output growth in the commercial sector this year, growth is expected to return from 2016. Furthermore, by the end of the forecast period, output is expected to have increased 16.3 per cent and will reach a value of £27.6 billion in 2019.

The outlook for education construction continues to remain upbeat with growth of 3.6 per cent expected in 2015 before averaging a rate of 4.2 per cent each year between 2016 and 2019. Work under PF2 schools and higher education, which is benefitting from a stream of capital investments aimed at improving facilities, will support activity.

With house prices high and construction costs rising, major sectors are indeed feeling the pressure, and although this has translated into a slowdown in activity in the short-term and a marginal downgrade to our forecasts, the industry outlook still appears to be healthy for the next four years. With the project pipeline still strong, this will ensure that the industry’s engines are kept running, but let’s not overlook the concern over skills and capacity that will be at the forefront of the industry’s challenges over this period.

AUTUMN 2015 FORECAST

MARKET ANALYSIS www.thefis.org

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www.specfinish.co.uk 23

TRAINING www.specfinish.co.uk

New web portal to boost training

One of the recommendations of the 2014 Stockerl Report was for a new training portal to be established. FIS training manager Jeremy Clayton outlines how FIS is responding to this and what it will mean for the sector.

The Interiors Sector Training Review, also known as the Stockerl Report, was carried out by Dr Karin Stockerl in 2014. It is the most up to date and comprehensive study of our sector. In it, Dr Stockerl recommended that a new training portal be set up, one that would improve the communication of interiors sector careers, training provision and grant offers.

In response, FIS is partnering with Reference Point, a specialist software company that developed the new CSCS SmartCard technology, and SkillSight, an online service for managing qualification information, to create CourseBank.

CourseBank will provide an online marketplace for all training providers promoting courses that are relevant to FIS members.

CourseBank will be a training one-stop-shop, helping FIS members to source funding, book the most appropriate training course and manage the joining process, through to the seamless uploading of qualifications onto any 24 Advertising 01926 420660

successful trainee’s CSCS card. It will become the heart of the new online Skills Hub, due to be launched later this year, where funding links will sit alongside all relevant sector training courses on the FIS website.

Training providers wanting to offer their courses via CourseBank will be able to take advantage of a well-structured online process that incorporates online trainee payment options and the uploading of competency outcomes as part of the solution. Only those training providers that are FIS associate members will be permitted to carry the Associate Member logo against their entries to indicate that the courses being advertised have been validated by FIS. The Stockerl Report stated that over 60,000 site operatives work in the UK finishes and interiors sector and that up to two‐thirds

are without formal qualifications.

The report also pointed out that the majority of contractors in our sector are SMEs and that these businesses have limited resource to access and investigate available training and associated CITB grants.

Most do not claim any grant, have no CITB-compliant training plans and do not employ apprentices. Training of new entrants is often informal and unstructured meaning that most craft operatives remain without any formal qualifications.

To address these key findings, FIS wants to significantly increase the number of operatives in the interiors sector that are adequately qualified to NVQ Level 2 and that hold a related skilled worker CSCS card by 2020. CourseBank will help to facilitate this by being the first port of call when searching and engaging with relevant training providers.

CourseBank also links to

SkillSight, a resource management system that helps companies manage workers’ training history and CSCS cards. SkillSight technology interfaces with the CSCS SmartCard and maintains an up-to-date record of an individual’s progress and career training, highlighting when particular aspects are due for renewal.

One added benefit of SkillSight is that it can also assist with the identification of fraudulent CSCS cards. The problem of CSCS card fraud was highlighted by the BBC last year.

CSCS chief executive Graham Wren said: “Thorough card checks must be carried out before allowing workers on-site and employers need to ensure workers have the correct qualifications for the work they do.

“More companies are realising that a CSCS SmartCard is a simple and cost-effective way to do this and maintain a robust process. By using a card reader, tablet or smartphone, anyone can instantly check the validity of a card and the qualifications held by the card holder.”

For its part, CITB was already investigating some test centres where the criminal activity was alleged to have taken place, which led to five centres being shut down and another eight being under investigation.

By engaging with the new portal, FIS members will become core users, promoting and extending the use of the technology within the CSCS card scheme and reducing the opportunity for fraudulent behaviour. FIS chief executive David Frise said: “The more evidence that can be reliably supplied on-site the better. This type of technology really helps us to be at the forefront of developing a solid reputation for a skilled workforce.”

FIS and Reference Point are working together to make it as easy as possible for members to get the right cards for their workers. With site-ready operatives, members are able do what they do best, safely and effectively. This FIS initiative could become a technological blueprint for the whole construction sector.

FIND OUT MORE Jeremy Clayton jeremyclayton@thefis.org

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FIS NEWS www.specfinish.co.uk

Calendar of events President’s Lunch 2016 Plaisterers’ Hall, London 23 February 2016 FIS Awards Lunch 2016 Dorchester Hotel, London 7 June 2016 FIS Scottish Awards George Hotel, Edinburgh 9 September 2016 Members’ Meetings 2016 Dates to be confirmed

Welcome to new FIS members B R Hodgson Ltd

www.brhodgson.co.uk B R Hodgson operates on a wide range of commercial projects, specialising in internal drywall contracting, and rainscreen cladding and facade systems.

TDK Plastering Ltd

Tel: 01527 595579 TDK Plastering specialises in screeding, plastering, partitioning, drylining, rendering and coving.

QICTrims

www.qic-trims.com QicTrims supplies aluminium trims and ancillary products for drylining, suspended ceilings and partitioning systems in the commercial fit-out sector.

Armstrong Interiors Ltd

www.armstronginteriorsltd.co.uk Armstrong Interiors works in commercial and residential sectors, specialising in suspended ceilings, partitioning, fire protection and all aspects of plastering.

26 Advertising 01926 420660

FIS Scottish Awards FIS is supporting the Scottish Forum with the launch of its first FIS Scottish Awards. The awards have been introduced to demonstrate the quality of work and the range of projects that are carried out in Scotland and will be open to entry from all FIS contractor members.

Alongside six contract categories, the awards include categories for Apprentice of the Year (must be training in Scotland) and Supplier of the Year (nominated by Scottish contractors).

Scotland Forum chairman Hugh Rattray said:

“As a group, we wanted a platform to showcase the high levels of quality, craftsmanship and service provided by FIS members in the finishes and interiors sector in Scotland. The Scottish Awards and awards event to be held in Edinburgh allow us to do this.”

The awards will be announced and presented on 9 September at the Scottish Awards Lunch in Edinburgh by guest speaker Sandy Strang.

FIND OUT MORE www.thefis.org

Bbi’s 25th anniversary golf day raises over £16,000 for charity Some of the best-known names in recent Welsh rugby helped Beacons Business Interiors (Bbi) to raise more than £16,000 in its drive to support Cardiff’s Velindre Cancer Centre.

Jonathan Davies, Brynmor Williams and Martyn Williams, who are president and patrons of the cancer centre respectively, were among nine former and current players who teed off alongside Bbi staff, customers, supply chain partners and subcontractors in a golf day and enjoyed a dinner to celebrate the company’s 25th anniversary.

Bbi’s founder and executive chairman, Andy Graham, commented: “Everyone is affected in one way or another by the Big C. Velindre not only carries out ground-breaking research and clinic trials, but it also provides wonderful care and support to cancer patients and their families to try to make their quality of life better.”

FIND OUT MORE www.bbi-uk.com

Space-pod achieves Mansell’s just-in-time impressive supplier approach for SFS systems audit score Buckinghamshire-based Space-pod has scored 97 per cent in its annual audit by Achilles.

Space-pod achieved its impressive result in the Achilles UVDB Category B2. This category provides utilities companies with information that helps them manage supply chain risk and comply with EU Procurement Legislation.

Kevin Parker, Space-pod’s managing director, commented: “This pleasing and hard-earned endorsement allows us to continue to work with Thames Water and other utilities businesses and provides all our clients with valued third-party verification of our capabilities.”

Mansell Finishes has been appointed by main contractor Cruden Group to supply and install an SFS pre-panelised system and undertake drylining works as part of the construction of an £8 million student accommodation development for Cityheart Ltd in Chester.

Work has already commenced on the 117-bed student accommodation, due to open in September 2016. As part of the £1 million 14-week contract, Mansell will install 5,000m2 of pre-fabricated panels, 10,000m2 of drylining and over 14,000m2 of plastering.

Pre-panelisation of the frames will be completed at Mansell’s production facility in Manchester.

On-site logistics are extremely tight due to the city centre location, so Mansell will deliver to site using just-in-time deliveries having invested in its own production facility.

FIND OUT MORE www.space-pod.co.uk

FIND OUT MORE www.mansellfinishes.co.uk

FIS NEWS www.thefis.org

ITV appoints Paramount for studio refurb Aztec tells a Paramount Interiors has been selected by ITV to undertake the refurbishment of its production galleries and offices in Bristol and Birmingham.

The appointment follows Paramount’s successful completion of the ITV Cymru Wales studios in 2014.

Both projects have a combined value of £1.3 million and work will be scheduled over several phases with a planned completion date of spring 2016. Paramount will be responsible for the design and fit-out of an extensive range of facilities including production and sound galleries, editing suites, dressing rooms, voice-over rooms, meeting space and office accommodation.

Helen Bartlett, design manager at Paramount, said: “The brief is to create a fresh, modern look with bold use of the ITV brand colours set against a predominantly white interior, allowing all three studios to have complete consistency.”

renovation story

Liverpool-based fit-out company Aztec has been appointed to deliver a children’s imagination centre with a brief to convert the barn and stables of the Grade II-listed Calderstones Mansion House, Liverpool, into a literacy hub.

The ‘Story Barn’ will feature exhibitions for children’s authors and illustrators, host events and festivals, as well as being a permanent space allowing children to take part in literary adventures.

Works valued at £350,000 include external and internal structural alterations, full external glazing package, feature windows and doors, external play and story area, glass and stainless steel balustrades, bespoke staircase and feature lighting.

FIND OUT MORE FIND OUT MORE 27965 Solutions for Subcontractors AD 188x130_Layout 1 23/09/2015 16:10 Page 1 www.paramountinteriors.com www.aztec-interiors.co.uk

FIS seminar at the Surface Design Show FIS will be running a seminar at the Surface Design Show on Thursday 11 February. The seminar will focus on helping architects and designers set ‘smart specifications’ to ensure that their designs are not compromised during the tendering and value engineering process.

The one-hour seminar, given by FIS technical manager Joe Cilia, will outline 10 key points for setting up a smart specification for any product. Mr Cilia will also cover the impact of office acoustics on wellbeing, focusing on three ways of controlling sound for effective and comfortable working.

The show runs from 9–11 February at the Business Design Centre in Islington and is free to attend.

FIND OUT MORE www.surfacedesignshow.com

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