This month seen the scrapping of the Building Schools for the future scheme, the Education Secretary Michael grove said 719 school revamps which have already been signed up will now be terminated, with a further 123 to be viewed by a case-by-case basis.

The 706 schools in the existing BSF programme which have reached financial close will go ahead, but officials will see what money can be saved within each project.

Mr Gove said: “The Building Schools for the Future scheme has been responsible for about one third of all this department’s capital spending.

“But throughout its life it has been characterised by massive overspends tragic delays, botched construction projects and needless bureaucracy.”

He called the scheme “dysfunctional” and “unnecessarily bureaucratic”, with nine “meta stages”.

He added: “It is perhaps no surprise that it can take almost three years to negotiate the bureaucratic process of BSF before a single builder is engaged or brick is laid.”

180 schools have been rebuilt or revamped since the programme and one school in particular has truly benefited from the scheme achieving 78.18% score from BREEAM making it the most sustainable school in the UK. Let’s hope the 231 schools about to begin work can live up to this potential and that the government’s cost cutting will not affect the children’s learning environment.

1,100 school who signed up for the scheme, investing their time, money and energy into drawing up plans for redevelopment have seen their hopes dashed by this move.

The plan was for all of England’s 3,500 schools were to be revamped by 2023, it was supposed to replace out dated buildings which have no place in modern education.

Ed Balls Shadow Education Secretary said “Today is a black day for our country’s schools”

He added that he and his Labour colleagues would fight to “save our new schools”.

Christine Blower, the General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, was very unhappy with the decision and said, “Poor learning environments have a negative impact on the education of children and young people.”

“School buildings were woefully run down prior to Labour coming to power in 1997 and while much has been done to improve them there is still a lot more to do.”

I know everyone with in the industry will have an opinion on this, whether you’re a supplier of building construction materials or a UK builder. I for one am opposed to the scrapping of the scheme, it sends a very direct message that saving money is more important than using environmentally friendly materials and that construction materials which may be hazardous to the environment are not a concern for this government. I may be a little bias, but I think eco building and reusing and recycling building materials to lower our carbon footprint is of the utmost importance.

Ray O’Rourke, the chairman of Laing O’Rourke, has decided to write to all the firm’s major customers before he attends an employment tribunal for the apparent unfair dismissal of a former senior member of staff.

Neels Kriek, formerly managing director of Integrated Solutions for Laing O’Rourke’s European business operations, is hoping to be successful in his claim for unfair dismissal and hopes that a compensation packet be rewarded to him. As well as wrongful dismissal he has accused Laing O’Rourke of cheating the NHS of money.

O’Rourke took the unusual step by writing to his clients to tell them about the allegations at the end of June: “The claimant claims his dismissal was a result of having allegedly made disclosures on unlawful practices relating to commercial activities in parts of our business, which he claims to have brought to the direct attention of the European board.

Those accusations are: that we failed to declare the cost savings of central supplier rebates when we were required to under the terms of a Procure 21 framework agreement with the NHS; [and] that there were irregularities in the way the group managed main contractor discounts.

We were not, and never have been engaged in any unlawful practices relating to these issues. Further we can find no evidence that the claimant brought these allegations to our attention prior to discussions with him regarding his departure, which was a direct consequence of the disbanding of the business unit he headed.”

A source at Laing O’Rourke said the NHS had been made aware of the allegations and had given it “a clean bill of health”. A spokesman for Laing O’Rourke said it had “vigorously defended” the allegation.

Kriek had hoped that his claim could be heard under “whistleblowing regulations”, but the tribunal last week decided that the disclosures did not fall within whistleblowing laws.

Revolutionary building materials reuse web site BuilderScrap is to launch a premium membership programme designed especially for builders’ merchants.

BuilderScrap was founded by commercial contractors The Trustland Group as a response to the ever increasing problem of construction waste. It aims to connect surplus building material, otherwise destined for landfill or recycling, with projects in the local area requiring those materials.

Previously aimed at contractors and tradespeople, BuilderScrap has now launched a membership for suppliers into the trade. This membership not only allows suppliers to pass on slow moving or returned stock to their local community, thus saving on storage and/or disposal, but allows them to demonstrate their commitment to the environment and the industry.

In an increasingly competitive environment, companies need to show that they are going above and beyond what is required by legislation and policy. By using BuilderScrap to pass on materials to charities,

community groups and other parties in need, companies can prove their corporate social responsibility.

The new membership programme will provide merchants with a whole list of benefits including:

1. Demonstrating your support for reuse within the supply chain

2. Evidence based corporate social responsibility

3. Helping provide your customers with the reuse solution

4. Stimulating the market by moving surplus materials which otherwise would have be thrown away

5. Visibility in the BuilderScrap directory

6. A route to market for obsolete and slow moving stock lines

BuilderScrap, a not for profit organisation, is seeking new ways to both improve the service and also help support what has become an invaluable industry resource.

Recent awards, including the Green Apple ‘Gold Award’ and the NW Construction Industry Carbon Reduction award, have shown how the industry now regards materials reuse as an integral part of the battle to combat waste and also cut costs associated with sending materials to landfill.

Les Owens, Managing Director of BuilderScrap commented, ‘with the launch of this new programme, we are confident that builders merchants will see value in supporting the site and also being part of a growing community of organizations within the construction industry, all brought together with one common purpose; the reduction of our dependence on landfill sites’

For more information about BuilderScrap please contact:

Rebecca Owens, Marketing Manager

E: rco@builderscrap.com

T: 0844 225 3000

Home sweet homeNational Housing Federation (NHF) has announced 85,000 planned home will no longer be built in England after the government has made the decision to axe the regional house-building targets.

The report which was commissioned by the NHF has revealed that town halls substantially reduced plans for new homes after the new government decided to axe the previous government’s regional building strategies. There were only 123,000 homes built in 2009/10, which is the lowest figure since 1923.

Eric Pickles, the community secretary, dubbed the regional targets “a terrible, expensive, time-consuming way to impose house building.”

The South-west had the most cancellations with 60,000 new homes being axed.

The NHF warned that the government’s inability to replace the regional targets with another, will probably lead to a further slump in house-building across the country, regardless of local demand for new homes.

David Orr, NHF chief executive, said: “It is frankly disappointing that so many local authorities have decided to revise down the number of homes planned for their areas. Local authorities need to recognise that just because regional targets have gone, housing need has not.”

This seems to be yet another blow to the building trade, the recession is definitely still in effect, which is why it’s more important than ever to obtain discount building materials from builders surplus stores in order to benefit from cheap building materials so I guess that it’s more important than ever to use BuilderScrap.com.

This month BuilderScrap were invited to the official launch of ‘Slick’ the Dragon, I attended along with BuilderScrap Business Development Manager Brendon Kenny. ‘Slick’ is the new mascot for Palletways and is displayed on a 61ft high pallet shaped hot air balloon. The Balloon displays ‘Slick’ carrying a large pallet on its back, big enough to carry 1450 full size pallet loads.

‘Slick’ represents protection and ensures that all deliveries are made with due care across Palletways distribution network. Palletways is Europe’s largest dedicated provider of express distribution services for small consignments of palletised goods.

The balloon will be visiting a large number of events over the coming months in the UK and across Europe as part of an extensive marketing campaign and the image will be appearing across the Palletways group in the near future.

The launch was made against the stunning backdrop of Warwick Castle. We donned our musketeer outfits and spent the evening in 15th century Britain as Musketeer Mike and Musketeer Brendon. Jesters performed, minstrels played and ‘Slick’ the dragon defeated two braveknights in an unusual twist to popular legend, we then enjoyed further entertainment and a fine medieval banquet in the great hall.

(Terry Morris Commercial Manager of Palletways and Brendon Kenny Business Development Manager of BuilderScrap)

As the sun went down we enjoyed a visual treat as the balloon performed a spectacular light show within the castle courtyard. I am sure we will be seeing much more of ‘Slick’ in the near future as the Palletways brand continues to go from strength to strength.

Michael Close (Project Manager)

The Labour government’s green school programme has now been scrapped by the coalition, but one school which was built under then the scheme was given the highest BREEAM rating ever for a school. Rogiet Primary School in Monmothshire was recognised as a key example of sustainability and achieved a staggering 78.18% score.

The one-storey timber frame school has 210 pupils and staff, has landscaped grounds and an outside area for sports and play time. This sustainable construction was regarded as of high importance to the former government, not only for reducing carbon emissions and using green building materials but also educating young people for a future of sustainable living.

Throughout the construction, pupils were given the chance to learn about the principles of sustainability, including insulation and what were the best regarding the buildings materials that were used during the process.

Neal Stephens, of construction company Willmott Dixon, who built the school in partnership with architect White Design, commented “The early collaboration of pupils, teachers and the community as a whole was an essential element of the building process and one that went on to reap numerous rewards. The sourcing of environmentally friendly products such as Warmcel Insulation was just one of many innovative ways in which we were able to demonstrate how construction can be sustainable, while creating a learning environment with a low carbon footprint – or in the case of Warmcel, a below zero carbon footprint!”

Other key sustainability features used in the school included:
• Single storey plan with high levels of natural daylight in all areas.
• Timber frame using responsibly sourced timber.
• Natural ventilation using both manually and automatically actuated windows, roof lights and vents to ensure good ventilation rates and thermal comfort.
• Landscape design and planting that increased both educational benefits for the school and biodiversity enhancement of the site.
• Rainwater harvesting tanks that recycle rainwater for use in the school.
• Wind turbine that creates renewable energy for the school.

Derek Downer, Head of Property Services, Monmouthshire County Council concludes “BREEAM set the standards to aim for and encouraged the site team to interact with the school in developing sustainability as an embedded culture, thus encouraging future generations to live sustainably.”

We at BuilderScrap are very impressed with this project and think it was made possible by following a few simple rules; intelligent purchasing of building supply, the use of recycled materials and obviously making sure all surplus building materials go on BuilderScrap.com.

If I was to tell you all that the past couple of weeks had been a successful time for BuilderScrap, I would be making the under statement of the year. The awards have been flowing towards us recently and we are happy to reap the benefits.

A couple of weeks back, BuilderScrap were Highly Commended in the Supply Partner category of the Construction News Awards.  We were described as inspirational and innovative, and it was agreed the industry needs to utilize services like this. Then a couple of my colleagues attended the Green Apple Award where they were presented with the prestigious Gold Award.

Just last week we had another cause for celebration.  On Thursday 8 July we were finalists at the Merseyside Innovation Awards and were awarded £1,000 which we were delighted to receive.

The prizes did not stop then, the next night more than 350 key figures from commerce and industry came together to celebrate the achievement of companies at the 2010 Wirral Investment Network Awards ceremony.  11 awards were presented to companies from all sectors and were very happy to be presented with the Environment Award, managing to see off the tough competition from B&M Waste and Technical Demolition Services.

It is a very successful time for BuilderScrap and we couldn’t have done it without our loyal users, so we’d like to thank you all for your support.

Building materials group CRH has announced it will not be in profit the first half of the year, and will only just break even with a massive 20% fall in earnings.

In the first half of 2009 they announced £83m profit, in trading this year which is up to 30 June the firm said pre-tax profit would be “close to breakeven”.

Also earnings in terms of EBITDA would fall around 20% on the £541m recorded for the same period a year earlier.

However, the rate of decline in sales slowed, with sales over the 12 months to the end of June down 10%, compared with a 14% drop in the year to the end of April.

They expect a huge second half this year though and say they are likely to be higher than the £957m last year due to cost cutting and currency movements.

CRH said the measures taken to cut costs and reduce excess capacity since 2007 delivered total cumulative annualised savings of £1.12bn by the end of 2009, with a further £365m projected for 2010/11.

The firm’s interim results for 2010 are due to be posted on 24 August 2010.

The group also announced it had spent £111m on 13 acquisitions in the first half of 2010, and is due to invest a further £16m in Yatal Cement as its share of funding for two projects in north-east China.

Myles Lee, CRH chief executive, said:” We are seeing a good flow of bolt-on opportunities across our businesses and we continue to monitor wider developments in our industry; however, we are maintaining a patient approach in progressing transactions in light of the challenging market backdrop.”

BuilderScrap feels that if the sales are down then people must be making sure they are using all of their supply rather than throwing their building material surplus away. We urge all UK builders to use eco building materials and not throw away construction building materials that are surplus.

Les Owens, Managing Director of BuilderScrap and a committee representative for the Merseyside Innovation Awards speak on BBC Merseyside.

BuilderScrap are a finalist for the prestigious award.

Click the link below to listen to the interview which was on BBC Merseyside this morning.

http://www.merseysideinnovationawards.co.uk/

Arsenal FC has announced they will be playing the next season in a home kit made out of recycled bottles.

They say they have got a ‘traditional’ design made with the latest cutting edge technology.

Every shirt which will be entirely made from recycled polyester, from up to eight plastic water bottles. It will be part of the Nike’s ‘Considered Design’ programme, which uses discarded plastic bottles that have been diverted from landfill in the manufacturing process.

The shirt is now 13% lighter than any previous kit and helps quickly evaporate moisture by drawing it through the fabric to the surface.

England and Arsenal winger Theo Walcott summed the new kit up: “The colours are very traditional, it feels nice and it’s made from recycled plastic bottles so what more can you ask for?

“It fits and feels nice, and that’s the most important thing, I think it’s important that you feel comfortable in it.”