The Building Engineer - February 2021 by Redactive Media Group

the journal of the chartered association of building engineers

February 2021

buildingengineer February 2021 | www.buildingengineer.org.uk

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Long-term planning

Unlocking the potential

Vapour trails

The changes causing the industry to question its professional ethics

The accessible housing consultation promises much, but will it deliver?

Is Germany’s ﬁrst 3D-printed house a mark of things to come?

How to manage and remove humidity on-site all year round

Building around people Have we lost sight of who buildings are for?

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18/01/2021 13:59

Two New FREE Courses Available

CABE has partnered with Fire Risk Consultancy Limited to provide a range of online ﬁre safety training courses at discounted rates for members. Designed and run by FRC, each CPD course focuses on an aspect of Fire Safety and delivers valuable insights to learners.

Available Courses: • • • • • • • • • • • •

External Fire Spread B5 Access and Facilities Human Behaviour in Fire Fire Safety in Specialised Housing BS 9999: The Concept Fire Safety in Heritage Premises Responsible Persons Responsibilities Fire Doors - What you need to know Fire Warden Training Loft Conversions Setting the Bar Guidance on Simultaneous Evacuation.

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Book now at: cbuilde.com/onlinetraining

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FEBRUARY 2021

CONTENTS

building engineer 22 Vapour trails How to avoid common errors in humidity removal

WELCOME 05 Welcome CABE President Jayne Hall considers what we need to see our industry through the turbulent waters ahead

24 Long-term planning Making accessible housing more than an afterthought 26 Finding accessible housing Why building more accessible housing is only part of the story

INFORMATION 06 The brieﬁng News and views

10 Tomorrow’s engineers EngineeringUK reviews 2020 and sees future hope 12 Stitch in time An alternative to the waking watch ﬁre detection system

32 Industry opinion Dan Grimshaw walks away from cost-based tenders

14 Potential of 3D printing Supplying the material for Germany’s ﬁrst 3D-printed residential building

33 Ethical professionalism Changing behaviour patterns in the industry

INSIGHT

18 Duty of care Developing the asbestos plan for Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge

38 Building around people Who are buildings for, and why don’t users form a bigger part of the overall picture?

19 CROSS reports Weld de-speciﬁcation and swimming pool ceiling collapses

COMMUNITY

21 Plastic fantastic How to avoid the mounting plastic packaging problem

Printed by Warners

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36 The chain Why delays aren’t the only supply chain risk

16 Design for life What to look for in a ﬁre detection system

Building Engineer is published on behalf of the Chartered Association of Building Engineers (CABE) by Redactive Publishing Ltd Tel: 020 7880 6200 Email: info@redactive.co.uk redactive.co.uk

30 The great divide Can party wall surveying outlaw unethical practice?

BUILDING ENGINEER

13 Room with a view Beach hut design brief challenge for students

28 Building back better A post-Covid picture of public sector procurement

FEBRUARY 2021

27 Lift maintenance Common issues that good upkeep can help to avert

INTELLIGENCE

Publisher: Will Hurrell Editor: Rebecca Davies-Nash Email: cabe-editorial@redactive.co.uk Designer: Joe McAllister Picture researcher: Claire Echavarry Sub-editor: Caroline Taylor Production: Aysha Miah-Edwards Email: aysha.miah@redactive.co.uk Tel: 020 7880 6241 Advertising: Email: cabe-ads@redactive.co.uk Tel: 020 7880 6206

Volume 96 No 2 February 2021 The Oﬃcial Journal of the Chartered Association of Building Engineers Chief Executive: Dr Gavin Dunn Patron: The Earl of Lytton President: Jayne Hall Email: info@cbuilde.com cbuilde.com

Subscription Rates: UK and Ireland £85.00, Overseas £120 (per annum, 10 issues a year, sterling).

44 Association update 45 People news 47 Member focus

Building Engineer has been carefully prepared but articles are published without responsibility on the part of the publishers or authors for loss occasioned to any person acting or refraining from action as a result of any view, information or advice included therein. Articles published in Building Engineer do not necessarily reﬂect the opinions of the Chartered Association of Building Engineers, nor can the Chartered Association of Building Engineers, the publishers or authors accept any responsibility for any claims made by advertisers. ISSN: 0969-8213

19/01/2021 09:39

Webinar Wednesday

Administering Construction Contracts under the JCT Minor Works 2016

17 February 2021 | 1 hour CPD Presented by Michael Gerard of Michael Gerard Solicitors FEBRUARY 2021

This webinar will look at Administering Construction Contracts under the JCT Minor Works 2016.

BUILDING ENGINEER

18/12/2020 11:06:13

CABE is now offering Professional Interviews for: • CABE Chartered Membership • Chartered Engineer registration; and • Chartered Environmentalist registration.

Becoming a Chartered Member, or gaining registration as a Chartered Engineer or Chartered Environmentalist helps you to progress your career; proving your knowledge and competence within the industry. For more information, or to apply please contact membership@cbuilde.com or +44 (0) 1604 404121 Please ensure that you will be a position to submit your application by the submission date that corresponds with your interview date.

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07/01/2021 16:16

PRESIDENT JAYNE HALL

WELCOME

Welcome

ILLUSTRATION: SAM KERR

“We need to remain alert to the perils of poor practice. Ethics has never been so much in focus as in the Grenfell inquiry”

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Just as urgently, we need to remain alert to the perils of poor practice. Ethics has never been so much in focus as in the media reporting of evidence at the Grenfell inquiry. It has been disheartening to hear accounts of negligence and downright dishonesty, which cast the whole industry in a poor light in the eyes of the public. Many of us will have watched the painful evidence from individuals, whose remorse and regret at the horrific turn of events has been almost tangible. It is well documented that there have been some toxic practices inherent for many years in almost every sector of the built environment, mostly driven by the pressure to make profits at the expense of standards and safety. This is not the first time the construction industry has been placed under the spotlight. I’m sure I speak for the majority in saying that we should expect our built environment to be safe, and that any individual action, whether intentional or not, should never undermine the efforts of those who strive to uphold high standards of quality, competence and safety. We don’t know exactly what the coming months may bring, but we must seize our opportunity, as professionals, to step up to the plate and demonstrate leadership and integrity.

FEBRUARY 2021

he beginning of the year might not have been the fresh start we hoped for. The UK is in the midst of its third lockdown and we are already onto our second Construction Minister of the year. Of course, I wish Anne-Marie Trevelyan well in the role and hope that she has the resilience and vision we need to see our industry through the turbulent waters ahead. As Minister of State for business, energy and clean growth, Ms Trevelyan’s responsibilities include energy efficiency and heat, including fuel poverty – all key issues in the government’s Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution. The construction industry is well poised to address these issues and has been doing so for many years. Point 7 of the government’s plan focuses on developing greener buildings, with ambitions to put our homes, workplaces, schools and hospitals at the heart of our green economic recovery – supporting 50,000 jobs by 2030, building new supply chains for building efficiency and delivering funding and regulatory measures in partnership with industry. Plans for implementing the Future Homes Standard to future-proof new buildings and avoid the need for costly retrofits; to extend the Green Homes Grant and Homes Upgrade Grant to improve the energy efficiency of homes and replace fossil fuel heating; provision of further funding for the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme and the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund to reduce emissions in schools, hospitals and public buildings and to continue upgrading inefficient social housing are, in the government’s words, part of the ‘race to zero’.

Jayne Hall BSc (Hons) PCABE FCABE Chartered Building Engineer CABE President

19/01/2021 09:40

INFORMATION

The briefing

NEWS AND VIEWS FROM THE INDUSTRY

Wales puts safety ﬁrst

FEBRUARY 2021

BUILDING ENGINEER

he Welsh Government has published updated editions of Approved Document B (Fire safety) volumes 1 and 2, including changes to Appendix A (Assessment in lieu of tests) and an updated edition of Regulation 7 (Materials and Workmanship). The Approved Document has been amended to strengthen the requirements when providing assessments in lieu of fire tests. The amendment specifies three routes to demonstrate compliance. The previous provision listed a number of ways to demonstrate performance; the revised provision has generalised the test methodologies, and the specific routes that were previously mentioned all fall within the three revised routes for compliance. The amendments to the Approved Documents ensure that assessments should not be regarded as a way to avoid a test where one is necessary. In addition, the Minister for Housing and Local Government has announced the launch of Safer Buildings in Wales: A Consultation. The minister is keen to hear all views on the issues explored in the White Paper, and, as such, the closing date for responses is 12 April 2021.

Read the Approved Document B here gov.wales/amendments-approved-documentswgc-0102020-html

Ongoing Grenfell inquiry

n January 2021, the Grenfell inquiry was suspended because of rising Covid-19 infections in London. It had been operating in person, but with minimal attendance. The three-strong inquiry panel, witnesses and lawyers for the inquiry were the only people at the premises, along with a support team. The planned restart this month, with remote hearings using

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computer links, was originally opposed by the bereaved and survivors panel, because of concern that witnesses giving evidence via computer link could be coached in their answers. However, the panel decided “it is better to have remote hearings than no hearings at all while the current restrictions are in place”. The inquiry is due to start again this month

DURING UK LOCKDOWN, GOOGLE SEARCHES FOR DIY TOPICS INCREASED BY

35%

IMAGES: ALAMY, GETTY IMAGES, NOUN PROJECT, ISTOCK IMAGES

Details on Safer Buildings can be found at: gov.wales/safer-buildings-wales

19/01/2021 14:14

THE BRIEFING

The future of MMC Leadership in tackling the climate emergency

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To download the report, visit: nhbc.co.uk/mmcreport

Lockdowns highlight energy waste Acuity Brands’ second annual State of Energy Management report gave an interesting insight into building management considerations for business premises that remain empty during Covid-19 lockdowns. In connection with this reduced occupancy, respondents anticipated an increased need for higher-eﬃciency heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems and the ability to remotely manage energy programmes to address occupancy reductions and other challenges as they adapt system-wide performance. “This past year has shown many industries that it is no longer enough to focus on set-it-and-forget-it energy eﬃciency tasks,” said Sarah Diegnan, Vice President of Customer Success and Operations, Atrius Enterprise Solutions. “An energy management information system (EMIS) [provides]

the framework critical for designing processes to maximise building performance, the ability to track and report out on programme success and continuously optimise building systems.” Among those surveyed, 91% said reducing energy, water, and waste consumption remains a top priority for 2021. The top three requirements for managing building performance and protecting occupant health are higher efficiency HVAC (87%), better lighting (79%) and improved access to analytics derived from actionable data (77%). The most significant barriers to successfully implementing an EMIS solution include the lack of time to review findings (19%) and the costs of upgrading or adding new meters (17%). Respondents also noted how limited internal support for an EMIS complicates funding (18%).

BUILDING ENGINEER

CABE is licensed by the Society for the Environment to award chartered environmentalist (CEnv) registration to members. Demonstrate your credentials as an environmental leader, become a CEnv via CABE.

harness technological advances to respond to the increasing demand for new homes. NHBC’s Head of Standards, Innovation and Research, Richard Smith FCABE, said: “This report looks at the best features of homes from the past to inform the homes of the future.”

FEBRUARY 2021

ction to confront the climate emergency is at the forefront of the Society for the Environment’s (SocEnv) work, and, with the eyes of the world on the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in November, SocEnv is committed to helping individuals and organisations make 2021 a year of substantive change. Firstly, it licenses the awarding of environmental professional registrations, including chartered environmentalist (CEnv) to those with the highest level of expertise. CEnv registration helps professionals to develop and showcase their skills and equips them to lead the response to the climate emergency. That’s why SocEnv is committed to growing the number of chartered environmentalists, already over 7,500 strong. Secondly, as an umbrella body, it works in partnership with many organisations, including CABE. This means it is well equipped to facilitate change at an organisational level. A prime example of this is Pledge to Net-Zero, of which SocEnv is a founding signatory. More than 65 organisations have now made the pledge and committed to setting science-based targets for tackling their greenhouse gas emissions. So, if you haven’t already, make sure to set CEnv registration and/ or encouraging your organisation to make the Pledge to Net-Zero as clear objectives for 2021, and increase your impact in tackling the climate emergency.

refabricated homes have been long-heralded as the future of house building; but if the arguments for homes to be manufactured like cars are so compelling, why is factory-built housing not more common? That’s the question that NHBC Foundation’s report Modern methods of construction: building on experience examines. It scrutinises notable periods of transformation in the industry and explores the elements of design, as well as the social and economic influences, that fuel change. The report notes that we are at a critical time in the development of Modern Methods of Construction (MMC). The potential benefits are compelling, yet conventional construction remains dominant in the UK The report also looks at the history of non-traditional housing through a range of different technologies and advancements since the 19th century and how builders and developers can

19/01/2021 14:14

INFORMATION

Smart meter guidance To aid with the smart meter roll-out in domestic new build properties, the Smart Metering Implementation Programme (SMIP) has published new guidance. The guidance supports developers, architects and all those involved in the speciﬁcation of metering locations in new build premises – especially multiple dwelling units – to better understand the relative positioning of electricity and gas smart meters in consumer premises, the housing of gas smart meters, and the relevant existing guidance. Read at: bit.ly/SmartMeterGuidance

FEBRUARY 2021

BBA and Barbour partner

BUILDING ENGINEER

Social value

ow much is social value worth to a business, asks Be Ethical Training? Businesses today have to be clear about what they do as part of their social responsibility, the reason they do it, and the impact they have on their stakeholders and the planet. These elements play a large part when tendering for new contracts; for example, the majority of public sector contracts have 25% of their tenders weighted towards social value. In addition, the benefits of being responsible can include the retention of clients and employees, attracting new business, and achieving a wider reach through contributing to and supporting communities in which they operate. Be Ethical Training helps businesses define their responsible activities. It believes that when a business defines and takes ownership of its ethical activities, it can begin to see sustainability and growth.

Download the free resource at: bit.ly/SocialValueResource

he British Board of Agrément (BBA), the UK’s building product certification organisation, and Barbour Product Search, the online product directory for building product manufacturers, are uniting to assist companies wishing to develop sustainable, innovative product development practices. A key focus of the partnership is a dedicated Testing & Certification Knowledge Hub, accessible to all users of Barbour Product Search throughout the construction supply chain. Both organisations believe the collaboration will support the drive to improve quality and safety by embedding product testing and certification information into Barbour Product Search, with easy reference for building designers, specifiers, contractors and manufacturers. The announcement also chimes with the government’s Construction Playbook, which places greater focus on building positive relationships between project leads and working together to the benefit of the entire supply chain.

Green roof supply jeopardised by Brexit border disruption Construction managers overseeing domestic and commercial projects incorporating green roofs need to plan carefully to best manage supply chain issues created by Brexit. Many of the roll-out green roof systems popular in the UK are European imports of sedum and wildﬂower blankets, and rely on delivery within a set timeframe to ensure the sedum arrives in a suitable condition for the roof to establish successfully. However, high levels of freight traﬃc in ports, compliance with new import regulations and border

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disruption could delay deliveries, creating issues in the supply chain and potential delays on-site. Julian Thurbin, Director of UK grower and system supplier Wallbarn, said: “The

sedum element of roll-out green roofs is usually delivered to site on a just-in-time basis, because the plants are delicate and should not, we believe, be left rolled up for longer than 72 hours. Clients, therefore, need to know how their supplier is managing the situation and the plans in place to ensure on-time deliveries. As a result, he notes that British producers have been experiencing higher than normal levels of enquiries from speciﬁers and purchasing departments looking to secure a home-grown green roof supply through the ﬁrst quarter of 2021 and onwards.

19/01/2021 09:41

THE BRIEFING

NEWS IN BRIEF

EU trade deal

HS2 2021 GRADUATE RECRUITMENT SCHEME HS2 has oﬀered the opportunity to join one of Europe’s biggest infrastructure projects with a two-year graduate recruitment scheme. There are 17 places available for engineering graduates this year, after 1,000 graduates applied for just nine places in 2020. Karen Davis, HS2 Ltd’s Future Talent Manager, said: “In February, we’ll open the recruitment window for our annual apprentice scheme, and we’ve already increased the number of work experience placements and mentoring opportunities available”. For more, visit hs2.org.uk/careers/

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executive John Newcomb said: “We now have the assurance of the continued free flow of materials needed to fulfil the government’s promise to build back better, improve the energy efficiency of our homes and create the many thousands of jobs required to do so.” A mutual agreement over VAT and debt recovery was reached. Progress on migrant workers was also made, with the UK and EU agreeing on a framework for mutual recognition of professional standards and qualifications. However, they were unable to agree mutual recognition of conformity assessments, so UK bodies will not be able to certify products to EU standards and vice versa.

Openreach is radically changing the language it uses in its recruitment adverts after new research from Exeter University revealed that hidden bias deters more than half of female applicants. It also reinforces commonly held beliefs; for example, a quarter of women (24%) still feel certain careers are better suited to men than women, with 80% discounting engineering. However, the research showed that when job seekers were presented with a gender-inclusive advert (for an entry-level engineering role), women’s interest in the role increased by more than 200%, with 60% stating this was because of the way it was written. Despite four in ﬁve women admitting they wouldn’t consider working in engineering, more than half (56%) were interested in the engineering job role once it had been reimagined.

FEBRUARY 2021

Following the EU trade deal reached in December 2020, the construction industry is relieved that the worry of tariffs and quotas has apparently been avoided. The agreement secures a continuation of rules of origin, where bilateral recognition of assembly means UK inputs and processing into EU products and materials will be recognised. James Butcher, Construction Leadership Council’s Brexit working group chair, said: “Mutual co-operation in respect of reducing technical trade barriers and at the border will also undoubtedly help to avoid some of the risks of delay and disruption. What this means is that we will not see the inflationary shock of tariff and quota introductions or the expected currency depreciation associated with a no-deal.” The National Federation of Builders agreed that the deal ensures that complex product supply chains will not become burdensome or costly through technical and regulatory barriers. The UK and the EU have also agreed trusted trader schemes and customs co-operation to aid the exchange of import and export information and roll-onroll-off flow at ports. Builders Merchants Federation chief

ENGINEERING ADVERTS REIMAGINED

True cost of DIY disasters

IMAGE: ISTOCK, SHUTTERSTOCK

uring UK lockdown, Google searches for DIY topics increased by 35%. However, home renovation mistakes can be costly. IronmongeryDirect surveyed 1,500 Brits to reveal that nine in ten Brits attempt DIY at home, that loft conversion errors are the most expensive, and that millennials are the most likely to attempt complicated and dangerous DIY jobs. Of the 28 most commonly attempted DIY tasks, the average cost of repairing a mistake is a staggering £3,931. Amateur loft conversions (attempted by 5% of homeowners) potentially cost

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£35,000 to ﬁx, while knocking down a wall (attempted by 10% of homeowners) can cost £20,000 to rectify and can cause collapse of the building if the wall is external (the costs for this would be extreme). 8% of homeowners have attempted replacing a kitchen, which can cost up to £10,000 to ﬁx if units or worktops are damaged, and 7% have attempted replacing a bathroom, which could cost in the same region to rectify. The message is clear; call a professional. For the full list of DIY mistakes, visit: bit.ly/DIYdisasters

CONSTRUCTING EXCELLENCE Gilbert & Goode was awarded Highly Commended Building Project of the Year for its aﬀordable housing development at Praze-An-Beeble, Cornwall, and the ﬁrm’s PreConstruction Manager Callum Yeowell was named Future Leader at the Constructing Excellence South West awards, held online in December.

Have an opinion on something in this issue or something you’d like to discuss with your peers? e-mail the Editor at cabe@redactive.co.uk

19/01/2021 09:41

INTELLIGENCE

Inspiring tomorrow’s engineers FEBRUARY 2021

EngineeringUK looks back on the diﬃcult year that was 2020 and sees hope for the future

BUILDING ENGINEER

ngineeringUK aims to increase the number and diversity of young people choosing academic and vocational pathways into engineering. It does this by working with young people as well as professional engineering institutions and engineering employers to help young people understand what engineering is, how to get into it and how to access educational and training opportunities on the way. The case for inspiring more young people about engineering (including young people from a more diverse background) is a compelling one. The emergence of new industries and technologies coupled with the government’s net zero ambitions, investment in infrastructure, industrial strategy and R&D commitment are adding to already signiﬁcant demand for engineering skills. All of this amid the impact of Brexit and new immigration rules. Moreover, it’s important to increase the diversity of the engineering workforce to improve innovation, creativity, productivity, resilience and market insight by ensuring that all young people have equal opportunity, particularly in pathways that lead to fulﬁlling and rewarding careers in engineering. Quality science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) engagement plays a vital role in making sure young people are informed about engineering careers (in a way that levels up the uneven distribution of knowledge derived from their parents and teachers). Research shows that students who participated in a STEM careers activity in the preceding 12 months were 3.4 times more likely to consider a career in engineering. The impact of the pandemic

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Research shows that STEM initiatives such as the Big Bang (right) and Robotics Challenge (below) boost interest in engineering careers threefold

on young people’s educational and career aspirations makes this activity more important than ever.

What EngineeringUK did in 2020 EngineeringUK worked throughout 2020 to support engagement with a diverse range of younger people. This included: restructuring the Engineering UK State of Engineering 2020 report in response to the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, as well as changes from the pandemic publishing Engineering UK 2020 Educational Pathways – a comprehensive picture of the trends in STEM educational participation

and attainment across academic and technical pathways into engineering up to March 2020 launching Engineering Insights, an interactive web resource that provides regularly updated research and data on issues that are important to the engineering sector, including the economic impact of Covid-19 on UK engineering enterprise launching the Tomorrow’s Engineers online hub of resources holding the Big Bang Competition ﬁnals and a Big Bang Digital 2020 Science, Engineering & Covid-19 event online. The latter showcased the vital role of

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STEM ENGAGEMENT

Resources Engineering Brand Monitor bit.ly/EBMFullReport2019 Published in January 2020, it provided a snapshot of knowledge and perceptions of engineering before the pandemic, with analysis clearly showing that young people who know more about what engineers do are more likely to perceive the profession positively and to consider a career in the industry. Young People and Covid-19 bit.ly/YouthAndCovid revealed the impact of Covid-19 on the educational and career aspirations of young people.

FEBRUARY 2021

Our Careers, Our future: STEM Careers Provision and Young People bit.ly/STEMCareersProvision described young people’s experiences and perspectives of careers provision and engineering: their desire for more opportunities to engage with employers, more careers information, advice and guidance, and more information on relevant exams, qualiﬁcations and pathways into engineering. Engineering UK 2020 Educational Pathways bit.ly/EdPathways

Some activities were disrupted by Covid-19. The series of in-school

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Tomorrow’s Engineers online hub Energy Quest workshops tomorrowsengineers.org.uk for collaboration, exploring clean energy, with information and guidance sourced from across young people building and the engineering community to help make the testing model electric cars, most of engagement activity. had to pause during 2020. However, the series is being Tomorrow’s Engineers Code redeveloped on an ongoing code.tomorrowsengineers.org.uk basis, with an emphasis on testing the impact of diﬀerent Neon neonfutures.org.uk content and delivery on diﬀerent groups of young Big Bang Digital 2020 Science, Engineering people, particularly those who & Covid-19 online event digitalbigbang.co.uk are under-represented in engineering for 2021. At the same time, 90,000 young activities on Neon (it’s free), or why not people, teachers, parents and carers who sign up to the Tomorrow’s Engineers Code registered for the Big Bang UK Young and make four pledges to work together to Scientists & Engineers Fair 2020, which improve the quality, inclusivity, targeting inspires young people about STEM and reach of your organisation’s activities? careers, were disappointed when the If you are an individual engineer, please event was cancelled. EngineeringUK is consider sharing inspiring career stories currently working with other organisations on Neon or volunteering for this year’s to run the event online this year and is Big Bang programme. piloting a new approach to delivering Engineering is a varied, stimulating and the Big Bang programme at schools. valuable career, and we need to work harder than ever to ensure that it is accessible for this generation of young people. At a time Get involved of real uncertainty about their futures, If you’re part of an organisation, including engineering can give young people the engineering employers, that designs, opportunity to have a career with enormous delivers or funds STEM and engineering societal value and one that is critical to inspiration activities, please consider respond to global challenges. promoting your school engagement

BUILDING ENGINEER

engineers in tackling the pandemic. It attracted 28,000 individual viewers on the day and more than 18,000 views since then promoting the annual Robotics Challenge, which helps teams of young people to develop their robotics and coding skills. Most of the academic year’s work was completed by spring 2020, with the ﬁnal competition delivered online. This prompted a mix of online and in-school delivery for 2021 developing a new digital platform, Neon, by working closely with the Royal Academy of Engineering and professional engineering institutions, and with much teacher input on plans and piloting. The free resource makes it simpler for teachers to ﬁnd engineering activities that meet their needs. Since its launch in September 2020, there have been more than 30,000 users managing the delivery of the Tomorrow’s Engineers Code. Co-created by more than 100 organisations, the code is a commitment to work towards common goals to increase the diversity and number of young people entering engineering careers.

18/01/2021 14:00

INTELLIGENCE

FEBRUARY 2021

Darron Brough, who has worked in the cladding and façade industry for three decades, has created an alternative to the waking watch ﬁre detection system

BUILDING ENGINEER

n the aftermath of the Grenfell tragedy, 24-hour fire safety patrols began in buildings known to have similar cladding. In 2017, guidance by the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) agreed this practice should continue for all buildings requiring simultaneous evacuation. This became known as a waking watch – a system of continuous patrols of all floors to enable a rapid response to fire, namely raising the alarm and assisting the evacuation of the building. The NFCC guidance did note that a waking watch should only be considered as a short-term solution because it was “likely to be the least reliable [safety

measure], the most resource-intensive, and may not be suitable for the highest-risk situations”. These assertions certainly seem to have been proven correct: press reports of a lack of fire safety training for waking watch staff, along with stories of staff caught sleeping or watching tv, have dented confidence in the service. Then there’s the cost itself – figures in December 2020 showed £12m a month was being spent on waking watch patrols in London alone. To that end, the government announced a £30m Waking Watch Relief Fund to pay for the installation of fire alarms and reduce the high costs to leaseholders for the watch. The fund opened in January 2021. There has also been a six-month extension for building owners to apply to the £1bn Building Safety Fund to support the remediation of unsafe ACM cladding on high-rise buildings. In a timely development, Intelliclad has developed a sensor system, which, on its final test with the Fire Protection Association, showed that it could alert residents in the event of a fire faster than the waking watch system. Intelliclad sensors can be integrated into the combustible external façade of high-risk buildings while a permanent solution is found. It also means a significantly lower cost is passed onto building owners and residents in order to provide protection.

Smart sensors Each sensor, which would be retrofitted to integrate into the cladding system of high-risk buildings, is connected to a control system that in the event of a fire can send an alert to all residents via a smartphone app. It would also give residents and the fire service valuable information on the location and relative spread of fire across the building throughout the incident in real time. Response times for waking watch services are between ten and 15 minutes once a fire is confirmed within a flat, as per current NFCC guidance. However, testing carried out on a specially constructed 10m-wide and 9m-high cladding rig response times at the Fire Service College’s national headquarters showed the sensors were waking watch activated six minutes and 33 seconds ten to 15 minutes prior to cladding being breached by fire on test 1, and nine minutes, smart sensors 47 seconds prior on test 2. This would six minutes, have alerted all residents in a building to the fire via smartphone app before 33 seconds the fire had chance to take hold, as well as activating the building’s main fire alarm system, which can be set up to notify the fire brigade. The fact the sensors were activated a minimum of six minutes and 33 seconds prior to cladding being breached by a fire means that, in a real-life situation, residents would be given valuable time to get themselves to safety. There is no other product that gives this level of fire detection to the external façade, and it offers another solution to the high-rise fire safety conundrum. For more, visit intelliclad.co.uk

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IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK, NOUN PROJECT

A stitch in time

SMART SENSORS

18/01/2021 14:00

INTELLIGENCE

s part of the first, five-week module of Solent University’s Design Foundation course, the non-traditional entry students undertake a project to build a full-size model out of cardboard. The students, after a year, will go onto parent courses, such as BA (Hons) Architectural Technology, BSc (Hons) Construction Management, BA (Hons) Interior Design and BA (Hons) Interior Design and Decoration, so this is a unique opportunity to work together with different disciplines. The 2020 client brief was to capture the potential of hot desking. It had been a growth area, with dedicated spaces popping up in city centres prior to the pandemic. Interestingly, after the pandemic’s push to home working, there may be an even greater demand to escape the kitchen table once social interaction in the workplace resumes without restriction.

CLIENT BRIEF CHALLENGE

how often do you get to build a full-sized model building to test out your ideas? Social distancing restrictions made the judging day a little diﬀerent, with the judges being unable to meet and quiz students on their designs. They had a tough choice, which ultimately came down to sustainable considerations and the eﬀective use of shapes and space within the restrictions of the brief. CABE’s John Barfoot, Learning, Education and Academic Director, and Michael Wadood, Southern Regional Chair, joined Denise White, Course Leader of the BSc (Hons) Construction Management, as judges. CABE has supported this module

for four years, and, this year, the CABE Southern Region sponsored the event. The winning hut was ‘Turtle Arcade’, built by Jo Hughes, George Jenkins, Kate Northeast-Mason and Anna Wlodarczyk, which encompassed the brief most successfully with rainwater harvesting, solar panels and a ﬂexible but comfortable interior. Northeast-Mason summed up the experience: “The project showed me how eﬀective teamwork and communication can be and the amount of thought behind planning a build, even for something as small as a beach hut.” For more, visit solent.ac.uk

FEBRUARY 2021

The brief The design students were asked to design a beach hut that could offer a flexible working/meeting space while providing an environment where beach views could be enjoyed. Students had to produce a concept that considered what the end user would require from the workspace, the ability to reproduce the huts at a commercially reasonable rate and consider sustainability of both the construction and energy usage. These concepts then culminated in a two-week build of a full-size beach hut. The challenges in the project are always communication and expressing shared ideas/strategies with new team members. It’s fair to say that this is an ongoing challenge in the industry, so to task students who are five weeks into a university course to work with new people with the added issues of Coronavirus brings a renewed appreciation for their efforts. The Solent students produced four huts that provided a comfortable workspace and considered sustainability with flat pack options, rainwater harvesting, solar panels and well considered material choices. All without too many team disagreements and while having fun –

Design and engineering students’ ﬁrst experience of a design brief encourages team working, creativity and problem solving

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BUILDING ENGINEER

Room with a view

The entries considered sustainability with ﬂat-pack options, rainwater harvesting, solar panels and well considered material choices

18/01/2021 14:01

INTELLIGENCE

The potential of 3D printing

FEBRUARY 2021

Enrico Borgarello, Director of Global Product Innovation at HeidelbergCement, discusses supplying the material for Germany’s ﬁrst 3D-printed residential building

14 BUILDING ENGINEER

New design possibilities By following the principle of contour crafting, parts of buildings – or even a whole house – are digitally produced, layer by layer, without manual labour. PERI’s huge portal robot creates in ﬁve minutes approximately 1m2 of wall surface – and that is completely without formwork or scaﬀolding.

anson UK’s parent company, HeidelbergCement, was tasked with developing an innovative material, i.tech 3D, speciﬁcally for 3D printing and suitable for use with various types of 3D printers. The design and development of a cement-bound material for 3D printing was a major challenge, and i.tech 3D is the result of extensive research and testing. It has allowed us to adapt concrete, a traditional building material, to the possibilities oﬀered by digitisation. The material contains selected mineral components and additives to ensure very good pumpability and extrusion properties. It also quickly develops

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sufficient load-bearing capacity so that the lower layers do not give out under the load of the upper ones and, at the same time, ensures a strong bond between layers. It is being used to build a two-storey detached house with three-shelled walls in Beckum, North Rhine-Westphalia. The outer walls are filled with insulating material, while the inner shells are filled

with a standard ready-mixed concrete. Unlike most concrete walls, the printed ones do not need to include rebar for strengthening. Engineering consultancy Schießl Gehlen Sodeikat supported the development of the concept and the planning and execution of the corresponding approval tests, carried out by the Technical University of Munich.

“i.tech 3D has allowed us to adapt concrete, a traditional building material, to the possibilities oﬀered by digitisation”

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DIGITAL BUILDING

FEBRUARY 2021

15 BUILDING ENGINEER

IMAGE: HEIDELBERGCEMENT/MICHAEL RASCHE, MENSKE-KORTE INGENIEURE+ARCHITEKTEN

i.tech 3D is ideal for extrusion printing of prefabricated parts or components printed on the construction site

The portal printer, developed by Danish manufacturer COBOD, is installed and operated on site by PERI, one of the leading manufacturers of formwork and scaffolding systems for the construction industry. The print head moves on a fixed metal frame in all three spatial axes, enabling the printer to move to any position within the construction. During the process, the printer takes into account the pipes and fittings to be laid later – for example, for water or electricity. At present, only two-storey buildings can be realised, as the portal printer is limited with regard to height. It is a very quiet process, reducing noise for workers and neighbours. In

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addition, this method of construction allows the site to remain very clean, as the processes are well deﬁned, resulting in less waste, saving resources and reducing CO2 emissions. The versatility of i.tech 3D means that it is ideally suited for extrusion printing of prefabricated parts or components printed on the construction site, as well as load-bearing, nonload-bearing and straight or curved components. The innovative material allows new freedom in design as well as more variety, as each component can be individually designed. It also enables the construction process to be

signiﬁcantly accelerated, as demonstrated in Beckum. HeidelbergCement has every conﬁdence that 3D printing will become increasingly important in the construction sector in the future. For more, visit: heidelbergcement.de/ de/i.tech3D Hanson UK is a supplier of heavy building materials to the construction industry. It is split into four business lines – aggregates (crushed rock, sand and gravel), concrete, asphalt and contracting and cement. Visit hanson.co.uk

18/01/2021 14:01

INTELLIGENCE

ife safety systems, such as fire detection systems, save lives. Their importance is such that they are heavily regulated, with standards relating to product design and manufacture, system design and installation. However, installing a fire detection system that meets all the standards is not always sufficient to ensure that building operators get best value in the longer term.

BUILDING ENGINEER

An algorithm is a set of instructions designed to perform a specific task. It takes input and changes the data according to pre-set instructions to create an output. In fire detectors, that input includes smoke and non-combustion products, such as steam, aerosols and dust. The sophisticated part of the process is to identify and differentiate these, and only activate the sounder in the presence of smoke. If the sounder is activated when it is only non-combustion products, then it is a false alarm. False alarms are more than just annoying; they are bad for business (both the installer’s and the end-user’s) and can be distressing, especially among more vulnerable people, such as those in care homes. They are also a costly waste of public resources. Government figures for England alone* show that of all incidents attended by fire and rescue services, fire false alarms made up 42%, compared with actual fires at 28%. There are many types of different fire detection algorithms in use, and you tend to get what you pay for. A less sophisticated fire detection system brings

42%

28%

Design for life Lee James, General Manager, Product Marketing, Nittan Europe, explains what to look for in a ﬁre detection system to provide better through-life value

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Product range It is also advisable to avoid fire detection systems that have a limited range of devices and accessories, which could mean you have to take a mix-andmatch approach to get the system you want. Far better to specify a fire detection system from one manufacturer, with elements designed to work in harmony for end-to-end system performance. If you start using devices from different manufacturers within one system and it doesn’t perform as you expect, who’s to blame? Which company do you turn to for assistance? If it’s all sourced from one manufacturer, the answer is simple. Specifier and building operators are also likely to benefit from the wide range of innovative products available on the market. In many cases, these have

IMAGE: GETTY IMAGES

FEBRUARY 2021

Detection algorithms

a greater risk of potential false alarms. Advanced fire detection systems employ more complex detection algorithms, which are able to clearly distinguish between smoke and non-combustion products, providing reliable fire detection. Sensors designed specifically to address the issue of false alarms caused by steam (for example, Nittan’s EV-DP and EV-DPH range) feature dual-optical technology, which uses standard infra-red light, plus a second blue LED, to provide a more accurate measurement of particles within the chamber. By calculating the ratio of these light sources, which operate at different wavelengths, the detector can determine the particle size and thus distinguish between smoke and non-combustion products, such as steam and dust. When a device’s detection algorithm has identified smoke, the output data needs to get back to the control panel as quickly as possible. This is achieved through the transmission protocol – the system’s language. And just like languages the world over, there are plenty of different protocols. Interestingly enough, the most of all commonly used protocol in the fire incidents industry, which is square wave pulse attended by based, is not the best; it’s quite susceptible to noise and interference, fire and and has limited information rescue capacity. Noise and interference services, can compromise system operation, showing devices as missing when they aren’t, leading to a corrupt data warning on the panel, all of which will were false require an engineer site visit. In the alarms worst case, it could lead to a false alarm and an unnecessary visit from Fire and Rescue Services. One technology that avoids these issues is the sine wave, were frequency shift key (FSK) protocol. It actual fires comes at a higher price, but does bring further benefits, including high-speed transmission, minimal transmission errors, ability to take more inputs/outputs, more controllable features and more type codes for devices. In addition, it is not affected by the number of devices on the loop. This makes it not only highly reliable but also a lot more flexible when it comes to system design.

19/01/2021 09:42

FIRE DETECTION SYSTEMS

“Equipment that is quick and straightforward to install can end up more cost-eﬀective than cheaper counterparts”

FEBRUARY 2021

17 BUILDING ENGINEER

been designed to solve specific problems identified by customers and fed back into the R&D process by manufacturers. A smoke sensor with a built-in sounder, for example, saves the cost of buying two separate products – the sensor and a separate base or wall mount sounder – plus it’s quicker to install and doesn’t require any additional wiring. Neither does it require a separate device address point. A saving of 15 minutes’ fitting time per sensor doesn’t sound much, but when dealing with a large system this becomes a significant saving. A considerable part of the cost of a fire detection system can be attributed to labour, so equipment that is quick and straightforward to install can end up more cost-effective than cheaper counterparts, despite the initial cost being higher. This applies to not only the devices but also the control panels. Better-quality control panels come with a number of time-saving features, such as simple select-and-click programming for engineer configuration through to installer-friendly touch screens, auto-learn, loop detection and on-board scope facilities for ease of commissioning and fault finding. These panels often come with remote diagnostics, saving you a costly and inconvenient trip to site, which is worth factoring into the overall cost equation. Buildings are frequently reconfigured to take into account extensions and change in usage. When this occurs, the fire detection system will also need to be adapted to ensure it provides the correct level of protection. This can be disruptive, time-consuming and expensive for the building owner/inhabitants, unless, in the first instance, a panel that allows a peer-to-peer network was installed. This makes it easy to expand the system to enable the panel to communicate with any other compatible fire panel, remote terminal or network peripheral. A good-quality fire detection system doesn’t just meet the minimum criteria set down in the relevant standards; it has years of industry experience and substantial R&D resources to deliver a system that is reliable, understands the needs of the installer and end-user, and has longevity. Specifying a more sophisticated system is likely to have significant life benefits, as well improving reliability. Ensuring that systems are backed up with good-quality training and technical support is also important and will enhance life safety over decades of operation. For more, visit nittan.co.uk * Fire and rescue incident statistics, England, year ending March 2020

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19/01/2021 09:42

how those materials are managed.

Audit of information and plan The first step in meeting legal requirements was to complete an audit and verification of existing asbestos information, processes and procedures. The information reviewed was in the form of management surveys, refurbishment surveys, asbestos removal certificates and sporadic data ranging from 30 years ago to almost the present day. The audit involved interviews with key stakeholders to identify roles and responsibilities, the review of old reports against current properties to determine on-going accuracy and the discussion of procedures, knowledge and information.

FEBRUARY 2021

he owner or the person responsible for the maintenance or repair of non-domestic premises has a duty to manage asbestos risk under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012. Educational buildings are no exception. At Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge, the maintenance manager has the authority to manage and, as such, is responsible for the management of asbestos on-site. With the majority of the college’s buildings constructed between 1960 and 2000 (before the ban of asbestos use in 1999), the college is required by law to have a record of known – or presumed – asbestos-containing materials (ACMs), their current condition and a plan for

ASBESTOS CASE STUDY

BUILDING ENGINEER

Duty of care Building owners have a responsibility to manage the risk from asbestos in their premises. Developing the asbestos plan for Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, provides an overview of typical considerations

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Taking the result of the audit into account, a plan and a realistic timeline for compliance was drawn up, based on risk, budget, accessibility and stakeholder requirements. The highest priority activities were completed first, and included bespoke asbestos awareness training for appropriate teams, asbestos management surveys, re-inspection surveys to higher-risk properties, the development of internal permits to work and the installation of a refurbishment survey request system prior to any intrusive works being completed. One key finding from the audit was that the relevant data was held within multiple files across a number of offices, with some legacy data missing or incomplete. To address this, it was agreed that an online asbestos management system would provide extensive benefits and should be introduced. In this case SOCOTEC’s MiPortal was chosen to provide a centralised database that tracked any logins, downloads or changes to documentation – specifically to help meet requirements under CAR Regulation 10. This ensures that when a building contractor arrives to complete maintenance works, the college can supply the contractor with full and accurate asbestos records. The college’s staff also received appropriate training. For example, plumbers on-site were made aware of potential asbestos that could be located in bathrooms and other relevant areas. Where maintenance staff could potentially disturb low-risk ACMs, they had nonlicensable work with asbestos training, and gardeners and groundskeepers had asbestos in soils awareness training. A single surveyor was used across the project to ensure a consistent approach, which brought additional benefits. Not only were the college staff familiar with seeing the same person on-site, the surveyor developed a knowledge and understanding of the buildings and varying stakeholder requirements to provide an efficient, cost-effective service. With the right measures in place, the college has peace of mind that it has the processes and procedures needed to manage and control the presence of asbestos within its buildings to safeguard staff, students and contractors, and ensure legal compliance. SOCOTEC has worked with Fitzwilliam for nearly three years to help the college ensure that it is fully compliant in its management of asbestos. Visit socotec. co.uk/services/asbestos-management/

IMAGE: ALAMY

INTELLIGENCE

19/01/2021 09:43

CROSS REPORTS

INTELLIGENCE

sub-contractor declined to participate further as a result of this and other issues. The reporter’s ﬁrm sought advice from the original designer and was told that, for structural reasons, the proposed changes to some of the welds should not be made. When the sub-contractor raised this with the main contractor as a health and safety issue, it was told it was none of its business. The reporter is concerned that such practices exist.

Comments

Conﬁdential Reporting on Structural Safety. Report 845: Weld de-speciﬁcation

Highlights unethical behaviour and a disregard for safety from a contractor over welding speciﬁcations

IMAGES: ALAMY

reporter’s firm was engaged as a sub-contract fabricator to complete 90 tonnes of steelwork for a main contractor. In the commercial negotiations at the onset of the project, the main contractor agreed that, to hit their target prices, the sub-contractor should de-specify all full and partial penetration butt welds from all steels and replace with 6-8mm fillet welds. The sub-contractor had several conversations with the main contractor, but it refused to change the drawings to match the changed description of the welds. The main contractor assured the subcontractor, both in writing and in person, that it was okay to proceed with de-specification of the welds, but it would not re-issue the drawings. Eventually, the

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19 BUILDING ENGINEER

Report 845

“Health and safety is everyone’s business, and there should be no criticism of those who raise these issues”

FEBRUARY 2021

CROSS REPORTS

Health and safety is everyone’s business, and there should be no criticism of those who raise these issues. There are numerous examples of concerns being ignored, resulting in subsequent failures, and lessons have to be learned. Designers are aware of the time, cost and difficulty of producing butt welds and will specify fillet welds wherever suitable. They also know that fillet welds will generally be cheaper than butt welds. Therefore, if butt welds have been specified, it will have been for good reason, and they should not be changed without formal approval from the design authority. Proposals to change butt welds to fillet welds should always be treated with caution. They have very different characteristics, particularly in fatigue. Contractors may not be well versed in the longer-term implications of the changes they make, or wish to make, when reducing cost or accelerating the build process, but their emphasis on this aspect of the product life-cycle can cloud a wider perspective and be dangerous. While not necessarily applicable here, it is not good for a main contractor to coerce a sub-contractor or have decisions made by persons who are not competent/qualified to make them. There are legal and ethical issues to be considered, and, if there had been a failure, the consequences could have been severe for the firms and individuals concerned. Indeed, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) could be interested in such behaviour. To avoid such situations, the following steps should be taken: ensure that the frame designer always has opportunity to review and comment on connection designs and ensure that those detail designs meet with the specified requirements ensure that execution of works is in accordance with checked drawings only. If the drawings need to change, they should be changed through a design change process to ensure adequate re-design and re-checking. For further information on welding, see Building Engineer, September 2020, ‘Crash course’

18/01/2021 14:02

INTELLIGENCE

CROSS REPORTS

Report 946 Conﬁdential Reporting on Structural Safety. Report 946: Swimming pool ceiling collapses

FEBRUARY 2021

Highlights the potential for condensation to undermine the structural integrity of swimming pool ceilings

BUILDING ENGINEER

ondensation is a well recognised issue in the design and operation of buildings that include swimming pools. While the impact on a building’s main structural elements is well understood, this report emphasises the effect of condensation on secondary structural support to ceilings and the subsequent risk of failure. The first [collapse] resulted from a gradual buildup of condensation, causing corrosion of the pressed metal angle tie bars and fixings that supported the suspended ceiling above a swimming pool to the overhead concrete floor slabs. Eventually, after about 12 years, the ceiling weight exceeded the strength of at least one of the tie bars, which caused progressive failure of the remainder and then collapse of the ceiling. The swimming pool was located at basement level, beneath a multi-storey commercial premise. The second case concerns the effects of a gradual build-up of condensation that caused the collapse of a rigid insulation board and suspended ceiling grid in another swimming pool. This was a commercially operated venue, located in the basement of a sports centre. The pool’s ventilation system was switched off each night (outside trading hours), creating the conditions needed to cause condensation. For example, the guidance of the Canadian Building Digest is that the ventilation system is an essential part of a swimming pool’s design and that “it must be properly operated if serious building problems are to be avoided”. Condensation was forming on the colder surface of the concrete roof, which was at ground level. This caused wetting of the insulation boards and corrosion of the support system for the suspended ceiling tile system. The condensation was generated by temperature differences between the 30-degree

“Owners and managers of swimming pools should be made aware of the sensitivity of ﬁxings to corrosion”

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CROSS REPORTS

Celsius environment of the pool hall, and the outdoor temperature of the concrete slab, combined with the supply of moisture from the pool and a jacuzzi. The ceiling tile system was provided for aesthetics and acoustics; it was not meant to be airtight or waterproof. The warm, moist air came into contact with the concrete roof where the silver-coloured foil on the insulation was missing or ineffective. This was occurring at holes or gaps in the insulation; where joints between individual boards were not sealed with tape; where the tape was not properly installed along joints; or if the type of tape used was ineffective. A condensation risk analysis, using the computer software of the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics, found that condensation and then water would always be expected to occur with the type of construction used. Prior to the collapse of a part of the ceiling, there had been an issue with the appearance of brown stains on the ceiling tiles. This was managed on an ongoing basis by replacing the affected tiles. It is clear from images of the pool hall ceiling from one year prior to the incident that this was a widespread issue.

Comments CROSS has received a large number of ceiling collapse reports, and they usually follow the same pattern; there is failure of a single hanger, which precipitates a cascade failure across the whole roof, just as reported here. SCOSS produced an Alert about this in 2012 (SCOSS Alert – Tension cable and rod connectors), and a fuller technical explanation can be found in The Structural Engineer, Vol 97 (2002) Issue 9, A P Mann: ‘Safety of Hanging Systems: Lessons from CROSS Reports’. Ceilings can be very heavy, and their failures have the potential to cause injury and death. A ceiling collapse (precipitated by a hanger failure) over a swimming pool in Uster, Switzerland, in 1985 killed 12 people. All designers should know that swimming pool environments are highly deleterious to materials in the medium to long term. Designers need, universally, to ask themselves the question: ‘How do I know it is safe?’ Any tension member (eg, a ceiling hanger) will tend to fail suddenly and catastrophically; this is in contrast to bending or compression design, which tends to fail with forewarning. In the cases reported, how did the designers know that the hangers would remain intact? During the operational phase was there an inspection and replacement regime? Most important, were competent persons engaged in these roles? The safety-critical aspects of ﬁxings and anchors are too often ignored. Owners and managers of swimming pools should be made aware of the sensitivity of ﬁxings to corrosion. See SCOSS Alert – Stainless Steel: A Reminder of the Risk of Failure due to Stress Corrosion Cracking in Swimming Pool Buildings, from 2005. To search for ceiling failures on the CROSS database, visit structural-safety.org and enter ‘ceiling’ in the ‘quick search’ box. If you would like to receive the CROSS Reports newsletter, visit structural-safety.org/subscribe

18/01/2021 14:02

INTELLIGENCE

n April 2022, the UK government is set to introduce a tax on plastic packaging with less than 30% recycled content. This tax looks likely to be £200 per tonne. To put this in context, a medium-sized construction company might put 1,000 tonnes of plastic on the market each year, half of which could have less than 30% recycled content, resulting in a plastics tax bill of £100,000 per year. As a sector that works on tight margins – of around 1.5% in many areas – and uses a large amount of plastic packaging, builders and developers will need to engage with their suppliers to reduce their ﬁnancial exposure. If they do not take action, costs are likely to be passed on by suppliers, chipping into already tight margins. However, there are ﬁve key actions that construction and building companies should take:

This would require taking a forensic look at all your plastics packaging data to understand where it is used across your whole business, how much you use and how much recycled content it has.

IMAGE: ALAMY

By creating a model of your ﬁnancial exposure to the plastics tax, you’ll be able to identify any speciﬁc problem areas. This provides the evidence for action to senior leadership.

4. Avoid knee-jerk reactions As plastics activism has grabbed the headlines, so too have the number of organisations going for ‘quick ﬁxes’, typically swapping plastic for another material perceived to be more eco-friendly. The risk of this approach is a failure to reduce overall environmental impact.

Instead, work with suppliers to develop the best approach, one that reduces ﬁnancial exposure as well as minimising environmental and climate impacts.

5. Communicate your eﬀorts Ensure that the people within and beyond your business understand what you are trying to achieve, and why. Setting an example of good practice and collaboration will be key to the future of the construction industry. For more on reducing the environmental, ethical and social impact of business, visit sancroft.com

Dom de Ville, Senior Consultant, Sancroft, discusses how to avoid the mounting plastic packaging problem

Plastic fantastic

21 BUILDING ENGINEER

2. Model your ﬁnancial exposure and build board-level support

This might involve eliminating plastic packaging and/or reducing the amount used, switching to a diﬀerent material (while also considering the full environmental and climate implications) and working with suppliers to increase the levels of recycled content.

FEBRUARY 2021

1. Gather and understand your packaging data

PACKAGING TAX

3. Devise and deliver granular action plans Develop action plans, at category or business unit level, to reduce exposure.

potential

£100,000 pa plastics tax bill for a medium-sized construction company putting 1,000 tonnes of plastic on the market

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18/01/2021 14:03

INTELLIGENCE

FEBRUARY 2021

BUILDING ENGINEER

ith heavy rain a normality and summers getting hotter each year in the UK, high humidity is likely to be an issue that will continue to present itself. For building engineers, moisture doesn’t just make working conditions on-site uncomfortable. It can also spell disaster for building materials and the ﬁnished product if not properly mitigated. As the UK is often struck by cold, rainy weather, many tradespeople believe winter months present the only periods of high humidity levels, whereas summer is drier so the problem is reduced. This is a key misconception. During the summer months, the warmer weather expands the air, allowing it to have a larger humidity capacity. This means the relative humidity may show a lower percentage, yet the physical volume of moisture is still the same as under cooler conditions. It is, therefore, vital to understand that humidity is a yearround challenge for building professionals. When it comes to relative humidity – the percentage of water within an air particle – it averages at 76% in the UK’s largest cities. Considering that the comfortably dry range for relative humidity falls between 40% and 60%, it is clear that moisture in the air is a signiﬁcant issue.

Types of moisture Free moisture can be the surface water or water that has been absorbed into a material, or water that is chemically bound into the cells of materials in the room. There are several sources that are found on construction sites. The following are the most common: water vapour diffusion – water vapour from outside a building can permeate into the space through cracks or by being absorbed into materials. The moisture coming from outside to within the room does so through this water vapour diffusion water evaporation – any water that is introduced into a space for cleaning or mixing with building materials can evaporate and contribute to moisture in the room evaporation from materials – building materials that have been brought on-site can release water absorbed in their cells into the space intended ventilation – ventilation systems that have been installed may not be able to keep up with high moisture levels in a space, so humidity in the room remains high unintended ventilation – leaving windows and doors open on a construction site can allow moisture-filled air from outside to permeate a room through unintended ventilation human-derived emissions – those working on-site release moisture from breath and perspiration plant and machinery emissions – any equipment used in a space on-site can produce moisture from its exhausts, particularly in enclosed, poorly ventilated spaces. Premature deterioration of building materials is something any building engineer wants to avoid. In particular, poor humidity can affect things such as electrical components – the moisture can find its way

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Vapour trails Ryan Stanley, Moisture Control Sales & Product Manager, Northern Europe, at Aggreko, explains why humidity is unwanted on-site and how to avoid common errors in its removal into the smallest areas and spaces. This, in turn, can leave behind corrosive deposits that continue to cause damage after drying, not to mention prolonged time for paintwork, adhesives and cement to dry or cure. Improper drying and moisture control can also exacerbate such problems while creating new ones, which could lead to further damage and potentially higher costs. In particular, building engineers working

18/01/2021 14:03

HUMIDITY CONTROL

With airﬂow capacities up to 7,000m3/hour, Aggreko’s industrial dehumidiﬁers are capable of drying out very large areas

on high-value projects such as luxury apartments or historic buildings should be aware of the potential costs that could mount up. When it comes to building works, there are a number of common misconceptions that can lead to more time-consuming work, or even further damage. The main one relates to the diﬀerentiation between heating and dehumidiﬁcation. While many believe that vigorously heating a space on-site is the best way to dry moisture, this method doesn’t actually remove the problem. By heating the space, the atmosphere is expanded, drawing the moisture from the materials into the air. Once the heat is removed, it only takes around 48 hours for moisture equilibrium to be restored, as it returns from the air back into the building’s fabric.

the average percentage of water within an air particle in the uk’s largest cities

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The drying process of any space relies on three key factors that must work in harmony to ensure that moisture is drawn out of the structure and is removed – heat, air movement and moisture removal. By following this process and controlling it carefully, building engineers can ensure that the problem is solved permanently. Firstly, add heat into space to excite the molecules of water within materials. It is at this point that they are drawn into the expanded atmosphere and out of the building structure. In hot summer months, heat can already be present in the atmosphere, so additional heaters may not be required as they would be in winter. Once the water molecules are excited and moving throughout the space, the air must be circulated using fans to aid the removal of moisture. Finally, this is the point where a dehumidifier is used to remove the energised water molecules and, therefore, any moisture from the environment. Dehumidification removes water vapours from the air completely by drawing air from the environment over a coil and reducing to a very low temperature via a refrigeration system. This essentially cools the air below the dew point temperature so that it condenses and drains away. With airflow capacities up to 7,000m3/hour, Aggreko’s industrial dehumidifiers are capable of drying out very large areas. Humidity is clearly an issue for UK building engineers. The air is full of moisture in both the summer and winter months, so careful temperature and moisture control is required all year round. Temperature and moisture control should be a gradual process during building works, with each stage of the process being independently assessed and optimised.

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76%

Eﬀective removal

FEBRUARY 2021

“Moisture can spell disaster for building materials and the ﬁnished product if not properly mitigated”

For more, visit aggreko.com or download the guide The Hidden Cost of Humidity On-Site at bit.ly/HumidityCosts

18/01/2021 14:04

INTELLIGENCE

Long-term planning

FEBRUARY 2021

Architect Julia Park, Head of Housing Research at Levitt Bernstein and Associate Director for Homes at the Centre for Ageing Better, makes the case for accessible housing to be more than an afterthought

BUILDING ENGINEER

espite the inescapable fact that, unless we die young, we will all grow old, we have been painfully slow to factor ageing into the way we design and construct the built environment. Even in those parts of the world where older people are revered for their wisdom and cared for by families, little thought has been given to eliminating the physical barriers that limit many peoples’ lives. This stubborn laziness has allowed the view to become entrenched that older people, and those living with disabilities, are better off at home. Ironically, we failed there too; the concept of accessible housing is barely 30 years old. Lifetime Homes, a 16-point standard devised to make life easier for older people, was developed by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in the early 1990s. Though renowned and respected, as a voluntary standard it gained relatively little traction. In 1999, a watered-down version was taken into regulation through Part M, which, until then, had dealt only with public buildings. It was an important step, but it wasn’t until 2015, when the government-led Housing Standards Review concluded, that the requirements came close to where they needed to be. And there was a catch. Setting a new precedent, two higher levels of accessibility (referred to as optional requirements) were added to the meagre baseline that, among other things, required step-free access to the main entrance (unless it was too difficult) and a small ground-floor WC (unless there were no habitable rooms on that floor). That was renamed M4(1) Category 1: Visitable dwellings and remains the default. The two optional requirements (one very

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similar to the full version of Lifetime Homes) and the other for wheelchair users (now M4(2) Category 2: Accessible and adaptable dwellings and M4(3) Category 3: Wheelchair user dwellings, respectively) have to be justified before being invoked. Local planning authorities must first prove need and viability, and then define the proportion of new housing that should meet each of these categories in their area. If you are thinking it all feels a bit complicated, you’re right. Informally, local authorities were expected to require something like 3050% of new homes to meet Category 2 and 5-10% to meet Category 3. In reality, the proportions vary from 0% to 100%. While London (which has one of the country’s youngest populations) requires 90% of new homes to meet Category 2 and the remaining 10% to meet Category 3, many local authorities still require nothing more than the baseline, partly because developers fight back if they try.

Quality of living

main features required for even the lowest level of accessibility, and 85% of today’s homes will still exist in 2050. Having ignored the implications of rising life expectancy for so long, we have a huge amount of catching up to do. Covid-19 and the climate change emergency reinforce the need to do better. The lockdowns that continue to curtail our lives have given all of us a glimpse of what, for many older and disabled people, is an everyday reality. Our homes have been tested and many haven’t scored well. Factor in age-related mobility problems with the daily challenges that arise from living in a home that fails to meet our basic daily needs, and the shortcomings intensify. In terms of climate change, the need to reduce embodied carbon is the primary driver. Experts tell us that climate change demands that every new home we build today should last at least 200 years. During

“Only 9% of homes provide the main features required for even the lowest level of accessibility”

This is one of many reasons why the recent government consultation inviting feedback on the proposition to make Category 2 the minimum requirement is so welcome. The demographic evidence is overwhelming: by 2050, one in four people will be over 65; only 9% of existing homes provide the four

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ACCESSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

FEBRUARY 2021

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that period, we can assume that each will be home to something like 20 households and 70 individuals. Thousands of visitors, of all ages, ethnicities and faiths, will cross each threshold. All will experience bouts of illness, the vast majority will grow old, and most will use a mobility aid at some point. It is fair to assume that, over two centuries, every home will, at some point, be occupied by someone whose life would be transformed by an accessible home. But it goes beyond that; we all want to visit our friends and family in their homes too. That relies on knowing that we will be able to get through the front door, use the toilet with dignity, and feel relaxed enough to enjoy the company and the change of scene that are so important, particularly to those who live alone. The fact that a Category 2 home beneﬁts people of all ages, while putting nobody at a disadvantage, is just as important.

Government consultation The tone of the consultation suggested that at least some of these realities have hit home in Westminster. Three of the ﬁve options proposed making Category 2 the

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new minimum standard. Two of the three prefabricated pods and when building proposed exceptions are for scenarios for rent, for example. Implementation where step-free access is impractical – has been poor; and more work is needed homes above shops or small blocks of to ensure that those who would benefit flats that can’t support most from an accessible the cost of installing and local authorities and adaptable home maintaining a lift, for understand what such were expected example. Within reason, homes offer and where to require that is pragmatic. If, as a to find them. That argues result of this consultation, for both local accessible 91% of future homes are housing registers and accessible (a complete for more information in reversal of the current of new homes to marketing literature and statistics), that would be meet category 2 tenancy agreements. a good outcome. Winning the battle and The consultation for Category 2 is the was far from perfect. immediate priority, and Regrettably, the best I am hopeful that we’re outcome – a combination nearly there. If we learned to meet of Category 2 and the nothing else from 2020, category 3 Nationally Described it is that dealing with the Space Standard (NDSS) – things we can predict will was either rejected or not considered. The put us in a better place to deal with those guidance needs to be improved, and we that we can’t. must ensure that adaptable features work for all forms of construction and tenures. For more, visit gov.uk/government/ It would make sense to fully install a consultations/raising-accessibilityshower in ground-floor toilets when using standards-for-new-homes

BUILDING ENGINEER

The step up to the front door could make access diﬃcult for those with mobility issues

30-50% 5-10%

19/01/2021 14:15

INTELLIGENCE

ACCESSIBLE HOUSING

BUILDING ENGINEER

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Accessing accessible housing Richard Harral, CABE’s Technical Director, says that building more accessible housing is vital, but that is only part of the story by younger and healthier households before their accessible features are used by people who need them.

Matchmaking More can and should be done to marry more accessible housing with households that will benefit. This could include a requirement to record the accessibility of homes in Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) and marketing data; programmes to assist disabled people to afford deposits, mortgages and rents where these are higher; support for older households to deal with the legal and physical challenges of moving home at a time when their health may be failing; and additional funding for adaptations that will still be required to meet individual need, delivered through a rapid home improvement service. Once enhanced accessibility standards become the norm, these additional interventions are likely to be highly effective. They will improve housing

choice and opportunities, particularly for working-age disabled people. In turn, this will reduce the load on health and social care systems by enabling longer-term independence. They will also transform housing options for our ageing population. However, one cause for concern in the government consultation is the lack of a stated preferred option, or any attempt to monetise social beneﬁts – usually standard requirements for new regulatory policies. This could suggest that the government is not serious about taking these proposals forward, or at least that considerable further work remains to be done. It is possible that Covid-19 has laid bare the need to address longstanding deﬁcits in the quality of our housing provision, and that regulatory policy is being relaxed in the national interest. Let’s hope this is the start of that next big step forward in accessible housing provision, as government has certainly raised expectations with this consultation.

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FEBRUARY 2021

t is unarguably the case that housing provision for disabled people and to meet the needs of an ageing population (which includes a significant proportion of disabled people) is inadequate. It is vital for local and central government policy to ensure that housing markets deliver a diverse range of housing choice, so everyone can find a home that meets their needs. In particular: households including a disabled person need suitable accommodation to live on a fair and equitable basis working-age disabled people need mobility to find employment – this includes being able to find accessible properties wherever they may need to move to in order to find work older households want homes that enable them to be active – independently or otherwise – within their communities local and central government need to find ways to mitigate the adult social care and health costs associated with an ageing population. The government’s most recent consultation (bit.ly/AccessibilityConsult) suggests that the number of accessible homes that will be built is likely to change for the better. However, building accessible homes is only part of the solution – unless the information, finance and support is available to help people move into these new, more accessible homes, the benefits of improved provision risks being significantly diluted. In a development of 100 homes, based on the national demographic, around 20 households would include someone with a disability. Of those, around half (ten households) would include someone with impaired mobility requiring use of an assistive aid, ranging from a walking stick to a wheelchair; with three of these households including a wheelchair user. Around 25 households will have a member older than state retirement age, with around half of these also including a person with a disability (ie overlapping with the impaired mobility households previously mentioned). In practice, the first cohort of occupants may have a much lower incidence of impaired mobility and age-related ill health. In 2015-16, of the proportion of new builds bought by first-time buyers, for example, only 3% were aged over 55. Given that people now stay in their homes for an average 17 years, those initial occupants could remain there for some time. Simply put, without additional policy interventions, most of these new homes are likely to be occupied for decades

18/01/2021 14:05

INTELLIGENCE

hen discussing common errors and good practice in lift maintenance, it is worth noting that misuse – that is, people not interacting with the lift in the intended manner – is probably the biggest cause of breakdowns. Holding doors, moving furniture or jumping in a lift reliably cause problems, and 70% of lift faults relate to the doors, because this area is where people interact with the lift most and can trip the safety devices. The most common sources of problems are:

ROUTINE UPKEEP

Generally, you can hear if a contactor is pulling in (being activated) correctly. You’ll often walk into a lift motor room and hear chattering relays. The chattering noise indicates that the contactors are in poor condition and possibly need replacing because of an issue with the coil or the contacts themselves. Also, after thousands of operations, terminal screws work their way loose, which, again, could increase resistance through a contact and cause it to burn up. A check to ensure correct tightness on connections is vital and is a good way to help reduce intermittent faults.

1) Door locks on landings not aligned with the lift as it arrives at the ﬂoor

3) The safety circuit switch feathers (slack rope)

Lift doors have many moving components and on average, a single door panel will be made up of rollers, pick up, hanging and kicking rollers. Any one of these rollers can cause a fault with the door opening or closing. Maintenance needs to check all locks and alignment regularly to avoid faults developing.

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Zen and the art of lift

4) There are drive issues These become common as lifts age. Over time, lifts experience brake wear and high resistance on motor contacts. Motor ﬁelds get weaker, and rope or sheave wear causes traction loss. Poor maintenance, such as not ﬁlling up the oil pots that lubricate the guides, or failing to keep the load weighing device calibrated, is often the cause of issues.

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A contactor is an electrical device used for switching an electrical circuit on or off. Generally, they feature multiple contacts. In most cases, these contacts are usually open and provide operating power to the load when the contactor coil is energised. They are typically found with the control cabinets or containments. Determining the life-cycle of a contactor is difficult, because on-site conditions always vary. Cleanliness and temperature can play a part in reducing the lifespan of an electrical component. Dust and dirt on open contacts can cause an arc, which in turn contributes to ending up with burnt-up contacts and high resistance. This is also the case for lock contacts and other safety switches. Another difficulty is keeping everything as efficient as possible and reducing the current through the contacts. An incorrectly set brake leads to more current being drawn, overloading the contact rating. A lift running in an incorrectly balanced state would cause a rise in current and, again, reduce the lifespan of the contact – as well as the voltage variable frequency unit, which is what gives a lift smooth acceleration and deceleration, excellent speed control and reduced noise levels.

FEBRUARY 2021

2) Contactors or relays wear down, and contacts get high resistance

The safety circuit stops the lift when it detects that something is outside normal operating parameters, presenting a risk to users. Maintenance involves checking that everything is operating within tolerance. Components often require adjustment as they change over time, including the ropes, which will stretch.

5) There are position faults (proximities and magnets) Components such as magnets and proximities need to be perfectly aligned. The proximity is an electrical switch, and it needs to be aligned with the magnet for it to switch and change state, sending signals back to the control panel for many functions, including a ﬂoor level or a door over bridging function. Over time, these can come loose or be dislodged, causing breakdowns. Pencil switches and magnets usually have a set-up tolerance of between 8mm and 12mm. Any more or any less, and you get magnetic ﬁeld issues, such as double pulsing if the distance is too short, or no pulsing at all if the distance is too large. If the lift car position changes because of the roller or shoe (which, again, should be maintenance checked), this can cause issues. Lifts run at high speeds with heavy loads, but with only millimetres of clearance as they travel. A lift shaft contains many safety components and can vary in vertical distance from a few metres to hundreds of metres long. It takes only the slightest anomaly or equipment defect to put a lift out of service. But the chance of this can be minimised through good knowledge of the equipment, requirements for maintenance and understanding when to take action.

maintenance Tek Hussein, Head of Technical at WeMaintain, runs through some common issues with lifts

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For more, visit wemaintain.com/en-uk

19/01/2021 09:43

INTELLIGENCE

FEBRUARY 2021

Building back better Tim Oakley, Head Consultant at the London Housing Consortium, paints a post-Covid picture of public sector procurement

he first Covid-19 lockdown marked a sudden and radical change for public sector housing and construction procurement. The closure of offices and sites initially left local authority and housing association schedules in tatters, with public bodies unable to plan the completion of existing projects or to launch new projects. The preparedness of procurement staff, both on the supplier and buyer side, to carry out their respective duties was placed under significant stress.

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As the crisis continued throughout the year, it became obvious that contracting authorities and their suppliers would need to work in partnership to plan an eventual exit from relief and transition to new, sustainable operating models. This is what has been happening over the past ten months. Indeed, the London Housing Consortium (LHC) is taking a very positive view, as so much of the disruption of 2020 has accelerated a process of change that will bring many beneﬁts for the years ahead. LHC has certainly used this pause-

button period to re-evaluate its own processes and to develop more eﬀective procurement practices. What it has learned through lockdowns is that construction, speciﬁcally construction procurement, has been able to innovate to cope with the crisis. LHC has also discovered that, on the whole, the industry can act responsibly and fairly to support the response to Covid-19 and to protect jobs and the economy. Flexible working patterns have been successfully adopted, and programmes of work have been extended wherever necessary

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BUILDING ENGINEER

18/01/2021 14:06

PROCUREMENT IMPROVEMENTS

to increase the ability of potential tenderers to engage with the processes. Despite the occasional frustrations of video calls, webchats, webinars and

In their simplest form, the Framework Alliance Contracts (FACs) could be described as a system of pooled knowledge. LHC’s technical experts develop speciﬁcations for products and services; the frameworks are then set up according to quality, value and track record (in accordance with the EU Procurement Directive). The procurement of products and services using the frameworks negates the need to allocate resources to navigate the legal or technical areas of procurement. For small to medium enterprises, the frameworks can provide the resource they do not have. For local authorities, charged with building residential properties and public buildings on a regular basis,

“So much of the disruption of 2020 has accelerated a process of change that will bring many beneﬁts for the years ahead”

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Formerly the London Housing Consortium, LHC has extended its reach to the whole of the UK (lhc.gov.uk/where-we-operate). It provides free-to-use framework agreements, used by local authorities to improve procurement practices, which, in turn, promotes the better building of social housing and public buildings. It also brings buyers and suppliers together to build, refurbish and maintain social housing and public property more efficiently and cost effectively, to benefit the local community.

the frameworks offer peace of mind that all related legal requirements and specifications have been through these assessments, and they offer access to knowledge as well as reliable processes. LHC has also introduced FAC-1 in all its procurements, with the aim of sharing objectives, introducing transparent performance measurement, aligning commercial interests and setting up collaborative governance, all of which collectively underpin shared risk management. The key benefit of alliancing in this way is that it helps the whole construction supply chain to develop long-term relationships. FAC-1 provides a new style of framework agreement, which achieves much higher satisfaction rates between all parties. Disputes are reduced, and alliance members can more easily work together to achieve greater efficiency, value outputs and cost savings. This approach is available to all public sector procurement teams, and LHC hopes it will be widely adopted. New public contracts regulations in 2015 forced procurement teams to consider key issues, such as sustainability, wholelife costs, life-cycle analyses and social value. The new regulations were designed to lead to greater competition, greater savings and greater community benefit, without compromising on quality. And, generally, much of this has happened. But there is so much that still needs to be done to ensure that outcome-based procurement is better understood and more widely adopted. This will continue to be our focus for 2021, along with increased emphasis on pan-industry collaboration – the only way to ensure we truly build back better.

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FAC-1

LHC

FEBRUARY 2021

screen shares, these tools can be used very successfully to undertake effective pre-tender engagement, without devoting endless hours travelling to physical meetings. Online engagement has opened the electronic door to greater participation. LHC has also proactively sought opportunities to extend access for smalland medium-sized businesses and to make public sector procurement work better for minority groups that were previously underrepresented. Youth and entrepreneurial organisations are now also being provided with the opportunity to pitch new and exciting disruptive ideas to procurement organisations and break from the tried and tested solutions. Examples of this include the latest frameworks for architectural design, developed in association with Southwark Council. These now offer public sector procurement teams in London boroughs a new pool of talent to choose from – a selection of architectural practices that genuinely reflect the ethnicity, socioeconomic backgrounds and other demographics of the city. Many of these practices have not had the opportunity to access public sector work in the past. LHC’s experience of developing these frameworks will undoubtedly influence all other procurement practices in future.

For more, visit lhc.gov.uk

18/01/2021 14:06

INTELLIGENCE

FEBRUARY 2021

BUILDING ENGINEER

s a specialism, party wall surveying is disconnected from planning approvals, building control, valuations or other forms of surveying work. But in this separate eco-system, governed by the Party Wall Act 1996, qualified professionals upholding high ethical standards can find themselves working alongside peers who take advantage of its insularity to relax standards. Fees often outstrip those in surveying’s mainstream, creating a strong profit incentive, but the Act’s lack of definition of what constitutes a surveyor allows the unqualified and uninsured to practise. At times, the outcomes from poor practice can be financially disastrous for clients, and have been the basis of serious reputational damage for the wider industry. For David Taylor PPCABE FCABE, a Chartered Architectural Technologist and Chartered Building Engineer at David Taylor Associates and past President of CABE, “the party wall fraternity is riddled with inconsistencies and unethical behaviour”. Surveyor Oliver Wright MCABE, a member of CABE’s expert panel, who runs London-based Wright Surveying, says the sector has become increasingly like the “Wild West” and that unethical practice has been an “industry-wide problem for as long as I can remember”. So how did the well-intentioned act open the door for bad practice?

Intention and reality The Party Wall Act 1996, originally steered through Parliament by CABE’s current patron, Lord Lytton, is agreed to be a useful piece of legislation: it protects the rights of both building owners and adjoining neighbours when a construction project is planned. The parties can appoint separate surveyors, who must agree a party wall “award”, a document detailing the condition of the adjoining property and designed to minimise any detriment to it as a result of the works. The Act includes a system of statutory notices that must be served within specific timescales and provides a mechanism for appointing a third surveyor to arbitrate if the first two do not agree. However, by failing to set minimum professional qualifications or standards, the Act has lowered entry barriers to the point where someone with no background in construction can call themselves a Party Wall Surveyor and practise alongside chartered CABE or RICS members. As Wright explains: “The general point of the Act is to allow people to do building work close to neighbouring buildings, while keeping claims out of the courts. To do this, the dispute resolution mechanism is put into private hands; however, that’s a problem if the people handling the disputes aren’t the right people.” “[The Act] fails to determine minimum standards and competence, so it opens the door to unethical and unqualified individuals,” adds Taylor. “There are also professional surveyors out there who fail to follow their institutes’ codes of conduct,” he warns, mentioning failures to be upfront with clients about costs and fees. All surveying costs on both sides are typically borne by the building owner undertaking the works, but, as Wright explains, that tilts the playing field in favour of the adjoining owner’s appointed surveyor. The need to complete the building works quickly can leave the building owner with little choice other than to absorb costs. “The building owner is in a precarious situation; unscrupulous surveyors know they have the whip hand,” he says, reporting that fees in London can reach £200 or even £400 an hour compared with £100 or £120 for other high-level surveying work. In addition, the Act stipulates that an adjoining owner’s surveyor cannot be removed until the works are complete, even if the appointing client realises they are

The great divide

performing poorly or suspects that they are motivated by self-interest. “Once you’re in, you’re in, and able to rack up extensive fees – fees can easily top £10,000 for a simple domestic loft conversion if the costs are not properly managed.” These matters can be made worse because a Party Wall Award (including the fees charged for its execution or amendment) cannot be challenged in any court, putting party wall surveyors in a position of almost unique advantage. It is entirely possible to carry out party wall functions in accordance with the Act in a way that is both ethical and professional, so why are there cases where this doesn’t happen?

Checks and balances Part of the problem appears to be that the Act’s 21 clauses are not supported by guidance spelling out best practice, and there is no legislative mechanism to sanction surveyors who fall short of professional standards. While the Act implies that surveyors are part of a recognised professional body whose disciplinary procedures apply, that leaves anyone outside a professional body wholly unregulated. “If you’re a member of a professional body, the threat of expulsion or disciplinary action is a good way of keeping people in check. But if you are not a member of a professional body, you have nothing to fear except litigation,” says Wright. CABE members are expected to maintain the professional standards set out in its Code of Conduct, which includes demonstrating openness, honesty, integrity, fairness and impartiality, as

Has party wall surveying been lost to unethical practice, with little distinction between qualiﬁed and unqualiﬁed professionals?

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PARTY WALL SURVEYING

IMAGES: ALAMY

well as treating people with decency and respect; the RICS too has its own code and disciplinary procedures. In circumstances where professionals have such extensive authority and power vested in them, the requirement to behave in a professional manner is just as important as complying with the letter of the Act itself. However, in party wall surveying, even the disciplinary powers of professional bodies can be constrained by the legislation: any complaint raised while the works are ongoing can be stayed if the subject of the complaint argues that they are carrying out a statutory role with which the complaint process would interfere. With complaints only possible

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after the project is completed, Wright points out that building owners are more likely to oﬄoad any frustrations via “a ﬁve-minute rant on the phone” rather than by pursuing and evidencing a formal complaint. These built-in barriers to making a complaint mean “there is little evidence of a rising tide”.

Updating the Act Overall, the Act has remained unaltered since 1996, apart from an update that allows Awards to be served electronically. As the territory around it ﬁlls with competent person schemes for Building Regulations, or by registers of approved consultants in various ﬁelds, the Act begins to look

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“There needs to be tighter regulation and qualiﬁcations for those practising in the party wall world; we need a professionally recognised qualiﬁcation”

FEBRUARY 2021

increasingly out of date. As Taylor says: “The Act needs upgrading, in the same way as Planning and Building Regulations are updated and reviewed.” However, the lack of an industry-wide coalition calling for reform makes it unlikely that reviewing the Party Wall Act will become a parliamentary and civil service priority. An option proposed by Taylor, which won member support during his presidency, is for professional bodies such as CABE to take a rigorous, unilateral approach to regulating members carrying out party wall work; perhaps by creating a new sub-division, or awarding a new professionally qualified designation. “There needs to be tighter regulation and qualifications for those practising in the party wall world; we need a professionally recognised qualification in the field of party wall surveying,” Taylor says. It would certainly provide a recognisable standard for homeowners to look for when appointing a party wall surveyor. Wright agrees, “I don’t think there’s much that CABE can realistically do to address the inherent industry-wide problems; however, we can certainly educate our own membership and make it clear we expect the highest professional standards from our members [with a document] that spells out exactly what practices are and are not acceptable.” Such a document, he believes, should redline the practice of sending out letters to adjoining owners identified via planning applications. “The sending of unsolicited letters is unforgivable and shouldn’t be allowed,” he says. “Ambulance-chasing letters cause deliberate alarm and panic, intended to scare people into agreeing an appointment. This is quite obviously unethical practice, which we should all condemn.” Perhaps talking honestly about it in professional forums is a way to build momentum for change. It is clear that reform is needed, so why shouldn’t it begin here?

19/01/2021 09:44

FEBRUARY 2021

INTELLIGENCE

BUILDING ENGINEER

COMPETITIVE TENDER

I N D US T RY O PI N I O N Dan Grimshaw explains why he walks away if the process involves competitive tender and is based on cost alone DAN GRIMSHAW, Director of Beam Development Mentor to the British Library’s Innovating for Growth programme, funded by the European Regional Development Fund, designed to help small businesses that are looking to grow. Since founding Beam in 2011, the company has focused on residential homes for clients in London, with project values up to £2m.

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ith a new Cabinet Oﬃce Green Paper set to simplify currently complex public procurement procedures, I believe there are lessons to be learned from the private sector when it comes to rethinking the procurement process. The main motivation for people opting for competitive tender is to get a comparison price from more than one person, but the procedure doesn’t do an awful lot else and doesn’t even do that well. Sadly, everyone has got used to a paradigm, where everything comes in “over-budget and over-time” – with the HS2 rail network being £800m over budget a case in point. But the truth is, these projects just weren’t priced and programmed properly in the ﬁrst place. Part of that is driven by competitive tender, by people claiming to be able to do things that they can’t do and then making up for it later on. This has a negative impact and serves to sow seeds of distrust in procurement as a process. In my own business [design and construction of high-end residential property for private clients and developers], I walk away if I learn a job is to be decided through competitive tender and is based on cost alone. It is too costly in terms of resources – that applies to the potential client, too, who just ends up with a big

spreadsheet of bloated numbers to compare and with prices that bear no relation to reality. The competitive tender process can also allow clients to try to do more than they can really aﬀord. Imagine being told that you can have something and then, during the process of building it, ﬁnding out that you can’t, and, what’s more, that it’s going to cost more. From a private sector perspective, it is about negotiating the right tender at the right price for the job and then getting the job done. It’s not about who can pretend to be cheapest and then win the work, because this will inevitably mean costs are driven up one way or another. In the construction industry, negotiated contracts are typically a transparent collaboration between a specialist builder, an architect and the client. The builder is selected at the start of the design process for their reputation and experience of such projects. The result is not guaranteed, it’s still competitive. Even if we follow a negotiated tender route – where a client invites one contractor of their choice to submit a tender – we’re up against other contractors and project management companies, so we have to win on merit, on track record and on recommendations, as well as on the cost that we propose it is going to be. The government has published its Green Paper Transforming public procurement on proposed reform to UK public procurement, with the end of the Brexit transition period providing “an historic opportunity to overhaul our outdated public procurement regime”. It is a welcome overhaul. Visit beamdevelopment.co.uk

19/01/2021 14:16

INTELLIGENCE

View from the top

or me, in simple terms, ethical professionalism is the adoption of a system of moral principles enshrined in the way we do business in the best interest of our clients and society in general. Of course, it is not as simple as that. In principle, it should be a method to enable professionals and their professional bodies to set a baseline expectation for what is socially acceptable in terms of how we make decisions and solve problems. Ethics plays an important part in both the structures of a company and how its employees carry out their duties. Leading by example is a key factor in governance and must represent best practice, which, in turn, reﬂects positively on employees.

Honesty and integrity

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My role as Chair of the Membership and Professional Standards Committee, is concerned with professional ethics and how CABE as an association – representative of more than 9,000 professional members – ensures that the correct guidance and governance is in place to assist members in undertaking their roles and tasks with honesty and integrity. CABE’s Technical Director, Richard Harral, recently wrote a piece in the journal about ethics. He noted that although people believe they are behaving ethically and have the best intentions, they aren’t incorporating ethics in a meaningful way in dayto-day behaviour, which means that ethics remains a concept rather than a practice. I would agree. I believe this behaviour ﬂows from natural instincts rather than planned actions. We must ask ourselves

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Richard Flynn CEnv CEng FCABE, of Flynn & Shaw, Ireland, discusses what ethical professionalism means to him and whether he is seeing changing behaviour patterns in the industry

PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

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INTELLIGENCE

where our moral principles come from. In the case of ethical professionalism, they must be derived from a combination of a professional code of ethics and a standard of governance that ensures compliance. This is not enough, however. I ﬁrmly believe that we must create corporate and individual accountability, as well as a culture of ethical behaviour in our associations and institutions.

BUILDING ENGINEER

In the past few years, CABE’s approach to professional ethics and corporate governance has undergone a root and branch review. This, in my opinion, has resulted in a number of changes in governance. Updated publications ensure that CABE members are provided with an ethical framework to succeed in both their professional roles and their duties to clients and society as a whole. The importance of this is best summed up in the CABE Guide to Ethical Professionalism: “Professional behaviour is founded in being professionally competent, civil and polite, regardless of circumstances; ensuring that you act fairly to all parties, setting aside your own interests; and ensuring that you provide professional advice and services that reflect your duty of care to clients, coworkers and the wider public. Building engineers have a duty to uphold the highest standards of professional conduct, openness, fairness, honesty and integrity.” A number of high-profile events have raised professional ethics to the top of the agenda in recent years. For me, two examples of note are the Paris Agreement and the Grenfell tragedy. The 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement, which was adopted following the Conference of the Parties (COP 21) United Nations Climate Change Conference, has been greeted as “historic, durable and ambitious”. The UN official in charge of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Christiana Figueres, announced that it has ignited a “huge flame of hope”, demonstrating that climate change is a “very, very good example of how we are moving to a completely new social contract”, and one that is deeply informed by the interaction between global challenges and national concerns, “enriched by the integration of North and South, East and West”. Others, of course, would argue that we still have serious ethical issues to address in tackling climate change. In particular, there is a reasonable

The Grenfell Tower disaster will have a huge inﬂuence on ethical professionalism

“We are moving to a completely new social contract, informed by the interaction between global challenges and national concerns”

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Author biography Richard Flynn is a Chartered Building Engineer, Chartered Engineer, Chartered Environmentalist, Chartered Water and Environment Manager, Registered Building Surveyor and a Certified Site Assessor. He is self-employed and works in private practice as a recognised expert on site suitability assessments, treatment system design specifications, and installation and certification of on-site wastewater treatment systems. In his volunteering capacity, he is an elected Board Member of CABE, and Chair of the CABE Membership and Professional Standards Committee. He is also Chair of the Irish Onsite Wastewater Association (IOWA) and a member of the Irish EPA Steering Committee, charged with reviewing the EPA Code of Practice for Onsite Wastewater Treatment Systems.

IMAGE: GETTY IMAGES

FEBRUARY 2021

A shift in focus

18/01/2021 14:07

PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

“We must create corporate and individual accountability, as well as a culture of ethical behaviour in our associations and institutions” competency for individuals working in industry and the important role for professional bodies in ensuring that members are working within the limits of individual competence. The importance of a planned approach to ethics will become the norm, and professional bodies such as CABE are, in my view, a leading example of what is expected and what is required in reforming our industries’ approach to competence. The work of Richard Harral and others on the Flex 8670 Built Environment – Overarching framework for competence of individuals – Speciﬁcation is another milestone in this journey.

Declaring an ethical comfort zone

The Grenfell Tower disaster will probably be the greatest inﬂuencing factor in the role of professional associations and institutions when it comes to ethical professionalism. It is already transforming competency frameworks and will guide building regulations and standards for the next decade and beyond. Much has been written on this subject, and enquiries and hearings will, no doubt, continue for many years. One of the key messages from this disaster must be the recognition of professional

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35 BUILDING ENGINEER

Planned approach to ethics

FEBRUARY 2021

argument that indigenous peoples were ignored in the final version of the Paris Agreement. According to the United Nations, there are around 370 million indigenous peoples spread across 70 different countries that own, occupy or manage up to 65% of the Earth’s land surface. When the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), in its Global 200 Project of 2002, listed the top 200 areas with the highest and most threatened biodiversity, it found that 95% are on indigenous territories. Is it ethical to have excluded such a key group in the fight against climate change? As a Chartered Environmentalist, I have a keen interest in the whole area of environmental ethics and climate change, and the relationship between humans and the earth, so will be taking a great interest in COP 26, scheduled to be held in Glasgow later this year.

Interestingly, I do see a fundamental change in behaviour when it comes to professional ethics. More and more professionals are standing up and declaring that some duties are outside their comfort zone and beyond their level of competency. Much of this change is industry-led, with an awareness of the increasing numbers of professional negligence cases, and the withdrawal of insurance underwriters, affecting Professional Indemnity Insurance offerings. Whatever the cause, we are increasingly seeing professionals put ethical concepts into practice, and this is to be welcomed. The establishment of a Membership and Professional Standards Committee is a key requirement under the terms of CABE’s UK Engineering Council Licence, to ensure that the association’s membership and professional standards are maintained and applied to the required levels. This should, in my opinion, be the norm for all associations and institutions, regardless of their status with registration bodies. I foresee increasing requirements and obligations on individual members of professional bodies to provide physical evidence of their compliance with Codes of Professional Conduct, in line with current practices for continuing professional development (CPD). There will always be barriers to change, and there are no universal rules that apply to everyone when it comes to ethics. Regardless of what standards and regulations are required, people are human, and behaviours will undoubtedly be affected or influenced by individual beliefs, by financial and physical considerations, and by the potential for self-interest. That is why we must continue to focus on promoting ethical behaviours on the pathway to change, through universal and social inclusion at the highest levels of governance and strong leadership demonstrating the values we want others to live by. We do have a long road ahead of us, but the progress we have already achieved in terms of professional ethics is just one of many steps forward.

18/01/2021 14:08

INTELLIGENCE

he pandemic brought to bear supply chain delays of goods and services. It also threw into sharp relief the ethical considerations for employees as part of that supply chain; for example, health and safety practices, safeguarding workers’ rights and human rights. Here are some ways to mitigate supply chain risk in 2021.

A sudden exodus of staﬀ could compromise health and safety and business continuity, so businesses should ensure everyone in their supply chain is aware of the need to apply for settled status and oﬀer assistance. The application can be accessed at gov.uk/ settled-status-eu-citizens-families/ applying-for-settled-status.

Know your workforce Checking the identity of workers before allowing them on-site and being conﬁdent that they are qualiﬁed and have the right to work can help prevent illegal working and modern slavery, manage health and safety risks, and ensure supply chain security. Consider whether your current workforce credential management processes are

Brexit deadlines

The chain Goods supply chain issues in 2020 caused delays and annoyance, but these aren’t the only supply chain risk, says CHAS

FEBRUARY 2021

Anyone settled in the UK for more than ﬁve years as of exit day (31 January, 2020) is likely to be able to gain settled status, which will grant them the same rights as British citizens, but they only have until 30 June 2021 to apply. There are concerns that language barriers and a lack of awareness of the need to apply may prevent some workers from completing the application.

BUILDING ENGINEER

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19/01/2021 09:45

RISK MANAGEMENT

comprehensive enough. Are you conﬁdent of the identity of everyone on your site, their right to work and their competence?

Consider your social impact

IMAGE: © PHILIP WOLMUTH/REPORTDIGITAL.CO.UK

Wikipedia explains: “IR35 refers to the UK’s anti-avoidance tax legislation, designed to tax ‘disguised’ employment at a rate similar to employment. In this context, ‘disguised employees’ means workers who receive payments from a client via an intermediary, for example, their own limited company, and whose relationship with their client is such that, had they been paid directly, they would be employees of the client.” Delayed IR35 changes, which govern whether an individual working as a contractor or freelancer ought to be deemed an employee on payroll for taxation purposes, are due to go ahead in April 2021. The changes mean that medium and large businesses will be responsible for determining whether IR35 applies and could face ﬁnancial penalties for noncompliance. Companies that

36-37 SupplyChain_BE FEB 202.indd 37

From April 2021, contractors bidding for government contracts above £5m per annum will need to be able to pay at least 85% of invoices to their supply chain in 60 days and have an action plan for how they will pay 95% in 60 days. Contractors that fail to meet these requirements may be suspended from winning any further government contracts until their payment performance improves. For more, see bit.ly/GovPayment.

Check that your supply chain is Covid-secure Covid-19 vaccination developments are good news, but they are not a quick ﬁx; businesses will need to continue to manage the risk of Covid-19 in 2021. This includes checking that the issue is being taken seriously throughout the supply chain and looking for evidence that contractors are committed to Covid-secure practices. Anyone who regularly employs contractors can access the CHAS (Contractors’ Health and Safety Assessment Scheme) database of companies that have completed a Covidsecure Statement of Best Practice for no charge at chas.co.uk/chas-client-portal/.

Refocus on health and safety Covid-19 has been a significant distraction in 2020, so it can be beneficial to reinforce expectations around health and safety, particularly if you have diversified your supply chain. It’s crucial to ensure all

“Checking the identity of workers can help prevent illegal working and modern slavery, and ensure supply chain security”

Control carbon Sustainability is rising rapidly up the construction industry’s agenda, with many companies making public commitments to accelerating their journey towards carbon neutrality and asking their supply chains to do the same. It is becoming commonplace for businesses of all sizes to track their carbon use via tools such as CHAS Plant, which monitors all the plant being used on a site and helps meet regulatory obligations like non-road mobile machinery. Many businesses are also embracing circularity, which involves eliminating waste and ﬁnding ways to continually use resources. For more on building a circular economy implementation plan, see Circulytics, a free digital measuring tool from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation: bit.ly/EMFCirculytics.

Prevent bribery and corruption The Bribery Act will be ten years old in June 2021, yet many companies are still unaware of their obligations around the prevention of bribery and corruption. Under the Bribery Act 2010, if you can’t prove that you have adequate procedures in place to combat corruption, you’re guilty of failing to prevent bribery and can face unlimited ﬁnes. The Ministry of Justice has published six principles for bribery prevention that are a useful focus for organisations of any size. These include: proportionate procedures; top-level commitment; risk assessment; due diligence (including training); and monitoring and review. Read here: bit.ly/BriberyGuidance. With an increasing number of issues, getting a measure of managing every aspect of supply chain risk management in-house can be a daunting task, especially when you are managing multiple contractors, but help is freely available. For example, if you regularly hire contractors, you can become a CHAS Client for absolutely no cost, giving you access to a database of contractors that meet a wide range of assessment criteria. A growing number of these contractors have completed the new Common Assessment Standard, which is fast becoming the gold standard for prequaliﬁcation in the construction industry.

37 BUILDING ENGINEER

Prepare for IR35 changes

Familiarise yourself with tougher payment rules

contractors understand their obligations and have the correct management systems in place. The easiest way to do this is to choose a contractor that has been accredited by a third-party assessor.

FEBRUARY 2021

Put simply, social impact is the potential for positive or negative eﬀects on wider society or individual people. All businesses create social impact through their supply chains, and, in our ever-more connected world, these eﬀects can be both local and global and present risks to businesses. Social impact risks can occur across a range of issues, including: health and safety; human rights and modern slavery; equality, diversity and inclusion of all; while positive impacts can derive from decent employment and training opportunities. Businesses should assess their business for risks related to these impact areas and ensure that if any negative impacts are found, steps are taken to address these. Some of these areas are covered by active legislation in the UK, including the Equality Act 2010 and the Modern Slavery Act 2015. Assessing and managing risk should be both an aspect of legal compliance for your business and part of being an ethical and responsible business.

haven’t done so already should audit their current contractor base and determine who falls inside and outside IR35, using the HMRC’s CEST tool: gov.uk/guidance/ check-employment-status-for-tax. Once businesses have determined where IR35 applies, they should communicate with existing contractors and put processes in place to determine if the oﬀ-payroll rules apply to future engagements.

For more, visit chas.co.uk

19/01/2021 09:45

FEBRUARY 2021

INSIGHT

BUILDING ENGINEER

38-43 Ethics_BE Feb 2021_Building Engineer.indd 38

18/01/2021 14:09

THE HUMAN ELEMENT

Geoﬀrey Makstutis, Subject Lead for Construction and Art and Design at Pearson, oﬀers an opinion on ethics and asks ‘Who are buildings for?’

IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK

No joke

I ﬁnd that even our regulatory frameworks are subject to this absence of the human. For example, of the 430,000 words that comprise the current Approved Documents of the English building regulations, the word people appears just 175 times (that’s about 0.0004%). The words person or persons appear about 313 times (0.0007%); however, these are often referring to the person(s) undertaking the building works, so not relating to the user of the building. Building regulations can be viewed as minimum standards that must be met to ensure compliance. There is little sense of quality of experience or inhabitation being expected. Health and safety are the primary aims of the Building Regulations, but these are almost solely based on physical safety. What of emotional wellbeing and mental health? At the Conscious Cities Conference in 2017, architect Alison Brooks said: “If science could help the design profession justify the value of good design and craftsmanship, it would be a very powerful tool and quite possibly transform the quality of the built environment” (bit.ly/ABGreatDes). Research has shown that there is a link, forged within the hippocampus, between our brains and the spaces we inhabit. The need for the design of buildings to do more than meet minimum standards is both psychological

BUILDING ENGINEER

38-43 Ethics_BE Feb 2021_Building Engineer.indd 39

Furthermore, with the building as the primary focus, issues of cost, eﬃciency and regulatory compliance have a very diﬀerent context.

FEBRUARY 2021

pen nearly any architecture or construction magazine or visit their websites and you will see new buildings. These may be shiny, exciting, big, detailed, ﬁnely crafted – even iconic. What you are less likely to see are people. It would seem that we are to understand buildings as things that exist in the landscape or the city and that they are best understood (and enjoyed?) as an image. From an aesthetic point of view, it may be understandable that a photo of a building or interior can better show the design when there aren’t bodies in the frame. However, there is an underlying issue that buildings are often designed and constructed with, in my opinion, very little consideration of the users – people. Having spent a good deal of my career teaching and acting as an external examiner in architecture and design at schools and colleges around the world, I can attest to the fact that this absence of people is endemic. While there are a handful of programmes that have placed people at the core of the subject, there are far too many instances – seen in degree shows – where drawings and models are devoid of any human presence. I would argue that the design, drawing and modelling of buildings without people is the ﬁrst step in a chain that leads to poor experiences in our buildings, prioritising cost over quality, and even the potential loss of human life. Perhaps that sounds extreme, but when we focus on the building rather than those who will use or inhabit the building, it becomes easy for human factors to be ignored.

19/01/2021 14:17

FEBRUARY 2021

INSIGHT

BUILDING ENGINEER

and physiological; and the two are intrinsically linked. For many years, health and safety regulation has been seen as either a necessary inconvenience (creating the need for more documentation to support a bureaucratic process) or the punchline of a joke (‘health and safety gone mad!’). In both cases, these attitudes reveal a fundamental lack of understanding about the position of people in relation to health and safety. When we see it as a process, we move the focus from the aim to the necessary actions that deﬁne the procedure. And it is often this focus on the necessary actions that leads to outcomes that become the punchline of the joke. The joke is not about human health or human safety. Rather, it sees the absurdity that can result from a process that has become too focused on itself. Perversely, many of the most absurd cases of health and safety are actually urban myths. Such stories make wonderful tabloid headlines but have often been found to be either false or wildly inaccurate. Health and safety legislation is necessary and it is beneﬁcial. In fact, since the introduction of the Health and Safety at Work Act in 1974, there has been an 85% estimated reduction in the instance

38-43 Ethics_BE Feb 2021_Building Engineer.indd 40

of workplace fatalities. The construction industry workforce has been one of the groups for which this change has been dramatically positive.

Conveyor belt To be clear, however, there is a diﬀerence between being safe and being healthy. Furthermore, there is a diﬀerence between health and safety at work and the way in which health and safety informs the design and construction of buildings. I would suggest that while health and safety at work has continued to make improvements in the wellbeing of those who construct our buildings, health and safety as presented in the Building Regulations has encouraged a further separation between the material aspects of the structure and the process of

construction, and the people that will live and work there. The horror of the Grenfell Tower ﬁre on 14 June 2017 is one of the starkest representations of how our process of design, construction and regulation – with little emphasis on people – leads to the worst of all outcomes. As the public inquiry continues, we are learning more and more about the string of failures that led to the disaster. For example, during questioning, one of the senior builders for the refurbishment of the Grenfell Tower stated that “we didn’t have the expertise to check whether design complied with regs” (bit.ly/AJGren). From this, and testimony by the design architects, it would appear that no one in the design and build process had the knowledge or took responsibility for ensuring that the

“When we see it as a process, we move the focus from the aim to the necessary actions that deﬁne the procedure.”

19/01/2021 14:17

THE HUMAN ELEMENT

does not, in my view, enshrine the centrality of people in our building design, construction and regulatory systems.

38-43 Ethics_BE Feb 2021_Building Engineer.indd 41

Ethical pioneers There are positive examples. Through the Engineering Ethics Vision 2028 (bit.ly/EE2028) the University of Leeds, Royal Academy of Engineering, Engineering Council, Engineers without Borders, and Engineering Professors’ Council have embarked on a ten-year plan to root their industry within an ethical framework. This ambitious plan takes a unique approach, bringing together engineers and ethicists, which looks at creating a profession in which ethics become a part of the “habits, customs and culture” of the industry. Moving beyond regulation and professional conduct, the Engineering Ethics Vision represents a fundamental transformation of the way professional engineers are trained, accredited and able to practise; they are enabled to deal with ethical issues as individuals and a profession. The Engineering Council, in 2005, developed its Statement of Ethical Principles (bit.ly/ECstethpr). These go some way to placing people in a central position when considering engineering practice and include statements such as: hold paramount the health and safety of others and draw attention to hazards protect and, where possible, improve, the quality of both the built and natural environments maximise the public good, and minimise both actual and potential adverse eﬀects for [current] and succeeding generations take due account of the limited availability of natural resources be aware of the issues that engineering and technology raise for society, and listen to the aspirations and concerns of others.

41 BUILDING ENGINEER

regulations could be met by the proposed cladding or insulation designs. While I cannot, and do not, claim that the reason for allowing this string of failures is cost-related, it is not too difficult to imagine that the various parties might have considered the potential cost of employing suitably knowledgeable consultants (to check design drawings, specifications, etc) and the potential delays caused by undertaking further checking. This would have contributed to a decision to proceed without properly reviewing the designs for compliance. Of course, this is just my opinion. In the wake of the Grenfell inquiry, there are calls for changes to a number of different regulatory frameworks, which aim to make the process more robust, secure and reliable. In the move towards developing new standards and new processes, we have an opportunity to put people into the foreground. However, I find that the recommendations of the Hackitt Report – while recognising some of the flaws in an overly complex regulatory process – are largely driven by process rather than outcome. This is not to say that a clearer regulatory process will not support more reliable outcomes, but the nature of the recommendations

Cost is often a contentious issue in construction projects, large or small. Clients will almost always wish to maximise their return on investment. Contractors will always seek to maximise their profit. Architects, engineers and other consultants will seek to achieve profit in their fee structure in relation to the time spent on the project. Each of these is a perfectly reasonable aspiration for these businesses. However, when we introduce concepts such as value engineering, we move cost to a position that overrides other notions of value. In its original derivation (in General Electric during the Second World War), the definition of value in value engineering was a ratio between cost and function. You could increase value by reducing cost or increasing function. In modern construction practice, value engineering has become a synonym for cost cutting. The ratio is almost never derived through improving function; rather, it is dominated by seeking ways in which to reduce cost. Whether through changes in material, reducing amenity or taking shortcuts, there is little context for considering the value of human comfort or experience. The notion of ethics in the building industry is not new. Every professional body has some concept of ethical behaviour or ethical practice within their code of conduct. However, in many cases, these appear to be designed to avoid placing the professional in a position of legal conflict or to limit liability. There is often a set of conflicting ethical conditions when seeking to address the needs of clients and the needs of users. As an architect, I may find that my client has a set of drivers for reductions in cost and quality of environment that run contrary to the needs of building users. The RIBA Code of Professional Conduct (bit.ly/RIBAcode) speaks much more of my responsibility to the client – in terms of cost and time – than to the user of my design work. Clearly, this does not encourage me to put human life at risk to save the client money, but it does create a context in which the resulting project is driven by factors that may not contribute to a positive and healthy experience for users. Similarly, The Architects Code: Standard of Professional Conduct and Practice 2017 (bit.ly/ArchCode17), of the Architects Registration Board, is predominated by statements that protect the standing of

FEBRUARY 2021

IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK

At what cost?

the profession: manage your business competently, avoid delays, safeguard the clients’ money, have suitable insurance and comply with regulatory requirements. In fact, The Architects Code makes no reference to building users or the public (except that architects should conduct themselves in a manner that does not aﬀect “…public conﬁdence in the profession”).

It is interesting to note that the ﬁnal statement in these ethical principles is: challenge statements or policies that cause them professional concern. This suggests that it is incumbent upon individual practitioners to question the ethics of the profession. What is less impactful is the fact that there is a divide between ethical principles and professional conduct. While the Engineering Council

19/01/2021 14:18

INSIGHT

THE HUMAN ELEMENT

suggests that the principles should be read “in conjunction with the relevant Code of Conduct or Licence to Practice”, the principles are “neither a Regulation nor a Standard”. Thus, one could argue that the Statement of Ethical Principles has no teeth. CABE, in its updated Code of Professional Conduct (2019), has integrated some ethically based statements that recognise the role of the professional in ensuring that people are considered. Across the 17 Standards, CABE seeks to frame conduct in relation to both the profession and ethics. Of particular note, is Standard 10: “Seek actively to identify risk; report and discuss risk in a responsible manner and raise concerns with appropriate persons or organisations about danger, risk, malpractice or wrongdoing that may cause harm to others (known as whistleblowing), or support a colleague or any other person to whom a duty of care is owed and who in good faith raises any such concern.” This places an ethical responsibility on the individual to be prepared and willing

to challenge those instances where there are risks. While this does not go so far as to introduce concepts of quality of experience or inhabitation, it is a positive step. Furthermore, CABE’s Code of Professional Conduct is backed up by its Guide to Ethical Professionalism (2020). Like the Statement of Ethical Principles of the Engineering Council, on which it is based, CABE is clear to state that the statements in the Guide “…are not rules…” and that “…failure to follow the guidance is not a disciplinary matter…” It does, however, indicate that failure to follow the guidance may be taken into account in any disciplinary proceedings. As a result, there is also a closer coupling between CABE’s Code of Professional Conduct and Guide to Ethical Professionalism than found in many other institutions We are moving in the right direction.

FEBRUARY 2021

“An exercise in value engineering at the expense of human comfort is not real value – it is not real eﬃciency”

BUILDING ENGINEER

People vs process I suggest that the problem is one of ethics rather than processes. Improving

our regulatory frameworks and processes is necessary, but it will not address the underlying issue. We need to reframe our discussions of the future of our industry to place people at the core of what the industry is about. We do not build for the sake of building. We build to address human need. Addressing the human need for good experiences and habitable spaces beyond minimum standards, in addition to health and safety, does not automatically mean that costs must rise. Cost is a human factor, too. But an exercise in value engineering at the expense of human comfort (or, in extremis, human safety) is not real value – it is not real efficiency. An approach to construction that defines value through a cost-benefit analysis must not be limited to a simple economic measure of cost-benefit. Cost and benefit must also recognise the value of human activity. Crucially, the loss of human life is a cost that no one can afford. An industry that takes an ethical approach to all aspects of its work will not necessarily see costs rise, but it will be less likely to see costs driven down or time savings made at the expense of the people who are the intended users of the outcome. An industry that integrates an ethical position into its regulatory and professional frameworks will recognise human value and not just asset value. Returning to a position where people are at the heart of all aspects of our industry will allow us to reposition the discourse of health and safety, economics, technology, education, employment and much more into something positive. The real lesson that must be learned from Grenfell is not about just fixing a process, but ensuring that the process is about people. Further reading: Grieves, R. and Jeffery, K. The representation of space in the brain, from Behavioural Processes, Vol. 135, February 2017, Elsevier Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety: final report, bit.ly/FireSafefinal CABE Code of Professional Conduct cbuilde.com/resource/resmgr/ documents/code_of_professional_ conduct.pdf CABE Guide to Ethical Professionalism cbuilde.com/resource/resmgr/ documents/guide_to_ethical_ professiona.pdf

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19/01/2021 14:18

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FEBRUARY 2021

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43 BUILDING ENGINEER

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12/01/2021 10:15

COMMUNITY

ASSOCIATION UPDATE

Association update buildeng Online

FEBRUARY 2021

BUILDING ENGINEER

n December, CABE Wales Region hosted the buildeng Online regional conference. Held over two sessions, it featured industry experts exploring the theme of sustainability. The first session began with a discussion on Optimised Retrofit by Andy Sutton, Director of Innovation and Design at Sero Homes. This was followed by a presentation on Environmental Sustainability and Restoration of Historic Buildings by Nigel Gervis, Technical Director at Tŷ-Mawr Lime. A talk on Off-Site Manufacturing, linking to the Welsh Government’s climate emergency strategy of July 2019, was presented by Jasper Meade, Director at PYC Group.

The second session included presentations on How to Mainstream Net-Zero in the Built Environment, presented by CEO of Project Etopia, Joseph Daniels. Portakabin’s Approach to Sustainability in a UK and Welsh context was led by Dr Penny Carey FCABE, Sustainability Lead at Portakabin Limited. Charlotte Hale, Operations Director, and Verity Moorhouse, Design and Manufacturing Engineer, at Seven Oaks Modular discussed the Oﬀ-Site Manufacturing of Timber, Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) and Skills Development. Both sessions were followed by a live Q&A. Dr John Little, CABE Wales Chair, presided over the successful online event.

A fond farewell After 12 years, Diane Westall has decided to retire from the Association. Diane was often the first point of contact for those attending professional interviews, and her ability to calm nerves and offer support has helped many people achieve success. Since joining the Membership Team in February 2008, Diane has been passionate about the importance of professional membership and its role in demonstrating competence. This was exemplified by her most recent role as Professional Review Manager and the part she played on the Engineering Council Project Team, which ensured the success of the Chartered Engineer registration process. When I started at the Association, I asked Diane what she liked most about membership, and her response was the members – connecting and helping them to achieve their goals on their journey to become chartered, and helping them to prove their competence. It goes without saying that Diane will be sorely missed by colleagues and members alike, but we wish her lots of happiness in her retirement. Jackie Macaulay, Chief Operations Officer

44 AssocUpdate_BE Feb 2021.indd 44

CABE membership options for LABC learners

ABE’s Learning, Education and Academic Director, John Barfoot, has been working with Local Authority Building Control (LABC) to accredit three of their qualifications: the Level 3 Certificate in Technical Support for Public Service Building Standards; the Level 4 Diploma in Public Service Building Control Surveying; and the Level 5 Diploma in Public Service Building Control Surveying. These qualifications have been mapped against the CABE Competency Frameworks. The awarding of the accreditation proves that the LABC qualifications not only offer the highest learning standards but also equip learners with real-life skills that will help them to develop in their professional careers. As a result of the CABE accreditation, successful learners on the LABC Level 3 qualification can now apply for CABE Technician membership. Anyone who completes the Level 4 or 5 qualification can apply for CABE Associate Member. This allows all learners to take their first step on the path to CABE Chartered Membership. Take a look at all CABE’s accredited courses at bit.ly/CABEcourses

Your opinion matters Building Engineer is your journal. We are constantly looking for ways to improve it, to ensure that we deliver the most valuable content to help support your professional life. To help us, we are asking readers to spare ﬁve minutes to complete a short survey. Your feedback on articles and features, and suggestions for improvements, will be used to shape the future direction of the journal. The survey is available at surveymonkey.co.uk/r/BEJsurvey

19/01/2021 09:46

COMMUNITY

INDUSTRY MOVERS AND SHAKERS

Industry movers and shakers PEOPLE NEWS EasyBuild

in construction technology. Massay has also joined the BASDA General Council. The Business Application Software Developers Association (BASDA) is the only industry association focused speciﬁcally on supporting the issues of business software development organisations.

Louise Beamish of WSP joins the ANC Board for the ﬁrst time, while Rob Adnitt of Adnitt Acoustics returns to the board after an eight-year hiatus. An acoustics consultant for more than 20 years, Beamish leads WSP’s 50-strong team, providing advice to a range of clients across many sectors. Adnitt has worked in acoustics since graduating in 1989, and has worked on a variety of committees and groups within the industry, shaping strategy, reviewing research, generating policy and giving oversight on issues including governance, inclusion and sustainability. Featuring 110 member companies, ANC is the voice of professional consultancy in acoustics, noise and vibration,improving acoustics for the whole of society.

Beard Alan Beard was the third-generation head at the helm of the construction ﬁrm that was started by his grandfather and continues to bear the family name. After a career that spanned 70 years, he has decided to retire, leaving a legacy that includes the Bishop Edward King Chapel, Cuddesdon, Oxfordshire, and work

45-46 People News_BE FEB 2021.indd 45

for Eton, Marlborough and Radley colleges, as well as a wide variety of projects for the University of Oxford. He ﬁrmly believed in the programme for school-leavers and university graduates looking to start their careers in construction, and Beard is still invested in its trainee scheme.

CHARTERED FELLOW M Clare – Saffron Walden R Evans – Sevenoaks CHARTERED BUILDING ENGINEERS T Crompton – Ilkley D Ewing – Watnal T Gray – Battle G Hamilton – Rosewell R Holdsworth – Sutton Coldfield MKC Leung – Hong Kong KM Ng – Hong Kong F Peacock – Northampton CM Tse – Hong Kong CHARTERED MEMBERS D Adams – Morpeth R Burke – Freshford D Finlayson – Lancaster J Green – Bradford J Stone – Poole K Todd – London ASSOCIATES S Banks – Wakefield N Burgess – Sutton Coldfield N Cowie – Bannockburn A Henson – Wakefield D Lineen – Kilrush K McColl – Basildon A Nawaz – Pakistan A Nettleship – Doncaster T Protheroe – Llanwrtyd Wells S Smith – Fareham M Watkins – London J Williams – London GRADUATES A Bandara – Sri Lanka C Guven – Horley TH Lai – Hong Kong P Quagliarella – Edinburgh

45 BUILDING ENGINEER

Association of Noise Consultants

CABE is delighted to welcome the following into membership:

FEBRUARY 2021

Carol Massay, CEO of construction software specialists, EasyBuild UK, has joined the Hertfordshire Chamber Of Commerce Directors’ Board. Founded in 1924, Hertfordshire Chamber Of Commerce provides business support to companies of all sizes, inﬂuencing key decision makers in local and central government. Massay has more than 30 years of experience working in the construction industry and has spent the past 18 years specialising

MEMBER NEWS

Members who have achieved a higher grade: FELLOWS A Delahunty – Crowborough KYK Tsang – Macau CHARTERED BUILDING ENGINEERS J Franklin – Bishops Cleeve P Pitman – Sidlow M Symonds – Eastleigh CHARTERED MEMBERS A Cameron – Tilney All Saints L Graye – London P Shannon – Teddington E Summerskill – St Helens ASSOCIATES S Allan – Darlington A Hunneybel – Brentwood TECHNICIAN M Apps – Teignmouth

19/01/2021 09:46

Want to ﬁnd out if you are eligible for a higher grade? Send a CV to membership@cbuilde.com for review. We welcome back into membership: CHARTERED BUILDING ENGINEERS B Cassingham – Sherbourne R Ferry – Londonderry S Glacken – Ballina J Shaw – Liskeard ASSOCIATES I Murray – Wirral R Scott – Benﬂeet

Wates Construction Dan Sadler has taken the role of OffSite Manufacturing Director, to lead the expansion and development of Prism – Wates Construction’s award-winning off-site manufacturing business in Coventry. He will focus on expanding its offering by developing new innovations that can support greater use of offsite and other Modern Methods of Construction, on projects across the country.

Mabey Hire

FEBRUARY 2021

CABE IS PLEASED TO WELCOME THE FOLLOWING NEW PARTNERS: Apex Building Surveyors Pte Ltd Cornwall Planning Group Eos Surveyors Ltd EWI Consultants Limited Panacea Building Limited WE REGRET TO ANNOUNCE THE DEATH OF THE FOLLOWING MEMBER: Mr Andrew Robert Graham MCABE Chartered Building Engineer b. 1966 ad. 1992 Region: North West

46 BUILDING ENGINEER

With 35 years’ experience in construction, Tony O’Donnell has been appointed as Engineering Director at Mabey Hire. Dave Holland has also taken on the role of Monitoring and Technical Director, and Matthew Westhead (who joined Mabey Hire as a Graduate Engineer in 2003) has been promoted to Chief Engineer.

For membership information, contact HQ on +44 (0)1604 404121 or e-mail membership@cbuilde.com The above membership information is taken from 2 December 2020 to 7 January 2021

Ibstock UK clay and concrete building materials manufacturer Ibstock has announced its new sales structure, with a number of senior appointments to the commercial leadership team within its clay division. Phil Yates takes the role of Sales and Commercial Director for the division. Steve Williamson has been appointed Sales Director – Direct Distribution. Simon Taylor has been promoted to a new role of Commercial Director – Builders Merchants, and will be supported by Jane Edwards, who has been promoted to Sales Director – Builders Merchants. Kate Guy has been appointed as Sales Director – National House Builders, and Andy Batterham will take responsibility for the Speciﬁcation team in a new role of Design and Speciﬁcation Director. Matt Guy has been appointed as Key Account Director, responsible for Key Account customers within the Distribution Team. Richard Brown has joined Ibstock as Marketing Director for the clay division.

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CCF

Openreach

Catherine Gibson joins CCF as the new Managing Director from Tool Hire, also part of the Travis Perkins Plc Group. Gibson brings 16 years’ experience in the manufacturing and construction industry, in management and leadership positions. Chris O’Kane has also joined the CCF technical team from Knauf Insulation. Bringing 28 years’ experience to the role, O’Kane specialises in insulation and will be supporting CCF’s national commercial and residential building clients to make compliant and costeﬀective product decisions.

Katie Milligan, Managing Director of Customer, Commercial and Propositions at Openreach, will lead the organisation’s Scotland Board when current chair Brendan Dick retires at the end of March 2021.

Duct

Freya Lees has been re-elected as Chair of the Fife-based association, with Linda Leslie and Laurie Naumann as Vice Chairs. Lees serves on the Policy Sub Committee and Senior Management Remuneration & Succession Planning Sub Committee. She is also Director of housing consultancy ﬁrm North Star Consulting & Research. Leslie joined the Board at Kingdom in 2015, and has a longstanding interest in housing in Fife. Naumann is a founding member of Kingdom and a Board member since 1979. In 1998, he was awarded an MBE for services to homeless people.

Stuart Mawhinney has been appointed the new Managing Director at Duct Products, following the retirement of Des Collins, who co-founded the company in 1987. Based in Northern Ireland, Duct continued to operate after acquisition in 2011 by Elta Group. Commenting on Collins’ retirement, Mark Rickard, CEO of Elta Group, said: “As all who have met Des will attest, he is a force of nature and a true icon of the industry in Northern Ireland. It has been a pleasure to work with him, and he’s certainly leaving a huge gap for others to ﬁll.”

Story Contracting Bobby Forbes has been appointed Commercial Director to the Story Scotland division. His more than 30 years of experience will support Story Scotland with its strategic growth plans.

Kingdom Housing Association

20/01/2021 12:20

COMMUNITY

INDUSTRY MOVERS AND SHAKERS

MEMBER FOCUS

5 minutes with... US-based Eric Ottinger ACABE is a Construction and Real Estate Advisor at EY

What was your route into the profession? I studied finance at college, expecting to go into investment banking. However, I graduated in 2008 during the global financial crisis, when finance majors had a very tough time getting jobs. But while I was in college, I’d taken a real estate class that gave me the hours to apply for a real estate salesperson licence (obviously not an optimal time to start selling houses either). I then worked for a broker for close to a year until I

How did you come to work for EY? Most of my career, I’ve worked as a project manager on real estate and construction projects. I was the construction manager (CM) for a few Mercedes dealership projects in San Francisco when a recruiter called in early 2018. He introduced me to EY’s Construction and Real Estate Advisory Services (CREAS) practice. When I started with EY, I changed to more of a consulting role for short-term sprints rather than being a CM from inception to close-out. Engagements included construction audits, risk and operation assessments, cost management assignments and other specialised focuses within major capital projects. The cool part was that it gave me broad experience working on a wide array of challenges faced in mega- and giga-projects around the world. Two years later, our CREAS group started focusing on longerterm engagements. I’m now back to my project management roots and am the CM on a US$12.5m mixed-use development in San Francisco.

meeting our design criteria. We’ve gone through several rounds of value engineering to achieve the investors’ budget target. We also face changing regulatory requirements, as this is a six- to seven-year project and the California Building Code is updated every three years. To mitigate this, we keep a constant eye on the schedule and regulations, work with the city staff to reach a common consensus and push to fast-track our preconstruction efforts to enable an effective permitting process.

What question do you get asked most often? People are often unaware of all the management aspects behind major construction projects, so I might have to go into a bit of detail when asked what I do. As EY is typically known as a Big Four accounting ﬁrm, it often also requires some additional explanation that I’m not an accountant.

47 BUILDING ENGINEER

found a part-time opportunity with a local developer/asset manager that eventually led to a full-time position.

FEBRUARY 2021

Have you always had an interest in construction/ engineering? I grew up in a small town in Virginia with a dad who is a very hands-on, do-it-yourself kind of guy. When I was four, Dad designed and built our ﬁrst house basically by himself on nights and weekends. I remember sitting on the grade beams learning how to swing a hammer. My parents still live in that house today. Throughout my young adult life, I kept working with Dad and learning the basics of construction. When the dot-com bubble hit, Dad got fed-up seeing his retirement account shrink and decided to start buying ﬁxer-upper properties for rental. Of course, he needed a workshop to store all his tools, so we ended up building one that is bigger than our house (Mom still makes comments on that today). In college, I worked for a small, local contractor, where we built houses, did home repairs and small commercial tenant improvements.

Do you believe the industry will make full use of the technology that is available? I believe our industry will continue to trend in that direction. I’m a huge advocate for ConTech and

What are the current challenges of your role? There are a lot of moving parts with this project. We are still in the planning and entitlement phase, and are experiencing challenges making sure the project pencils, while still

“I’m looking forward to seeing projects that have really embraced new technologies and created a special user experience.”

47-48 MemberFocus.indd 47

18/01/2021 14:11

FEBRUARY 2021

COMMUNITY

PropTech and have been on several engagements for organisational technology implementation. To remain competitive, companies must explore new structuring options, improve operational efficiency, and balance portfolios to maximise return on investment – all while mastering digital disruption and gaining a deeper understanding of customer preferences. Construction firms typically have profit margins of 2-3%, compared with an average of 20% in other industries, so spending 1% of revenue on digital upgrades and innovation can seem a heavy and risky investment. However, failing to invest in solutions that could boost output is counterproductive. The most innovative firms will invest and gain a critical strategic advantage. We’ve seen an uptick in technology investment lately, with Covid-19 restrictions requiring new operational

INDUSTRY MOVERS AND SHAKERS

strategies. I’m very interested in digital twins and their potential to make exceptional improvements in the built environment.

What inspires you? The increase in technology implementation and practitioners opening up to change has been really uplifting. And, as a CM, there is no feeling quite like driving by a development and thinking you helped build that. I’m looking forward to seeing completed projects that have really embraced new technologies and created a special user experience. My current project incorporates this – 50% of the residential portion consists of 1,201 aﬀordable housing units, embracing the social welfare of the community. We are also building one of the world’s largest rooftop parks (19 acres) to provide recreational outdoor space.

What is the biggest challenge facing the profession, in your opinion? If you boil down every challenge in construction to a single root cause, you may arrive at data collection. Imagine if every data point was captured for every project in a comprehensive suite of technology. It could eventually eliminate design issues, safety concerns, schedule slippages, costing discrepancies, change orders and a multitude of other issues that every construction project faces.

What advice would you give your 20-year-old self? Face challenges with a rational and positive attitude. If you keep working hard, keep pushing forward in an ethical manner and treat others with respect, you will end up much further in life than you can imagine when you are 20 years old.

BUILDING ENGINEER

Could you, or someone you know, beneﬁt from the help and suport our Benevolent Fund has to oﬀer?

CABE Benevolent Fund Oﬀering Support to our Members and their Dependants

Find out more, visit cbuilde.com/benfund Benevolent Fund.indd 1

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18/12/2020 13:21:18

18/01/2021 14:11

BUILDING CONTROL PROJECT MANAGERS QUADRANT BUILDING CONTROL

Great salary, great benefits, great holidays, great people. And we’re growing, so we need more great people for our teams across England & Wales. If you’re CABE, RICS or CIOB (or working towards), we’d love to hear from you.

07497 087 749 linda@quadrantai.co.uk Hover phone camera over QR code to take a look at life at Quadrant

“I am proud to work for Quadrant; from the top down we are all working towards the same goal. The recognition and rewards for doing a good job are there.”*

“Great people and brilliant management - more like an extended family. We pride ourselves on delivering the best service possible.”*

“I cannot praise enough the support that is provided by the team. Nothing is too much trouble.”*

* Staff Survey 2019-20

I N T E G R I T Y >> T E C H N I C A L E X C E L L E N C E >> S E R V I C E >> P E O P L E

CABE.FEB21.049.indd 49

13/01/2021 11:57

the journal of the chartered association of building engineers

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CABE.FEB21.050.indd 49 2021_converted 1 Building Engineer - filler ads

13/01/2021 10:32 11:58 23/12/2020

Virtual Training “Giving you the convenience of online learning with the advantages of a classroom-led training course.” NEW – Certiﬁcate in Building Control Total CPD | 42 hours

23-25 February 2021 | 18 hours CPD |Week 1 23-26 March 2021 | 24 hours CPD | Week 2 Essential learning for those working in Building Control and those designing to meet the Building Regulations.

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Principles of Fire Safety – Additional introduction day Total CPD | 6 hours

9 March 2021 | Principles of Fire Safety £240 CABE Members | £350 Non-members

NEW – Fire Safety Practitioner Certiﬁcate 10-11 March 2021 | 12 hours CPD | Week 1

Total CPD | 30 hours

13-15 April 2021 | 18 hours CPD | Week 2 An introduction to the interpretation and practical application of Part B of the Building Regulations.

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Future Homes Part L Total CPD | 3.5 hours

16 March 2021 This half day course will present the latest developments following the publication of the consultation on changes to Building Regulations and Part L.

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Book your place now cbuilde.com/trainingcourses Or contact training@cbuilde.com

2VIRTUAL TRAINING FP49 FEB21.indd 1 CABE.FEB21.051.indd

08/01/2021 08:37:44 08/01/2021 09:20

If undelivered please return to: CABE Lutyens House Billing Brook Road Northampton NN3 8NW

Awarding Excellence Submit your project today CABE continues to back industry-wide innovation, supporting projects that serve the betterment of the built environment by giving them the spotlight they deserve.

Building Engineers are integral to society and we as a community need to give praise where praise is due. For more information, FAQs, and to submit, visit:

cbuilde.com/BE2021 Contact: E: jordan.sutton@cbuilde.com T: +44 (0)1604 404121 Closing date for submissions: 31 May 2021

NEW OBC AWARDS.indd 521 CABE.FEB21.052.indd

06/01/2021 10:26:48 07/01/2021 16:18

The Building Engineer - February 2021

Articles inside

Association update

Building around people

Member focus

Ethical professionalism

The chain

Industry opinion

The great divide

Building back bett er

Finding accessible housing

Lift maintenance

Long-term planning

Vapour trails

CROSS reports

Potential of 3D printing

Tomorrow’s engineers

Room with a view

The briefi ng

Stitch in time

Duty of care

Welcome