The Hydrogen Strategy – Government announcement

Tens of thousands of jobs, billions of pounds in investment and new export opportunities will be unlocked through government plans to create a thriving low carbon hydrogen sector in the UK over the next decade and beyond, the Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has set out today (17 August).

The UK’s first-ever Hydrogen Strategy drives forward the commitments laid out in the Prime Minister’s ambitious 10 Point Plan for a green industrial revolution by setting the foundation for how the UK government will work with industry to meet its ambition for 5GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030 – the equivalent of replacing natural gas in powering around 3 million UK homes each year as well as powering transport and businesses, particularly heavy industry.

A booming, UK-wide hydrogen economy could be worth £900 million and create over 9,000 high-quality jobs by 2030, potentially rising to 100,000 jobs and worth up to £13 billion by 2050. By 2030, hydrogen could play an important role in decarbonising polluting, energy-intensive industries like chemicals, oil refineries, power and heavy transport like shipping, HGV lorries and trains, by helping these sectors move away from fossil fuels. Low-carbon hydrogen provides opportunities for UK companies and workers across our industrial heartlands.

With government analysis suggesting that 20-35% of the UK’s energy consumption by 2050 could be hydrogen-based, this new energy source could be critical to meet our targets of net zero emissions by 2050 and cutting emissions by 78% by 2035 – a view shared by the UK’s independent Climate Change Committee. In the UK, a low-carbon hydrogen economy could deliver emissions savings equivalent to the carbon captured by 700 million trees by 2032 and is a key pillar of capitalising on cleaner energy sources as the UK moves away from fossil fuels.

Business & Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said:

Today marks the start of the UK’s hydrogen revolution. This home-grown clean energy source has the potential to transform the way we power our lives and will be essential to tackling climate change and reaching Net Zero.

With the potential to provide a third of the UK’s energy in the future, our strategy positions the UK as first in the global race to ramp up hydrogen technology and seize the thousands of jobs and private investment that come with it.

Energy & Climate Change Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan said:

Today’s Hydrogen Strategy sends a strong signal globally that we are committed to building a thriving low carbon hydrogen economy that could deliver hundreds of thousands of high-quality green jobs, helps millions of homes transition to green energy, support our key industrial heartlands to move away from fossil fuels and bring in significant investment.

The government’s approach is based on the UK’s previous success with offshore wind, where early government action coupled with strong private sector backing has earned the UK a world leading status. One of the main tools used by government to support the establishment of offshore wind in the UK was the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme, which incentivises investment in renewable energy by providing developers with direct protection from volatile wholesale prices and protects consumers from paying increased support costs when electricity prices are high.

As such, the government has today launched a public consultation on a preferred hydrogen business model which, built on a similar premise to the offshore wind CfDs, is designed to overcome the cost gap between low carbon hydrogen and fossil fuels, helping the costs of low-carbon alternatives to fall quickly, as hydrogen comes to play an increasing role in our lives. Alongside this, the government is consulting on the design of the £240 million Net Zero Hydrogen Fund, which aims to support the commercial deployment of new low carbon hydrogen production plants across the UK.

Other measures included in the UK’s first-ever Hydrogen Strategy include:

  • outlining a ‘twin track’ approach to supporting multiple technologies including ‘green’ electrolytic and ‘blue’ carbon capture-enabled hydrogen production, and committing to providing further detail in 2022 on the government’s production strategy
  • collaborating with industry to develop a UK standard for low carbon hydrogen giving certainty to producers and users that the hydrogen the UK produces is consistent with net zero while supporting the deployment of hydrogen across the country
  • undertaking a review to support the development of the necessary network and storage infrastructure to underpin a thriving hydrogen sector
  • working with industry to assess the safety, technical feasibility, and cost effectiveness of mixing 20% hydrogen into the existing gas supply. Doing so could deliver a 7% emissions reduction on natural gas
  • launching a hydrogen sector development action plan in early 2022 setting out how the government will support companies to secure supply chain opportunities, skills and jobs in hydrogen

Prioritising and supporting polluting industries to significantly slash their emissions, the government also announced today a £105 million funding package through its Net Zero Innovation Portfolio that will act as a first step to build up Britain’s low carbon hydrogen economy. The investment will help industries to develop low carbon alternatives for industrial fuels, including hydrogen, which will be key to meeting climate commitments. This includes:

  • £55 million Industrial Fuel Switching Competition. Funding will support the development and trials of solutions to switch industry from high to low carbon fuels such as natural gas to clean hydrogen, helping industry reach net zero by 2050
  • £40 million Red Diesel Replacement Competition. Providing grant funding for the development and demonstration of low carbon alternatives to diesel for the construction, quarrying and mining sectors, with the aim of decarbonising these industries reliant on red diesel, a fuel used mainly for off-road purposes such as in bulldozers. With red diesel responsible for the production of nearly 14 million tonnes of carbon each year, the investment supports the UK government’s budget announcement removing the entitlement to use red diesel and rebated biodiesel
  • £10 million Industrial Energy Efficiency Accelerator (IEEA). Offering funding to clean technology developers to work with industrial sites to install, test and prove solutions for reducing UK industry’s energy and resource consumption

This comes as the Transport Secretary unveils the winners of a £2.5 million R&D competition for hydrogen transport pilots in the Tees Valley area, which will lead to supermarkets, emergency services and delivery companies trialling hydrogen-powered transport to move goods and carry out local services.

Hydrogen can be made as safe as natural gas. As the hydrogen economy develops, all necessary assessments will be carried out and measures put in place to ensure that hydrogen is stored, distributed and used in a safe way.

The UK government is already working with the Health and Safety Executive and energy regulator Ofgem to support industry to conduct first-of-a-kind hydrogen heating trials. These trials along with the results of a wider research and development testing programme will inform a UK government decision in 2026 on the role of hydrogen in decarbonising heat. If a positive case is established, by 2035 hydrogen could be playing a significant role in heating people’s homes and businesses, powering cars, cookers, boilers and more – helping to slash carbon emissions from the UK’s heating system and tackle climate change.

The Hydrogen Strategy is one of a series of strategies the UK government is publishing ahead of the UN Climate Summit COP26 taking place in Glasgow this November. The UK government has already published its Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy, Transport Decarbonisation Strategy and North Sea Transition Deal, while its Heat and Buildings and Net Zero Strategies will be published this year.

 

INDUSTRY COMMENT

Comments attributed to Mike Foster, CEO of the Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA):

“The UK’s Hydrogen Strategy represents a huge step in the right direction for the introduction of the technology, something the heating industry is rallying behind in the decarbonisation process. The Government’s commitment to hydrogen is a promising step, which will help to create thousands of jobs and decarbonise homes for millions of consumers with minimal disruption.

“We are enthused to see the Government also recognise the role a hydrogen blend into the grid will play in reducing carbon emissions without homeowners needing to change appliances or boilers. It is of great importance that the transition to hydrogen does not cause disruption or large costs to consumers. The blend is a way to significantly reduce emissions with no change, which will in turn leave time for the groundwork to be laid for a seamless switch to 100% hydrogen later on.

“We also welcome Business & Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng’s recognition of hydrogen’s potential for decarbonising heat in homes and commercial buildings across the country.

“Giving consumers choice when it comes to low carbon heating is vital to ensuring all buildings can be suitably decarbonised to hit targets set out by government. Research conducted in our recent report Too Close To Home revealed 72% of homeowners supported efforts of UK manufacturers to develop low carbon gas boilers, such as hydrogen boilers. The establishment of a Hydrogen Strategy will be to ensure this consumer sentiment is met, and disruption is limited in the renewable transition.

“The creation of jobs is a welcome aspect of the strategy but will also play a part in the preservation of jobs for the over 120,000 gas engineers working across the UK. Likely requiring only one extra module to be taken on the compulsory Gas Safe engineering qualification, the installation and servicing of hydrogen-ready boilers is set to be very similar to their traditional counterparts. Given heating installers will play an integral role in preparing for the transition should the decision be made in 2026, it is vital that their jobs are protected as part of renewable development.

“We in the heating industry are committed to do all that we can to work with the Government ahead of its decision in 2026 on the role of hydrogen in decarbonising heat. A number of EUA members have been at the forefront of developing hydrogen heating technologies to ease the transition for homeowners and ensure cost to them is no more than with natural gas equivalents. With the establishment of this strategy, UK consumers and businesses have more choice across low-carbon energy mix, an integral part of ensuring no one is left being in the renewable transition.”

For more information about the EUA, visit: https://eua.org.uk/

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Why product manufacturers need to be the driving force behind specification reform

Over four years on from Grenfell and 11 years from Lakanal House, Hannah Mansell, Masonite UK Technical Director (including Premdor Crosby and Door-Stop International), reflects on the current fire safety landscape and the critical role that fire safety product manufacturers must play in building safety now.

 

At both Lakanal House and Grenfell Tower, there wasn’t just one failure that we can point to and say, ‘if we change this part, the system is fixed.’ It is much wider than that. We have to re-evaluate every stage of the building and refurbishment process, from specification and installation, right through to resident engagement and ongoing maintenance. We need to embed better practices across the whole fire safety and construction industries to ensure that everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet on transparency and traceability.

 

Unrestricted access to the testing process

Some construction product manufacturers have hidden their specifications behind closed doors, making it difficult for stakeholders to scrutinise and verify the information.

Phase Two of the Grenfell Inquiry has investigated how manufacturers have positioned product information and test evidence, and how that could lead to a lack of clarity on what can, or cannot, be used. One of the product manufacturers giving evidence admitted that the testing information associated with the product “wasn’t sufficiently precise or clear*”.

When Masonite test our doorsets, we manufacture the doorset under the witness of an independent third-party observer, by a process known as ‘sampling’. They verify each component, the production process, and that the doorset that is furnace tested is not a ‘lab queen’ (a doorset that’s been engineered to pass the fire test and is therefore not reflective of standard production or specification).

The independent witnesser permanently marks the doorset with traceability marks. These are then verified by the test house and on the sampling report included in the test report. We do this to prove that the product that was tested, was the same one that was witnessed and sampled, directly from our production line in our factory.

 

Effective implementation of the Golden Thread

Manufacturers are in an ideal position to set the standard for the information included within the digital Golden Thread as they should know everything about their product’s journey, from raw materials through to manufacturing, testing, production, and sale.

Door-Stop use a bespoke digital ‘Critical to Safety’ framework that records the multiple checks carried out on the components and manufacturing processes of each doorset. Our doorsets are shipped with copies of the full certificate, data sheet and installation instructions, which list the original primary test evidence reports of our product. The label traceability affixed to each doorset means that stakeholders can not only see who the manufacturer was, but also trace their way back to the certificate, and access detail of compatible components and specification limitations. This is a vital link to help stakeholders manage, inspect and maintain the product throughout its lifetime.

 

Adopting third party certification

Dual certification is relatively new and is not mandatory. Some people step onto the market with just a single test report, but we prefer a more robust approach.

We’ve chosen to test and certificate our doorsets for both fire and security: neither performance characteristics should be considered above the other. The documentation that supports dual certification clearly shows the stakeholder that the product specification is identical and has been independently verified.

Door-Stop has conducted in-depth research and development testing programs to create the robust primary test evidence base that is used in our certification. We’ve run multiple tests to help us to understand not only what makes a doorset pass, but also the factors that will make a doorset fail.

Fire doorsets are complete systems, so it’s important to understand the interplay and impact that every component – even something as tiny as a screw or fixing – has on the system as a whole.

The way that we have approached our testing and certification is designed to help enable decision makers to make judgements regarding selection and use of our product in their specific build situations.

 

Making change now

We’ve got some clarity over the previously ambiguous areas of The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 in the Fire Safety Act 2021 – with further amendments and additions proposed in the Building Safety Bill – but there is still plenty of time before legislation will dictate what is to be done in a prescriptive manner. Don’t wait. The fire safety and construction industries must step up now and be the early adopters of best practice.

 

*Source: Grenfell Tower Inquiry, February 17 2021.

 

www.masonite.co.uk/firedoorsets

Tel: 01623 446336

 

 

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CREATING A FLUSH FINISH WITH KAWNEER’S ENHANCED CURTAIN WALL SYSTEM

With ever-increasing market demands for more robust and flexible façade systems, Kawneer, the leading manufacturer of architectural aluminium glazing systems has launched a new version of its successful AA®100 and AA®110 curtain wall products. In addition to a +/- 5mm building expansion joint for its SSG curtain wall variant and a higher weight capacity for its capped option, one of the key enhancements is a concealed vent option within the product to help produce a beautiful, finished aesthetic to a building’s façade.

Designed specifically for the AA®100 and AA®110 systems in either capped or SSG variants, the concealed vent option utilises a structurally bonded glazed unit and slim aluminium profiles, allowing Kawneer curtain wall systems to be installed with no visible external framing.

This provides designers, specifiers and architects with the flexibility and freedom to create a flush finish to the external facade, while satisfying ventilation requirements for optimised comfort.

Contemporary building façade design also requires larger glass panes, with unobstructed views and increased natural light. The new enhancements result in the AA®110 being able to accommodate glazing up to a 50mm depth in the capped system and withstand a maximum weight capacity of 180kg. Available as a top hung vent or a parallel opening window, both types can be manually operated or motorised, using neatly concealed chain drives and integrated locking drives to achieve a seamless internal finish.

The AA®110 concealed vent has undergone full CWCT Sequence B testing as part of a larger curtain wall assembly, with proven weather performance. Furthermore, the window has been RC2 security tested to EN 1627, which is the same classification as the existing AA®100 and AA®110 curtain wall systems.

As with the AA®100 system, the AA®110 offers a range of construction methods, including zone-drainage and mullion-drainage. Also, advanced thermal break technologies provide superior thermal performance that meet and exceed building regulations.

Kawneer’s Technical Director, Gary Ledger commented: “Together with our new +/- 5mm SSG expansion joint and increased weight capacity, the concealed vent option subsequently gives architects ultimate design freedom with our enhanced AA®110 curtain wall product by combining exceptional product performance with visual aesthetics and occupancy comfort.”

www.kawneer.co.uk

 

 

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From care worker to first female construction specialist

Three years after Lincolnshire care worker Jess Wells walked into a construction careers event, she’s now the first woman to have achieved a highly specialised construction qualification.

Jess, 29, was a care worker in 2018 when she attended an event aimed at encouraging young people into the industry as part of Lincolnshire Construction Week, supported by CITB and local businesses and trade associations.

After witnessing a talk at the event given by Lincoln-based surface preparation specialists The Preparation Group, Jess approached the company afterwards and was later taken on.

Jess said: “I enjoy journeying around the country with the people I work with, there is never a dull moment. I am onsite with guys using high tech machinery.

“My goal is to be a site manager to mentor and train more females. It doesn’t matter if you are male or female you need to love what you do to deliver results.”

However, Jess has run up against issues faced by women working in a sector dominated by men, such as a lack of suitable personal protective equipment (PPE) and work clothing, and even a recent site not having women’s welfare facilities or female toilets.

Jess’s NVQ was assessed by the Resin Flooring Association (FeRFA), the not-for-profit trade body representing manufacturers, contractors and companies in industrial and commercial resin flooring, screeding and surface preparation.

FeRFA confirmed that Jess was the first woman to achieve NVQ Level 2 Specialist Concrete Occupations (Construction) – Substrate Preparation and Profiling, handling the equipment with ease and expertise, demonstrating ability and determination.

Jess said: “I thought working on site might be intimidating, but if you are interested in learning, people will show you how to do things right, help and support you. Go for it, it is entirely down to you.”

For further information please email: marketing@ppcgroup.co.uk or call 01522 561460,

Visit our website https://www.ppcgroup.co.uk/

 

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The Final Meltdown

Buewater says planet put on red alert by landmark climate report

 

Stockholm, Sweden, August 9, 2021 – News that the planet is facing climate changes unprecedented in tens of thousands of years with some deemed irreversible over hundreds of years was described as scary and shocking by the international Swedish water company Bluewater. The Stockholm-based company has put sustainability and ending the need for single-use plastic bottles at the heart of its business mission to provide people with access to clean water at home, at work and in public spaces by harnessing advanced water purification and distribution systems that do not involve transporting bottles of water over vast distances.

“The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report finds that unless there are immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, limiting warming to close to 1.5°C or even 2°C will be beyond reach, which is shocking, scary and a huge wake-up call,” said Bluewater spokesperson Dave Noble, head of communications.

He noted the report stresses the threat is not just about temperature. Climate change is bringing multiple different changes in different regions including to wetness and dryness, to winds, snow and ice, coastal areas and oceans – which will all increase with further warming.

“The IPCC report firmly put world governments on red alert,” said Noble. He added that IPCC Working Group Co-Chair Valérie Masson-Delmotte has described the report as a reality check that provides a much clearer picture of the past, present and future climate.

The IPCC report warns that every region on the planet faces increasing climate changes.The report projects that in the coming decades climate changes will increase in all regions. For 1.5°C of global warming, there will be increasing heat waves, longer warm seasons and shorter cold seasons. At 2°C of global warming, heat extremes would more often reach critical tolerance thresholds for agriculture and health.

“The planet is fast running out of time. We all need to become change-makers to the best of our ability to find solutions to the climate emergency facing our planet if we are to leave a better future for coming generations,” he concluded.

Bluewater

 

 

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FLOODING:Benefits outweigh prevention costs

Does London have to learn to live with flooding?

By Tim Clark

London and other parts of the UK may have to learn to live with the impact of flash floods from increasingly torrential storms, flood experts have warned.

Speaking to NCE, Aecom lead on flood modelling and mapping Ruth Goodall said that climate change predictions mean that deluges will almost certainly become more common.

“The amount of rainfall [last month] isn’t perhaps going to be that unusual going forward, and that storm event might be a one in two year storm if the worst of the climate change predictions happen,” she explained. “London is going to have to learn to live with it, because it will happen again.

“In London it is about protecting the important parts of infrastructure that need to get back online quickly and educating people so that they stay safe.

“When you get a lot of surface water flowing across a city it is going to head straight for the underground, and the subsections of the DLR, straight for the underground power conduits and straight into the sewers.

“And it causes all sorts of sorts of issues because you just can’t design an infrastructure system to take that amount of water in that short length of time.”

The risks of surface water flooding are known to London’s authorities. The mayor of London’s risk register lists the likelihood of a major surface water flood as medium, and impact of surface water flooding at level 4, which is equal to an aviation crash, explosion at a fuel depot site, a radiation release overseas or a reservoir collapse. Only a few events, such an influenza-type pandemic are considered to have a higher impact.

Last week London mayor Sadiq Khan called a round table to discuss how to address the issues following the flood events in July.

WSP technical director Enrico Isnenghi said that the floods are almost certainly linked to climate change. “I was in South East London on the day of the flooding and I did not feel a drop of rain,” he says.

Atkins head of water management Simon Leek said: “The challenge we have is that the roads infrastructure we have was designed for a lot of smaller [flood] events. The gullies and channels have get blocked up etc, and they just weren’t there, the curbs etc on rules you know weren’t designed for that amount of water.”

Unlike fluvial or tidal flooding, which can often come with some kind of warning, be that hours or days, surface flooding from storms is almost instantaneous. The sheer volume of water pouring into a single area at one time is also not the type of flooding which can be alleviated by flood works upstream, which is one of the engineering solutions to fluvial flooding being implemented by the Environment Agency in other areas.

City Hall has invested £13M in green infrastructure projects to help London adapt to climate change, including £1.8M in 40 projects specifically addressing surface water flood risk. A further £4M is helping to tackle the climate emergency by reducing the risk of floods through the mayor’s Green and Resilient Spaces Fun

Atkins was commissioned by City Hall to identify opportunities for retrofitting sustainable drainage systems across the entire Greater London area. Called SUDS Studio, the Atkins team mapped out 16 different types and drainage solution and cots for each type, this allowed the most cost-effective option to be identified and correlated with different climate change scenarios.

According to Leek, Atkins identified approximately 65ha of land which could be used for schemes to take surface water, be it retrofitting attenuation storage, implementing rain gardens, or installing more permeable membranes.

“We need to target where we invest the money and we need to find the right amount of money to resolve the issues as floods are happening on a more frequent basis,” said Leek. “The challenge with an area like London is that you have so many impermeable surfaces, and also people are converting cellars now so there is a large amount of people living below ground level. We are looking to help people become more resilient so its a lot of work.

“In a design aspect, with all the recent flood events, coastal river and ground water flooding we may want to look at the design data that we use. We may need to consider only looking at data [such as average rainfall] over the past 10 to 15 years, rather than the data from earlier on.

“The climate is changing so quickly that the more recent data may be more meaningful. Do we change some of the design standard to reflect the changes in rainfall and changes to the climate.”

The issue for the UK and many European countries is whether the cities, many of whom have medieval or even Roman origins, have the right designs to cope with the influx of rain in such a short space of time.

Goodall adds: “Infrastructure like Crossrail should have resilience and will almost certainly be designed with things like extreme weather in mind, but it is the older infrastructure which London has a phenomenally large and valuable amount of; retrofitting 100 year old tube stations is very difficult without compromise.”

Goodall compares the issues London is facing with a project Aecom worked on for the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah, which suffered from infrequent but deadly floods, particularly in 2011 which killed a number of people. She said: “In Jeddah there was massive desert-driven flooding, but money was no object [for flood schemes]. The system which has been built sits dry 99% of the time, but it is worth it because of the 1% of the time when they get a massive deluge. In Asia, where they deal with intense tropical storms they can design bigger pipes to deal with the storm, or in many places they let the roads flood, which is what used to happen in Jeddah.”

London however poses a different problem, she says: “The cost-benefit ratio for London would never stack up, as replacing London’s drainage infrastructure with something of a higher capacity such as a Thames super-sewer for flooding, the economics are just not going to be there compared to managing the existing infrastructure in a way that makes it more flood resilient.”

The cost issue is one which both the mayor of London and other stakeholders will have to manage in their response to any increased risk of surface water flooding. As Isnenghi says, the benefits usually often far outweigh the outright costs for any scheme.

He adds: “The economic benefit for wider society [of flood schemes] clearly outweighs the costs, but while the costs are managed by specific stakeholders the benefits are for the wider community so it is difficult to link the two.”

Despite the issues with finding founding, Isnenghi says that local authorities have the key role to play in acting on the problem. “It’s fine to have local authorities responsible for service management.

“But they need to have the resources in terms of both number of people and also skills to be able to do their role and liaise with other stakeholders including the Environment Agency and water companies, they may struggle as they simply do not have the right resources in place.”

Source: New Civil Engineer

 

 

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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

 

 

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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

 

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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

 

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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

 

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