The briefi ng

The briefing

Grenfell Inquiry

The latt er months of 2020 saw many sensational headlines in the media around the ongoing investigation into the Grenfell disaster. It is important to focus on the facts rather than the headlines, and video coverage of the evidence can be viewed here: grenfelltowerinquiry.org.uk/

The inquiry has been focused on examining the testing, marketing and sale of the insulation materials att ached to the walls of the tower. That is, the cladding panels (thin aluminium sheets bonded to a core of polyethylene) and two forms of combustible foam insulation fi tt ed behind them. The inquiry has brought to bear the tests’ inaccuracies, which led to errors in classifi cation and marketing of the products, and the farreaching implications of faults throughout the long, decision-making chain of communication within the industry.

As Peter Apps’ article in The Spectator notes: “What has emerged is evidence that suggests each of these fi rms were aware their products posed serious fi re risks, but this was concealed from both regulators and the market so they could be sold for use on high rises.”

Apps’ goes into further detail of the evidence presented in this Inside Housing article bit.ly/GrenWk19. The inquiry is ongoing.

NEWS AND VIEWS FROM THE INDUSTRY

Building safety in Wales “Ahome is somewhere you should feel safe,” begins the cabinet statement “Where developers have clearly failed to build to required standards, they should step up to on building safety funding in their responsibility and put these Wales by Julie James, Minister for faults right. I am keen that as UK Housing and Local Government. governments we explore every It continues to state that many available avenue to ensure that living in high-rise properties are those best able to address the concerned about potential building issues meet their responsibilities.” defects, which pose fi re and The statement requests broader health and safety risks. developers meet with the Welsh

“I do not think it is right government to explore what can for leaseholders, who bought be done and what the remedial properties unaware that they had work funding needs to cover. fundamental defects, to pay for remediation; neither do I think it Read the statement is right that the Welsh taxpayer at gov.wales/writt en-statementshould do so. building- safety-funding-wales

412 NEW APPRENTICESHIP OPPORTUNITIES HAVE BEEN CREATED ON THE HS2 PROJECT

Free expertled webinars to support your journey to CEnv

Thinking about becoming a Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv)? Then make sure you catch the Society for the Environment’s (SocEnv) recent webinar recordings. They provide the latest information, advice and insight into the positive impacts of registration, the skills required and the application process.

If you would like to explore the benefi ts of CEnv registration, watch the How CEnv Has Helped Me and My Career webinar – with perceptiveness from three leading professionals on their experiences of securing CEnv and the opportunities they have experienced since.

From the employer perspective check out the Value of Professional Registration featuring insights from the Environment Agency and Willmott Dixon on why it values professional membership and registration for its staff .

If you’re already sold on the benefi ts, but have questions regarding your application, the CEnv Application Top Tips and The Skills Required for a Successful Application webinars are a great source of information. Led by experienced assessors of CEnv applications, they provide advice on how to approach your application and common mistakes to avoid.

Whatever your questions just head to SocEnv’s YouTube channel at bit.ly/3n4XnfR

Throughout 2021, SocEnv will be running more registration-focused webinars, so keep checking socenv.org. uk/webinars for updates.

CABE is licensed by the Society for the Environment to award Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv) registration to members. Find out more about becoming a CEnv via CABE at cbuilde. com/page/register_with_socenv

Digital systems

To accelerate and streamline its operations, contractor Sir Robert McAlpine has adopted a common data environment (CDE) from SaaS provider Business Collaborator (BC), now part of Bentley Systems. It will drive end-to-end project and asset information management across new projects, and enable a single, unique data source to be accessed by Sir Robert McAlpine and its supply chain partners.

The CDE helps to manage the vast amount of built asset data, improving programme and asset control, consistency and access to project and supply chain information.

Building a bett er future

World Green Building Council highlights innovation in the sustainable building sector with Building A Bett er Future series of documentary-style fi lms. They explore how sustainable buildings can address climate, health and wellbeing and resource effi ciency issues as well as the profound impact buildings can have on the quality of people’s lives and the crucial role buildings can play in tackling climate change.

The series is only available outside the UK at: buildingabett erfutureseries.com

Building Engineer needs you!

We’re calling on members to show the realities of their day-to-day roles by sending us pictures of their work. We want to showcase excellence in the built environment and see the true expertise of CABE’s membership with pictures of projects in progress and particularly solutions to problems that are encountered. Please send high-resolution, smart-device images to cabe@redactive.co.uk

Earthquake forecasting

Naturally-formed balancing boulders could be used to help scientists to forecast large earthquakes more precisely. Precariously balanced rocks (PBRs) are found throughout the world (characterised by a slender boulder on a pedestal boulder) and have survived earthquake shaking over thousands of years. They can, therefore, indicate the upper limit of earthquake shaking that has occurred since they were fi rst formed – shaking that, were it strong enough, would have caused them to topple.

Earthquake hazard models estimate the likelihood of future earthquakes in a given location. They help engineers decide where buildings should be built and how robust they should be – as well as informing earthquake insurance prices in high-risk areas.

Imperial College London researchers have been working on a new approach by counting rare cosmic ray-generated atoms in PBRs and digitally modelling

PBR-earthquake interactions.

Anna Rood, from Imperial’s department of civil and environmental engineering, said: “PBRs act like inverse seismometers by capturing regional seismic history that we weren’t around to see.” They found that combining their calculations with existing models reduced the uncertainty of earthquake hazard estimates at the site by 49%, and, by removing the worst-case-scenario estimates, reduced the average size of earthquakes estimated to happen once every 10,000 years by 27%. The team are now using their techniques to validate hazard estimates for southern

California – one of the most hazardous and densely populated regions of the United States. Global Grad Show 2020

The 2020 show saw a record 1,600 graduation projects submitt ed by students in 270 universities – a 30% increase on the previous year – and 100 shortlisted. Of those, funding to take the solutions to market was announced on two innovations. One of these is a refl ective thermochromic paint from SpectrumLab that changes its colour based on temperature. The IP-backed new material was developed for use in construction, with the aim of reducing building’s temperature variance and improving energy effi ciency. If applied at scale, the technology has the potential to help regulate heat islands and urban temperatures.

Explore the Global Grad Show here: globalgradshow.com

33% target

The boardrooms of the country’s top businesses have long been male-dominated spaces, with the government recommending in 2015 that the boards of all FTSE 350 companies should be 33% by 2020. So, did the UK hit the target? Debut has examined the gender split of FTSE 100 boardrooms and found things do seem to be improving, with women taking 36% of current board roles. However, just fi ve currently employ more female directors than male and almost a third of companies are yet to meet the 33% target. The construction and materials sector did achieve the most diverse FTSE 100 sector status with a 50/50 split of male and female board members.

Low-carbon cost

Chris Stark, Chief Executive of the Committ ee on Climate Change, the UK’s independent statutory adviser, said the cost of moving to a low-carbon economy had come down signifi cantly.

When the Climate Change Act was passed in the UK in 2008, the government estimated that the cost of meeting its then target of an 80% reduction in emissions by 2050 would be about 2% of GDP over that period. The costs are now expected to be well below that.

Renewable energy prices have plunged in the last decade, putt ing solar and wind at lower cost than fossil fuels in many countries, spurring a global boom in clean power.

The International Energy Agency said there had been record growth in renewable energy installation in 2020, despite the Coronavirus pandemic and low oil prices.

In December, the Committ ee on Climate Change set out the costs and benefi ts of reaching net zero, and advice on the UK’s carbon budget, postponed from the summer owing to the Coronavirus crisis.

Read more at bit.ly/CCCcostdown

Construction Services Apprentice of the Year

ALondon South Bank Since apprenticeship schemes University (LSBU) student were fi rst introduced at LSBU won a prestigious four years ago, the university has Construction Services Apprentice enrolled over half (51%) of all of the Year award at the BAME apprentices from a BAME/multiApprenticeships Awards 2020, while ethnic background: 16% black, 27% a second, female engineering LSBU Asian, and 8% mixed race. apprentice was highly commended. Of these applicants, 43% are

Romario Cazaubon, who is female, working in typically currently enrolled on a fi ve- male-dominated professions, year quantity surveying degree such as building services and apprenticeship with Mace Group, engineering, as well as typically took the top prize for construction female-dominated professions services apprentice. Dionne such as healthcare (55%). Alder, who is enrolled on a civil In 2019-2020, out of a total of engineering apprenticeship with 1,600 LSBU apprentices, 38% Southwark Council as her employer, degree/higher apprentices were received a highly commended women, with 28% studying for from the judges. Both students careers in architecture, building are studying part-time on their services and planning (17% respective degree courses at LSBU’s in quantity surveying, 9% in School of Architecture and the engineering, 6% in architecture Built Environment (BEA), while and 6% in chartered planning) with completing their apprenticeships. 7% in business management.

NEWS IN BRIEF

AWARDS The Building Controls Industry Association (BCIA) 2021 BCIA Awards will take place in May 2021. They recognise innovation, product development, project delivery and great training in the building controls sector. The closing date for entries is 22 January 2021, enter at bcia.co.uk/ bcia-awards/

Entries for the 2021 Federation of Master Builder Awards close on 15 January, register here: fmb.org. uk/2021-master-builder-awards

INSURANCE STANDARDS UK warranty and insurance provider for new homes NHBC has launched the 2021 edition of its technical Standards. Eff ective for every new home covered by an NHBC warranty where foundations are begun on or aft er 1 January 2021.

Updates to the new version include a full review of the chapter on fl at roofs, terraces and balconies among others. View and download Standards 2021 for free at nhbc.co.uk/ standards_2021

R&D HIGH ONS data shows research and development spending in the UK construction industry jumped 11.5% annually to a new record high says Catax. Total construction sector spending on R&D rose to £417m in 2019, an increase of £43m from the £374m recorded a year earlier.

The industry now employs 6,000 people directly involved in R&D, however, the rate of growth in R&D spending has slowed from the 16.9% rise recorded in 2018.

Uncertainty surrounds what impact the Covid-19 pandemic will have on the level of investment in 2020, though the construction sector continues to pursue a range of technological advances, not least progress in modern methods of construction (MMC) and environmental performance.

Have an opinion on something in this issue or something you’d like to discuss with your peers? e-mail the Editor at cabe@redactive.co.uk