China and Nuclear Britain, USA questions trust

Britain Rethinks Letting China Enter Its Nuclear Power Industry

By Stanley Reed

Financing and security issues are clouding new power station projects.

A few years ago, Britain agreed to let China take an ownership stake in its newest nuclear power plants, figuring Beijing had the nuclear know-how and the construction smarts to help replace the country’s aging power stations.

It was a warm moment in British-Chinese relations, a deal signed in 2015 during a carefully choreographed visit to London by President Xi Jinping of China with the British prime minister at the time, David Cameron.

Six years later, Britain is having second thoughts. Financing for a planned power station facing the North Sea, estimated at 20 billion pounds ($28 billion) and necessary to ensure a steady stream of electricity for decades, is unexpectedly in doubt. Part of the problem: attracting investors to a project one-fifth owned by China.

Mr. Xi’s authoritarian ambitions and human rights record have chilled relations with Western nations, forcing a broad reconsideration of a range of economic dealings with the world’s second-largest economy.

In Britain, the pushback over nuclear power echoes the concerns raised last year when Britain joined the United States in banning the Chinese telecom supplier Huawei from high-speed wireless networks on security grounds.

The 2015 nuclear agreement even calls for letting China be majority owner of a proposed plant of its own design, at a site about 50 miles from London. Although that project is going through regulatory channels, it is expected to face strong opposition from lawmakers.

“We cannot allow the technological heart of our power system to be exposed to the risk of disruption by states that do not share our values,” said Tom Tugendhat, a member of the Conservative Party, led by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and chairman of the foreign affairs committee in Parliament.

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China has ambitions to be a global supplier of nuclear power plants, but Britain is not the only country reconsidering an agreement.

“Within Europe, there is an emerging pattern of nations rethinking nuclear collaboration with China,” said Ted Jones, senior director at the Nuclear Energy Institute, an industry group in Washington. He pointed to recent setbacks that China’s nuclear plant business has suffered in Romania, the Czech Republic and elsewhere.

Evidence of the risks involved was buried in financial results published on Thursday by Électricité de France, a French utility company that owns and operates Britain’s eight operating nuclear power stations. The company is halfway through building Britain’s first new station since the 1990s, at Hinkley Point in southwest England, a project one-third owned by China General Nuclear, China’s state-owned nuclear company.

EDF, in its quarterly results, urged the British government to pass legislation soon enabling a new, less risky financial and regulatory arrangement before the company embarks on the North Sea project, near a fishing village called Sizewell.

British officials and EDF executives have been negotiating financing terms for the Sizewell project.Credit…Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

Failure to obtain these changes, the company said, could lead it to “not to make an investment decision” — in other words, walk away from the project.

“This legislation is now really, really essential,” said Simone Rossi, chief executive of EDF’s British arm, in June, according to Reuters. British officials and EDF executives have been negotiating terms for financing for the Sizewell project.

EDF, which is majority owned by the French government, says it can’t afford to pay the project’s costs upfront and wants to reduce its 80 percent stake to a minority holding to make room for other investors.

The arrangement being considered would allow investors to obtain an immediate return on the capital they spent on the plant through surcharges on energy bills. Pension funds, university endowments and similar investors would most likely be attracted by predictable, long-term revenue streams, analysts said.

“You will find investors who are interested,” said Meike Becker, a utility analyst at Bernstein, a research company.

The critical question, though, is whether the presence of China General Nuclear might give financial institutions pause, especially those from the United States.

In 2019, the company was placed on a U.S. government blacklist — which restricts American companies from doing business with it — for engaging in efforts to acquire advanced American nuclear technology for military purposes. In 2016, an American nuclear engineer was sentenced to two years in prison for helping the company develop nuclear materials.

“CGN has a particularly bad reputation in the United States,” said Vincent C. Zabielski, a London-based special counsel who specializes in nuclear issues at Pillsbury, a law firm. Mr. Zabielski said that while investors might judge that CGN would bring valuable engineering skills to building the plant, the company’s presence could be a turnoff for American investors “in some cases.”

Much has changed since 2015, when China General Nuclear entered Britain during an elaborately choreographed visit by President Xi Jinping, a high point in Chinese-British relations.Credit…Leon Neal/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

China General Nuclear declined to comment.

Ultimately, the government will decide the fate of Britain’s nuclear program; one option said to be on the table is the British government’s buying China’s stake in the Sizewell project. In principle, the government wants at least one more power station after Hinkley Point to help meet its ambitious low-carbon targets. The Sizewell plant would pump out enough power for millions of homes for decades. Building a plant would also create thousands of jobs and provide billions of pounds worth of work for British suppliers.

China’s global nuclear ambitions are on the line in Britain. Its plans for a nuclear plant outside London, at Bradwell-on-Sea, are going through Britain’s approval process, a critical step that Beijing hoped would be a springboard to its acceptance in other international markets.

China is “making every effort it can to establish Chinese standards” in the global nuclear industry, said Mark Hibbs, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. If China is successful in Britain, he said, it will give the country a competitive advantage in global nuclear sales for decades.

But the British government has soured on Beijing because of a host of concerns, including the crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong, a former British colony, and the harsh treatment of Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang region. Influenced by Washington, worries have also increased in London about the security risks of using Chinese technology.

Industry sources say it is now difficult to conceive of the government’s approving a Chinese-designed and majority-owned plant not far from London, as envisioned for the project in Bradwell.

The situation may be different at Hinkley Point, where the Chinese company’s stake is 33 percent, and at the proposed Sizewell project, where its stake is 20 percent. Overall, China General Nuclear has spent about £4 billion on the British projects. Mr. Tugendhat said he had no objection to Chinese money in these cases because it could be easily replaced.

 

Source: The New York Times

 

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MMC – ‘In the Swim with Team GB’

Box Architects and the Olympian-led ReCreation Group are using modern methods of construction (MMC) to deliver affordable and sustainable pools to get more people swimming.

Box and ReCreation pledged to build on the legacy of Team GB’s gold rush in the pool in Tokyo. Britain’s swimmers won eight medals last week, including double golds for Adam Peaty, Tom Dean and James Guy and a record four medals in a single games for Duncan Scott. However, the success came as the UK experienced its worst ever month for lake and river drownings.

Meanwhile, new research from Sport England revealed that one in three children in England still can’t swim, a figure which rises to 59% among least affluent families, compared to 16% among the most affluent. This fact is exacerbated by the problem that post-lockdown it is expected that many existing pools will not reopen, being outdated and too expensive to maintain.

Tackling this challenge, Box Architects has been embracing the efficiencies of MMC to work in partnership with the ReCreation Group to deliver a concept that creates much-needed swimming pools. Its legacy was born out of London 2012, when ReCreation founders and Olympic swimmers Steve Parry and Adrian Turner toured the UK with temporary pools from the athletes’ village to teach children to swim. Since then, they’ve been creating their own swimming facilities as well as affordable pools for local authorities.

Graham Place, CEO of Box Architects, said: “It’s an exciting journey. We’ve used our specialist MMC design skills to create a modular approach that can be adapted and repeated. As a practice, we’re committed to developing MMC thinking and promoting our healthy practice approach, so our collaboration with ReCreation couldn’t be better.”

The MMC approach means a much quicker design, development and construction process with projects manufactured off-site. Building above ground also means that maintenance is much easier with no underground pipework, while environmental sustainability benefits come from input to community district heating systems. Projects now extend to community pools, a gymnastics project with fellow Olympian Beth Tweddle and also leisure centre projects for local authorities, all using modern methods of design and construction.

“We wanted to develop an entire pool facility above-ground, which would be faster and more affordable to build,” said Adrian Turner, Olympian and co-founder at ReCreation. “We knew that making such a pool a reality would unlock our mission of breaking down the barriers for kids to reach their true potential. Working together with Box Architects we’ve designed a solution that hits the speed and affordability goals, realises social and economic benefits and creates a destination that the community are proud of,” Turner said.

Box and ReCreation’s work couldn’t have come at a better time, with Swim England’s recent Value of Swimming report highlighting that 1.4 million swimmers show reduced anxiety, and two million young swimmers ‘feel happier’.

“We’re proud to be working with ReCreation to deliver affordable and sustainable pools to get more people swimming,” said Graham Place. “By doing so, we’re helping to save lives, increase wellbeing and produce Olympic champions of the future.”

Source: Infrastructure Intelligence

 

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High Rise – Going up, Residential or Commercial

The pipeline of high-rise buildings across the UK remains strong, with around 549 in the development pipeline, of which around 58% are in London, although projects in London account for more than three quarters of total pipeline value.

The construction of high-rise buildings has increased considerably in recent years, with a rise in both the number and height of buildings being constructed. Across the UK at July 2021 there are 1,277 existing high-rise buildings and structures that are at least 50m tall and 266 that are at least 75m tall, the vast majority of which are in London, while other key locations include Birmingham and Manchester. The UK has just 31 high-rise buildings over 150m high, although almost half of these have been completed since 2018, and just one building – The Shard in London over 300m.

Unlike other international cities, London is considered ‘low-rise’ for a global city and financial capital of the world, with the pace of high-rise development way behind other global cities. However, in recent years, there has been an increase in the number of high-rise buildings proposed and approved for construction in London and across many of the UK’s major cities.

Uncertainties surrounding the outcome of ‘Brexit’ had contributed to a slowdown of speculative new office building in recent years but industry sources suggest that investor confidence remains high in the London office market, for which there are proposals for a many high-profile high-rise schemes The City and Canary Wharf.

In both the UK and across the world, there has been a big rise in the number of residential towers as well as a significant increase in mixed-use towers. Just 15 years ago, towers were predominantly built for the commercial office market; they now make up just 3% of projects in the current development pipeline.

Alex Blagden, Research Analyst at AMA Research comments “historically, high-rise construction had been driven by demand for offices in The City of London, London Docklands and central Manchester. Since 2010, however, there had been a marked shift towards high-residential schemes, mainly driven by speculative investment in luxury apartment towers in Central London and Docklands. However, since the UK’s departure from the EU, growth in overseas investment in private ownership of luxury apartments has slowed. In recent years, there has been a marked increase in the development of high-rise residential towers in the larger northern cities and Birmingham, largely driven by investment in private rental and student accommodation schemes. Over the medium term, high-rise construction will become more spread out across the UK. While London, Manchester, Salford and Birmingham will still be important locations of high-rise construction, other cities are emerging as major centres of high-rise building activity – especially Leeds, Liverpool, Glasgow and Sheffield.”

By end-use, 78% of high-rise buildings in the UK pipeline (having started construction in 2021 or under consideration) are residential-led. By contrast, the percentage of high-rise buildings now being built for commercial office use is declining. It was previously estimated that 23% of existing high-rise buildings have been designed for office use, but across the UK, only 15% of high-rise completions between 2016 and 2020 were offices, a figure that falls to 11% for buildings in the pipeline. High-rise commercial office buildings are largely concentrated in city centres. Key growth areas within the residential market are the private rental sector (including build-to-rent) and student accommodation, with demand driven by shortage of capacity in affordable privately rented homes and in student housing in London.

 

 

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MMC, the importance of a systematic approach to fire safety

Much debate continues over Modern Methods of Construction. Though modular, off-site builds can result in significant savings to costs and time, many in the fire industry remain concerned that fire safety standards and quality compartmentation methods are left as an afterthought in the process.

Ian King, Chief Commercial Officer, Zeroignition, looks at the benefits of modern methods of construction and how the solutions offered by adopting an off-site approach can be applied to fire protection and safety under a competent, holistic approach.

The recent Building Safety Bill is an essential step towards making homes safer for all. The construction industry shoulders a great deal of responsibility when it comes to the safety of the built environment, so the importance of making fundamental changes to methods of working is immeasurable.

Since the Grenfell tragedy in 2017, the building industry has been working hard behind the scenes to tighten up processes, with new regulations acting as powerful drivers for positive change and innovation.

The addition of meaningful sanctions will act as a powerful deterrent to those few companies who haven’t prioritised safety, and instead remain focused on delivering bigger, quicker and cheaper builds. This approach can result in mistakes being made and sometimes corners being cut, all of which have the potential to cost lives.

The benefits of modular construction

In a typical year, over 200,000 homes are built in the UK, around 15,000 of which are modular. With fewer lorry deliveries driving to and from the building site, modular buildings have a lower carbon footprint than more traditional building methods. Nearby residents can also benefit – being exposed to less noise and pollution. Efficiency is greatly improved – the whole off-site construction process can be completed in roughly half the time of a traditional build, which can have a big impact on a housebuilder’s bottom line

“It’s clear, however, for a system-led approach to fire protection to really work, it is essential that knowledge across the industry is robust and in line with current regulations.”

One of the greatest benefits of modular construction is that it allows for the standardisation of housing design, which makes production quicker, shortening the overall construction journey. Quality control should also be considered – within a ‘factory’ type environment, greater safety checks can be made and monitored, ensuring components and build quality meet acceptable levels of industry standards and performance.

By introducing quality checks and tests during component assembly in the factory setting, it’s easier to develop and implement industry-standard certifications. In turn, this can help raise the bar of the finished product, in all elements of assembly.

When materials are then taken to the construction site for installation, a qualified workforce can execute the final build with greater ease, having up-to-date knowledge of the products and the building as a complete “system”.

This approach can be adopted for fire protection design.

A critical system

A system-led fire protection design method involves checking that the specified components work both individually and holistically. System components will generally include:

  • Active fire protection – measures triggering a response, such as sprinkler systems and smoke alarms
  • Passive fire protection – measures to slow down or contain fire, such as fire doors and fire-retardant materials

A system-led approach can combine compartmentation – for example, with fire doors, sprinkler systems and FR-rated OSB boards. An assessment can take place where each component can be assessed for its individual performance, as well as how it works in combination with other components.

It’s clear, however, for a system-led approach to fire protection to really work, it is essential that knowledge across the industry is robust and in line with current regulations.

Improving fire protection awareness

Fire safety regulations are notoriously complex and require an in-depth understanding. Research we conducted across the UK, Germany and France in the wake of the Grenfell disaster revealed that knowledge levels surrounding fire and fire protection amongst some of our most trained professionals in architecture, was worryingly low.

Across the three countries, just 3% of architects were able to correctly define the four basic fire protection terms: active fire protection, passive fire protection, fire resistance and reaction to fire.

A mere 2% of the architects interviewed said they’d received comprehensive fire protection training. Whilst most agreed that they had had some sort of training, less than one in ten (8%) said they’ve never had fire protection training. Our findings came as an industry-wide shock and highlighted the clear need for re-education in order to improve expertise and understanding when it comes to fire basics.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, it has been reported that nearly half the British workforce (49%) were intent on investing time to actively further their learning around fire safety.

NBS (formerly National Building Specification) says it saw a dramatic increase in webinar attendance during this time, as more people were working from home and had time to spare without having to spend time out of the office travelling. Eager participants included product manufacturers, as well as architects and specifiers. The online webinars covered a variety of different topics including fire safety.

Modernising traditional approaches

Construction projects are multifaceted and involve various decisions. Each choice has a knock-on effect and there can be unforeseen results when a systematic approach to fire protection isn’t adopted.

While many construction industry professionals understand that this approach works best, there’s still more to be done by manufacturers and architectural bodies to ensure that best practice is fully established and followed.

Modern methods of construction has the ability to appear the obvious solution for future progress unbeatable on paper. However, the systematic approach still stands here, and if not used properly, problems with the build can and will still arise. In some cases, safety oversights have caused the loss of entire buildings. This is why a proactive drive towards increasing the competency and training of all those involved in the building process from architect, designers, installers, and other industry professionals must be seen as essential if standards are to improve.

It’s important that we view buildings holistically, assessing the structure as a whole, rather than in individual stages to ensure that MMC is used as intended and to reduce the risk of fire and improve safety for the end user.

Beyond this, the construction industry needs to learn from other industries, such as automotive and aviation, which focus on a checklist approach to reduce harm to passengers. If people rely on memory, mistakes happen, and the simple action of checking off points can stop fire planning elements being missed. The digital ‘revolution’ that the construction industry is currently experiencing can create ‘digital footprints’ that prove the right building criteria has been adhered to. This will become essential if we’re to successfully implement watertight fire safety checks before it’s handed over to the occupant or end user.

It is encouraging to see the industry come together to propel fire safety up the agenda. The new building safety regulations set to come into effect next month (August 2021) will go a long way to improving current standards. Coupled with keen interest from industry professionals to learn more and improve their knowledge and put safety front of mind, it will be a joint effort that will deliver industry best practice. Manufacturers are also investing heavily in R&D projects, which will help bolster fire safety awareness in construction and provide added protection. After all, it is only when fire protection is taken with seriousness it demands, that we can start looking at new approaches to construction which reinforce a building’s role to keep people safe and secure.

The industry needs to keep engaging in the positive changes which are starting to emerge. I am certain that with a culture that’s willing to learn and improve, the sector will begin to adapt and innovate further. Ensuring that we can demonstrate that safety and wellbeing is being considered at the heart of the building design, will help improve end-user confidence, which as it stands, has a long journey ahead.

Source: IFSEC GLOBAL

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Combilift’s 60,000th truck delivered

The Irish manufacturer Combilift recently marked a further milestone when its 60,000th unit came off the production lines at the company HQ in Monaghan and was shipped to the other side of the world. The customer taking delivery of this special forklift is Metroll, a leading Australian manufacturer and supplier of steel building products including roofing, cladding, rainwater, structural and fencing.

Metroll has branches across the country, and the new Combi-CB3000 will be a further addition to its fleet of 13 Combilifts that are operating throughout the Metroll Group, with another 10 already on order. These range from 3t multidirectional units to a highly customised 10t model.

Combilift number 60,000 will be working at the site in Toowoomba and has been fitted with features such as 4.9m triplex mast with a 3050mm spreader to safely and easily manage the long loads that are typically handled by Metroll.

 

 

According to Metroll Operations Manager Vic Josephs “Like most businesses we are very busy and we’re also growing at a significant rate, so space has become a premium resource. With this unit we can utilise our space more efficiently whilst at the same time operating safely. Safety is of paramount importance. This forklift allows our machinery to get into tighter spaces and for us to space our racks more closely together to maximise factory floor space.”

Combilift CEO and Co-Founder Martin McVicar commented: “This is a great achievement for Combilift, particularly as almost every truck we manufacture is a one-off, designed for specific and individual requirements. There are very few other companies, if any, that can offer this level of customisation whilst manufacturing in such volume. The first half of this year has been by far the best in our 23 year history for the number of orders we have received – not just for Combi-CB models but across our complete product range.”

Chris Littlewood, Country Manager of Combilift Australia said: “The Combi-CB 3t model is the most popular unit in the Australian market and accounted for 50% of the machines we sold in the year ending March 2021. So we are particularly pleased that it is one of our customers in this country that has been able to receive this landmark machine.”

Following the successful collaboration with Metroll in Australia, Combilift now also supplies its trucks to the company’s Californian based operations too. “We have often found that a recommendation from one country leads to sites elsewhere adopting the same material handling processes with our products,” said Martin McVicar. “So we’d like to congratulate Metroll on taking delivery of our 60,000th truck, and thank them for their continued support over the years.”

 

www.combilift.com/60000

https://www.metroll.com.au/

 

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Glodon Gsite now available in UK & Ireland

 Offering accurate, timely and flexible information management of construction projects

 

The construction management software Gsite by Glodon is now available for the UK and Irish markets through MagiCAD Group. The  platform enables online management of construction site tasks as well as quality and safety issues, document management, BIM, workflows and much more. Glodon Gsite has already been used in more than 30,000 building projects globally in small and large-scale projects.

Glodon Gsite Offering online management of construction site data providing project participants with immediate access to information, such as documents, safety issues, and scheduled activities. As digital solutions have begun transforming construction sites, Gsite introduces more efficient processes and improves collaboration and communication possibilities.

“Developed with construction project teams in mind, Gsite enables them to quickly get started without any previous experience of software and hardware usage”, says Tom Young, Director for Construction Solutions at MagiCAD Group. “In addition, MagiCAD Group offers a generous and well-thought service plan to make sure that the UK customers have the best quality of service we’re known for.”

Gsite is a single source of truth for managing  construction projects. The software provides automatically generated statistics and data from construction projects and enables users to keep track of project events, issues, and overall progress. All project information is stored online and can be accessed on-site or remotely through an application that supports multiple mobile devices.

“A centralized approach to construction site management enables project participants to easily remain in control of tasks and issues and to respond quickly”, explains Young.

Gsite saves time in administration, as information can be updated and recorded on-site. Tracking site data also enables improved visibility into project overhead costs, which are otherwise hard to follow accurately.

Gsite can be used by contractors and construction companies of any type and by  on-site personnel, as well as project management and senior managers.

For more information on Gsite, CLICK HERE

 

About MagiCAD Group

MagiCAD Group specialises in Building Information Modelling software and services. Our team of passionate software professionals provides customers with intelligent solutions that make daily engineering, design and planning work easier, faster and more profitable. Our products are used by thousands of companies in over 80 countries around the world. MagiCAD is headquartered in Turku, Finland and is part of Glodon Group.

About Glodon Group

Established in 1998, Glodon is one of the world’s leading digital building platform providers offering products and services that cover the entire life cycle of buildings. With more than 7,000 employees and 60 branches around the world, it provides services to over 800,000 enterprise customers in over 100 countries and regions reaching 20 million professional engineers and managers globally.

 

 

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SIKA ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF NEW ONLINE KNOWLEDGE CENTRE

Global building product manufacturer, Sika, has launched an eLearning platform, the Knowledge Centre, allowing construction specialists to expand their skills and keep up to date on the very latest developments, innovations and regulatory requirements relating to a wide range of construction materials, all available from an easy to navigate, intuitive online platform.

 

The Sika Knowledge Centre comprises a series of online learning modules and resources. Sika has created the content by utilising its vast global experience and expertise, working across a range of application areas, from roofing and waterproofing to concrete repairs, flooring and sealing and bonding.

 

Users simply register on the Knowledge Centre platform and then have access to a series of different modules, relating to various products and sectors. Modules are categorised under different product groups to enable the user to personalise the experience to their areas of interest. As modules are completed, the user’s profile is updated accordingly, providing a record of their ongoing learning.

 

Each module has been written by technically competent teams within Sika. These concise yet thorough learning and training experiences focus on not only what Sika can offer, but also industry standards, regulations and best practice information, to provide a comprehensive learning resource for a wide range of industry professionals.

 

Industry professionals will be able to access a range of live and on-demand webinars and training presentations, e-learning modules, how-to videos, and hybrid training across roofing, flooring, waterproofing, refurbishment and concrete repairs.

 

Modules available at the launch include among others: Total Corrosion Management, Fibre Reinforced Concrete, Fully Bonded Waterproofing Membranes, Pushing the Envelope – High Rise and Facades.  Further modules will be added month by month, providing professionals with an invaluable learning resource that stays constantly up to date with a changing and evolving industry.

 

 “We are delighted to offer the construction industry the ability to expand their knowledge through these well-designed training experiences,” said Cheryl Douglas, Head of Marketing at Sika Limited. “For professionals wanting to know more, and stay up to date, Sika’s new Knowledge Centre will help them to develop a practical understanding of our range of construction products and systems.”

 

Accessible from anywhere and on any device, the Sika Knowledge Centre offers a seamless learning experience, as it combines various methods of learning on one accessible platform.

 

For more information, visit https://gbr.knowledge.sika.com/

 

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Wernick Showcase fully fitted out demo ward at factory

Wernick Buildings’ factory in Port Talbot welcomed visitors to receive a demonstration of their latest modular building system; HMflex. The four-bed hospital ward allowed visitors to experience the same high-quality environment that healthcare professionals and patients would receive.

A result of meetings over several years, NHS Improvement approached the MPBA (Modular and Portable Building Association) and some of its members (including Wernick) to explore the possibility of creating standardised, modular units which could be more easily deployed at scale within healthcare settings. The result was HMflex, a modular building system designed specifically to meet the spatial and technical requirements of NHS wards, providing ward and clinical spaces via standardised layouts.
HMflex is specifically designed to offer a fast-paced, quality solution to fit the needs and requirements of the healthcare sector: the system delivers a fully fitted, compliant four-bed ward with just two building modules. This means that a four-bed ward can be delivered, installed and ready for fit-out in as little as 24 hours. Designed with scalability in mind, extra storeys can also be added later with ease.

Andy King, Deputy Managing Director of Wernick Buildings, commented: “The whole offsite construction industry has been receiving more attention over the last few years due to press and public interest, and healthcare has been a big sector. One of the key benefits, particularly in light of the increased pressure from the COVID-19 pandemic, is speed: this is where the standardised HMflex will have a major impact.”

Working with NHS trusts and fire engineers, the entire exterior envelope of the building system was designed and tested to meet all of Part B non-combustible building regulations. For ease of maintenance and improved performance, at design stage clients can specify which items they want incorporated into the standard design. These include doors, IPS, plumbing and electrics.  Full bed and passenger lifts are easily incorporated into the modular design, and specialist areas like operating theatres, MRI functions and pathology units can also be catered to. The completed building is both HTN and HBN compliant.

Andy continued, “We can bring the benefits of offsite construction to facilities as complex as inpatient wards and operating theatres. This is all achieved while maintaining compliance throughout. The HMflex ward block is the first of what we hope will be a series of standardised solutions that will support the NHS in meeting pressures moving forwards.”

Visitors who came to experience the demonstration building included local senior politicians such as Stephen Kinnock, Member of Parliament for Aberavon, Edward Latham, Leader of Neath Port Talbot Council, and local AM David Rees.

Commenting on the unit, Aberavon MP, Stephen Kinnock, said: “I was honoured to be able to see first-hand the incredible hi-tech work of one of Port Talbot’s major employers. It is fantastic that our constituency is home to such well-established firms leading the way on the national stage. I was also thrilled to hear about Wernick’s plans for expansion and the long-term career opportunities companies like theirs are providing for the people of our community.”
Proving the flexibility of the building system, the demonstration ward was disassembled in July and relocated to Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth, where the two building modules form part of a new 72-bed ward building.

Established in 1934, Wernick are proud to be the most established modular building provider in the UK, with decades of experience providing clients with high quality buildings over almost any sector.

www.wernick.co.uk

 

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Totally Modular Secure Contract with Citizen for Multiple Developments

Totally Modular Secure Contract with Citizen for Multiple Developments Following Award Winning Pilot Scheme Success

Following the success of their award-winning pilot scheme development in Littlethorpe, Coventry delivered by Totally Modular for Citizen, the two companies have entered into contract for a second time, this time for a series of developments across a number of sites in Coventry. The homes will range from one-bedroom bungalows to four-bedroom homes. The developments are situated at current garage infill sites, which are located throughout Coventry, West Midlands on existing brownfield land.

The partnership is looking to replicate their success with these new homes, as the pilot scheme achieved a multitude of accolades, with the most impressive being the ‘Constructing Excellence Midlands – Offsite Award’.

The journey of the partnership started through Citizen recognising the impact on surrounding communities in developing these difficult, small infill sites, so the decision was made to explore modular construction options, as they were not commercially viable for traditional development. A partnership was then formed with local housing manufacturer Totally Modular, as they can access land and re-purpose existing smaller brownfield sites that traditional builds would find difficult or too expensive to navigate, therefore unlocking new land adds huge value to the offer.

Totally Modular are supplying these homes as a full turnkey solution, with the aim being to transform the currently redundant infill sites, suffering from blight, into a variety of highly energy efficient, attractive homes. The developments across Coventry, will consist of a variety of Totally Modular house types to cater for a range of residents in need. These architypes have been designed for the purposes of standardization, so that these house types can be rolled out to wherever the demand is needed.
The new homes will be manufactured within Totally Modular’s factory based in the West Midlands, on a production line and start as a robust hybrid steel frame and achieve a build status of up to 95% completion before they are delivered less than forty minutes to site. They are expected to exceed building regulations therefore providing higher quality solutions with lower risk and greater speed, cost-effectiveness and consistency.

 

Managing Director of Totally Modular, John Connolly commented on the announcement by saying…
“We are extremely pleased to be given this opportunity to work alongside Citizen again after our initial successful pilot scheme. As with all trials there are lessons to be learnt and our collective aim is to implement the take outs from that scheme to ensure both Citizen and the residents benefit from best available technology with regard to both environmental and energy performance.
With the direction of travel for UK housing delivery being net zero carbon, Totally Modular and Citizen are playing their part in ensuring the assets delivered today are future proofed for the city and residents of Coventry.”
Executive Director of Development, Nick Byrne at Citizen, also commented…
“It’s fantastic we are extending our modular housing pilot. It allows us to to proceed with our ambitions to deliver modular construction homes on some of the most difficult sites to develop and replicate the quality standards of our homes at Littlethorpe.
These new schemes will have a positive impact on the current issues around temporary housing and offer future customers a home which is a foundation for life. The homes will be offered at affordable rent so will be very attractive to families living in Coventry.”

The scheme at Littlethorpe achieved an A-rated Energy Performance Certificate, which means this type of development is in the top one percent when compared to energy-efficiency standards measured nationally. It also achieved actual running costs of £1.48 a day for a 3-bedroom home with five occupants.
Nick added Citizen is also looking to replicate this success in the new developments.

He said: “The energy efficiency we are achieving in these homes is in line with the Government’s “Future Homes Standard” which is not due to be introduced until 2025 and also our current Development Strategy.”
“We have decided to extend the pilot, so we can show further the benefits of modular construction especially on sites which are former garage sites. This means a reduction in the impact on residents due to the homes being manufactured in a factory which minimises the construction on site.”

www.totallymodular.co.uk

 

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Could better supply chain management reduce your build costs?

Skills shortages and COVID-19 disruption are placing pressure on traditional models of construction. We ask can the supply chain be part of the solution?

In his report Modernise or Die, Mark Farmer suggested that a skills crisis in mainstream construction, was likely to result in a decrease of 20-25% in the workforce over the next decade.

Published in 2016, it suggested the construction sector faced a perfect storm of an aging workforce with lower levels of entry into the sector.
This has been compounded by increased demand for construction workers across Europe in the last year and a post-Brexit exodus, with 1.3million construction workers estimated to leave the UK since 2019.

In real terms, this means that employment in the construction sector fell from 2.3m in 2017 to 2.1m at the end of 2020, representing a 4 per cent fall in UK-born workers and a 42 per cent fall in EU workers, according to the Office for National Statistics. More than 500,000 UK-born construction workers are expected to retire in the next 10 to 15 years.

Throw into this mix rapidly increasing material costs and COVID-19 demand and accompanying disruption to supply. With pressure to hit ever increasing levels of performance and project build and costs are soaring, with many warning that the sector needs to build in inflationary costs of at least 5% a year as ‘the new normal’.
Modular offsite and modern methods of construction offers developers a potential solution. While not immune from the pressures on building materials supply, scalability and standardisation, proponents argue, can support main contractors in meeting demand when a skilled workforce and materials are in short supply, and in keeping a lid on costs.

This also means, according to John Duckworth, Head of Commercial Sales, at window and door systems company Deceuninck, a reassessment of the relationship between main-contractor, sub-contractors and the wider supply chain.

“Everyone has been forced to reassess what they do and how they do it”, he says, “That’s not only about what they do on site, how the fabric of buildings are put together. The last 18-months has served to highlight the critical importance of the wider supply chain and how suppliers and contractors work together.”
Deceuninck is a global leader in PVC-U window and door system supply, with extensive experience in the UK commercial sector, partnering with a network of leading commercial window manufacturers. “There is no magic wand”, continues John. “It’s going to take time to address the skills gap and costs of labour are going to remain high for the foreseeable future, which means modular development, which doesn’t require the same skills threshold, will have a key part to play in cost control.
“The other element is better and closer working between main and sub-contractors and suppliers, sitting down earlier in the process to extract better value from specifications.  “There are things that every specification will have, an expected level of energy efficiency, acoustics, security – how you get there can carry very different overheads.
“It’s defined by material, planning and ultimately expertise in delivery.”

Deceuninck offers an extensive commercial window and door range, working with commercial window and door manufacturers specialising in modular builds as well as other specialisms including steel-frame construction.

Its’ flagship commercial system is the 5000 series, which extends the design potential of PVC-U using patented glass fibre technology, removing the requirement for steel reinforcement, increasing thermal efficiency and reducing weight.

Available in Standard, Slim and the ultra-energy efficient Neo option, as a leading edge, tilt-and-turn window it achieves U-values of as low as 0.84W/m2K, air permeability is 600Pa, watertightness of up to 600Pa and wind resistance is 2000 Pa.

The 5000 also delivers a high level of acoustic insulation with a Maximum Rw value of 46db and achieves PAS24 using standard hardware.

“It’s a very flexible window option, sightlines are slim and with a wide range of foil options including a dedicated range to match into aluminium finishes, the 5000 series offers a lot of design potential”, continues John.
“With the significant price inflation that we’ve seen in the last year in steel supply, it’s also worth noting that the 5000 series features Linktrusion our patented and highly thermally efficient glass fibre reinforcement system.
“As strong as steel – it can be specified to manufacturer full height 2,500mm doors – the system delivers 30% thermal efficient gain, up to 40% savings on materials and weight, and is also 100% recyclable.”

Deceuninck’s commercial window and door offer, also includes Casement, Tilt-and-Turn and Fully Reversible Window.

The latter, in common with the 5000 Series, has also been designed specifically for commercial applications, and for modern buildings with large openings.

Featuring a contemporary finish they can be manufactured to a maximum size of 1,400mm x 1,400mm with a weight limit of 80kg. It also offers class 4 air permeability, class E1050 water tightness and class AE 2400Pa exposure along with exceptional energy efficiency, thanks to a double glazed U-value of just 1.3.

“The biggest gains come through partnership. If we can sit down with architects and specifiers early enough in the design process, we can work with them head on, or design-out problems. We have a lot of experience working on modular projects but also steel framed buildings”, John says.
He continues: “With that specialism and experience we can work with main contractors to enhance performance while lowering costs but we need to have that conversation sooner in the design process rather than later.

 

 

 

Case study: Springfield Park, Maidstone

Situated on a former brownfield site overlooking the River Medway, Springfield Park is a landmark development that features 502 luxury, one, two and three bed apartments.
Deceuninck commercial manufacturer, FastFrame was appointed to supply more than 800 windows and doors into the project, achieving a 40% cost saving on the original specification by manufacturing doors in the Linktrusion 5000 Series from Deceuninck, rather than the original aluminium specification. 
These were finished in a combination of Quartz grey foil and the system company’s patented colour coating system, Decoroc.
Offering a highly durable, micro-sprayed matt finish that matches aluminium powder coating for aesthetics and performance, Decoroc is available in a wide choice of RAL colours and comes with a 10-year guarantee.
Two phases have now been completed, a 320 window tower block (phase one), and a 580-window low-rise development (phase two) with windows manufactured for steel frame construction using the systems specialist’s Fully Reversible Window, 2500 casement.
Fastframe has since been awarded the 630 window and door contract for Phase 3 of Springfield Park. This next phase will include three blocks of low rise apartments, which will be built using a modular system, supplied through modular construction specialist, British Offsite.
“It’s a prime example of the kind of savings that can be made. The specification for the doors was originally in aluminium but redrawing it in our 5000 Series door system support the developers in reducing cost of delivery, enhance thermal efficiency and still deliver a very clean aesthetic”, John explains. 

www.deceuninck.com

 

 

 

 

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