Cold Building Syndrome

The EU’s Energy Performance of Buildings directive stated that all buildings will have to have an energy rating at the time they are constructed, sold or rented.

The problem for building owners is that the new energy assessments, that are starting to emerge, will use naturally ventilated space as the rating benchmark. In effect a lot of the current and even newly installed air conditioning systems may well be labelled with a poor energy rating. Building Magazine reports that concern is mounting over the affect that this will have on the value of the building.

The real dilemma to a developer or building owner is having the benefit of air conditioning within their premises, satisfying their prospective tenants demands or meeting the EU directive and achieve a good energy rating.

Not really that much of a dilemma....

2012 Olympic's Plans "Most Complex" in History

This week The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), organisers of the 2012 London Olympics submitted, what is said by Lord Coe to be "one of the biggest and most complex" planning applications in UK history.

The substantial 15-volume application for the Olympic village and surroundings sets out what organises call a vision "for one of the largest urban parks to be built in Europe for 150 years."

The first stage of the application includes extensive work to waterways, including the construction of river and flood defence walls. It also includes the construction of highways and a continuous loop road surrounding the Olympic park.
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Part two focuses on the construction of five permanent sporting venues and three other temporary venues, plans also affordable housing, and office space.

The application will be considered by a committee including representatives from all the London boroughs affected and a final decision is expected by late summer.

Health & Safety Tips

Gherkin

Swiss Re have successfully sold the London Landmark building for a cool £600m. The 41 storey building designed by Norman Foster was bought by Evans Randall, the UK investment banking group, and IVG Immobilien, the German fund manager.

Road to Nowhere.

According to a new survey from the RAC Foundation and www.companycardriver.co.uk released recently, 20 percent of company car drivers spend more than 11 days a year sitting in congestion.

The highest number of company car drivers are stuck between 1 and 2 hours in congestion and 1 in 5 company car drivers spend more than 5 hours in congestion per week.

The survey also revealed that 10 percent of company car drivers admitted to have previously fallen asleep at the wheel with current statistics showing that falling asleep at the wheel is the cause of around 20% of accidents on long journeys on trunk roads and motorways.

You will be pleased to here that the survey also found that only 1% of company car drivers said that they have driven under the influence of illegal drugs. Although sadly the report doesn't speculate on the possibility that the other 99% were to stoned to remember!

To read more from the survey Click Here

Middle Management

The Daily Telegraph features an article prepared by Hay Group on the current state of middle managers.

The article unavoidably refers to the David Brent Syndrome. Approximately 40pc of senior managers believe that middle managers are the 'single biggest barrier' in achieving company goals.

A further 38pc of senior managers believed that they were 'paralysed' by the incompetence of their subordinates. The same managers believed that with sufficient training productivity could be increased by 29pc.

The real quality that shines through in this article is the last statistic - a staggering 72pc of middle managers believed that they could comfortably undertake their boss's job....

Industry News

Making the news today are the following stories:

Multiplex are in talks with Canadian based asset developer, Brookfield Asset Management. As reported in the Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian property developer said that Brookfield Asset Management had made a formal approach that may lead to an offer involving Roberts Family Nominees, the Roberts family company, which holds about 25.6 per cent of Multiplex.

No doubt more news will emerge on this one in the coming days.

Wilson Bowden is likely to confirm this morning a £2.13 billion takeover deal from Barratt. Any such deal will pay David Wilson, its chairman and co-founder, more than £700 million in cash and shares.

Meanwhile Countrywide will announce that it has received a bid approach from the US giant

Interview questions

In today's job market, the supply of good candidates falls well behind the demand. Consequently the balance of power has switched from the employer to the job seeker.

Gone are the days when job seekers would accept any role with any ordinary company. Today job seekers are the ones asking all the questions of the employers with prospects and salary featuring high on the agenda.

A recent article in The Times features those dreaded interview questions, and presents details of what an acceptable response will be. We consider that the job seekers should be equally aware of the unacceptable responses:

'Where do you see yourself in five years time?' In your job of course

'What are your weaknesses' Men like you and fondant fancies

'Tell me about yourself' Five foot four, blue eyes and green hair

The questions you should not ask the employer include:

'How many days sick leave do I get?'

'What is the talent like in here?'

Got any other interview questions we have missed?

Site Waste Management Plans. What are they?

Construction firms are being urged to take early action on waste before the planned enforcement of Site Waste Management Plans (SWMPs) next year. A recent study by the environmental website Net Regs showed that of 402 small construction businesses surveyed , 66% were unaware of what the plans were, while 60% didn't realise they would become a legal requirement in April 2008.

For those 66% who don't know a SWMP provides a structure for waste delivery and disposal at all stages of a construction project, it includes:

• How the waste is managed – is it reduced, reused or recycled?
• Which contractors are used to ensure the waste is correctly recycled or disposed of responsibly and legally
• How the quantity of waste generated from the project is measured.

Still confused well don't worry help is at hand as Envirowise gives details of 9 FREE SWMPs events that will be taking place across England. Click here for the dates and locations.

Remeber from April 2008, any construction project over £250,000 in value that is unable to provide evidence of a SWMP could be fined.

Greener Buildings

Following our article last night urging everyone to turn off their lights for five minutes, we saw on the news how the Eiffel Tower did just that. The Eiffel Tower, which is illuminated by an incredible 20,000 bulbs, turned off most it's lights in a show of unity.

According to reports from the BBC this morning France witnessed a 1% drop in energy consumption as a result of people taking action and turning off their lights and power supply.

Great effort - but what happened at 19:00? Did all the lights and power go back on again? Did the Eiffel Tower just go back to normal? Done our bit kind of thing?

A similar message has come from the UK Government following the publication of (another)document attempting to tackle climate change. The goal is to ensure that every new house built is to be zero carbon by 2016.

Ruth Kelly is reported as saying within the RICS Business (Feb 07) that 'Climate Change is a real and imminent threat'.

There are daily reports on how large and looming the problem is and yet all we can do is plan twelve years ahead and turn off the lights for five minutes?

Turn it off

Lights out everyone, 1st of Feb. On the 1st Feb, 2007 throughout the world: The "Alliance pour la Planète" (a national grouping of environmental associations) appeals to all citizens to give the planet 5 minutes respite: Everybody to extinguish all their lights & illuminations & turn off equipment on stand-by on the 1st February 2007 from 18h55 until 19h00. (GMT)

The purpose is not just to save electricity for 5 minutes that day, but to draw the attention of citizens, the media & the authorities to the waste of energy & the need to initiate action! 5 minutes respite for the planet: that's not long, it costs nothing & will show our politicians that climate change is something which should figure prominently in political debates. Why the 1st February? Because that is the day on which the latest report of the United Nations Panel of Experts is to be released in Paris.

Although this event is scheduled to take place in France, we should not miss this opportunity of drawing attention to the global climatic situation. Please make this appeal as widely known as possible in your own circles! Please also publish it on your websites and in your newsletters. DIFFERENT TIMEZONES.. we think it'd be best to do a 'wave' across the world instead of people working out what time it would be in your time zone. so just turn off everything at 6.55pm YOUR time & let's watch the wave go. of course this event wont change the world's climate overnight but what it will show people we do care about climate change & something much bigger than our little 'lights out' event needs to be done! So dont just stop after this little event but carry on everyday being aware of the little things that you can do to save our world.

Wembley Trial

News has arrived via Building Magazine of the result of the ongoing dispute between Multiplex and CBUK. Judge Jackson has found that Cleveland Bridge are not liable for the temporary roofing costs.

The case centres on the breakdown between the two contracted parties that ultimately resulted in Cleveland Bridge leaving site.

According to reports in QS Week, which is documenting the trial, the two parties are suing each other for damages and breach of contract. According to the presiding Judge Jackson, the crux of the case hinges on which company folded first.

In a statement released this morning on Multiplex's website

The case that was heard yesterday in London dealt with only one element of the damages claim;
There already exists a contractual cap on all damages claims of GBP6 million;
While the judgement resulted in a reduction in the total amount able to be claimed by Multiplex for damages, Multiplex’s overall claim for damages still exceeds the GBP6 million cap on the damages claims;
Multiplex is considering appealing the decision;
Multiplex continues to pursue substantial claims for abatement; and
This judgement does not alter the overall expected financial outcome of the Wembley project.

So it seems the case will continue. Whilst extra time may well be needed, nobody wants to see this one settled on penalties...

Migrant Workers Provide Boost to UK Economy

Yesterday the Institute of Directors (IoD) published a new report on migrant workers which finds that there a large proportion of business leaders believe that migrant workers provide a vital boost to the UK economy.

The report, which surveyed over 500 members in December of last year showed that ,around 65% of IoD members want to encourage immigration in order to alleviate skills shortages and widen the labour pool. They report that migrant workers significantly outperform the existing workforce in a number of areas including productivity, education & skills, work ethic, reliability and the amount of sick leave.

57 percent of the Business Leaders were in favour of a policy of total freedom of movement of labour within the EU However only 13 percent thought the Governments current immigration policy was effective. However its is worth noting that the majority,80 percent, are not in favour of completely unrestricted immigration policy.

Miles Templeman, Director General of the Institute of Directors said:

““As demonstrated by our survey, migrant workers provide a vital boost to the UK economy. It also, more than we expected, shows that migrant workers outperform across a whole range of measures including productivity, education and skills, work ethic, reliability and the amount of sick leave. Immigration however, should not be left unrestricted and should be controlled on a skills basis.

“It also confirms the Leitch report recommendation, that in a global economy, the UK workforce has got to raise its game on skills and performance.”