The UK Construction Blog

Love-birds will soon be able to say “I do” in the shadow of Blackpool Tower, with plans announced for a new wedding venue on the world famous promenade.

Plans for a new, cutting-edge, low carbon emission building, with panoramic views of the beach and sea, have been drawn up by ReBlackpool, Blackpool’s Urban Regeneration Company. The landmark facility will also be home to a quality beach café and Tourist Information Centre.

Plans have now been submitted for approval and it is hoped the first ceremonies could take place by early 2011.

Located on the Tower Festival Headland, a £14.3 million development close to North Pier, the building will provide a focal point for visitors, alongside neighbouring public artworks and entertainment spaces.

Doug Garrett, Chief Executive of ReBlackpool, said: “Many marriages will have started with a holiday romance in Blackpool so we’re continuing that tradition in a very modern setting.

“The innovative building design will be a stunning addition to the landscape and construction has been planned to reduce carbon emissions, so we’re bringing more fun to Blackpool responsibly.”

Built from solid timber, produced under strict environmental conditions, and clad in gold coloured, stainless steel shingles, the expressive building design is a celebration of Blackpool’s renowned exuberance and the bracing coastal weather. The telescopic wedding tower will feature dramatic picture windows to enable visitors, and couples exchanging vows, the chance to enjoy summer sun or the winter illuminations.

Working with dRMM Architects, the building design will use cross laminated timber as a durable, high strength alternative to steel. With many of the timber elements being prefabricated it will be possible for carpenters to assemble the core of the building in a very short space of time. dRMM are currently regarded as the leading Architects for the design and delivery of solid timber architecture.

Funding of £2.7 million has been awarded by NWDA for the development cost of the building. Construction work will commence in late 2009 and is due for completion by the end of November 2010.

Construction will start next week on the £42 million Wave Hub marine energy project in South West England.

The Wave Hub, which will be located 10 miles off the north Cornwall coast, will serve as a test bed for wave energy devices by providing an electrical connection from the seabed at a depth of around 50 m to the national grid.

Initially, the Wave Hub will have four berths for wave energy devices up to a maximum capacity of 20 MW, but has the potential to scale up to 50 MW in the future.

Ocean Power Technologies has signed up to take the first berth when it becomes available to test the performance of its PowerBuoy wave energy converter.

The first devices are expected to be deployed in 2011, once the cabling and connectors have been constructed. Starting on Monday, civil engineers will drill ducts from Cornwall coast at Hayle to connect to the subsea cable and a new electricity substation on the site of a former nearby power station.

The South West Regional Development Agency (RDA), which has provided £12.5 million in funding, is developing the project with additional financial support from the UK government and the European Regional Development Fund Convergence Programme. The Wave Hub project will be led by Guy Lavender.

“This milestone is the culmination of more than six years’ work by the RDA and its partners,” says Stephen Peacock of the South West RDA. “Our aim is to create an entirely new low carbon industry in the South West.”

Measured Building Surveys provide a full range of services, including:-

Land Registry Lease Plans

Since  October 2003, all new leases granted for terms over 7 years or existing leases sold or assigned with 7 years left to run must now be registered with Land Registry. Land Registry plans for both Lease and Freehold properties are an integral part of our services for private landlords, law firms and investment companies with large property portfolios.

Land Registry approval first time
Avoid rejection and delays due to non-compliant Lease Plan drawings

No fuss, one phone call
Leave Land Registration compliancy to us

Our service includes:

• Site visit and dimensional survey
• Ordnance Survey location map
• Land Registry compliant
• Plans coloured as required
• Liaising with other property professional
• Plans available in PDF, CAD or paper formats
• Quick turnaround

How we work

• Once instructed, we will visit the property to undertake a detailed survey
• We then produce your lease plan using our digital drawing systems to ensure accuracy, efficient drawing retrieval and fast replication
• Your Lease Plan is delivered to you either as a printed copy or electronic pdf copy  ready for immediate insertion into the appropriate lease document
• We can also provide a pdf copy for you to print off yourself.
• Digital versions can also emailed to you for future reference – completing the process

We may also be able to produce compliant plans from information you already have.

Land Registry compliant Lease Plans must include the following:

• Detailed Floor Plans (Scale 1:100/1:200)
• Location plan insert (Scale 1:1250)
• North Point
• Coloured Edging (to indicate areas referred to in the Lease)

Elevational Drawings

The UK’s leading provider of Graeberts Sitemaster software and Mobile CAD Solutions, Mobile CAD Surveying this week announced the launch of their  dedicated surveying site Measured Building Surveys net.

This new site is designed to facilitate their growing numbers of customers who just want information on Measured Building Surveys rather than having to wade through their massive main site which has hundreds of additional products, from a stylus pen, to software and on to surveying equipment.

Measured Building Surveys.net will help customers find what they are looking for quickly and allow them to contact them with their requirements much faster.

So anyone interested in having some survey work carried out, take a look at their site and view some of the floor plans and elevational drawings they have produced for all types of customers.

Taken from their site:

“If you need a measured building survey or even several measured building surveys, you have come to the right place. If time is of the essence, or clients time constraints are limited on site, we can accomodate you. Whether your survey project is large or small, a few square metres up to thousands of square metres we can meet your requirements. We have vast experience of Measured Building Surveys, floor plans and elevational drawings, everything from apartment blocks, and flats, to churches, embassies, supermarkets and shopping malls and have carried out measured survey programmes encompassing hundreds of properties. A schedule can be drawn up to suit you! Floor Plans can be for many different reasons, for more information see our Measured Surveys page.

We carry out the Measured Building Surveys ourselves ‘in house’, wherever possible, however, because we deal day in day out with hundreds of surveyors Worldwide using the Sitemaster Building range of software we have built up a large network of surveyors who can be called on to help us out if we are unable to do the work ourselves due to current workloads.

Floor Plans

We are able to carry out surveys anywhere in the UK, Western Europe, most of Eastern Europe, the USA,  Canada and Australia. and we pride ourselves on our excellent reputation for quality, customer service and value for money.”

Heat for Hire

Mammoth Hire can deliver heating equipment and more direct to your door from 87 hire depots around the UK.

We have a huge range of heaters to keep the workplace warm during the winter. Whether you’re looking for infra-red heaters, cabinet or fan heaters, rocket heaters or warehouse heaters we have the perfect products available for hire.

Self-employed contractors and consultants working in industries such as IT and engineering should benefit from investment in the construction industry, a new study has claimed.

Research conducted by LEK Consulting, on behalf of Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and the UK Contractors Group, showed that every £1 spent on construction leads to a growth of £2.84 in GDP.

Construction is a driver of growth across a range of different industries including technology and IT due to its reliance on an extended and varied supply chain.

John Cridland, CBI deputy-director general, said: “With the Chancellor’s Pre-Budget Report looming, the CBI is continuing to press the case for protecting capital spending by government.

“This timely report outlines the essential relationship between the construction sector and other parts of the economy, as well as its important contribution to numerous other social and economic objectives, including regional development and employment.”

Recent figures from the Office for National Statistics revealed that GDP fell by 0.4 per cent during the third quarter of 2009.

More than 150 stalled construction jobs across the UK are set to receive almost £450 million in funding from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA).

Its Kickstart Programme will spend £207 million to directly fund the construction of more than 6,500 houses in 93 different projects, while a further £240 million is earmarked to be spent once 63 of the approved construction jobs are further assessed.

Sir Bob Kerslake, chairman of the HCA, said that he was delighted the agency could play a key role in getting so many construction jobs back on their feet.

“The due diligence process has been a thorough and challenging one for all involved but I am pleased that so many good schemes have been confirmed,” he said.

More than 75 of the approved schemes are to offer local labour initiatives or apprenticeships.

Earlier this week, the HCA announced its intention to create nearly 3,000 apprenticeships and local labour initiatives over the next two years through a variety of funding programmes.

Preliminary works on the site have begun and a Birmingham City Council spokesman said the project is to be debated by the council’s planning committee in November.

If it is approved, work on the Dutch practice’s scheme will begin early next year. The council is insisting the project goes ahead, despite a £2.2 billion black hole in the council’s finances.

Council leader Mike Whitby has confirmed 800 council jobs are to go but says the library will not be compromised.

The library project, unveiled earlier this year, has already been criticised by the Birmingham Civic Society, which is concerned the nine-storey building is too large.