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.

The fifth annual North West Regional Construction Awards, organised by the Centre for Construction Innovation, are held in May this year and we are pleased to announce that BuilderScrap have been shortlised for two awards this year.  After receiving the Carbon Reduction Award last year, we were over the moon to find out that this year we were shortlisted in the Sustainability and Business Innovation categories.

Roy Stewart, CEO & Operations Director of the Centre for Construction Innovation, said: “The calibre and range of entries gets better year on year, the previous four years have been a huge success; with past winners going on to achieve national accolades. I have no doubt that this year’s awards will, once again, prove that the North West stands at the forefront of the construction industry”.

 There is some tough competition, so please keep your fingers crossed and watch this space for more news!

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.

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.

The Interbuild show has been cancelled. The show which is now called BEST confirmed that the event had been forced to cancel after organizer Emap said it “could not guarantee the scale or scope of event that customers demand and expect.”

The shows numbers have been falling for a couple of years now; despite BuilderScrap’s attendance since 2008 the show has seen a drastic fall in exhibitors and visitors.

The publisher confirmed: “Built Environment Solutions & Technologies (BEST), Interbuild Onsite and Glassex will not run in 2011.” The two sister shows; InstallerLive and The Infrastrure show are expected to run at the NEC in October 2011.

The firm is planning to launch a new show in 2012 with details promised later in the year.

An Emap statement said: “Whilst many leading companies had committed to the BEST proposition in 2011, the economic downturn and unprecedented challenges facing the industry meant that Emap could not guarantee the scale or scope of event that customers demand and expect.”

Richard Baker, MD of Emap Connect’s Construction portfolio said: “We believe this is the right decision at the right time.”

“Market conditions are very tough and the industry needs a more targeted event which reflects the challenges of today’s UK construction industry.”

“We will now be fully engaging with all parts of the market about plans we have to better serve the construction industry moving forwards.”

“We still believe there is a need for a clearly targeted construction show of significant scale in the Midlands, and we will now consult openly with trade associations, potential exhibitors and visitors as to the precise format this should take in 2012.”

BuilderScrap sourced this article using Construction Enquirer.

Contractors will have the displeasure of paying increased prices for construction materials as well as having to deal with falling workloads that’s according to the latest Construction Trade Survey.

Noble Francis, Economics Director at the Construction Products Association said: “The Construction Trade Survey for 2010 Q4 highlights sharp rises in costs such as the 46% price increase in copper and 80% in iron ore.”

“With 70% of light side manufacturers and 56% of heavy side manufacturers experiencing a fall in sales in Q4 compared to a year ago along with 22% of building contractors also reporting a fall, there is great uncertainty regarding economic activity during the coming year.”

Julia Evans, Chief Executive of the National Federation of Builders added: “The combination of less work, rising material prices, lower margins, continued lending restrictions and a rise in VAT could not have come at a worse time.”

“Companies can only battle these conditions for so long. With the rate of construction insolvencies exceeding that of other industries, the impact on our skills base will be devastating.”

Key Findings of the Survey;

• Fewer than 10% of building contractors reported problems recruiting on-site labour in 2010 Q4
• 90% of light side firms and 53% of heavy side firms stated that employment fell in the fourth quarter of 2010
• Only 46% of building contractors reported that they were operating at between 90% and full capacity in 2010 Q4
• 47% of light side manufacturers and 61% of heavy side manufacturers reported that rising raw materials costs had led to a rise in manufacturing costs in the fourth quarter of 2010
• Only 4% of specialist contractors reported being paid within 30 days but 3% of specialists paid in over 90 days during 2010 Q4
• 81% of light side manufacturers reported a rise in investment in product improvement and 64% reported a rise in investment in plant and equipment in the fourth quarter of 2010

This article was sourced from Construction Enquirer.

A survey in January of construction buyers showed that construction had began to recover, this was used by the Government as a sign of broader economic recovery. Buyers may be seeing an improvement after the dreadful weather in December but Glenigans has reported that this improvement is not seen on site with every sector and region seeing a fall of some kind that that of a year ago.

Even taking into account the bitter weather we suffered Glenigan’s three-month trend figures make dismal reading. Construction projects that started in November to January fell by 28% compared to the same period a year ago.

Yorkshire and Humberside had the largest regional fall regarding value of new work starting on site was almost 50% less than that of a year ago. Scotland, Northern Ireland and the North West of England were all down a third, while the East of England got off lightly with a marginal 3% fall.

James Abraham, Glenigan economist, said:”The fall in project starts is largely due to the severe December weather. However, while the industry has made up some of the lost ground over the last month, January starts were still much weaker than a year ago.”

Residential projects plunged 39%, with private housing crashing by 47% and social housing down 27%.

“Whilst house builders deferred project starts in recent months in response to poor weather and weak consumer confidence, Glenigan expect private housing developments to return to growth by the end of 2011. In contrast social housing will remain subdued due to Government cuts” said Abraham.

Non-residential project starts also suffered being down by almost 25%.

“Retail construction starts halved, having been an industry bright spot throughout 2010.”

“Hotel and leisure construction starts fell by a third in the three months to January after defying the harsh December weather to register growth in Q4 of 2010,” said Abraham.

There was good news as Glenigan forecasts that non-residential construction will grow over the second half of the year as falling vacancy rates and increasing rental values lift office and industrial construction, offsetting a weakening in government funded areas such as health and education.

Civil engineering project starts were 22 % down compared to a year ago with utilities projects starts now declining faster than infrastructure. Although this is likely to be a short lived hiatus as regulated utilities and energy projects gain momentum.

BuilderScrap sourced this article from Construction Enquirer.

The future of the Construction Industry looks bleak after research by analysts Hewes and Associates suggested the industry would not return to growth until 2014.

The prediction came as GDP figures from the Office of National Statistics show construction output fell 3.3% in Q4 of 2010, the largest drop since the height of the recession in early 2009.

The construction figures dragged down overall GDP, which fell 0.5% in the last quarter of 2010.

Hewes also published a downbeat outlook for the sector for the next three years in which they have said forecast output will fall 3.5% in 2011 and drop a further 5% in 2012.

This compares with Experian’s forecast earlier this month of a 3.6% drop for 2011 and a 0.4% contraction for 2012.

Hewes also expects a marginal contraction of 1.3% in 2013, whereas Experian expects a return to growth of 5%.

Government cuts will bring an end to the construction recovery, the report said, after public spending contributed 65% of the growth in 2010, and the sector will contract for a second period.

Noble Francis, economics director at the Construction Products Association, said: “The GDP figures are really not good.”

“This is particularly concerning because the effects of the public sector cuts aren’t hitting the construction sector yet.”

Alasdair Reisner, head of industry affairs at the Civil Engineering Contractors Association, said: “The weather [in December] has clearly had an impact but if there was underlying strength in the construction sector then the figures wouldn’t have been as bad.”

This article has been sourced using Building.co.uk.

A recent report from the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) has warned that pressure on local authorities to keep waste out of landfill is at risk of backfiring. Ever increasing target rates for recycling is resulting in an emphasis of quantity not quality, producing a poor quality stream of recyclable material. Accordingly much of this is low-grade recycled material which holds no real economic value so ironically becomes destined for landfill anyway.

The report suggests that the waste industry needs to amend its culture to focus not only on increasing the amount of material recycled, but also on the quality and value of the material being recycled. This would then allow recycled materials to be fed back into the economy as saleable goods.

The report calls for the progression to a “circular economy” where recovered and recycled material is of a sufficient quality to be routinely reused in the economy. The ICE has suggested that the cost of making the required changes could be anywhere between £10-20bn by 2020.

BuilderScrap is of course fully aware of the need to change attitudes towards waste management, one method of ensuring that materials are not down-cycled is by ensuring that good quality new and used material are used for their intended purpose. For example construction waste, which equates to approximately 120 million tonnes includes approximately 14% of this is brand new material which has become surplus (WRAP). Furthermore, it is estimated that the same quantity again is reusable second hand material.

By recovering this material before recycling, significant savings can be made with reduced demands on energy and resources required in the recycling process, whilst also ensuring that the product has an economic value and not downgraded. Reclaiming and reusing materials is the most effective way to recover value from waste materials.

Defra has welcomed the report by the Institute of Civil Engineers (ICE) and will be utilising the report alongside their current review of waste policies in England. A spokesperson from Defra stated “It contains some interesting ideas and policy suggestions which we will look at in detail as part of our review”.

It will be interesting to see whether this review places greater importance on the areas of reuse and ensure that legislation and incentives ensure that the ideal waste hierarchy is achievable and economically viable.

Source: BBC News (13/01/2011) (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12172766)

Contractors in Scotland fear 11,000 jobs could be lost across the industry next year.

The warning followed an industry survey which revealed most Scottish construction firms expect workloads to decline next year.

The Scottish Construction Monitor showed that confidence within the sector has fallen for fifth consecutive quarter.

Almost 80% of respondents predicted industry activity would fall in 2011.

The Scottish Building Federation said almost two-thirds of respondents expected to reduce the size of their workforce next year, with only 5% expecting to be in a position to take on additional workers.

The federation said although the industry had witnessed modest signs of recovery in the course of 2010, this latest business confidence survey suggested its recovery was at risk of faltering.

It warned that more than 11,000 Scottish construction jobs could be lost next year, while output from the industry could fall by more than £600m.

Chief executive Michael Levack said: “Overall, as 2010 draws to a close, I think the mood amongst construction firms is very apprehensive.”

“With the value of new orders apparently shrinking, with Scotland’s public capital budget facing a cut of more than 20% next year, and with many other sectors of the industry – not least housebuilding and commercial – continuing to struggle, our members are bracing themselves for tough times ahead.”

This article was sourced from Building.co.uk