Building News is an information portal for all professional building specifiers. Here you can find all of the latest construction news from around the UK and the rest of the world.

JOHNSON AND SUNAK – NUCLEAR STAND OFF

A stand-off between Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak over the expansion of nuclear energy is behind the latest delay to the Government’s long-anticipated energy security strategy.

The Prime Minister is pushing for between six and seven new large nuclear power stations of a similar size to Hinkley Point C to be built by 2050, as he seeks to dramatically reduce the country’s reliance on oil and gas.

But the proposals are being strongly resisted by the Treasury, with the Chancellor concerned that the vast investment in nuclear would not provide the taxpayer with value for money.

It has meant that the energy package has been kicked further down the road, despite Mr Johnson having previously pledged to publish the proposals at the start of the month.

The plans are also expected to include ways to produce more energy from renewables, and increase North Sea oil and gas production.

The Prime Minister’s spokesman denied that they were being delayed because of a disagreement, instead stating that it was “important we get these things right”.

“It is a significant piece of work that takes time to develop and it is not unusual for strategies and approaches like this to take the right amount of time before being published,” the spokesman said.

But according to sources close to the discussions, the delay is down to a dispute between Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak over investment in new nuclear projects.

The Prime Minister is understood to have told a round table of executives from the nuclear power industry that he wants to see 25 per cent of the country’s electricity supply to come from new nuclear plants as part of his “big bet” on the industry.

But the scale of the ambition is not being shared by the Chancellor, particularly as the construction cost of Hinkley Point C is expected to be around £22-23bn by the time it comes on grid in 2026.

With economies of scale being found, should the Government decide to invest in seven new large-scale reactors the construction cost would be more than £100bn over the next 20 years, although this would largely come from the private sector.

Mr Sunak attempted to distance himself from claims that he was the reason behind the delays to the strategy, telling MPs on the Treasury Select Committee on Monday: “I’m certainly not blocking anything and the Prime Minister is continuing to work through the details of that.

“Given how important it is, I think it’s important that we get it right and it will impact lots of different things and it is being worked on at pace between all of the relevant ministers.”

The energy security strategy is now not expected to be published until 4 April at the earliest, meaning it will have been nearly a month since the Prime Minister promised it “within days” on 9 March.

Officials hope they will be able to set out the package while the House of Lords is still sitting next week.

A failure to do so would mean the Government’s plan may not be released until mid-May, due to a parliamentary traffic jam caused by Easter recess, restrictions on governmental announcements during the local elections, and the Queen’s Speech.

Labour has dismissed the Prime Minister’s 25 per cent figure for new nuclear power generation as an “invention” that is not backed by the science, although the party supports more nuclear power.

Even the nuclear industry seems sceptical about hitting a quarter of all the UK’s electricity supply, preferring instead to discuss the target of 15GW of power from nuclear sources by 2035 – a amount called for by a cross-party panel of MPs.

Even that would come at a cost of around £80bn. However, it is estimated that it would save about 3.6bn tonnes of carbon that would otherwise be produced by burning gas.

By 2030, all but one of the country’s existing nuclear power stations – Sizewell B – will have come offline, with proponents of nuclera power saying this emphasises the need for a greater investment in the industry.

The Nuclear Industry Association said the UK needed to “urgently” invest in a fleet of “large and small nuclear stations” alongside renewables to deliver the “clean sovereign power we need”.

Ministers who support the push for more nuclear energy claim nuclear power generation would become cheaper the more stations are built, as supply chains are developed. Small modular reactors are also increasingly being viewed as a cheaper alternative.

Rolls-Royce are developing technology for the smaller reactors, which could supplement the nuclear energy production.

Source: iNews

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We must upgrade our existing built environment

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Did you know that 80% of the homes that people will inhabit in 2050 already built and up to 75% of today’s buildings likely to still be in use by 2050? These statistics alone indicate the importance of retrofit in delivering a healthy and vibrant built environment fit for the future. Buildingspecifier.com Editor Joe Bradbury investigates:

As carbon emissions continue to accelerate global warming, an ever-increasing need for action to be taken to mitigate climate change has emerged.

Buildings currently account for the highest percentage of worldwide energy-related carbon emissions (39%) in both operation and construction, with operations emissions accounting for 28%.

With 80% of the homes that people will inhabit in 2050 already built and up to 75% of today’s buildings likely to still be in use by 2050, the construction sector must prioritise renovating existing buildings on a large scale to if we are to have any hope of meeting the Paris Agreement’s energy-saving targets.

The message is plain and clear; in order to reach carbon-cutting targets, the building industry must prioritise retrofitting existing assets.

While climate change is definitely a global concern, the path to decarbonisation must take regional differences into account. More than half of the building stock required in developing countries by 2050 has yet to be constructed, reducing the requirement for retrofits in those areas. As a result, more industrialised countries must bear the burden of addressing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions connected to the built environment, as much of the future building stock is, in fact, already in place.

However, existing issues, as well as a variety of other impediments in these areas are currently blocking the large-scale retrofitting so sorely required to reach global decarbonisation ambitions.  From financial and skills-based barriers to concerns with inadequate building rules and underperforming buildings overall, these obstacles vary in complexity from region to region. While some progress has been achieved in overcoming these obstacles, it is evident that more urgent action is still required.

What role will technology play?

Technology may hold the key to bolstering our efforts to cut carbon emissions and overcome current roadblocks preventing us from achieving our aims at present. Furthermore, technology enables better network interconnection among areas, which is critical for a worldwide strategy.

The recovery and reuse of materials, which is a critical component of the retrofit process, can be aided by establishing long-term circularity in the built environment through the formation of a circular economy and the widespread use of material passports.

Smart technology integration will also aid the industry in meeting its decarbonisation goals. Smart buildings and smart grids, for example, use information and communications technology (ICTs) to collect activity data and allow components to “speak” with one another and to a central system, so we can run our buildings more efficiently and lower their environmental effect.

Buildings needn’t be new to be efficient

It is a common misconception that older or outdated buildings need to be replaced entirely with more modern counterparts in order to achieve any tangible results with energy efficiency. In reality, a building needn’t be new to be efficient.

Anyone can create something from the ground up, but Great British values are based on a “make do and mend” approach. It has served us well in the past, and it continues to serve us well in the present. While many building owners work diligently to improve particular technologies such as heating or lighting, a holistic strategy to energy consumption is eventually required to combat inefficiency and increase savings. This is where we, as industry professionals, must take the lead and educate the sector about the products and technologies that we as refurbishing and retrofit professionals have at our disposal.

It is our responsibility to convey that, while the initial cost of incorporating numerous technologies and processes into a refurbishment may be higher, the upgrades are more than offset by energy savings over time.

Take lighting, for example: doing a lighting upgrade alone can save your organisation up to 50% on energy costs. It’s simple to understand where money may be saved when you consider that lighting accounts for 30-40% of a business building’s electric cost. These savings would be substantially greater if other energy-saving strategies were implemented alongside.

Time is critical

Commercial properties alone account for a large component of the built environment, even before housing and private sector structures are taken into account. They provide a platform for most of the country’s key sectors, as well as locations for the general population to work, shop, socialise, study and rest. In the 21st century, commercial buildings are undeniably important. Despite the fact that investment in this burgeoning industry is on the rise, commercial buildings are among the worst performers in terms of energy efficiency.

The commercial sector is responsible for roughly 26% of all greenhouse gas emissions from buildings in the UK, according to the Committee on Climate Change. The world’s population currently consumes 1.6 planet’s worth of resources every year. According to the Global Footprint Network, if we continue to consume at our current rate, we will deplete the global carbon budget and lock in more than 2 degrees of global warming in around 17 years… The entire world requires a retrofit!

It starts at school

The proposed national funding formula attempts to ensure that funding in schools across the country is consistent. However, there are fears that if this were to be implemented, it would cause huge financial changes for some schools, potentially making them worse off.

When you throw in the apparent education funding problem, as well as teacher retention and recruitment issues, it’s no surprise that many schools are under pressure to cut money wherever they can.

In light of this, there are a variety of ways that schools can adjust their energy usage to save money while also becoming more environmentally friendly. Retrofitting schools so that they were not only better for the environment but also cheaper to run would be a fantastic lesson to teach our children; one they could carry on into the future as we gradually take more and more responsibility for our planet.

In summary

A productive building is one that is efficient. We can help counteract manmade climate change while also reaping a slew of profitable ancillary benefits as an industry, simply by being thoughtful in how we generate and use energy. We can also set an example for future generations, ensuring that professionals in the built environment continue to work in a healthy, dynamic environment for many years to come. The act of retrofitting is to look back and learn from our mistakes and improve upon them, to keep moving the industry forward to a brighter future.

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Register now for The Offsite Show The UK’s largest offsite event

Excel London 3-5 May 2022. The brand new Offsite Show will make its debut in London this year and will run alongside UK Construction Week (UKCW), Civils Expo, Concrete Expo (3-4 may) and Grand Designs Live, (3-5 May).

In partnership with Buildoffsite, and supported by the MPBA, the Offsite Show will be the only UK event that unites the client and supply chain for all aspects of the rapidly expanding offsite construction sector.

The Offsite Show will welcome leading content provider, Buildoffsite who will host  comprehensive free to attend seminars and workshops with support from key industry stakeholders and Government departments.

Join Buildoffsite in welcoming the industry back for the first face to face event where we will be looking at the impacts on the construction industry post pandemic. The challenges faced and how the power of Offsite will be harnessed to deliver net zero major projects faster.

There will be sessions each day covering post pandemic recovery, MMC’s contribution to decarbonisation, whole life cycle retrofit & building for resilience. We also intend to address the opportunities for MMC led innovation through financial and assurance incentives. In this session we will be looking at the challenges businesses face in funding MMC projects and how these can be addressed by recognised industry assurance schemes. Each session will cross reference government targets and how Offsite is set to deliver.

Entrance is free to attend, and you will automatically gain access to all the co-located shows across the three days.

 

Book your free tickets today CLICK HERE

 

Still time to take part – just a few remaining stands available at the UK’s largest Offsite showcase.  If you are looking for new business opportunities within the offsite construction supply chain or want to meet new buyers of offsite construction products, services and solutions, The Offsite Show is an unmissable opportunity for your business.

Across three days, the show will offer the perfect backdrop to network with the industry and invite prospects to meet you in person so that you can showcase your products and services.
The Offsite Show is run in association with Buildoffsite and is supported by the MPBA, British Adhesive & Sealants Association, Building Better, CIRIA and Building Design & Construction magazine.The Offsite Show will be co-located with UK Construction Week, Grand Designs Live and Concrete Expo and forms part of over 40,000m2 dedicated to showcasing the built environment this coming May. Don’t miss the opportunity to meet over 30,000 decision makers actively looking to source new products.

Book your stand today!

Contact us to discuss your requirements and join

Kingspan, Euroclad, Lindapter, Creagh Concrete, Howick, Stelling Properties, C-Probe, Nexus Modular and 70 other companies at The Offsite Show

 

For stand enquiries contact

Eddie Milton  –  eddie@industry-expo.co.uk

Paul Shelley  –  paul@industry-expo.co.uk

www.offsiteshow.com

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CELEBRATING WOMEN IN CONSTRUCTION

Construction has strongly demonstrated its willingness to embrace Women within the sector. As we reach the end of the ‘Women in Construction Week’, we focus on just a few companies and organisations that have reached out to Buildingspecifer with their views and success stories about women in construction.

GRADIENT

Encouraging more women into construction

Ultimately, the construction industry needs to send a message to women of all ages that the sector is in a different place to the one it occupied in the previous century. It needs to highlight that the building process itself is a relatively small part of the industry, which requires a plethora of expertise to function effectively in the form of designers, planners, surveyors and engineers.

Construction needs problem-solvers, people who like a challenge and enjoy meeting other people because in the building trade, employees do not exist within the confines of their own organisation. A tradesperson’s network will involve many building-based organisations and even competitors, who will be committed to achieving the goal that inspired us to join the industry in the first place i.e; we wanted to make the world a better place. For women who have the same aim, then a career in construction is definitely for them.

 

COLEG CAMBRIA

Coleg Cambria’s Bersham Road site in Wrexham invited all secondary schools in north east Wales to join a day of workshops, seminars, and activities ahead of International Women’s Day.

“It was “fantastic” to see such a positive response from the students.

Engineering and construction are traditionally male-dominated fields but there are so many opportunities out there for women to be successful, the barriers that were once there are disappearing,”

“Of course, the challenge now is to demonstrate what these opportunities are and how working in these arenas is an attractive proposition, which is why we held this event.

“The feedback we’ve received has been brilliant, it’s fantastic to see the interest and hopefully the next generation of engineers and construction workers will see far more of a gender balance.”

Karl Jackson, Assistant Principal for the Institute of Technology and Site Lead at Bersham Road

“In some careers there is still a stigma about women’s ability to do the job, but at Coleg Cambria we are all about breaking down barriers and giving our learners the best possible chance to progress and flourish on whatever path they take,”

“And we do so in partnership with many of the country’s top engineering and construction companies and trade bodies.”

Gemma Booth, a Member of the CIOB (MCIOB)

SHREWSBURY COLLEGES GROUP

An all-female team of construction staff are encouraging women to look beyond gender stereotypes and get involved in the industry on International Women’s Day.

Currently, women only make up 14 per cent of the construction industry, but educational providers are helping this figure to rise, with 37 per cent of people who enter the industry through higher education courses now being women.

The construction staff at Shrewsbury Colleges Group are eager to contribute as much as possible by encouraging young women to enrol onto their construction courses.

Amanda Crane, a progression specialist who coordinates all industry placements within construction for Shrewsbury Colleges Group, believes that right now is an especially exciting time to be working in construction trades.

She said: “I love working alongside these professionals in construction as this area of employment is currently booming.

“Employers are keen to give young people an opportunity to prove themselves, leading to many success stories.”

 

SIKA WOMEN IN CONSTRUCTION

Through a long-term commitment to equal opportunities and professional development of employees, Sika fully supports the International Women’s Day (IWD) campaign to tackle gender bias in the workplace.

Sika is proud of the inclusive culture that exists across all areas of its business. Therefore, in recognition of International Women’s Day, here’s an introduction to some female employees who are building a career in construction with Sika.

UK Finance & Compliance Manager, Tracy Roberts, said that promoting equality and encouraging diversity was key to establishing gender equality in the building industry.

“As a male-dominanted industry, women may experience imposter syndrome and not necessarily be given equal opportunities. It’s not something I’ve experienced, however.”

Tracy, who has spent 22 years in the building industry, said women should feel confident enough to share their ideas on workplace practices and behaviours.

“Autonomy and drive for innovation are key drivers to empowering positive change within a business. It’s something that Sika has always encouraged during my time with the company.”

Tonia Bicknell swapped a career in retail and hospitality to become Sika’s Reward and Benefits Manager.

“I really welcomed the opportunity to work in a new industry with the fresh challenges it brings. Generally, construction remains a male-dominated industry, but Sika is committed to addressing that gender imbalance. I like its values and culture, hence I wanted to be a part of that environment. My role as Reward and Benefits Manager allows me to help scope the future of Sika’s benefits portfolio and attract and retain new talent. It’s a very exciting place to be.”

 

Despite being relatively new to the construction industry, Anna Fuller, who provides data and project support as part of Sika’s IT team, has already made her mark. She cites involvement with Sika’s Enewall SAP Integration Project and the ongoing Everbuild SAP Project as being a highlight of her burgeoning career. She has a message for women looking to follow in her footsteps by taking up a building industry-based role: “If it’s what you want to do, just go for it. Be confident and trust in your abilities.”

“The influence of IT will continue to grow massively in the industry, particularly as newer technologies such as VR and AI are refined, and innovate processes in planning, design and build.”

 

A Data Scientist within Sika’s Quality Control Department, Letitia Birnoschi has a chemistry background and ‘an inclination’ towards materials science.

“The construction industry seemed like a perfect fit.”

As the first woman in her family to pursue a science-related career, she hopes to make the most of her current role. “My work involves developing data-driven tools for analysing data from R&D and quality control. My ambition is for these tools to become an essential part of the Sika business.”

 

Michelle Round, R&D Technology Centre Leader, is adamant that in the workplace, gender differences should be a source of creation rather than discrimination.

“Women often think about things differently to men, and that leads to different approaches. We need diversity of thought and ideas to be able to push and challenge each other.”

Michelle’s construction-based career began by ‘luck’ when she took an industrial work placement whilst studying for a degree. She said that the building sector needed to establish an appropriate culture in order to recruit and retain more women, adding: “We still need to get more women into senior management positions. The biggest changes always come from the top and having more women there will help shape the right environments below senior management.”

 

Sarah Langley would rather her gender was incidental to her role as Head of Infrastructure – Major Projects.

“I don’t like being considered as a ‘woman in construction’. I’d prefer to be thought of as just another person in construction.”

Sarah, whose grandfather was a roofer, said she’d inherited his practical skills. “As a child I learned to wire a plug, fix a fence, bleed a radiator and much more!” Delighted to win Salesperson of the Year in her Target Market in 2021, Sarah is nonetheless adamant that her greatest career achievement thus far was “being considered a specialist within my industry and by my peers at a global level.”

At Sika, we believe our workforce’s diversity is key to our success as a global building products manufacturer. We employ people for their commitment to excellence, rather than gender, race or cultural identification. Women have proved themselves more than capable of forging a career in the construction industry, displaying the requisite skills to flourish in many aspects of the sector.

Their influence will be crucial to our future built environment.

 

​BESA

The Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) represents more than 1,000 specialist engineering companies with a combined turnover of around £4 billion. Its members provide design, installation, commissioning, maintenance, control and management of engineering systems and services in buildings, with a particular focus on heating, cooling, and ventilation.

Employers in these sectors are struggling with an ageing workforce and a long-standing lack of diversity that hampers their ability to recruit the talent they need to address a growing skills gap. However, BESA has women in most of its senior management positions, which is helping it to promote positive change across the industry.

Its commercial, finance, marketing, training, and legal directors are all female. Its director of certification, which plays a crucial role in the development of professional and technical standards for the building services sector, is also a woman.

On International Women’s Day, the Association is using its gender balanced approach to recruitment and promotion to send a strong message to the industry it represents – and to the wider engineering community. Its gender profile is very much in line with this year’s IWD theme: #Break the Bias – challenging inequality in the workplace.

“Thousands of words have been written about the barriers to gender equality, but it is only through concrete action that real change can happen,” said Kirsty Cogan, BESA’s managing director of commercial services.

“For engineering, which is suffering from a growing skills shortage, to be, in effect, recruiting from just half of the available workforce seems crazy,” she added. “There are amazing career opportunities for women and girls in our industry, but gender stereotypes still hold sway and, as a result, our businesses are missing out.

“At BESA, we have women in most of our leadership positions and working throughout our organisation. While we recognise that these roles are not ‘pure’ engineering, our gender balance does allow us to influence the diversity discussion across the sector and set an example to our members.”

Legal and commercial director Debbie Petford pointed out that most of the barriers that might have prevented or discouraged women from entering engineering professions were coming down.

“The adoption of modern methods of working and the emergence of Big Data and digital design techniques, along with the rapid advancement of building services technology, mean the sector desperately needs more talented young people with new skills and from a much wider background.

“And it is these same advances that are also making it easier for women to gain access to technical and leadership roles right across the UK economy – our industry needs to build on that,” she said.

It takes strong, positive action to reverse decades of unintended gender bias and providing positive role models is a great way of inspiring a new generation, according to BESA.

“Women like to work in professions where they can make a difference, so we need to promote the amazing opportunities in engineering to ‘shape the world’ i.e. through sustainability; the climate emergency and addressing social inequalities,” said director of certification Rachel Davidson, who has been employed by BESA for 30 years.

Just over 12% of all UK engineers are women, according to the Women’s Engineering Society (WES). However, that figure falls to 9.7% for those employed in ‘traditional’ engineering like the building services, mechanical and civil sectors.

 

KLOBER

Leading components manufacturer, Klober, is showing its support for gender equality across the construction industry as it celebrates its highest ever level of female leadership in over 60 years. However, the business says there is still a way to go with regards to wider female representation across the sector.

Most notably, Klober has revealed its senior management team now comprises 66% women and 37% of the company’s wider roles are filled by women, spanning logistics, warehousing and sales management.

Pauline Manley is Klober’s Marketing and Portfolio Director and was the first female director to join the senior management team in 2019. Since then, the business has appointed three more women into senior roles including Tessa Viller – Head of Brand and Communications, Layla McCourt – Divisional Sales Manager, and Jenny Gallon – Warehouse and Logistics Manager.

Pauline highlights a study conducted by researchers at The Peterson Institute for International Economics, Washington, D.C., companies with 30% female executives are around 6% more profitable She says: “This is evidence for the global debate over the scarcity of women in decision-making business roles. Leadership groups with people from mixed backgrounds, ethnicity and gender are more successful because the challenge is stronger and ultimately leads to more rounded decision making.”

A recent report from global HR services company, Randstad revealed that although there have been improvements in female leadership positions, 43% of companies surveyed still had an exclusively male board of directors in 2019.[2] With females only representing 12.5% of those employed in the construction industry according to a report by the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), Klober has reason to celebrate its 66% record.

The 2022 theme for International Women’s Day is #BreakTheBias. Pauline comments on Klober’s interpretation of this: “While we’re very proud of our representation of women in Klober, there is still much work to be done to attract more women into construction. It’s a thriving and exciting sector to work in yet grapples with a bias towards men going back centuries.”

Pauline adds: “Training and apprenticeships are key. Once a woman is in the industry, she needs to see career progression. Providing training and development gives them that opportunity for success. We will proactively be looking at the way we describe roles and the images we use. I also think we need to be more accessible at all levels and this has to start with better communication and good careers advice and training.”

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ALTRO BRINGS VIBRANT DESIGNS TO LIFE AT EL MEXICANA

Altro Ensemble modular flooring system has been paired with Altro Whiterock Digiclad (Custom) wall panels to deliver the ‘wow’ factor front of house at the El Mexicana restaurant in Chelmsford.

Harriet Lazzeri of Lazzeri Creative Interiors was looking to update the styling of the Mexican street food restaurant chain while also incorporating the new Don Churro desserts brand recently developed by the group. She turned to Altro’s designer ranges to help bring her creative ideas to reality: “As part of the development of adding Don Churro into the existing El Mexicana brand we were looking to have a quirky and colourful backdrop to the servery counter – something that offered brand identity and was easily customisable from site to site but that also offered a practical and hygienic solution.

 

 

“Altro Whiterock Digiclad fitted the bill perfectly, giving us our rustic whitewashed brick effect finish, synonymous with traditional Mexican cantinas, but with the added element of colourful and site-specific graphics. This is offset with the monochromatic Altro Ensemble herringbone flooring, giving the whole scheme a sleek-industrial vibe.”

Great for areas where looks count, for feature walls, entire spaces, and to aid with way-finding, Altro Whiterock Digiclad™ (Custom) wall panels give total creative freedom with the quality and performance you expect from Altro walls. Your vision – a photographic image or design – is turned into reality using UV cured inks onto an Altro Whiterock sheet. Hard-coat technology provides scratch-resistant properties for added surface protection of your chosen design.

Altro Ensemble™ is a modular flooring system of luxury vinyl tiles that gives complete design freedom to create stunning floors for interior spaces. With a vast range of colours and four modular sizes, it can be mixed and matched to create unique designs from colour blocking to geometric patterns. Altro Ensemble has 15dB sound reduction with added comfort underfoot, making it perfect for front of house areas where design is key.

Having used tried and trusted Altro floors and walls in kitchens, bathrooms and behind bars, in 2020 Harriet took a fresh look and discovered Altro’s designer ranges of floors and walls. “There was so much more to Altro than I knew when it comes to the design side and front of house,” she explains. “I’ve since used Altro Ensemble modular flooring in a theatre and in a hotel reception. The sizes are good and installers like working with it. I love the matt texture, and the patterns are fantastic – the range has the best concrete pattern I’ve seen.”

For the El Mexicana project, Altro Whiterock Digiclad™ was the ideal partner for the Altro Ensemble floor. “We were able to play with the designs for this, knowing we could print exactly what we wanted. I was looking at how to add in a softer, more feminine element alongside the vibrant modern designs. We’ve continued to use this combination at other sites, we’ve been really pleased with the results.”

CLICK HERE

to see Altro’s designer ranges and for information on how to make your custom designs a reality

 

About Altro – www.altro.co.uk

Altro has been at the forefront of innovation for over 100 years. Today, working closely with architects, end customers, engineers, designers and contractors around the world, our insight and expertise help them transform everyday spaces into environments that can improve the wellbeing of everyone that uses them.

And by consistently turning creative thinking into practical, real-world solutions – that maintain the highest standards of safety and durability – Altro has become synonymous with quality.

As a family-founded business, we have a strong sense of what we value and a way of thinking inspired by The Bauhaus – a balance of quality, form and design-led function – that puts people’s needs at the heart of everything we do. It’s a human-centred approach to designing for the demands of 21st century life.

It’s a history that means we value the bold, the brave and the new. From focusing on how the different sectors we serve need their spaces to perform, to the call for more environmentally sustainable materials, Altro is constantly challenging what is possible and seeking new ways of inspiring our customers and answering their biggest challenges.

With offices across Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific, we remain committed to developing solutions that stand the test of time.

We combine the best in contemporary style with the functionality required to improve the way we all live and work, wherever in the world that may be.

We are Altro.

Designed for possibilities. Made for people.

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WERNERCO BRINGS PODIUM SAFETY AWARENESS TO PASMA TOWER WEEK

WernerCo, the leading access equipment specialist, and manufacturer of BoSS® towers, is announcing its support of this year’s PASMA Tower Week with a series of safety awareness videos.

 

The globally celebrated event, launched by PASMA, will bring the industry together between 6-12th March to promote positive messages about mobile access towers, prefabricated tower scaffolds and low-level work platforms, showcasing the different applications in which these can be used and helping professionals to work safely by demonstrating best practice.

WernerCo is supporting this year’s event by contributing to PASMA’s 7-part bitesize safety video series with content focusing on podium steps; demonstrating best practice with how to choose a podium, and how to use it safely. The video series, which will also include content on tower stabilisation, fall protection, EN1004 safety standards and more, will be available to view on PASMA’s social media and YouTube channels during Tower Week.

Approved PASMA training centre, and recent gold sponsor of falls prevention charity, The No Falls Foundation, WernerCo is dedicated to improving the safety of those who work at height through supporting educational safety initiatives and risk awareness across the industry.

Gurjeeve Bola, Product Manager at WernerCo, stated: ‘Falls from height remain one of the biggest causes of workplace injury; and when risks are overlooked due the misconception that using equipment that isn’t far off the ground doesn’t come with dangers, accidents are all the more prone to occurrence. Educating users towards podium standards plays a crucial role in working safely, and we’re looking forward to bringing this vital element of tower safety awareness to this year’s PASMA Tower Week.

‘We are proud to work closely with PASMA, and to support their education initiatives in work at height safety. It is through relationships like these, between manufacturers and safety-orientated foundations, that as an industry we can hopefully work towards our shared goal of improving safety awareness and ultimately reduce the number of work at height accidents we see each year.”

WernerCo is an approved PASMA training centre and offers industry standard training programs on the safe use of

mobile access towers and low-level access equipment.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION

For more information on Werner products please visit www.wernerco.co.uk.

 

 

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NEW REGULATION COMPLIANCE THREATENS HOUSING TARGETS

Ministers have met this week with the construction industry to hold talks over controversial post-Brexit safety testing rules that the sector argues could delay the construction of 150,00 new homes next year, E&T can reveal.

As well as derailing government house-building targets, the construction industry has warned that the rules could impact the UK’s decarbonisation efforts and exacerbate the cost-of-living crisis.

Under the UK’s new regulatory goods regime, manufacturers currently have until 1 January 2023 to obtain a UKCA marking on a huge range of products which will replace the EU CE marking. The government says the move is an opportunity “to make our regulations work in the best interests of UK consumers and businesses”.

However, the construction industry says the deadline represents “a fast-approaching cliff edge” as there is not enough testing capacity in the UK to ensure certain crucial building products are certified.

The CE mark demonstrates that products comply with health and safety and environmental protection legislation. It has been a minimum requirement for manufacturers to place on their products in the EU market since 1993.

CE testing is currently undertaken across a network of European testing and certification bodies but under the new system, the UK will not recognise these certificates. This means that, in some cases, manufacturers will need to have their products retested even though the technical requirements and standards that need to be met are largely the same for UKCA as they were for the CE mark.

Last week, Brexit minister Jacob Rees-Mogg hinted that the UKCA mark could be dropped, arguing that “there is no point in us repeating things that other organisations and countries do to a perfectly competent standard”. But he was promptly slapped down by No 10, which confirmed the UKCA mark would be introduced on 1 January next year, as planned.

While many construction products can be brought to market with a ‘self-declaration’ of conformity to demonstrate compliance with the regulations, several crucial construction products including radiators, glass, passive fire protection, glues and sealants will have to be completely retested before they can be sold in the UK.

The Construction Leadership Council (CLC), a joint industry-government body, has estimated that the inability to certify radiators in the UK “could delay the construction of over 150,000 homes in a single year” while also delaying “the switch to low-carbon heating”. To put this in context, the government has a target to build 300,000 new homes a year.

In addition, the government has pledged to install 600,000 heat pumps a year by 2028. Heat pumps require larger radiators as they run at lower temperatures than conventional gas-powered boilers, although heat pumps can also be used with underfloor heating systems.

Tom Garrigan, technical director of BSRIA, which is currently the only UK-approved body to test radiators for the UKCA mark, noted that there are eight EU-notified bodies that test radiators for CE-marking purposes in Europe.

“On the assumption their individual annual throughput is similar to that of the single UK-approved body, there is estimated to be an enormous 64 years’ worth of retesting required,” he added.

Carrigan said this was an “impossible target to achieve” by 31 December 2022.

As it stands, manufacturers and distributors of radiators that have not had their products retested would legally have to remove products that had not been tested from the market in Great Britain after this date.

“This is clearly an unintended consequence, however this may lead to a deregulation of product conformity, limit product availability, and a backlog of testing could stifle innovation as new product designs will be required to enable low-carbon technologies to operate efficiently,” said Carrigan.

 

The issue is not just confined to radiators.

The Construction Products Association (CPA) says other products that may not be tested before the deadline due to “a lack of capacity, capability or ambiguity in the legal requirements include: windows and doors, insulation products, synthetic renders, adhesives and sealants, coated and laminated glass, timber products, electric cables, cement admixtures and some critical fire-safety and building-system products”.

The CLC told E&T that it had had a “productive meeting” with the construction minister Lee Rowley on Wednesday and understood that “further developments are likely in the near future”. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said it was “working on solutions to issues around construction products testing capacity and supporting industry to prepare for UKCA adoption”. But it is not clear what type of solution may be forthcoming.

The government has already extended the deadline for UKCA by a year to 1 January 2023 but the CPA says this will still not leave enough time for testing.

Peter Caplehorn, the CPA’s chief executive, told E&T: “At the moment, industry’s hands are tied. Post-Brexit, the CA regime limits us to having access to only 70 certification and testing organisations in the UK, where previously we had access to over 700 across the EU.

“We would agree with the recent reported comment by Jacob Rees-Mogg; in the case of the great majority of construction products there is simply no point to the new CA regime. This process makes no difference to the quality, safety or robustness of a product.

“It just adds significant costs to retest, re-certify and rebrand the same product to place it on the UK market.”

There are also concerns that these extra costs will be passed on to consumers, who are already facing unprecedented rises in energy bills this year.

Garrigan said that “an option to avoid the cliff-edge at the end of the calendar year” would be for the government to recognise products such as radiators that are already compliant under the CE system as valid in the UK.

However, this could prove difficult politically for the government as it would mean UK goods would be aligned with EU rules that the UK has no control over, defeating the original rationale behind Brexit.

Source: Engineering and Technology

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HIGH PERFORMANCE, FUEL SAVING EFFICIENCY FOR LIMITLESS HOT WATER

creating a healthier way of living

DON’T GO ‘LIKE for LIKE’ TRADE UP

TO HIGH PERFORMANCE, FUEL SAVING EFFICIENCY FOR LIMITLESS HOT WATER

TEMPERATURE ACCURATE ON DEMAND READILY AVAILABLE NOW

Hydrogen blends-ready Rinnai continuous flow hot water delivery units&systems

analysis shows 20% (min.) carbon emissions reduction compared to heated storage systems

 

 

When a stored water system or unit comes to the end of its working life it is assumed that replacing ‘like for like’ is the best option. But, says Pete Seddon for Rinnai, ‘If we look at the ‘like for like’, out with the old one and in with the same model stored water heater – there is actually a huge and costly amount of work involved. Changing the same old for the same new does not mean it is better. Most plant rooms are limited in space which would require the old equipment being removed before the ‘like for like’ appliances can be installed.

Easy access and continuous, limitless flows of hot water are critical components of building services for all applications in all sites adds Mr Seddon.

He says, “Continuous flow technology in hot water delivery provides constant flows of temperature specific and controlled delivery end-product, which are hydrogen blends and BioLPG ready. They are also a one-man lift requiring no lifting gear.

‘Not only that, but if the appliance being replaced was non-condensing and the new appliance was condensing, then the flue would most likely require changing as well as the provision to discharge condensate. Plant rooms are very rarely designed to remove equipment. This requirement to remove equipment before new is installed would have a major impact – and it takes so much time,’ adds Pete Seddon.

‘The hot water system would have to be completely shut down to allow such major works to take place and all sites, especially healthcare ones, cannot simply allow this to happen.

Due to the size and weight of these appliances it can make life exceedingly difficult for installers. They are usually manufactured with Enamel Lined (Glass Lined) Mild Steel which can make it extremely heavy but also very fragile. It would require multiple personnel to manoeuvre these out and in, even specialist lifting equipment and for plant rooms high up cranes would be required. All of this will add a lot of time and cost to the overall installation. Not only that, but if specialist lift equipment and cranes are required you are going to need suitably trained personnel as well as permits.

Says Pete Seddon, “So, what can continuous flow solutions offer that can make this entire process a lot easier? Well, we will start with their size and weight. This type of technology is 30kg. That is a one-man lift. Two sizes are available – 47kW and 58kW. This would equate to a large volume of hot water for such a physically small appliance. (774 and 954 litres per hour at a 50-degree rise).

‘The other benefit is the ability to cascade these appliances so when more hot water is required you would simply add more continuous flow water heaters. This would mean that just a single installer could create a system that would produce vast amounts of temperature accurate hot water. Whilst also creating built-in redundancy – this means that if one unit needs to be shut down the complete site still has ready access to hot water.

“Also possible is a ‘plug and play’ cascade sequencing control system that will automatically control how many appliances are running at any one time, all the installers would have to do is plug it in and select the primary water heater. Continuous flow can easily cope with any size of healthcare site. Simple as that,’ adds Mr Seddon.

With a continuous flow system there are also externally sited units where there is just no space in a plant room. These external hot water heaters are fully weather protected with and hold IPX5D rating. Installations also come with frost protection down to -20°C and will keep the appliance protected so long as the mains power supply is left switched on.

When measured in economic performance, continuous flow water heaters are half the yearly costs on a Peak Period of 3 hours per day at 960 I/h that a combustion unit would accumulate.

A typical water storage-based installation will cost £5,662.13 per year, where in comparison a Rinnai continuous flow water system will cost £2,736.02.

Rinnai’s complete range of hot water heating units are available for next day delivery on orders placed before the previous mid-day.

Rinnai UK has excellent stock levels of all units in the range plus spares and accessories.

 

Installers can contact the company direct in gaining access to the supply of units

Call   01928 531 870 or

email engineer@rinnaiuk.com and sales@rinnaiuk.com

alternatively use the smart online contact points “Help Me Choose”

or “Ask Us a Question”, all held on the website homepage at

www.rinnaiuk.com

 

 

For more information on the RINNAI product range visit

www.rinnaiuk.com

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A NEW BRITISH INVENTION

The Portascanner® AIRTIGHT 520: Complementing Essential Existing Technology for Airtightness Testing in the Built Environment

A new British invention, following the co-location of Coltraco Ultrasonics’ Physicists and Scientists at Durham University, a globally outstanding centre of teaching and research excellence, the handheld Portascanner® AIRTIGHT 520 is a completely unique technology able to compute air flow and air permeability, quantifying leak sites to complement an airtightness test. Designed during COVID-19 with support from UK Government COVID-19 Emergency Technology Funding and available for exporting globally now, the Portascanner® AIRTIGHT 520 builds on Coltraco’s long history in watertight integrity monitoring for the Royal Navy to deliver the Safeship™ at sea, applying our advanced understanding of fluid dynamics at sea to air flow dynamics to deliver the Safesite™ on land.

The unique ability to detect, locate and quantify air leaks, non-disruptively and without the need for any room pressurisation, in a complementary manner to existing Door Fan and Pulse Airtightness Testing, will enable users of the Portascanner® AIRTIGHT 520 to make sharper decisions, verify technical specifications, and reveal possible defects if design standards have not been met rapidly and reliably.

The Importance of Building Ventilation: Changing Standards in the Built Environment
Professor Catherine Noakes OBE, who sits on the UK Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) states that “if we do invest as a nation [in ventilation], there’s a potential big win,” with the “long-term payback [of] improved health and productivity, and lower energy use.”
COVID-19 is essentially an indoor air crisis. Whilst vaccinations are a crucially important tactical response, they must be complemented by longer term strategies. To ensure Human Air Hygiene, and safeguard that basic human right, a continuous and assured access to pure, fresh air, every public building must have a Ventilation Strategy.
In its most basic form, the challenge of building ventilation centres around increasing the number of air changes per hour. However, the integrity of air filtration, and or air purification, can only reasonably be assured if all unwanted air infiltration through gaps, is sealed. Air flow measurement devices, such as the Portascanner® AIRTIGHT 520, that allow for frequent and regular detection, location and quantification of unwanted air leaks must therefore be integrated alongside existing airtightness testing equipment, to ensure the success of building ventilation strategies.
In addition to Human Air Hygiene, Fire Suppression, Thermal Comfort, Acoustic Insulation, and Insect and Pest Control are all integral aspects of the Built Environment which require a certain level of airtightness to be maintained, either to deliver the minimum number of air changes per hour, restrict the supply of oxygen to extinguish a fire, or lower energy consumption and waste.
Indeed, in a post-COP26 global environment, addressing the effects of climate change and making buildings more energy efficient and environmentally responsible is driving the construction industry towards “Build Tight Ventilate Right.” Buildings are a significant producer of carbon emissions, accountable for 35% of total energy consumption.
Testing for air leaks and simultaneously testing for watertightness with the Portascanner® AIRTIGHT 520, as water ingress seriously damages buildings and destroys electrical equipment, will improve build qualities, and reduce the costs of operating and maintaining the Built Environment.

The Portascanner® AIRTIGHT 520: Unique Technology to complement Existing Airtightness Testing
During Coltraco Ultrasonics’ long history in watertight integrity monitoring for the Royal Navy they learned that it was one thing to be able to identify large and microscopic leak sites, but that it was quite another to precisely locate and quantify the leak site through the structure concerned to determine the water flow rate. These are the crucial pieces of information required to assess the damage control risk overall in a ship’s watertight compartment, watertight door or watertight Multiple Cable Transit Area between bulkheads.
The Portascanner® AIRTIGHT 520 takes Coltraco Ultrasonics’ understanding of fluid dynamics at sea and applies it to air flow dynamics on land. They take the best ultrasonic technology in Coltraco’s hardware to identify leak sites with a microscopic level of accuracy and apply computer science to measure and quantify the leak-site by the Portascanner® AIRTIGHT 520’s algorithm, which also generates a value for the air flow rate through that leak and the building’s overall air permeability.
The ability to record and analyse these 4 factors makes the Portascanner® AIRTIGHT 520, a British lightweight, hand-held, and portable analytical instrument, a unique technology globally. The Portascanner® AIRTIGHT 520 has been invented to complement existing airtightness testing, typically achieved using a Door Fan Test or a Pulse Test, that is essential for measuring the integrity of the Built Environment.

Integrate Dynamically with Essential Existing Technologies to be Better-Faster-Cheaper: Testing the Portascanner® AIRTIGHT 520 at The Airtightness Testing and Measurement Association’s (ATTMA’s) Building Performance Hub
In January 2022, Coltraco Ultrasonics’ Daniel Dobrowolski (Senior Physicist) and Bernard Hornung (Head of Built Environment) joined Paul Jennings (Airtightness Specialist) and Dr Bill Bordass OBE (Building Scientist) to test the Portascanner® AIRTIGHT 520 in a full-sized house. Testing followed a Pulse Test and a Door Fan Blower Test, both of which the Portascanner® AIRTIGHT 520 is designed to complement.

The Portascanner® AIRTIGHT 520 performed outstandingly, being able to identify and quantify leaks that had been found with traditional basic methods of leak detection such as thermal cameras, smoke pencils and anemometers, but most importantly finding leaks that could not be found with any alternative method. A significant number of leaks were identified in window and door seals.

The Portascanner® AIRTIGHT 520 allows the ultrasonic quantification of leak sites in a depressurised environment, which has never been achieved before. Door Fan Testing or Pulse Testing can then be conducted at an appropriate moment, once detected leakage points have been identified and repaired. Uniquely, during these tests, the Portascanner® AIRTIGHT 520 allows the location and measurement of air leaks, facilitating remedial action that is precise, immediate, and often low-cost.

Furthermore, Buildings can be surveyed with a Portascanner® AIRTIGHT 520 before an air tightness test so that they have a better chance of passing and, if a building fails an airtightness test, the diagnosis as to why it has failed could include locating and quantifying air leaks with the Portascanner®.

These capabilities of the Portascanner® AIRTIGHT 520 are even more important when one situates the device within the increased world-wide emphasis on airtightness in the built environment as a result of the dual pressures of COVID-19 and climate change. In the UK, higher standards on airtightness in the Built Environment are being encouraged by institutions such as the Passivhaus Trust, which forms a part of the global Passivhaus movement, and is the UK affiliate of the International Passive House Association.

Passivhaus builds are approximately ten times more airtight than the standard required of new-build domestic dwellings in the UK, meaning special attention must be paid to identify potential leakage areas in the building fabric and offsite-manufactured components during the final stages of construction. There are about 65,000 buildings worldwide which have achieved Passivhaus standards of comfort, health, and low energy consumption, with many more in the planning process.

Being able to use ultrasound to detect, locate, and quantify air leaks, eliminates the need for pressurisation, negative or positive. Therefore, the Portascanner® AIRTIGHT 520 can test building components when they are manufactured, such as windows and doors, which is where most leaks manifest themselves, with the aim to eliminate leaks before installation. During the execution of a build programme, or in the case of offsite construction, during the assembly of building components, building control aimed at assuring a better build quality should include the frequent and periodic use of the Portascanner® AIRTIGHT 520.

Coltraco Ultrasonics’ technologies provide their users with the unprecedented visibility necessary to make sharp decisions and understand opaque issues. Integrating the Portascanner® AIRTIGHT 520 with essential existing Door Fan and Pulse airtightness testing will improve build quality, and reduce the costs of operating and maintaining the Built Environment, by improving Human Air Hygiene, Fire Suppression, Acoustic Insultation, Thermal Comfort, and decreasing water ingress and absenteeism.

www.coltraco.co.uk

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TURNING DOWN THE HEAT

Turning down the heat:

Futureproofing the homes of tomorrow

Authored by Mark Dowdeswell, Senior Category Manager – Domestic, at Uponor

 

New homes will have to produce around 30% less carbon emissions as part of a major update to the Building Regulations this year. Under Part L1A, there will be a maximum flow temperature requirement of 55°C for new and replacement heating systems, meaning that more low energy heating systems must be used in today’s modular builds.

Underfloor heating systems (UFH) have a larger area heat emitter than traditional radiators, meaning they require a lower heat input in order to heat a room effectively. This allows them to work efficiently alongside renewable heating technologies, such as air source heat pumps (ASHP), which help to reduce a home’s operational carbon footprint.

 

With technology constantly advancing, both ASHPs and UFH now lend themselves perfectly to modular builds with limited space and high-quality design demands. Innovative low profile UFH systems, such as Uponor’s Minitec which stands at just 15mm build height, enable design teams to optimise available space, giving maximum design freedom. To ensure consistent quality of UFH installations in modular assemblies, Uponor also works closely with its partners to provide design support, continuous training and installation reviews, whilst simultaneously providing the largest product range of radiant heating and cooling systems of any manufacturer from under one roof, meaning that design teams do not have to compromise on their aspirations.

This vast product range also enables contractors, architects and specifiers to work alongside one manufacturer, rather than multiple suppliers, allowing them to rest assured that the systems used will not only meet building regulations and hit new performance goals, but that they will be fully-warranted and long-lasting, meaning that the homes built for today, will perform well tomorrow, too.

www.uponor.co.uk

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