APPOINTMENTS – KERRY BROWN JOINS VORTICE AS AREA BUSINESS MANAGER

Joining the Vortice sales team this month as Area Business Manager for the South West, is Kerry Brown who is based in Devon. Kerry studied at Plymouth University and is keen to enter the ventilation industry at a time when the world begins to understand the importance to human health of good indoor air quality.

In her spare time, Kerry enjoys weight-lifting, martial arts and horse riding.

Vortice Sales Director Paul Gunner said: “We welcome Kerry to the team and look forward to the fresh approach she can bring to supporting developers, contractors, architects and specifiers in the South West.”

 

www.vortice.co.uk

 

 

/0 Comments/by

Vallance only getting part of the ventilation picture

A report commissioned by the government’s chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance has highlighted the crucial role played by building ventilation in reducing the risk of Covid-19 and other infections, but it misses some crucial practicalities, according to the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA).

The report, which was produced by the National Engineering Policy Centre (NEPC) – a group of 43 professional engineering organisations led by the Royal Academy of Engineering – revealed flaws in the design, management, and operation of buildings.

It advised Sir Patrick that, unless these flaws were addressed, they could disrupt the management of this and future pandemics, impose high financial and health costs on society, and constrain the UK’s ability to address other challenges including climate change.

However, BESA said the problem was that many buildings were designed in a way that made it very difficult and sometimes cost prohibitive to fit the systems needed to achieve adequate ventilation. It said the government should link its ambitions for climate change mitigation and sustainability to work on ventilation and overheating in buildings and consult with all parts of the engineering and construction sectors to get a joined-up solution.

“It is very positive that the government’s top scientist recognises the importance of raising standards of building ventilation to deal with this and future pandemics, but he is only getting part of the picture,” said the Association’s head of technical Graeme Fox.

Solutions
“The knowledge of professional institutions is hugely valuable, but unless they align their theoretical expertise and design philosophies with industry practitioners who operate at the sharp end and know what it is achievable, we will not be able to deliver the solutions the country needs,” he added.

BESA said building designers needed to consider practical measures like allowing enough space in ceiling voids to add or improve mechanical ventilation systems. Enabling access for maintenance purposes, cleaning ventilation ductwork and fitting or renewing air filters were other crucial factors often overlooked during design and fit-out phases.

The Association also highlighted the recent report from the Climate Change Committee (CCC), which warned that many new buildings were being developed without adequate adaption measures, which means they would be prone to overheating as our climate warms up.

The CCC identified overheating in buildings as a major climate change risk and health emergency in 2016, but since then 570,000 new homes had been built without climate adaption measures and a further 1.5 million were due to be built in the next five years.

Fox said there were more than 2,500 heat-related deaths during the 2020 heatwave in England, which was higher than at any time since records began, and that the CCC expected heat related deaths to treble by 2050.

“The government needs to understand the concept of a sustainable built environment in the widest sense,” he said. “Sustainability is not just about carbon and energy saving, it is also about ensuring that the facilities we build and refurbish are able to sustain human activity in the long-term while also safeguarding health, well-being, and productivity.

“It is highly possible that a huge proportion of the homes and commercial buildings being designed now will no longer be inhabitable in a few years’ time because they are too difficult to cool and ventilate.”

BESA has recently released new technical guidance to help contractors deliver indoor air quality (IAQ) solutions to transform existing buildings into ‘safe havens’ for people including how to minimise the risk of transmitting diseases via airborne particulates.

“The vast majority of the work needed to create safe and healthy indoor spaces will be retrofit and so we need a strong focus on low cost, practical measures that can actually make a difference to people’s lives,” said Fox. “Professional institutions should not be expected to provide that kind of work on their own. This requires a joined-up approach from the whole construction and building engineering supply chain.”

Consistency
The RAE report: ‘Infection Resilient Environments: Buildings that keep us healthy and safe’ called for the plugging of skills and knowledge gaps and criticised the lack of building management consistency in healthcare settings. It added that investment in research and development was needed to clarify acceptable minimum standards for ventilation to support regulation by Local Authorities and others.

“We welcome the report and agree with many of its findings, but it only goes so far,” said Fox. “We have a big job to do in defining what we mean by the skills required to tackle the major health threat to people posed by buildings that have been designed to trap heat in order to minimise energy use.

“If you design tight you have to ventilate right and, unfortunately, our members come across buildings that have locked in air quality and overheating problems on a daily basis. This also needs to be explained to government at the highest level so that investment can be targeted in the right areas.”

www.theBESA.com/iaq

 

/0 Comments/by

Rising costs and lack of workers poses a major threat

Builders workloads at highest level in 10 years – but rising cost materials and lack of workers poses a major threat

 

Builders’ workloads are at their highest levels for ten years but there are fears that an increase in material prices and a shortage of workers could lead to troubled times ahead.

The latest survey from the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) highlighted the findings from small to medium-sized (SME) construction firms across the UK.

Workload and enquiry levels were at their highest point for a decade, with 71% of builders receiving higher numbers of enquiries for future work, compared to the first quarter of this year.

Employment is an issue with 53% of builders struggling to hire carpenters/joiners, up from 23% six months ago, while 47% are unable to hire bricklayers, up from 22% in the last three months of 2020.

Rising material costs – ‘it’s a joke’

A massive 98% of builders said they are facing material price rises, with the same number expecting this to continue into later this year.

Steven Thomson’s family business Deeside Construction Banchory, was founded more than 40 years ago.

Mr Thomson, who currently employs six people at his firm, wasn’t surprised by the survey findings.

He said: “The whole situation at the moment is a joke.

“We would normally be able to get materials like concrete and cement there and then but at the moment we are having to order things months in advance.

“We are now having to plan work months in advance.

“Every week there is increases in price. Steel and concrete goes up every week. So you are having to add that onto the prices for your work as well. It all has a knock-on effect.”

The survey did find that 80% of respondents had been forced to raise their prices in the past quarter.

Carpenters & joiners are highly sought in construction industry according to new survey

Brian Berry, FMB chief executive, said: “While it’s brilliant to see small, local building companies and sole traders bouncing back from the difficulties of 2020, record workloads and enquires are bringing significant challenges.

“An extraordinary 98% of small builders now face rising prices for building materials, with the same number expecting this to continue into the autumn.

“Half of those who responded to our survey are struggling to hire a carpenter or a bricklayer. Without these fundamental inputs, how can Britain build back better?”

Skills shortage

Mr Thomson has noticed a decrease in the number of young people moving into the construction trade.

He said: “We are fully booked until the end of the year and I’d love more people to work for me but I just can’t get them.

There’s no young lads coming though the construction industry just now.”

Stephen Thomson, owner of Deeside Construction Banchory

“There’s no young lads coming though the construction industry just now.”

Mr Berry concluded: “In the absence of greater support from government and industry to explain to consumers why prices are going up, I fear a growing number putting themselves at the mercy of cowboy builders seeking to undercut quality tradespeople.

“To address the skills crisis so starkly presented by this new data, industry efforts to encourage more people into construction must be supported at the spending review with further investment in colleges.”

Source: The Press and Journal

 

/0 Comments/by

High Court overturns Stonehenge Tunnel planning approval

30 Jul, 2021 By Catherine Kennedy

Transport secretary Grant Shapps’ decision to approve the Stonehenge Tunnel scheme against the recommendations of planning officials has been overruled by the High Court.

The hearing to scrutinise the planning approval of the £1.7bn road scheme took place last month, with the legal challenge brought by campaign group Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site (SSWHS).

Shapps had given the scheme the go ahead in November, overruling planning officials who said the project would cause “substantial harm” to the Stonehenge site.

However, today Mr Justice Holgate ruled that the planning approval was unlawful, effectively quashing the development consent for the road project.

Mr Justice Holgate said that Shapps had not properly assessed the risk of harm to each heritage asset within the World Heritage Site (WHS).

He also found that Shapps did not have the evidence to conclude that the project would cause “less than substantial harm” to the heritage assets within the WHS, which he deemed fatal to the lawfulness of the decision to grant development consent.

The judge further concluded that Shapps had failed to consider alternatives to the scheme, such as a longer tunnel, which may have been less damaging to the WHS. This was despite the World Heritage Committee raising alternatives as a vitally important issue in relation to a heritage asset of international importance.

In reaching his judgment, Mr Justice Holgate said: “In this case the relative merits of the alternative tunnel options compared to the western cutting and portals were an obviously material consideration which the SST was required to assess. It was irrational not to do so.”

SSWHS director Stonehenge Alliance acting chairman John Adams said the group “could not be more pleased” with the outcome.

“The Stonehenge Alliance has campaigned from the start for a longer tunnel, if a tunnel should be considered necessary,” he added.

“Ideally, such a tunnel would begin and end outside the WHS. But now that we are facing a climate emergency, it is all the more important that this ruling should be a wake-up call for the government. It should look again at its roads programme and take action to reduce road traffic and eliminate any need to build new and wider roads that threaten the environment as well as our cultural heritage.”

Leigh Day solicitor Rowan Smith – representing SSWHS – described the judgement as “a huge victory, which means, for now, Stonehenge is safe”.

He added: “The judgment is a clear vindication of our client’s tremendous efforts in campaigning to protect the WHS. The development consent for this damaging tunnel has been declared unlawful and is now quashed, and the government will have to go back to the drawing board before a new decision can be made. Meanwhile, one of the country’s most cherished heritage assets cannot be harmed.”

In its earlier recommendation, the Examining Authority had said the “adverse impacts” of the scheme would “strongly outweigh its benefits”.

Its report adds: “The effect of the proposed development on the outstanding universal value of the WHS would lead to substantial harm to the significance of the designated heritage asset. In addition, there would be considerable harm to landscape character and visual amenity.

“There would also be modest harm arising from the ‘loss of view of the stones’ and limited harm to individuals and individual businesses and companies.”

The report does acknowledge that “some cultural heritage benefits” would result, along with transport, economic, community and environment benefits.

However, it concludes that it “has not been demonstrated” that the damage to the WHS is “necessary” to deliver these benefits.

The project, expected to take five years to complete, is scheduled to get under way in 2023.

Such heritage and environmental concerns have been at the forefront of discussions throughout a lengthy planning process.

The planning decision was first delayed in May to allow the detailed archaeological mitigation strategy and the outline environmental plan to be submitted by Highways England. At the time, Historic England also called for close collaboration on establishing ground movement trigger levels for the tunnelling work to ensure it did not affect archaeological structures and remains.

In July, the decision was pushed back again due to an archaeological find near the site. Further evaluations were undertaken, with some seeing the delay as “unwarranted”.

Highways England named three JVs on a shortlist for the main works contract for the project earlier this year, and launched the procurement of its delivery assurance partner contract earlier this month.

Source: New Civil Engineer

 

/0 Comments/by

Aqualisa receives RoSPA Gold Award for health and safety achievements

British bathroom products manufacturer scoops highest accolade for safety

 

Bathroom product specialist Aqualisa has been honoured with the RoSPA Gold Award, an internationally-recognised accolade for demonstrating the highest health and safety standards.

Every year, almost 2,000 entrants compete to achieve the top prize in the UK’s longest-running health and safety industry awards. Organisations receiving a RoSPA Award are recognised as being world leaders in health and safety practice.

 

Colin Sykes, CEO at Aqualisa, commented, “Aqualisa has always placed enormous importance on health and safety in the workplace. 2020 was a particularly challenging year from an H&S perspective for all companies, and I am proud of the outstanding work carried out by our teams, who established new processes and measures quickly and efficiently to ensure that our employees were able to continue to operate in a safe environment. I would like to thank each and every one of my colleagues for their exceptional response. This Gold Award is testament to everything they have accomplished over the last 18 months.”

Julia Small, RoSPA’s achievements director, said, “The RoSPA Awards scheme is the longest-running of its kind in the UK, but it receives entries from organisations across the globe, making it one of the most sought-after achievement awards for health and safety worldwide.

“RoSPA is very proud of the achievements of its entrants, and with this award we recognise the best of the best, those organisations that have gone the extra mile, raising the bar for the delivery of safety in the workplace. Employees, wherever they may be should be able to go to work safe in the knowledge that they will return home unharmed and healthy at the end of every day. Our RoSPA Award winners are central to achieving this goal. By entering they are driving up standards and setting new safety benchmarks for organisations across the world. Currently, around seven million people are directly impacted by the RoSPA Awards, but the scheme’s global influence is even wider – with nearly 2,000 organisations from 46 countries represented this year. I would also particularly want to thank our main sponsor NEBOSH, the National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health – for their continued support for the 16th consecutive year.”

For more information about the RoSPA Awards visit www.rospa.com/awards

 

/0 Comments/by

CLEAR SAFETY CREATES NEW CLIENT MANAGER ROLE

Clear Safety, the safety, compliance and risk consultancy,  has appointed Frederick Squire into the newly created role of Client Manager.

 

Frederick joins the business from a commercial operations / logistics background and has a strong track record in client liaison, which is complemented by established expertise in project & process management and the interpretation of data, all of which represent key skills consistent with the position with Clear.

 

Working across Clear’s portfolio spanning businesses operating predominantly in the housing association and education sectors, Frederick will be responsible for providing the conduit between Clear’s extensive team of technical experts and key contacts client side.

 

Commenting on his appointment Frederick says, “I’m delighted to be joining Clear at such an exciting point in their growth and development. My previous roles have enabled me to hone my skills as an effective manager responsible for regularly reviewing processes to identify the most efficient and cost-effective route to achieve optimum results. As a former Data & Insight analyst I am proficient in the analysis of data and understanding how this information can be used to improve customer performance. Working with Clear provides the ideal opportunity to transfer these competencies to a new and progressive business environment.”

www.clearsafety.co.uk

/0 Comments/by

The Risk of Watery Reclaimations

,

Buildingspecifier.com’s Joe Bradbury takes a look at the growing issue of coastal erosion around the UK coastline, which is causing untold damages to homes and communities around the country.

Over the next 10 years, it is estimated that around 2,000 UK homes could fall into the sea due to coastal erosion. The wider forecast predicts we will lose over 7,000 properties (some worth over £1bn) will be lost to coastal erosion in England and Wales over the next 100 years.

The county where most homes are expected to be lost from over the next 20 years is Cornwall, with 76 properties considered high risk. Cornwall has also lost the most amount of homes to sea erosion over the last 50 years, with 132 properties collapsing or having to be abandoned due to erosion.

Throughout the course of the next century, six local authorities are expected to lose more than 200 homes each:

  1. Great Yarmouth – 293
  2. Southampton – 280
  3. Cornwall – 273
  4. North Norfolk – 237
  5. East Riding of Yorkshire – 204
  6. and Scarborough – 203

The east coast of Britain, in particular (from Yorkshire down to Essex) is earmarked as particularly soft and vulnerable, due to the composition of the ground and the stronger storms experienced on that side of the country.

Climate change is expected to accelerate the rate of coastal erosion overall.

An estimated 3000 km of UK coastline is eroding at an alarming rate. The UK is considered particularly vulnerable due to the fact that it has around 2300 km of artificially protected coast – the longest in Europe. Annual damages due to coastal erosion are expected to increase by 3-9 times, totalling up to £126 million per year by the 2080’s. Some 28% of the coast in England and Wales experiences erosion at rates higher than 0.1 m/year.

What can be done to help?

The answer to the increasing problem of coastal erosion is anything but simple. There are coastal defence strategies in place up and down the country, protecting 1000’s of UK households from a watery fate. However, coastal defences, such as building a wall of rock to stop waves lapping at a cliff’s base, are expensive and can have unintended consequences, such as hastening erosion elsewhere.

Unfortunately, this often means that for smaller communities in general, it’s often considered not worth the damage to the adjacent sections of the cliff or the damage to the environment that can be caused by building coastal defences.

In Britain, Shoreline Management Plans (introduced in England and Wales in 1993) serve to provide a strategic framework for decision making along the coast, especially with respect to defence, taking account of the natural coastal processes, human and other environmental influences and needs. Today the whole length of the English and Welch coast is covered by such plans; for Scotland only a part of the coast is covered by these plans. In Wales, the extent of enhanced erosion due to climate change affecting sea levels and waves is uncertain and the current view is not to build higher defences, but to utilize risk management approaches and work with nature wherever possible.

 

The approach to coastal protection in the United Kingdom focuses now on ‘sedimentary cells’ to reflect the adaptation needs of a regionally-varying coastline in terms of landscape, sedimentology and coastal dynamics. There are four Strategic Coastal Defence Options:

  • do nothing
  • maintain the existing protection line (while possibly adjusting the protection standard)
  • advance the existing protection line
  • retreat the existing protection line (subsequently referred to as ‘managed realignment’)

The intention is that the Shoreline Management Plans provide a ‘route map’ for local authorities and other decision makers to identify the most sustainable approaches to managing risks to the coast in the short term (0 – 20 years), medium term (20 – 50 years) and long term (50 – 100 years), recognising that changes to the present protection structures may need to be carried out as a staged process.

Methods of defence

There are multiple methods for physical management of the coast to help prevent or slow erosion.

Hard engineering are often considered to be expensive, short-term options. They also have the potential to highly impact on the landscape or environment and can be considered unsustainable.

Building a sea wall

Pros: Protects the base of cliffs, land and buildings against erosion. Can prevent coastal flooding in some areas.

Cons: Expensive to build. Curved sea walls reflect the energy of the waves back to the sea. This means that the waves remain powerful. Over time the wall may begin to erode. The cost of maintenance is high.

Building groynes (a wooden barrier built at right angles to the beach)

Pros: Prevents the movement of beach material along the coast by longshore drift. Allows the build-up of a beach. Beaches are a natural defence against erosion and an attraction for tourists.

Cons: Can be seen as unattractive. Costly to build and maintain.

Rock armour or boulder barriers

Pros: Absorb the energy of waves. Allows the build-up of a beach.

Cons: Can be expensive to obtain and transport the boulders.

Sustainable alternatives

Soft engineering options are often less expensive than hard engineering options. They are also considered more long-term and sustainable, with less of a negative impact on the environment.

 

There are two main types of soft engineering:

Beach nourishment

As well as being attractive to tourists, beaches are our best natural defence against erosion and coastal flooding. Beach nourishment involves replacing beach or cliff material that has been removed by erosion or longshore drift.

It’s relatively inexpensive, but requires constant maintenance to replace the beach material that is being constantly washed away.

Managed retreat

Managed retreat means that certain areas of the coast are allowed to erode and flood naturally. Usually this will be areas considered to be of low value – i.e. places not being used for housing or farmland.

The advantages are that it encourages the development of beaches (a natural defence) and salt marshes (important for the environment) and cost is low.

Managed retreat is a cheap option, but people will need to be compensated for loss of buildings and farmland.

Progress has been made

Back in March, the Environment Agency’s announced that it had reached its target of better protecting 300,000 homes from flooding and coastal erosion since 2015.

The story was picked up in The Yorkshire Post, in East Anglian Daily Times and Ipswich Star, and highlighted that the £2.6 billion investment in 700 projects had better protected nearly 600,000 acres of agricultural land and thousands of businesses and saved the economy more than £28 billion in avoided damages.

The milestone was reached with the completion of the Hull: Humber Frontages scheme, a £42 million project which will better protect the city of Hull from the devastation of tidal surges which caused flooding to hundreds of properties in 2013.

Emma Howard Boyd, Chair of the Environment Agency, said “The success of this programme is measured in numbers 700 projects, 300,000 homes, nearly 600,000 acres of agricultural land, thousands of businesses and major pieces of infrastructure, on time and within budget. But the sense of security these protections bring to people, and the benefits to nature, can’t easily be demonstrated on a spreadsheet.”

George Eustice, Environment Secretary, added “This important milestone means that 300,000 households are better protected against flooding and coastal erosion. I commend the hard work of the Environment Agency and its partners in supporting flood-hit communities.

“We know there is more to do, which is why a record £5.2 billion is being invested in 2,000 new flood and coastal erosion schemes over the next six years, to protect thousands more people, homes and businesses.”

 

Work is already under way on the delivery of some of the 2,000 new flood and coastal defences that will better protect a further 336,000 properties from flooding and coastal erosion by 2027, which will also see the implementation of the Environment Agency’s Flood and Coastal Risk Management Strategy.

In summary

Perhaps the biggest threat to coastal villages, towns and cities over the next 100 years is the rising sea levels due to climate change. Popular holiday destinations and vital roads in the UK could be wiped out by floods due to climate change, with many coastal and low-lying areas that could be completely submerged in water in thirty years’ time if action is not taken.

Parts of North Wales and eastern England are already predicted to be underwater by 2050 due to rising sea levels and in the south, coastal areas and river valleys would be badly affected with the M4 motorway submerged close to the Severn Bridge.

Coastal defence strategies tackle the symptoms, not the cause. In order to slow the rate that the sea level is rising we must lower our carbon footprint, protect our wetlands and allow enough natural space for rain water to soak in, rather than run off and contribute to the ocean.

Over the next 100 years we will be forced to take greater responsibility for our environment, if not for its protection then for our own!

/0 Comments/by

Kentec Appoints new BD Manager to support Ekho Wireless Fire Detection Sales

Kentec Electronics, a leading manufacturer of life-critical control systems, has employed Johnny Martin to develop new business for Kentec’s new Ekho wireless fire detection systems.

In this newly created role Johnny will educate and support Kentec Installation Partner (KIP) customers about Kentec’s newly added stable of wireless fire alarm systems. Sammy Steel, newly appointed Head of UK Sales, Kentec Electronics says Johnny’s 25-year career in the fire industry with the last 15 years specialising in wireless makes him the perfect fit for this job:

“I am so very pleased to have Johnny join our team of experienced fire business development managers.” She says. “Johnny brings with him a wealth of knowledge from the detector, and in particular wireless systems side, which compliments the team very well.”

Johnny says he cannot wait to get back out on the road and hopefully it will not be too long: “I am very excited to be at Kentec, a company I have admired for a long time and particularly happy to be able to work with such an incredible product like Ekho, which in my opinion, with its self-healing mesh technology and incredible battery life is the best wireless system on the market today.” Johnny further adds: “I am very happy to come and see anyone who is looking at wireless fire detection and give them a demonstration on Ekho.”

Ekho is a range of wireless devices, which is backed by approvals from both LPCB and RED (Radio Equipment Directive), that work with both Kentec’s award winning Taktis fire detection and world-renowned Syncro AS fire detection panel.

 

For more on Ekho see www.kentec.co.uk

/0 Comments/by

US: Red Flags on Insurance for Green Building Products

While “greener” buildings are important to reducing global carbon emissions, the buildings offer much more than that. Green buildings bring people together in natural common areas, foster positive impacts of plant life and natural light, deliver healthier environments and help minimize each building’s carbon footprint.

These features are important considering that buildings account for almost 40% of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions, according to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI), a nonprofit promoting energy efficiency, renewable energy, and other sustainable solutions.

From small townhouses to downtown skyscrapers, U.S. buildings use on average about 40% the country’s total energy consumption. It is estimated that the manufacture, transport, and assembly of building materials such as wood, concrete, and steel account for another 8% of energy use and about 30% of the electricity buildings use is derived from coal-burning power plants.

The building sector could play a dramatic role in stabilizing atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide, and the next generation of buildings could provide numerous benefits such as improved affordability, health, safety, and resale value. The EESI says government policies can help encourage or require buildings to be energy efficient and use renewable energy.

The insurance industry also plays a role, of course. It faces challenges in assessing the risks of new and often untested building materials and methods, as well as in backing the efficiency and sustainability promises green materials makers and contractors may make to buyers.

Many U.S. home buyers and businesses already understand the value of going green.

“There are a wide range of green features that buyers feel are desirable,” noted Paul Emrath, Ph.D., vice president of surveys and housing policy research at the National Association of Home Builders. “Energy efficiency, though, tops the list of what they most want.”

The majority of home buyers prefer green options such as passive solar design (60%) and durable materials (66%) into their homes. Buyers are also willing to invest in features that help lower their utility bills, with the average buyer willing to pay as much as $9,292 more upfront for a home to save $1,000 annually on utility costs, according to the NAHB.

On the commercial side, more building projects are incorporating renewable energy in design. Architects are looking for ways to either use or create solar, wind, or hydropower, as well as ways to tighten up building energy efficiency overall.

Applied Underwriters

Insurance firm Applied Underwriters is one such commercial party. The carrier is currently building a 260,000 sq. ft. headquarters in the Heartwood Preserve, a large urban development in Omaha, Nebraska. Heartwood Preserve includes the Greenway system preserve that will permanently secure 80 acres of open space, eight miles of trails, thousands of trees and 13 iconic water basins that will feature important works of land art while also mitigating flood-risk, according to Bart Emanuel, national director of Development and Construction at Applied Underwriters.

Justin Smith, chief underwriting officer at Applied Underwriters, told Insurance Journal that while his company decided not to pursue the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED certification process, the new building is designed to include many innovative “green” technologies aimed at reducing energy consumption and providing employees with a nicer place to work.

For example, the new Applied building will have windows equipped with a high-tech coating that darkens them, increasing the windows’ reflective index when the sun is out lessening the need for air conditioning. The product, View G4 Smart Glass, uses electrochromic technology to intelligently adjust tint in response to the sun to increase or decrease access to daylight.

Smart glass products are becoming a significant sustainability trend throughout the commercial construction sector. Some estimates show that buildings using smart glass windows are able to save up to 30% on energy costs.

While energy use reduction is an important feature for green properties, a post-pandemic world could drive a new focus for the green construction sector, according to Michael Heffernan, executive vice president at insurance broker Alliant, an experienced construction and real estate development expert. Research suggests that after the pandemic, developers will be focusing on building resilience.

“This concept of build resilience is really where you’re making decisions around effective resources and the investment choices for individual business units, or products and service lines, that are correlated to green technology or green building,” Heffernan said. “Developers are all running conceptualized scenarios that have some sort of COVID-pandemic modeling built into it for the next crisis.”

He said developers are looking for buildings that are able to perform better than what was experienced during the last 18 months. “Sustainable design spaces are becoming less and less of a novelty and more of an absolute necessity so that building structures are future-proof; that now means that these are pandemic-proof as well,” Heffernan said.

According to the broker, this might mean buildings with components that address air quality control, or that modify a building’s elevator capacity or synchronization. Other considerations might include how to congregate people in emergency situations within a building, or how to configure ingress-egress paths to maximize and create the most efficiencies.

“Everything is being geared around how human beings will be safe or safer when they’re inside buildings when there’s something like a global pandemic situation like we just encountered,” he said.

Not Keeping Pace

While green insurance coverages are not new to the property/casualty insurance market, Heffernan worries that some in the insurance industry have not kept up with the tech innovations and risk exposures generated by green technologies.

“I think that the green building insurance enhancements that are available in the marketplace came out sort of hot and heavy when LEED certification was the new thing, maybe 10-15 years ago,” he said. “The insurance industry recognized that this was an opportunity, so they created endorsements to address that particular segment of a newer evolving risk.”

In Heffernan’s view, new insurance products are needed to keep up with the rapid innovation trends on green technologies. “I think it’s fair to say that the insurance industry has not kept pace with the risks that are presenting themselves on the daily,” he said, adding, that there is a lot of room to “innovate and to customize coverages that are specific to a segment.”

New insurance products are worth investing in because the green industry will only continue to grow, he added. The global green buildings market is anticipated to grow at a healthy 14.3% compound annual growth rate from 2020 to 2027 and North America will remain the driving force of this trend, according to a May 2021 report by Market Research Future.

“It’s here to stay and the insurance industry is going to have to catch up,” he added.

That is not to say there aren’t insurance markets doing green construction well today.

“There’s probably seven or eight key markets that I think are probably ahead of the curve with innovative products and solutions around green building,” he said. He named Allianz, Travelers, Liberty Mutual, Chubb, Zurich, Starr and QBE as key players in the green building space.

“The innovation is always way ahead of us and so the issue from an insurance standpoint is that most underwriters will say, ‘Wait a minute, this is unproven technology.’ Insurance markets do not like products that have not been tested,” he said.

Red Flags

A new technology is often a red flag for an underwriter and a challenge to insure.

“There’s so many new products coming into the market that are green technologies, or smart technologies; it’s really difficult to keep up and understand what the risks are,” he said.

Examples include products that promise to meet certain energy efficiency levels. “If a green building is built with certain technologies that tout energy efficiencies or even energy output but doesn’t end up performing as guaranteed by the builder, monetary damages could be imposed,” he said. “There are things like liquidated penalties, monetary damages, that could be imposed upon a contractor for agreeing in a contract to build a building at a certain [LEED] certification level at a guaranteed price.” But then during the building process, that cost increases beyond the budget or beyond predicted costs.

“Performance guarantees associated with what we call liquidated damages, where in a contract, your consultants and/or builder may tell you as an owner that if you build a Platinum certified LEED building, the consultant and/or builder will guarantee that the building will perform at such a level,” he said.

Then five years later, the owner finds out the building doesn’t provide the outputs that it was pledged to provide. “Well, then the owner may turn around and say, ‘I made an investment to get the Platinum. You told me I was going to save X amount of dollars on power output. It hasn’t proven to be that and now I’m filing a claim for the difference between say a Silver and Platinum certification level, which is $10 million.”

There are plenty of concerns like these that could become insurability issues, he said.

He cites another recent example: the collapse of the construction firm Katerra Inc., which filed for bankruptcy protection last month. Large investments from SoftBank Group Corp. and others helped Katerra grow fast but that growth proved difficult for the company as it faced building delays and issues in trying to perfect its modules, which include prefab parts and modular construction units.

“Katerra is a perfect example of this discussion around technology, insurance and insurability, and sustainability,” Heffernan said. “Katerra, on the front end, had a great idea. They basically tried to integrate their experiences in technology into how they would bring a home to market. A lot of it had to do with prefabrication and using different materials, like cross laminated timber instead of wood, and other things that were very innovative.”

However, that innovation wasn’t yet proven, Heffernan said. “I think they realized pretty quickly that people build homes and structures in a certain way, for a certain reason. And while their concepts may have sounded great on paper, they didn’t play out in real application anywhere near what they were modeling or predicting.”

“It’s an example of overstretching,” Todd Germano, managing director of North America of Optio, the group company that includes Cove Programs, Ascent and Bay Risk, told Insurance Journal in June. “That expansion was problematic for them, and now they have to go through a reorganization.”

Astute underwriters want empirical data to evaluate new, innovative green technologies, Heffernan said. “They want to know that all the things that the technology or product is promising will actually happen.”

For companies like Applied Underwriters, pursuing construction with energy efficient technologies and a greener environment for its employees is more about corporate responsibility than certification. “I think the key point for us is that it’s about the reality of greenness and not checking a box” for LEED certification points. Smith said that Applied looked in-depth at pursuing the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED certification process but made a corporate decision against it.

“Ultimately as an insurance person, there’s so much good stuff that the U.S. Green Building Council is doing,” he said. But they are missing some important things, he added. “They’re focusing on energy costs essentially, and the water cost of a building in the normal course of operation and that’s very important. But if you come from an insurance background, you don’t think about the normal course of operation. You think about all the things that could go wrong.”

An insurer might worry about what happens if the building burns down or gets swamped by a hurricane. “You’re effectively going to have to rebuild the whole thing and that’s unfortunate,” he said., arguing that the LEED process overlooks some key issues. Such as the building’s location. “To me, choosing an appropriate location with respect to catastrophe peril, that should be part of the LEED certification process because it’s just lunacy to see a LEED certified buildings going up in a flood plain, or in other places where it’s not sufficiently fire protected and it’s in a wildfire zone,” he said. “I think if those kinds of considerations accounted for say 20-25% of LEED certification, I would be happy.”

 

Source: Insurance Journal

 

 

/0 Comments/by

HVO – Eliminating 90% of CO2 Emissions

Partnership with Crown Oil sees Kao Data become UK’s first data centre operator to fuel all their back-up generators with HVO (hydrotreated vegetable oil) fuel in place of traditional diesel

As a clean, renewable diesel alternative, HVO fuel eliminates up to 90% of net CO2, therefore significantly reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions

Pioneering approach demonstrates the potential for data centre operators globally to further reduce their CO2 emissions in the pursuit of Net Zero operations

Kao Data, the specialist developer and operator of advanced, carrier neutral data centres for high performance colocation, has today announced it has taken a further step towards its Net Zero ambitions by becoming the UK’s first data centre to transition all backup generators at its Harlow campus to HVO (hydrotreated vegetable oil) fuel. This pioneering move, made possible by partnering with Crown Oil, means Kao Data will eliminate up to 90% of net CO2 from their backup generators and significantly reduce nitrogen oxide, particulate matter and carbon monoxide emissions.

Learn more about Kao Data’s Net Zero journey the video below.

Today Kao Data delivers one of the UK’s most sustainable colocation data centre campuses. Its existing initiatives include using 100% renewable energy, utilising 100% refrigerant-free indirect evaporative cooling technologies, and incorporating hyperscale inspired design to deliver a market-leading PUE of <1.2, even at partial loads. In line with its commitments as a signatory of the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact (CNDCP), the use of Crown Oil HVO fuel marks another significant step in the company’s plans to become a fully carbon neutral data centre operator by 2030.

HVO is one of the cleanest fuels on the market, and is a second-generation, advanced renewable diesel alternative. Synthesised from vegetable oils using a specialist hydro treatment process, HVO has been designed to combat the performance inadequacies of earlier biofuels. It offers improved burning efficiency, delivering the same level of resilience as traditional fossil fuels. Kao Data will replace an initial 45,000 litres of diesel and switch to an HVO provision of more than 750,000 litres when the campus is fully developed. Using HVO also offers a number of additional benefits in respect of infrastructure reliability. It eliminates microbial growth, which generates sludge that can contaminate fuel lines and potentially lead to engine shut down.

Furthermore, HVO requires no modification to existing infrastructure and can be used as a direct replacement for diesel. It has a storage life that is ten times that of standard diesel and offers resilient year-round performance in both low and high temperatures. It is also easier to maintain, free from aromatics, sulphur and metals, odourless and completely biodegradable.

“HVO fuel is dramatically better for the environment compared to traditional, mineral diesels. It is 100% renewable, biodegradable, sustainable and non-toxic,” said Simon Lawford, Technical Sales Manager, Crown Oil. “We’re proud to have worked with Kao Data to initiate a first-of-its kind project, which will be transformative for the data centre industry, and help point the way forward for significant reductions in industrial greenhouse gas emissions.”

“This pioneering approach to replace our generator’s diesel provision with HVO fuel, is a key step in the company’s efforts to become Net Zero, and a further demonstration of our leadership in the international data centre sustainability field,” said Gérard Thibault, Chief Technology Officer at Kao Data. “This move effectively eliminates fossil fuels from our data centre operations, and helps us reduce Scope 3 emissions in our customers’ supply chain, while delivering no degradation to the service they receive. Most importantly, it shows how our industry can take a simple and highly beneficial step forward for the good of the environment, ahead of COP26.”

 

 

/0 Comments/by