Construction Ireland Mar

V19 No2

Planning permission granted for two more city centre hotel developments

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COMMENTS 14 Exclusive Interview: John Hunt, Enterprise Ireland 20 Welcome to the NHBC Tech Zone

Publications Editor Victoria Lee Designer James Ormerod Publications Officer Robert Atherton Abigail Burr Approvals Beka Patterson Sales Administrator Alecia Rowe

21 Considerate Constructors Checklist – tackling illegal working 22 Cheetah Learning: When success is your only option 23 Powered Now: Impress your prospects and win more work 24 Liquidated damages and construction contracts

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25 BIM and the era of connection 26 StreetwiseSubbie: Eyes wide open 27 Raising tinnitus awareness in the construction industry

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CI NEWS

Landmark housing plan for people with a disability launched Dublin City Council’s ‘Strategic Plan for Housing People with a Disability’ has been launched by Councillor Daithí Doolan.

Speaking at the launch, Councillor Doolan - Chair of the Dublin City Council Housing SPC - said: “Housing choice for most people with a disability is severely limited in Ireland. This is the first plan by Dublin City Council to focus on people with a disability who are unable to access suitable housing. The plan also includes people who want to move out of traditional institutional living to community-based homes. Improving social housing so that people can have a suitable home with the supports they need to live in the community is very much needed by many people living with a disability.”

Dublin City Council is committed to putting people with disabilities at the centre of its housing policy. The city council, the HSE, disability centric housing associations and

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disability service providers have developed the plan with each group contributing to a specific role in the process. The strategy is part of a wider national agenda designed to enable those with disabilities to take part in mainstream society.

The strategic plan identifies the pathways the council will follow to house people with disabilities. It pulls together available data and highlights the gaps in our knowledge. Currently the Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE) is developing a reporting function to compile this data for the region. The plan also describes the personal supports required for the disabled person to live independently.

Some relate to medical needs but most are social support requirements.

The routes to affordable and suitable homes for people with disabilities include renting a home from the council, subsidised rental housing in the private

sector and adapting the owner’s home to meet their needs. The plan recommends that more attention be paid to design issues to take account of the specific needs of those with disabilities when houses are being built or renovated. It also recommends involving the prospective tenant in the design process where possible.

Putting the ‘Strategic Plan for Housing People with a Disability’ into operation involves a number of actions - each one with a timeline, lead agency and partner organisation. Overall the strategy highlights how a well-resourced, integrated and inter-agency approach is essential to achieving this.

The ‘Strategic Plan for Housing People with a Disability’ is available on the Dublin City Council website: http://bit.ly/DisabilityStrategy

NEWS CI

Ireland’s first Invasive Alien Species Action Plan prepared

Dublin City Council is the first local authority in Ireland to produce an invasive alien species action plan.

Invasive alien species are animals and plants - such as Japanese Knotweed, Himalayan Balsam, and American Mink - that are introduced accidently or deliberately into a natural environment where they are not normally found, with serious negative repercussions.

The impacts of invasive alien species are wide ranging and destructive from an economic, social, health and ecological perspective, and it is estimated that they currently cost the Irish economy over €2M each year.

The ‘Draft Invasive Alien Species Action Plan for Dublin City 2016 - 2020’ is available here: http://bit.ly/InvasiveAlienPlan Brendan Kenny, Assistant Chief Executive, welcomed the publication of the draft plan: “The impacts of invasive alien species in terms of degradation of our environment and damage to economic interests necessitate that we recognise invasive alien species management as a key issue for the sustainable development of Dublin.

The fact that Dublin Bay recently achieved UNESCO Biosphere status makes it all the more imperative that invasive alien species are given high priority as they are a real and increasing threat to our city and biodiversity”.

The objectives of the draft plan are to control and reduce the spread of existing invasive alien species, and to prevent any new invasive alien species from establishing in the city.

The speed and fluidity of their invasion and spread presents major difficulties for traditional forms of environmental management. As such, a coordinated approach between a variety of public bodies and organisations is necessary to achieve the objectives of the plan.

The preparation of the ‘Draft Invasive Alien Species Action Plan for Dublin City 2016 - 2020’ is an action of the ‘Dublin City Biodiversity Action Plan 2015 - 2020’.

Planning permission granted for two more city centre hotel developments Belfast City Council has granted planning permission for the development of two more hotels in the city centre.

This brings to six the number of such applications to be approved by the council in the last nine months.

The two developments given the green light are a 179-bedroom new build hotel in Hope Street, and the extension of the Ten Square Hotel on the corner of Linenhall Street and Donegall Square South, to create an additional 46 rooms.

The proposals were given approved by the Planning Committee. The Chair, Councillor Matt Garrett, said that this was another positive example of the benefits of planning powers having been transferred to local authorities earlier this year.

“The fact that we have been able to grant planning permission for six major new hotels in nine months is a clear demonstration of how this council is committed to working for the benefit of the city, and to ensuring that proposals such as these are moved forward as quickly and efficiently as possible.”

The other hotels to have been granted planning permission in recent months

are at the former Harland and Wolff headquarters building in Titanic Quarter, the ‘Grand Central’ in the former Windsor House in Bedford Street, the former Belfast Metropolitan College campus in Brunswick Street, and the conversion of a former office complex in Victoria Street. This represents a total of almost 700 new bedrooms.

Approval also was given to two new purpose-built managed student accommodation developments adjacent to each other on York Street and Great Patrick Street. The two developments will offer accommodation for around 1,100 students.

However, permission for two other such developments, in the Carrick Hill area, were refused. These were among a total of 128 decisions made at tonight’s meeting.

“When planning powers transferred to the Council in April, we inherited a legacy of more than 700 outstanding applications,” commented Councillor Garrett. “Since then, we have issued around 100 decisions a month, which shows the commitment of both planning service officials and committee members in terms of not only clearing this backlog of legacy applications but also in processing new applications.”

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CI NEWS

Health Minister opens new £16M Banbridge Health and Care Centre Health Minister, Simon Hamilton, has officially opened the new £16M Health and Care Centre in Banbridge.

The new facilities complete the development of the Health Village on the site of the former Banbridge Hospital which already accommodates local GPs. The Minister said: “I am delighted to be able to officially open the new facilities today. These new sites are modern and house state-of-the-art facilities which will enable the local community to receive the best possible healthcare. They provide a wide range of primary care, community and acute diagnostic services at a single location and demonstrate the principles of Transforming Your Care.”

The new Health and Care Centre will have around 220 staff delivering a range of community services including physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech and language therapy, specialist nursing, a rehabilitation suite and two dental surgeries. There is also bookable space available for other visiting services.

The Minister continued: “We are all acutely aware of the pressures our hospitals are under so the provision of facilities such as these will inevitably help alleviate that stress and provide local people with

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local services tailored to their needs.

“I am determined to ensure that the people of Northern Ireland have access to the best healthcare and as such will continue to press for greater investment to enable me to provide a world class health service that has the patient at its heart.”

Interim Chief Executive of the Southern Health and Social Care Trust, Paula Clarke said: “Development of community services is key priority for the Southern Trust. We already have our very well established Care and Treatment Centre in Portadown and have plans to bring care closer to home to people through centres like this, in other towns across the area in the future. This new centre brings together a range of services in a more accessible ‘one-stop’ environment for the people of Banbridge supporting us to continue to transform care.

“We are also delighted to be able to offer local clients with learning and physical disabilities, day care in such a comfortable environment with all the latest equipment to suit their needs.

We are particularly proud to be the first day centre in Northern Ireland with ‘immersive’ sensory rooms which offer our clients state of the art technology to aid with their rehabilitation and therapy.”

During his visit the Minister also took the time to view the new Day Care facility known as The Linenbridge Centre which will provide 46 learning disability places and 20 physical disability places.

It will also provide a range of shared accommodation including therapy space, treatment room, and speech and language therapy room and associated support accommodation for staff.

Martin Kelly, Director, Primary Care Infrastructure Development, Health and Social Care Board said: “This new healthcare hub in Banbridge is one of a number of developments under Phase I of the Primary Care Infrastructure Development (PCID) Programme. The programme invests in and redevelops new health and care centres across Northern Ireland so that health services can be provided in a more integrated manner, closer to home for those using the service.

Other similar hubs have been developed in Omagh and Ballymena and are in procurement for Lisburn and Newry.

“Investment in GP surgeries is also being made through the GP Loan Scheme.

This programme of investment is expected to continue over the coming years to provide the much needed investment in health care facilities.”

NEWS CI

New jobs created by Ballymoney-based Dowds Group Enterprise, Trade and Investment Minister Jonathan Bell has welcomed the creation of 46 new skilled jobs by Dowds Group.

Dowds Group specialises in the Design and Build of mechanical and electrical services within large-scale education, healthcare, industrial and commercial facilities. To accommodate its growth in Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland, the M&E contractor has recently opened a second office in Belfast.

Jonathan Bell said: “Dowds Group is an ambitious, export focused business which has significantly built up its technical capabilities and personnel to continue their growth in new markets. I am pleased Invest Northern Ireland has been able to support the growth of the Company through the offer of £192,000 enabling the creation of 32 of the 46 jobs. The new jobs will include management, technical and business development roles, as well as electrician and plumbing positions.

“The enhancement of their workforce will enable Dowds Group to secure additional large projects. The new positions will contribute over £980,000 annually in salaries to the Northern

Ireland economy and signals encouraging growth in the construction sector.”

Mr Bell continued: “Dowds Group has devoted significant resources to their expansion including strengthening their BIM/CAD facilities through the introduction of new staff and a major upgrade of 3D modelling Revit software and associated hardware. They have also established a new ‘Integrated Services’ division to expand their range of services to include construction, fit-out and facilities management.”

Managing Director James Dowds added: “In addition to Invest NI’s contribution, we have committed circa £1M to expand our presence in England, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland. The introduction of new staff gives us greater capacity and enhanced confidence to deliver on our strategy of long term growth.

“We have secured contracts which will see our turnover increase by 35% for 2016 and we will continue our investment in new talent to build a stronger company and further develop our customer base.”

Stryker unveils new Surgical Innovation Centre The Instruments Division of Stryker Corporation officially has opened its new Surgical Innovation Centre in Cork, Ireland.

The Innovation Centre, which features unique design and collaboration workspaces, state-of-the-art prototyping and test facilities, and a simulated operating room, is the first of its kind in Ireland. The centre will focus on the development of new technologies and products to improve patient safety and outcomes during surgery, and increase operating room efficiency across multiple surgical specialties including neuro, spine, ENT and orthopaedic surgery.

Constructed around human-centred design principles, employee wellbeing and a highly efficient and sustainable building design, the centre will allow research and development teams and surgeons to collaborate globally in the

development and evaluation of new surgical approaches, product concepts and complete procedural solutions in a simulated surgical environment.

Minister for Agriculture, Food & The Marine, Simon Coveney TD, who toured the new centre, said: “I’m delighted to have had the opportunity to view this new Surgical Innovation Centre and commend Stryker for its vision and interest in developing such pioneering facilities here. This Centre represents a great advance for the Company in growing its R&D function and also demonstrates its commitment to Cork and the region where it provides a considerable number of high-value jobs and has been of significant benefit to the local economy.”

Spencer Stiles, Global President of Stryker’s Instruments division said: “Our

team in Ireland has built considerable R&D capabilities to serve multiple market segments and has established a 17 year track record in the development and launch of new products. The opening of our Cork Innovation Centre comes at an exciting time as we expand our global R&D footprint, and increase our ability to engage our European customers as we drive global growth.”

Martin Shanahan, CEO of IDA said: “It’s great to see this project come to fruition.

It will position the Company for next generation research and development, enhancing its reputation and status as a world leader in medical technology innovation. It also further consolidates the Company’s strong presence in Ireland and significantly boosts Ireland’s reputation as an excellent location for medical technology companies.”

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We are often asked whether ConQuest is suitable for pricing refurbishment work, which is what the estimators at Bradec Construction Ltd in Andover spend a lot of their time doing. The company will work anywhere in the United Kingdom and will undertake any kind of construction work, but Bradec has established a particular reputation as a specialist in high end refurbishment work, often in demanding or difficult locations, such as central London. All of their work is priced using the ConQuest estimating system and recent projects are as varied as a large hotel refurbishment, a restaurant refurbishment in Piccadilly, and the complete redecoration of Tedworth House for the charity Help for Heroes.

A good example of the quality and complexity of Bradec’s work is the recent alteration and improvement work to a luxury apartment in West London, including Giorgio Armani/ Roca bathroom fittings, and Dinesen Oak flooring from Denmark. The oak planks had to be ordered nine months in advance to ensure delivery and were supplied in 30 x 500 x 5500 lengths which were too long to be taken up by the building’s internal hoist, and had to be craned up to the sixth floor. This could only be done by closing a bus lane in the busy Bayswater Road, not once but three times during the course of the contract. Each time, this required careful negotiation between Bradec’s Managing Director Steve Bradbury, Transport for London, and Westminster City Council. Bradec are clearly problem solvers.

Steve, who originally trained as a QS, has been using the ConQuest estimating system since it was first introduced over twenty years ago,

“We do a lot of taking off”, he told us, “and we find your On Screen Measurement System very useful.

If the phone rings, when you go back, you can remember where you were because the measured work has automatically been coloured in on the electronic drawing. It’s so quick. Brilliant for measuring weird and wonderful shapes in groundworks such as driveways. It’s simple to use and fantastic the way that you can measure an area and it automatically measures the perimeters, or you measure the length of a partition and it can give you the vertical area at the same time”.

Bradec Construction has recently been using the revolutionary ConQuest Online Enquiry system which is Cloud based and drastically reduces the time it takes to get enquiries out to subcontractors. “If we have a BQ from an outside consultant we can very quickly

ConQuest Ltd Derwent Suite, Paragon House, Paragon Business Park Chorley New Road, Horwich, Bolton BL6 6HG T 01204 669689 • F 01204 667689 • E sales@conquest.ltd.uk

import it into ConQuest, and whereas a big enquiry might have taken us a week before, we can now mark up the Bill and get the enquiries out on the same day”, said Steve. “When the quotes come back we feed them into the ConQuest Comparison system, which makes the selection process very quick, especially if there are a lot of Bill items.

All of this information is available to our surveyors, post contract, and we use the ConQuest Valuation system for monthly valuations and to produce Cost Value Reconciliations comparing resource information imported from our accounts system”.

It is very rewarding for us to see customers like Bradec Construction completely adopting our system, and we look forward to a continuing relationship with them long into the future.

www.conquest.ltd.uk

01204 669689 sales@conquest.ltd.uk

THE ESTIMATING SOFTWARE PEOPLE

CI NEWS

Taoiseach and ministers highlight regional benefit of capital investment programme An Taoiseach Enda Kenny TD joined Ministers Michael Noonan and Jan O’Sullivan in Limerick to highlight the benefits of the government’s capital investment programme, Building on Recovery, for the mid-west region.

Ministers Alan Kelly and Tom Hayes also attended the event in Limerick City & County Council’s headquarters.

Speaking at the event, the Taoiseach said: “Investing in the regions and supporting local job creation is central to our long term economic plan to keep the recovery going. This capital plan does just that and represents a €42Bn infrastructure investment plan in Ireland in the period to 2021.

“Building on Recovery has been carefully designed to meet the needs of a growing economy and to ensure no region is left behind. The new investments outlined today are aimed at addressing the priority needs of the mid-west region.

So that means investment to remove bottlenecks in the road network, spending on schools to meet growing demand, providing increased social housing, improving vital health infrastructure and

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initiatives to protect communities from the devastation caused by flooding.”

The Minister for Finance, Limerick City Deputy, Michael Noonan told the event the capital plan was a sensible response to strengthen economic growth, saying: “In order to keep the recovery going, we need to keep economic growth and job creation strong. Investing in infrastructure allows us to create an environment where this can happen as well as improving people’s quality of life with better services.”

The Minister for Education & Skills, Limerick City Deputy, Jan O’Sullivan said capital investment was vital to improving the services that really matter in people’s lives: “This government is using the fruits of our economic recovery to improve the services that really matter in people’s lives. As our economic recovery continues it is imperative that we also invest in social recovery. Better schools, smarter transport, cherishing our heritage and encouraging our arts and cultural communities are vital to building the interdependent, modern, thriving communities we all want to see.”

The Minister for Environment, Community

& Local Government, Tipperary Deputy, Alan Kelly said the plan prioritised spending on those areas of greatest need: “Over €140M is included in this plan to provide over 2,000 social homes in the mid-west region by 2017, with €57M of this going to provide 832 homes in County Tipperary. Irish Water’s investment in water supply and waste water treatment will be in excess of €73M for the midwest region with €46M of this being invested in Tipperary. Health services in Tipperary are also seeing vital government investment coming in with a new Primary Care Centre under way in Borrisokane, and a ward block extension and refurbishment programme at Nenagh Hospital, which is due for completion next year.”

In conclusion, the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food & Marine, Tipperary Deputy, Tom Hayes explained the importance of capital investment to rural Ireland: “Many people in rural Ireland are not yet feeling the recovery but this kind of capital investment is vital to ensure that recovery keeps going and spreads to every region and home in the country.”

NEWS CI

Thornton’s target growth with new project wins in England and Scotland A family owned Antrim-based roofing and cladding firm is celebrating its 50th anniversary by confirming the creation of 50 new jobs and an £8M expansion plan over the next five years.

Thornton Roofing, which operates throughout Ireland from its Toomebridge HQ, has recently won a series of high profile contracts within the health, education, heritage and leisure sectors.

These will serve as a platform for its five year growth programme, which will include the recruitment of more than a dozen apprentice joiners.

Managing Director, Stephen Thornton, said his company was benefitting from the recovery of the UK’s construction

sector: “Whilst we do work in the Republic of Ireland and Britain from time to time, our core business over the last five decades has been drawn from Northern Ireland latterly in the form of projects at the Waterfront Hall, Belfast Altnagelvin Hospital, the Museum of Free Derry and the Seamus Heaney Centre in Bellaghy. A key element in our growth programme, however, will be securing of contracts in England and Scotland.”

Mr Thornton believes the recruitment of raw young talent will be key to his firm’s future. He said: “Having experienced consistent growth in recent years we believe we are poised to enjoy the benefits of our growing reputation for roofing, cladding, small works, maintenance and architectural metal-works. We envisage

the recruitment and training of bright young apprentices as critical to achieving further growth with employment levels being increased from 60 to 110 by 2021.”

As part of the growth programme Thorntons plans to expand its office accommodation and manufacturing facilities at Toomebridge with the addition of a new 1,000sq m building.

Mr Thornton concludes: “The creation of new office accommodation and manufacturing space at Toomebridge is particularly important for us as we continue to invest on Research and Development with a view to exporting a range of new products internationally.”

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CI NEWS

Varadkar announces 50 new and 35 refurbished ambulances Minister for Health Leo Varadkar has welcomed €18M in capital funding for the National Ambulance Service (NAS) in 2016 to purchase 50 new ambulances and 35 refurbished ambulances, under the HSE’s capital programme.

It means the fleet should expand to 268 vehicles by the end of the year, depending on decommissioning requirements of older vehicles.

Minister Varadkar said: “I am delighted to make this investment in new emergency vehicles and look forward to them being in service. The introduction of over 150 vehicles in 2015 and 2016 is a real boost for the ambulance service. It allows us to replace older vehicles and expand services, especially in non-emergency transport. Moving patients from high to lower acuity facilities means that patient flow in our major hospitals will improve, which should help to ease pressure on our emergency departments.

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“Replacing older vehicles will also help reduce costs and improve reliability. Our ambulances and crews cover enormous distances every year. It is vital that we continue to invest in and upgrade our fleet, so that our highly trained paramedics can give the best service they can, when our patients need it. I am delighted that additional resources will be provided to the ambulance service in 2016, to ensure ongoing improvements in service delivery.”

A further ten intermediate care vehicles will also be purchased bringing the total number of these vehicles, used for nonemergency patient transport, from 50 to 60. These perform hospital transfers and can carry more than one patient.

They now carry over 80% of such traffic, freeing up emergency ambulances to respond to emergency calls.

The funding will also purchase a new rapid response vehicle, bringing that fleet up to 120 vehicles. Rapid response vehicles

ensure that advanced life support arrives quickly to the scene of an accident, so that sophisticated treatment can begin while the ambulance is en route.

These vehicles come on top of the 65 vehicles purchased last year. All are being supplied under contract by Wilker Auto Converters of Clara, County Offaly.

They will be spread throughout the fleet nationally, to replace vehicles which have reached the end of their life-cycle and to support additional services.

The NAS fleet replacement programme is part of an ongoing strategic investment in equipment, technology and clinical standards. This has included different types of response vehicles, including rapid response and intermediate care vehicles and the EAS helicopter service. It has also seen new technology such as the single national control system, TETRA digital radio and communications, vehicle tracking and computer-aided dispatch.

NEWS CI

Over 1,500 new jobs to be created over three years Over 1,500 jobs will be created over the next three years by 105 High Potential Start-Up (HPSUs) companies supported by Enterprise Ireland in 2015.

HPSUs are start-up businesses with the potential to develop an innovative product or service for sale on international markets and the potential to create ten jobs and €1M in sales within three to four years of starting up.

New research, presented at the annual Enterprise Ireland Start-Up Investor Day, indicated that nine out of ten start-ups surveyed by Amárach Research on behalf of Enterprise Ireland plan to increase staff in 2016. Six in ten expect substantial growth this year with the main export markets being the UK, Europe and USA. Enterprise Ireland’s Kevin Sherry, Director of Global Business Development said 2015 saw an increased level of support for HPSUs. “Last year was a record year for Enterprise Ireland supported new start-up companies with the highest number of funding approvals with a total direct Enterprise Ireland investment commitment of €31M in start-ups. A key role of Enterprise Ireland is to support entrepreneurs to start new enterprises, to develop innovative products and services and to scale their businesses on international markets.”

Highlights of 2015 included record numbers for the agency:

businesses from Singapore, India, Switzerland and Germany.

• 105 new High Potential Start-Up businesses.

Speaking at the Investor Day, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD said: “At the heart of the Government’s Action Plan for Jobs is creating a powerful engine of Irish enterprise that will accelerate jobs growth in towns and villages right across the country. The companies supported by Enterprise Ireland under its High Potential Start-Ups programme and Competitive Start Funds are key to our plans. I am delighted that there is a strong regional representation with 47% of the high potential startups being from outside Dublin.

• In addition, 112 new early stage businesses were supported under the Enterprise Ireland Competitive Start Fund in 2015 which injects critical early stage funding into new businesses.

• 61 new female-led start-ups supported - up from 43 in 2014.

This reflected the expansion of Enterprise Ireland’s support for female entrepreneurs which included the development of a dedicated competitive start fund to encourage more females to start businesses.

• 11 spin-out companies from higher education institutions were supported in 2015. These businesses are built on publicly funded research to become new HPSUs. • 15 new start-ups established by entrepreneurs from overseas, involving a range of sectors and with founders who have moved to Ireland to establish their

“Furthermore I am encouraged to see more young entrepreneurs - over 10% of the founders of the Class of 2015 are under 30. All of the start-ups involved today are the new ambitious promoters that will go on to become part of the growing number of internationally trading Irish companies that each year are increasing Irish exports and creating new Irish jobs - some I am confident will ultimately develop into the large employer Irish multinationals of the future. I wish all the Start-ups here today the very best for the future.”

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CI COMMENT

Exclusive interview: John Hunt from Enterprise Ireland UK Construction Ireland talk to John Hunt from Enterprise Ireland to discuss its strategy for 2016, its ambitions to turn Ireland into an economic powerhouse and his thoughts on the future of BIM. John is a Senior Strategic Advisor on the Built Environment and is passionate about realising the benefits of Building Information Modelling.

Could you give us a brief introduction to Enterprise Ireland and the role it plays in developing business?

Enterprise Ireland is a government agency and our key mission is to increase trade, specifically exports, between Irish companies and companies across the rest of the world. We are a trade development agency that’s been in existence for some 40 or so years.

Enterprise Ireland’s Strategy to 2016 talks of Irish enterprise becoming a powerhouse of economic growth and creating jobs.

Can you tell us about the successes of the previous strategy and how this new strategy will build upon them?

Exporting and export led recovery has been a key policy of the existing government as a way of improving the standard of living in Ireland. I suppose as

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an island off an island, historically it hasn’t always been easy to trade with Europe for logistical reasons as much as anything else so we’ve always had a strong policy for export development, creating employment at home and ultimately improving the quality of life within Ireland.

So that’s the core of what we’re about.

In 2015 we are forecast to increase exports by €2Bn and that has led to an increase in employment of around 21,000 jobs in Enterprise Ireland client companies, which gives you some idea of the success we have achieved.

We are a trade agency but we are also an investment agency. In terms of what we do, we are getting better at identifying the projects and the organisations that will make best use of our capital and our time. We’re also getting better at targeting those areas within organisations

that will have the biggest impact.

So that’s the strategy going into 2016: working ever smarter and ever harder onto the areas that give us the best return from our investments in people in organisations, in research and in capability building. That’s something we are looking to continue into 2016 and a key element of our current strategy.

The aim to make Ireland the best small country in the world to start a business in is an ambitious one.

Could you talk about how Enterprise Ireland will seek to deliver this?

We have a number of initiatives for international entrepreneurs to come to Ireland and for Irish people to set up organisations and businesses. A significant majority of the 21,000 jobs created last year were in small start-up

COMMENT CI

enterprises. What we as an organisation and what Ireland is promoting is access to capital, strong links to Third Level research and commercialisation. It’s about offering mentoring with key individuals with key skills and access to one of Europe’s best educated workforces.

So there are a number of incentives to encourage individuals, entrepreneurs both from Ireland and internationally to build their brands and businesses in Ireland and that, again, is a key policy.

Enterprise Ireland are keen for women to fulfil their business potential could you tell us a bit about this?

This is an initiative that really began in 2014. Enterprise Ireland looked at the profile of entrepreneurs that were receiving investment from Enterprise Ireland and remarkably, very few women were coming

through that channel. We looked to address that and last year alone there were 67 female led companies who received investment from Enterprise Ireland.

for Third Level Institutions. There are nine higher education institutes within Ireland who have developed a digital or BIM element to their higher education awards.

We believe there is an enormous element of untapped potential within the workforce and skillset of Ireland that has been ignored for too long.

Anecdotally, as the BIM designers in engineering, surveying and architecture are coming through these programmes; the employers are there ready to fight over the skill set. It’s a real success story in many respects of how the Third Level institutes are responding to the needs of industry and how the industry is competing for the skills of these graduates coming through the programmes being delivered throughout Ireland.

The skills shortage is prevalent across the construction industry. What role is Enterprise Ireland playing in helping to overcome this?

The key areas of skill shortages exist at both ends of the spectrum in terms of the practical trades and a big area of concern is also the digital skill set. That is certainly an area that Enterprise Ireland have been supporting in terms of research and funding in our own programmes and also through an innovation voucher scheme

Do you think there’s an appetite with Ireland to follow the UK government’s lead in mandating BIM Level 2?

If you look at the industry response in Enterprise Ireland’s BIM survey last year,

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CI COMMENT

the view was split with some seeing positives and some negatives, but what I think is accepted is that given the scale of the transition ahead of us, the change will need to be client led whether that be government or private sector.

I think one of the interesting things that maybe isn’t always known about Ireland is the significant commercial influence of the United States. A study was commissioned by the American Chamber of Commerce in Ireland last year and it showed that Ireland was the number one destination in the world for US foreign investment with $277Bn invested since 1990.

With the US companies and their requirements for advanced facilities, the likes of Amazon, Apple, Google, Facebook, Ebay and the pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer and Merck have each recognised the necessity for increased precision and the importance of better data. In terms of digital design, I suppose that’s when BIM first came to Ireland, around 2010 and as a US client requirement.

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A lot of the upskilling and investment has come as a direct client requirement and that’s manifesting itself in lots of people who once they’ve worked digitally are reluctant to go back to traditional methods. They can see the discrepancies and the potential for not working as accurately and that has encouraged an ‘industry up’ approach to informing clients about the best way forward in terms of traditional or digital process for design and delivery. So absolutely it’s got to be client led for digital to become mainstream and go beyond tipping point.

Are we any closer to the Irish government mandating BIM? From Enterprise Ireland’s standpoint, we see the skillsets that have been developed through projects in Ireland as extremely marketable internationally. We have offices in 32 countries; we are working in industrial engineering, design and delivery and see BIM as being enormously attractive to these markets and a real differentiator in markets that have been traditionally difficult to differentiate in.

We are interested in Irish companies developing that capability and taking it internationally and developing their international footprints further through these skillsets and processes. Enterprise Ireland is keen to support this development and we are doing that in a number of ways.

We have developed our own capability programmes but in terms of getting some further public sector buy-in, Enterprise Ireland are one of a small number of lead organisations that are really helping with promotion of public sector adoption.

That began with our appointment of CITA, the Construction IT Alliance, as our research partners in 2015 who will be reporting to and delivering research and information to a new stakeholder group in Ireland. This is a national BIM steering committee and delivery group that will be looking at the most appropriate route for a wider implementation of BIM within Ireland. That will involve the continuing discussion around a mandate but also the intelligent and appropriate area of the application of a mandate. So rather than effecting a mandate across the

COMMENT CI

public sector, it will debate whether a mandate across different departments may have the biggest impact, where the benefits can be best felt and where the negative impacts of a mandate could be managed more successfully.

challenge for the industry over the next few years. We’ve got enough evidence to show it works but can we then take it to the next level where it becomes the default way in which we set up a project and how we design and deliver it?

So there will be the formation of the National BIM Steering Committee in 2016, Enterprise Ireland and CITA will be on that group, and will be recruiting key members and a Chair to deliver a strategy that can be implemented from 2017.

I’ve no doubt we will all be doing BIM on the majority of projects by 2025 but what that adoption curve looks like between now and then will be crucial. If it’s incremental, then we’re probably not doing it right but there is a real opportunity to get this to tipping point in the next two or three years.

There is often talk of the older generation in the construction industry being fearful of a digital future, do you think the digital generation would benefit from more knowledge of traditional methods of building?

Absolutely, there’s the digital skillset and the digital processes and there is the need to bring together the traditional knowledge and ‘buildability’ that exists with experienced engineers. It’s absolutely critical that those two are blended together so that when we are designing and then constructing with digital, we are doing so with an ability to be pre-emptive and with a solid footing. Collaboration internally within organisations as well as externally as we know is at the heart of this.

As we advance through transition, it will be the experience of the ‘older generation’ that will navigate the potential problems of digital process and tools.

It could take a generation for BIM level 2 or 3 to be the default process for designing and constructing assets.

Historically, there always seems to initially be resistance to new methods and technology before they become accepted as the norm. Is reaching that point of no return key for BIM? I think that’s absolutely crucial in our current thinking – the tipping point, the point of no return. A lot of the companies I talk to are doing a bit of BIM on a few projects but the majority is traditional construction. They say: “We are doing BIM, we like it and it’s good but we still have to work quite hard at it to make it work”.

With the BIM Level 2 mandate approaching in April, what can Enterprise Ireland offer companies in the UK? Enterprise Ireland’s success is very dependent on our ability to identify the right companies with the right skillsets, management team, and the right planning to succeed in international markets.

We see digital design, construction, operation and the processes and technologies associated with that as an enormous area of opportunity.

We are working with organisations specifically in the design and delivery of engineering services – industrial engineering, data centres, power centres, powers stations, pharmaceutical plants, hitech manufacturing sites – where the only way to work it is to front load your designs and take your problems away from site. An approach that leverages the power of BIM. There are some Irish companies doing great projects across the world and as we come into 2016 with the UK looking for partners and supply chains to deliver to BIM Level 2, Enterprise Ireland’s London office can offer a single point of contact if you’re looking to identify skills and capability in a particular area.

Enterprise Ireland have a strong portfolio of organisations that would be delighted to talk and to assist the UK on its journey to BIM Level 2 adoption and beyond.

We’re not quite at the point yet where we couldn’t just fall back to doing traditional.

It’s still in the main a small proportion of workload and of employee roles within companies and the transition to the majority of projects is going to be the real

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COMMUNITY

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For more information please contact us on 01257 231900 or email enquiries@promarkmedia.co.uk

On 14 September 2015 Patterson Pump Ireland - a world-leading manufacturer of fire protection pumps - commemorated the launch of a newly-built state-of-theart manufacturing facility in Marlinstown, Mullingar with an Open House event.

More than 100 industry experts and authorities gathered to celebrate the milestone achievement alongside the friends and families of Patterson Pump Ireland’s dedicated workforce.

Two years in the making, the purposebuilt facility, which is now sited on an IDA Business Park in Marlinstown, marks a new beginning for Patterson Pump Ireland and paves the way for the Company’s future growth.

Patterson Pump Ireland is a subsidiary of Patterson Pump Company – an internationally-renowned US-based manufacturer of commercial pumps. Since its formation in 1998, the Irish subsidiary has expanded strategically year-on-year, diversifying into the wastewater, municipal pumping and flood control markets and shipping to more than 60 countries across Europe and the Middle East.

This gradual expansion placed everincreasing strain on Patterson Pump Ireland’s existing infrastructure however, leading to the creation of a new facility on a 40,000sq ft Greenfield site. Crucially, the

new location will allow Patterson Pump Ireland to realise its future aspirations and expand accordingly.

Two fully functional test facilities have been provided alongside a state-of-theart training centre, which will enable the Company, its workforce and clientele to move forward together.

With tremendous growth anticipated over the next three to five years, the Company - which currently employs 37 skilled workers - also intends to hire an additional 28 operatives by 2020. This ambition underscores Patterson Pump Ireland’s valuable contribution to both the wider community and the local economy.

Speaking to those gathered at the Open House event, Rod Pelot, Managing Director of Patterson Pump Ireland, recognised the importance of local staff to the expansion of the current facility: “The growth of Patterson Pump Ireland is a fitting acknowledgement to the commitment shown by staff to standards of excellence. This has enabled us to grow as a company for five consecutive years throughout the recession. The creation of one manufacturing job generates additional jobs within the community; we hope the Midlands will continue to reap the benefits of our expansion.”

COMMENT CI

Patterson Pump Ireland celebrate state-of-the-art manufacturing facility Those sentiments were echoed by Albert Huber, President of Patterson Pump Company: “Although we are proud of our new facility, it is not the buildings or equipment that makes a company successful but rather the people who come to work each day and strive to become better.”

Finally, Jeff Gorman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Gorman-Rupp Company - Patterson Pump’s parent company - concluded: “It has been gratifying to watch Patterson Pump Ireland grow over its relatively short life.

Having the support of the local community has been an important element in our growth as proven by the investment in our new facility. To say that we are pleased with our investment in Ireland is an understatement!”

With the facility now fully operational, Patterson Pump Ireland is back to manufacturing at the previous rate of over 60 pumps per month. The Company’s transformation is indicative of Ireland’s growing economic prosperity and the promise of great things to come.

For more information about Patterson Pump Ireland please visit the Company’s website: www.ie.pattersonpumps.com

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CI COMMENT

NHBC Tech-Zone NHBC’s Head of House-Building Standards Mark Jones explains how the organisation is helping builders stay up-to-date with all of the latest technical developments and legislation with a new, free on-line resource…

England and Wales – our new resources containing all the Approved Documents for England and Wales - again with supplementary guidance documents to help you interpret the regulations.

NHBC’s role within the UK house-building sector is well established – in helping to support the country’s builders in delivering the new homes that the UK desperately needs at this time of considerable growth in the new homes market.

• Technical support for NHBC Standards.

Despite the many challenges the housebuilding sector continues to face, NHBC has been an effective partner in supporting the industry, working with builders to stay abreast of changes, and retain the right skills to enable the construction of high standard and quality homes.

As always, NHBC’s mission is to ensure construction quality of the very highest standard in new homes across the UK and that this emphasis on quality remains unwavering – particularly during periods of increased activity and production.

With our 2015 annual registration statistics showing a seven per cent increase in new home volumes, compared to 2014, the house-building sector is experiencing its busiest period in eight years.

With this in mind we are delighted to showcase the NHBC TechZone – The new resource centre for NHBC Standards, Building Regulations, technical apps, news and support.

Free to access, the site includes; • NHBC Standards Plus 2016 - our interactive version of the latest Standards with full technical guidance notes, videos and, for the first time, 3D models.

• An archive of previous versions of NHBC Standards, all the way back to 2006.

• NHBC Building Regulations Plus for

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• A news area with industry technical news updates and events.

NHBC TechZone is optimised for use on tablets and other mobile devices so this brilliant resource is always accessible, whether you’re in the office or out on site.

Building Regulations (Plus) is the newest addition to TechZone – an interactive document incorporating all of the Approved Documents, which follows in the footsteps of NHBC Standards 2016 in that it is freely available to all website visitors.

NHBC Standards 2016 underwent the most significant design and content review in almost two decades when it was introduced last year and now features fewer pages, more concise copy, colour-coded topics, improved illustrations, 3D models and more.

TechZone also includes access to the Technical Extra series of publications – a dedicated resource looking at timely, technical subjects of interest to the wider industry. The latest issue – Technical Extra 19 includes articles on Standards Chapter 5.4 ‘Waterproofing of basements and other below ground structures’ and an update on fire safety issues most commonly seen by NHBC inspectors during site inspections.

The latest industry news is also available at TechZone along with access to NHBC’s range of technical mobile apps, including the NHBC 3D Viewer for Standards 2016 and the NHBC Foundation Depth Calculator.

I hope that you take the opportunity to have a good look around TechZone and familiarise yourself with the vast array of information, interactive features and the latest developments affecting you and your colleagues in the house-building industry.

For further information please visit www.nhbc.co.uk/techzone

COMMENT CI

New Checklist challenges constructors to tackle illegal working Edward Hardy, Chief Executive, Considerate Constructors Scheme Ensuring the legitimacy of the workforce is one of the key challenges facing the construction industry. Employing illegal workers isn’t just against the law; there is an undeniable relationship between illegal workers and those subjected to modern slavery. The statistics speak for themselves: the National Crime Agency has pinpointed the construction sector as the sixth most prevalent for labour exploitation; and in 2013 the government pinpointed 53 “potential victims of modern slavery” within the industry.

What everyone is clear about is that it is very damaging for those individuals concerned, and the industry’s image as a whole. This can lead to widespread reputational damage at a time where portraying the industry in a very positive light is critical to attracting and retaining skilled workers to meet the pipeline of future work.

As the Government’s recent actions have demonstrated - with Operation Magnify starting last autumn and the Modern Slavery Act being applied from 1st April 2016 - there is growing pressure on the Industry to make sure that all of the checks and balances are in place to assess and monitor their workforce.

But valuing the workforce by ensuring their legitimacy to work shouldn’t just be a ‘kneejerk’ reaction to the Government’s latest actions - it should be part of the day-in, day-out routine of every element of construction activity throughout the UK. To help this become a reality and continually raise standards in this area, the Considerate Constructors Scheme introduced a new question in its Monitors’ Checklist earlier this month; specifically challenging constructors registered with the Scheme on ensure the legitimacy of their workforce: How does the site assess and monitor the legitimacy and competency of the workforce?

This question challenges contractors and their supply chains to take greater responsibility for the way they recruit their workforce. It also puts a structure

in place encouraging everyone in the supply chain to provide evidence that, as subcontractors, they are making sure this takes place.

By challenging sites to explore how they currently assess and monitor the legitimacy of their workforce, the Scheme believes that in the not-so-distant future, all registered sites, companies and suppliers will have a routine in place. This will ensure that when they are questioned by the Monitor, they will provide a ‘standard’ response, intrinsic to their organisation.

The Scheme is in a prime position to effect real change amongst the industry and it is great to see that the CIOB’s CPD module ‘Stamping out illegal working on every site’ includes a question about the new Checklist.

Sites, sub-contractors and suppliers should establish a transparent culture whereby workers feel able to highlight to management when they have concerns over colleagues.

The recent recognition from the Government in how the Scheme is helping to tackle this issue also underlines the impact the Scheme will have. Immigration Minister James Brokenshire said: “Our work to stamp out illegal working involves close collaborative working with lead industry bodies. We are fully supportive of genuine efforts, such as this scheme, to drive compliance with the rules.

Those registered with the Scheme [see Best Practice Hub for examples] have made significant progress in terms of establishing a supporting and caring working environment, by: • Providing a workplace where everyone is respected, treated fairly, encouraged and supported.

• Identifying personal development needs and promoting training.

• Caring for the health and wellbeing of the workforce.

• Providing and maintaining high standards of welfare.

Now is the time to tackle illegal working on sites. There has never been a better moment for the industry to rise to the challenge and ensure that checks for workers’ legitimacy become firmly entrenched within all construction activity across the UK; once again underlining that UK construction is at the very forefront of best practice.

“Employers within the construction sector have a crucial and ongoing part to play in helping combat illegal working by ensuring they carry out the straightforward ‘Right to Work’ checks on potential employees.”

As ever, the need to continually drive improvement and progress within the industry means that much more still needs to be done.

While this is the case, it is really important to highlight that there are numerous examples throughout the Industry of tremendous improvements which have been made over the last decade in how construction values its workforce.

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CI COMMENT

What Happens When Success is Your Only Option

By Michelle LaBrosse, CCPM, PMP®, PMI-ACP, Chief Cheetah and Founder of Cheetah Learning When you run a small business, as small as even just yourself, does failure ever really occur? I’ve been running a small business in one form or another for almost 30 years now. Yes, I’ve stopped offering some services and stopped making some products, and at one point in time, I did take a job with a paycheck – but even then I still had a small business going on the side. I realized after almost a decade of being in business that failure was just a perspective, especially in a world where everything changes.

Most ideas go through thousands if not millions of iterations. If we are to view each tweak to a new product or service idea as a “failure,” then everyone who has ever created anything new is far more of a failure than a success. The whole idea of failure is not relevant to the seasoned small business owner and entrepreneur.

The question then becomes not, “how will I succeed?,” but, “how efficient can I become in creating something someone else wants to purchase?”

What I’ve discovered over the years is that it’s my abilities in Project Management that help me create efficiencies in every situation. Whether it’s dismantling something that is no longer serving us to make room for what’s new, launching that sparkly new initiative, or refining the processes of that old workhorse product everyone still loves after twenty years, all of these require projects. My life as a small business owner became much more enjoyable when I started to see it more like the life

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of a Project Manager with everything in the perpetual motion of a project.

I started to notice the more disciplined I am with setting up projects using my very simple project planning template, the more smoothly things go. I’m able to more easily delegate work with our small staff who wear many hats. We are all very well-versed now in using a simple the three page project plan to organize our work. This helps us all understand both the big picture and the small details of what we need to do. It eliminates any of us duplicating effort or doing things that are not aligned with our project goal. Plus, by doing a simple project plan organizational effort repeatedly, we all now have better instincts on what is required on projects before they even make it to the final cut of something we actually want to pursue. The portfolio of projects we pursue is better balanced, reducing our costs while improving our revenues from new initiatives. It has just overall made great business sense for me as the boss to become a much better project manager.

What else helps tremendously about being a small business owner and Project Manager is that I’m a certified Project Management Professional (PMP®). I got this designation because, well, first of all, I wrote a book on Project Management (mostly to record my techniques for myself so I’d remember to use them in my businesses). But I also wanted to publish my book, and I knew that in order to publish a book as a Project Manager, I’d need those letters, “PMP,” after

my name to be taken seriously. What I did not know at the time was the club I would be entering. Now, there are 600,000 people worldwide who are PMPs and many of them work in large organizations. I am able to sit at the table with them as a small business owner and speak the same language they do about doing projects. I gained almost instant credibility with some very large prospective clients when I earned the right to put those three initials after my name.

I’ve realized after thirty years of being in small business that the question isn’t if my small business is going to succeed - it’s how is it going to succeed.

And I’ve found time and time again, it succeeds in the most enjoyable ways when I do the basics of Project Management really well. Master Project Management, become a certified Project Management Professional (PMP®), and make success your only option.

COMMENT CI

Impress your prospects and win more work Benjamin Dyer, CEO of Powered Now “People buy from people” is a well-known saying in sales circles and it is largely true.

That’s why it’s always worth ensuring that someone from your company sees all prospects face to face. This gives you a chance to start building a relationship but also to discover the prospect’s motivation and if there are any more opportunities. It’s amazing what can be discovered lurking behind an unpromising lead. Every contact also helps to build trust and this should be a major aim.

People buy from people they trust.

Understand the motivation There are a variety of reasons why customers want work done. While fixing something that has broken is obvious, there can be many other reasons. Is that extension needed because grandma is getting old and will be joining the family? Has the wife got a particular agenda? Are they maximising the value of their property before selling?

The important thing about understanding motivation is that it helps you to suggest the right solution. You can also talk about the job in a context that is important to your prospect, and refer back to this driver if the sale looks like stalling. That’s why finding out the motivation and empathising with it should be your number one objective when a new job comes up.

Your word is your bond Building trust is critical to any sales situation, and I myself have gone with a higher cost option on a really big deal because I trusted the team more.

That’s why you should see every single interaction as an opportunity to build trust. So it’s not just important to turn up when you said, it’s vital. The same goes for delivering quotes by the time you promised. It’s a failure to address these sorts of issues that lead disappointed trade businesses to complain that they don’t understand why they lost the deal.

In Powered Now’s recent survey of 1,000 homeowners, 83% said their biggest irritation was with trade companies failing to show up when they said.

Technology can help. James Chandler of Chandler Building describes how he works: “We turn up on a job to quote, do it all on the iPhone and send it to the customer from our app. We’ve noticed that getting the paperwork out to the customer quickly normally means we win the job”.

We’ve noticed in talking to several fast-growing clients that turning round quotes within 24 hours is a common theme. This is a simple way to provide a great impression and remains unusual.

Referencing pitfalls and lessons learned shows you know what you are talking about and discourages them from thinking that DIY might be a good alternative.

Set price expectations in the right range Surprises kill sales, which is why it is vital to ensure that your prospect is thinking in the right ball park before you send them your quote. Failure in this area is why sometimes your customer will angrily reject your proposal and then inexplicably sign up with a competitor who is charging even more.

Close with care

Be easy to do business with If your potential customers can’t easily contact you when they haven’t even placed their business, they will speculate very negatively about what you will be like once work starts. Having a helpful sounding answer phone message and getting back quickly represents the minimum standard. It’s what you would want if you were looking for help yourself.

Try to make sure that you note everything the prospect asks for, nobody enjoys having to point out things that have been forgotten.

Be credible Demonstrating your professionalism enables you to establish credibility. For instance, few homeowners understand or have an appetite for completing complex paperwork for their local authority. So demonstrating your knowledge of what is required, without being patronising, helps you in every way. And if your customer doesn’t care about building regulations, it’s worth considering whether they will have a similarly cavalier attitude towards paying your bill.

Qualifications, trade association memberships and talking about similar jobs you have done in the past all help.

Trust is the magic ingredient to making closing the deal easy, and with trust, closing can be done in a natural way - “What sort of date would be convenient for us to start?”

Because trust is the vital ingredient, word of mouth recommendations are much easier to sell to. After all, with recommendations the prospect at least half trusts you before they have even spoken to you.

This explains why doing a great job at a reasonable price remains the key to growth for companies in the construction space. The great thing is that this also comes with the satisfaction of seeing and interacting with happy customers.

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CI COMMENT

Liquidated Damages and Construction Contracts Typically, construction contracts provide that if the contractor causes delay to the project then the contractor must pay to the employer ‘liquidated damages’ (known in the construction industry as ‘LADs’). LADs are a predetermined amount of damages or sum determined by reference to a formula/ fixed rate as stipulated in the contract.

LADs have been the subject of much legal debate; the Courts have grappled with whether LADs are a fair compensation to the employer or, on the other hand, a punishment on the contractor to deter breach.

The legal principle had always been, until a recent Supreme Court Judgment, that in order for a LADs clause to be enforceable the damages must be ‘a genuine pre-estimate’ of the employer’s likely losses arising from the contractor’s breach of contract.

The application of the LADs clause does not require the employer to actually prove its loss. Yet, when challenged by the contractor, the Court expected the employer to demonstrate that it had pre-estimated its loss, as opposed to simply inserting an arbitrary figure.

However, in the recent case of Cavendish Square Holding BV v El Makdessi and ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis [2015] UKSC 67, the Supreme Court changed the way we approach the test of whether a LADs clause is a penalty and, therefore, unenforceable.

The Court heard a combined appeal of two separate cases. One case was ParkingEye which involved a car parking overstay charge. Notices were displayed in the car park showing the maximum stay was 2 hours. Significantly a notice stated that any overstay “will result in a parking charge of £85”. The motorist, Mr Beavis, overstayed and did not pay the charge. In the proceedings, Mr Beavis in his defence argued that the £85 charge was a ‘penalty’ and/or an ‘unfair’ contractual term.

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The other case was Cavendish which involved a commercial agreement between Mr Makdessi and Mr Ghossoub for the sale of part of their shares to the company Cavendish. Cavendish was to pay Makdessi/ Ghossoub stage payments in consideration for the sale of the shares.

The agreement had a condition that if Makdessi/ Ghossoub breached any of the restrictions imposed on them then they would not receive consideration payments and all of their shares were available for purchase by Cavendish at an undervalue.

Makdessi breached the restrictions. In the proceedings, Makdessi argued that the consequence of his breach amounted to a ‘penalty’ because it precluded him from recovering the full value of his shares.

In reaching their decision on both cases the Court observed that if a clause was not a genuine pre-estimate of loss that did not necessarily mean that the clause was, by default, a penalty. Therefore, it is also no longer necessary to consider if the clause is a deterrent either.

The true test, the Court stated, was whether the contractual provision “imposes a detriment on the contractbreaker out of all proportion to any legitimate interest of the innocent party”.

In the context of a construction contract the employer would want to be compensated for the contractor’s breach, however, if the contract includes a sum that the contractor can demonstrate is “out of all proportion” to the employer’s “legitimate interest” in that contract, then the contractor may seek to challenge the LADs clause.

However, if the employer can show that its loss arising from the delay is, say, impossible to quantify, or, has no relationship to the LADs being claimed then the Court, taking into account all of the wider commercial factors in the contractual negotiation, could not automatically deem the LADs a ‘penalty’.

Despite the LADs not being a genuine pre-

estimate of loss, if the employer is able to demonstrate a legitimate reason why its actual loss suffered would not be sufficient compensation, then the employer should be entitled to the LADs claimed.

When preparing a contract, employers (and their professional team) should seek to agree with the contractor the LADs clause and state in the contract that the parties have agreed and were on mutual footing in their negotiation. Employers should identify what its commercial interests are and set those out in the contract.

Employers should consider whether separate LAD clauses for specific events/ breaches would be more appropriate as opposed to a ‘catch all’ sum or formula.

Employers should also consider using separate sums or rates depending on the seriousness and financial consequences of the anticipated contractor’s breach.

For more information, contact Michelle Dixon Associate Solicitor specialising in construction law at Humphries Kirk LLP T: 01202 725400 E: m.dixon@hklaw.eu W: www.hklaw.eu

COMMENT CI

The Era of Connection – The Future for BIM The construction industry is changing – but that’s nothing new.

it in the context of the construction industry, it is a relatively new mind-set.

The construction of buildings and infrastructure are experiencing phenomenal changes and it is digital technology that is behind much of this change. How buildings are developed, the design processes we use and the technology being used are all dramatically changing the way we build.

Construction-led examples can be seen in the likes of customer-configured housing, inter-connected appliances and fittings and sustainable and social infrastructure. The most recent example of this is thermostats that learn occupant behaviours and offer environmental and energy efficiency controls.

For an industry that has long been defined by the phrase “high risk, low margin”, how are today’s developments revolutionising the construction landscape?

These new ways of adding value to buildings and infrastructure require not only construction professionals and architects, but also manufacturers, surveyors and clients to engage on a greater scale.

Three major technology-driven disruptions are creating this new era for the construction industry. These include; Changes in the means of production, how teams plan, design, create and operate buildings; Changes in the nature of demand for construction services and Changes in products demanded by end-users and their interconnect and intelligent properties.

One of the greatest impacts is that consumers are becoming more connected and educated about products, have more choice around which products they purchase and require a more personalised and sustainable service. This may sound perfectly plausible when thinking of the changes in manufacturing and when talking about mobile phones or other consumer-led tech products. But putting

Building Information Modelling has enabled customers to better understand and optimise projects on one platform, simultaneously evaluate take-off quantities and predict carbon footprint from the same data. The next phase of this Era of Connection is integrating cloud, social and mobile technology to expand dynamic external factors such as environmental, economic, even social outcomes.

the Construction industry right now?

How you finance, plan, design and construct buildings will have to change and so too will the very business of construction contracting. The interconnected approach seen in BIM is only set to grow, connecting talent and experience across geographies and commercial interfaces. Intelligent digital connectivity within and between assets will be a key driving force and play a key role for the project owner, especially when looking at the long-term efficiencies and effectiveness of that building.

For more information about the Future of BIM, the Era of Connection and impacts this will have for the construction industry, come to our FREE breakfast event at Preston’s College 23rd March 2016. Or for more information click here or contact bim@quadrasol.co.uk

This new era of connection drives the need to add certain efficiencies to building design processes.

Technology-based projects, Modelbased fabrication, data-driven project delivery and Prefabrication and 3D printing are all driving these changes.

So, what do these changes mean for

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CI COMMENT

Eyes wide open Last week I went out to visit a new StreetwiseSubbie member with high hopes of expanding his business by working on commercial as well as residential projects.

He was delighted to have already been offered a contract for a new project and was busy planning how it would fit in with his schedule of works, what raw materials were required, who’d be working on the job etc. When I began to ask him about some of the specific terms in the contract, I wish I could say he was aware of them and they’d all been ironed out. You know what’s coming…his eyes were wide shut.

The simplest way to put onerous terms into context is to ask yourself this question: “Why, when there are all manner of Standard Form contracts around such as JCT, NEC and MF/1, does anyone need to produce their own terms?” The simple answer is that it isn’t for your benefit!

So, what things should you look out for? Here are a few examples:

Not all contracts are the same and, as demonstrated above, onerous terms are waiting to rip off the unwary. You will usually find them lurking in the depths of Contractor’s own “non-standard” documents, but they can also arise as amendments to Standard Form contracts.

• Extended payment periods • Long notice period before you are allowed to suspend performance • Pay when certified (unlawful in contracts to which the Construction Act applies) • Extended fixed price periods • Non-payment for unfixed materials • Excessive discount • Discount not linked to prompt payment • Excessive retentions and/or prolonged repayment periods • Onerous set-off and cross contract set-off clauses • Acceleration without payment • Vague programme information • Open ended co-ordination obligations • Restricted rights of ecovery on variations • Protection of your works • Client’s milestone dates for access • Excessive liquidated damages • Restricted extension of time entitlements • Restricted loss and expense entitlements • Delay notice periods made a condition precedent • Adjudication entitlements restricted or delayed • Costs of adjudication to be paid by the Sub-Contractor

These terms are deliberately designed to reduce your entitlements and increase your obligations. They will make your life more difficult, they could end up costing you a substantial amount of

The best time to find out about onerous provisions is at the enquiry stage even before you have submitted your price.

You should always be clear about the terms and conditions you will be working

The more questions I asked, the more the blood drained from his face. His excitement was replaced by trepidation. It was a sobering experience and I warned him that not every relationship he formed in the commercial sector would be warm and cosy. On the contrary, many main contractors he might end up working with wouldn’t bat an eyelid at deliberately swindling him for their own benefit.

None of us likes being ripped off but that’s exactly what some of these contracts are designed to do. We’d complain in a supermarket if the bottle of wine we wanted was advertised at £5 but when we got to the till we were charged £10. We know what we’re supposed to be paying so why don’t Specialist Contractors adopt the same mentality when their business is being ripped off by onerous terms?

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money, and in the worst case scenario they may even cost you your business.

under if your tender is successful.

If you don’t know or don’t have time to find out about terms and conditions you should always qualify your tender.

For example you could qualify it by stating: “Our price is based on the assumption that an appropriate JCT Standard Form of Sub-Contract will be used and subject to agreement of all necessary details to enable Articles of Agreement to be completed” If your tender is successful then you will be invited to enter into a contract or possibly sent an Order or Contract to sign. This is a dangerous time because a contract including any of the onerous provisions outlined above could easily come into being.

The first line of defense lies in recognising onerous terms and conditions in the first place. Whilst you may be tempted to ignore the small print, you may subsequently find that a contract has come into force incorporating onerous terms that have fatal consequences for your business.

You also have to be wary of clauses that are not there, as well as checking the ones that are! For instance, if you are designing the works and the contract is silent about design liability, then you will have a very onerous “fitness for purpose” obligation.

This is much worse than it sounds because you are literally guaranteeing your design will satisfy the employer’s needs irrespective of what you knew or didn’t know about his business or industry.

In order not to be caught by onerous provision you must always make it perfectly clear that you are rejecting their onerous terms. Notice I said rejecting their terms, not rejecting their order.

Keep your eyes wide open at every stage and, if in doubt, give us a call!

COMMENT CI

Tinnitus Awareness in the Construction Industry The UK’s Tinnitus Awareness Week ran from 8th to 14th February. Melanie Burden, Head of General Personal Injury at Simpson Millar Solicitors LLP, provides timely guidance for construction professionals on this widespread, but little-understood, condition.

Why raise awareness of the condition?

Tinnitus arising from hearing loss can be caused by work-related head and neck injuries. Once the damage has occurred, it can lead to permanent and in some cases, disabling symptoms.

Raising the awareness of tinnitus in the workplace is essential as the condition can be prevented if proper health and safety adjustments are in place.

What is Tinnitus?

Tinnitus comes from the Latin word “ringing” and is used to describe the condition where the sufferer experiences a noise in the head or ears where no actual external noise is present. It can be heard in 1 ear, both ears or the middle of the head. The noise experienced can be low, medium or high pitched. Words used by sufferers to describe the sound include “buzzing, whistling, hissing, swooshing and clinking “. It can be temporary, it can come and go - or sadly for some sufferers, it can be constant. For those sufferers who experience permanent symptoms, it can have a profound effect on their day to day living, causing insomnia, depression and anxiety.

Who gets it?

It is estimated that 10% of UK adults have tinnitus, that’s around six million people (BTA – British Tinnitus Association).

It has been estimated that 17,000 people in the UK suffer deafness, tinnitus or other ear conditions as a result of exposure to excessive noise at work (The 2008 / 9 Labour Force Survey (LFS)).

Anyone can get it at any age including children, although it is more common for people over aged 65.

What can cause Tinnitus?

It can be caused by a head or neck injury.

If the injury causes interference with the blood follow to the neck / head or interference with nerves or muscles in the area, then people can experience tinnitus. It can also come on after exposure

to loud noise (a common example of this is when people come away from a music concert with loud ringing in their ears – this is usually temporary in nature).

It can come on though after exposure to excessive or prolonged noise at work associated with some hearing loss.

It can even have a dental cause, be associated with hearing loss or an ear condition or be caused by excessive build-up of wax or an ear infection.

For some people there is no known cause.

In fact, for 1 in 3 people with tinnitus, they don’t have any obvious problems with their ears or hearing (NHS Choices).

How could a construction worker potentially develop Tinnitus?

• It might follow an accident at work which involves a blow to the head or neck.

• It might come on after exposure to a very loud one off noise or prolonged exposure to noisy machinery and equipment on site which brings on the onset of tinnitus associated with some hearing loss.

What is the relevant law which applies to the construction industry?

The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 places an obligation on employers to reduce noise exposure for workers: • If there is a daily or weekly average noise exposure level of 80 dB (decibels), then the employer must provide information and training and make hearing protection available.

• If the daily / weekly average noise reaches 85 dB, then the employer is required to take reasonably practicable measures to reduce noise exposure.

The use of hearing protection is mandatory if the noise cannot be controlled or whilst the steps are being taken to reduce the noise levels.

• The exposure limit is 87 dB above which no worker can be exposed.

• Employers need to identify hearing protection zones (areas where the use of hearing protection is compulsory and mark the area with warning signs).

• Ensure that the hearing protectors are regularly inspected and maintained.

• Ensure that all employees are fully trained on the use and care of the hearing protectors.

Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, employers need to have regard to the safety other members of the public in addition to workers who

might be exposed to excessive noise.

The Personal Protective Equipment Regulations 1992 impose a duty on employers in the construction industry to ensure all workers are provided with suitable head protection where there is a risk of injury to the head (this really applies to almost all situations on a Construction Site). This is to prevent or minimise the risk of head injury.

• Hard hats should be inspected and regularly maintained.

• They should be in good condition, if they are damaged they must be thrown away and replaced.

• The style / design of the hard hat should not prevent workers wearing hearing protectors if they are needed.

• Employers should ensure all workers wear them at all times on site.

Where can I find out any further information about my duties as an Employer to help reduce the risk of a head injury on sight or exposure to noise induced hearing loss?

There is no substitute for reading the full body of the relevant legislation listed above, this is readily accessible and downloadable on the HSE website.

HSE provides some excellent guides for preventative advice to employers with free downloadable guidance booklets and leaflets including: • HSE – Noise – Advice for Employers • HSE – Noise – How do I reduce noise?

• HSE Noise – How can I choose quieter equipment and machinery?

• HSE Noise: Noise good practice – Concrete and cement production • HSE Hard hats – what you need to know as a busy builder What should I do if I think I am suffering from Tinnitus?

Consult your GP for advice as soon as you can so any potential underlying causes can be ruled out and any treatment can be recommended if a cause is identified.

If a cause cannot be identified, then sadly there is no known cure but there are a number of treatments available to help sufferers manage and cope with their system on a day to day basis including: • CBT – Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Treatment • Counselling • Sound Therapy • Tinnitus Retraining Therapy

27

Adjudication Costs Recovery When Sir Michael Latham issued his “Constructing the Team” report in 1994 and adjudication was first floated as an idea to resolve disputes quickly, efficiently and at low cost, he could never have foreseen that the process of resolving construction disputes by adjudication would evolve into the complex process that it is today.

I could write a large essay speculating on the reasons for this but my own personal view (it may well be wrong) is that the courts have realised that very few cases that have been adjudicated end up in litigation or arbitration. For this reason the courts are keen to make sure that the adjudication process is seen to run fairly and that published decisions are as close as possible to what the court’s judgement or an arbitrator’s award would be, based on the same facts and legal arguments delivered in the same very tight time scales.

If you have been involved in an adjudication over the last few years you will know that it has become a high pressure, legalistic, complex and expensive process that should only be embarked upon by those that are thoroughly prepared, brave and well represented.

If you don’t believe what I am saying, ask any party that has been involved in adjudication over the last few years and they are likely to tell you that the process of referring disputes to adjudication is becoming increasingly expensive. It would be easy to blame this on the legal profession hijacking a process that was supposed to be quick and cost-effective, but I suspect that the answer is somewhat more complicated and in reality it is probably the case that most parties will conclude that the costs of re-running the same dispute in court or arbitration would simply be prohibitive. An adjudicator’s decision is therefore likely to be the final word on the dispute.

So, with parties realising that adjudication is likely to be the one and only referral of a dispute to a third party for a determination, parties are increasingly prepared to invest more and more resources in order to try to get that all important win. This results in more and more submissions, often a one or two day hearing, an extended timetable and much bigger legal bills all round.

Readers will know that in all but exceptional circumstances each party has to bear its own costs of representation. These costs can be very

substantial and if you are the losing party you will also be expected to pay the adjudicator’s fees and expenses. So, what can you do to protect your company from this experience? You might be thinking that you are never going to start an adjudication so what is the problem, but this will not help you if you are forced to respond to an action that is taken by a disgruntled Employer, Contractor or Sub-Contractor. You may not want to fight but you may have no choice.

So what can be done to protect yourself from the costs of adjudication? One obvious answer is to insure the risk.

However, as Adjudicators invariably lack the power to deal with interparty costs, insurers have been very reluctant to insure a party’s exposure to its own legal costs and those of the Adjudicator if the decision goes against it, that is, until now.

The answer to the conundrum of the spiralling cost of adjudication may finally have been addressed with the introduction of ALADINS. Adjudication Legal And Dispute INSurance is a full scope legal expenses insurance policy available to Contractors, Sub-Contractors and Consultants in the UK exclusively

Regent House, Folds Point, Folds Road, Bolton BL1 2RZ t. 01204 632888 f. 01204362808 tvp@vinden.co.uk www.vinden.co.uk

through The Vinden Partnership and Watson Laurie Insurance Brokers. In exchange for a modest annual premium the policy insures a Client’s liability to pay legal expenses arising from a whole range of disputes arising under Commercial Contracts through to Employment disputes. Most importantly, however, is that legal costs arising from adjudication proceedings under construction contracts are covered by ALADINS with legal expenses cover of £1,000,000 available in any one year of insurance limited to £100,000 per claim.

Premiums are calculated on a declared turnover basis so by way of an example, a company with an annual turnover of £10 million would be charged an annual premium of £6,000 plus IPT. At the risk of stating the obvious and in the event of a dispute proceeding to adjudication, an insured party’s own costs and exposure to the adjudicator’s fees are insured. ALADINS will not respond where claims are adjudged to have little or no chance of success but in reality such claims have never been pursued in any event. ALADINS will respond, however, where a claim or the defence of a claim is adjudged to have reasonable prospects for success.

Limit of £100,000 any one claim, £1m in the aggregate Excess: £2,500 each & every claim Cover only for disputes £20,000 + Sections of cover: Construction Contract Disputes, Contract Disputes, Criminal Prosecution, Employment Disputes, Tax Protection, Property Disputes, Data Protection, Statutory Licence, Personal Injury, Wrongful Arrest, Jury Service Allowance Only covers contracts entered into after inception date Adjudication Costs:All Adjudication Expenses shall be first met out of any damages, compensation or monies received in that adjudication or subsequent litigation or settlement thereof

ALADINS has been two years in planning and is available to purchase from 1 October 2015. For further information on ALADINS and/or a no obligation quotation please contact either Steve Padley (spadley@vinden. co.uk) or Gary Brooks (gbrooks@ watsonlaurie.co.uk)

The client if pursuing and they won would pay for the adjudication expenses out of any damages or compensation or monies received in that adjudication or subsequent litigation or settlement thereof. If the client lost the adjudication expenses would be picked up by the legal expenses policy.

Peter Vinden is a practising Arbitrator, Adjudicator, Mediator and Expert. He is Managing Director of The Vinden Partnership and can be contacted by email at pvinden@vinden.co.uk.

Subject to set criteria otherwise individually underwritten.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------You must notify Watson Laurie Limited immediately in any of the following circumstances, providing full details in order that your premium and terms can be reassessed:

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The client if defending and they won or lost would have the adjudication expenses paid for by the legal expenses policy.

• If there is any cause, event or circumstance which may give rise to a claim being made under this insurance which has not already been notified • If an Insurer has ever refused commercial legal expenses insurance, imposed special terms or declined to renew a commercial legal expenses insurance policy.

• If there has been more than one claim or dispute to which this insurance would have applied or any disputes in which fees or expenses exceed £3,000 in the last 3 years.

• The Insured is not domiciled within The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

• If the Insured’s Turnover exceeds £20,000,000 • Excludes property developers

Regent House, Folds Point, Folds Road, Bolton BL1 2RZ t. 01204 632888 f. 01204362808 tvp@vinden.co.uk www.vinden.co.uk