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.

KEEP THE HEAT ON IN CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

Healthcare and education buildings which will be undergoing boiler repair in the coming months will encounter two unfortunate challenges: poor weather and the coronavirus. With the reliability of electrical and gas supplies put to question, it is important to consider effective temporary measures, as part of a contingency plan, that will assure people’s health and wellbeing will not be put at risk. Temporary heat provider, Ideal Heat Solutions, explains why it is important to utilise impermanent solutions and have a disaster plan in place on sites where health and safety is the main priority.

A supplier such as Ideal Heat is reactive and flexible to the individual needs of education and healthcare facilities who need temporary boilers immediately. Whilst we are always on hand to deliver heat when people need it, in order to bring a site back to its normal function in no time at all and to prevent any unforeseen problems, a contingency plan is the answer. With the onset of colder days ahead of us, this level of assurance – that you can get temporary heat pretty much immediately – pays dividends.

Let’s take a care home as an example. If for instance, the site is to have an upgraded boiler room in the new year, have they considered what might happen should the old boiler break in the meanwhile? In this case, how will a contingency plan help?

With a disaster plan, the site would not only ensure temporary heat could be delivered quickly, it assesses or surveys, how that heat can be installed in the safest way. Every building is different, and the design and sensitivity of healthcare facilities is no exception. From access requirements to the need for enabling works, a contingency plan will ensure all bases are covered and nothing’s missed, so that when the heat is required, installation teams can turn up to site and get it back up and running in a swift timeframe.

It is always worthwhile to highlight which risks have to be controlled, to see what and who will be affected in a worst-case scenario. By pinpointing risk, it will be clearer as to why a contingency plan is needed in the first place. Also bear in mind the risks that are insurable. Always have the necessary financial protection in place to ensure nothing falls between the cracks.

With health and wellbeing critical in education and healthcare facilities now more than ever, rest assured that in an emergency, temporary heat as part of a comprehensive disaster plan can be the hero this winter.

 

www.idealheatsolutions.co.uk

 

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5 year contract for Geze with NHS UK

GEZE UK has been successful in securing a five year contract in conjunction with NHS UK Property Services.

 

The collaboration between NHS UK Property Services and GEZE UK is believed to be one of the largest contracts of its kind. Providing a service to more than 1,000 sites and 5,000 assets, GEZE UK is the industry choice to deliver a first class service to the NHS.

The majority of sites provide regional healthcare and fall into one of the following categories:

Health centres and GP surgeries

Hospitals and hospital-related properties

Offices

GEZE Service has recently launched a recruitment drive to provide the necessary support for a contract of this magnitude and is recruiting for Key Account Managers, Account Administrators and Service Technicians for automatic and industrial doors.

 

Said service director Adam Presdee, “GEZE Service is delighted to be given the opportunity to work on such a prestigious project, we are confident that this contract will provide job security and opportunity for years to come. An exciting relationship ahead, GEZE is looking forward to working with the NHS in maintaining and improving the publics’ experiences and prolonging the life cycles of its assets”

 

The total NHS Property Services portfolio consists of more than 3,000 sites – worth over 3 billion pounds.

To find out more about GEZE Service email info.uk@geze.com or to find out about GEZE UK’s comprehensive range of automatic and manual door closers visit www.geze.co.uk

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CHANGE – THREAT OR OPPORTUNITY

The way that the construction industry builds major infrastructure is broken, says Atkins CEO Richard Robinson. Below he outlines his ideas on how to fix it. 

Covid-19 and advances in digital technology have come together to create a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for construction to shift dramatically closer to outcome-based delivery models. “The transactional model for delivering major infrastructure projects and programmes is broken. It prevents efficient delivery, prohibits innovation and therefore fails to provide the high-performing infrastructure networks that businesses and the public require,” says the Project 13 industry improvement community of civil engineers.

These are strong words, yet important ones. The sheer scale of the projects we realise – and the way we ensure their value to people and society – makes infrastructure an extremely rewarding, yet increasingly complex place to work. It is often difficult for our public and private sector clients to know, properly articulate, or even measure, the values they want to manifest through their projects. And at times, our industry has hidden behind that to maintain the status quo and evade change. But those times are now over because we have a once in a lifetime opportunity to drive transformative change, the benefits of which will be felt for generations to come.

In September last year, the UK government announced new measures to deliver value to society through public procurement. Any business seeking to win government contracts will now be tested on how well it also delivers on social value priorities. These could range from supporting Covid-19 recovery and helping local communities, to tackling economic inequality and fighting climate change.

These efforts must be applauded and embraced, but if we as an industry are to truly deliver on them, then we must embrace an outcome-based service model. One that promotes a shared responsibility for achieving longer-term, specific results that runs right the way through our projects and includes the risks, as well as the rewards.

This thinking isn’t new, but there is a greater willingness than ever before to experiment with new ways of working. Furthermore, the Covid-19 crisis has proved to the public and private sector that systemic change is possible, at a pace and at a scale we’ve never before seen. Yes, necessity is the mother of invention. And, of course, there is now an additional, urgent impetus to drive economic recovery, with UK government debt hitting £2.1 trillion after record borrowing in response to the series of national lockdowns. In 2021, it has become more of a risk not to try and do things differently.

Technology as a facilitator

Added to this, we have also made remarkable strides with digital technology that, applied to our industry, are enabling next-generation business information modelling and project management. Digital twins are increasingly helping us to model physical assets virtually, so that we can predict potential responses to change, and probable future states, through the analysis of real-time data.

Being able to simulate these physical and operational characteristics of an asset is a game changer because it allows us to predict outcomes more accurately from the start. And it’s not just our predictive capabilities that are starting to mature. Our measurement and monitoring abilities have also progressed, thanks to the data-driven, analytics-enabled, systems-integrated approach of modern construction programme management.

 

Richard Robinson

 

“We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to drive transformative change,

the benefits of which will be felt for generations to come.”

 

 

 

 

Combined, this means we can more precisely predict and apportion risk during the procurement process, while also tracking and reporting on numerous environmental, social and governance (ESG) outcomes – both during and after construction – in ways that have never before been possible. These outcomes can be selected to measure project performance in a whole range of areas, from social activism, health and wellbeing to inequality and carbon zero or carbon negative environmental impact.

In short, bids are more likely to meet the new government criteria and our ability to tangibly measure if we’re on track to achieve our shared objectives improves, even while we’re designing and building infrastructure in real-time.

To further this aim, Atkins has formed a partnership with Artificial Intelligence company nPlan, to explore new data-driven contracting models for major project delivery. The partnership is working to identify and assess a new approach to contracting that focuses on collaboration and changes the way risk is measured, shared and managed across major infrastructure programmes. Our team is working alongside asset owners to analyse current contracting models before developing and piloting data and technology-driven alternatives over the next year.

Driving innovation

However, for all this talk of adoption of new digital technologies, the fact is that we still work in a low margin sector that discourages risk taking. Because we’re designing and building critical national infrastructure, often funded by the public purse, there’s a need for margins to be kept low – with the result being that current procurement models don’t allow much wiggle room for innovation and the element of risk that brings.

That’s why going forward, contracts need to focus on the outcomes, not the outputs and reward the value that we give to our clients, not the effort taken to achieve it. Contracts also are still very much geared around the labour theory of pricing, rather than value-based pricing, which is why we need to incentivise taking a new type of risk to deliver more.

It’s only natural that as we embrace more digital ways of working, we bring an element of short-term risk and uncertainty to delivery teams. After all, until digital is adopted in the real world, it is all hypothetical value. So, in order for contractors and supply chains to want to make it real, they need to be incentivised to take that risk, with the aim of delivering a better outcome for the client.

“Going forward, contracts need to focus on the outcomes, not the outputs and reward the value that we give to our clients, not the effort taken to achieve it. We need to incentivise taking a new type of risk to deliver more.”

While you could argue that market forces will drive innovation regardless of how contracts are written up, I don’t subscribe to this. An appetite to innovate isn’t enough in a sector that bleeds away margin so readily. That’s why we need a step change in how work is procured, as well as contracts that recognise – and reward – innovation, to bring added value and better outcomes.

Nobody said it would be easy

This moment in time, and the opportunities it brings with it, are as exciting as anything I’ve experienced in my career so far, but there is still a long way to go. Our clients, for example, may not know what outcomes they want, so it’s our responsibility to advise and guide them, to work this out together. We must also work to see clearly and resolve any conflict between the values a project – and a company – aspires to, and the established hierarchy of priorities they are bound by in reality, to ensure that outcomes are truly achievable.

What we are talking about here is a huge cultural shift in how our industry approaches risk transfer, fair return, and shared responsibilities. It’s not going to be easy and it’s going to take time. But a good place to start is to collaborate closely with our partners in procurement, to help them move away from over indexing on costs alone and towards more of a product mindset. Which is to say to adopt a more holistic approach to assessing value – one that prioritises continuous evolution, customer satisfaction and data-driven decisions, based on outcome and risk modelling.

Clearly, integrity and transparency are essential here. We can no longer afford to be constrained by a culture of fear or allow ourselves to be prevented from attempting brave new things because they might not work out. Instead, we must make the most of the new tools we have, to better analyse risk, determine real value, and commit to new ways of working together.

It’s only natural for people to have differing views on uncertainty. Change can be seen as a threat, yet it also holds immense opportunity. The time has come for us to embrace disruption, as so many other industries have done already or are doing right now. It’s the only way we’re going to be able to build the society we need for the future and the one that people deserve.

 

S0urce: Infrastructure Intelligence

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Green Construction – A Bangladeshi Viewpoint

The Daily Star and KSRM (Kabir Steel Re-Rolling Mills Limited) jointly organised an online discussion titled “Green Construction – The Future of the Industry” on June 5, 2021. Here we publish a summary of the discussion

 

We are always surrounded by concrete because it is the most common building material. Even now, all of us are sitting on and are surrounded by concrete. The main ingredient for making concrete is cement. Every tonne of cement produces a tonne of carbon dioxide. Seeing that globally we use four billion tonnes of cement annually just gives you an idea of the scale of pollution from concrete production alone. That is 10 percent of the global carbon dioxide emission.

In Bangladesh, our consumption of cement is much lower than the global average. But we still have to do better. Green construction requires two things primarily: more efficient use of energy in construction work and more sustainable and environmentally friendly building materials. Water efficiency and waste management are also very important.

Going forward, we have to think about all these factors. Ensuring that our construction work and buildings become more sustainable also plays into the sustainable development goals that we are targeting as a country. We need to ensure the future generations can continue to enjoy life as we were able to once, and the only way to do that is by becoming more environmentally conscious in all aspects of our lives.

Dr Md Tarek Uddin,

PEng., Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), Islamic University of Technology (IUT)

 

 

Historically, a consequence of development has been the deterioration of the environment and the surrounding ecology. The more our lives flourish, the more the environment suffers as a consequence. This is why Dhaka is one of the most polluted cities in the world because a consequence of its fast development has been the negative effects on the environment.

There are a lot of roads in the country that have been built based on the plans and geometric estimations from over 100 years back. We have continued to widen these roads instead of rethinking their overall construction. There are certain roads that are over 200 kilometres in length, but in the current landscape, they perhaps should not be more than 180 kilometres.

We need to use alternatives to bricks in the construction of buildings and roads such as Compressed Stabilized Earth Blocks (CSEB), Interlocking CSEB, Concrete Hollow Block (CHB), Thermal Block (TB), and Aerated Concrete and Ferro-cement Sandwich Panel (ACFSP).

Engineer S M Khorshed Alam,

President, Bangladesh Association of Construction Industry (BACI)

 

The main idea behind green construction is sustainability. Firstly, construction must take environmental issues into consideration so that the next generation does not suffer due to our actions. Secondly, structures have to be durable. Even if the environmental impact of a less durable structure is low, it can’t be considered sustainable. Thirdly, construction projects have to be affordable. And lastly, the use of construction materials has to be minimised.

If we want to boost green construction, we must adopt the concept of life-cycle analysis. According to life-cycle analysis, structures with a longer life are considered cheaper even if their monetary cost is slightly higher. The total maintenance cost throughout the life of a structure is included in the life-cycle costs. The concept of social cost analysis also has to be incorporated into the cost analysis of construction products. The environmental load of a construction product is added to the commodity value to give us the social cost. We are set to fail in achieving the relevant sustainable development goals (SDGs) by 2030 because we have yet to incorporate life-cycle and social cost analysis concepts into green construction.

Bangladesh’s carbon emission is about 100 million tonnes per year. If the construction sector is responsible for one-third of this emission, it means it emits 33 million tonnes. Of this, brick production alone contributes 20 million tonnes. Bangladesh has a commitment under the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 21, to reduce carbon emissions by 20 percent by 2030. If we stop using bricks as construction materials, we can reduce carbon emission by close to 20 percent. 300 grams of carbon emission are produced per kilogram of brick. But, concrete blocks only emit 100 grams of carbon per kilogram. Therefore, by shifting from bricks to concrete blocks, the entire sector can reduce two-thirds of the current carbon emissions.

One kilogram of cement is responsible for one kilogram of carbon emission. One kilogram of rod produces half a kilogram of carbon emission. Therefore, cement and rod consumption has to be reduced. We also have to reduce carbon emissions in the cement and rod production process by using advanced technology.

Stone aggregate, which is coarse aggregate, is a mandatory construction material that is fully imported. Green construction encourages the usage of local materials. Since there are no alternatives to stone aggregate, its use has to be decreased to be sustainable.

Ferro-cement technology can help reduce building material consumption and carbon emissions and increase affordability and structure durability.

Md Abu Sadeque,

PEng., Executive Director, HBRC

 

The world is constantly growing through new technology and research. By the time we make decisions about the planning for green construction, construction practices will have changed yet again. We have entered the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and the construction industry will change drastically over the next five to 10 years. We are expecting to move towards mechanised and automated construction involving 3D-printed buildings and bridges. Highly skilled workers will manage and drive the robotic arms of these 3D printers, which may result in low-skilled workers losing their jobs. Therefore, many unskilled workers will have to develop skills to sustain themselves economically.

The overall result of these new initiatives will be that these durably constructed facilities will be delivered at a faster pace for the people. Our future infrastructure will be interconnected, with an obvious blending of civil engineering, IT infrastructure and communication networks. We need to demonstrate the effectiveness of this connectivity at the operational level. To achieve this goal, appropriate thoughts should be present during planning and designing, as well as when construction is started, to help Bangladesh remain on par with the rest of the world.

Quite a bit of research in Bangladesh has explored the benefits of recycling construction materials, but this topic has not yet been firmly included in our national construction policies and guidelines. We have a great deal of country-specific research, and we must put the findings into practice through entrepreneurship development. Gradually, many recycling industries will develop and will work with recycling technologies. Gradually, many startup businesses will emerge and prosper around these new industries. Then, perhaps, recycling industries will be established to recycle polymers, steel, bricks, and concrete and to help grow recycling-based startups. These businesses will transform the construction sector by reducing its carbon footprint. Ultimately, we will be able to advance in the field of green construction. We must come forward in support of this idea and work dedicatedly to implement such policies.

We must reduce the need for maintenance efforts, life-cycle costs and carbon footprints in all construction processes. We also need to think about how waste will be managed after demolition. The design stage must have plans for all of these aspects. Country-specific research outcomes concerning innovations in new materials, construction, operation and maintenance science should be included comprehensively in textbooks and curriculum. The findings of such studies should be implemented through entrepreneurship development. The industry must come to the door of the academics and students, or vice versa. Industry advisory panels at higher learning institutions for engineering must be active and effective.

A F M Saiful Amin,

Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, BUET

 

Life cycle management is a crucial part of a project. Every developed country has a policy for life cycle management of projects. We need to minimise the cost of a project by maximising its service life. The initial cost might be higher but it will benefit us in the long term. So, we need a good policy for the assessment of a building’s life cycle.

Material efficiency is another major part of a project. We need to think carefully about the usage of material, for example, ordinary cement. It produces a huge amount of carbon dioxide. We can reduce the emission of carbon dioxide by using mineral-based cement instead. But the concept is not very popular in Bangladesh at present. We need to provide guidelines in our academic courses about the benefits of using mineral-based cement and also make it more cost-efficient.

Dr Md. Tarek Uddin,

PEng., Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), Islamic University of Technology (IUT)

 

An important aspect of green construction is sustainable construction. Two major parameters that have been addressed to achieve the SDGs are recycling and renewable energy. But the main focus should be how much we can implement at the policy level. We need to use renewable energy in our construction process and make sure we are reusing the materials from construction.  We need to ensure the implementation of it at the government level. In this way, a large industry will develop around this and it will leave a noticeable impact on our economy.

Engineer S M Khorshed Alam,

President, Bangladesh Association of Construction Industry (BACI)

The term “carbon footprint” is internationally recognised. The systematic measurement of the carbon footprint of a person, organization or state, for use in carbon emissions trading, is termed a “carbon audit.” Each company must have a carbon audit system, which can be a basis for identifying eligible companies and establishing them as benchmarks. Such systems will be used to audit the rates of carbon emissions and absorption to estimate the net carbon footprint. All building has a carbon footprint, and the construction industry must aim to reduce this footprint from the very onset of planning. By taking small steps, we will be able to minimise our country’s industrial carbon footprint, create spaces for our vital agro-economy and reach internationally accepted levels. The government can provide incentives for pioneering companies, if necessary. All will go toward reducing our long-term environmental costs. If we keep damaging our environment, and if it takes an irreversible turn, we will be unable to save it. Therefore, we must cultivate awareness before it is too late. In this regard, our policymakers, engineers, construction industry leaders, environmentalists and designers must come together and work in unison.

A F M Saiful Amin,

Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, BUET

 

 If we consider a building, 80 percent of its carbon emission comes from embodied energy. Embodied energy is the carbon emission rate while constructing building materials. The rest of the 20 percent is operating energy. Using renewable energy is part of operating energy. If we focus on brick construction, it accounts for around 58 percent of the total pollution of Dhaka city, which is a kind of embodied energy. If we use concrete blocks instead of bricks, we will be able to minimise carbon emission along with the cost. So it is clear that we must focus on embodied energy.

We import 100 percent of stones whereas we can produce artificial stones in the country using our resources. Some countries are using sand from their riverbeds. We also studied this process and it is possible. We can produce artificial blocks from sand that can withstand 8000 pounds per square inch of pressure. Then we can break these blocks to create artificial stones. This will help reduce the cost of importing and therefore pave the path towards more affordable and sustainable buildings.

Md Abu Sadeque,

PEng., Executive Director, HBRC

 

Source: DailyStar.Net

 

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Polypipe is number one at Old Trafford

Polypipe Building Services, the UK’s leading developer of water management solutions for the commercial and industrial sector, provided an array of key services for mechanical and electrical specialists, Aberla M&E, on a luxurious new development in Manchester.

The £72m No1 Old Trafford development consists of two towers, 15 and 18 storeys, across 214,000 sq ft on the waterfront at Trafford Park. The towers are made up of 354 apartments including six penthouses.

The area around the site is already extensively developed so space was at a premium for Aberla M&E, who decided to use Polypipe’s Advantage service.

Polypipe Advantage offsite fabrication service brings together manufacturing process, project management and logistics methods to provide M&E contractors with a simple, transparent production-based approach that helps to achieve project productivity targets.

Using the Advantage service, Aberla opted for three Polypipe products: Terrain FUZE,  Terrain PVC and MecFlow their award-winning water supply system.

The building program required a fast and reliable install to which MecFlow supports due to the innovative CLICKWELD technology that combines all the benefits of an electrofusion weld with clip connections to reduce on-site installation time, reduce risk and overall cost.

 

The ease of install of the MecFlow system also allowed skilled labour to be freed up to work in other crucial areas such as the plant room.

This technology helps to save M&E contractors and project managers up to 75% of on-site install time on complex water supply systems when compared to traditional installation methods.

To save time and space on site MecFlow components are supplied to the project site as a complete kit for quick assembly and connected in position. The use of clip connections removes the need for clamping and allows for repositioning before the final welding is applied.

Terrain FUZE is the high performance, modern drainage system used on a wide range of prestigious commercial buildings. It is manufactured from high density polyethylene (HDPE) so has strong abrasion, chemical and temperature resistance. HDPE was specifically used in the in lower levels to avoid the risk of leaks with homogenous welding in the commercial and communal spaces such as the reception area.

 

Dan Watchorn, Aberla’s Project Manager, said:

“Working with Polypipe Building Services is always a pleasure. From initial design meetings through to installation.

“This was the first project we have installed MecFlow and we have already specified to use on our next upcoming projects.

“The speed and ease which it went in was great and we can confirm there were no failed joints throughout the full works.

 

Johnathan Greenwood, Strategic Project Manager  at Polypipe Building Services, said:

“We were very excited to work on this project as it was one of the first to use our award-winning MecFlow system and is part of such a major development in Manchester.

“We are very pleased with all the positive feedback that our Advantage Service and market-leading products have received and look forward to working with Aberla on future projects.”

 

 

About Polypipe

Polypipe, the UK’s leading manufacturer of climate and water management solutions, manufactures a wide range of complex systems to manage water and enable carbon-efficient heating and ventilation for all sectors of the construction industry, around a core offering of plastic pipe and fittings.

Polypipe is one of Europe’s largest and most innovative manufacturers of plastic piping systems for the residential, commercial, civils and infrastructure sectors by revenue.

The group operates across 19 facilities across the UK, Italy and the Middle East, manufacturing more than 20,000 product lines.

Polypipe Building Services works with consultants and contractors to create its comprehensive range of plumbing and drainage systems.

It pioneered the production of plastic drainage systems in the UK more than 50 years ago and remains the number one choice for engineered, robust drainage solutions for commercial and public buildings, from high-rise developments, hospitals and schools, to hotels and shopping centres.

 

For more information please visit www.polypipe.com.

 

 

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A circular approach to building buildings

As part of the commitment to a full circular economy by 2050, the Netherlands has set an important interim goal to halve primary resource usage by 2030 by keeping existing materials in the economy. What role can the construction sector play? And how can Canada and the Netherlands learn from each other when it comes to circular building?

Senior trade officer Marjan Lahuis opened the session, moderated by Paul van der Werf from AET Group, stating that the construction sector, together with the materials industries that support it, is one of the major global users of natural resources. Therefore, it is important to shift gears and look into ways to maximize the efficient use of resources by using fewer raw materials and less energy, as well as looking for ways to repurpose materials where possible.

Working towards long-term goals

According to Marijn Emanuel, from Dutch W-E consultancy, the circular economy is a way for us to achieve the balance between the environment, social and economic aspects, thus achieving a sustainable society. As part of their long-term goals, the Netherlands has established the platform CB’23. The platform is committed to drafting agreements for the entire Dutch construction sector: both residential and non-residential construction and civil engineering.

CB’23 addresses themes like public procurement (fully circular in 2023), measuring circularity and circular design strategies. In that regard, Emanuel highlighted material passports, that identify materials as used and reuse them to prevent those materials from going to waste.

Considering environmental impact

Matthew Hirsch and Dora Vancso from Purpose Building gave a Canadian perspective on circular economy principles for buildings. In Canada, certifications like LEED are stimulating circular thinking by rewarding better material selection. There is an increased used of materials that have a lower environmental impact and that help closing the loop.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is becoming an important tool in building construction to quantify the environmental impacts. At this time, more than half of the embodied emissions come from the use of concrete. The more energy efficient the buildings become, the larger embodied emissions relative impact would be. Canada generates about 4 million tonnes of construction waste, only 16 per cent is diverted from landfill. When looking at the materials that are deemed as waste over the lifetime of the building, over 75 per cent has residual value. The challenge is to eliminate the idea of waste in each phase of the construction process.

Holistic collaboration

Jen Hancock from Chandos spoke about a collaborative model to construction project delivery. The Integrated Project Delivery model (IPD) is particularly advantageous for circular buildings, which involves various stakeholders working together holistically towards a single goal, rather than a more hierarchical structure that traditional project delivery structures use.

However, while circular building projects benefit from this approach, it requires strong communication in order to succeed. The collaborative model provides all stakeholders with a high level of transparency.

Thinking differently

Jurrian Knijtijzer from Finch Buildings stressed the importance of thinking differently in the construction industry. In Europe, the build environment is responsible for 36 per cent of all CO2 emissions.

Modular building is one of the ways to build using circular economy concepts. Using timber instead of concrete, for example, reduces the emissions of construction. Modules or their elements can be reused. A challenge for the building industry is its long-term focus. The life of materials can be extended in the construction industry by finding different ways of re-using the material once its first use is done.

Source: Netherlands and You

 

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HS2’s private meetings with Greensill – transparency probe called for

By Tim Clark

Labour and the Liberal Democrat MPs have called on the government to publish details of all ministerial meetings after it was revealed that ex-financier Lex Greensill privately met with HS2 Ltd and “approved” the body’s payment methods.

It has been revealed that Greensill met with HS2 Ltd on three separate occasions during 2016 and 2017 in his role as an adviser to the government’s Cabinet Office.

Greensill’s involvement in public procurement has been called into questions in recent months after his firm Greensill Capital fell into administration.

The firm’s use of former British prime minister David Cameron as a lobbyist is also being examined by the Treasury’s select committee which is carrying out an inquiry under the banner “Lessons from Greensill Capital”.

The exact contents of the meetings with HS2 Ltd is unknown, however HS2 Ltd confirmed that the meetings were arranged to “discuss the area of prompt payment to the HS2 supply chain”.

The meetings have raised questions over whether an external adviser should have been given extensive access to major government projects such as HS2, which at the time was valued at £56bn.

Labour’s shadow minister for rail and MP for Slough Tan Dhesi described the revelations that Greensill held a number of private meetings with HS2 as “troubling” and has called for clarity over Greensill Capital’s involvement in HS2 and it’s supply chain.

Lib Dem transport spokesperson and MP for Richmond Park Sarah Olney said it was “imperative” that the government “provide a clear picture” over how decisions have been made.

In April, Whitehall’s current ethics chief Darren Tierney described Greensill’s appointment as a government adviser as a “glaring conflict of interest”.

According to a Freedom of Information response by HS2, meetings were held with Greensill in June 2016, October 2016 and January 2017.

A HS2 Ltd statement added: “HS2 Ltd met with Mr Lex Greensill in his capacity as a Crown Representative (Banking and Finance) to discuss the area of prompt payment to the HS2 supply chain.

“Following those discussions, HS2 Ltd was deemed to have an acceptable approach, which included adoption of the Fair Payment Charter and payment KPIs to monitor the HS2 supply change payment times. These measures have since been more recently reinforced with the adoption of Project Bank Accounts (PBAs) on HS2.”

The meetings in 2016 came shortly after it was revealed that a major review of HS2 by the UK’s former top civil servant Sir Jeremy Heywood, who approved Greensill’s appointment to the Cabinet Office, was working on how to cut costs on the project.

Commenting on the revelations, Dhesi said: “It’s troubling that there has not been greater clarity regarding Lex Greensill’s meetings and involvement in HS2. Transparency, accountability and openness must be at the heart of this transformational project, so I hope the full details of any involvement are immediately released.”

Lid Dem spokesperson Olney added that records should be kept of special advisor meetings: “Liberal Democrats firmly believe more transparency is needed in the way central Government operates. On projects such as HS2, where the impact on local communities is so vast, it is imperative that we get a clear picture of how decisions are being made and by whose involvement.

 

“While in coalition, we brought in rules to publish all ministerial meetings and also introduced the Statutory Register of Consultant Lobbyists. However, recent developments show there is still work to be done.

“It’s now clear that all ministerial meetings should be made available and accessible to the wider public. We also believe records should be kept of Special Adviser meeting with lobbyists, and that stricter criteria must be put in place to determine who exactly can become a Special Adviser.”

 

Greensill Capital and its supply chain financing model

Led by the 44-year-old Australian, Greensill Capital specialised in supply chain financing and was given access to the Cabinet Office under former prime minister David Cameron.

The supply chain finance allowed smaller firms to access funding from work owed upfront, rather than waiting up to 90 days for payment from main contractors.

According to an FT investigation, supply chain finance played a key role in the eventual downfall of Carillion, which made extensive use of supply chain finance to mask mounting debts within the group, which collapsed in January 2018 owing. Carillion never used Greensill Finance, however according to the FT the company setup its own finance facility after meeting with Greensill.

Greensill Capital filed for insolvency on March 8 this year after being unable to repay a $140M loan from bank Credit Suisse. The firm has also been hit by loan defaults from money lent to steel magnate Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance.

Earlier this year former Cameron, who was appointed as an advisor to Greensill Capital, was embroiled in a controversy over his extensive lobbying of both current chancellor Rishi Sunak and other ministers over access to credit for the company at the onset of the first UK Covid-19 lockdown last March.

The former PM sent over 70 text messages to ministers and officials including at the Bank of England in an attempt to gain access to the government’s main coronavirus lending scheme.

The Cabinet office declined to comment. The Department for Transport declined to comment. HS2 declined to provide further comment.

 

Source: New Civil Engineer

 

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A Chink in Britain’s supply chain

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Britain needs buildings more than ever. As such, confidence within the sector is sky high. However, does the current state of our supply chains pose a risk to us capitalising on growth? Buildingspecifier’s Editor Joe Bradbury investigates:

 

According to IHS Markit/CIPS, output growth has risen in line with increased commercial, domestic and civil engineering projects. These works have largely come in the form of restarting delayed projects, critically around office development, leisure and hospitality.

Residential new build has also experienced a significant boost, alongside domestic renovation, with higher spends reported in both areas of the industry.

Output among private sector housebuilders has surged by nearly 141 per cent since its low point 12 months ago. Infrastructure work has also long since soared past its pre-pandemic level. Whilst government statisticians have confirmed that 2020 was the worst year on record for UK construction, that milestone is now thankfully behind us as contractors and their suppliers continue to gear up for a sustained surge of demand throughout the course of 2021.

This great surge in demand is great news, but like all great waves it brings with it a degree of risk.

Higher demand for construction and trade services has a real-world trickle down to small and medium trade businesses. This, coupled with the current stresses on the UK supply chain in the wake of Covid and Brexit, is cause for concern.

 

Materials shortage

When lockdown struck Britain in March of last year, the material supply lines for the whole of the UK were put on pause for a number of weeks. As we scrambled about creating toilet paper and flour shortages for one another, similar panicked antics afflicted the construction industry.

The delays caused in the initial weeks of lockdown resulted in a shortage of plasterboard, cement and many other essential construction materials. Subsequently, this has resulted in price increases for these products as availability decreased.

We can’t just lay the blame at the door of COVID-19 for these short-term supply constraints. Brexit laid the groundworks for disaster.

 

Before COVID there was Brexit…

I believe that people should be wary of forming too strong an opinion on the decision to leave the EU, because a) it has resulted in both good and bad outcomes and b) what works for a construction company may not work for a North Sea fisherman… so it isn’t black and white.

One of the negative outcomes of Brexit is that it has lengthened the supply lines for a number of core supplies from Europe. A significant majority of materials required by UK trade and construction are manufactured or processed in mainland Europe.

As COVID-19 did the rounds almost all major countries suffered shortages in stock. Now however, simply because it makes logistical sense, manufacturers are refilling the supply chains that are closer to home first, with the UK naturally falling to the back of the queue.

This is expected to ease up in time, and whilst it’s positive to see a host of efforts to move material production to the UK, there is no quick fix to this ongoing problem.

Unfortunately, SMEs are feeling the brunt of this, as bigger companies with more purchasing power have been able to buy in these products at higher prices, monopolising the materials industry, to the detriment of their smaller competitors.

Many large firms are also opting to stockpile, to future-proof their business. This has resulted in an in-balance of supply availability, and given that larger companies often rely on much smaller contractors to operate, a more collaborative approach to the sharing of materials would enable to construction industry to weather the storm as a team. Large firms should not use their leverage over smaller ones. This is bad for economy and will ultimately come back around to bite them regarding their reliance on the SME sector for contract staff.

 

Hold-ups at the border

Another thing impacting our supply chains is the increased regulation and paperwork that can now be seen at the borders. New customs and export documentation resulted in huge delays, even before Brexit was finalised. These delays are forcing many companies to re-engineer their supply chains.

Manufacturers relied on complex and interconnected supply chains, that weaved across Europe and beyond to move materials, components and finished systems between locations and suppliers. Then COVID-19 and Brexit hit these highly tuned avenues for transport hard.

The construction industry depends heavily on fast supply chains offering ‘just in time’ delivery of components, often across multiple borders. Increased regulations surrounding Brexit and COVID-19 are already having a significant impact on how goods are brought into the UK, with delays being reported across the sectors.

In summary

In summary, the construction industry supply chains were dealt two huge blows, firstly by Brexit and then by a pandemic.

However, it has shone a light on our resilience. In spite of hardships, there is much to be optimistic about. Consumers have enthusiastically returned to the high street, glasses have been raised to the opening of outdoor dining and drinking as restrictions ease and the vaccination programme continues at pace. Normality feels just around the corner… whatever that is! This can only be good for the economy!

Whilst some of the issues currently blighting our industry will naturally clear with the passing of time as the threat of Covid and Brexit reduces, the short-term impact on the smaller contractor market threatens to derail these good weeks of growth.

The construction industry would do well to work together when it comes to sharing materials fairly, otherwise it will only deal more blows to itself, preventing us to capitalise fully on this latest wave of optimism and growth.

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INTERPHONE ENHANCES DOOR ENTRY AND ACCESS CONTROL WITH TOUCHLESS SOLUTIONS

Interphone, the security systems and building technology integrator, is embracing the latest iris and facial recognition technology to meet the growing demand for touchless door entry and access control. The company has launched a range of advanced and affordable solutions available for any new build or retrofit building requirement in the commercial residential marketplace.

“The COVID pandemic has placed hygiene, infection control and risk mitigation under the spotlight like never before, which is having a significant impact on how access control and door entry systems are approached,” explains Julian Synett, CEO of Interphone Limited. “Managing agents can help meet their duty of care to residents, staff and other visitors by opting for Iris or facial recognition technology that lessens the spread of germs through the removal of access touchpoints, while enhancing building security.”

Interphone is taking advantage of the latest touchless innovations to introduce affordable retrofit solutions that are compatible with most existing access control and door entry systems. This means it is possible to use much of the existing infrastructure that is already in place within a building to incorporate high performance iris and facial recognition technology, without the costly installation associated with previous solutions.

The iris and facial recognition door entry systems use unique data taken from the physical characteristics of a person, which cannot be shared or transferred to anyone else. Advances in AI technology also mean these solutions can identify faces in a matter of milliseconds, even from different angles, in lowlight at night, with various facial expressions or even when someone is wearing a mask. This makes it highly secure and simple to manage, with appropriate access quickly added or removed electronically to minimise the risk of unauthorised admittance.

“Over the past year, managing agents have had to re-evaluate how they manage access to properties. While everything is beginning to return to normal, the pandemic will result in some permanent changes to how we view and deal with hygiene and infection control alongside security. As such, we expect to see increasing interest in touchless alternatives that will shape door entry and access control moving forward,” concludes Synett.

 

interphone.co.uk

 

 

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Advanced’s Evacuation Alert System CPD Now RIBA Approved

Fire protection solutions manufacturer Advanced, has a new RIBA-approved course available to aid understanding of the BS 8629 Code of Practice and how its recommendations apply to architects and specifiers in planning building safety strategies.

 ‘A Guide to Meeting BS 8629’ is a continuing professional development course, approved by the FIA, the CPD Certification Service as well as RIBA and is suitable for all those wanting to gain a more in-depth understanding of the code of practice for the design, installation, commissioning and maintenance of evacuation alert systems for use by the fire and rescue services in buildings containing flats.

Delivered online by the Advanced evacuation alert team – Ken Bullock, Business Development Manager and Shaun Scott, Applications Engineer for Evacuation Alert Systems – the one-hour session covers how BS 8629 applies to tall residential buildings – its scope and definitions, specifying products to meet the code of practice requirements, as well as identifying evacuation alert system components.

Ken Bullock, Business Development Manager – Evacuation Alert Systems, said: “Over the past year, we’ve seen a surge in demand for online education about the new BS 8629 standard and its implications. In response, we’ve developed webinars, technical training and video tutorials as well as our CPD series suited to help all those tasked with specifying, installing, operating and maintaining these new systems.

“Our new CPD presentation is a great way to improve understanding of the BS 8629 recommendations, how to choose the relevant evacuation alert system equipment, and your responsibilities for ensuring evacuation strategies are fit for purpose within tall residential buildings.

“As all content has been approved by RIBA, the FIA and the CPD Certification Service as boosting competency and knowledge of the latest standards, participants can rest assured they are up to speed with this fast-changing area of fire protection.”

BS 8629:2019 is the new Code of Practice for the design, installation, commissioning and maintenance of evacuation alert systems for use by fire and rescue services in England. In place since November 2019, this code of practice recommends the installation of a dedicated evacuation alert system intended for the sole use of the fire and rescue services and separate from the building’s fire alarm system. Although not yet a legal requirement in England, evacuation alert control and indicating equipment (EACIE) installation is already mandatory in new buildings containing flats over 18 metres in Scotland and is considered by a number of fire and rescue services as best practice for new and existing high-rise sites.

 

Advanced is a world leader in the development and manufacture of intelligent fire systems. Advanced’s reputation for performance, quality and ease of use sees its products specified in locations around the world, from single-panel installations to large, multi-site networks. Advanced’s products include complete fire detection systems, multiprotocol fire panels, extinguishing control, fire paging, false alarm management and reduction systems as well as emergency lighting.

Advanced, owned by FTSE 100 company Halma PLC, protects a wide range of prestigious and high-profile sites across the globe – from London’s Shard to Abu Dhabi International Airport and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge.

 

Halma is a global group of life-saving technology companies with a clear purpose to grow a safer, cleaner, healthier future for everyone, every day.

CLICK HERE TO BOOK YOUR PLACE FOR THE RIBA APPROVED CPD

 

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