UK Construction Journal V18N03

V18 N03

WATA – Training Your Workforce New Highways and Civil Engineering Academy Coming to East Anglia

Callsafe Services Ltd

Call: 01889 577701

CALLSAFE SERVICES LIMITED Q.

Are you sure that you understand the duties and requirements of Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 and other health and safety requirements?

Q.

Do your policies and procedures reflect the current legislation and practices?

Q.

Are your employees competent to perform their duties?

Q.

Do you select competent organisations to work with you?

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Do you manage your organisation and projects without copious amounts of paper?

If the answer to any of the above questions is no, you need to consider training and advice to achieve legal compliance and develop best practices.

Contact the experts David Carr PgD, FIIRSM, DipSM, RFaPS, Managing Director Callsafe Services Limited. Yardley House, 11 Horsefair, Rugeley, Staffordshire. WS15 2EJ Email: enquiries@callsafe-services.co.uk Web: www.callsafe-services.co.uk

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Š Copyright UK Construction Media. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced or transmitted in any form without the prior permission of UK Construction Media. Views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the publisher.

WATA TO BECOME THE HIGHWAYS AND CIVIL ENGINEERING ACADEMY West Anglia Training Association, based in Huntingdon Cambridgeshire is to receive funding for the creation of a Highways and Civil Engineering Academy.

The funding will be used to train a workforce of highly skilled individuals for future key transport schemes, including upgrading the A14, the new Ely bypass and upgrading Junction 7 of the M11, near Stansted Airport.

More than 100 yards of road representing the A14 are being planned at the WATA site to encompass all aspects of the building project.

Nigel Donohue, CEO for West Anglia Training Association "I am delighted that we shall be receiving funding to build a representative section of the A14 at our site in Huntingdon. It will give us the ability to train and develop the future highways graduate, trainee and apprenticeship workforce. The focus is on highways development, remediation, safety and design in a realistic environment representative of major transport infrastructure projects. Our aim is to provide contextualised learning, providing a real life work experience which will help enthuse learners and secure jobs within the region, supporting identified skills gaps and delivering Nigel Donohue CEO – West Anglia Training Association (WATA) sector growth."

Growth in the area is expected to generate 15,000 new jobs and 10,000 new homes over a five year period. West Anglia Training Association’s new Highways and Civil Engineering Academy will prove to be vital in ensuring that there is a steady supply of trained workers to undertake the work.

Mike Evans, from the Highways Agency’s A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon project team, said: “We are pleased that the West Anglia Training Association has secured funding to support the development of the roads infrastructure workforce and to provide local people with the necessary skills to help deliver road improvement schemes in the East of England, such as the proposed improvements to the A14 between Cambridge to Huntingdon.”

WATA is now in communications with regional and national contractors to understand their curriculum and labour needs as well as the Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) to identify skills gaps within their scope of membership companies. This will enable the new Academy to focus on training provision needed to carry out the upcoming projects effectively. WATA is designing the facility with both the employer and the requirements of the individual learning programmes in mind.

WATA carries out a range of training including Construction, CITB Accredited training, Scaffolding Health and Safety, Environmental, Management & Personal Development, Quality and Apprenticeships.

MORE APPRENTICESHIPS ARE NEEDED IN THE CONSTRUCTION & ENGINEERING INDUSTRY Recent research by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has called for a large increase in the number of Advanced Apprenticeships in the construction planning sector to avoid building skills shortages.

Trade body Engineering UK said a similar increase is also required in the engineering and manufacturing technology sector, and the information and communications technologies industry, to keep the UK’s economic recovery on track.

British Business Secretary Vince Cable said ministers are keen to support major industries in their attempts to meet their skill requirements.

“In Government, we’re working hard to make sure we have the skills we need in 2022 and beyond, but we need to work with industry to make sure we inspire the engineers of tomorrow, today.”

WATA work with employers to ensure their Apprenticeship programmes suit job market needs, offering additional bespoke training to assist your company in employing the competent staff they need.

Construction, Scaffolding and Engineering training can be carried out at our purpose built, state of the art facilities.

WATA offer apprenticeships in • • • • • • • • •

Construction Scaffolding Highway Operations & Maintenance Electrical Engineering Mechanical Engineering Fabrication & Welding Business & Administration Team Leading Customer Service

Your company could be eligible for additional funding when you take on an Apprentice.

To find out more about Apprenticeships and funding available contact WATA on 01480 435544 or email info@wata.co.uk

UPSKILL YOUR WORKFORCE AND REMAIN AHEAD OF THE GAME WATA are offering discounted SMSTS & SSSTS Training for all new customers. Quote the code CJCPP11 to take advantage of the offer prices below

Site Safety Plus Training

• Site Management Safety Training Scheme (SMSTS) £490 + VAT • Site Supervisors Safety Training Scheme (SSSTS) £202 + VAT • CITB Health, Safety & Environment Test (HS&E) (CSCS CARD) £27.50 + VAT • Site Safety Plus Scheme for Operatives – Health and Safety Awareness Course £115 + VAT

CISRS Training

Scaffolding courses for construction & specialist building You may be eligible for funding in addition to the CITB grant.

Contact WATA for more details.

• CISRS Operatives Training Scheme (COTS) £99 + VAT • Scaffolding Part 1 Tube and Fitting £870 + VAT • Scaffolding Part 2 Tube and Fitting £870 + VAT • Scaffolding Inspection Training Scheme (SITS) £420 + VAT Regular course dates available

Costs, funding and grants

You could be entitled to funding in addition to the CITB grant. For the latest information on costs, funding and grants contact WATA and let us help you get the best deal for your company.

Contact WATA on 01480 435544 or email info@wata.co.uk

CDM REGULATIONS 2015 The Draft Regulations propose significant changes with potential impact for you.

From the 6th April 2015 the CDM Regulations will undergo significant changes that will mean the role of the CDM Co-ordinator will no longer exist and the role of the Principal Designer will be introduced.

Are you ready for the changes?

WATA will be running a seminar to highlight the changes in responsibilities on 8th April.

Other changes to the CDM regulations will include the influence and the importance of the client, splitting competence into component parts of skills, knowledge, training and experience. In addition, for the first time, the new CDM Regs will also apply to domestic client projects.

To find out more, book on the CDM regulations 2015 course.

Contact WATA on 01480 435544 or email info@wata.co.uk

Do you want a globally recognised Construction Health and Safety qualification?

NEBOSH National Certificate in Construction Health & Safety A 2014 survey carried out by NEBOSH on successful National Construction Certificate students found that 97% would recommend the qualification to others.

This course is ideal for those with construction management responsibilities including Managers, Supervisors, and Principal Designers who are required to provide advice and ensure that activities are undertaken safely. It is also useful for those concerned with the management of buildings who may need to ensure that contractors are working safely.

WATA consistently produce award winning delegates with NEBOSH qualifications. With our personalised approach and trade experienced trainers, WATA provides effective training that gets you the results you need.

Contact WATA on 01480 435544 or email info@wata.co.uk

UKC NEWS

Accoya used to imitate the essence of a treehouse Accoya, the world leading modified wood produced by Accsys Technologies has been used in the construction of a house in Hampstead, UK, designed to imitate the essence of a treehouse.

The three -storey Fitzroy House, designed by London firm Stanton Williams, provides a family residence with large open living spaces that link seamlessly with the landscaped garden.

Taking direction from the gently sloping landscape, the lower level of the house is sunken below ground. The middle level of the house is accessed via a bridge in a design which has allowed

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mature trees on the site to be retained.

Grey-painted Accoya panelling contrasts with large areas of floorto - ceiling glazing on the building’s exterior, providing expansive views over Hampstead Heath.

The durable coating creates a weathered- Grey finish that is increasingly visible in architectural projects throughout Europe.

Created using Accsys Technologies’ propriety acetylation technology, Accoya delivers outstanding levels of performance, including dimensional stability, class 1 durability and sustainability. Made with FSC certified wood from legal, manageable and

sustainable forests, Accoya is in an attractive wood product which is Cradle to Cradle Gold certified and is perfect for a variety of uses from windows and doors to external cladding, structural projects and decking.

Bryan Crennell, Director of Sales and Marketing for Accsys Technologies said: “The striking appearance of grey-coated Accoya adds to the unique character of Fitzroy house.

Its aesthetic contributions, together with its extensive durability, high performance capabilities and low maintenance requirements makes Accoya the ideal material for exterior applications such as this.”

Family moves into Carbon Zero home for ground-breaking year-long monitoring programme The top-20 UK housebuilder Hill has selected a family - the Rayners - to live rent and bill free in a carbon zero concept home in the Trumpington area of Cambridge for one year. The Rayner family moved into the home in January to undergo detailed monitoring with a focus on which sustainable features are best suited for modern family life and the personal impact that sustainable living can have.

The concept home is the prelude to Hill’s Virido development to be delivered in conjunction with Cambridge City Council. The site, consisting of 208 carbon zero units, is the next phase of Great Kneighton in the Cambridge Southern Fringe and will be one of the largest carbon

zero developments in the UK. Half of the site will consist of private for sale - the first carbon zero homes that Hill has sold privately. Groundbreaking will not take place at Virido until the details of the family study have been fully analysed and conclusions drawn - the idea being that the research feeds directly into the construction of these homes.

Hill has appointed its first Building Research Analyst, Alex Rice, who will work closely with the family.

Rice will meet with the family on a monthly basis to assess how they are using the sustainable technology in the home, what is proving to be easy to use and what isn’t and how the home impacts on their health,

mood and well-being. The family will also be regularly tweeting and blogging about their experiences.

The competition to find a family to live in the concept home launched in September last year in conjunction with the Cambridge News.

Rob Hall, Deputy Managing Director at Hill, commented: “These are the very first carbon zero homes that we have sold privately and our ground-breaking research, observing and surveying the Rayner family over the course of a full-year, will directly feed into the sustainable features that we incorporate into Virido. Carbon zero is the future but it needs to be easy and it needs to be family friendly.”

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CDM15/2 Industry guidance for Principal Designers www.citb.co.uk/documents/cd m%20regs/industry-guidanceprincipal-designer.pdf

Shaping and sharing best practice in construction health and safety risk management

CDM2015 CONSTRUCTION (DESIGN AND MANAGEMENT) REGULATIONS 2015 ARE WE READY? As the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have issued the draft Guidances for CDM2015 and state that, subject to Parliamentary approval, the regulations will come into force on 6th April 2015; the question must be asked of all construction industry organisations, and the industry itself, are we ready?

On Friday, 9th January 2015, the HSE issued the draft text of L153 (draft), Guidance on the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, including the draft regulations, which can be downloaded from: www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/pric ed/draft-l153.pdf On the same date, the guidances produced for the five duty holders under CDM, plus the workers, were published in draft. The guidances set out, in practical terms, what actions are required of them to deliver a safe and healthy construction project. These documents have been written by the Construction Industry Advisory Committee (CONIAC). These six ‘Industry Guidances’ are available for free download, as follows: CDM15/1 Industry guidance for Clients www.citb.co.uk/documents/ cdm%20regs/industry-guida nce-clients.pdf

CDM15/3 Industry guidance for Contractors www.citb.co.uk/documents/cd m%20regs/industry-guidancecontractors.pdf CDM15/4 Industry guidance for Designers www.citb.co.uk/documents/cd m%20regs/industry-guidancedesigners.pdf CDM15/5 Industry guidance for Principal Contractors www.citb.co.uk/documents/cd m%20regs/industry-guidanceprincipal-contractors.pdf CDM15/6 Industry guidance for Workers www.citb.co.uk/documents/cd m%20regs/industry-guidanceworkers.pdf

Policies and Procedures CDM2015 will require all CDM duty holders to amend their policies and procedures to some extent.

• Clients will need to develop their arrangements for the enhanced client duties on significantly more projects.

• Those who would act as the Principal Designer (PD) will need to develop their procedures to perform these duties for all elements of design and planning, not just their design or their subconsultants’/sub-contractors’ design, but for all design, including temporary works design performed during construction.

• Principal Contractors and Contractors will need to address the requirement for having a Construction Phase Plan on all works, and the Domestic Client duties if they work in the domestic client sector.

• Designers have the least amendments to make, as their duties have minimal changes, unless they take on the Principal Designer’s duties.

Training

Additional training will be required to update all of the duty holders with the amended regulations and guidances.

Callsafe Services are currently developing the following courses, based on the draft documents: • CDM2015 Senior Management Briefing • CDM2015 Update • CDM2015 Overview • CDM2015 Client • CDM2015 Design Phase Risk Management Co-ordination • CDM2015 Design Risk Management • CDM2015 Reducing Risk by Design • CDM2015 Principal Contractor and Contractors

If you need assistance with amending your arrangements and/or training your staff in CDM2015 , please contact the experts at Callsafe Services.

Callsafe Services Limited Yardley House, 11 Horsefair, Rugeley, Staffordshire. WS15 2EJ Telephone: 01889 577701 Email: enquiries@callsafe-services.co.uk Website: www.callsafe-services.co.uk

Course Content:

Institution of Occupational Safety and Health MANAGING SAFELY IN CONSTRUCTION 5 DAY COURSE This is the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) Managing Safely course, amended to make the subjects and content more specific to the construction industry, and separately accredited by IOSH. It is highly interactive and is presented by qualified and experienced construction health and safety professionals, who also are appointed to projects as CDM coordinator.

Intended for:

Anyone who supervises or manages designers or contractors in the construction and allied industries. Also relevant for client representatives and CDM coordinators.

Course Aims:

To ensure that managers/ supervisors: • Understand their responsibilities for health and safety as an integral part of their construction and other management/ supervision roles; • Are able to recognise a sound health and safety management system, including effective construction risk management; • Are able to recognise the key risks in the construction industry and understand the precautions to be taken.

Day 1 • Introduction and Setting Course Objectives • Principles of Good Safety Management • Legal Foundation for Health and Safety • Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide • Safety Management on Construction Projects Day 2 • Understanding the Legal Framework for Safety and Health at Work • Accident Causation and Accident Prevention • Applying Management Principles to Health and Safety Day 3 Key Legislation, Commonly Occurring Hazards and Their Controls: • The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 • Working time • First aid • Reporting of accidents • Fire • Safety signs and signals • Electricity • Display screen equipment • Manual handling • Chemicals/Hazardous substances • Personal protective equipment • Work equipment and Machinery • Traffic management Day 4 Construction Related Legislation, Commonly Occurring Hazards and Their Controls: • Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007, Part 4 • Lifting operations and equipment • Noise • Vibration • Lead • Asbestos • Confined spaces • Pressure systems • Radiation • Elevated working places • Safety in earthworks • Flammable liquids and gases • The construction working environment Day 5 • Human Behaviour in Accident and Ill-Health Prevention • Effective Communication • Control of Contractors • Training

• Course Assessment (A 30 minute test paper, similar in format to mock assessments performed during the course) • Course Discussion and Completion (Including the introduction to the Course Project, which is an inspection and risk assessment performed by the delegates of their workplace. This is performed subsequent to the course and submitted to the course tutor for marking)

Maximum number of course delegates: 16

Public Courses

This course is offered as a public course, for individuals to book and attend.

Course Cost: £820.00 per delegate, plus VAT (Discounts for multiple bookings) Currently programmed public courses are: • 28, 29 & 30 April and 6 & 7 May 2015 (Staffordshire) (Ref: IMSC150428)

In-house Courses

This course is also offered as an in-house course, where an organisation can book the tutor for the 5 days and the course is presented within the organisation’s own premises.

This option can reduce the course cost and the travel/accommodation costs where the organisation has a number of their staff requiring this training.

A lump sum price can be provided for in-house courses.

Further details of this, and other, courses can be found at: www.callsafe-services.co.uk, or by contacting Gemma Esprey at: gemma.esprey@callsafeservices.co.uk or by phone on: 01889 577701

UKC NEWS

£55M deal will mean 800 new homes for rent in Greater Manchester Housing Minister Brandon Lewis has announced a multi-million pound deal that will provide nearly 800 homes specifically for private rent in Greater Manchester.

The minister welcomed this latest deal through the government’s £1Bn Build to Rent scheme, which is well on track to build 10,000 new homes for private rent.

The move is the latest in a series of steps this government has taken to get Britain building - creating jobs and providing homes and security for hardworking people.

The Build to Rent fund is designed to help developers produce largescale, quality homes, specifically for the private rented sector.

Under the terms of the agreement, developers Renaker will receive £55M to build 779 new homes across two sites in Manchester and Salford.

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Each site will include a mix of one-, twoand three-bedroom properties. Work is already underway, and is expected to be completed by the middle of next year.

Housing Minister Brandon Lewis said: “Millions of people use the flexible option of renting so I’m determined to create a bigger, better private rental market offering greater choice for tenants.

“This extra money will not only create 800 more homes for the people of Manchester and Salford, it will also create jobs and security for hardworking people - a vital part of our long term economic plan to secure a better future for Britain.”

Chief Executive of the Homes and Communities Agency Andy Rose said: “This is a major investment in the private rented sector in Manchester.

It demonstrates how the HCA, working closely with partners,

is combining financial and local expertise to increase the private rented choice in areas where there is a high demand for homes.”

Director of Renaker Daren Whitaker said: “We are delighted to receive funding support on these two important city centre schemes from the Homes and Communities Agency.

“Each scheme has been meticulously planned and designed to deliver new and highly aspirational places to reside.”

Renaker will devote £35.1M towards providing 497 homes at the Greengate development in Salford, minutes away from Manchester Cathedral.

A further £20.2M will be invested in providing a further 282 homes for rent at their Cambridge Street development, at the heart of Manchester city centre within easy distance of Oxford Road station.

Prince Harry gives Byker project royal seal of approval A project that provides high quality accommodation for veterans in the heart of Byker, Newcastle upon Tyne, has received a special royal visitor.

Prince Harry visited Avondale House to see at first-hand the quality of the accommodation being provided to veterans and also meet some of the residents living there.

Avondale House, which is owned by the Byker Community Trust (BCT), includes 34 one-bedroom flats, a three-bedroom house and communal facilities for leisure, training and IT services. The facility is run by the charity, Armed Forces’ & Veterans’ Launchpad. The House provides a safe environment in which residents can make a responsible transition from military to civilian life and addresses the issues that can sometimes lead to homelessness and unemployment.

The BCT, with some assistance from the Armed Forces Community Covenant, invested £1M to refurbish the Grade II listed building, which plays an integral role at the centre of the iconic Byker Estate.

The BCT developed a partnership with the Launchpad to bring an unused building back into working order and to help change the lives and rehabilitate veterans into civilian life. Launchpad, the charity, encourages community interaction through events and activities and develops effective partnerships with local support agencies primarily aimed at getting the veterans employment and permanent housing.

Since the completion of refurbishment works in June 2013, the achievements of Launchpad and the BCT’s innovative project have been very successful. Up to 58 individuals who otherwise might have become homeless have been housed at Avondale House and 34 residents have gained employment.

Jill Haley, Chief Executive of the BCT, said: “It is wonderful that Prince Harry has visited Avondale House to meet the Armed Forces veterans and the staff and agencies that make this project a success.

“We are very proud of Avondale House and to be working in partnership with Launchpad to provide a base from which a range of organisations are costeffectively improving veterans’ lives and enabling them to return to civilian life and contribute to their communities.”

Barr Construction steps up redevelopment at Elliott’s Field Shopping Park Retail specialist Barr Construction has started steel work at the extension and redevelopment of Elliott’s Field Shopping Park in Rugby.

Barr Construction was appointed main contractor of the Hammerson development last year and has been on site since September. Retail property specialist owner Hammerson has proposed a wholesale redevelopment of Elliott’s Field, introducing reconfigured retail units and improving the facilities, design and access for the public.

The majority of the existing facility has been demolished and will be redeveloped into a 300,000sq ft retail destination with 15 outlets, introducing a Debenhams department store and Marks & Spencer. Elliott’s Field is due to open in autumn 2015.

The outlets will have a contemporary design with glazed double height frontages allowing retailers to maximise presentation of their brands. The remaining units on site will have new glazed shop fronts and roof coverings installed along, with upgrades to external elevations.

Barr Construction will create a raised promenade walkway above the car park, covered by a dramatic high level

canopy covering customers. A catering area will also be incorporated with an external seating deck overlooking the River Swift which runs through the site.

Additionally, improvements will be made to the existing car park, providing easier public access and a new separate goods access to the park.

Paul Griffen, Construction Director at Barr Construction, said: “We have created high quality retail space all over the UK and it is great to be working with Hammerson again on our third project together.

“We have been progressing well with the keenly anticipated improvements to Elliott’s Field. This will deliver fantastic new retail facilities and bring real benefits to local communities.”

Thomas Cochrane, Development Manager at Hammerson, said: “Our focus at Elliott’s Field is to create a shopping environment that offers the best opportunities for retailers, introducing the right format and space to attract relevant retail brands to this favourable location.”

Elliott’s Field will be one of the last projects to be delivered by Barr Construction in advance of its merger with McLaughlin & Harvey.

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THE PROBLEMS CAUSED BY JAPANESE KNOTWEED AND HOW TO DEAL WITH THEM In the last few years leading experts within the Japanese Knotweed industry working closely with the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, major lenders, building societies, the Property Care Association, insurance underwriters and more recently revised Government regulations have combined to both resolve and assist private and public land owners with solutions to Japanese Knotweed infestations.

The outcome has been the adoption of advice from the RICS which in turn removes the risk identified by lenders and by the Property Care Association Invasive Weed Group members who now have access to 10 year insured treatment polices. This has been followed by Home Office guidance designed to enforce control and to protect property owners from infestation spread from adjoining land i.e. more specific legislation. The guidance explains how Council officers or police can use community protection notices to “stop of prevent” people allowing growth of Japanese Knotweed if it is causing problems. It is important to understand that the public sector are not exempt from this guidance and local government and public sector land has the same obligations as private.

Individuals who ignore control orders will have committed a criminal offence and can be fined up to £2,500.00, organisations could be fined up to £20,000.00.

We hope that this will lead to improved collaboration between neighbours, local authorities and miscellaneous land owners where cross boundary issues have historically been difficult to resolve.

Composite treatment programmes between all parties is the sensible way forward.

What would we recommend? The first and obvious question is “Do we need to control or do we prefer to eradicate?”

There is no singular solution to the problem, it is always dependent upon individual circumstances, usually dictated by other constraints from an infestation in a domestic garden through to a redevelopment programme which requires more immediate actions for the sale of land or a redevelopment proposal with a strict timetable for construction implementation.

In the last twelve months we have dealt with a small single stand in a front garden through to a major infestation on a multimillion superstore retail development.

Experts within the Japanese Knotweed industry such as ourselves will be compliant with adopted code of practice and can offer options for eradication.

What you need to be looking for should include: • Expert site assessment.

• A follow up report and proposal in the form of a Japanese Knotweed management plan.

• The plan should include consideration of the options and an explanation as to how the recommended action was arrived at.

• The plan should include or be accompanied by costs or a programme of costs.

• If relevant to circumstances you should be offered an appropriate warranty for the work and the option of an insured guarantee.

• If you accept the Japanese Knotweed management plan and associated costs you should be offered a contract to agree the works with the Japanese Knotweed specialist.

Remember, if you want to know more or simply seek advice then your contact will always be welcomed.

Assuming the answer is to eradicate then as with most things seek professional advice but choose wisely.

Guide to Japanese Knotweed: If you would like a free copy of our Guide to Japanese Knotweed please email michael@i-v-m.co.uk to request one.

If you choose control then compare the cost of continuous control without defined outcome with the induction of professional expertise and peace of mind for at least 10 years.

Michael Alderwick Director IVM

LEADING THE WAY IN JAPANESE KNOTWEED ERADICATION THROUGHOUT ENGLAND AND WALES All IVM’s techniques for vegetation control have been developed with the environment at the forefront of thoughts

MIDLAND OFFICE: Hilltop, 11 Ley Rise,Sedgley, West Midlands DY3 3EU T: 01902 650 094 M: 07843 017 974 E: kevin@i-v-m.co.uk

SOMERSET OFFICE: Hillcombe House, 8 West Street, Ilminster, Somerset TA19 9AB M: 07889 634 237 E: michael.wiehahn@i-v-m.co.uk

CAMBRIDGE OFFICE: 118 Greenhaze Lane, Great Cambourne, Cambridge CB23 5BH T: 01954 710 853 M: 07977 134 723 E: patrick@i-v-m.co.uk

HEAD OFFICE: 77 High Street, Coleshill, Birmingham B46 3AG T: 0121 366 8916 M: 07836 321 219 E: michael@i-v-m.co.uk

www.knotweed-uk.com

UKC NEWS

Exciting regeneration scheme for Ecclesall Road announced A £35M scheme to regenerate a site on Ecclesall Road in Sheffield with private and student apartments has been unveiled.

Retail units at ground floor level are also part of the proposed development designed to replace what was once a car dealership and reintroducing an active streetscape to the section.

Two main elements are planned. One will have approximately 120 residential apartments designed for single people, couples and families - aimed predominately at the professional sector. The other will have 44 high-specification student apartments, each with comprehensive shared facilities for the increasing number of overseas students who are choosing to study in Sheffield.

MAF Properties has been providing student and private housing in Sheffield for over 25 years, including the nearby Ecclesall Gate residential development. It is nearing

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completion of another student complex, Devonshire Point, in Fitzwilliam Street, again on the fringe of the city centre.

This latest project is being delivered by the Sheffield-based Hallminster Ltd and designed by the award-winning Bond Bryan Architects Ltd. Ownership of the land, its redevelopment and its management will remain in the same local hands.

Of the proposed regeneration Hallminster representative Dan Simpson said: “The development is intended to look visually striking and will have a very high specification. It will incorporate environmentally-friendly measures, modern methods of construction and the utilisation of materials that have a relatively low embodied energy will make the development sustainable throughout its life.

“There will be a sustainable external amenity space in the form of semi-private

gardens, roof top terraces and balconies will appeal to young families. There is also a large landscaped communal courtyard at the heart of the development with a variety of native species of plants and trees encouraging biodiversity and providing a habitat for wildlife.”

Public consultation is being held ahead of a planning application being submitted to the council. It is hoped that construction can start in autumn 2015 ready for the first residents in Summer 2017.

The Ecclesall Road project reflects a surge of interest among developers in sites on the edge of the city centre, especially around the south west and with a view to attracting students. Land between nearby London Road and Bramall Lane is earmarked for the £65M New Era Square ‘Chinatown’ development of student accommodation, shops, business incubator units, offices and food and drink outlets.

Work to start on Broadway Malyan-designed archive centre Construction is set to begin on a multi-million pound archive building in Wakefield, UK, which will house historical records of regional, national and international significance - designed by architecture, urbanism and design practice Broadway Malyan.

The £6.4M West Yorkshire Archive Building is to be built in Kirkgate, with construction starting in March, and when complete in 2016 the centre will store more than ten million records over three floors.

The project is being jointly funded by the five West Yorkshire Councils, West Yorkshire Joint Services and Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) which has awarded a £3.9M grant to create a new permanent

home for the region’s archives.

Tim Brown, Director of Architecture in Broadway Malyan’s Manchester studio, said: “The start of construction is a major milestone in the development of this important scheme. Our expert design team now looks forward to partnering with the client to deliver a home for the region’s archives and a place where people can research the records for generations to come.”

The iconic building design features a perforated metal mesh wrap, which will be back-lit in the evening to provide a dramatic changing facade. The archive storage areas on the upper floors will be carefully controlled using state of the

art equipment to ensure that the unique items remain in excellent condition.

Broadway Malyan won the design appointment through an open competition in late 2013. It developed the concept design, supported the planning process and since the appointment of the contractor, Bardsley Construction, has developed the detailed design.

Distinguished by its global reach with 16 studios across world centres, unrivalled diversity with 500+ design experts and distinctive client focus with over 75% income from repeat business, Broadway Malyan creates world-class and fully-integrated cities, places and buildings to unlock lasting value.

Hundreds of jobs could be created in Yorkshire and Humberside by a major wind farm An offshore wind project has been given the go ahead by the Government and is expected to support up to 900 green jobs in Yorkshire and Humberside and millions of pounds’ worth of investment to the UK’s economy.

Dogger Bank Creyke Beck A and B wind project will include up to 400 wind turbines, around 130km off the coast of the East Riding of Yorkshire. With a maximum capacity of 2400MW it will generate enough electricity to power almost two million homes once built.

Energy and Climate Change Secretary

Ed Davey said: “This is another great boost for Yorkshire and Humberside.

This development has the potential to support hundreds of green jobs and power up to two million homes.

“Making the most of Britain’s home grown energy is creating jobs and businesses in the UK, getting the best deal for consumers and reducing our reliance on foreign imports. Wind power is vital to this plan, with £14.5Bn invested since 2010 into an industry which supports 35,400 jobs.”

Almost half of the costs associated with

building and operating a wind farm are spent buying services and products from UK businesses. This translates into real jobs, particularly in areas like Yorkshire which is becoming an energy hub. Siemens and ABP announced a combined investment of £310M to develop new wind turbine production and installation facilities in Hull last year, creating over 1,000 new jobs.

This is one of the largest investments in the Humberside area in the last 50 years and clearly demonstrates that the UK is the leading market for the sector.

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UKC NEWS

Wicona facade solution for award-winning transport interchange The team behind the new landmark Transport Interchange in Rochdale has been celebrating a series of award successes and recognition for excellence in architecture and engineering.

Designed by AHR Architects and built

by Kier Construction, the £11.5M Rochdale Interchange features a highly innovative, energy-efficient and specially-adapted glass and aluminium facade solution from Wicona.

The scheme has now been recognised with the award for Lancashire Regional Project of the Year at the North West Regional Construction Awards, and the award for Best Medium Project at the North West Structural Awards organised by the Institution of Structural Engineers.

The project was also shortlisted in two categories in the RICS North West Awards and for an LABC Constructing Excellence Regional Award.

Fundamental to the building’s design was to construct a fully enclosed single concourse with a high degree of transparency to create a dramatic and impressive gateway to the town for visitors and daily users. The project has successfully delivered an enhanced

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experience for users, exceptional passenger facilities, capacity for growth and is one of Europe’s first hydroelectric powered transport interchanges.

Around 1,400sq m of Wicona’s WICTEC 50SG structurally glazed curtain walling was used at first and second floor levels and as large spans to enclose the retail units inside the building. The glazing for the external facades and shop frontages was fabricated and installed

by Glassolutions Installation and was designed to create a frameless, glassto-glass appearance and achieve visual consistency across the project.

This was a particularly complex facade project because the interchange is located on a sloping site, resulting in the angle increasing from one mullion to the next, which meant every single pane of glass is different. The scheme also features distinctive stepped and tilted roof plates to reflect the gradient of the site.

According to Alistair Branch, Project Architect at AHR Architects: “This was a challenging project because of the incline of the site and the fact that there are so few straight lines in the building. The WICTEC system was sufficiently flexible to deliver all the technical requirements for this scheme - spans, loads and faceted elements, and to fit into a complex building envelope. It also met the client’s requirements for providing a seamless external facade with contemporary clean lines for a modern appearance.”

DIO delivers new accommodation at Europe’s biggest residential driving school The Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) will soon complete the last of four new accommodation blocks at the Defence School of Transport at Leconfield in East Yorkshire.

Building and outfitting the four blocks, which will provide modern, state-of-the-art accommodation for 768 personnel, was challenging because the school, which trains around 20,000 MOD personnel a year, had to keep running throughout the project.

This required a whole-site planning approach to ensure that the £28M project, which included the installation of underground infrastructure and the demolition of old accommodation blocks as well as the construction of the new blocks, did not disrupt the heavy training workload of the school.

DIO Project Manager Mike Reynolds said: “By working closely with our customers at the school we were able to develop a phased approach which moved service personnel into each new block as it was completed, allowing us to demolish the old blocks as we went along.

“This project is a great example of how DIO works with our armed forces to enhance defence capability, support our troops and deliver an outstanding service to Defence and the taxpayer.”

DST commandant Col Rob Peacock said: “I have been extremely impressed with the flexible way in which DIO initially approached and then executed this project, which allowed the school to run at full operating capacity throughout the two years it has taken to complete, and even delivered two of the new blocks ahead of schedule.”

DST Leconfield is one of the Schools that make up the Defence College of Logistics Policing and Administration. It is a Tri-Service establishment which is the Centre of Excellence for Wheeled Driver training for defence and provides 150 different courses, including the 60 ton Kalmar RT240 rough terrain container handler. The School provides licence acquisition and driver training for all categories from cars to all large goods vehicles and coaches, as well as training for logistics officers, driving examiners and instructors.

juanita@birkettsbogmats.com

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UKC NEWS

Increased demand for off-site construction from major contractors The Portakabin Group is seeing a significant increase in demand for its Yorkon off-site construction solutions from the UK’s leading building and civil engineering contractors.

According to the Portakabin Group, the biggest issue for contractors is the reduction of risk - how to minimise the possibility of budget overruns and delays, accidents on site, and mitigate the impact of a volatile labour market.

Off-site construction can radically reduce risk for contractors on a number of levels: The approach has been proven to deliver much greater cost and contract certainty and consistent delivery on programme.

The Portakabin Group, for example, has completed 99.7% of its projects on time and on budget for more than a decade.

The Portakabin Group has a retained and highly skilled workforce, significantly reducing the reliance on subcontracted

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labour, which helps to address the skills shortages and geographical volatility in the labour market that can impact on major contractors.

By working in an engineering environment, maximising work off site and avoiding work at height, the Portakabin Group has had zero major injuries on Yorkon sites for the last five years.

Yorkon off-site building solutions reduce programme times by up to 50%. This is an important benefit for contractors needing to achieve a watertight building envelope for earlier fitting out, thereby reducing time on site and all the associated costs.

These programme reductions and off-site working can also facilitate projects on the critical path of a much larger scheme.

Recent applications of this approach include two healthcare buildings at Royal Sussex County Hospital which are crucial to unlocking the space for

Laing O’Rourke to proceed with the main hospital redevelopment, and a number of track-side buildings which formed part of the £54M Reading Train Care Depot for main contractor VolkerFitzpatrick.

Simon Ambler, Director of the Portakabin Group, comments: “The advantages to contractors and the reductions in risk that off-site construction can bring are clear. We are able to offer much greater assurance of completion on time and on budget - and our unprecedented performance figures over the last ten years, reaffirm this. As part of a privately owned, financially sound building group, we have a highly skilled, permanent workforce and a robust, longestablished supply chain in place that is not affected by fluctuations in the labour market, particularly in London and the South East.”

Government invests £25M in game-changing green technologies Windows that act as solar panels, an engine which runs on landfill emissions and Europe’s biggest battery are all a step closer to reality after receiving a share of £24.5M of government funding.

These projects are among 40 new technologies which have won funding through the first round of Innovate UK’s Energy Catalyst, which is designed to help tackle the socalled energy ‘trilemma’ of reducing carbon emissions, increasing security of supply and cutting the cost of energy.

Business and Energy Minister, Matthew Hancock said: “The projects we are backing, through the Energy Catalyst, demonstrate the depth and breadth of British innovation in the sector. Many of these projects are not only UK firsts, but world firsts, and by supporting them at this early stage, we will ensure the UK reaps the rewards in the future.

“By funding this research we are not only working towards our goal of reducing carbon emissions, but fostering an environment that will create jobs, grow business and maintain the UK’s position at the cutting edge of technological advancement.”

Rob Saunders, Head of Energy at Innovate UK said: “The projects that have won funding in this first round are exactly the sort of innovative ideas we had in mind when the energy catalyst was created. The second round is well under way and I’m certainly looking forward to seeing UK firms come forward with more new ways of securing a reliable, low carbon and low cost energy system.”

Among the winners is Cambridge-based Nyak Technology which has been awarded almost £200,000 to help develop an organic solar cell that could eventually see the windows in our homes replaced by transparent, energy producing solar panels. Not only would this be a far more discreet and convenient means of harnessing solar power in the home, it could also prove to be far cheaper. Early research suggests that these cells could reduce the overall cost of solar devices by as much as 70%.

Another winner, Oaktec, is intending to use the £220,000 it has received to fund a system which is not dissimilar to technology first seen in the 80s classic movie, Back to the Future. It will be testing the feasibility of its Pulse-R engine system, which can use the untreated gas from landfill sites. ower a self-supercharged biogas engine.

juanita@birkettsbogmats.com

www.birkettsbogmats.com

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UKC NEWS

ISG Secures a brace of wins for its Agilis template school ISG and Architect Stride Treglown’s Agilis schools template has been selected by Vale of Glamorgan County Council to deliver a further two new primary schools with a combined value of £5.5M. ISG’s first Agilis project for the council was successfully handed over last year, with Ysgol Gymraeg Nant Talwg in Barry becoming the first template school to be delivered in Wales.

Following the success of the pioneering Ysgol Gymraeg Nant Talwg project, the Agilis template will be used for the new £2.2M Ysgol Gymraeg Dewi Sant primary school in Llantwit Major. A £3.3M Agilis scheme in Barry sees ISG deliver Oak Field Primary - a new English language school on the campus of the existing Welsh language school, Ysgol Gymraeg Gwuan Y Nant - which will also be refurbished as part of the project.

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Ysgol Gymraeg Dewi Sant will be constructed on the site of an existing school, which will remain operational throughout the programme. The 210 pupil, single-storey steel frame school will be built on a sloping site with a central learning zone leading to eight classrooms and a flexible sports/dining hall space.

Through the use of advanced building materials and intelligent design, the new school will achieve an excellent EPC A environmental performance rating. Ysgol Gymraeg Dewi Sant will also boast roofmounted photo voltaic cells to generate emission free electricity. The project is set for completion ahead of the start of the new academic year in September.

The flexible Agilis template will be modified at Oak Field Primary School, creating a two-storey building that addresses

the restrictions of a confined site. The existing school on the Barry campus provides both English and Welsh language teaching and the scheme will create a standalone English language school for 210 pupils, with the project including a substantial refurbishment of Ysgol Gymraeg Gwuan Y Nant. Completion is scheduled for summer 2015.

Jon James, ISG’s Western regional director, comments: “Both projects demonstrate the inherent flexibility of the Agilis schools template, with modifications being introduced to both of these schemes to address specific site conditions. Agilis provides a fast and high-quality roll out solution for the Vale of Glamorgan County Council, which has embraced this new construction process and methodology to great effect.”

Britcon to build £4.2M Technical Centre at AMP Building and civil engineering contractor, Britcon has been awarded a significant contract by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) to design and build a £4.2M technical centre at the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) in Sheffield.

The AMP supports businesses that provide world-class technology solutions for use in precision industries including aerospace, defence, construction, automotive, sport and others. The 100 acre development is a joint venture between public and private sector organisations to create an internationally recognised centre for engineering, innovation, research and manufacturing excellence.

At its hub, the AMP has some of the world’s leading materials and manufacturing technologies

organisations: the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre with Boeing (AMRC), Rolls-Royce, Castings Technology International (CTi), TWI Technology Centre (Yorkshire) and the Nuclear AMRC. The technology park is also part of a plan announced by Sheffield and Rotherham to create the first Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District in the UK. Working alongside AHR Architects and WYG Engineers, Britcon will deliver a 32,291sq ft facility which will include five split level workshops with shared office space. The building is to be marketed as an incubator for high tech business alongside other buildings within the AMP. Ian Chapman, Regional Manager at Britcon said: “We are delighted to

secure this major contract through our Yorkshire office. Our combined design and build capabilities and sector track record has qualified us, through a very strict tender process, to deliver a one stop solution for the HCA.” Amanda Keeton at the Homes and Communities Agency said: “The contract for this important building was let on a competitive basis and it is great that a local firm has won the work. The Technical Centre has become necessary because of the success of the AMP and the need to provide more space for high technology start-up businesses.”

Britcon expects to start construction of the new facility in March with completion anticipated in September 2015

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UKC COMMENT

An implied obligation to act in good faith?

By Peter Sheridan, Partner, Sheridan Gold LLP Until recently, it was established that there is in English contract law normally no implied term requiring the parties to act in good faith, although in certain specific types of contract, such as insurance contracts, there is a duty of good faith, implied by law.

However, first in Yam Seng (2013), then in 2014 in the Emirates Trading case and in Bristol Groundschool v Intelligent Data Capture, it was held in relation to commercial contracts on the facts of the cases that there was an implied term of good faith (all first instance judgments, delivered in the knowledge that they were seeking to break new ground).

The term is said in these cases to be implied not by law but as a matter of the interpretation of the parties’ intentions and the circumstances surrounding the contract. It follows that the Yam Seng approach does not lay down a principle applicable to other cases. There is still no implied obligation of good faith of general application in commercial contracts, but there is a recent judicial trend in favour of finding such an implied obligation on the facts of particular cases.

Where there is an implied obligation to act in good faith, what is the content and extent of the obligation? Two limbs are suggested in Yam Seng: (1) honesty and (2) fidelity to the parties’ bargain. The writer has little difficulty in accepting that a requirement of honesty may often be implied as a matter of contractual interpretation. See for example the construction cases Makers v Camden (2008) and Eurocom v Siemens (2014), in which Ramsey J stated that “as a general principle, parties enter into contracts on the basis that the other party to the contract will act honestly.” However, a contention for such an obligation was rejected by Akenhead J in TSG Building Services v South Anglia Housing (2013), so that even on this limb Yam Seng lays down no principle applicable to other cases.

The analysis in Yam Seng concerning fidelity to the parties’ bargain is less

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convincing; the principles relied on here are covered by other established rules, such as those applying to the construction of express terms and the rules on implied terms, which in some contracts will include a co-operation obligation. There was no need to introduce a new concept of an implied obligation of good faith to encompass or to apply these principles.

Equally these principles were developed and established in the higher courts without any reference to the concept of good faith.

The parties may impose a good faith obligation by express term, either generally or in relation to specified matters. Indeed, it has been stated by Jackson LJ in the Court of Appeal (after the Yam Seng case, which Jackson LJ treated as an example of one of the exceptional specific types of contract referred to above) that if the parties want to impose such an obligation, they must do so expressly (see Mid-Essex Hospital v Compass Group (2013).

Some guidance on what is required when a good faith obligation is implied may be gleaned from cases where there was an express obligation to act in good faith: see for example Mid-Essex Hospital v Compass Group and CPC Group v Diar Real Estate Investment (2010). However, again, beyond the obligation to act honestly and not in bad faith (see for example Manifest Shipping v Uni-Polaris Insurance (2001), clear principles providing guidance for future cases are hard to derive.

To the extent that fairness or fair dealing is invoked, a problem that arises (in addition to vagueness) is the extent to which a party is required by such an obligation to act against its own interest, for example by revealing information it alone has. However, the problem has to be addressed where there is an express obligation to act in good faith (see Berkeley Community Villages v Pullen (2007) for a consideration of reasonable commercial standards of fair dealing).

The Yam Seng, Emirates Trading and Bristol Groundschool cases concerned “relational” contracts, that is contracts involving a long-

term relationship to which the parties make a substantial commitment. The somewhat vague notion here is that such relationships require some good faith-based conduct or loyalty which is not expressly legislated for in the contract terms but is implicit in the parties’ understanding and necessary to give proper effect to the contract.

Thus it is argued that it is more likely that there will be an implied obligation of good faith in a relational contract.

For more information, contact Peter Sheridan Partner at Sheridan Gold LLP T: 01737 735088 E: psheridan@sheridangold.co.uk www.sheridangold.co.uk

Peter Sheridan

rics.org/constructionupdate-qs

UKC COMMENT

How can we attract talented young people into the house-building industry?

Neil Smith, Head of Research and Innovation, NHBC Foundation The economic downturn in 2008 has had similar consequences to previous recessions; a sharp decline in output of new homes, a serious outflow of skilled and experienced personnel from the industry and a challenge to attract new talent in the recovery. While NHBC figures for 2014 show the number of new homes registered increased by 9% on top of a 28% increase in 2013, if the number of skilled people fails to increase by the same amount then the pressure on the industry becomes ever greater.

Last year, the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) published a report that indicated 82% of respondents believe that a skill shortage exists in the construction industry. The CIOB report “No more lost generations” goes on to say that the industry employs fewer young people relative to its size than the UK economy does as a whole.

To try and understand why young people are under-represented in construction – and more specifically house building – the NHBC Foundation has recently published A career of choice: attracting talented young people into house building which explores why young men and women might not choose a career in house building.

The NHBC Foundation research looks at how young people between the ages of 14 and 22 view careers in house building and explores what detracts them but also, significantly, what might attract them.

It revealed that while over a third of boys and young men (37%) are interested in building and construction, only one in ten girls and young women (11%) are interested, the lowest level of interest of any other job sector included in the study.

When asked about specific careers in house building, girls and young women became significantly more interested.

When young people were given positive, factual information about the wider benefits of house building, many felt much more interested in considering it as a career.

This was backed by a survey of young people who have already been recruited into the industry which found that 94% were positive about the information they received about the job before they started.

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The report’s key findings are as follows: ••Young people could often identify practical site-based jobs in house building such as bricklaying and carpentry but, apart from architecture, were largely unable to identify professional career opportunities, such as those in project management, technical design or business management.

••It is not clear if those advising young people, in particular parents and careers advice specialists, have sufficient knowledge of house building to pass on a good appreciation of the range of jobs and careers available.

••A good number of boys and young men (between 33% and 42%) were interested in careers in various house-building jobs types. Overall, girls and young women were less interested, though it is clear that a number of technical jobs did appeal more strongly to them.

••The level of interest in house-building jobs was highest at school age 14-15, slightly lower for those in college and significantly lower for those in university.

Across the educational stages, interest in most house-building jobs was significantly more than the interest shown for a career in construction in general.

••The research highlighted the value of positive language about the role

and contribution of house building. A number of positive statements were tested and dramatically increased the interest in house building careers among young people.

••The work also explored how young people received information about careers. This emphasised the importance they place on visits to employers and presentations at their place of study from advocates and role models.

Attracting young people, particularly young women, is now critical if we are to create and sustain a stable workforce in the house-building industry, which is why the NHBC Foundation has also given its backing to Employment Minister Esther McVey’s #notjustforboys campaign encouraging more women to consider careers in male-dominated industries.

The report concludes with a number of recommendations, one of which urges house-building companies to establish or build further their links with educational establishments.

House builders who forge the right links and provide the more imaginative partnerships with schools and colleges stand to win the battle for recruitment.

Tea Leaves and Lottery Numbers A year ago I penned an article called "Recovery and The Overtrading Dilemma" and in the last week Contractors and Sub-Contractors with a combined annual turnover of ÂŁ750 million have gone bust. It seems that my tea leaf reading was up to scratch and my prediction of unwanted insolvencies is coming to pass.

So why are so many companies failing now when prices are rising and economic recovery is so well underway? I am pretty sure that overtrading is the cause.

Historical data shows that as many firms go bust coming out of recession as those that fail in the depths of a slow-down.

The reasons for this are varied but the usual cause is overtrading. Overtrading is, in effect, losing control of your working capital requirements.

Companies need working capital to fund day-to-day trading activities. As workload and turnover increase so too does the need for working capital to pay your trading bills, salaries and other operating expenses.

Insolvency is defined as either having liabilities in excess of assets, that is negative net worth, and/or having no ability to pay creditors as and when payments fall due. It is the latter definition which usually causes failure and is often a symptom of overtrading.

So what are the warning signs of overtrading? The following are typical symptoms: a) Your overdraft is increasing month by month b) Operating margins are starting to slide c) Debtor days are starting to move out d) Key suppliers are beginning to get nervous and apply pressure by threatening to put you on stop e) Your accounts team begins to spend more and more time fending off suppliers and sub-contractors chasing payments

We all like to see a healthy order book and growing business and it can be very hard to turn down an offer of what you believe will be profitable work. But sometimes this is exactly what a prudent business owner should do if it is determined in advance that the project cannot be funded.

increased requirement will be long before you become committed and pass the point of no return.

So how do you avoid overtrading and certain failure? The answer is easier to say than it is to do in practice and can be summed up in six words - "cash flow analysis, projection and control".

There is no excuse for failing to understand your business and its cash requirements. If the skill sets are not readily available in your business you simply cannot afford not to buy in these resources.

It is absolutely essential that you understand the cash inflow and outflow on every project you are working on and the outflow of cash required to fund your operating overheads such as rent, rates, heating, lighting, administrative salaries, insurances, vehicle costs and so on. From this information you should be able to produce a company model which shows on a week-by-week basis what your income and expenditure looks like and, in doing so, project and control what working capital is required by way of bank overdraft, loans or similar.

Crossing your fingers and hoping for the best, whatever that might be, is not the way to avoid overtrading and inevitable disaster.

If you are a Company Director, have doubts about your trading position and wish to avoid being held personally liable for your company's debts, TAKE CONFIDENTIAL ADVICE before it is too late.

Each new contract win should be analysed on the same basis and imposed on your operating model and any potential contract should be analysed and fed into the company model before it is accepted.

Lack of analysis, projection and cash modelling is likely to cause a disaster.

The last week of construction company failures demonstrates my point exactly.

If only I was as successful at predicting the lottery numbers.......

Peter Vinden is Managing Director of The Vinden Partnership, the UK's leading construction business recovery specialists. He can be contacted by email at pvinden@vinden.co.uk. For similar articles visit www.vinden.co.uk

It might be that you can only accept the latest contract if advantageous payment terms can be negotiated from your client or with key suppliers and sub-contractors.

It may be it cannot be funded at all but the point is you need to know!

It should never be assumed that your bank will provide an increase in facilities to overcome shortfall in working capital requirements. It is precisely this sort of assumption that has led to many a company's undoing.

So, in summary, if the decision to take on a new contract is going to increase your working capital requirement, it is essential that you understand what the

Regent House, Folds Point, Folds Road, Bolton BL1 2RZ t. 01204 362888 f. 01204 362808 tvp@vinden.co.uk www.vinden.co.uk

ESTIMATING & VALUATION SOFTWARE

Medlock FRB Limited (Oldham) are a specialist fit out, refurb and build contractor with their own bespoke manufacturing facility Jim Storey, a Commercial Manager for Medlock FRB Limited, talks to ConQuest.

Medlock are a general contractor but do a lot of fit out work, normally up to £2m. He has been using ConQuest since 2008 and has been an Estimator/QS for 32 years. He has used other systems in the past and seen technology change dramatically. When asked about other systems Jim responds: “ConQuest is just more contractor friendly than other systems, it is the best system out there. I can see it from both sides, surveying and estimating, and it works well. I like the Cost Planning, On Screen Take Off, Libraries and the Comparisons module, linked with the On Line Enquiries is particularly good.”

Sending out Subcontractor Enquiries is often a big part of any tender, using the On Line Enquiries module in ConQuest, the Medlock FRB Limited office can’t believe how efficient it is:

“We actually have a sweepstake in the office on how long it will take for the first price to come back. 18 minutes was the winner this week. With the change in technology and the subcontractor enquiries being so easily packaged up within ConQuest, it makes it so fast. I could not be without it.”

“More contractor friendly”

01204 669689 sales@conquest.ltd.uk

THE ESTIMATING SOFTWARE PEOPLE

UKC COMMENT

Compensation for disruption?

Hands off, Mr Blatter FIFA’s sudden decision to move the 2022 Qatar World Cup to winter sparked fury across the Premier League and the European Club Association. Why? Because of inevitable disruption to the already congested fixture programme of the lucrative European leagues, which supply a high percentage of players to the World Cup. No bumper Christmas jamboree for City, United et al. Three seasons shunted around. Many are unhappy.

And pay-outs of compensation to clubs for this disruption? Definitely not says Sepp Blatter. How this will play out remains to be seen, but there will clearly be a substantial impact on clubs at home and on the continent.

Compensation for disruption in the construction world is thankfully less contentious, albeit not without its own challenges.

Whilst “disruption” is commonly joined at the hip with “delay”, the two are not the same and do not always appear together.

The Society of Construction Law Delay and Disruption Protocol describes disruption as: “Disturbance, hindrance or interruption to a Contractor’s normal working methods, resulting in lower efficiency.”

Keating on Construction Contracts comments: “Disruption occurs where there is a disturbance of the contractor’s regular and economic progress and/or delay to a non- critical activity even though,

on occasion, there is no or only a small ultimate delay in completion.”

The causes of disruption are numerous ranging from variations and late issue of instructions to lack of supervision, out of sequence working, site access difficulties, and opening up/inspections. Weather can also be a factor (as it was with the Qatar World Cup moving from summer to winter).

Having established that an event of disruption exists, a contractor is entitled to recover payment of compensation where it can show that either: (a) it is specifically entitled to under its contract, for example under a loss and expense or variation clause; or (b) the Employer is in breach of the contract.

But recovery of compensation for disruption hinges on proof of three criteria - liability, causation and loss. Whilst establishing liability may be comparatively simple, establishing and proving a direct link between cause and effect (every event of disruption and each item of loss) is complex and far more problematic.

In measuring disruption there is no one size fits all; it depends on the nature of the project. Disruption is all about loss of efficiency and productivity, primarily relating to the contractor’s plant or labour. Where the project involves repetition rather than discrete elements of works, the favoured approach is

often the “Measured Mile”, comparing productivity / efficiency on a disrupted area of the works with an identical undisrupted area. Otherwise, alternative approaches including percentage additions, comparative work studies, or use of model productivity curves may be utilised.

In terms of proving cause and effect, site records surrounding planned and actual productivity and efficiency are key, but often absent. In that case, detailed retrospective analysis becomes difficult, if not impossible and a contractor may be faced with no alternative but to submit a total loss or “global” claim. Somewhat more attractive following Walter Lilly & Company Ltd v Giles Patrick Cyril Mackay and another [2012] EWHC 1773 (TCC), but nevertheless a risky strategy.

Mr Blatter may well get his way - with English and European clubs having to swallow disruption costs within their healthy balance sheets, hoping that their “stars” will augment their value in the desert. UK contractors are not afforded that luxury and without the benefit of such assets, may find the challenges and costs of disruption more difficult to absorb. But, play by the rules, the battle for disruption costs is theirs to win.

A successful outcome. Just as we and Mr Blatter hope for in 2022?

Sarah Evans, Senior Associate, Thomas Eggar LLP Photo by, Sophie James / Shutterstock.com

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UKC CASE STUDY

Paisley masterplan drives a heritage regeneration agenda Heritage driven regeneration masterplans are increasingly at the vanguard of regeneration practice across Scotland’s towns and cities. Those which incorporate the innovative use of heritage assets can elevate proposals so that they become effective catalysts for vibrancy and regeneration.

Thinking big by focussing on the town’s cultural assets is at the heart of plans to rejuvenate Paisley in Renfrewshire.

The aim of the Paisley Town Centre Asset Strategy is to build on the town’s outstanding architecture, along with its cultural strengths, to provide a £45M a year boost to the local economy, create 800 jobs and pave the way for a UK City of Culture bid for 2021.

Paul McTernan, head of regeneration and masterplanning at SLR Consulting, prepared the strategy on behalf of Renfrewshire Council.

“It’s all about maximising potential through a culture-driven regeneration initiative,” he explains.

“Establishing Paisley as an international destination for Scottish culture and contemporary performing arts could provide a ‘step change’ similar to that already seen in recent years in towns such as Derry-Londonderry, Hull and Dundee.

These towns share a similar history of decline following a manufacturing heyday. They successfully implemented

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a ‘cultural city’ best practice approach and we have adopted a strategy along these lines to revitalise Paisley’s town centre while helping to address the area’s underlying socio-economic issues.”

“Essentially, Paisley’s heritage – including more than 100 outstanding listed buildings, rare books and paintings and the finest Paisley Shawl collection in the world – are of international significance and will be used to drive tourist-led regeneration. Paisley was once the global centre of the thread industry and its name is recognised throughout the world as a global brand in textile innovation. That legacy has enormous potential to transform the place.”

The vision is to create an authentic and unique visitor experience backed by investment from public, private and international sources to revitalise Paisley’s town centre. A key aspect of the scheme is the multi-million pound revamp of Paisley Museum to create an internationallyrecognised Museum of Textiles, Fashion, Costume and Design. The town would also see the construction of a new theatre and arts centre, as well as further development at key tourist attractions, such as Paisley Town Hall and Coats Observatory.

Further objectives include the creation of a Paisley Fashion and Design Centre on the High Street as well as an integrated programme of cultural activities and a new

events programme embracing a thriving local arts scene. (Paisley is home to PACE, the largest youth theatre in the UK).

Estimates suggest the scale of investment required would be around £90M. However, with many Scottish tourist destinations experiencing significant increases in visitor numbers over the last few years, it looks as though, when it comes to returns, Paisley currently represents an untapped opportunity.

“The masterplan for the renaissance of Paisley is based on a series of connected initiatives to develop new cultural assets as well as enhance existing ones,” continued Paul.

“Improving the public realm and boosting connectivity between key sites in the centre will also improve a sense of community and cohesion.”

Given the traditional hand-weaving heritage of Paisley, the redevelopment of the museum is seen as the top priority, as it will help to kick-start the rest of the regeneration programme by raising civic pride and drawing new visitors to the town.

A key aspect of the strategy is linking the museum to a business innovation programme to create and sponsor new business development in the fashion and smart textile sector. The strategy was launched by Renfrewshire Council in June and work is now underway on feasibility assessments and developing

sources of funding. It is expected that the regeneration will take around ten years to complete, although the first projects could be underway within the next two years.

In addition to a significant amount of construction and redevelopment, the Paisley Regeneration Strategy will also benchmark the town’s industrial legacy against UNESCO World Heritage Site status in order to promote awareness of the quality of Paisley’s cultural assets. Renfrewshire Council have also accepted a key recommendation of the strategy to develop a bid for UK City of Culture status in 2021.

“Derry-Londonderry secured the first UK City of Culture status for 2013 and they estimated that this will generate an additional 4,000 jobs for

the city. In fact the city predicted a £5 return for every £1 spent in funding assistance to the programme.”

The far-reaching strategy for Paisley has been shaped by extensive community and stakeholder consultation involving the Community Planning partners, local and voluntary organisations as well as Central Government, the public sector and private companies. The consensus is that Paisley offers unique cultural attractions and that, with the right investment, they could be used to transform the town’s future.

The landmark project has already been recognised by award nominations in the RTPI and Planning Awards in 2014, and so far this year it has been shortlisted for two Placemaking Awards – the first in the regional award category for Scotland;

and the second for ‘Best Use of Arts, Culture or Sports in Placemaking’. Plans for the regeneration of Paisley are also gaining international recognition, with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) arranging a series of visits in 2015 for economic representatives from other European cities to learn more about how Paisley’s plans to leverage its fabric design heritage.

Paul concluded: “This project shows how a regeneration planning methodology can leverage fundamental change in the way towns and cities use their cultural asset base as a platform for economic and social well-being. It is a project about the heart and soul of a place. In the words of Benjamin Disraeli “Keep your eye on Paisley”.

31

UKC PROFILE

The Environment Agency

Reducing the threats of flooding and coastal change As has been seen in recent years, serious flooding can happen at any time and can have a devastating effect on individuals, communities and property. In England, more than five million properties are at risk of flooding – that’s nearly one in six.

There are also more than 200 homes at risk of complete loss to coastal erosion in the next 20 years, with a potential for 2,000 more properties to be at risk over this period.

The Environment Agency was established in 1996 to protect and improve the environment with the focus to create better places for people and wildlife and support sustainable development. It is responsible within England for managing the risk of flooding from surface water, groundwater and watercourses and helping communities recovery efforts.

The Environment Agency has recently announced a six-year £2.3Bn flood defence programme to better protect homes, businesses and farmland in England from the risk of flooding.

This first ever long-term investment programme will protect over 300,000 properties; reduce flood risk by 5% and save the economy £2.7Bn by 2021.

The lifetime benefits are expected to be even higher at over £30Bn. With 1,400 projects to be undertaken within the programme, and the potential for new schemes to be added as the programme progresses, local authorities will be able to plan ahead and reassure communities that the threat of flood risk is being addressed in their area.

Environment Agency Chairman, Sir Philip Dilley, said: “Our priority is to do as much as we can with every pound of funding from Government and local partners, we now expect to provide better flood protection to an additional 300,000 properties in England by the end of the decade.

“With one in six homes in England at risk of flooding, and recognising the risk of flooding can never be eliminated, we would also encourage people to take their own steps to prepare for flooding, for example by signing up to the Environment Agency’s free flood warning service.”

As part of this huge investment, homes in

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the Thames Valley will benefit from new flood defences at a cost of close to £300M. The new flood defence scheme in Oxford is worth over £100M and will provide protection to over 3,000 homes.

Government funding has also been allocated to the Lower Thames scheme, which will offer better protection to around 15,000 homes. The Thames Estuary programme will reduce the risk to 8,219 properties.

The Oxford Western Conveyance Flood Channel will offer protection to 1,200 properties and the Lower Mole Flood Alleviation scheme will reduce the risk to 3,064 properties in Surrey.

Another multi-million pound Environment Agency flood alleviation scheme recently completed is the construction of new flood defences for homes and businesses in Morpeth, Northumberland against the threat of flooding from the River Wansbeck.

Since the beginning of 2013, contractors working on behalf of the Environment Agency and Northumberland Council have been constructing new defences in the town and providing improvements to the ones already in place. This has included work at High Stanners to construct a new floodwall and embankment along the riverside area to tie in with Oldgate Bridge at one end and Skinnery Bridge at the other.

Until the £27M flood alleviation scheme commenced, the residents of High Stanners had no form of protection against the devastating impact of flooding. The new floodwall and three new flood gates that make up the flood defence is complete and water tight, and reduces the risk of flooding to homes and businesses at the highest risk in the lowest lying area of the town.

Flood protection for the whole of Morpeth will be further improved when the upstream floodwater storage is completed in early 2015.

The upstream dam on the Mitford Estate, which is in its final stages of completion, will operate by storing up 1.4M cubic metres of water when river levels on the Wansbeck are high and creating a flooding risk.

A further £20M of investment has also been pledged to reduce flood risks across the English Severn and Wye catchment over the next six years. Members of the Environment Agency’s English Severn

and Wye Regional Flood and Coastal Committee (RFCC) pledged approximately £6M over the next six years towards flood alleviation works across the catchment.

The Levy funds pledged by the RFCC members will support national Grant in Aid funds that were announced by the Government in December 2014.

This local investment has helped to provisionally secure a potential £15M funding over the next six years.

Schemes along this catchment will include a £1.2M flood alleviation scheme in Much Wenlock, which will see the creation of flood storage to protect 142 properties against the risk of flooding.

A £3M investment will be made in the Badsey Brook Flood Alleviation Scheme, which will reduce the risk of flooding to around 290 properties along the Badsey and Bunches Brook in Broadway, Childswickham and Murcot.

A further 159 properties in Whaddon, Cheltenham will see their risk of flooding from surface water reduced by the £1.6M scheme. £300,000 will also be invested to reduce the risk of flooding to 40 properties in Bedworth.

Other flood defences will be funded by this investment such as upstream storage areas, improving existing defences and constructing new ones, tackling the threat of surface water flooding and supplying individual property level protection.

Over the next six years, the benefits of this investment will include the reduction of flood risk to over 2,900 residential properties and it is hoped will prevent over £150M in damages to businesses, infrastructure and properties over the lifetime of the defences.

English Severn and Wye Regional Flood and Coastal Committee Chair Anne Wheeler said: “The local levy funds help to finance schemes which protect smaller communities that would not otherwise be eligible for full funding, as well as enabling Grant in Aid to be spent more widely across the Severn and Wye catchment We are grateful for the commitment of all our lead local flood authority partners, which helps ensure that residents at threat from flooding will now benefit from increased protection.”

UKC EVENT

BIM Show Live Preview Could you give us an introduction to BIM Show Live and its purpose?

This is our fifth year and originally, Rob Charlton of Space Group and BIM Technologies came to us and wanted to look at the idea of hosting an event associated with BIM and the key learning for the industry.

We’ve partnered with Rob and the guys for the last five years and it’s grown year on year. So the first year it ran, it was quite a small one-day conference, colocated with another event. This year we’re in Manchester with space for 70 exhibitors. The two days of content will feature plenary sessions and seminars.

How we try and separate ourselves out is by being a much more practical conference so rather than purely covering the big, holistic issues such as are we right to adopt BIM, along those lines, it’s more about finding out what people need to know to be able to implement and execute BIM more effectively. So we have some real in-depth technical sessions rather than just generic debate. And the aim is that everyone who comes can go away with something they can practically use the next day. That has always been the drive behind it.

Would you say that practical side sets you apart?

Yes, definitely. There are loads of great BIM conferences out there, loads of discussion and debate to be had. When we first

34

started, there weren’t many people on board and engaged with it, but as that’s grown our themes have developed. This year, we want people to ‘prove it’. Last year’s strapline was ‘now it’s serious’.

The theory around ‘prove it’ is that we’re doing it now. Let’s start getting some return on investment, projects delivered and see how BIM has offered value rather than a process people have adopted.

We try and steer clear of the big thinking that doesn’t lead to action. Our plenary sessions have panel debates and we have keynote speakers who are a bit more open in that regard.

One of the other things we do is get the whole supply chain involved. So rather than operating a conference just for architects and designers, just for engineers etc, it’s essential that every single one of those collaborate and work together.

So let’s give learning for all of those in one space. There’s loads of networking opportunities so they can get together and learn from each other as well.

What do you feel have been the results to the industry?

There’s been a big drive in the industry and I believe we have been a big part of that, but there’s been a lot going on. What we’d like to say is we’ve helped bring the community together. We work very closely with them, whether it’s Twitter, the UK BIM Crew, David Philp and the BIM Task

Group, we work with all those different bodies and try and be as independent as possible so it’s about engaging the industry rather than saying what we want to do at the conference and that is final.

For example, the way we source our seminar programme is open in the industry. Rather than us saying ‘these are the sessions we want to run, these are the topics we think are important’, we go out to the industry with the course papers where people put forward what they’d like to present on.

It might be an interesting project they’ve worked on, it might be a new bit of software that’s changing the way they work.

We have a panel of judges who pick the best sessions and that’s about finding out where the industry is at, what these people are doing and giving a platform to share it.

That’s probably one of the biggest things we do as a show; it’s about the industry and gives it a platform and I’d like to think we’ve done a good job of doing that.

What does the planning entail and how far in advance does it begin?

In truth, we’re thinking about next year’s show before we’ve done this year. It’s not necessarily the logistics detail, it’s more to do with what we want to talk about. There’s one piece around where do we see the content and key themes going? You look at the beginning of next year, you’ve got Level 2 and where that sits, the next year

beyond that there’ll hopefully be updates on Level 3 and the discussions going on.

So you start to map out key topics well in advance, but until you get past the show it’s quite a moveable object which changes as things develop and grow. So you look quite far ahead.

From a logistics point of view, you’re looking at sic-nine month basis where you look at venue hire, logistics detail around getting stands and suppliers booked. The content, we would look to launch two-three months prior to the conference itself and that’s when we start to really promote it.

But, for example, this year our call for papers closed around Christmas time and the final selection happened and we launched in January.

So we’re relatively in advance, but not so much so we’re not getting the latest and most relevant content.

Is it the case that you’re already formulating the themes for next year right now, even before this year’s exhibition?

Yes, but I think to be honest, some of this will happen at the show. We are really lucky that our judging panel for the seminars is ten of the leading experts in the industry who help formulate our plans and thinking. But we’ve also got 60-70 speakers as part of the show who we talk to and discuss the issues with.

Then there’s everyone you meet at the

show who turn around and tell you which sessions they enjoyed and want to find out more about. So there’s lots of discussion and debate and the one thing that the BIM Show is amazing for is the community networking, debate and discussion.

This year, we’ll look at where we’re at with Level 2 and after that, there’ll be a look ahead to Level 3 as the Government see it. We’ll work with the Task Force on things like that.

For me, I think I’d like to see more in terms of operation, so last year we started to explore facilities management to see how BIM is impacting on that.

We started amassing good examples of what people are doing, and in Edinburgh there was a great piece from BAM FM about how BIM is being used for facilities management.

We’re hoping this year we’ll see more of that, even more in 2016, and I think then it could build into a conversation about how individuals are working within the built environment, because you’ve got design intent, delivery, operation and while facilities guys play a big part on that, there’s also a big debate over you and I and how we impact in a building.

There are major infrastructure projects we’ll see come to a completion.

I went to the Bentley Year and Infrastructure Conference and saw Andrew McNaughton talk about how he sees digital growing and the use of the information part of BIM. He

gave a great example of how you’d use apps on mobile phones to do ticketing and if you were late from a meeting, you could do an instant changeover. All those elements of connectivity and how we design with that in mind is the real future that’s coming to fruition. It’ll be interesting to see that side of things and greater integration.

Each individual discipline has gone and learnt and developed what they’re doing with BIM. Bringing that together is the key and I think we’re seeing that a lot more.

How is it decided who speaks at the exhibition and what is the decision process?

It’s a real mix. We’re content-heavy with the show and the biggest challenge is scheduling all of this with the exhibition and everything else.

You break it into two main pieces. One is the plenary conference sessions. They kick off on day one in the morning, and go into the afternoon of day two.

These are where David Philp does an opening address and Rob Charlton does a state of the nation speech, and Simon Rawlinson closes the conference. Last year our keynote speaker was Marc Priestley who’s an ex-F1 McLaren mechanic and he spoke about the challenges their industry found in terms of innovation and adoption and there was a nice synergy.

There’s a real, interesting higher level continued on page 38

35

DELIVERING A NEW DATA RICH ENVIRONMENT The concept of BIM is remarkably straight forward; build a 3D model of what you plan to construct, review and check the model to make sure it works in a virtual environment and then construct it. In addition, we can extend the functionality to facilitate the downstream operation and management of the asset by providing access to essential information at the point of use.

Our opportunity through BIM remains; to reduce the waste in what we do by rationalising the process of achieving the outcome, as well as finding new opportunity from a better understanding and alignment of the end product with the initial requirements. This ideal remains at the heart of the BIM journey.

Extract from Bew-Richard 2008

Many saw the opportunity, but it commendably took Government to lead the charge and deliver the well-known route map and ingredients to reach the first milestone, level 2 BIM by 2016, nevertheless level 2 BIM is only the start of the end game.

The opportunity is significant; • Involve technology – to fundamentally enable the opportunity.

• Cause us to change our processes – to realise the opportunity and, most importantly of all • Involve the engagement of people – to embrace and deliver a new outcome.

Needless to say these changes should not be restricted to visual representation alone.

Leveraging the intelligence of the objects that we use to create the 3D virtual model allows us to count, measure, attach information and link to associated information.

With all this information connected through a virtual model of our assets in which information and knowledge can be displayed in many different forms to support our decision making, we start to replicate the simplicity and access we now see in many aspects of everyday life.

Whilst the use of technology and the internet have become part of our everyday lives, it has also become an influencing factor in the way that we work. BIM and the Cloud are starting to do the same, but there is a way to go until we repeat the same physical and behavioural impact that has happened in our daily lives.

So what needs to change to this people, process and technology infusion to reach the sweet spot of real success and make this happen?

We know real success will need to come from open easy sharing of transferrable information. At Clearbox we believe the initial stepping stone comes from how easily we can access and manage the information to allow our teams to work together, this is

require a simpler, faster, more robust and scalable viewer that connects to the data environment contained in our core product BIMXtra.

the true simplicity of the common data environment (CDE) referred to in PAS 1192 Pt2.

What are Clearbox doing to support this transformation?

At Clearbox we see this issue wrapped up in the difference between a model centric approach to BIM and a data centric approach. Ultimately our issue is to ensure that our ease of sharing and access to common data is delivered through a visual interface that allows us to see the outcomes we need at the required level of definition to suit the type of device we are using.

For us, the architecture of the product is key.

When we search on Google Earth we don’t load the detailed the model of the world as a multitude of small models. The world is loaded at a level of detail and information pertinent to the view we need and the view is then refined and the data we have access to updated as we proceed. When we access a retail website, on our smartphone the view is tailored to suit the device and the information we need, and while that view is rarely fully customisable, it is inevitably likely to be pre-customised to suit the view we require while providing access to other information should we need more.

We see that the management of the data is the mechanism to control the visual interface. While we at Clearbox have made best use of existing industry tools, our opportunity to step up our offering for users has been rate limited by the products currently on the market and we have long recognised that we

We have also recognised that such a viewer needs to be supported by the data as opposed to being completely standalone in order to manage very large projects and we have now built an exciting new viewer, based around the type of technology that powers gaming, while providing the simplicity of the interfaces and access arrangements we see in everyday life.

Our approach is to make best use of and connect to, best in class tools, wherever they exist, and where they don’t, develop our own to allow the sharing of intelligent data and information based around industry standards. This is a fast evolving environment but we know from the world around us that data is the new oil, and that a data centric approach to managing BIM is critical to the simplicity, scalability and future-proofing of our BIM solutions, just look at the road map‌ level 3 is next.

Graeme Forbes is the Managing Director of Clearbox, a specialist digital information solution provider that is focussed on bringing game changing solutions to the construction industry and other asset intensive industries based around BIM based processes.

Access to Clearbox website can be found at www.clearboxbim.com

www.clearboxbim.com

+44(0)800 085 9872

discussion that goes on in the plenary.

We tie that up with a panel session involving industry experts looking in detail around what these guys are doing in their businesses.

That’s something I work to select, so I work closely with Rob Charlton and we work with the judges, our chairman, our chairpeople. The judges help give a steer on what the topics are, who the speakers might be, if it’s people they’ve been working with or heard from.

For the plenary, it’s part influenced by the call for papers. So where there are potential topics not covered as much in the call for papers, we might look to build a main stage session in and around that.

This year, we’re looking at BIM and return on investment (ROI) again, a similar session but hopefully a bit further forward and we wanted to talk around what the ROI is and what people are getting out of it. We wanted to put that as a main stage session so that’ll be on day one.

On day two, we’re doing a BIM and specification, BIM for manufacturers session, which was born out of the fact there were a lot of presentations around it.

Sometimes that’s formulated by what the industry supplies, whether there are areas we’re lacking or whether there are areas with lots of content

38

and we feel it’s more important.

This is generally curated by us as a group.

The seminar programme is sent out for the whole of the industry. We have about 100 entries as well as another 20+ that have missed the deadline who want an extension. From this, we pick 32.

We get a lot of requests to speak and present.

We then assemble a judging panel of industry experts who get the course papers. If you want to enter, you have to submit a 500-word description of what you want to talk about, what your presentation would feature and what it would include.

There’s then three key learning points, a bit around who the target audience is and it’s built across the four stages of BIM, from start to completion.

The judges get those papers, spend a bit of their own time which is fantastic, pick out their top 30-40 and then we have a big judging day at the UBM offices where we pick out the top ones of who we agree should be placed in the seminar programme.

Quite often, you get about 20 that are unanimous and then there’s a big debate around the other 12 that get in because, inevitably, there are a lot of good presentations that should make it but don’t. We usually end up with a big ‘maybes’ pile and we have to debate

the merits over one or the other.

In truth, we’re always fully aware that we’re going to miss out on some great presentations. Quite often, we’ll get a lot of presentations on a similar theme and we can only pick so many.

Last year COBie was the big topic where we had a lot of entries, but we couldn’t have them all.

The others, I’ve no doubt, would have been great presentations, but that can be the challenge. We had something similar this year, with many presentations from SMEs covering similar topics.

So rather than picking one or two, we’ve gone to each of the speakers and asked if they’d mind taking part in a super SME group and have a big debate and discussion, with BIM SME Group chairing that.

There’s a big challenge with this, a daylong task picking out the presentations.

But it’s great because we get a feel of where the industry is at. It’s something that does really set us apart as an event.

How many exhibitors are they and how is it decided who is there?

There are 70 comprising a mix of sponsors and pure exhibitors.

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venue. We were at Park Plaza in 2013 and outgrew the space so Manchester Central gives a nice venue layout.

You’ve got an exhibition hall in the middle, off to the left there are seminar rooms and to the right you’ve got the auditorium so there’s a good flow of traffic and that was one of the big selling points for moving there.

So you’ve got loads of content in the conference and seminars, but also great exhibitors with interesting software and innovative technology that we want the delegates to see. We’re much bigger now than we were.

In truth, we don’t have a vetting process because last year we took a bigger space.

Sponsorship is less vetting but more the type of people we work with.

We’ve got five gold sponsors this year who we work closely with and help us with content, social media and marketing. The reason for that is there’s a bigger partnership with these. We tend to seek partners at that level who can help grow and develop the event. They’ll submit blogs to go on our site.

The exhibition space is a bit of a first come first served process. We’re oversubscribed this year so it’s been a challenge to accommodate people at the stands that they want.

We’ve also this year seen a lot of new exhibitors who are either start-up

40

businesses with new software or have come in from overseas and are looking at the UK market, so there’s quite a mix.

We vet to a degree but we get a lot of incoming requests to exhibit and to take part in the show which is fantastic.

There’s scope for us to grow again.

What is the most difficult aspect of arranging the exhibition?

There’s quite a big team and we work closely with Rob Charlton and his team who offer huge amounts of knowledge and contacts.

We have our marketing team, so Mike Cockin is our Marketing Manager on BIM Show Live and he does huge amounts of work as far as promoting and content-driven stuff goes.

A big part of the delivery is Sarah Austin, our Head of Event Logistics, who does the logistics side of thing and being honest, that’s often the biggest challenge, bringing it all together and making sure it runs smoothly.

There’s quite a team behind the exhibition.

From my point of view, getting the content right is a real challenge because the whole show hangs on that. Getting the seminar programme right, getting the speakers in - there are a lot of people to manage with that. It is quite a challenge.

I think we’ve been quite lucky because there’s a great team here who know

how to put on a great event.

The last month in the build up is definitely the big challenge. Once we’ve curated all the content and got all the speakers on board, you’re off and away then.

Is there anything else you’d like to mention?

For me, the biggest thing with BIM Show is the community. It’s an event that we try to have as independent as possible and that’s something we’ve grown. The 800 people we have through the doors, the networking and how they collaborate is the essence of the show.

Last year we had the BIM Show Party on the night of the first day to offer the attendees the chance to get together, have a drink, unwind and have a chat about what they’ve seen or found really interesting.

We weren’t entirely sure how many people would come and expected the worst but hoped for the best. What we got was the best. There were about 600 there, nearly every delegate attended.

It was great and everyone wanted to stay and have a chat. A lot of people fed back that it was a highlight, networking and discussing with peers, colleagues - and that’s one of the really great things about BIM Show for me.

bim@ibsecad.net

UKC PROFILE

CLiP IT:

Offering solutions for construction software needs Carl Purbrick of CLiP IT Solutions talks to UK Construction Journal about accounts and job costing software designed purely for the construction industry.

CLiP IT Solutions was formed 13 years ago because there was a belief that there was a gap in the market to create an accounts and job costing software package to help the industry’s smaller to mid-range companies.

Although we wanted to produce software to meet the needs of these companies, it was important to the directors to also provide customer support unrivalled anywhere else. Therefore, customers could trust that the support line was always available, and any queries would be answered quickly and efficiently.

Now that companies are getting busier, the likes of job costing has become even more important because it is crucial to making sure that projects are managed properly and ultimately, make profit.

The way in which it’s useful is that rather than people within a project having to wait to know what is being spent on a job, the integrated accounts and job costing system means information only needs to be entered once, updating everything in the process. Extra spreadsheets are not required.

In the old days, people would have to wait for information to be collated and entered before knowing the cost of each part of a job. With this system, that is no longer an issue because everything is up to date and relevant.

This is also beneficial because it allows issues to be spotted early and where necessary, customers can be charged for work earlier than what was once possible.

Things like retentions can be claimed when due, invoices and applications produced quickly and accurately, which all helps the contract manager to stay on top of the project.

The benefits to the systems provided by CLiP IT Solutions are obvious but we still find a general reluctance within the industry to embrace this type of technology.

Reasons for this are varied and encompass the cost of the software, the re-training

42

of staff but what I’ve found is that many of these small and mid-range companies simply aren’t aware of what we do and what we can offer the industry.

Part of this comes from the fact our services aren’t aimed at the larger companies and we’re under no illusions how difficult it is to change this awareness issue but it is a challenge we are very much looking forward to.

One of the ways we have tried to address this is by offering free software to our customers’ accountants so they can reload the data of their own clients.

This is beneficial to all because when an accountant is aware of Construction Industry Accounts (CIA), they often recommend us to their other construction clients, so we are getting our name out into the public domain in that way.

What we have found is that when clients have used and benefited from our software, it is something they wish they knew about previously because of how it helps them.

CIA software is a brilliant tool for the industry because only one entry is needed to update everything necessary.

So for example, if a customer was to enter a purchase invoice, this and the accounts and VAT are updated, but the invoice is also allocated to any of the jobs involved.

Each job is set up when a contract is won, which can be broken down into any number of subdivisions, build phases, labour, materials. After this, the user can decide the level of detail needed in accordance with their requirements.

The job costing part of CIA is the biggest reason people choose CLiP IT Solutions, as it is more important to the majority of customers. This is the key to many companies making or losing money.

Customers need to see information that is right up to date with one click of a button, in order to see how a contract is progressing.

But alongside the likes of our job costing software, we believe our other systems are invaluable to the industry. We have retentions diaries that allow customers to know how much retention is outstanding and when it’s due to be released.

There have been many occasions when myself or somebody else at the company has demonstrated this software to a customer and their records of which retentions are due are filed away without any organisation whatsoever.

This is extremely time consuming but with our retentions diaries, this problem can be removed, as the diary automatically updates when certificate of payments are recorded and invoices paid.

We are confident that our software represents the direction that the construction industry is going in.

Therefore, CLiP IT Solutions is well placed to help construction companies and software to become more productive.

Construction Industry Accouts (CIA) Software DOES IT ALL!

JOB COSTING CIS SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS

ACCOUNTS

RETENTIONS

PAYROLL

SUPPORT

ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE SPECIFICALLY TAILORED FOR THE UK CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY CIA software package is written and developed exclusively for the UK Building Industry!

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UKC BUDGET

Osborne lays out plans in Pre-Election Budget Northern Powerhouse plans progress in this Parliament’s final Budget With uncertainty regarding the state of the nation following the General Election in May being a cause for contractors to be cautious about the construction industry’s growth this year, UK Construction Media takes a look at what’s on the cards following George Osborne’s final pre-Election Budget.

UK employment rates released this morning were a big topic for the Chancellor, who praised the fact that the country now has more people in work than ever before. This was backed by yesterday’s news that the National Minimum wage and wage rates for apprentices will increase later this year. The country also had the fastest growth in the G7 last year and this, the Chancellor said, means a lot to the economy, though more needs to be done to support businesses and boost productivity.

The plans outlined today will see a major boost for many regions across the UK and in particular the Northern Powerhouse vision benefits from funding and measures announced. The Government will work with Transport for the North to roll out better roads, quicker journeys and improved rail links between the major cities in the north.

Further announcements to help the build of a Northern Powerhouse include confirmation of £20M worth of funding to Health North to build new centres in Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds, a £3.5M Government investment to renovate a former Co-Op department store in the Castlegate area of Sheffield, £3.7M investment to aid the renovation of a former police headquarters in Leeds into a six-floor incubator and £14M Government funding for the Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre in Sheffield.

In the south west there was a commitment for over £7Bn of transport investment announced also including better roads and support for air links.

Local areas will be given more power, with the announcement of a devolution deal for transport and business support for West Yorkshire and more planning powers for London, and there will be a further ten Enterprise Zones implemented across the country. There will be new city deals with Cardiff, Aberdeen and Inverness negotiations opening and the continuation of the Glasgow city deal agreement, and as outlined in the National Infrastructure Plan, today’s Budget confirmed that negotiations will be opened on the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon.

The plans for a Greater Manchester elected Mayor with more control over the local area was also backed with the devolution of health budgets now in

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plan, and the announcement that Greater Manchester will be able to keep 100% of the additional growth in local business rates to help build the Northern Powerhouse.

House builders across the country will also benefit from the Budget’s announcement of 20 new Housing Zones outside London, these will be primarily located in the Midlands and the South West with areas including Derby, Stoke-on-Trent, South Bristol, Weston-super-Mare and Gloucester.

Small businesses will also benefit from the confirmation that corporation tax will be cut by 20%, one of the lowest rates of any major economy in the world, and the abolishment of National Insurance contribution for employing under 21s and young apprentices.

The Government also announced that £140M of the promised £2.3Bn six-year flood defence programme confirmed in December will be brought forward with 47 new schemes having been given the green light. Work on a further 165 flood defence projects is also expected to start earlier than previously announced.

Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss said: “We’ve already protected 230,000 homes from the risk of flooding and coastal erosion so far this Parliament.

“We’re now bringing forward more money to protect thousands more homes and businesses sooner than originally planned, as part of our long-term economic plan.”

Schemes given the green light so far include the Fairhaven and Church Scar Coast Protection scheme in Fylde, Lancashire which is expected to start three years earlier than originally planned

and the Southsea Coastal Flood and Erosion Risk Management scheme which is now scheduled to start development more than two years earlier.

Apprenticeship wage rises and Northern Powerhouse plans welcomed but could the Budget have done more?

The Budget announcement generated a great deal of response from the construction sector, as usual, and UK Construction Media has taken a look at what some people in the industry thin of the announcement.

Andrew Gale, Director at Iceni Projects “The reality is that this Budget failed to tackle the some of the real issues holding back economic growth.

“The fact that national planning initiatives or construction barely featured in today’s statement is perhaps an indication that the Chancellor has run out of ideas. Our housing crisis has profound social and economic implications and more needs to be done to enable delivery of the new homes desperately required. Likewise, further devolution of powers and a shot in the arm for major infrastructure schemes is welcome, but we cannot look at these regional initiatives in isolation.

“What is required is a national strategic plan that sets a proper direction for how to accommodate our growth needs. This would enable schemes to be considered in the context of a 20 year delivery strategy combined with a proper acknowledgement from continued on page 46

Herlev Hovedgade 195 st., 2730 Herlev, Denmark . Tel.: +45 4466 0099. www.cenergia.dk

Contact: Director M.Sc. Peder Vejsig Pedersen, Herlev, Denmark, tel.: +45 2046 6755, Mail: pvp@cenergia.dk

www.ecovent.dk

The Nordic Built “Active Roofs and Facades in Sustainable Renovation” project is supported by Nordic Innovation allowing strong development of leading Nordic competences in the area of building renovation.

The proposed cooperation with the building industry on developing models and the demonstration of “Active House” based sustainable renovation will create a strong Nordic alliance. The project runs from 2014 to 2017 and will involve companies which are represented in the Nordic countries and companies from the international Active House Alliance, www.activehouse.info . The development will use the best transnational competences and networks, creating greater possibilities to export technology. Together with a strong focus on “Performance Documentation”, practical demonstration includes the winning entry in the Nordic Built Challenge architectural competition, school renovation in Copenhagen and housing renovation in Malmö, Sweden. (www.activeroofsandfacades.com)

Copenhagen Urban Renewal project

Grøndalsvænge School in Copenhagen.

Window integrated heat recovery ventilation from Ecovent.

New windows with integrated air inlet and outlet in the frame

The Ellebo Garden Room housing renovation in Ballerup.

Winning project of the Nordic Built Challenge Architectural Competition.

PV assisted ventilation in urban renewal

www.greensolarcities.com.

Updated Ecovent HRV unit for school Decentralised HRV in urban renewal in renovation Copenhagen

government that building on some of the less valuable green belt land is required if we are to properly tackle the housing deficit. The next government, whoever it may be, must make the hard decisions required to get the country moving and properly tackle our housing deficit.”

Jon Hart, Infrastructure partner at Pinsent Masons, said: “From a purely infrastructure perspective, things could have been better, but they could have much worse, too. A budget for vicars and optimists.

“Election budgets are often a heady mix of self-congratulation on past performance, claims to fiscal probity and opaque promises for the future. 2015 appears to follow this trend. The Chancellor has flagged the good times returning to parts the economy. However, there is no likelihood of calling time on austerity: the Chancellor has announced that he will be seeking a further £30bn of savings over the next three years. Including a further £13bn from government spending. This is inevitably going to impact upon the pipeline for potential infrastructure projects.

“Despite this, there are some interesting nuggets of where public sector money might be spent, or at least protected, in the event that the Chancellor returns to 11 Downing St in May. No reference to the National Infrastructure Plan, but a few guest appearances of certain projects, such as the Swansea Tidal Lagoon scheme, the Northern Powerhouse and investments in the South West and Wales. These are to be welcomed as part of the process of dragging the UK up from its lowly position of 27th in the World Economic Forum’s, infrastructure league table.

“The Chancellor made no specific reference to the roads budget and newly-empowered Highways Agency (although it is going to be cheaper to get to Wales over the Severn Bridge, apparently). There were some welcome commitments to transport spending and a new rail franchise for the South West and the pre-announcement of a transport strategy for the cities of the North – which will further enhance the case for HS2.

“Importantly, there is also a projection of future direction of travel for urban investment with certain cities being given the right to retain increases in revenue from business rates (and for other cities being given the right to bid for these increases) coupled with an expansion of Enterprise Zones. There was also reference to an increase in the opportunity for housing growth in London, building on the announcements in the Infrastructure Act. All of this needs to be balanced against the promise a future review of business rates themselves, but provides a potential platform for the development by cities of their own infrastructure plans and the involvement of future private sector investment. This will no doubt increase the attractiveness of the UK to

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foreign investors, who already regard the UK as a safe haven for investment.”

“All this and a tripling of the church roof fund.”

For all the Chancellor talked about a Northern Powerhouse, there is no mention of how the North East of England and its many needs in infrastructure might benefit, says Douglas Kell, director of the Civil Engineering Contractors’ Association in the region.

“The creation of housing zones and help for first-time buyers will stimulate the housebuilding and this is good.

Otherwise there is not even assurance that funding needed for ongoing work on roads and other transport development earlier announced will still be forthcoming,” Kell said.

Abolition of National Insurance payments for under 21s should help encourage the hiring of trainees, he added, but felt it should apply immediately to counter the skills shortage in construction and civil engineering.

Cuts in corporation tax would help firms, but otherwise in the North East the industry stood to gain little, in his view. “It will be a matter of scanning the small print for any small hints of encouragement,” he added.

Apprenticeship vouchers show government has listened, says FMB The Government’s proposed voucher model for apprenticeship funding is an improvement on what was formerly proposed and shows that Ministers have listened to the construction industry, according to the Federation of Master Builders (FMB).

Commenting on the Budget Statement, Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the FMB, said: “It’s been a long and bumpy road since the Richard Review first touted the idea of putting the purchasing power back in the hands of the employer but today the Government has finally set out a clear direction of travel in terms of its apprenticeship funding reforms. The new digital apprenticeship voucher model is a vast improvement on what was formerly proposed. However, we do still have some concerns about the potential for this new system to add additional administrative burden for small firms. To counter this, we will be working closely with the next Government to minimise any added bureaucracy. For SMEs, bureaucracy is the biggest barrier to engagement in any scheme so industry and government must work together to help ensure this new system does not have a detrimental impact on apprenticeship numbers.”

Berry continued: “The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) predicts that an additional 200,000 jobs will be created in the construction industry over the next five years and up to 400,000 people could retire over the same period.

It’s therefore crucial that government does nothing to undermine the desire or ability of small construction firms to train

apprentices. Let’s not forget, two-thirds of all construction apprentices are trained by the very smallest firms so we need to carefully develop a framework which works for them, not against them.”

Berry concluded: “The message we want our members and all small construction firms to take away is that regardless of the forthcoming changes, until 2017, it’s business as usual in terms of apprenticeship funding. With the skills time bomb ticking ever more loudly, the last thing we need is for employers to stop hiring apprentices in the interim.

According to our latest survey, 20% of FMB members are currently training apprentices which is up from 18% two years ago. However we need more small employers – and all large employers – to recognise the commercial value of training apprentices and do their bit to help close the skills gap.”

The British Property Federation has welcomed plans to create the first 20 housing zones outside of London.

Chief Executive Melanie Leech said: “The Federation was an early proponent of housing zones and we are pleased to see their rollout and the Government’s increased ambition to introduce them on brownfield sites.

“Spending cuts have meant that support for brownfield development all but disappeared during the recession.

Housing Zones are welcome recognition that we can deliver significant amounts of desperately-needed housing on brownfield land, but that this will often need both central Government support and clarity of purpose at local level.”

The BPF also welcomed a new housing support package for London that could unlock over 4,000 homes on brownfield and public sector land.

Melanie Leech said: “We very much welcome the housing support package for London given the acute need for more homes in the capital. However, the London Land Commission should be seen as the start of a process and not an end in itself, with strong incentives to dispose of public land for housing use, and a backstop of GLA taking responsibility for land that is slow to be used by other public bodies.

“As our members have shown, housing models can be developed that create a genuine partnership between local authorities and developers. These partnerships can earn local authorities an income through the leasing of land for homes to rent, rather than out-and-out sale of public land.”

WWW.VISIONLONDON.COM/REGISTRATION

WWW.VISIONLONDON.COM/REGISTRATION

UKC EDUCATION

Setting new standards in education Priority School Building Programme The Priority School Building Programme (PSBP) is a centrally managed programme set up to address the needs of the schools most in need of urgent repair.

Through the programme, 260 schools will be rebuilt or have their condition needs met by the Education Funding Agency (EFA).

The PSBP is being overseen by the Department for Education (DfE) and represents a concerted effort on behalf of the DfE to improve England’s education infrastructure.

The first school to be rebuilt as part of the Government’s PSBP opened to its pupils in May 2014. Pupils and teachers at Whitmore Park Primary School in Coventry have had their dilapidated school building completely rebuilt as part of the £2.4Bn programme.

As of February 2015, 16 PSBP schools have now opened in new buildings, 55 schools are currently under construction and all the schools are due for completion by the end of 2017 - two years earlier than originally planned. Given the success of the PSBP, Ministers have also announced a second phase of the programme, worth around £2Bn. Schools Minister David Laws said: “The opening of Whitmore Park marks a major milestone in the Priority School Building Programme, which is making great strides in ensuring that vital building work takes place at some of the schools in the worst state across the country.

“It is providing much better value for money than previous school building schemes, and forms part of the Government’s drive to deliver the best schools for young people in order to help deliver both a stronger

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economy and a fairer society.

“Whitmore Park Primary has become a model for PSBP schools, with procurement taking only 13 weeks and building works complete in just 11 months.”

Caroline Kiely, Executive Headteacher at Whitmore Park Primary School, said: “I’m sure the new school environment will make a real difference to the staff and children here at Whitmore Park.

“Our previous building was past its best so the new school will mean that less money will have to be spent on repairs and can be spent on better equipment or more staff instead.”

The £5M project comprises a new build primary school for 630 pupils with a 39-place nursery. The two wings share a central hub comprising the entrance, studio and hall, making it an efficient and effective design.

Stephen Beechey, Managing Director Education and Investment at Wates, the contractor who built the school, said: “The Priority School Building Programme is proving itself an extremely successful means of ensuring new school facilities result in inspirational learning environments that encourage educational excellence.

“This can clearly be seen in the delivery of Whitmore Park. Wates has maintained a close working partnership with the Education Funding Agency throughout the design and build programme to maintain cost and time efficiency, leading to completion of the first school under the programme.”

With Whitmore Park Primary School complete, a raft of new school rebuilds have begun on-site. In December

2014 Hessle High School and SixthForm College hosted an official turf-cutting ceremony to mark the commencement of an £18.5M scheme to replace its deteriorating school building. Excited students and staff from the school were joined by council dignitaries, representatives from the EFA and the contractor, Galliford Try, to celebrate the start of work.

Situated in East Yorkshire, Hessle High School and Sixth-Form College has accommodation for 1,450 pupils, including 200 sixth form students, and is currently split over two sites. The fit-forpurpose rebuild - one of five such PSPB projects being rebuilt or refurbished

by Galliford Try across the region - will allow the school to operate from a single site and provide state-of-the-art science labs, ICT and teaching areas, and sports facilities for up to 1,550 pupils, including 230 sixth form students.

The Hessle High School and Sixth-Form College scheme is due for completion by summer 2016. In total, ten schools will be rebuilt or refurbished under the PSBP in the Hull and East Riding area.

Withernsea High School, also in East Yorkshire, will too benefit from the PSBP. The 1,000-place secondary school has received a £13M investment which will provide a three-storey school building alongside a partial refurbishment of the existing school.

While the new build element is due for completion in summer 2015, the full programme of works will be completed in summer of the following year.

Speaking at the turf-cutting in December, Richard Williman, Headteacher of Withernsea High School, said: “Having

worked so closely with the EFA, BAM and the local authority on the planning of our new school, seeing the cutting of the first turf is a really exciting day. This development will have such a profound impact on the whole Withernsea community that today has even greater significance.

We look forward to seeing the building evolve over the next 18 months.”

Paul Cleminson, Project Director for BAM Construction, added: “We understand how much these facilities mean to the community of Withernsea, as well as to the school itself. We’ll be making every effort during the build to make sure the broader community knows what’s going on, and also benefits economically and socially from the work we are doing here.

From our considerable experience in this sector we know that a new school is a very significant thing for a community and we appreciate that our approach to building it has to be as professional as the technicalities of the construction.

We’re looking forward to getting involved and making a rapid start.”

Investing in the school estate With the first phase well and truly underway, the Department for Education has set about detailing Phase II of the PSBP together with the proposed school conditional funding allocations.

Here the Government has redoubled its efforts by dedicating an astounding £6Bn of investment to improve the condition of the school estate.

Such investment is indicative of the Government’s long-term economic plan to ensure good quality schools that are safe and fit for learning.

The investment is a hearty endorsement

of the Priority School Building Programme, which has seen ageing school infrastructure improved faster and cheaper than those built under the previous school building initiative - Building Schools for the Future (BSF). While construction could take as long as three years to begin under the BSF, the PSBP has seen waiting times slashed to a single year and overall project costs reduced by a third.

Of the £6Bn of funding announced, £2Bn will be invested in rebuilding and major refurbishment projects to address the needs of school buildings in the very worst condition. In total a further 277 schools will have one or more of their buildings addressed under the second phase of the PSBP. The remaining £4Bn will be allocated to schools, local authorities, academy trusts and voluntary-aided partnerships to fund the improvement and maintenance of UK schools as Nicky Morgan, the Secretary of State for Education, explains: “For the first time in years, we have reliable information on the condition of school buildings from the property data survey - the most comprehensive survey of the school estate ever undertaken. All of those responsible for schools will now receive funding in proportion to the size and condition of their schools. Where necessary, we are providing additional support to those responsible for schools with the most severe condition need.”

The funding announced will, for the first time, cover three years - from 2015 to 2016 and 2017 to 2018 - to guarantee certainty and stability for the various local authorities, academy trusts and voluntary-aided partnerships. The measure will enable those responsible to plan

effectively and make good strategic investment decisions that deliver the best possible value for their schools.

In an effort to increase transparency, the Government will also collect information from all bodies responsible for the maintenance of the school estate on how they have used their funding. This information will be simple, high-level and easily accessible to the public.

In summation Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said: “It is crucial that we invest properly in education, so that every child has a fair start in life. Thousands of pupils will benefit from better, brighter, warmer classrooms thanks to this funding.

“Children canít learn and teachers canít teach in schools that are cold and have leaking roofs.

“To create a stronger economy we have to invest in a fairer society so that our young people can be successful in the future.”

The Government is determined to raise the standard of schools and the education they provide as part of its longterm plan. The PSBP is building on the progress which has already been made in delivering a more efficient, faster, less bureaucratic approach to building schools.

Thanks to the decisions taken following Sebastian James’ ‘Review of School Capital’ to improve efficiency and reduce waste in central school building programmes, the Government is building or improving the condition of almost 900 schools.

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‘the people behind the power’

Challenges in the Progression in the Development of Competitive Market Framework for Electrical Connections It was noted with interest that ‘The World Bank Report of the Ease of Doing Business in the United Kingdom’ ranked the UK’s position in providing electricity as 74th of 189 economies in 2014, which was actually 10 positions worse than in the same poll conducted in 2013.

The frontier economies adopted streamlined processes removing duplication and unnecessary approval requirements, which in turn reduced connection times and costs to the customer.

Clearly the UK has a challenge to improve the situation.

Ofgem’s recent findings in its review into the electricity connections market1 published 21st January 2015, recognised that “Effective competition will help improve the quality of service that customers receive and reduce the cost of connection. Competition can also encourage innovation in the type of services on offer. A well-functioning market for connections to the distribution network should benefit us all – connections that are timely and cost effective help the economy to grow and help to decarbonize the energy we use.”

One of the key drivers for change within the UK will be the delivery of a fully open and competitive market place for provision of electrical connections to distribution networks owned and operated by the incumbent Distribution Network Owners (DNO’s).

Whilst it is accepted some progress has been achieved, there is still a long way to go. There are many outstanding issues, such as streamlined processes targeting at minimising times not maximum durations; accessing DNO records systems to enable self-service and self-approval processes. With these arrangements in place, it would provide an open competitive market place aimed at meeting the end customers’ needs in a time frame they desire.

1

From Power On’s position, there is a need to swiftly manage transition of the ability to service our customers’ needs with the minimum of DNO engagement.

The proposed national Code of Practice which is currently being discussed between Ofgem, and the DNO’s with consultation with ICP’s and IDNO’s, if successfully adopted and implemented, will support a truly open and competitive marketplace where quality of service and cost efficiencies can be derived.

As the UK’s No 1 Independent Connections Provider, we have the recognised capabilities and competencies as required by the DNO and audited through independent audits undertaken by Lloyd’s through the National Electricity Registration Scheme. However, we are still subject to DNO Approval, Audit and Review as well as seemingly endless trails.

Every Power On employee interfaces on a daily basis with the bureaucratic processes which have evolved from the DNO’s from enquiry through to the adoption of the assets.

Fortunately, throughout the past ten years of engagement, we have developed the knowledge and capability to successfully get through these barriers, but are still at times disadvantaged by the draconian application of maximum times for responses and endless gates of approval and double checking.

Naturally, we are the leading advocates of change and we have leadership roles on all the national debating platforms for Competition in Connections. We are strongly supported by our Sister company, GTC, who are the largest Independent Distribution Network Owner and Operator in the UK to try to drive this requirement forward, which we all believe will deliver improved customer service, shorter delivery times and a more cost effective solution for electrical connections.

www.ofgem.gov.uk/ofgempublications/92527/connectionscompetitionreviewfindings-pdf

Power On Connections, Dovecote Court, Potters Marston Hall, Leicestershire LE9 3JR

t: 0845 230 0116 f: 01455 274906 e: enquiries@poweronconnections.co.uk www.poweronconnections.co.uk

Power On Connections Providing Competitive Electricity Connection Solutions Despite the continuing challenge of overcoming the inherent issues identified previously, Power On has led the Independent Connections Providers (ICP) Competitions in Connections Marketplace since its inception in 2003.

Growing significantly from a Leicester based organization to operating nationally through 5 regional offices and depots with over 160 employees.

Power On Connections is the UK’s largest and leading ICP specialising in the designing, delivery and adoption management of high voltage and low voltage electrical infrastructure servicing the commercial, industrial, retail and city living developments. More recently we have been connecting sustainable developments such as windfarms, solar sites and district heating schemes.

Power on Connections has completed over 3,000 competitively won projects since its formation in 2003 and, most recently, its specialist teams delivered electrical infrastructure to the high profile new Industrial, Commercial and Housing development south of Cambridge.

As part of the project, Power On constructed and installed 2 x 15MVA 33/11KV primary substation as well as a multi-panel 11KV switchboard and numerous distribution transformers and cabling to service the development. The scheme was serviced via twin 33kV circuits, 8km off-site cable route crossing a rail bridge, river and major roads, terminating on site into a multi-panel 11kv switchboard.

The company’s unique position within the electricity industry means customers can benefit greatly from the power behind this highly successful ICP and its unparalleled Group sister companies. The Gas Transportation Company (GTC), Britain’s principal independent provider of energy infrastructure servicing the domestic marketplace for Gas and Electricity connections.

Through our sister company, See the Light have developed a relationship with Sky to offer their services across our 300Mb fibre optic network, providing our customers with unrivalled quality service and speed. As well as clean and foul water service connections through our Water business, further complementing our unique utility service provision are our Sustainable energy experts, Metropolitan, who offer a range of district heating and energy schemes.

We all operate under the same group, Brookfield Utilities UK, the leading independent provider of last-mile networks with over 30,000 discrete networks serving over 1.5 million utility connections throughout mainland UK. This means that Power On Connections‘customers have access to specialist expertise and decades of industry experience in traditional and next generation utility infrastructure including gas, electricity, water, superfast fibre and community-based district energy.

Whilst Power On Connections’ core business centers on delivering complex electricity solutions, the company has the power behind it to provide multi-utility infrastructure to every development and being part of a big family in Brookfield Utilities UK has many advantages for our customers. We are able to offer all the traditional as well as next-generation utility infrastructure solutions through just one partner, which gives the best possible customer experience. Utilities are time critical in every development project and that kind of continuity can make a vital difference.

UKC COMMERCIAL

Nova, Victoria

A new and vibrant destination for London June 2013 saw Main Contractor, Mace, begin work at Nova, Victoria; one of the capital’s most significant developments in decades.

Balfour Beatty and Cementation Skanska were appointed by Mace to carry out the ground engineering elements of this massive development for Land Securities.

Piling began in August 2013 at the huge site, and works have proven to be complex due to the proximity of the secant wall adjacent to the Victoria Station upgrade works and future Crossrail 2 tunnel.

Mace was appointed to deliver the 727,000sq ft first phase of the Nova scheme which is transforming Victoria, central London. Formerly known as Victoria Circle, Nova Victoria is an architecturally stimulating development that provides a new and vibrant destination for London – an aspirational place to work, live, eat, drink, shop and enjoy.

Nova is the defining moment in Land Securities’ £2.2Bn reinvention of Victoria; a game changing 897,000sq ft scheme delivering 603,000sq ft of world class grade A offices, 193,000sq ft of contemporary high quality apartments, 85,000sq ft of exciting, high profile retail, cafés and restaurants and 16,000sq ft of community space.

More than just a development, the comprehensive transformation of this 5.5 acre island site will deliver the new seven-

52

day destination that will encourage the 115M people who use Victoria Station each year to engage with this part of the West End. Along with the five landmark buildings, NOVA, Victoria delivers a significant new public and cultural space, with evolving public art and outdoor dining, linking Victoria Station to Buckingham Palace and St James Park.

Nova’s bold, contemporary look is the result of a collaboration between several notable architecture practices. PLP Architecture has designed the masterplan and is architect for the three commercial buildings. Benson & Forsyth are delivering the statement residential fronting Buckingham Palace Road with Flanagan Lawrence, while Lynch Architects are responsible for the signature mixed-use civic building fronting Victoria Street.

The first phase of the project comprises 727,000 sq ft, made up of 480,000sq ft offices, 80,000sq ft retail and 170 apartments across three buildings within a new pedestrianised, landscaped pubic quarter. Completion is due spring/summer 2016.

The second and third phases cannot start until London Underground Limited complete works on the Victoria Station Upgrade, this is expected to happen in the third quarter of 2016.

The project is being developed by the Victoria Circle Limited Partnership, a 50:50 Joint Venture between Land Securities and CPPIB. Land Securities is the Development Manager for the project and responsible for leading the retail and office space as well as selling the private apartments.

Land Securities Head of London Development, Colette O’Shea said: “Nova is great news for London and Victoria.

Nothing of this scale and potential has been delivered in this part of the West End before. We are delighted to be continuing our investment in Victoria with a scheme which we believe will become the destination for all looking to find the best that London has to offer in the heart of SW1.”

CPPIB’s Managing Director and Head of Real Estate Investments – Europe, Wenzel Hoberg said: “Nova, Victoria represents a transformative and exciting development in an iconic area of London’s West End and will deliver significant economic benefits to the local and wider community throughout its development. Nova, Victoria supports CPPIB’s real estate strategy to own and develop properties in key markets for the long term and we look forward to its completion.”

www.robertbird.com

UKC EDUCATION

Albert Sloman Library

University of Essex

Work is coming to a close at the University of Essex Colchester Campus, where a large extension to the Albert Sloman Library and a new student centre is being built.

The iconic building has served the University’s students for almost 50 years and now, as the University implements expansion plans, a significant extension to the building is needed. Further to this a new three-storey student centre is being created to provide a 24-hour open-access Learning Hub, with new IT facilities including touch down access, an IT helpdesk and a new state-of-the-art media centre for the Student’s Union.

These two new buildings are at the heart of the University’s commitment to offer excellence in education, by providing the best possible facilities to current and future Essex students.

The new development is set to be the largest new building on campus since 1965 and includes a new student centre and a lakeside square which will create an important ‘new front door’ to the University.

Opening this spring, the five-storey Library extension will offer 388 new study spaces and a new 24/7 postgraduate reading room with 42 study spaces, and will increase the library space by 30%, allowing a collection of 1.4M books to be housed.

The building will provide an integrated learning centre, library, special collections,

54

reading room, student media centre, one-stop-shop for students and a board room for the University Council.

Working on their second project for the University, the Architect for the development is Patel Taylor. The Practice has worked closely within the context of the existing Albert Sloman Library, the 1960s campus infrastructure and the heritage parkland setting, to create a design that shows the importance of context and programme to conceive a flexible design resonating with a sense of place and setting.

Construction work began in April 2013, with Kier Eastern Limited chosen as Main Contractor to deliver the project.

Due to the nature of the site, contractors had to be very aware of the students both for safety and noise disruption.

Numerous measures have been put in place to minimise any disruption, including acoustic screening, specialist equipment to reduce noise, and carefully designed access routes for contractors. Levels of building work were also reduced during exam and revision periods and work ceased during graduation in July 2014.

PMJ Masonry was tasked with using Anaster Limestone in repetitive piers and walling to create an external envelope for the building. .

Main Contractor, Kier, were so impressed

with PMJ that they were awarded the Kier Monthly Safety Award for the site in October, which was awarded to Martin Hollins of PMJ Masonry for his positive attitude towards personal and collective safety.

The extension and new student centre are part of the Capital Investment Plan, which is funding a major programme of new building and refurbishment across the University’s three campuses.

Planning for the Silberrad Student Centre and Library extension started in 2009 and in June 2010 the University Council gave in principle approval for the project. In February 2011, the University appointed Architect Patel Taylor to design the two buildings and associated external space and in May the same year, the University Council gave final approval for detailed planning and construction of the two buildings.

Together the Silberrad Student Centre and Library extension will provide a technology rich learning space; bring together a range of student-facing services which were dispersed across the campus, increase the capacity of the library and provide a high-impact space for the relocated visitor reception.

Liverpool University

Keighley College

Bangor University

Liverpool Science Park

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UKC EDUCATION

New dining experience for Queen Elizabeth II High School Queen Elizabeth II High School is set to improve the dining experience of its pupils and staff by building a new kitchen, serving area and extending dining facilities.

Situated in Peel on the Isle of Man, the School opened in 1979 and has established a reputation for academic excellence and for the care it shows to young people The previous kitchen at the 35-year-old school was designed for use by 450 to 500 students. However, current numbers are around 880, with the majority of those eating school meals, meaning the current set up is inadequate to deal with this. .

It is also envisaged that the new kitchen facilities will enable the School to undertake greater preparation of healthier options.

Cold dining facilities created within the multi-purpose area of the Deans Building, which was added in 2008, relieved some of the pressure on the School kitchen and dining facilities. However, the main dining hall still needed enlarging to keep pace with the increase in student numbers.

The new scheme means students will feel less pressure to eat their lunch quickly, take food away to eat elsewhere or simply eat off-site.

The encouragement of healthy eating is a key Government and Departmental

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priority and the provision of suitable kitchen and dining facilities will be absolutely imperative for those wishing to have a healthy mealtime.

Another factor for the School was in considering its potential future development options that would further increase the capacity of the School, to meet the rising school roll. It is vitally important therefore, that core school facilities are upgraded and expanded to have the capacity to successfully meet the demands of the larger school and staff roll.

The conversion and extension scheme will see the dining hall enlarged, with an expansion into the current kitchen area to increase sitting places from the present 128 to 222 per sitting.

The new servery area will also be created to allow two direction flows.

A fully equipped new cook kitchen will also be built within the area of the former school boiler house and the existing caretaker’s accommodation.

A separate canopied area will also be made for food preparation and cooking with a cold room and kitchen office located next to the kitchen entrance.

The extension will also provide a new access point for the kitchen off the

existing service yard. Access from the corridor to the kitchen, dry-goods store, cleaner’s store, COSHH store and staff toilet will also be created.

Richard Collister, Director of Estates with the Department of Education and Children said: “The kitchen has seen little modernisation in 35 years and there’s a need to bring the fabric and equipment up to current day standards.

Improved facilities would allow us to use an increased range of fresh and locally sourced products, promoting even greater awareness of healthier options among students.”

The Main Contractor on the project is McArd. Established on the Isle on Man for over 150 years, the Company has carried out all kinds of construction work, bringing a wealth of experience in design, service and quality.

The Architect is Ellis Brown. The Company was established in 1978 and provides a total design service, providing a personal and professional approach to cater to the individual requirements of each of their clients.

The cost of the project is just over £834,000 and is expected be fully completed by August 2015.

UKC PROFILE

Sheffield City Council

A city on the move

November last year saw a full planning application submitted for Sheffield’s redeveloped tennis and leisure centre at the Graves Centre in the south of the city.

The development, which will include a six-lane 25m replacement pool, a separate learner pool, a major new fitness suite and studios, two additional indoor tennis courts and the city’s first ever dedicated gymnastics and trampolining centre, will also be the city HQ for the new National Centre for Sport and Exercise Medicine (NCSEM), part of the 2012 Olympic Legacy Project. The NCSEM will provide extensive health consultation, specialist treatment services and research facilities, and is funded by the Department of Health.

If planning permission is granted, work will start on site in early 2015, with a 12-month construction programme.

The project is jointly funded by Sheffield City Council, the NCSEM, the Lawn Tennis Association, British Gymnastics and a potential contribution from Sport England. The total project will cost will be around £15M. Councillor Isobel Bowler, Sheffield City Council’s Cabinet Member for Culture, Sport and Leisure, said: “If approved,

this plan will provide a major modern health and leisure complex in the south of the city and offer a long awaited pool at Graves. The investment will dramatically improve the quality of leisure facilities in the area, which will increase participation levels and therefore improve health.

“This is the biggest facility to be built in Sheffield in a generation and we are grateful to our funding partners who are supporting the build costs.”

This investment in the health of the city is being followed up with a massive investment in football facilities across the city. In a ground-breaking partnership with the Football Association, some £9M would be invested in the city over the coming years.

The investment will provide six new football hubs as part of the FA’s national initiative to invest in grassroots facilities, with Sheffield being chosen as the first city in the programme where facilities will be delivered.

The first phase of the investment programme would focus on creating the hub sites, with state-of-the-art floodlit 3G artificial pitches, highquality grass pitches and changing facilities. One of these hubs will be

based at the Graves centre, while a second at Thorncliffe Recreation Ground would create a significant ‘sports park’ in the north of Sheffield.

As well as improving health and encouraging fitness, the programme would also create jobs, both in the construction phase and in the management and operation of these new facilities.

Not content with improving just the recreational facilities, Sheffield City Council is now seeking to engage with a strategic development partner to help deliver the much-anticipated new retail quarter in the city centre.

This brings the plan closer to realisation and on target to deliver the first phase of the scheme during 2019. The announcement comes after six months of intensive work with a new team of expert advisors, and detailed research into consumer trends and regional demand, mapped against existing and pipeline provisions in Sheffield.

The result is an exciting retail and leisure-led scheme combined with office and residential provision to provide a more mixed-use destination. The new scheme will link the Moor to Fargate

The Graves Centre

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through Baker’s Pool, to deliver improved economic benefits to the city as a whole.

The Council is following up this commitment to its residents with improvements across the city’s housing stock.

There are around 238,000 households currently in Sheffield with around a quarter of this social rented from the Council or registered housing providers.

Around 600 new council homes are planned for Sheffield over the next six years to help meet the demand for affordable housing.

Sheffield City Council intends to make full use of its Housing Revenue Account to deliver the maximum number of new council houses under the current borrowing rules.

It is also intended to begin a planned replacement programme of kitchens, bathrooms, double glazing and door renewal in homes that have not had this type of work carried out over the last ten years. This includes a commitment to tackle properties that were not improved under the Decent Homes programme by 2017. From 2015, any home that missed any work will be refurbished within 12 months of a new tenant taking on the property.

The programme will cover around 7,000 of the 12,790 properties still requiring some work by 2018 and will be funded from existing resources in the programme as well as an anticipated under spend from the Decent Homes programme.

There will also be a commitment to extend the refurbishment of communal areas to all 12,000 low rise flats and begin feasibility and design work on the communal areas to 3,000 maisonettes.

It is intended to make flats more sustainable and a more attractive proposition to residents wishing to downsize.

The Gleadless Valley area of Sheffield has recently taken part in a fire sprinkler trial as part of a broader fire safety investment programme delivered by Sheffield City Council Contractor, Kier Services, in more than 18,000 low-rise flats and maisonettes across the city over the next four years.

Legislation requires that Sheffield City Council must provide fire precaution measures and remove or reduce the risk of fire as far as is reasonably practicable in multi-occupancy properties, such as tower blocks, sheltered schemes, maisonettes and low-rise flats.

The project, which commenced in September 2013, has now seen work completed in more than 3,500 properties. The fire suppression programme will provide sprinklers to around 540 addresses. The fire safety work in its entirety will benefit 17,763 addresses in total, excluding tower blocks and sheltered accommodation which have already been completed.

Continued population growth has meant further primary school places are needed across the city so that all children can go to school in their local area. Two brand new primary schools opened in 2014 – Shirecliffe and Fir Vale, while a new through two-16 school will be operational from September this year in Darnall. Construction is currently under way on the new ‘super school’ which will provide 1,200 places and a community hub on the site of the former Don Valley Stadium. BAM Construction won the contract to develop the school and hub, which is aiming to achieve a BREEAM ‘Very Good’ accreditation.

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UKC EDUCATION

Westcliff High School for Girls Sixth Form Founded in 1920, Westcliff High School for Girls is a selective grammar school with a sixth form of about 340 students.

Initially established in Victoria Avenue, in Southend, the School moved to its present site at Kenilworth Gardens Westcliff-On-Sea in 1931. Since then the School has grown to its present size of around 1,095 girls.

The School is very pleased to have been the first all girls’ school in the country to gain Science and Engineering status; which provides a number of unique opportunities for its students.

Students at Westcliff High School for Girls are very happy and successful, with an excellent staff available to support students in their learning and extra curricular activities.

Westcliff High School for Girls has one of the largest academic sixth forms in the area, offering a wide range of A Levels.

In recent years, the School has benefitted from major building programmes; adding a ten laboratory science bock, new music facilities, a modern dining hall, a sports hall, additional science and technology rooms and an e-learning centre. The provision of this additional accommodation has allowed the creation of a suite of four information and communication technology rooms, well-equipped art rooms, an excellent library and a drama studio.

In addition, the past two years has seen significant further improvement to the facilities, with an extension to the west wing, providing new teaching spaces, toilets, a conference centre and a learning resource centre. Plus an extension to the sports hall – adding a purpose built dance studio and fitness centre, extending the music accommodation and installing new cycle storage facilities. External hard play areas have also been extended.

The latest addition to the School is the improvement of sixth form facilities, with an extension approved and work beginning in April 2014.

Designed to facilitate the growing sixth form and replace temporary and poor quality accommodation, the extension will also provide a physical link between the sixth from, music block and main school building Beardwell Construction was

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employed as Main Contractor for aluminium framed windows and the new £900,000 extension. doors have been designed to provide The isolation of the existing sixth form and adequate light into the building. music block from the school campus is The entrance forms a significant feature in the emphasised by their separation. The new design and also within the wider relationship extension will help to create a hard edge to with the existing sixth form block in that it the area by physically linking the two buildings visually dominates the existing entrance. and creating a more dominant structure.

This is further reinforced by the canopy and Internally the extension provides a flexible, window feature to the entrance which are open plan layout with links to the existing visually important elements in the elevation. sixth form at ground and first floor and The entrance has some soft landscaping at first floor to the music block. around it to provide a sympathetic and easy A staircase and double height entrance route, buffering pedestrians from the car park. area creates a buffer between the new and Designs for the project have been existing sixth form block and is provided with provided by Emptage Architects. visual links to the external campus through carefully located windows.

It also creates an area for informal congregation and waiting.

The scale of the building as a whole is in keeping with the adjacent buildings and relates closely We are pleased to be associated with the to their window and building heights. The Westcliff High School project and scale and massing however, provides wish all involved continued success a contrast in the use of window and wall proportions which are more in keeping with the contemporary design found Short Acres, Broom Road, elsewhere on the school site.

Hullbridge, Hockley, The extension itself Essex SS5 6HN provides a bold visual statement to this neglected part of the site.

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HOUSING UKC

Rebuilding communities North Circular Road Regeneration The regeneration of North Circular Road in the London Borough of Enfield has already won one of the most prestigious construction awards in the UK and is making a significant impact on the local community.

The complex project is being undertaken

by Notting Hill Housing alongside a number of contractors, Durkan, Kingsbury Construction, Bugler Developments Ltd and Allenbuild Ltd; with design services from Aros Architects, Stephen Richter Architects, Brookes Architects and Frank Reynolds Architects.

Comprising four phases, with Phases I, II and III already on-site and due to complete in late 2016, the project will deliver 546 new or refurbished properties along a stretch of the A406 North Circular Road.

The properties and land were acquired from Transport for London in 2010 after a project to expand the A406 North Circular Road along a two mile stretch running through the London Borough of Enfield was aborted. Working closely with the Homes and Communities Agency and Enfield, Notting Hill Housing embarked upon a programme of refurbishment and new build developments to help regenerate the area.

The four phased approach is formed of: ••Refurbishment of 258 existing street properties to Decent Homes standards.

Running from Autumn 2010 to Autumn 2012, this was the first phase to be completed. The upgrade works included installing central heating and double glazing to many of the occupied properties which had fallen into a very poor state of repair. Over 50 properties

had squatters evicted and were brought back into use as much needed family homes. The programme also included identifying residents with mobility problems and carrying out aids and adaptions to their properties as required.

••Infill sites. These sites started off as vacant plots and rundown garage sites in an existing residential context. Keen to develop these plots with consideration to the neighbouring homes, these new build sites range in size from a fourbedroom house to a low-rise block of 15 apartments, all providing much needed homes for social rent. This phase has recently completed and comprised some 45 new homes across ten sites.

••Regeneration of larger sites. As the third phase, some 234 new homes for social/affordable rent, market rent and shared ownership, plus a D1/D2 commercial space are being developed.

Beginning in late 2013 and expected to run until late 2016, this phase redevelops the three largest sites within the portfolio to create developments of 54, 60 and 120 properties.

••Regeneration of neighbourhood centres.

Phase IV consists of several larger strategic sites, which form comprehensive redevelopment opportunities that can only be resolved and taken forward in partnership with the local authority. These sites are key to the long term regeneration of the area and provide the opportunity for a step change from the existing with potential to create a strong local neighbourhood centre with integration

to the existing school and the provision of new health and community facilities.

The project was voted the winner in the Integration & Collaborative Working category at the annual Constructing Excellence Awards 2013. Notting Hill Housing’s then Project Director, Ken Barnett, said: “It’s an honour for the North Circular Regeneration Project to be considered alongside such iconic constructions like The Shard, and the Boston Manor Viaduct. We are proud to be listed amongst the very best in London.”

Notting Hill Housing has taken considerable steps to ensure that local residents and members of the surrounding community were aware of the regeneration plans and given an opportunity to feedback.

Resident engagement started in 2009 prior to the purchase of the portfolio from TfL and involved public meetings, workshops and the formation of a residents group.

Throughout the whole process, Notting Hill Housing has been keen to ensure meaningful dialogue has taken place with the local community with some 500 residents and representatives being engaged at various stages. The schemes have been refined to take on board comments made at pre-application consultations and the density, height and form of some of the sites has been scaled back as a result. Overall there has been a positive response from both residents and the council with a 50% reduction in crime in the neighbourhood since the regeneration works began.

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UKC RETAIL

Largest McLaren showroom in UK to open in Ascot, Berkshire

Having run McLaren’s flagship site in One Hyde Park, London since the launch of the brand in June 2011, Jardine Motors Group have opened their second McLaren retail outlet in the royal town of Ascot, Berkshire.

Since arriving in the UK, Jardine Motors has continued to expand, adding various dealership locations throughout the country. Jardine Motors is an authorised franchisee for 23 manufacturers, operating at over 70 locations nationwide.

The new state-of-the-art facility is the largest McLaren showroom in the UK and offers the full range of McLaren models including he new 650S Coupe and the 650S Spider.

Located only a short distance from the McLaren Technology Centre (MTC) headquarters in Surrey, this newly built McLaren Ascot facility includes an eightcar showroom, a dedicated service centre and the largest selection of McLaren Qualified pre-owned models in the world.

The Main Contractor on this project is Principle Contracts, who offer a fully integrated range of specialist contract fit-out services to clients nationwide.

The Architect is Axis 3, who has over 20 years of experience in architectural

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company has been on since then, with practice in construction including the 12C, the McLaren P1™ and now with residential, retail and commercial, the 650S. It is a really exciting time to be handling every stage of projects from involved with the brand, and there are inception to full project management. some really great products in the pipeline.

David Brimson, European Director for The addition of McLaren Ascot is another McLaren Automotive said: “The UK market is key to the growth of the McLaren jewel in the company’s retail network, complementing McLaren London at One brands as we continue to strengthen Hyde Park to fully service the needs of the network, and this is shown by customers in the south east of England.” confirmation of McLaren Ascot. Jardine Motors Group has proved a valuable retail partner in establishing the brand over the past three years, AES Shopfronts LTD Aluminium shopfronts, Automatic Entrances and McLaren Ascot will provide an important second hub for We are proud to be associated with the brand in the south of England.”

Principle Contracts & Jardine McLaren Mark Herbert, CEO of Jardine Motors on the new showroom at Ascot.

Group added: “It is amazing to T:0116 2780035 F:0116 2780038 think McLaren Automotive only launched three E:aesshopfronts@msn.com years ago, and the journey the

EDUCATION UKC

The Discovery Centre at The Royal Latin School The Discovery Centre is an exciting new concept for the future of science and technology education at The Royal Latin School.

12 laboratory and teaching rooms are to be created, accommodating class sizes of approximately 30 pupils for practical lessons and theory-based teaching.

In addition to regular class-based activities, the rooms are to be varied in size and provision enabling the centre to accommodate differing group sizes, up to a large forum space, as required.

The 12 themed laboratories are situated in four zones and are designed to adapt to emerging trends in science and technology to inspire, challenge and engage young people and to optimise the impact of practical experience.

As well as the main larger group laboratory spaces, the provision of informal breakout

spaces for independent and group learning, improving and extending learning opportunities for a more personalised learning experience, aims to deliver a more holistic and inclusive science education.

The smaller group spaces are provided with fittings ranging from practical work benching to communal seating and professional meeting spaces to comprehensively accommodate differing activities and approaches.

The building will provide a great deal of flexibility and is designed to grow and evolve over time as educational needs and associated technologies develop thus providing a structure capable of embracing the future.

The new facility will replace, improve and expand on the existing science accommodation, with the old facility being made available for future development.

The Main Contractor on the project is RG Carter, who provides design, sustainable, partnered construction and project management services for private and public sector clients.

The Architect is GSS Architecture, who specialise in providing an allencompassing solution for their clients.

The purpose is to not only provide a first class education for the students of The Royal Latin School but also help to create a solution to the well-publicised shortage of skilled and talented young scientists, locally and beyond.

Jo Ballantine, Director of Development at The Royal Latin School said: “The Discovery Centre is more than a building.

It is a symbol of our commitment as a school to offer our students the very best learning environment and experience that we can.�

We are pleased to be associated with RG Carter Limited on the Royal Latin School Discovery Centre and wish all involved continued success

2 Morrison Court, Crownhill, Milton Keynes MK8 0DA

Telephone: 01908 560774 / 07801 133547 Fax: 01908 567136 Email: stargrade@hotmail.com 63

UKC RETAIL

Pennells Garden Centre Pennells Garden Centre is hoping to see its turnover boosted by over £5M as a result of a new £1.8M extension due to open shortly.

The new extension includes a food hall, featuring a butcher, gifts store and a covered plant sales area.

The restaurant on-site will also be extended to provide 400 seats.

The creation of an overflow car park will increase the number of car parking spaces by 100 bays along with additional disabled parking.

A considerable portion of the site has historically been used for nursery growing and in recent times, the site has been renowned for its nursery production with a particular expertise in Clematis.

Unfortunately, the wholesale nursery market has declined significantly over the past 15 years with the closure

of many of the country’s leading nurseries. Competition from the wider European market where better growing conditions, favourable wage rates and lower production costs have created a market in which UK nurseries have struggled to compete.

For Pennells, this situation placed a greater reliance on the success of the Garden Centre to support the wider site, sustain employment and allow the business to thrive.

For this to happen, it became clear that investment and change would be necessary for Pennells to be able to compete effectively, with the need to increase income from the Garden Centre to offset the reduction in nursery operations fundamental to securing the success of the wider site.

The Main Contractor on the extension is

Maher Millard with architectural services being provided by Evolution Design.

Owner Richard Pennell said: “We’re expecting hopefully to turnover £5M - £6M plus concessions after this, up 50%. We will add a food hall and 1,500sq m of internal space and 3,300sq m of canopy-covered area Velo-type, like open skies for outdoor plants, providing more of what we’re doing at the moment.

“The development of the Centre is very exciting for us and will provide an improved shopping experience for our customers with a wider range of products. However, the heart of the business will continue to be our love of plants, garden and gardeners.”

Seymour and Castle Ltd are pleased to be associated with Maher and Millard as a trusted electrical installations engineers on the Pennells project.

The Company’s strength lies in its ability to offer clients a full electrical design and build facility and our attention to the requirements of our clients with regard to quality and reliability. As NICEIC & ECA specialist installation and maintenance electrical engineers, we are continually investing in the skills necessary to meet the future electrical infrastructure requirements of the industrial and construction sector including expanding our activities to include high voltage capacity.

For renewables and energy saving, speak to Scenergy, our specialist renewable energy technology business. They can supply and install Solar PV, Solar Thermal, ASHP,GSHP and Bio Mass boilers to the highest standards.

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Telephone: 01507 602491 Fax: 01507 607717 Email: admin@seymour-castle.co.uk www.seymour-castle.co.uk

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PROFILE UKC

Willmott Dixon A winning team

Willmott Dixon is one of the UK’s largest privately owned construction and property development companies, responsible for a diverse range of projects in both private and public sectors.

With over 160 years of experience and employing more than 700 people, Willmott Dixon represents a truly sustainable business managed by some of the most dynamic and forward thinking professionals in the sector.

Recognised as a leading advocate and proponent of partnering and best-value procurement, Willmott Dixon aims to be the first choice team member for all customers and is proud that a growing number choose to work with the Company in long-term, repeat business frameworks where they can both strive for continuous improvement.

Willmott Dixon places tremendous emphasis on developing its people, starting from their well-established graduate training scheme through to the programme to develop senior management into future leaders of the business.

Founded in 1852, Willmott Dixon has grown to become one of the country’s most recognisable brands for the built environment.

Group Chief Executive Rick Willmott is the fifth generation of the Willmott family to lead the business, aided by some of the industry’s most astute business people and supported by a fantastic team across all Group companies.

In his end of year statement, Mr Willmott gave his thoughts on 2014 and looks forward to the challenges to be brought in the new year.

A particular highlight for Mr Willmott and the Company was winning a Queen’s Award for Enterprise for sustainable development, regarded as the UK’s most prestigious business accolade. This was followed up by becoming the only contractor to be

recognised with a CommunityMark areas. It will include external solid wall from Business in the Community. insulation, plus draught proofing, double “From my viewpoint, winning a Queen’s glazing and renewable energy generation Award for Enterprise for sustainable such as solar panels and heat pumps. development was a huge achievement for This contract expands the significant ECO us. It reflected the work and investment and Green Deal presence of Willmott we’ve made, over the recession years, Dixon Energy Services in the north of on our performance in areas like social England. The Company is currently value, carbon and waste reduction, staying working with the West Yorkshire resolute to our values and beliefs.”

Combined Authorities, the Association As a contractor, Willmott Dixon works of Greater Manchester authorities, with Government, local authority and Leeds Federated Housing Association private sector clients, delivering capital and Golden Gates Housing Trust. projects in education, justice, commercial A recently completed project by the Group offices, retail, health and housing. Through is a specialist £5.5M food business park innovations like Sunesis, the Company’s in Leicester. Works competed on the standardised designs for education, leisure park at the end of last year, with some and the care sector, Willmott Dixon can 19,250sq ft of high quality bespoke save clients up to 30% on building costs food grade units ranging in size from without compromising on quality.

1,000 to 5,000sq ft available. Located at Willmott Dixon is also proud to be one High View Close of Lewisher Road, the of the country’s largest builders of food park features more than 150 solar housing, completing nearly 2,000 units panels across the three buildings, which each year for its Regen development are predicted to provide around 17% of division, plus a variety of clients from local the total energy demand for the site. authorities and housing associations to private developers like Taylor Wimpey. www.wilmottdixon.co.uk Recent project wins for the Company include a huge retrofit programme for Hull City Council. The project will see some 3,000 homes benefit from energy improvements in a £60M Green Deal and Eco partnership.

Refurbishment work by Willmott Dixon will include We Specialise In PAPERHANGING - ARTEXING - INTERIOR & EXTERIOR PAINTWORK improvements SPECIALIST COATING - SPRAY PAINTING - BROKEN COLOURWORK - INTERIOR DESIGN to homes in the 2A Henton Road, Edwinstowe, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire NG21 9LB Preston Road Telephone / Fax: 01623 827665 Mobile: 07976 719884 and Orchard Park E-mail: brian@sharplinedecorators.com www.sharplinedecorators.com regeneration

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UKC COMMERCIAL

Grove Park Grove Park is a major business park situated in the heart of the East Midlands at Junction 21 of the M1/ M69 Interchange. The parkland setting provides an excellent office campus environment and a separate area for warehousing and industrial buildings.

Grove Park will ultimately comprise approximately 116,000 sq m of offices, production and distribution space, together with the four star Marriott Hotel.

The site has around 6.55 acres remaining in the prime central location, available for immediate development for first class office accommodation.

Grove Park already boasts such prestigious companies as British Gas, RSM Tenon, NHS, HSBC, RBS, Sytner, ESPO, MyHomeMove, Brett & Randall and Mattioli Woods.

Construction of Phase 4D of Grove Park is currently underway to provide further top quality office accommodation.

The Main Contractor on this project is North Midland Construction who have built an enviable reputation for quality, reliability and economy in civil engineering and building construction.

The Company operate out of eight regional offices, providing nationwide coverage within the construction sector.

The Architect is Stephen George & Partners. Founded in 1970, they are one

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of the UK’s leading architectural practices of BSS Industrial, said: “BSS Industrial’s with offices in London, Leicester, Leeds heritage is firmly rooted in Leicester, and Solihull. The Company has extensive so it is with great pleasure that we experience within both the private and are able to retain our Leicestershire public sectors and particular expertise base and move our 150 employees in master planning, the industrial/ from Lee Circle to our new head office warehouse sector, offices and workplace located at the nearby Grove Park. planning, all types of residential work, “This is a necessary and exciting schools and the retail/leisure sector. development for the Company One company set to join the as we secure plans for future list of prestigious companies at expansion and business growth as Grove Park is BSS Industrial. part of the Travis Perkins Group.”

The Company, originally called British Steam Specialities, supplies plumbing and heating equipment to construction firms and was acquired

by Travis Perkins for £550M. Travis Perkins has confirmed that all 150 staff currently working at BSS’s Curtain wall, window and door specialists current location at Fleet House in Lee Circle would be making Unit 1 and 2, Albion Road Industial Estate, Albion Road, Sileby, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE12 7RA the move to the purpose-built site Tel: 01509 815497 Fax: 01509 815184 in Grove Park. info@rknaluminium.co.uk Chris Hufflet, Managing Director

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