Archive for category: General News

_{According to leading construction intelligence provider, Glenigan,}

_{public sector work accounts for only a third of ISG’s pipeline}

Glenigan data shows impact of ISG collapse is far worse than initial figures suggest

ISG’s recent collapse has sent shockwaves through the UK construction sector, placing many projects in peril and putting a number of subcontractors in a precarious position.

Whilst some analysts were quick to point out the scale of the problem especially for government projects, with a few days hindsight, it’s clear to see the impact was significantly underestimated, and will be felt across the whole of the construction sector for months to come.

According to leading construction intelligence provider, Glenigan, public sector work accounts for only a third of ISG’s pipeline, while industrial, commercial and private housing projects on ISG’s books total over £2.8 billion.

Overall ISG currently has projects totalling over £2.5 billion on site and has been awarded contracts on a further £1.7 billion of work.

33 awarded contracts, 57 projects in progress on-site and 3 imminent completion, have been left up in the air. This includes:

ISG was also on 19 Construction Frameworks with a combined value of over £104 billion.

This situation presents a major problem for both contractors and subcontractors, many of which will be left seriously out of pocket, putting a large number of jobs on the line.

However, there is a commercial opportunity for agile suppliers to step into the breach, ensuring many of these projects do not fall behind and involved subcontractors are supported.

Commenting on these figures, Economic Director, Allan Wilen, says,

“ISG’s demise is set to dampen overall industry workload in the near term as clients look for contractors to complete projects currently on site and as recently awarded projects are re-tendered. Its subcontractors and suppliers will be under increased financial pressure and contractors’ nationwide will need to review and work with their own supply chains to minimise financial stress and avoid any additional loss of industry capacity.”

Analysis from Glenigan shows that 53,379 new homes were approved between April and June 2024, a 13% drop compared to the same period in 2023.

Rico Wojtulewicz, Head of Policy and Market Insight at the National Federation of Builders (NFB) said:

“The new Labour government’s job has been made considerably harder by Michael Gove’s decision to remove housing targets and water down housing supply ambition.”

Yet this is only half the story. We have seen many small and medium sized housebuilders (SMEs) exit the industry, not just because councils were allocating fewer sites, but due to the Government adding new taxes and ignoring the business impacts of poorly crafted regulations, such as Biodiversity Net Gain.

I have seen SME housebuilders, some older than the Labour party itself – builders who helped solve the post-war housing crisis – call it a day because the risks associated with planning are simply unaffordable and new regulations are removing any profitability. However, this isn’t just about housing supply; it’s also about the future of our workforce. These sized companies train eight in ten construction apprentices and favour directly employed workers and consistent supply chains.

The previous government, despite being warned about the consequences of their actions, have torched the construction industry with their party-political actions and to fix this, the Labour government now needs to get their head around how the industry operates in practice and what the price of big builder reliance really is.

Unless wholesale planning reform is delivered within the next twelve months, the drop in approvals will bite the Government mid-way through their term. Not only do existing permissions need to be built first, but due to pre-commencement conditions to satisfy, legal agreements to agree and infrastructure to first build, it typically takes years to go from approval to spades in the ground.

It is crucial that the Government explores which sized sites are seeing fewer approvals, because large sites of more than 250 can take five to ten years to go from approval to completion.

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) review offers a chance to unpick the broken planning system and NFB will be submitting deliverable recommendations which aim to speed up decisions and supply. These include a ‘medium sized site’ definition of ten to fifty homes, an open ‘call for sites’ for smaller developments, more delegated powers, and reforms to deemed discharge.

Alongside new towns and the New Homes Accelerator, our NPPF recommendations will get us much closer to achieving the 300,000 new homes a year target.”

Source: Politics Home

_{Shweta Salvankar is Senior Building Performance and Sustainability Engineer at Harley Haddow}

We tend to take for granted that the buildings we live and work in are the result of careful, quality investment. However, just as an individual might buy an inexpensive item of clothing to save money, some in the construction industry continue to utilise poor-quality materials which end up costing more.

The building and construction sector accounts for an eye-watering 37% of global operational carbon emissions, with fast fashion getting more stick and contributing less with 10% carbon emissions. Using substandard materials is not only financially disadvantageous in the long run, it’s unsustainable. The consequences of cutting corners by implementing poor materials reverberate in many ways, from the way they are sourced to the transport methods involved and even the fuels used in transportation. Low-quality materials are also more liable to damage, which means they need replacing more quickly – creating a repetitive cycle which is both financially and environmentally destructive.

We need to open up better discussion, within the construction industry and also adjacent industries, and collaborate.

We also need to invest in green skills, embedding a sustainable ethos at all stages –from early planning t through to building completion, and afterwards. Successful case studies should be shared across the industry to prove to sceptics that those who invest in high-quality materials and the accompanying skillset will reap the rewards. It’s crucial that we keep the bigger picture in mind and don’t allow ourselves to develop tunnel vision in terms of the huge impact our industry choices have. At Harley Haddow we are passionate about raising awareness of sustainable practice throughout our various projects and our Pledge to Net Zero.

Retrofitting (making existing structures more sustainable) will also contribute towards a more environmentally friendly industry. Just as choosing second-hand clothing as a more sustainable alternative to fast fashion, improvement work to make existing buildings more energy-efficient will create a positive effect in both societal and environmental terms.

To harness the potential of a sustainable revolution in construction, a collective effort is required. It’s not only up to engineers : many industries have a role to play in making sure that our buildings don’t emulate the example of fast fashion. As the public begins to wake up to the reality of committing to sustainability in the long run, we need to match this with a commitment to change.

Source: The Herald

Leeds Beckett University’s ‘real-world’ research has defined new standards to measure the aggregate heat loss from housing – a crucial lever to meet the challenge of Net Zero.

Two new European Standards have been published – and adopted in 34 countries – following work led by Leeds Beckett’s Professor David Johnston, together with Professor Richard Fitton at the University of Salford, in collaboration with a wide range of experts from across Europe.

The standards cover work carried out in a new and existing real-life homes rather than a lab testing environment; the unique approach which allows the pioneering Leeds Sustainability Institute at Leeds Beckett to consistently define global standards for measuring housing performance.  The standards are based upon a testing method (the Coheating Test) that Professor Johnston and colleagues developed at Leeds Beckett University.

The new European Standards will make sure that the thermal performance of housing can be measured and understood in the same way.

Dr David Johnston, Professor of Building Performance Evaluation within Leeds Sustainability Institute, said:

“These standards are the result of a decade’s work. It’s a long process but the impact will be incredibly important as governments and housebuilders rise to the challenge of the climate emergency and Net Zero targets.

“Leeds Beckett has long set the standards and protocols that the rest of the world follows to assess the aggregate in situ thermal performance of housing.

“It enables the performance of the building fabric to be tested under the pressures of real-life, revealing any gaps between what designers intended and what was actually built.”

Professor David Johnston has also been accepted as a Committee Member of B/540/8 the Mirror committee for ISO/TC 163 – Thermal Performance and Energy use in the Built Environment.

The Leeds Sustainability Institute is a unique multi-disciplinary team which combines an understanding of building science, the way people behave, field work and analysing big data.

The unique team and approach informs sustainable building policy on a local and global scale. The institute has won 10 Government projects worth over £4 million over the last 8 years, relating to energy in buildings.

The strength of Leeds Beckett University’s partnership work has been recognised by the fourth national Knowledge Exchange Framework – with the University placed in the top 20% of universities in three categories.

Work on a groundbreaking project to harness hydropower from waste water has been completed by Scottish Water, supporting its drive to achieve net zero emissions by 2040.

The first of its kind in the UK, the scheme has seen the installation of a hydro turbine at Hamilton Waste Water Treatment Works in South Lanarkshire and is expected to generate 0.42GWh of green electricity each year.

Developed and delivered by Scottish Water’s commercial subsidiary Scottish Water Horizons, the project will offset around 13 per cent of the treatment works’ annual electricity demand. It is the first prefabricated hydro scheme to be installed ‘mid-process’ at a waste water treatment works in the UK, with waste water flowing through a hydro-electric generator within the pipeline of the plant.

The hydro turbine is anticipated to cut carbon emissions by around 64 tonnes each year, the same amount as a passenger jet flying from Glasgow to Sydney, Australia 13 times.

Using off-site construction methods also helped to reduce the carbon footprint associated with construction of the scheme and condensed the time required onsite.

Neil Beaumont, Horizons Hydro Energy Team Lead, said:

“We are delighted to see this pioneering project now complete and in operation. It is a great example of how Scottish Water is being creative and looking at how we can utilise all the assets across our portfolio to achieve our net zero ambitions.

“This is the first project of this kind delivered at a Scottish Water waste water facility, whereas previous hydro efforts have focused on our water assets. Waste water treatment is a huge part of what Scottish Water does and there so much opportunity in this area to be bold and innovative when it comes to looking at cutting our carbon emissions and optimising our generation of green energy.

“Taking novel approaches like this will go a long way towards helping us achieve net zero emissions by 2040 and beyond, deliver service excellence, and create greener communities.”

Scottish Water Operations Team Lead for the area, Craig Causer, said:

“The treatment works at Hamilton serve around 57,000 people and have a high electrical consumption.  By generating green energy from what is typically regarded as a waste product, we are helping deliver a waste water service to local communities with a lower carbon footprint.  Not only does this help reduce our reliance on grid electricity, it also helps reduce our on-site energy costs.”

The scheme was delivered by local renewable energy solutions specialists FES Support Services Ltd on behalf of Scottish Water Horizons and joins a growing portfolio of water and waste water treatment works that are now either self-sufficient or partly sufficient in generating their own power requirements.

Source: Water Magazine