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budget 2017

What does the 2017 budget mean for construction?

November 29, 2017/0 Comments/in News /by joannevickers

The Chancellor Philip Hammond has today delivered a ‘budget for builders’ that should allow small builders to deliver more of the new homes Britain so badly needs, says the Federation of Master Builders (FMB).

Housing was at the centre of Philip Hammond’s autumn budget speech this month. The chancellor revealed plans to commit a total of at least £44 billion of capital funding, loans and guarantees over the next five years to ‘support the housing market to boost the supply of skills, resources, and building land and to create the financial incentives necessary to deliver 300,000 net additional homes a year on average by the mid-2020s’.

Commenting on the Budget 2017, Brian Berry Chief Executive of the FMB said “The Government has set itself a new target of building 300,000 new homes a year by the mid-2020s. And today the Chancellor has put small and medium-sized builders at the heart of ambitious plans to tackle the growing housing crisis. The Chancellor appears to be putting his money where his mouth is with the announcement of £44 billion of capital funding, loans and guarantees. In particular, a further £1.5 billion for the Home Building Fund to be targeted specifically at SME housebuilders can play a significant role in channelling crucial funding to this sector. A £630 fund to prepare small sites for development and proposals to require councils to deliver more new housing supply from faster-to-build smaller sites will provide opportunities to boost small scale development.”

Berry continued: “A second major challenge to getting new homes built is the skills crisis we face. In the long run, the only real solution to chronic skills shortages will be a major increase in the training of new entrants into our industry. We are therefore pleased to hear the Chancellor has today committed extra resourcing to training for construction skills. With Brexit round the corner the next few years will bring unprecedented challenges to the construction sector. The Government will need to make sure that the sector continues to have access to skilled EU workers, but we are pleased that the Chancellor has today listened to the needs of SME builders”.

Stamp duty is to be abolished for first-time buyers on properties up to £300,000. This represents a cut for 80% of first-time buyers. And those spending between £300,000 and £500,000 on their first home will save £5,000 in stamp duty. The controversial help-to-buy scheme is also to be extended despite widespread concern that it contributes to ballooning house prices. The budget confirmed that an extra £10bn will go into the scheme to extend it to 2021, a measure previously announced in October.

David Thomas, chief executive of house-builder Barratt Developments, said: “We welcome the government’s continued focus on housing, the stamp duty cut will help more young families get a foot on the property ladder and further planning reform is vital to increasing housing supply – overall this is a positive budget putting housing front and centre where it belongs.”

Shares in house-building companies fell after Hammond failed to announce the ambitious programme the markets had anticipated. The chancellor said he planned to commit £44bn in capital funding, loans and guarantees to support the UK housing market. He claimed this would help deliver 300,000 new homes a year. And small building firms would get a share of £1.5bn for new homes. But planning reform was punted into the long grass again. Hammond announced a review by Oliver Letwin on how to close the gap between planning permissions being granted and houses being built.

Tom Shaw, director of consulting engineer firm Ramboll, said: “There were a number of new positive measures announced for housing in the budget, but what was disappointing was the lack of specifics that would encourage the construction industry to embrace offsite techniques. Increasing housing supply to 300,000 per year requires offsite construction methods – without it we have no chance of meeting these targets by 2025.”

However, supporting documents released later revealed the extend of the government’s commitment to promoting offsite construction: “The government will use its purchasing power to drive adoption of modern methods of construction, such as offsite manufacturing. Building on progress made to date, the Department for Transport, the Department of Health, the Department for Education, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Defence will adopt a presumption in favour of offsite construction by 2019 across suitable capital programmes, where it represents best value for money.”

Time will tell as to whether the new policies have a positive impact on the construction industry.

https://broadsword-group.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Budget-1210x331.jpg 331 1210 joannevickers https://broadswordgrp.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/broadsword-logo.png joannevickers2017-11-29 09:23:542017-11-29 09:23:54What does the 2017 budget mean for construction?
digital construction

Global Construction Survey 2017

November 22, 2017/0 Comments/in Home Page news feed, News /by joannevickers

How can the engineering and construction industry overcome fragmentation, external competition and inconsistent performance by reimagining its approach to governance, people and technology? 

That is the question posed by KPMG in their Make it or Break it global construction survey.

Over the past decades, owners and contractors have made considerable strides in improving the delivery of capital projects. We’ve seen a host of advances in the form of new construction techniques, project delivery strategies, and enhanced processes and controls for safety, risk management, budget, scope and schedule.

70% track project performance based on original approved baseline project schedule and budget.

60% hold routine project review meetings with management, which trigger additional reviews — and if necessary, intervention — for any issues that could impair project performance.

47% say their organisations have separate systems for project reporting, yet a mere 8 percent have what they call “push one button, real-time, full project management information system (PMIS), capable of project and portfolio dashboard reporting.

31% report that their companies do have integrated systems for project reporting, which means that most project managers lack the capability to control all elements of the work.

30% claim to incorporate performance targets into all of their contracts, with a further 52% including targets on “some” of their contracts.

Schedule is ranked as the number one performance measure, followed by cost/cost sharing. Contract performance measures for output/ production, safety, subcontracting and schedule ranked considerably lower

40% of employees are Gen X and 37% are Millennials.

86% say that the “human element” significantly influences project delivery.

What are engineering and construction firms and project owners actually doing to optimise the human element?

As Baby Boomers approach retirement, new generations of workers are taking their place. According to the professionals participating in the global survey:

23% of their workforces are comprised of Baby Boomers (born 1945–1964)

40% of Generation X (born 1965–1979)

37% of Millennials (born 1980–1994).

What are the implications of this generational shift — especially for Millennials who’ve grown up in the digital age and, additionally, don’t always have the nurturing hand of Baby Boomers around their shoulders to help them learn the tricks of the trade?

Giving younger employees the skills, experience and confidence to manage major projects — and managing and motivating them in an appropriate manner is one of the most important tasks facing the sector. It’s also broadly the case that the younger the worker, the greater their digital skills and confidence. Millennials are attracted

by technology, and engineering and construction companies should recognise that investing in a digital workplace could increase their ability to attract and enthuse this demographic.

With exciting innovations like robotics, automation and drones, and powerful data analytics to improve design and project management, engineering and construction would seem to be a perfect stage for showcasing the technological revolution.

55% feel the industry is ripe for disruption

95% think technology/innovation will significantly change their business

74% believe such a change will happen in less than 5 years.

72% say that technology innovation or use of data plays a prominent role in their strategic plan or vision.

Which regions and industries are pioneering the adoption of technology? Our survey responses reveal some fascinating findings. For example, China appears to be leading the pack when it comes to advanced data and analytics and building information modeling, and shares top place with the UK for use of mobile platforms. Owners and contractors from the UK, meanwhile, are the most likely to be employing drones and virtual reality.

Despite a small improvement over the past 12 months, 57% of respondents to this year’s survey still consider themselves to be “followers” or “behind the curve”, and the proportion that view their organisations as “cutting edge” remains at 5%.

Robotic process automation and/or digital labor have a particularly exciting potential and are taking off in many other industries, with machines and computers replacing humans. Once again, engineering and construction lags behind.

83% say their organisation has not yet implemented such technologies, with most expecting a wait of 5 years or more before they become more common

John Herzog – Managing Director, Major Projects Advisory KPMG in the US says: The engineering and construction industry is no stranger to disruption. Over the last few decades we’ve seen the introduction of numerous new technologies, from fax machines to PCs, cell phones to email, and of course, internet to 3-D computer-aided design. Everyone in the industry should be making better use of the vast amounts of data collectedon construction sites. The respondents to this survey appear to have digital strategies, but it seems that many still need to further advance their digital/data road maps. I’m highly optimistic that, by following some or all of these recommendations, the industry can finally start to reap the huge benefits of the digital revolution.

Please go here to download the full report.

https://broadsword-group.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/rsz_digital_age_spark.jpg 331 1210 joannevickers https://broadswordgrp.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/broadsword-logo.png joannevickers2017-11-22 11:31:462017-11-22 11:31:46Global Construction Survey 2017
drones in construction

Drones could pave the way for big change in the construction industry

November 20, 2017/0 Comments/in Home Page news feed /by joannevickers

That is according to a survey named Drone Technology within the construction industry conducted by ProDroneWorx, one of the leading UK companies for ariel mapping, inspection and surveying.  

They believe that drones are going to be a major disruptor in the construction industry in the coming years – and effective implementation of the technology will give companies a significant edge in a very competitive market.

They asked senior figures within the construction industry, including surveyors, architects, engineers and construction firms, about their perception, usage and understanding of drone technology.  160 companies responded.

The survey highlighted the following key points:

A third of respondents (33%) are currently using drone technology in their operations. These early adopters understand the benefits it brings to their organisations.

The majority of respondents (67%) are currently not using drone technology. However, most plan to do so in the future.

Of the 33% that are currently using drone technology:

The majority (60%) have been using it for less than a year

11% of this sub-group have been using the technology for the last three to five years making them very early adopters.

The three main reasons firms are using the technology are:

  1. Time savings (49%)
  2. Increased operational efficiency (49%)
  3. Cost savings (47%)

Even though a large percentage (67%) of firms are not currently using drone technology, there’s huge pent-up demand as 77% of this group plan on using the technology in future.

Only a small proportion of firms have no plans to use the technology in the future.

Construction firms have two options when it comes to deciding how to incorporate drone technology into their business models and workflow: creating an internal drone unit/function; or using a 3rd party specialist.

Overall, the vast majority of firms (67%) plan to or currently use 3rd party specialist companies on their projects rather than having an internal drone function within their company.

Issues such as regulation, licensing, insurance, hardware, software and data processing are factors putting firms off an internal function.

Many find it easier, cheaper and less risky to use a professional drone solutions company on projects.

Awareness of drone technology and the various benefits it brings is high within the industry; 75% of respondents understand how the technology can be used within their business.

Although drone technology has many applications within the construction industry, currently its primary use is in photography & video, surveying, asset inspection and progress monitoring.

27% of respondents were from the construction sector, 19% architecture, 18% surveying, 12% other (ecology, agriculture, consultancy etc) and 7% engineering.

Source: ProDroneWorx / UK Construction Media

https://broadsword-group.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Drones-in-construction-1210x331.jpg 331 1210 joannevickers https://broadswordgrp.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/broadsword-logo.png joannevickers2017-11-20 10:16:202017-11-20 10:16:59Drones could pave the way for big change in the construction industry
orbis tech

Broadsword and ORBiS Tech

November 8, 2017/0 Comments/in Home Page news feed, News, Projects /by joannevickers

Works are progressing well on our full office fit out for ORBiS Tech, who develop uniquely scalable software solutions for the hospitality, fuel and retail markets.

Broadsword Projects LTD are undertaking the full scope of works from design to completion.

Works undertaken will be:

Full design and specification

Artwork manifestation and graphics

Glazed & solid demountable partitions

Joinery including tea point/full height doors/breakfast bars
Artwork manifestation and graphics
Flooring including carpet & vinyl
Suspended ceilings
Fire alarm relocations
Furniture
Data & AV
Decorations

We look forward to bringing you more pictures as the project moves towards completion.

orbis tech

 

https://broadsword-group.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/BS_Blog_header_1030x433-OrbisTech.jpg 433 1030 joannevickers https://broadswordgrp.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/broadsword-logo.png joannevickers2017-11-08 13:54:452017-11-08 13:54:45Broadsword and ORBiS Tech
green gas

15 million homes could be powered by green gas by 2050

November 6, 2017/0 Comments/in Home Page news feed, News /by joannevickers

Biogas produce from domestic waste could generate enough power to fuel 15mn homes by 2050, according to a new report by UK gas distribution firm Cadent.

This would be enough energy to cover households across the south east of England, London, and East Anglia, and the most effective way of managing the large amounts of waste produced in the UK.

Biogas could grow significantly in the next 30 years, allowing black domestic bag rubbish, agricultural waste, energy crops, food waste, and sewage to generate 183TWh of biomethane.

Two-thirds of renewable gas could be sourced from energy crops and agricultural residues, with the remaining third coming from waste. Of that third, 83% would be produced by Bio-Substitute Natural Gas (BioSNG) and 17% would derive from biomethane, generated by anaerobic digestion.

BioSNG production is a thermochemical process that utilises gasification and the methanation of the produced “syngas”. It can be transported through existing natural gas networks to be used in domestic, commercial and industrial heating and CHP applications.

“The findings of this report show that with the right policies in place renewable gas could play a significant role in helping the UK meet its carbon reduction targets, particularly in heat and transport, which are lagging behind electricity,” commented Cadent Director of Network Strategy, David Parkin.

“Alongside other green energy solutions, renewable gas offers us an affordable, sustainable route to heat our homes and fuel transport, while tackling climate change, and contributing towards more sustainable waste management and cleaner air.”

In November of last year Ecotricity – the UKs greenest energy company claimed that by 2035, almost all homes in Britain could be heated by the green gas from grass – creating an industry worth £7.5 billion annually for the economy.

They received planning permission to build a prototype of the first-of-a-kind green gas mill at Sparsholt College in Hampshire.

Their report also stated that the green gas production will be “virtually carbon neutral” and could play a significant role in Britain meeting its climate targets.

Ecotricity founder Dale Vince said: “As North Sea reserves run out, the big question is where we’re going to get our gas from next. The government thinks fracking is the answer, but this new report shows there is a better option.

“Recently, it’s become possible to make green gas and put it into the grid, in the same way we’ve been doing with green electricity for the last two decades. The current way of doing that is through energy crops and food waste – but both have their drawbacks.

“Our first green gas mill has just been given the go-ahead, and we hope to build it soon – though that does depend on whether government energy policy will support this simple, benign and abundant energy source. I call on Theresa May to review the government’s plan for where Britain gets its gas – post-North Sea.”

Green energy is electricity and gas made from renewable sources, green electricity from the wind, sun and sea, and green gas made from organic materials and is completely carbon neutral. In 2013 there was just one green gas plant in the UK. Now there are over 60 projects using anaerobic digestion to make biomethane useful to us.

Green gas is incredibly versatile, used as a source of electricity, a replacement to petrol, and a new way to heat homes. Using greener gas means “It’s not disruptive in terms of the roads and our urban environments,” says Chris Train OBE, chief executive of National Grid Gas Distribution Limited. “It’s also not disruptive in the home, for customers. It allows us to use existing appliances. That’s a great advantage.”

Sources – Energy digital / Utility Week / Ecotricity

https://broadsword-group.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/BS_Blog_header_1030x433-green.jpg 433 1030 joannevickers https://broadswordgrp.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/broadsword-logo.png joannevickers2017-11-06 12:12:512017-11-06 12:12:5115 million homes could be powered by green gas by 2050

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