Civil engineering costs continue to rise

The latest report from RICS’ Building Cost Information Service (BCIS) has revealed that civil engineering costs increased by 0.7% in the second quarter of 2015 in comparison with the previous quarter but remained unchained from the same period in 2014.

BCIS’ findings forecast civil engineering costs, tender prices and new infrastructure out as a whole is set to increase over the next five years. Costs are expected to increate at around 3.5% to 5.0% per year, with the cost of materials and nationally agreed wage awards growing steadily.

Over a five-year period, this could see costs rising by as much as 25%.

New infrastructure output is anticipated to be extremely strong in 2015 but remain steady in 2016 before beginning to drop in 2017 as the cycle of major projects passes its peak. Moderate growth returns are predicted in 2018 and 2019, before experiencing rapid growth in 2020 due to increased investment in roads and the High Speed 2 project.

Peter Rumble, Head of Forecasting, RICS’ BCIS division, said: “With new infrastructure output set to be very strong in 2015, the annual rate of tender price increases is expected to rise in the second half of 2015 and the first half of 2016, resulting in an increase of 7.6% in the year to 2nd quarter 2016. Over the next few years, tender price rises are anticipated to be driven primarily by increases in input costs, rising by 4% to 5%. as growth moderates and even falls in 2017. Over the final year of the forecast, stronger output growth in 2020, together with increasing input costs, are likely to lead to higher tender price rises in the year to 2nd quarter 2020, with a rise of 6.2%.

“New infrastructure output is anticipated to be at a historically high level over the forecast period compared with pre-2010, with annual average growth of around 3.5% – a real positive for Britain and the economy.”

The post Civil engineering costs continue to rise appeared first on UK Construction Online.

Reaction to latest ONS construction output figures

The Vinden Partnership react to the latest construction output figures.

The Office of National Statistics (ONS) has released its latest figures, which show construction industry output fell by 4.3% in August in comparison with July.

Experts had expected to see a 1% rise.

The figure is also down 1.3% on the same period last year, and represents the first year on year fall since May 2013.

Housing output fell by 3%, with both private and public new housing falling by 1.6% and 9.9% respectively. Compared with August 2014, new housing was down 5.8%, with public housing decreasing dramatically by 28.9%.

Martin Bennett, Regional Director at The Vinden Partnership, says the figures are a warning to the government that the skills shortage could potentially stifle growth in the construction industry.

Mr Bennett said: “It seems with the release of any figures related to the construction industry, the skill shortage is an issue that is not simply going to go away. The government needs to do all it can to keep the construction sector moving by providing long-term investment and strategy.

“Without it, the government may find its own high profile infrastructure projects and its commitment to housing coming under severe threat.”

The post Reaction to latest ONS construction output figures appeared first on UK Construction Online.

Scottish BIM implementation plan officially launched

The Scottish BIM Delivery Group (BIM DG) has officially launched the Scottish BIM implementation plan that sets out the strategy for public sector projects within Scotland to adopt BIM Level 2 by April 2017.

BIM DG was set up by Scottish Futures Trust and the Scottish government and is headed by Professor David Philp, Head of BIM at the UK BIM Task Group and BIM Director at AECOM. Its brief is to support the Scottish government in meeting it’s objective to move towards a digital built environment and put into place the recommendations from the review of Public Sector Procurement in Construction.

The delivery group has recommended the requirement of BIM Level 2 for all projects above the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) threshold of £4.32M. Projects that cost less than this figure will be assessed to see whether the implementation of BIM would be beneficial.

The BIM implementation plan has several fundamental objectives including providing a roadmap to the implementation of BIM Level 2 by April 2017 on public sector projects. It will also seek to address the recommendations of the Review of Procurement in Construction report in relation to BIM and support the public sector by demonstrating the benefits of adopting BIM.

Experienced leadership and direction is to be provided at a national level in the adoption of BIM for public sector projects within Scotland.

Guidance will be prepared and published for procuring authorities to better equip them in adopting BIM Level 2, with benefits of adopting BIM being demonstrated.

The group will also develop and introduce a BIM decision matrix, which will help procuring authorities to understand and decide whether their project would benefit from the use of BIM.

The Scottish BIM implementation plan sets out five steps along the road to BIM implantation. These ‘horizons’ are Planning & Objectives; Mobilisation; Pathfinder Projects; BIM Guidance; and Launch of BIM Level 2.

Commenting on the launch of the implementation plan, Mr Philp said: “It is an exciting time for the Scottish construction industry as we have a great opportunity to change the industry. I have no doubt in my heart that we will be successful.

“People have been talking about improving the industry for the last 40 years, but this is the first time we genuinely make a chance of making a change.”

The post Scottish BIM implementation plan officially launched appeared first on UK Construction Online.

Record year for Bellway

After a fantastic year, which has seen the Company sell a record 7,752 properties in the 12 months to end of July, Bellway has committed to building ten per cent more homes in the next year.

With pre-tax profits rising to 44%, the Company believes the strength of the market in Britain, which is being underpinned by low mortgage rates and a shortage of properties, is ripe for expansion.

Commenting on the results, Chairman, John Watson, said: “Bellway has produced another outstanding set of results, completing a record number of new homes, whilst simultaneously making a record investment in land and opening a further two new divisions in the last twelve months.

“This successful implementation of the Group’s disciplined growth strategy has enabled the Board to propose a final dividend of 52.0p per share, bringing the total dividend for the year to 77.0p.

“Bellway is well positioned to continue delivering its strategy for growth, investing in high quality locations and delivering further sustainable returns for shareholders. The outlook remains positive and the strength of the forward order book should enable the Group to achieve volume growth of up to 10% in the current financial year.”

Chief Executive Ted Ayres said reservations in the last nine weeks were up 16% on a year ago, in part because the company had more properties available.

“It’s been a very good start in the first nine weeks, and it gives us confidence we can do volume growth of around ten per cent this year,” he said

Shares in Bellway were trading up 4.2% to 2.466 pence in early trade on Tuesday, topping the mid-cap index.

 

The post Record year for Bellway appeared first on UK Construction Online.

1,000 affordable Scottish Homes

Plans have been revealed that will help 1,000 affordable homes to be built across Scotland.

An investment of £55M (as a loan from the Scottish Government), which matches private investment to bring a total of £100M, which will be made available to the Local Affordable Rented Housing Trust (LAR), the Scottish charity set up to provide long-term, mid market rented housing across Scotland.

Working in partnership with LAR and local authorities, house builders and developers will be encouraged to help provide affordable housing to eligible tenants.

LAR builds on the Scottish Government’s successful National Housing Trust initiative and means, since 2012, approaching 4,000 new affordable homes have been approved through a range of innovative financing mechanisms, unlocking up to half a billion pounds of housing investment.

It is hoped that the LAR model can be replicated and extended to help meet the demand for more affordable homes.

In Musselburgh, where East Lothian Council and Taylor Wimpey are set to deliver the first LAR housing development, Social Justice Secretary Alex Neil said: “We continue to lead the way in the UK in developing innovative financial models, such as guarantees, loans, grant recycling and new sources of private funding to accelerate the supply of affordable homes. These pioneering approaches help us to make taxpayers’ money stretch further.

“LAR will deliver up to 1,000 homes for mid-market rent offering tenants high quality, affordable mid-rent homes across Scotland, supporting local communities to thrive, tackling inequality and addressing housing need.

“These homes will be in addition to the 30,000 affordable homes, of which at least two thirds will be for social rent, that will be delivered by the end of this Parliament. And there is potential for this model to be extended more widely to meet the significant demand for mid-rent housing.”

Raymond Williamson, Chairman of LAR, said: “We are extremely grateful to the Scottish Government for providing initial funding to LAR.

“The LAR team is looking at a number of development sites across Scotla nd where we can buy homes, which have been or are in the process of being constructed and we would be pleased to hear from builders and developers across Scotland who believe they have something to offer. This is an important step forward in providing homes at reasonable rents.”

The post 1,000 affordable Scottish Homes appeared first on UK Construction Online.

Homeowners unaware of dangerous radon gas

Experts in the field of radon gas management have conducted a new study that reveals over 75% of people in Britain with home extension built underground are unaware of the dangers of radon gas before undertaking work on their property.

Radon gas is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the UK and the new study hopes to raise awareness of the dangers of undetected radon for anybody considering basement excavations or dig-down home extensions and conversions.

Leading experts on radon gas control, PropertECO, commissioned a survey of nearly 3,000 homeowners in the UK. Of those respondents who had work of this nature done to their property, only 24% had been warned by the person carrying out the work about the possibility of radon being a potential issue. The remaining 76% were completely unaware of dangers associated with long-term exposure to the gas.

Those homeowners polled who hadn’t had underground work carried out on their property, 39% said they were aware of the dangers of radon to people living in a house with elevated levels and that it was a cause of cancer. 61% admitted they knew nothing more than the existence of radon as a chemical substance.

The British Standard ‘code of practice’ that should be followed when completing below ground waterproofing (something which all basement excavations or conversions require), states that design should take radon into account. This has been a requirement since 2009, meaning any homeowners who have had this type of work undertaken at their property in the last six years should have been made aware of radon.

Martin Freeman, MD of PropertECO said: ““Time and time again we hear stories of individuals who are completely unaware of radon and its associated risks, until it’s too late. It comes as a worrying statistic that so many homeowners who’ve made the decision to build under their properties are not given the facts on the dangers of radon exposure, and it is disappointing that building professionals are themselves either unaware of the requirements for protection under the British Standard, or simply choosing to ignore them.

“Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that comes from the ground and can enter properties. Long term exposure to high levels of radon can lead to lung cancer, and it is responsible for around 2000 lung cancer deaths in the UK every year.”

“Properties with basements are at increased risk, so it is very important that when new basements are being created, radon is taken into consideration to ensure a safe environment for the occupants. The only way to know if a building is affected is to carry out a radon test using a special detector upon occupation, which is why our team is so passionate about raising its awareness to homeowners up and down the UK.

“Basements can provide valuable extra living space and are an excellent way of extending a home, however they must be created in a way that ensures they are safe to occupy.”

The post Homeowners unaware of dangerous radon gas appeared first on UK Construction Online.

TfL’s new measures highlight commitment to transparency

Following the publication of a new transparency strategy, a raft of new measures is to be introduced to make Transport for London (TfL) an even more transparent organisation.

The measures follow a public consultation with customers and stakeholders, which sought views on the effectiveness of the wide range of information currently published by TfL and how it is presented.

TfL will now introduce a range of new measures that include publishing all replies to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests online beginning at in 2016, with the exact date of its introduction to be announced before the end of 2015.

TfL will issue a schedule in December that will show when regular information and datasets are published.

Also in December, webcasts of Board meetings will be made available to view via TfL’s YouTube channel for longer than the current period of six months.

TfL’s website will also evaluated to see if it can be made more user friendly and simpler to find and understand data. Any gaps in data provided by TfL on the number of passengers using each service will be identified and the presentation of the information standardised to make the information easier to understand.

Updates will be published twice a year on the progress made by TfL in an effort to further increase transparency and make the information more freely available.

TfL also provides an extensive range of real-time open-data feeds and they power hundreds of smartphone travel apps developed by third parties. This approach is being extended beyond travel information into areas such as road safety.

Mike Brown, MVO, London’s Transport Commissioner, said: “Our role is to modernise and improve London’s transport services so they continue to support new homes, jobs and economic growth. As we do this, we are committed to being open and transparent, and we are making more information publicly available than ever before.

“We want our customers and stakeholders to be able to scrutinise how we operate and how our income is spent for the benefit of London. For many years we have published a huge amount of information and data and this strategy is the next step in going even further.”

The information TfL already provides helps in the scrutiny of how the network is run. All income – from fares, charges, government grants and commercial activity – is reinvested in running and improving transport services.

TfL’s transparency policy is that all information should be made available publicly unless there’s a legitimate reason for not doing so. For example, personal customer data, should not be made available and some data could also have disproportionate costs associated with making it available.

The post TfL’s new measures highlight commitment to transparency appeared first on UK Construction Online.