Category Archives: construction

Health and safety in public sector construction procurement

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HSE have now published their study that looked at health and safety issues in public sector construction procurement.

The broad aim of the research was to provide an evidence-based assessment of how well the public sector in England, Scotland and Wales meets its health and safety obligations in the procurement of construction.

The conclusions, drawn from the evidence of the research, suggest at the broadest level that while some public sector clients performed reasonably well in terms of meeting their health and safety obligations during the procurement of construction, there is certainly more that could be done.

In terms of recommendations going forward, the evidence suggests that more needs to be done to embed current health and safety guidance among public sector clients. There is a sense, from the results, that ‘best practice’ is not as widely embedded as it perhaps could be.

What I find of interest is the studies comment on inetgrated working:

The majority of contractors believe that an integrated project team was used to deliver the project in question. This is a surprising finding given that the majority of the projects in question were procured using traditional procurement methods, and suggests that knowledge regarding integration of project teams may need refreshing for both the client and the contractor.

Read the full report

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Geo Solar Homes

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Housing Construction that both heats it self and cools itself. An interesting innovation from the States can be found at Enertia House

Enertia Building System, named as the 2007 Modern Marvel of the Year is described as

innovative new homes of remarkable strength, economy, and beauty, brought to life by an elegant new architecture and the discovery of a new source of pollution-free energy.

with a built-in “biosphere,” in gradual but constant motion, draws energy from the sun, and geothermal stability from the ground, creating a temperate climate that buffers the primary living space.

The site provides plenty of science ‘background’ which is worth checking out.

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Think 07 – Thinkonceagain

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Just catching up on some of the material from the Think07 event.

Tesco publicity material was contained on a USB stick, which contained an informative video explaining there approach to sustainable stores.  For an understanding of where the retail clients in the industry are heading take a look at their website thinkonceagain.   Their green flagship store is Tesco, Wick, where they claim to have halved the carbon footprint.

Low Emmision Zones – sign of things to come

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To improve air quality in London – which is currently among the worst in Europe – the Mayor has designated Greater London as a Low Emission Zone.    As Zero Champion points out:

Ken Livingstone’s attempt to control polluting vehicles from central London could spell crisis for construction traffic. It’s the first such scheme in the UK and the largest planned in the world. As of February 2008 pollution-spewing lorries will face charges of £200 to travel in the Low Emission Zone.

We are seeing local authorities here in the NW now look at construction transport miles seriously – even as a scored procurement  issue.

Not too bad though when you consider we don’t need one out of every three construction material lorries on the road anyway – as a recent Defra report hinted

Watch this space…..

Reasons to be cheerful …

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Dont Risk the Historic Approach

Partnered or negotiated projects are 18-44% more likely to deliver on cost and 7-15% more likely to deliver on time than those adopting historic approaches, according to new analysis by Be1 based on the evidence of the last five years.

This is a now dated report that I came across again recently – but still impressive – the benefits must have improved over the last two years or so – how do your KPIs and performance measures stack up?

Fit for Purpose, Planet and People

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A few recent issues have reinforced my view we may be slowly replacing environmental impact with carbon impact.  Whilst carbon management is a good focus on our environmental impact, and a relatively easy one to calculate,  we still need to keep a balance on our environmental impact.

A good balance is in the triptych  from Patrick Geddes – being fit for Planet, for People and Purpose

It is good therefore to see CABE’s report focusing on their ecological footprint as well as their carbon footprint.  .

As we see more and more clients looking for evidence of environmental impact management and evidence in procurement, for example on construction transport miles, this report is well worth reading for its background in calculating footprints, in addition to CABE’s own footprint and action plans.

And on a wider, global scale we see reports in the media of the devastation of forestry and food land around the world in a rush to produce bio-fuels for energy or transport including bio-materials for our industry.

May Day commitment to action

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A number of people have suggested I put the Think top ten actions in here as well as the link to the Think 07. Here they are again – what do we make of them ( more to the point what will John Prescott make of them!) Maybe we use these as the agenda for our question time event in September.

1.To draw up SMART targets for the reduction of carbon emissions, waste & water and to protect biodiversity.

2. To develop industry-wide, consistent carbon modelling and measurement tools for existing and new buildings to achieve these targets.

3. To halve the amount of construction waste taken to landfill every two years.

4. To devise a more effective renewable energy strategy, including district-wide strategies.

5. To encourage landlords and occupiers to share and publish data on buildings’ energy consumption, with the aim of collectively reducing emissions.

6. To adopt operational energy labelling certificates across all buildings.

7. For landlords to adopt a new code on leases which discourages the reinstatement of properties to their original state.

8. To promote the use of life cycle analysis, including embedded and operational carbon emissions.

9. Every building to have a master ‘off’ switch.

10. To encourage the adoption across the construction and property industries of the May Day commitment to action.

Rethink, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

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This was the conclusion from last weeks Think 07 conference.

Maybe the the only action plan we need?

OJEU Delivered to your screen

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You can now get relevant notices from OJEU delivered straight to your computer screen through RSS feeds which are easy to set up – using iGoogle for instance – leads, news and other important information is there waiting for you when you open up your Google desktop

You need to go to Construction and Real Estate  to view the website page (or copy and paste link into your reader of regular updates)

As a reminder you can feed this blog through to your reader as well – use  https://fairsnape.wordpress.com/feed/

Drop a comment or email if you need assistance in using RSS and iGoogle

Local BSF News

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Contracts worth nearly ten million pounds have already been placed with Lancashire firms as work begins on the Building Schools for the Future programme in Burnley and Pendle. Nearly six million pounds of business has been won by firms in East Lancashire. The contracts include work on things like fixtures and fittings, steel frames, and earthworks.

The Building Schools for the Future programme will involve 250 million pounds of development on nine sites in Burnley and Pendle. Work has started on three sites where students are due to start using the facilities in September 2008. The Shuttleworth College site on Burnley Road, Padiham, will house a 1,050 place school for pupils aged 11 to 16 and a learning support centre.

Keith Walton Brickworth Ltd, of Nelson, has a contract to provide bat roosts.

James Killelea Ltd, of Rossendale, has a contract to provide steel work.

H. Breakell, of Blackburn, has a contract to provide lifts.

Vari-tech, of Blackburn, has a contract to provide fixtures, fittings and equipment.

The Burnley Campus, on Barden Lane, will house a 600 pupil sixth form, a primary school, a primary special school, a children’s centre, a faith centre and a public library. Orders placed so far for the site are worth 1.3 million pounds to Lancashire businesses:

James Killelea Ltd, of Rossendale, has a contract to provide steel works.

    The Pendle Vale College and Pendle Community High School site, on Oxford Road in Nelson, will house a 1,050 place school for pupils aged 11 to 16, a special school for pupils aged 11 to 19, and a learning support centre. Orders placed so far for the site are worth 5.9 million pounds to Lancashire businesses:

      Kiernan Construction,of Ribbleton, has a contract to provide earthworks and substructures.Varitech, of Blackburn, has a contract to provide fixtures, fittings, and equipment.

      Wm Taylor Pools, of Preston, has a contract to provide a hydrotherapy pool.

      H. Breakell, of Blackburn, has a contract to provide lifts.

    The Building Schools for the Future programme is a being spearheaded by Lancashire County Council in partnership with developers Catalyst Lend Lease and builders Bovis Lend Lease.

    Michael Damms, the chief executive of East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce, said: “The Building Schools for the Future programme is a great boost to the economy of East Lancashire and makes a real statement about confidence in the area. We look forward to working with the county council and the developers to help local companies identify business opportunities.”
    Marcus Johnstone, Lancashire County Council’s cabinet member for children and young people, said: “I am delighted that so much of the money we are spending on new schools in east Lancashire is finding its way into the local economy. This project is bringing massive regeneration to Burnley and Pendle We will be working with the developers, the chamber of commerce and local business people to build a more prosperous, happier, and better educated community.”
    Catalyst Lend Lease’s general manager for the Lancashire BSF programme said: “Our goal is to use as many local contractors and suppliers as we can to help us build and equip these new colleges. “We want to support the local community and encourage contractors to recruit local people to work on these projects.”

    Thanks to Cath Pickup for this news item .

    Related events from the club include – Life After Frameworks on the 24th May and Bidding To Win on June 7/8

    Details on the events page.