A client’s guide to health and safety during a construction project

Posted on: 14 December 2012
By: mackene
No Comments »
Filed under: News

Foremans Relocatable Building Systems, the UK’s largest supplier of refurbished Portakabin buildings has published a new paper on health and safety during a construction project.

Read more online

It took another riot

Posted on: 12 December 2012
By: mackene
No Comments »
Filed under: News

Sir Stuart Lipton was appointed by the Mayor of London in December 2011 to act as a champion for Tottenham following the civil disturbances in August 2011. The report presents ten critical recommendations including the establishment of an independent body to oversee regeneration. As part of the inquiry CBRE produced a report on retail in the area, Tottenham: The retail revitalisation opportunity 

Read more online

Guide to Quality and Education for Sustainability in HE

Posted on: 12 December 2012
By: mackene
No Comments »
Filed under: News

This Guide contains video clips, insights, tips and adaptable tools for institutions to take and use, to help in the development of strategic approaches to education for sustainability as a cross-cutting curriculum enhancement agenda. The Guide combines lessons from the five institutional pilot projects with a sector-wide view of how education for sustainable development connects with quality assurance and enhancement in HE.

Read more online

Building Information Modeling. Industrial strategy: Government and industry in partnership

Posted on: 12 December 2012
By: mackene
No Comments »
Filed under: News

The report from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, sets out the actions aimed at making the UK construction sector a world leader in building information modeling (BIM), it also gives RICS members a strong understanding of what BIM is and provides details on what it means within the industry both now and the coming years.

Read more online

Cash flow forecasting

Posted on: 12 December 2012
By: mackene
No Comments »
Filed under: News

This guidance, published by RICS, summarises what cash flow forecasting is, how to produce a useful forecast and how to then use the forecast to assess progress on site as well as other issues, and to assist both employers and contractors to analyse actual expenditure against forecast expenditure. You need to register on the RICS website to view the report.

Read more online

Bringing empty properties back into use as affordable housing: Bidding guidance

Posted on: 12 December 2012
By: mackene
No Comments »
Filed under: News

On 26 November 2012 the Government announced a further round of funding aimed at bringing empty properties back into use. As well as tackling empty homes this new bid round has an additional emphasis on the refurbishment of empty commercial and non-residential properties as affordable housing. Bidding for this funding is now open and bids must be submitted through the Homes and Communities Agency’s Investment Management System by noon 25 March 2013. Full details on how to bid for this funding are in this guidance document.

Read more online

2011 Census: Key Statistics for England and Wales, March 2011

Posted on: 12 December 2012
By: mackene
No Comments »
Filed under: News

The Office for National Statistics has published key statistics from the 2011 Census. With regard to housing, the survey found that the number of people renting homes from private landlords has almost doubled in 10 years, according to the latest census. Statistics show that the number of private renters in England and Wales has jumped from 1.9 million in 2001 to 3.6 million in 2011. People renting from their local authority has fallen 23 per cent, from 2.9 million in 2001 to 2.2 million in 2011. Those renting from other social landlords is up from 1.3 million to 1.9 million over the same period, an almost 50 per cent increase. The number of people who own their own homes has stayed relatively stable, rising just 0.5 per cent since 2001.

Read more online

21st Century High Streets: What next for Britain’s town centres

Posted on: 12 December 2012
By: mackene
No Comments »
Filed under: News

The latest update of British Retail Consortium’s 21st Century High Streets report has been published. The report is broken down into six key elements identified in the 2009 report as critical to high street success: a unique sense of place; an attractive public realm; planning for success; accessibility; safety and security; and supportive regulatory and fiscal regimes. Each section identifies examples of initiatives that are successfully addressing some of  the most pressing problems.

Read more online

Local Sustainable Transport fund monitoring and evaluation framework

Posted on: 12 December 2012
By: mackene
No Comments »
Filed under: News

This framework sets out the Department of Transport’s requirements from the monitoring and evaluation activity of Local Sustainable Transport fund (LSTF) projects and the roles of the department and project teams in delivering these. The framework articulates which LSTF projects are expected to fulfill which elements of monitoring and evaluation and provides project teams with the flexibility to collect evidence in a way that reflects the local variation of projects and data availability.

Read more online

London Planning Statement: Draft Supplementary Planning Guidance

Posted on: 12 December 2012
By: mackene
No Comments »
Filed under: News

The Mayor has published for public consultation a draft ‘London Planning Statement’ as proposed London Plan supplementary planning guidance. This is intended to fill the gap left by the Government’s revocation of the former Government Office for London Circular 1/2008 by pulling together information about the Mayor’s role in the London Planning system. Comments are requested by 15 January 2013.

Read more online