The Chartered Institute of Building Academy is launching a new massive open online course (MOOC) on sustainable development. This follows the success of the first ever construction-focused MOOC which the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) ran last year, attracting more than 3000 construction professionals in over 100 countries.

The five-week interactive course, which opens next month, has been developed in partnership with London South Bank University, UK. The course is free and open to anyone working in the built environment sector globally. It has been designed specifically for those working in the industry, and anyone working in or studying construction and the wider built environment will find it useful as it focuses on what is arguably one of the most important issues facing construction today – sustainability within construction and development. 

Thanks to the launch of a new online CSCS training course early this year, hundreds of UK construction workers have now been able to obtain their Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) Labourer card, at a time and place that suits them.

Launched by COSAC, the work-focussed training academy based in Runcorn, Safe2Site is the first online course approved by CSCS as a route to the Labourer Card.

The National Access & Scaffolding Confederation is hosting a Safety Seminar in Manchester on Thursday 20 September.

The purpose of this informal event is to bring delegates up to speed with how the confederation is continuing to raise health and safety standards in the scaffolding and access industry and explain how this might benefit them.

The event is aimed at representatives from companies that regularly utilise the services of scaffolding contractors. This could include main contractors, local authorities, major housebuilders and developers.   

Fusion21 has announced the suppliers successfully appointed to its Modular Building Framework – following an expansion worth £175 million, over a four year period.

A total of 8 highly skilled firms have secured a place on the framework which is designed to service the blue light, health and leisure sectors, in addition to providing buildings for educational purposes and wider public use. 

When Highways England’s A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon improvement scheme was officially announced, there was no doubting the challenge ahead. However, thanks to meticulous infrastructure planning by the A14 integrated delivery team (IDT), a joint venture between Costain, Skanska, Balfour Beatty and designers Atkins/Ch2M, driving the initiative on behalf of Highways England, some two years on the project is on course for its intended completion date in December2020.

A potential obstacle identified from the outset was the requirement for more than five-million cubic metres of additional fill material.

Introducing UNI-PROP - The latest Acrow Prop design with NEW combined HYDRAULIC function. Buildingproducts-online.co.uk, the internet’s No. 1 supply resource for Builders, Scaffolders & Homeowners, are excited to introduce the innovative UNI-PROP to its offer online. We usually agree with the old adage that if something works, don’t try and fix it! But in this case the added safety, accuracy and speed make this new product the exception to that rule.

The UNI-PROP offers temporary support up to 2000kg and is load tested to BS EN 1065, just like you are used to, but unlike the old solution where you have to strike the threaded collar to move those final millimetres, with the chance you could knock the support away entirely, risking a collapse of the very structure you are trying to underpin! the UNI-PROP detachable hydraulic ram speeds up the process, while taking away this risk and the requirement for any brute strength effort on your part. 

Manufacturer Bull Products has enhanced health and safety on a student accommodation site with its life-saving fire protection equipment. 

Set to open this September 2018, Bull has been protecting Chaucer House in Portsmouth over the last two years with its Cygnus Fire Call Points and First Aid Alarms, Cygnus Heat Detectors and Fire, First Aid and Spill Responder Stations.

Mick George Ltd have boosted sand and gravel production to a rate of 300 tonnes/h at their Bridge Farm site, in Cambridgeshire, following the introduction of a new high-performance washing plant.

Specified and supplied by Mick George’s long-standing partners Aggregate Processing Solutions (APS), the bespoke system is being used to supply materials for the major A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon road upgrade.

APS – part of the Finlay Group of companies – have worked closely with Mick George for more than 30 years and the relationship, which has seen approximately £20 million of equipment specified, has supported the continued growth of the business.

Financial services broker, Midlands Asset Finance (MAF), has bolstered its presence in East Midlands by appointing a new relationship manager for the region.

Based in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire where she was born and still lives, Rachel Borlace has joined the business to support SME and corporate clients in Nottinghamshire with any asset finance, invoice finance or property funding.

For the first time in five years, nationally recognised NVQ’s in Metal Decking and Stud Welding have been awarded through a brand new training and qualification scheme set up by the U.K. Metal Decking Association (UKMDA).

In 2013, ECITB withdrew the NVQ Qualifications, leaving the industry without an industry recognised way of formally qualifying the workforce, but after months of lobbying, the UKMDA stepped in to develop the National Occupational Standard with the support of CITB. The qualification enables holders to obtain a Blue Skilled Worker CSCS card in Metal Decking and Stud Welding.