Construction manager january 2017

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INNOVATION SPECIAL

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VISIT M BS.CO CIOBJO E THE R WHE ATES ANDID BEST C HE BEST FIND T ES ROL

Agenda

Jan 17

News and views 05

LandSecs’ mental health demand

Developer insists contractors sign up to wellbeing scheme.

06 Construction’s social mobility role

Industry accounts for a third of skilled trades, report highlights.

08 ‘We’re doing great things’

CLC chair Andrew Wolstenholme on driving industry productivity.

10 UK and Ireland Hubs get to work New CIOB admin centres take over 12 Feedback

Letters, comments and readers’ views on mergers and acquisitions this year.

14 We need to challenge traditions...

Digital engagement is only part of the story in building cheaper and more efficiently, says Mark Farmer.

16 ... and we need a change of culture

Gary Sullivan argues for better education, collaboration and the leadership to develop teamwork.

Features 18

Innovations for 2017

CM asked five of the industry’s digital and innovation heads for their views and predictions on what we might see on site this year.

The face of intelligent building How a three-element curtain walling system is delivering the latest sustainability principles at Derwent’s White Collar Factory in London.

CPD: WELL Building Standard A new certification scheme from the US focuses on the wellbeing of staff — and now it’s partnering with the BRE. Project of the month Sky Central building, west London.

30

36

54

24 30

Construction professional 24

26

28

29

Aiming for a nicer, happier industry

Two former construction employees have formed a company to offer wellbeing guidance and training.

Time to end the downward spiral?

How to spot and avoid corporate burnout.

A year of legal ups and downs Assad Maqbool and Jennifer Dalby assess how changes to some areas of construction will affect the legal landscape in 2017.

New JCT Standard Contract explained Wright Hassall’s Stuart Thwaites outlines the key changes to the 2016 update.

+ Contact

40-51 All the latest news and reports from CIOB members and branches

Take the test on this issue’s CPD topic on quality management and additional topics at

www.constructionmanagermagazine.com/cpd

54 CONSTRUCTION MANAGER | JANUARY 2017 | 3

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News

Palace restoration Willmott Dixon is now six months into the Dome improvement restoration of the east wing at Alexandra Palace in north London.

The £17m project is being led by Simon Wilson, operations manager at Willmott, working alongside architect Fielden Clegg Bradley. The work involves creating a new theatre with capacity of up to 1,300 people and also reinstating the balcony.

The Victorian theatre dates to 1875 and will be brought back to life as an adaptable performance space which can be used for a range of community, cultural and commercial events including theatre, cinema screenings, live comedy, acoustic music and corporate entertainment.

Other work includes the refurbishment of the east court entrance hall, restoring it to its original 1870s grandeur. The palace’s former BBC studios will also become an immersive TV experience for visitors. A gallery space will house a range of objects which focus on the technology, innovation and creativity of television.

Work on the project is expected to be completed in January 2018.

Contractors asked to sign up to mental health scheme to win LandSecs work Developer insists on adoption of Mates in Mind wellbeing initiative before tendering Contractors working with Land Securities must sign up to a new scheme which helps site workers deal with mental health issues.

Clive Johnson, group head of health, safety and security at Land Securities and chair of the Health in Construction Leadership Group (HCLG), said all contractors and their supply chains must be signed up to “Mates in Mind” before they can tender for work with the developer. The company will be urging fellow clients to follow suit.

Mates In Mind, which has been operating in Australia as Mates in Construction, is a network of people trained in helping those in the sector deal with mental health issues. It was unveiled by HCLG in September and will begin operations later this month. More details will be announced at an industry summit intended at boosting health of workers to which 170 CEOs of the biggest contractors have been invited.

“People now see it as a strength not a weakness to talk about stress and the pressures they feel.”

Clive Johnson, Land Securities

The summit picks up the themes from two previous summits held in the past year aimed at tackling the health — not just the safety — of workers.

HCLG said that Mates in Mind would help employers in the sector address the issue of poor mental health, and have an impact across a workforce of 2.5 million.

It said: “Every year, one in four people in the UK will experience either stress, anxiety or depression. In the most extreme cases, these issues can result in someone taking their life.

“It is estimated that the number of deaths from suicide in the construction industry could be 10 times higher than those from fatal accidents at work.

Working together with the British Safety Council and key partners in construction and mental health, we believe we can make a significant difference.”

Johnson added: “We are encouraging by example and are putting Mates in Mind in our tender documents for projects over

six weeks’ duration — we want to see this embedded in every construction project.”

He said that Land Securities had already introduced mental health first aiders. “It’s been something that people have not wanted to speak about previously, but things are changing. People now see it as a strength not a weakness to talk about stress and the pressures they feel.”

Johnson said he’s not expecting Mates in Mind to be “a hard sell” as those that deliver the training course “speak the same language and can relate to those working on site”. He added: “I’m convinced we will get other clients to sign up.”

HCLG was set up in 2015 in response to research presented at the 2015 Construction Industry Advisory Committee, which exposed the high number of occupational health deaths in the sector. l Meet the stressbusters, page 24; l Avoiding corporate burn out, page 26; l New well-being standard for offices CPD, page 36.

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News

Construction plays pivotal role in driving social mobility CIOB report says industry accounts for a third of all skilled trades which provide route to top Construction has the most critical role to play of all industries in reversing the declining levels of social mobility, a new report from the CIOB concludes.

The report, Social Mobility and Construction — Building routes to opportunity, says the sector is one of few industries left that still employs a large number of traditional skilled trades, roles that provide stepping stones into more managerial jobs, and it calls on the government to help champion the UK as a world leader in construction excellence.

The report says: “The once swelling number of middle-status jobs that fuelled upward social mobility are now in decline. Job creation is increasingly at the top or the bottom of the income scales. An hourglass economy is forming which expands the social divide between classes of people. This restricts social mobility and in turn spills over into social unease.”

“An hourglass economy is forming which expands the social divide between classes of people.”

It adds: “A key factor in the development of the hourglass economy is the rapid decline in well-paid skilled trades occupations, which provided for many a route from manual jobs into management and professional careers. There is one prominent industry where this decline has not occurred — construction. Unlike other industries, the diverse range of construction’s products, and consequently tasks, has meant the drive towards automation has been limited and so has had relatively little impact on the shedding of craft skills.

“Construction in the UK now accounts for a third of all employment in this occupation group and a greater proportion of new job opportunities.”

Research for the report also shows how construction is seen by the public as a driver in the economic mobility of those it employs. The survey of 1,094 working adults was undertaken by ComRes in August 2016 to ascertain their views on

aspects relating to social and economic mobility. Construction came third behind professional and scientific and banking as the industry that would do most to help poorer people to improve their economic status (see graphs below). However, perhaps reflecting the poor image of construction with the public at large, it is seen as less effective in promoting social status.

The survey also pointed to the public’s perception that the built environment has a major role to play in promoting social mobility. Better transport, better schools and better neighbourhoods improve the life chances of many, and especially those of children born to poorer parents.

“The shaping of the built environment plays a big part in how these opportunities are distributed. Where we live and the opportunities made available greatly impact on our life chances.

“This report shows how both as an employer and through what it builds,

Where construction stands in helping social and economic status, according to ComRes poll Industry perceived to most help poorer people to improve their social status

Industry perceived to most help poorer people to improve their economic status

Professional, scientific and technical

Professional, scientific and technical

Education

Financial and insurance

Financial and insurance

Construction

Health

Education Information and communication

Information and communication Property Public administration and defence Business administrative and support services Arts, entertainment and recreation Construction

Property Health Retail Manufacturing Business administrative and support services

Retail Manufacturing Motor trade Accommodation and food service activities Transportation and storage (inc postal) Agriculture, forestry and fishing Wholesale

Source: CIOB

n All

Motor trades Public administration and defence Transportation and storage (inc postal) Accommodation and food service activities Arts, entertainment and recreation Agriculture, forestry and fishing Wholesale

n All

Source: CIOB

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News

Upward intergenerational mobility by industry Agriculture, forestry and fishing Construction Electricity, gas, air cond supply Transport and storage Accommodation and food services

construction has a profound impact on the life chances of UK citizens,” says the report.

The CIOB report is published just a month after the Social Mobility Commission’s State of the Nation 2016 report warned that “Britain has a deep social mobility problem which is getting worse for an entire generation of young people.”

The State of the Nation report concluded that “the impact was not just felt by the poorest in society but is also holding back whole tranches of middleas well as low-income families — these treadmill families are running harder and harder, but are standing still”.

Fundamental barriers It found fundamental barriers, including an unfair education system, a two-tier labour market, a regionally imbalanced economy and an unaffordable housing market. And it pointed to evidence that those born in the 1980s are the first post-war cohort not to start their working years with higher incomes than their immediate predecessors.

Brian Green, the author of the CIOB report, said: “The agenda of this report, to establish the connections between social mobility and construction is central to what is going on politically.

“There has always been the opportunity to progress through trade and into management on merit. The industry plays an even more important role as manufacturing loses it jobs.”

CIOB President Paul Nash added: “Our ability to progress people through trades and into management separates us from other industries. Around a third of skilled occupations are now in construction. The statistics themselves provide a case for government to look closely at the sector.”

He pointed out that the CIOB enabled those from whatever background to gain qualifications and progress their career.

“The other thing the report highlights is the impact the built environment has in shaping opportunities for people. There is a clear link there as well,” he added.

Wholesale, retail, vehicle repair Manufacturing Water supply, sewerage, waste Other service activities Arts, entertainment and recreation Health and social work Real estate activities Mining and quarrying Admin & support services Public administration and defence Education Information and comms.

Prof, scientific, technical Financial and insurance

Source: ONS Quarterly Labour Force Survey, July - September 2015

Construction’s growing importance as a route to skilled trades occupations – Construction share of skilled trades %

– Skilled trades as % of workforce

– Construction trades % of workforce

Source: CIOB

Summary of recommendations: Government l Produce with urgency a plan to boost the UK as an international hub of construction excellence, as a core part of the Industrial Strategy l Provide greater funding to support the travel costs of apprentices l Support wider access to the professions and support those from less-privileged backgrounds

Construction businesses Source: CIOB

Share of skilled trades occupations by sector

l Focus on better human resource management l Introduce and/or expand mentoring schemes l Boost investment in training l Develop talent from the trades as potential managers and professionals Industry l Rally around social mobility as a collective theme

Professional bodies and institutions

n Construction n Trade, accommodation and transport n Business & other services

n Manufacturing n Primary sector & utilities n Non-market services

l Drive the aspirations of earlier CIOB report Professions for Good for promoting social mobility and diversity l Support wider access to the professions and support those from less-privileged backgrounds

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News

‘We’re doing great things, but there’s huge room for improvement’ Construction Leadership Council chair Andrew Wolstenholme on driving industry productivity.

It’s fair to say there has been a good deal of industry scepticism surrounding the Construction Leadership Council since it was set up in 2013.

Established to improve performance of the industry and oversee implementation of Construction 2025, the government’s industrial strategy for construction, CLC was set ambitious targets to oversee including a 33% reduction in cost and 50% reduction in project time. But there were always doubts about whether it would become a heavyweight driver of change or would simply become another well-meaning talking shop.

Changes in the line up on both industry and government side and the scrapping of the chief construction adviser role in 2015 have ratcheted up the scepticism.

Clear and obvious wins have been thin on the ground and dialogue with the industry at large about what the 13-member Council is actually up to has been scant.

However, its current industry chair, Andrew Wolstenholme, Crossrail's chief

executive, has pledged to improve transparency and streamline priorities.

So CM asked him, can CLC confound its critics and really make a difference?

“True success can only really be measured by the end users of what we are building.”

Andrew Wolstenholme

Why do you think there’s still a role for the CLC? This is the best industry to work in. Look at what we’ve achieved in the past few years: High Speed One, Terminal 5 and the London 2012 Olympics. Crossrail is on time and budget and we have new projects such as HS2, Hinckley Point and Tideway about to break ground.

However, there is a huge amount of room for improvement. Too often, the stop-start nature of investment, poor client leadership and low profit margins have created a fragmented supply chain that has little incentive to invest in the skills, technology and innovation needed to deliver a step change in productivity.

The role of the CLC is to be the bridge between government and the industry, helping to drive the change we need.

How do you want it to work with the rest of the industry?

I am determined that the Council should become more strategic, looking at how we can drive transformational change, rather than focusing on the more tactical issues.

We are already working closely with the industry through our six workstreams.

For example: l The UKGBC, CIC and CPA are all active members of the Green Construction Board and working closely with Mike Putnam [chief executive of Skanska, member of the CLC and chair of the GCB — the sustainability workstream of the CLC]. l Build Offsite is closely involved with Mike Chaldecott’s [general delegate for Saint-Gobain in the UK & Ireland] work on Smart Construction, another workstream. l Build UK and the Infrastructure Client Group (ICG) are working with Ann Bentley, global chair, Rider Levett Bucknall and chair of the supply chain and business models workstream.

Recently we invited around 50 CEOs

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Chris Blythe Aviation is flying, but construction is still stuck on the runway

from across the industry to our first leadership briefing and we have had a great response with many of the attendees now committing time to one of the Council’s key work areas.

What’s the relationship between CLC and government and how has this changed under Theresa May? The government is firmly behind this agenda and the need to demonstrate the best of British industry to the whole world is a priority following the EU referendum.

Construction minister and CLC co-chair, Jesse Norman, has taken a keen interest — he attends all our formal CLC meetings.

There is interest and support in what we are doing from a range of government departments, including the DfT and the Treasury. Tony Meggs from the Infrastructure and Projects Authority sits on the Council and ensures we have that cross-governmental support and vision.

One thing I am particularly pleased about is the renewed focus on industrial strategy.

Construction and infrastructure must be at the heart of this and the CLC is working closely with Jesse Norman on how the sector can support the government’s vision for an economy that works for everyone.

What are the Council’s priorities?

Leadership councils representing other sectors have achieved great improvements in productivity and competitiveness by focusing on a few big things, doing them well, and bringing the industry with them.

The big question is, where should the CLC focus? Our answer is: l Delivering better, more certain outcomes using digital technologies; l Improving productivity, quality and safety by increasing the use of offsite manufacturing; l Optimising through-life performance on new and existing assets through the use of smart technology.

By focusing on these three themes, and working with other organisations to join forces, mobilise and accelerate change, I believe we can generate real benefits for the whole industry.

How will you be feeding into the government’s proposed industrial strategy and Brexit negotiations?

Jesse Norman has made it very clear that

he sees construction as a critical part of the government’s industrial strategy and that the CLC has an important role to play in shaping this. We will be gathering input from the across the industry and feeding back to BEIS. Do you have any frustrations?

We can learn a lot from other sectors, such as automotive or aerospace. They have reached a point a where they are comfortable collaborating with one another and are reaping the rewards through a shared, greater commercial advantage. While we are six times larger than the automotive sector, their ability to work together on a few, big ideas is the difference at the moment.

What would success look like? And/or the first staging post to success?

We are aiming to achieve the ambitions of Construction 2025: a 30% reduction in cost; a 50% reduction in project time; a 50% reduction in carbon emissions; a 50% reduction in the trade gap.

However, true success can only really be measured by the end users of what we are building. That might be more houses, more rail capacity, improved car journeys or cheaper energy. From an industry point of view, the supply chain should be making more profit, investing more in skills and innovation and competing more with our international rivals.

“The supply chain should be making more profit, investing more in skills and innovation and competing more with our international rivals.”

Andrew Wolstenholme

If you could wave a magic wand what would you wish for?

I would like to see more young people choosing engineering and construction as a career — in particular more women.

It’s vital that we are able to supply the upcoming infrastructure projects with a constant flow of the young, talented and diverse people who we will need to build the railways, roads and houses of the future.

What would you like from the industry to help achieve your aims?

We would encourage people from all parts of the industry — house builders, construction firms, architects, designers or industry bodies — to make contact with one of the workstream leads on the CLC to see how they can support the change agenda. We need input from every part of the sector, so I would urge people in the industry to email construction.enquiries@ beis.gsi.gov.uk to find out what the workstreams are and who is taking the lead.

They say you always know you are getting old when police officers appear so young. I think that reference has shifted a bit for me now.

There was a well-publicised story last year of EasyJet’s youngest female captain, aged 26. Next to her in the photo was her co-pilot, a very personable looking young man, all of 19 years old. When the combined ages of the people up front are about three quarters of mine, I am not ashamed to admit I feel a bit concerned, but if you are good enough you are old enough and that should be that.

I have always liked my aircrew to have grey hair, I suppose I equated that with experience. The false belief is that someone older, more experienced will be better able to cope with emergencies. But as one grey-haired pilot told me, in 25 years the worst emergency he had to deal with in flight was the inability to make hot drinks.

Aviation and construction have a number of things in common. Women account for 6% of UK aircrew, much the same as are in the main construction professions. The rate of growth of female pilots, though, is greater.

The global demographic profile of aviation is similar to construction with experienced aircrew due to retire soon as the baby boomers work their way through the system.

Are there any lessons we can learn from aviation? For a start aviation has become more risk-based than absolutist. 40 years ago you needed 20/20 vision, now you need correctable vision. Some medical conditions are acceptable now where previously they were not. Technology such as GPS has allowed more aircraft to fly in the same airspace. And new forms of pilot licencing and training are being established with some only being trained to be part of a multi-pilot crew, not necessarily as captain.

We can learn lessons. We need new types of qualifications, more suited to the modern jobs in the industry. We need to make some significant innovations that increase our capacity to build more and better and we need to get rid of anything that falsely passes as standards but in closer scrutiny is just protectionism and BS. Shifting the mindset is difficult.

Construction still has a long way to go with respect to diversity. I still hear of overt sexism and homophobia in the industry. I am sure someone good enough to be a 26-year-old captain for Easyjet could be a real star in construction — given the chance.

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13/12/2016 10:37

CIOB News

UK and Ireland local hubs get to work New administrative centres take over from regional branches under institutes One CIOB rebrand The 29 new UK and Ireland hubs of the CIOB officially begin their work at the start of January, as part of a reorganisation of the CIOB structure aimed at improving communication and services to members.

The initiative was originally announced last year under a CIOB rebrand known as One CIOB. The new hubs are administrative centres that will take over the work of the former regional branches. Hubs will have dedicated staff, budget and six elected committee members. They will deliver events and services but also try to engage with major employers, local government and education in their areas.

As part of the work the new work hubs will be doing during 2017, there will be a greater focus on online work such as a new member’s portal, new webinars and greater use of online tools for areas such as CPD. Speaking at the announcement of One CIOB last year, Chris Blythe, chief executive of the CIOB, said the changes in structure were born from a frustration over how services and courses were being delivered to members.

“Basically this is all about how to better support local level members and giving them exactly the content they want.”

Chris Blythe, CIOB

Blythe said: “Basically this is all about how to better support local level members and giving them exactly the content they want. It’s using the most modern methods of communication and technology.”

One CIOB will also be introducing quality assurance for local events that do take place — by introducing this it hopes the overall standard of events offered to members will be improved over the coming year.

Another way One CIOB differs from the old structure is that it is not strictly geographically limited and members can join any hub. As most of the industry spends a large amount of time travelling

on the road or changing location of jobs, this is seen as a practical leap forward for members.

The CIOB is also keen to recruit to local hub committees this year and also encourage more people to become involved, no matter what their position or age within the industry.

In February, there will also be a call for applications for international local hub committees for members who work overseas.

Further details about how One CIOB will bring a more accessible member experience can be accessed at: www.ciob.org.uk/one-ciob

Ethics and compliance training launches this month The new CIOB Academy is launching a free online course on construction ethics and compliance this month.

The course will start on 30 January and will help people understand the concept of ethics in the construction industry.

It is intended that by the end of the five-week course, participants will be

able to explain how ethics and compliance has a tangible impact on professional roles and personal values but also know why construction companies have policies and procedures, and how they relate to legal requirements and society.

For further information, see page 41 of Contact in this issue.

Get your entries in now for the construction industry’s biggest awards night The Construction Manager of the Year Awards for 2017 are now open for entries.

Considered one of the biggest nights of the year for the industry, the Awards are a chance to not only showcase the best of the best individual talent in the UK and Ireland, but also highlight the hard work whole teams put into projects.

In September last year, Paul Marlow of McAleer & Rushe won the top prize for his work on a £29m student accommodation project for Unite Students. He is also the youngest ever overall winner of the award.

Entries are encouraged from both CIOB members and non-members. Non-members who reach the final can directly apply for CIOB membership (MCIOB).

Entrants also no longer have to be wholly site-based managers. They can have overall responsibility for delivering construction projects or manage an individual subcontract package.

The closing date for entries is 6 March 2017. More information at www.cmya.co.uk 10 | JANUARY 2017 | CONSTRUCTION MANAGER

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12/12/2016 16:39

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07/12/2016 12:12

Views

Here's to a healthier and more productive 2017

Feedback

AFTER WITNESSING TUMULTUOUS political upsets in 2016, only the brave could make hard predictions for 2017. The market has already been see-sawing on the prospect of Brexit and who knows how that will pan out?

But among the ebb and flow of the market and the political scene, one big issue that will be riding high on the agenda is the need to improve construction productivity. In fact, productivity full stop.

At the end of last year, consultant Mark Farmer ruffled feathers by suggesting the industry needed to “modernise or die”.

In his government-commissioned review of the sector, adopting digital technology and offsite fabrication were high on the list of recommendations (page 14).

So the productivity theme certainly dominates our coverage for this month — both directly, by looking at how firms are streamlining processes through innovation and collaboration (see page 18) but also indirectly, by improving the happiness and health of the workforce.

Developers and occupiers are already starting to focus more closely on offices that nurture good health and we're seeing a take up of the US WELL standard. At the moment, meeting the WELL requirements and those of the BREEAM standard potentially clash, so the BRE and the WELL Institute looking to work more closely together is a welcome step in the right direction (see page 36).

Occupational health, and in particular mental health, is a being made a priority by the Health in Construction Leadership Group led by Land Securities’ Clive Johnson. He has told contractors and their

A reality check on BIM

supply chain that they must sign up to a new initiative called Mates in Mind, which provides a network of mental health first aiders on sites around the country (see page 5). Alongside this we also report on how two former contractors have come together to provide a toolkit to help companies and their staff reduce the kind of stress that contributes to poor mental health in the first place (page 24).

Both initiatives should be welcomed by the sector — and let’s hope they start to get the traction they deserve. Surveys suggest that more than 80% of workers in the construction industry suffer from some degree of work-related stress.

According to the Samaritans, construction workers are six times more likely to die of suicide than a fall. Not the sort of statistics to woo a younger generation of people to come into the sector in the wake of Brexit.

We're also going to see a lot more new technology deployed this year — drones, robots and virtual reality are set to become more common fixtures on site, if not yet highly productive ones.

Andrew Wolstenholme, chairman of the Construction Leadership Council, says the industry has made great strides (page 8) but still has a way to go to make the step changes talked about by Mark Farmer. True, but let's not forget, the industry has broken a great taboo by even talking about mental health. And appointing an innovation director, as an increasing number of firms are doing, in itself underlines that we are living in exciting and hopefully progressive times.

Denise Chevin, editor

More Construction Manager online and on Twitter Our newsletters now three times a week give you breaking news and online-only content, and fresh perspectives on the week’s agenda. Sign up at www.constructionmanagermagazine.com. For news from CM and other sources as it happens, join our 12,600+ Twitter followers @CMnewsandviews.

Bill Price, via website Sadly this is a nice idea but far removed from reality (Mark Farmer: BIM is at the heart of solving industry's problems, online). The current issue is designers and architects are better "qualified", but are less able and know little about construction.

The site environment is not conducive to electronic documentation and, having run a paperless office for 30 years, BIM won't work until everyone knows how to build a building, and is fully computer literate and has plenty of time to go through the unbelievably cumbersome systems. That will not happen in the foreseeable future James Pellatt, Great Portland Estates, via website It's welcome to make this point in print, I felt it was missing from your report and was therefore a huge missed opportunity.

As a private sector developer we have been providing client-led federated BIM models for the past five years. We are now on our eighth project and the results speak for themselves. For every £1 we invest in BIM we and the contractors save £2.

I simply don't understand why other developers don't do the same.

Yes another report, but timely Keith Snook, via website I don’t necessarily agree with everything Chris, but it is true that most of the latest report is stuff we already know and some of it is unchanged in getting on for 100 years and where 50 or so reports in the intervening period all say the same (Chris Blythe: we need a dynamic industry, not another report, CM November/December).

What I really like however is your term “creating wonder”. It is a shame you weighed it down with a qualitative phrase about "the industry". The constant going on and on about "the industry" misses this point – it exists, or should, to create a wonderful built environment, not to be self-serving.

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13/12/2016 10:47

Vox pop How do you see corporate activity panning out for construction in the coming year?

Kevin Cammack Analyst, Cenkos Securities I think next year will as difficult if not more than this year.

Unless you're filling your order books with big high-profile infrastructure projects or jobs such as HS2, then you'll find it difficult.

We've seen a number of smaller companies go under this year, I think we'll continue to see this in 2017. If you're a £50m turnover contractor, you're not going to be able to bid for the large infrastructure projects you need to.

They're operating in the building market, rather than the infrastructure market where they need to be.

As for mergers next year, history shows that the best time to buy assets is sometimes from the receiver, rather than a takeover or buying before this stage.

Richard Threlfall UK head, infrastructure, building and construction, KPMG 2017 will be a year of feast and famine for the construction industry.

Infrastructure contractors will be getting fatter as HS2 and a further raft of road schemes get underway; commercial contractors will be going on a diet as corporate demand plays the Brexit Blues.

But an industry divided by demand will be united by the common challenge

John Eynon, via website Both Chris and Keith make good points, but for me the Farmer report is an awesome distillation of the issues facing our industry in the digital age. Yes, a restatement of a lot things we already know, but timely nevertheless.

The perfect storm is arriving whereby forces both within and without are conspiring to bring change and inevitably innovation on many fronts.

It's people that drive change Robin Miller MCIOB, via website To survive, our industry needs to be more positive and more receptive to customer aspirations (Leader: It's within our power to change the industry, CM November/ December).

Insulated concrete form (ICF) systems offer one route to more and better

of rising materials prices, already responding to the fall in the value of sterling; ongoing skills shortages; and the opportunity to gain commercial advantage by embracing technology.

Paul Tremble Executive director, WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff The construction industry heads into 2017 at a crossroads. On the one hand we are still waiting to see what impact Brexit will have, if any, on the economy. On the other hand we are witnessing from the Autumn Statement a government that values both long-term, strategic projects such as Heathrow and Hinkley as well as quicker wins in local highways to pick up any potential slack.

At a corporate level this uncertainty may result in a stalling in sector consolidation. However, a fall in the pound will have its consequences: firms are going to be more attractive to foreign buyers, and so are UK projects that require outside investment.

The central London commercial and

"As contractors investment sector continues to suffer due to post-Brexit loss of confidence. Foreign we will need to demonstrate investment in central London is also wavering as the pound remains weak the ability to engineer value against the euro and the risk of the UK’s out of projects, removal from the single market could potentially put off overseas long-term especially on contracts investment in UK construction projects. which are already out Martin Vella to tender."

Managing director, Pexhurst Martin Vella, The key word for Pexhurst construction companies is going to be flexibility, with contractors needing to adjust to market demands as and when they arise.

There is a strong chance that US investors will fuel a large amount of construction at the lower-to-mid end of project values, particularly when it comes to commercial property refurbishment.

As contractors we will need to demonstrate the ability to engineer value out of projects, especially on contracts which are already out to tender.

Chris Jones Associate director, project & building consultancy, Colliers International 2017 will continue to be a challenging year for the industry in the wake of Brexit. Donald Trump’s election in the US could add further uncertainty in 2017.

construction using existing resources.

The resilient building method makes use of existing trade skills, production output is significantly better than traditional construction and performance standards are well ahead of Building Regulations.

Not only that, but the ICF building process is attractive to the younger generation and apprenticeships are shorter than for traditional skills.

David Benson, via website We are never going to change this industry if we continue to believe, clearly as the government does, that mandated computer programmes and systems can both initiate and drive change. It can't and it won't. People make change happen and both contractors and clients need to be the catalyst to change.

My experience suggests that clients

can lead change, but rarely do contractors.

There are not enough contractors doing R&D, universities do not see construction as a key industry and most clients, led by moribund consultants, are not prepared to take the risks of change to move on. Get to the people and you will get your change.

Contact us Do you have an opinion on any of this month’s articles? Email: constructionmanager@atom publishing.co.uk

Ian Heptinstall, via website I fully agree with David Benson. Computer systems like BIM are not by themselves going to create the kind of improvement the industry needs and can achieve.

Until projects start to establish truly collaborative project teams, and then ensure those teams exploit the collaborative team to remove wasted time and money embedded in the current methods, then simply adding a BIM system to today's dysfunctional approaches is not going to help.

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Comment Mark Farmer

Changing the industry starts with offsite If the industry is to deliver our built environment cheaper and more efficiently, it must recognise that offsite manufacturing is an easy first step, says Mark Farmer.

IT IS NOW SEVERAL WEEKS since my report,

Modernise or Die was published. During that time, it has created lots of reaction.

There has been an overwhelming rallying call to arms from many which is necessary if we are to change at scale. It has also stimulated a wider debate on whether the recommendations in some instances go far enough, whether it identifies the right change strategies or uses the appropriate institutional bodies as a means of delivering change. I don’t expect everyone to agree with everything in the report, but the reality is that industry needs to air the issues.

Irrespective of the debate and commentary, I sense something really important is happening on the ground.

Since the review was published, I have directly and indirectly become aware of a gathering momentum around some of the key findings of the report. These appear to be focused on how we can deliver construction, and in particular residential development, in a different way.

This is coming from investors, progressive developer clients and those parts of the construction consultancy and contracting supply chain world which recognise that this is indeed an opportunity for change that drives a better outcome for all.

This mood has been catalysed by significant media coverage on “modern methods” or “pre-manufacturing” as I term it in the review. This is starting to move the debate on from post-war “prefabs” to 21st century precision-engineered products.

This is also reinforced by emerging government policy which supports the overarching ambitions of the review in relation to using modular techniques to deliver better quality and faster housing.

We have already seen the government act on my recommendation to review the CITB. I hope this leads to a wholesale

reconstitution of the levy/grant system and embraces innovation as well as training. But unless we fundamentally change the way we build, the CITB reform process will not alone solve the industry’s deep-seated problems regarding lack of predictability and productivity plus its poor image. This is where we need to concentrate on the production process itself rather than how we collect a levy and distribute it.

For me, the process begins with clients and their advisers recognising the importance of design for manufacture and assembly. So-called DfMA is a simple first step “quick win” towards higher efficiency working. In residential construction, for instance, why do we continue to design bespoke in high delivery risk areas such as kitchens, bathrooms, plant and core areas?

If we fix and standardise solutions this will serve to improve both traditional site labour-intensive build techniques as well as more pre-manufactured approaches.

Embedding DfMA Many of my current conversations with developer and investor clients are about embedding a DfMA strategy that challenges these norms and looks to create a fixed backbone or chassis of design that you can overlay with projectspecific design elements and creates an “entry level” approach for possible future consideration of modular construction.

The next evolution in that discussion is then to couple this with the application of a BIM environment. Digital enablement should increasingly be seen as a “go/no go” for team selection if we want to be driving industry improvement.

The final step, and what I admit will be the most challenging, is overcoming cultural and behavioural blockers linked to traditional tendering and “lowest cost” rather than collaboration. There is a need

to consider a wider benefits case for early engagement with pre-manufacturing-led providers who will drive more certainty and ultimately they need to provide cheaper, quicker and better-quality results.

Unfortunately, the capacity does not exist at the moment in the UK to fulfil the latent and emerging demand for offsite solutions that I have seen develop in the last few months. We stand the risk of over-running a limited capacity market just as we have in the traditional construction sector over the last three years, leading to delivery failure and cost inflation. The government therefore needs to help pump prime this sector and create the right demand conditions through its housing policy and industry strategy for further investment.

Despite early barriers, you will have already seen major market disruption looming from the likes of Legal & General.

Having been involved with their plans, I can assure you that the scale of this move alone significantly threatens the status quo of the traditional real estate and construction market, albeit it won’t structurally change the industry without others coming in behind.

It is important to note that I recognise that a large amount of the industry’s output will always be delivered “traditionally”, so such changes are not a threat to the existence of traditional tradesmen in any shape or form. However, I would suggest that there is the ability to take the pressure off some of the key trades by establishing alternative approaches to delivery that reduce site labour needs. In addition, there could be a growing option for some trades to work within more controlled “manufacturing” conditions delivering higher-productivity traditional working away from the site.

Mark Farmer is founding director and CEO of Cast

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Comment Gary Sullivan

Tools alone won’t change our culture If BIM is to work we need better education, new contractual models to encourage collaboration and the leadership to develop teamwork, says Gary Sullivan.

IN THE EARLY 1990s I was introduced to a chap called Barry Ramsey, a Kiwi. Barry was working with Stanhope and others to produce a 3D modelling tool. 25 years Later we have BIM and while today’s technology is perhaps a little faster, they look pretty similar.

More recently I met Mark Bew. Like Barry, he’s a pretty smart chap too. So smart, in fact that, as with Barry, I don’t understand much of what he says. This is due to my lack of expertise, by the way, and not Mark’s erudition or eloquence.

I understand the words, I understand the intent, I even understand what it (BIM) can do and importantly what it can’t.

What I don’t understand is: if it allows the supply chain to innovate, why don’t they?

If it creates collaboration, which in turn creates lean and focused information essential to operational delivery, why hasn’t operational delivery improved?

Apparently when BIM arrived on the scene in 2011, it was going to create greater predictability and certainty, resulting in faster project delivery. It would reduce risk, there would be less waste and sustainability would be better.

Promised differences No doubt I will be “trolled” by BIM Ninjas, it may become unsafe to walk past an architect’s office without incurring the wrath of God, or should that be Gods? But the questions have to be asked. If 3D modelling has been around 25 years or longer, and I know that BIM is a lot more than 3D modelling, why is it new and why isn’t it making those promised differences of more of somethings and less of others?

Before you jump on to any of your various devices to remonstrate with this upstart and Luddite, let me continue.

I am as much as a fan as anyone of a virtual walk through, anything that provides me with timely information can

only be a benefit and who wouldn’t want a tool that lets you see what the future will look like?

But, to quote Steve Crompton of GroupBC.com, who in 2012 said: “BIM without the ‘I’ is just BM, Basically Meaningless.”

The former general secretary of the UN, Kofi Annan, I am guessing, knows little of BIM, but he added to Francis Bacon’s famous quote by saying that “knowledge is indeed power, information is liberating and education is the premise of progress, in every society” — and therein lies the problem.

Human behaviour is not changed by tools alone. We have seen the power of technology in the exploitation of social media, but are we more knowledgeable today than we were before search engines? We certainly have more information than before, although it could be argued that we have too much.

I am not sure I agree that information is liberating, we are bombarded with data that we don’t always know how to interpret, it can be far from liberating, it often suffocates or blinds the recipient.

Then we come to the much-debated subject of education. We could discuss the issue of education, skills, experience and practice ad infinitum. However, I’ll say no more than it should be at the heart of all that we do, but it isn’t.

We have had reports from Latham, Egan, Wolstenholme and now Farmer, our

“The elevation or obscurity of BIM will not be about its power as a tool, or even about the skill of its users, it will be about the culture change that is taking longer than your average ice age.”

industry hasn’t changed and it hasn’t died.

We have not seen any substantial changes to the way our industry contracts or procures, nor have we seen change in the way it makes money (or doesn’t). Quality is traded for price and price remains the winning goal.

Our industry is full of amazing people, who can create works of art, people who can turn that art into functional infrastructure, they have talent and ability to rival any industry. People like Barry Ramsey and Mark Bew: talented, skilled and dare I say it evangelists for that illusive trait, collaboration. BIM, while not yet perfect, is an amazing tool, if only…

If only we were taught to play nice when we were young, if only we were taught to share and if only we could collaborate without consideration of money won or lost.

The elevation or obscurity of BIM will not be about its power as a tool, or even about the skill of its users, it will be about the culture change that is taking longer than your average ice age. “How do we speed that up?” I hear you shout. That is up to every leader at every level in this industry. Until you believe that collaboration is healthy, until you believe that knowledge is not power, actually knowledge dispels fear, and we can play nice when we operate without fear.

BIM is not a panacea, it is not integral to the construction programme and ignores logistics. To make BIM work, we need a few things to happen. We need to educate folk about the value of information as a transforming resource, it is not just data; we need to change the contractual models in construction to encourage human collaboration, not just data sharing via technology; and we need leadership to create that elusive prize, teamwork.

Gary Sullivan OBE is chairman of logistics contractor Wilson James

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Feature Technology

While the manufacturing and pharmaceutical sectors have often been cited as leaders of innovation, the construction sector could be accused of conservatism towards new technologies.

But things are changing fast and the government’s BIM Level 2 mandate introduced last year was a catalyst for the industry to embrace new technology and ideas.

BIM, in tandem with virtual and augmented reality, robotics, mobile technology and apps, construction is moving into an exciting new era.

Construction Manager interviewed five of the industry’s digital and innovation heads and asked them for their views and predictions on what we might see on site this year and beyond and what will make the most impact.

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Feature Technology

‘We’ll start to see the benefits of virtual and augmented reality’ Colin Evison

Head of innovation, BAM Nuttall Technology I can’t live without...

BettyBot, our domestic helper, produced by iRobot — not very glamorous but she does great work!

What are the breakthrough technologies in construction for 2017?

I think we’ll really start to see the real benefits of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) and what they can bring to the sector.

The gaming environment, construction, engineering and infrastructure are all starting to collide and I think this will add real value next year.

This can lend itself to simple things such as making it easier to understand

projects, through to training or health and safety. You have technology such as BIM Caves, which are useful but take time to move and assemble.

But now there is the Microsoft HoloLens which is less arduous to move around in terms of equipment. It’s very interesting and something we’ve been trialling in our offices. It’s early days on how it might be used but perhaps you could have two people working on a project in different parts of the country, but through the HoloLens they can work together in real time.

Another area that I see rapidly growing in 2017 and beyond is the use of robotics on site. I believe we’ve just started to scratch the surface. For example there’s spray concrete robots on Crossrail, but they’re really just operated machines, there’s a lot more that can be done. The next level is to be properly automated.

Outside of construction, what industries are getting you excited?

In terms of other industries, I’m having a meeting with the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre in Sheffield before the end of the year, seeing what they are doing and seeing if is there anything we can bring across to construction.

It’s all about looking at the different industries and their approach, technology, ways of working, anything really.

Are there any technologies that you think might be overhyped?

I guess the B word, BIM. I spent the best part of the year going around our businesses talking about BIM. But still you wonder how much it has really taken hold. Still some people, smaller businesses, some suppliers, can be wary in their take-up and you get resistance.

This is how we do business. The simple example is we build three-dimensional bridges, so why would you have a 2D design? I think we need to get over the hype or hesitance and just get on with it. >

A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO TECH VR: Virtual reality is a computer-generated simulation, a 3D world you see and experience wearing a helmet or VR viewer AR: Augmented reality is similar but it blends both the real world and virtual through smart glasses.

Exoskeleton : A wearable robotic suit that can make people stronger or faster. An example is one Tom Cruise wore in the sci-fi film Edge of Tomorrow.

3D Printing: 3D printing is a type of modern-day manufacturing, which makes a physical object from a virtual model. It’s similar to the inkand-paper printers which we’re all familiar with, but instead of traditional ink, 3D printers squeeze out a variety of different filaments and print layer-bylayer until the virtual model is reproduced in physical form.

BIM Cave: A mobile, virtual reality dome that can be set up like a tent. It gives people a realistic and accurate 360 view of projects.

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Feature Technology

“Some tech companies have developed exoskeletons. These are things we saw in a film 20 years ago, but it’s now reality.”

Colin Evison, BAN Nuttall

ILLUSTRATIONS: JAMES CAREY

>

What’s on your radar for 2017?

In terms of our plans, we hope to continue working with start-ups such as Converge, which specialises in concrete testing and has developed new automated sensor technology, which is now used on many of our sites. Normally, cubes of concrete are taken from pours and stored, before being tested for strength later to determine when formwork and shuttering can be removed.

The Converge system automates the process, with a sensor placed in the

concrete that knows when the concrete has reached the required strength.

We’re also starting to look at basalt fibre. It’s a different way of reinforcing concrete and I think it holds promise for the construction industry. It’s limited so far, but it’s supposed to be stronger than steel, lighter, and doesn’t corrode or conduct electricity.

It has a similar chemical composition as glass fibre, but has better strength characteristics, and unlike most glass fibre it is highly resistant to alkaline, acidic and salt attack, making it a good candidate for concrete, bridge and shoreline structures.

It’s a long sale, so it’s about looking for the right customers who want to invest/ work with it.

On a smaller scale we’ve recently created a simple virtual reality app for smartphones that enables us to get information and awareness of our work and projects out more.

It works by downloading the app to your smartphone which is then placed in a basic fold-out cardboard VR viewer that we are giving away. Like a View-Master from your childhood. It showcases our project delivery capability to customers and also helps us tap into the younger generation.

Looking across the sector, I hope there will be, and think there needs to be, some progress in tech and health and safety.

The industry realises there’s so much that can be done. Rates of accidents have decreased in the last few years, but this can be halved or quartered again.

Wearable technology has come on.

Even simple apps or wearables that monitor health and movement can help change behaviours on site and promote a healthier workforce. Smart vests, for example, which allow on-the-job monitoring of body temperature and heart rate, are already in use on some sites.

Some tech companies abroad have now developed exoskeletons. These are suits that can help you carry three times your bodyweight or move faster. These are things we saw in a film 20 years ago, but it’s now reality and could become common place on a construction site in the next few years.

What are you looking for in the January sales?

My iPad mini is getting a little old now but I don’t expect a new one to be slashed in the sales.

It would be great to get our hands on HoloLens, and I think I will have to be looking out for Google Home and a few Philips Hue lamps.

Philips Hue lights can be controlled wirelessly

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Feature Technology

‘Digital engineering is the biggest thing for us’ Sam Stacey

Director of innovation and business improvement, Skanska TechnoIogy I can’t live without...

Adaptive cruise control. It takes so much of the stress out of motorway driving.

What tech should people be moving on from?

I think people need to look beyond BIM. BIM is a foundation. You don’t just get your Level 2 and leave it there. You have to evolve and once you’re engaged with BIM, or organisations with the right attitude and relationships, the benefits can be great, but it’s a starting block.

What are your top picks for 2017?

Digital engineering, specifically geographic information systems, is probably the hottest topic for us at the moment. It involves collecting data about what’s out there in the world, such as where our projects are, where our suppliers are, what the transport routes are, the movement of people and equipment. Getting hold of all these datasets, piecing them into maps and tracking them.

On the basis of this, through data analytics and human intelligence, you can start to spot efficiencies and opportunities. It can then be used for procuring and tendering for projects.

I think holograms also have a big role in the future. It’s one step on from VR and AR and I think we’ll see them developed for site training and health & safety.

What is Skanska’s tech plan?

We recognise the need for continuous improvement and staying at the forefront of technology. We invest around £12m a year in research and development and actively search for grant funding opportunities across the UK and beyond. This enables us to work with external organisations such as BRE, universities and other companies to collaboratively find solutions, innovate and develop new technology.

An example of this is what we’ve been doing with fibre optics. Working alongside Cambridge University, Cementation Skanska is using distributed fibre optic sensing techniques for pile and wall integrity testing during excavation work for the new tube stations and tunnels on the extended Northern line. The traditional way has been to use sonic tubes, which you have to install in the What else are you looking at ? reinforcement cage, before you pour We’re always looking at the manufacturing concrete. Fibre optics replace these sonic industry and I think our industry needs to tubes. It’s cheaper, it’s a lot safer and you replicate it in terms of efficiency levels, get better data and long-term data. innovation, and less waste. The gap Low-cost standard telecommunication in waste between the manufacturing fibre optic cables are attached to several industry and construction is huge. sides of the reinforcement cage of the But I do think next year and the next few element and temperature measurements years will be exciting and that gap will close. obtained at close spatial intervals along We need to capture and share knowledge at the cage. The measurements are taken all levels and this will help create a culture of at short time intervals to record the innovation in the industry. evolution of the temperature profile of Logistics is another area where the element during concrete curing. construction needs to catch up — look at This application of fibre optic sensing companies such as Amazon, which are emerged from research at the University leading the way and being innovative. of Cambridge and was standardised by the Cambridge Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction.

“We invest around £12m a year The commercial application of distributed in research and development fibre optic sensing by Cementation and actively search for grant Skanska has allowed it to add a new funding opportunities.” specialist service to its portfolio, called Sam Stacey, Skanska CemOptics.

Elsewhere, we also have a tie-up with ABB Robotics to make robotic construction units to carry out tasks on site, including cutting, drilling and fixing. It is expected they will be ready for use by mid-2017.

3D printing is clearly of interest to us. We’ve been working with Loughborough University and architecture practice Foster + Partners over the past two years to study and develop the technology.

Are there any tech/gadgets that you’ll be eyeing up in the January sales?

I like the look of the Dobot Magician — a robot arm to add to the set of DeWalt tools in my workshop!

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Feature Technology

‘We can learn so much from the motor racing industry’ Tom Loader

Head of digital, Balfour Beatty Technology I can’t live without...

Bose headphones, they help to get me through the London rush hour.

Below: Robotics could transform the construction industry

What are you working on for 2017?

We’re particularly interested in VR/AR and how this can be used on site, such as for planning work, quality management, safety and inspection.

We are also hoping to make a further push into data analytics. We’re interested in how this raw data can be used and

correlated, for example for tendering, working on site and improving health and safety. The data could also be used to track people and equipment movements, and tell us how a site works.

What else are you enthusiastic about?

The motor racing industry and that whole sector is something I think the construction industry can learn so much from. We’ve worked on the National Automotive Innovation Centre in Coventry for the University of Warwick and this has exposed us to the sector.

Their innovation cycle really is something to behold. How they capture raw data live and then are able to calculate it and come up with solutions to problems and make things more efficient is amazing.

ROBOTWORX

Are there any areas of technology you’re ignoring?

No, I think everything is fair game and improvements and exploring new technology will be beneficial everywhere.

As an industry I would say we’ve actually been quite cautious till now so the developments of any new areas are a bonus. Look at mobile apps on site — only a few years ago they were trying to find their feet, now they’re becoming standard.

So I think nothing should be discounted.

What’s your take on 2017 and beyond?

We’ve always had the feeling that the wider application of technology is still yet to take hold, but we have been investing and developing our work in it, in areas such as drones, apps, VR and AR. Looking ahead, it’s about working with what you have to the best of your ability.

For example, when it comes to VR/AR, we found that we had the capability already in the business, people who had worked in the gaming industry and through that we can build apps and virtual programmes for sites.

One thing we’re very much invested in at the moment is data analysis. Over the past year we’ve been pushing mobile platform apps on site. This data can be collected and used for simple things such as logistics to improving working.

Another area we are looking at is construction robotics. Our view on this is to try to invest and develop autonomous robots and bring them into some of the labour-intensive or dangerous tasks on site. We’re partnering with Imperial College London and University College London on how we can bring some of this forward.

Are there any tech/gadgets that you’ll be eyeing up in the January sales?

A new toaster. (I don’t buy many gadgets!)

‘Gaming engines will continue to creep into construction’ Group BIM director, Kier Construction Technology I can’t live without...

Amazon Echo — we’ve called it “Hey you”, as my wife and I now use it to tell us things or give us reminders.

Right: Technology from the gaming industry is becoming more common

What’s Kier’s main focus for 2017?

I think gaming engines and their use in construction will continue to be a theme next year, for things such as BIM and 4D building sequencing. We will continue to focus on BIM and its development so that it runs through everything we do, rather than being a workflow separate from people’s day jobs.

Outside of construction, what industries are getting you excited and will you be monitoring?

We’ll continue to monitor the gaming industry as the development in this sector is very fast and the use of game engines and game technology can be applied to construction apps and programmes for training and health and safety, such as simulating work environments.

Are there any technologies that you think might be overhyped?

Augmented technology I think is a little overhyped at the minute and will take time to become practically useful on site.

Overall view For us it’s about getting the fundamentals in place before moving ahead. So we’ve developed an innovation portal, it’s a bit

of a Dragon’s Den scenario. People come on and pitch their proposals and they can possibly be developed and it spans out across the whole company.

Generally speaking we’re trying to reduce our spend on laptops, be more in the cloud and promote the use of tablets on site.

Are there any tech/gadgets that you’ll be eyeing up in the January sales?

Home automation systems. They have the potential to make so many things much easier when you’re away from home.

KARYA SENDIRI

Andy Radley

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Feature Technology

‘Offsite and standardisation is what we’re keeping an eye on’ Tim Carey

Product director responsible for innovation and improvement, Willmott Dixon Technology I can’t live without...

Netflix.

What’s on your radar for 2017?

We’re quite interested in AR/VR, but we’re not as far advanced in development as others.

We’re also trying to move our business more towards standardisation, components, repeatable products and an overall push towards offsite.

Where are you looking for inspiration?

The manufacturing industry is something we are aware of and keen to replicate.

We’ve been into places such as Land Rover’s plant to look at how they work.

I think overall as an industry we look too much at what our competitors do and not at what we can cross pollinate from other sectors.

Manufacturing, especially for the areas of offsite and standardisation that we are aspiring to, is what we’ll keep an eye on.

providing pre-designed buildings, but we’re trying to replicate this repeatable product across all parts of the business.

We’ve been quite vocal about wanting to build 1,000 homes a year through offsite by 2017, half of the 2,000 homes we already deliver. This will be achieved by signing agreements with other suppliers and investing in technology.

We’ve already signed agreements with Robertson Timber Engineering as sole supplier of timber frame products and Fusion Building Systems for light-gauge steel frames.

Another area that I think will be interesting next year is asset tagging of buildings once they’ve been completed.

There’s a lot more that can be done with that. Just learning more about how a building is used and the movement of people within it can help with future designs and construction.

What tech/gadgets are you eyeing up in the January sales?

Given the usual christmas excesses, I think a FitBit may be in order. CM

CONSTRUCTION’S MOST INNOVATIVE Is your company at the cutting edge of innovation? Then look out for more details of a new scheme we are launching next month to recognise the wealth and breadth of talent in the sector. As part of “Construction’s most innovative” we’ll be searching

for the UK’s top 20 most innovative companies, highlighting the individual who is doing the most to drive innovation and asking readers to vote for the best new idea. We’ll be announcing more details of how you can take part in the coming weeks.

Are there any technologies that you think might be overhyped?

3D printing I think is still five to 10 years off from proper adaptation to the industry. It has the potential to be really great, but I think it’ll take some time yet. I think BIM is slightly overplayed, it’s like when the Millennium bug first came around, a whole industry emerged around that. I think a lot of the industry is slightly exploiting people’s lack of knowledge and this is something that should be looked at.

What can we expect from Willmott next year?

The main area that we’re focusing on for this year, and where we hope to see improvements in tech and innovation, is offsite, standardisation and repeatable products.

We already use some of these techniques in Sunesis, our JV with Scape CONSTRUCTION MANAGER | JANUARY 2017 | 23

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Construction Professional

Meet the stress busters Based on their own experiences of a confrontational culture former contractors Dave Lee and Andy Dean are on a mission to make life in construction calmer, happier and ultimately safer. Denise Chevin reports.

that more than 80% of workers in construction suffer from some degree of work-related stress. This can include anxiety or depression and may lead to physical issues such as stomach ulcers and increased risk of heart attack.

According to the Samaritans, construction workers are six times more likely to die of suicide rather than a fall.

Lee and Dean say they’ve long perceived an aggressive and destructive culture that runs through construction. For the health — and with it the safety — of the sector to improve, they say it needs to change.

Carving out a better life Lee, who worked in the groundworks sector for 27 years, has experienced the damage an unhappy work life can bring.

With a broken home and tough background he was in and out of jail as a teenager before carving out a better life through construction, rising from labourer to contracts manager. Though he was in well-respected position and married with children, “the pressure got to me”, he says.

He began to drink heavily until his wife issued an ultimatum to clean up or ship out. Sessions with Alcoholics Anonymous started a journey of self-development and culminated in 2013 with him writing the Hairy-Arsed Builder’s Guide to Stress Management.

It was at a workshop that Lee met Dean, also with a background in construction but who’d also retrained as a therapist. Dean began working life as a British Gas engineer but, fed up with the “bullying culture”, left to go travelling in India before returning to train as a therapist and youth worker in the early 1990s.

When grants dried up in the early noughties he went back in to contracting, setting up his own business. By then he was already using the kind of management

PHOTOGRAPHY: GEORGE ARCHER

EMMA’S HAD A BAD START to the day. Her boiler’s on the blink and there’s no hot water. Roadworks double the time it takes to drive to work. There’s a valuation to finish before the end of the day, but she finds unexpected other tasks in the in-tray. As the day progresses the 35-year-old QS is constantly interrupted with phone calls and gets increasingly frustrated with colleagues. She ends up staying late and arrives home angry.

Recognise the scenario? No? Then you’re one of the lucky ones it seems.

For Emma’s scenario is so typical that it’s part of a new training programme to help workers cope with the pressures that many in construction find themselves facing.

The online programme is designed to reduce stress and increase wellbeing. It’s been developed by Brighton-based Dave Lee and Andy Dean, who have six decades of working in the industry between them.

They’ve recently given up their day jobs — Lee working as a contracts manager for a groundworks contractor and Dean running his own heating and plumbing business — to set up a new company aimed at changing construction’s culture.

Building Site to Boardroom (BS2B) offers training in how to promote wellbeing among workers. As the title suggests, it’s aimed at anyone from directors to site operatives, and Lee and Dean believe everyone should do it.

The initiative arrives as the welfare of the workforce — and not just its safety — is getting more attention. Launching this month at a summit organised by the Health in Construction Leadership Group is Mates In Mind. The initiative’s goal is to train up an army of mental-aid first aiders across the UK’s construction sites.

There is growing evidence pointing to a stressed workforce suffering a range of mental health problems. Surveys suggest

Brighton-based Dave Lee (left) and Andy Dean have developed a self-awareness programme to improve wellbeing in construction

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Construction Professional

“If I gave people half an hour in the morning to unload, they weren’t carrying that throughout their day and they were more switched on, more productive and happier.”

Andy Dean, Building Site to Boardroom

techniques to try to make life better for those who he worked with. “I’d make time for our employees and encourage them to talk about the day before over a cup of tea. I found if I gave people 20 minutes or half an hour in the morning to unload, they weren’t carrying that throughout their day and they were more switched on, more productive and happier.”

BS2B and the course was born in response to a series of directives and codes of practice from organisations such as the CITB, the HSE, Considerate Constructors Scheme and the Department of Health, which focused on improving wellbeing and the working environment.

“Construction is changing bit by bit, but there is still a culture of bullying to get things done,” notes Dean.

Their training aims to change this behaviour by teaching people about selfawareness and to be “mindful” of how they behave to those around them. It’s based around what they describe as core values of personal responsibility, integrity, authenticity and equal dignity.

Essentially, that’s about taking control of your own situation rather than allowing yourself to be put upon, acknowledging that everyone’s opinion matters, defining what your boundaries are and sticking to them, and communicating with people in a way that expresses your feelings and needs as clearly as you can.

Using a series of animations, the course guides the user through exercises that

teach people how to practise these principles and in doing so learn how to cope with situations at work and at home that in the past have triggered stress and anger. In a nutshell, the pair want people in construction to start being nicer to each other. That way they can be more productive, happier and ultimately safer.

BS2B has partnered with the consultancy Awbery on some of the content and online training provider Olive Media, which has developed the platform.

The course has been approved by the CITB and the cost, around £45 per person, can be claimed back through the levy.

They are in talks with several larger contractors interested in buying the programme and have been running pilot schemes with a handful of others. In addition to the online training modules they have also developed material for contractors’ tool box talks, and provide one-to-one coaching or group sessions.

Lee says he has been buoyed by the encouragement they’ve received, including from Joanna Lewis, training partnership manager at the CIOB. She says of the concept: “The safety side of health and safety quite rightly gets a lot of focus, but health is just as important and that is why we are encouraged by initiatives like Building Site to Boardroom.

“CIOB members who have taken this training tell us that it was very valuable and that is why I support Dave and Andy in their approach.”

‘Now I approach things with a calmer attitude’ For 26-year-old QS Tom Fryer, BS2B’s programme has changed his working life.

I’ve always been driven to be a high achiever and I was constantly worried about time. It would make me angry about things I had no control of at work.

It’s not that I have less work now, but I’m dealing with it in a different way. The way I think about it has changed. I realise it’s okay not to know about everything and not feel responsible for other people’s emotions too.

Working in construction you always have deadlines and target dates and you have to be responsible, but it shouldn’t create so much negative energy in the process. Worrying about when you are going to do everything creates an

energy in your brain that doesn’t stop.

But it makes you inefficient.

The best way I can describe the course is that it’s an additional set of tools which guide your thoughts to a better place.

Now I approach things with a clearer mind and a calmer attitude. You can only do what you can in the time available — and that takes all that defensiveness away.

I’m no longer constantly apologising and am more honest and approachable in the way I communicate with people. If everyone applied the values in the course to the way they worked we’d have a much better industry.

Andy Dean and Dave Lee will be holding a CPD-accredited workshop in Waltham Cross organised by the CIOB Chelmsford Hub on Tuesday, January 17 at 7pm. For more details contact Chia Oh at coh@ciob.org.uk; tel 01344 630840. BS2B can be contacted at info@bs2b.co.uk 020 3151 8455 CONSTRUCTION MANAGER | JANUARY 2017 | 25

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Construction Professional

Stopping the downward spiral Continuing our theme of wellbeing in construction, Dr Howard Awbery looks at corporate burnout, offering pointers on how you can spot it and tips on supporting those on the brink.

CORPORATE BURNOUT is an addictive,

overwhelming exhaustion and a complete inability to function, get out of bed, or undertake work in any capacity.

I have carried out an in-depth five-year study into corporate burnout and found that it affects around 20% of leaders.

Most commonly, corporate burnout affects high-performing leaders in the first 10 years of their career, and is often described as “overachiever syndrome”.

The impact of corporate burnout affects individual performance and wellbeing, as well as team and ultimately, corporate performance.

I use the analogy of a downward moving escalator to describe the different stages of corporate burnout: 1. At the top of the escalator is the Resilient Leader.

The performance of a Resilient Leader mirrors exactly the ever-changing organisational demands and they stay comfortably at the top. As the workload fluctuates, these leaders cope well with the changes of pace. The Resilient Leader experiences minimal risk of

work-related stress, depression, anxiety, or corporate burnout.

Assisted Recoverers are at very high risk of workrelated stress, depression, anxiety and corporate burnout, but with help, they can recover completely.

2. One third of the way down the escalator are the Self-Recoverers.

These are leaders who are gradually carried down the escalator no matter how hard they work. However, they are sufficiently in control to understand the unsustainability of the situation. They step off and drive changes to their personal way of working, the performance of their teams, they re-establish “normal” hours, and often have difficult conversations with line leaders.

With these changes they are at low risk of work-related stress, depression, anxiety and corporate burnout and, in time, their situation is eminently recoverable.

3. Two thirds of the way down the escalator are the Assisted Recoverers, who require assistance to recover.

Having travelled this far down the escalator, these leaders are completely unaware of their lack of performance or the impact they are having on their teams.

What can you do to help tackle corporate burnout? l Review how your organisation monitors its workforce for

signs of corporate burnout and mental health issues.

l Identify and train individuals to be “Recovery Buddies”

or “Mental Health First Aiders”.

l Enhance appraisal/mentoring training to include

identifying early signs of corporate burnout, performance issues and behavioural changes. l Consider your top 10 achievers and ask how the organisation would function if any of them were unable to work for nine to 18 months due to corporate burnout. l Review top 10 achiever workloads. l Provide flexible, annual work patterns based on operational demands, for example shorter summer working hours or study leave. l Consider if 24/7 communication is necessary. l Promote a well-being culture of healthy eating and exercise. l Immediately stop the practice of work-related telephone communication while driving.

They need a Recovery Buddy to point out the abyss they are heading for, and together, establish a personal recovery strategy offering the support necessary to return to the top.

These leaders are at very high risk of work-related stress, depression, anxiety and corporate burnout, but with help, they can recover completely.

4. At the bottom of the escalator are the high performers who are suffering from complete burnout.

These leaders need very long recovery periods to overcome work-related stress, depression, anxiety or corporate burnout.

They will require intervention and support over a long period.

What are the signs?

Some of the classic indicators of corporate burnout are: • Lower back or neck pains • Increased use of painkillers or caffeine • Disrupted sleep patterns • Changes in eating habits • Increased alcohol or drug use • Feelings of futility and alienation • Deterioration in performance • Short temper • Inability to “turn off” • Reduced immune system and memory.

Some behavioural changes that could signal depression resulting from corporate burnout include: • A systematic drop in levels of enthusiasm • Slow and monotonous speech • A lack of attention to appearance • Talk of “I’m letting everyone down” • Feelings that life isn’t worth living.

Dr Howard G Awbery is MD and founder of Awbery, a company specialising in delivering high-impact leadership and management development programmes, HR and coaching solutions, and wellbeing strategies.

For more information visit www.awberymanagement.co.uk, Tel: 01283 703828, @AwberyTweet

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Construction Professional

Prepare for a year of legal ups and downs A new BIM protocol, payment rules and modular construction are among the changes afoot this year. Assad Maqbool and Jennifer Dalby ask what it all means for the legal landscape.

A new BIM Protocol 2017 will be a critical year for BIM. The economic uncertainty and downturn in construction industry output means that the investment in BIM technology and skills will need to be justified by offering better value for money.

In the spring there should be a reissue of the Construction Industry Council BIM Protocol. The first edition has been critical to the successful contractual implementation of BIM in the UK by focusing minds on the legal implications of using BIM; a revision is due to rebalance the risk on extensions of time and data corruption, among other issues, to assist in promoting employers’ procurement of BIM-enabled projects.

Modular construction Another theme of 2017 will be the impact of the Farmer Review of the UK construction labour model, which brought to the fore the case for pre-manufactured solutions.

From a construction lawyer’s perspective, the point at which ownership of the components in a manufacturing process passes to the employer should always be considered in construction contracts.

An increase in modular construction is likely to mean a rise in the use of “vesting certificates” which ensure that ownership passes from subcontractors and contractors to employers when payment has been made, reducing the employer’s risk should there be insolvency at any point in the supply chain.

Another point that will need to be considered is health and safety and the CDM Regulations. “Construction work” under the Regulations includes “the assembly on site of prefabricated elements to form a structure”. If more of a project is being carried out through the

manufacture and assembly offsite, this could have an impact on the application of the CDM Regulations to those manufacturing sites.

Adjudication costs A judgment published in late 2016 is likely to increase the numbers of adjudications next year.

Lulu Construction Ltd v Mullaley & Co Ltd concerned a dispute referred to adjudication by a Notice of Adjudication brought by the paying party, Mulalley, to resolve the value of Lulu’s claim under the subcontract.

The interesting feature of this case is that it opens the way for a disgruntled payee to recover costs either when initiating an adjudication or when faced by a claim from the payer. The payer by contrast will not be in a position to introduce such a claim as the right under Section 5A(2A) of the Late Payment Act applies only to the supplier.

FAC-1 and JCT This year we are expecting to see the publication of some positive case studies from the first projects to use the new published standard form framework agreement, FAC-1, which is likely to become the model for long-term alliancing in UK construction projects.

As the JCT completes the 2016 update of its suite, much of the industry will start contracting using the new 2016 contracts and many companies will start receiving their first tenders on the basis of the new suite. While most of the updates have been small tweaks to wording, those tweaks will need to flow through to normal subcontracting positions and there are a few substantive changes which will need to be considered, such as the payment cycle and the process to claim loss and expense.

Paying on time We are also likely to see a trend in the construction industry that may be helpful and worrying in equal proportions.

Much of the intent behind the Construction Act has always been to ensure that money flows during projects and to ensure the solvency of companies that might otherwise suffer from late payment.

However, there has always been a difference between policy and practice: suppliers have been discouraged from pursuing their employers because they do not want to “bite the hand that

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The new JCT Standard Contract explained

“Another theme of 2017 will be the impact of the Farmer Review, which brought to the fore the case for pre-manufactured solutions.”

We are likely to see regulations that would mean some restrictions in construction contracts on assignment become invalid. This means that suppliers would be able to assign their rights to payment to debt factoring companies, which can pursue the right to payment direct to employers.

Although it would take time for this to infiltrate the market, the introduction of debt factoring companies as a common feature in the industry may improve solvency and payment periods, but will necessarily change traditional relationships in the industry and perhaps lead to more disputes.

feeds them” and because of the cost (including cost of management time) in pursuing small debts.

The Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 introduced an express power for the secretary of state to make regulations intended to tackle barriers to the ability of businesses (not specifically limited to SMEs) to access invoice finance and other forms of receivables financing. In particular, the legislation addresses restrictions that may be included in business contracts preventing the assignment of debts.

Skills shortage and existing developments The endemic shortage that has been brewing due to the UK’s own failures in training sufficient people to meet the demand for skilled workers in the construction industry will continue to bite in 2017. The EU referendum (including its effect on the pound) has already had an impact on the willingness of European workers to move to the UK to fill that skills gap.

Since most employers want cost certainty and are reluctant to share risk, the majority of existing developments are being undertaken on a fixed price under a traditional building contract. This means that most contractors are currently taking the risk of increased labour costs, as well as the risk of delivery on time.

As with other periods of rising subcontract prices, we are likely to see a rise this year of contractors and subcontractors seeking to leave long-term fixed-price arrangements and seek open-book contracts which pass rising costs through to employers.

Assad Maqbool is a partner and Jennifer Dalby is an associate at Trowers & Hamlins

The new SBC can be seen not as a radical reworking of the previous edition, but rather an incremental and helpful step forward. The key changes are: Contract particulars There is now reference to a performance bond and parent company guarantee to be provided by the contractor.

One significant change, which is addressed further below, is the introduction of the concept of “Interim Valuation Dates”.

There is now reference to the BIM Protocol, and to reflect the growing use of third party rights, there is greater scope for the granting of these rights instead of collateral warranties.

Conditions Carrying out the works The contractor has to notify the employer of any discrepancy/divergence between the contractor’s proposals and/or other contractor’s design documents. This is in addition to notifying the employer of any discrepancy or divergence within its own contractor’s proposals. There is provision for the BIM Protocol to apply.

The changed payment provisions This section probably has the most important changes. A key concept introduced by the new edition is that of “Interim Valuation Dates” (IVDs). These are meant to apply throughout the supply chain. The aim is to ensure fair payment throughout the contractual chain. Whether that aim is achieved remains to be seen.

The monthly payment cycle now continues after practical completion, and continues up to the final payment due date.

There is a new procedure for the assessment of loss and expense. The contractor has to notify the architect/

contract administrator as soon as the likely effect of a relevant matter on progress, or in relation to loss and/or expense, is reasonably apparent to them.

However, the new provisions stop short of making such notification a “condition precedent” to payment/time. That is, a failure to notify would be a breach of contract, but would not in itself automatically prevent the contractor from being entitled to time/money.

In addition, the contractor has to notify its initial assessment of the loss and/or expense incurred, and any further amounts likely to be incurred, at the same time as it notifies the impact on progress and the extent of any loss and/or expense, or as soon as reasonably practicable thereafter. Furthermore, the contractor has to keep that assessment updated.

The architect/contract administrator then has to notify the contractor of the ascertained amount of the loss and/or expense incurred within 28 days of receiving the above initial assessment, and within 14 days of each subsequent update.

The first IVD should be set out in the contract particulars.

The further IVDs will then be the same date in each month thereafter. If the parties do not identify the first IVD, then the default date is one month after the date of possession.

The IVDs are then used to work out the due dates for payment. The monthly due date in terms of interim payments is seven days after the relevant IVD. At any time up to the relevant IVD, the contractor can make a payment application. This, however, is not compulsory.

By Stuart Thwaites, a legal director at Wright Hassall. stuart.thwaites@wrighthassall. co.uk, tel: 01926 884690

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Technical Facade

THE FACE OF INTELLIGENT BUILDING Derwent London’s White Collar Factory near east London is an office for the 21st century.

As James Kenny reports, the three-element curtain walling is key to delivering the latest environmental principles.

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Technical Facade

SINCE THE TERM “Silicon Roundabout” was coined in 2008 to describe the changing face of Old Street, the area has become a vibrant community of start-ups and established digital corporations.

As well as the technical revolution going on, the area at the edge of east London has undergone changes in construction, particularly around the roundabout itself. The egg-shaped apartments, in the south-east corner, have been a talking point over the past few years, dividing Londoners with their unusual structures.

However, it is next to this, in the south-west corner that another striking building is nearing completion. With its cladding aptly looking like a circuit board, the White Collar Factory is being championed as a new type of office for a new way of working. The £76m project is aiming to be greener and much more flexible than traditional speculative office developments, with bare concrete walls and exposed services as well as cuttingedge technology and IT interfaces.

The overall concept of the 16-storey building centres on tried and tested environmental principles: large open floors and tall ceilings for flexibility and good daylight; an exposed concrete structure for thermal mass; and natural ventilation to reduce energy consumption.

Central to achieving a better indoor air quality is the skin of the building itself.

It is wrapped in a facade where shading,

glazing, openings, and insulation are tailored to respond to each elevation’s orientation to the sun, which means each facade is designed differently.

Jonathan Wilson, facade engineer at Arup, explains that from the start developer Derwent London and architect AHMM were keen to move away from the traditional London offices that feature traditional glazing. They wanted to develop a facade that responded to the low-energy cooling system, maximised daylight, provided natural ventilation and responded to the high acoustic requirement demanded by the site, as well as responding to the “White Collar Factory” industrial aesthetic.

Wilson says: “During the early design phase of the project AHMM, Arup and other consultants were all involved in client presentations to Derwent on the facades of the White Collar Factory, where Derwent was a fundamental partner in the development of a truly performanceled multi-functional facade design. This was all done prior to any tenders and before any work was done to ensure the facade met the performance requirements of the building.”

The basic module component is a unitised curtain walling system, which is broken down into three key elements: opaque; fully glazed; and glazed 2m high inward opening windows that are partially shaded by large perforated panels.

The external perforated panels are a >

How the panels are designed to suit orientation North

North facade

West and South facade East facade

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Technical Facade

Diagram showing unitised curtain walling Fully glazed panels

n Ventilation n Insulation n Glazing

Perforated holes

Opaque panel

> key feature of the facade. The 4mmthick natural anodised panels have vertical corrugations pressed into them as well as the large punched holes. According to Wilson these were inspired by Jean Prouvé’s Maison Tropicale, a 1950s prefabricated housing system.

“It embodies the factory aesthetic that the building is about,” says Wilson.

During the early design phase the architect, facade engineer and building services engineer worked closely to define the balance between glazed and opaque based on solar and thermal performance. Parameters in terms of glazing percentage depending on orientation were supplied to the architect allowing them to develop their elevations.

The shading factor of the perforated panels helped to maximise the amount of glazing. A double-glazed unit with a highly selective solar control coating was selected. The glass was chosen based not only on its shading performance but also to maximise the amount of visible light the glass allowed into the building.

Once the parameters had been set for the performance of the glass, sampling exercises were undertaken to inspect the visual quality and colour of the glass.

Following the appointment of the main contractor, Multiplex, the design team was novated and Yuanda Europe, the European division of Chinese cladding contractor Yuanda, was awarded an £11m contract to develop the design and fabricate the building envelope. >

Tried and tested from tech to temperature Nothing left to chance in digital and sustainable exemplar One of the key innovations and principles underlying the design of the White Collar Factory building is to optimise the climate control benefits of its passive design to reduce the amount of mechanical air conditioning needed.

To do this it uses concrete core cooling, which works by circulating chilled water though the pipes embedded in the floor slabs. The cooled slabs provide radiant cooling and thermal mass to absorb any heat generated in the offices from computers, lighting and people.

Unlike conventional air conditioning it is a passive cooling system which is quieter to run with less air movement within the space.

Besides the concrete cooling system, careful thought has gone into the rest of the design to integrate new tech and IT. This can be seen in the openable windows throughout the building. There will be a traffic light system on each floor to guide occupants on when to have the windows open and when to close them depending on the outside temperature: green for open, red for closed.

Workers and building managers will also be able to “see” in real-time how the space they’re working in is operating via an app linked to the building management system — and provide feedback to improve comfort and energy performance.

The building is the first in the UK to achieve a Wired Certified Platinum for Development & Redevelopment rating.

The Wired Certification scheme was launched by former mayor of London Boris Johnson in November 2015. It acts as a trusted mark for buildings independently certified to provide leading-edge digital infrastructure. It’s meant to give greater transparency to tenants signing leases and provides landlords with insights to improve their building’s connectivity standards. White Collar Factory will provide 237,000 sq ft over the 16 floors of office space with super high-speed connectivity.

Another example of forward thinking on the project was that before actual construction started, Derwent built a full-scale working prototype, essentially a 325 sq m slice of the White Collar Factory floor. The prototype building not only served as a marketing suite but also as a testing facility for its tech and how the building would work with its environment.

Throughout the summer and autumn of 2013 bespoke software, installed on an iPad, was used to test how much energy was being consumed within the prototype and to monitor comfort levels. The prototype was populated with workers and monitored to see if the office they inhabited was a suitable environment.

By populating the prototype and then monitoring conditions throughout a hot summer and variable autumn season the designers were able to verify the performance of the building services design before work started.

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Technical Facade

French dressing inspires White Collar design Architect Jean Prouvé’s industrial look informs Derwent’s building The £76m White Collar Factory has already inspired its own buzzword with developers and designers exclaiming they want the new “White Collar look”.

Work began on the project in 2014 and it is Derwent London’s vision of a new type of office aiming to revolutionise the workplace.

The concept for the design of the new office buildings is one that combines well-built industrial spaces with best practice office design, based around the principles of reducing lighting, heating and cooling while allowing maximum flexibility and adaptability.

It is inspired by mid-20th century French architect Jean Prouvé, who introduced manufacturing technology into architectural design, bringing a bare, stripped-back, industrial feel, but with 21st century technology.

The office building is the centrepiece of contractor Multiplex’s commercial office-development Old Street Yard.

The development comprises six new

“As you go up the building the glass spec slightly changes that responds to the external noise environment.”

Jonathan Wilson, Arup

> Wilson says: “So there was one main facade panel used predominantly on all the facades from level one upwards and that’s the unitised system manufactured in China. The Prouvé aluminium panels and glass were made in Europe and then shipped to China where

builds, including the refurbishment of two buildings. Behind the tower, the redundant service yard will be surrounded by five low-rise buildings providing offices, restaurants and apartments.

The 16-storey 237,000 sq ft office building also has a roof terrace with an integrated running track.

The stability of the building is provided by two reinforced concrete cores. The floor slabs are supported on a 9m x 9m grid with varying spans in parts based on a multiple of the 1.5m internal planning grid. All floors are constructed from in-situ reinforced concrete which is left exposed on the underside.

Internally, the clear floor-to-ceiling height is 3.5m, which includes a 200mm-high raised access floor for electrical services and ICT, including a fibre optic “spine”.

Much of the concrete structure is exposed. A “board mark” finish — achieved from carefully selected timber shuttering — is being used for feature walls in

reception, the ground floor external walls and the walls of the lift lobbies.

The building has already been 60% let to companies such as Adobe, AKT II, BGL, Capital One and The Office Group. Seen as the crowning glory, the building’s top two storeys comprise a double-height penthouse with an open mezzanine level.

the facade elements were assembled in strict factory conditions.”

Wilson says all parties — Multiplex, Derwent, AHMM and Arup — were involved in all stages of the design and sourcing and this was key to ensuring a smooth supply chain and that the products were of the right standard.

“When Derwent went to China to see the facility with Multiplex and AHMM, at that time we had built several mock ups of each of the main facade types so they could sign off. We went out to China three times ourselves as Arup, but worked closely with our facade engineers in our Beijing office who made regular trips to Yuanda’s factory and also to North Glass, the glass supplier.”

“That was fundamental to the success of the project, Yuanda knew we were going to work collaboratively with them to ensure we delivered the best.”

Further up on the top two floors of the building there are also a number of porthole windows which can again be opened by the occupants depending on the needs of the workers.

One of the biggest challenges on the project according to Wilson was the fact that the building is located on one of the most active roundabouts in London, almost constantly busy and noisy.

“We worked with Arup Acoustics and their technicians at design phase on testing the outside to inside acoustics.

As you go up the building the glass spec slightly changes in terms of the build-up glazing that responds to the external noise environment.

“One of the innovations in the facade design was the incorporation of a perforated acoustic panel on the inside of the opaque elements. The ‘factory’ aesthetic lead to the use of exposed internal concrete soffits and structure with minimal options for inclusion of sound absorption. The facade acoustic panel was fully integrated into the united element and helped to respond to the internal noise conditions.”

Arup also conducted two full scale weather performance tests on the facade with an aeroplane engine simulating various harsh weather in order to ensure it could withstand all conditions.

“The facade had to perform well in every sense, thermal, solar, acoustics and aesthetics.”

The panels were shipped to Europe in a container and according to Wilson due to it being unitised work on construction and the cladding was much easier and could “slot in easily”. Work began October 2015 and cladding was completed last August. CM

A prototype of the new office was built and comfort levels were monitored

Client Derwent London Main Contractor Multiplex Architect Allford Hall Monaghan Morris M&E Engineer Arup Structural Engineer AKT II Project Manager Jackson Coles CDM Coordinator Jackson Coles Quantity Surveyor Aecom Specialist Facade Engineer Arup Facades Fire Consultant Arup Fire ICT Arup IT & Communications Systems Consulting

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Continuing Professional Development WELL Building Standard • What the standard is • How businesses can attain the certification • The benefits of achieving certification

A certification that’s a breath of fresh air Dr Joe Croft, head of environmental and sustainability at fit-out specialist Overbury, discusses how a new wellness standard for office environments will have a significant effect on workplace refurbishments and employee wellbeing.

THE COMBINATION of an ageing workforce,

While architects and designers have long stressed the important link between the office environment and the health of staff, only recently has this understanding filtered down to occupiers and clients — which is where we as fit-out contractors take our cue.

“Architects and designers have long stressed the important link between the office environment and the health of staff, but only recently has this filtered down to occupiers and clients.”

CPD

absenteeism through illness, staffing costs and more demanding employees has pushed wellbeing much higher up the list of priorities for businesses.

Wearable technology and smartphone apps which measure environmental pollutants have also empowered employees to challenge bosses on how “healthy” their workspaces really are.

Now, for the first time, businesses can earn a rubber stamp of approval for how their offices meet wellness benchmarks.

The US WELL Building Standard made its way to the UK towards the end of 2015 and has been welcomed by those procuring and completing office fit-outs.

The benefits are significant, not only for employers, but for staff too. Acoustics, air quality and thermal comfort all play a crucial role in making a workplace a healthy space to inhabit, while less sedentary working habits, better nutrition and combating stress go a long way in promoting workplace wellness. Research suggests productivity improvement of up to 11% is not uncommon as a result of better air quality alone. Similarly, in 2011, a lab test carrying out a range of tasks in an office environment found that increasing ventilation improved performance by up to 8%.

What is WELL? Administered by the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) and certified by Green Business Certification Inc (GBCI), which also oversees LEED, WELL is the only building assessment standard is entirely focused on the occupants of a space (though more are on the horizon).

It measures the characteristics of buildings that impact occupant wellness by focusing on seven “concepts”: air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort and mind.

In the UK, we haven’t yet established something that is as concentrated on wellness. Our adoption of mainstream environmental assessment frameworks, like BREEAM, SKA or LEED, do have wellbeing elements, but are more focused on environmental issues such as sustainable materials, improving water and energy efficiency, and reducing environmental impact. Although offices that meet these standards contain wellbeing elements, they aren’t certifications that are solely focused on assessing the quality of a space from a physical and mental health perspective.

However, this may change with the recently announced partnership between the BRE and WELL. It sounds as though the relationship may extend over time,

but the initial agreement that certain BREEAM credits and WELL features will be deemed equivalent by both schemes will enable easier design and evidencing for a variety of wellbeing issues.

As WELL is all about wellbeing, it does not touch the environmental requirements of BREEAM, SKA and LEED. This means that its thresholds for areas such as lighting, ventilation and thermal comfort are focused on occupant benefit, rather than energy efficiency.

For example, WELL features include: l air quality testing — to ensure the quality of the air being provided to the occupants; l circadian lighting design — to mimic natural light over the course of a workday and thus improve occupants’ sleep; l at least 30% of workstations with flexible height — to encourage occupants to vary the sitting and standing positions from which they work, reducing the

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Continuing Professional Development WELL Building Standard

Overbury aims for a double

Cundall office in the City of London is the first in the UK to gain WELL accreditation

stress on a small proportion of muscles; l significant air flush prior to occupancy — to ensure the space being provided to the occupants has been properly prepared for occupation following significant constructions works.

As a result, we’re going to need a new way of approaching these elements of an office’s fit-out to ensure we can even meet such requirements.

Where projects are pursuing both WELL and an environmental certification, there may be some issues that have contradictory approaches. For example, the demand for higher air circulation with WELL goes against the need to reduce energy consumption with BREEAM. Our hope is that the BRE and WELL partnership addresses this. Of course, the detail will be critical, but we feel this will encourage greater take up of WELL as it will simplify the design, evidencing and verification process. An “equivalency”

Deloitte’s UK headquarters in the City of London (pictured below) is one of the first in the UK to simultaneously target WELL Building Standard certification and a BREEAM Refurbishment & Fit Out (RFO) 2014 rating.

Overbury has begun enabling work on the 24,620 sq m fit-out, which includes the basement, lower ground floor, finishes to the main reception, several client floors, and the workplace and amenities floors at One New Street Square, which the global financial advisory firm has taken on a 20-year prelet.

Deloitte already occupies numerous buildings at the New Street Square campus so the works will also include the installation of two link bridges to connect One New Street Square with the adjacent building, Two New Street Square.

WELL measures occupant wellness by focusing air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort and mind, awarding certification to those that meet its stringent benchmarks.

Completion of the Overbury fit out is anticipated in December 2017, with Deloitte aiming to occupy its expanded headquarters from the beginning of 2018.

exercise is being undertaken by the two bodies to establish which credits/features can be deemed equal. The outcome of this is expected early this year.

Achieving and maintaining WELL At the lowest level of WELL, contractors must already adhere to a high number of pre-conditions. If the target is any higher, the challenge becomes far greater with a number of additional “optimisations” to meet; 40% for Gold and 80% for Platinum.

For example, in the nourishment section, food labelling and hand washing would be a prerequisite, whereas providing food alternatives for special diets would be considered an optimisation.

Ensuring the fit-out’s “performance” in the long term is important too. After meeting specified criteria during the design and construction phases, a project targeting a BREEAM, SKA or LEED rating will receive its certificate and staff will > CONSTRUCTION MANAGER | JANUARY 2017 | 37

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Continuing Professional Development WELL Building Standard

One Carter Lane: All’s well that ends WELL

Alan Fogarty, sustainability partner at Cundall, describes how the firm’s office gained WELL accreditation.

Since it was founded in 1976, Cundall has put sound ethical principles at the heart of its business, including becoming the first consultancy in the world to be endorsed as a One Planet company and adopting the initiative’s 10 sustainable principles. As two of these concern health and wellbeing and sustainable materials, pursuing the WELL Building Standard in its London office fit-out seemed a natural progression.

So with architect Studio Ben Allen, Cundall began the first class (CAT-A) fit-out for its 1,430 sq m One Carter Lane office near St Paul’s Cathedral, ultimately creating a healthy, efficient and future-proof space

that is kind to the environment while putting the well-being of the occupants at its heart.

WELL considers features that affect the people in a building: air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort and mind. Cundall addressed each, from the initial space layout through the choice of flooring and desks to workplace initiatives such as subsidised gym and free fresh fruit and vegetables.

Air quality became the starting point for a variety of interlocking actions and systems.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have an exceptionally negative impact on the human body. So the designers specified low or zero VOC paint, adhesives, chipboard, and

> move into the space. After receiving its ratin, that same space won’t need recertification or reassessment, even to the factors that impact employee wellbeing. This means that occupants won’t necessarily benefit from ongoing improvements or seasonal adjustments to make sure the environment is just right.

On the other hand, a major component of earning and keeping a WELL certificate is in post-occupation testing and monitoring, from light levels to water purity. Unlike BREEAM and SKA, the work doesn’t end when the project does. With many of the WELL manual’s “features” needing to be done post-occupation, there is a much bigger role to be played by the facilities management teams who

will be responsible for ensuring that it’s carried out appropriately.

The WELL standard differentiates itself by future-proofing its certification with the building undergoing assessments throughout its lifetime. Every three years, an office needs to be recertified and this is based on the submission of annual year performance tests, monitoring and evaluation. This is when thinking about the “life” of the building really proves its importance. How will it need to change over the years to accommodate its occupants? What will need to change if the company sees rapid growth?

As WELL offers a much more detailed approach, it represents a significant challenge to the industry and it is vital

Above: Cundall’s office features zero VOC paint, air quality controls and sustainable Bolon floor covering, among other wellbeing features

“The WELL standard future-proofs its certification with the building undergoing assessments throughout its lifetime. ”

sustainable Bolon floor covering, as well as taking low VOC criteria through into daily cleaning and maintenance supplies.

Air quality was also affected by toxic chemicals given off by furnishings and furniture. Cundall used solid oak cupboard doors and desk edging, solid Douglas fir, and anti-microbial metal fittings such as a stunning brass cafe counter.

We fitted a demand-controlled ventilation system, but also used less standard methods of improving the air quality by installing an active green wall. Fans in the plenum behind the planting pull air from the office space through the plants’ roots to filter and clean the air. The roots clean the air not the leaves, with microbes breaking down particulates.

Cundall has applied its research on “biophilia”, the instinctive bond between humans and nature that boosts positive feelings and reduces negative ones. As well as individual plants positioned throughout the workspace and the green walls, we have installed a planted trestle structure to divide the “Town Hall“ area from the reception area.

Measurement is a key element in WELL, so we designed a bespoke monitoring system to ease the process. Small measuring devices, IEQubes, link via a Mesh Sensor Network to provide real-time information on local air quality, including VOCs, CO2 and particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) as well as temperature, humidity and lux levels.

Noise distraction was the second biggest complaint in the pre-fit-out survey of Cundall staff. Minimising it became one of the hardest outcomes to achieve in the large open plan office. Acoustic comfort started with space planning, creating noisy and quiet zones to allow for different types of work and individual

that we’re able to educate both clients and supply chain. Through having trained WELL Accredited Professionals (APs) — we have two of the UK’s current 11 in-house — we’re able to provide that directly, rather than outsource and add another layer to meeting the standard.

Adapting to this standard is not without its challenges and this is to be expected.

This isn’t helped by the scarcity of WELL assessors, which is attributed to a much more difficult set of exams and lack of UK training available. With BREEAM and SKA, assessors take their exams with an open book, whereas WELL does not allow for this. This approach may slow down the uptake as the industry could be put off by the level of work needed.

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Continuing Professional Development WELL Building Standard

modes of working. Perforated ceiling tiles with acoustic backing were supplemented with acoustic baffles integrated within the tall shelving units, strategically placed, to reduce the impact of noise “bouncing” across the floorplate. Baux acoustically absorbent, wood-wool panels were arranged in a decorative artwork behind reception.

However, it was not the level of noise that was the difficulty, but the automatic human instinct to “listen in” to an intelligible conversation. In areas of concentrated noise, such as the Town Hall, Cundall has started trialling a sound masking system from Sound Directions. In the office proper, extra areas for quiet working or quiet conversations are planned, using specialist acoustic seating.

We’ve created a living, working example of how the WELL Building Standard can be applied without breaking the bank. Figures show a total uplift in the project costs of £200 per head. But WELL should not be seen in isolation. By taking an integrated approach to using sustainability standards and tools, we’ve been able to create a practical, healthy workspace that, in addition to WELL, has achieved BREEAM Excellent and SKA Gold ratings, as well as being BCO compliant.

How we can make the most of WELL? To make the most of the opportunity that WELL brings, collaboration and communication are crucial. We have recently launched a quarterly forum where we invite a number of WELL APs and consultants working on WELL projects to get together. We delve into the complexities of specific WELL features, share advice and find solutions.

As best practice becomes a global priority, there are lessons we can learn from joining up with our international counterparts to achieve even better ways of working. We’ve partnered with US contractor HITT on the use of another US sustainability standard, LEED. We have put a lot of work into LEED training

Above: Anti-microbial metal fittings include a brass cafe counter, while plants throughout the office (below) boost positive feelings

for subcontractors stemming from this relationship, which has provided invaluable guidance and support. We intend to do the same with WELL. As contractors, we’re also responsible for communicating the benefits, as well as the risks, not just to our clients, but down through our supply chain. At tender stage, it’s our job to promote the value of such standards, especially if they’re being requested by the client, but we must manage expectations and let them know exactly what will be required.

What’s next for WELL in the UK? A number of clients have already taken an interest in the standard so we need to make sure that we can advise and help them reach their ambitions. We also expect these types of projects to become more frequent as wellbeing positions itself at the forefront of clients’ minds.

It’s important to remember that the notion of wellbeing and WELL are not the same thing. It’s clear to me that clients’ ambitions for wellbeing will become commonplace over the next few years.

However, it’s not yet clear whether WELL, or perhaps another scheme, will become the most prevalent in the UK. Until a few projects are completed and the WELL/BRE partnership is more established, it will be hard to gauge to what extent WELL will become a mainstream tool for the UK fit-out market.

Cundall has now received its WELL certificate, it is the first verified office in the UK and an important milestone in WELL’s increased presence in the market (see box). A number of large corporate

clients and property portfolios are also now looking at the WELL scheme both in terms of applying it directly or just ensuring that their spaces are WELL ready so that tenants have the capability to apply it if they choose.

The challenge and opportunity with WELL is that it doesn’t just impact the welfare of staff within their workplaces, it encourages a more holistic approach to healthier lifestyles and decision-making.

This will mean that businesses must be willing to educate their staff for such big changes to be valuable, and a lack of engagement will only hinder progress.

It’s important that the day-to-day users of the building understand how best to adapt to the new space to absorb the benefits.

It’s also important that we aren’t intimidated by the size of WELL. While it may seem daunting at first, it has the potential to drive significant change and improvements in health and wellbeing.

Feasibility is also considered beforehand, so businesses are not tasked with meeting difficult or potentially expensive features.

Our market is evolving and engagement is key to progress. By having more interest and input from across the industry, we are broadening the understanding of factors that impact wellness in the workplace.

There’s no question in my mind that wellbeing will become an increasingly important driver for clients, what remains to be seen is how open the built environment sector is to change. CM Overbury specialises in fit-out and refurbishment nationally and is part of Morgan Sindall

The CIOB has a dedicated CPD portal on the Construction Manager website, featuring CPD modules from the magazine, as well as study topics from a wide range of industry experts.

To complete the questionnaire below, and access the free CPD content, go to: www.constructionmanagermagazine.com/cpd

CPD test paper: WELL Building Standard 1. Research suggests better air quality can result in a productivity improvement of: l 8% l 15% l 10% l 13% 2. WELL focuses on seven “concepts”. Which of the following is NOT one of the seven: l Light l Fitness l Nourishment l Space 3. Offices that achieve the WELL standard need to be recertified: l Every 10 years l Every five years l Every three years l Once a year

4. Cundall estimates the cost of achieving WELL at its London office to be: l £100 per head l £50 per head l £200 per head l £350 per head 5. WELL features include at least 30% of workstations with: l At least 1 sq m of space l Flexible height l Minimum 30cm distance from screens l Recycled oak tops CONSTRUCTION MANAGER | JANUARY 2017 | 39

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Contact Contact THE CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF BUILDING MEMBERS’ NEWSLETTER ISSUE 148 JANUARY 2017

IN THIS ISSUE

41-43 ON THE RADAR

All the latest news and developments from the CIOB at HQ and in your area including new free onilne course and awards news

44 COMMENT

One migrant worker on the brain drain from Hungary

45 ONE TO WATCH

Keiran Danby, Buildfifty5 Ltd

46-47 SOLDIERING ON

Army construction workers get a taste of civilian projects

48 IN GOOD COMPANY

The Queen’s University Belfast’s new Computer Science Building transformed by O’Hare & McGovern

50 MEMBER BENEFITS

Take advantage of exclusive member offers

51DATES FOR YOUR DIARY Key events by region for the month ahead

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ON THE RADAR Contact | Jan 17

learning

CIOB Academy offers free online course in ethics

>

The CIOB Academy is launching a free MOOC (massive open online course) on Construction Ethics and Compliance in January. It offers the chance to learn how to stay ethical, compliant and professional in the construction industry in two hours a week over a five week period starting on 30 January.

Some of the largest construction firms in the world have faced the prospect of multi-million pound fines for significant breaches of ethics and compliance recently – from bribery and collusion to modern slavery.

Ethics is defined as a set of moral principles that govern a person’s behaviour or the conducting of an activity, but what does that mean for an individual or an organisation working in construction?

This free course will help you to understand the concept of ethics, why they matter, and why being ethical goes deeper than just being compliant and legal.

By the end of the five-week course, you will be able to: • Explain how ethics and compliance has a tangible impact on your professional role and personal values.

• Know why construction companies have policies and procedures, and how they relate to legal requirements and society.

• Apply your company’s policy (or a sample policy) to a real-life ethical dilemma case study.

• Identify conflicts of interest and determine the steps you need to take to minimise their risk.

• Ensure that your decisions are both ethical and compliant.

The CIOB Academy officially launched in December at an event at The Gherkin. It aims to deliver ‘real world’ practical courses for the industry.

Courses will help get people chartered, but will also be offered to improve overall skills and help career

progression. Courses cover a wide range to suit different roles and levels – from a certified specialist in low-carbon and green construction, BIM and big data, to those for a future leader in management and business strategy.

To sign up for a course visit www.futurelearn.com/ courses/construction-ethics-compliance/1

opportunity

MEMBER OPPORTUNITY TO GET INVOLVED WITH CIOB The CIOB is currently seeking to appoint new members to its Grievance and Appeals Board.

The Grievance and Appeals Board is established under the Institute’s Audit and Risk

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Committee to review any appeal by a member who has a grievance regarding an Institute process, for example Professional Review or Fellowhip.

The work of the Board is carried out electronically

and is shared between its members, with one Board meeting each year.

You must be a MCIOB/ FCIOB with professional, technical, commercial or academic experience within the construction industry.

Training in the work of the Board will be provided.

This is a voluntary position with travel expenses reimbursed.

Appointment to the Board is initially for a period of three years.

To express an interest in joining the Grievance and Appeals Board, please send a current CV and covering letter to Samantha Teague, Institute Secretary/Legal Manager at steague@ciob. org.uk by 3 February 2017.

41

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ON THE RADAR Contact | Jan 17

ireland

ireland

Queen’s University project opens up learning and employment opportunities

>

The Estates Department at Queen’s University Belfast hosted a presentation to members of the CIOB in November on the planned capital development programme for the University. The University plans £350m of construction projects between 2016 and 2025.

The presentation was followed by tours of two recently completed projects to help give attendees an insight into the types of projects that will be procured in the future.

Damien Toner, director or estates at Queen’s University said the work means opportunities for local construction professionals. “The University has an ambitious growth strategy. A fundamental part of it is to ensure that there are first class facilities for staff and students. We need construction professionals and local companies to deliver these projects, so we are very happy to have been able to facilitate a presentation and tour of the estate to promote the projects that companies will be able to tender for.”

Gerard Graham, chair of CIOB in Ireland’s Northern Centre said the CIOB members found the event really useful. “The attendees found out how to compete for new business relating to the planned construction works. Topics discussed included the need for early contractor involvement on projects, preferred forms of contract, where the projects will be

The Queen’s University in Belfast (top) has ambitious building plans including the Computer Sciences Building (bottom)

advertised and the requirement for companies to be able to work within occupied buildings. On behalf of the CIOB, I would like to thank Damien Toner and the Estates Department at Queen’s University, including the Surveyors who facilitated the tours”.

BOOK NOW FOR AWARDS AND LECTURE EVENT

Construction professionals in Northern Ireland will be collecting accolades at the CIOB/CITB Northern Ireland Annual Lecture and Presentation of Awards 2017 in January. This year’s lecture is from O’Hare & McGovern on ‘The Irish Football Association’s National Football Stadium Redevelopment at Windsor Park.

The event takes place on 25 January

membership

NEW MCIOB AND FCIOB Congratulations to new MCIOB and FCIOB members On 15 October 2016 Parliament Buildings at Stormont was the setting for the CIOB in Ireland Conferring Ceremony.

Almost 100 guests were in attendance where 17 people were awarded Chartered membership and nine members were upgraded to Fellow of the Institute.

Ivan McCarthy FCIOB, Trustee of the CIOB was the special guest. David Little FCIOB, Chair of the CIOB in Ireland’s Governing Council and Gerard Graham MCIOB, Chair of the CIOB in Ireland’s Northern Centre hosted the ceremony.

NEW MCIOB Gerard Diamond; Declan Doherty; Declan Gavin; James Herbison; David Jameson; Justin Keane; Ambrose Lavin; Colin Lovett; Ciara Maitland; Stephen Maitland; Theresa McCerlean; Janice McKee Hugh McManus; Padraic Murray; Stephen Nevin; Michael Quigg; Joel Trimby.

NEW FCIOB Gary Blair; Liam Foran; Michael Henry; Gerard McClelland: Noel McKee; Fintan Monahan; John Nolan; Kenneth Smyth; Warren Wright

and booking is

Turn to p48 to read how O’Hare & McGovern transformed the Computer Sciences building.

advised. Contact kmenagh@ciob.org. uk for more details.

midlands

CIOB News

CHANCE TO SEE FIRST IPI PROJECT AT FIRST HAND

42

The Birmingham Hub is offering members a site visit to see the first project in the UK to use the Integrated Project Insurance (IPI) form of Contract plus see how BIM

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has being used to deliver the build.

Speller Metcalfe’s project Dudley College’s Centre for Advanced Building Technologies (Advanced II) is due for completion in

spring 2017 and will consist of several modern methods of construction to create state-of-the-art training facilities, some of which are the first of their kind in the FE sector in the UK.

The visit is planned for 7 March.

To book a place email gfloyd@ciob.org.uk.

Look out for a case study on the project in a future issue.

Front row left to right: Gerard Graham MCIOB - Chair of CIOB in Ireland’s Northern Centre, Ivan McCarthy FCIOB - Trustee of the CIOB, Patsy McGlone MLA – event sponsor and David Little FCIOB, Chair of CIOB in Ireland’s Governing Council.

12/12/2016 14:58

ht: B - Chair rthern FCIOB Patsy sponsor B, d’s

• If you have moved or changed any of your details recently, don’t forget to tell

us. You can update your details online – simply log in to “members area” of the website www.ciob.org. Or email us at memenquiry@ciob.org.uk or call our membership customer services team on +44 (0) 1344 630706 for further help.

If you would rather post your details send them to: The Chartered Institute of Building, 1 Arlington Square, Downshire Way, Bracknell RG12 1WA, UK

awards

in brief

Members and their projects pick up national excellence awards

> DOUBLE AWARDS FOR CIOB FELLOW

Huddersfield Royal Infirmary - winner of the 2016 Constructing Excellence Award for Lendlease and Interserve

>

The Constructing Excellence National Awards 2016 were held at the London Marriott Grosvenor Square Hotel in November, with winners including CIOB members.

Winners Huddersfield Royal Infirmary (HRI) with partners Interserve and Lendlease celebrated their 12 year Integrated and Collaborative relationship, delivering works through the P21 and P21+ framework.

The team delivered long term value, significantly improving the condition of the estate and the environment for staff, patients and visitors.

Competition was fierce with nine other category finalists from across the UK. The

HRI team success is down to long term commitment, seeking continuous improvement and efficiencies by holding post occupancy evaluations and capturing lessons learnt from project to project.

Many of the goals recognised in the “Construction 2025” vision have been achieved, reducing costs, programme and emissions whilst delivering high levels of customer satisfaction. This award also builds on the team’s previous success winning the Value Award in 2015.

Interserve secured the biggest prize haul of the night walking away with three awards in total: Achiever of the Year – John Gittins (FCIOB) and Project of the

Year – Factory 2050 in Sheffield.

Gittins, Interserve divisional director, said: “Winning three National Constructing Excellence awards demonstrates the progress our Yorkshire business has made and highlights the high levels of service and collaboration we are providing to both new and long term clients.

“These awards highlight the best of the best and we are extremely proud to have been recognised again by industry leaders who judge many exemplar entries from across the UK.”

Regional submissions for the 2017 awards commence in February.

scotland

INDUSTRY HONOURS BUILDING STANDARDS CHIEF Angus MacGruer, former building standards team leader at Highland Council, was honoured by 250 of his peers at a gala dinner in Inverness in November, when he was presented with the

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2016 Highland Construction and Industry Excellence Award.

MacGruer, who took early retirement earlier this year, is the fifth recipient of the award, which is bestowed

upon an individual whom the organising committee considers to have gone above and beyond his duties, and to have enhanced the working lives of those with whom he has come into contact.

Angus MacGruer (4th from right) with his wife Marlene, event host Nicky Marr (far left) and the members of the Highland Construction and Property Dinner Committee.

The past chair of the CIOB Faculty of Architecture & Surveying, Craig Hatch FCIOB, has won a prestigious award in Cumbria.

Hatch who is head of asset management at consultancy WYG was awarded ‘businessperson of the year’ at the CN Group Business Awards.

CN Group, publisher of the Whitehaven News, stages the annual awards, which celebrate the achievements of Cumbrian businesses and the people who are behind them.

Hatch’s accolade comes on the back of a Wellchild award in October for a charitable campaign he helped launch.

Last year, as part of the WellChild Parent Advisory Group (PAG), Craig helped launched the #notanurse_ but social media campaign which highlights the increasingly high levels of care thousands of parents – including Craig and his wife Ellis, are delivering to children and young people with serious illness and exceptional health needs, so they can be together at home as a family. The campaign received the ‘Special Achievement Award’.

CIOB News

o

HAVE WE GOT YOUR CONTACT DETAILS CORRECT?

43

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COMMENT eseme offenbacher

London calling Hungarian-born Eseme Offenbacher offers a personal account of a migrant worker heading to the UK for a career in construction

T

his article was going to be about stating facts about the contribution of immigration especially to the construction industry.

We have seen and heard discussions many times before. Although I recognise the importance of this topic, the word diversity made me think of something broader and more personal, it reminded me of the choices the UK public and its media made last summer. I question whether diversity has become a necessary evil, a result of hundreds of years of history that we desperately want to erase.

CIOB Column

“Britain is uniquely successful in attracting the most highly skilled and highly educated migrants in Europe”

44

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I had no economical reason to leave my home country. Being young and having a business diploma equals a lifelong safety net in Hungary. Like most of my peers, I found a job within a month after completing my degree, had great prospect for my future within a corporate environment, had an established social life, the support of my family. I earnt a decent salary, had no trouble opening a bankaccount, no credit check and did not have to pay months of advance rent.

However in 2014, 31,500 people decided to leave Hungary, and last year

this number increased by 46% and, according to one recent survey, 10% of Hungarians are planning to follow in our footsteps. Britain is uniquely successful, even more than Germany, in attracting the most highly skilled and highly educated migrants in Europe. A study, ‘The Fiscal Impact of Immigration to the UK’, published in the Economic Journal, reveals a trend: the educational levels of east Europeans who come to Britain are improving, with 33% of recent Hungarian arrivals having completed a degree, compared to the 24% of the UK-born workforce.

Halting the brain drain To stop the ‘brain drain’ the Hungarian government, partnering with 134 companies (the likes of Nestlé, Lufthansa, Suzuki and IT Services Hungary) launched a programme last May, targeting young Hungarian Londoners, mainly with either an IT or an engineering diploma.

Incentives to return to the country include: having a job within one of the partnering companies, rent aid and covering the costs of transport.

You might wonder why so many of us choose the hard way, the unpredictable, despite having such good outlook at home.

I can’t speak for everyone but personally, all my reasons were political.

Since 2010, the government and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s nationalistic endeavours have been criticised for impeding on press freedoms

and independence of the judiciary, as well as undermining checks and balances and the rule of law.

Lack of diversity We have made global headlines with the prime minister expressing his aspiration to establish an “illiberal democracy”, having an expenditure of some €32 million on publishing anti-migrant propaganda in 2016 only, sealing off borders. In my attempt to describe the everyday reality of living in such a country, I often end up thinking of George Orwell’s: 1984. “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.”

I can safely say that I have seen what the lack of diversity results in, a society so dull, so unwelcoming, never seeking improvement, never debating, never questioning.

So, my question is, why would you ever want to live this way? Why would you want to lose the diversity that makes living in the UK an adventure? That’s what London means to me: the whole world’s diversity in one big and beautiful melting pot of a city.

My own personal American dream. A city where I was lucky enough to meet some of the greatest, most interesting and complex people I have ever known with an endless number of opportunities.

•

>

Eseme Offenbacher Account Executive Glodon www.cubicost.co.uk

12/12/2016 15:18

ONETOWATCH Kieran Danby FCIOB

Construction Manager, Buildfifty5 Ltd

awarded FCIOB in September 2016.

Q Why did you choose construction management? What else would you have done?

During my work experience placement at school I spent time at the local construction company in both the head office and out on site.

This inspired me to work towards a career in the industry.

In the final stages of my degree course I spent more time on building projects dealing with clients, designers and subcontractors so as a natural progression I was drawn to the multidisciplined work for building projects and ultimately construction management.

Q What else would you have done?

I would work for LEGO as a product designer, something I have wanted to do since I was seven and still do really!

Q Any embarrassing work moments to share?

I remember spending a cold winter morning setting rows of profiles out for a new road.

My pride thawed as quickly as the ground when I realised the ground was defrosting and rather than being vertical the profiles were more akin to setting out the leaning tower of Pisa as they were all leaning over. That was a long day!

Q What’s the biggest challenge you face in your career?

Managing expectations.

Pressures on programme delivery also place pressure on resources across the whole project team. All too often expectations are raised on a variety of deliverables from tender production and estimating through to defect resolution and project hand over. If we can’t deliver, the resultant dissatisfaction of the client and end users and causes unnecessary friction and time wasting.

Talking to clients to determine their drivers and taking time to understand the project wholistically is an important step in managing expectations. Setting targets drives success and as long as we manage effectively and efficiently by maintaining our professionalism we can achieve this success.

Q What’s your career ambition?

Now I have achieved FCIOB I intend to help grow and further strengthen Buildfifty5. I have a strong desire to win CMOY. This is something I know am capable of achieving and would relish the opportunity again.

Q What’s the best thing about your job?

That no two days are the same. Since starting work for Buildfifty5 my horizons have

grown beyond my own expectations. I now have the opportunity to work more closely with clients, developers and designers in project management, project recovery, project feasibility and construction management rather than project delivery for a construction company.

There are always new challenges to overcome from either design, contract, material or subcontractors.

Given the diversity, relationships and people in the industry I find this a real thrill. How to manage personalities and people to get the best out of them or the desired result is very exciting.. We are a people industry; establishing and developing relationships is a key driver to success.

Q When you’re not at work how do you relax?

Family time is very important to me. I have three children ranging in age from two to 12, so I enjoy watching them fence, play football and dress up as Batman.

I keep fit by swimming and have raised over £2,500 over the past few years for charities. I am currently swimming the distance of the English Channel over 12 weeks for a Spinal Injury Charity. However not content with only swimming the 22 miles I am aiming to swim 44 in the same period.

•

CIOB Members

Q Tell us a little about your career to date.

I started work in the industry in 1994 aged 17 as a trainee engineer for a civil engineering company. The family-owned company placed a lot of emphasis on training and development and there was no question that I would be employed on a day release basis whilst studying for a civil engineering management degree. I achieved this in 2002 by which time I had been promoted to sub-agent.

I have worked for a number of companies, both large and small on projects throughout the midlands on civil engineering, housing and both new build and refurbishment building projects.

I have always been aware of the role played by the support functions of any construction company and have bolstered my project management experience by carrying out roles in business development, procurement, tendering and planning.

I was privileged to be nominated for CMOY in 2011 and became a finalist in the new build contracts £2m-£7m category.

Since attaining MCIOB in 2011 I have mentored and supported my peers in working towards their professional review. I have continued my own professional development which resulted in me being

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CIOB People

MILITARY OPERATION MEET FOUR CONSTRUCTION STUDENTS WITH A DIFFERENCE The construction department of the Professional Engineer Wing (PEW) at the Royal School of Military Engineering (RSME) in Kent delivers a University of Greenwich-accredited foundation degree course in Engineering Management (Construction) over a two-year tenure. In the Royal Engineers this course is known as the ‘Clerk of Works (Construction) course’. The course covers a wide field of engineering design and management. As part of the course the military students undergo a seven-week site attachment hosted by a CIOB member. The PEW is developing links with the CIOB and the wider civilian construction sector in order to forge stronger links with the industry, enabling both sectors to learn and benefit from interaction with each other. Here, four of the military students share their experience of their site attachments.

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|||| SGT GAMMON BERKELEY HOMES VISTA I joined the the army at 16 and I have always known that I wanted to work within the construction environment. Following completion of my Military Engineer Surveyor training, gaining an HND, I spent eight years developing my skills, during several different postings, working on many military construction projects with Clerk of Works (C) taking the leading roles. I joined the degree course in October 2014, and after 18 months of theoretical study I felt ready to put my skills and knowledge into practise on site at Berkeley Homes Vista, London, where I was hosted by Damian Gray MCIOB. Vista was an exciting project to be a part of: the project comprises of two, 15 floor, RC frame buildings. I arrived as the first core was being prepared for handover whilst other elements of the site were still under construction. This allowed me to see all stages of the work.

I joined the envelope team, who look after the curtain walling, waterproofing of the balconies, the external finishes of the soffit and the slab/ balcony glazing. During the placement I conducted inspections of the temporary services provided to all sub-contractors. I also spent time providing QA of contractors’ work. Other tasks included, clash identification, by examination of drawings from the architect and the sub-contractors. I also had to complete a daily electronic site diary to monitor progress and attend meetings.

I gained a thorough understanding of the role of a manager within a civilian company and put the theoretical knowledge gained through the Clerk of Works (C) course into practise and has given me the confidence to go forward in this role within the military environment.

|||| SGT OLDHAM ST GEORGE CHELSEA CREEK My career to date involves a mixed diversity of being a military engineer and working as part of a design office as a draughtsman for infrastructure tasks in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kenya, Cyprus and the Ascension Islands. My work in the Royal Engineers has involved a wide range of tasks from bridge abutment design and construction to explosive demolition.

My attachment was to St George Plc part of the Berkley group, where I was hosted by Paul Millson FCIOB,. St George is one of London’s more luxurious apartment builds with projects running across the capital. I was given a placement at Chelsea creek working on Penthouse and Chelsea suites, on levels 21–24. The project was currently at its electrical first fix stage; with all the services into the ceiling needing to be installed before the ceiling grids were installed. Due to the extravagant nature of a £17m penthouse suite, the provision of M&E services were vast.

In addition I picked up the site management of the finishing of plots on level 1 & 2, ensuring they were completed to quality and directors inspections. The quality of finishings were a lot higher on these plots than the basic standard that the military requires!

Overall I found this a very challenging and rewarding experience dealing with contractors, who have a very different attitude to a military construction force. The experience improved my construction knowledge and will be vital in my future career as a Clerk of Works within the military.

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ARMING AN INDUSTRY

|||| SGT WHITE GLASGOW RECYCLING AND RENEWABLE ENERGY CENTRE (GRREC)

I joined the Army and the Corps of Royal Engineers in 2002 at the age of 16. I gained a trade as a construction materials technician, utilising my skills on construction projects of varying scales worldwide. During these projects I spent a lot of time working in close proximity to Clerk of Works (Construction) and felt it was the career path I wanted to follow. I started the Clerk of Works (C) course in 2014 where I spent approximately 18 months learning about the principles of construction and construction management before being sent on a seven-week attachment to the £145m Derby Long Term Waste Management Project being delivered by Interserve, where I was hosted by Sam Wickens and Tim Heath.

At the time I joined the project the vast proportion of the civil engineering and construction work had been completed, which left it very M& E orientated. Although this did detract from the amount of potential construction experience and exposure I could have gleaned, I did learn a great deal from the management aspect by shadowing one of the senior agents in the project office.

I attended and contributed to a large number of onsite meetings, which allowed me to understand how important careful and detailed planning and communication is to the successful delivery of a project.

The attachment allowed me to put all the theory I had completed on course into practice; and having an insight into how a civilian project is run showed me how we can utilise some of the techniques and procedures used by civilian construction companies to better the successes of our Military projects.

I joined the army in early 2004 as a design draughtsman within the Royal Engineers. I spent 10 years developing my construction skills all over the world, deploying on exercises and operations all around the world including Afghanistan, Oman, Jordan and Canada. I wanted to work within the construction environment and specifically become a military Clerk of Works from the early stages of my army career.; I was given the opportunity to undertake my placement at Glasgow Recycling and Renewable Energy Centre (GRREC) where I was hosted by Craig Halliday.

During the placement I shadowed the site manager and eventually undertook jobs of my own.

I was fortunate to assume several responsibilities including RAMS review and authorisation, temporary water supply, daily progress meetings with the sub-contractors and making elements of the structure ready for hand over.

The main elements I can take away from my placement were the interaction with the subcontractors and the importance of building a good working relationship with the whole site; from the directors to the labourers. I saw first-hand the part each team member plays across the site and above all that everyone should be treated with respect. By building relationships the project runs smoothly, daily walkabouts interacting with every one allows you to find out how the site is running, an aspect that meetings alone cannot reveal. This placement has allowed me to gain valuable experience within the civilian workplace, experience I will try my hardest to implement within the army system.

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>

background and are looking for an exciting new career. The message to ex-service men and women is not to undervalue their skills but to aim for management level careers in construction. These initiatives follow a CIOB survey of more than 700 construction professionals, in which 77% of respondents said that ex-service personnel could help plug the management skills gap in the industry.

Skills shortages are no longer confined to the trades: demand for professional technical and managerial staff is escalating.

Every year, 20,000 men and women leave the armed forces.

Many have worked in challenging environments, demanding strong collaborative and leadership skills.

Their experiences often make them ideally suited to careers in construction.

•

Read the CIOB brochure on recruiting from the military into construction Arming the Construction Industry for the Future at www.ciob.org/sites/default/files/ Armed_Forces_brochure.pdf

CIOB People

|||| SGT KLINGENBERGS INTERSERVE DERBY, LONG TERM WASTE MANAGEMENT PROJECT

The CIOB feels strongly about encouraging the industry to provide opportunities for ex armed forces personnel and has launched various initiatives to facilitate this. It has created routes into membership for those with military experience, and is backing a crossindustry initiative to increase recruitment from the armed forces into the construction sector – BuildForce.

BuildForce is partfunded by CITB and led by a group of founding companies: Carillion, Crossrail, EY, Lendlease, Morgan Sindall and Wilson James. Following a successful 18 month pilot, BuildForce is expanding to include more industry partners.

Earlier this year the CIOB also launched its campaign Arming the Construction Industry for the Future which aims to connect the industry with those who have a military

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INGOODCOMPANY >

Queen’s University, Belfast

O’Hare & Mc Govern

Clear vision

The Queen’s university Computer science building has udnergone a transparent transformation

O

Case study

’Hare & McGovern has completely transformed the new Computer Sciences Building at Queen’s University Belfast as part of the University’s £350m construction plans leading up to 2025.

In November, CIOB members were treated to a presentation from the Estates Department at the University on the planned capital development programme.

The University which boasts over 60 hectares and 230 buildings including 97 listed, is a major employer for the construction industry.

Members were also treated to a site visit of the recently completed Computer Sciences block. The former concrete-clad building – known as the Bernard Crossland Building – was built in 1970 and was indicative of that period’s architecture.

However, the refurbishment couldn’t be further away from that style.

Multi-coloured glass fins adorn the exterior of the building to produce a façade that is as impressive in the sunlight as it is when lit up at night. The extensive use of glazing is evident in the front elevation and brings a fresh look to the building, with these impressive aesthetics continuing inside. Natural light, including

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the use of light tunnels, is a central feature of the building and is as far removed as possible from the dark and dreary rooms associated with the IT sector.

O’Hare & McGovern faced a number of practical challenges in creating this building, specifically with the space constraints around the site.

The project included stripping back existing circa 1970 concrete clad building to the concrete frame followed by the demolition of south block and east portions, including a link bridge to the David Keir Building.

University challenge The main contractor then erected a new steel framed extension and in-situ concrete basement and associated elements along with the redecoration of terraces located at 14-16 Malone Road, including the reconfiguration of the rear annexes.

The expansion and refurbishment has doubled the size of the building, with increased numbers of computing resources, considerably more project space and additional seating/social areas for students.

This has created a high-quality,

Photographs by Gordon McAvoy Photography

transparent building that establishes a discrete identity for computer science, integrating both teaching and research; and delivering a stimulating environment for staff and students.

Jason Glasgow, contracts manager for O’Hare & McGovern, said: “One of the biggest challenges we faced was the fact that this wasn’t really a refurbishment or a new build, but a mixture of both.

We had to practically strip the building

Above and left: The build made extensive use of glass on the inside and façade and makes use of natural light

“One of the biggest challenges we faced was the fact that this wasn’t really a refurbishment or a new build but a mixxture of both” 12/12/2016 15:35

Modern manners: The new facility is double the size of its previous incarnation and its design could rival Apple or Google for inspirational space. The building provides state of the art teaching and research space for more than 1,000 students

the building were protected and retained.

“Logistically, all this was a challenge but we are delighted with the final result. This is a modern, landmark building that delivers on the planned objective of creating a hitech, flexible learning environment that encourages collaboration and innovation.”

Retaining heritage

back to its frame, add on the extension and then rebuild.

“We were faced with a tight deadline and faced space constraints around the building in what is a very busy part of the city. We had to work closely with Queen’s University on practical issues like delivery and these had to be precisely co-ordinated.

We also had to take into consideration noise, dust and vibration issues. We even had to ensure that the trees at the front of

While the main building is an ultra-modern facility that even includes inspiration rooms that woudn’t be out of place at Apple or Google, the project also included the refurbishment of 14 and 16 Malone Road, which are linked to the new building.

O’Hare & McGovern had to take more of a heritage approach to this section of the project, with features such as staircases, fireplaces and flooring all retained.

Overall, and in keeping with Queen’s University’s, commitment to sustainability, the building was designed and constructed to minimise its impact on the environment and achieved the target of Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) ‘Very Good’ rating.

Damien Toner, Queen’s director of estates, said: “The refurbished Computer Science building is the latest in Queen’s

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A version of this article appeared in Northern Builder.

See www.northernbuilder.co.uk

•

FACT FILE • Renovation of 1970s concrete build • Part of a £700m 20-year capital investment programme • BREEAM ‘very good’ rating

Get involved!

We are looking for members to share their projects with us. If you’re a CIOB member with an interesting project contact: nicky@ atompublishing. co.uk

Case study

>

£700m 20-year capital investment programme to support world-class education and research and provide an exceptional experience for its students.

“The building provides state-of-the-art teaching and research facilities for more than 1,000 students and 60 academic staff and will play a key role in the future growth and development of Northern Ireland’s IT sector.

“To ensure the local IT industry can remain competitive at home and internationally, it needs access to a highly skilled workforce who have been educated in a way that is directly relevant to the needs of industry. This facility will ensure Queen’s continues to attract the best staff and students from Northern Ireland and around the world, and produce graduates who will make a positive impact on society.

Alongside other flagship projects – including the newly opened £20m School of Law, the £39m School of Biological Sciences which is due for completion in 2018, and two ongoing schemes to provide 1,200 student bedrooms at two prime sites in Belfast city centre – this development reaffirms Queen’s commitment to supporting the Northern Ireland construction sector.”

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MEMBER BENEFITS FULL CORPORATE MEMBERSHIP OF CIOB brings with it many benefits, including exclusive access to discounts and special deals on products and services that could enhance your professional development, help your business or boost your earning power. Products and services currently on offer from our special partners are listed below...

legal advice

EX

CLU SIV MEM E OFF BER ER

DECIMUS FEARON LLP LEGAL SERVICES | Expert legal advice

Decimus Fearon LLP is a Knightsbridge-based specialist construction and engineering law firm providing sound expertise at competitive rates. As proud sponsors of the CIOB we are always happy to discuss legal matters with CIOB members as and when they arise and to provide an initial consultation without charge or obligation. The construction industry is at the heart of what we do.

For more information or to get in touch call: 020 7823 0450 or visit www.decimusfearon.com

car hire

CAR HIRE PEUGEOT | Exclusive member discounts on car hire

Peugeot is offering CIOB members exclusive discounts on cars and vans provided through Peugeot Contract Hire.

These agreements include Peugeot Assistance provided by the AA (including European cover), Vehicle Excise Duty for the duration of the contract and free metallic paint.

Visit our partnership website www.peugeotcontracthire.co.uk/ciob or call 0345 313 3811 to discuss your requirements.

finance

CIOB INSURANCE SERVICES | Premier BusinessCare

As the approved business broker to the CIOB, Premier BusinessCare specialises in finding CIOB members the best insurance covers available in the market at competitive prices. Working with a variety of UK insurers, we are able to give you a quick quotation to cover your profession and your business, including Professional Indemnity, Directors and Officers, Liability covers, and many other construction and commercial insurances. However large or small the job, it’s our job help you safeguard against the unexpected.

Call 0330 1026158 or visit www.ciobinsuranceservices.com for more details

software

CUBICOST BY GLODON | Free trial and training in cost software

How do you track cost variations, recover certainty and profit, as well as grow your business? Cubicost is Glodon’s Suite of Takeoff and Billing software (2D, 3D and BIM) used by global consultancies to regional contractors, our products drive project savings in time, resource and cost of tendering and thus, increase margins. Glodon are market leaders in Asia, a $500m group with 5000 employees, operating in 15 countries worldwide. Glodon is delighted to be working with CIOB. A FREE Trial and half-day training package is exclusively available to CIOB Members.

Contact us to book a demonstration. E: uk@glodon.com . W: www.cubicost.com T: 0203 808 4669

learning

ASTA POWERPROJECT BIM FROM ELECOSOFT | Making 4D planning easy

Are you able to link your project plan and 3D model together with ease for 4D planning in one application? Asta Powerproject BIM from Elecosoft makes this possible without being overcomplicated – making it ideal for tendering and progress monitoring.

Elecosoft currently provide project management software to over 90% of the top 100 construction UK companies and is offering a 14-day trial and online demo of Asta Powerproject BIM to CIOB members.

To find out more, call 01844 261700 or visit www.astapowerproject/bim

learning

IHS | Have you tried the new Construction Information Service?

The Construction Information Service (CIS) has been thoroughly refreshed and optimised to provide an indispensable source of key information that can help you realise significant time and cost savings The online tool delivers current regulations, construction standards and industry news covering building, engineering, design and construction processes. Data covers construction stages from design to completion for projects in the UK and Republic of Ireland. Users have access to technical data from 500+ publishers including full text copies of British Standards and CIOB documents. Using the CIS, you will be able to:

• E nsure design compliance and sustainability • I nnovate designs and construction methods • S upport construction lifecycle from start to completion

CIOB Member Benefits

For further information see www.ihs.com/products/uk-construction-information-service.html or email michelle.judd@ihs.com

FREE CORPORATE HOTEL BOOKING SERVICE | Save on average 21% on over 550,000 hotels worldwide with Roomex travel

Roomex.com is proud to offer CIOB Members immediate direct access to their live online hotel booking platform via the following link www.ciob.roomex.com. Alternatively for a bespoke corporate solution with full features and benefits Roomex can tailor your own company site page on the platform. All at no cost.

Visit www.ciob.roomex.com

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DATESFORYOURDIARY EAST OF ENGLAND

JCT update 24 January, 6pm, Bedford Contact: mrix@ciob.org.ul Crossrail Project 25 January, 6pm Marriott Hotel Huntingdon Contact: mrix@ciob.org.uk

IRELAND

Annual Lecture and Presentation of Awards, Belfast 25 January Contact: kmenagh@ciob. org.uk Microsoft Project for Construction Managers 21 March, 6pm, Belfast Contact: courses@ mullantraining.com

MIDLANDS

CPD Regulations Update 2 February, 6pm Nottingham Belfry Contact: gfloyd@ciob.org. uk Dudley College (Advance II) – IPI Methodology & BIM In Action 7 March, 6pm, Dudley College Contact: gfloyd@ciob. org.uk

NORTH EAST

Make Inventiveness Pay in Construction 26 January, 6pm, Contact: dthorpe@ciob. org.uk

JANUARY TO FEBRUARY 2017 SCOTLAND

Dundee Dinner Dance 18 February, 7pm, Invercarse Hotel, Dundee Dress: Lounge suit Contact: ndrake@ciob. org.uk or Neil.Smyth@ SOUTH EAST gallifordtry.co.uk Local Planning Laws CIOB Annual Dinner – Current Permitted 28 April, 7pm, Doubletree Development Rights’

by Hilton, Glasgow 24 January, 7pm meal, 8pm Dress: Black Tie presentation, Rochester, Cost: £700 table of 10 or Cost: £10 members, £25 individual seats £70 nonmembers, free for Contact: Lmckay@ciob.org student members or wmarshall@ciob.org.uk Contact: blawrence@ciob. or.uk Site visit to Hobs Studio 3D printing and visualisation facility 7 February, 3pm, Hobs Studio, London Contact: blawrence@ciob. or.uk

CIOB centre. To receive information from the CIOB visit www.ciob.org.uk and log on to the members’ area to input/update your details and preferences.

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Contacts

If you have a smartphone, iPhone or tablet, why not search your apps for a free downloadable QR reader and scan our details.

General Main CIOB telephone number +44 (0)1344 630700 Chief Executive Chris Blythe 01344 630701 Member Services Head of Member & Business Development 01344 630852 Change of Address 01344 630789/630731 Direct Debit Enquiries 01344 630831 Membership Certificates 01344 630720 Membership Enquiries/ Progression 01344 630706 Subs Enquiries (Members) 01344 630831 Training Partnerships 01344 630726 Certificate Ceremonies 01344 630785 SMTS Enquiries 01344 630742 Experienced Practitioner Assessed Programme (EPA) 01344 630887 Experienced Practitioner Assessed Report Route (EPAR) 01344 630887 Benevolent Fund 01344 630780 Professional Development 01344 630716 Library Enquiries 01344 630873/737 Head of Education 01344 630822 Adjudication and Dispute Resolution 01344 630732 Scholarship and Research 01344 630776 Chartered Building Company/ Consultancy Scheme Chartered Building Scheme Manager 01344 630746 Administrator 01344 630743

Publications Magazine subscriptions (non-members) 01344 630811 Construction Research and Innovation (CRI) 01344 630735 Construction Manager 020 7490 5636 Contact 07704 336835 Policy and External Relations Deputy Chief Executive 01344 630702 Press Office 01344 630766 Web Site Enquiries 01344 630738 CIOB International General Enquiries +44 (0) 1344 630791 CIOB Africa + 27 11 234 7877 CIOB Australasia +61 (2) 9816 4700 CIOB China East +86 21 2211 1556 CIOB China North +86 10 6528 1070 CIOB China West/South +86 23 3670 6360 CIOB Hong Kong +852 2543 6369 CIOB Malaysia +852 (603) 2284 5754 CIOB Middle East +971 (0) 4457 9107 CIOB Singapore +65 6334 4116 The views expressed in Contact are not necessarily those of the editor or the CIOB. The editor reserves the right to edit any article submitted for publishing.

Printed on paper produced from a sustainable source.

CIOB Diary Dates

find out more about events in your area go to www.ciob.org.uk/regions or > To look out for your electronic news and event updates from your CIOB branch or

The Chartered Institute of Building

The Chartered Institute of Building is at the heart of a management career in construction.

Our focus is on those entering and already in a management career in construction. By delivering qualifications and certifications that meet the needs of a changing industry. We work with members, employers, academia and governments across the globe to drive forward the science, practice and importance of management in construction.

OUR VISION: Built environment professionals making a difference OUR MISSION: To contribute to a modern, progressive and responsible construction industry, meeting the economic, environmental and social challenges of a global society OUR VALUES: •C reating extraordinary people through professional learning and continuing professional development.

• Promoting the built environment as central to quality of life for everyone, everywhere.

• Achieving a sustainable future worldwide.

• Being socially responsible and advocating exemplary ethical practice, behaviour, integrity and transparency.

• Pursuing excellence in worldwide management practice and technological innovation rooted in evidence based research.

• To be the inclusive valued Institute of choice for built environment professionals.

We have over 47,000 members around the world and are considered to be the international voice of the building professional, representing an unequalled body of knowledge concerning the management of the total building process.

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Recruitment

Assistant Development Director Construction and Technical £75,000 per annum | UK-wide Date posted 25 Nov 2016 Flexible location About the role Here at Aster, we believe that everyone should have a home, and by driving a commercial approach and a focus on efficiency we are maximising our ability to do just that. The profits we make are reinvested back into our business to build more homes, improve existing ones, and undertake our corporate social responsibility.

We’re currently working on an ambitious development plan that will see us deliver over 9,000 new homes across the country between 2016 and 2023.

Classified

When time is limited and resources are constrained, QS-Services can meet your needs.

We will provide services that are specifically tailored to your company’s requirements.

At QS-Services Ltd, we provide a highly experienced contracting service that delivers on a fixed-price, short term contract.

We are an independent company that specialises in preparing and auditing Bills of Quantities in time-constrained periods. QS-Services Ltd will also deliver an Estimating Process and Cost Modelling service that suits your company’s needs.

Our specialist skills and knowledge will provide competitive quotes and help your project to meet its deadline.

We are fully Insured for Professional Indemnity (PI)and are pre-qualified and registered with Constructionline.

QS-Services Ltd will provide • Measurement • Verification and Audit of Bills of Quantities • Rebar Detailing • Pre-contract and post-contract drawings • Cost modelling • Estimating • Post-contract services CONTACT: Owen McDevitt | owen@qs-services.com www.qs-services.com | tel Off +44 (0)1372739407 | Mob +44 (0) 7869619021

And that’s where you come in. As Assistant Development Director – Construction and Technical you’ll lead your team to ensure the design, procurement and contract management of all residential housing schemes result in a quality product that is efficiently, safely and professionally built within set budgets and agreed timescales. You’ll also follow up and make sure all post completion issues are managed to maintain high levels of customer satisfaction.

We’d like you involved at every step, from providing technical support at acquisition and planning stages, advising on build costs, managing procurement frameworks and making sure staff are motivated to achieve their best possible performance. As always, health and safety is paramount. This is an excellent opportunity to make a difference as you join an ambitious, forward-thinking business.

To find out more about this role, please visit www.aster.co.uk/recruitment/jobs

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Classified TO SHOWCASE YOUR PRODUCTS ON THESE PAGES, CONTACT TOM PEARDON ON

T: +44 (0)20 7490 5595 E: tom@atompublishing.co.uk

KINGSPAN INSTALLED ON WATERFRONT STUDENT ACCOMMODATION Kingspan Kooltherm K15 Rainscreen Board has been specified as part of a new £42 million purpose built student accommodation project in Portsmouth, due to its outstanding thermal performance and ability to meet the stringent fire performance requirements for the project.

The Unite Students development has been master planned by CGMS. Once completed, the building will provide high quality and safe accommodation for 836 students. Cooley Architects’ design uses coloured Alpolic ACM cladding to form an eye-catching cube at the top of the 240 ft building. Kingspan Kooltherm K15 Rainscreen Board was installed as part of the rainscreen façade system. www.kingspaninsulation.co.uk

EGGER OSB HDX - A NEW LEVEL IN MEZZANINE FLOORING EGGER’s new 30mm OSB HDX structural flooring board is ideal for use in mezzanine floors as well as industrial, commercial and warehouse flooring applications.

Made using a special recipe OSB panel, OSB HDX is a game changer for those considering mezzanine flooring projects.

Dan Soulsby, EGGER UK’s Category Manager for building products explains, “As businesses grow they will often look to relocate premises in order to expand their operations. This can be very costly and time consuming, never mind the upheaval involved in moving a business to a new location. Often a more economical and efficient answer can be to consider installing a mezzanine floor in the existing premises. This can allow businesses to make the most out of their current premises with the potential of doubling the area for a one off cost as oppose to either moving entirely or increasing rental costs”.

“EGGER OSB HDX is ideal for this application as it provides the strength and stiffness required for a mezzanine floor, plus a whole host of additional benefits to the installer” EGGER OSB HDX is a 2400 x 675 board which has a tongue and groove on the two long edges. Compared to a typical 38mm chipboard equivalent (600mm width), the user gets just over 11% more coverage per panel.

Despite this extra width, due to EGGER OSB HDX being only 30mm thick, it is around 20% lighter than 38mm chipboard. A lighter, wider board means that it is easier to manoeuvre and quicker to lay.

Anglia Partitions based in Norfolk explain, “We specify EGGER OSB HDX because of its superior structural properties over chipboard products available for mezzanine floor applications. We needed to achieve a high point loading requirement for the project and the EGGER OSB HDX product allowed us to achieve this. The board performed in all aspects, not only on strength but also how easy it was to handle being lighter than the chipboard we are used to fitting”.

To find out more, contact the EGGER building products hotline on 0845 602 4444 or e-mail building.uk@egger.com or visit www.egger.com/hdx

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Project of the month Sky Central Building

Building one of Europe’s largest timber roofs was the biggest innovation at BSkyB’s new HQ in west London. Alan Robertson, operations director at Mace, talks CM through the project.

Describe the project The £210m building is the latest to open on Sky’s HQ campus in Osterley, west London. Named “Sky Central”, it is home to 3,500 workers.

The three-story 37,000 sq m building has a large triple-height central atrium above a 100m-long stretch on the ground floor which connects the main entrances – dubbed “Sky Street”.

One of the building’s highlights is an elevated, glass-walled live Sky News broadcast studio that visitors and people can see as soon as they enter.

Also of note is the roof, which was designed to maximise natural light. It has a grid of skylights that allow daylight to penetrate through the building and light up workspaces, reducing facade glazing and reliance on artificial light.

Sky Central was built under a JCT 2011 design & build contract, two-stage tender.

Sky acquired the Osterley campus in

The primary structure is a reinforced concrete frame on a 9m x 10.5m and 9m x 9m grid, stabilised by six concrete cores.

There are 6km of glulam beams.

The roof is 1.3m deep timber fins at 3m centres, spanning 18m and 21m, to support a lightweight timber cassette roof deck and skylights. The cassettes, including skylights, were built offsite and raised into place in 10.5 x 3m sections, helping the high speed of construction.

2011 with a masterplan to build a number of buildings across the 13-hectare media campus. Mace was contracted for the Central building and work began in 2013 and completed in April 2016.

How was it built?

With the engineer, Arup, we decided that modularisation and offsite prefabrication should be used for much of the build.

Top: The 37,000 sq m building is home to 3,500 workers Centre: The tripleheight central atrium features a 100m-long stretch known as “Sky Street” Above: The roof has a grid of skylights that maximise daylight inside the building Left: The building was fully operational during fit-out

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What was the big challenge?

Besides the roof, which is one of the largest timber roofs in Europe, it was just managing Sky’s expectations. They know what they wanted and we wanted to deliver it. The work took place in the midst of a fully operational media headquarters, so extensive planning with regard to logistics and noise was needed.

The design of light cassettes changed from a metal composite to the bettervalue timber option. We also altered the roof design from timber-clad steel beams to glued laminated (glulam) timber. By pre-assembling these offsite and in multiple locations we reduced the need to work at height and other hazardous jobs.

Champagne moment?

Seeing people here and the place working, seeing the studio in use and the news readers live, it’s really fantastic to see the buzz. The buzz at a live studio is unique. CM Read the full interview at www.constructionmanagermagazine.com

Construction Manager Published for the Chartered Institute of Building by Atom Publishing 2nd Floor 3 Waterhouse Square 138 Holborn London EC1N 2SW Tel: +44 (0)20 7490 5595 Fax: +44 (0)20 7490 4957 firstname@atompublishing.co.uk

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Get a global view of the built environment Global Construction Review tracks the complex flows of money, ideas and talent to provide a world view of the built environment business.

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