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Construction Forecast Downgraded

Forecasters have lowered construction growth predictions for this year and next owing to a slowdown in third quarter housing and commercial activity.

Even with a weaker growth forecast, contractors can still count a near 20% rise in construction from 2015 to 2019. This will be driven by growth in the three largest construction sectors; private housing, commercial and infrastructure.

According to the Construction Products Association industry output is now expected to grow 3.6% in 2015, down from the expected 4.9% spurt forecast back in the summer.

Next year the industry’s growth rate is expected to be slightly ahead of 2015 at 3.8%, down from the 4.2% first forecast.

Forecast highlights

Construction growth downgraded

 

 

Construction output: up 3.6% in 2015 and 3.8% in 2016
Private housing starts: up 7% this year and 5% in 2016
Public housing starts: down 10% in 2015 and 5% in 2016
Offices construction: up 8% in 2015 and 7% in 2016
Infrastructure output: up 13.2% in 2015 and 7.6% in 2016
Key risks include skills shortages and government austerity

 

 

 

Dr Noble Francis, economics director, said: “We remain positive about prospects for the construction industry. The slowdown in Q3 activity is expected to be temporary.”

“The commercial sector is forecast to enjoy growth from 2016 averaging 3.9% per year through to 2019. New offices construction is expected to be the primary driver, with increasing activity in cities such as Birmingham and Manchester as well as growth in the capital.”

“Retail construction is expected to improve but a consolidation of expansion plans by major supermarket chains will constrain growth rates.”

“Infrastructure activity continues to thrive. Output in the sector is forecast to grow 11.2% on average per year between 2015 and 2019, supported in large part by the £411bn National Infrastructure Plan.”

He said that the roads and energy sub-sectors would be strongest but work is forecast to increase throughout the forecast period in all key sub-sectors; roads, energy, rail, water and sewerage.

“Private housing starts are forecast to rise, with major house builders signalling their intention to build more homes over the next 12-18 months,” said Dr Francis.

“Help to Buy accounts for one quarter of new build purchases and will help to sustain demand. House prices continue to increase in most regions, especially in London and the South East, illustrating a strong underlying demand.”

“Public housing, however, is expected to be adversely affected by uncertainty and a lack of funding due to the extension of Right to Buy to housing associations and cuts to social rent. As a result, public housing starts are estimated to fall 10.0% in 2015 and a further 5.0% in 2016.”

But Dr Francis warned: “While growth prospects in construction remain positive, there are significant risks. Government austerity focuses on current spending rather than capital investment but the risk remains that if government cannot reduce current spending as much as it anticipates, it may cut public construction projects to achieve its aims of eliminating the public sector deficit.”

“In addition, within the construction industry, the key concerns regard skills shortages, which have already been reported in the housing sector but may become more prevalent across the wider industry over the next 12-18 months due to the forecast growth.”

This story is by constructionenquirer.com

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Edge Careers Celebrity Challenge

There’s a new exciting competition starting for Edge Careers employees.

Edge Careers employees are tasked to get the most famous person or people to pose for a photo wearing an Edge Careers t-shirt.

Edge Careers Children in Need

Edge Careers will donate a staggering £1,000 to the charity of choice of the winning Edge Careers employee in 2016.

The competition will be kicking off today, Friday 13th November, and will conclude next year to coincide with Children in Need 2016.

Edge Careers will be scoring their employees on a points system. To explain:

  • A photo of the “celebrity” will be scored on their fame level.
  • An employee can get as many “celebrity” photos as they wish.
  • Each employee will have their points tallied up at the end of the competition, with the highest total of points being the winner.

In order to gauge “how famous” somebody is, we will judge the social media presence of the celebrity in question. So this may be a combination of Twitter followers, Facebook likes and YouTube subscribers. If somebody isn’t active on social media, but is a well-known celebrity, then other factors will be taken into consideration and an internal vote will take place to decide the score of how famous they are and a ranking will be given.

A gallery will be set up at www.edgecareers.co.uk so that you can view the “famous people” we have managed to persuade to wear the T-Shirt.

 

 

 

Edge Careers are Construction and Engineering Recruitment Experts who pride ourselves on offering the highest level of service in the industry to all of our candidates and clients.

To become an Edge Careers candidate, please click here to register your details. If you are a client looking to fill a vacancy, please click here, or alternatively contact one of our consultants to discuss your requirements in more detail via our Contact Us page.

Follow Edge Careers on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook for all our latest news, exclusive competitions and events.

www.edgecareers.co.uk

 

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Sam Shaw Joins The Freelance Division

Please join us in welcoming Sam Shaw to Edge Careers.

As the newest member of the Edge Careers team, Sam joins our thriving Freelance Team as the division’s Labour Manager. Sam brings with her a wealth of experience in both the public sector and private sector. Beginning with a career in administration and sales, Sam then moved onto teaching. With the ability to communicate clearly and build strong relationships, Sam is a key addition to the Freelance Division and the Edge Careers Team.

Edge Careers are Construction and Engineering Recruitment experts.

The majority of our consultants have over 10 years’ continued service within the company, some of which are former construction industry professionals who truly know the industry inside out. We have long standing client relationships spanning over 25 years and a multitude of clients from privately owned regional businesses to large multinational Plc’s, located both within the UK and internationally.

As Construction and Engineering Recruitment Experts, we have a wide database of multi-disciplined candidates, from Site Labourers to Board Directors, and no matter which division you speak to, you will have a Key Account Manager providing you with one point of contact throughout the recruitment process. Whether you are a client or a candidate, we’ll make things as simple as possible for both parties. As registered members of the REC, we ensure we always operate in a professional, legal and moral manner.

 

Sam Shaw

 

To become an Edge Careers candidate, please click here to register your details. If you are a client looking to fill a vacancy, please click here, or alternatively contact one of our consultants to discuss your requirements in more detail via our Contact Us page.

Follow Edge Careers on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook for all our latest news, exclusive competitions and events.

www.edgecareers.co.uk

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Edge Careers Partner With Charity

Edge Careers are excited to announce that we are beginning a partnership with the fantastic charity Kits4Causes.

Edge Careers Kits4Causes

Kits4Causes is a charity based in the United Kingdom that collects unwanted football equipment and distributes it to social development projects around the world.

To date Kits4Causes have sent out over 37,000 football kits across 40 different countries.

Shortly Kits4Causes will begin kit amnesties at Premier League clubs, with the first being at Stoke City’s, Britannia Stadium on Saturday 5th December.

Here is what Kits4Causes had to say about their upcoming amnesty:

Since day one, exactly six years ago this month, we have dreamed of working with professional football clubs to help spread our message, collect kit, and get on board with the K4C ethos. Well, it’s finally happening! On the 5th December 2015 Stoke City will be holding a Kits4Causes amnesty day at their game vs Man City. A big thank you must go to Steve Hunt from the club for leading the organisation of this day. We’ve ordered more wristbands and t-shirts, honed up our tweeting skills, and enlisted volunteers. We now can’t wait for the big day.

This has come about as a result of the initiative of Anwar and Richard at the Football Supports Federation. Together, in our new partnership, we are hoping to host similar events at clubs up and down the county over the coming months and years, so a big thank you must go to them. So there you go. I don’t think anything else can be added on top of that. Some of the biggest news in our short but enjoyable history.

To help this great cause, simply click here to go to the charity’s donation page.

Edge Careers are looking forward to making this a fruitful partnership and hope to provide long standing support for Kits4Causes.

 

Kits4Causes and Edge Careers logos

Edge Careers are Construction and Engineering Recruitment Experts who pride ourselves on offering the highest level of service in the industry to all of our candidates and clients.

To become an Edge Careers candidate, please click here to register your details. If you are a client looking to fill a vacancy, please click here, or alternatively contact one of our consultants to discuss your requirements in more detail via our Contact Us page.

Follow Edge Careers on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook for all our latest news, exclusive competitions and events.

www.edgecareers.co.uk

 

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Construction Boom Continues

Construction still booming say buyers

Construction Boom
Construction buyers reported the fastest rise in new work for 12 months in October.

The rebound in new order growth was highlighted in the latest Markit/CIPS UK Construction PMI index report which also showed the highest rate of construction job creation for nearly a year.

Commercial building was the main driver of growth as work accelerated sharply.

The figures cast huge doubts on recent GDP figures claiming a construction slowdown is acting as a drag on the UK economy.

The overall index registered 58.8 in October, which was down from 59.9 in September but still well above the 50.0 no-change threshold.

The latest survey marked two-and-a-half years of sustained output growth across the UK construction sector.

Construction companies remain highly upbeat about their prospects for growth over the next 12 months, with more than half (59%) forecasting a rise in business activity and only 7% expecting a decline.

Tim Moore, Senior Economist at Markit and author of the Markit/CIPS Construction PMI, said : “October’s survey indicates that the UK construction sector remains firmly in expansion mode, although commercial building work was the only category to experience faster growth than in September.

“Another relatively buoyant construction PMI reading indicates that the sector remains in rude health.

“Rather than acting as a drag on the economy, as suggested by recent GDP estimates, the sector is continuing to act as an important driving force behind the ongoing UK economic upturn.”

Stefan Friedhoff, Global Corporates managing director for construction at Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, said: “Optimism continues to be more prevalent than pessimism in the sector.

“The downbeat data from the Office for National Statistics released last week will have jarred some, but others will remain sanguine.

“Looking at recent results from some of construction’s bigger players, there is evidence that operating margins are slowly increasing to their best levels since the recession.

“This is heartening and suggests that the rhetoric around being more selective about work taken on is beginning to translate into improving operating performance.”

This story is by constructionenquirer.com

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£100bn for Infrastructure by 2020

Chancellor pledges £100bn by 2020 for infrastructure

 

George Osbourne
Chancellor George Osborne will today launch the National Infrastructure Commission and promise to stick to his pledge to spend £100bn in this Parliament for new roads, rail, flood defences and other vital projects.

He will set out plans to ‘get Britain building’, saying that infrastructure will be at the heart of next month’s Spending Review.

In the review, the Chancellor will set out plans to raise billions of pounds from a suite of asset sales that will be ploughed back into infrastructure projects.

Later today in York, Osborne will also confirm the seven commissioners who will help former Cabinet minister Lord Adonis run the independent National Infrastructure Commission.

The line-up includes Lord Heseltine and experienced industry bigwig, Sir John Armitt, who backed the formation of the commission in a Labour policy document before the last election.

NIC commissioners
Lord Heseltine – the former deputy prime minister who has long championed the regeneration of Britain’s inner cities through infrastructure investment
Sir John Armitt – the former chair of the Olympic Delivery Authority, and next year’s President of the Institute of Civil Engineers
Professor Tim Besley – a former member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee and the LSE’s Growth Commission, which recommended an independent infrastructure body
Demis Hassabis – artificial intelligence researcher, neuroscientist and head of DeepMind Technologies
Sadie Morgan – a founding director of dRMM Architects and Design Panel Chair of HS2
Bridget Rosewell – a senior adviser at Volterra and former Chief Economist and Chief Economic Adviser to the Greater London Authority
Sir Paul Ruddock – chairman of the Victoria & Albert Museum and the University of Oxford Endowment

The Chancellor said: “I am determined to shake Britain out of its inertia on infrastructure and end the situation where we trail our rivals when it comes to building everything from the housing to the power stations that our children will need.

“At the Spending Review, I will commit to investing £100bn in infrastructure over the next five years and we are creating an independent commission to give us a long-term, unbiased analysis of the country’s major infrastructure needs.

“We need to think long-term and deliver a cross-party consensus on what we need to build.”

The commission will produce a report at the start of each five-year Parliament, offering recommendations for priority infrastructure projects and hold governments to account for their delivery.

Its initial focus will be in three key areas. These include identifying priorities for future investment in the North’s strategic transport infrastructure to improve connectivity between cities, especially east-west across the Pennines.

London’s transport system, particularly reviewing strategic options and identifying priorities for future investment in large scale transport improvements – on road, rail and underground – including Crossrail 2.

Energy, particularly exploring how the UK can better balance supply and demand, aiming for an energy market where prices are reflective of costs to the overall system

This story is by constructionenquirer.com

 

 

Edge Careers are Construction and Engineering Recruitment Experts who pride ourselves on offering the highest level of service in the industry to all of our candidates and clients.

To become an Edge Careers candidate, please click here to register your details. If you are a client looking to fill a vacancy, please click here, or alternatively contact one of our consultants to discuss your requirements in more detail via our Contact Us page.

Follow Edge Careers on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook for all our latest news, exclusive competitions and events.

www.edgecareers.co.uk

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Costain to trial Self-Healing Concrete

Costain starts self-healing concrete site trials

Costain Logo
The first major trial of self-healing concrete in the UK is being undertaken at a site in the South Wales Valleys.

Costain and researchers from Bath, Cambridge and Cardiff universities are piloting three separate concrete-healing technologies for the first time in real-world settings.

The pioneering trials are taking place on construction sites on the Heads of the Valleys road improvement scheme in South Wales – the A465.

Eventually the researchers hope to incorporate them into a single system that could be used to automatically repair concrete in the built environment.

It is estimated that around £40bn a year is spent in the UK on the repair and maintenance of structures, the majority of which are made from concrete.

Once damage is detected, the systems being trialled will set in motion reactions that repair the concrete autonomously without the need for human intervention.

Self-healing systems
The first technique uses shape-shifting materials, known as shape-memory polymers, to repair large cracks in concrete. When these materials are heated with a small current, they can transform into a different shape that the material has ‘memorised’. The researchers believe that these materials can be embedded into concrete and used to close cracks or make them smaller.In the second technique, researchers will pump both organic and inorganic healing agents through a network of thin tunnels in the concrete to help repair damage.In the third technique, the team will embed tiny capsules, or lightweight aggregates, containing both bacteria and healing agents into the concrete. It is anticipated that once cracks occur, these capsules will release their cargos and, in the case of the bacteria, the nutrients that will enable them to function and produce calcium carbonate, which the researchers envisage will heal the cracks in the concrete.

The researchers have cast six concrete walls at the test site, each containing the different technologies.

Over time the team will load the concrete at specific angles to induce cracks, and then monitor how effective each of the self-healing techniques is.

Oliver Teall, a civil engineer at Costain, said: “From this trial we should gain an insight into the feasibility of constructing a full-scale structure using these techniques and their early-stage effects on structural properties.

“We will be monitoring properties such as stiffness, permeability and the mechanical damage recovery of the trial walls in comparison with conventional reinforced concrete walls.”

This story is by constructionenquirer.com

 

 

Edge Careers are Construction and Engineering Recruitment Experts who pride ourselves on offering the highest level of service in the industry to all of our candidates and clients.

To become an Edge Careers candidate, please click here to register your details. If you are a client looking to fill a vacancy, please click here, or alternatively contact one of our consultants to discuss your requirements in more detail via our Contact Us page.

Follow Edge Careers on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook for all our latest news, exclusive competitions and events.

www.edgecareers.co.uk

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Barhale To Use Drones

Barhale calls in drones for Anglian Water alliance

Drones

Barhale is turning to ‘eye in the sky’ drone technology to deliver a major alliance works programme for Anglian Water.

The civil engineering firm plans to spend £1.3m over the next five years with drone specialist Geocurve to help deliver the initial AMP6 term of its 15-year framework agreement, said to be worth up to £1.25bn.

It has been hailed as a ground-breaking deal by Strato Aero, US parent company of Geocurve, that starts to mirror North America where drones are used more commonly to survey work and check the progress of workers.

The drones will be used for inspection and surveying as Barhale delivers schemes ranging from the design and build of major infrastructure networks and treatment works, to tackling flooding, water quality improvements and maintenance of existing assets.

Barhale is working in collaboration with both the operational and asset management teams within Anglian Water and the wider supply chain to drive a more efficient working programme of maintenance and capital works.

Tony Dunleavy, CEO of Strat Aero, said: “We firmly believe this market is set to grow exponentially in the years ahead as UAVs transform business practices and provide considerable cost savings to customers across a diverse range of sectors.”

“Upon finalisation, the £1.3m Barhale contract will be the first the group has secured since we launched our broader strategy to become a full global solutions provider in the rapidly emerging high growth unmanned aerial vehicle sector.”

This article is by constructionenquirer.com

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Edge Careers Psychometric Testing

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At Edge Careers, we are always looking at how we can improve our offering to our candidates and clients so we can deliver the highest quality recruitment solution possible. One of our offerings that you may not be aware of, is our psychometric testing, which we offer to all clients when our candidate is at interview stage.

I’ve heard of Psychometric Testing, but what exactly is it?

Psychometric testing is simply a way of assessing a candidate’s individual personality, attitude and motivations in the workplace. This allows a client to see if a candidate would suit the company and the role they have been put forward to. There are four key styles that are tested as part of the DiSC psychometric testing, which are Dominance, Influence, Conscientiousness and Steadiness. Everyone has a mixture of all four styles but will have a bias towards one or two styles this will be shown by where the dot falls on the DiSC illustration.

DiSC Basic

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why do Edge use DiSC Psychometric Testing?

Edge Careers uses the DiSC psychometric testing because, every profile is:

  • Valid and reliable – respondents are amazed by the accuracy and detail of their reports
  • Memorable – with no complicated letters and numbers to remember
  • Extremely well written – constructed, and presented. Each profile appears to have been written by an adept human author rather than a computer!
  • Application specific – offering different adaptations of a profile and model to serve different populations- specifically leaders, managers, sales people and general staff in an organisation.
  • Relatable and applicable meaning the learning is easily transferred into the workplace
  • Quick and simple to administer – each questionnaire is completed on-line in just 15 minutes and can be immediately accessed

How accurate are the results?

The Psychometric test uses the most advanced assessment method (adaptive testing) and sophisticated algorithms to quickly and accurately analyse a person’s responses and provide personalised feedback.

 

Edge Careers are Construction and Engineering Recruitment Experts who pride ourselves on offering the highest level of service in the industry to all of our candidates and clients.

To become an Edge Careers candidate, please click here to register your details. If you are a client looking to fill a vacancy, please click here, or alternatively contact one of our consultants to discuss your requirements in more detail via our Contact Us page.

Follow Edge Careers on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook for all our latest news, exclusive competitions and events.

www.edgecareers.co.uk

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London’s ‘Gotham City’ Approved

£400m London ‘Gotham City’ scheme approved

Gotham City

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Henderson Global Investors has gained planning approval for its 40 Leadenhall Street office scheme in the City of London.

The £400m scheme by architect Make has been dubbed “Gotham City”.

It ranges in height from seven to 34 storeys and includes 890,000 sq ft of office space and 20,000 sq ft of shops.

All the buildings on the Leadenhall Triangle site will be demolished except for a grade II-listed building at 19-21 Billiter Street, which Henderson has pledged to restore and integrate into the scheme.

The project will create 390 full-time jobs during construction, which is expected to start early next year.

Nick Deacon, Director of Property, Central London Offices, Henderson Global Investors,said: “We are delighted to have achieved a resolution to grant planning permission for what will be a very exciting addition to the London skyline and a valuable contribution to the City’s ever evolving tower cluster.

“This is a significant step forward for the project. We are committed to progressing the scheme and have begun to explore a number of options to achieve this.”

Paul Scott, Make partner and lead project architect, said: “The design breaks new ground and will join the City of London’s iconic portfolio of modern buildings.”

The building will be located in the City of London’s insurance district of EC3 and within the Eastern Cluster of tall buildings around the Gherkin.

It has been designed to meet the BREEAM Excellent standard and will boast over 1,000 bicycle spaces.

WSP are the structural engineers and EC Harris cost consultants on the project.

This story is by constructionenquirer.com

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