News

Chancellor Philip Hammond will unveil an extra £400m for transport links in the Northern Powerhouse today. At the Tory conference today, the Chancellor is set to pledge £300m to improve connections between cities in the north that are not directly on the HS2 high speed rail line. This new funding is aimed at cutting journey times across cities such as Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds and York. An extra £100m is also being announced to improve 33 road schemes – 10 in Yorkshire and Humber, 10 in the North East and 13 in the North West. He said: “This investment will go towards ensuring HS2 infrastructure can link up with future Northern Powerhouse and Midlands rail projects – helping the towns and cities of the North reach their full…

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UK Construction Week opened its doors this morning to thousands of visitors who are all here to see the largest free construction trade show in action. Nine separate events, over 650 exhibitors, hundreds of product launches, and hours of seminars from the biggest names in the industry will take place over the next few days. The opening ceremony was hosted by architect and broadcaster, George Clarke, who was also on hand to welcome a group of cyclists who made the trip from London to Birmingham to raise more than £5,000 for Construction Youth Trust, a charity helping young people build better futures by giving them access to training, education and employment opportunities in the construction industry. Boasting more UK-first new product launches than any other show, visitors …

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UK Construction Week returns next Tuesday to the NEC, uniting over 650 exhibitors with 30,000 trade visitors in what is set to be the largest gathering of the built environment community. This year’s event, running from 10-12 October, is more topical than ever and guests to the free trade show can expect to hear how the industry plans to foster the rebirth in social housing. The show’s Development and Regeneration Hub offers the perfect antidote to those who want to tackle this key topic, which is especially relevant after the government announcement of an extra £2bn pledged towards social housing. Featuring guest speakers such as Mark Jones from the National House Building Council (NHBC), Ayo Allu, Chairman of The Chartered Institute of Building, Bristol & Bath Regional Capital CIC’s …

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The winning design from the Next Generation Design Brum competition by Scale Rule is set to be displayed at UK Construction Week’s Timber Expo from 10-12 October. Scale Rule is a voluntary initiative that receives funding from the Institution of Structural Engineers and provides a unique insight into the engineering and architecture professions for the next generation of designers – school students. Over a two-day workshop, nine teams were asked to design a ‘fun outdoor pavilion’ which featured exclusively at Birmingham Weekender Festival last month, and is set to be showcased once again at UK Construction Week’s Timber Expo. Led by a professional team made up of talented engineers, architects and designers from Arup, Curtins, Intervention Architecture and AKSward, the students developed a design concept that consisted …

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Health & Safety North is coming to Manchester for its biggest ever conference and exhibition The Health & Safety North conference and exhibition will take place in Manchester for the first time on October 10th and 11th. The 2017 event has moved from Bolton to the larger EventCity venue in Manchester, where it is expected to attract 2,000 visitors and 200 exhibitors. The move to the centrally-located EventCity, the second largest venue outside London, also enables the inaugural Fire Safety North event to run alongside Health & Safety North. Running from 10 to 11th October 2017, the event, the biggest of its kind in the north of England, is set to attract professionals from across the region for two days of educational seminars, industry debates, networking opportunities and equipment displays. The …

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More than 150 Welsh property professionals from across the country downed their tools and swapped their suits for swimming goggles, cycling shorts and running shoes to raise over £12,000 to tackle male suicide at this year’s Wales Property Triathlon. The annual triathlon, now in its fifth year, organised by family firm Jehu Group, took place in aid of male suicide prevention charity CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably), in a bid to help stop male suicide, the leading cause of death for men aged 20 to 49 across the UK.  Jehu has chosen to support the charity following the loss of a respected and popular co-worker in July of 2016 Staff from the Jehu Group and Waterstone Homes, together with many of their clients including Principality Building Society, Berry Smith and …

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UK Construction Week, the largest gathering of the UK’s built environment community, is set to return to Birmingham NEC from 10 – 12 October. The show promises to be the largest and most impressive yet, with an anticipated 35,000 visitors and more than 650 market-leading exhibitors aiming to showcase the most pioneering products, services and working practices. The construction industry is one of the most innovative industries, with new ways of working, sustainable products, collaboration and continually evolving technologies. UK Construction Week is set to prove this once more with the Innovation Trail – a trail that will bring together the very latest products and services that are changing and will change the way we build. The Innovation Trail will include the latest in Mobile Mapping from Central Alliance. Central…

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A new analysis of government statistics undertaken by a specialist home insurance provider highlights the fact there could be over three million unoccupied homes in the UK at present, with 1.3m properties without the correct home insurance.   As of April 1st 2016, there were 23,928 properties recorded as vacant and owned by local authorities in England. This number has declined significantly since the turn of the millennium, where local authorities in England recorded owning 87,200 vacant dwellings. Of the 24,000 empty buildings currently owned by Councils in England, 3,152 are properties within highly desirable London Boroughs, which have been vacant for over six months and are not currently available for letting on the property market. Figures published in August 2017 by the Resolution Foundation have shown that between the years 2000 and 2014, the number …

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Design and Construction Skills in the Spotlight 4th September 2017: Pupils from eight schools in Northern Ireland have recreated the new AC by Marriott Hotel in Belfast, as part of an immersive Minecraft initiative coordinated by leading UK construction, refurbishment and fit out contractor, Gilbert-Ash, in partnership with Belfast Harbour and STEM Aware. The project was launched to give school pupils an insight into a broad range of careers available to them in construction. The initiative showed them how the technology and skills used in globally popular Minecraft gaming programme can be used in the design and construction of buildings. During the project, pupils built models of the AC by Marriott Hotel using Minecraft, and were also given the opportunity to visit the construction site itself. The …

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If you are working in construction in the UK, you have properly heard about the CSCS card. But what is it exactly? CSCS stand for Construction Skills Certification Scheme, and the whole thing was invented about 25 years ago. It is a card that provide proof that an individual has the required training and qualifications to carry out work on a construction site. What does it cost? Before you can apply for the CSCS card you must be certified. That normally requires that you take a CITB Health Safety and Environment Test. Such a test cost £19.50 to take. Once you have passed that test, you can apply for the CSCS card, which will cost you £30. But be aware! There have been examples of companies overcharging the …

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