Archive for month: August, 2019

You are here: Home / https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwia__HPzZjgAhUQlawKHVo9D6QQFjABegQIBhAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwavcoms.co.uk%2Fmedia-packs%2Fschool-building-magazine&usg=AOvVaw0AYJpr_dlFA9Z4FJtsnCgE / 2019 / August

Local council aims to be no. 1 with BoKlok development

The local council in Worthing, West Sussex, aims to be the first to bring modular homes built by a joint venture between Ikea and Skanska to the UK.

Worthing Borough Council said it was looking to enter an agreement with BoKlok to deliver up to 162 homes at Fulbeck Avenue in west Worthing.

As part of the deal, the Council would retain control of 30% of the units for social housing.

Analysis by the Council indicated that its West Durrington estate site could provide 45 homes using a traditional design approach with 13 classed as affordable. But BoKlok claims to be able to treble the number of homes on the site.

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The report also recommended that Worthing Borough Council agree to work in collaboration with BoKlok to develop a wider programme to deliver 500 new homes for Worthing residents.

After being backed by senior councillors, a steering group is set to be established to guide the proposal forward. The first homes could be occupied within two years.
Councillor Kevin Jenkins, Worthing Borough Council’s executive member for regeneration, said: “I very much welcome this innovative proposal from a ground-breaking international firm which could bring real benefits to hundreds of local families.”

“In this current market it’s extremely tough for local people who are in full-time work to get on the housing market. This proposal could change that, giving these hard-working individuals a genuine chance to buy their own home without having to move out of the town.”

“The fact these homes can be built quickly, to a high quality and meet top environmental standards makes this an extremely attractive proposition and I look forward to the Council working closely with BoKlok moving forward.”

A spokesman for BoKlok said: “BoKlok is a sustainable, low-cost housing concept, jointly owned by Skanska and IKEA AB. It currently operates in Sweden, Norway and Finland and is now exploring the UK market for potential sites for BoKlok developments, initially in the south and west of the country. However, we have nothing to confirm at this point in time.”

 

Source: Structural Timber

 

 

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Britlift: Carving a path into offsite

It has been a busy period for lifting specialist Britlift as its services are in high demand in the modular and offsite construction sectors

2018 proved a successful year for Britlift in the offsite construction sector as a number of new clients came on board involved in the manufacture of modular buildings and bathroom pods for both residential and commercial use. This has resulted in eleven Britlift beams being used, starting in February 2019, to lift modules on to the world’s tallest modular building, 101 George Street, developed by Tide Construction and Vision Modular Systems UK in London, which will be a huge 44 storeys and 38 storeys of modules across the two towers.

During the course of 2018, Britlift was involved in supplying lifting equipment to 12 offsite projects and secured two long-term clients using Britlift as their ‘go-to’ lifting equipment specialist.

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2019 has seen a further four offsite manufacturing projects supplied to, including securing two further returning clients. Project requirements included a six-point, 34-tonne complete lifting system (including all rigging) for site use; a 25-tonne adjustable lifting frame for use with an RTG; an eight-point, 12-tonne complete lifting system (including rigging); a 25-tonne adjustable lifting frame (including rigging) for use on site; 11-tonne and 12-tonne telescopic spreader beams with rigging and multiple bathroom pod lifting frames and rigging systems.

Britlift has carved a path into the offsite construction sector and has very quickly positioned itself as the number one specialist lifting equipment manufacturer to the offsite construction market.

Through the experience of past projects there isn’t much that Britlift hasn’t seen, considered, designed, manufactured or supplied in regards to lifting both modular buildings and bathroom pods, and it is this experience and expertise that will see further projects in 2019 supplied with Britlift lifting equipment.

As specialists in the sector, Britlift is your perfect partner when a system is required to take lifting stresses out of a fragile load and make the operation safer. Britlift equipment is designed with a vertical connection point to the load in order to remove stresses and ensure each module is lifted and installed safely.

Use the correct lifting equipment for your specific project, make sure it is CE marked and compliant with UK lifting legislation and use a specialist such as Britlift to design and build the right system that suits your project needs.

 

Liam Botting, Managing director, Britlift

www.britlift.com

 

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BORN OUT OF FRUSTRATION – THE WALL-E DOPPELGANGER

Approximately 20% of construction costs are wrapped up in fixing errors. Barcelona-based Scaled Robotics wants to minimize the rework by automating progress monitoring with autonomous mobile robots.

Leveraging lidar and autonomous vehicle technology (similar to what’s used by Google cars to map the world), Scaled Robotics built a WALL-E doppelgänger to navigate and build maps of construction sites by fusing images, video and data captured by its robots.

The company was born out of frustration, “of not having the tools to build what we designed in the office,” says co-founder Stuart Maggs, whose background is in construction and architecture. “You spend a lot of time in the office, creating this vision of what you wanted, that you thought was right, but ultimately, it came down to a guy in the field with just a tape measure and a piece of chalk that will put things pretty much however he felt on that day.” 

Their robots have been deployed in various construction sites around the world, including Dura Vermeer in the Netherlands and Kier in the U.K. Maggs says he found it surprisingly easy to convince the construction industry of the robot’s value — arguing there’s a real need for what it delivers: High-resolution comparison of the digital model to the on-the-ground build site that helps build managers keep close track of progress and spot problems before they can scale into costly expenses. The bot is a multifaceted tool for efficiency, he adds.

In the beginning, workers on site were a bit hesitant, but after numerous jokes and picture-taking, Maggs, said in closing, “they just accept it as another tool on the construction site.”

 

Source: Techcrunch

 

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DEAL OR NO DEAL – UNCERTAINTY WEAKENS CONSTRUCTION SECTOR

Activity in Britain’s construction industry shrank for a third month in a row in July as Brexit worries hit building projects, new research has shown.The IHS Markit/CIPS construction Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to 45.3, a less severe contraction than June’s 43.1 – which was the weakest reading in more than 10 years – but still well below the 50 level at which growth begins.A sharp drop in new orders – down for four months in a row – meant a quick turnaround was unlikely and confidence in the sector was the lowest since November 2012, IHS Markit said.”Construction companies have started to respond to lower workloads by cutting back on input buying, staffing numbers and sub-contractor usage,” Tim Moore, economics associate director at IHS Markit, said.

“If the current speed of construction sector retrenchment is sustained, it will soon ripple through the supply chain, and spillovers to other parts of the UK economy will quickly become apparent.”

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said on Thursday that “profound uncertainties” about Brexit and the rise of protectionism in the global economy were weighing on Britain.

IHS Markit said commercial work was hardest hit in July while civil engineering and housebuilding also shrank.

Construction accounts for 6% of Britain’s economy, which has relied heavily on spending by consumers to offset a fall in business investment during the Brexit crisis.

On Thursday, a PMI for the manufacturing sector – which represents 10% of Britain’s economy – held at a six-and-a-half-year low in July and output fell by the most in seven years.

Source: RTE

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Lending policies on the horizon for Modular Homes

Speaking to Development Finance Today,  Robert Orr, managing director of development finance at Paragon, evaluates how the division is progressing and what challenges smaller developers may face this year.

You recently announced that new development lending at Paragon increased fourfold. Do you expect this to become a more prominent part of your commercial division?

Yes, there’s excellent potential for growth. Bringing Titlestone into the Paragon fold means we’ve been able to broaden our proposition and extend our offer to developers across all of England and Wales.

Developers working with Paragon can now access loans of up to £35m, with a maximum loan-to-GDV of 70%. Not many banks offer beyond 60% GDV — so that’s a significant uplift.

We’ve also added finance for pre-planning and purpose-built student developments into the range, extending support to SME developers earlier in the project lifecycle and reaching out to those delivering housing in specialist markets.

How challenging was the process of integrating Titlestone under the Paragon umbrella?

Integration has been relatively straightforward, with a focus on bringing customers the best from both organisations.

Titlestone brings a strong reputation for development expertise and Paragon brings long-term backing built upon its 30-year history as a specialist lender.

Quoted on the London Stock Exchange and a constituent of the FTSE 250, Paragon today has over £6bn in savings deposits. Building out from its traditional, stronghold in buy-to-let lending, Paragon is adding capability in targeted, commercial lending markets.

What do you think will be the biggest challenges for the development market this year?

Steering a steady course through the Brexit uncertainty will be front of mind for everyone as we head into autumn.

There are also some challenges ahead for smaller developers in terms of how they adapt to new environmental standards and integrate modular building technology into their plans.

The quality of modular homes has come on in leaps and bounds over the past few years and we’re looking at how we can develop our lending policies to satisfy developers opting for this route.

How did you get into the industry?

After studying accountancy and economics, I decided on a career in banking. Initially, I gained experience across a wide range of different sectors, but development finance really grabbed my interest and I’ve been a specialist in this area now for nearly 25 years — working for NatWest, Close Brothers and Titlestone before arriving at Paragon.

What I love about the job is the long-term relationships that you build with developers.

It’s very rewarding to support developers as they breathe new life into a derelict building or reinvigorate a disused site. The energy generated in delivering the end product is contagious.

If you weren’t in the industry, what would you be doing?

In my dream life, I’d be a professional golfer, leading the field at the Masters. More realistically, I’d like to be involved in business education and coaching. I did a stint as a corporate tutor in the mid-90s, training relationship managers out in the field. I’ve also been involved in delivering training courses for the Institute of Banking and always find it rewarding to see young people develop their skills and move forward in their career.

Source: Development Finanace Today

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Heating bills going down the drain? Here’s a way to bring them back

Water heating accounts for approximately 20 to 30 percent of household energy demand.  Much of the energy is expended warming the water coming into the shower and other areas of the house. By transferring some of the heat from the drain water to the incoming water through a heat exchanger, reduced energy is required. A significant portion of the heat from the drainwater is efficiently transferred to the incoming water with no energy use. By reducing the demand on the water heater, this also allows for increased capacity of the tank. 

This is achieved by a variety of systems called Drain Water Heat Recovery (DWHR). As warm water flows from your shower down the waste drain on its way to sewer, the DWHR device uses heat exchange to transfer the heat to an incoming flow of cold water headed towards the water heater.

These systems generally work on tank water heaters as well as on-demand ones. They are particularly popular in Canada and northern areas of the United States where the ground water is very cold.

DWHR systems are gaining in popularity because water heating uses so much of the household energy.  According to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (cmhc.ca ). “Although this technology adds to the capital cost of construction projects, the energy savings over the life of the building help make it an ideal application for affordable housing projects.” Since the cost can be recouped in a short amount of time, it would seem logical that all houses be equipped with this type of system. These systems have no moving parts, a long life, and require minimal maintenance.

All DWHR systems can be easily installed by any licensed plumber or experienced handyperson. It is easiest to install these systems when the house is being built but they can be installed on remodels. Because they save so much on energy they add value to the home which is always a plus when selling the house. For those seeking LEED for Homes certification, they can achieve points for these systems under the efficient hot water equipment credits. DWHR systems are currently being installed in Passive Houses, where keeping energy to a minimum is a major factor. 

There are several systems currently on the market that recover heat from household water. Both of the systems mentioned here can be installed at specific shower locations or at the bottom of the home’s main drain stack, where it can recycle the energy from all the showers in the floors above.

The two most popular systems in North America are the EcoDrain™ and Power-Pipe® by RenewABILITY Energy Inc., which both feature patent-pending technologies.

The typical DWHR device will range from 32 inches in length up to 72 inches. Longer units provide higher rates of heat recovery, but be sure to look at rated performance to compare different models or brands. Natural Resources Canada has a website that allows just such a comparison.

Various places around North America such as Ontario and Manitoba, Canada require these systems be installed in new homes.These systems can be used to achieve building energy requirements or credits in the State of Washington, the State of California, and some parts of British Columbia. And there are rebate programs in other jurisdictions. They are currently being used in single family homes but are beginning to be used in multi-family units to cut energy costs.

I discovered these systems in various houses I have written about over the years and believe it is a simple and practical way of saving energy, preserving the water heating system and expanding the hot water availability in the home.

by Sheri Koones

Source: Forbes Now
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