Report recommends better Northern Powerhouse plans

A report from the RTPI has encouraged more joined up Northern Powerhouse plans to benefit small communities.

The new report, ‘Ambitions for the North’ from the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) has said that Northern Powerhouse plans are not helping smaller communities. It does say that several government departments, Transport for the North, NP11, combined authorities and other bodies have together made significant progress in driving forward the Northern Powerhouse.

But the report says their individual plans need to be knitted together into a coherent whole that would direct development and regeneration strategically to break with unsustainable patterns of land use, road-based housing development and city-oriented investment and help to rebalance the North. It calls for an overarching spatial vision for the whole of the North of England, supported by strategies similar to the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework for each functional area.

President of the RTPI Ian Tant said: “At a time when the North looks set to receive unprecedented levels of investment, we must think hard about how to capitalise on this to ensure that change benefits everyone over the long term. Entrenched ways of delivering housing and infrastructure through silo working will only repeat mistakes of the past.”

“This is the moment to reinvest in good planning – from the most local level to strategically across boundaries – to create not only a prosperous North but greener, healthier, more inclusive and sustainable places that people proudly call home.”

The key recommendations in the report are:

• A strategic review of housing in the North with which provides an alternative to the government’s numbers-driven ‘standard methodology’ and aligns more closely with the North’s growth strategy
• A Ports, Logistics, Airports and Industrial Strategy for the North
• An overarching spatial vision for the North of England built around sustainable modes of transport, supported by spatial strategies for each functional area similar to the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework
• Spatial plans for National Parks and AoNBs with the same status as the above plans and integrated with them
• A single platform of open data to facilitate better collaborative planning.

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Housing company invests £100million in modular homes

Places For People have invested £100million in modular homes in the largest investment yet for off-site manufacturing.

Places for People will purchase 750 modular homes from ilke Homes, including 500 for sites they currently own and 250 for future partnership schemes. Last year they were awarded a grant to create 2,603 homes by Homes England.

Places for People listed the following benefits of modular homes:

• Development time on site is halved, meaning income can be generated far quicker as factories engineer homes while foundations are dug
• Significant reduction in snagging, thanks to dry and warm factory production
• Around 90% less on-site waste and 80% improvement in man-hour productivity
• ilke is the first modular manufacturer to be fully covered by NHBC warranty.

Chief Executive of Places for People David Cowans said: “We are a market disruptor becoming more active in the adoption of MMC; partnering with a proven modular business such as ilke allows us to create more affordable, well-designed homes across the country – speeding up delivery, cutting cost and giving our customers unrivalled choice and quality.”

“This is just the start for offsite manufacturing and as placemakers, we are going to invest even more in modular. We will implement efficient processes and new design techniques which not only raise the bar for the industry – but crucially, give people across the country affordable homes to live in.”

“Our partnership is about pioneering a new way of delivering homes and disrupting the market through making socially-responsible decisions and working with best-in-class partners to improve quality, speed up housing delivery and minimise environmental impact.”

Based in Yorkshire, ilke Homes has won a number of industry awards and accreditations, including a Sunday Times Best Home award. It was originally established by Keepmoat Homes, one of the UK’s leading housebuilders and has been able to draw upon the expertise of Algeco Group, a world leader in modular technology.

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Infrastructure tour launches in Essex

Treasury Minister Robert Jenrick has launched a national infrastructure tour allowing people to give feedback on local infrastructure needs.

On the infrastructure tour, the Minister will ask leaders for their views on the kinds of infrastructure needed at a local level and call for final responses to the Treasury’s consultation. The tour will feed into the UK’s first-of-a-kind national infrastructure strategy – announced by Chancellor Philip Hammond at last year’s Budget – which will be published alongside this year’s Spending Review.

The Strategy will provide a response to the National Infrastructure Commission’s National Infrastructure Assessment, and set out the government’s long-term plan. The Minister’s first stop is Ørsted’s Gunfleet Sands Offshore Windfarm in Essex, to see how the UK’s offshore wind is helping create jobs in the area.

Robert Jenrick, the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, said: “We are investing record amounts in our infrastructure.”

“But as we build on this impressive record, it is important to let people across the country have their say. Together we can ensure our infrastructure is fit for the future and serves people’s needs.”

“Every region in the UK has a key role to play in boosting productivity and prosperity, therefore I am looking forward to hearing from businesses of all sizes and local communities as part of this tour.”

This follows the Minister’s UK-wide tour of business innovation in 2018, which looked at efforts to tackle the productivity gap and how infrastructure could help play its part. The Infrastructure Finance Review will inform both the 2019 Spending Review and the upcoming National Infrastructure Strategy.

The government is also consulting on how best to support private investment in infrastructure, to help infrastructure projects access to finance after the UK leaves the EU. The consultation closes on 5 June, allowing companies to provide comment on government policy.

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Construction Connectivity – Getting Back to Basics

The European construction industry is continuing to demonstrate encouraging growth, with Deloitte forecasting that the market is on track to grow at a steady rate of 2.5% a year to 2022.

With this continued growth, firms face increasing pressure to deliver against rising demand, but it’s widely recognised that the construction industry has a reputation for often delivering projects later than expected and significantly over-budget. Large scale projects in particular can typically take 20% longer to complete than planned and can be up to 80% over budget – so how can the industry adapt to fulfil these ever-expanding expectations when current efficiency levels often leave a lot to be desired? We talk to Nick Sacke, Head of IoT and Products, Comms365.

The adoption of new technology and smarter processes can deliver tangible benefits for construction firms, but there remains a fundamental stumbling block for those organisations looking to capitalise on new innovation – a frequent lack of high speed, portable and reliable Internet connectivity. It is therefore imperative that the industry addresses these key issues as a matter of urgency so that firms can gain access to the connectivity they need at new sites from day one.

The construction site of the future

With rapid advances in technology and the advent of cloud based solutions, the way we work and interact has drastically changed. Technology innovation has led industries to continually strive to be more efficient, productive and cost effective. Yet, when it comes to the world of construction, investment in IT has remained low in comparison to other industries. The market has been hampered by technical challenges relating to projects that can be large, complex and geographically dispersed. Combined with varying proficiency and maturity levels of smaller subcontractors, advancing at scale has been difficult and has subsequently led to the slow progress of the digitisation of the construction industry.

Despite these challenges, the available technology in construction has advanced rapidly and we are now starting to see examples of how advents in digital technology can deliver efficiency and productivity opportunities at the start of all projects – truly revolutionising the construction sites of the past. Drones, robotics, 3D printing and augmented reality are no longer works of fiction but can be adopted by forward thinking firms looking to capitalise on the benefits that embracing innovation can bring to the construction site.

Connectivity is essential

Connectivity is a necessity for businesses in virtually every industry and construction is no exception. Crucially, this is still one fundamental hurdle that the industry must overcome if it is to create a solid foundation for all new innovation.

Technology that is crucial for the industry to innovate and keep up with demand, cannot function without high speed, portable and reliable internet connection, but gaining access to connectivity can be a challenge for new sites, particularly those that are located in a Green or Brownfield location where there is typically no existing connection. Often, a fixed line is simply not an option and the reliability of 4G is still patchy, even as talk around the possibilities of 5G continue to dominate the headlines.

Conclusion

The construction industry cannot continue to utilise outdated processes and management methods but instead must embrace digital advances and adopt smarter processes and technology to stay competitive. But there is no way that the construction sites of the future will ever become a reality unless the industry can conquer the basics of connectivity.

So, how can construction firms ensure that a strong and stable connection is established quickly at a new site to ensure lack of connectivity does not negatively impact on projects? By working with an ecosystem of experienced and trusted providers who can supply the connectivity and IoT services that sites require. The industry will then be able to continually benefit from the opportunities that the latest advances in innovation present. The potential rewards to firms that capitalise on digitisation will be instantaneous.

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Planning inspectorate accepts application for Great Yarmouth river crossing

The Planning Inspectorate is reviewing designs for a highway river crossing for the river Yare in Norfolk.

The Planning Inspectorate accepted for examination an application by Norfolk County Council for a proposed new highway river crossing of River Yare, Great Yarmouth, connecting Harfrey’s Roundabout to the west of the Yare with South Denes Road to the east. In November 2017 Norfolk County Council was awarded £98m towards the anticipated £120 million costs of building the Third River Crossing by the Department for Transport and the highway was recognised as a nationally significant project by the Secretary of State for Transport in 2018.

A detailed examination period of the application and any other representations is expected to follow, which is likely to begin later this year and take up to six months. The council awarded the contract for design of the Third River Crossing to BAM Farrans, a joint venture between two BAM Nuttall and Farrans Construction.

Chief Executive of the Planning Inspectorate Sarah Richards said: “Shortly, the public will be invited to register as interested parties in this proposal, giving them their first opportunity to make formal representations to the Inspectorate whether they object to or support the project.”

“Everyone who registers in the correct way can be sure that their evidence will be considered by the independent Examining Authority who will be appointed to examine the case. A major priority for us over the next few weeks is to continue our work with communities who are affected by this proposal, to ensure that the process is understood, and people know how and when to register as an Interested Party.”

Since their appointment, BAM Nuttall and Farrans Construction have finalised the design of the twin leaf bascule bridge with the counterweights below-deck. BAM Farrans will also construct the bridge on behalf of the County Council.

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NHS Highland approves construction of new hospitals

NHS Highland has approved an investment that will modernise health services the region and help construct new hospitals.

The Board of NHS Highland has given the green light to a £48m investment to modernise health and social care services in Badenoch and Strathspey and Skye, Lochalsh and South West Ross. At a special meeting, the Board unanimously agreed to submit a joint Full Business Case to the Scottish Government for the modernisation of community and hospital services for the two localities.

The Highland Council granted planning permission for a new 24-bed community hospital at Broadford on Skye on Friday 3rd May 2019 and The Cairngorm National Park Authority granted planning permission for a 24-bed community hospital in Aviemore on 22nd February 2019. Construction of the two community hospitals will begin this summer.

NHS Highland’s chief executive, Iain Stewart, said: “This investment represents a major step forward for NHS services in both Skye and Badenoch & Strathspey. It supports our efforts to modernise and transform the delivery of healthcare and, in terms of our promise to improve Out-of-Hours care on Skye, it is very much in line with the recommendations of the Ritchie Report.”

“We are delighted to be able to turn this vision into reality and I would like to recognise the huge contribution made by local communities, staff and partner agencies in reaching this stage. The redesigned services will be more stable, more sustainable and will deliver a better experience for our patients and wider communities.”

The redesign of health and social care services in Skye, Lochalsh, and South West Ross includes the closure of Mackinnon Memorial Hospital and building demolition of adjacent bungalow and cessation of lease at the Highland Council service point. The Badenoch & Strathspey redesign includes investment in Grantown Health Centre and Kingussie Medical Centre to maintain services displaced by the closure of the existing hospitals and the opening of two new flexible beds in NHSH care homes at Grant House (Grantown-on-Spey) and one flexible bed at the Wade Centre (Kingussie, completed 2017).

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Look to the future

Julie Palmer, partner at Begbies Traynor, argues that while the UK construction sector deals with short-term uncertainty and challenges affecting activity levels, there is cause for optimism as emerging technologies and methods point to a brighter, more productive future.

Against a backdrop of continued uncertainty for businesses in all sectors as the potential outcome of Brexit rumbles on, the construction industry – like many others – is facing challenges

Recent data from some key indicators demonstrate that the sector is facing mounting pressures. According our latest Red Flag Alert data, nearly 62,000 construction firms were reported to be in ‘significant’ financial distress in Q4 2018. This is a rise of 4% compared to Q3 and shows an unwelcome reverse in fortunes.

This sentiment is also echoed in the most up-to-date activity figures released by the Markit UK Construction Total Activity Index. February 2019 saw a fall in business activity, the first reversal following a ten-month period of sustained expansion and the lowest recorded in the sector since September 2017, while March offered little recovery – the first back-to-back fall in output levels since August 2016. The primary reason cited by survey respondents was a lack of new contracts in the pipeline to replace completed projects – a sure sign of business hesitancy to commit to investment plans at a time of significant economic and political turmoil.

Brexit casts a shadow

But like many sectors, the construction industry is also subject to events outside its control that can influence short-term performance. Once a definite political path is decided upon and the cloud of Brexit-related uncertainty is lifted from the economy, it is likely that the recent worrying figures will be reversed and higher levels of activity should return once more.  You only have to look back and see how the sector rebounded in a positive fashion following the last economic downturn after the financial crash in 2008 to appreciate that the UK construction industry is ultimately robust.

One important outcome of Brexit will be the nature of any deal and how that affects the large amounts of export and import within UK construction.

Despite imports and exports of construction materials decreasing in Q4 2018 – according to the ONS – there is still a reliance on these materials to supply the sector. In the fourth quarter alone £4.1Bn of materials were imported and £1.7bn exported with four of the top five importers and exporters from the EU.

This means the industry will be on tenterhooks, watching to see the details of a post-Brexit deal with the EU. To avoid skyrocketing costs of importing that much material the industry will want a good, or quick trade deal. As well as there being many who see this as an opportunity to sell our skills, craft and materials to a wider market, there are those who fear a poor deal or a shortage with stocks running low – which has been demonstrated by widely reported stockpiling in the manufacturing industry. If this ‘worst case scenario’ happens and the building rate begins to crumble, it could put a housing market, which is already playing catch up to demand, much further behind and set it back years.

However, with intelligent developments in methods and technology there is still much cause for optimism as industry leaders look into the future.

Stronger foundations through faster more intelligent builds

The advent of new and emerging technologies and techniques will help to redefine and reshape the sector, moving it away from some of its traditional unproductive approaches. The growth in automated construction is already gaining traction as a radical new way of utilising digital tools and technologies that are prevalent in other sectors such as automotive, and applying them to the construction industry landscape.

Automated construction essentially uses modern manufacturing approaches in order to boost productivity and reduce waste levels, and is capable of bringing a new level of operational efficiency to many construction challenges. This greater efficiency with materials could be very welcome to reduce costs, increase margins or find more effective use of materials.

Standardisation of staple items for buildings such as stairs, windows and doors will also mean that building homes, hospitals or other buildings is much more cost effective. Add this to next generational interconnected digital tools and virtual and augmented reality tools, which are already widely used in a manufacturing environment, and the whole process becomes swifter and impacts the bottom line for companies in a positive manner.

Resilience to change, flexibility to flourish

With the Government looking to support and promote the future digitalisation of the UK’s industrial base, it is clear that like many other sectors, this industry is set to embark on its own digital journey.  It will be one that opens up new commercial opportunities, particularly for SMEs, who can begin to benefit from emerging technology trends such as automated construction models.

While the short-term outlook for the construction industry will be subject to outside factors that may well impact investment confidence, its position at the heart of any economy delivering essential products such as homes, transport, offices and commercial buildings mean that it will always hold an ability to bounce back from financially insecure times.

Fortunately, the UK construction sector doesn’t stand still. It is flexible enough to change its shape and adapt to the new market making it resilient to change. While the immediate days to come for the industry could be tough, the resilience of the sector and its willingness to investigate future technology could secure its long-term future and see it flourish once again.

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