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.

UK has sixth-highest rate of excess winter deaths in Europe

Research reveals that the UK has the sixth-worst long-term rate of excess winter mortality out of 30 European countries. In addition, when taking into account cold weather beyond just the winter months, the UK ranks second-worst out of 30 European countries.

Over the last five years there has been an average of 32,000 excess winter deaths in the UK every year. Of these, 9,700 die due to a cold home – the same as the number of people who die from breast or prostate cancer each year. The fact that UK homes are amongst the least energy efficient in Europe confirms that these deaths are preventable.

Pedro Guertler, co-author of the report from E3G comments “The UK has one of the worst records on cold homes-related deaths in Europe and it is not only a public health tragedy, it is a national embarrassment. This epidemic is entirely preventable and E3G and NEA are calling on the UK Government to reinstate public capital investment in home energy efficiency to fix the cold homes crisis. As well as ending needless suffering and premature deaths, it would also address a wide range of national infrastructure priorities.”

Alongside existing private investment, E3G and NEA are calling on the Treasury to use public infrastructure capital – as opposed to revenue expenditure – to co-fund area- based energy efficiency schemes to systematically improve the quality of UK housing in every part of the country. The report says this is essential if the UK is to meet its fuel poverty and carbon emission reduction targets. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have already been developing these programmes with great success but the UK Government has yet to back similar programmes in England and the number of insulation measures installed in UK homes has crashed by 90% since 2012 due to ill-judged cuts to home energy improvement programmes.

Peter Smith, the co-author from NEA added “As the UK experiences one of the harshest winters for several years, it is important to remember that this causes needless hardship, places health at risk and leads to premature death. Beyond the terrible scale of cold related winter deaths, people experiencing fuel poverty can also struggle with poor mental health and this can sadly lead to total social isolation and even suicide. This preventable tragedy must end. The UK Government must support the strong case for the re-introduction of adequate public capital investment – a necessity if we are to make the UK’s homes warmer and safe for human habitation.”

/0 Comments/by

Government to assist the 74% of construction companies being killed by late payment

A new announcement by Government to address the issue of late payment is expected to help the 74% of construction companies that have almost gone into liquidation due to the unfair practice.

The package of measures unveiled by the Small Business Minister Kelly Tolhurst will also reduce the hidden, human cost of delayed payment. According to research commissioned by the Prompt Payment Directory, 48% of the 400 construction companies polled reported depression, panic attacks, suicidal thoughts and anxiety as a result of late payments.

Late payment also affects a company’s ability to reliably predict cash flow, invest in training or even pay staff and bills.

The Government is pulling together strands that have existed for a while, but is now backing them with enforcement.

The small business commissioner will join the board of the Prompt Payment Code and measures will be put in place to remove signatories from the code’s list. This will help avoid the farce of Carillion and other similar companies being on the list despite their payment terms of 120 days being well beyond what could be considered reasonable.

The Government will aim to pay 90% of undisputed invoices within five days. Central and local government are not always prompt payers, often paying outside the terms of legislation. Having the Government lead by example will help change the culture.

There are also proposals that include consideration of how company boards can implement responsible payment practices and the promotion of accounting tools to help businesses manage payment processes.

While the Government has also highlighted its Mystery Shopper service that allows companies to report poor practice, it does not acknowledge the imbalance in the relationship between companies and their suppliers. Often the supplier carries much of the risk of the project in addition to being paid late. Suppliers in this position often do not report late payment because they do not want to jeopardise future work.

Neil Walters, national chair of the National Federation of Builders, said “Payments move from one business to another, but we should never forget the human cost of paying late. Enforcement is the key to making these government proposals work so that construction will no longer be the sector with the highest rate of insolvencies and all small businesses can stay open for business.”

/0 Comments/by

Government investment to overcome barriers to building

Investment to tackle issues on potential housing sites and get homes built in areas where they are needed most has been launched by Communities Secretary Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP.

Issues like land contamination, infrastructure requirements, and complex land ownership can present real barriers to building homes where they are needed most.

From this week, the government is intervening by providing 2 streams of investment – the Land Assembly Fund and the Small Sites Fund – for Homes England to deploy alongside their expertise. This will help release land to deliver 300,000 new homes a year by the mid-2020s.

The £1.3 billion Land Assembly Fund, will be used to acquire land needing work and get it ready for the market, making it less risky for developers to invest in and start building. Outside of London this work will be carried out by Homes England.

For public land owners or local authorities that are struggling to get building on land in their area, the £630 million Small Sites Fund will provide grant funding to speed up getting the right infrastructure in place to support home building on stalled small sites to provide the homes their communities need.

Communities Secretary, Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP said “We need to act on a number of fronts to build the homes this country needs.

“The availability of this investment will help us intervene in the sort of sites that aren’t yet ready to build on, or where developers have been put off.

“Developers can now get straight on with building homes, rather than overcoming the barriers to build. And in the same way we are also supporting councils that have land for housing, but need additional help to enable development.”

An example of Homes England acquiring land is Burgess Hill in Sussex, a site that desperately needed affordable housing, but which sat undeveloped for years. The national housing agency has stepped in, bought the land and is also delivering the infrastructure, so that the roads, schools and doctor’s surgeries are all in place for over 3,000 new homes that will now be built there.

Homes England Chairman, Sir Edward Lister said “Homes England is stepping in where the market isn’t working, unlocking land and releasing sites to those developers that are committed to providing homes at pace.

“The £1.9 billion announced by the government today will mean we can invest in crucial infrastructure and help local authorities to get more homes built on public land.”

The government will work closely with the Greater London Authority to help ensure targeted funding through the Land Assembly Fund and Small Sites Fund can deliver additional homes in the capital.

/0 Comments/by

MAC recommendations would cripple construction

The Migration Advisory Committee’s (MAC) report, which sets out a series of recommendations for the new immigration policy post-Brexit, would cripple the construction industry, according to the Federation of Master Builders (FMB).

Commenting on the MAC report published this week, Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the FMB, said “This report makes very worrying reading for the tens of thousands of small construction firms across the UK who are already deeply concerned about the skills shortage. Its recommendations ignore the pleas of construction employers who have called on the Government to introduce a visa system based on key occupations rather than arbitrary skill levels. Instead, the proposal is to apply the Tier 2 immigration system to EU workers, which would be disastrous for small and micro construction firms. Even if tweaked and improved slightly, the Tier 2 system would not make provision for ample numbers of low skilled workers to enter the UK and these are people the construction industry relies upon. For the Government to make good on its construction and house building targets, it will need sufficient numbers of labourers as well as civil engineers and quantity surveyors.

“It’s not at all clear that EU workers with important skills already in short supply, like bricklaying and carpentry, will not fall foul of a crude and limited definition of ‘high skilled’ worker. In addition, the report explicitly recommends that there should be no migration route for lower skilled workers with the possible exception for seasonal agricultural workers. There is also a vague suggestion that if there was a route for lower skilled workers, it should be aimed at younger people and not be open to workers of all ages. This is far too restrictive and simply won’t meet the needs of the construction industry.

“EU workers are vitally important to the UK construction sector. Nine per cent of our construction workers are from the EU and in London, this increases to one third. These workers have played a very significant role in mitigating the severe skills shortages we have experienced in recent years. The construction industry knows it needs to do much more to recruit and train many more domestic workers. However, given the important role migrant workers have played, and the already high levels of employment in the UK workforce, it is crucial that the post-Brexit immigration system allows us to continue to hire workers of varying skill levels, regardless of where they are from.”

/0 Comments/by

Fatigue in construction is the “Phantom Menace”

The construction industry is a major engine of GDP (over 100 billion in economic output) and employs over two million people in the UK. However, it suffers more than many industries in terms of accidents and injury. With more than 43 fatal accidents in 2017 (four times more than the average across all industries) and over 5,000 non-fatal accidents it is no wonder that this industry more than others is regarded as high risk.

Add to this the other 65,000 work related illness (Stress, Depression, Musculoskeletal Disorders, Respiratory and Skin conditions) and it is clear that Health and Safety needs to be embedded at every level of the organisation and especially integrated into the planning process.

Clearly there are unique and challenging circumstances with construction sites; the dynamic and changing environment and the lack of inherent infrastructure all combine to frustrate the best safety plans. What was safe yesterday may not be as safe today. An unoccupied area yesterday may be occupied today. Multiple activities concurrently taking place create varying risk each day.

Add to this “P&P” (Pressure & Penalties) which are now standard in the industry: if tight deadlines are not met there can be seriously damaging financial penalties and so a six or seven-day week and/or long hours for workers is commonplace. Little wonder then that injury rates are so high.

But beyond the hard hats and high vis, what can be done to reduce this blight upon the industry?

The first is the recognition that fatigue is your greatest enemy. Fatigue impairs your ability to process information, slows your reactions and decreases awareness and attention. In short, it reduces your ability to accurately estimate risk. In fact, 20% of major road incidents are the result of fatigue and many of the most publicised accidents (Exxon Valdez, Herald of Free Enterprise, Chernobyl, Clapham Junction, Texas City and Challenger) have been linked to tiredness.

To put it simply in many cases fatigue is a predictor (“lead” indicator) to an accident (“lag” indicator).

The maxim “you can’t prevent what you can’t predict” is very pertinent here. If you can understand the causes and drivers of accidents (fatigue) and you can assess likely fatigue in shifts/patterns, then you can reduce fatigue and prevent the associated outcomes (accidents)

The second is to recognise that long hours/weeks are not the friend of tight deadlines but its nemesis. Accidents create downtime and lost productivity. They CAUSE delays. However, because there is not a 100% correlation between fatigue and accidents, there is a tendency to roll the dice when pressure and deadlines encroach. But you cannot build an enduring business or industry upon this strategy. It is not a replicable/repeatable route to success. You may dodge the bullet more than most but sooner or later it will hit and may create not only contractual or financial strife but also long term reputational damage.

The solution lies with new technology and software that ensures you have the right people in the right place at the right time with the right skills. These planning systems can build in sufficient periods or rest and cover for absence/training and holidays, so you can ensure both and safe and optimum levels of resource to meet deadlines without the need for overtime/extended work periods. The benefit of planning effectively also delivers dividends through reducing fatigue, overtime costs, absence and accidents. Indeed, some solutions already have fatigue factors built into the system to reduce risk and provide assurance.

Another risk factor within construction sites is keeping track of who is on-site and where they are. Again, technology has come a long way with mobile apps which allow supervisors to register staff onsite, fully self-sufficient clocking terminals that are solar/battery powered with 3G for data transit, and beacons/tags that allow the site manager to know exactly who has turned up and exactly where they are in real-time. These solutions are the next generation “high visibility” tools allowing the site manager to know who is where without the need for line of site or audio contact. If there is an situation or emergency, the site manager can instantly view the location and presence of his team and act immediately.

The ability to plan and track workers in real-time does not only reduce accidents but also provides a constant feed-back loop to enable planners to constantly improve their planning based on outcomes. This process is not only critical to ensure health and safety but also though analysis, improve quality, productivity, delivery and reduce downtime, accidents and delay.

/0 Comments/by

Drop in EU migrant workers sounds alarm bell for UK construction

The drop in EU net migration has sounded alarm bells for the UK construction industry, the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) has said.

Commenting on the Migration Statistics Quarterly Report for August 2018, published by the Office for National Statistics, Sarah McMonagle, Director of External Affairs at the FMB, said “EU net migration is at its lowest level since 2012 and this is deeply worrying for those sectors that rely on workers from the EU. Despite the fact that we are still operating under the free movement of people, we’re already seeing far fewer EU workers coming to the UK and a greater number leaving our shores. This could be due to financial reasons since the depreciation of sterling following the EU referendum, which means that if these workers are sending money home, or saving up, their UK wages are now worth less. It could also, quite simply, be that some EU workers no longer feel welcome.”

“The drop in EU net migration is a particular problem for industries like construction. At present, 9 per cent of our construction workers are from the EU and therefore we are more reliant than most on EU workers. In London, this proportion rises to nearly one third. We can’t afford to lose any more EU workers as currently two-thirds of construction SMEs are struggling to hire bricklayers and 60 per cent are struggling to hire carpenters and joiners. If the Government wants its new homes and infrastructure projects built, it needs to do more to back up our industry’s message to all EU workers – they are welcome and they do have a bright future here in the UK.”

/0 Comments/by

Why investing in reliable internet is critical for construction programmes

According to Mobile Data and Fixed Line communications company Comms365, the construction sector’s appetite for reliable internet services has increased dramatically in recent years due to the growing number of devices and cloud-based applications in use on construction sites. In our world of rapidly advancing technology, construction sites need minimum bandwidths to use new apps and software for contract and supplier management, surveys, geolocation and workflow. Without reliable internet access, communication is hindered and sites can’t operate as well as they need to.

The challenge may arise in provisioning the internet resources in the first place: From industry experience, there is 30% chance that any ethernet installation will be disrupted due to wayleave or lack of fibre infrastructure. If any of your sites have suffered from a delay in the install of a fixed line, you’ll be familiar with the financial cost that this disruption causes.

As construction companies often work in locations where fixed connectivity is limited, expensive or impossible, IT managers and programme leads are investing in reliable and secure cost-effective bonded internet solutions.

Reliable internet connections are needed by construction managers to communicate with architects, contractors and clients to keep sites running efficiently. Web access is needed for site workers as well as guest contractors, architect and visitors who need immediate access to plans, surveys and orders as well as technical and health and safety information. This means that unreliable or delayed connections can have impacts on client relationships, contract management and on-site safety as well as the bottom line.

In summary, the benefits of having reliable connectivity far outweigh the costs.

/0 Comments/by

New skills needed to harness true potential of offsite construction

,

Offsite construction could revolutionise the construction industry and provide a solution to the UK housing shortage, but only if the sector develops the right skills.

Faster, Smarter, More Efficient: Building Skills for Offsite Construction shows that 42% of construction industry employers with over 100 staff expect to use offsite methods in five years’ time.

When asked about the use of offsite-specific construction materials and products, 100% said they expected the use of precast concrete panels to increase; 91% anticipated the use of precast concrete frame to rise.

At present however, offsite construction accounts for just 10% of industry output.

The report – which follows the recommendations set out in industry expert Mark Farmer’s government-backed review of UK construction – also reveals that nearly 50% of construction industry clients expect the use of offsite construction to increase over the next five years.

Offsite processes save time and money and can improve quality through pre-fabrication of components – from panels to fully fitted rooms.

Mark Farmer said “The urgency for modernisation has never been greater, set against an insidious backdrop of an ageing workforce and increasing concerns about the impact of Brexit.

“Any strategic shift towards pre-manufacturing and offsite construction creates an immediate requirement to define our future skills needs through collaboration between industry, educators, training providers and government.

“This is crucial to ensuring we can transition to a higher productivity, digitally enabled industry which inherently attracts more of the young talent we so desperately need. It should also set out clear opportunities for the existing construction workforce and indeed workers from other industries to reskill through a new family of career pathways.”

Steve Radley, Director of Policy at CITB, said “There is massive potential for offsite construction. The Government recently announced an additional £1.4bn of funding for affordable homes, with an increase in offsite construction set as an objective, representing a clear opportunity for growth in this area.

“The greatest potential currently lies within the housing and commercial sectors, where mass customisation can create the buildings we need more quickly and to higher standards. There are also opportunities to bring the benefits of offsite to large-scale infrastructure projects – some high profile examples include HS2 and Hinkley Point, which are already using offsite techniques.”

The report outlines six key skills areas related to offsite construction:

  1. digital design
  2. estimating/commercial
  3. offsite manufacturing
  4. logistics
  5. site management and integration
  6. onsite placement and assembly

Increasingly, workers will need the skills to move between offsite and onsite environments and so the training for these six areas must evolve to meet the changing demand.

Currently, significant barriers exist which prevent the delivery of training and skills to meet the needs of these crucial areas. These include:

  • Existing training does not include the required offsite content
  • Lack of awareness and suitability of available training and qualifications – companies are delivering their own ‘in-house’ training, which leads to non-standard approaches
  • A shortage of qualified training providers and assessors

Steve Radley concluded “Successful offsite management hinges on the effective integration of both onsite and offsite functions – and this requires a comprehensive understanding of both aspects.”

/0 Comments/by

Cowboy builders cost the UK economy £10bn per year

The UK economy is missing out on £10 billion each year because home owners are so fearful of hiring a cowboy builder, they simply don’t commission building work, according to research by the Federation of Master Builders (FMB).

Key results from the FMB’s research into consumer confidence in the UK’s builders include:

  • The UK economy is missing out on £10 billion of activity per year because of anxiety over cowboy builders
  • One third (32%) of home owners are put off doing major home improvement works requiring a builder because they fear hiring a dodgy builder
  • If all home owners had full confidence in the building industry, they would typically spend an average of £40,000 on major home improvement projects over the next five years

Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the FMB, said “A third of home owners are so anxious about the possibility of choosing a bad builder, they don’t commission any building work whatsoever. This means that the UK economy could be missing out on £10 billion of activity every year. Indeed, the FMB’s latest research shows that on average, your typical home owner would spend £40,000 on major home improvement projects over the next five years if they could be guaranteed a positive experience. If we were able to unlock this pent-up demand from fearful consumers, the benefit to jobs and growth would be enormous. Last year the UK experienced its slowest growth since 2012 with a rise in GDP of just 1.8 per cent. With Brexit just around the corner, it’s therefore vital that the Government pulls as many leavers as possible to turbo-charge the economy and protect it from any potential economic wobbles.”

“In the longer term, we need to end the cowboy builders’ reign of terror so we can give all home owners the confidence they need to invest their cash in building work. The Government should consider introducing some form of mandatory licensing system for domestic builders so that consumers know that all building firms have a base level of skill, competence and professionalism. Unlike in Australia and Canada, in this country anyone can be a builder and that’s why there is a significant minority of rogue traders out there giving the whole construction industry a bad name. We’re exploring mandatory licensing with industry and Government but in the meantime, our advice to home owners who are looking for a builder is to ask for a recommendation from family or friends. If they can’t help, consumers should approach a professional trade association like the Federation of Master Builders who can put them in touch with a vetted and inspected building firm.”

/0 Comments/by

Can modular housing solve the UK’s housing crisis?

,

The UK is in the grips of a chronic housing crisis. Rising rent prices, falling wages and a severe labour skills shortage have left housing construction stagnant and properties financially out of reach. Productivity in the construction sector has stalled post-Brexit, and developer focus in recent years has shifted from creating accommodation that is affordable and simple to construct, to complex, luxury projects which often remain unoccupied. With the housing sector contributing to economic inequality in this country, an innovative solution to this crisis is desperately needed.

Modular housing is one solution that has the potential to ease the UK’s housing crisis. Such homes are cost-effective, scalable, sustainable, and efficient to build. However, legislative red tape, local authority dependence on short-term housing solutions, and reluctance by landowners to free up their land have hidebound modular housing’s potential, meaning that the contribution it could make to the easing the housing crisis has not yet been tested.

Currently, housing construction of any type in the UK is being strangled by a severe labour skills shortage. An ageing workforce and a Brexit-induced worker exodus is limiting construction activity, whilst increasing labour costs are making affordable housing financially unattractive for construction companies. Consequently, housing demand is not being met. This is particularly problematic given that the number of new households has exceeded the number of homes built every year since 2008, and estimates suggest there is a need for between 230,000-300,000 additional units per year – a level not reached since the 1970s.

Here, modular could have a significant impact by reinvigorating supply in an affordable and efficient model. Factory, rather than field-based, modular housing can take as little as three days to construct and requires only a semi-skilled workforce who take months, not years, to train. Modular houses also require fewer builders due to being semi mass-produced and standardised, making them appealing to construction companies with diminished workforces and restricted budgets.

The critical shortage of affordable housing in the UK is being exacerbated by legislative red-tape and landowner opposition. Across the country, luxury apartments are plentiful compared to low-cost developments, in part due to landowners who want to achieve the best possible land value, and traditional housebuilders who are perceived as offering the best price. At present off site construction development proposals are less competitive than traditional methods: construction costs are higher than traditional construction meaning a lower land offer for the land, [meaning housebuilders are] less likely to win a competitive bid for land unless the awarding body specifically states the desire to use off-site manufacturing as part of development. Clearly this position may change over time, particularly when site labour becomes more scarce or the demand for offsite manufacturing increases.

However, attitudes could be changing – Wolverhampton City Council is delivering 23,000 modular homes as part of a pilot scheme and a recent decision by the Greater London Authority’s assistant director of housing, to commission a common framework for ‘delivering precision manufactured homes at scale’, suggests that modular, standardised builds are now seen as an acceptable, even attractive, way to work around constrained local authority budgets.

There is, however, a long way to go, and even rising homelessness is currently failing to fuel demand for affordable accommodation. With demand far outstripping supply, local and national government now spend £2 million a day on temporary accommodation, often using the most expensive and least desirable forms of emergency housing, such as B&Bs and hotels, for the over-77,000 homeless households under local authority care. Contrastingly, modular houses can cost as little as £25,000 to build, and offer a permanent or semi-permanent alternative to emergency accommodation which is economically sustainable in the long-run. Some councils are already picking up on modular’s potential to provide stability for those in crisis – in Lewisham, plans for a 25-home modular social rent development are underway; and a collaboration between 16 London boroughs to provide modular housing for use by the homeless has been promised £11m by Sadiq Khan, after a £20,000 seed funding contribution from London Councils’ City Ambition programme kick-started the project.

Creativity, modernisation and efficiency are critical if the UK is ever to solve its housing crisis. The country’s population is unlikely to stop increasing, there is no real answer yet to the severe skills shortage in the country’s construction industry, and the threat of homelessness continues to grow. These are chronic problems for which a solution is needed, and fast. Modular housing could provide just that. Accessible, efficient and sustainable, today’s modular homes are not the prefabs of the past. Instead, they are slick and distinctive; environmentally friendly and architecturally evolved. With the government announcing plans, in March this year to build 100,000 modular homes by 2020, we may finally be waking up to the fact that, in a time of crisis, modular could prove to be just what the country needs.

Written by Ben O’Connor, Development Manager, Kajima

/0 Comments/by