Weekly round-up - 13 July 2015

Councils first to count cost of new living wage, Ringway Jacobs on TV, Scottish Water hires SMEs and Mace man to chair Achilles panel.

Jackie Whitelaw
13 July 2015

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1. Councils in England and Wales have warned the national living wage could cost them an extra £1bn a year by 2020. The Local Government Association said about 93,000 council staff currently earned less than the £7.20 an hour wage proposed by Chancellor George Osborne.

2. Don’t miss this. During the winter months of 2014/15, ITN Productions followed Ringway Jacobs’ operational gangs for its new television series about highway maintenance and management, ‘Stop! Roadworks Ahead’. The first of the six, one hour episodes will be shown on Monday 13 July, at 8pm on Channel 5, with the series featuring the work of Cheshire East Highways, Essex Highways and Transport for Buckinghamshire. The first episode features Essex Highway’s project on the Army and Navy roundabout in Chelmsford. For a weekly synopsis of each episode, visit www.ringwayjacobs.com/updates.

3. SME contractors together employing more than 3,200 people with bases or locations around Scotland have been chosen to support the delivery of Scottish Water’s new £3.5 billion investment programme. The 58 small to medium sized businesses form a framework of rural contractors which can be used to support Scottish Water and its construction Alliance partners in the delivery of construction and maintenance projects for the benefit of customers between now and 2021. Geoff Aitkenhead, Executive Director Capital Investment at Scottish Water, said: “The vast majority of these small to medium sized firms have bases or locations in and around communities. This will provide us with vital local knowledge with skills honed and retained in the community. Deputy First Minister, John Swinney, said: “The fact that SMEs delivering projects for Scottish Water will be able to use their local knowledge will be important to ensure that services continue to be first-rate, best value for money and suitable for the future needs of rural communities.”A full list of the companies can be found at: https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/about-us/media-centre/latest-news/09072015-rural-framework

4. The number of applications to study engineering increasing by 7% on the previous year for all domiciles, and up by 9% for UK applicants according to the latest UCAS figures.

5. Network Rail Consulting, the international consultancy arm of Network Rail, has been selected as part of a consultant team led by WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff to provide integration, program delivery and program management services to the California High-Speed Rail Authority in the United States. The authority is developing California’s high-speed rail network – the first in the U.S. – which will connect the state’s mega-regions and contribute to economic development and a cleaner environment. Phase 1 will connect the San Francisco Bay Area to the Los Angeles Basin in less than three hours at speeds of over 300kph. The system will eventually extend to Sacramento and San Diego, totalling some 1200km in network length with up to 24 stations.

6. Mace supply chain management director Brian Moone has been named as steering group chairman of Achilles BuildingConfidence, a leading supplier pre-qualification and verification programme for UK construction companies. He will be responsible for over-seeing the growth and development of the community – where 19 of the country’s biggest construction firms use a single pre-qualification and audit process to shortlist suppliers for work. Moone was voted by his peers to head up the group. Achilles BuildingConfidence community manager Lee Brunsden said: “That someone of Brian’s calibre is playing a key role in driving forward the development of BuildingConfidence is testament to the gravitas of the community in terms of streamlining pre-qualification and setting standards across the construction industry.”

7. Plans for a six-storey housing block made of timber have been approved for Wimbledon town centre. The fifteen apartments, three townhouses and a commercial unit at street level will be constructed using CLT (Cross Laminated Timber). Architect Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios said the design had to incorporate lightweight construction materials due to a London Underground tunnel located directly under the site. Construction is due to start on site later this year.

8. Capita has acquired property consultancy GL Hearn for a cash consideration of £25M on a cash free, debt free basis, plus a deferred consideration of £5M. GL Hearn reported an operating profit of £5.8M on turnover of £31.2M in its last financial year up to 31 May 2015. Capita expects to grow the business and achieve a return on capital in excess of 15%. The company is a market leader in planning, development and regeneration. It employs over 250 staff, and has its head office in London. 

9. The Forth rail bridge has become become the UK's 29th UNESCO World Heritage Site. The bid to have the bridge recognised was put forward by the UK government following a joint project with the Scottish Government, partnering with Network Rail, Transport Scotland and Historic Scotland. The World Heritage Committee has praised the bridge as ‘a masterpiece of creative genius because of its distinctive industrial aesthetic’ and ‘an extraordinary and impressive milestone in the evolution of bridge design and construction’. The structure is still the world’s second longest single cantilever span and was first opened in 1890,

10. The Highways Term Maintenance Association (HTMA) has produced an environmental training DVD, Sustainable Highway Maintenance, to support member organisations and their clients with environmental awareness and management.  The DVD is also available for general use within the highways maintenance and management industry. The DVD is available to view via the HTMA website, www.htma.info.  Hard copies of the DVD can be purchased at a nominal price by contacting the Secretariat.