A modern era truism is that "Waste is a design flaw". Consequently true, the demolition industry does not create waste but handles that which others put there.

Construction will never be truly sustainable until consideration is given, during design and planning, to the deconstruction legacy.

To kick start 2015, Rainclear Systems, the UK’s largest stockist of metal rainwater products has announced an impressive 30% off all metal guttering and rainwater products during January.

A stunning barn conversion in rural Leicestershire has been hailed as an outstanding example of the energy efficient home of the future.

The former milking shed – part of the Hall FarmBarns development on the edge of the village of Scraptoft – was converted to the highest possible specification by developer Onsen Homes in conjunction with Staniforth Architects and main contractor Brown and Green.

The Institution of Civil Engineers’ (ICE) General Election campaign began this week, marking the start of a programme of activity to ensure that whichever party wins the General Election, the public will benefit from Government placing infrastructure at the heart of its economic plans.

ICE’s “Commit to Infrastructure” campaign started with the launch of a paper of the same title - issued to MPs across the political spectrum to aid their understanding of the importance of infrastructure to local communities as well as to the wider UK economy.

A major programme of investment in renewable energy by Westward Housing has resulted in a first for social housing thanks to a pioneering system devised by heating firm Kensa Heat Pumps.

Croft House in Holsworthy, North Devon, is the first housing association scheme in the UK to be retrofitted with Kensa’s innovative “ground source heat network” system and has received support funding through a combination of the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) and a Ready for Retrofit grant.

THSP Risk Management are pleased to announce the appointment of Chris Ivey as Consultant Director,to the Board of The Health and Safety People Ltd.

Chris is a Chartered Member of IOSH and a member of the Association of Project Safety. He has been working for THSP for over 16 years and has extensive experience in all areas of construction and demolition, with a particular focus on asbestos, curtain wall glazing, stone masonry and scaffolding.

Modular scaffolding and weather protection specialist, Layher, is announcing two major developments to its operations in the UK which are set to build on its growing success in this country. The German manufacturer has now opened a new depot in the north of England and has enhanced its existing facility in Scotland through a senior appointment.  

Kensa Heat Pumps has successfully completed a substantial programme of renewable heating upgrades in partnership with four social housing providers using the Renewable Heat Premium Payment (RHPP) funding stream and Domestic RHI, resulting in tenant running costs being halved.

Thanks to successful joint bids for government RHPP funding with ground source heat pump manufacturer Kensa Heat Pumps, Westward Housing, Shropshire Rural Housing Association (SRHA), Ocean Housing, and South Holland District Council are all reporting reduced tenant running costs and energy savings, following the completion of an ambitious programme of retrofit renewable heating installations, covering 125 social housing properties throughout Shropshire, Devon, Cornwall and Lincolnshire.

Bryan Powell, Chief Executive of Shropshire Rural Housing Association, explains:
“The objective of undertaking the installation of ground source heat pump systems in our homes is to give our tenants control over their heating, reduce their energy costs and invest in modern low carbon technology to reduce our carbon footprint. Feedback from our tenants has confirmed that this has been achieved as they now have control over their heating using the system to deliver better comfort levels at a reduced cost.”

Mr Smith, a tenant of Westward Housing comments:

“The ground source heat pump is a brilliant system, its cut my electricity bills down by half and it is a lot warmer; the bungalow is lovely and warm.”

Utilising the RHPP Fast Track and RHPP Reach Out Schemes, all four social housing providers collaborated with Kensa to undertake a complete upgrade of their heating systems to ground source heat pumps in off gas grid housing stock following feedback about problems with their night storage and solid fuel heating, as Mr Smith, a tenant at one of the project sites explains:

"Up until the ground source heat pump was put in we had the old economy 7 night storage heaters, which were very expensive, weren’t very reliable, and were very difficult to control; with the night storage you couldn’t turn it off and on, you’d be waiting 24 hours for it to heat back up again. And come the end of the day, when you needed the heat, they were cold. It is now great to be able to flick a switch and within 30 minutes to have as much heat as we want. “

When asked if he would recommend ground source heat pumps to other tenants in similar properties, Mr Smith responded: “Go for it! You’ve got the versatility of gas central heating, and I would say it’s probably slightly cheaper. It’s a brilliant system.”

Kensa’s RHPP schemes consisted of:

• Westward Housing installing 25 ground source heat pumps from January to March 2014 using the RHPP Fast Track scheme.
• Shropshire Rural Housing Association installing 38 ground source heat pumps under the Fast Track scheme between October 2013 and March 2014, and 25 ground source heat pumps under the RHPP Reach Out scheme between April and June 2014.
• Ocean Housing installing 21 ground source heat pumps under the Fast Track scheme with an approved extension on completion to June 2014.
• South Holland District Council installed 16 ground source heat pumps under the Reach Out scheme between April and June 2014.

All properties in the RHPP programme feature individual boreholes ranging from 58m deep to 125m deep, due to variances in load and geology. Each borehole is connected to a 3.5kW, 4.3kW, or 6.2kW Kensa Compact high temperature heat pump. Spanning flats, houses and bungalows, the four social housing schemes within Kensa Heat Pumps’ RHPP Programme will all earn an income for 7 years through the Domestic RHI.

All four Housing Associations are reporting immediate improvements on tenant bills, with many reporting a reduction in heating costs of 40-50%, whilst also enjoying a more comfortable home. It is expected each property will save 110 tonnes of CO2 over the system lifetime.

Mr Smith comments:

“This time last year we had to put between £50 and £60 a fortnight on our meter and it is now between £20 and £30 a fortnight.”

Kensa Heat Pumps have published a video and case study featuring Mr Smith’s testimonial, in his own words, to provide a tenant’s perspective of the RHPP Programme at:

www.kensaheatpumps.com/case_study/a-tenants-tale-westward-housing

Latest figures taken from the Construction Industry Scaffolders Record Scheme (CISRS) database show that the 50,000 mark for CISRS card holders has been breached. This is a significant achievement and is by far the highest number of current valid cards the scheme has ever held since its inception in the late 1960’s.

Providing a dependable, efficient and environmentally-friendly source of quality compressed air in a compact, towable unit are the important benefits of two new portable compressors introduced by HPC KAESER. Compact and simple to operate, the M114 and M115 portable compressors are both powered by 85kW engines and deliver similar free air deliveries up to 9.7 m³/min (342 cfm) at 10 bar.