Construction activity is on the increase in Manchester with the number of new developments doubling.

Drivers Jonas Deloitte’s annual Manchester Crane Survey shows 11 new starts recorded compared with just five in the entire of 2010.

Cranes are now much more visible around the city, with building work under way at King Street, at the former Boddingtons Brewery and around the Co-op’s new headquarters on Miller Street.

Drivers Jonas Deloitte said much of the construction activity is accounted for by hotels and student housing, as several major schemes emerge on the city’s southern fringes.

These include including Unite’s £4m Arch Bar development and more than 1,200 student beds in and around Oxford Road being granted planning permission.

Adam Robson, senior surveyor from Drivers Jonas Deloitte, said: “The lack of new office development provides fertile ground for new opportunities in 18 to 24 months’ time, once existing supply has been eaten up.”

“With nothing on the horizon post-2011, large occupiers could soon be considering pre-lets.”

BuilderScrap sourced this article from Construction Enquirer.

A brand new hard hat has been released which is designed to be a deterrent for those construction workers who wolf-whistle at passers-by.

The “Stop That Hard Hat” comes with tiny speakers which play pre-recorded messages to the offending builder whenever they detect a wolf-whistle.

The first whistling offence prompts a warning about site behaviour.

And any further whistling leads to recorded readings from the works of famous feminist writers like Germaine Greer and Andrea Dworkin.

Manufacturers of the “Stop That Hard Hat” believe the politically-correct headgear will spell an end to sexist behaviour on site.

Spokeswoman Avril Una said: “The construction industry has made great strides in this field but many women are still intimidated walking past building sites.”

“We believe this product will provide a constant reminder to builders of the consequences of their behaviour.”

The company is now working on a number of further launches due this time next year including “stay high” trousers to eradicate builders bum and a pill which suppresses the desire for tea drinking.

BuilderScrap believes the industry has shed its persona of a boy’s club and embraces everyone no matter of their sex, race or religion. We hope this hard hat deters the final few who believe this behaviour is appropriate.

BuilderScrap sourced this article from Construction Enquirer.

Construction employees have suffered one of the severest drops in real take home pay with wages falling by £100 a month over the last two years.

The industry is one of the hardest hit by a fall in take home pay when the figures are adjusted for inflation.

The numbers will be detailed in a BBC Panorama programme which is on tonight highlighting the effect of pay freezes and a rising inflation rate.

The average British worker earned £20,149 at the start of 2011 – a real term fall of 5% from what they were earning in the middle of the recession.

The research was based on actual salaries paid into bank accounts.

It was carried out by the Centre for Economics and Business Studies and based on data on salaries from the payment processor, Vocalink, which looks after more than 90% of deposits into employees’ bank accounts.

Construction staff were hit even harder with pay packets suffering a £99 per month drop or £1,188 per year compared to the all industry average of £1,088. The research shows that if you allow for inflation, the average take-home pay is lower today than it was in 2004.

BuilderScrap sourced this article from Construction Enquirer.

Constructions starts on new residential developments plummeted 41% during the first quarter according to disturbing figures from research specialist Glenigan.

The worrying figured came from research specialist Glenigan, the huge fall on 2010′s numbers continued a downturn in housing work which began towards the back end of last year.

Glenigan economist James Abraham said: ”The downturn in private housing project starts during the latter half of 2010 has continued into 2011 amid pessimism about the strength of the housing market, with the year-on year decline of 41% over the past three months greater than previously anticipated.”

“New social housing projects fell 36% over the three months to February as a result of government cut backs that are planned to increase over the next two years.”

Glenigan said social housing starts are set to remain under pressure over the coming months but a return to growth in private housing starts is anticipated by the end of the year.

In other construction sectors, non-residential project starts were down 7% year on year for the three months to February due to Government funding as well as poor weather and the usual seasonal lull that depressed private starts.

The underlying value of office starts fell by 20% during the 3 months to February, and retail, industrial and hotel & leisure starts all declined by around 10%.

Abraham said: “Falling vacancy rates and rising rentals are expected to promote growth in the industrial and office sectors, especially during the second half of 2011.”

Civil engineering project starts were 2% down on a year ago as utilities project starts continue to decline while infrastructure starts stabilised over the three months to February.

Increased investment by the regulated utilities is forecast to lift project starts over the longer term.

BuilderScrap sourced this article from Construction Enquirer.

Over 200,000 UK builders have accepted a 1% pay rise.

The deal between transport union TGWU and the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) under the umbrella of the Building and Allied Trades Joint Industrial Council has also secured the workers an extra day holiday for the Royal Wedding in April.

The rise covers general operatives as well as people who hold NVQ2 or NVQ3 in crafts. The rise will be introduced from 12 September.

Richard Diment, Director-General of the FMB said: “While the settlement is not as generous as we would have liked, we have to acknowledge that the industry is still in decline and that growth is not expected until 2013.”

“In such harsh conditions, preservation of jobs must remain the priority in the face of considerable informal economy competition and shrinking order books.”

This same period last year saw workers receive a 2% increase but it was hoped that the recession would have eased a lot more to enable a more meaningful rise in 2011-2011.

But Diament added: “This has not happened and the recovery seems just as far away now as it did then.”

“The construction SME sector has been in recession for three years and the outlook for the industry as a whole remains bleak with contractions of 2% and 0.7% expected in 2011 and 2012 respectively.”

“Under these circumstances a settlement that reflects the current rate of inflation was simply not deliverable without putting jobs at risk.”

BuilderScrap sourced this article from Construction Enquirer

Businesses could save billions of pounds every year by generating less waste and using raw materials more efficiently.

This figure is published last week by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

The research says that these savings coupled with using energy and water more efficiently, could help businesses save about £23 billion every year

In the research they say improving resource efficiency is of the utmost importance in the transition to a green economy and these saving could be made with very little investment needed.

According to the report, they have found the main obstacles are behavioural, financial and a lack of information.

Environment secretary, Caroline Spelman, said: “Moving to a green economy offers businesses opportunities to grow into the future. Becoming more resource efficient contributes to a business’s bottom line, increases profitability and their capacity to grow.”

“In addition to improving competitiveness, businesses could reduce carbon emissions by 29 million tonnes a year; so it’s a win-win for business and the environment.”

The current recession we’re experiencing has been seen by many as a good time to introduce resource efficiency because as well as help the environment it’s a great way to keep costs down.

A survey for Envirowise found that almost three quarters (73%) of businesses say they have expanded their knowledge of their spending and resource use as a result due to the recession.

At BuilderScrap we understand the cost of waste and the importance of raw materials, not only on the environment but also on the bottom line. In construction it is estimated that approximately 13% of construction building materials which arrive on site end in the skip without ever being used, simply discarded as surplus building materials. This is estimated to have a market value of approximately £1.5 billion.

BuilderScrap sourced this article using Edie.

Figures which have been released by WRAP in its Signatory Report 2011 have shown a significant decreased in the amount of materials in construction and demolition waste being sent to landfill.

The figures come from 32 construction contractors who have signed up to the Halving Waste to Landfill Commitment which is coordinated by WRAP.

Signatories are encouraged to register their baseline and targets within WRAP’s Waste to Landfill Reporting Portal.

The 32 construction contractors monitored and reported their annual performance for construction, demolition and excavation (CD&E) waste.

Those participating in the commitment are some of the UK’s largest contractors and represent a total construction annual spend in excess of £21 billion over the reporting period.

The figures from all 32 companies show an absolute decrease of 28% in the CD&E waste sent to landfill between 2008 and 2009. This constitutes a cut from 3.1 million tonnes in 2008 to 2.2 million tonnes by year end 2009.

The data also showed that the companies had less waste arising relative to construction spend, which indicates that the companies are taking action to prevent building materials becoming waste.

WRAP CEO, Dr Liz Goodwin, said, “Today’s Halving Waste to Landfill figures are just the beginning and give me confidence that industry is working hard and well on track to deliver the target by 2012.”

“In just over two years the Halving Waste to Landfill Commitment has gone from zero to influencing nearly £38 billion worth of construction projects.”

“This demonstrates that the commitment requirements are being embedded within industry and this is delivering great results for business and the environment.”

Currently there are 602 signatories to the Commitment with 280 registered to use the WRAP Waste to Landfill Reporting Portal.  BuilderScrap hopes many more sign up to this commitment to help create a sustainable construction industry.

BuilderScrap sourced this article from Edie.

M&S is introducing sustainable construction techniques into all future builds – as it strives to become the world’s most sustainable retailer by 2015.

The popular chain will open its most eco-friendly store in Sheffield next month, which has been constructed entirely from recycled material.

The Ecclesall Road store is the first of two “sustainable learning” stores the company intends to open. The eco-friendly measures are part of an overall green programme (Plan A) which has been in operation from the group since 2007.

M&S says the learning shops will help deduce “the most appropriate building techniques” – thus contributing to its overall store building programme.

Built on a brownfield site, the Sheffield store has achieved a BREEAM Excellent rating. Bricks for the project came from a disused mill and the floors are laid with polished concrete.

Heat supply will be sourced from the stores’ refrigeration facilities while rainwater will be recycled for the toilets.

Clem Constantine, director of property and store development with M&S, said: “This store represents a big milestone in our sustainable construction programme as we are installing a host of unique technologies and features.”

“The learnings we have taken from building the store will help us achieve our goal of becoming the world’s most sustainable major retailer by 2015.”

Paul King, chief executive of the Green Building Council, said: “Sustainability is increasingly important in the construction and property sector and major companies like M&S have a crucial role in driving that process, particularly given the relationship not just with suppliers, but also with consumers.”

BuilderScrap would like to congratulate M&S on this move and sees it as a very positive sign both for the stores future as well as the future of our environment.

BuilderScrap sourced this articled from Construction Enquirer.

Prime Minister David Cameron has called upon the Government to give more construction contracts to small and medium sized (SME) firms by breaking down the barriers to enterprise.

This action is part of a war on red tape and bureaucracy as the Government pushes for economic growth in the run-up to the Budget.

Cameron said: “For over a decade in this country the enemies of enterprise have had their way. Taxing, regulating, smothering, crushing, and getting in the way.”

“So I can announce today that we are taking on the enemies of enterprise.”

“The bureaucrats in Government departments who concoct those ridiculous rules and regulations that makes life impossible for small firms.”

“The town hall officials who take forever to make those planning decisions that can be make or break for a business.”

“The public sector procurement managers who think the answer to everything is a big contractor with a big business and who shut out millions of Britain’s small and medium sized companies from a massive potential market.”

BuilderScrap sourced this article from Construction Enquirer.

According to ONS figures the amount of new orders in Q4 2010 was £13.75bn, this shows a slight growth on Q4 2009 which was £13.35bn

While the year on year growth is not particularly strong, quarter on quarter, the figures are much more positive. In Q3 2010 the volume of new orders was £11.65bn, so these figures show an 18% increase.

According to the figures, all sectors showed growth in Q4 when compared with Q3. But this does not tell the full story as the strongest growth sectors were public housing, which grew from £611m in Q3 to £1.03bn in Q4, public non-housing, which grew from £2.7bn to £3.7bn and infrastructure, which grew from £1.5bn to £2.1bn.

Obviously, these sectors will be coming under further pressure this year and next as government spending cuts really start to bite. Growth in the private sector looks weak and unlikely to be able to pick up the slack. The private housing and private commercial sectors barely registered any growth in Q4. Private housing new orders increased by just £7m, from £2.6bn in Q3 to £2.607bn in Q4, while private commercial sector new orders increased from £3.77bn to £3.78bn.

Although there is growth its clear that we are certainly not out of trouble yet, let’s hope it will become a much more sustained growth over 2011.

BuilderScrap sourced this article using Building.co.uk