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Construction union UCATT has welcomed the key findings of the Armitt Review.  The review, commissioned by the Labour Party and written by John Armitt the former chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority, recommends that an independent cross party commission should be established to advise on major infrastructure projects. The Commission would agree on strategic infrastructure projects and would support long term Government planning decisions. Steve Murphy, General Secretary of UCATT, said: “The Armitt Review’s key findings are very important. If implemented they will reduce the short term thinking which is too often taken when considering construction projects.”

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A new report from jobs site Reed has revealed that the construction sector is the leading industry when it comes to creating new employment opportunities. The monthly job index revealed that there has been a 16 per cent increase in jobs vacancies year-on-year. Availability of construction jobs has seen 67 per cent year-on-year growth and three per cent growth when compared to the previous month. Chairman of the jobs group James Reed said that the sector is “leading the charge” in the UK employment market. The construction industry is always on the lookout for skilled workers, especially with a number of specialist professionals expected to retire in the next five-to-ten years. Government initiatives such as Help to Buy has also stimulated the industry, with more …

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The reason for safety procedures: 7 examples of why they are important Health and safety procedures, whilst at times seeming excessive and tedious, are extremely important to modern day businesses. Safety procedure are put in place to keep employees and customers safe within the workplace, and by extension, protect the company from liability claims. Here are 7 reasons why health and safety regulations are important to both employers and employees: 1. Reduce personal injuries Safety procedures are primarily in place to prevent accidents. They cover everything from ensuring wet floor signs are put out, to guidelines for the correct use of machinery. Because companies with high accident records are considered an high risk by insurance companies, having comprehensive safety procedures in place can save a business money. 2. Less damage to …

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Supermarket-built schemes may ease housing shortages, but will they actually be good places to live? In Streatham, south London, builders are hard at work addressing the capital’s dire housing shortage on a site next to the suburb’s railway station. Their employer, however, is not a housebuilder such as Bovis or Barratt but Britain’s biggest supermarket: Tesco. Bustling about in hard hats and fluorescent jackets, they are putting the finishing touches to a 60,000 sq ft Tesco store and 250 apartments that sit above, behind and beside it. Living above the shop is very much back in fashion as supermarkets lead the development of thousands of homes in their latest tactic to secure new sites. As a consequence, the race for market share among the UK’s largest retailers is …

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Construction companies might be concerned that the recent spell of good news in the industry has come to an end, after findings from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ Building Cost Information Service (BCIS) revealed that tender prices saw a fall during the first quarter of 2013. However, construction firms should not panic too much, as the BCIS said that fall in tender prices was not due to a reduction in prices, but is in fact evidence that it is settling down at the higher level, which was seen in the previous two quarters. Peter Rumble, BCIS information services manager, said: “Latest data suggests tender prices have bottomed out and are anticipated to rise slowly over the first year of the forecast period, slightly ahead of building costs….

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The largest ever off-site building project for the health sector is nearing completion. People do a lot of things remotely these days. There are conference calls instead of meetings, assignments carried out at home instead of in the office. And then there are construction projects where the real action is taking place hundreds of miles away. This is the case at North Middlesex University Hospital (NMUH) in north London. Its new Women & Children’s Centre, due to open in November 2013, was actually built in York and has been fast-tracked into existence through the most ambitious off-site prefabrication exercise in the UK health sector to date. Covering 7800m2, the two-storey building and added plant room is the largest and most complex healthcare scheme ever …

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Campaigners in Crowborough fear gas deposits found in the town may lead to the controversial practice of fracking in the future. Gas exploration company Cuadrilla has a license which would allow it to carry out exploratory drilling at sites in Crowborough and Heathfield, where gas has been discovered. Cuadrilla said it has no plans at present to carry out drilling at either site, but the controversy at the firm’s site in Balcombe in West Sussex, where a major protest against fracking has been ongoing for more than two weeks, has prompted fears of similar activity in the east of the county. More than 30 arrests were made as protesters clashed with police at Balcombe. Recently Wealden MP Charles Hendry voiced his support for the divisive technique. He said…

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 Average use in England and Wales falls to 19.7 mWh as people go without heating in face of stagnant incomes and price rises. Households in England and Wales cut their energy use by a quarter between 2005 and 2011 as prices soared, government figures show. The sharp fall was probably caused by a mix of efficiency measures and environmental awareness, as well as steep price rises, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. Households have faced steep price increases in recent years as wages have remained frozen, squeezing budgets. Average bills have risen by 28% in the last three years, industry regulator Ofgem said. The ONS figures showed that average energy consumption in England and Wales fell from 26.2 megawatt hours (mWh) in 2005 to 19.7 mWh in 2011. Energy use varied widely between…

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The boss of Bovis Homes has told Sky News the company is to step up its building of new houses as the market recovery gathers pace. David Ritchie was speaking after the builder posted a 19% increase in first half pre-tax profit to £18.6m. It said that while market house price increases were estimated at up to 2% over the year to date, its own average sale price had risen to £188,500 on average – a rise of 15%. Bovis, like its competitors, has credited Government measures such as the Help to Buy shared equity scheme for improved activity in the market, benefiting first-time buyers especially. Funding for Lending has aided borrowers in that it has brought down mortgage costs. The company spoke of an acceleration in …

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Even with the unreliable weather of the UK – workers in the Construction industry often spend a larger percentage of their working life outdoors than many other industries. These means that construction workers have a greater exposure to ultra violet rays than those working inside, and as a result are six more likely to get skin cancer than in any other industry. Plant hire company PJ Brown have put together the following advice leaflet for constructions workers to help them to stay safe in the sun and avoid harmful sun damage.

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