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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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Wirtgen says that its AutoPilot Field Rover makes it possible to have fully automatic, stringline-free concrete paving for the first time, saving contractors time and money. The judges at the Bauma Innovation Awards earlier this year clearly agreed, naming it their winner in the machinery component category. When monolithic profiles such as concrete safety barriers or kerbs are paved today, digital terrain models are created and so-called stringlines are secured in the ground along the profile. During paving, these are used by the machine for orientation purposes – a very time-consuming method. The Wirtgen AutoPilot 3D control system comprises a computer that is integrated in the machine and an intuitive control panel. Two GPS receivers mounted on the machine communicate with a GPS reference …

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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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 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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A man who received an electric shock while working from an aerial lift in Newfoundland was saved by his harness The incident occurred over the weekend in Carbonear, while the man, 55, was painting the outside of a tyre store, he apparently backed into overhead power lines received a shock and was apparently ejected from the platform. Fortunately he was wearing a harness and lanyard which may well have saved his life. The emergency services were able to bring him down and he was taken to hospital, so far no details have been given about his condition. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is working with Occupational Health and Safety to investigate the cause of the accident.

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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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