Events

20 March - Regeneration Through Good Design Conference
20 March - Construction Symposium
21 March - UK Trade & Investment Export Roadshow
27 March - Cutting out Waste Workshop
28/29 March - Collaboration in Construction Training Workshop
29 March - RICS CPD Conference
29 March - Dash National Migrant Worker Conference
April 2007 - IEMA Foundation Certificate in Environmental Management for the Construction Industry
4 April - Resource Efficiency Club Breakfast Briefing
4/5 April - Collaboration in Construction Training Workshop
13-14 April - RICS Briefing 2007-02-26
17 April - Constructing Excellence Derby Club Launch
18 April - Women in Construction Research
18 April - The Housing Forum National Conference
18 April - Energy Ratings Exposed
19/20 April - Collaboration in Construction Training Workshop
20 April - Clean Heat – biomass conference
24-25 April - Major Projects, Major Issues
26 April - Innovating in the Built Environment
10 May - Specialists in Construction Awards
16 May - Spotlight on Offsite Birmingham
18 May - North West Regional Construction Awards
15-24 June - Architecture Week in the East Midlands

Enterprise Latest

FREE 2 Day Workshops to Explore the Dynamics of Collaborative Working	Add your voice to our online debate EMCBE is running an online discussion document, to stimulate debate on how to improve standards across the construction industry. EMCBE would like anyone involved or interested in the industry to read the document and to contribute their views. To add your comments in support of the current topic or to raise an issue you would like to be addressed by the wider community, please follow the link below: Online debate http://emcbe-am-04-06.sitekit.net/forum

	Regional Construction Training Model - for the Long Term Development of the Construction Community Commissioned after the release of a Local Authority Report entitled 'The Power of Frameworks - Collaboration in Construction' and after a extensive consultation process, at the request of Local Authorities and contracting partners in the East Midlands, EMCBE are now working towards improving the provision in the area of collaborative techniques to deliver better public construction projects. read more »

	Offsite Innovation for Local Authority EMCBE and SCAPE System Build - developers of strategic procurement arrangements and construction management services to Local Authorities, are partnering in a new 2 year knowledge transfer project with Loughborough University. The project will develop a transparent mechanism for demonstrating best value in Local Authority project delivery through the effective use of offsite methods of construction. read more »

	iFestival Launch Thursday, 15 February 2007 saw the official launch of the innovation Festival (iFestival) by East Midlands Development Agency (emda) and Innovation East Midlands (innEM) The iFestival is the largest collective celebration of innovation in the East Midlands, running between 9th March and 17th May 2007. read more »

	Call for events: Architecture Week in the East Midlands 15 – 24 June 2007 Architecture Week provides you with the opportunity to run an event to highlight ways to support environmental issues in a multitude of ways, if you are interested in organising an event or would like advice about the sort of events that work well then follow the link below: read more »

	Olympic Delivery Authority launches eTendering website for up to 2,000 contracts *Companies urged to compete for business* The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) today (Friday) launched an online eTendering and planning package to help companies compete for up to 2,000 contracts throughout the delivery of the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. read more »

	OLYMPICS 2012 The ODA wishes to appoint an integrated Design Team including architects, services engineers, structural engineers and landscape designers to design the VeloPark, one of the London 2012 venues, and its legacy conversion. Those expressing an interest must register on line Read More: read more »

	Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly unveils challenge for housebuilders Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly unveils details of a new international challenge for housebuilders to design and build flagship zero-carbon and low carbon communities. read more »

	Derwent Living gets green light from Clients Charter Derwent Living has become the first housing association in the Midlands region to gain Clients Charter status - achieving it with a "green light" - the highest possible award. read more »

	The National Housing Federation and the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), two bodies often seen as being on opposite sides of the housing debate, unite to warn that future generations will be priced out of the countryside unless the Government addresses the chronic shortage of affordable rural homes. read more »

	Competition to find the East Midlands’ most enterprising place The search is on to find the most enterprising place in the East Midlands as the regional heat of ‘Enterprising Britain 2007’ has just been launched. read more »

	Millions invested into the East Midlands More than £151 million has been pledged by East Midlands Development Agency (emda) to deliver economic improvements in local areas over the next three years. read more »

	Soaring salaries to hit nuclear clean-up budgets UK decommissioning costs will rocket due to rapidly rising salaries for skilled engineers, experts warn. read more »

	Supply Midlands The development of a Midlands Supply Chain Association will benefit Contractors, Manufacturers and Suppliers of all scale and scope. The formation of a regional body will further develop the Midlands Construction Community and engage suppliers with Client groups. Please take a little time to complete our online questionnaire, your input is valuable and will help inform the development Of the Association read more »

	Environmental Training for the Construction Industry A range of in-house training courses to support environmental management and sustainability in construction. The programmes include environmental awareness for your workforce, understanding and auditing ISO 14001 and a 4-day IEMA accredited course to provide environmental champions in your business with personal professional environmental qualifications. read more »

Supply Chain Latest

'Supply Chain Association' URGENT REQUEST FOR INFORMATION	Sustainability ‘Speak’ Rainwater Harvesting The collection of water that would otherwise have gone down the drainage system or into the ground or been lost to the atmosphere through evaporation. The harvested water can, in principle at least, be used for all purposes except drinking. Flushing toilets and watering gardens are the most obvious uses, with the latter being achieved using water butts for the simplest of solutions. Flushing toilets using harvested water requires an installation of; underground tank, sensors, pumps, mains 'top up' connection and additional/separate plumbing, thereby making the 'payback' time quite lengthy. Green Roof (also; eco-roof or living roof) Generally speaking, a 'green roof' is a roof of a building that is partially or completed covered with vegetation and soil (or some other growing medium), planted over a waterproof membrane and including (quite often) drainage and irrigation systems. The term is sometimes also used to describe roofs having sustainable elements to them, such as solar panels or photovoltaic modules. The benefits of a "vegetation and soil" 'green roof' include; reducing stormwater run-off to public sewers, reducing heating and cooling loads on the building it covers, fixing Co2 out of the atmosphere and providing an amenity for relaxation, horticulture and potential wildlife habitat. Greywater (also; sullage) Non-industrial waste water generated from domestic processes such as washing dishes, laundry and bathing, which can make up 50 to 80% of all residential waste water. Clearly, greywater is contaminated and so re-cycling solutions (legally) are complicated and expensive. Untreated greywater constitutes a potential health and pollution hazard, but - because of the high volumes of pure water that are needed to create the equal volumes of greywater - there are still big opportunities to make better use of greywater. Ground Source Heat Pumps (GSHP) Heat (geothermal energy) from the earth's core reaches the superficial layers of the earth's surface, and can be transferred from the soil into buildings in winter and from buildings to the soil in summer. The heat (thermal energy) is collected from or dissipated to the ground via water circulating in pipes in a closed loop (of various kinds) and the pumps move the water round the loop. Typically, the GSHP system will cost more to install than conventional alternative systems but, on the plus side, they have very low maintenance costs and can be expected to provide reliable and environmentally friendly heating (and cooling) for in excess of 20 years. read more »

	CITB Lists Derby College Top of the Class The Construction Academy at Derby College has leapt from the bottom of the CITB league table to become one of the top performing colleges in the midlands. read more »

	Notts firm leads the way in construction technology Award winning new homes company, Gusto Construction, has launched a new in-house architect department to cater for the growing demand for their specialist environmental approach to house building. read more »

	OVER 400 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS BENEFIT FROM GRANTS In its first year, a new fund to boost sustainable development in Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) has succeeded in getting more than 400 environmentally friendly, community focussed and economically beneficial projects up and running. read more »

	Selective Finance for Investment in England (SFIE) The emda Business Investment Team have successfully secured an enhanced SFIE scheme for a further 4 years. SFIE is a capital grant scheme supporting primarily manufacturing businesses and some service sector businesses that serve a national market. Notably the scheme in the East Midlands can now support quality projects from SMEs throughout the region. For information on the scheme please contact the team or visit the updated SFIE website: read more »

	Association of Building Engineers CPD Brochure The Association of Building Engineers (ABE) is pleased to announce the release of the Spring/Summer Development and Training Prospectus for 2007. read more »

	WRAP CAPITAL FUNDING COMPETITION AIMS TO INCREASE PLASTERBOARD RECYCLING Trials funded by WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) assessing the recycling of waste plasterboard from commercial refurbishment projects have shown that it is economically viable, according to a report published recently. read more »

	Quantum Consortium Starts work at the Embankment Construction work has now started on The Embankment, a major affordable housing development in Nottingham. read more »

	Apprenticeships Construction is a fast-moving industry. New projects and schemes are springing up all over the place, and new opportunities are always presenting themselves, an Apprenticeship at the National Construction College could provide you with the foundation for an exciting and rewarding career. read more »

	Construction Design and Management Regulations 2007 The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 (CDM 2007) come into force on 6th April 2007 read more »