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2010 East Midlands Regional Awards Celebration Date Announced
The 2010 East Midlands Regional Awards will be presented on 14th October
2010, at the Leicester Tigers ground, Aylestone Road, Leicester. The closing
date for entries will be August 28th, and should cover work carried out or
completed during 2009/10. (Closing Date August 27th)
Celebrating the best of construction from your local industry, the Constructing Excellence Awards are open to all organisations and project teams involved in delivering construction and contributing to the built environment in the East Midlands, whether they are developers, clients, contractors, specialist and sub-contractors, members of the design team or other consultants.
The 2010 Award categories are:
- Skills and Training Award
- Infrastructure Award
- Environmental Sustainability Award
- Innovation Business Award
- The Heritage Award
- The Achiever’s Award
- SME Award
- Client of the Year
- Project of the Year
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Environmental Sustainability Award - Winner 2009
This project pushed the boundaries in sustainable developments of this type providing quality affordable
energy efficient homes for people in rural housing need.
The project team’s aim was to provide housing that is not just affordable to purchase or rent but housing that is affordable to live in. The objective was to reduce the number of our population experiencing fuel poverty, through delivering energy efficient dwellings.
Robert Woodhead’s aim was to support generations of successful neighbourhoods in smaller rural towns and villages. Responding to the requirement for housing for first time buyers, engaging with the local community to ensure the housing proposed is in line with the local needs.
Aiming for, and achieving, Code for Sustainable Homes Level 4 the team aimed for exceptional quality. With the objective of air tightness ratings as low as 4m3/hm2 at 50pa and sound test results at 60DnT,w+Ctr (dB) precision finishing was critical and construction excellence was a key driver throughout the build.
In addition the project Displayed true partnership working making it by far the choice for Winner of the Environmental Sustainability Award 2009.
If you have a project that can match, or event better these credentials then you could be in line for a 2010 Award.
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Going for Growth
At a meeting in London on 21 January, the Regional Economic Council (REC) picked up the challenge of taking forward the Government's growth agenda, as set out in its ‘Going for Growth’ strategy.
Participants worked together to identify the challenges facing regions and places and the ways in which national and local government and their partners could take forward the ‘Going for Growth’ Strategy.
Lord Mandelson has already tasked the Regional Development Agencies (RDA) to work with the vice-chancellors of the universities in their regions to report on how universities can drive economic growth, reporting back to him by mid-March. At the REC, the RDA Chairs said they would now take this work further, working with key regional employers on the business priorities and opportunities flowing from ‘Going for Growth’. They will report back on this in mid-March as well, so work on these activities can be joined up effectively.
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AoC/ ALP Skills Conference: From Strategy to Reality
January 21, 2010
Speech by: Kevin Brennan MP
Towards the end of last year, the Government published its plans for higher education, for skills, for tackling unemployment and for growth. And only this week we’ve published our response to the Milburn report on access to the professions.
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New Technical Guidance for the Code
At the same time as announcing a consultation into the Code for Sustainable Homes on 17th December 2009, Housing Minister John Healey also released new guidance for two important aspects of Code assessments.
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iFestival
Organisers of the East Midlands innovation Festival (iFestival) have announced dates for the fourth annual celebration of innovation. The 2010 iFestival will take place over a six week period between 12th March and 23rd April. The Festival will include events involving businesses, universities and public sector organisations from across the region.
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PRE-EMPT for Projects
The Hazard Mitigation and Resilience checklist for projects
The PRE-EMPT toolkit is a project focused tool that will help key decision makers in the UK to systematically embed hazard mitigation and resilience considerations into new and existing developments.
This non-commercial web-based tool, developed by Loughborough University, will guide you towards an appropriate approach to be taken for any project that is at risk of a range of hazards. By considering processes such as risk assessment and raising awareness of the implications of identified hazards, this web-based tool helps decision makers to take the first step towards choosing a project design and construction strategy.
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Lean Construction Institute UK
LCI-UK is an independent, not-for-profit organisation for the documentation, development and dissemination of global good practice in lean thinking applied to construction and construction-related activities.
The LCI-uk are currently offering free Institutional membership for the first year once an organisation signs up any number of their staff and students can access the resources LCI-uk, as the log in works via an .ac.uk e-mail address of the member institution. There is a cost for individual membership of £100.
Please share this information within your organisations so that more people could join us.
As you may be aware LCI-uk operates out of Loughborough University who are planning two events in April which Leap Ahead are supporting and may be of interest, please see below for more general detail on LCI-uk and the events.
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Making Procurement Opportunities Work for the Region
The East Midlands Public Procurement Opportunities Plan
Public works, services and supplies represents about 13% of economic output – whether at a regional, national or European level. This represents both a massive business opportunity and a huge amount of public funding. The public sector, businesses and charities would all like to secure bigger benefits from this market.
emda has recently launched the East Midlands Public Procurement Opportunities Plan which sets out the objectives and priorities for coordinated action which will enable the region to maximise the impact of public procurement.
The East Midlands Public Procurement Opportunities Plan Link
As part of this strategy, emda has also launched the Coordination Office for public procurement initiatives. This will work with partners from across the public sector in the East Midlands to coordinate activity and align resources for the benefit of buyers and suppliers across the region. Further details on the activities of the Coordination Office will be available later in 2010.
For more information on the proposals contact:
Neale Ryan, Business Support Development Manager
email: nealeryan@emd.org.uk
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Tender Opportunities for London 2012
In 2012, the UK will be host to the world's biggest sporting event and with that comes enormous business opportunities for the region's business community.
That is why Business Link will be hosting a number of free events across the region to outline what opportunities might be available, particularly for small to medium sized businesses and how you can go about accessing them.
These workshop style events will offer hands on, practical and jargon free advice on how to find tender opportunities for London 2012 and what businesses need to do to register and publish on the London 2012 procurement portal CompeteFor. So far, over 100 East Midlands based businesses have won contracts to support the London 2012 games.
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Tender Opportunities for London 2012
In 2012, the UK will be host to the world's biggest sporting event and with that comes enormous business opportunities for the region's business community.
That is why Business Link will be hosting a number of free events across the region to outline what opportunities might be available, particularly for small to medium sized businesses and how you can go about accessing them.
These workshop style events will offer hands on, practical and jargon free advice on how to find tender opportunities for London 2012 and what businesses need to do to register and publish on the London 2012 procurement portal CompeteFor. So far, over 100 East Midlands based businesses have won contracts to support the London 2012 games.
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CompeteFor
Latest Opportunities
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Sustainability ‘Speak’
Ground Source Heat Pumps
- Use advocated by The Code for Sustainable Homes.
- Significantly reduce carbon emissions.
- Higher capital costs and lower output temperatures than gas boilers.
- Work best in well insulated buildings, in which heat demand is low.
- Can be noisy, which may be an issue.
- In heating mode, the pump takes air of a relatively low temperature from the closed ground loop and passes it to the distribution system.
- If the pump takes out more energy from the ground than the sun replaces, then the ground around the loop could freeze and the installation would become ineffective.
- The ground loop pipe work will last between 50 and 100 years.
- A circulation pump (lifespan of 10 years) pushes a water and antifreeze mix around the ground loop.
- A geotechnical survey is recommended before installing the ground loop.
- The ground loop is often incorporated into the foundation design and building works.
- The actual heat pump, which comprises a compressor, condenser, expansion valve and evaporator, will last been 15 and 25 years.
- Pre-heated water can help the efficiency of the heat pump.
- Photovoltaics and wind turbines have been used to power heat pumps, but generating sufficient power may be difficult without a backup source of electricity.
- Output temperatures are typically about 350C, i.e. not as high as gas boiler output temperatures, and ground source heat pumps are best used in conjunction with underfloor heating.
- Higher demands, e.g. raising domestic hot water, requires a larger surface area of ground loop and a system/installation of greater design complexity.
Peter Mayer – BLP Insurance
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National Apprenticeship Week
Apprenticeship Week will take place from Monday 1 February to Friday 5 February 2010.
The Week, which is organised by the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS), will celebrate the talents and skills of apprentices. It will see apprentices, employers, providers and all those involved with Apprenticeship programmes come together to celebrate the value of Apprenticeships.
National and regional activities will take place and each day will have a different focus.
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Easier Recruitment of Part-trained Apprentices
ConstructionSkills and the National Apprenticeship Service have made it easier for you to bring in fresh, contact winning talent. New rules mean there are more part-trained apprentices that come with up to £1,000 of training support.
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East Midlands HeritageHUB
Welcome to the East Midlands HeritageHUB. Here you will find news and information on people, places, policy, training providers, funding and qualifications related to Heritage Craft Skills in the Region. The HeritageHUB is issued every week or so with all the latest news and previous editions are also available to view. If you have any information that you would like included in the HeritageHUB, then contact cathie.clarke@emcbe.com
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Heritage Forum
Have your say! This new forum is for anyone interested in our built heritage - from contractors, craftspeople & conservationists to volunteers, homeowners, architects, and planners. Not just a place to talk about the great churches, castles and stately homes that enrich the UK's built environment, but also the more humble traditional dwellings and industrial buildings that provide the distinctive character of our villages, towns and cities. If you have an opinion or something you want to share with likeminded people then post your thoughts by logging onto the Heritage Forum:
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News Link East Midland
Localised News, articles and information on events for existing businesses.
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