Construction & Civil Engineering Issue 167 2019

www.ccemagazine.com ISSUE 167 SEPTEMBER

Sound investment The days of the basic boiler suit are over – today’s tradespeople can choose from specifically designed solutions that enhance the way they work See page 4 Stadium vision Business leaders have pledged their support for Everton’s proposals for an iconic new stadium F Deep dive CEMEX is participating in the construction of the world’s deepest and largest diving pool F

www.ccemagazine.com ISSUE 167 SEPTEMBER

editor

Chairman Andrew Schofield Editor Libbie Hammond libbie@schofieldpublishing.co.uk

Sound investment The days of the basic boiler suit are over – today’s tradespeople can choose from specifically designed solutions that enhance the way they work See page 4 & Stadium vision

Assistant Editor Will Daynes

& Deep dive

Business leaders have pledged their support for Everton’s proposals for an iconic new stadium CEMEX is participating in the construction of the world’s deepest and largest diving pool

Art Editor Fleur Daniels Staff Writer Vladi Nikolov Advertising Design Fiona Jolliffe Operations Director Philip Monument

Clarity and action

Operations Manager Natalie Griffiths Editorial Researchers Adam Blanch Mark Cowles Jeff Goldenberg Tarjinder Kaur D’Silva Managing Director Joe Woolsgrove Sales Mark Cawston Dave King Theresa McDonald Gary Silk Sam Surrell Web Sales web@schofieldpublishing.co.uk Exclusive Features Darren Jolliffe Production/Office Manager Tracy Chynoweth

Social Media Abigail Blake

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ell, as we enter Autumn, the UK construction sector could use some good news. With the UK construction PMI figures showing that output has dropped for the fourth month in a row and optimism has sunk to the

lowest level since December 2008, the market needs clarity and action Schofield Publishing Cringleford Business Centre, 10 Intwood Road, Cringleford, Norwich, NR4 6AU, U.K. Tel: +44 (0)1603 274130 www.ccemagazine.com

on Brexit now more than ever. Can we take heart from David Vayro, construction partner at global legal business DWF and his ‘sense is that there is a huge amount of pent up demand in the sector’? Do you feel this to be true?

I also feel that while times may be challenging, there are still plenty of dynamic, innovative and successful businesses that are really

Construction & Civil Engineering Magazine

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endeavouring to continue doing their finest work, train their staff, look after their customers and produce the best projects they can. All our profiles this month embody this approach – take a look at them and see for yourself.

Until the next issue.

Please note: The opinions expressed by contributors and advertisers within this publication do not necessarily coincide with those of the editor and publisher. Every reasonable effort is made to ensure that the information published is accurate, and correct at time of writing, but no legal responsibility for loss occasioned by the use of such information can be accepted by the publisher. All rights reserved. The contents of the magazine are strictly copyright, the property of Schofield Publishing, and may not be copied, stored in a retrieval system, or reproduced without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Libbie Hammond Editor

regular features

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workwear Workwear is more than just a pair of jeans – Chris Mellor-Dolman explains why you need the correct clothes for the job

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Tunnel construction Advances are being made in tunnel building technology and these will bring both cost and safety benefits to major projects

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bim Frank Weiss takes a look at the challenges that need to be addressed before the true benefits of BIM can be realised

10 case study How smart building technology has transformed the Generali Arena in Vienna, creating a new benchmark

12 News Updates and information from the construction and civil engineering market

14 Self-healing materials The future of building could be changed if the on-going research into self-healing concrete fulfils its true potential

16 OSCS 2019 Celebrating its fifth year, The Offsite Construction Show 2019 brings suppliers and manufacturers together under one roof

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contents

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company profiles 18

ardent hire solutions The success of Ardent Hire Solutions is due to excellent service, first-class equipment and a passionate team

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penlaw A leading specialist in drywall and associated products, Penlaw prides itself on relationship building and fruitful partnerships

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TRITON CONSTRUCTION Limited Handling projects ranging between £250k and £10m, Triton Construction is known as a proactive, problem-solving business

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Oakray

Oakray has an impeccable record of delivering mechanical, electrical and security solutions to domestic and commercial clients

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h w martin (traffic management) Safety, customer experience and delivery are the three tenets of H W Martin (Traffic Management)’s proposition

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msl engineering ltd Celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2019, MSL Engineering Ltd has made a name for itself in the Irish construction sector

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Workwear

A sound investment To help you understand what you should look for when choosing workwear, Chris Mellor-Dolman, gives his expert advice

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orkwear isn’t a ‘one-sizefits-all’ job – innovations in fashion and personal protective equipment (PPE) are changing the clothes we wear, improving not only the safety aspect, but also the comfort and professional appearance.

When thinking of workwear, it is important for tradespeople to consider the common risks and environmental factors that impact their day-to-day working life. Construction covers a lot of ground, so making suitable workwear and protection is essential for each specific trade.

For example, hard hats and steel-capped boots are vital for builders, but an alternative type of protection may be required for electricians or engineers.

Workwear presents hundreds of options, from clothing that

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promotes flexibility and comfort, to equipment that provides extra protection against the elements.

Gone are the days of a basic boiler suit or spare t-shirts and jeans, tradespeople should now be looking towards specifically designed solutions that enhance the way they work.

Think smart In recent years, smart materials have risen in popularity with workwear designers, allowing them to create such things as stretch fabrics that improve flexibility with no sacrifice to protection, and odour-eliminating technologies. Cordura® is one example of this, as its abrasion resistance aspect allows it to provide additional protection in the areas that take the most wear and tear including knees, hems and pockets. Micro-Fresh® technology on the other hand, applies a spray to the fabric and

lining of shoes that stops the growth and spread of harmful bacteria and mould, reducing the chance of bad smells while on the job.

Both of these enhance the durability and life span of the clothing, creating breathable material that keeps its wearer comfortable even in the hottest summers. When selecting clothing, it is important that you consider the smart material options, rather than just looking at the price. While it may seem like more money, the clothes are designed to be long lasting and professional looking, which means you won’t need to fork out for new t-shirts or trousers every other month.

No matter the weather Obviously, working in the UK comes with environmental challenges that can be unpredictable, with a normal

British summer being a healthy mix of the occasional downpour and muggy temperatures.

Tradespeople who work outside on a construction site will need a range of clothing options that can accommodate for these changes and take on the seasonal changes throughout the year.

While a T-shirt may seem like a good option for spring and summer, a polo top may offer better comfort because it is both breathable in hot weather and thick enough to protect from cool breezes. Boots are, of course, a tradesperson’s old faithful when it comes to protective gear, but it is important that you choose the right ones for the job. Electricians that work indoors will obviously have less to protect against than a construction worker. For builders, these are essential for protection, not only from falling objects and heavy items that could land on the wearer’s feet, but also from wet and uneven ground that presents stability and water penetration challenges.

Hoodies and fleeces can also come in handy when the weather

suddenly turns, as they help keep you warm during cold showers or when you’re working at a height.

The finer details Now that you’ve sorted out the main items of clothing, it’s time to think about the accessories you need. Pockets can be a tradesperson’s best friend, especially when working in tight spaces. Finding trousers with multiple, reinforced pockets or shorts with holster pockets

allows you to store your tools and keep them close at hand, rather than running back to your van or searching through a messy toolbox every minute.

No matter what you’re searching for, it is important to always establish what is essential for your work. For some, especially sole traders who are trying to increase their customer base, it may be looking professional with branded tops, while others may need extra comfort. Ideally, investing in workwear that ticks all boxes is the best, but the highest priorities should always be comfort, fit, durability and protection.

Chris Mellor-Dolman is head of marketing & merchandising at Scruffs Workwear. Setting the standard since 2003, Scruffs designs workwear and safety footwear for a new generation of trade professionals. Engineered with technical expertise to deliver outstanding comfort, durability and functionality, Scruffs workwear is made to work as hard as you do.

For more information, please see

www.scruffs.com

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Tunnel construction

Photo courtesy of Bechtel

Goingunderground The tunnelling industry has enjoyed a renaissance in recent years, with projects being completed across the globe. Chris Goatman, Kurt Zeidler and Dominic Walkling share their thoughts on innovation, improvements in technology, and what’s ahead for the industry

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n the world of tunnelling, Bechtel and GZ continually seek to push the boundaries of what is possible by utilising innovative design, enhanced construction techniques, and emerging technologies for greater efficiencies, improved safety, and better value for money for customers.

Some of the biggest tunnelling advances have come from gaining a better understanding of the versatility and performance of existing materials. The advantages and performance of using Steel Fibre Reinforced (SFR) concrete has been known for years however, its use has typically been limited to small and medium sized tunnels. Bechtel and GZ have been among the early adopters

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of using SFR in secondary concrete lining for tunnels with a span greater than ten-metres.

They have demonstrated not only its viability but also the economic value of steel fibre-only reinforcement in larger tunnels- a step-change for the industry.

The primary advantage of SFR-only concrete, whether castin-place or sprayed (shotcrete) linings, is the absence of the costly, resource heavy, and timeconsuming installation of rebar reinforcement following the tunnel shape and improved shrinkage control. Even under onerous ground and groundwater load conditions, efficient tunnel linings can be designed and implemented at substantial tunnel sizes. Also, the avoidance of shadowing when

using sprayed concrete constitutes a major advantage in terms of the durability of the tunnel linings.

When correctly selected, pre-cast concrete continues to demonstrate benefit in time and costs, particularly for the construction of Emergency Egress Shafts (EES) where constrained space and schedule have required an innovative approach to permanent shaft wall support.

On one recent Bechtel project ESS needed to be more than 30-metres deep, rectangular in design (with internal dimensions of approximately 11-metres by seven-metres), and groundwater heads of 28-metres. Restricted space imposed size restrictions on the lifting equipment and thus weight constraints on the precast

panels. The team used hollowcore panels each with a height of 2.1-metres to build the shaft walls. Steel columns were installed inside to facilitate load distribution across strut levels and floors. The hollow cores were filled with highstrength grout and waterproofed.

Each panel was equipped along its entire perimeter with sealing strips and re-groutable hoses to seal the joints which are expected to be subject to water pressures of up to 2.8-bar. The use of precast shaft wall panels, structural steel support in combination with pre-cast floor slabs and stairs yielded significant construction time reductions compared to traditional cast-in-place concrete.

Technology Whether bored or mined, the importance of consistent, real-time monitoring and analysis continues to play a vital role in tunnelling projects. The use of robotic theolities to provide continuous real-time measurements of any potential tunnelling induced ground movement through prisms has been common place on major projects for over a decade.

Developments around the use of

satellite monitoring and Radar Satellite Interferometry (RSI) – a non-invasive surveying technique using Synthetic Aperture Radar images (InSAR) - had many excited however, the frequency of data capture – often weeks – let it down. Now, with more satellites and specialist companies like Sixense, giving high frequency data capture, the industry has another viable option. RSI is becoming increasingly preferable and, in some instances, it is replacing the need for optical systems. The main benefits of satellite monitoring are being able to: monitor a larger area; use older satellite imagery to establish baselines, over years, prior to start of tunnelling to allow for ground movements due to seasonal trends and historic movements to be established. RSI can also quantify the impacts from external works not linked to the project. Unlike prisms installed on buildings around works, RSI is invisible, so third-party consent is not needed for installation and maintenance.

Going forward the use in InSAR to support conventional monitoring during tunnel drives and to fulfil long-term monitoring requirements post-tunnelling is likely to provide further benefits.

Monitoring pictures from recent UK projects are below:

Bechtel is also working with specialist instrumental and monitoring companies including Sixense on passive seismic monitoring – a first of a kind application of this technology to infrastructure. This is an innovative way to detect changes in the properties of the ground over large distances using a network of geophones. By studying variations in the ambient seismic signals, changes in the properties of the ground can be inferred and highrisk areas identified.

The future Infrastructure investment by governments in the short to near term – as well as pipeline of future projects - remains crucial. Only then can the industry capitalise on the recent growth of expertise, specialist designers and worldclass contractors.

In terms of technology, Bechtel and GZ are particularly excited about the potential safety and cost implications of further advances in, and use of, remote technology. Whether that be satellites for monitoring or remote-controlled robotics that will enable monitoring and control of tunnelling from thousands of miles away.

Chris Goatman works at Bechtel, Kurt Zeidler at GZ Consultants and Dominic Walkling at Sixense. Bechtel is a trusted engineering, construction and project management partner to industry and government. Differentiated by the quality of its people and its relentless drive to deliver the most successful outcomes, it aligns its capabilities to its customers’ objectives to create a lasting positive impact.

Since 1898, it has helped customers complete more than 25,000 projects in 160 countries on all seven continents that have created jobs, grown economies, improved the resiliency of the world’s infrastructure, increased access to energy, resources, and vital services, and made the world a safer, cleaner place.

For more information, please see

www.bechtel.com

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BIM

The future of BIM Getting the most value out of model management. By Frank Weiss

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onstruction is a complex and multi-faceted undertaking, requiring input from many different stakeholders, such as designers, engineers and planners through to project administrators, contractors and subcontractors. In such a system, the slightest problem in the process can cause bigger challenges down the line – in this case pushing projects over schedule, blowing out budgets, and compromising quality and even safety.

That is why engineering and construction professionals need to rely on methodologies such as building information modelling (BIM) working within a common data environment (CDE) to bring greater control and efficiency to the project.

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Frank Weiss

At its heart, BIM working within a true CDE - that is, one with neutrality and security at its core - should enable collaboration; it’s the foundation for the next phase of digital transformation in our industry. It should operate through a common set of standards and values bringing together different project teams and allow them to work together in the same way through shared technology and processes.

However, a challenge for the BIM methodology that must be overcome is that it is often incorrectly regarded as being just for design teams. This continues to impact adoption across wider project teams.

Model management and the challenge with complexity Although the importance of open

and transparent collaboration has become a well-known and addressed topic in construction - certainly over the last two decades - the model management process in BIM projects has tended to be overly complex. This is due, in part, to often being limited to specialists who use proprietary modelling tools and come in only during certain phases of the project.

This can prevent the systematic participation of other parties (e.g. the client, i.e funder [bank], etc.) because project information isn’t captured in a single place and therefore isn’t transparent or complete.

The use of multiple proprietary tools without one central base creates inefficiencies and problems by definition. Especially in the model management process, it can be challenging

to keep the data together and provide an accurate view of the whole process. So, for example, issues and clash detection out of federated models are shared as PDFs or Excel document formats, partly from one platform into another platform.

In practice issues and clashes are instead administrated, then managed. At least the main potential for the project can’t be addressed properly. This results in more errors, more rework, more quality issues, etc., and can impact the entire project.

The industry needs a solution, a process that flows better through a single platform capturing all the relevant data and information in one place and encouraging a more collaborative approach for all teams involved on a project.

The move to Model Coordination Model Co-ordination based on a true CDE is the next generation of model management. A cloudbased approach, it enables all

team members to access the same central platform. It allows for seamless integration with common authoring and model checking tools, reducing the need for numerous applications in favour of project wide BIM participation. What’s more, because the process operates through a single platform, it enables all relevant information and data to flow into the CDE, helping to build a high-quality digital twin, a true picture of the entire project.

A cloud-based approach to Model Co-ordination and the entire BIM process, all within a true neutral and highly secure CDE, provides projects with an unprecedented level of efficiency, precision and foresight to the entire construction process. It also helps to reduce problems caused by duplication or versioning issues.

Using shared models helps different teams optimise the processes they are responsible for. For example, team members can track the progress of the build more closely throughout the project, while responsibility clearly stays with the owner of the model. All of this can lead to full transparency over the entire lifecycle, from materials tracking and management, through to safety monitoring and design reviews. Approvals are easier and quicker to obtain at every stage as team members have access to the most up-to-date information they require on the project.

The future of BIM Through the further evolution of BIM standards and greater adoption of true CDEs, all stakeholders involved in the construction cycle will be able to take a step back and truly look at the big picture. In fact, things become easier. Better access and visualisation of possible scenarios can create more

transparency and trust during a building’s construction.

Under such an approach, all parties are working from a single source of truth for project information, so project teams are able to easily plan the most efficient workflow and identify issues and clashes during early planning stages.

The future of BIM - and the digital transformation of the industry - lies in greater openness and the use of true CDEs. Only then can we achieve higher levels of integration across applications and technologies. This allows teams to work with the best tools for their job and redefines how teams work.

Robust collaboration bridges the gap between the design team, construction workers, and building owners, ensuring all parties involved are reading from the same blueprint from the minute the project starts to its close. New technologies like virtual reality (VR) and other applications within the process can offer even greater visibility and increase the quality of work. Taken together, these developments can and will profoundly improve how assets are designed, built, and operated, with model data at the centre of it all.

Frank Weiss is senior director of BIM and innovation at Oracle Construction and Engineering. Oracle Construction and Engineering delivers best-in-class project management solutions that empower organisations to proactively manage projects, gain complete visibility, improve collaboration, and manage change. Its cloud-based solutions for global project planning and execution help improve strategy execution, operations, and financial performance.

For more information, please see

www.oracle.com/industries/ construction-engineering/

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Case study

Ready for kick off Smart building technology and innovative electrification solutions have made the once traditional Generali Arena at FK Austria Vienna a modern sporting showcase for connected, safe and energy efficient spaces

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BB, a pioneering technology leader, was appointed to transform the Generali Arena, originally built in 1925, into an intelligent, future proofed venue that incorporates the latest in smart building technology and energy efficient power distribution, so that it is more intuitive to control and better suited to the needs of visitors.

These IoT solutions are part of the unified, cross-industry digital offering, ABB Ability™, which extends from device to edge to cloud and combines deep domain expertise with unmatched proficiency in webenabled connectivity to optimise operational performance and efficiency.

This is also the first sustainable football venue in Austria. It was retrofitted in co-operation with the Austrian Sustainable

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Building Council, who helped with planning the design and implementation, which includes a photovoltaic system on the roof of the north stand.

Oliver Iltisberger, Managing Director of ABB’s Smart Buildings business line said: “Our mission is to write the future of safe, smart and sustainable electrification and the transformation of the Generali Arena is a fantastic representation of that vision brought to life.

“We were delighted to work with FK Austria and the Austrian Sustainable Building Council to deliver a stadium which embraces the latest in smart building technology to create an intelligent, welcoming space, that is easy and efficient to control but also lessens its impact on the environment.”

The stadium’s entire electrification value chain - from medium-voltage distribution to each individual socket - has

been raised to an advanced level.

Solution highlights include:

Safe Power • ABB’s SafePlus (10kV) compact switchgear provides safe power distribution in the arena. This maintenance-free mediumvoltage system is completely gas-insulated and encloses all live parts with a steel capsule, which optimises both reliability and personal safety.

• For more power in the electrical system, ABB provided two 1000 kVA dry transformers, which comply with the latest energy efficiency standards of the European Union. Instead of oil, the transformers use a vacuum casting resin technology developed by ABB for enhanced cooling. This minimises the risk of fire and is ideal for the likes of stadiums, offshore drilling rigs or other confined spaces.

• Extra safety and energy savings

have also been achieved with the inclusion of ABB components such as the Emax 2 circuitbreakers and InLine II fuse switchdisconnectors.

Reliability • To ensure highly reliable lowvoltage mains distribution, 21 ABB TriLine-E series switch cabinets were installed. The modularly expandable system ensures low operating costs with high reliability and long maintenance intervals.

Energy Saving • ABB i-bus® KNX system for the control of intelligent buildings, allows all components of lighting, shading, heating, air conditioning and ventilation in the stadium to be networked and work together bidirectionally. Combined with integrated load management, this means maximum energy savings are achieved.

• ABB 2gang DALI (digital addressable lighting interface) gateways are also used for lighting control so that the complete floodlight system is now integrated into the KNX system and can be controlled from an easy to use App.

Improved Visitor Experience • For an enhanced visitor experience, ABB installed a comprehensive range of intelligent and energy-saving building control solutions. Highlights include Busch-Presence Detectors for light and climate control, which have a broad and sensitive detection range, allowing the much-improved VIP areas to be controlled via integrated BuschSmartTouch panels.

• For an extra personal touch, light switches in the VIP area and other strategic points around the stadium have been designed in the club’s famous violet colors and fans can even purchase them in the club shop to install at home.

After two years of construction, the 24-time national champions have now delivered a new intelligent and sustainable football stadium, which has boosted the club’s profile and made competing with local rivals Rapid Vienna much easier.

Alexander Munda from the stadium said: “We wanted to set a new benchmark for stadium modernity and comfort with our new Generali-Arena. In order to achieve this ambitious goal, we needed to work with the best companies in all areas. In ABB, we found an ideal partner in terms of building technology and infrastructure. The feedback from our fans, VIP guests and employees who come into contact with ABB’s solutions is extremely positive. ABB has installed its new and innovative technologies throughout the stadium, making

the Generali-Arena what it is today: the most modern and beautiful stadium in Austria.”

ABB’s connected safety and energy efficiency initiatives, coupled with expanding seating capacity to 17,500 and plans to redesign the training ground and build a new regional youth centre, means it now meets the standard of an UEFA four-star arena, which even permits the staging of Champions League semi-finals.

Costing some €42 million to re-build, the north stand holds 4100 spectators and includes 28 VIP boxes, two sky boxes and two boxes for dignitaries, plus an underground car park for 370 VIPs. The east stand holds 5050 spectators and houses the fan shop, museum and a restaurant, while the west stand seats 5600 spectators.

ABB is a pioneering technology leader with a comprehensive offering for digital industries.

With a history of innovation spanning more than 130 years, ABB is today a leader in digital industries with four customer-focused, globally leading businesses: Electrification, Industrial Automation, Motion, and Robotics & Discrete Automation, supported by its common ABB Ability™ digital platform. ABB’s market leading Power Grids business will be divested to Hitachi in 2020. ABB operates in more than 100 countries with about 147,000 employees.

For more information, please see

www.abb.com

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news

Stadium vision

Deep dive CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V is participating in the construction of the deepest and largest diving pool in the world - the ‘Deepspot’ - built near the capital city of Warsaw, Poland. CEMEX is supplying special cement for the implementation of this complex project, from its Rudniki cement plant near Częstochowa, Poland.

The pool will be 45 metres deep and accommodate 8000 cubic meters of water - 27 times more water than a standard 25-metre pool. In addition, the complex will feature a special underwater tunnel, which will allow visitors to observe people training at the deepest depths.

Thanks to CEMEX’ cement, the project’s contractor, BUDOKRUSZ S.A., can produce two classes of structural concrete for the construction of the diving pool’s foundation plate. This type of cement works well for the construction of concrete elements and structures in hydrotechnical construction, as well as to produce concrete for underground construction.

“Our CEM III/A 42,5 N NA LH HSR special slag-based cement that features a low alkali, low heat of hydration, high sulfate resistant, and lower CO2 footprint.

Its remarkable characteristics and high quality make it a perfect product for this type of challenging construction project,” said Rafał Gajewski, CEMEX Commercial Development Director in Poland.

Record-breaking bridge Arup and Dr. Ing A. Aas-Jakobsen AS (Aas-Jakobsen) have been appointed to carry out the independent design verification for the Çanakkale Bridge in Turkey, set to become the world record holder for the longest suspension bridge in history. The record breaking length of 2023m and tower height of 318m will connect the Asian and European continents as part of a new highway between Kınalı and Savaştepe.

Combining leading international knowledge of long span bridge design, structural and geotechnical engineering, the team will work closely with a joint venture responsible for building the bridge consisting of Daelim, Limak, SK and Yapı Merkezi. They will work under the management of the General Directorate of Highways (KGM), Ministry of Transport Infrastructure, Maritime Affairs and Communications and Çanakkale Otoyol ve Köprüsü İnşaat Yatırım ve İşletme A.Ş. (ÇCOK AŞİYİ).

The team will collaborate to overcome highly complex geotechnical engineering challenges due to location of the bridge being in a seismic zone and also requiring increased aerodynamic stability for safety.

“The record span explores the boundary of current suspension bridge design. We are very pleased to be part of this project and contribute with our expert knowledge in aerodynamics, suspension systems and deck structure for long span bridges,” says Svein Erik Jakobsen, head of the bridge department at Aas-Jakobsen.

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Business leaders from all sectors across Liverpool City Region have pledged their support for Everton’s proposals for an iconic new stadium on the River Mersey and the Club’s plans for a community-led legacy at its current home at Goodison Park.

The city faces a transformational once-in-ageneration chance to deliver new opportunities and new jobs with the creation of a new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock and provide a further boost to north Liverpool with a large-scale communityregeneration project in Liverpool 4.

Leaders from multiple organisations support what has been called The People’s Project - Bill Addy, chief executive of the Liverpool BID company, which represents the interests of more than 1500 businesses in Liverpool city centre, is one of them. He said: “This is a transformational opportunity for the city particularly in the north and it will be the catalyst for its redevelopment, the city’s expansion, which creates jobs and will bring the Mayor of Liverpool’s inclusive growth programme into play in the north. The People’s Project fuels that drive not just for Bramley-Moore but also for the Goodison legacy.”

Copenhagen’s harbour revitalisation Enhancing Copenhagen’s waterfront and its reputation as the world’s best city for cycling, the elegant Lille Langebro cycle and pedestrian bridge has been completed. By international architecture practice WilkinsonEyre, the 160m opening bridge across Copenhagen’s Inner Harbour was won in a competition for Danish client Realdania By & Byg. Now gifted to the municipality of Copenhagen, the bridge crosses the city harbour next to the new BLOX building and seamlessly connects the vista down Vester Voldgade from the City Hall to the harbour and on to Christianshavn on the Langebrogade quaysides.

The bridge follows an elegant

© Rasmus Hjortshøj _ Realdania By & Byg

curve in plan, and the structure is arranged as two wings on the sides of the bridge, defining a very acute edge dividing light from shade. This edge dips below the decks at the abutments and soars up above the deck at midspan.

Finally, the graceful curved profile of the bridge becomes broken

when the two swinging sections open for marine traffic.

Working in collaboration with engineer BuroHappold, WilkinsonEyre’s design for the opening mechanisms are discretely concealed in the piers and opening structure allowing the flowing line of the bridge to run uninterrupted from end-to-end.

Support for Whaley Bridge dam

£7m school finished Work has completed on the first £7m primary school at the pioneering New Lubbesthorpe development in Leicestershire. The 420-pupil school will be one of three on the £1bn new community.

It sits on Tay Road at the heart of what will soon become the development’s central square, where further shops and community facilities are planned.

The school building has now been handed over to Leicestershire County Council, which has appointed the OWLS Academy Trust to run it.

Designed to complement the adjacent residential development, the school was built by Clegg Construction, on behalf of the Drummond Estate. It follows the delivery of a new £15m motorway bridge offering greater connectivity and the first phase of 500 homes.

The architects were GSS Architecture and the project is being managed for Drummond Estate by Bentley Project Management.

News channels have been reporting on the operation to prevent the collapse of the dam wall at Toddbrook Reservoir in Whaley Bridge – and Xylem Water Solutions UK was involved in the efforts, through the provision of pumps to drain the water and its rapid engineering response ensured a successful operation.

The wall of the reservoir dam was at serious risk of collapse after days of torrential rain led to what police called an ‘unprecedented, fast-moving, emergency situation’. Xylem worked with SLD Construction and Kier, the main contractor for the Canal and River Trust (CRT), which runs the site, to achieve a positive outcome.

The water technology company deployed five 55 Kw 2250 Flygt submersible dewatering pumps to draw water out of the reservoir at a rate of 250 litres per second. Within a week the water levels had been reduced by more than ten metres and the town’s 1500 residents were allowed to return to their homes.

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Self-healing materials

The

healing touch As Riccardo Maddalena and Diane Gardner report, self-healing concrete represents an environmentally-friendly choice, for increasing the service life of a structure, and reducing its overall maintenance and the subsequent usage of concrete

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o tackle climate change and environmental preservation from the very root of the problem, European countries have been looking at ‘green’ alternatives in every sector of production and technology. Recently, the European Union has encouraged its countries to drastically decrease (and eventually ban) the usage of plastic materials (such as straws, plates and cutlery) and replace them with recycled or reusable materials. Similarly, in the last decade, interest in the carbon footprint of the built environment has been increasing, particularly with respect to Portland cement and other building materials.

A few years back, in the early 2000’s, self-healing concrete was considered to be fiction rather science, until researchers proved otherwise. Then, government and policy makers started investing in this innovative infrastructure material and large self-healing research projects were initiated.

In the UK, the first self-healing research project (Materials 4 Life) was funded by EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Science

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Research Council) in 2013 for three years. The £1.7m project was a collaboration between Cardiff, Cambridge and Bath universities, as well as 13 industrial partners.

The project led to the first trial of self-healing concrete in the UK, which was constructed on the site of the new A465 road in Wales in close collaboration with the construction company Costain.

In 2017, the EPSRC funded a new project (Resilient Materials 4 Life, RM4L) to the same consortium, with the addition of the University of Bradford. The five-year long project is the world’s longestfunded project on self-healing concrete, with an overall budget of £6m and the support of 22 companies, including Costain, Highways England, HS2, the Welsh Government, and the UK Environment Agency. The project comprises four research themes, which address: self-healing of cracks at multiple scales; selfhealing of time-dependent and cyclic loading damage; selfdiagnosis and immunisation against physical damage; and self-diagnosis and healing of chemical damage. These themes

bring together complementary technologies using laboratory experiments, numerical modelling and site trials which, under the guidance of the project’s industrial partners, address a diverse range of applications such as cast in-situ and precast concrete, repair systems, overlays and geotechnical systems.

Self-healing technologies work at different scales and target different types of damages. Selfhealing concrete is more generally addressed by RM4L researchers as biomimetic concrete, which mimics the human body with the capability of self-sensing, self-diagnosing and self-healing damage.

Indeed, self-healing concrete can be compared to human tissue/skin – so when a crack or damage (cut, infection, premature aging) occurs, the concrete has will sense the damage (selfsensing, nervous system), send a signal to the brain and diagnose the problem (self-diagnosing).

Then the concrete will activate the healing mechanism (self-healing) in the same way that blood platelets prevent from bleeding and heal tissues’ damage.

To achieve crack-healing in concrete, we use different technologies. Microcapsules, as small as half millimetre, containing a healing agent are mixed with fresh concrete. When a crack occurs, and intercepts

M4L site trial – Self-healing concrete wall in Wales, UK

the microcapsule, it ruptures and releases the healing agent, filling and healing the crack.

Capsule-shells can be designed to be sensitive to changes in the surrounding concrete environment such that they rupture when there are adverse changes. Another system adopted by our scientists is to incorporate hollow channels (or hollow elements), that will allow the healing agent to be flushed through the concrete element when a crack occursus.

These channels (or elements), called vascular networks, are manufactured from brittle plastics using 3D printing techniques.

Bacteria have also been used to heal concrete cracks. They are mixed with the concrete, along with ‘nutrients’. When a crack occurs, water penetrates the concrete matrix, and revives the bacterial spores, and they will start using the calcium hydroxide present in the concrete, which subsequently precipitate calcium carbonate in the cracks. Fun fact: bacteria could found in natural building rock and stones can be dormant for hundreds of years without compromising their crackhealing capabilities with time.

Scientists have developed shape memory polymer (SMP) tendons to close cracks in concrete beams.

These polymers have the ability to recover their original shape (e.g. shrink) when thermally activated.

The SMP tendons are embedded in concrete beams and activated when cracks are detected. The released shrinkage force acts to close the cracks.

Given the exciting potential of these self-healing technologies, it is no surprise that the European Union and other international and national funding agencies have directly funded research projects on self-healing concrete, and promoted international and interdisciplinary collaborations between academia and industry.

For example, in April 2016, the EU funded a research

RM4L – Self-healing via vascular network in concrete

RM4L – crack healed using bacteria Concrete beam subjected to load. Details of SMP fibres inside

project to develop materials and construction methods for concrete infrastructure that extended the life-span by up to 100 per cent (LORENCIS). The project, co-ordinated by SINTEF (Norway), in collaboration with nine European universities and research institutions and seven industries, with an overall budget of €7.6m is due to end in March 2020. The LORCENIS project focuses on reinforced concrete under severe operating conditions, such as bridges, dams, offshore wind farms, harbours, and concrete, developing materials with active properties (including

self-healing and self-sensing technologies).

With other exciting projects having already completed and many still underway (ENDURCRETE and ReSHEALience for example) it is clear that the industry is keen to pursue the opportunities that self-healing concrete can offer. In order to keep up with the potential future demand, in June 2019 the European Union funded an international training network to train new earlycareer researchers in the prevention of deterioration of new concrete infrastructure by innovative, multifunctional self-healing strategies and existing concrete infrastructure by advanced repair technologies. The SMARTINCS (Self-healing Multi-functional Advanced Repair Technologies In Cementitious Systems) network will bring together the expertise of research institutes pioneering smart cementitious materials, along with leading EU companies and pre-standardisation agencies.

The training network involves over 11 institution and companies of EU countries, and will run until December 2023.

The next decade looks set to be full of new research in the area of self-healing concrete, and the future of building could be changed by the results.

Dr Riccardo Maddalena is a Research Associate & RM4L Programme Manager and Dr Diane Gardner is Senior Lecturer at Cardiff University, Cardiff. The Resilient Materials 4 Life (RM4L) programme has a clear vision to transform the Nation’s built environment through the provision of a sustainable and resilient infrastructure, using low carbon, adaptable and sustainable construction materials. This will have an impact on all aspects of our infrastructure.

As part of the research grant, an international conference on smart and autonomous infrastructure materials will be held in September 2020 in Cambridge (UK).

For more information, please see

https://rm4l.com

15

The Offsite Construction Show (OSCS2019)

It’s show time

Now in its fifth year, The Offsite Construction Show (OSCS2019) is continuing to build on the success it has established in the marketplace

T

he show expects up to 70 exhibitors, showcasing everything from building materials, composite panel manufacture, and modular construction, to LSF structures, hybrid products, precast concrete, timber frame manufacturing and design, engineering and construction consultancy. At least 25 per cent of exhibitors at the 2019 show will be first time exhibitors, bringing a range of exciting products and services to a whole new audience.

OSCS2019 is once again conveniently located at ExCeL in London, and the show’s organisers believe that hosting the event in a city that is home to many spectacular flagship OSC projects strongly contributes to the show’s high turnout and excellent visitor quality. “London ExCeL is located in the heart of the Docklands and is a truly world class venue,”

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explains show director, Steven Callaghan. “It has superb facilities for visitors and exhibitors alike.”

Head of Sales, Maddie Maclellan agrees: “Visiting the show could not be easier,” she added.

“Whether visiting by public transport or by car, ExCeL has two of its own onsite Docklands Light Railway Stations (DLR) and this is the most popular way of travelling to the show, as it is fast, cheap and efficient. However, if you do prefer to come under your own steam, the venue has an underground parking garage with over 3000 spaces.”

These excellent transportation links means the show is easy to access by the many thousands of senior construction, design and specifying personnel based in the capital city, as well as both central and local government.

Once they arrive at the Exhibition Centre, visitors to the show can look forward to seeing

the progress that is being made in the offsite construction arena, and, as Steven point out, this particular sector is really seeing a huge amount of development and growth. “Offsite construction (OSC) is now more in the news than at any time since we launched the show in 2015,” he said. “Housing shortages in the UK, in particular the lack of affordable housing, have seen OSC advanced as something that could make a major contribution to solving these particular problems. This has led to a wider appreciation of the other benefits of OSC such as improved quality of the finished product and, vitally, improvements in health and safety at work.”

Shortages of skilled labour are another good reason why OSC needs to be considered very seriously, as the digital generation has different expectations from a career in construction than

perhaps their predecessors. “Many employers are finding that current entrants to the workplace are less enthusiastic about working on a windswept building site than their forefathers,” added Steven.

Ensuring the show addresses the wide variety of needs and interests that visitors will bring to ExCeL requires both experience and expertise, and this need is fulfilled by Londonbased organisation buildoffsite, which plays an important role in OSCS2019, as Maddie explains: “We organise the show in association with buildoffsite (www.buildoffsite.com) and they are regarded as ‘the trusted voice of the offsite construction industry’. As a membership-based organisation whose sole role is to promote the use of offsite construction technology, it only takes a brief glance at their list of members online to see the extent of their influence – it’s a real who’s who of end users, contractors, manufacturers and even government departments.”

One of buildoffsite’s major contributions is the buildoffsite Seminar Theatre, which has become a very popular feature of previous Offsite Construction

Shows. “I’m pleased to confirm that it will be making an appearance once again in 2019,” announced Maddie.

“The programme is yet to be published but for a flavour of what is to come at the show, expect seminars looking at key developments impacting on prospects for the UK construction market, a look at advances in the hugely important residential market, the importance of achieving design excellence to deliver project quality and value and future skills for an offsite enabled industry.

“There will also be a series of Masterclasses and workshops including sessions looking at women in offsite and how offsite construction can help reduce workplace stress in the building and construction industry,” she added. “We will also be running the show’s own seminar theatre, so there will literally be something for everyone, and it’s all absolutely free of charge.”

In 2018 OSCS was attended by over 4000 people, a record attendance, and a similar number is expected in 2019. Whether your reason for visiting is to learn more about OSC with a view to

incorporating it in your future projects or to look to develop your existing supply chain, the show has something to offer you.

Bringing together suppliers and manufacturers under one roof, the event combines interesting and educational seminars, stateof-the art new products and services, and superb networking opportunities, making it a must visit for anyone specialising in offsite construction.

Registration is now open online for your free entrance ticket - register beforehand and it will save you time on arrival at the show hall.

The Offsite Construction Show (OSCS2019) ExCeL, London 20-21 November, 2019 Supported by buildoffsite For more information, please see

https://offsiteconstructionshow.co.uk https://www.buildoffsite.com

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profile: Ardent Hire Solutions

Doing it differently With an industry leading team, and one of the largest fleets of plant and equipment available in the UK, Ardent Hire Solutions is delivering game-changing, smart hire solutions that can’t be found anywhere else

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n the eyes of Jeremy Fish, CEO of Ardent Hire Solutions (Ardent), the hire industry in the UK today finds itself at a crossroads. “My own view of the hire industry is that, in recent years in particular, it has failed to innovate or invest appropriately and thus has become somewhat

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stagnant,” he states. “This has come at a time when prices have remained either static or have declined, while businesses have had to deal with inflationary pressures relating to things like labour and the rising capital cost of equipment. I believe this to be a major problem for the industry, but one that can be aided by

a business like ours which is prepared to do things differently.”

Since Ardent last featured within Construction & Civil Engineering back in the late summer of 2016, a fair few things have occurred, but what has not changed is the ethos of the Enfield-headquartered owner of one of the largest and youngest

fleets of telehandlers, excavators, loaders and other associated plant. “Our success in recent years has been down to a combination of delivering excellent service, having first-class equipment, our team of passionate people that truly care, and our belief in challenging the status quo of the whole hire industry,” Jeremy adds.

Package of information This approach and subsequent success manifested itself in July 2019, when the company was presented with the Digital Construction Excellence Award at the 2019 Construction News Awards, in recognition of its industry leading Site Manager platform. Site Manager is the

company’s unique Management Information and Telematics System (MITS), specially designed by Ardent to be the only software tool in the hire industry that provides a practical solution for improving productivity, reducing operating costs and eliminating risk.

“We have long had a desire to

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THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME? The Thwaites Super Seven delivers improved operator visibility, stability and safety. Ensuring the operator can see and be seen reducing risk for both site workers and operators, whilst increasing payload and productivity.

IMPROVED VISIBILITY

Designing the skip with a lower front edge provides the operator with a much clearer view of any obstacles that may be ahead.

ADVANCED 180º FRONTFACING CAMERA A screen located on the Dumper dashboard provides a clear view of the front blind spot for low-speed manoeuvring.

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WIDER TRACK FOR GREATER STABILITY With an axle configuration fitted from a 9-tonne dumper, the operator is assured of a safer and more stable ride.

SAFER OPERATOR ACCESS / EGRESS

Day glow yellow steps and grab rails highlight the important three-points-of-contact to reduce slips, trips and falls.

7 TONNE SKIP CAPACITY

Intelligent skip design allows an additional tonne of carrying capacity over the 6-tonne dumper, whilst providing greater forward visibility.

1st CLASS GROUND CLEARANCE

When the terrain gets challenging, the axle allows for safe and effortless travel over the toughest of site conditions.

GET THE JOB DONE. www.thwaitesdumpers.co.uk

Ardent A4 Advert - Aug 2019.indd 1

29/07/2019 15:25

profile: Ardent Hire Solutions

help our customers improve the safety of their sites, manage their costs more effectively, and be more productive with their assets, and we are working to make this possible by using Site Manager to encourage behavioural change and provide said customers with better value out of their hires,” Jeremy explains. “Our Site Manager innovation does not require complex systems or software, so long as a site manager has a mobile phone it allows us to send real-time texts and emails alerting them to plant incurring unnecessary cost, equipment idleness or any impending risk to safety.

“An example of how the platform can assist site managers is how we can help them reduce the number of rental days they buy rather than the price they buy them at. A utilisation threshold is set within the system, when a hired in machine from Ardent falls below that threshold on a certain day a text alert is sent to the site manager along with an electronic off hire prompt that can be clicked to off hire the machine in question. This may go against the traditional hire industry mentality of having customers renting equipment for as long as possible, but what it is doing is helping to reduce their costs at a time when this is of paramount importance. By taking the telematics data of the manufacturers’ equipment and blending it with our customers’ own data, we are creating what we describe as a ‘smart hiring’ environment that delivers a package of information to the

right people, in the right place, at the right time.”

Video technology Site Manager forms one part of the journey that Jeremy and Ardent wants to help take the hire industry on, and it is far from the only innovation that the company has introduced. “Another example of how we strive to do things differently comes in the form of how we are helping to tackle machine downtime,” Jeremy reveals. “Under the typical model, if you experience a downtime incident, you would call the relevant customer service team and a fitter would be sent out to site in around two-to-four hours, during which the machine sits unused. We have developed an alternative solution called Ardent TV, which utilises unique QR codes inside all of our equipment that direct users to a series of one minute self-help videos that we have produced in English, Polish and Romanian.

“These videos provide a breakdown of how to fix a number of common issues experienced on site, which significantly reduces the need to call out fitters to site. This solution typically helps when it comes to things like hand brake adjustment, machine lock outs, water getting into the fuel, or other actions such as how to attach a breaker or a bucket to a piece of plant. As anyone with experience on site will tell you, even the simplest of things can sometimes go wrong, and these can soon add up to downtime and unwanted costs. Using Ardent TV, our videos can restrict this

Thwaites Thwaites is pleased to announce the launch of its Super Seven Dumper. Showcased at Plantworx 2019, this new machine embodies the engineering excellence that is synonymous with all Thwaites machines.

With seven key features, the new seven-tonne machine gives operators greater visibility, stability and ease of use. Launching the Super Seven, Thwaites MD Ian Brown said: “The objective of the Super Seven is to deliver seven key improvements that enable enhanced operator visibility and greater stability. The new machine is focused on ensuring risk is reduced for both site workers and the operator, whilst increasing payload and productivity.”

The Super Seven was designed by the Thwaites Warwickshire-based engineering team, who were driven by the vision of improving the operator’s ability to see and be seen, without sacrificing the effectiveness of the dumper’s capabilities on site. Check out our full-page advert for details of the seven key improvements.

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profile: Ardent Hire Solutions

downtime to a matter of minutes and potentially save customers hundreds of pounds over time.”

Fleet investment With the company growing, it has also made significant investment over the last four years or so, spending approximately £220 million in new fleet. This has been channelled into telehandlers, excavators, dumpers, rollers and a new roto telehandler fleet, some of which has been used to expand Ardent’s capabilities, while a percentage is used to maintain an average plant age profile of between two and four years.

An example of the scale of this investment was seen in July, when the company confirmed that it had placed the biggest single order of telescopic handlers ever made by a UK customer with JCB,

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a part of a two-year deal worth more than £75 million. Further announcements are expected within the coming weeks and months with other leading manufacturers.

New sites The company’s investment has also extended to its people and infrastructure. “In the case of the former, we have invested capital into apprentices, and staff training and development,” Jeremy says.

“Meanwhile, in terms of our facilities, we have just opened a new state-of-the-art depot in Fareham, which is three times the size of our previous location in the area, and we are about to move into a massive depot in Midlands, which will assist us in preparing for HS2 and expanding our business in the region. Other

developments have included the opening of sites in Glasgow, Leeds and Haydock, and we have successfully expanded our depot footprints in Bristol, Oxford and Kent in the last 12 months.”

Model disruptor The above steps also represent part of Ardent’s aim to firmly establish itself as the UK’s premier hire company. However, as Jeremy tells us, it plans to achieve this in its own unique way. “We are not necessarily looking to reach

Indeco Indeco Ind. S.p.A, an Italian manufacturer of hydraulic attachments, was founded in 1976 and soon became a leading brand in the global demolition industry. In 1986, the company patented the world’s first “Intelligent hammer”.

Since 1999, our subsidiary Indeco (UK) Ltd has provided solutions to your application requirements. Indeco’s range is the widest available anywhere on the market, with 22 models making up around 50 different combinations, including the world’s biggest hydraulic hammer.

The horizontal growth of the Indeco range continues, with other products such as pulverisers, steel shears, multiprocessors, multi grabs, compactors, boom systems and mulching heads.

our goal by being the biggest company of our kind, rather we want to do it by providing the best quality of equipment and service, and by thinking outside of the box. Our view is that there is not really space for just another plant hirer in the industry today, but there is for one that embraces doing things differently and is comfortable in being a disruptor of traditional models. The results of this approach are already becoming apparent, and it helps us to stay true to our values as a company, which are passion, pace and performance, and that is what we at Ardent are all about!”

Ardent Hire Solutions www.ardenthire.com Services: Construction equipment and plant hire

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profile: Penlaw

Profitable strategy Known for the honest relationships it builds with its partners, Penlaw has grown its range and entered new markets over the last ten years, fulfilling its founder’s ambition of becoming the UK’s number one drywall and associated building materials distributor

L

oyalty, trust, and honesty have been the buzzwords for Penlaw since the distribution side of the business was launched in 1997. By displaying these qualities, a leading specialist independent in drywall and associated products has succeeded in earning the respect of the industry and assembling a strong team of professionals that have proven instrumental in its ongoing growth.

“Our relationship building is second to none,” exclaims Penlaw’s Sales Director, Brett Sherwin. “We have a track record of establishing fruitful

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partnerships and it is very telling that most of the new business we win comes from referrals from the manufacturers or clients who have chosen us as their distributors.”

The combination of the company’s strong collaborative skills and high-quality service has also attracted some of the best talent across the building materials distribution sector to the business. Individuals have repeatedly been impressed with Penlaw’s commitment to delivering excellent service based on adding real value to customers, hence their desire to be part of the journey.

Furthermore, Brett singles out

the role of Penlaw’s CEO, Richard Gray, whose restless drive to grow the business continues to keep the distributor on its toes, always looking to improve its offering and expand its coverage.

“Even though he is 71 this year, Richard’s passion for the company remains undiminished, just as big as it was 22 years ago when he considered opening his first depot. It is also noteworthy that in the last 16 years, he has consistently strengthened the management team whose input has been crucial in achieving his dream of making Penlaw one of the country’s largest independent drywall and associated building products distributors.”

During the two decades in which Penlaw has been engaged in distribution, the company has steadily built a network of sites, predominantly in and around London and the Home Counties, but also in Warrington and Gateshead, in the northern parts of England. “Our first branch opened in Wickford in 1997, followed by two more in Greenwich (2003) and Eye 2004 (in Suffolk). In 2005, we launched the Warrington depot and another two years later, the Enfield site opened,” Brett narrates.

Site expansions Another milestone showing that Penlaw was definitely on the right path came in 2015 when the company had to relocate to a larger, 25,000 square feet facility in South East London –

in Sydenham, having outgrown the Greenwich branch. “What we did with the Greenwich site was to repurpose it as a specialist fixing centre,” Brett explains.

“We then opened a second such centre in Gateshead in 2016, which is our latest facility to date.”

The last four years, in particular, have seen Penlaw grow in double figures year-on-year. In Brett’s opinion, this became possible thanks to the change of direction undertaken by the company, in regards to the materials it supplies. “Up until 2011, we were predominantly drywall, but with

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profile: Penlaw

me becoming the Technical Sales Director that year, I put together a business development team.

Alongside Drywall we targeted associated products & entered new markets to be able to offer a ‘one-stop-shop’ to our customer base. This is how we ventured into the façade side of the construction industry,” he remembers.

Gaining momentum As a result of the distributor’s renewed focus, it has successfully enriched its product range and shown significant growth in external render, SFS, sheathing boards, construction fixings, membranes and insulation products.

“Over the past decade we have established strong relationships with all the major manufacturers in our sector, and they remain the backbone of our success.”

Brett adds: “Our growth comes

down to the work we are doing in the area of infill solutions for the external wall zone. It also helps that we have specialist fixing centres whose services tie nicely with our intention to deliver a one-stop solution. When working on the façades, you need to fix the metal down to the concrete substrates, then additional internal and external fixings, which is something we can provide.

“This year we have gained momentum with Developer Supply Chain Agreements, which have secured us just over ten per cent of our national turnover, by appointing a Supply Chain Director solely focusing on the cradle to grave approach in delivering the scheme on time every time.”

Having said all that, it is no surprise that Brett expects Penlaw to continue to outperform its

competition in 2019, by achieving growth in the range of 16 to 20 per cent. “It is a testament to our strategy and staff that the spike is coming from all the new markets we have ventured into in the last few years,” he notes, going on to conclude. “Further down the road, next year, we foresee another ten per cent year-on-year growth.

Beyond that, we are hoping to open one or even two new depots – probably in the South West of the country and either in East Midlands or Yorkshire – in the next 18-24 months, which will allow us to hit the £100 million turnover mark within three years.”

Penlaw www.penlaw.co.uk Services: Distribution of drywall and associated building products

ISOVER - Saint-Gobain Insulation UK ISOVER, part of Saint-Gobain Insulation UK, has a long history of providing innovative and reliable products. ISOVER manufactures and supplies an extensive range of high performing glass mineral wool insulation for a variety of applications.

More recently, ISOVER has launched a new BBA certified stone wool façade insulation, Polterm Max Plus. The non-combustible 1200 x 600mm slabs will provide thermal and acoustic insulation within ventilated rainscreen cladding and overcladding systems.

In addition to offering a comprehensive range of products, ISOVER can also provide specialist technical support. From assistance with specifications to promoting best practice installation, ISOVER is committed to working closely with its customers to help them get the most out of its products and services.

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profile: Triton Construction Ltd

Driven

to delight 28

S

ince it was founded

by Michael Parkinson in 2005, Triton Construction (Triton) has been a forward thinking general contractor, providing construction services across the North of England.

With experience covering all manner of sectors – including the commercial, industrial, education, retail and healthcare arenas – and the ability to offer everything from procurement and traditional tendering to open brief design and build, the company has an enviable track record of dealing with projects ranging in value from £250,000 to £10 million.

In the 14 years that Michael has led the business in his role of Managing Director, he has shaped its ethos as being a proactive problem solving business, with a focus on consistent delivery and quality. It was in May 2019, however, that the next phase of Triton’s evolution began, with Michael moving to become Chairman and Paul Clarkson being brought in to head up the business. “Mike and I go back a number of years, having previously worked alongside one another at ISG (formally Totty), before I went on to lead Britcon for more than ten years,” Paul explains.

Exciting journey

Building on the considerable experience of its founder and team of experts, Triton Construction Limited is a rapidly growing general contractor bringing a host of exciting projects to life across the North of England

During the course of the pair’s overlapping careers, the two have been shown to share much in the way of values, work ethic and management style, making Paul the ideal choice to take the proverbial reins. “Knowing Mike for as long as I have done, meant that not only did I have a prior understanding of Triton, but also the way it operated and its raison d’être, if you will,” Paul continues. “I also knew that what is important to Triton – namely quality, delivery and service – has also been important to me throughout my career. Lastly, but

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profile: Triton Construction Ltd

perhaps most crucially, I knew that coming into the company would allow me the freedom and control to take a group of like-minded people on an exciting business development and growth journey.”

Impressive projects The Triton approach is a fairly simple one, in that whenever it undertakes a project it does so with the aim of not just satisfying the client, but delighting them. It does so by providing a seamless, tailored and first-class service that meet a client’s construction needs on every level, no matter what the project entails. “As a business, we are entirely focused on exceeding our clients’ expectations and it is this high benchmark that we also aspire to,” Paul states. “Delivering quality projects, time after time, is what helps to bring in repeat business as well as new clients drawn in by word-of-mouth, and this has helped Triton to thrive.”

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The reputation that the company has gained over the years has resulted in it amassing a highly impressive back catalogue of completed projects, and has made it a go-to name for clients within highly demanding sectors such as the education – where it has brought to life numerous primary schools, academies and college buildings – commercial, industrial, healthcare and hospitality markets. In the latter, for instance, Triton has become particularly well known for building the types of hotel concept used by the likes of Premier Inn, who it has worked extensively with. Among its recent successes, one will also find the design and construction of the Big Yellow Self Storage national excellence facility in Manchester.

This 92,000-square foot building came with a set of strict guidelines and extensive method statement to ensure that there

was no damage to the adjacent train line, and its completion gained Triton considerable recognition.

The fruits of the company’s efforts will soon be presented in numerical form with the release of its accounts for the year ending in March 2019, which Paul is happy to give us a flavour of what to expect. “In our accounts for the year ending March 2018, we returned a turnover of around £28 million as a business,” he says, “whereas this latest set of figures will show a figure of closer to £58 million, meaning we have succeeded in doubling in size in a little over 12 months. While there are several factors behind this, the underlying reason remains our focus on delivery, exceeding expectations and securing repeat business.”

building a high-class rehabilitation care home in Cuddington, nr Northwich, Cheshire, and we have four Premier Inns currently under construction, with a further three due to commence later this year.

We are also extremely proud to be a part of a major development project that is ongoing within the Royal Liver Building, Liverpool.

We expect to complete the first phase, which includes work on the basement and first floor mezzanine, before Christmas 2019, and expect our presence here to continue into 2020.”

Away from Triton’s many ongoing projects, Paul also has a number of internal goals that he would like to achieve in the coming months. “One thing that I am very keen to do is develop our ISO accreditations in order to allow us to bid for more

framework contracts,” he states.

“In addition to that, I also want to begin to digitise our onsite quality processes and reporting functions, which will enable us to carry out audits and deliver QA outcomes and reports on a real-time basis.

“Looking ahead to 2020, I would like to see us extend our incredibly successful hotel offering to other operators, and also take our first steps into the energy sector. On top of all of this, Mike myself and the Triton Team will be working to leverage the additional focus that he now has in his role of Chairman to target self-developed work across the business and refine Triton’s long-term strategic goals.”

Triton Construction Ltd www.tritonconstruction.co.uk Services: General construction services

Future goals One notable contributing element to the company’s prosperity in the last 12-to-18 months was its acquisition of Merseyside-based company Remstone Construction in April 2018. This move formed a key part of Triton’s plan to strengthen its presence in the North-West region, and has helped to raise the profile of the business further still, while also bringing with it a new book of clients and contracts. The result for Triton as a group, is that today its business activities are almost split 50/50 either side of the Pennines, which puts it in a very healthy position indeed.

“With regards to our current workload, we presently have seven school projects at various stages of delivery, ranging from a £0.5 million refurbishment project to a £4 million demolition and new build undertaking at Chorlton Park Primary School in Manchester,” Paul details. “Elsewhere, we have teams working on a large scale industrial development in Leeds, on which one unit will be operated

by MKM Building Supplies, we are

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profile: Oakray

One-stop M&E service provider Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, Oakray is a mechanical and electrical services provider, specialising in the areas of commercial and domestic heating, electrical services, and security solutions

W

hen a single company has been providing buildings support to a host of local authorities, social landlords, NHS trusts, and private sector clients for more than 35 years, the diversity of its clientele and the sheer longevity of the partnerships with said institutions say more than enough about the reputation and reliability of the business in question. Such is the case with Oakray – an Enfieldbased organisation with an impeccable record of delivering mechanical, electrical, and security solutions to commercial and domestic clients alike.

Family-owned to this day, Oakray lives and breathes the traditional values of quality workmanship and pride in the job that were the guiding light for the late founder of the company, Ray Franklin. Presently, Oakray is wholly-owned by the Ray

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Franklin Will Trust, with integrity and transparency being at the core of the business, alongside a commitment to innovation and continuous improvement.

Through its team of highlyqualified engineers and technicians, the organisation offers expertise and experience across a broad range of disciplines. From design and installation through to planned maintenance and emergency callout and repairs, Oakray’s services include commercial and domestic heating, electrical services, and security services.

Some of the commercial heating services delivered by Oakray include CHP systems; air conditioning and ventilation systems; asset surveys, provision of asset registers, and condition surveys; boiler maintenance; and statutory maintenance. In addition, the company is an expert in the design, installation, and repair of district heating plant rooms and pre-insulated

mains pipework. As such, it is able to provide a comprehensive service for this efficient and environmentally-superior system for distributing heat generated in a centralised location.

Speaking of environmental superiority, over the years, Oakray has also grown an expertise in all types of renewable energy that enables it to tailor strategies for its customers that help the latter reduce their carbon emissions, cut costs, and ensure compliance with relevant government energy legislation. Among the solutions the company can offer, are air source and ground source heat pumps, solar thermal heating systems, recoVAIR systems, solar photovoltaic panel installation, LED lighting schemes, smart metering, energy control systems, and full design and specification service.

As regards Oakray’s domestic heating services proposition, the business has made a name for itself as one of the leading specialist contractors in the London region, demonstrating best practices in fields such as pressurised systems installation and maintenance, system power flushing, underfloor heating, water treatment, planned preventative maintenance to heating and hot water systems, and full reactive repairs and emergency callout service. What is more, its Gas Safe-registered engineers provide a broad range of testing and certification services including statutory maintenance, testing and certification; landlord certification; and glycol efficiency tests.

Oakray’s ability to provide a complete solution extends into the electrical services field, too.

Under this division, the company delivers industrial and commercial installations; domestic rewires and upgrades; mains, sub-mains, and distribution installations; external, security and emergency lighting; fire alarms; electric heating; energy saving schemes and energy audits; preventative and predictive

maintenance; as well as round-theclock emergency callout.

Notably, Oakray’s trusted supply chain specialists also have the expertise to provide full building cover. The team are skilled in delivering services for lifts and escalators; access control systems; security systems; auto doors; hoists and shutter maintenance and repairs UPS systems; and generators and gas suppression systems. Furthermore, the business can offer solutions for lightning protection, alongside asset and condition surveys.

Last but by no means least, Oakray’s security services encompass access control, CCTV, and automation. From small four-way audio entry systems to IP digital video entry systems for large apartment blocks, the company works closely with its customers to accurately meet their needs. Partnering with trusted manufacturers, it can arrange demonstrations, training, and sample systems prior to installation, to ensure that the system is a perfect match for a client’s technical and financial requirements.

From a CCTV point of view, the provider’s services include analogue and digital CCTV installation, together with full HD IP addressable system and DVR/NVR builds installation and maintenance. Its specialised engineers keep themselves fully up-to-date with industry advances by regularly attending manufacturer/industry specific training. They are also aware of the impact of data protection legislation on the work carried out and this knowledge enables them to offer the best possible solutions.

To cap its proposition in the area off, Oakray also supplies a planned maintenance service. Cameras, recorders, and communication are all tested regularly to ensure that security is maintained at all times.

Finally, the company’s in-depth security services expertise covers

the installation and maintenance of communal entrance doors, car park gates, and automatic ventilation systems connected to fire alarms in communal areas.

It also carries out installations for Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) compliance, creating bespoke solutions based on the needs of the user identified by occupational therapists.

A key advantage for Oakray is the fact that it delivers and manages all of its security services from one department in-house.

This makes the company the ideal partner to integrate all three technologies into one solution.

In fact, many of the schools that have chosen to work with Oakray take advantage of this opportunity, combining controlled access through automatic doors via a fob, along with CCTV

monitoring that switches on automatically when a fob is used to ensure that only an authorised person enters and that no one follows them in.

Having reviewed the wide range of services Oakray is capable of delivering, it is no wonder that the company continues to experience excellent growth – a trend that has been as patent as ever in the last ten years. As the business celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2019, it felt a good time to present and celebrate its legacy, with the firm having every reason to believe that it will continue on its upward trajectory in the years to come.

Oakray www.oakrays.co.uk Services: Mechanical, electrical, and security services

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profile: H W Martin (Traffic Management)

Service and solutions Prioritising safety, customer experience, and outstanding service delivery, H W Martin (Traffic Management) is developing solutions that upskill its people, reduce the company’s environmental impact, and take advantage of the Industry 4.0 revolution

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n order to remain the UK’s largest independent provider of specialist traffic management on motorways and high speed roads, H W Martin (Traffic Management) – part of the highly-successful Martin Group – is actively seeking to incorporate innovative solutions into its service offering. Keen on addressing the most pressing challenges almost every industry has to face as regards environmental sustainability, also looking to make the most of the opportunities provided by digital technology, the organisation has got a number of initiatives underway as of late. Following their successful implementation, H W Martin (Traffic Management) is confident the company’s expertise will grow further and it will become an even more sought-after partner in the market as the management of the strategic road network, in particular, becomes digitally enabled.

Earlier this summer, the business became the first traffic management organisation to scientifically trial electric vehicles for temporary traffic management (TTM) in conjunction with Highways England and the University of Bath. The five-month trial period is set to conclude in November, its goal being to ascertain what proportion of traffic management works can be completed with an electric vehicle and encourage the reduction of certain activities’ environmental impact within the sector.

“We are looking at a diverse and detailed dataset from the trial and this includes data from two electric vehicles (the trial vehicles) and two diesel vehicles (the control vehicles). The dataset includes details about the vehicles and their usage (charge, range, speed, throttle, braking, load being carried, use of heaters, light, and other ancillary systems); the charging points, i.e., how long they are charged for, where they are charged, and any challenges that they encountered; and the drivers and their behaviour,” explains David Shaw, Director at H W Martin (Traffic Management).

“The trials are still ongoing, but they have already allowed us to understand how the vehicles compare to the performance levels detailed by the manufacturer and how our unusual usage scenarios for traffic management affect their performance,” David adds. “We have also had our thoughts about the influence of driver behaviour confirmed by the initial stages of the trial. We are convinced that this is the most influential characteristic, outweighing the load carried and the weather

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profile: H W Martin (Traffic Management)

conditions. With the optimum routing, driver behaviour, and vehicle load, we have found it possible to reach 95 per cent of the stated range.”

While it seems unrealistic to conduct every traffic management operation in a carbon-neutral way in the immediate future, H W Martin (Traffic Management) holds that through consistent efforts, it can increase the percentage of activities done with zeroemissions. To this end, the company is committed to regularly renewing its fleet. “Over the past two years, we have invested around about £2 million in the most environmentallyfriendly vehicles that we could get, and this is an important element of our CSR that highlights our willingness to constantly move forward with our initiatives in the area,” David comments.

understanding of the service it provides as being customerfacing and creating a positive perception of its clients to the roaduser.

Going digital

Extensive training Safety, customer experience, and delivery are the three tenets of H W Martin (Traffic Management)’s proposition.

“This is due to the specifications of traffic management, which make the job high-risk, timecritical, and often involving complex tasks, but also due to our understanding of it being a more customer-facing activity, we have taken it upon itself to provide exclusive, industryleading training to our workforce.

“To deliver leading performance in safety and customer service we must ensure our personnel have the full range of practical, technical and customer interaction skills,” David observes.

“To enhance the skills of our frontline leaders and equip them with a broad range of leadership skills, we have developed our Formanplus training to provide a supplementary training syllabus to the Sector 12 training for Traffic Management.”

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2018 saw an extensive rollout of the training across the country. Foreman Plus is characterised by four elements – Leadership, Organisation, Communication, and Knowledge.

These encompass a wide range of skills, which the operatives need to master, in order to handle the various types of challenges that might occur during the job. Among the skills that are being bolstered are mentoring, time management, planning and programming, data collation, effective briefing, conflict management, and customer service. Notably, the latter three demonstrate H W Martin (Traffic Management)’s

David continues: “Another important feature of our training programmes is the use of digital E–Learning tools whenever possible. We have supplied our staff with tablets where they can access modules specifically formulated for them. By doing this, we can ensure that they are up to speed with the requirements they need to meet and aware of certain methodologies, policies and processes. It is also a way to provide continual skills refresher training aligned to the classroombased sector 12 training syllabuses developed and administered by Lantra Awards – the governing body for training in our industry.

“Digitalisation presents many opportunities for the sector and we certainly are not confined to utilising IT solutions only in our workforce training,” he points out.

“For example, it also allows us to provide our planning, design, and commercial information to our clients in-real time. Furthermore, with the requirements of BIM stretching into the temporary works sector, the digitalisation of our systems and processes will enable us to provide that single source of the truth in a common data environment.”

To David, there is no doubt that traffic management is bound to become an industry with very different requirements from the ones that exist today. In his opinion, it will be a lot more datadriven and automated, which will open the sector up for a greater number of young people who will be able to apply their IT savvy to an industry they do not necessarily see as a stimulating or progressive career at the moment.

“We have to evolve the sector so that it becomes appealing to a

much broader pool of talent and attracts more participation in the sector from groups of society who are currently underrepresented.

The stark reality facing the sector is there is unlikely to be the quantity of future employees available to maintain existing levels. The sector needs to evolve so that it can deliver the same with less; the people of the future will require additional skills and knowledge and those in post currently will be upskilled to meet the needs of the future.”

Maximising productivity H W Martin (Traffic Management)’s strive to streamline its operations spreads beyond the digitalisation efforts undertaken by the organisation. Recently, it opened a new facility in Peterborough with a view to facilitate its logistics processes. The new site is fully bespoke, allowing the loading of equipment efficiently is enhanced by fully adapting a manufacturing and production line ethos. Andy Graham (National Operations Manager) explains: “Traffic management is a logisticsbased operation and, therefore, speed is key to maximising productivity for ourselves and our clients. Our new facility has enabled us to streamline the number of yard staff required to load vehicles, but, crucially, we have we have upskilled to them Temporary Traffic Management front line personnel and increased the capability and capacity in the East of England.”

Taking a look at the future, David insists that improving safety performance will remain on top of the agenda for the company. “Meanwhile as automation and digitalisation develops, we still have to manage delivering an excellent service to our clients whilst ensuring safety is our primary focus.

Our personnel will continue to operate within a high risk environment in the foreseeable

future, so of course, we will continue developing solutions that remove or significantly reduce the risks present within those environments.”

H W Martin (Traffic Management) www.hwmartin.com/traffic-management

Services: Traffic management

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profile: MSL Engineering Ltd

Building quality Offering an unparalleled range of services, MSL Engineering Ltd. has made a name for itself in the Irish construction sector with its ability to smoothly deliver high-profile projects in numerous industries

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elebrating its 40th anniversary in 2019, MSL Engineering Ltd. (MSL) is a vivid example of how, when a company is fully committed to achieving the highest standards in workmanship, safety, quality, and reliability, it can excel in its respective industry in such a way that it becomes the reference point for its peers.

The Irish mechanical engineering

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contractor specialises in the fabrication and installation of process, utility, and high-purity pipework, platforms and steelwork; and equipment installation across a number of industry sectors.

These include pharmaceutical, biopharma, chemical, oil and gas, power generation and utilities, food and beverage, data centres, transport infrastructure, medical devices, process drainage, and fire protection.

“Through one-off construction projects, maintenance, and term-service contracts, we can also provide modular fabrication and assemblies, manage multidiscipline subcontractors as part of our projects, and use BIM and 3D modelling processes,” MSL’s Managing Director, Brian McGrath, elaborates on the company’s capabilities. “This broad range of services, coupled with our ability to deliver quality

Stimulating its staff has, consequently, been among the top priorities on MSL’s agenda.

The company conducts its Training Needs Analysis review at a senior management level periodically, so that it can identify any skill gaps or shortages that may exist in any role in the business. Then, MSL develops a training plan for its people to bridge these gaps.

“By doing this, we are able to maximise performance from personnel and encourage their development,” Brian points out.

“What is more, promotional opportunities are appointed internally wherever possible.

On occasion, this can mean identifying skills gaps or shortages in a potential internal candidate and addressing these through the implementation of a training plan.”

Together with investing in staff development, MSL has also directed substantial financial resources to the creation of a dedicated BIM/Design department within the company, as well as to the purchase of a new development site adjacent to its location. Brian details: “We are now capable of producing our own isometric fabrication drawings, as opposed to depending on the client to issue them. Another significant investment of ours was the

acquisition of the new facility that will extend our modular and high-purity capabilities to meet growing market demands.”

Pharma projects Earlier on, we listed the industries served by MSL and even at first glance, one can conclude that some of these are inherently hazardous. This being said, the contractor has for a long time taken an uncompromising standing on safety, which has resulted in two million hours without a single lost-time accident over the past five years. For its efforts, the company was awarded the National Irish Safety Organisation (NISO) Higher Distinction Award in October 2018.

The last few years have seen the steady growth in two particular sectors MSL operates within – namely, pharmaceutical and life sciences. Owing to their traditional resistance to global economic turbulence, these two industries have gone from strength to strength in Ireland and the initiation of new projects have allowed MSL to compete for and win new business in the area.

“I would single out two projects for Dublin-based pharmaceutical clients that challenged us to a degree that led us to employ the full extent of our capabilities,” says MSL’s Projects Director, Dave

projects on-time every time, has made us an integral link in our clients’ supply chain. We view the high esteem, in which they regard us, as vital to our ongoing success.”

In order to deliver this level of service quality, however, MSL needs to ensure that it has a skilled workforce at its disposal in the first place. “Indeed,” Brian affirms, “we have an excellent mix of young, talented engineering professionals and experienced, proven achievers that drive the company forward.”

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profile: MSL Engineering Ltd

“In terms of the equipment installation, all 230 items were installed by MSL, including three 40-tonne boilers, cooling towers, chillers, compressors, vessels, tanks, exchangers, pumps, and vendor-supplied skids,” Dave notes. “All craneage lift studies, method statements, and risk assessments for the lifts, and installation of the equipment were also completed by MSL.”

Challenging scheme

Ronan. “We executed both of them concurrently from mid-2016 to mid-2017 and their combined value was 30 million euros. It was during their implementation that we deployed our BIM/Design department for the first time and its presence was an important aspect of our winning bid for the projects. The department was then quickly put to the test with the workload for both programmes, but, much to our delight, it rose to the challenge successfully.”

In the first project – for a new biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility for Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals – MSL was first awarded the main mechanical contract for the new production building, but upon its successful completion, it was also entrusted with the construction work for an admin building and an R&D building.

“A total of 1500 isometrics were drawn from the client-issued 3D model. These were logged, priority-sequenced, engineered, fabricated, NDE-approved, and transported to site over a 40-week fabrication period,” Dave explains. “The workshop element consisted of fabrication of carbon steel, stainless steel, and high-purity pipe and tube ranging in sizes from 15mm to 200mm diameter. The fabrication consisted of approximately 25,000 weld inches.

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“The production building scope of work also included ten pipe rack modules. MSL designed and 3D-modelled the steelwork and pipework for these using BIM software prior to producing fabrication drawings, fabricating, assembling and shipping to site for installation by our site team,” he continues. “Finally, the on-site mechanical scope of the site works included the installation of the ten pipe rack modules, in addition to the installation, supporting, testing and commissioning of carbon steel, stainless steel, high-purity, copper and plastic pipework, HVAC duct work and associated equipment, new process, and clean room equipment. The craneage, scaffold access, NDE, painting, insulation, and passivation associated with the piping and equipment were also part of MSL’s scope.”

As regards the second contract for the central utilities building (CUB) at a new facility for Alexion Pharmaceuticals, the work delivered by MSL was similar in nature to that of the previously-discussed project. The isometric fabrication drawings produced were 1250, while the pipework ranged in sizes from 15mm to 350mm diameter, and the fabrication consisted of approximately 40,000 weld inches.

By the end of this year, MSL is expected to complete another flagship project. It was late in 2018 that the company was awarded the Main Mechanical Package for Project Trinity BT in the AbbVie Ballytivnan facility in Sligo. The scope of the scheme includes the construction of a high containment conjugation, formulation, sterile fill, and lyophilisation facility for antibody drug conjugates (ADC), which is designed to handle highlyhazardous substances requiring nanogram containment levels.

Dave discusses the job: “The location of the new ADC suite is within the existing AbbVie Ballytivnan facility, which poses its own challenges in terms of managing health and safety and on-site co-ordination during construction. Thanks to our Safety Management System, though, we can meet these challenges head on.

“MSL’s scope involves the supply, fabrication, installation, testing, and commissioning of 12,000 metres of utility and process pipework. This includes carbon steel, stainless steel, and high-purity pipework. We are also managing the craneage, scaffold, NDE, degrease and passivation, painting, and insulation scopes of work. Further, we co-ordinated the installation of the new cooling towers, waste collection vessels and numerous items of process and clean room equipment,” he adds.

Plans for expansion “We are strong believers in early engagement with the contractors and we have been involved in 3D model constructability reviews from the beginning of this project. As the scheme is due for completion later this year, MSL is already in the system handover phase. Utilising cloud-based software for progress reporting and QA/QC documentation generation and handover has enabled us to smoothly transition into this stage,” Dave updates us on the progress of the project.

Aiming to grow its position in Ireland and expand into new markets, Brian McGrath, the Managing Director is also hoping that, in the future, MSL will capitalise on the success of the projects it has completed in Europe. He concludes: “Our

overreaching priority is to maintain the standards laid down by the original founders 40 years ago.

Hopefully, we will all still be around in 40 years’ time and MSL will continue to grow and prosper.”

MSL Engineering Ltd www.mslengineering.ie Services: Mechanical engineering contractor

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