The UK Construction Blog

UBMO-and-Mannai-Corporation

UK-based manufacturers involved in the construction sector looking to expand their operation in Qatar can take advantage of a new partnership that provides the ideal channel for supplying all necessary building materials needed as construction in the country increases.

The new partnership sees UK-based construction material supplier UBM Overseas Ltd (UBMO) join forces with the Mannai Corporation in Qatar so that companies looking to add to their portfolio in the country will be able to tap into the unrivalled expertise and experience offered by each business.

Trading as UBMO-Mannai, this new division will provide a new offering to the construction industry in Qatar in addition to the existing Mannai business. This will enable construction manufacturers to make the most of UBMO’s procurement and export expertise and Mannai’s dominant market position, which spans the oil and gas sector, automotive distribution, information and communication technology, consumer products, travel services and logistics sectors.

Nigel Turner, director of UBMO said: “Qatar is set to experience a time of unparalleled economic development and we expect this growth to continue in the foreseeable future. This new venture will provide a ‘one-stop’ service for manufacturers looking to tap into the market with our procurement and export of construction materials making it as simple, efficient and cost effective as possible.

“As the demands of the construction sector increases with the expansion of Qatar’s economy, Mannai’s dominant market position and UBMO’s manufacturer’s network and extensive experience, clients can be sure that they will be offered exceptional service.”

Mannai Corporation Q.S.C. is a public company headquartered in Qatar with over 3,000 employees. For more information about Mannai Corporation, please visit www.mannai.com

Manufacturers interested in opportunities in Qatar need to contact Duncan Turner at UBM Overseas, UK on djt@ubmo.com

Crowcon Gasman Personal Gas Monitor

Crowcon and BW Gas Monitors & Detectors and from other leading manufacturers are now part of the standard Surveying Equipment and Instrument range at Mobile CAD Surveying.

The Company known as the Market Leader in Mobile Surveying Solutions is now also offering many Surveying Tools as part of its equipment line.

The building industry has been deterred from recycling by a lack of facilities and land, the Guernsey Building Trades Employers Association’s president said.

Clive Fennar said that 95% of material at the Grand Bouet housing redevelopment was being recycled in what was a great model for the island.

However, he said the facilities there were not available to roll out.

Mr Fennar said there was also no strategy to encourage developers to recycle construction waste.

He said: “It’s not just about having space, it’s about having the will and the infrastructure to make it happen.

“If we as an island should decide the waste strategy we are going adopt is going to be based upon recycling then I think it’s important the three players, the States, the construction industry and the waste professionals, get together.

“I’m confident the strategy could be formulated that would enable a similar sort of process to occur as is happening at the Bouet.”

For the Grand Bouet development, everything from the old housing was sorted or broken down into component parts using a machine put in place for the work, with a some being crushed or resized to allow their reuse in the new buildings.

Prime Minister David Cameron recently conceded he needed to “get Britain building again” as he announced the launch of the £1bn New Homes Bonus, in the wake of GDP figures showing a sharp fall in construction.

The Prime Minister adopted the campaign slogan of the ‘Get Britain Building’ movement when he expressed concern about the latest output figures which showed the overall economy grew by just 0.5% during the first quarter of 2011.

Get Britain Building (GBB) is a non-party affiliated pan-construction industry campaign formed to encourage politicians to recognise the value of the sector to the nation and to use it to rebuild the UK economy.

Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, David Cameron said: “What’s happening in the construction industry is disappointing. “We do need to get Britain building again and that’s why we are introducing the new homes bonus.” He added: “But what is encouraging in the figures is that the British economy is growing once again, manufacturing is up, exports are up and we are seeing a rebalancing of the economy.” The new homes bonus is intended to kickstart local development, but only amounts to just under £1bn for the whole Comprehensive Spending Review period.

The growth rate was held back by a “disastrous performance from construction,” said GBB, which the Office of National Statistics estimated had recorded a dramatic fall of 4.7% over the previous quarter.

Mike Leonard, spokesperson for GBB and director of the Modern Masonry Alliance, said: “We are delighted that the Prime Minister has today announced that we need to ‘Get Britain Building’. The Get Britain Building campaign launched in 2009 has prepared a Plan B, which sets out why investing in construction can create 2.5 million jobs and positive growth in GDP”.

He added: “With five million people on the housing waiting list and building material manufacturing capacity and skills being eroded we call on Mr Cameron to turn his fine words into positive action. Our industry is ready and willing to respond.”

SMALL building companies suffered another decline in demand during the first quarter of 2011 according to the latest State of Trade Survey from the Federation of Master Builders (FMB).

First-quarter results from the survey suggest that the Wales SME construction sector has now seen three years of declining conditions.

Richard Jenkins, director of FMB Wales, said: “Although conditions are slightly better than they were in the final quarter of last year, they are still heavily negative, suggesting that small builders in Wales are continuing to struggle.

“The first quarter results have confirmed three years of declining conditions for small firms in Wales and this is why we are lobbying hard for the policies in our manifesto for the Welsh Assembly elections, Building for Success.”

He added: “In tough times like these it is more important than ever to target resources where they will be most effective. This is why FMB Wales is campaigning for the investment in the green technology required to de-carbonise our housing stock and secure our energy supply; campaigning for the investment in skills and training our young people need so that they can help drive the recovery; and campaigning for reform of inefficient public procurement processes so that Welsh taxpayers get more bricks and less paper for their money.

“The construction industry is well placed to lead a homegrown recovery and is at the heart of everything that Wales hopes to achieve in the years ahead, including more homes, improved transport, better schools and hospitals, and improved workplaces.”

The chief executive of the house builder Persimmon has warned that the UK housing industry is still far from a full recovery – despite his company posting encouraging sales figures for the first part of 2011.

After a torrid end to 2010, caused by the uncertainty ahead the Government’s spending cuts and the bad weather during November and December, Persimmon has rallied in the new year, with the value of its new sales reservations up 12 per cent on the same period last year.

However, with the total value of their order book standing only at the same level as in April 2010, the chief executive, Mike Farley, warned that the market still has a long way to go to recover fully.

“It is a modest recovery that you have to put in context,” he said. “In the first three and a half months of this year we have only been able to take our order book back on par to where it was last year. The economic backdrop is challenging. It’s been very tough since the credit crunch because of a lack of mortgage availability. In that period we saw availability drop from 120,000 to 30,000 [a month]. We’re back up to 53,000 but there is still a lack of finance and we’re a long way off 2007 levels.”

See a list of this weeks featured products. Every week products will be featured here, some will be at a special offer price, up to 50% discount!  and some will be new to market or of specific interest to our readers.

So check back often to see what is on offer.

Also see:
Free Trial Software to download
Knowledge Base
Support Contracts & Software Upgrades

abd if you don’t see what you want, use their Source & Supply facility.

For all your surveying equipment and instrument requirements, Mobile CAD Surveying have added significantly to their range. With many fairly unique products and for specialist measuring and monitoring situations, like the Crack Monitoring range of products and the new Angle Measures & Inclinometers category.

They have also added a range of Environmental meters abd Thermometers including some Infra Red Cameras. With many new Surveying Tools and more categories added recently it is well worth a  visit.

For more information, please visit: Surveying Equipment & Instruments

On time, within budget and with an excellent safety record, – that’s the achievement by all involved in construction of the iconic London 2012 Olympic Games main stadium in a futuristic new parkland that has been recovered to a large extent from contaminated industrial wastelands.

Chairman of the IOC Athletes’ Commission and Olympian Frank Fredericks, Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) chairman John Armitt, London 2012 chair Seb Coe and 400 m hurdles 2012 hopeful Tasha Danvers recently laid the last piece of turf on the Olympic Stadium’s field of play, marking the completion of construction on the flagship venue. IOC Coordination Commission Chairman Denis Oswald and IOC Executive Director Gilbert Felli also took part, alongside local schoolchildren from the ODA’s Construction Crew.

Construction started on the Olympic Stadium just under three years ago in May 2008 and has been completed on time, under budget and with an exemplary safety record. Over 240 UK businesses have won contracts for the construction of the Stadium and over 5,250 people have worked on the project over the past three years.

The final surface of the running track will be laid later this year by LOCOG. This is to ensure it is protected during the programme of temporary overlay including work for ceremonies which may need cranes in the field of play and could damage the track.

Architects can now assess basic sound insulation requirements for educational or healthcare buildings at the touch of a button thanks to an innovative new online calculator.

Following consultations with practitioners across the North West, Manchester-based Azymuth Acoustics has created the free calculator as a guide to architects at the earliest design stage of education or healthcare projects.

The calculator uses data and methods contained in Building Bulletin 93 (BB93) and HTM (Health Technical Memorandum) 08-01, which set standards for educational and healthcare buildings respectively.

“Appropriate acoustics in these environments are a key consideration in the design process, but up until now architects haven’t been able to easily assess the basic requirements for partition walls or floors,” said Azymuth Acoustics consultant Stratton Barrett.

“With the calculator they simply select the proposed use of the rooms in question and input three or four pieces of information detailing variables such as partition size and floor area.”

The calculator takes 30 seconds to complete but could save architects considerable time and effort further down the line, as Stratton explains:

“Using this calculator, from the outset architects can get a handle on how substantial the building fabric needs to be in order to achieve good sound insulation between rooms.

“If, for example, partitions end up needing to be much thicker than has been laid out then this can be very disruptive to the overall vision, as floor space is always at a premium.

“Our experience is that acousticians are seldom brought onboard a scheme until the design is well underway, if not complete. Acoustics should be thought about from the earliest stages in a project, especially in the case of educational buildings where research shows that pupils’ attainment is enhanced by favourable acoustic conditions.”

The calculator generates a weighted sound reduction index (R_w) value – a numerical measure of the degree of acoustic separation, or noise reduction. This can then be used when researching construction data to specify wall and floor systems.